Time Warriors Chapter 15

"Theo? THEO! Damn, damn, damn!"

Dron and Allyssa were standing together in the desert, watching Theo scream and struggle with Vejiita. Allyssa's fingers tightened around the trigger of her blaster when Vejiita hauled Theo off the ground by her neck and shook her; Dron's hand on her shoulder, though, stopped her from firing, and she lowered the blaster altogether when Theo was released relatively unharmed to the ground.

"We've got to get closer," the warrior woman hissed to Dron, staring at the Saiyan prince with active dislike. "That one's going to kill her."

The spacer gave a curt nod, and gestured at a barely discernible path among the dead. The two of them started to make their way toward Theo, carefully stepping amidst the cooling Cronch bodies sprawled in the sand, ignoring the stench, their weapons at the ready.

Theo was screaming angrily again, this time at the other Saiyan who appeared to be blocking her way. Suddenly a warm yellow glow engulfed the large man's body; Theo immediately stopped screaming, stared, stiffened, then doubled over and fell on her side.

The Gant was in motion before Theo hit the ground.

Gokuu was extremely upset.

People did not simply collapse on the ground in front of him without a very good reason. Those that did had usually challenged him to a fight, fought as hard as they possibly could, and lost. Even at that, Gokuu made sure he fought fairly and didn't take undo advantage of any of his challengers. He certainly didn't want to kill anyone.

But as he looked at Theo’s inert body, he couldn't help but feel that he had failed her in some important way. She had projected such desperation, anger and abject fear about her that he felt sorry for her – so much so that he actually spent time thinking about why she was so afraid. He realized that her emotions, especially her anger and fear, were somehow tied up with Vejiita.

Which, in retrospect, was the god's honest truth. She was afraid of Vejiita. She had even said so, quite loudly, right in his face – and she was afraid of the prince, in large part, because he was a Super Saiyan.

No, he frowned slightly, not just "a" Super Saiyan – the Super Saiyan. Like there was only one.

So in Gokuu’s mind, the solution was obvious – just show her that he was a Super Saiyan, too, and that he would protect her – then she wouldn't need to be afraid of Vejiita anymore, would she?

But that wasn't what had happened at all. Theo had taken one look at him, turned a pasty white color, sighed and collapsed at his feet, leaving him totally baffled.

"I don’t get it," he said, scratching the back of his head as he powered down. "What did I do?"

"You didn’t do anything, Gokuu," rumbled Piccolo as he moved toward the Saiyans. "For some reason, she just fainted – that's all."

Vejiita stood next to Gokuu, looking down at Theo’s body, a knowing smirk on his face.

"Mama!" Elyse called across the desert, distraught. "Mama, are you all right?"

She turned to Trunks, grabbing the young Saiyan’s arm again and tugging him with her. "Please – please – you’ve got to come with me. I don’t know what’s happened to my mother – I can’t see a thing from here. We have to see if she’s all right!"

Trunks nodded, seeing the desperation in her eyes. "Come on. I’ll take you over there."

He picked her up, snagging his arm about her waist, and flew over to the strange little scene, landing softly next to Piccolo. Elyse was so upset that she spared not a look for the green man standing next to her; instead, she dropped Trunks' arm and started to bound away from him.

"Mama!" Elyse cried, seeing her mother’s prone form on the ground. "Mama, what—"

Elyse’s cry was choked off as she was abruptly shoved to the side, thrown out of the way and back into Trunks’ arms. The lavender haired boy grunted slightly and staggered backwards as her weight slammed into his chest, pushing both of them into the Namekian.

"Hn!" grunted Piccolo as the unexpected weight crashed into him, driving him off balance to sit solidly in the cool desert sand.

"What—" Gokuu started, only to have a very large blaster shoved millimeters from his face.

"Back off, bud," grated the thin, gray haired man at the other end of the blaster. "Don't make me use this."

