The chamber resonated with the mumbled concordance of a couple dozen folk. The gathered were made up of mainly mechanics and medics. "Mm, yes yes repairs, it needs the goodly repairs." "Oh yesssindeed. Look how tha robotical eye is dull. Listen how its lung wheezes like a frayed slagpipe. " The assembled cavedwellers scratched thick-haired heads and stared at Cap. One of them ran a bulky old scanner over him and prodded his arm, then his leg. He winced and scowled but said nothing. "Yes and these limbs, they are in place but broken... Shame shame." Despite it being his body they were examining, not one of them was bothering to acknowledge him in any way other than as if he were some kind of peculiar specimen of creature. "Ugly cut here..." A blonde haired one flapped up his chest dressing. "Yuck! And here." Another touched Cap's face and he jerked his head away as they tried to touch his scars. "These wounds are older." They said. "Unpleasant." Cap began to wish they weren't speaking in Erythian for the sake of 'politeness'. He stared back at them, distantly taking in the fact that mechanics and medics among the cavefolk didn't wear gloomy overcoats like the others, but blue and white smocks respectively. It seemed strange to see professional looking people in the middle of a cave in the middle of a seemingly empty desert. Mind you, this room didn't seem particularly cave-like, it was high ceilinged and well lit. He quirked a brow as someone squeezed the bicep of his good arm. "How much is Beast and how much mechanised?" they asked. He opened his mouth to answer but didn't get the chance as he was rudely interrupted. "Does It have an engine?" He tried to reply, but again to no avail. He realised they weren't asking him, the person who actually knew the answers. "How can It see through the metal eye?" "Uh, well at the mo--" "Does It have a heart?" He gave a dirty look and gave up trying to speak. "Is the broken leg steel?" "Does it have a brain or CPU? Or both?" He rolled his good eye. They may have been fascinated by him - which (if it hadn't concerned his "disablities") would have normally pleased the big showoff immensely - but they weren't a very appreciative or courteous audience. Silly bunch of fussing, clucking shrikins. "I think" said one in a level voice "that it is in need of its face-fur trimming." The wavy haired speaker scrutinised Cap's several-day stubble, seeming hesitant, almost fearful of it. Then they slowly reached forward and, large-eyed, poked at his jaw. "Spiked." Cap supposed from this that the genderless beings didn't have the need to shave. "A sorry sight it is" said another, running one of the clunky, chunky, scanners up and down his person. "I... Am not... 'A sorry sight'" the subject of the attention complained. Loudly. He pawed the prodding fingers away with his good hand and shot the owners the most withering expression he could muster. Unfortunately for Cap the batting away was only temporarily effective, the M & Ms took but a moment to begin reapproaching. Qaro let out a wheezy chuckle. "You are. Tis most lucky we found the dear Yus... And yourself, young scall-wagger." Cap humphed simultaneously wondering just how 'lucky' they really were, and concentrating on shielding his saus n' tats from prying fingers and eyes. "Pr'aps, but do you really all gotta stare and prod at me like this?" To be honest, though, it wasn't just the prodding and rudeness irking him, he badly wanted to sit down. His leg was aching something chronic. He didn't mention this because he didn't want to look weak in front of what he still privately suspected to be kidnappers. The leg began to shake. He ignored it. One of the physician's tuniced ones spoke up, actually acknowledging him as a person. "If we are to mend you, then yes, actually, we must most importantly study and become familiar with your physi--" A falter. "What is the word in Erythian? Long has it been since we were in need of such a tongue." Cap raised his brows and, surprised himself by not making a naughty quip about being in need of such a tongue. "As if I know!" he simply grumped. "Can't look it up without my cyb-parts workin', or a Skypad, can I?" Then as an afterthought he added "Are you even hooked up to the GGL out here on this dustball?" (GGL stood for the Great Galactic Link - the communications and information system connecting the majority of inhabited planets and spaceways.) "Interesting," commented the doctor who'd spoken directly to him. "It is your language. You should probably know such simple words." They quirked a fluffy brow. "Mi mi mi mimi," Cap mimicked, "Mimi mimimi miii." This childish display was his attempt, and failure, to counter the mild insult. Having been listening to events with many a facepalm, Yus now spoke up politely, (though unable to disguise a small hiccup emerging with her voice as she talked around a chuckle). "Physiology, yes" she assisted. "That's the right word." She'd always gotten great grades in Erythian language and literature at school and was quite confident to offer her input. "Mehhhh, whatever." Cap groaned, like a chore-bound teenager. "Not really sure why I had to get naked though..." Yus raised her eyebrows, she'd not realised that part. They hadn't made her strip off, but then her injuries were only very minor. "What!? Naked!? Shame I can't see that..." She laughed a little at her own tease, and it was a properly formed laugh this time, almost light and carefree. Almost. Cap noted it. He knew that she must still be utterly shell-shocked after... recent events... But it was cheering to hear her sounding a little better. Keep headin' in the right direction darlin'. He smiled himself, purposely injecting warmth into his tone as he teased right on back. "It sure is. It sure... Is!" Then, unfortunately, his attention was snatched away by the hand of a curious engineer making contact with his right buttock. He reached back with his good arm and slapped it away (meaning his 'forward shields' were then only at 50%). "Muscular" the buttock-brushing mechanic bluntly informed the others, showing Cap about as much consideration as if he were an eggcheck salad sandwich covered in a scientifically fascinating mould. "All meat. No metal parts in this portion." Before Cap could yelp his outrage at this someone else piped up, from the semi-covered frontal regions. Speaking directly at him. "Hm. Your reproductive organs appear most ungainly and inefficient." There was a loaded moment of near-silence. Then Yus heard Cap produce a strange, strangled little sound before exploding out with "EXCUSE ME!?" "Your genitals" the doctor continued impassively, as if Cap merely had trouble hearing. "Clumsy, and clunky-looking". This statement was met with another gurgle of outrage from Cap and he whipped his arm back to re-create the double-hander shielding. The unaffected doc continued "Interesting, however, to come across such an antiquated design in the flesh as it were. May we examine them further?" Yus made a rather peculiar sound of her own, but hers was borne of amusement. She wasn't sure why but she was finding the whole situation hilarious. She noticed, though, that despite the claims of terminological innocence the doctor had no trouble using the Eryth idiom 'in the flesh'. Had the clumsiness with the tongue been genuine, or was it a test of Cap's language skills? And if so, was it a test for health reasons or... Something else? She filed this thought-chain away under 'pending'. At the odd noise Cap snapped a look at sweet little Yus, and at the sight of her his outrage dissolved. Eh, if it made her laugh what harm would it do? Plus, he'd never exactly been the shy type anyhow... "Fine, fine" he said, releasing his undercarriage. "But NO TOUCHING." There was a hushed groupxhlation of wonderment. Yus vibrated with laughter, picturing the scene. Cap growled at the over-eager observers to back off. They did, marginally, then at an almost respectful distance some of them bent and gaped, some peering over ancient looking spectacles, others making notes in old fashioned paper notebooks. "Oh brother..." Yus really did wish she could see what was going on. She reckoned she would have enjoyed that very much. Mind you, they didn't sound too impressed. "Crudely formed..." "Oversized and unnecessarily obvious." "Clearly pronounced vasculature, even in its flaccid state. Far too easy to damage." "Large, ugly, groinal bulbs, probably containing the gonads. In an unattractive pouch. Overly exposed. Unsymmetrical. See how this one is marginally smaller and hangs lower" "Hmm, I can see why this didn't catch on." Cap gawped incredulously. This wasn't quite the reaction he'd been expecting. "Didn't catch on!? Think you'll find this is the standard design." Qaro, staring at the junk exhibition without as much as ant's shadow of shame, waved a dismissive hand. "Not so. We evolved from this sort of thing many years ago." "Evolved!?" (He pronounced the word in a disgruntled raspy yelp, each syllable an enraged individual island in a sea of indignation, 'e-VOLVED!?') "Yes. We were once similarly formed." "Oh right, right. You think y'all have something better than this, do you?" From the tone of his voice when he'd said 'this', Yus imagined that he'd given a small pelvic thrust and gestured with both hands towards his manparts. She was nearly crying with laughter by now, and supposed she was hysterical or something due to traumatic shock. She didn't much care though, it just felt so good to laugh. "I happen like my... What did you call them? 'Reproductive Organs' just fine thank you so very much indeedy." "How unusual" commented another of The Assembled, reaching for the organs in question and getting slapped away. "I wouldn't." "Rude." This one seemed to rattle off Erythian almost like a native. "It is not my intention to insult you, we are merely speaking factually. I simply wonder why you would wish to have something that resembles a hideous hideous sand worm, when we have tidy, visually attractive, spouts for each required function." The person paused to measure Cap's nose and noted the finding down before continuing. "It was also strange in the old days to separate people into 'genders' when there are so many different types, and when there was barely any difference biologically. The equipment was all made of the exact same tissue arranged mildly differently anyway. Yes... you are old fashioned. We are much improved. It is very interesting to examine you however. Like meeting a dinosttra." All Cap could think of to say was "... Spouts..." Yus thought she might actually faint due to repressed laughter. The other speaker droned on as if entirely oblivious to Cap's umbrage. "As for the gonadal bulbs..." Cap squawked and Yus supposed that meant his 'gonadal bulbs' had been handled by the speaker. "As for these... Well!" The serious voice tailed off into most unexpected laughter. To make things even more surreal the whole room (apart from poor Cap) was suddenly laughing. Yus was a little relieved that she could finally laugh as freely and loudly as she needed to. The Captain was not impressed. "What, in the Gods' names, is so damn funny about my mansacs?" One of the chortlers managed to get out a reply, their voice shaking with mirth "Oh co-come now, as if you do not know! They are OUTSIDE YOUR BODY! Ha ha ha haaa! Ridiculous!" Another round of the giggles. "Mature" groused Cap, suddenly feeling like the adult in the room. "Real mature..." One of them eventually managed to gain almost full control. "You must admit, it is a very amusing system to keep them outside of your body to stop them from overheating. Archaic. Almost eccentric!" Cap did not share his views on the Testicular Temperature System. "Far more efficient to have the gonads safely stored inside" someone from the back said. "Can you imagine the pain if one of these were to be struck or injured in some way?" Cap cocked his head. "Yeah, that must really hurt." Clearly these people had never had to endure that which every extragonadal had experienced. The groping giggling doctor did not notice the implied sarcasm or deadpannery. "Exactly, so as you can see, our system is far better than this bulky, easily harmed, and poorly formed arrangement." Poorly formed!? Enough was enough. Cap re-covered himself. "Y'know," he commented drily, "you sure do know a lot of fancy words in Erythian when it comes to bein' offensive..." They do, don't they? Yus thought, wiping away her laughter-formed tears. Shock waves were suddenly sent into the scarred tissue around the remaining portion of optic nerve on his 'bad' side, causing him to wince in pain. One of the mechanics had flicked his cyb eye. "That's it!" he roared, and made an air slicing gesture with his functional arm. "No more!" "Certainly. We have enough data to work with from the scans." Some of them, thankfully, began to move away, chattering among themselves and comparing notes. Grateful the ordeal was over, Cap staggered to a nearby chair over which he'd draped his tattered clothes. He was exhausted. He went to sit down but one of the medics caught his elbow. "No no, come over to the meditube, we must wash you and put casts on your breaks, these crude crude splints will not do." -- From the inside of the old style meditube Cap, less grouchy now he was able to rest a little, told them he was real grateful for them helping with his injuries. Then he politely enquired what they thought they might be able to do for his cyb parts. He wasn't filled with great confidence when concerned glances were exchanged. "What?" "From the first lookings at the scans we most afraid to say it seems your technology is beyond our capability to mend. Your skin and bone injuries, the new ones at least, we can heal, but not the old ones and not the electronics." Cap didn't reveal his disappointment, just quietly muttered "damn..." Qaro loomed into view through the tube's glass. "There is still a possibility of helping the metals parts however." He looked through the slightly misty tube at the elder, still dully trying to find a mental groove in which to place them. "Oh yeah? How's that?" "There is another people, close to the desert's edge. They are adept with machinery." Cap was a little taken aback. "What? There's more like you out here?" There was a sharp intake of breath from those in earshot an Cap realised he'd said something taboo or insulting. When Qaro spoke next the tone was icy. "Not like us, no." "Oh, ah, sorry. You think they could help though?" "For certain" the young person operating the meditube unexpectedly joined the conversation. Cap recognised them as the one who'd spoken up about gonad injuries. Qaro nodded. "Indeed yes. There is problem of buts. They are our great great rivals." Cap frowned, a little fog-brained and not following. "What? A problem of butts?" "Savages!!!!" someone yelled. "Huh?" "They must never be forgivens for the attack on Snitzru!" someone else input. "What does that me--" Another shouted "They're evil!" Oh. Well that was fairly clear. The tube operator sighed and looked at Cap's confused expression through the thick tube glass. "They can help you, but you can see why asking them will be a problem." "Um..." "Oh and I've finished by the way." Cap looked down at his casts, pleased to have something solid and sensicle to concentrate on. They were neat and deftly formed. "Wow. Good job. Thank you." "Yes, good job indeed. Now to get Yus and you to the Purple Pool..." What the hell was the Purple Pool? There was no time for all this nonsense. He needed to desperately ask them questions. Many questions. The most pressing being whether they'd seen the other people from the escape pod (though he had a horrible feeling the undigested hand had meant the worm had got them). Had anyone else been sighted? Had any of the other escape pods been shot down like Yus and Cap's, or had the others all travelled onwards? He also wanted to find out just why the Cavedwellers were helping them. Did they want something from him and Yus? Were they hostages? Or was it simply kindness... All this throbbed through his mind but once again he didn't get the chance to ask because usher usher, usher to the Purple Pool. Ushering. These people were always ushering. "Come now children, the pool awaits." "Can I at least get my pants back on?" "Where we're going, there's no need for pants..." TO BE CONTINUED... Well, this was awkward. Yus was unsure what to say to correct the embarrassing misapprehension. She