[ One half of the plan done then. But Bel needs a moment of uninterrupted concentration to pull this off. Miles strides forward purposefully, rapping his knife hard against the catwalk railing to set it to vibrating. Sound and movement, that's what he needs to focus on. ]
Over here, you overgrown salad! If you can't take me, you certainly can't take them!
[ He waves his arms, slashes at the air - or any tendril that gets too close. It's a fine line between staying close enough to be distracting while also not so close he gets caught again. And the distracting is more important at this point.
Most of the tendrils tilt in Miles' direction. But a few curl toward Bel too, reaching to grab them by their feet and pull. ]
[Bel's hands scrabble on the paneling, nerves making their movements ungentle. A small mess of wiring sits, neatly cabled, but otherwise unlabeled as to what goes where. They curse loudly, and start tracing paths with their fingers.
In the mean time, the mass of tendrils sweep ... past Miles and wrap heavy cords of roots around the catwalk itself. The whole frame shudders and the supports buckle and fold as the walk lifts, threatening to tumble Miles forward into some of the waiting tendrils dangling midway.]
Ah-HA! [Just as Bel finds the set they need, the root gently curling around the smooth surface of the suit pulls tight abruptly.]
[ Not just a murderous salad, then. A fucking smart one, damn it all to hell. Miles yelps in surprise as the catwalk tilts; he falls a few dangerous feet before managing to cling onto one of the side rails. Miraculously he keeps his grip on the knife too, though it costs him a long cut on his palm from gripping the jagged metal too hard. His feet are mere inches from the writhing mass of plant now below him.
Is Bel having any success in their side? Miles twists his head to look down. Yes - and no. The roots have jerked Bel back right at the moment when they've exposed what looks like the right patch of wiring. Miles lets out a stream of curses in thick, guttural Barrayaran. He has to get Bel's legs free now or they're both dead.
With another spectacularly vulgar curse, Miles doesn't just let himself drop - he hurls himself down knife first, aiming to plunge his knife deep into the roots grabbing Bel. And then he's going to hope that Bel can get the system working before the plant makes a meal of him. No escaping that mass of plant matter without the culling system now... ]
[Miles doesn't sever it completely, but it's more than enough for it to spasm and shudder on the ground, whatever impulses coordinating its movement severed.
The price was immediate though: the other tendrils quickly wrap around every part of Miles it can get a hold of...
From Bel's perspective, they don't question the sudden slack or take the time to look back, just dive back into the wiring. Hastily, they saw at the right set of wires. They'd watched Miles' work on the comm intently enough that... yes. It's roughshod and quick, but soft white light begins to seep up into the console above, lighting it. A moment later, the light shoots up the wires through the ceiling above.
For a moment, there was everything but the sound of machinery: just the leaves, the unsettling creak of roots, the rush of water and the sound of struggle.]
Miles!
[As they turn, a soft voice begins talking in a strange language that vibrated somewhere deep in the ear. The comms lit up, echoing the words and translating:] Initializing...
Foreign body found. Invasive body found. Electrical systems compromised. Hydro pressure at 58%
[The roots around Miles begin to constrict, even as others start pulling the small man upwards to eat...]
...
Removing intrusive species. Scanning for personnel...
[Bel charges at the mass of roots, knife swinging at the nearest. It makes horribly little progress...]
No personnel found. Beginning removal. Operators in observation stations are requires to wear eye equipment during removal process. I repeat---
[The next strike is held by a tendril wrapping around their elbow- and released.
Steam hisses from around the roots protruding from the warped sealing, and a FWOOSH that sounded unnervingly like a plasma arc... a very.... very large plasma arc drowns all of the other noise.
The tendrils around Miles jerk wildly, uncoordinated and tearing- before they go still, limp. Orange goo starts dripping from above in trickles, then waves.]
Operators in observation stations are requires to wear eye equipment during removal process. I repeat-- Operators in observation stations are requires to wear eye equipment during removal process.
...
Organism terminated. Beginning clee aa nnnnnnnnnnnn
[The voice slows and then fades off entirely as the light in the panel flutters and then fades.]
[ Throughout the clean, Miles struggles against the vines as best he can. Like hell he's getting eaten at the eleventh hour just because the system had to take a few minutes to boot up. The vines constrict him tightly; something cracks on his suit, and he feels very much like his bones are about to follow suit. Not one bit of his body is going to be in bruised after this, he's sure of it.
