CHAPTER 5 - EXODUS
Three years had passed since Karegu'Rhia visited the ancient priestess. In that time, Genau'Goeg had finally produced a small clutch of eggs - all
female offspring. It was still too early to tell if her dranlings would grow to be fertile, but the initial tests seemed promising. No visible genetic defects
or abnormalities, and thankfully, no sign of having inherited their dam's nasty disposition or unique weaponry. The brood was ripped from Gen upon their
laying, and indeed, she seemed to have no conscious knowledge of even bearing young.
As time passed, Karegu's fear of the priestess' final warning faded, and he was content in the assumption that above all odds, he and his scientists
had finally overcome the spectre of oblivion haunting his kind. However, doubt always tickled the back of his mind, and had Gen put on 24 hour monitoring, with
a double contingent of heavily armored guards posted in the wing of the fortress where she was imprisoned. Karegu had even taken to performing their weekly
trysts in the confines of her cell, rather than risk moving her from one part of his fortress to the other. The sedatives that had long kept Gen placid and
manageable were no longer affecting her. The only thing standing between him and her wrath was the sensory deprivation helmet. It had not been removed from
her, not even for Karegu's advances, for a full year.
Despite being deaf and blind, Gen was definitelly not dumb. Once a day, she would be allowed an uplink through her helmet to the fortress' learning
computers, a repository for all collected Dran'an knowledge - everything from the biology of their homeworld, to the biology of worlds beyond, history,
culture, and more. She astounded both Karegu and his scientists with her capacity to learn and process information. As a result, her access to the fortress
computer system was closely monitored and heavily firewalled.
In this time, Karegu had also taken to a new weekly "ritual" with Gen - combat training, using the claws given to him by the old crone - a mistake in
hindsight, but his reasoning deemed this to be the right choice, despite the many pleas to the contrary from his enclave. If she was indeed, so murderous and
vicious, he should put that energy to use in conquering other planets. She could prove to be an effective weapon, if she could be controlled. Indeed, Gen's
prowess in combat was approaching unrivaled, second only to Karegu's. Despite what seemed a foolhardy venture, he assured himself that he had taken all
necessary precautions. Gen's calorie intake was severely reduced in an attempt to slow down her metabolism, and a tight collar was placed around her neck
to limit the flow of oxygen reaching her brain, just enough to leave her docile, but not enough to incur any foreseeable long-term brain damage. As a result,
her baleful, glowing claws had not manifested for quite awhile, much to the relief of Karegu.
Despite all of these measures, Gen's body still healed her wounds as soon as they were inflicted, leaving little to no scarring behind, and her terrifying
speed and strength, even in her weakened and senseless state, were a force to be reckoned with. This alone was starting to spread outrage among the scientists
that watched over her every moment.
"You are damning us all to be among the Bounty of the Second Harvest, m'lord!"
"Not safe at all, I say, you should TRIPLE the guard!"
"She has accessed everything in the approved reading list over ten times already - and she still demands more knowledge."
Three of Karegu's science team were jockeying for position at the foot of his throne, all trying to talk over one another, eyes wide with terror. It was
just before sundown, the eve before the summer solstice - the longest day of the year. Whether it was superstition that had taken ahold of his lessers, or the
fear of a very real, unseen threat, the sense of foreboding had been building up since the discovery that their leader was grooming Gen to be a "weapon of
mass destruction". And their protests had only become louder on this night.
As Karegu and his scientists bellowed back and forth, Gen sat yoga-style in the middle of her cell and concentrated. She had picked up a new trick, unknown to
her captors - by focusing inward, she could subtly influence the workings of her helmet through slight manipulations of her own EM field, interfereing with the
electronics and rerouting electrical pulses in the circuitry. She managed to poke a "hole" in the electronic firewall surrounding her helmet, and had
experimented with expanding her conciousness into the fortress' computer systems. She'd already managed to find blueprints to the fortress and
committed them to memory without being discovered by either Karegu or his servants. Tonight, she perused a chunk of data holding a text document on the
piloting of a long-unused variety of shuttle craft. Inwardly, she smiled. The previous day, she'd stumbled upon the location of one such craft in an
underground hangar not far from the fortress...