knew it was rather important to keep these folk friendly (particularly this one, who seemed to be their leader) but equally she didn't want poor Cap to feel humiliated. Oh dear, too late... "A toy!? A damn pet!?" His brain had apparently caught up and he sounded remarkably less exhausted. Despite the ranklement it was good to hear a hint of the old warmth back in his voice, like velvet had stuck a toe onto glasspaper. When Qaro spoke next, the elder's voice also sounded a little different, it was less firm and commanding, it even contained notes of empathy. But they were not for Cap. "Oh I am sorry Yus, it really does need repairing, dear. I believe it is quite confused." Mind prioritising the wrong curtain track of thought, Yus found herself considering that her own voice was coming out weak and wavery as she managed a mere "Um... um..." She could, literally, feel the heat coming off Cap next to her as he honked out an unimpressed "IT!?" Oh gosh. Yus finally found some appropriate words and in the most tactful voice she could muster gently explained "We call him he, not 'it'." "Ackh" dismissed Qaro (and Yus imagined a flip of their hand). "Binary binary binary." "Now listen up lady..." Cap started strongly, then faltered. Yus noticed with alarm that it sounded like he was almost snarling. She hoped to the Erythian Nine that he wasn't baring any teeth, but from his tone she suspected that he was. (Where had this energy come from? Had the Shrikin-like formula been super-soup or something? She did feel a little better herself, bu-- Oh dear, here he went...) "... man..." he amended "... uh man-lady!" he then adjusted clumsily. Yus discreetly facepalmed at the indelicacy. Qaro sighed. Cap managed to get to the point. "I sure as heck ain't a broken toy, you got that?" Oh gods, his audacity. Yus was glowing, wincing both internally and externally. Instead of replying directly once again Qaro did not deign to speak to the man instead addressing Yus who, still wincing, cringed further at the (albeit probably unintentional) return-rudeness. "I have touched a nerve." Qaro stated without even a moth's wing flicker of doubt. "And I do wonder, is it... sorry he" a small laugh at the sensation of vocalising the scarecely used term before continuing. "... Is he programmed in humility?" Yus felt like a flounderfish. Before she could say anything more than "Ah--" there was an outraged squawk. "Excuse me, excuse me" Cap butted in "I am not an android, I am a cyborg!" "Eh" intoned Qaro (likely with another hand flip) "Shlebado Schlebano." A clear growl. "Cy-borg! Gottit?" There was a humpfing sound from said cyborg's vicinity and Yus mentally pictured him folding his arms like a sullen little boy. Then he sort of mumble-snapped "Not very enlightened for genderless beings, huh?" The entire episode was somewhat surprising. Yus hadn't thought it was his style to get so mad so fast. Perhaps Qaro was right, maybe he was especially sensitive about the um... cyborg issue. She turned that idea over in her head, carefully examining it as if the ponderence were being displayed above one of those holoprojection tables engineers used (she'd seen them when she was little, her dad even had a hobbyists version in his workshop). It was interesting, ole Wrong Priority piped up, that her thoughts were so often visually-based. She examined this one from all angles as it rotated. It might not be an issue, the machine thing. Perhaps he was just very, very tired and grumpy from everything that had happened. Her instinct pointed her toward the former, however. Now she considered it, that just felt correct, slipped nicely into the groove of sense. Anyway, more evidence to back this up was the fact that he'd not been at all mean till now apart from a brief swearing session (which was aimed at his own arm). Even when he was really hurt he'd just been... kind of comforting, and warm. She suddenly wanted to cuddle up to him again. She even, mind-warpingly, had a bizarre keenly nostalgic yearning to be back out on the rock, huddling with him. Now that, she thought, was utterly peculiar. It had been so dangerous and horrible out there in the open, plus it hadn't even been very long ago they'd left for goodness sake. As far as she could tell it had only been this morning (though somehow it felt like weeks). A strange sound permeated the amber dome over the blue diagrams of her thoughts, and she suddenly realised that Qaro was laughing and addressing Cap for once. "Oh little toy pet, you do amuse. But yes I see your point. A mechanical being may still be a being. We however are often too caught up with matters of the flesh and nature itself. Though we utilise some technology, much is still unknown to us. Please forgive." A pause, then Cap murmured his semi-approval for the sentiment in the lowest, deepest voice Yus had ever heard him use "Well, allright." Then, almost inaudibly "... Ain't little, I'm at least five elev--" A well timed cough from Yus (who realised she was going to have to concentrate and take the lead), and the conversation got back on track. "He isn't a full machine Qaro, he is part machine but he's mainly human... oid..." She tailed off with a frown, realising she actually had no idea just how much of him was machine and how much was Real Boy. Enough she mentally decided. Enough for him to be funny about it. She'd just recalled him back on the ship saying Well, that's debateable darlin'. Humanoid, at least. Her brain nudged another of the things he'd said to her into focus. Hey, it's fine. You know I'm a person, I know I'm a person... Yes, she decided, he definitely had Mechanical Issues. And it wasn't just the fact his electronics were currently fried. "... So he is a person, just like us" she rallied. Firmly, protectively. Qaro chuckled and the next sentence seemed to contain a shrug, though it was spoken with respect "If you say it is so Yus." "Thank you" said a relieved Yus to Qaro. "Thank you" said a grateful Cap to Yus. Yus squeezed his hand again, and this time it wasn't a telling-off. She was glad Qaro didn't bark at her to stop the affection, merely started to drone on about the room they were in. Apparently it was lit green for calm and was known as the Talk Chamber - a place where the Cavefolk would come to discuss matters on their mind, either in groups or alone with Qaro. Yus had many, many questions at this juncture. Questions about the caves, the people, why they'd rescued (or captured) them, if there were any spaceports nearby, but she sensed that it wasn't yet the right time. Instead she listened politely, then allowed herself and her poor broken toy to be ushered out the other side of the chamber. They walked along what seemed like a short narrow corridor, it sloped upwards a little. From the noises Qaro seemed to undo a door at the end and guided them into what, from the acoustics, felt like a small room. "Now you sleep." During the walk and the roomtro Cap was completely quiet, probably tired again after all that grouching. "Tomorrow you will see our doctor" Qaro announced, then in an unreadable tone which bordered on the wry added "and mechanic." Yus coughed again, hoping no bickering would occur. It didn't. Qaro carried on. "Till then you must rest, you are both very weary, dirty, and gaunt." Cap did grunt something out then "Charming", but at least he sounded mildly amused. Qaro went away then, closing the door with a click. ~~ Absolutely shattered Yus and Cap lie down on something which felt oh so very soft, and Cap pulled something over them which felt even softer. Then, quietly, he released an exhalation which made him sound like a grumbling manebeast. "Are you okay?" whispered Yus, concerned. She wasn't sure why she was whispering, it just seemed appropriate. "Ah.. yeah" he replied quietly. "It just feels good to lie down on something soft." "Yes" she agreed and nestled up to him. There was silence for a while, broken only by her soft breaths and Cap's hoarse ones, then she asked "What colour is this room?" A grunt, then "pink. Pink on rock". "Oh. Nice." "Yeh." Yus wondered why he wasn't discussing what had happened now they were alone. "Cap?" she whispered. "Captain Cucum--" Oh goodness, she really had to stop thinking of him as Captain Cucumber. That damn dream had imprinted the name on her brain so strongly that it mentally slipped out during even the most inappropriate of moments. "Ah? 'Captain Cucumber'?" Oh cripes. "Oh, um, nothing. I was just seeing if you were asleep." "Hmm..." As if he'd tuned in to her thoughts he suddenly came out with "Y'know... All it took was the destruction of the entire ship, being shot down from an escape pod, breaking my limbs, bein' marooned and surviving in the desert, bein' nearly eaten by a giant worm, and gettin' kidnapped... But I finally got you in bed." Yus was taken aback. "Th-that's... that's not funny." He chuckled a soft horse-whicker of amusement. "Yeah, it is." Then he very carefully wrapped his good arm around her, and didn't say anything else. After a while his raspy breathing got slower and heavier, his heart slowed, and she could tell he was asleep. She was back in the workshop with her blueprints. ... It wasn't funny, was it? She supposed perhaps it was. TO BE CONTINUED... Cap's injury-limited mind was awhirl. She's not there, she's not there. He tried to keep his cool and shove down the creeping dread which was attempting to consume his body from the feet up. Surely the worm hadn't had the chance to grab her? No - he glanced at the disgusting display - it was still pooping. Then where the hell-- Cold fingers seemed to dig into his ribs and wrap around his spine. The crawling dread reached his calves as he realised there may be a second worm. One that could potentially mount rocks, and snatch those you love. I love her? Not the time. Come on idiot. He made to hobble back over to the rock, was gonna go over there, try and work out what'd happened, when a strange vehicle rounded the side of the pod. He jumped. Either his ears were terrible without his audio receptors working, or the vehicle was very quiet. There were... people... in it. Everything felt slow mo. Cap simply gawped, slack jawed, astonished to see any sign of humanoid life out here after the confusing days of nothingness. The jalopy looked sort of like the frame of an old ZeepJeep, big tyres, skeletal framed, and roomy enough to hold six or so people. Hold the holo, one of the people was Yus. He tried to cry out to her, but a man (or was it a woman? He wasn't sure) was suddenly on him in a whir of long grizzled hair. They sported a full length dirty gray (or perhaps it was dull brown) coat, and fingerless gloves in much the same murky colour. One of which now clamped firmly over his mouth. Normally, Cap thought distantly, he would have been more than a match for this gray coated elder and would have wriggled free easily, but right now he was not exactly at his best. Without putting up much of a struggle he was guided swiftly into the vehicle (maybe not such a bad thing as Yus was there) and then they were, blessedly, moving away from the crapworm. They sped into the desert. Whooshing quietly over the brown dirt, the worn old vehicle bounced and ground its way along. Cap found himself wishing this doohickey contraption had better suspension, as every little rock it hit sent his injuries zinging to the sky. Never mind that though, he was more bothered by the fact that he was not seated next to his Yus. The grizzled one had shoved him directly into one of the front seats whereas Yusseca was in the back. He kept craning painfully round to check on her, yearning to hold her hand, to hug her to him, to comfort her somehow. He tried actually scrambling over to the back a couple times, but the hostage-takers were having none of it. His captor, the elder, would grab him or carefully turn the squirmy cyborg's head away every time he tried to launch himself, or even look around, and would make an abrupt "no" gesture with their gloved hands. When he tried to yelp Yus's name, a finger would button his lip. Same if he tried asking any questions. It was most frustrating. Perhaps they had to stay quiet because of worms, but still. To her credit Yus looked remarkably serene. He hoped it wasn't down to shock. Mind you, she was likely just as relieved as he was to get away from that darn worm. They zoomed on. It must have been about midsun - or this place's equivalent - because it was now swelteringly hot and bright. With a shuddering sigh Cap finally slumped into his seat, resigned that he just had to wait till they reached their destination before getting any kind of answer. Wherever the destination was gonna be. He jerked awake. Shit, he must have been lulled to sleep by the movement of the vehicle on his tired muscles n' bones once it got to a smoother surface. The grizzled one was prodding him and pointing. He pulled his mind and good eye into focus and followed the direction of the finger. Huh, a cave. The strangers, all clad in similar decrepit looking overcoats, ushered Yus and the cap into the cave. "Ain't you hot?" Cap asked one of them, wiping his own dripping brow with the back of his good arm. No reply. He rolled his eye. "Well it's nice to meet you too." "Get in" said the grizzled elder in heavily accented Erythian and prodded him in the small of his back with a boney finger. It hurt. He grunted and limped in. Once inside he half expected some of the strange folk to roll a crude rock across the door, but they did not. Instead they pressed an electronic entry system panel, which consisted of large symbols on a big-buttoned keypad and a forcefield sprang up. Despite their predicament it was a relief to be away from the desert elements and it felt good to be walking on stone floor, inside a stone cave. No worms here. He could almost kiss the good old rocks. The small group scuffed and trudged their way along the cave's entrance corridor, which bizarrely seemed almost like any other corridor except for the fact it was roughly hewn into the rock and slightly misshapen for it. Cap was surprised it wasn't more dingy but there were old fashioned electric lights, small square ones, glowing gently at regular intervals. A little way in they came to a fork in the path. The group headed along the left prong and into what appeared to be some kind of kitchen. This room was less well lit than the corridor and surprisingly had quite a cosy feel to it, illuminated as it was by a cooking fire. A person sat near it, stirring a pot on a crude stove. It... actually smelled kinda nice in there. Cap's belly grumbled as he followed a column of rock upwards with his eye. It seemed they had some kind of chimney or venting system. That was promising. The strangers were talking among themselves in a language Cap didn't recognise. After the exchange they guided their new charges down onto a bench, pushing steaming hot tin mugs of... something... into their hands. Cap would have made a quip about it being too hot for boiling drinks but actually it was a lot cooler in the caves and he was mightily grateful for the liquid. In fact he had to fight himself not to drink it right away and scald his mouth. Instead he took it shakily and blew on it to cool it. From the smell it seemed to be something akin to Shrikin Soup - Tag would always make that when he was sick as a kid. He heard a man feebly groaning, then he realised it was himself. He felt weak and pathetic, but right about then he didn't much care. He did care about Yus though, and put a hand on her arm and squeezed gently. One of the strangers barked "drink", so they did. When they'd finished their soup they were ushered back out into the main corridor, then along the other branch off the hallway and into a small chamber which was darker still than the kitchen. It was lit dimly green and there were rugs and something like beanbags on the floor, in the middle. Suddenly Cap wanted to curl up in them and sleep again, very badly. The grizzled elder dismissed the others who wandered out and away, presumably to the kitchen or another room beyond it, and instructed Cap and Yus to "SIT" in a loud clear voice. Cap, thankful to be able to again touch Yus freely again at last, guided the sweet girl to the beanbags and they sat down. He woke up. Oh for-- He'd done it a-flukin'-again. "Sorry I fell asleep" he said, sounding sleep-slurry even to himself. "It's okay," Yus reassured him (and he did feel reassured because she sounded so calm and together), "I've just been talking to Qaro here." "Mm. Qaro?" The elder looked at him. "That is my name." He blinked his good eye and looked at the person, unsure still if it was a man or a woman. "I um.. sorry should I call you sir or ma'am?" Yus gasped and squeezed his hand but not in affection, in reprimand. Apparently his enquiry had been very rude. In his brain-muzz he hadn't really considered that it might be. In fact he'd intended the opposite. The being studied him awhile, before finally saying "We do not adhere to such primitive notions." That was a bit confusing to wrap Cap's brain around at that particular moment in time. "Beg pardon?" The person raised a brow and explained. "We are neither female nor male as you perceive it. We are both, and neither. Something in between, and something beyond." Cap stared dumbly. After a long pause he asked again "So do I call you sir or ma'--" "Qaro will do" said Qaro, interrupting him. Instead of pursuing it Cap stated "You speak Erythian". Qaro ignored him and turned... his... her... Cap decided on their... attention back to Yus. "As I was saying before this one came-to," the elder was gesturing towards him, "your pet is broken." Uhhm... Yus laughed quietly, awkwardly. "Oh um, he's not exactly my pet..." Qaro was looking at him again now, yet still addressing Yus. "I'm sorry, as you've noticed my Erythian IS good, but it is not perfect." Quickly Yus replied, in a very polite voice "that's okay Qaro. Thank you for the sou--" Before she managed to finish the sentence Qaro boomed. "Ah yes, I know the word I was looking for. 