I know this is a bit unusual, but I did write another chapter. It takes place before CT's last contribution, and its placement only makes sense there (thus the 42.5). I don't know how it'll work out exactly but for now I think it's enough that I actually bloody wrote something.

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Chapter 42.5: Icarus's Augury
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"These should do the trick," Icarus said as he walked out of the hull of the ship. He was carrying two objects that looked suspiciously like hand held vacuum cleaners. Jesse knew immediately what they were and nodded as a broad smile crept over his face.

"I haven't seen one of these since I was a child," he said, "and my father and I..." Suddenly his smile narrowed and his eyes turned downwards.

Icarus set down the sprayer and snapped his fingers at Jesse's face, "We need to get this over with quick. It's best to do this efficiently and fast in case there's someone on to us."

Naomi and Verity were already inside the ship, prepping it for launch. Naomi had given Icarus a walkie and her voice suddenly chisseled through the static. "You there, Icarus?"

Icarus set down the other sprayer so Jesse could pour in the Tetracolyhydroxide. He pressed down the green talk button on his walkie without taking it off his belt and said, "Sure am. What's on your mind?"

"Verity told me that although the Tetra will disable our shields, it's a fine way to see if the stuff is actually working. So I'm going to start her up in standby and activate them. We'll let you know once they've been rendered obsolete."

Icarus almost laughed. "Rendered obsolete, ten-four, batten down the hatches," he mumbled to himself. A very strange, foul smell was suddenly snaking its way into his nose. Then he remembered to press down on the button, "Gotcha, love." He turned towards Jesse and noticed he was very carefully pouring the Tetra into the sprayers. "Is that what that God-awful smell is?"

"Oh, sorry about that," Jesse started, setting down the Tetra and pulling a couple face masks out of his satchel. He tossed one to Icarus and pulled the other over his mouth and nose. "This stuff will certainly make your hairs stand on end. I had forgotten what it must smell like." Icarus pulled his own mask into place and nodded absentmindedly. Jesse finished pouring in the Tetra as the ships engines began humming idly. Snapping the tops into place, he looked up at Icarus. "What if this doesn't work?"

Icarus returned the look but didn't answer. Instead he grabbed the sprayer by the handle and took the hose in the other, turning towards the ship. But Jesse wouldn't let it rest, and he asked it again. "What are the stakes?"

"The stakes, Jesse without an I or a last name?" Icarus asked wryly. "What am I supposed to tell you? You know your own stakes. I've been smuggling people on and off this God forsaken planet for years and never wanted to know their stories." He hadn't turned around until now to face Jesse. "I'm not one to get involved. So don't look to me to tell you what will happen if whatever you're running away from catches you. Let's just get this over with, shall we?" Jesse nodded and they began spraying down the ship.

Icarus began spraying the chemical onto the ship, but not thirty seconds later Naomi was speaking over the walkie. "Icarus? Icarus, are you there?" He set down the sprayer, moved his face mask down over his chin, and pressed the talk button.

"There a problem, Naomi? We just started spraying on the Tetra moments ago."

"The shields are already down. If you only just started spraying that stuff on it must be pretty powerful." Icarus breathed in deep and got a sudden whiff of the stench.

"Indeed."

"Are you alright?"

Icarus coughed. "I'll be fine, this stuff just smells something fierce. I'm gonna coat the ship with more, we can't be too careful." He quickly put the mask back over his mouth and nose but felt a little dizzy. Nothing came back over the walkie so he simply picked the sprayer back up and continued.

It took hours to completely coat the ship. Everyone figured they had done much, much more than they needed. Jesse had even opted to quit early, to Icaris's chagrin. By the time it was finished he was utterly exhausted. He entered the ship fully intending to go straight to sleep, but Naomi greeted him as he entered his room.

"You look terrible!" She exclaimed.

"Thanks," he mumbled and plopped down onto the bed. She scooted close to him and held his face.

"I.. we need to take off immediately. I was hoping you could be in the control room with Verity and me as we went. I'm still a little worried and I was hoping you could be there.." Icarus, however, didn't feel like he was in any place to be doing much of anything right now. The sickly stench seemed like it was still lingering in his nose. It was almost as if he could taste it. And he was so tired. So unimaginably tired.

He tried to reply but felt he couldn't move his jaw or his tongue. His eyelids drooped as if tied to weights. Distantly he became aware that Naomi had left the room. "I must have gone to sleep," he thought. Then he started. "How am I thinking if I have gone to sleep?"

Suddenly that unbearable weariness left him and he felt a stinging roll of electricity race up his spine and explode in the back of his brain. It was as though all the energy in the world had spontaneously built up and was released the only place it knew to. Tentacles of fire raced through his skull in a burning fury. He felt himself sit up with completely open eyes and looked around him.

The walls of the room began to quiver and flow as if they were standing pools of water suddenly disturbed by a dropping pebble. He felt his paws move up to his temples but he wasn't controlling them. What was going on? His heart raced and his fur became damp with sweat. The walls continued to wobble and soon the floor joined in. The waves became larger and larger until everything seemed to run into itself.

And then, there was nothing.

Icarus felt himself to be freely floating in a perfect empty void. He had no limbs, no body, no eyes. There was only silence. He could still think, however, and it all seemed to register somehow. And then the silence was broken with a distantly familiar voice, but he could not tell where it came from.

"No one's going to die," it said.

"What?" Icarus thought. The phrase seemed to register as being recent.

"No one's going to die," it repeated. And another time. It continued until Icarus thought he was going to burst. How, he didn't know, but it had to stop. Its simplicity and calmness was even more maddening. "No one's going to die. No one's going to die. No one's going to die."

In what seemed like an eternity later, a rush once again came over him and the void was replaced with a beautiful meadow of grass. The sky was a brilliant shade of blue and two moons hung in the sky. He became aware of himself again and that he was laying down. Naomi's face appeared above his looking panic stricken. "Icarus!" she yelled and pulled him up.

As he rose from laying in the grass to rising to his feet, the scene around him completed obliterated. Dark clouds rushed overhead and the ground shook violently. There were rabbits running everywhere. "We have to go!" Naomi said and tugged at his arm. He looked down and found a gun in his right paw, but it did not strike him as unusual. In the distance he saw a ship crash into the ground, bursting into flames.

"This is Carrotus," he thought. "We made it!" But what was going on? Naomi tugged again at his arm and they began running through the grass. Naomi raced ahead, letting go of his arm, and Icarus strained to keep up. He was panting and his legs felt like they were going to give. The beautiful girl before him slowly went further and further ahead until she was a speck on the horizon. Icarus gave up and stopped running. He stooped down to catch his breath, staring at the dirt and his paw touching it.

He blinked. When his eyes reopened his surroundings had again changed. The grassy meadow had become a dark, abandoned house. "Now where am I?" There was a crashing sound from above him and he heard struggled screaming, seemingly from a female. A bizarre urge came over him that he must go upstairs immediately, so he stood. He squinted and tried to find a staircase or a promising hallway, but once he attempted to take a step forward the floor gave beneath him and he fell through it.

There was a short sensation of freely falling before he hit the ground. It was no longer dark. As he turned to look up, expecting to see the ceiling of the house, he was greeted once again with a blue sky. This time, however, he was surrounded by dirt. His limbs felt weak and he couldn't stand, but he opened his mouth to try and yell for help from above. A smiling face greeted him, looking into the hole, but the smile wasn't friendly. It disappeared and suddenly his mouth was filled with dirt. Someone was burying him. He struggled but it was of no use. The light from above slowly faded to be replaced with the weight of more and more dirt.

Once again, there was nothing.