"This," Allura says, gesturing to the bright blue hologram behind her, "is the planet Wolkan." With a tap, she forces the image to focus on a bright round dot, highlighting it with a swirl of her finger. "Our data shows that the planet is currently inhabited by a small group of beings. These beings are temporarily dwelling among the caves under the mountain ranges of its geographical surface."
As the hologram zooms closer to show shots of the landscape, Lance leans forward, squinting. "Those don't look like mountains," he quips. "Where's the snow?"
"There wouldn't be any snow on this planet," Coran replies, "as the average temperatures on the surface range from 120 degrees of your Celcius measurement to almost 250 during its warmer months."
Allura nods. "Wolkan sits very close to this galaxy's sun. During the hotter periods, the inhabitants live on another planet with more accommodating temperatures. When Wolkan settles into its cooler cycle, they return to harvest minerals found underneath the mountains. Earlier, we received a distress signal, located here." She points to a bright blue blip on the surface of the planet, coming from the base of one of the tallest mountains.
Coran jumps in, touching the control panel on the table in front of him to bring up a string of information. "According to our databases, there has been no Galra presence in this area for quite some time. The heat of the planet warded them off, and it seems that the minerals these people harvest have no value outside of their own culture."
"Since there is no Galra presence in the area, the mission will be simple," Allura continues, nodding at Shiro, who's standing next to her in an easy parade rest. "I would like two of the Paladins to be sent down to the planet to determine-"
"Wait a minute, did you say 120 degrees Celsius?" Hunk interrupts. "That's like, almost 250 degrees Fahrenheit! Humans can't survive in those conditions, you'll cook us like turkeys inside of our convenient, lion shaped cake pans!"
Allura raises an eyebrow, challenging him with direct eye contact as she continues, completely unfazed. "...to determine what the problem is and how we can help. Coran and Pidge have been collaborating on extreme heat resistant suits specifically for circumstances like this."
"The suits are designed to withstand temperatures up to 1,000 degrees fahrenheit,", Pidge cut in, adjusting her glasses with a grin. "Which means that you most certainly will not cook in your convenient, lion-shaped cake pan."
"How were you even able to test the armor's heat resistance?" Keith asks, arms folded
across his chest and leaning one hip into the table. "We haven't come across a planet this hot before."
"Ah, well," Coran says. "The suits are mostly based off the old design created for the former Paladins, so technically these suits have never been tested in such conditions.''
Hunk looks at Pidge with wide eyes. "You haven't even tested them yet?" he yelps, clutching Lance's arm for support. "You can't be serious."
"Consider this the test run," Pidge says, grinning wickedly. "If they work, you'll be fine. And if they don't…"
"We'll burn to a crisp! Have you ever had a bad sunburn, Pidge, because this will be a million times worse!"
"Enough, Hunk," Shiro interrupts cooly, a crinkle forming between his eyebrows as he considers the information he's been presented with. "Which two Paladins did you have in mind, Princess?"
"I leave that up to you to decide, Shiro," she says. She waves her hand and the holograms disappear. "Once you have selected who will go and who will be on standby, we can go over the details."
Shiro turns to the group of Paladins. "Do I have any volunteers?" he asks wryly, eying Hunk hanging off of Lance's arm.
Lance grins and wraps his arms around Hunk in a casual hug. "I'll go in your stead, old buddy, old pal," he says. "Since you're so pale, you'd probably burn to a crisp even with the heat proof suits."
Hunk scowls at him, even though he doesn't reject the hug. "My skin is darker than yours is, Lance! That doesn't even make any sense."
"You're right," Lance amends, turning a teasing eye on Keith. "It's Keith who would burn to a crisp. Never got much sun as a kid, huh?"
Keith glares at him. "Getting sun as a kid has literally nothing to do with it."
"It so does!" Lance snipes back. "I mean, look at me. I spent all of my time as a kid outside in the sun and on the beach and my skin is a perfect golden brown."
"Maybe if you spent less time on the beach and more time in school, you wouldn't be so dumb." Keith deadpans, pushing himself away from the table.
Lance gasps in mock hurt. "You take that back! I—"
"Enough, Lance," Shiro interrupts. At this point, 'enough,' followed by a Paladin's name is almost his catch phrase. "So Lance and…?"
"I'll go," Pidge speaks up. "That way I can see in person how the suits handle heat so I can make adjustments for future designs."