'Toy'. ... Yusseca, your toy is broken." Bewildered, Cap looked between Yus and the Elder. Say what now? Titanium Part 19 - Slowlane Brainpain On a backwater planet five lightyears off the Hacky Highway, there's a vast and dusty desert. It is barren, and brown. There are not many features to grab your attention, just the odd rock and infrequent ridges of low dunes. If your vision were to move in closer to the landscape, and if you were lucky enough to be in the right sector, there's a chance you might see the strewn wreckage of a certain crashed escape pod. Draw in closer still and you would see a large remarkably phallic worm rearing up as it looks towards two humanoid bodies. The bipeds it's observing are perched on a rock and are roughly one eighth of the fat worm's generous size. One of them is a woman, young, red haired. If you moved in a little further you'd notice the blue of the woman's eyes are pale and unusual, they are blind, unseeing, ethereal. You might notice that her features are fine, and she has a pleasant smattering of freckles. She is around twenty, slender, small, pale, and pretty. She is quite, quite lovely, the kind of girl a person could easily fall in love with. And she's all kinds of bruised. Next to her is a man, simultaneously both adult - manful, and boyish too. His hair is brown and currently scruffed to hell. He needs a shave. If you had to estimate you'd likely guess that he's in his thirties. If you were curious to run your gaze over his form you'd notice his arm is slinged, his leg is splinted and he's so beaten he looks like he's lost a fight with a xombine harvester. He is handsome, pleasantly endowed in the cheekbone department, and has a strong jawline, yet two livid slashes intersect through a metallic, mechanical eye and the horizontal one graces the bridge of his nose. The wounds are long, and long-healed. He has curious small cybernetic implants about his face. If you managed to avoid the worm and get closer still, you might notice the metallic eye currently appears dead, nonfunctional. The other isn't dead though, far from it. It's brown, shiny, full of life, and it's darting around wildly as the man assesses the situation. ~ "We have got to get out..." Despite her lack of vision the girl looks up at him, confused at the additional twang to his accent. "Huh?" "Nothing. Saw it in a holomov once." C'mon, he tells himself, thunking his head with the heel of his working hand, think! His mildly damaged brain is working as hard as it's currently able. Still not recovered it's trying to put triangle pegs through square holes. There is one thing he's certain of, though. There's no doubt in his mind that this animal, this oversized ranchworm wants to eat them. Oh it might not be right now, but it wants them all right. The man's been among too many predators to be naive around this fella. His instincts scream "we're lunch". The girl's soft voice is lilting now, questioning. She's asking if they should throw something at it. "Worth a try" he agrees and reaches a careful arm off the rock, groping for one of the water bottles. "EUU-AGH!" he flings it. It bounces from the worm's swollen underbelly. The creature does not flinch, but does lean down to investigate with tentacles which sprout from the vicinity and periphary of its mouth. The girl tugs at the man's arm, forgetting the break, asking if it had an effect. The man-boy howls in surprised pain and the worm immediately snaps its attention back to them, hefting itself nearer. The guy doesn't want to make the girl feel bad but the pain has made him grumpy. "Careful!" he snaps and she recoils like a puppy bopped on the nose with a slipper. His stomach turns over. I'd never hit a puppy, with anything. "Sorry Yus. And yeah, it's distractable. That's one thing in our favour." Now to expand on that. But how... He's sure his mind used to be sharper. Sure, he was never the brightest star in the system, but he was savvy. Not exactly book-smart, but street-smart. Space-smart. He could always get out of a jam but now... Now he feels like he's thinking through thick quabbage soup. Get it together man. His eye drifts past the beast to the fire. Yeah, that might work, might do somethin' at least. If he could just run down, grab a flaming stick and-- He realises the plan won't work, he can't run. Shit. He's used to being nimble, athletic. But now he's broken. He glances at the girl, no way he's lettin' her try it, without sight she'd likely end up burning herself, or worse, get snatched up by the ponderous penile predator. Besides, she's precious. He won't put her in harm's way. That means he has to be careful with his own safety too, no brink-of-disaster heroics, or she'll be out here all alone. He reasons it out. The rock is apparently safe. The ground is not. The beast can be distracted, for a short time at least. But it moves fast even overground, he doesn't want to imagine the speeds it can get up to below the surface. Hm. They have the fire which, potentially, could keep it at some distance. But what about when the flames go out? The sparkstarter won't work indefinitely, and - he casts his gaze about the barren land - there's hardly any fuel to burn anyway. He balls his good fist and squints, trying desperately to make out other rocks they might manage to stumble to in time, but it's still pretty dark and he only has one eye, and that one's bruised and a little blurry. "Fluckit," he complains, "why did my cybertronics have to fail?" The girl, in an impressively matter-of-fact way, replies "I'm not sure, but they did, so that's what we need to work with now." That told him. "Yeh," he grunts, put in his place by the crisp remark. He remembers his adopted Pa, Tag, telling him how worms were helpful in keeping crops and plants alive. Worms like moisture and need to stay damp, that's why they go under the ground. How do you get rid of them though? He manages to recall some Nunday afternoon hothouse chat about too much water making the invertebrates go away, and that too much sunlight sends them away as well. The third thing he remembers is that taking away away their food source also gets rid of them. He thinks about how, with a wiggle of his gray mustache, the ever-kind Tag told him that worms are also very sensitive to temperature which is why he would assist the sunlight-paralysed ones on the hot ranch drive to safety. It isn't much, but maybe there's something there they can use. He screws up his face with the brainstrain of it all. The beast begins circling the rock like one of those man-eating Megalark fishies in creaturefeature holodocs. (continued below...) Titanium Part 20 - Wormturn Soup The worm circles. The woman whimpers. The man mutters potential worm-removal-techniques under his breath. There isn't much chance of them flushing it away with a flood. Perhaps if they wait till sun-up it would get too hot and go underground. But they'd still be in danger, it would likely still pursue them from beneath. As for taking away its food supply, well it's not like they could hide themselves. Or could they? He looks over at the only intact part of the downed pod, a big curved section which looks like a broken segment of giant egg shell. It's upside-down, the seats are up top. He can see where the girl, Yus, must have woken, dangling in her harness. Poor baby. With a tilted head he ponders a moment. Does the hull act like rock? His mind drags itself through a few scenarios - hull-shoes, wreckage-dragging, pod to home conversion. No, no, don't be dumb. These are all clearly flawed ideas. Then he sees that opposite the topsy turvy seats, on the ground are the ceiling lights. They're dug into the ground and covered in dirt, but they're there. He remembers the coolant in the lights, thinks maybe if they can somehow utilise it, the temperature-reactive worm might not be able to see them. "Stay here." He commands the woman, and scrambles off the rock. Hobbling as hastily as he can to the pod section, he prays to whatever gods they worship on whatever planet this is that he'll be safe once he gets there. No heroics his conscience chastises. No choice his recklessness retorts. At the movement the worm wheels round, lets out a horrible screech, and slithers heavily after him. Oh shit, oh shit! He's not gonna make it! He can hear the worm coming up right behind him. Fluk fluk fluk, Forcing himself to ignore the pleas his smashed body is issuing, he leaps for the pod, slamming his torso onto floor (actually ceiling), which sends lightning shards of pain from the chest injury. But he doesn't care, that's not important, what's important is avoiding becoming a gigantic sentient penis's latest tasty snack. He scrambles his legs up as best he can and with less than a second to spare he's in. The worm stops chasing, right at the edge of the pod segment. The man flips himself over. Holy fluk the captain thinks, but dares not say it aloud. Post-exertion panting he begins to feel welcome rivers of relief flooding through him, but then something dreadful happens and the stream is redirected, replaced with the red hot lava of panic. He's spotted that the worm has managed to wrap one of its tendrils around his good ankle. The moment it starts to pull, he's gonna be toast. It starts to pull. He falls to his butt. "NO WAY, BUSTER!" He's not leaving Yus alone, and he'd like to keep his own purdy self alive too thank you very much. Fuelled by adrenaline he smashes the big light panel next to his buttocks and, brandishing it like some kind of oversized jagged shield, starts smashing it down on the tendril like a madman, sideways on, slicing, once, twice, three times. The tentacle doesn't release but it's half cut. He brings the makeshift weapon down again and suddenly the tension is gone, he's free. The injured worm recoils. Cap scrambles to his feet. "HA! YEAAAHHH! THE WORM HAS TURNED, BABY!" Tag would not have approved of that, Tag always told him to never celebrate too early, and to never gloat. But its been such a difficult few days, and it feels such a hard won victory, that he can't help it. The worm folds back on itself, squealing in pain and rage, the dissected tendril squirming, endless, purple blood squirting. Cap looks down at the dismembered slug section still wrapped around his leg, and pulls it off, suddenly disgusted. He flings it into the fire then makes a very rude gesture at the worm. He doubts the worm understands, but it makes him feel a little better. It's easier to see now, the weak morning light is strengthening. The man double-takes. The worm is arching its body, it looks like a cat about to puke a furball. Is it the pain? But... no. Well I'll be the son of a moondog... The damn thing's pooping! In another rush he recalls that was one of the main reasons Tag liked worms - they poop all the time, which makes for great fertiliser. I doubt you'd like this sonwitch Tag... He's after your boy. The man shudders, somehow unable to tear his eye from the horrible excreta. OH GODS! SOMEONE'S HAND'S IN IT! "That's it" Cap says aloud, addressing himself, the worm, the desert, the whole damn alien planet. "I'm done." He glances over to the rock, about to gripe about the wormshit horrorshow to Yus. But she isn't there. TO BE CONTINUED... The mawk swam through the dirt. This was its territory, and it did not like intruders. It moved beneath the unwelcome company, thrashing its body and tail in irritation. It sensed an orange-yellow impression of body heat in two alien shapes above, resting near a harder heat. Three sleeps ago, not far from here, the mawk had consumed a number of such creatures, and was still swollen and nourished from the feed. It had especially enjoyed feasting upon the soft, round, plump creature. That one had moved slowly, and put up less of a fight than the others. It was easier to tear and gave out more flavour from its soft fat. Certain vibrations - which other lifeforms experienced as noise - had then attracted the mawk to this area. The two stringy creatures that remained above it sensed were too small or too gristly to be of much concern. Until its stomach ordered it to eat once more, that was. Currently it just wanted them to leave. It swam the soil of the area's perimeter then moved through and beneath the small patch the creatures, the harder heat, and some other, cold, objects lay. The mawk did not understand why it could currently only sense part of the creatures' bodies. It seemed both like they'd left and were also still here. Where they should not be. In the mawk's home. The confusion tormented the bloated beast and after much circling and subterranean tail-whipping it made the decision to surface so it could use its tentacles and tiny almost sightless eyes to investigate. ~~ Cap's brain had recovered enough to allow him a dream. Not the torturous haunting guilt-riddled dream he'd feared, about the ship's demise. No this was a normal, pleasant, memory-spattered slither of erotica. He was seventeen again, visiting his first 'house of ill repute' as his adopted Pa had called it with sadness in his tone when he'd found out what the reckless lad had done this time. He'd told him off, badly (one of the few times he ever had). In his dream-state Cap momentarily wondered why the telling-off from the man he respected most in the world had never stopped him repeating the activity... But then he was back in the moment. "Tell me wha' you wan' me to do, pappy..." the woman was saying. Pappy... he'd liked that. Made him feel older, cool. Naïve and unaware she was flattering him, he'd tried to keep up the impression of adulthood. He'd nodded at her in what he deemed a manly fashion and mumbled "play with my balls". He'd then added "please". And she had, expertly. After a while they'd moved on from testicular titillation and had full sex. It had felt different from the girls his own age. Not better, not worse, just different because she knew exactly what she was doing, exactly how to draw him out. It was her profession after all and, in his young opinion, she had perfected her art. He'd spilled his goods fast and hard that day but he wasn't now and it frustrated him. Having had none of his customary frolics - either partnered or solo - for days, and having been too broken for any other kind of healthy emission, he was certainly not in the mood for any teasingly tantric tantilisation. He needed to eject more urgently than a fighter pilot who'd woken from a blackout to find themselves in an inescapable nosedive. Poised in engorged erectory stasis he groaned, throbbing almost painfully, begging the dream-lady for relief. He unwittingly mumbled it aloud "Please..." and still asleep attempted to bring his own hand to assist. The resulting mutter and arm-twinge brought him surfacing to muddled wakefulness. His pulsing penis was gigantic and looming over him. He tried blinking the sleep from his natural eye. What? How had his cock