Her meditation was broken by the slight vibration of footsteps resonating through the floor of her cell. She backed her mind out of the data stream, carefully
erasing her electronic steps, as a scientist walked into the room beyond her glass partition and checked the readouts. His brow raised slightly at some of the
data, but he thought nothing of it. The entire system had been a little glitchy for awhile, but all of Gen's restraints were in place, with no signs of
failure. The scientist pressed a button, which initiated a "bedtime" sequence for their captive - alpha-wave stimulation, followed by a cocktail of
tranquilizers administered via IV drip. As drowsiness washed over her, Gen stretched out on a small cushioned pad and allowed sleep to take hold. She would
need all her strength if she planned to escape.
Night fell upon the fortress, and only the barest sliver of the double moons visible in the sky. Karegu, mentally exhausted by the day's ceaseless
bickering with his subjects, strolled down his secret path to clear his head. Unknown to him, however his presence here was being monitored on this night...
The sedative had worn off and Gen slowly swam to consciousness, carefully shaping her EM field as she did so as to fool the sensors and not to provoke an
inspection by her captors. Now was the time to act if she desired her freedom. She could stand no more of this existence, of being locked inside her own mind
in the engulfing dark and quiet, while her body was raped in every sense of the word. Carefully, she extended a tendril of her consciousness through the wires
connecting her helmet to the fortress' computer network. Through a few moments of probing, she managed to find the feed for the camera security system. It
jolted her a bit at first - the images hundreds of cameras on and off grounds streaming into her brain all at once. She slowed her breathing and with great
effort, was able to separate the individual camera feeds in her mind, and began "surfing the channels". One feed in particular caught her attention -
a long-forgotten camera system embedded among the deep forest surrounding the fortress, running on an obsoleted redundant circuit. She spotted Karegu in the
images projected into her brain, working his way down a winding path. Her consciousness hopped from camera to camera, tracking his movements through the thick
stand of trees and brush. She slowly realized that this path was leading directly to the underground hangar holding the key to her escape. She smirked to
herself as an idea began to unfold.
Karegu was broken from his reverie by a beeping noise coming from the wireless monitor that informed him of Gen's vitals and condition. It indicated she
had awoken, and was "in season" early this week. His brow quirked and he smiled. Another attempt at a brood was always a welcome idea to him, and
could be just the thing he needed to relax after a trying day. Humming to himself, he snapped his wings open and took to the air.
This was just the mistake Gen hoped he would make. The other camera systems picked up his location towards the east of the fortress, in an uninhabited tract of
wildland. Within a few minutes, she could feel his unmistakable footfalls through the floor, and the change in air pressure as he opened her enclosure. As soon
as she could feel his rough, scaled hands on her thighs, she acted.
Silently hoping to herself that she would find her mark, her clawed fist imbedded squarely in Karegu's genitals. As the howl of pain reverberated through
her helmet she wasted no time and lunged forward, feeling the mighty leader stagger backwards away from her. The force of her body reaching the end of her
helmet's tether jarred her violently, but was enough to dislodge many of the wires imbedded in her scalp. This had just the effect she was looking for -
the containment system shorted out and the helmet clattered to the ground around her. Gen screamed in pain as her eyes, accustomed to years of darkness, were
exposed to light. Ignoring this, she continued her assault on Karegu, swiping at him with her clawed hands, feeling his flesh rend open under sharp keratin.
She could hear him fall to the floor and felt the cool breeze from the hallway on her skin. Karegu jumped up and lunged at her, catching the collar that bound
her throat. It snapped in his hands, leaving his creation completely unencumbered to run amok through the stronghold.
Blinking tears from her eyes, her vision slowly came into focus as she ran along the corridors. The fortress' layout spread out like a map in her mind as
she ran, body-checking guards as she went. She rounded a corner in the hallway and came out in the combat room, where the fighting claws given to her by Karegu
hung on the wall. A broad, malicious smile crossed her face as she reached for them.
