\storynamehere\ Ch-2 Part-3

Riza twirled the corner of the alley and dashed down it, careful to make sure the rags that covered her bioluminescent strips didn't blow off in the wind. Someone was following her! She had been scavenging for any pieces of technology she could find in the outskirts of the perpetually-open market near the center of the town when she realized one of the creatures was not the same as the others. It was much taller and skinnier than those around it, and judging by the other creatures' reactions to it, it was not native to the area.

Riza leaped behind a crate and held her breath. Her hearts pounded as she watched a shadow wander in front of her ad-hoc hiding place… and…

And…

AND…

walked away…

"Feww…" Riza let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps her pursuer was not infact following her, and had just been going in this direction anyways? It didn't matter. She had done enough scaving for the time being. After double checking to make sure the coast was clear, she scurried off to her den.

***

She went through the back door of the abandoned dwelling she had converted into her base of operations; the front door was locked from the inside, only to be used for a quick escape. Riza took off her robe and yawned; this planet's perpetual night was messing with her sleep cycle even more than the eternal black of space that Riza had grown up in.
"Damn planets…" she mumbled to herself.

'What was that?' MORI asked.

"Oh nothing…" she replied to the floating electronics board. Riza was still having trouble finding enough glucose for both MORI and herself, so she had made a make-shift Beowulf-cluster from the identity chips in her flight suit for him to stay in when she went out. Unfortunately, she didn't have all the materials needed to set up a working computer for him, and had to suspend the entire construction in an electro-magnetic field for lack of a better holding system. Fortunately, a few of the local faunas, which Riza was able to snatch from a very oblivious shop-keeper, gave off small electrical currents when soaked in the proper chemical solutions (salt water), and Riza could keep both the magnetic field, and MORI's temporary floating Beowulf-cluster powered for hours with it.

Riza walked up to the board floating in the middle of the room, her new laboratory, and redownloaded MORI to her head.

"Nice to be back. So what's the big occasion?"

"I found some sugar at one of the market stalls. I estimate the amount I was able to cram into my mouth should keep you running and me not starving for atleast two hours."

Though Riza hadn't said it aloud, MORI knew what she really meant.

"I miss you too", he said, glad to be back in his old body, if only temporarily.

Riza smiled and turned back to one of the work desks. On it were three roots suspended in a pool of saltwater, all hooked up to metal coils; Riza's ad-hoc heater. She turned it on and walked into the back room of the abandoned building.

"I'm giving you full control of your processors back while I sleep; just don't do what you did back with that other creature."

"I understand. Get some rest now"

Riza paused, looking back at her lab. There was still so much that had to be done. The roots were making electrical power, but she still had to find the perfect salt-to-water ratio. And the beowolf-cluster was working, but it was only a memory storage device; Riza would need to find a way to give MORI processing power when she was away from home. And the-

"Riza…" MORI's thoughts interrupted her own.

"You've done great for only a single day. A base of operations. Escape routes. Mapping the city. Finding enough sugar for me to run. Building a floating computer! Don't burn yourself out. You will need rest for the days ahead…"

Riza sighed, but she was too tired to argue with MORI. He was right; she did need sleep. She parted the curtains to her sleeping area, and slid into the bowl of nesting material. Normally, Katabatans slept in beds, and whenever asked by another race, they said they slept in beds. But that was not what Katabatans naturally slept in. That was one of the only things they missed from the treetops of their dead homeworld. Soft, fluffy, protective nests. Riza sighed as she curled up into a ball in the tattered bowl of a nest that was her new home. She didn't know how long she would stay there. She didn't know how long she could stay there. She didn't know if she would ever be able to sleep there ever again after this night. She didn't even know if it was 'night' on this planet, or even how long night lasted. But she did know one thing: as she curled up in a ball and slid off into the blissful realm of unconsciousness, fleetly retreating from the sharp, spiky, nightmarish and alien world of her reality, she would be able to sleep in this nest tonight. She would be able to sleep in her home.

She slid off to sleep as the humming of her ad-hoc heater warmed the room, and the lights of the floating beowolf-cluster rhythmically blinked on and off.

Knock. Knock. Knock. At the door

Alarms went off all throughout Riza's head; apparently she would not be allowed to sleep in her nest.