grown to four or five times the height of a man? And the same amount thicker than his entire body? That wasn't possible. Was it? But the evidence was right in front of him. There it stood, straight up in the air, proud, muscular, pulsating, and as swollen as it felt. Ohh goodsss.... He stared at it stupidly. He wasn't sure if he was scared or aroused. Or both. Yes, it was both. As it went he'd already been more than happy with its size thank you. This supersized sausage would never fi-- Wait... since when did his dick have adorable whiskers popping out of it? He tilted his sleep-thick head, trying to see better. Like a cat. No, not whiskers... tentacles... Tentacles!!? ~ Yus woke up then, to the strangest sentence she'd ever woken up to. "AARGH!!! IT'S NOT MY COCK! IT'S NOT MY COCK!!!" Why was he screaming about his penis? He was so weird. "Calm down, what are you going on about?" He didn't answer but she could feel his heart hammering like mad. She suddenly wondered if he'd discovered another injury, this time in the trouser department. "Are you allright? Did you hurt yourself?" "SHh!" Well that was rude. You try and be nice... "Yus" he said shudderingly, quietly now. "There is a giant worm between my legs." She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're disgusting!" She pulled away from him. "I don't want to hear about your 'giant worm'!" Clearly he was feeling better, and... horny. Well if this crude awakening was his idea of romancing a girl he could think again! "No, Yus," he hissed desperately, "An actual giant worm!" Oh. ... Oh! "Oh! ... Shit! What's it doing?" "It's just... staring at us..." He got up into a splint-legged approximation of a crouch and shuffled slowly backwards, pulling her with him, fully onto the rock. He didn't know why, something from childhood games perhaps, but somehow that solid rock felt safer than the bare dirt. The giant worm seemed to tilt its own head now, still just watching. "M-maybe its friendly?" Yus suggested hopefully. "That ain' t my first instinct kid." She made a squeak of annoyance. "Don't call me kid!" "Really?" he grumped in a low voice. "You're gonna kick up a fuss about that right now?" They bickered for a few moments then Cap realised the worm was drawing closer at the sound, approaching their little island in the dirt. "Shhhh." They zipped their mouths and the worm stopped. Cap moved his mouth very close to Yus's ear and whispered as quietly as he could "I think if we stay still, and quiet, it can't tell we're here." --- The mawk had poked itself partially out of the ground, feeling around with its tentacles and looking as best it could with its small semi functional eyes. It had slid itself over to the sleeping creatures, and curiously rubbed its slim fore-tents on the two slender spindly appendages of one of them. They twitched and folded and seemed to disappear. As suspected, this one was too small to bother with at present anyway. It turned its attention to the gristly one's two similar appendages, and a strange third appendage between, which the mawk found stirred at the tentacles' touch and for a moment the mawk thought it had awoken the animal, but it was only somehow moving that tentacle of its own while it slept. It dimly wondered at the purpose of all these appendages. If mawks could feel disgust it might have felt disgust at the alien's difference to itself. However, mawks felt hunger, mawks felt the need to sleep, mawks felt the drive to tunnel through the dirt, but never disgust. As the mawk had suspected, this creature was slightly bigger than the first but too sinewy. Had it been fat-meat the mawk would have used its wormlike tongues to pull it inside itself, consuming it then and there. Muscular-meat it would wait for. The sinewy one had then vibrated something from somewhere near its brain, which drew the mawk's paltry gaze higher than the stringy appendages. Once the Mawk's tiny eyes adjusted, more of the aliens' bodies appeared to form. The mawk sensed now why the two creatures could not be observed fully from beneath the dirt, and how the smaller one had appeared to disappear briefy. It was because they half rested on a rock. Mawks did not like rocks. Rocks allowed prey to escape. Prey should not escape. The mawk had then reared up for a better look, and the animals had awoken and began vibrating between themselves before shuffling confusingly onto the rock. It tilted its head, trying to see them. -- "We can't stay here forever" whispered Yus. In reply Murry-not-Murry hissed "No flukin' shit". TO BE CONTINUED... "Who the hell's Murry?" The question hung in the air for a moment, cloaked in an aura of cloudy confuddlement. "You are." She said at last, frowning down at him. "You're Murry." Murry? For a moment he wondered if his brainbox had taken more of a hit than he'd thought. "Uh, no, Yus..." "You poor thing," she gasped, her captivating concern not allowing any room for elaboration. "You can't remember your name!" The sympathy was striking. Her hair tickled his nose. Cap inhaled thoughtfully, blinked his good eye to clear some dust - and hopefully, some brain-fog - and tried again. "Eeerm, Yus, darlin', my name's not Murry." She simply stared without seeing. He frowned, feeling out-to-lunch. Huh... Maybe his name was Murry? No. No! Of course it wasn't! Realising that protesting would waste valuable energy he decided not to persue the strangeness for now. He changed the subject, fumbling in his pants pocket a moment and producing two silver rustling packets. "I found these" he held one up to her. "Eat, baby." Yus, still wondering why poor dear Murry couldn't remember being called Murry, examined the proffered packet with her fingers. Once she realised what it was (Mmm mmm a ration bar mmm...) she tore it open and snarfed it down almost uncontrollably, like a famished Herbil. Cap noted the speed of the scrum and worried at how long it must have been since the slight young lady had eaten. As he pondered this he nibbled slowly at his own ration bar. Probably due to his injuries (and previous... concussion?) he didn't have an appetite. He knew he'd need as many energy points as he could rack up for further repairs though, and for their forthcoming journey through wherever this place was, so he forced himself to gradually nom it down. His thoughts seemed to have loosened some now and he felt a smidge more able to think, but it still took effort. Ideas were forming, they were sluggish, but they were forming. "Need to sort out the rest of the injuries." When she'd inspected him, tried to wake him, it was clear from what she'd felt that several things weren't right, so Yus had known these repairs were coming. She had not been looking forward to them. Oh she was more than willing to help in any way she could, in fact she was determined to, she just found it difficult to deal with for several reasons. His currently calm matter-of-fact voice (though very thin and tired-sounding compared to its usual rich warmth) didn't make it any easier to stomach. Still, at least the metal injury was sorted. (The one I missed, she thought guiltily) She waited till her ration bar was finished before replying. And even then she only said "Yeah..." "'Fore we do that," the cap continued (is he still a cap if his ship's gone? Yus wondered) "... wanna check you're okay." Looking up at her, head still in her lap, he fumbled about for one of the water bottles she'd retrieved yesterday (or had it been the day before? it was difficult to tell). He sipped some himself, then put her hand on it. She took it without saying anything. "Is that okay?" He prompted. "... Sure." He gave a small nod. "Right. How you feelin'?" Slender fingers stroking his forehead Yus moved a sweat-stuck lock of hair. "I've been better" she admitted. No surprises there. He grunted his understanding. He wasn't going to push the emotional side of things right now. They couldn't break, not out here. "An' physic'lly... Any injuries?" "I think just a few bruises." "Mind if I take a look?" She did not. In a perverse parody of what might have been, she peeled off her clothes and squintingly he examined her body as best he could with one tired bruised eye, in the dim firelight of the alien desert night. It would have taken approximately two seconds to scan her for injuries had his cyb-eye been working. "Couple of cuts and bruises" he confirmed eventually. "Reckon you're gonna be just fine." He gently helped her re-clothe for all the good his one working arm was, and then they instinctively drew together, huddling and cuddling for security and warmth. Now that they were a little more compos mentis after the chest-fix, the food and the water, they found they felt very small and vulnerable. Somehow the openness of this place (barring the pod's busted and scattered remains) felt bigger, colder, and scarier than the vastness of space had. "Shall I do you now?" Asked Yus with all the innocence and purity of a newborn mittkitt. "That's what she said" Cap croaked, trying to lift her mood with the terrible, poorly timed, badly surmised attempt at a joke. She frowned. "What? I don't understand..." Oh. "Never mind..." A strange loaded little pause. He cleared his throat. "Yeah, please." Then he explained how his lower right leg wasn't looking or feeling too clever. Reluctantly Yus left the warmth of his arms and shuffled along the dirt beside him on her knees, cautiously feeling down his body till she found the injured lower-leg. He was about to warn her again that it wasn't pretty when she cried out "Aargh!" She hadn't felt that when inspecting him. He sucked air through his teeth at the impact. "Yeah..." "Eww!" She shuddered. "There's... bone..." "Yeah." "Good Gods man!" Despite the situation, her alarmed and unexpectedly stern tone made Cap chuckle gently. He sounded a bit like a horse whickering. "It's not funny!" She scolded. "It is a bit..." She looked over at him (Almost like she can see me, thought the wrecked 'borg). She was thinking that now that blasted thing was out of his lung he was starting to seem more like the old Cap. That was a relief and she lightened a little. "Well" she said stubbornly, "why's it sticking through your boot like that?" A shuffling noise, then "Your guess is as good as mine, kid, but we got to clean it an--" She made a sound of annoyance. "Kid!? Don't call me 'kid'!" He actually laughed quite loudly then, which - despite a little after-groan - warmed and lifted the elevator of her spirits to the next floor still. "Sorry!" he said, friendly-of-tone. (And, she thought, he sounded like he half meant the apology, half didn't. "Quite right too," she said. "I'm a grown woman." "Yes" he said, remarkably drily for him. "I had noticed...." "You had?" Cap was pleased where this was headed. Humour was good, humour meant hope. Hope kept them alive. That was worth spending energy on. "Sure did, ma'am". "My sister warned me about men like you...." A too long silence fell at the mention of the poignantly absent Jyce. Cap decided to fill it quickly, before it became an inescapable void of pain. "Well" he tried to make his tone sound like a witty retort. "My adopted Pa told me to always appreciate the small things." She didn't understand, good, that was his intention. "Huh? How's that relevant?" "Well," he said with mild relish "... you're quite small." Another outraged squawk. He grinned to himself at the payoff. Mission accomplished. "Do you want me to help you or not?" "Yes please. I sort of need my leg." "There are some very good prosthesis companies these days..." "Don't see any round here." She smiled again and it was like someone had relit a candle. "Then I suggest you're on your best behaviour from now on sir." "Yes ma'am." He mock saluted, then told her he'd mock saluted. He decided the energy expenditure was worth it. It was. Despite the difficult task in front of her some of the colour was returning to her cheeks. ~ Much to Cap's wailing chagrin she had to use some of the medikit scissors to cut through his precious, precious boot. "Do you know how godsdamn expensive these were?" he'd protested. "Don't be such a big baby." "Hmpf." Still, he'd privately reflected, if they'd been more functional rather than fancy, his leg likely would have been saved the injury. She'd had no qualms in pointing this out, herself. "They're silly fussy boots anyway from what Jyce told me. AND they only feel like suede, and not very thick". He knew it was true, but he sulked anyway. She'd shaken her head as she worked. Snip, snip, snip. "Sometimes" she told him "you act younger than my little brother. Bet you're pouting." "How wude" he'd muttered, gently amused. (And yes, he had been pouting.) When it was appropriate he left the sulk behind and sullen boy transformed into man. All business again he casually requested she put the bones of his leg back into place. From what he could tell it was an open and displaced tibial shaft fracture and it needed to be realigned. "Um... Are you mad?" "Probably" he replied grimly. "But hey, it can't be any worse than pulling a lump of metal out of your own lung." "I thought you just wanted me to bandage it or something." "That comes after." She whimpered but, with several hesitant starts, did as she was asked. As it turned out, it was as painful as pulling a lump of metal out of your own lung. Just in a whole new and equally disturbing way. Yus had never heard so many cuss-words in her life. She'd certainly not heard them strung together consecutively in the same... for want of a better description... 'sentence'. She blinked. It had sounded a little something like "AARRRGHHH!!!! Flukin' **** ***ing ** of a **ing ahh ahha AHHAHHH ahhhhrrrghh **** for ***s ***ing sake aargh arghh ***ety ** ** ***** ********!!!!!" It was rather startling, and if they weren't in such sombre and dire circumstances would have been funny to hear the captain so angry. "Sorry!" she gave a wincing little shrug of apology. "You did ask me to!" "Uuuurhhhh. N-no I'm not mad at you love. It just hurt." She cleared her throat, which could have meant anything then told him "I didn't know you could get angry..." He tried to steady his shocked breathing. "Uh, uh, uh, well I didn't know you could mend legs," he said through pain-sweating pants. "So I guess we've both learned something today." He managed a deeper breath as the intense throbbing discomfort died down. "Hey," he told her. "You're damn strong... " "Thank you." "... For a titch." "Well!" she retorted. "You're very moany for a erm, (what was it Jyce had said), for a sloppy ole bucket of bolts!" At that he laughed loudly. "Mittkitt's got claws." "What is a mittkitt? I thought that was a type of fingerless glove?" "It's a baby big-cat. They got 'em out on Mynas 12." Yus was feeling a lot better now that two of Cap's injuries were on the mend. "Whatever," she cheeked "stop trying to change the subject Murry." "Arrghhh!" he yelped as she methodically tightened a dressing around his leg and bound the boot back up over the dressing with its own straps, including a sturdy piece of wood as a splint. She wanted to make sure it was properly secured though... "I could use your belt..." He groaned not wanting to move again, but grunted out something like "Fine fine..." After wriggling about for a while he grumblingly handed it to her, grousing that if his pants fell down it would be her fault. Her reply was simply to tighten the belt around the boot like an efficient nurse. It hurt and he felt grumpy. "An' by the way, 'Murry'..." he grouched. "No such flukin person." She shook her head. "Captain, it is incredibly rude to swear in front of a lady." "Well I'm an incredibly rude kind of man." She fixed him with a stern sightless gaze which, even in the midst of this critical situation, turned him to hot-water-melted jello. "So it would seem." (continued below) Titanium Part 17 - Broken Biscuit Bites "Arm next..." "Ugh" she sighed softly. "You're more fractured than a packet of Bram Bonnley's Broken Biscuit Bites". He had no idea what that meant, but it made his stomach rumble. He hoped that was a sign that his appetite was returning. As she moved onto his arm she explained how she knew his name was Murry. Apparently when he and Jim had been roughhousing, somehow the whole ship had heard. (If he didn't miss Jim with a black hole that threatened to consume his soul should he linger too long on its event horizon, he would likely have found that news very amusing to discover.) Anyway, she was continuing, at