"Perfect!" Allura says, smiling first at Pidge and then at Lance. "As I said, this should be relatively simple. Once you've donned your suits, take your lions to the mouth of the cave. The cave should be pinpointed in the Universal Positioning System in your lions. Once you enter the cave, I will help guide you to the exact location of the distress signal below ground, which should bring you directly to the Wolkian's encampment."
Lance snorts, earning a confused look from Keith. "Sounds like 'Wookie-ans.'" Lance whispers to him with a grin.
Keith frowns. "Wookie what?"
Hunk jumps in. "Wookies? You know, Star Wars? The giant hairy alien Chewbacca?"
When Keith doesn't show any recognition, Lance groans. "How have you not seen Star Wars? We are literally living like 90% of that plotline."
"Lance, please focus," Shiro says, rubbing his human thumb and forefinger over the bridge of his nose.
Lance sticks his tongue out at Keith who returns the gesture with crossed eyes, before turning his attention back to Allura. She's still speaking, disregarding their distracting conversation.
"...problem is located, call for backup if necessary. We will have Hunk, Keith, and Shiro on standby in the case of any unforeseen problems."
Lance disentangles himself from his unironic bro cuddle with Hunk and stands up with a stretch. "Get in, make nice with the Wookies, solve all their problems, and get out. Got it." He flashes Allura a thumbs up and a wink. "Sounds like cakewalk to me."
Allura rolls her eyes at him. "Your new suits are waiting for you in your rooms. Change, and then get to your lions. Shiro, you can monitor their progress from here with Coran and I. Hunk and Keith, change, then standby for further orders."
Lance gives her a jaunty salute before turning and strutting out of the mission room, heading to his quarters to put on the heat-proof suit. Despite all his bravado, he can feel something sick and black churning in his gut. He normally gets pre-mission anxiety, nothing he can't handle, but this is different. This feels like certain doom.
This might be the mission that ends me, he thinks, unbidden, as he places his palm on his room's lock. There's a flash of deep blue and the door slides up. Why do I have such a bad feeling about this? There have been harder missions, more dangerous missions. This is basically just a diplomacy mission, for all that it's a simple touch and go type. There are no Galra in the area. The planet they're about to set foot on is barely even habitted. He shouldn't feel so… so icky inside.
He tries to shake off the gut wrenching feeling of bad bad bad as he strips out of his normal, everyday clothes and tosses them down the laundry shoot, but it refuses to go away.
When they had started as a team, learning how to control their lions and work together, he had been forced to face the horrible reality that he might die. He often thought about his teammates dieing, or losing a civilian during a fight. The explosion that had left him in a healing pod for almost a week had given him nightmares for months afterwards, and he's never quite been able to get rid of the taste of pending mortality. His companions have faced their fair share of injuries both serious and not, and the close call on friendly casualties was a miss by mere inches on occasion.
This feels different. This feels like the end.
As he pulls on the suit, he thinks of Keith. He's always thinking of Keith these days. What had started as a rivalry on Lance's side, had developed into a grudging respect, then a mutual acquaintanceship, and then, eventually, friendship. A best friendship, if Lance is being completely honest. Granted, Lance is close to everyone on the team now, but his relationship with Keith is the one that has grown the most over the short time they have been together. Sometime during the respecting faze, Lance had started realizing how much attention he paid to Keith and Keith alone, and how much tiny stuff he noticed about the other Paladin. When they moved into acquaintanceship, the desire to spend more time with Keith and the want to get to know him better was impossible to ignore. By the time they reached friendship, Lance realized how head over heels he had fallen for Keith.
They spend a lot of one-on-one time together, more than Lance spends one-on-one with the other members of the team. Maybe that isn't true for Keith towards Lance, but it's certainly true for Lance towards Keith. When Lance has down time, or can't sleep, or is looking for someone to spar with, Keith is generally who he looks for. Sometimes they actually spar or work out together; Keith is a drill sergeant when it comes to working out, but Lance has found he doesn't really mind. Sometimes, they sit in the entertainment room and watch ridiculous Altean dramas, though neither of them really understand what's going on; if it's late at night, they mute the show and adlib what the characters are saying on screen. And on nights when neither of them can sleep, they always seem to find each other. They sit on the skydeck, watching the stars flit past as they talk deep into the synthetic night of the castle. They talk about everything and anything, and if Lance hadn't fallen for him before, he certainly would have fallen for him then.