There was a moment of stunned silence – then a short bark of derisive laughter came from Gokuu's right. "Are you serious? Do you actually think that would stop him? Or me?" Vejiita stood next to the amiable Saiyan and folded his arms across his chest, glowering at Dron.

"Probably not," Dron allowed as he shifted his weapon, "but I'd do it anyway." He stood his ground; a small, wiry man with flinty eyes in a gray jumpsuit, holding a large blaster aimed at Gokuu's head, his finger on the trigger.

Peering around the blaster, Gokuu saw a grim-faced woman kneeling in the sand next to Theo, long dark hair wisped around her face, cradling Theo's head in her hands. "Who's that?"

"None of your business," Dron snapped, the muzzle of the gun following Gokuu's movements.

A blurred motion abruptly whipped the weapon out the of spacer's hands; at the same time Dron was flung backwards, landing hard on his shoulder, hitting the packed sand with some force. He grunted and rolled to his side, recovered quickly and drew another pistol from his jumpsuit as he rose in a crouch – only to meet Vejiita's penetrating gaze burning into his. The Saiyan stood a scant meter in front of the spacer, holding his blaster in one hand.

"Put it down," Vejiita ordered, his voice silky and quiet, "unless you want me to do this to you." He balanced Dron's blaster on the palm of his hand; a sudden gust of chi disintegrated the weapon, leaving nothing but a slight black residue.

Dron, still in a half-crouch, let his pistol drop from suddenly nerveless fingers.

A cold smile touched Vejiita's lips. He held the spacer's gaze for a few moments more, then turned his attention from him to the woman who had been kneeling next to Theo. While he was occupied with the male, this female had managed to pull Theo upright, had slung the Guardian over one shoulder and was apparently going to spirit her away. The woman's expression was openly hostile and angry as she stared at Vejiita, staggering a bit under Theo's weight.

"Put her down," the prince commanded in a tone that brooked no disobedience, nodding his head toward Theo.

"Go to hell," the woman spit at him, clutching Theo's knees closer to her body, her green eyes snapping fire.

"I've been there," Vejiita drawled, his eyebrows drawing together as he stared at her, glowering. "It's pretty dull. Now – you have one last chance to save your miserable hide." He leaned forward slightly and enunciated every word clearly. "Put – my – telepath — down – NOW." An ominous ball of blue chi was forming in his left hand, stray pieces of energy crackling up and down his arm.

"Your telepath?" Allyssa bristled.

A large body inserted itself between Vejiita and the woman. "No – Vejiita, wait!" Gokuu exclaimed as he shouldered his way in front of the prince, effectively blocking Vejiita's left hand. "Remember? We saw her protect Theo earlier against those big rocks. And then she yelled at those creatures, making them fire at her instead of Theo." He looked seriously at Allyssa and nodded. "She's been trying to save Theo since we first saw her. She's no threat to us or Theo."

"Kakarotto, what are you doing? Get out of my way, you imbecile!" Vejiita snarled as he reached out with both hands to snag Gokuu's gi and fling him as far away from himself as he possibly could. His ball of chi immediately dissipated, bleeding harmlessly into the ground.

"No – Vejiita, wait –"

"Allyssa, what are you doing?"

Both Gokuu and Vejiita stopped grappling and turned their heads toward the source of the new voice, surprised.

A small woman with bright red hair sprinted across the sand, closely followed by Trunks and Piccolo, her slight figure highlighted by the morning sun, her tunic flapping loosely against her skin. She ignored the Saiyans completely as she ran over to the warrior woman, indignation and fear chasing across her face. "What do you think you're doing? You can't do this! Where are you going with Mama? Is she all right? I don't understand—"

Allyssa's face turned pale. "Elyse, what the hell ...? Get out of the way!" she barked as she grabbed the younger woman's arm and shoved Elyse behind her. "You shouldn't be here!" Her eyes darted back and forth as she realized the senshi were circling around her, bringing her to bay like a pack of wolves. Oh, man, this is really bad, she thought grimly as she stepped back several paces.

