"Is it always like this up here?" "Only at double dusk, when the storm reaches all the way down to the surface." "Not the best time to make a crossing." "Yeah, I believe it." "Now?" "Now." "I have destroyed them all, except for the one in front of us." "Which is the most important one - so let's go get 'em!" "The moth's not responding!" "It has been struck by several crossbow darts." "I suspect that it is injured." "Injured?" "We're all gonna die!" "What do we do?" "Stanley is right." "The moth will crash and you will all - die." "Then Xev, do something!" "It doesn't respond anymore Stan, it's dead." "Any ideas?" "Yes - just one." " I can't see them anymore." " Good." "I can't see anything ahead either, can you?" "No." "What happened?" "I think we landed." "I know." "Where are we?" "Somewhere on the surface of planet Fire." "I know that, I can feel the heat." " I mean, any idea where?" " No." " Thank you." "Well, I think I can take the heat, at least until the storm clears." "Huh - maybe it worked out after all." "There's no way dead man could have followed us in this" "What's wrong?" "Dead." "Great." "Can you see anything?" "Not yet - there, ahead." "I can't see anything!" "All right, quick now - lower us down!" "Do it!" "Good thing we didn't stay in the moth." "Yes, yes I am OK, thank you all very much for asking." "Thanks Thanks." "That was a good idea." "You saved us all." "Boy, this is hot!" "I believe that is in part why they call this planet Fire." "Oh great, so we go from the frying pan into the fire, right?" "This what happens to us?" "It is hot." "No, Xev - this is really, really hot - and what happens when the storm clears up and the sun comes out, what about then, Mister Bright Ideas?" "We'll come up with something." "We'll come up with something?" "We'll come up with something." "Great." "Where's our moths?" "It's been so long." "Why aren't they picking us up?" "I don't know." "Hey, you don't think the dead guy could've brought them all down, do you?" "Perhaps he did." "Nah." "OK, well let's just say that he did - then what happens?" "Then we die." "Look, there's a city over there, why don't we just go there?" "How?" "Walk!" "That city is called Girltown." "It's the only city on this planet where they might not kill us, but I don't think you would be very happy there." "What choice have we got?" "I say we just start walking, before it gets any hotter." " No." " Why not?" "There's no point." "What do you mean?" "To get there from here, we would have to cross the red hot sea." "What's the red hot sea?" "It's a sea of boiling rock, which is so hot that it glows red." "If we'd landed there instead of here, we'd have been consumed in seconds." "Anyway, the heat's gonna kill us in an hour or so." "There must be something we can do, besides staying here and getting cooked." "Come on, dying isn't real high on my agenda for today." "Death's not such a bad thing - for me anyway." "But then, I'm me, and you are you, and only you can suffer your fate." "And for you - death will be bad." "What are you talking about?" "I'm talking about the fact that your true suffering will begin shortly - immediately after the heat from this planet kills the body which currently contains your miserable life." "Ah, whatever." "Look - there must be something we can do!" "Well, I guess our moth's flying days are over." "Look!" "Do you think we'll be able to make it fly?" "There is still some fuel remaining." "And I don't see any holes." "I don't know which is hotter - the sun or the ground." "The ground is hotter." "How do you know all this stuff?" "I mean about what happens to me when I die?" "Because I have died many times." "Excuse me?" "Death is not the end - merely a transition to another life." "I certainly hope you're right." "You shouldn't." "Why?" "Because your next life may not be so pleasant." "I'm not having much of a pleasant life right now." "I promise you, the next one will be more unpleasant." "You'll look back on this life with longing - except that you won't remember it." "I don't believe any of this." "Maybe you'll get lucky again." "Lucky?" "How?" "You're not like the others from your planet." "Not a bit." "Sometimes mistakes get made." "An error occurred, and you ended up on Water where you did not belong - in a city you did not deserve to be." "A place I didn't want to be." "And you found me, and we will die together, and you will be mine forever." "What?" "Look!" "Uh oh - we're going down." "We need more heat." "Better, OK, we're going back up again." "But we're burning too much fuel." "At least the wind is blowing in the right direction." "Do you think we have enough fuel to make it?" "Not if we keep burning it at this rate." "So what do we do?" "We lose weight." "He's right." "If we have less weight, we'll burn less fuel." "Hey - what's that red stuff up ahead?" "Looks hot." "He's right - this balloon is carrying too much weight for all of us to make it." "I will meet you at the city." "Farewell." "Kai!" "Bye!" "It's all right, Xev." "He's all right." "He's doing the right thing." "It's much cooler up here." "So - explain." "Why do you look exactly like Kai?" "Explain why