"You are the best." The Lander was the tallest person Natsue had ever seen. He strode slowly up and down the assembled line of candidates, dark eyes flickering over each in turn. "The best, of the worst," he continued. "As the Landers stand above all others in our world, above the huddled masses of nobodies. You have set yourselves apart from the rest of the rabble by coming here and passing the tests we have given you." Natsue forced himself not to tremble as the man walked in front of him. The Lander Captain's black coat rustled as he paused. Natsue could feel his heart beating urgently as he met the Lander's stare. It was all he could do not to sigh with relief when the Captain moved on. "And you are here because you want to join us." He wheeled and cast his gaze over the rough score of candidates, all clad in the brief ragged workout clothes provided for the tests. "A worthy endeavor, to be sure. And all of you have accounted well for yourselves, or I would not be speaking to you like this." Natsue didn't feel brave enough even to turn his head--yet he had the distinct feeling that Akie, next to him, was smirking at the Lander's words. Competition always seemed to bring something out in her--a fire that even scared *him* sometimes. "But the way is not done." The Lander stalked out in front of them and sent a glare back and forth across the line. Natsue concentrated on the feel of his heart pounding fear through his veins. "There are two major tests that must be passed to gain access to our elite community." Two guards behind the Captain crossed their arms. "Tomorrow the next test will be administered. Tonight, you shall all sleep here." He glanced around the bare wooden room. "Sleep, and listen to the night, and reflect on why you are here. Why *we* are here." With a swirl of his long coat, the Lander turned and strode through the door, closing it with a hollow bang behind him. The two guards didn't move. After a few moments, the candidates began to look at each other. Low conversations broke out. Natsue finally exhaled and rubbed at his eyes. "Well, that's disappointing. I thought we were going to go through the whole thing tonight." Natsue turned and smiled. Akie grinned back at him, her eyes alight. "I can't wait to get started on the training," she continued. Natsue looked around, watching the other candidates gravitate to the sides of the room, away from the exposed center. "Assuming we make it, Sis," he replied. Akie snorted and opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off by a loud shriek. Both siblings turned and stared at the source of the exclamation. "Where are the BEDS?!?" Most of the candidates had gathered into small groups, but one young woman was standing in the middle of the room with what could only be described as a petulant expression on her face. She marched up to the guards and crossed her arms under her breasts. "Well?" the young woman demanded. One of the guards snorted loudly. The other sneered at her. "Did you think becoming a Lander was going to be a picnic, sweet thing?" he said. "You're not leavin' this room until morning. Sleep, stand around, we don't care *what* you do. But," he cracked his knuckles, "annoying *us* is not a good idea." The girl opened her mouth again, but another man grabbed her arm and pulled her away. He dragged her over to a corner and they began talking heatedly in low voices. Natsue exhaled, suddenly realizing he had been tensing his body for action. "Going to her rescue?" Akie murmured in his ear. Natsue smiled, not bothering to look at her. "After so long taking care of you, it's just an instinct for me to assist helpless young girls." He suddenly felt her hand on his wrist, yanking his arm up behind his back. "Ouch," he muttered. Several of the other candidates turned to stare at them. Most of the rest were watching the young woman, who now seemed to be working out her frustrations by performing calisthenics. She was gaining an appreciative audience. "I seem to recall pulling *your* ass out of the fire quite a few times," Akie growled. Then a soft laugh and she released his arm. "Come on, I'm tired out." "What? Oh." Natsue turned to see Akie kneeling on the ground, smiling up at him. Trying to ignore the looks he knew they were getting, he lay down on his back next to her. Akie turned perpendicular to him and lay her head back on his stomach, sighing. "Night, bro." She closed her eyes. Natsue reached up and stroked her hair, then lay back himself and tried to make himself comfortable. "Goodnight, sis," he murmured. He stretched his arm, working the slight soreness out, then grimaced. If living with Akie hadn't prepared him for being a Lander, what *would*? ===== Beware the Radish Presents... D A R K T I M E S started by John Evans Chapter 5: Night written by John Evans ===== Seiji stared at the impassive Landers in the hallway. They stared back at him. He swallowed and opened his mouth, mind racing, when a voice stopped him. "Hm, what's this? What's the holdup?" A stooped figure shouldered its way through the phalanx of guards, and Seiji felt his blood run even colder. He recognized the swarthy, dreadlocked man from his own training--even without the insignia identifying him as a Powered tranining specialist he was unforgettable. "My apologies, Spider-sama." Seiji bowed, low, and kept his head down. There was a chuckle. "Ah, and who are you then, hm? Stand up, boy." Seiji came upright and met the man's gaze. The Spider's eyes were twinkling in his pinched face. "Sei--shi, sir," he replied, almost stumbling over the assumed name. The Spider raised his eyebrows. "Seishi, hm? There're a lot of different ways to write that, aren't there?" He stroked his chin. "Would that be, Seishi, 'life and death'? Seishi, 'oath'? Seishi, 'sperm'?" "Constellation, sir." Seiji wished he knew what the hell the other man was