[C][AU] No Harm In Camping

"Or something, being that Arabic is one language of possibly billions and it isn't likely that anyone outside of Earth knows it." It was a safe assumption to make and it was one he was sticking to until he was proven wrong.

Anna turned her gaze back over one shoulder. "You've lived a well removed life on your planet, haven't you?" she questioned, with genuine curiosity.

Any other person would never believe that a new planet was safe and non-hostile. Not with the Galra so hell-bent on taking over everything they could. Any place could turn hostile in a heartbeat.

But these boys didn't have that fear about them. Even the level-headed blond one, who was looking around with intense curiosity, didn't seem too afraid. She'd counted on him to be the one with the most common sense.

"Hey, think I can have my sketchbook back soon? I wanna document some of this stuff," Fleck commented in Italian as he jogged to catch up with Lucas.

Amr flushed a little at the question, missing its point.

"We may or may not of had a cushy lifestyle," he said, scratching the back of his neck. He and Tik were blessed with with a good and well-off upbringing that he wouldn't change for the world. It was just a little embarrassing to admit.

Lucas turned from the conversation between Amr and Anna to look at Fleck. He dug his hand in his pocket.

"I don't have it on me."

It must of fell out while being knocked around through Amr's bad piloting.

That gave Anna more of an answer than if he had actually understood her comment properly.

Earth hadn't been targeted by the Galra yet. In fact, it seemed like Earth knew nothing of the Galra at all. And she had led them to Earth's doorstep.

Guilt cut her.

The Galra might be interested in Earth now, because she had accidentally crashed on that planet and bought the Galra to it.

"I'll have to go looking for it later, then," Fleck replied easily.

Lucas looked Fleck up and down. He expected some sort of bite to that. At least a huff of annoyance. But it was just like on Earth; he didn't seem bothered by it at all.

Lucas shook his head and pressed on as they entered the main gates of the castle. As he originally said, it was deserted.

"Maybe we should knock or something?" Suggested Amr, walking up to what he assumed was the front door.

It was just a sketchbook. He had dozens of them now, and he'd never been precious over them. If that sketchbook was lost, then he would find another one to start. It was simple enough.

Anna's footing stumbled a little when Amr made the suggestion.

Yes, she thought, straightening up and carrying on towards the castle door. They had been very well removed. Even non-Galra species could be extremely hostile to newcomers. Knocking on the door wasn't something she'd do.

With no one saying otherwise, Amr did just as he suggested.

The doors were large. Ridiculously so. Now face to face with them, just knocking on the door seemed a bit comical, but he gave it a go.

He waited, kissing his knuckles. He didn't expect it to be made of metal.

There was Nothing.

He tried again, banging on them a little harder.

When no one answered on the second knock, it was Fleck that made a suggestion.

"If this is anything like the castles I've seen, there'll be servant doors not too far away," he said, looking up at the grand castle before them.

"Let's go try those," he suggested.

"Where did you see castles like this on earth?" Amr asked. This was nothing like he has ever seen, and he has seen quite a few castles.

"But good call."

He left the large doors to follow wherever Fleck thought they might be.

"Well, not exactly like this, but most castles have similar structures."

He'd done enough exploring English castles in his youth to know that a lot of them had pretty much the same layout.

it didn't take him long to find the servant door. "Here it is." His lips pursed together as he tried to figure out how to open it. There weren't any obvious handles.

He pressed his hand against the wall for balance as he stretched up to see if there were any hidden releases or something at the top of the door.

A square of blue light formed around his hand on the wall and he yelped jumping back with an Italian curse on his lips as the door swished open.

Amr's eyes widened.

"How did you do that?! Tik, did you see that?!"

"It is like you and the force field in the cave." Lucas observed.

He stepped forward besides Fleck to look the door over. There was nothing suspicious about it. Biting the bullet he shoved past Fleck and entered. Tense shoulders relaxed when he was still in one piece.

As he passed the door he pressed his own hand against it. Nothing. Maybe it only reacted when it needed to be open.

A little part of Fleck was getting exasperated with all this alien stuff. He had just wanted to go botany studying and camping.

And another part of him was scared. He'd lost his brother on a mission exploring new territory like this.

But he followed Lucas into to castle, his shoulders squared. If he didn't show that he was scared, then perhaps he would convince himself that there really wasn't anything to be scared of.

"You're all crazy," Anna muttered under her breath as she followed the group into the castle, gripping tightly to her staff.

Inside was dark. Luca's took a step forwards and a light lit up. Then another and another with each step he took.

"Which way should we go?" He asked Fleck.

If he knew how to get in by the servents door, then he suspected he might have a vague idea which way to head for the main hall. Or wherever else there would likely be occupants.

