Isabel and Wesley both remained seated for what seemed like an eternity after their crash. Their brains were still reeling in from what happened. 

Isabel began to twitch her fingers and realized some energy had finally returned to her body. The harness was doing no good at this point, so she decided to take it off. She lifted both of her hands up to the belts on her harness. She slowly wrapped her fingers around the latches and unbuckled them. The one on top clicked and opened, followed by the last one on the bottom. The harness split apart and clanged to the walls of the pod. The loud noise snapped Wesley out from his shocked state. He turned his head around side to side, examining his surroundings. He noticed Isabel taking her harness off and felt the strange urge to do the same, even if the harness somehow made him feel safer. 

Isabel tried to stand up, but her legs didn't yet have the strength to support her. They buckled beneath her, followed by her body falling to the ground. She landed with a thud, yelping in pain. Wesley looked down at his struggling sister and hastened his attempts at undoing the buckles of his harness. His small fingers fiddled with the metal locks, eventually undoing the which in turn freed him. He pulled his arms out from the harness arm slots and he pressed his palms against the bottom of his seat, beside both of his legs. He pushed against the cushion to get himself over the seat, sliding over the small chunk of plastic that served to keep the legs separated when seated. Unfortunately, due to his smaller size and younger age relative to his sister, he felt the effects of the crash much worse than Isabel. His weakened legs couldn’t support his weight for even a second, sending him down to the same level as his sister.

Isabel looked over to her brother and saw him on the ground.

“He should have just stayed in his seat, little idiot,” she thought to herself.

She slid her arms up beside her chest, and lifted them upwards, leaving her palms flat on the ground. After a deep inhale, she pushed as hard as she could. To her surprise, she was able to push herself up. She kept going until she hit a point where she could rotate her body. Her hips twisted in one big move to let her rest in a sitting position. She pushed herself along the floor, until she felt a wall support her back.

Wesley was still on the ground, motionless. The only movement that could be seen was his chest rising and falling. Isabel’s worries about her little brother ceased momentarily after she saw he was still alive. She remembered about the pendant her father had given her moments before his demise and brought her hand up for inspection. It had remained tightly clenched in her fist the whole time. Her fingers relaxed and opened, allowing her to see what it looked like. She quickly recognized that the pendant was the shape of her family seal, that of the Galanti name. It was made of pure gold and featured a mighty lion, capturing all the intricate details that a real one might have. She rubbed her thumb over the metal, to wipe the dust and small bits of debris that covered its beauty. Her father had vaguely mentioned its importance, and she tried to imagine what he could have meant. She shook her head to drive away those dark thoughts and decided to put it on. The clasp was undone, freeing the loop it had been closed on, and she separated both ends. She brought them back around to the back of her neck and re-did the clasp around the same loop, securing it around her neck. The gold lion dropped down to her chest and she slid it underneath her shirt.

She flexed her legs and brought to and from her body. Her strength had just about returned, and she decided it was time to get out of the cramped pod. The air was starting to get stale, and feelings of claustrophobia had begun to set it. Her mind focused as she swung one arm to right, grabbing the seat, and using the other to push herself off the ground.

“Okay,” she thought, “one… two… three!”

She pulled with her right arm and pushed with her left, as she prepared her legs to be ready to stand again. Her body moved away from the floor and into a standing position. She stood still for a second, regaining her sense of balance. After one deep inhale and exhale, she felt fine. Well as fine as she could feel, considering the situation. She nudged herself over to Wesley and put a hand on his shoulder.

She began to shake him, “Wesley, wake up!”

She shook him for a few seconds before he finally woke up. He slowly brought his head up to look at his sister.

“Isabel? What… what happened?” he whimpered.

“I’ll explain later,” she lied, “but right now we have to get out of here. I don’t think this building is going to stay up for too long.”

“Then… all of that was r-r-real?”

“Yes Wesley…” She choked through the beginning of some sobs, “Dad is… gone.”

Wesley looked down to the floor and started to cry, wailing very loudly. Isabel wiped the tears from her eyes and took ahold of Wesley’s shoulders.

“Stop! I don’t know where we’re at, and this place looks abandoned. Try not to cry, someone might hear us!” She said. She had a bad feeling about this place, and she didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention just yet.

Isabel looked into Wesley’s eyes and pleaded with him. He nodded his head and stifled his tears. His face was flush with tears running down his cheeks. Deciding he’d be fine for now, Isabel stood back up and walked her way to the control panel. She remembered the button that would release the pod’s door open, allowing them to leave. A hard-plastic case that had served the button from accidental activation had been opened. Her hand came up to the button, her index finger extending ever so slowly until it rested right on top of the flashing button. She brought her finger down and the button was pushed.

A pneumatic hiss was heard around the door, causing both siblings to turn their heads towards it. They watched the door shift slightly to the left, then lower itself. A few metal popping noises rang out and the door became disconnected. It dropped to the floor, slowly falling over until it gained enough speed to crash down with a mighty thud. Isabel shuffled over to the new opening but found that it was too dark to see anything. “There has to be a flashlight around here somewhere,” she thought as she walked back to the control panel.