And then, just when he can't take any more of this - when the vines have him wrapped so fully that he can't even struggle - everything goes slack. Miles falls back down to the catwalk with a wet smack, plant goop covering him (and the catwalk, and a good sized splatter distance, sorry Bel) almost completely. But he's alive and this fucking plant is dead. They have a way back up to the surface that may be full of chemicals but at least not infested by a man eating plant.
Miles just flops his head back against the still writhing pile of vines and just. Laughs. A bit hysterically, a lot relieved. ]
Excellent work, Captain.
[ He sits up slowly, wiping goo off his face with his good hand. And still laughing breathlessly. ]
[Bel is left breathing hard, staring up at the ropes of goo drizzling down, themself and Miles in turn, not quite able to fully comprehend that they DID that.
THEY did that. They did THAT. There was a lot of places to put emphasis and none of them quite summed it all up.
As Miles has his fit of hysterical relief, a similar laugh, almost aborted in a snort, bubbles up in them. Attempting solemnity, Bel scoops up a handful of the goo that Miles' inglorious flop had splattered over them, and just.
Flings it back.]
You crazy sonsabitch. [And starts laughing in all honesty.]
[ Miles laughs harder. It's still kind of hysterical, but - well. A good noise for a good feeling. Especially compared to the argument they had been having. He slops some of the goop right back at Bel. ]
Me? I'm not the one who slid under a writhing tentacle plant just to hack a console.
Did grab me, the bloody creeper.. [Bel sobers a little, getting a clearer picture.
They reach a hand down, offering Miles assistance up.
They still had a ways to go... Bel looked up at the hatch, split horribly, slick from lord knows what and the ladder was buckled outward. This was going to be interesting.]
Lets get the hell out before something else tries to kill us.
[The only indication that Bel was planning on taking point was a little unhappy sound behind Miles, but no arguments. The hardest part of the climb is where the ladder buckles outwards, requiring hand over hand pullups, but after that, the climb UP is just a nearly crawlable grade to the upper level.]
[ Sorry, Bel. Miles gotta Miles. Though he's regretting his decisions a bit when he sees that buckling point. His shoulder is already protesting just looking at it. And his bloodied hand is starting to throb dully. ]
... Maybe you should go first on that section.
[ That's as close as he's going to get to requesting help. ]
[And Bel, being the damn good captain they are, responds with,]
Good idea, sir, I'll check the stability. [Before swinging up along the side, taking half the ladder to climb past Miles, and then over. The confidence declines sharply as the goo makes the hanging feat far more dangerous than it would otherwise. One heavy slip and scrabbling reclaim left them with heart pounding in their ears and sweat pooling under the suit.
After it, though, the grade is almost level. They hook a leg in a rung, wipe their hand as best they can, and reach down again.]
[ Bless Bel for sparing his pride a bit. Even as dire as the situation is, some things need to remain the same. He watches Bel ascend, his own heart jumping in his throat when Bel nearly slips. And only breathes when it's clear the captain isn't going to fall.
He carefully clasps Bel's hand and hauls himself up. Much easier like this. ]
Just so. Onwards to what I hope is a significantly less green room.
No kidding, [The breathe. Still, having the advantage, they crawl ahead on the ladder until glorious semi-level steel is beneath their feet. It's in no way a perfectly good feeling... with the slurry of plant ooze, watery sap, actual water and emulsified algae.
Still, the view was breathtaking in its own way. What had once slumped the overgrown salad, was barely more than a burned and sliced pile of compost. Cutting tools are frozen mid slice, vac tubs slumped where they once were poised to clean up the debris, and the lasers are still glowing warm from the heat.]
[ Miles cautiously pulls himself up after Bel. And ... stares rather hard at one of those inactive cutting tools. Yikes. He's more worried about the thought that this place could come back to life again with them in it than he is about the plants. He cautiously picks his way through the maze of inactive tools and puddles of green garbage. ]
Agreed. The plant would have eaten us instantly, for starters. Not to mention those plasma cutters.