one point Jim had said something like "Oh Murry, why do you have to say it like that?" and since then she'd known his name was Murry. "Suits you," she added. Cap frowned, completely baffled. He thought back to the conversation. "Why'd you have to say it like that anyway, 'murry'?" Haha! She'd taken his meaning as "Why'd you have to say it like that anyway Murry?" He laughed affectionately at the memory and it took quite a lot of effort not to then begin crying. He had an abrupt and unwelcome vision of Jim looking at him, hopeless, as the two parts of the ship separated. Reaching for him... He shook himself out of it. "No, Yus," he gave a little chuckle at her adorable misunderstanding. "He was asking why I sang 'marry' like 'murry'" She looked stunned. "....................... Oh!" This injury hadn't broken the skin but she could feel it was misaligned and, feeling quite the old hand, had managed to manipulate it back into place. He howled so loudly that it hurt her ears. "I wish you'd let me give you a painkiller" "I'll fall asleep and be useless" "Fine but don't come crying to me when it hurts." Ha, when it hurts she says! She bound it up and they made a sling out of another part of his coat because preposterously there didn't seem to be one in the medikit. He'd been about to complain about having to tear his coat further but shut his mouth when she pre-empted the grievance with a well-timed reprimand. ~ At last they sat back against the rock, Cap propped in a position which should allow him to sleep without undoing all the good work. "Thank you Yus", he said. "Thank you so much." She gave his good shoulder a squeeze. Then moved in for warmth. As they began to fall asleep she asked "So if your name's not Murry, what should I call you?" She'd forced him to take a painkiller as it was time to sleep anyway. "Mmm" he hummed muzzily. "You can call me 'sir'." She snorted. Cheeky git. Approximately two seconds later they were both fast asleep, their exhausted battered bodies needing to regenerate as best they could manage in this godsforsaken wilderness. Funny... In all the to-do, the thought hadn't crossed either of their minds that they should take turns to sleep while the other kept some kind of guard... Unseen by either of our wrung out heroes, in the moonslight the ground appeared to bulge and slither, raising the wreckage up a moment as something sizeable moved beneath. TO BE CONTINUED... He woke again, shivering now. Night time... Eurk! He moved a little and his clothes stuck to him in a cold splat of discomfort. He was utterly drenched in sweat. Attractive... Yus was cuddled against him, not asleep just very still, her face sideways on his belly, his waistcoat. Huh. He realised he was still in his outfit from the party. Studying her face he was acutely aware that he wasn't the only one whose health they needed to be concerned about. She must be getting tired and very hungry by now, slender as she was. He looked over the site. In the moonslight it was hard to tell which parts of the wreckage might contain rations. "You find any food?" At his voice she gasped as if he'd given her an electric shock. "No," she said into his stomach, "I didn't find any but... Maybe I just couldn't feel what they were?" "Mallright," he grunted "I'll have to have a look." Once I can move. "You sound a bit better" she told him. "Thanks, I feel a bit better." There was a silence. He broke it with an abrupt "I'd prob'ly be dead if it wasn't for you..." She turned her face to him, ethereal in the reflected moonslight. "Oh my gods don't say that." He shrugged, which hurt, but not as much as it had... however long ago it had been since he last tried. "It's true." He wondered why he bothered to shrug when she couldn't see it, but maybe she felt it, pressed against him as she was. She did not answer this, instead changing the subject slightly. "Well I want to help fix you up like you said, but you fell asleep again." She sounded very practical, none of the gentle cheek or goof he remembered from the ship. But then... Why would she feel cheeky or goofy after losing her sister? After witnessing the tragedy of all those pe-- Oh, fluk. In a poignant emotional infusion, events stacked back into his brain like so many neatly stored supperware boxes. He recalled how they'd been separated from the ship, and the passengers. From Jyce and... "Jim" he muttered. Yus's face became a portrait of empathy "You remember..." He swallowed- "Wish I didn't." No reply. He clocked her haunted expression and suddenly felt self indulgent. Selfish. It was worse for her, she was so young and frightened, and she just lost her big sis. She looked like she'd lost weight too. Get it together, c'mon man. He was about to attempt a few words of comfort, but instead found himself coughing. Something foamy spilled out of his mouth and over his lips (more un-attractiveness) and he thought the pain would knock him out, but, it didn't. There was an intensely sharp sensation on the left side of his chest though. "Auuurgh!" He yelped. "What? What?" Yus was instantly on her hands and knees, ready to assist in any way she could. "It frickken hurts!" He used his right hand to investigate the area from where the pain radiated. "Oh shit. Yus..." he grated "... there's... there's something stickin' in there." Instead of the panicked reaction he was expecting she simply said "then we shall have to get it out, won't we?" in a businesslike fashion. No wonder he couldn't damn well breathe properly. Gotta get it out. "Mrf. Fire. We need to make a fire so I can see." She looked a little worried. "You don't have like um infra-red, or no what is it night vision?" If only. "None of my cybernetics are working darlin'." A wince like she'd taken a physical blow, she'd obviously been hoping his gadgetry would assist them somehow. It likely would have. He didn't want to extinguish any embers of hope she still had glowing so he quickly added "Maybe it's fixable, but till then I wanna get the organic parts of myself up and running." Wanna? Need to. "Another pain shot?" But he refused, knowing it'd send him back to the land of nod. Now that he was a little better (had he been concussed? Was his brain bruised?) he reckoned he could scrabble about a bit. Yus helped him up to his knees, and said "Come on Murry, you can do it..." He'd frowned in confusion, but do it he did. He found he could crawl using his knees and his right arm (it would seem that his left arm was not a happy limb at present). So, dizzy, thumpety-headed, feverish, broken and aching, he crawled among the wreckage and its periphery, gathering anything flammable from the pod. He also found some dry brush and twigs. As grateful as he could ever remember feeling, he laid his hands on an emergency kit which had in it a sparkstarter. It was a mission and a half and the whole operation exhausted him. He was pleased Yus was there because if she hadn't been, he might have just given up. After what felt like he'd been dragging a tram behind him for about a year, he got back over to the rock and slowly, shakily, built a campfire. It felt real good once it got going. Didn't stop his shivering though. He wibblingly opened a silver packet containing a knife and fork, and got out the mirror from the inside pocket of his ruined coat which, preposterously, wasn't even chipped. He took the coat carefully off, and shouldered off the waistcoat and shirt beneath, then asked Yus to hold the mirror for him while he inspected the damage. "Oh, great... Well ain't that pretty?" Yus tilted her head "Is it bad?" "Yup". He took a big swig of medicinal alcohol then took another look at the reflection. An ugly, jagged, piece of metal from was jutting out from between two of his ribs and, if his breathing and lightheadedness were anything to go by, into his lung. "Bad enough." He made to pour some alcohol over the wound but hesitated. "I might yell, so... don't worry if I do." She was not impressed. "Captain," she replied, her mild indignance causing her to sound more than a little like Jyce. "I am a grown woman. I'm not scared of a little yelping." His face tightened into a grim grin. So her spark was still alive. Using that as a spur he quickly poured some of the alcohol over the wound. "Guuaarrgh!" Pant pant. "Ohhf... ohhhf.." "Is it out?" Contrary to her manner Yus had jolted like a stunned bunny. "Oojfff..." he ground out. "No..." He tore off and rolled up part of his jacket so he could bite down on it, yelped a few times at the horror of what he was about to have to do, wiped the the knife from the cutlery set on his pants (which was as much procrastination as cleanliness). Then wail-sobbing into the jacket-roll, dug the knife into the wound to lever out the shard of metal. It flopped out onto the ground and he pant-cried in relief, feeling a mild releasing of his breathing. A hot stream of blood oozed out and then he could breathe better still. "Ohh.. ohhh.. ohh" came his shocked pants. He had to plug it some, though, so he thrust the knife into the fire to get it hot. When it was he shoved the jacket roll into his mouth again and put the knife against his skin to cauterize it. A scream tore from him, the roll only muffling it a little. Yus must be disturbed as hell but he didn't care, right about then. His skin hissed and steam vapourised into the cold night air. As awful as it was, he had to repeat the action again on the bottom, and then again on the other side. Each time howling in agony into the roll. Eventually he was done. He poured some disinfectant over the area with another little cry, and - as he had seen medics do in the field - one handedly applied a small dressing over the remaining little hole. The pad had some masseline on one side, and he taped it on just three sides so that air could escape, but not get sucked in. Then, ordeal over, he lie back on the ground and openly wept. "That" said Yus, "was incredibly brave." As he lie there, he swore he could already feel his brain getting more oxygen to it. Sweet Yus came and cradled his head in her lap. It was such a caring, comforting gesture, and he was touched. In another context, he thought, looking up at her star-framed face, this second, lying here, might have been one of the happiest moments of his life. "Thank you" he panted at last. She smiled with something like pride. "I have just one question though..." "Oh yeah? What's that?" "Who the hell's Murry?" TO BE CONTINUED... Titanium - Part 13 A voice floated through the darkness. "Murry..." He didn't want to respond. He pretended he hadn't heard. "Murry, wake up..." Who, he wondered, the hell, was Murry? Didn't know, didn't care, wasn't gonna wake up anyway thank you so very much indeedy. "Captain" the voice continued through the darkness, pleading now. "Sir, wake up, oh please wake up." Captain... yeah that rang a bell. Still not wakin' up though. This darkness, this verge-of-nothingness... It was too warm, too cosy, too comfortingly forget-the-worldy. The voice was sobbing now. It was a woman's voice, he realised. Damn. He couldn't leave a girl crying... ... Could he? Yesssss the Darkness soothed. Stay here, rest awhile. Maybe forever. He began to fade away again, feeling his consciousness dissolving to oblivion. Something hit his cheek, though, dripping from somewhere above. He realised it was a tear and the awareness regathered, focused. No, he decided, he couldn't leave a lady crying. "Mmmmokay" he complained muzzily. A reluctant agreement to the voice that he'd wake up. "Oh thank gods" the voice exclaimed with such relief that it was almost a solid creature. With effort which felt akin to hefting an Ele-fin above his head, he opened his eye. There, was a very sad, very scared looking red haired girl looking down at him. And, strangely, there was a pale sky behind her. He didn't remember being planetside. "Yus," he croaked as his mind slowly, too slowly, slotted the puzzle pieces, passing matching details for the image at a velocity that would make a snail blush. What had happened? Last he remembered they were in the escape pod... How long ago had that been? He attempted to check his internal chronometer but it wasn't working. So he tried calling up a readout, see if there was a record or report, but that wasn't working either. Not only that, he realised his cyb eye was entirely dark and wouldn't turn on. All he could get it to do was whir a little. Shit. "Captain, it's me Yus." Despite it all he chuckled, but the sharp jabs it produced through his body made him regret it. "I know." He saw her wipe away her tears, choking down her anguish. He tried to sit up, wanted to comfort her, but the pain in his... well it felt like everything to be honest... was too great. "Painkiller?" he husked. "I'll see if I can find a medikit." She started groping around something he couldn't see at this angle, then, after what felt like a year, came over with a syringe, fumbling awhile before getting it to the right spot on his neck. Thank gods for Xaile, he thought, imagining how difficult this would have been if she didn't know what she was picking up. She activated the shot and it fired a good dose of epiat painkillers into him with a loud and fast hiss. He tried to sit again but still couldn't, and, frustratingly, another wave of sleepiness was blanketing him. As Yus loomed over him, concern branded on her face, red hair dangling, it struck him as peculiar that she was so grimy looking. Why did she look so dirty? And her eyes looked huge. He smiled, lulled by the painkillers. Big pale blue moons. She sure did have angel eyes. He remembered singing something about that. Oh yeah... they'd been about to lock lips, but the compere had ruined the moment... "Huh," he grunted, little more than a murmur. "I should have kissed you when I had the chance..." Then the Darkness jealously yanked him back into its velvet embrace. (Continued below...) Titanium Part 14 - Recap-Cap Gods he was hot. There was... sun... on his face. And it felt like real sun, not synthetic. Damn but he had the hangover from the Bad Place. He opened his good eye blearily. Mmf, it wasn't all lousy news though, there was a girl asleep on his chest. Always a nice way to wake up. He tried to lean down and give her a gentle kiss on the head to wake her, but the action sent a lightning strike of pain through his neck and shoulder blade. He remembered, then. The pain, and the... Okay so that was all he could remember, but it was a start. He could at least clearly recall Yus giving him the shot, but everything else was still grey fog. At least it was less excruciating now, the discomfort. He thought he might even be able to sit up a little. Wincing with effort he gave it a go. Not happening. His stomach muscles felt feeble as new born mittkits. He had to wake the girl. Yus... that was her name... Yus. "Rrr... Yus..." She stirred. "Hey baby" he managed to croak out. She shook sleep off immediately, sitting up and turning to him. "Do you need another painkiller?" "Yeh." He was aware such short replies sounded rude but it was all he had energy for. He lie there, grateful, as she administered the shot and helped him sit up. "Mthankyou." With her assistance he managed to shuffle back to a rock. Once he was upright, however, the world span hideously. And it was a world too. Once the terrifying turning visuals and intense head pressure settled down some, and he was no longer in danger of vomiting on himself, he began to reorient, and took in the fact that they were indeed on the surface of a planet. Glancing down at himself, and testing his range of movement, he also realised that he was very hurt. But sweet Yus brought a bottle of water to his lips (once more he praised the invention of Xaile for the blind, or he might have ended up with engine lubricant from the pod's repair kit or something). When he'd managed a sip, the combination of the minor hydro-help, and the painkillers, meant he felt a bit better. So he sat, looking at her, bobbing slightly. Distantly wondering if she had a smoke. Eventually he had enough muster to speak. "Yus. What happened?" She began the tale, adorable lower lip quivering, and he listened, trying to ignore the fact his breathing sounded harsher than a scorned headmistress who'd been smothered in sandpaper, dipped in tar, rolled over tacs, giving a lecture on proper behaviour. "Ok so we were in the escape pod, you... you r-rremember that right? With some passengers? The girl and those two guys..." He grunted in the affirmative. "Well