After they had gotten over the initial shyness of getting to know each other, Lance had found that Keith was fun to talk to, easy to talk to. They still snipe at each other, but it isn't the sharp stones they had cast at each other in their rivalry phase, when Lance had made cutting comments with the intent to hurt Keith's feelings. Now it's back-and-forth commentary, witty and teasing in a way that always makes Lance swell with affection.
He pulls his boots on, still thinking of Keith. Keith, who's awkward but genuine; who tries to be emotionally understanding, but whose growth in that area has clearly been stunted; who trains so hard with the intent of being better, with the intent of losing himself in something more than the endless cyclone of space; who whispers in the dark under the stars, who tells Lance secrets about himself that Lance is certain even Shiro doesn't know; who laughs when they make fun of shitty Altean dramas, and who banters with Lance and strategizes with Shiro and is kind to Hunk and keeps up with Pidge. Keith, who is the sun that Lance revolves his life around. Keith, who has drawn him in and let him get closer. Keith, who deserves to know that Lance loves him if this mission is going to go wrong.
Grimly, Lance checks himself over in the mirror - there are more zippers to this damn suit than technically necessary. The feeling in the pit of his stomach has spread; it feels like his intestines are knotted up like Christmas lights and there's a hollow space where his heart should be. He's never felt like a mission was this doomed before.
He slots his bayard into the built-in holster at his hip, and tucks his helmet under his arm. He has to find Keith before he hits his moment of do or die - emphasis apparently on the die.
Lance's "Keith senses" must have been tingling because he's walking right past Lance's room when the door slides open. Lance's stomach swoops with surprise. Sure, he's prepared to see this confession through, but he had expected at least a second longer to prepare.
"Keith!" Lance calls, mustering his courage. He trots after the other Paladin and lays a hand on his shoulder, stopping them both in the hallway. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
Keith meets his eyes, and Lance can't help the easy grin that spreads across his face. The roiling feeling of doom settles to a dull simmer in his gut and the warm feeling of affection spreads through his limbs.
With a slight dip of his chin, Keith consents. Lance presses a hand to his lower back and guides him back down the hallway towards a more secluded spot. The last thing that Lance wants is for Shiro or Pidge to pop out of nowhere and hear what he's about to say. Shiro, who had quietly approached him about this exact matter a couple weeks ago would give him the Dad Approval™ head nod/thumbs up combo, which would be embarrassing. Pidge would definitely never let him live down any stupid shit he's about to say, and that would be even more embarrassing.
When they're safely away from the more traversed hallways, Lance stops and turns to face Keith. He feels stiff and awkward, uncomfortable in his own skin. Nerves make his fingers shake and he is grateful the thick suit hides his weakness.
"What's up?" Keith asks after a moment of silence has passed.
Lance startles, jolted from his thoughts. "I, ah…" the hand that isn't holding his helmet moves to the back of his neck, scratching anxiously. "I wanted to talk to you before I leave for this mission."
"Clearly," Keith murmurs. Lance looks up and meets his eyes, and can see the twinkle of humor in them.
The teasing look soothes Lance, brings him down from the spiral of overwhelming feelings that had threatened to overtake him. "Look, Keith," he starts again, his hand dropping from the back of his neck. He takes a step forward, closing the distance between them. His world narrows, tightening in on the person before him. The mission, his feelings of inevitable doom, the nervousness, it all disappears in the face of Keith. "I really like you, a lot."
Keith's head tilts, his eyebrows drawing together. Lance would love to smooth his thumb over the little wrinkle that forms there. "I...like you too?" Keith replies, sounding unsure and confused. "You're one of my best friends."
Lance grins. "No, listen," he says, lifting a hand and touching gloved fingertips to Keith's jaw. "I really, really like you. I like you as more than just a friend, as more than just a best friend."
Lance watches with amusement as Keith's eyebrows draw tighter together and then lift in surprise. His eyes widen comically, his lips parting on the tiniest intake of breath. "You, what?" he croaks, giving Lance a look like he had just turned purple.
"I like you." Lance repeats, cupping Keith's jaw fully in his hand. His other hand still keeps his helmet tucked tight to his side. "Keith, I'm in love with you."
