Chapter 2

"You got the damn computer to play a fucking joke on me. There are no goddamn ships anywhere." Karkat stared through the view port at the empty space. His short hair had grown slightly wild. They were supposed to have it cut short, not past their ears, but who would enforce it here?

"B-but where else could the message come from? Our scanners won't reach all the way to spaceport Zillyhoo. It can't be from there. I, uh, sent messages to other ships, but the closest one is in the opposite, uh, direction from this." Tavros said, shifting uncomfortably in his seat

His leader glared at him, but turned back to the ship's controls, scanning the surrounding space. There was nothing but asteroids floating around. Karkat had to manually drive the ship to avoid the larger ones that would crush them.

"This is a fucking waste of time. There is fucking nothing out there. " He sighed as he turned the ship rather sharply to avoid. a cluster of small asteroids

Tavros wrung his hands where he sat in his wheelchair, trying to search with his eyes as well, though Karkat's eyes were better. Sollux had gone back to check their equipment. Tavros could do it, or rather, could have gotten the computer in charge of that section to do it, but Sollux had refused. Karkat had told him to just let Sollux go. "He needs something to fucking focus his useless mind on." Tavros felt equally useless here. What if the ship had picked up nothing, or had picked up something from an older time? It wasn't unheard of. That's probably what it was. It was all just a coincidence that the delayed reply fit in with what he had said-

"Fuck. Tavros. Get the fucking lazy ass computer to do some more fucking scans. I can't see fucking shit out here." The ship lurched to the side, the left wing flying up. "Tavros?"

"Okay Karkat..." Tavros concentrated on the panel in front of him. He let his hands brush over the keyboard. The computer seemed annoyed at being asked to do another scan. It had the co-ordinates, though they seemed odd to him, had sent them to the asteroid field. The scan found nothing new. Tav frowned and questioned about the co-ordinates. All he got was an annoyed buzz that made him wince.

Karkat hit a few buttons above him before looking at Tavros.

"We can't stay here searching forever Tav. If we don't find something within the next hour, we gotta stop." He swore suddenly when a siren went off and whipped his head back to the controls, causing the craft to swerve to avoid collision.

"What is going on in here?" Aradia stood at at the doorway, hanging onto the frame, wearing her red jumpsuit. The linguist's hair was ruffled and not in her usual pony tail. She must have just woken up and seemed rather annoyed.

"Fuckface here thinks that there's a broken ship around here." Karkat quickly righted the craft.

"A ship?" She asked, going farther into the main room and sitting in the unused co-pilots chair.

"Yeah. HOB picked up the signal. Sent one out, and they replied... They said the ship was around here..." Tavros told her.

Aradia slipped on her headset and started going through the computer's logs. "It wasn't a stray transmission form one of the other ships?"

"No. I checked with them. No-one is in this sector."

"Hmm. Maybe-"

"Oh my fucking god."

Aradia and Tavros both turned their heads to the main view-port at Karkat's shout. There, half hidden by a large asteroid was a ship. It was easily twice or three times the side of theirs. It was a hulking thing made of black metal. There were no lights that they could make out on it. The bottom portion of the ship was a gaping mess. There was what could only be ship parts drifting around it.

"Fuck me. So there is a ship. Aradia, is there any regulation shit we should be doing?"

"We will need to identify who it belongs to. Can you bring us closer? Shine the search light on it. Does it have any writing or symbols on it?" She was leaning on her command board, being careful to not hit any buttons.

"Fuck. I'm not getting any closer to it with this ship. There is just too much debris. I don't want two fucking ships stuck out here because we were fucking dumbasses." He grit his teeth. "Tav! Get a light on it already."

Tavros couldn't stop looking at the ship. Now that he could see it, he realised that it was, somehow, an organic machine. He could hear it and it was dying. Its long drawn out cries were soft and angry and sad. But, that was impossible. There were no organic computers, or ANYTHING that was man-made that could feel pain, there was no point to program something like that. It took him a second to respond to Karkat's order. He sniffed as he focused his mind on the ships computer to shine a light on that dark, dark hull.