you checked the console and were trying to work out where the pod was taking us." That cleared a bit of mist. "Oh yeh..." She nodded. "You said there wasn't a space station or inhabited asteroid in the area, and that the nearest place it would take us was a planet with a breathable atmosphere. Not Ristacoca, that was still miles away. So the pod was taking us to this planet, I can't remember the name. And we sat for ages. Just sat, waiting." That memory filtered in too. That's right, after a while just they'd sat in stunned silence, yus clamped to him like a baby Walalabear. It wasn't exactly the time for games and entertainment to make the journey pass more quickly. Nobody had hardly breathed a word. They usually only spoke, quietly, to pass around rations. Yus was trying not to cry again, and he went to reach out a hand to comfort her but was too weak so let it flop again. She, of course, did not see the gesture. Admirably she pulled it together and continued the story. "And then," a catch to her voice, "even after all the h-horrible stuff that just happened, something else awful did." She stopped. After a while he thought she'd never continue so he grated a prompting. "What did?" "You said something was shooting at us and made us strap in. Then we... fell out of the sky... and crashed here." "Mmf." That made some kinda sense. "Then I woke up and could feel I was upside down, hanging in my seat. So I released myself and felt around the area to get my bearings, and all I could feel was wreckage and I was so scared. And then I found you." "M." "And you wouldn't wake up." Poor Yus, she must have been so scared. Blind and potentially alone on a completely unknown planet in the middle of nowhere. "Sorry darlin'..." "It's not your fault, I think you're hurt." He looked down at himself again. He was hurt allright. He wondered where the people from the pod had got to. "Others?" "I don't know." "Kay." The single syllable came out as nothing more than a whisper. He tried to get his poor aching brain to formulate a plan, but he just felt so rough. If they were gonna survive she'd need to fix him up so they could work together and find a way back to civilisation. "Mend" he mumbled, feeling on the verge of unconsciousness again. She came closer because he was getting quiet. "What?" "Mend me. Please." She nodded and through his closing eye he saw that she'd shaken something off. Her face was fixed in a determined expression which sent all kinds of odd feelings (which he was in no state to unravel)through him. "All right," she said "tell me what to do." TO BE CONTINUED... The world went mad. Everyone was screeching, alarms blared, and people were beginning to stampede. The abrupt uproar meant that Yus couldn't orient herself. She was shoved away from Jyce, throwing her into a cold sweat of panic. Everything was a dark whirl of insanity. In the beautifully decorated bathroom, Jim and Cap looked at each other - a millisecond's shock at the sirens. Then Jim scrambled up, and they both pelted for the bathroom door, bursting out in a blur of sleek Cap-clothes and bouncy Jim-hair. "Holy flukballs..." one, or both, of them intoned. It was hard to know or care which, in the confusion. The band had stopped, the compere was nowhere to be seen or heard, there was just the sirens. And the screams. Swiftly readjusting the brightness of his cyb-eye, Cap shoved through the lunatic crowd, managing somehow to work his way through the pulsing river of bodies and get to the stage. Chaos reigned, and rained. People were terrified and Cap swore he'd kill the compere when he found him, or at least torture him awhile. He snatched up the abandoned mic and boomed what the compere already should have: "EVERYONE STAY CALM, REMEMBER THE SAFETY PROCEDURES. PLEASE ASSEMBLE IN THE LOBBY AND AWAIT INSTRUCTION." But the crowd was a deranged animal and nobody listened. "Shitting hell." He looked around quickly, assessing the situation as best as possible amid the madness. He spotted Yus on her own looking terrified and lost, and about to get slammed into by the conga-line from Hell. Quick as a flash he threw the mic down, leapt off the too-high stage - gaining a jarred ankle for it - and dashed over to her. He yanked her out the way of the oncoming stampede and into his arms. "I'm here sweetheart." She wailed her relief but there was no time for that stuff now. "C'mon darlin'" he yelled, taking her by the hand, echoing what'd happened not long ago in a terrifically different context. The siren now changed its tone to one which was even higher on the eerie noise pyramid, and was accompanied by a robotic voice which politely informed them that "There has been a hull breach, please make your way to Supply Deck C". Not good. Not good at all. This needed to be contained. Right now. If they could just calm the passengers and direct them safely t-- The announcment started again, but it had been ramped up further still. "This is an emergency," it sang shrilly "please evacuate the ship". It began playing on a loop in seven different languages. Oh good Gods! You leave Old Aggy in charge of the ship for five minutes... It was horrific, knee-tremblingly, pants-soilingly terrible news. No time for that now though. People to save. He spotted Jyce and bellowed her name above the crowd so's he could pass Yus back into her custody. They managed an awkward crowd-jolted rendezvous. Jyce's face was a taut mask of both dread and relief. "Get to the escape pods NOW!" Cap bellowed with no spare words or sentiment, and with that he rushed off. ~ Jyce grabbed Yus's wrist in a bruise-inducing steel grip. They ran for one of the exits, the sighted sister following the illuminated emergency arrows which had appeared since the sirens started. They erupted into one of the corridors and Jyce was dismayed to see it was one of the ones she'd deemed "dingy", and, like something from an old horror-holo, the already dim lights were phasing on and off unsettlingly. She shuddered. But there were the arrows. They were going the right way, everything was going to be okay. "Yus" she panted over her throbbing anxiety, "we're going the right way, everything's going to be okay." Saying it aloud was supposed to reassure the both of them. Yus said nothing. Jyce prayed to all nine gods worshiped on Eryth that the arrows were emergency arrows and not something else, some weird entertainment related direction. As they rushed down the curved corridor, ever nearer to where she hoped the escape pods were, she began to regret ever coming on this stupid vacation. She wished they'd never left Eryth, never set foot on this old junk heap, never gone to the party, never even imagined travelling to Ristacoca in the first place. But more than all of this she wished they'd paid attention during the safety demonstration. It had seemed so mundane and unnecessary at the time. Ha. Her used-to-lounging lungs were straining, threatening a stitch but still she hauled Yus onwards, on to the pods, on to escape. "Are we nearly there?" Thankfully Yus didn't sound out of breath, just terrified. "Not long now sweetie." "I wish we'd listened to the safety announcement." "Me too..." her voice was harsh, hoarse from exertion "but we're following the arrows, it's okay." As if trying to tell them that, actually, it was not okay, the ship shook, vibrating madly from side to side for a while. A small part of the corridor wall crumbled impossibly to the floor. On they ran. ~ The ship bucked like an inordinately vast bronco from back home. Cap could feel the ship's distress all around him, as if it were a sentient being. Another lurch and he stumbled into the cockpit taking in poor Aggy slumped over the console. No! Don't be dead old fella! But he wasn't, he was merely unconscious. Cap checked the console to see what the double duckin' hell was tearing the ship apart. What he saw turned his blood to ice. ~ Jim had gotten the first wave of passengers into the pods and they had begun safely ejecting. Mrs Jiffins from Deck 15 had put an appreciative arthritic hand on his face and said "you're a good boy" making him miss his grandma in a flash of emotion. Then he'd sent her party shooting out to join the first wave of escapees now moving away from the Leviathan. They all looked tiny and utterly vulnerable against the vast and frightening backdrop of the infinite deep blackness. His stomach clenched into a tiny, tight, rubber-band ball. The ships staff and crew were exemplary, smoothly guiding the passengers to the pods and safety vehicles as efficiently as if they were merely serving Sunny Dingles for breakfast. Jim made a dull and distant mental note that he should commend them to the cruise company. Cap rocked up, somehow holding Old Aggy in place over his shoulder with one hand, and leading a couple of lost-looking children with the other. Jim blinked at the clichéd heroism - but was impressed nonetheless. The conversation was unspoken so as not to increase the panic, but he gave cap a look. The situation? Cap's face said Not Good. Jim's already queasy stomach took on a bowling ball. "Load these ones up Jimmy." Cap instructed calmly, leading the kids Jim-ward. He might have sounded relaxed but the firmness of his tone showed the urgency of the situation. "Aggy's allright but he's taken a shock." Without needing to be prompted twice Jim did as he was bid, scanning the children's wristbands with his Skypad so they could be matched with their parents later, and guided them into their salvation. Now was not the time for family reunions, now was the time for removing people from danger. Cap loaded in old Aggie and buckled him up. "OK go go go." They sent Aggy, an old Endulasian scholar who Jim dimly recollected as being named Argon, a couple of wide-eyed fake-tanned ladies, and the kids, off in the pod. The ship bucked again. Wiping his brow Cap looked around, there were still so many people. "We gotta get 'em off Jim, and we gotta do it now." The 'now' was roll-growled. He tilted his head as some information came into his internal display. "Stage Three." Jim swallowed, hard. Cap pressed one of the implants near his jaw. "Captain to all crew and staff, this is now a Stage Three Priority Situation. I repeat, this is a Stage Three Priority Situation--" The cruise company staff tightened their already flawless game a notch further. Jim tensed in a moment's utter terror, then pulled himself out of it. How on Eryth could it be a Stage Three? This area of space was a well known shipping and vacation route. It was known affectionately among frequent travelers as the Hacky Highway. There was nothing dangerous here, especially not an... S3. Stage Three meant they were under attack, but there hadn't been any conflict in this part of the system for many, many years. Jyce and Yus staggered out of a nearby corridor. Thank heavens. They looked utterly wrung out. Jim hurried over to them. Needing just a moment's comfort Jyce - still holding Yus's wrist in her steely grip - embraced him. "Glad you could join us" the cap boomed over some passing peoples heads from his tip-toes, managing a sombre quip, even amid the insanity. A good captain went down with the ship, so the notion went. Well screw that, he had zero intention of doing that, but he sure as heck was gonna make sure all the passengers were off first, before disembarking himself. And then... Then he was gonna deal with the evil sonnwitches who did this. He carefully assisted the next flurry of fearful folk. Then there was a sound. The worst sound any of them had ever heard. It was the sound of rupturing, tearing, straining metal. It SQUEALED through their entire beings. As soon as that stopped there was a far off boom. Cap shoved the passengers next to him into a pod. "Go! Now!" He slapped the release button then turned and strode towards Jyce, Yus, and Jim. They were going in next and there'd be no arguments about it. Without warning the floor buckled, then bulged hugely, weirdly, eerily between them. It rose up like a sea monster. Leviathan. Cap skidded to a halt, his boots chirping again, but this time not cheerfully. What in blazes... The surrounding passengers and staff froze, gawping as if hypnotised. "The pods!!!" Cap brayed at the poor stupefied gorms. Then the deck dropped again. And the floor tore apart. When viewed from the outside, the escape pod bay was not flush with the ship, it projected outwards, protuberant sort of like a house's deep bay windows. It was currently being wrenched free from the corridor with many people including Jyce, Jim, and Yus on the corridor side, and a handful of staff, passengers and Cap on the escape bay side. Then it dropped abruptly, held together by only a hinge of the hull's plating. Slow motion. He saw Jim's eyes widen, and his mouth yelling, screaming, something. Desperately Cap tried to climb up, to get to them, but whatever was tearing the ship apart was causing the bay to droop too rapidly and at too steep an angle. The artificial grav was working overtime and making it twice as hard as it should be to move up to them. It was no good but he kept trying. One of the staff - the blond guy whose buttocks Jyce had so admired - yanked him back firmly by his coat. "Please" the man yelped at him, his voice distraught and hollow, yet still overlaid with professionalism. "There's nothing you can do sir, we have to get in the pods..." But Cap pushed him off, scrambled up again to the highest point, the nearest he could get, and Just. Kept. Trying. Above, Jyce looked about, adrenaline allowing her to assess the situation in an instant, and with a terrible realisation she saw another rupture starting behind them and knew they were doomed. They were going to die, and she was strangely calm about it. There was only a moment before the ship would fully seal the breaches in a futile attempt to retain life support, shutting the two torn parts of the ship off from each other forever. And they were on the wrong side. As the world went to hell around them, across the small yet infinite breach she shared a pale-faced, sorrow-eyed look with the captain, and for the first time it was a mutual look of respect. In that instant she had a fully formed impression of him. Not only the silly floppy man-child, but also a grim and resolute survivor. In her set expression he saw her intention, and how exceptionally brave she truly was. He nodded his assent to the burning, unspoken question. "I love you" she told Yus, and without any further hesitation shoved her with all the might she had ever mustered, sending her hurtling from the crumbling, failing ship's body, over into the rapidly detaching escape bay. Cap snatched her from the air just a moment before the two jaggedly torn sides finished sealing themselves with their temporary semi-transparent force fields. Holding a suddenly screaming, struggling Yus tightly, he looked back up, at Jim - whose face was full of love and sadness his hand reaching towards him - and Jyce - whose face was entirely grief stricken yet offering a universe of gratitude - for the last time. Then the larger bulk of the ship gave in to the buckling shrieking internal forces and was suddenly, sickeningly lower than them, then gone, snatched from sight forever. "Nooo!" Yus was still howling in emotional agony. "Noooo!" As the ship broke, so did his heart. He turned and practically threw the remaining people into the pods, ignoring the roaring pain of his ankle and his soul, and all the time dragging a hysterically crying Yus with him. A blue flashing light and garbled alert told them the field was about to give out. The safety measures hadn't been built for anything like this level of catastrophe and were only temporary fixes to allow a quick escape to another part of the ship, or swift engineer-access. The fields would be failing around now on the other section too, if they hadn't already. He cast the thought from his mind and pushed Yus into the last pod, bundling himself in with her, and pressing the release button just in time before the life support field finally collapsed like a badly applied puncture repair kit. With a gut-pummeling thrust, their pod was ejected, launched free and drifting into the black, among the distant stars, a scattering of other round white, LED flecked pods, and not much else. For a very, very long time he held Yus while she cried, with huge racking sobs, into his chest. "I'm sorry" was all he could think of to say, as he rocked her gently. "I'm sorry." TO BE CONTINUED...