[ And their remedy would definitely not have worked. Miles shudders a bit as he draws close to the opposite door. ]
[There is a certain sensation one gets - in a workshop, in war zones, in loading bays, that eerie creeping feeling down your back of what would happen if all of the machines came to life. A certain, almost alive silence, like one is being watched happens in those moments. The splash of their footsteps just a little loud, the cadence of their breathing echoes like it might give their position away to deadly machines that could - by no logical means activate again.
None of that logic really helped the electric feeling up one's spine, or the pressure between the shoulder blades. It's just before Miles' hand finally reaches the doorknob that the metal shrieks again, suddenly, howling some banshee like defiance...
One of the cutters teeters, buckles under the strain of rust, roots and the punishment just levered on it, and slams back towards the far wall.
WHAM!
Taking some part of the hull with it, it crashes backwards off into ... emptiness.
Fresh, cool air, damp to Miles' face, and the roar of rushing water issues forth from the new gap.]
[ Holy shit. Miles nearly jumps out of his suit at the colossal noise. He does flinch up with his knife, ready to take on more godawful plant monster or whatever the hell is about to pour through that gap ...
That very dark gap. With a hell of a lot more water than he would have expected to hear, and fresh air? What the hell? He turns to Bel - oh thank god, they're still here - and then stares back at the gaping maw. He should just go straight out and take Bel with him. He should do anything except carefully approach this new hole with his curiosity burning him up from the inside out. (How much power does he even have left? His display is thoroughly cracked, the readout unintelligible.) ]
What the hell?
[ Is it another chamber on the ship? What else could it be? ]
[It's a bad idea to go check it out. In fact, it's an absolutely terrible idea.
Which is why Bel is practically climbing over Miles to see. (From where Bel holds the gap above Miles' head, the suit reads 25%...)
It takes a moment for their eyes to adjust... but slowly an image becomes clear, little pieces at a time. The distant filtering of lights, the underground river glittering in the harsh, nearby sun... and curled plant life, rich and deep along the banks of the river, pale blues and greens curling in the dim light...
One can even see where a creeping vine has rooted itself along the panels of this side of the ship - likely how the monster infested the algae beds... the pooling damn of the river by the body of the ship below might well explain the river inside as well.]
[ 25% left. Which means Miles certainly has less, which means this is even worse of an idea, but ... Miles follows after Bel, utterly speechless for a moment. They've been on a completely alien planet for how many days now? But this is something else.
He hadn't realized how close they were to the outside of the ship in this room. Maybe if they get free of it, the power will stop draining anyway. Miles carefully slides down the outer hull of the ship, coming to rest in a soft bed of this strange plant life. It's even prettier up close. Most importantly, the slope is gentle enough he could make his way back up if he needs to. ]
I was wondering how a planet this dry could have so much water. [ He breathes in the words reverently. ] Do you think this is where the Queen nested?
[Bel keeps pace, knife still in hand, but slack jawed. The ground they step boot into is soft, like a fertile soil rather than the harsh, burnt sand above.
The curled plants seem to be some kind of fern. The widespread leaves with gentle star patterns fold up and curl in towards the stems when brushed by accident... and soft pulses of light flutter through the plants' veins as they move... Something about the hue and glow was incredibly familiar.]
It must be... How the planet could support that sort of biodiversity and larger creatures didn't seem even possible.. but this explains it entirely. God, I wonder how far it goes...
[The light washes over Miles' suit briefly. So much dimmer, so much less concentrated by the pearls of undigested plant in the Queen's gullet, some small tears in the suit mend near Miles' fingertips.]
Milesopolis is out. Just calling that.
[Bel is kneeling at the banks of the river, fishing at something in the shallows.]
[ Ah. Miles' eyes widen. Even without his power readout to tell him what just happened, it's clear enough what those lights can do. Some part of him instantly feels less tired and sluggish. (He'd been very close running just now. Uncomfortably close.) ]
Milesia? Milayar?
[ He seeks out another fern, running his fingers over that one as well. Just to prove his theory.
There's a similarly glowing object underwater for Bel, gliding slowly back and forth with the movement of the current. Faintly piscene, covered in round glowing bulbs of it own. ]
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Over here, you overgrown salad! If you can't take me, you certainly can't take them!
[ He waves his arms, slashes at the air - or any tendril that gets too close. It's a fine line between staying close enough to be distracting while also not so close he gets caught again. And the distracting is more important at this point.