he looks like me." "Oh no, wait, wait, wait - look, we know that he is Kai, and we can see that you look like him, you know," "but - who are you?" "Who do I look like?" "Kai, last of the Brunnen G." "Exactly!" "But how can the both of you be one person?" "I'm not exactly sure that we are." "He is dead, so, he is not the same as me, as I am quite alive." "Hey, hey, down here!" "Woo, up there, look - we're down here!" "It's a trick!" "I wouldn't rule out that possibility." "Woo, we're down here!" "Who is it?" "Let's go down and find out." "Bad idea." "There's nothing we can do for them, it'd just be extra weight." "So you're saying we should just leave them out there in the desert to die?" "No, that's not what I'm saying," "I'm just saying - just leave them down there to fend for themselves and, so they don't get a chance to pull one on us." "Xev?" "I think we should at least see who they are." "I can't tell you how happy we are to see you." "I thought we were dead." "What do you want?" "A lift, of course." "You can drop us off over there in Girltown." "That'll be fine, if it's OK with you." "You were in one of the moths, weren't you?" "Oh - that was against our will." "We had nothing to do with those guys." "No, we were, we were escaping when we crashed in the storm, that's what happened." " Hi Fifi!" " Oh - hi, hi Bunny." "He's Fifi - the one who stole your moths." "OK, OK, that's all I need to hear." "Look, they attacked Boomtown, they can just stay out here in the desert and fry." "You can't just leave us out here to die in the desert!" "Well, maybe it was against their will, how do we know?" "What do you think, Bunny?" "Fifi was - well, he didn't really " "fit in." "Look - it doesn't matter." "They're just extra weight, so we can't do anything for them anyway." "OK, look, hey guys - really sorry about you being stuck down there and all that, but, er, you see, we're running low on fuel and we just, we can't take on any extra weight so," "we can't help you, sorry!" "Look, mister, you can't just leave us out here in the desert to die!" "When we get to the city over there we'll let them know that you're out here, and we'll get them to send somebody out to get you." "No, no, you can't do that." "We'll be dead by then." "Come on." "Look, Bunny, Bunny come on, tell them they can't do this Bunny?" "Bunny, come on, it's me, we're friends!" "Look - more heat - the sooner we get away from these guys the better!" "I don't feel right about this Stan." "Look Xev, I'm finding it a bit difficult myself, but just don't go getting crazy on me, OK?" "There just isn't enough fuel, that's all." "I mean, look, they're as good as dead, and we can't do anything about it, except join them." "What are you doing?" "The right thing." "Hey, thanks." "I mean it, sincerely." "You're looking - better, guy." "Thanks Bunny." "You guys saved our lives!" "Well, not for long, because now we don't have enough fuel to make it, thanks to you!" "You know, it's amazing how much it cools off once you're up in the air aways." "So you don't think we have enough fuel to make it?" "Anybody got any bright ideas?" "Yes." "We go back down and we drop you two off." " I mean, other than that." "There will be a next time." "There always is." "He led the attack." "He was our enemy." "Yeah." "Yeah, that's good." "He, you know, he had total control over me too." "So there's less weight now, so we can make it, right?" "No." "There's still too much weight." "One down, one to go, huh?" "I have a question." "What happens after you die?" "Well, that's a good question, since we're all gonna die soon." "Well, I don't know." "I mean, you die, and that's it" "Well, I believe that, if you live a good life, then something nice will happen to you." "You would think that, Bunny." "Er" " I mean yeah, I hope you're right Bunny," "I really do." "Why?" "Well, I don't know, it's just that, er, you know Duke, before he did the big drop, he, er, he was going on about how this wasn't the first time I was alive," "and that there was something coming after, you know, like, for me anyway." "Something good?" "I don't know." "Not exactly, I don't think." "And did you believe him?" "No, not really." "The way I see it is simple." "You wake up one day, and there you are." "Life begins." "You can't remember anything before that, so that means that it wasn't." "And then when you die, you just aren't anymore." "What do you mean, one day you just woke up?" "Well, just what I said." "You mean, when you were born?" "What's born?" "What?" " When you were born, when your mother had you." "Mother?" "Oh boy" " Bunny, you're a woman, explain it to him." "Explain what?" "I can't believe I'm asking this - explain to him what being born is, you know, where children come from, how life begins for all of us, you know." "I just woke up one day and I was there, just like everyone else." "Yeah." "There's something really weird about you two, and these whole two planets." "See," "where we come from, people start out small, as babies" "about this size, and they grow inside women." "I've always been the same size." "Yeah, me too." "I don't know, maybe you're right." "Maybe I was