Chapter X
Crazed Bager: Your description of the way that the technology works is really interesting. From nanotech working over time to enemies not just exploding into bolts, I love it!
My Reply: I'm not sure what you mean by "nanotech working over time", but I do appreciate the kind words nonetheless. Even if the enemies not just exploding into bolts (except for robots, obviously) is really just me working in some degree of realism more than anything else.
Rivet's new armour does little to stave off the cold temperature of the space station, and soon enough her body starts trembling intermittently in a vain attempt to warm up. The flickering lights and the dead bodies everywhere (Blargian soldier, scientist, mutant critters, you name it) does not help.
"Something terrible happened here," Rivet murmurs, her voice distorted thanks to her O2 mask. She's cautiously treading down a body-ridden corridor, eyes flicking about nervously, Spiral of Death in hand, full of ammo, and at the ready.
"Yes, the many bodies strewn about the station seems to indicate that," Klunk drawls sarcastically.
Rivet quickly shakes her head. "Okay, yeah, maybe I earned the title of 'Captain Obvious' for that— but seriously though…" The Lombax comes to a halt, and kneels down to look closer at the bodies. "While they were trying to kill each other… it looks like the actual killing blows came from a sword." She shuffles around a bit, examining another body. "And this one lost their head to… something…"
The feline gets to her feet, tail swishing back and forth slowly.
The speakers lining the walls of the corridor crackle to life, and then a terrible, scraping jangle of a pained groan tears through the aforementioned electronics. And then silence. A sharp chill runs up Rivet's spine.
"Well… that was certainly… unsettling," Klunk amends, his tone now unreadable.
Rivet bites back a quip about who's being "Captain Obvious" now, and instead keeps an eye out for any sign of trouble as she steps from the corridor into a wide, spherical room that seems to be made out of a hollowed out asteroid, if the rock walls are anything to go by. There's a narrow pathway ahead that circles around a missile. To the left, atop part of the disk-like path is a series of platforms leading up to a Versa-Target— which in turn leads to what appears to be another room.
Thanks to Rivet's new O2 mask, the almost certainly toxic green gas billowing out from the circular grate-like things lining the pathway has no effect on her as she walks past them.
She clambers up the staircase-like platforms one by one until she reaches the top. The silver Lombax switches over to her Swingshot as she sprints towards the edge of the platform and hurls herself off just after engaging the gadget. One smooth swing, and she's on the other side.
Rivet trudges down the short hallway, re-equipping her Spiral of Death. The door ahead of her opens, and she steps into a wider, cylindrically shaped room with two cracked glass tubes lining the wall to her right. Curled inside the tubes are the bodies of two dead Snappers.
To the left is another corridor.
After casting one last glance towards the deceased creatures in the tubes, Rivet starts heading down the next hallway.
The speakers lining walls crackle again, and this time words break through the static as well. "This is a reminder that all projects, files, and experiments are the sole property of Drek Industries. Should you disagree with this policy, feel free to voice your concern with one of the armed, murderous warbots patrolling the halls… heheheheh…"
"Must be an automatic recording…" Rivet reaches the end of the corridor and climbs over the small rocky ledge protruding from the floor. "Y'know, sometimes I wonder if these architects are trying to turn everything they build into some kind of obstacle course."
"I sincerely doubt that. However, I do agree that their construction habits are rather… questionable, at best."
The feline tiptoes down the dirt path ahead, which leads her into another much wider room. Along the walls are sheets of metal that curves into the rows of large indentations in the stone surface underneath. Some of them are blocked off by doors made from strips of crisscrossed Raritanium, while the rest are completely uncovered. "This must've been where they kept some of the mutant animals before…" Before whatever happened that left everything and everyone they've seen so far on this station dead.
Rivet shakes her head and resumes her trek through the dead silent station.
"Tell us where it is, or ye'll be payin' an early visit to Davy Jones' locker— heheheheh…"
"Look, I- I don't know anything, okay? Uh— here— you can have these Grind Boots, free of charge! And here's my one-time 'fifty percent off all purchases' coupon for that Cosmic Crust across the sector! It's good 'till the sixteenth!"
