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"I will. Sleep good." Oscar carefully climbed, spiderlike, onto the roof of the truck and sat there, watching the darkness all around for danger. "You need to sleep too, Ernie." He paused, then added "Goodnight," pointedly.
Ernie nodded, sighing in exhaustion. "All right." He sat down were the truck blocked the slight breeze and leaned against the front tire, quickly closing his eyes and drifting off.
She nodded to Oscar, sliding into the truck further and quickly checking to see how much food they had left. It would be enough to last one more meal for the three of them, though they could get a good meal from it. Honor set her water down next to the pile of blankets that served as a bed once she finished, flopping on top of the fluffiness. And she was out before she even finished pulling another blanket overtop of herself.
The rest of the night passed uneventfully. Oscar kept watch until just before dawn, then realized Ernie was already awake and grumpily told him to take a turn so he could sleep. Ernie agreed, going to stand on the slightly higher part of the road and gazing at the eastern horizon expectantly. Gradually, the crickets fell silent and the birds came to replace them, along with a few shy deer grazing in the distance. Ernie hugged himself to keep away the damp morning chill, watching as the sun began to ever-so-slowly climb over the endless blue-grey fields.
It was a while before Honor started to even stir, the sun fully above the horizon and starting to dry up the dew-covered grass. She felt immensely better though, that much was clear as she rolled onto her back and started to stretch. Her eyes flicked open moments later, glancing around the bed of the truck for her water bottle again. The fact that Oscar didn't wake her up didn't even cross her mind and she was just amazed at how much better she felt.
Oscar heard Honor shift and sleepily sat up inside the cab, then waved and rolled back over. "Morning," he said, his voice muffled. "Wake me when we're ready to make a plan. Careful around Ernie, he's busy praying over there or something." He suspected that praying wasn't at all the right word for it, but it was the closest he could find in his mental dictionary and he was too groggy to bother trying any harder. He just pointed vaguely at Ernie, who was still standing on the road, his arms stretched out towards the sun. He seemed to be glowing just a bit, and there was a contented smile on his face as if the sunlight felt good. "Anyway, he's sending out weird messages into the sky, so we probably shouldn't bother him 'till he's done."
"Morning," She mumbled back, yawning as she laid back down, "I'm going to make breakfast before we plan anything, so you can get some more sleep. I won't bother Ernie." It took her some effort to force herself to get up and pull the cooler over to herself, but she did, digging around and pulling out everything there was left. Four apples, a giant bag of pretzels and a jar of peanut butter were what she pulled out first, setting them to the side quietly. A remainder of a box of cereal laid at the bottom of the container, along with a small sleeve of Oreos and nothing else. Pulling something together wouldn't be hard, she knew, it was just dividing everything up that would be difficult.
After a little while, Ernie seemed to wake up from whatever trance he was in and lowered is arms, looking very much refreshed and relaxed. "Oh, good morning Honor. Is that breakfast?"
"Good morning Ernie, and yes it is breakfast." As he had been focused on the sun, Honor had focused on the food, dividing everything up so things were about even. Both Oscar and Ernie had gotten one more oreo though, as well as a half an apple more, though she didn't bring that up. More than likely they would need the food more. "Don't eat anything until Oscar wakes up though, we're going to eat together," She explained, tapping the dividing wall between the cab and the bed of the truck. "Oscar, breakfast is ready, we're waiting for you," She called through the wall, making sure one last time that the piles were set up.
Oscar sat up after a minute, yawning. "Okay." He stumbled out of the cab and came around to join them, eyeing the food hungrily. "That looks good. Whose food is whose here?"
(gosh I had a little trouble figuring out which version of "whose/who's" to use and now the word looks really weird to me xDD)
(XD I've done that before)
"This one is yours," Honor tapped one of the two plies containing more food, then the other, "And this is yours, Ernie. Both of you eat up, you probably need it." She already had her pile in front of herself, nodding at them as she picked up a pretzel and started eating silently. The sun rising was a pretty sight and she watched it, even though the gorgeous colors of the sunrise had almost faded already.