Although he was doubtful. The place looked like it hasn't been lived in for years.

"Towards the back of the castle is where we'll find life." If there is life, was silently tacked on as he tromped bravely forwards.

But, the layout was certainly not like the castles that he'd grown up exploring. Where he assumed the entrance to the courtyard would be, was a large staircase.

"Okay then, let's try this."

He began up the staircase at a light jog. It was something that was inbuilt in him now: jog up stairs as a form of exercise. There were days when all the exercise he got was going up and down his stairs to get to the kitchen or his bedroom, so he made it a habit of jogging them. Now he couldn't help himself.

They followed Fleck up and up the stairs. Lucas managed to keep up with Fleck at the front. Rigorous training left him fit enough that this was a breeze.

Amr, a little red in the face, found himself slowing down to the back of their small group and one of the last to reach the top.

He bent over, trying to catch his breath.

"Did we have to jog up the very long staircase? Like walking would have been perfectly fine."

Anna and Tik walked up the steps side by side, both internally rolling their eyes at the rest of them.

Really, did they have to jog? It'd just tire them out quicker.

Fleck looked back over his shoulder at the red-faced Amr, his eyes innocently. "You didn't have to job after me." He was used to just waiting at the top of stairs for people. He didn't expect anyone to jog with him.

"I didn't want to miss out on any of the cool alien stuff you will find!"

He straighted back up as he found his breath, not noticing Lucas' uttering an Italian curse that could be roughly translated as dumbass.

Amr turned to the last two.

"Come on, hurry up."

Fleck nudged Lucas as he passed by him. "He's excited. let him have this."

He understood the excitement over being out in space. He'd had the same excitement for a long while. He couldn't blame Amr for wanting to be first and foremost in exploring this new place.

Fleck placed his hands on his hips as he stood in front of a large door in front of them. "How are we getting in here?" he questioned.

"Why don't we try doing what you did to get into the castle," Anna asked, stepping forwards and placing her hand on the scanning pad. The castle read her hand and the door slid open. "Huh, didn't expect that to actually work."

Amr pouted. The room was void of any life.

It was was shapd like an octagon. Like the rest of the castle it was made of metal, with strips of blue lighting. It was simple, but athsetically pleasing to the eye.

"These aliens know their interior design."

Anna strolled forwards, flexing her grip on her staff as she looked around.

She didn't trust the lifelessness of this place.

"If you like the ultra modern clinical looks," Fleck replied. He preferred a more homely look himself.

"I wouldn't say clinic. More contemporary interior... Without the cushions."

Lucas rested his hand over a surface to smooth over it. He snatched it away when what appears to be some sort of keyboard flashed up into life. The symbols were different. Nothing he has ever seen before. Although, it would probably be more strange if it was in the Latin alphabet.

He pressed a couple of buttons at random to see if they did anything. Nothing.

He turned away to keep exploring.

"We should move on to another room."

Anna stooped forwards when the control panel flickered to life.

"I've never seen this language before." Which was strange considering the sheer amount of cultures she'd been exposed to.

Her fingers played over the keyboard, trying to figure out the security of the castle. If this was the main control room, then it could be possible to find a way to see how many people were in the castle.

She just had to try and figure it out by the looks of the displays on the screen. The basics of the displays looked familiar enough. it was like trying to work a system you knew in a different language.

In her attempts, she found what was definitely a cryo display. "There are people in cryo in the castle. Six, if these monitors are anything to go by."

Anr made his way over to Anna, trying to work out what was on the screen. It hurt is brain. It was compleatly alien to him. Pun intended.

"Are they dead?" Lucas asked, also coming over to look at the sreen. He lifted his hand to touch it.

"No, it's reading signs of life."

Her eyes narrowed. "I don't know how healthy they are, though. I can't read these numbers, so I don't know if their vitals are okay, or how long they've been in cryo."

She could read the basic information, because it was like the cryo layouts she was familiar with on her own ships. But the details, the actual words and numbers? She didn't have a chance in hell of reading those.

Amr's eyebrows shot up.

"They are alive?! Hey, Tik, I might be phycic. There are aliens down in the cryro... Alive!"

Lucas titled his head and squinted. No matter how much he stared he couldn't make sense of the letters on the screen. He couldn't make out where Anna was getting this.

"Do you know how we can get to it?"

"Just need your alien princess in that Cryo and you're good to go." His sarcasm hadn't diminished at all.

"Uh... I can unfreeze them and we can find out where they are from there?" she suggested. Six people that were extremely weak from being in a cryogenic freeze weren't going to pose much of a problem for them.

It would take days, if not weeks for them to feel better after being frozen. They'd be able to find them with little trouble and get the information they needed.