"Bleh! Cosmic Crust pizza? Ye're kiddin' right? Tell me ye're kiddin'. That stuff tastes like cardboard!"
"If anythin', that's an insult to cardboard…"
"Hey! Grog-breaths!" Rivet stands at the entrance of the small room, her Spiral of Death aimed directly at the two space pirates who've cornered the so-far only survivour. Their backs were to her, so nothing could have prepared her for what she saw when the pair of robot whirled around simultaneously. Soulless turquoise eyes, and a teal light seeping out of their mangled mechanical maws and shattered chests. The blades of their swords are lined with cracks, which also release that same eerie glow. All the same, she doesn't let her surprise and confusion show. "Wanna dance?"
"What?!" Klunk's query of bewilderment goes unanswered for a moment.
Both pirates look at each other and smirk. Or grimace. It's kind of hard to tell, considering how torn up their faces are.
"Figure of speech," Rivet hisses to her partner.
The pirates then turn their gaze back on her. "I haven't seen a Lombax in a very long time," the one on the right says, twirling their blade dangerously as their eyes narrow. "Yer hide will make a wonderful addition to my collection!"
"Assumin' the cap'n will even let ye keep it—"
"Shaddup! Just lemme have this, will ye?!"
"Is someone gonna attack me already, or what?" Rivet snaps impatiently. "We don't have all day!"
A Dual Raptor round in the last space pirate's head finally ends the scuffle for good.
Rivet regards the smoldering hunk of metal and circuits for a moment, to make sure they're down and out for good. When the body doesn't move, the young Lombax turns her attention onto the terrified scientist still cowering in the corner. If they had gotten here even a minute later, that scientist would be dead— O2 mask or no O2 mask.
"You alright?" she asks, taking a cautious step towards them. "Do you need any nanotech? There were a few crates in the last room…"
"N-no, I'm fine," the scientist tells her, quickly straightening their stance and even puffing up their chest a little. "Honestly, a Gadget Engineer deserves a bit more respect if you ask me!"
Rivet's eyebrow quirks upward slightly at that. Okay? Sorry I offered to help you get some nanotech if you needed it…
"So, you are an inventor?" Klunk pipes up from beside his partner.
"Gadget Engineer," the scientist corrects, scowling slightly. "I create revolutionary devices for Supreme Executive Chairman Drek."
So basically an inventor.
"For instance—" the "Gadget Engineer" reaches behind their back and whips out a pair of shiny, red boots with yellow trim. "— viola! My soon-to-be patented Grind Boots! Look, I need to get outta here so I can find a new job." Their scowl disappears, now being replaced by a pleading look. "How about a sell you these? At cost?"
Ironic, considering you were about ready to give them away for free to those pirates.
Then again, the pirates were threatening the scientist's life at the time.
"Let me just talk to my partner for a sec," Rivet tells them, before turning her gaze onto Klunk and waving for him to follow her. Once the two are on the other side of the room, she kneels down to his eye level.
Before she can get a word out, he says, "Let me guess. You want to chauffeur this squishy as well?"
"Actually, I was thinking about escorting them to one of the other hangars," Rivet tells him. "There has to be another hangar here with a ship they can use. Maybe we can get one of the station's computers back up and running to see."
"Very well." Klunk pauses, and then says, "In the event that there are no other ships, I am willing to chauffeur the squishy off this station, provided that they tell us everything they know about Drek's operations."
"Funny thing, I was gonna tell them the same thing, but in exchange for our help looking for a ship," Rivet says with a mild chuckle. "Okay, so we're agreed then— in either case, they have to repay us with info on Drek." Her eyes flick back towards the Grind Boots still sitting in the Gadget Engineer's hands. "As for the Grind Boots, I'll pay for those… they might come in handy."
