Travelling across the desert by bus, Vash suddenly spots a man in the distance. This man turns out to be a priest named Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who left his church to raise funds for the orphanage there. Soon enough, the bus and passengers fall under attack by a group of armored droids, remnants of lost technology. In their hurry to escape the attack, a child is left behind in the desert, and both Vash and Wolfwood immediately return to save her. Their rescue attempt seems to be proceeding smoothly until both of them fall through the sand into an alien spaceship hidden beneath the desert.