Uriel had Ryan's hand in hers, guiding him through the crowds as alarms blared around them. A pleasant female voice came in waves, chiding them to keep calm and evacuate via the escape pods in an orderly manner.<span style="color: #BF80FF"><span style="font-style: italic">"I don't know, Ryan. It sounds like there was an explosion in some part of the ship. We're going to evacuate to another one for now. Stay close to me."</span></span><br/><br/>-<br/><br/>"Sixty meters and getting warmer~" Gwendel said, guiding Kaiden from the safety of his own ship. "'You'll have to be clever to get them on the same escape pod as you,' is what I would say, but being clever is my job."<br/><br/>"How 'bout some orders, huh?" Kaiden whispered into the speaker in his wrist band. "I'm sort of on a time limit here."<br/><br/>"Just get within ten paces of them in the next sixty seconds. I hijacked their escape pods' programming, so I'll handle things from there."<br/><br/>Almost a meter per second in these crowds-- impossible. Kaiden put his fingers to his lips and gave just such a high-pitched whistle that...<br/><br/>-<br/><br/>A piercing sound rang through the air above the sirens and bustling bodies. To Uriel's ears, it was deafening and painful, and she slammed her hands over her ears to block it out. It was as bad as screaming, but with no force behind the sound.<span style="color: #BF80FF"><span style="font-style: italic">Where...</span></span>Her head was splitting.<span style="color: #BF80FF"><span style="font-style: italic">Where is it coming from?!</span></span><br/><br/>The sound stopped suddenly, and Uriel came back to her senses, again taking Ryan's hand.<span style="color: #BF80FF"><span style="font-style: italic">Damn. I'm wasting time. "Let's go, Ryan."</span></span><br/><br/>-<br/><br/>Ten paces away and unnoticed in the crowd, Kaiden suppressed a grin.<span style="font-style: italic">Thanks for staying still a minute.</span><br/><br/>"Clever <3" Gwendel grinned.<br/><br/>-<br/><br/>When the finally made it to the escape pods, officials were lining people up and depositing them in groups of seven to be evacuated. Ryan and Uriel had to pass through an arch that gave them a quick pass as guests of the Emperor. Uriel worried for a surprising number of Arondites around them, whose ICI's (invisible tattoos depicting their social security numbers) seemed to be malfunctioning. They had to be held back while their valid citizenship was confirmed. At last, a third person made it through to join them in the pod.<br/><br/>But then the doors closed, and the pod took off four people short, and it was headed in the wrong direction.<br/><br/>"Well well, isn't that strange?" Kaiden smirked, letting his tail out from under his shirt and unfolding his cat-like ears from the sides of his head.<br/><br/>The monitor at the front of the pod jumped to life, showing a grinning gray-haired man; an Elision, just like the one in the pod with them. "Sorry for the interruption. Your escape pod seems to have jettisoned improperly. In about ten minutes, you'll be docking on my ship for some repairs." The monitor died, then turned on again for another instant before dying: "In case you haven't realized: this is a rescue operation <3"