The surprised look on Keith's face morphs into a frown, almost a pout. "Did Pidge dare you to do this?" he demands. "Because I don't appreciate jokes like this at all. It's not funny—"
Lance interrupts him, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. It's brief, clumsy and a little awkward since Keith had been in the middle of saying something, and when Lance draws back he almost laughs. The stunned, frozen expression on Keith's face is priceless. What Lance wouldn't give for a camera right this second.
"I'm going to kiss you again," Lance whispers, and a distant part of himself is surprised by how rough his voice sounds. He watches Keith's face for any hint of dissent then leans in.
He would do just about anything to kiss Keith like this forever. His lips are soft and hot and the tiniest bit chapped. Lance can feel the roughness of unshaven stubble against his chin. He watches, eyes half lidded, as Keith's eyes slide shut. Gloved hands slip into Lance's hair, tangling in it at the base of his neck and sending pleasant shivers down his spine. The helmet tucked to his side drops as he reaches to wrap his arm around Keith's waist, pulling him close. It's an awkward fit, since they're both wearing bulky, heat-proof suits. Lance sorely regrets putting his gloves on. What he wouldn't give right now to feel the heat from Keith's skin in his palm, to run the pad of his thumb across a sharp cheekbone.
Lance feels a jolt shiver down his spine as Keith's tongue slides across his lower lip. Everything in him melts with heat, and he crowds Keith back against the hallway wall. When Keith follows the swipe of his tongue with the lightest graze of teeth, Lance lets out a helpless moan. He had thought about kissing Keith just like this, hot and slick and perfect, but his imagination had absolutely nothing on the real thing. He had kissed other people before, too, but he would trade every single one of those kisses to be able to kiss Keith like this for the rest of his life.
Eventually the kiss slows, and Lance breaks for air. Keith's hands slide from his hair to rest lightly on his chest. "I love you," Lance repeats, eyes opening fully. "I love you." He says it again, dazed as he looks into Keith's face. He wants to tell Keith everything on his mind - how scared he is of this mission, how important it is to him that Keith understand how much he loves him, how desperate he is to spend more time together. He opens his mouth to try to communicate all of this, but he's stopped when Keith puts pressure on his chest, pushing him away.
"Lance, we can't. I can't."
His words are like a bucket of cold water dumped over his head. His lips are still tingling from the kiss as Lance steps back, surprised and confused. His hands slide away from Keith's face and waist, dropping uselessly to his sides.
Keith heaves in one breath, two, then opens his eyes. He doesn't look at Lance, keeping his gaze steadily on the floor. "We have a duty. A mission to protect and defend our world." He swallows hard, and Lance can see his hands clench into fists, his resolve set. "Not just our world, but the entire universe. We can't," he rubs the back of his gloved hand across his face, scrubbing over one eye tiredly. "I can't afford to be distracted."
"And do I distract you, Keith Kogane?" Lance tries weakly, attempting to be flirty and missing the mark. He has to work hard to ignore the sensation of something breaking in his chest.
Keith glares at him hard, mouth set in a thin, firm line. "Don't, ok? There are more important things going on than just flirting with people, or trying to get in someone's pants, or-"
"Is that all you think this is?" Lance interrupts, crossing his arms over his chest. "You think I'm just trying to get into your pants? Or that I'm just flirting with you? For what, just for funsies?"
Keith levels an unimpressed glare at him. His voice is sharp with something akin to hurt when he speaks. "You flirt with everyone, Lance. You flirt with Shiro sometimes! You'd flirt with a rock if it paid you any attention!"
Lance takes a deep breath, anger flaring like a torch in his chest. It takes a long, heated minute for him to cool down. Keith is trying to bait him into an argument, he knows it. If this mission is going to be the end of him, he has to convey his feelings and not let this turn into a fight. For once in his life, he can be the mature one. "Keith," he starts, then clears his throat. "Keith," he tries again, gentler this time. He tries to let his emotions, his adoration and the love he feels, drip into his voice. "I flirt with people, you're right. I'm sorry. It's part of who I am and how I communicate with the people around me, but it's you I care about. You're the only person I've ever flirted with who I actually wanted to flirt back." He flashes a lopsided grin.
Keith just stands there. He has a shell shocked look on his face, staring at Lance like maybe he's turning colors again. Maybe Lance had grabbed the wrong face cream out of the communal bathroom this morning.