Most of the tendrils tilt in Miles' direction. But a few curl toward Bel too, reaching to grab them by their feet and pull. ]
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In the mean time, the mass of tendrils sweep ... past Miles and wrap heavy cords of roots around the catwalk itself. The whole frame shudders and the supports buckle and fold as the walk lifts, threatening to tumble Miles forward into some of the waiting tendrils dangling midway.]
Ah-HA! [Just as Bel finds the set they need, the root gently curling around the smooth surface of the suit pulls tight abruptly.]
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Is Bel having any success in their side? Miles twists his head to look down. Yes - and no. The roots have jerked Bel back right at the moment when they've exposed what looks like the right patch of wiring. Miles lets out a stream of curses in thick, guttural Barrayaran. He has to get Bel's legs free now or they're both dead.
With another spectacularly vulgar curse, Miles doesn't just let himself drop - he hurls himself down knife first, aiming to plunge his knife deep into the roots grabbing Bel. And then he's going to hope that Bel can get the system working before the plant makes a meal of him. No escaping that mass of plant matter without the culling system now... ]
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The price was immediate though: the other tendrils quickly wrap around every part of Miles it can get a hold of...
From Bel's perspective, they don't question the sudden slack or take the time to look back, just dive back into the wiring. Hastily, they saw at the right set of wires. They'd watched Miles' work on the comm intently enough that... yes. It's roughshod and quick, but soft white light begins to seep up into the console above, lighting it. A moment later, the light shoots up the wires through the ceiling above.
For a moment, there was everything but the sound of machinery: just the leaves, the unsettling creak of roots, the rush of water and the sound of struggle.]
Miles!
[As they turn, a soft voice begins talking in a strange language that vibrated somewhere deep in the ear. The comms lit up, echoing the words and translating:]
Initializing...
Foreign body found.
Invasive body found.
Electrical systems compromised.
Hydro pressure at 58%
[The roots around Miles begin to constrict, even as others start pulling the small man upwards to eat...]
...
Removing intrusive species. Scanning for personnel...
[Bel charges at the mass of roots, knife swinging at the nearest. It makes horribly little progress...]
No personnel found. Beginning removal. Operators in observation stations are requires to wear eye equipment during removal process. I repeat---
[The next strike is held by a tendril wrapping around their elbow- and released.
Steam hisses from around the roots protruding from the warped sealing, and a FWOOSH that sounded unnervingly like a plasma arc... a very.... very large plasma arc drowns all of the other noise.
The tendrils around Miles jerk wildly, uncoordinated and tearing- before they go still, limp. Orange goo starts dripping from above in trickles, then waves.]
Operators in observation stations are requires to wear eye equipment during removal process. I repeat-- Operators in observation stations are requires to wear eye equipment during removal process.
...
Organism terminated. Beginning clee aa nnnnnnnnnnnn
[The voice slows and then fades off entirely as the light in the panel flutters and then fades.]
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And then, just when he can't take any more of this - when the vines have him wrapped so fully that he can't even struggle - everything goes slack. Miles falls back down to the catwalk with a wet smack, plant goop covering him (and the catwalk, and a good sized splatter distance, sorry Bel) almost completely. But he's alive and this fucking plant is dead. They have a way back up to the surface that may be full of chemicals but at least not infested by a man eating plant.
Miles just flops his head back against the still writhing pile of vines and just. Laughs. A bit hysterically, a lot relieved. ]
Excellent work, Captain.
[ He sits up slowly, wiping goo off his face with his good hand. And still laughing breathlessly. ]
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THEY did that. They did THAT. There was a lot of places to put emphasis and none of them quite summed it all up.
As Miles has his fit of hysterical relief, a similar laugh, almost aborted in a snort, bubbles up in them. Attempting solemnity, Bel scoops up a handful of the goo that Miles' inglorious flop had splattered over them, and just.
Flings it back.]
You crazy sonsabitch. [And starts laughing in all honesty.]
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Me? I'm not the one who slid under a writhing tentacle plant just to hack a console.
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You. I'm not the one who-
What DID you do to get stuck in there, good lord, Admiral.
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Well. I jumped, obviously. Seemed the thing to do at the time. It was about to grab your legs, so ...
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They reach a hand down, offering Miles assistance up.
They still had a ways to go... Bel looked up at the hatch, split horribly, slick from lord knows what and the ladder was buckled outward. This was going to be interesting.]
