Chapter 3 - From the rain to the eaves

"4,934, 4,935, 4,936 ..." she whispered softly.

Hard to hear next to all the noises that still filled the room. Chichi's constant "We are going to die, I know we are going to die, but I am still too young to die ..." - speeches that were only interrupted now and then by choked sobs, absolutely did not harmonize with Kuririn, who not only with a tin cup rattled back and forth on the bars, but - much to the chagrin of his two female prisoners - also sang "Jailhouse Rock", in a version that one would not even expect of one's worst enemy. The ex-monk didn't want to die either, he hadn't even had a girlfriend ...

"4,988, 4,989, 4,990 ...", Bulma continued to speak as if in a trance.

Chichi's slowly growing throat forced her to pause briefly, and so it came about that she heard her friend count. Was she completely nuts now?Well possible ...

"4,998, 4,999, 5,000 ... That's enough!", The blue-haired woman then raised her voice to a high-pitched scream that threw Kuririn out of rhythm and made him fall silent.

"What did you count there, Bulma?", Chichi asked with a frown.

"My dying brain cells! What else ?!" growled Bulma. "We have to come up with an escape plan before this gorilla guard comes back ..." In the blue-haired woman's head, fragments were already being put together to form a plan when she was rudely interrupted by Kuririn.

"Too late."

Bulma, who was the only one with her back to the lattice door, slowly turned around and gave her prisoner another good look.

He was a good size, almost huge, and probably twice the size of Kuririn. Jagged black hair circled his head and fell down his back to his waist, it was clearly longer than Chichi's, but it certainly wasn't that silky.But Bulma could only guess, she didn't want to touch the bristly looking hair because it looked dangerously pointy. Judging by his appearance he was a warrior, then his hair could well be a weapon, he had a certain resemblance to Medusa - they had frozen at first sight.

* Surely he will curl up like a hedgehog in case of danger and then shoot poisonous hair arrows, as surely any alien cactus species can *, mused Bulma, looking the giant in the dark eyes and risking a stiff neck. * But I don't really want to investigate this theory any further. *

Bulma winced when her guard grunted something in a strange language - the word "grunted" projecting an image of a bristle pig into her head. * He's acting like an animal! But maybe it's just their language that is so backward ... *

"No!", Chichi shouted and tried - with moderate success - to hide behind Kuririn."I don't want to die! What if they are so far back here that they bring human sacrifices to their strange gods? What if they intended us? Or worse, what if they feed virgins in white robes to their giant snakes?"

* What a fantasy *, Bulma thought admiringly and watched as the guard unlocked her cell door.

"That would be horrible," Kuririn agreed and took Chichi's hands. "White is not my color at all!"

"I don't want to die a virgin," the black-haired woman complained dramatically and looked down at her bald friend from childhood.

"Neither do I," he replied and returned the look.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Bulma muttered.

Chichi furrowed her eyebrows and her action was also reflected on Kuririn's face. "Well, maybe it's not the end of the world to die a virgin ..."

"Yep."

The guard barked something again in that exotic language and pushed the three friends one by one out into the corridor.Nobody dared to defy him, as they had already seen a taste of his grilling skills the night before.

"Yes, yes, I'm going faster," growled Bulma when she was nudged again.

The corridor they marched along was quite narrow, but high. The first time they'd gone they hadn't seen much because it was too light. After Capsule 3 landed and the occupants were captured by this one warrior, it was very hot and also brighter. It almost seemed as if the planet they landed on had multiple suns, and maybe they did, but if they did, they had to be close together. But Bulma knew full well that the possibility of a multisolar system was very slim, and if it was, the planet would soon no longer exist. Even if the people, as it seemed, lagged behind the people in intellectual and communicative areas, it could not be denied that - as far as one could tell from the one specimen they had met - they were an intelligent race.This suggested that an evolution similar to that of Earth had taken place, and such a stage of evolution usually lasted millions of years. A solar system usually had a predetermined number of suns from the start, and this made it almost impossible for there to be more than one solar energy source, since a system of more than one sun had a comparatively extremely short lifespan.