Taking a deep breath, Lance continues. "If you don't want to date me, that's fine. I understand. We have a lot of responsibilities to uphold, and I respect that if it's what you want. I just needed to tell you. I won't let if affect who we are as friends."
Keith's mouth opens, then closes, then opens again, like he can't decide how to respond. Were there really any words left to say?
"You're still my best friend," Lance says, slapping Keith on the shoulder and trying to lighten the mood. "But don't tell Hunk, you'd make him real sad and no one wants a sad Hunk."
A thick silence settles between them, and Lance scrambles to find something to fill the void.
"Lance, please report immediately to your lion," Allura's voice crackles, tiny and tinny from inside the helmet laying abandoned on the floor. "Again, Lance, please report immediately to your lion."
Trying not to feel relieved, Lance scoops his helmet up and starts shuffling backwards, away from Keith. "That's my cue." He gives Keith a sharp salute. "Try to think of something snarky before I come back." With that he turns and hurries off, shoving the helmet over his head.
As Keith watches him go, he slumps. Crossing his arms over his chest, he murmurs defensively, "I have better comebacks than you do."
Keith slinks into the control room well after Lance and Pidge have boarded their lions and taken off for the planet below. The wide, clear window before them shows a huge, dark red planet. Clouds like ash swirl in the atmosphere, thick and ashy.
Hunk bounds over and slings an arm around Keith's shoulder. "You missed take off, buddy," he says with a cheery grin, guiding Keith to stand with Shiro in front of the control panel. "They already entered the atmosphere."
Two tall holograms burst to life in front of them, one featuring Pidge at the controls of her lion, and the other featuring Lance. Keith studiously keeps his eyes anywhere but Lance's face, trying in vain not to replay the conversation they had over and over in his head. His insides are an uncomfortable knot of uncertainty, and he hates feeling powerless more than he hates anything else in the universe. He feels over sensitive, like his entire body is on edge. Even Hunk's arm around his shoulder, which would normally be a heady comfort, feels like a trap. He pulls away, arms tight around his chest, and goes to stand at Shiro's side.
"Approaching landing point," Pidge announces to the silent room, her skillful hands guiding her lion towards a wide, flat rock. Keith guesses it to be about 50 feet above the entrance of the cavern she and Lance will need to enter.
The tension in the room feels all wrong; Keith can't pinpoint what it is. He wants to assume that it's just him and Lance since it's their banter that normally floods the silent spaces, but it feels deeper than that. Shiro has a worried pinch between his brow and Allura stands with her back completely straight, honed in on the cameras as Lance and Pidge land. Coran strokes his mustache contemplatively, his eyes far away as he watches.
"The eagle has landed, I repeat, the eagle has landed." Keith can tell that Lance is trying to go for a joke, but it falls flat in the dead silent room. "Switching to helmet cam."
The angle on both screens flips. Lance is moving at a steady pace down the ramp of his lion and Pidge is unbuckling the safety harness.
"The gravity is really dense," Lance remarks as he waits for Pidge to catch up. "The heat resistance seems to be working."
"The gravity is negated by a special feature Coran and I worked into these suits," Pidge replies. "The gravity here would probably crush us otherwise."
"Good to know," Lance says dryly.
The half hearted banter dies off after that. The team watches solemnly as Pidge and Lance make their way down a rocky slope and to the edge of a gaping tunnel.
"Did you feel that?" Lance says suddenly, breaking the tense silence. "Pidge, did you feel that?"
"I felt it," Pidge replies, a grim note in her voice. "Princess, I have a pretty good hunch as to why the distress signal was sent out to us."
"Are you in immediate danger?" Allura inquires, her face impassive. The carefully blank look on her face, the dull edge of fear in Lance's voice, it all makes a chill run up Keith's spine.
"No," Pidge replies. "But I don't like the feel of things here."
Each step they take deeper into the tunnel feels heavier to Lance. The heat suppressant suits are working to the best of their abilities, but he can still feel sweat gathering under his armpits and beading across his forehead. "Next model, we need built in sweatbands," Lance grumbles to Pidge.
"I'll add it to the list," comes the short response, as tight and tense as Lance feels.
They pause, leaning against the cave wall as a deep rumble shifts the ground beneath them. Ever since they had set foot on this planet, Lance has been feeling these tiny earthquakes. They never last long, and on the surface they're nothing more than the faintest of vibrations, but the further they walk down this tunnel the stronger they get.