Both Ernie and Oscar immediately started eating, acting as if they hadn't had a proper meal in days. After a minute, Oscar spoke with his mouth full. "What were you doing just now, Ernie? Talking to the sun or something?"
"I was trying to," Ernie admitted. "I don't know if you noticed, but light is kind of my thing. It's the shape my power takes when I use it. The sun is such a strong, beautiful source of light—I think it gives me energy when it's around. Sometimes if I listen really close, I think I can almost hear it talking back to me."
"Huh," Oscar muttered dubiously. "…..Well, whatever you say I guess. Honor, the sun's not alive, is it? I didn't see that in any of the books I read yesterday."
She looked up when Oscar mentioned her name, pausing with her apple halfway to her mouth, "No, it's not alive, it's just a ball of flaming gas that is extremely bright." Honor promptly started eating again after talking, listening to her stomach grumble. "You get your power from the sun?" She asked Ernie after a brief pause, an impressed smile on her face, "Sort of like a solar panel?"
Ernie paused uncertaintly until Oscar sighed and explained. "A solar panel is a thing you stick on your roof that absorbs sunlight and turns it into electricity or usable energy of some kind."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess it does kind of work like that." Ernie smiled sheepishly. "The sun really does seem alive, though….you might be right that it's not, but sometimes I honestly think I can speak to it. Not with words, though. Some other way. I don't think humans can do it."
"We probably can't, I'm learning quickly that we're very not gifted and are frankly boring compared to your kind," Honor replied with a small laugh. The rest of her breakfast was gone within another minute and she relaxed back on the bed of the truck, glancing at the other two, "I know it's true too, so convincing me otherwise will be tough."
"You're not boring," Oscar protested. "You guys figured out so much about how the world works and how to make tools and create art and build empires, and you didn't even need special powers to do it. I can't do that."
"And I don't care how boring or interesting you are," Ernie added. "All that matters to me is whether you're a nice person or not. And you definitely are, Honor."
"I bet your kind has done things that are even cooler though in whatever world you're from," She argued back, though her tone showed that she wasn't angry or mad, "Thank you for the compliment Ernie, sadly though, most humans aren't nice. Overall we're really not nice as a species." Honor sat up again slowly, looking between them for a minute with the tiniest of smiles, "You guys though, you're kind is nice, besides the few scary ones that attack people."
Oscar still looked like he wanted to object, but Ernie relented and gave a slight nod. "I don't think any of us would attack humans if we weren't so scared. And I think humans are the same way. Maybe if we just stopped being afraid of each other for a bit, we'd find out that we don't have to be enemies."
She shrugged, then nodded as she thought over what Ernie said, "Yeah, humans have a bad tendency to be scared of things and being more powerful than themselves or things they can't explain…which sadly makes your kind very scary to most humans." Honor gave a tiny smile though, "But there are a few of us that aren't scared away by that and have learned that you guys are actually really nice."
"It's true," Ernie agreed. "There are actually more nice humans out there than I originally thought. Several have tried to help me settle in on Earth over the years…." His expression shifted, becoming more sad and tired, even though he still smiled. "…Although there wasn't a lot they could do for me, really. Erased Ones just…..don't fit here. All I really want is to go back home."
"Me too," Oscar mumbled, very quietly. "I told Honor the other day, if I can find my way back, I want to take her with me and show her around. Do you think that could work?"
"I don't know," Ernie replied uncertainly, glancing at Honor. "Maybe. Does she want to visit our world?"
"I would love to visit your world if it's possible," She said immediately, "But first we would have to find a way to get you guys home." That would be the difficult part. As far as she knew, there was no way for them to get back home, or not one that Goldenrod had made known to the public. Plus, breaking into the Goldenrod agency to look for something that might not exist didn't sound very bright at all.
Oscar nodded sourly. "You sure you don't remember anything about home?" he asked Ernie again.