"Mama?" Vejiita repeated, his eyes narrowing as he turned toward the retreating Gant. Mama?

"What are you doing, Allyssa?" Elyse asked again, perturbed. "I don't under—"

"Shut UP, Elyse!" Allyssa ground out between her teeth, staring at the narrowing circle of Earth senshi in front of her, frantically searching for a way out. "Just shut up and let me think!"

"Don't be so bossy, Allyssa – they won't hurt us – he won't allow it! Will you?" Elyse beckoned to Trunks with her free hand, her eyes large and imploring, complete and total trust in her gaze. "He saved me!"

Allyssa looked at the young man in front of her and groaned inwardly – what a time to fall for a pretty face, Elyse. "Yes, Elyse, he's lovely, but he won't—"

"Uh … No. No, of course I won't let anyone hurt you," Trunks stammered, trotting over to Elyse's outstretched hand. Color ran across his face as he gave her a gentle smile, then turned his back to stand elbow to elbow with Allyssa against the other Saiyans.

The Gant warrior stared down at the lavender haired boy, skepticism and doubt clearly marring her expression. "What … is this? You're one of them – and you going to help us?"

Trunks looked back at her, baffled yet poised. "Well, I guess I'm 'one of them;' but I saved her from those other creatures, and now … I have an obligation. She asked me to come with her to see about her mother." He took a quick look around Allyssa's back. "This is her mother you're holding, yes? Is she all right?"

Before Allyssa could answer, Vejiita broke in. "What are you doing out here?" he asked Trunks, suspicion coloring his tone. "I thought you were supposed to be guarding your mother and her equipment."

Trunks turned to his father. "Kuririn's doing that now. I felt something really gigantic, otousan – a colossal chi – and knew someone was in danger," he replied with a shrug. "It felt as though everyone was in danger. I had to come out."

They were, boy, they were, thought Piccolo, and if it wasn't for your father … His mind refused to wrap around that thought again, shying away from it.

"Otousan?" Elyse squeaked, peering around Allyssa's side at Vejiita, then looking back to Trunks. "Otousan? You mean that man's your—"

Allyssa's eyes widened as the implications of what Elyse was saying hit home. Otousan? For that boy? The one that Elyse likes?

"Hey – you're Theo's daughter, aren't you?" Gokuu asked, his broad shoulders pushing in front of Vejiita again as he walked over toward Allyssa. "You look just like her, did you know that? Just as pretty. Your eyes are just like hers, too. How do they do that spinning thing, where all the colors turn together?"

Allyssa turned and glowered at him; Elyse blinked in surprise. "Um … well, yes, I'm her daughter … my name's Elyse," she murmured shyly, peering around Allyssa. "And … my eyes just… do that," she continued, cocking her head and directly at Gokuu, her voice getting stronger. "I don't know why. Mama says that when we get upset or excited that they spin faster."

"They're really pretty. I've never seen eyes like yours or your mother's before," Gokuu said, completely sincere. He looked at her searchingly and continued, "And I'll bet you've never seen people like us before, either. Did you say that Trunks saved you?"

"Is that your name?" Elyse murmured to the lavender haired Saiyan. As he nodded at her, she gushed to Gokuu, "Oh, yes – he saved me from those awful creatures! They were all around me, and I couldn't get away – but then he just appeared out of nowhere—" and she gave him a dazzling smile, "and cut them all down with his sword! Oh, you should have seen it, Allyssa," she said to the Gant, tugging on her free arm, "he was magnificent! I don't know how many there were – six, or seven, or eight – and then suddenly, there were none in front of us. They were all lying dead on the ground. It was amazing!"

"Not as amazing as how it really happened," Vejiita muttered to himself, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Allyssa's eyes met the prince's gaze for a moment – he knows, she thought dismally. Then the larger Saiyan claimed her attention once again.

