Dana never gets tired of seeing this sight. As the Dowath carries her Lana and Emma back from Vault #6, she sees the mountain in the distance getting larger and larger as they approach.

  The trees look tiny below. It feels like more than just home. It feels like a beacon of civilization of hope in a world consumed with hate.

  She looks at the Dowath carrying them and feels the weight of gratitude for them making this even possible. It's a home, safety, and in her mind, hope for the world, of peace, instead of the dog-eat-dog world outside, where brutality or the capacity for brutality is all that matters.

  They land, Dmeko, carrying her and Lana, Djenthu carrying Emma.

  Dana is greeted by a familiar face who has been away for a while, "Dana!" she says, rushing forward. Dana looks with glee at the smiling, tall Ponu woman with flowing blonde hair and model looks running to meet her. It's Holly. The two best friends embrace. Total opposites in almost every way, one shy, withdrawn, the other outgoing, super socialable, they somehow managed to maintain a friendship that predates the ending of their world.

  If Francesca was the perfect ponu, the pride of the cave, Holly was its soul, its spirit.

  "Welcome back, girl. I'm sorry I didn't arrive back before you left. Missed you so much."

  Then she turns towards the Dowath Djenthu, and with a devious grin says, "But I really, really missed this big hunk of Dowath. She playfully seductively walks towards Djenthu, and the two kiss.

  She and Djenthu, along with Brandi and Dfriyo, were some of the very rare Dowath-Ponu "couples".

  Lana smiles, immediately leaving to greet her wife, Marcela, who has come to welcome her back.

  Emma passes by, sarcastically saying, "You never welcomed me with a kiss like that, Holly".

  Holly, taking a break from the kiss, utters, "It's because you've never ever come close to earning a kiss like this."

  The two women laugh and then hug.

  Dana, smiling, says, "You two behave yourselves. Stop by my room tonight, and we can all catch up. Right now, I have to go give my report to Brandi".

  "By the way", Holly calls out to Dana, "Audrey's back too!"

  Dana looks around for a second before Holly lets her know, "You know Audrey, she decided to take a nap".

  Dana sees one of the younger, newer Ponu, "Patty, do you mind letting Audrey know Lana has a presentation later. She is not going to want to miss this. Lana says it will change everything for us."

  "Yes, Ms Dana, I will make sure she knows. Bye, Ms Holly," Patty says before scurrying off.

  "Nice kid, just wish she didn't always call me Ms Dana".

  Holly laughs, "She's just wide-eyed and thankful."

  Brandi was not happy that Kaela decided against the testing, but the choice was hers. She asks where Drookan is. Dana confides that he is waiting for Kaela to return to the vault after she visits her old camp and Vault 20. Kaela won't come back to the cave, so he agreed to wait for her there. They both share the frustration but accept that there is not much they can do.

  Later, Brandi and Dana both leave to see the presentation Lana has for the Ponu. About 20 Ponu are there, surrounding Lana's lab area.

  Dana is surprised to see that Audrey has finally awakened from her nap. The Ponu woman with folksy manners and an amazonian physique greets them with her customary "Howdy".

  In Dana's lab, there is nothing hidden, no glowing objects behind a curtain as Kaela had seen. Now whatever was there is about to be revealed.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  Lana, smiling, steps forward and presents her wife, Marcela, who will demonstrate.

  Lana says, "We've been dependent on our Dowath friends for easy transport for far too long. We feel the rush when we fly, it's as if we belong there. ...well, maybe we do. I was able to use the suit's energy to generate what we call a construct that can interact with the physical environment in ways more tangible elements can, creating the dynamics of 3-dimensional mobility."

  She catches herself fearing she is losing the crowd, "Marcela, turn around."

  She does, and the crowd gasps as the seam of her ponu suit emits what seems like large dragonfly wings. Lana gives Marcela the signal, and Marcela begins to levitate, to hover with the wings flapping unbelievably fast.

  The crowd goes wild. Then, suddenly, the wings vanish, and Marcela falls. Lana rushes to her, but thankfully, she is not injured, just her pride. Lana smiles while she checks her wife ..."There are still a couple of redundant safety features I need to build in before we test flying too high.

  Silence from the crowd, then claps. Lana and Marcela look on, success. Holly in the crowd turns towards Dana, "Fairy wings? I'm in!"

  Audrey, on the other side of Brandi, only looks on slightly disappointed before saying quietly to Brandi, "Wings? Darn, I thought they were finally going to give us shoes."

  Brandi giggles for the first time in weeks.

  Even later in the night, a panic comes from the cave opening, "Visitor! Lizard Man!" At that, everyone in the vicinity is on alert. They call out to Dana and the other leaders.

  When Dana arrives, she sees that it's not just any Lizard Man, it's The Lizard Hunter.

  They have a personal history; he once hunted her, for a bounty, to the brink, and she was only saved by the intervention of a team of her friends led by Marcela.

  He is larger, more intelligent than the average Lizard Man. Standing there in his scavenger-type clothes, he looks very unlike his brethren. Even his voice, unusual for a lizard man, reminds her of the accents she was familiar with in New York growing up.

  "What do you want here, Lizard Hunter?" Dana says.

  "I think you know what I want, you have my...asset, Heather," he says.

  "Why would we give her to you, so she can expose our secrets to whoever paid you?"

  "I wouldn't worry too much about that. You want to know who paid me, I will tell you, The Thinkers did. They wanted to find out if most of you would run and hide or fight if they invaded the cave. You know they want all of you, as many alive as possible, for their purposes. They could attack now and kill you all, Dowath, Ponu alike, but they would lose the Ponu if you all fought back, so what's the point." he says, adding "and we know how much they love Ponu," he says with a grin.

  "But you got bigger fish to fry, give me Heather right now, and I will tell you".

  Dana turns towards Brandi and Lana. They make their decision. For whatever else the Lizard Hunter is, he goes by a code, by his word. At least they have never known him not to. Besides, as long as he is in the cave, the Dowath can deal with him easily if he is trying to con them.

  "Bring Heather here," Dana says. Soon, Heather is brought from her cage and deposited in front of her master. "Speak, Lizard Hunter," Dana says.

  "Geeryo is back. The word is that they have a squad hunting the scavenger warlord Kallian. They already attacked and burned down his base camp, and now he's moved to that camp not too far from here. You have to know you're probably on their radar.

  Geeryo is bad news. If they decide to invade, this whole world will be wiped away so they can have whatever new world they want. I figured that would be good enough info to gain my asset back."

  Dana stares at him, then gives the Dowath the signal to let him and Heather go. "Heather, you will not be allowed back into the cave. If you set foot here again, you will be imprisoned again," she says. Heather nods as she and the Lizard Hunter walk away.

  Dana looks at Brandi and Lana, both of whom are looking sick.

  "If Geeryo has agents in this area...if they find our exact location, we will all be in danger. Brandi, get me an audience with the Dowath king and Dmoko, Dfriyo. We need to limit travel; no one leaves the cave from this moment until we know better what we're dealing with.