"If I did, I probably wouldn't still be here," Ernie replied with a sigh. "Sometimes…..I think I have dreams about it….but they're too foggy." He paused, then added, "You know, there are a few Erased Ones that are more powerful than my kind roaming Earth. Humans call them Level Fives. I heard a rumor once that they still have all their memories, and came here on purpose instead of being pulled here somehow. I don't know if it's true, and I don't know where to find any of them, but maybe they could help us figure everything out."
Honor listened quietly, taking the information in. If they could find one of these level fives, maybe they could get Ernie and Oscar home, as well as any other of their kind that wanted to go. "We could try finding one, I'm sure there have been sightings of them and we just have to hope that like Ernie, one of them hasn't been caught by Goldenrod yet," She offered, glancing between the two of them.
Oscar nodded. "Yeah. Let's make that our plan. Find a level five and ask them how to get home." He hesitated, glancing at Ernie. "I….don't think we should do it together, though. You know, because we're more conspicuous when two of us….aren't human."
Ernie nodded, looking a little disappointed but not surprised that Oscar still didn't like him. "Honestly, you're right. I'm better at getting by on my own anyway. But Oscar, if you two are ever in a tight spot again, I'm willing to help. I think you know how to call me?"
"Um." Oscar scratched his head with a grudging expression. "I guess so, yeah."
"Good. In that case–" Ernie glanced at Honor. "–It might not work, but before I go, I can try to…..ask the sun if it knows where the level fives are, if you want."
"I don't think it would hurt to try," Honor agreed, listening and adding nods whenever she thought appropriate. Most of this was between Oscar and Ernie, so she didn't interrupt, even as she got curious about what they meant when they said they could call each other. She decided she could ask Oscar later though after they had said goodbyes and were back on the roads.
Ernie braced his hands on his knees and got up, dropping down out of the pickup bed and walking a few feet away to stand in the sun. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes, seeming to whisper something. All around them in a perfect circle, grasshoppers and tiny birds took flight to get farther away from him.
Oscar looked a bit bored and started poking around inn the cooler for any last scraps of food. "Dunno what the sun knows about anything," he muttered. "It just lights things up. It doesn't watch us walk around down here–it doesn't even care. I think Ernie must be talking to something else without realizing it."
(I gotta work today, see you when I see you)
(Sounds good!)
She shrugged, laying back in the bed of the truck and closing her eyes, "Maybe he is talking to someone else, who knows. He looks happy though and I'm not going to stop him." Honor smiled gently, "And who knows, maybe whoever he's talking to will help us, maybe they're one of your kind?" Or maybe it was the sun. Who or whatever Ernie was talking to, she didn't think it would hurt.
Oscar paused, considering the idea that the very sunlight could be an Erased One somehow. "Maybe….? I don't know….it's weird. But if it is one of us, only Ernie can hear it for some reason. Maybe it's because he's a level five and I'm not….." He was intrigued by this train of thought and continued to mutter to himself, somewhat glad to have a something to occupy his thoughts which always seemed to be running in high gear.
Eventually, Ernie lowered his head and opened his eyes, turning back to face the truck. "Well….I have some good news and some bad news."
Honor shrugged again, listening and letting Oscar just talk over his ideas without interrupting. Even as he trailed off into muttering that she couldn't decipher, she didn't speak, just relaxing in the slight sun shining into the truck bed until Ernie came back to reality. "Let's get the bad news first," She replied, slowly sitting up so she could actually talk to both of them.
"The bad news," Ernie said, walking over to them, "Is that there are only three level fives in the entire world right now. One of them's with Goldenrod, and another is very far away right now–possibly in hiding."
Oscar frowned. "And the good news?"
"The third level five is actually somewhere relatively close. South….southwest, I think. I saw a tiny gas station in a place that looked really flat and hot with only a few bushes and a sign that said "Talma, ten miles". I've never heard of a place called Talma but I guess it's better than nothing." Ernie scratched the back of his neck. "Be careful though….I think the level five is trying very hard to avoid people. It may not want company, so don't rush in until you know it's safe. Make sense?"