Gondola |
The moths have made it through the vortex and are skimming the surface of Fire.
Kai and Kai, perched precariously on the legs of the Moth, manage to destroy the
attackers' moths but their little ship has sustained too much damage and will
surely crash. Kai offers his condolences in his usual way, responding to Stan's
worries that they will die with "Stanley is right, the Moth will crash and you
will all die." Thanks then... Their moth terminally damaged, Fifi and Duke are also looking at a sandy end in the desert below them. The Moth crashes heavily and dies. As night draws in Fifi tries to persuade Duke to head towards a nearby(ish) city. Duke however is un-worried about their impending doom and says he's staying where he is. The city, Girltown, is the only place on the planet that they may not get killed by the inhabitants, Duke explains, but he says Fifi would not be very happy there. What this means, I don't know. Fifi is still inclined to try it anyway, after all they'll surely die if they stay here. He changes his mind however when Duke points out that to get to the city they'd have to walk across the "Red Hot Sea", an expanse of Lava-like rocks. Of course Fifi would probably be dead in an hour from the heat anyway. Duke also points out that Fifi's real torment will begin after he dies. And yet Duke does not seem unduly bothered by the fact that he too will die. Is Duke perhaps another being similar to Prince, whom death cannot stop..? The moth with our hero's in has finally plummeted gently to earth. The crew are unharmed but being out in the desert in the heat is not a good thing, and they must find somewhere to shelter. A shape on the horizon turns out to be a gondola which is luckily still in working order. It's pilot was obviously not so lucky however. Dead Kai manages to get the balloon inflated and it lifts off, but there is not enough lift to support all their weights. Dead Kai volunteers to walk instead, as he will be able to withstand the heat etc, being dead already. No-one attempts to stop him. Duke is meanwhile getting all Kharmic on Fifi's ass, telling him that his next life will be far worse that this one was - after all he found Duke and they will die together and Fifi will belong to Duke...forever. Sounds like a bit of soul selling has gone on there then. With Dead Kai wandering along the desert below, the gondola drifts higher and faster soon leaving him behind. Now that immediate danger is behind them, Xev takes Living Kai aside and questions him about his sudden appearance and similarity to Dead Kai. He is less than co-operative however, merely stating that "He is dead, whereas I am quite alive". As if to ensure that Xev doesn't miss what this means, he snuggles up to her. The moment is spoiled however when a voice breaks the silence. Fifi and Duke are below and Fifi is trying to grab their attention. Living Kai is keen to let them aboard, but Stan is vehemently against the idea, understandably. Bunny is too nice to express an opinion, or maybe too stoopid, believing Fifi's tale about not being involved in the moth attack; they were just trying to escape a storm when they crashed. Tchyeah, right. Bunny accidentally just about blows it for him, however, when she introduces him to Stan as Fifi, the one who stole the moths in the first place. She's apparently quite happy to see him, however. I think Bunny is just terminally happy. She's like those people who thinks they can cure the ills of the world with a nice cup of herbal tea and a big hug. If she wasn't living in Spandex heaven, she'd be in tie-dye, I swear it. Begging for forgiveness, Fifi manages to appeal to Bunny and Xev at least who, being girlie, vote to allow him aboard. With the tide of popular opinion against him, Stan has little choice but to give in even though he points out that the gondola didn't have enough fuel to carry Kai, let alone two extra people. Duke and Fifi are reluctantly allowed aboard the gondola. As he climbs aboard, Duke sees Living Kai. "You!?" he exclaims, and Living Kai responds with a nod: "Me". Perhaps Fifi also recognises Living Kai as he says "You're looking...better". Or perhaps he just means "You're looking less dead than you did in that black outfit, blue really brings out the colour of your eyes..." etc. etc. Stan's warning about the weight of all these people in the Gondola is being realised and the ship begins to sink lower and lower. Whilst the others are deciding what to do, Living Kai takes more decisive action. Without hesitation, he picks up his bow and Duke presents him with a nice big target, standing on the edge of the gondola with his arms outstretched. There is obviously some kind of understanding between these two as Duke appears quite happy to let Living Kai kill him, saying as he falls to the ground "there will be a next time...." "There always is" remarks Kai. Far behind, following over the scorching sand, Dead Kai sees someone fall out of the balloon, but he's too far away to see who it is. He continues on his way. As the sun sets over Fire, the air becomes tolerably cooler. The gentle winds push the gondola ever closer to the distant city and the weary travellers sit and wait. Perhaps because they have escaped it so many times already today, the conversation turns to talk of death. First though, they have to get over the concept of "birth". Fifi and Bunny cannot quite grasp this idea, not being able to understand about being born, or mothers. They just woke up, remember? Xev and Stan try to explain about children etc. but Bunny and Fifi's blank faces soon cause them to give up trying. Even though Duke is gone, the gondola is still overweight and as the wind drops it again sinks lower over the desert sand. Discussions quickly turn to