Ayden drew back the string on his bow. The rabbit he was targeting chewed at the sparse grass, unaware that it's death was near. The string creaked as his thumb touched his cheek. He exhaled, then let go. In half a second, it had pierced the rabbit's head. He smiled. Rabbits were a rare delicacy. Jax would be happy.
   Ayden slung his bow over his shoulder and collected the rabbit. Heading back across the prairie, a loud boom echoed across the valley. Looking up, he saw a streak of fire light up the sky. Probably another asteroid. There had been a lot of them lately.
   He entered a small grove  of trees, one of the few still standing. It wasn't long before he reached the small camp under a rock overhang.
   "Jax!" he called softly.
   Something dropped behind him. In half a second, he had spun around with an arrow aimed directly at the figure's chest.
   "Whoa! It's me! Don't shoot!"
   Ayden relaxed the string and smiled. Jax was always sneaking around and never failed to surprise him, usually resulting with an arrow in the tree next to her. Strange to think that even though she was two years older than him, he was the one thinking she'll never learn.
   "Gees, Ayden. That's the fortieth time or so. I'd think you'd be expecting me." Jax smiled, then added,"Or are you just afraid to admit that you're always off-guard?"
   "Maybe you should announce your presence before you appear." he retorted. "Or I might just shoot you anyways."
   Jax expressed horror. "You wouldn't!" she gasped.
   Ayden smiled and held up the rabbit. "Better get a fire going. We're having a feast tonight."
   Jax nodded and went off to fetch firewood, while Ayden went to work skinning the rabbit. When she got back, she put the wood in their little pit and struck two stones together until the sparks started a fire, then sat next to him.
   "Did you see that fireball earlier?" she asked.
   He nodded. "What about it?"
   She poked at the fire before answering. "I don't think it was an asteroid at all. The trail of debris was non-existent and the tail was to straight. I think it might have been a starship."
   Ayden stared at her in disbelief. He had been born a year after Earth died, and had been with his parents for only the first two years of his life before they died of sickness. Jax and her family found him after two days and took him in, teaching him how to survive on a ruined Earth. They had lived on the coast of what had once been Germany before Jax's family was killed in the floods. They had run off to what her map identified as England, where they had found the grove and lived ever since. Over that time, Jax had told Ayden about how her family had once designed starships for interstellar travel. Until she had told him, he had never heard of a starship. Jax told him that her family had never mentioned them because they were all gone and there would be no more, and thus not worth discussing. All his life he was told that there would be no rescue missions, that they were all believed dead. That they would spend their lives hiding and hunting and never leaving. So when she said that a starship had entered the atmosphere, it was natural for him to be shocked.
   "It was headed towards the edge of the valley. I bet we could find it just over the ruins. Maybe we could commandeer it and actually leave." she said, looking excited. Light from the fire danced across her face and enhanced the genetic mutation that caused a streak of her hair to be ice blue. Like him, mud was smeared on almost every surface of her body. The clothes they wore had been found in the ruins just over the valley's edge and had been patched and re-patched several times.
   She leaned closer to him, her ice blue eyes sparkling. "Come on, Ayden. There's nothing to think about. I know you want off Earth just as much as I do."
   He considered a moment longer, then decided. "Okay. What do we do?"

   Ayden and Jax watched the starship disgorge seven aliens of seven different species and one young human, pale skinned with shaggy black hair and startling green eyes, dressed in black with a knee-length coat and high collar. The boy walked to the front of the group, obviously in charge. After surveying the landscape, he barked an order and nodded at the ruins of London. Three of the aliens rushed back up the starship's ramp and the other four drew weapons and spread out.
   "Seven of them shouldn't be to hard." Ayden said. "We should leave the human alive to show us how to operate the controls."
   Jax nodded. "Cover me."
   She disappeared into the tall grass as Ayden climbed a lone tree nearby. Reaching the top, he unslung his bow and drew an arrow from the quiver at his hip. Having a quiver on the back was more practical, but drawing from the side was quicker than reaching behind. Plus, you could see what you had instead of fumbling blindly for an arrow and waisting precious seconds.
   Setting the arrow on the string, he settled in to wait.
   It wasn't long before he saw the telltale ripples only visible from above. Kneeling on the branch, Ayden drew, sighted, and let go.
   Down below, an arrow sprouted from the chest of the alien farthest from him, and he crumpled. The others started shouting and looking around wildly as the boy spung around and caught sight of Jax disappearing at the top of the ramp. He yelled at the others and pointed, but another two had fallen and the last was too panicked to hear. He was down soon enough.
   Ayden slid down the tree and raced across the grass as the human ran towards the ship. They intersected three meters from the ramp, Ayden tackling from behind. They went down and Ayden brought down a punch. The boy caught his wrist and green eyes blazed into his own before Ayden brought his other hand around and knocked him out.
   Jax strolled down the ramp as he stood up. She glanced at the boy, then at Ayden. "You didn't kill him, right?"
   Ayden smiled and shook his head. "He should be waking up soon. I didn't hit him that hard."
   "Good." She gestured up the ramp. "Let's get out of here, shall we?"

   The pirate boy woke up soon enough and grumbled agreement when the two survivors demanded he take them to the nearest human colony. Intrigued, the woman searched her index an found Titan, a moon of Saturn, which hosted a thriving colony.
   And one of the auras. Very interesting.
   But first, she would have to check up on the other two on the Lurik ship...