Another bark - or was it a grunt? - and they reached the entrance and exit of their temporary prison.

The change was amazing. Even Kuririn and Chichi - despite their virgin dilemma - gasped in overwhelm as they stepped outside again. Cool night air wafted through the air, it wasn't cold, rather pleasant if you still had the heat of the day in the back of your head. The sky was littered with innumerable, shining stars, the glittering points formed formations that none of the three people had ever seen, but which did not detract from their beauty.Although it was supposed to be pitch black, it was bright enough to see enough. Pale yellow light illuminated the desert that stretched as far as the eye could see.

* We went a long time, * thought Kuririn, frowning. He wasn't sure if they could find their way back to their spaceship - and if that would do them any good. * Probably not ... *

Chichi stopped briefly to shake the sand off her shoes and was roughly hit by the giant. "Oh shut up!" She yelled back. “I can't walk on broken glass!” Grumbling, she put her boot back on and marched on. Even though she was a martial artist, that didn't mean she wanted to safely commit suicide by defying the giant. In an hour she would empty the second boot. Until then she was limping on one side.

Bulma meanwhile ran in silence and with folded arms, she had lost her gaze fixed on one of the satellites of the planet.It was shaped similar to that of the earth, only it was a little smaller and the light it emitted was even paler than that from the moon. The satellite that hung in the sky to the left was not only much smaller than the other, but also inferior in shape. It looked like a lump of rock that had been thrown too high and caught on the starry ceiling. It was clear that the moon had not been in this orbit for long, otherwise the centrifugal force would have caused a flattening similar to that of its twin.

* It's probably a meteor that got too close to the planet and was then captured, * Bulma mused. * Then the planet here must be bigger than the earth ... It could hardly have attracted a meteor of this size with its low gravity ... Just a moment ... * Thoughtful she frowned and slowed her pace. * The gravity on this planet here ... I can't say that it is higher than on Earth ... Strange ... * - "Ouch!"With flashing eyes she looked at her guard, who had just pointed out that she was too slow with a small energy beam in front of her feet. Bulma cursed softly and was punished with another beam, which only just missed her. Actually, she should have known by now that this guy didn't like it when you talked. Besides, he seemed to be totally into his "shiny" fingers. Not only did he use it to make a fire under their bums, no, he also had the last ones Remnants of their space capsule pulverized. Hospitality was probably no virtue of this breed.

* ~ ^ ~ *

Vegeta paced restlessly up and down his room, the blood-red carpet swallowing the sound of his boots. A heavy oak table sat against one side of the wall and was loaded with dozens of piles of paper. Heavy tapestries in simple patterns and colors took some of the menace out of the room.A round arch led into the sleeping part of the room, which was dominated by a solid bed set up on four posts. Blue satin sheets and the emblem above the bed indicated the royal occupant, who retired to his room at night.

But this time it wasn't to rest. He had received a message from Raditz, who was posted at an outpost in order to be able to announce any unannounced visitors - especially Freezer - in good time that a UFO had landed. Three humanoid life forms that seemed to resemble the Saiyajin in their physics, but couldn't match their strength, and one of them had a strange coloring.

Vegeta stopped his useless wandering and looked through the window, which gave him a straight view of the smaller of the two moons of Vegeta-sei.

"Kuso!", The prince cursed and tried to make the satellite explode with just his gaze. He hated this moon and for some time had started to blame it for everything.

Vegeta stepped into the second part of his room and sat fully clothed on his bed. He hadn't the slightest desire to hang out with the prisoners that evening. His time was tight and wouldn't be wasted on unimportant creatures that he couldn't even swear at - well, actually yes, just it wasn't fun if the other person didn't understand you.

Raditz had his orders and would throw the three of them into the palace dungeon. There the twins would take care of them. And when he had some time to spare, he would go see the aliens.

It had been some time since he'd last been at a circus, and a blue-haired female might be worth a look.