Wolf Who Rules

She'd seen enough photos of Earth from orbit to recognize the luminescent blue swirled with gleaming white clouds. The sight of it punched the air out of her; she stood gasping, like a fish suddenly finding itself out of water, trying to get her breath back. The planet rose, filling the window, evidence that the ship she was on was rotating to maintain artificial gravity.

"No-we can't be - this isn't possible. This is a trick. I can't be in space. I was in Pittsburgh. You don't fall in Pittsburgh and land in orbit." She couldn't be in space. Could she? "You don't fall in Pittsburgh and land in orbit," she whispered again. But she hadn't fallen to ground, but into the discontinuity - who knew what all was tied into that knot of realities? "Oh gods, where am I?"

"Apparently quite lost." Jin tightened his hold on her, as if he expected her to collapse. Considering how weak she suddenly felt, it was probably a good idea.

"Lost! Lost!" cried the crows in her dreams.

She realized where she must be. She had fallen straight to Esme. "You're part of the tengu crew of the Tianlong Hao."

"I was the Captain."

"Was?"

"This is the Dahe Hao." Jin leaned over her shoulder to tap on the window, drawing her attention back outside. "There's the Tianlong Hao."

The ship had continued to rotate and a vast debris field of broke ships slid into view. The great long cylindrical ships were shattered to pieces. Parts were folded like soda cans. The space around them hazed and glittering from frozen moisture and oxygen trapped in the same orbit as the ships. The bodies of astronauts tumbled in among the litter.

She covered her mouth to keep in a cry of dismay. Still her shock came out in low whimpers.

"The Dahe managed to rescue most of my crew minutes after the accident," Jin said quietly. "We saved crew from the Zhenghe Hao and the Anhe Hao, but the Minghe Hao re-entered before we could get to it, along with parts of what we think was the gate."

"Jin!" A female voice called from beyond an open hatch. "Did you find what the hell made the loud bang?"

"Yes!" Jin shouted. "We somehow picked up a visitor."

"What kind of visitor?" The female snapped.

"The gun-waving elfin kind." Jin shouted.

"Have you fucking flipped?" The female voice drew closer. "An elf?"

"Yes, an elf," Jin called.

"Jin." There was something familiar about the female's voice. "There were no elves on any of the crew lists."

Jin cocked his head at Tinker and made a slight noise of discovery. "You did fall from Pittsburgh."

A purple-haired woman appeared at the door and Tinker recognized her. It was Esme. She hadn't changed from when Lain's photo had been taken, with the tiny exception of the bandage on her forehead. On her temple was a pink line of recently healed flesh. Like Jin, she was marked with soot, blood, and exhaustion.

"Well, I'll be fucked." Esme had Lain's voice, only slightly more raspy, as if she had shouted her throat raw. "Well, it's about time you got your scrawny ass up here."

"You had a gun-waving elf princess on order?" Jin asked.

"Not exactly. I had a dream. And you were there." Esme pointed at Jin and then Tinker. "And you."

"I'm starting to understand the appeal of Kansas," Tinker grumbled.

Jin looked at Tinker in surprise. "You forgot your little dog."

"I'm Dorothy," Esme corrected him. "She's the scarecrow. So, how the hell did you get here?"

"I fell," Tinker said.

"Down the rabbit hole?" Esme asked.

"More or less," Tinker said.

"Great, you can get us out of this fucking mess," Esme asked.

Tinker could only laugh bitterly. "I not even sure where I am, let alone how to get out. What planet is that? Elfhome? Onihida?"

Esme glanced at Jin with narrowing eyes. "Onihida?"

"The tengu homeworld," Tinker said. "Or don't you know about the tengu?"

"We've covered that little speed bump," Esme said dryly, still looking at Jin. Then she shrugged. "All things considered, finding out that half the crew isn't human is just all part of the weirdness."

"It doesn't matter which planet it is," Jin said. "We've lost all our shuttles in the crash. We can't land. Normally that wouldn't be a problem, the ship is designed to support its crew for decades - but we've got the survivors of four ships on board."

"I think its Elfhome." Esme turned back to Tinker. "At least, Pittsburgh is down there. Every now and then, we pick up a FM station." Esme named a couple of Pittsburgh radio stations. "It sounds like a fucking war has broken out."

"More or less," Tinker said.

"Oh joy." Esme indicated that they should start in the direction she had come from. "Hopefully you have something other than straw in that head of yours, because I've got a mess for you to fix."

"Aren't you supposed to be the expert?" Tinker let Jin pick her up and carry her. All the little speed bumps, as Esme would put it, had finally gotten the best of her.

"Yes, I am," Esme lead through the next section of the ship. Smoke hazed the air here, and red lights flashed unattended. "But you're the scarecrow."