They seemed made for her, in all appearance. The viciously serrated black blades, tinged in a glowing blue light, fit perfectly over her hands and wrists. The
stabilizing handles, worn by the ages, seemed familiar and almost inviting. As she slipped them on, a contingent of guards burst into the room, training their
weapons on her. Gen grinned horribly as she leapt at them, deflecting tranq darts and rubber bullets with her blades. She plowed through a weak spot in their
ranks, sending supposedly battle-hardened troops flying before her like ragdolls. A few darts found their way home, but she could feel their effects subside
almost the moment they manifested. Her body kicked into overdrive as she hurtled down the hallways, leaving scores of butchered guards in her wake. Finally,
she found the hallway that led to the outside. As she cleared the distance between herself and freedom, a guard rounded the corner behind her and opened fire
with a heavy energy pulse rifle. Two shots found their way home, ripping through her chest. The impact hit her with enough force to send her body sailing
through the air and over the side of the steep cliffs of the stronghold. Karegu emerged just in time to see his "mate" fall to what could only be her
death.
The pain was incredible - like nothing she'd felt before. The burning pain of the energy blasts was compounded by the sensation of having nearly every bone
in her body broken with the impact of her fall, powerful enough to rupture one of her eyes. She laid at the bottom of the deep crevasse, unable to get up,
barely able to breathe, and half blind for quite some time. She was dimly aware of someone standing over her.
"She's done for, sir. I suggest we leave her for the blaidd to feast upon and put this nightmare behind us."
"Yes, perhaps that is wise. All is not lost, though, gentlemen. We have a brood to attend to."
Footsteps leading away in the night. Then silence. Gen whimpered in pain as she could feel her bones begin to knit. Slowly, and quietly as she could, she
managed to prop herself up on one elbow to relieve the pressure on her collapsed chest. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, even through the haze of pain, too
powerful for her to ignore. She peered into the night-cloaked forest, aware that her depth perception was slowly returning to her as her ruined eye reformed
and filled with vitreous fluid once again. She spotted a small covey of dragonets, nestled in the underbrush. Every movement was torture as she drug herself
silently towards her prey.
Her belly full, Gen's body reacted beautifully. Her bones were completely knit, with only the barest sense of stiffness. She looked up at the steep cliff
she had tumbled down - a 500-foot drop, at least - and for a moment, wondered how she could have possibly survived. Her battle claws she found several yards
away, hidden in the underbrush, and none the worse for wear after taking such a fall. She gathered them and truged through the forest towards the east.
It took no time to discover Karegu's secret path. It was still heavy with his scent, even above the "background smells" of the forest. Gen
scrambled up into the thick canopy above and started working her way down the trail, leaping from tree to tree, beyond the view of the hidden cameras. There
was no guarantee that Karegu and his scientists wouldn't find the same uplink she had.
Just before dawn, she reached the edge of a large meadow. Obscured in the treeline was an access panel, imbedded in the side of a large boulder. Gen slashed at
the door with her claws, cringing at the sound of metal scraping metal. When it became obvious that the door would not budge, she removed her battle claws and
peered at it for a moment. She looked down at her arms and took a deep breath. After a few moments of concentration, her blue energy blades flickered into
existence. With a large swipe, she instantly melted through the door. Not knowing why, she gathered up the ancient claws again and went inside.
The lights of the facility still worked, much to her suprise. The batteries that powered this place were still holding a charge, but not for long, she sensed.
Gen wasted no time in making her way to a rusted heap of a shuttle craft, blemished by years of disuse and abuse. The concern that this rustbucket wouldn't
survive liftoff never even crossed her mind. She had righteousness on her side. She climbed into the cockpit, shooing away a nest of long-tailed llygod from
the controls, and activated the ship. The self-fueling system fired up and filled the ships tanks with propellant as she garbed herself in a black and grey
spacesuit she found in a storage compartment. The heavily buckled suit began form-fitting itself to her body as the countdown began and she took her seat in
the control chair. Liftoff was shaky, but other than a few sticking controls, the craft was handling beautifully. A rumble filled the air as the
"meadow" opened up and Gen climbed skyward.
She looked down and noticed what looked to be an aftermarket weapons module next to her flight controls. Gen smiled and whispered, "Karegu...I've got
a surprise for you, bastard." She leveled the craft's weapons, a cluster of small anti-matter missiles, at the fortress in the distance, laughing as
they streaked through the air towards their target.
In the fortress, Karegu only had time to curse under his breath as he and his stronghold were engulfed by a brilliant white fire.
Gen's ship climbed higher into the sky, toward the sunrise. As she broke atmosphere, she turned her ship towards the Sol system - a place she had read
about in her forced studies. A cryostasis system kicked on as the craft unfurled a solar sail and jettisoned its fuel tanks, speeding her towards long-sought
freedom...