who should be chucked out next, with Fifi attracting Stan's enthusiastic vote. Xev agrees that Fifi should be next, even though she doesn't like having to make the decision, but Bunny volunteers to go over the side herself. She'd rather sacrifice herself than vote for someone else to die. See? I told you she was too nice for her own good... Stan won't hear of it though and he and Xev suddenly try to bundle Fifi over the side. Fifi grabs on to the side of the gondola, hanging precariously over the burning sand, but is luckily (for him) reprieved as the gondola starts to rise again on a stronger wind. Climbing back on board he straps himself in to stop anyone trying to throw him over again. Stan and Xev concede that he can stay. For now. Night is drawing in and the crew decide to get some rest. For some reason they allow Living Kai to take first watch. Not sure I would have done that, but hey, it's their decision. They fall asleep. All, that is except Fifi, who subtely approaches Living Kai keeping watch across the desert. Fifi urges Living Kai to have his wicked way with our lovely Love Slave, but Living Kai is too intent on keeping watch. Trying another tack, Fifi confronts Living Kai about Duke's death. "There was something going on", he accuses. Kai denies this, calling Fifi selfish and self centered, but then virtually admits it by suddenly asking Fifi to make a deal. Fifi thinks... Living Kai takes up Fifi's suggestion and picks his way across the gondola towards Xev. Waking her, he tells her he wants to be close to her. Big Girls Blouse. He should have said "Here's 10p, call your mum, you're not gonna be home tonight". Just wanting to check his credentials, she asks if he is alive. To which he replies by taking her hand and putting on his..erm...codpiece! References checked, Xev's eyes widen, intrigued by his manly blue toga and girly hair no doubt, and has no qualms when he says "Do you want me?" She answers, rather predictably, "Yes". Living Kai wastes no time; he strips off his toga and says "Then I am yours..." Love moment #2 is ruined by the horrible death of Bunny. She screams as she plummets over the side into the inferno below, and guess who's standing at the edge, just next to where she went over? That's right, it's our Fifi. Did he push her, or did she, as he explains, kill herself to save them? "It was something she's been wanting to do for a while now," he says, as if she considered it in the same way she considered decorating the kitchen. The crew have no choice but to believe him. The gondola has finally neared civilisation (for want of a better word). The wind pushes them towards a small cluster of tower cities, but as they approach one arrows rain down on the balloon, puncturing it. As the gondola almost plummets the desperate crew manage to steer it towards one of the defensive spikes that stick out from the walls of the tower, encircling it at regular intervals. Skewered, hundreds of feet in the air but at least still alive, the hapless bunch manage to climb onto the spike before the gondola slides off and crashes to the burning sands below. Everyone looks a little stumped as to what to do next until Xev volunteers to climb the rocky face of the tower to go and get help. From the people who shot the balloon down in the first place. Perhaps Xev had been hanging a little too closely with Bunny...? Xev is better suited to this kind of environment than the others, being part lizard, so she goes alone climbing steadily upwards towards the top of the tower. Stan, Living Kai and Fifi are left twiddling their thumbs on the spike platform. Perhaps to break the boredom - just for a laugh - Living Kai and Fifi let slip about their "deal". Stan is becoming slightly concerned - understandably so seeing as he's hundreds of feet in the air alone with what have just turned out to be schemeing murdering bastards. He's also confused as to why Kai...Living Kai granted, but still Kai, is acting like this. The answer is of course, that he's not Kai at all. He's Prince. Yes, everyone's favourite peroxided villian, Prince, can reincarnate in whatever form he chooses. He chose Kai - to gain Stan's trust and seduce Xev into helping him, no doubt. Nasty gorgeous, pre-raphaelite sexy Kai-alike Prince is also intimidating Stan into walking bakwards, towards the end of the Spike. Kai/Prince has great pleasure in scaring Stan silly, saying "Your real pain will being after your death." As his nerves get the better of him, Stan cries out in fear, Prince driving the point home with "I'm good with pain!" Xev hears him from her handholds higher up the wall, and immediately transforms into her cluster lizard form and rolls back down the wall. Xev lands at speed, distracting Fifi long enough for Stan to push him over the side and also unbalancing Kai/Prince. Just desserts and no mistake, Guv'nor. As Kai/Prince hangs by his cuticles from the spike, Stan gabbles to Xev that Kai is Prince pretending to be Kai. "Don't believe him Xev" begs Kai/Prince, giving her those big puppy-dog eyes. But our Xev is not to be fooled twice; "But I do believe him" she says calmly, and kicks him over the edge. "The real Kai would have been a better kisser!" As Prince plummets to his fiery grave (and we have to wonder for how long will he stay in it), Xev turns to the over-grateful Stan. "Are you the real Stan?" she interrogates. "What?" says Stan, taken aback. Then, in a move that only the real Stan could make, he asks "Do you want to kiss me, and find out?" She should already know, but she kisses him anyway just to be sure. "You're the real one" she concludes, as they perch perilously over hundreds of feet of scorching air. And in the distance, the real Kai is walking steadily onwards towards the stony tower. |