"Look," he began sincerely to Allyssa and Elyse, "we aren't trying to frighten you. We don't want to hurt you, or Theo, or anyone here. We were just trying to protect her – to make sure that she didn't get hurt. And we did." Gokuu frowned, shifting his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "But then she told me something I don't understand – she said that she killed everyone here. I don't get how it happened – not really – "

Allyssa closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and looked at Gokuu. The man's face seemed to be as genuine and truthful as any she had ever seen. He's not trying to trick me at all, she thought, surprised, he really does mean what he says. He tried to save Theo from those other beasts, he doesn't understand what happened, and he's not trying to kill us.

"All right. I believe you," she said to Gokuu, swallowing in a dry throat.

Gokuu looked at her, nodding. "We really don't mean any harm," he said. "What happened here?"

"It's a long story," she said, shifting Theo's weight again on her shoulder and pivoting smoothly on the ball of her foot. "But – it's one that she could not have survived without your help." Allyssa looked meaningfully at Elyse, nodding imperceptibly toward the TARDIS; the younger Guardian stared at her a moment, shook her head fiercely, then scowled, her shoulders slumping.

This could actually work, she thought wildly, trying to keep her heart from thumping out of her chest. If only Elyse doesn't let on to that boy …

Allyssa started walking in the general direction of the TARDIS, nodding for Gokuu and Trunks to come with her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Dron start to pace her in back of the warrior's circle. Vejiita stayed where he was, scowling.

Aloud, she continued smoothly, "Theo always seems to get into situations that are over her head, and then – heh – I have to come in and rescue her. But we were fortunate that YOU were able to do that for us." Allyssa turned a brilliant smile to both Gokuu and Trunks as they meandered forward, her eyes watching as Elyse slithered around the rocks and debris on the desert floor to the front door of the TARDIS.

Oh thank god, she got it, she knows …

"But now that we have her, we can take care of things from here," Allyssa nodded, smiling, now backing up toward the open TARDIS door, concealed by its rock disguise.

Just a few more paces, and then we’ll be home free …

She watched Dron slink closer to the door as she said, "Thanks so much for keeping her safe, though. We'll be leaving—"

"I don't think so," declared a cold voice behind her.

Allyssa froze in place, petrified. She slowly turned to find the Saiyan prince standing directly in her path to the TARDIS and salvation, a dangerous gleam in his eyes.

Allyssa tried to speak, but realized she had no voice; her proximity to Vejiita robbed her of her ability to speak.

"She stays," he said, his tone and manner uncompromising.

Allyssa swallowed and said weakly, "I don't see where you have—"

"She nearly killed everyone here," Vejiita continued, his voice cold and hard, the force of his personality withering any dissension near it. "She has the ability to that anytime she wants. She will NOT get that opportunity again. Ever."

His gaze bored into Allyssa, pinning her to the spot. "She stays. And I'll take her now."

With that, he slipped his arm under Theo's body and hauled her from Allyssa's shoulder to his own, still keeping his gaze centered on the woman warrior. He handled Theo as though she was a rag doll, flopping her across one shoulder, then settling her in place.

Mine, Allyssa could have sworn she heard in her mind. She is mine.

Allyssa snapped her mouth closed and stared at him. "Very well," she said, acquiescing to his demand. "We will stay for a little while."

"Don't misunderstand me," Vejiita said, raising one eyebrow. "I don't care if the rest of you stay or go. This woman, however, stays."

A short silence greeted that announcement. "But … but we can't go anywhere without Mama," Elyse said in a small voice.

"Then I suppose you'll be coming with us," Vejiita retorted, staring at the young Guardian. She pursed her lips, but remained silent. Vejiita smiled sardonically at her.

"And we should leave this place pretty soon, too," Piccolo said, looking around. "We should not be here when other people see this battlefield."

