Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I would appreciate the effort," she said with a small laugh. She drew her seat belt across her body and laced her fingers together in her lap. "It was much larger than I had anticipated. It is amazing to think that such a thing exists completely unnoticed below the city in which I spent my whole life."

"Incredible that such a system was once implemented, let alone conceived and approved. Although in honesty, I have found myself surprised multiple times by the level of competency I have seen exhibited in this organization." She glanced out the window as the city gave way to desert. "Between my private studies on the syndicate and what little information on the failed raids came to my knowledge, I was certain that it was yet another flop doomed to one day be dismantled by a child."

It spoke well of them that her opinion had been changed so drastically by so few encounters, she thought. She was happy with her present place, and she was thankful for that chance meeting with Seth that had set the wheels in motion.

While Aila had never been one for idle chat, she too found herself appreciating the inconsequential conversation. Such civil pleasantries were infinitely preferable to the angry banter that they had been prone to earlier in the day.

"I did not find it explicitly written," she said, "but I had my suspicions. It affects me little, though. I am here for a reason, and I have no intent to leave - even if it were an option." Her head remaining forward, she turned her eyes to Nyx. "Would it be very troubling if I asked you came to find yourself here?" It was a trifling curiosity, but a curiosity nonetheless. The woman's rank spoke well of her talents, and science was a specialty with which one could thrive in any environment one chose. Why a criminal organization, of all places?

A place worthy of her talents, was it? Aila's faint, polite smile grew more noticeable and more amused. It was beginning to become evident why they had such difficulty communicating in a courteous manner.

"It must have been wonderful," she thought aloud, "studying in a university. Such a vast wealth of information available at a moment's notice." She had dreamed of taking classes in a college, in her childhood, and she despaired that such an opportunity was forever beyond her.

"Less than impressive, then." Aila was disappointed. She had always heard university spoken of so highly, as though it were the first and final institute for the sharpening of the mind. Suddenly she did not feel nearly as profound a sense of having missed out. She had her personal studies through an assortment of libraries, after all.

Surely they were around the place the radio initially gave out, were they not? It was worth looking into, at least. Anything was better than the terrible silence that had beset them. Aila leaned forward to search for a station that would produce music, but something caught her attention and she froze, hand hovering before the knob. A faint white smoke hissed out from under the car's hood, only barely noticeable in the desert sun's bright rays. Aila's reaching hand took the form of a pointed finger.

"What is that?" Is it supposed to do that? Is it on fire? Is it going to explode? Are we going to die? Dozens of worries flooded her mind, but only the first and vaguest found her voice.

It was with great enthusiasm that Aila exited the vehicle. She, too, shed her jacket in a bid to deter the blistering temperatures, pushing up her sleeves as much as she was able. She peered into the car's contents as the hood came up, curious to see what machinery constituted such an unsavory creation. The heat, freed of its confines, burst forth, and Aila stepped back with a small yelp of surprise. She immediately fastened her hands over her mouth as if doing so would alter the fact that the sound had escaped her.

She lowered her hands slightly to reveal a frown. "Can it be repaired?"

Her frown deepened. "I do not." But damned if she wasn't going to add it to her list of things to learn. "Are we left to return the parcels to base on our own?" It could be done - with frequent breaks and veritable gallons of cool water, perhaps. Conversely, they could wait for the night's chilling breeze and return by starlight, but that would necessitate hours of time lost to sitting around and accomplishing nothing...