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Pushing himself out of the capway below his feet, Casnar crawled out onto a dark surface…..It was quite different from the tunnels of white tiles and silver floors in the buildings and surface of Lothiraxl, but he could not shake the feeling it all would eventually fit together. He stood and joined Catherine who was already jogging lightly down the new dark hall, though it widened into a greater room with several pools scattered about, their ghostly murk emitting light to the metal walls, "…This is the Surr's chamber, Casnar, and if we look around, we might find him or one of his underlings."

"This place seems empty to me, Catherine—" She stopped by one of the pools and bent over the rim with such a quickness, he thought she had fallen inside, "…Catherine?"

"Casnar—" she was holding onto something, pulling it out of the watery spill that was collecting around her feet, "…Casnar, it's her!" A hand and an arm—Casnar rushed over as Catherine had pulled Braith out of the pool, "…My….She's cold as ice!"

"Move over," he pulled off his shirt and started to fit it over Braith's form…She was naked and her hair was grown longer, filling over the bald spots formerly on her scalp where she'd been wearing wires from, "…Braith," he checked her pulse, found a flutter despite how cold she was, and started to lift her to his mouth to breathe into her throat and lungs, pinching her nose. "Braith, breathe….Breathe, please," he slapped her face gently and repeatedly, Catherine watching with her eyebrows winched down in worry for the woman, "…Braith, please, breathe…." She gasped as he had slapped her and this time it was hard….Gathering her up in his arms, he pressed his lips to hers, Braith kissing him unexpectedly and Catherine smiling at the unanticipated quality of their reunion….

"Baby," she pushed his face back, her gray eyes wide and blinking through eyelashes stuck together by the liquid, "….Get me the fuck out of here."

"I will—We will," he remembered and glanced at Catherine, "…Where's the exit out of here—"

"Casnar, don't you think it strange that we found her as soon as we arrived," Catherine whispered, now gazing about the chamber with its pools and hidden consoles in the walls, "…I mean, it's great we've found her….But it's a little too….Led to, if you catch my meaning…" She walked to another pool, "…Why is she here….Waiting for us—"

"Catherine," Casnar was carrying Braith in a cradle, "…Please just stop with the questions and get us the gods out of here!" He adjusted the weight in his arms—Braith hooked her arms around his neck and shivered. With a hesitant nod, Catherine called out:

"Surr!"

"Do we need to be raising his attention to us?" His arms tightened around Braith as Catherine looked towards the noise of metal sliding on metal, "…Catherine, what are you doing?"

"This is their world, Casnar," Catherine stood rooted in place as dark figures emerged from the sides of the chamber, "…You always ask permission from Surr….Especially if you take something from them…"

"Braith doesn't belong to them—"

"She does," Catherine waited with him, backing up to stand beside him, "…You know she was combined with one of those pios….Let's ask Surr if it's okay to take her…Would be a courtesy if nothing else, Casnar."

"What is it….Catherine Smythe….Worlds traveler with the outcastes…." The sound of a grating voice, unlike drells' and far more wet and sighing, "….You are here for it…."

"It…." Catherine turned to look at Braith in Casnar's arms, "….Is it who he claims her to be…Braith Shepard?"

"It…Braith Shepard…She is yours to take…That which belongs to us has been received…The Vehemence has decided it may go….It will not be reclaimed….You may return to the surface, Catherine Smythe…."

"Thank you, Surr," Catherine looked at Casnar and Braith and offered a preemptive bow, "…Let's leave while we have the privilege now," she murmured, "….Come with me when the lift arrives."

"How do you know there's going to be a lift," Casnar said out the corner of his mouth, "…You have a relationship with these things?" Along the edge of the floor at the far ends of the chamber, the bodies of Surr's people were crawling out and over the end, moving towards them….Casnar backed up and bumped one of the pools behind him—he turned and saw more bodies inside, "…Kala, is this a morgue?"