Three years had passed since Karegu'Rhia visited the ancient priestess. In that time, Genau'Goeg had finally produced a small clutch of eggs - all
female offspring. It was still too early to tell if her dranlings would grow to be fertile, but the initial tests seemed promising. No visible genetic defects
or abnormalities, and thankfully, no sign of having inherited their dam's nasty disposition or unique weaponry. The brood was ripped from Gen upon their
laying, and indeed, she seemed to have no conscious knowledge of even bearing young.
As time passed, Karegu's fear of the priestess' final warning faded, and he was content in the assumption that above all odds, he and his scientists
had finally overcome the spectre of oblivion haunting his kind. However, doubt always tickled the back of his mind, and had Gen put on 24 hour monitoring, with
a double contingent of heavily armored guards posted in the wing of the fortress where she was imprisoned. Karegu had even taken to performing their weekly
trysts in the confines of her cell, rather than risk moving her from one part of his fortress to the other. The sedatives that had long kept Gen placid and
manageable were no longer affecting her. The only thing standing between him and her wrath was the sensory deprivation helmet. It had not been removed from
her, not even for Karegu's advances, for a full year.
Despite being deaf and blind, Gen was definitelly not dumb. Once a day, she would be allowed an uplink through her helmet to the fortress' learning
computers, a repository for all collected Dran'an knowledge - everything from the biology of their homeworld, to the biology of worlds beyond, history,
culture, and more. She astounded both Karegu and his scientists with her capacity to learn and process information. As a result, her access to the fortress
computer system was closely monitored and heavily firewalled.
In this time, Karegu had also taken to a new weekly "ritual" with Gen - combat training, using the claws given to him by the old crone - a mistake in
hindsight, but his reasoning deemed this to be the right choice, despite the many pleas to the contrary from his enclave. If she was indeed, so murderous and
vicious, he should put that energy to use in conquering other planets. She could prove to be an effective weapon, if she could be controlled. Indeed, Gen's
prowess in combat was approaching unrivaled, second only to Karegu's. Despite what seemed a foolhardy venture, he assured himself that he had taken all
necessary precautions. Gen's calorie intake was severely reduced in an attempt to slow down her metabolism, and a tight collar was placed around her neck
to limit the flow of oxygen reaching her brain, just enough to leave her docile, but not enough to incur any foreseeable long-term brain damage. As a result,
her baleful, glowing claws had not manifested for quite awhile, much to the relief of Karegu.
Despite all of these measures, Gen's body still healed her wounds as soon as they were inflicted, leaving little to no scarring behind, and her terrifying
speed and strength, even in her weakened and senseless state, were a force to be reckoned with. This alone was starting to spread outrage among the scientists
that watched over her every moment.
"You are damning us all to be among the Bounty of the Second Harvest, m'lord!"
"Not safe at all, I say, you should TRIPLE the guard!"
"She has accessed everything in the approved reading list over ten times already - and she still demands more knowledge."
Three of Karegu's science team were jockeying for position at the foot of his throne, all trying to talk over one another, eyes wide with terror. It was
just before sundown, the eve before the summer solstice - the longest day of the year. Whether it was superstition that had taken ahold of his lessers, or the
fear of a very real, unseen threat, the sense of foreboding had been building up since the discovery that their leader was grooming Gen to be a "weapon of
mass destruction". And their protests had only become louder on this night.
As Karegu and his scientists bellowed back and forth, Gen sat yoga-style in the middle of her cell and concentrated. She had picked up a new trick, unknown to
her captors - by focusing inward, she could subtly influence the workings of her helmet through slight manipulations of her own EM field, interfereing with the
electronics and rerouting electrical pulses in the circuitry. She managed to poke a "hole" in the electronic firewall surrounding her helmet, and had
experimented with expanding her conciousness into the fortress' computer systems. She'd already managed to find blueprints to the fortress and
committed them to memory without being discovered by either Karegu or his servants. Tonight, she perused a chunk of data holding a text document on the
piloting of a long-unused variety of shuttle craft. Inwardly, she smiled. The previous day, she'd stumbled upon the location of one such craft in an
underground hangar not far from the fortress...