The damage looked worse with the light on it. If there was any kind of insignia or other identifiable marks they were all on the portions that had been destroyed. Sitting motionless in an asteroid field was one of the most stupid things someone could do and this ship was not fairing well.

Karkat bit his lips and cursed, sitting back in his seat. He ran his hand through his hair, debating what to do. Humanity was a united front, at least the last time they had checked, which had been ages ago. There was no reason for a ship to be in this section though.

"Karkat. If we are going to help them we need to do so now. That ship is not going to last much longer. There is no time for us to get close enough to send out a message to Zillyhoo and we can't stay here."

Karkat swore. "We will help these fucktards to get their ship at least functional or get their escape pods functional. Tav, send a message to go wake up Sollux. Both of you are coming with me to that ship. Aradia you stay on the ship and get her out of this damn asteroid field. If the three of us do not, for some dipshit of a reason, come back, you take the ship and go straight to Zillyhoo and report this." He was standing up by the time he had finished. Aradia nodded as she took the main seat from him, and began to tap away at the controls.

"What are you waiting for? Get your fucking ass moving and ready the damn scout pod." Karkat moved past him, towards his own room, probably to get his own weapons and equipment. Tavros gulped as he tried once again to shut his mind to the dying ship's song.

He carefully turned himself around and wheeled himself towards the door, sending out a message to be delivered to Sollux. He made his way quickly back to the his section. He had several things to get ready before Karkat got here.

Tink chirped a query at him when he entered and didn't immediately strap in his wheelchair. "No Tink. Leave the gravity on, but raise the Scout pod. Me, Karkat and Sollux are going on a scouting mission." He said as he wheeled himself around room, collecting some standard, universal parts and wires. These he placed in a pack with his other sounds of the other ship was so haunting. He couldn't get it out of his head. No ship had a voice that strong. None.

The floor panels shuddered as they shifted, drawing back, out of the way. The Scouting vessel rose out of its storage area, taking up most of the space on his working floor, leaving only enough for him to move around it.

The ship was pill shaped and smooth, designed to be aerodynamic and fast. It looked sleek in his opinion and had a marvelous voice. They didn't get to use him often though. Most of the time they sent down probes to the planets below to test the atmosphere and the conditions on the planet while they circled. The rich voice told him the results of its function tests.

He had everything, he thought, as he strapped the portable computer to his arm. It was large and clunky, adding a good 3 inches to his arm and sat like a large wristband, covering his whole forearm. He bit his lip as he looked around before moving to the wall and hooking it up.

"Tink? can you transfer yourself? Ah, use the back-up AI to run things while you are gone." She chirped in confirmation and the lights in his room flickered as the controls were switched over.

The computer on his arm blinked and he heard her voice saying transfer complete. The back-up AI was quiet, going through it's standard functions. This AI wasn't designed to handle so much. But they would come back. He was sure. Yeah.

The scout was ready to go, everything on it was working. He was double checking his pack, making sure he had at least four of everything, when Karkat and Sollux came in, both with their own packs. Tavros frowned at the scout, it would be a tight fit...

"Lets get our asses moving. I don't want to stay here longer than we need to." He said as he hit a button on the outer full of the ship and went in, placing his pack in the storage compartments on the wall and taking the pilots chair.

A groggy looking Sollux followed after him, dressed in a yellow combat suit and his sidearms strapped to his side, also placing his things in the compartments and taking the next seat, directly behind the pilots chair. Tavros rolled himself in last, tossing his bag in and anchoring his chair to the floor. Karkat had already started up the ship, flicking on switches and pushing dials on the spartan control system.

"Tav, prepare for launch. Aradia can't stay here forever."

Tav nodded. The Ai responded immediately, drawing the ship back into the floor. It waited until the panels were locked back in place before the doors at the end of the scouts storage compartment. The gravity was turned off and Karkat activated the thrusters, propelling it slowly forwards, only speeding after they cleared the doors...