"Up ahead," Allura says, her voice crackling over the speakers in their helmets, "there is a wide cave with multiple split-offs. Our sensors indicate that the settlement of Wolkians can be found if you trace the tunnel furthest to your left."
The light that Pidge holds shifts and flares, growing brighter as they step into the cave. There are at least fifteen different tunnels, all dark and looming. Lance feels a shiver go down his spine and the heat sweat stuck to his skin turns into cold sweat. As they turn towards the tunnel closest to their left, another earthquake hits them. It lasts for what has to be at least a minute and Lance's heart squeezes in terror as rocks shower down around them.
When the tremor subsides, he lets out a breath. "If a tunnel collapses on top of me, I quit. I joined the garrison for the wide open feeling of space. If I wanted this shit, I would have become Indiana Jones."
Pidge nudges him in the side and beckons him forward. Lance can't see her face through their helmets, but he can feel the uneasiness wafting off of her.
"This doesn't feel right," Shiro's voice comes with a hiss and a crackle, more staticky than clear. "Are we sure we want them to press, Princess?"
"Our sensors are picking up living beings down that tunnel," Allura confirms. "It is your duty as Paladins of Voltron to ensure the safety of the inhabitants of the universe."
Lance scowls to himself, muttering, "Yeah, but what about my safety?"
Pidge and Lance press forward. The slight shuddering of the ground beneath them doesn't stop. He feels like that probably isn't a good sign.
After several more minutes of silence, Allura speaks up again. "Two unknowns approaching. Paladins, be on guard, and on your best diplomatic behavior."
Allura doesn't have to say his name for Lance to know that comment was directed at him.
Down the tunnel, they can see a dim light approaching. "Hello?" comes a voice.
Lance always takes a minute to adjust to the universal translator that had been installed in their gear. In their normal suits, which were more lightweight, he could often hear the sounds of the native language being spoken in conjunction with the translation coming into the helmet. Either this suit was thicker, or they were still too far away to hear this planet's dialect being spoken.
"Hello!" Pidge calls out in response. "We come in peace! We are the Paladins of Voltron, and we received your distress signal."
"Praise to the Wolkan!" a second voice says. "Our prayers have been answered. Please, hurry, we have limited time!"
The two beings in front of them were humanoid in shape, at least vaguely. They had a head, circular in shape, two thick legs, and long, thick arms. They had no visible neck, and the long line of their backs were hunched so low that the ends of their hands and curved fingers, brushed the ground. Their skin was lumpy and dark gray, and they didn't have any visible eyes. There was a long slit where a mouth would be on a human. When the first Wolkian spoke again, the slit parted, revealing a nerve wracking row of jagged teeth.
"Many of our people were trapped in a dead end tunnel two rotations ago," the first says. "We have been digging, but the stones are heavy and not many of us are on this side to move them."
"Lead the way," Lance replies, trying to ignore the shivers running down his spine. This close, he can hear the slow grumbling of their native tongue. He knows that there are inflections he can't pick up on, but through the thick fabric of the helmet it sounds similar to how the ground feels when it shakes.
"Are they running out of food? Or water?" Pidge asks.
"No," the second replies. "Our food is here, all around. That is not why we must hurry." They gesture to the tunnel around them as they turn to head back the way they had come. Lance would use the word "plodding" to describe the way they walk - long, heavy strides, though surprisingly quick for creatures of such bulk.
"Every full turn around our sun, this planet regenerates the vital nutrients we need to survive. The conditions become unlivable for our people, so we make the long journey back to our home planet with what we have harvested. The time of regeneration has come, and we must leave before it begins in full. If we do not, the lives of those trapped beyond the stone will be lost."
"Allura," Pidge asks, "do we have any data collection on what the regeneration process for this planet is?"
"We have no data on this," Coran answers. "We are running a scan now to see if we can gather any information from the current state of the planet."
"What happens when the planet 'regenerates'?" Lance tries, trotting along behind their escorts.
"Material deep beneath the crust of this planet escapes to the surface, often in molten rock and toxic gases. This happens in multiple levels, and when we come back, the surface of the planet is often unrecognizable. Our tunnels shift dramatically during this regeneration period, but the nutrients we harvest are refreshed."
"In layman's terms," Pidge provides grimly, "this entire planet is set to erupt with volcanic activity."