once small." "I just don't remember." "We're going down again." "Increase the flame." "It's at the maximum." "It's the red hot sea." "If we don't get more flame, we're gonna crash and burn!" "That's all there is." "OK, then we have to lose weight now." "So - who's going to volunteer to die?" "I volunteer him." "I volunteer you." "It's our balloon." "We picked you up, and you got some extra free life, so come on Fifi, do the right thing, come on, over the side, come on!" "How is that the right thing?" "There's no point in all of us dying if only one person has to." "I'll do it." "I'll jump over the side." "No you won't." "He stole the moths and he attacked Boomtown." "Against my will!" "He's going over and that's it!" "I'm not going over and that's it." "Bunny volunteered, let her do it." "Kai?" "We all agree - somebody has to die, yes?" "Yes." "We can have a vote." "OK" " I vote for him, vote for Fifi" " Xev?" "Fifi." "I vote for Bunny." "Bunny." "I vote for myself!" "Kai, you have to decide." "Why?" "Bunny said she wants to do it." "Let her have what she wants." "No, she doesn't wanna do it, she's just being a nice person, not like Fifi here." "I think that of all the people on this sip, one person deserves to live least." "I vote for" " Fifi !" "No!" "OK, come on Fifi - you lost the vote, take it easy." "No, no, you jump!" "I'm not gonna jump." "I'm not jumping!" "Come on - if you're not gonna jump we'll just have to throw you over." "Forget it!" "Kai!" "No, please, I'm begging you." "You can't just kill me, snuff out my life like it was nothing." "Hey - and if Duke's right, and there is another life, you all might have to pay for this wrong!" "I thought you didn't believe him." "We don't have a choice, Fifi, come on!" "No!" "Killing is wrong - there's gotta be a way." "OK, so we don't think there's enough fuel." "Well, maybe the wind'll change direction or something." "You can't just take away a man's precious life because there isn't enough wind!" "Come on Fifi, let go." "We are going to throw you over." "We have to, you deserve it." "I don't wanna die!" "If you're right, Fifi, and there is nothing after this, then you have nothing to be afraid of." "I still don't wanna die!" "Look - this is as hard for us as it is for you!" "Then you jump!" "No!" "Bunny!" "Let me do it" " I can't take it anymore!" "Please - don't you remember what he did to all your friends?" " I forgive him." " Oh, Bunny." "I don't know." "I don't know if I can throw him over the side either." "You're going crazy on me again, Xev." "Look, just be practical for once." "What good is it gonna do if we all crash and burn?" "Look, come on Kai, gimmee a hand here." "Well, if killing someone is wrong, then it's wrong ." "Yeah!" "I don't think we're going down anymore anyway." "The sun is going behind Water." "That will make it cooler - for now." "You had the right instinct, Bunny - but he's the wrong guy." "We don't know what's ahead - we should try to get some sleep." "I'm not tired." "I am." "I'll make myself useful, you know, do my bit." "I volunteer to keep watch." "We don't trust you." "I'll keep watch." "I think he's right, Stanley." "We don't know what's ahead of us, and I'm very tired, so maybe we should try and get some rest." "Promise you won't take your eyes off of him." "I promise." "Hey Bunny - come and lie down with me, hmm?" "Sleep well, Stan." "I'll try." "I can't sleep." "Thanks - you know, for not throwing me over before." "Look, I know all you guys, you all thought" "I deserved to die the most, so, er, I just wanna say thanks!" "She's pretty cute " "and it's entirely obvious that she's got the hots for you " "oh yeah." "So why don't you go and lie down next to her?" "I'm keeping watch." "So, let me take a turn." "Like I said, I can't sleep." "Come on, what are you worried about?" "What, am I gonna steal the balloon?" "There's nothing I can do." "Besides, we could all be dead in a couple of hours." "You should have a good time while you can - and there's a good time I ying down there waiting for ya." "When did you hook up with Duke?" "Duke, huh?" "Well - ever since I woke up, I was on Gametown - you know, the city where all they do is play sports all day?" "It was OK, it just wasn't me." "Then the dead guy - who looks a lot like you - he comes along." "So I take his moths and I leave." "I figured I might do better on this planet." "So I land on what looked like the biggest city." "Duke was the big cheese there, so he became my boss " "until you put an arrow through him." "I saw something when you shot that arrow." "What did you see?" "Something between you - you know, like there was something going on." "What?" "I dunno what - something." "You only ever look out for yourself, right Fifi?" "I'm not sure what you're getting at." "Tell the truth for once in your life." "It could be the most important thing you ever say!" "Well" " I consider myself a practical guy." "I do what's practical." "Only when it benefits you, and only you - right?" "Er" " OK, right." "And you also take pleasure in the suffering of others." "Only when it's practical." "Is that the right answer?" "It was a bad answer, but a