Karkat expertly maneuvered it, and passed HOB, which was already turning around, heading away from the mystery ship. The closer they got, the louder it's wail was. Tavros shut his eyes and concentrated on Tink's song. It helped like he though it would.

They made a pass around the ship, looking for anything that seemed like doors to a docking system. Karkat had sent out signals to the ship, but there was no response besides static. He cursed as he flipped off the comms. "Tav, can you connect to the ship? Get the fucking doors open?" He asked.

Tavros started to shake his head no but stopped when he realised Karkat couldn't hear him. "N-no. We are, not close enough..." He tried to get in contact with it, but it refused to listen.

Karkat growled and studied the ship before him. "Sollux, do you see that? I think those are doors. Use your psychic shit to get them open."

"Fine." Sollux's hands grasped the armrests of his chair as he focused on what looked like a hatch. Tav sighed in relief as what was, indeed, a hatch opened to what looked like a docking bay. There were small, broken ships everywhere, the pieces scattered like there had been a fight. Tavros recognised none of their designs as the scout landed, sliding out its thin, delicate landing gear.

Tavros immediately had the scout scan the air for breathability after he heard Sollux close the bay doors, the sound of it resealing was disturbingly loud.

The crying of the ship was nearly deafening as well. He tried to reach out to it, tried to see if he could calm it or something, but was rebuffed. It was like it was curling in on itself, shying away from pain. He would have to find a terminal or something before he tried again, so it couldn't throw him out.

"The scout says the air is, uh, breathable. We should be fine without our breathing gear..."

"Lets just get out. The crew should be around here somewhere. Keep your weapons on you just in case. And fucking be ready to shoot should anyone that appears be hostile." Karkat said as he finished locking the ship in place.

The back opened and Tavros wheeled himself out, grabbing his pack and slinging it behind him on the way. The first thing that he noticed was how warm it was, the second was just how large the docking bay room was. It held what he thought may have been a system to hold the small ships that lay scattered around in pieces, which were all leaking a pinkish fluid. Their ship hardly took up any room at all.

"I don't recognise any of these models. Do you?" Tavros eyed the stains of blue and and green and yellow on the floor. It looked like someone had thrown paint cans everywhere. Not very good paint at that. It flaked when he went over it.

Lights flashed on, illuminating the surrounding area. It was larger than he expected, with two levels. Tavros couldn't hold back his wonder, despite the voice. The walls were arched and oddly shining. He frowned when he couldn't make out any edges or seams. It was like this was all grown. But they didn't have anything near that technology. There was not a soul to be seen in the surrounding area, just more paint.

Sollux grimaced as he exited. His weapon was drawn, but not at the ready. One gloved hand was raised over his face. "It smells like death." He rubbed absently at the paint on the ground with a foot as he scanned the room.

Karkat followed after, weapon out as well. "Hello? There anyone here?" He yelled out, listening carefully. He swore as he looked around.

"D-Do you think they're all dead?" Tavros asked, as he turned on Tink, the screen automatically folded out, throwing up the results of the life form scan she was doing.

"There are no people in the vicinity..." He read out, pressing a few buttons. He couldn't talk to Tink with his mind, the wailing was so loud.

Karkat scanned the area biting his lips.

"Sollux, you get to come with me. We can at least make it to the bridge, or control room or what ever they have here. If there is anyone here, they'll be there. Tavros, stay with the scout. If we don't get in contact with you in 40 minutes, get out of here. And for the love of fucking god, do not wander off." He had turned towards Tavros. "Where the hell is your weapon?"

He fumbled for a second, but pulled a small pistol that had been strapped from his chair. "It's right here." He held it awkwardly, he hardly ever used it.

Karkat frowned, but shrugged it off. "Just keep an eye out. Lets go, Sollux, the sooner we find the bridge, the sooner we can make sure there is no one here." The duo left cautiously down the hallway in front of them. It wasn't long before they were out of sight.