"There is one other thing that I am concerned about," Klunk adds, drawing Rivet's attention back towards him. "The two space pirates who were about to kill the Engineer. They cannot have been the only ones here, given all the dead bodies we saw earlier in this station. Not to mention one of them spoke of a captain."
"Which means that there are probably more pirates still lurking here, along with their captain."
"Correct. We should remain on guard. Not that were not already, but still…"
Rivet nods in agreement. "Yeah, I don't really wanna die here either." She stands up and turns to her gaze onto the Gadget Engineer, who's watching them closely. "Alright, we've come to an agreement."
Hangar 002-15B-0461…
"I can't thank you enough for this."
The Gadget Engineer tosses the pair of Grind Boots to Rivet. She catches the boots and quickly uploads them to her interface.
"As to Supreme Executive Chairman Drek," the scientist continues as they approach the lone ship sitting in the hangar, "all I know is that he's planning to attack Fort Kronos on planet Batalia tonight. If he manages destroy the Starwatch Defense Cannon, there's nothing left to stop him from harvesting the planet's resources. I can give you the coordinates too."
After giving the duo the coordinates for Batalia, the Gadget Engineer finally waves goodbye and boards the ship.
After the vessel exits the hangar and starts hightailing it out of the nebula, Klunk's jaw tilts into a frown as he turns towards an airlock door. "Odd. I am detecting a faint energy signature somewhere outside that airlock. I believe it may be another invention."
"Wanna go check it out?" Rivet asks. "It could be something useful."
Klunk shrugs. "I suppose we might as well. However, we should check the inner airlock for a pair of magne-boots. If there are none, then I am afraid I will have to explore that section of the station myself. I highly doubt that the artificial gravity extends to the outside."
Rivet sighs, her stomach sinking a little. Sure, Klunk was okay when he went off on his own on Rilgar, but this… this is different. What if some of those pirates are outside the station too, and he runs into them while they're in the middle of looting?
"I can hear you thinking from here. Stop it," Klunk tells her drily. "I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I was not born yesterday."
"Err…"
"Rivet. If we are to continue working together, I need you to trust me in that I will be able to defend myself if and when it is necessary," Klunk explains in a firm tone, crossing his arms as he glares up at her. "I am not some child that needs to be coddled. I have the neural interface you provided me with, along with the weapons it contains. I will be fine."
"I know, it's just—" Rivet bites her lower lip and rubs her arm awkwardly. You're the only person who's ever stuck with me for this long in… "Just be careful, okay?"
"I will." Klunk shakes his head and starts heading towards the airlock.
Rivet follows after him, silently hoping anyway that there's a pair of magne-boots she can use.
Outside the airlock… in the elevator shaft…
Klunk doesn't know what it is with Rivet all of a sudden, but she's become a bit of a… worrywart, for a lack of a better word. While it may be unintentional on her part, the smothering is becoming a little frustrating. So this little adventure on his own is a breath of fresh air to him— which is ironic, he thinks as the elevator comes to a halt and the door ahead of him wooshes open, considering he's now entering a section of the station where there is no air. Not to mention he's a robot, and that the lack of air wouldn't make a difference anyway.
Klunk steps off the elevator and onto the bridge ahead. He comes to a halt, taking in the view ahead. There isn't much to look at. Reddish-brown tendrils of the nebula curling around the station, a couple of ships currently docked (possibly with the intent of refueling, although that won't be happening anytime soon), and— inside the closest of said ships— a couple of mutant swarmers that, miraculously enough, are still alive despite being outside the station.
Klunk crosses the bridge and steps onto the next platform, regarding the flat top of the refueling tube ahead with his usual frown. He's not sure why there are curves in the tube, given that such alterations would serve absolutely no purpose. At this point, he simply writes it off as yet another construction project gone wrong thanks to the stupidity of whatever actions resulted in this tube.
Nonetheless, he climbs onto the tube anyway and starts trudging along it towards the open door of the closest vessel. In less than a minute, he's stepping inside.
The two lone swarmers occupying the ship stop their mauling of a corpse that might have been a Blarg soldier at one point, and turn their blank, blood-red eyes on him.