"Remember how I informed you about the sentries…." Catherine grabbed onto his shirt sleeve, Braith glancing down at the woman, "…They are the reclaimed, Casnar, and this is the holding area for while they decide what to do with them….In a way, a recycling facility," she looked at Braith's eyes, "…Maybe they were going to reclaim you if we didn't come…..The city is alive….Nowhere does one go without the city knowing….We are fortunate that Lothiraxl is benign compared to other symbiote worlds—It's a plant that protects itself and fosters those which come to rely on it," she explained, "….In that way….I guess that's the easiest way to explain it to you, Braith," the other woman looked away.

"Doesn't it try to send its sentries after you," Casnar whispered, a sudden grating splitting from the ceiling higher up and caused them to crane their heads back….A darker circle had formed in the flat roof, and a bell-flat bottom was lowering to the center of the floor from several other lightly differentiated discs in the roof above, "….The sentries have been hunting us since we've been here—"

"They have some who hunt, some who guard, some who warn trespassers from going where they shouldn't….And others who help themselves by leading those they choose for whatever reason….To where they are wanted….The city wants you, it will call and it will take…"

"Then for ten years, you've just been playing with the damn city?"

Casnar and Braith were now staring at Catherine….Who backed a step and reached into the watery illuminated substance with bodies of aliens they recognized and did not….The more recent journeyers in recent times to the city…

"I don't know why it has allowed us to live and yet chased us through the lower levels….I don't know why the Alliance wants us dead, and some others want us to survive, Casnar, Braith," she painted the liquid onto the metallic surface, darkening it where her fingers traced, "…But I have to admit, I have learned so much from being underground here….It would be hard to just leave it behind—"

"She's possessed," Casnar muttered, moving towards the lift lowering like a heavy still pendulum to the floor as something large and as high as the pool's rim crawled by on three legs with slapping toes, "…What are these….Surr people?"

The devolved-looking shape turned and he saw two small pimples either side of its bulbous protrusion balanced on legs that appeared not well enough to support its bulk—yet it stood steady, "…These are the cijah…" and walked on.

"Please remove this from the depot," another voice sighed as Casnar and Catherine turned, Braith still holding onto his neck, "…Go to the surface….Vehemence thanks you for transporting the pio to us….If you wish to stay, we can convert your energy into something useful….But that is your option as thanks for helping deliver more power to the city…."

Casnar grimaced at the new bulb of flesh that had come over on three legs, passing partly visible over the high pool barrier before setting itself in front of them, and the lift settled down with a heavy moan not a few feet behind this creature….

"The cijah is what you call yourselves?"

"Surr…" Miraculously, one hand formed out of the side of the bulb of flesh, mottled and dark in the lighting of the pools, "…Pleased to assist," and Casnar almost neglected to grasp the hand and squeeze it, so appalled and grossed by the act of limb forming from the Surr's "contents"….Casnar had no other way to describe it to himself….He bent slightly and put Braith onto her legs, holding onto her waist against him while he grasped the Surr's fingers, then politely hid his hand behind his pants to tuck into a pocket and wipe off the grime. "…We are cijah, peoples below….We work with the great Vehemence to keep it controlled….The Pio power him….He is pleased with the one you released from the Citadel, Tu to your recollection," Surr said with a fascinating tilt of its none-too-blatant head towards Catherine, "…You are welcome to the city and may come and go….Lothiraxl is your home if you wish to live above…."

"Well….Thank you….I think that will be an immense upgrade from being stuck in your tunnels, Surr," Catherine forced a smile, "….If it's possible, could you inform your Alliance contacts not to try and capture me and my bantons anymore?"

"Alliance," Braith echoed, "…Bantons?"

"What's the Vehemence….That doesn't sound benign, Catherine," Casnar muttered with his head leaned over her shoulder, "…And it's clearly not a nice creature since it consumes other energy 'life'," he growled.

"No…." Catherine said, turning and pulling on both him and Braith's arms to bring them around Surr and into the lift, more cijah gathering around the pools and mixing chemicals into the liquids holding the bodies submerged, "….But I'm not going to ask at this point—I've just earned us a free pass to the surface without being shot at or captured, and I would like to find Sieis and the others as soon as possible….Perhaps that ship might still be an option to get out of here?"