"You're right, Piccolo," Gokuu agreed. "We should be moving." The warrior cocked his head and looked around, baffled. "Now where did Gohan get to?"

"I'm over here, otousan," a familiar voice called. "I've been looking around at the rest of the site, since everyone here seemed to have things under control."

"Did you find anything?" his sensei asked, watching the Saiyan touch down on the ground.

"No," he sighed. "Only a lot of dead … eh … whatever those things are. Were. Nothing else, really. But it's odd," he mused. "I felt this really strange energy pulse not too long ago – and then it just disappeared."

Piccolo shrugged. "That's happened an awful lot today. I wouldn't worry about it." He looked around at their little group and asked, "Well? Are we going back now?"

Allyssa snorted at him. "We'll just follow you on the ground. I really don't like to—"

"Wait!" Elyse exclaimed, frowning at the Gant again. "Allyssa, what're you doing? Have you forgotten? We don't have to walk – let's just take the TARDIS, it's right here!" And she pointed at the large red boulder directly behind Vejiita.

The gaze of the Earth senshi followed Elyse's pointing finger. They all stared at the rock, bewildered.

"Um … but that's just a rock," Gohan said, puzzled. "How can we travel on a rock? Do you want everyone to sit on top of it, and then I'll carry it to our place?"

Allyssa's face had turned completely white, and she appeared to have stopped breathing altogether. As she stared at Elyse in stunned disbelief, the only phrase running through her mind was I can't believe you said that … I can't believe you said that… I can't believe it …

Dron was standing next to Allyssa. He could almost smell the fear coming from her.

"No, no, it's not just a rock," Elyse explained, beaming at Trunks and Gokuu, completely oblivious to Allyssa's consternation. "It's a TARDIS – it's the way we travel around different planets and between the stars. We're travelers, you know," she finished proudly. "We've been almost everywhere there is to go."

"Really?" drawled Vejiita, interested. "You've been everywhere in the universe?"

… and if they didn't know before, they certainly know now… Allyssa thought, hopeless. "Elyse—" she started, a warning implicit in that one word.

The young Guardian bobbed her red head warily at the Saiyan as she gestured for everyone to follow her into the TARDIS, ignoring Allyssa. "Oh, yes, quite," she said. "Mama, Allyssa and I have been traveling for years. We go everywhere together. It's a lot of fun. We actually came here on a vacation. But," she said, musing, "this hasn't turned out quite the way I expected."

Allyssa sagged toward the ground; Dron caught her in time and supported her, slipping a small explosives pack into her hand. "For later," he whispered in her ear, his eyes roving to see if anyone saw the exchange.

No one did. Allyssa clutched the pack like a lifeline.

Elyse stopped at the side of the boulder and said, "Now watch your step as you go in, please. It's a bit narrow to begin with, but you'll see – there's plenty of room for everyone."

"Oh, you mean this is your ship," Gokuu said, happy that he finally understood, patting the boulder with his hand. "But – how do you travel inside this rock? Is there a lot of it underground?"

Elyse grinned at him, a charming picture of red curls and brilliant eyes. "Go on in – you'll see."

"Well, all right," Gokuu said good-naturedly, stooping to go through the door. "But I don't see how –" Suddenly his voice took on a hollow timbre as he exclaimed, "Piccolo! Gohan! Vejiita! You're not going to believe this! This ship is bigger on the INSIDE than the OUTSIDE!"

"What?" Gohan said, frowning, standing outside the door. "How can that be? That's impossible!"

"Why don't you go in and see?"

The tall Saiyan also stooped to go through the doorway; his gasp of surprise was audible outside the vessel. "I – I can't believe this! I've never seen anything like it!"

Trunks and Elyse walked into the TARDIS next; Vejiita gestured impatiently with his free hand for Allyssa and Dron to go in, snapping, "You're next."

Allyssa glared at him as she and Dron disappeared through the doorway.