Titanium - Parts 10 & 11 - The Party & Angel Eyes
The Entertainium throbbed and heaved with the sounds and shoves of hundreds of scrubbed up bodies, as they milled about chatting, clinking glasses, dancing, laughing, and eating luxury party snacks. A live band pumped classics out through a bassy sound system with almost overwhelming volume and clarity. Yus's chest felt like it was full of flutterbees. Never had she been to such a large celebration in her life! The atmosphere felt golden, and friendly. Sort of like a supersized version of the fun wedding receptions she'd been to as a kid. Jycey seemed a teensy bit uptight but that might have been because Yus had accidentally spilled some wine on one of the buffet tablecloths. Oops. Luckily none of it had gotten on their dresses. She ran the material of hers between her fingers. Silky. It was a wrap-dress, apparently light purple, and according to Jyce made her look 'like a moviestar, babes'. Her hair was pinned up in an elegant, styled bun with little tendrils hanging down. Jyce described her own outfit as a shiny blue dress and thin belt with a flower on it. Her hair was down but partially scooped back with a band. She had a little clutch bag which matched her dress's blue colour (and had a cute flower of its own). She was also wearing high heels. Yus's shoes were only slightly heeled because Jyce had grumped that she might break her ankle in anything higher. "Hey I need all the height I can get!" Yus had teased. "Nope, not today, bae" came the amusing, yet firm-toned, reply. Yus was torn from her fashion fixation by a sharp elbow to the ribs "OW!" "Sorry," Jyce hissed, "but that cutey from the sauna just walked in!" Yus smiled, rubbing her side a little. "Oh really? The guy with all the curly hair?" "That's the puppy!" Puppy? Interesting. "Nice. Maybe he'll ask you to dance..." A grin. Jyce shrieked a shrill, too-loud laugh, and gently slapped Yus's arm. "Don't be silly! He does look very nice though." The man, who had introduced himself in the sauna as Jim the co-pilot, was wearing a grey suit and waistcoat with a slightly darker-toned uniform turtleneck beneath. Jyce stared. Well hot diggety dog. She remembered his smooth brown tummy in the sauna. He seemed so sleek and blemish free. His skin and eyes glowed healthily under the discoball reflected lights. "That is a beautiful piece of man right there" she thought, and accidentally said. "Sorry what?" Yus giggled. Jyce realised, and squawked. "Argh! Nothing!" "You have a cru-ush, you have a cruuush!" Yus sang. "I do NOT have a crush!" Just as the background music cut. Jim was approaching and had been picking up pastry snack just as she belted it out. They locked eyes for a moment then both hurriedly, awkwardly, looked away. "Oh. My. Gods." Jyce wanted the deck to dissolve and deposit her twelve floors below where everyone wasn't staring at her. Thankfully the music soon started up again, much louder now, as if the party was really kicking off. It was a dark and rocky version of a jaunty number. Giggling still, at Jyce's embarrassing yell, Yus began dancing. She begged Jyce to put her plate down and join in. Big sis obliged, hoping everyone had already forgotten her outburst. Oh hey, she liked this song... "Ahhh.... Ahhh...." ♫ With a sound like thunder, the huge double doors to the Entertanium burst open. ♫ "Trouble... Trouble... Trouble..." ♫ "I KNEW you were trouble when you walked iiii~iiin!" the band claimed. As if on cue (and there was no doubt in Jyce's mind he'd timed it so) the Captain stalked in, striding, casual-saluting and nodding his head to the party-goers, in time with the music. He was wearing a long-backed black coat with some stylish flashes of red on it, a colour-complimenting sort of mustard waistcoat with funky straps, and tight, perfectly cut black trousers which made his legs look long and lean. Jyce described all this as best she could to Yus, rolling her eyes the whole time. "So. Cool!" Was Yus's verdict, which was in rather stark contrast to Jyce's own opinion. Oh gods, she noticed that the twonk was also carrying a cane with a skull-shaped knob. This was definitely overkill, especially as he was wearing big fancy, outfit-co-ordinated boots which also had straps. And, Jyce sighed at the lameness, sunglasses. Meh. At least his hair looked 5% less scruffy. He waved like royalty or something, and the crowd cheered and raised their drinks. Jyce cringed. "A rockstar" she barked, unimpressed. "He thinks he's a frikkin' rockstar." Jimbob heard and nodded his agreement. Like the crowd he raised his glass, but his was to her. "Tell me about it..." They shared a secret smile. Cap whipped off his over-coat and gave it to one of the flight staff with a thankful bow of the head. Bizarrely, he had a smaller version of the coat on underneath. (Jyce facepalmed when she saw this.) He push-threw his cane into the crowd where it was grabbed by eager hands. He gave the recipient a sort of wink-click, as if to say y'can keep it, then tossed his sunglasses carelessly in the other direction. Jyce wasn't impressed by this horrendously ostentatious display. The idiot crowd were lapping it up though. Ugh. Talking of eager hands, lots of women were drooling over the fool like he was a stripper or something. Jyce had to admit he did actually look kinda cool, but that wasn't the point. The man was an ass. "That," she offered in cold comment, "is the biggest show off I have ever seen." Jim, chewing on a spineapple and cheese stick, nodded emphatically. "Yup." Yus did not react to their conversation, just stood there fangirling like her favourite holomovie star had just walked into the room or something. Too trusting, thought Jyce, too kind, too naive. Spotting Jim's splendidly curly bonce, the cap waved at him, all friendly like. The crowd were now starting to mingle again and he managed to work his way through the back pats and gropes. "Oh great," Jyce complained, "he's coming this way." "Sorry" Jim shrugged apologetically, though he was also grinning. Hm, so he found the cap annoying but did actually like him. At least they had the former in common. The music changed to a cool electro-pop version of another crunchy classic. ♫ "This overload...." "Shit! He is?" Yus tried to stand attractively, with one hand on her hip and her butt sticking out to give the impression she had more curves than she did. Apparently she was overdoing the pose because Jyce knocked her out of it with another sharp elbow. (Though it might have for the cussing in polite company.) "Hi!" said Cap, sunnily, and even through the music Yus could hear the grin in his voice. "H-hi." "Cap" Jim greeted, and there was a sound like backslapping, then a plastic cup noise. "Here have some fruit punch." A slight hesitation. "Uh, thanks Jimbob. Great to see you all! Everyone having a nice time?" "WON'T-you-help-me-cure... this over-load?"♫ "Yeah!" shouted Yus above the music. "It's awesome!" Cap looked down at the little redhead, wishing she could see that he was flashing her his best charming smile. "It certainly is." He double-took. Bah, that spindlewitch of a sister had her glare on him. He wondered how she could look so similar to her little sis (kinda like an older, taller, harder version with a sharper haircut) yet he didn't find her attractive at all. Personality... is all, he thought. The band smoothly transitioned into another, slower, song from the same old holo. ♫ "I've been meanin' to tell you... (buh buh buh) I've got this feelin' that wooon't subside..." Some separation was required. He nudged cutey. "Say, d'you wanna dance?" He thought the sister's eyes were gonna bulge out of her head in sheer rage. Ahh, testes... But an idea struck "Hey Jim why don't you ask sissy here too, then we can all dance together?" C'mon Jim.. Don't let me down liddle buddy... He monitored the reactions closely. Jim smiled, shy like the other night. To Cap's surprise, sourpuss returned it. A-ha... Now there was a little slice of gold. His smile widened. Jim was speaking "Yes, indeed, would you care to dance?" he asked, in the most formal voice Cap had ever heard. Cap stifled a snicker. "Go on Jyce!" prompted the younger sis - Ah yeah Jyce, that was Moany-Pants's name - Yusseca, whose own name he'd held closely, covetously, in his mental chest-pocket since the spaceport. Jyce looked unsure and glanced between them. Cap strained himself to keep his face looking as respectable and non-rascally as he could. He thought something was gonna bust. "Okay, okay, fine she said." Yess. Cap released the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. "Now I've... got you inn... my sights... with... these" ♫ Ignoring an inevitable glower, he took Yus's hand gently in his. It felt small, and cool. "C'mon darlin'." ♫ "... Hungry eyes..." The foursome squeezed through the crowd and spilled out onto the dancefloor. Jyce seemed incredibly worried till Jim smoothly distracted her with some fine moves. Damn, Cap thought distantly, where'd he learn to dance like that? Last time he'd seen Jim dance he'd seemed a lot shyer. Perhaps he'd been watching ViewToob tutorials again. But nevermind, 'cause the little redhead was in his arms and moving with him. Her big beautiful sightless eyes were staring up at him, pale blue saucers somehow looking right into his soul. Ow. ♫ "I wanna hold you so hear, me out" the band sang, ♫ (buh, buh, buh) "I wanna show you what love's all a-bouut." Pretty appropriate. He experimented with a gentle twirl, but, whoops, she accidentally caught her foot on his boot and stumbled into him, steadying herself by grabbing onto his hip. Whoa, too close, too close. Easy boy. Nnggdff! He chuckled softly, fondly, made sure she was okay and carefully manoevred her unintentionally gropey appendage back into position. He gave both her hands a reassuring little squeeze and she made an appreciative noise. They found their feet and moved in sync again. He looked into her sweet face, enjoying how it was framed by little pieces of stray hair. She had an appealing smattering of freckles. Phenomenol. "Sir?" she asked politely, turning his already softened heart to nothing more than gooey chocolate pudding. "Uh, yeah?" "Are you okay?" He frowned, confused, then it struck him. He'd been so enchanted that - possibly for the first time in his entire speaking-life - he'd forgotten to say a word. "Yeh" his throat was dry and it came out a little croaked. "I was just thinking how gorgeous you are." The sweet girl's cheeks got a pink hue to 'em. "Sorry," he chuckled, "didn't mean to embarrass you." "No! It's... It was really nice, thank you." He smiled and, they danced on. Mid sway he raised her hand to his mouth so she could run her fingers over part of it. "I'm smilin' at you. You feel it?" "Yes," she said, her own lips mirroring the expression, "but I already could." Cap's stomach felt... weird. Nice, light, golden. He hadn't felt this good since he'd tried a slice of Jindarish Bananabread (which was an especially mild name for such a potent drug). Only this time the high wasn't manufactured chemical brain-rot, but real euphoria at being near this almost ethereal, sweet-souled woman. Why she'd shown any interest in him, was beyond his comprehension. He was humbled. "I'm the luckiest guy here tonight" he told her, the truth behind the sentiment meaning that he couldn't care less if it was a cliché. She laughed, shy, not seeming to understand. "Why? Because you own the ship so it's your party?" He laughed, loudly, not at her just in a joyful way. "I don't own it I'm freelance, but no, I mean because I'm dancin' with you, silly." "Oh," she replied with a grin. "Does that make me the luckiest girl?" For once (and Jim would have likely passed out in shock had he been listening) he didn't make a jestful boast, instead murmuring "you tell me..." ♫ "I feel the magic between you and Iii-i..." "I suspect I am" she said, taking him back with her calm. "Let's see." Her voice was gentle and mischievous. She reached up and stroked his hair, sending an instant wriggle of pleasure down his spine. But then, the fingers lowered to his face as they had once before. An unusual pang of anxiety ran through him. He subtly moved his head ensuring the fingers didn't touch what he deemed they should not. At the spaceport he'd been careful to let her feel just enough. He just hoped her sister hadn't been too descriptive. The thought of her hand recoiling in horror made his stomach-honey turn to what felt like cold acid. What if, (he swallowed, barely able to contemplate such a thought), what if she thought he was ugly? Oh heyall no. Once - back before he was renting himself out to the cruise company like the big ole ho that he was - he'd been out on a mission with a bunch of unknowns. One burly 6'6 (and almost as wide) mariner had taken a look down at him and immediately spat out "Shit, what the hell happened to your FACE, man!?" He'd laughed it off, of course, made some smartass joke as was his way. Cap had done a lot of ridiculous and potentially embarrassing things in his time, but that incident was the most genuinely, soul-troublingly, embarrassing moment of his life, and he'd never forgotten it. The part that really got to him when he allowed his mind to drift that way, was the twin sympathy and horror he'd observed in the man's voice and expression. It was a strange thing, though, this issue, because he was handsome. He knew he was handsome. It was just a fact. (Personally, he even reckoned himself to likely be the most handsome person in the galaxy.) Unfortunately however, there was no getting around the fact that overlying the aesthetic effect of his gift-from-the-gods bone structure, stylishly scruffed shock of brown hair, and leanly muscled bod, were the two massive scars, crisscrossing his face, glaring out and waving to everyone. 'Ohai, I'm not the same as you! I'm ugly!'