Braith tottered as they climbed into the lift and fell against Casnar, who tugged her backwards and into his hold, "….Careful…." They looked out the door at the chamber of the reclaimed, the Depot as Surr had referred to it as, and the lift began to rise off the floor with Casnar, Catherine, and Braith securely inside….From one of the pools missing any liquid, something sparked and wavered into existence long thin streams of purple and blue light, and Catherine leaned against the frame of the lift's opening to watch the dwindling view of what might have been Vehemence forming to gaze upon his cijah heading back to work…

She felt a sadness forming as the sight cut off with the lift entering the ceiling and grating through its passage between the sectors of Lothiraxl's bowels, and when she turned to look at Braith and Casnar—the gold drell smiled, "….You like dark places, you'll fit in well with what's under my family's city in Nualavera….But by mithras, Catherine—"

"You can call me Cat," she said….Casnar nodded, watching her sit against the bottom of the lift and look a little too sorry and lost, "….I'm used to this place…..I'm not sure if I want to leave…" She looked at him.

"You'll be okay, Cat…" He didn't like the nickname, but it was an invitation to a part of her she was still living in some part of her life, "…You'll go to Rakhana and have a whole other world to explore….And on the bright side, it will be better to enjoy some air and have a bath finally….You smell like you belong here or in whatever those bantons used to call a home for themselves…" She smiled at him then, blushing through her dirty cheeks some as she agreed….

"I can't remember having access to a consistent use of plumbing….That would be a nice change, I guess…."

Braith smiled at the insecure woman and turned her face to Casnar—waiting with a kiss he planted on her cheek and the corner of her mouth, "….I can't wait to give you a shower," he whispered into her ear.


They waited outside the lift's stop, looking at the silver set of doubledoors in front of them….Casnar, shirtless and golden with his chest reflected back among their figures in the reflection, Catherine in her smeared Assembly uniform, and Braith wearing only Casnar's ba'tran shirt from his family's wardrobe….The three watched as the doors slid open and a small light of electricity bobbed from the ceiling down to their mean of eye levels….It flickered and sparked, then shot down the hallway into a wall, "….Are we supposed to follow it?" His eyes landed on Catherine's blond braid as she walked through the hall in the direction the light had gone, "…Cat?"

"I think we should," she said, stopped to look at them from her turn, "…We shouldn't question it, Casnar, Braith," and the others stepped after, Casnar guiding Braith by the hand….He checked on her, couldn't help a long look down her legs to her toes and back up to her face, a hidden smile behind his lips set firmly in line, and Braith's eyes shown back at him with a questioning expression in these.

The door at the end of the hall and to the right slid open—Casnar went in ahead of Catherine and Braith, and a new lift waited with an exterior view of the city—the others stepped inside with him, the doors closed, and they looked out over the spectacular view of platinum silver buildings, promenades, bridges, the flight of vessels small as two and four person riders through the channels of streets, lights, bodies walking where space crossed over the gaps from building to building, and towers rose high to the dark gloomy recesses of the Grim Reaper….Stars could not be seen, but a thin transparent hologram of a sky divided the view between Lothiraxl and the Reaper system itself….

"By Kala, I didn't notice it before," Casnar remarked as the lift descended, the view stretching on for miles, "…It projects the view outside the Grim Reaper….Is this place completely artificial?"

"Kaidan said it tries its damnedest to be the pinnacle of everything the cultures that arrive on it wish to have….He said there are even parks with trees elsewhere in the city, though he suspects they're not entirely organic…." She looked at them staring in awe at the descending view, "….Cat," Braith watched the woman turn her face towards her—she was remarkably young-looking underneath the stains, "…You've lived here longer…Why do you look outside here like you've never seen it before…"

"It's different," she replied, "…I'm not looking at it as though I can touch and be a part of it….I'm looking at it as though I have the choice not to….Do you understand?"

Braith and Casnar glanced at each other, some worry on their faces, "…Do you really want to stay here?"

"I'm so used to certain ways," she blinked back something in her eyes, "…I know they're not natural to me….But they are now if you get me….I don't know—"

"You can't live in the sewers of this place, Cat," Braith stepped from Casnar to face the woman directly, turning Catherine's blue eyes to hers, "…You're a human woman….I think you are, I can't really say because I don't have a certainty about what's been done to me….But you and your friends will probably more than not enjoy being on the ground somewhere, outside of this monster goliath of a city machine…..You have no idea what will meet you off this world…But it could be something better than," she glanced down at her clothes, "….Better than where you were…"

"We were managing," she said, "….But I see what you're trying to tell me….I'm an Assembly woman deep inside….Somewhere….But….I should find Sieis….If I can…..My zonepad," she looked at Casnar.