Klunk tele-equips his own Bomb Glove— which, thanks to its nanotechnology, shrinks down and reshapes itself to fit his tiny metal hand— and lobs a bomb at the two aliens before they can do anything. Which probably wasn't the best idea, considering the next thing Klunk knows is that he's covered in the green goop that was just moments earlier one or both of the swarmers.
"Well," Klunk starts after moment, blinking slowly. "This turn of events is positively revolting, to say the least."
He trudges towards the back of the ship, which is also wide open, and proceeds to climb down to the loading dock below with the help of a ladder. Upon reaching said platform, Klunk performs a quick scan of the many metal crates scattered and stacked across the dock. "Hmmm…" Interestingly, the crates are empty.
Perhaps they have yet to be filled with anything.
In any case, it's not his problem. So Klunk merely weaves past them, intent on tracking down the source of the energy signature.
While Klunk is busy exploring the outside of the station, Rivet decides to check out the Blargian warship that's adrift out there. There might be more gadgets, after all— or even another survivour! And it's certainly better than sitting around near the airlock, waiting for Klunk to come back and worrying about whether or not he's run into trouble.
So Rivet takes the docked— and surprisingly still operational— transport shuttle to the warship.
The feline presses the button to open up the shuttle door, and quickly comes face to face with a space pirate who's in the midst of skewering a Blarg soldier through their middle. After removing the blade from the now-very-dead reptile's abdomen, the pirate tosses the limp body aside and focuses their creepy teal eyes on Rivet.
"Well, wouldja look at that," the pirate hisses, their voice grating on Rivet's ears. "Here, kitty-kitty. Tiiiime to diiiie…"
Unimpressed, Rivet wordlessly tele-equips her Spiral of Death and lets the weapon's circular blade cleave the space pirate in two before they can do anything else. She quickly strides past the bodies of the pirate and Blarg soldier and approaches the twin doors on the other side of the airlock. After a moment, she decides to check out the door on the right— and comes face to face with another space pirate.
"Oh, for crying out loud—" Rivet fires her weapon as the pirate charges at her, sword drawn, ending them before they could get within ten feet.
She smashes open a few bolt crates that are lying around, and collects the precious bits of metal inside before making her way towards the door up ahead. On the other side, she runs into a pack of mutant swarmers— which she chooses to take out with her FissionMallet when they charge at her with their gaping maws wide open for attack.
Towards the end of the mini-massacre, Rivet's covered in the icky green goop that was inside those things. "Ugh… this is just disgusting…" She tries to wipe the stuff off her fur and clothes, and winds up smearing it instead. "Note to self… never use my Mallet on those things again."
After some more wandering around the warship and taking out a couple more space pirates and one or two snappers, Rivet stumbles into what seems to be the control room for the ship. The room is deserted, save for the few bodies of soldiers and scientists lying on the floor.
Her eyes flick towards the console lining the opposite end of the room, and her eyes widen— not so much at the console, but what's sitting on display in front of it. Rivet cautiously makes her way over to the pedestal on which the gadget sits.
"Whoa… I wonder what this is?" The Lombax tilts her head, studying the gadget closely. It seems to resemble a Map-O-Matic, but with yellow trim as opposed to green. She's tempted to swipe the thing for herself, but something seems… off. Why would one put a gadget out in the open like this where just anyone could take it. After silently arguing with herself for about a minute, her curiosity finally wins in the end, and Rivet removes the strange yellow thing and uploads it to her interface.
Just as she does so, an alarm blares throughout the ship, and the lights flicker as they change from a pale blue to a blood-red.
"Unauthorized device removal detected. Self-destruct sequence initiated. Please remove all personal belongings."
"Dangit, I knew something bad was gonna happen!"
A/N: Hopefully this chapter's okay... at least now we finally get to actually see Klunk go off on his own for a little bit (and we'll definitely see more of that in the next chapter too).
Also, I don't know how or why references to Life of Pi made it in here, but uhh- here we are XD I don't think I'll be making a habit of it though.