Only Piccolo and Vejiita were left. As the Namekian gestured for Vejiita to precede him into the ship, he looked at Theo and commented, "Hn. You were with her when she tried to kill us all. I saw it. You saved us all …"

Vejiita scowled. "Just shut up."

Piccolo continued as if Vejiita had never spoken, "…and you know her very well."

Vejiita narrowed his eyes at the green warrior and bit out, "Yes. So what?"

The Namek nodded to the woman slung over the Saiyan's shoulder. "Do you believe she's a threat?"

Vejiita snorted, amused, "Not around me, she isn't." He walked into the spaceship without another word, Theo's limp body swinging gently back and forth.

The shuttle was loaded with its cargo and was moving through the Alerian Sink without mishap. The extra weight had been programmed into the ship's databanks, but it still made maneuvering difficult, even with a ship as small as the shuttle. Large vent tubes belching quantities of uranium hexafluoride had to be avoided in the Sink, as the corrosive potential of that gas was without limit; one it touched the hull, it would not stop until it had eaten through the hull, meaning that there would be a full blown hull breach anywhere the gas had come in contact with the shuttle.

Nodding his satisfaction with the mission, the captain felt he could relax a few moments and savor the memory of the absolute fright that human, Lieutenant Grant, had shown. There was something to be said for inspiring such abject fear; the man's face had turned a satisfying shade of purple when the issue about the Time Lord had been pushed – and he had agreed to procure her for them. Much better – much, much better than having to find the damned woman themselves. It was doable, but the planet was huge. Grant, on the other hand, had local contacts all over the planet.

And through the Time Lord, he thought with particular viciousness, we'll get her vessel. She was important, valuable – the destroyer of his race, brought to justice by his own hands – but her vessel was also important. She would be the means of their unending supply of energy, while her ship – ah, her ship would take them through the galaxy, riding on the time winds, visiting the past, present and future of every planet imaginable. They would be the ultimate conquerors, insuring the perpetuation of the silicone species at the expense of the biologics again and again and again.

Immortality was within their grasp.

"The captain has signaled that they are currently on their return trajectory, and will be in a communications blackout until they clear the atmosphere of the planet."

"Aye. Carry on, navigator."

The officer in charge slumped in the captain's seat, bored beyond belief. He had returned to the bridge from his laboratory, bringing several large pieces of odd looking machinery with him. He had teased and tweaked the circuits mercilessly, probing them to give up their secrets; only after numerous tries with different pieces of equipment had he been able to puzzle out exactly what this piece of 'liberated' machinery was.

It was a gun. Specifically, it was a large time gun.

"And sir? Sir? Here are the readouts on that anomalous energy reading. It appeared again, sir, stronger than the last time. It seems to be fairly quiet right now … if you'd like, we can pinpoint the source for you …"

"Yes, fine … do whatever." The officer sighed and accepted the information, vowing to do nothing until the REAL captain returned. After all, decisions like this were best left to the captain, no matter what –

The data whipped across his personal screen on the comm chair. He squinted at it; years of data analysis made habitual perusal of data second nature to him. However, when he actually saw this data – watched the entire data set on the comm screen – he started to tremble as if he were in an earthquake.

"No," he whispered to himself, "this can't be. This can't be." In a louder, more strident voice, he demanded, "Pull up the last anomalous event, and match these readings to every event previous to it. And put that information on the main screens."

"Aye, sir," the navigator replied, his solid fingers flying across the console. In a matter of moments, data was scrolling across the holographic screen in four different quadrants around the console.

"There!" shouted the officer, pointing one granite finger at the holographic display. "Navigator, stop the scroll and overlap the sources!"

The navigator complied, smoothly merging several data streams into one large, composite stream. Highlighted numbers blinked rapidly, indicating complete convergence at a certain value.

The officer in charge leaned forward, his helmet ablaze with light as he recognized the signal –

– the Time Lord.