The glass in front of them dissolved from existence as they touched down onto the silver sidewalk below, and people—aliens—passed them with questioning stares and anxious glances.

"We should probably find someone who can help us find a way off this city…And maybe some clothes," Casnar said, looking at the two women, never mind his toplessness, and taking both of them out with but a nod of his head, they went into the crowds parting from them along the sidewalk….Catherine seemed the most uncomfortable, despite being the most fully dressed among the three. Casnar took hold of her elbow and smiled reassuringly at her, though he himself was more than self-aware how oddly they stood out among the well-dressed and at ease with the protocol of the city street they conducted themselves through, and holding Braith's hand—he didn't want to lose her a third time, Casnar escorted them to the first store he assumed was open for people interested in clothing retail…They went inside and were quickly discharged by a barrier that shot up per the command of the owner, a volus with a crude observation of the trio who did not take pity on their nature…

"We have a question at least," Casnar said through the barrier shimmering at his proximity, the volus glaring at them through his eye portholes on his headpiece, "…Where can we go to ask for first aid or shelter?"

"Go….To…The….Exchanger…" The volus pointed a stubby hand towards the street's left end, "….Ask for…..Some….Decent….Clothes….Before you….Decide….To offend…." He was interrupted by Braith's snarky retort—

"I thought a volus might recognize the one woman who saved your asses in the Great War—"

And the volus managed to change his next expulsion from his headgear, "…That was….Fifteen years ago….You're….Not….In….Advertising….Value….Anymore…." He puffed indignantly.

Braith was about to share her opinion about volus opportunism when Casnar dragged her after him and Catherine, "….Come on….You're not even wearing underwear," Casnar retorted to her protests, "….Let's try this Exchanger…This is a city that provides for all, I heard…." Leading her down the street with them, Casnar sought for what sign an Exchanger might provide—It wasn't plainly obvious to a foreigner, and he had a mind to go back and figure his way through that volus's shop barrier, too, when suddenly a booth rotated towards them from the center of the deadend alley that appeared on their left, "…Mithras….That's an Exchanger?"

An asari stepped out, well-groomed of crests that had recently been manicured and painted with makeup, and her outfit was a fashion of the printed pants and blouses on the other female aliens of the city walkways….Casnar, Braith, and Catherine stepped up to the booth and walked around it, then it was Catherine who stepped inside the open door first to Braith and Casnar's surprise, "….What do you need," the booth emitted a polite yet surly voice from some apparent speaker that was hidden from their assuming glances over the walls and interior, "…Go on—you're holding up the queue, Catherine Smythe, Assembly XenoBio Chief Science Officer per 2185 aboard the Pantheon….Perhaps you would like to phone home?"

"Oh….No…" Catherine immediately replied, "….I'm sorry…I don't have my zonepad with me—can we start over, I'm not sure I've met—" The moment she replied with the term zonepad a door snapped shut, closing her from their view, and Casnar jumped at the booth, sliding his hands over the seamless silver panels and trying to open it up again.

"Damn it," Casnar growled, backing off and setting his hands on his hips, "…Why does this thing not open!"

"You and her," Braith cocked her head at him, "….You two known each other long?"

He scowled at her, "…She's only helped me find you in this wretched station….Now don't give me that look—I've come a long way in search of you and I think I still have miles to go before you let me make up for—" She stopped him with a kiss that made him stutter, calm, and despite her dire looks in single ba'tran top and her ruined haircut per Alliance and Lothiraxl, he grabbed her back and held her tight, hungering for that long-hunted kiss and not caring what she tasted like….He could faintly recall from her taste the memory of gunpowder, what she'd been like after he'd claimed her, and he intended to remind himself and her body what that was supposed to be like….and while they embraced in a heating liplock in the alleyway, the booth Exchanger took care of the woman inside….Casnar and Braith parted when the door snapped open again and Catherine stumbled out, her hair clean and braided, eyes blue, wide, startled, the grime on her hands and face missing and a blouse and flat pants printed tight to her body….She held in her hands a hard pack, and attached to it, pointing up at Casnar and Braith's surprised faces was the zonepad set secure in its deposit of the shell.