. And it didn't exactly help matters that one of his amiable brown eyes was missing. Warm smoulder replaced with cold machinery. Robot boy. Ugly. Ugly. Ugly. Scarface. Freak. Tin Man. He might generally be the system's most cocky sonnwitch, but sometimes, just sometimes, on lonely nights when he drank too much whiskey and grew reflective, he was haunted by insecurity about his appearance. It was remarkable to him that no-one in his adult life had ever clocked this. Like, ever. Everyone assumed his irritating obsession with mirrors was just vanity. I mean it is vanity, he thought, but it's not just vanity... Angel eyes was investigating his nose now. It made him laugh and brought the present back into focus. "Like what you feel?" he teased. "Yes actually. You have a rather good nose." He chuckled softly. "Well, thank you. Yours," he said earnestly "is just perfect." He ran his gaze over her, not pervily, just drinking her in. "All of you is perfect". She smiled, sweetly, actually sweetly. Not like the fake teasing sweet smile he gave Jim, but a true one, borne of goodness and purity of the soul. He didn't think he'd ever be able to smile like that. He counted the lucky stars that surrounded them that he was able to experience hers, though. "By the way" Yus enquired liltingly. "Who's flying the ship if you two are both here?" She frowned. "Is it on autopilot?" Cap chuckled at her suddenly serious expression, vibrating against her. The ship probably would have been fine on autopilot as it went, but fluffy 'tached old Aggy had come with the ship and was a decent fella. Cap liked to make him feel useful and good about himself so he'd put him in charge for the duration of the party. He told Yus about Old Aggy (loyally leaving out the parts about it being to make him feel useful), and then the conversation somehow moved on to the Eryth Zoological Gardens where weirdly they'd both been on the 57th of Zedsember. How strange. They stood there talking awhile, rocking, body 'gainst body. "Uh, guys?" An unexpected Jimbob asked. "Why're you still dancing?" Cap looked around. Oh, damn. The music had stopped. They ceased swaying, and reluctantly separated their bodies. Jyce opened her mouth to say something (probably mean or rude), but thankfully halted her clap as a cheesy voice boomed over the intercom. "Hey folks, we'll get back to the dancing later, but now it's time for Kaaaaa-raoke!" This was met by a huge cheer from the crowd. The funny little foursome shambled their way back to the buffet, grabbed some more snacks, then went and found a table. It was a round table with a nice high-quality white tablecloth. Jyce was simultaneously charmed, and irritated, by the fact that Jimbob and the captain followed them. They'd trailed after her and Yus like a couple of pets who didn't know how to be in the house alone. Or - she shot Cap a cruel gaze - didn't know they were not wanted. Wasn't there meant to be a Captain's Table or something? Shouldn't he be there instead? Ugh. Cap sat down next to Yus. "Hey, perfect spot for listening to the contest!" He said, through a mouthful of xelery and dip, and put one of his heels up on a nearby empty chair. "Cool!" said Yus. "Can't wait." "Ugh," Jim began. "Karaoke is so--" At the same time Jyce said "I love karaoke!" He quickly amended it to "-- great. Karaoke is so great!" The captain snickered. And crunched. Yus, listening to the minute sonic booms, found it funny that a grown man would be talking with his mouth full. Even her little brother didn't do that any more. The captain really was quite peculiar (not that she minded). He smelled sooooo good, and when they danced he'd felt warm and toned and strong. He was just as nice... no... even nicer.... to be near than he had been in her dream. She'd especially liked it when he'd thoughtfully squeezed her fingers and palms. So sweet. His hands had felt nice, and firm, and warm. Hers fit in them quite nicely, she thought. "Just like I dreamed it." Crunch "Huh?" "Ah... I wonder if they'll sing that" she covered, relieved it just so happened to be the name of a song. A shrug to his voice "maybe..." crunch crunch crunch. "Eugh cap, close yer porthole" Jim complained. "Mm? Oh. Sorry" said cap (still with his mouth full), not really listening and not really knowing or caring what he was apologising for, just recognising that Jim's disapproving tone meant he'd done something wrong. Jim tutted. The first karaoke act started... (Continued below!) Part 11 - Angel Eyes Over the performances the little group laughed together, and clapped, and bonded through their shared appreciation. The acts ranged from incredible singers that were on a par with the house band, to some... that weren't. During such displays of innocent incompetence Yus was pleased that Cap did not laugh cruelly at them like some others in the audience. In fact if anything, he actually seemed annoyed at the mocking. As well as the straight acts there were also some purposely comedic and clever interpretations of current hits. A Beldieu gentleman named Sidric Spouser sang a particularly hilarious rendition of Parked My Freighter in the Wrong Docking Bay, incredibly singing all twelve parts himself in different voices. The cap loved it! He slapped his thighs in appreciation and laughed loudly and openly, sounding not unlike an ecstatic sea-pup. Jimbob - despite his earlier reservations - did in fact enjoy the acts and chuckled quietly, often exchanging little glances and smiles with Jyce, who laughed softly herself (all hardness currently eliminated due to the fizzy wine, the comedy, the sweet Jim, and the happy Yus). Miracle upon miracles, she'd even stopped glaring at the captain like a possessive poochy worried that her bone was about to be stolen - which he was mightily grateful for. The Cap tilted his head as he considered Yus. He was impressed that, unlike people at nearby tables, she did not seem at all amused by, and did not direct any spite towards, the poor suckers working their butts off to sing as best they could. (He never could stand that sort of cruel unkindness.) He liked her more by the minute. Everything about her was so-- Mmfff. Whoa, easy. Calm down. He took a couple deep breaths and sneaked another sideways look. She was sitting perched on the edge of her seat seeming for all the system like she could see the acts perfectly. Cap guessed she must be imagining what they looked like, and smiled. He wanted to brush a strand of that lovely coppery hair behind her ear, to hold her hand, and stroke it with his thumb. Not the right time... Ah well, it was a long relaxed old plod to Ristacoca, plenty of time for hand holding, and kissing and lovemak-- As if reading his mind, Jyce did now suddenly glare at him, eyes bulging, chin jutting, a mean-mug of a warning. He looked away, pretending he hadn't noticed. Anyway, it wasnt just that he wanted to sleep with her - though that thought was almost all-consuming when he didn't keep it paddocked firmly in the back corner of his mind, like a randy stud-ranch stallion. No, it wasn't just that, there was a tenderness. Non-sexual electric shocks ran through him at her every touch, and it wasn't malfunctioning circuitry. Crap, but he was staring at her like a lovelorn teen. Taunting Jimbob should snap him out of it. "So, Jimmy boy, all this singing is reminding me - you used to be in the Finrin Choir didn't you?" (The Finrin Choir was a very proper and incredibly posh choir which educated kids with singing lessons and rich daddies could join. It was impressive, but it was not at all cool. And not at all fitting with Jim's current image.) Jim kicked him, very hard, under the table. It hurt his shin, but he didn't even grimace and certainly didn't falter. There was nary a catch to his voice. "You gonna sing us a song tonight then, ole pal-o'-mine?" he continued smoothly. "I think that's something we'd all like to hear." Now was the perfect time to deploy that fake sweet-smile, so he did. If looks could kill, Cap reckoned he'd have been reincarnated around twelve times by now, in the last minute alone, from the utter death-stare Jim was bestowing upon him. "............................ No." Bahaha! Damn he loved that ridiculously over-serious and easily embarrassable boy. Jyce was looking interested, clearly pleased at the access to this unexpected Jimtel. Poor Jim, poor poor Jim, was squirming like a goodun. Cap thought he'd push his luck just a little further "Yeah, I remember those oldfangled photos that fell out your locker. Didn't you used to wear one of those dress things?" He heard Yus giggle and try and kindly disguise it by turning it into a cough. Cap grinned too-widely at Jim, who he could see currently hated him with all his might. "Really?" Said Jyce. Eehehe! "Well that's just adorable" she added. Bah. Cap was di-sa-ppointed, and knowing he would be, Jim shot him a 'Haw haw! Take that You effin' git' kinda look. Cap checked Jyce wasn't paying attention then stuck his tongue out childishly. Seeing Jim smirk he then began treating him to a selection of ridiculous faces. The other man snorted involuntarily into his drink. "Yus used to be in a choir" Jyce was saying, "Didn't you Yus?" "Yes," camed the smiley reply. "I loved it." "Good little voice she has too." Jyce now turned to look at Cap who quickly stopped pulling faces and was suddenly the very model of good behaviour and polite interest. "Oh yeah?" Jim shook his head fondly and slid another fruit punch Cap-wards. He hoped he hadn't noticed but he'd been trying to encourage him onto the soft stuff tonight. The captain ignored the proffered beverage and beamed at Jyce, fixing her with his good eye while half-looking around the table for some whiskey with the other (what was all this fruit punch nonsense Jim was suddenly obssessed with?) "I'd like to hear that some time" he told her. "You know I used to sing in a band myself..." Yus jolted them all to attention by suddenly squeaking "Well let's us two do a song then!" "Mua-hAAAA!" was the Cap's delighted response to that idea. "Oh no... No" Jim said, looking at Cap with an unreadable, though strange, expression. "Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-no. Do not encourage him." Cap looked at him, all boyish innocence. "What? Why not?" "Cap for the love of all that is holy, please... Oh, don't start performing!" he whined. Cap laughed loudly. "Cool your jets Slick, I just wanna do this one song." Jim, remembering a ridiculous incident with a cane and a terrible three-hour long tapdance he'd been forced to watch (just one of many such incidents), let out a long, undulating, disapproving groan. Despite Jyce's own protestations (which were pretty half-assed to be honest, on account of the alcohol and the Jimfluence), Yus wouldn't take no for an answer. The Cap graciously accepted the invitation and bowed before Yus like (what Jyce thought of as) some twatty fairytale prince - flopping hair an' all - and politely kissed her hand. Then, Cap carefully guiding her, they scurried off to the compere to put their names down, giggling like a couple of lame little kids. Jyce and Jim shared a look which only the more straightlaced and long-suffering friends and family of unashamed goofballs could possibly understand. When it came to Cap and Yus's turn to get up onto the big white circular stage Jyce crumpled, paused in a long-exposure face-palm of embarrassment. As soon as they started singing, though, she actually forgot her squirm. Next to her Jim muttered "eugh, its so sweet, I can't stand it." Jyce shhed him. The doofs were singing some a-dork-able song about stars above, and and other such cosmic soppiness. But, Jyce had to admit to herself, it was actually kinda delightful. When the cap sang "So what you doin' with a clown like me?" Jyce raised an amused brow, thinking now there was a sentiment she could fully get behind. She laughed at Yus's sung reply Wow, Yus was up on a huge stage, singing! If only mom and dad were here to see it! They'd never believe it. Attagirl. Her voice was even sweet when she sang. And she was good, damn good. Hell even he was good, in a warmly honking kind of way. The way he sometimes spoke, and the way he was singing. It sort of reminded her of something... Ah yeah that was it. "Moobeast" she commented to Jim, (her newfound partner in Cap-gripe). He grinned, turning his eyes to friendly little moons, and said "no way! That's what I always think!" In response she smiled, slid her hand into his, and continued watching. Yus looked elegant and beautiful, cute as a button, and kinda tiny. Cap (she grudgingly admitted) looked rogueishly handsome, and bouncily happy like a dumbass friendly dog or something. She forced herself to keep disliking him. The audience liked him though, they seemed to adore him and Yus both. They were bloomin' loving it! Jyce felt very proud, and also profoundly sad. It kinda kicked her right in the feelings that Yus was blind, and without his cyb-eye the cap was partially sighted (not that it seemed to bother him, he was always perky as a po-cock). Anyway, they were erm, what Yus called differently-abled, but here they were singing this preposterously sweet song about angel eyes, and seeing and... stuff. It somehow lent it more meaning. She wiped away a couple of tears which she hadn't noticed till they were on her cheeks. She hoped Jim hadn't seen, but he had. He gently brought her in to him and held her. She watched the rest of the captivating corn-fest from the safety of a Jimcuddle.
The crowd erupted into rapturous applause.
Yus and her silly singing partner took a bow. Jyce and Jim whistled. Cap helped guide Yus down the stairs but nearly stumbled himself when she suddenly stopped. He was glad she did though, because she leaned over to his ear, (which was in the perfect position due to the steps), and whispered "you're lovely". He filled with clear honey again, and was about to kiss her for that, but the damn compere came over booming "What about that folks!? Let's hear it again for the Captain aaaannnd... Yusseca!" Much cheering, mostly from Jyce. She ran over to meet them at the bottom of the stairs, hugged Yus and pulled her back towards the table. "I ah-- I'm just goin' to the little captain's room!" Cap yelled. Jyce gave him a thumbs-up and turned to chat excitedly to Yussy. Cap skipped down the final few steps, and strode over into the Entertanium-adjoining bathroom. He enjoyed the rubbery squeals his boots made on the floor. It was real fancy in there, all cream-marbled surfaces with brown veins, and spotless chrome faucets. Even the urinals were discreetly tucked away, and marbled. It seemed inordinately bright in here compared to the darkened main room though so he adjusted his internal display so his cyb eye didn't white-out. He hated that. He leaned over one of the sinks, splashing some water on his face and through his hair. His heart was going faster than Jim's fingers when he'd been asked to whip up a QuowerZoint presentation. It was pretty rare for him to feel this shaken, about anything. He stared at himself in the mirror, and winced because his cyber eye was so illuminated. He normally kept his gaze away from that part of his face. He leaned closer to examine his scars, and felt them, trying to have fresh fingers, imagining how they would seem to Yus. He sang softly... ♫ There's just one more thing I need to know. If this is love, why does it scare me so? Must be something only you can see. 'Cause girl, I feel it when you... look at me...♫ Unbeknownst to Cap, Jim was in one of the stalls, trying to keep as quiet and as still as possible. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, it was like being trapped in a bad musical. Oh, we're doing that now are we? Did people really just spontaneously burst into relevant-lyriced musical soliloquies? Apparently. But never mind that, he was in complete shock. It sounded like the cap had it bad. And the cap NEVER had it bad. The ship jolted. Jim fell out of the cubicle with a squawk, tumble-rolling out onto the floor behind a startled Cap who whipped round immediately. "Jim!? What the f--" It was around then that the sirens started... TO BE CONTINUED...
Girl you're looking... so fiiine, tonight...
*** Press me to fold and unfold the lyrics ***
C: Girl you're looking, so fiiiine toniiiiight.
Y: And every girl has got yooou in her sii~iight C: So what you doin', with a clo-hown like me, babeh? Y: It's surely one of life's little... mysteries! Both: So tonight I'll ask, the stars above... How did Iiii ever wi~in your looove? C: What did I do baby? Y: What did I saaaeeey? Both: To turn your angel eyes my way? Y: Don't anyone waaake me, if it's just a dream. Cos he's the best thing that's ever happened to meee C: And all you fellows, whoaa you can loOOok all you like! But this girl you see, oh she's leaving here with me tonight. Both: So toniiiight I'll ask... the stars above, How did I, ever win your looove? Y: What DID I dooo? C: Oh what did I say baby? *Crowd cheering* Both: To turn your angel eyes my way. C: What did I do? Y: What did I say? Both: To turn your angel eyes my waa~a~a~ay. *Applause and cheering from the audience* Coda: The~re's just one more thing Iii nee-eed to know If this is love, why does it scaaare me so_? Must be something only yoo~u~u can see-e 'cuz girl, i feel it when you... LOOK at mee-ee -- #Adorkable |
Imagining hilarious, beautiful
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