Her meditation was broken by the slight vibration of footsteps resonating through the floor of her cell. She backed her mind out of the data stream, carefully
erasing her electronic steps, as a scientist walked into the room beyond her glass partition and checked the readouts. His brow raised slightly at some of the
data, but he thought nothing of it. The entire system had been a little glitchy for awhile, but all of Gen's restraints were in place, with no signs of
failure. The scientist pressed a button, which initiated a "bedtime" sequence for their captive - alpha-wave stimulation, followed by a cocktail of
tranquilizers administered via IV drip. As drowsiness washed over her, Gen stretched out on a small cushioned pad and allowed sleep to take hold. She would
need all her strength if she planned to escape.
Night fell upon the fortress, and only the barest sliver of the double moons visible in the sky. Karegu, mentally exhausted by the day's ceaseless
bickering with his subjects, strolled down his secret path to clear his head. Unknown to him, however his presence here was being monitored on this night...
The sedative had worn off and Gen slowly swam to consciousness, carefully shaping her EM field as she did so as to fool the sensors and not to provoke an
inspection by her captors. Now was the time to act if she desired her freedom. She could stand no more of this existence, of being locked inside her own mind
in the engulfing dark and quiet, while her body was raped in every sense of the word. Carefully, she extended a tendril of her consciousness through the wires
connecting her helmet to the fortress' computer network. Through a few moments of probing, she managed to find the feed for the camera security system. It
jolted her a bit at first - the images hundreds of cameras on and off grounds streaming into her brain all at once. She slowed her breathing and with great
effort, was able to separate the individual camera feeds in her mind, and began "surfing the channels". One feed in particular caught her attention -
a long-forgotten camera system embedded among the deep forest surrounding the fortress, running on an obsoleted redundant circuit. She spotted Karegu in the
images projected into her brain, working his way down a winding path. Her consciousness hopped from camera to camera, tracking his movements through the thick
stand of trees and brush. She slowly realized that this path was leading directly to the underground hangar holding the key to her escape. She smirked to
herself as an idea began to unfold.
Karegu was broken from his reverie by a beeping noise coming from the wireless monitor that informed him of Gen's vitals and condition. It indicated she
had awoken, and was "in season" early this week. His brow quirked and he smiled. Another attempt at a brood was always a welcome idea to him, and
could be just the thing he needed to relax after a trying day. Humming to himself, he snapped his wings open and took to the air.
This was just the mistake Gen hoped he would make. The other camera systems picked up his location towards the east of the fortress, in an uninhabited tract of
wildland. Within a few minutes, she could feel his unmistakable footfalls through the floor, and the change in air pressure as he opened her enclosure. As soon
as she could feel his rough, scaled hands on her thighs, she acted.
Silently hoping to herself that she would find her mark, her clawed fist imbedded squarely in Karegu's genitals. As the howl of pain reverberated through
her helmet she wasted no time and lunged forward, feeling the mighty leader stagger backwards away from her. The force of her body reaching the end of her
helmet's tether jarred her violently, but was enough to dislodge many of the wires imbedded in her scalp. This had just the effect she was looking for -
the containment system shorted out and the helmet clattered to the ground around her. Gen screamed in pain as her eyes, accustomed to years of darkness, were
exposed to light. Ignoring this, she continued her assault on Karegu, swiping at him with her clawed hands, feeling his flesh rend open under sharp keratin.
She could hear him fall to the floor and felt the cool breeze from the hallway on her skin. Karegu jumped up and lunged at her, catching the collar that bound
her throat. It snapped in his hands, leaving his creation completely unencumbered to run amok through the stronghold.
Blinking tears from her eyes, her vision slowly came into focus as she ran along the corridors. The fortress' layout spread out like a map in her mind as
she ran, body-checking guards as she went. She rounded a corner in the hallway and came out in the combat room, where the fighting claws given to her by Karegu
hung on the wall. A broad, malicious smile crossed her face as she reached for them.
They seemed made for her, in all appearance. The viciously serrated black blades, tinged in a glowing blue light, fit perfectly over her hands and wrists. The
stabilizing handles, worn by the ages, seemed familiar and almost inviting. As she slipped them on, a contingent of guards burst into the room, training their
weapons on her. Gen grinned horribly as she leapt at them, deflecting tranq darts and rubber bullets with her blades. She plowed through a weak spot in their
ranks, sending supposedly battle-hardened troops flying before her like ragdolls. A few darts found their way home, but she could feel their effects subside
almost the moment they manifested. Her body kicked into overdrive as she hurtled down the hallways, leaving scores of butchered guards in her wake. Finally,
she found the hallway that led to the outside. As she cleared the distance between herself and freedom, a guard rounded the corner behind her and opened fire
with a heavy energy pulse rifle. Two shots found their way home, ripping through her chest. The impact hit her with enough force to send her body sailing
through the air and over the side of the steep cliffs of the stronghold. Karegu emerged just in time to see his "mate" fall to what could only be her
death.