"You look….Nice," Casnar said, getting over the surprise and glancing from Catherine on her pants' bottom at the step off from the booth to the interior, "….So that's what an Exchanger does…." He glanced at Braith and let her go in next, "….Maybe ask it to take the plugs out of your scalp while you're at it," he chuckled at her narrowed glance, and the door shut her off from his sight. He helped Catherine steady herself on her feet, the woman clutching her hardpack like a college student frightened out of her first day of classes, "…Cat?"

"What—what—Yes, oh clouds, my hair!" She clutched at her braid, which was eight inches shorter and now shoulderlength to what she had worn it as while with Assembly, "…Oh no!"

"What….Oh….The bantons….If they're even still able to be found," he mumbled, taking hold of her short braid and feeling the clip of thick blond strands now shined and healthy, "…You look nicer….More presentable…I'm sure Sieis will get over it," he bit the inside of his lip and turned away, tebris rising and falling slightly as her worried blue eyes sought upward, "….You would fit in well here with the other humans….Kind of amazing," he risked a glance, Catherine staring now at her hardpack….She pulled out the zonepad and opened it….Her eyes picked up their glow as she connected with the zonepad and sought out what she wanted….

"Oh, Casnar, it works!"

"It does…." He was distracted from the woman's excited exclamation as the door snapped open of the Exchanger and Braith fell out—into his arms, she looking as startled and confused by what had just happened….But Casnar's eyes were gaping nearly as wide as hers and Catherine's for Braith's hair was down passed her chin and coiffed neatly over her ear, a touch of darker pigment to her pale freckles and complexion overall, and she printed out with the same blouse and pants, but different colors from Catherine's….They both wore soft shoes for gripping the silver alley with, but Casnar wasn't really noticing the shoes, "….What happened to you in there?"

She was free of the sickly gauntness and Casnar was experiencing a hardon—quickly he dulled the sharp urge to take her somewhere and fornicate as fast as he could get his pants down, "….Casnar, go inside before you embarrass yourself," Braith hissed as his body was trying to relax with her turned in his arms, and she pushed him off her, towards the Exchanger, "…Take care of that bump on the back of your head….It looks infected." Braith heard the door snap closed again and turned to look at Catherine, whose eyes were still aglow as she interacted with Lothiraxl's network, unbeknownst to the former commander, "…What are you doing?"

"I've found them," Catherine replied, turning her eyes to Braith and alarming the woman with the flash of interactivity within her irises' hold, "…I've found Sieis and the others," she was smiling hard now with glee, and Braith couldn't help but feel pleased for her, too. The door snapped open of the Exchanger, and both women turned to look at Casnar coming out, and having learned from watching the others fall free of the snapping doorway, he stepped down….

"Oh….Casnar…." Braith smiled and raised her eyebrows, "….That's a good look for you….What era on Rakhana is that from?"

He glanced down at his shoes and pants, then up over the suit and to his pins….Running a hand over his smooth golden crests, he admired the blue metallic shine of his suit sleeves and lapels, "….Kahje actually….I worked with the IPK….I haven't seen this outfit in ages…..I wonder why I was dressed this way and…" He looked up from his contemplation of the outfit to Braith and Catherine, the commander and the Assembly scientist both appreciating him in their own respective expressions….Braith with a confident glint in her eyes, and Catherine with a confused, baffled schoolgirl innocence as she hid behind her hardpack and looked down at his shoes….He smiled, "…It's still me, Cat."

"We should go find Sieis now," she said, turning and walking away as Casnar wrapped his arm around Braith's waist, slender in the outfit the Exchanger had provided, "….They're this way," and taking the lead, she brought them from the Exchanger in the alley to the street and ordered a ride….A sleek vessel with seats for four came down from the traffic, free of passengers until they entered it together, and rode off to meet with their missing party members.