very practical one, for you." "I would like to make you a deal." "Oh yeah?" "Will you make a deal with me?" "I love deals." " How is everything?" " Everything's OK." "I just wanted to be close to you for a moment." "Is that OK?" "Yes." "Are you - are you really alive?" "Yes." "All of you?" "All of me." "We may never have another chance." "I can't help feeling like " "I know you." "Maybe I do, from another life." " Do you want me?" " Yes." "Then I am yours." "And I am yours." "Bunny." "She sacrificed herself, for us." "I don't think so." "I should have stayed up on watch." "She didn't throw herself over." "She was a really nice person and you pushed her over, didn't you?" "Get outta here!" " What happened?" " I don't know, exactly." "What do you mean, you don't know exactly?" " you were on watch." "I was distracted." "You what?" "By me." "I distracted him." "It was our only chance to - be together." "Come on, it's not her fault." "Bunny threw herself over for the rest of us." "It's something she wanted to do for a while now, make herself feel good or something like that, I dunno." "It was my fault." "If I had stayed on watch I could have stopped her." "Well - no more weight problem, right?" "Thanks to Bunny." "Thanks Bunny!" "Hope you're somewhere nice now!" "So, when do we get there?" "We're passing it!" "The wind has changed direction." "It's increasing." "Pedal faster!" "We're even farther away." "I'm pedalling as fast as I can." "Turn this way." " What is it?" " More cities - lots of them." "Can I take a rest, or what?" "No, they are very far away." "We'll be very lucky to make it." "The wind is still increasing." "I can't keep this up much longer." "It won't take much longer." "The balloon's been hit." "We need more flame!" "There isn't any more." "We are going down again then." "We'll burn up." "We're almost there" " Oh!" "The other way, full rudder!" "Xev, what are you doing?" "What I have to do." "Watch out!" "Go!" "So, what now?" "We climb up." "You can climb up." "I will." "No, Xev." "No what?" "If we go down, we'll burn up in the heat, if we go up, who knows?" "No, no, no, we should wait till nightfall." "I don't know." "Maybe whoever's here will have found us by then, and I'm not sure we want that." "I'll go with you - it's too hot." "Wait until it's a little cooler." "The heat doesn't bother me too much." "How can it not bother you?" "I'm burning up here." "Maybe I'm from a hotter place - at least, part of me, that is." "If you wait, I'll go with you." "No, it's OK." "You stay down there with Stan, he won't want to be left alone with Fifi." "You got that right!" "It's OK guys, just let her go, she likes to explore." " So, are you really Kai?" " No." "Then, you know, why do you look like him?" "I look like Kai, because I want to." "What do you mean, you want to?" "It was a good way for him to come back." "I am not talking to you, why are you answering for him?" "Because I want to!" "And he looks like the dead guy because he wants to look like the dead guy." "You can't just look like somebody because you wanna look like somebody, it's just not that easy." "It is for him - after he dies, anyway!" "What?" "Are you two guys on the same side now?" "You finally figured it out!" "Yeah, me and Kai here, we're playing on the same team now - only, like he said, he's not Kai." "Who are you?" " Prince." " Prince who?" "Just Prince." "You know me." "We've met before." "He's my new boss." "ÝYou did it, didn't you?" "You threw Bunny over the side!" "You think?" "So, OK, fellas - what's the plan?" "Well, Stanley " "The plan is that it's your turn to take a swan dive over the edge." "Hey, well, come on, what's the real plan?" "We're all stuck up here together and we just gotta help each other out, no matter who you are." "You're going to suffer for your sins, Stanley." "Now come on guys, if we co-operate here, we can come out of this alive." "It won't hurt, Stan." "You're gonna hit the ground so hard you won't feel a thing." "Oh, just missed!" "But the real pain will come after death." " What do you mean?" " You'll see." "I'm good with pain." "I know how you feel, Stanley." "This is what you were gonna do to me, till you wimped out." "There'll be no wimping out this time." "You know why?" " because throwing you over the side is gonna be a feelgood experience for me, pal." "Oh come on now guys, we can make a deal, any deal you want." "I already made a deal with you, and you didn't keep it!" "I tried!" "And for that, you will suffer." "Ah!" "No, no, no, no, no, no, you can't no, don't!" "Bye bye, Stanley Tweedle No, no!" "Too late, pal." "Time to die." "Hey - you didn't have enough time to come down here." "Correct, if I was only a human being." "You're not a human being?" "Not completely." "She's only half human." "What's the other half?" "Cluster lizard." "And Kai's not Kai - he's Prince, pretending to be Kai." "Don't believe him, Xev." "I do believe him!" "The real Kai woulda been a better kisser!" "Thank you." "Oh thank you Xev." "I thank you like I've never thanked you before." "Huh?" "Are you the real Stan?" "What?" "You wanna kiss me and find out?" "You are." "Let's go." "Oh darn."