She dropped down slowly onto her knees, using her fingers to feel around for some type of drawer or container. She felt hope as her fingers grazed over a metal handle. Wesley watched as his sister grasped the handle and pulled outwards toward herself. It was a drawer, packed with what seemed to be emergency supplies. “Bingo,” said a very satisfied Isabel. The first thing she saw were some glowsticks. She picked one up and cracked it with both hands. The chemicals inside worked to create a bright green light, which is what she used to inspect the rest of the container. There were a few more glowsticks, about four, and a flashlight right next to them. There were small brick shaped things wrapped in white cellophane and some containers of water, as well as two canteens. Packed underneath were two dark blue sweaters, both thick and very capable of keeping its wearer warm. Underneath the sweaters was a beige canvas backpack, with many pockets, and a first-aid kit. Isabel kept rifling through, but that’s all that left. She waved her glowstick to the left of the container and saw another handle. She grabbed it with her left hand and gave it a pull, but it wouldn’t move. Another tug showed no change at all. She placed the glowstick on the ground and wrapped both hands around the handle. She gave a great pull, but to no avail. This thing wouldn’t be budging anytime soon. The hit from the debris they took in space probably jammed the thing shut. She cursed under her breath. Whatever was in there could have been useful.

She pulled out one of the sweaters and held it up. It looked quite big, but it would have to do.

“Wesley, here put this on before you get too cold.” She said to the boy, handing him the oversized garment.

They had both started to realize just how cold it was getting inside the building and pod. Wesley took the sweater from his sister. It slipped onto his small body with ease, almost comically because of how baggy it fit on him. Isabel did the same and put the sweater on, fitting more comfortably on her since it was made for someone more or less her size. She brought her forearms together and rubber her upper arms, trying to create some friction for heat. Her attention was brought back to other supplies in the container and she pulled out the canvas backpack. She opened the main flap and there was ample room to fit all the other supplies inside. One by one she grabbed the remaining contents of the drawer and neatly organized them inside the bag.

After the drawer was empty, she remembered the number of their supplies. Four glowsticks, ten food bars, six bottled waters, and the first aid kit.

“This is all they put in the escape pod of a luxury ship?” she thought to herself, feeling some anger rise. “They couldn’t get those Helots to put anything else in here? Useless beings, I swear.”

She closed the bag shut and closed together the two latches that kept it from opening. Her hand reached for the glowstick and she raised it up, pushing the bag to the side.

“I’m going to check outside really quick Wesley, you stay here for a minute.” She said.

He merely nodded at her, then continued to just look down at his lap. She walked over to the now open pod door. Her right foot lifted over the threshold and down onto the floor. The crunch of rocks and glass was heard as her weight settled on top of the floor. Her other foot followed as she fully exited the pod. She held the glowstick further out in front of her, an attempt to illuminate the dark area ahead of her. The shine of the glowstick reflected from what looked like empty flasks and glass containers. She spotted Bunsen burners and various pipes and tubing around the room. It looked like a lab of sorts. She turned to her left, facing the wall that the pod had smashed through. A strange metal safe caught her attention. She slowly moved toward it, getting more of a visual understanding as the light got closer. It was a large metal safe that had been smashed open, thanks to the incredible velocity of the pod when it landed. Inside of it, there was a strange looking canister. It was silver and slightly dented on the side, no doubt from the impact. It reminded her of a soda can that fell on the ground, looking ready to burst. Despite the little voice in her head telling her not to, she got even closer. She pulled the door away to expose the inside even more. Her hand slowly moved over to the canister, as her index finger extended to touch it. She barely tapped the canister and it blew open, spraying her with a pink liquid. It managed to cover her entire body, drenching her in the bright color.

She screamed and fell backwards, her rear thudding onto the ground. The glowstick fell from her hand as she brought both of her hands to face, desperately trying to get the strange liquid off her face. She spit out and began rubbing her eyes furiously. It had even made its way into her throat, as she began to cough as well.

However, the liquid strangely disappeared, soaking into her skin and clothes. She began to feel tingly all throughout her body. The vibrating sensation got stronger and stronger until she felt extreme discomfort in her right arm. Though the glowstick was giving a small amount of light after its long use, she was able to see that her arm had… grown?

“What’s happening to me?!” She yelled out, her voice trembling.

Wesley heard the commotion and slid out of his chair, trying to get to the door. But before he could make it, he felt the pod shaking. He looked around for something to grab as the tremors became more violent. Right outside the pod, Isabel was screaming in more pain as her legs began to grow, becoming longer and longer. The same could be said for the rest of the body, as her size began increasing. Somehow, her clothing seemed to be growing with her, if only a little bit. There were still a few rips and tears that appeared.

Her size began to increase to the point where the small room could no longer support her massive size. Her head was big enough to nudge the escape pod, with Wesley still in it, outside. Wesley felt a free-falling motion as the pod fell to the ground. He slammed back into the floor as the pod smashed into the ground. All the air he had in his lungs was expelled, leaving him writhing in pain.

The building he was just in seemed to crumble in on its self, creating a sink hole in the ground of what looked to be a large underground facility. A large shape, presumably Isabel, fell inside with the rest of the building. The ground stopped shaking with a final incredibly loud thud. Bricks and chunks of concrete continued to fall in but ceased eventually. A large plume of smoke and dust started to form in the sky, a massive sign that there was activity in the area.

Wesley crawled up to the door, which was now facing sideways, since the pod was flipped. He looked across the massive hole which once was the foundation for a great building. Something in the distance caught his eye. He squinted and tried to see what it was.

It looked like a vehicle heading straight in his direction.