Whether or not the inmates of Astiria knew it, today was shipment day. But unlike all the other shipments that had come for the last fifty years since crossbreeds started being exiled here, this one was far more incredible. Up in the sky, over the traditional dropping zone, the delivery shuttle was preparing to enter the atmosphere. They wouldn't land-- oh no! Who's to say what the crossbreeds might try if they actually landed? They would merely enter the atmosphere so that the supplies would land safely when dropped.<br/><br/>Now then, onto a more interesting topic; interns. They can really screw things up sometimes-- especially the ones that listen to music as they work, you have to watch out for those. Well naturally, one job that interns regularly aid in is cleaning: floors, bathrooms, windows, etcetera. But cleaning windows on a space shuttle? Well of course, you have to take down the metal casing on the inside, to clean the layer of glass beneath. Leave it to an intern to leave those metal plates open.<br/><br/>Sure, something like that might be fine when they're in outer space, it's still airtight. But with his music blasting in his ears, the intern didn't hear the announcement that they were about to enter Astiria's atmosphere. The glass was sturdy enough (being built for space travel) that it didn't shatter, but it gave all that friction heat a nice way into the shuttle. If you'd ever wondered what it would look like for a person to evaporate, try exposing them to those temperatures, it's rather fascinating. Nothing living even left a trace of itself on the ship. The only things to remain were inanimate objects (the ones built for space travel, and the supplies, being in sealed packages). There was no one to steer the ship. It didn't stop like it normally would, and the supplies wasn't ejected as it should have been. No, the entire craft made an emergency crash-landing on Astiria, right where the deliveries would normally go. To think, all one had to do was find a way to open the door, and they were free!<br/><br/>--------------------<br/><br/>Through gaps in the trees, Ikuto could see something large and gray moving slowly through the sky. It had to be the delivery ship. The Neko hopped easily from his branch and landed lightly on his feet. He wasn't looking for anything particular in the shipment today, but if he saw something useful he may as well claim it. Of course, to do that, he'd have to get to the drop site before it was too crowded. The boy was hardly half-way to the drop site before there was a loud boom and the ground quaked. He gasped in surprise and fell over on his backside. What kind of shipment made that kind of noise?! In a heart beat, Ikuto was back on his feet and running toward the drop site. His breath heaved in his chest but he stopped cold as soon as he could see what had happened.<br/><br/>Ikuto's eyes widened and his tail stopped moving. "But that's--!"<br/><br/>---------------------<br/><br/>Gwendel had been focused on his math problems, so he hadn't seen the ship while it would still have been visible to him. He heard the crash though.. felt it too. It was like a meteor had hit, or an earth quake had struck or something. The ground shook and the Graecian Neko was tossed to the side. The shaking stopped and the man pushed himself up onto his elbow. His Graecian genes dictated that he couldn't frown, but his mouth line had leveled out as much as possible at the shock. His perpetually half-opened eyes had also done the best they could to widen.<br/><br/>Gwendel found his glasses, which had fallen when he did, and put them back on, looking around as if expecting to see what had caused the recent tremors. An idea came to him when he realized that the sound had come from the general direction of the dropping site, and he hurried off to investigate.<br/><br/>Stopping cold just as Ikuto did, Gwendel gazed at the gray monster laying in a crater before him. "It's the--!"<br/><br/>------------------------<br/><br/>There were few trees where Nakutaro was to block his view. He could see the ship in the sky, descending slowly toward the ground. It was at times like this that he was glad for the human element in his genes. Had he been entirely sand person, he wouldn't have been able to see with his eyes, and anything disconnected to the ground would be invisible to him. But he could see the ship clearly, and it looked to him like it was descending a bit farther than it should.<br/><br/>The ship disappeared beneath the treeline and was lost from view for a moment. Then came a loud boom and a terrible shaking. Nakutaro remained standing upright, his own body moving with the earth's quaking rather than against it like more organic life forms. He could see it now. As soon as the ship made contact with the ground he could see it perfectly. It was much bigger than it had looked from the sky, and there were many rooms and such inside. Nakutaro could tell that others were already going to investigate, and he also began making his way toward the grounded shuttle. As soon as it was within visual range again he stopped and confirmed what he was unaware that those around him were thinking.<br/><br/>"It's the delivery ship," he said in his quiet voice.