The pain was incredible - like nothing she'd felt before. The burning pain of the energy blasts was compounded by the sensation of having nearly every bone
in her body broken with the impact of her fall, powerful enough to rupture one of her eyes. She laid at the bottom of the deep crevasse, unable to get up,
barely able to breathe, and half blind for quite some time. She was dimly aware of someone standing over her.
"She's done for, sir. I suggest we leave her for the blaidd to feast upon and put this nightmare behind us."
"Yes, perhaps that is wise. All is not lost, though, gentlemen. We have a brood to attend to."
Footsteps leading away in the night. Then silence. Gen whimpered in pain as she could feel her bones begin to knit. Slowly, and quietly as she could, she
managed to prop herself up on one elbow to relieve the pressure on her collapsed chest. Hunger gnawed at her stomach, even through the haze of pain, too
powerful for her to ignore. She peered into the night-cloaked forest, aware that her depth perception was slowly returning to her as her ruined eye reformed
and filled with vitreous fluid once again. She spotted a small covey of dragonets, nestled in the underbrush. Every movement was torture as she drug herself
silently towards her prey.
Her belly full, Gen's body reacted beautifully. Her bones were completely knit, with only the barest sense of stiffness. She looked up at the steep cliff
she had tumbled down - a 500-foot drop, at least - and for a moment, wondered how she could have possibly survived. Her battle claws she found several yards
away, hidden in the underbrush, and none the worse for wear after taking such a fall. She gathered them and truged through the forest towards the east.
It took no time to discover Karegu's secret path. It was still heavy with his scent, even above the "background smells" of the forest. Gen
scrambled up into the thick canopy above and started working her way down the trail, leaping from tree to tree, beyond the view of the hidden cameras. There
was no guarantee that Karegu and his scientists wouldn't find the same uplink she had.
Just before dawn, she reached the edge of a large meadow. Obscured in the treeline was an access panel, imbedded in the side of a large boulder. Gen slashed at
the door with her claws, cringing at the sound of metal scraping metal. When it became obvious that the door would not budge, she removed her battle claws and
peered at it for a moment. She looked down at her arms and took a deep breath. After a few moments of concentration, her blue energy blades flickered into
existence. With a large swipe, she instantly melted through the door. Not knowing why, she gathered up the ancient claws again and went inside.
The lights of the facility still worked, much to her suprise. The batteries that powered this place were still holding a charge, but not for long, she sensed.
Gen wasted no time in making her way to a rusted heap of a shuttle craft, blemished by years of disuse and abuse. The concern that this rustbucket wouldn't
survive liftoff never even crossed her mind. She had righteousness on her side. She climbed into the cockpit, shooing away a nest of long-tailed llygod from
the controls, and activated the ship. The self-fueling system fired up and filled the ships tanks with propellant as she garbed herself in a black and grey
spacesuit she found in a storage compartment. The heavily buckled suit began form-fitting itself to her body as the countdown began and she took her seat in
the control chair. Liftoff was shaky, but other than a few sticking controls, the craft was handling beautifully. A rumble filled the air as the
"meadow" opened up and Gen climbed skyward.
She looked down and noticed what looked to be an aftermarket weapons module next to her flight controls. Gen smiled and whispered, "Karegu...I've got
a surprise for you, bastard." She leveled the craft's weapons, a cluster of small anti-matter missiles, at the fortress in the distance, laughing as
they streaked through the air towards their target.
In the fortress, Karegu only had time to curse under his breath as he and his stronghold were engulfed by a brilliant white fire.
Gen's ship climbed higher into the sky, toward the sunrise. As she broke atmosphere, she turned her ship towards the Sol system - a place she had read
about in her forced studies. A cryostasis system kicked on as the craft unfurled a solar sail and jettisoned its fuel tanks, speeding her towards long-sought
freedom...