Lets get the hell out before something else tries to kill us.
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Agreed. We can go over all the details once we're safely outside.
[ He also glances at the ladder, slick as it is. Still their best shot ... he carefully wipes off his hands and goes to start climbing. ]
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... Maybe you should go first on that section.
[ That's as close as he's going to get to requesting help. ]
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Good idea, sir, I'll check the stability. [Before swinging up along the side, taking half the ladder to climb past Miles, and then over. The confidence declines sharply as the goo makes the hanging feat far more dangerous than it would otherwise. One heavy slip and scrabbling reclaim left them with heart pounding in their ears and sweat pooling under the suit.
After it, though, the grade is almost level. They hook a leg in a rung, wipe their hand as best they can, and reach down again.]
Safe as it's going to get.
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He carefully clasps Bel's hand and hauls himself up. Much easier like this. ]
Just so. Onwards to what I hope is a significantly less green room.
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Still, the view was breathtaking in its own way. What had once slumped the overgrown salad, was barely more than a burned and sliced pile of compost. Cutting tools are frozen mid slice, vac tubs slumped where they once were poised to clean up the debris, and the lasers are still glowing warm from the heat.]
I'm.. really glad we didn't go in here.
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Agreed. The plant would have eaten us instantly, for starters. Not to mention those plasma cutters.
[ And their remedy would definitely not have worked. Miles shudders a bit as he draws close to the opposite door. ]
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None of that logic really helped the electric feeling up one's spine, or the pressure between the shoulder blades. It's just before Miles' hand finally reaches the doorknob that the metal shrieks again, suddenly, howling some banshee like defiance...
One of the cutters teeters, buckles under the strain of rust, roots and the punishment just levered on it, and slams back towards the far wall.
WHAM!
Taking some part of the hull with it, it crashes backwards off into ... emptiness.
Fresh, cool air, damp to Miles' face, and the roar of rushing water issues forth from the new gap.]
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That very dark gap. With a hell of a lot more water than he would have expected to hear, and fresh air? What the hell? He turns to Bel - oh thank god, they're still here - and then stares back at the gaping maw. He should just go straight out and take Bel with him. He should do anything except carefully approach this new hole with his curiosity burning him up from the inside out. (How much power does he even have left? His display is thoroughly cracked, the readout unintelligible.) ]
What the hell?
[ Is it another chamber on the ship? What else could it be? ]
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Which is why Bel is practically climbing over Miles to see. (From where Bel holds the gap above Miles' head, the suit reads 25%...)
It takes a moment for their eyes to adjust... but slowly an image becomes clear, little pieces at a time. The distant filtering of lights, the underground river glittering in the harsh, nearby sun... and curled plant life, rich and deep along the banks of the river, pale blues and greens curling in the dim light...
One can even see where a creeping vine has rooted itself along the panels of this side of the ship - likely how the monster infested the algae beds... the pooling damn of the river by the body of the ship below might well explain the river inside as well.]
This... it's almost like another world...
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He hadn't realized how close they were to the outside of the ship in this room. Maybe if they get free of it, the power will stop draining anyway. Miles carefully slides down the outer hull of the ship, coming to rest in a soft bed of this strange plant life. It's even prettier up close. Most importantly, the slope is gentle enough he could make his way back up if he needs to. ]
I was wondering how a planet this dry could have so much water. [ He breathes in the words reverently. ] Do you think this is where the Queen nested?
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The curled plants seem to be some kind of fern. The widespread leaves with gentle star patterns fold up and curl in towards the stems when brushed by accident... and soft pulses of light flutter through the plants' veins as they move... Something about the hue and glow was incredibly familiar.]
It must be... How the planet could support that sort of biodiversity and larger creatures didn't seem even possible.. but this explains it entirely. God, I wonder how far it goes...
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We'll get a whole survey back here once Quinn finds us. Scan this place from top to bottom. Maybe they'll even let us name it.
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Milesopolis is out. Just calling that.
[Bel is kneeling at the banks of the river, fishing at something in the shallows.]
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Milesia? Milayar?
[ He seeks out another fern, running his fingers over that one as well. Just to prove his theory.
There's a similarly glowing object underwater for Bel, gliding slowly back and forth with the movement of the current. Faintly piscene, covered in round glowing bulbs of it own. ]
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