The destroyer of his race. The murderer of his people. The slayer of his children, his wife, his family. The slaughterer of millions. She was there, on the planet below him, waiting for capture –

-or death.

"Death it is!" he snarled aloud, his eyes fixed on the numbers in front of him. "Navigator, take a reading on the current location of the anomalous energy reading. Continue doing that until the reading comes to rest for approximately 5 standard minutes within a 100 meter radius. Notify me when this happens."

"Aye, sir," the navigator replied, mystified.

"And you – engineer – you come with me," he ordered crisply, motioning to the equipment next to the comm chair. "Bring these pieces with you. There are more in my quarters – we will stop there and bring them with us."

"Bring them where, sir?"

The officer in charge turned his granite head and regarded the engineer with an unblinking stare. "Why, we're going to the gun bay, engineer. We have some equipment that needs to be tested, and testing very quickly."

"Sir? I don't recall the captain leaving any orders about equipment testing …"

"Are you questioning me, Lieutenant?"

"No, sir," the officer allowed, shaking his large head. "The captain left you in charge of the ship."

"Fine, then," the officer in charge said with a feral grin. "Let's get moving."

"You … you … travel this way? All the time?"

Elyse grinned at Gokuu as she set the coordinates on the control panel. "Yep, we travel this way all the time. It's very comfortable."

"Wow," Gokuu said, gawking around him. Everything was so wide, so spacious, so … so very white. "Vejiita, why don't we take a look at the rest of the ship –"

"No, baka! No one's going anywhere where I can't see them," the older Saiyan said irritably, glaring at Gokuu. "You just stay right here and be happy where you are."

Gokuu sighed and went back to gawking at his surroundings.

Trunks and Gohan were standing side by side next to Elyse as she ran the control panel and chattered away, showing them everything they ever needed to know about running a TARDIS through local weather and time streams.

"…and see this little thing? We can always tell exactly where we are, because this keeps our position relative to Gallifrey …"

Trunks and Gohan were smiling and nodding politely, but neither truly understood what Elyse was saying. Piccolo was standing near the TARDIS front door, watching everything and saying nothing.

Dron and Allyssa tried to squeeze past the control console and through the doorway that led to the rest of the TARDIS, only to be thwarted by Vejiita. The muscular Saiyan had positioned himself in front of the door on the opposite side of the console room, correctly assuming it was an entrance to the rest of the vessel.

"Please … let us pass. If you give me Theo, I can have her lay down somewhere more comfortable than the floor of this room. You can come with us, to make sure we don't do anything you don't like." Allyssa hated asking the Saiyan for anything at all; but she wanted Theo to be treated well, so she bit back her pride and asked.

"No," he said, glaring at her. "She stays here, right on the floor where I put her. And you're going to stay where I can see you. No running off into another section of this vessel. Now back off."

Sullenly she complied, scowling blackly at the prince, moving over toward Elyse and the control panel. Dron followed, backing away from Vejiita.

Gokuu wandered over and stood next to Vejiita, still staring at the dimensions of the room. Vejiita shook his head and sighed, thinking it's a good think Kakarotto wasn't born earlier than he was – he probably would have a technician and single-handedly been responsible for the fall of the Saiyan kingdom.

"Why is the ship bigger on the inside than the outside?" Gokuu wondered aloud, looking at Elyse.

"Because it's transcendentally dimensional," Elyse replied with a smile. "This is a TARDIS – that means "Time and Relative Dimensions in Space" machine."

"Oh," Gokuu said, digesting that information.

Time? Vejiita thought to himself, keeping his face expressionless as he watched the young Guardian at the controls. This is a time machine? The Guardians travel through time?

He glanced down at Theo, a sardonic smile playing around his lips. Heh … you do have a lot of explaining to do, woman. You never told me you could time travel. So that's how you escaped ...

"Vejiita …" Gokuu started hesitantly, turning his head toward the prince, rubbing the back of his neck. "Can I ask you something?"