thinking, but he'd never been able to figure the Spider out. The man probably prided himself on being unpredictable. "Ah, of course. Unusual reading, but, hm." The Spider (and his guards) regarded Seiji with no hint of their opinions, although Seiji saw the man's eyes flicker toward his shoulder. He was suddenly glad of the goggles that hid his own eyes. "Indulge my curiosity--what exactly are you doing here, hm?" "Routine administrative checkup, sir," Seiji replied easily. "At least that's what they tell me." The Spider's eyes glittered. "What they tell you, hm?" "Yes, sir." "I suppose I could, hm, pull rank on you and make you tell me?" "Yes, sir." "Ah, whatever." The Spider waved his hand dismissively. "I'll be sporting and not pry. Though I do wonder what Shinkei sees in this backwater." "Yes, sir." Seiji allowed himself to relax--just a little. "Well, then." The Spider raised his left eyebrow. "Do you have any pressing business at the moment, hm?" "Well, I--" "Good. We were just going to join tonight's watch. You'll come with us, of course?" The hint of a smile pulled at the Spider's mouth. "I--yes, sir." Seiji tensed up again. Why the hell was the Spider volunteering for night watch? If Seiji had thought he could get away with it, he would have forged himself a high enough rank to get out of night watch permanently. Not that he wanted to shirk responsibility, of course, but--the man had to be insane. Of course, there was no getting out of a request like that. "Good man, hm." The Spider thumped Seiji on the back, making him stumble. "Come along, then, Seishi." Without another word he turned and strode off down the hallway, half the guards preceding him. The other half waited until Seiji began moving, then walked along behind. ===== Marigold looked around the darkened room. "It's a little...dusty, isn't it?" she ventured. She groped for a light switch, and after a moment dim yellow light illuminated the expanse of empty wooden floor. Nobuhara walked past her into the room and crossed his arms, letting his gaze travel the full length of the room. "Minimal maintenance," he said. "But it will suffice." He strode over to a wall, pressed his palms against it and pushed sideways, sliding a section away to reveal a cabinet packed with futons. "Oh! I can set those up," Marigold said, hurrying forward. Nobuhara glanced behind her at the other Lander, meeting his eyes, then turned to begin a circuit of the room. "Find some that aren't dusty," he tossed over his shoulder. Marigold pulled at one of the futons, frowning as she realized how tightly they were packed into the closet. She pulled harder, and the other Lander stepped up to grasp the futons next to her. She gave him a quick smile and then they both pulled--with a soft rustling sound the arrangement gave way, piles of cloth leaping out of the cabinet as they both stumbled back. "Well, that's good," Marigold said. Hearing the loudness of her words in the still room, she swallowed and bent to the task of searching through the futons. In just a couple of minutes they had selected three fairly clean sets of beeding and arranged them on the floor. Marigold straightened up and smoothed her robes out. "Thank, you, um..." The Lander looked at her. He looked younger than the other Landers she'd seen, perhaps even her age. He was slender, with short brown hair in bangs, hanging over eyes that were looking blankly at her. She swallowed again. "Um, what's your name? If you don't mind me asking, of course..." "Yomi." His voice wasn't as deep as Marigold had expected--she had the errant thought that it would make a good singing voice. "Yomi, huh?" she asked. The Lander bent down to pick up a book he had set down before helping her, a slender volume. "Like the...er...underworld?" She smiled nervously. Yomi looked at her again, then opened the book to show her a character written on the inner cover--yomi, "reading". Marigold's smile became genuine. "Ah, I see. Then can I call you 'Yomibito'?" He blinked at her, then shrugged and even smiled in return. Her expression became positively radiant. "Good," a voice said behind her. Marigold yelped and turned, finding Nobuhara standing just behind her. He raised his eyebrows. "Although only two beds are needed. I will be keeping watch tonight." "Watch?" Marigold stared. "All night?" "Yes." He slipped off into the shadows. Marigold looked around. The room was empty, the dark corners yawning emptily. She turned and saw Yomi sitting against a wall, book in hand. "Are you going to be keeping watch, too?" she asked. He looked up at her, shrugged and nodded slightly. The songstress essayed a smile. "Okay, then. Well...goodnight." As Yomi nodded to her again, Marigold knelt by one of the futons and then lay down, settling onto her back. She stared at the ceiling as darkness closed in on them. ===== The day wound to an end. The sun, unseen behind clouds of dust, slipped below the horizon. Darkness seeped through the land, bathing all in inky blackness. As peasants and Landers alike cowered in their homes, soft sounds filled the air. Rustlings and stirrings, flappings and shriekings and croakings echoed back and forth over the land as the darkness awoke. Night fell. ===== To be continued... ===== Author's note That scene with Marigold, Nobuhara and Yomi was an absolute BITCH to write. And I really have no idea why. That's pretty frustrating. I don't think it turned out that well, either. Ah, well, it's only one scene. Natsue and Akie are technically written "Natsuwe" and "Akiwe", using archaic kana. Of course, they're pronounced "Natsue" and "Akie", so that's how I transliterated them. I thought it'd be much less confusing (much the same way that "Kaoru" is less confusing than "Kaworu"). Also, "yomibito" means "author". John Evans jevans@alum.mit.edu 5/24/02 #54 Beware the Radish http://www.chaoseed.com/btr