Tav looked around worriedly, hands rubbing at the casing of the weapon. The wailing was driving him nuts. He needed to help this ship, but Karkat had told him to stay here. His eyes scanned the ceiling, like it would tell him him what was wrong with her. He looked back to the doorway they had disappeared down.

A particular pained cry made him wince. He wouldn't be able to hear anything sneaking up at this rate. He put the gun in is lap and wheeled himself to the side. There were windows there. It looked like a computer room. Maybe he could connect there.

He smiled when the door opened. It was a computer room! But it was cramped. There was a control panel under the window and against the far wall, with 3 rows of monitors. He got stuck on the doorway, however. He frowned at it but twisted behind himself and tossed his bag to the right, letting it land out of the way next to the door. He could get it later.

He wheeled himself to the control panels with the monitors above them. There was more of the paint splashed around here in great arches. He hoped it hadn't damaged the controls. He frowned at the strange symbols on they keys. Those weren't English, or any other language that he recognised...

He brought up Tink in front of him, and started typing on the virtual keyboard. Her voice was so tiny and small, he could hardly hear it. He wondered if she could hear him. At his command two cords extended from Tink and he handled them carefully as he went to look for a place to hook her up. It took him a few seconds. He desperately hopped that his didn't short her or electrocute him.

It did neither when he jammed the connection in. It seemed to give Tink some trouble as the screen froze and filled with lines and lines of the text that looked familiar to the kind he had seen when he first got the SOS message.

He braced a hand on his head, trying in vain to block out the ship's never ending wail. Only the sudden flashing lights got his attention. It seemed like Tink had gotten through.

Tavros smiled as the lights on the display monitors blinked on one by one. The computers were compatible like he had expected them to be. The 27 monitors turned on one by one. It appeared to be a security feed, if what he was seeing were the ships hallways. His smile froze though. The second one on the right was showing an open door, with a figure standing in it. It was standing next to the pack he had left outside of the room...

He turned his head, praying that nothing was there and froze with a squeak of fear.

An tall, broad shouldered being stood in the doorway. It was like someone had opened the door to the uncanny valley. The being looked humanoid, and male, with a set of arms and legs and one head. But that was where the similarities ended. While it was tall and broad, everything about this creature was unbelievably sharp. It had a narrow chin, high cheekbones. The light from the working screens cast an eerie light on its gray features. Two orange horns stood out from a mess of black hair. The thing was grinning at him with a mouthful of sharp teeth obviously designed for tearing flesh from bone. The clothes it wore, while completely covering, did little to hide it's obviously fit body. But the most terrifying thing about it, though, were its eyes.

They peered from behind a pair of glasses. The sclera were yellow, while one iris was completely blue with no visible pupil. The other eye though... It looked like the iris had split into seven smaller ones, and all of them were trained on him. A deep chuckle escaped from the alien's throat as it moved closer.

He instinctively tried to roll back, but hit the wall behind him

His being trapped only seemed to make the thing laugh more. It stopped a few feet away, it's grin growing wider. It titled its head and began to speak. The sounds that came out were nothing like the sounds a human could make; a mixture of trills, chirps and clicks. None of it sounded friendly. It sent a chill up his spine and he pressed himself back into his wheelchair.

The gun in his lap made a noise as it shifted, and he reached for it, bringing it up and taking aim at the alien before him, who drew back in surprise. Though it only took a second for it to adopt a look of.. amusement?

His hands were shaking though, he couldn't keep the weapon steady. The alien said more things at him, maybe it liked to hear itself talk? It also appeared to get bored very fast, and it was also very quick. Quicker than he would have believed someone capable of moving.

It had already covered the distance between them, and had shoved his weapon aside, grabbing hold of his wrist. It's other hand had gone for his throat, making him bend his back as far as it could. He couldn't breathe and this thing was strong. Stronger than he was. His free hand grabbed the one at his neck, like it could have done something.

The creature brought its face next to his and seemed to be studying him as he slowly lost consciousness.