The other Saiyan sighed and looked at him with exasperation. "What is it?"

Gokuu nodded toward Theo's body curled up on the tiles of the floor. "I heard her outside."

Vejiita snorted. "Well? What of it? We all heard her, baka. We aren't deaf."

Gokuu continued, ignoring Vejiita's jibes. "She called you ouji-sama, Vejiita. How'd she know you were a prince?"

Vejiita was momentarily surprised. So, he does think sometimes … "Heh. Because I know her, baka," Vejiita replied irritably, as if it was the most obvious fact in the world.

"But Vejiita – how do you know her?" Gokuu pressed, scratching his head, perplexed.

Vejiita's eyes narrowed in annoyance as he glared at Gokuu. "Is it any of your business how I know her? Or how she knows me?"

"No, I suppose not," Gokuu said with equanimity. "But it sure is curious …"

Turning back to stare at Theo, the prince said, almost to himself, "I was a child at the time. Before the destruction of our planet. Before Freeza—" The expression in Vejiita's eyes was distant, as if he was seeing something from years past; he shook his head, stared down at the Guardian on the floor and prodded her gently with his foot. "I thought she had died with the rest of them."

"With the rest of wh—," Gokuu started, but was cut off by Vejiita's frown and his sudden question. "And why are you here, woman?" he snapped at Allyssa as he caught her gazing at him. "Why did you come to this planet?"

"Don't you remember?" she replied in a surly voice, her green eyes glaring at Vejiita. "Elyse explained everything – we came here on vacation."

Any response Vejiita would have made to Allyssa was forestalled by the stirring of Theo at his feet.

Oh, my god, I was hit by a train …

Pain roiled around her body, enough pain so that she sought the elusive safety and comfort of unconsciousness – but her psyche hunted in vain. Her body was not cooperating, and she was stuck in that twilight world immediately before awakening.

… and it ran over my chest and cut my head in two …

She felt every muscle in her body, and each one had its own peculiar twinge. Working with power always left her feeling weak and achy, especially if she didn't work with her mother or Stranna; but never in her entire life could she remember channeling so much power. Now it felt like the backwash from a blast furnace had ripped through her body and mind and scoured her clean, purifying her.

… after setting my lungs on fire.

For what, she didn't know, and it made little difference; the pain was all the same, no matter the reason. Purified or no, she was still left feeling burnt and empty, throbbing with remembered agony. It felt as if fire had run through her chest, down her arms and lanced from her fingertips, leaving nothing but a blistered path in its wake.

Some foreign object was thumping into a soft part of her body with an insistence that was irritating. As she rose toward full consciousness, part of her was vaguely curious – her grifton should have started the psychic healing process by this time, and here she was, still in pain. And take that nasty thing away from my side, too, she thought, aggravated.

But there was no answer to her silent call. Oh, well .. where is … where …? At first puzzled, and then frantic, she reached out to find … nothing. The warm, comfortable, reassuring presence that had been closeted in the back of her mind since she reached puberty was gone.

No … this can't be happening, she thought in desperation, groping in the blackness for something that had vanished. A brief memory sputtered in her mind, one of strings, thousands and thousands of strings hanging in the air …

She opened her eyes a scant centimeter, trying to determine where she was and who was with her. Suddenly a white booted foot swung directly in front of her and thudded into her abdomen, causing her to gasp in surprise, her eyes opening wide.

"Ah, you're awake now," a masculine baritone said. "Good."

Without warning Theo's head was yanked up from the floor as long fingers threaded through her hair. A whimpered protest died on her lips as she found herself staring helplessly at Vejiita, his face centimeters away from hers.

"I like my property awake and alert," the prince said, a mocking smile playing around his lips. He watched her reaction, his fingers firmly splayed about her head supporting her weight as he said, "Get up, woman - and pay attention to your master. You have a lot of explaining to do."