Nodding, Relm turned and stepped gingerly across the ruin of the floor to the door that had opened for the monster, moved into the corridor and started walking to the other end, looking about her curiously.
The entire corridor was made of a strange, smooth, black metal that had not collected any dust and had no markings; with the exception of several, roof mounted glowing lamps, lighting the room with an eerie red tinge..
While walking through the corridor, Relm felt lighter, somehow.
Putting the feeling of lightness aside to her current mental state (splitting headache), Relm walked up to the door and examined it, looking for a way to open it or anything else of interest.
The door itself is made of a grey metal. Part of the wall juts in for the door; the edge of the door is lined with dim, red lights.
The panel next to the door is lit up with a keypad of digits, a red button, and a white button.
Relm rapped on the door, trying to guage an idea of it's thickness.
Relm quickly discerns that the door is quite thick and solid. It feels like it's not going to get knocked down easily, definately.
Rubbing her temple with her left hand, Relm tentatively pressed the white button.
Another loud *BEEEEP!* echoes through the corridor at Relm's touch..
Jerking her hand back reflexively, Relm paused a moment, then tapped the red button.
Absolutely nothing happens.
"Hm."
Mentally admitting the fact that she really had no idea what she's doing, Relm walked back down where she came from . . .
Sebastian went through each of the choices in the taskbar, looking for anything explaining what the program did.
OOC: Ack! Gomen, Panda. And I'll reply to CM when I get home. o-o
IC: At the other end of the corridor was a collection of wires and pipes, seemingly just thrown together in a random pattern. The wires were colour coded and labelled with unfamiliar markings.
One of the pipes appeared to have been ruptured; Spite could not sense anything leaking from it. The cause of the rupture isn't easily discernable; however, small, icy flakes seem to be attached to the hole..
The queen studied the area. There were colored strings inside that hard box that opened doors. Where had these colored strings come from?
Sebastian came across the following options..
File
Open
Save
Find
Exit
Edit
Undo
Redo
Merge
Open Subroutine
Merge Subroutine
New Subroutine
Clear String
Test
Run
Stop
Switch
Bio
Display
Select
Switch
Prog
Edit
Results
Short of ripping away the piping (and a good chunk of the wall) away in it's entirety, the only real thing Spite could discern was that the wires came from somewhere behind the wall..
The queen tried to gauge her strength, seeing if she could in fact rip away away the piping (and a good chunk of the wall).
Spite discerned that while she may be able to rip out the piping, it was unlikely she'd dent the wall.
Now that she was closely inspecting the area, she sensed that something was travelling through the pipes; most likely a gas.
Undaunted, Spite inspected the hallway she was in more cosely to see if she might have over looked any doors, vents, or other possible passages.
The only features Spite could see were the ever-present dim, red lights, which illuminated the hallway..
Using the directinal keys, Sebastian chose 'Select' in the Bio menu then hit Enter.
Wandering a bit closer, Luminous glances at what Sebastin is doing.
The entire thing makes no sense to him, so he keeps quiet, keeping an eye at the beast with them. Wouldn't do to be caught off guard if it gets hungry.
Sebastian is confronted with an old-fashion File Select window. He is apparently looking for the extension '.stn', within the directory C:/x-search/stndata.
Vast multitudes of files present themselves..
Choosing one file at random, Sebastion clicked 'Open'.
The image window at the left immediatly lights up with what appears to be biological data, including the ever-recognizable DNA string pattern.
From what you remember from your biology lessons, this appears to be a non-human life form, judging by the amount of DNA strings.
"Interesting, but nothing that would help us." Closing that file, he tried another random file.
After clicking through a few files, Sebastian comes across what he clearly notices to be a human-life form. He hasn't come across any of these, yet.
Noting down the filename/number Sebastain went back to the main menu and chose 'Display' in the Bio menu.
The leftmost window grew in size until it covered the whole screen.
Most noticably was a photographic image of the 'subject'. It appeared to be a blonde human, tied up with several sets of pipes and ensnared in the same goop the adventureres had begun in.
He didn't appear to be breathing.
DNA information also expanded, as did a message in the lower left of the screen..
"Human Male, Deceased."
Sebastian chose the next file in the list, and displayed it again.
The DNA strands are unlike any you recognize, as is the creature in the photographic image.
It appears to be some kind of cross between a lion and a bird, roughly as large as a lion, but feathered, with the beak and eyes of a bird.
The display reads, "Griffin, Deceased".
Luminous instantly recognizes it without the tag..
"Isn't there any goddamn pattern to this stupid thing?"
Going back to the first menu he selected 'Find'.
"Griffon?" Luminous says without thinking. He inches closer to the picture of the beast to get a better look.
Recalling the holes in the chamber with the other creatures, the black queen made her way back into the control room. Her insectoid body traveled from one hole to the next, trying to ascertain whether they might be used to leave this place.
The holes were not particularly big, and Spite discerned that while it was likely they led *somewhere*, they quickly narrowed down into a gap too small for her to slink through.
<->
Luminous only gets a glimpse of the proud lion-bird creature before another window appears...
The Find Window has the more traditional search box and extension selection window, along with a tab at the top with "Advanced" labelled on it.
"A gryphon? Do they have a gryphon in here?"
Relm stepped out of the passage she'd just walked back down and moved towards Luminous and Sebastian, a surprised expression on her face.
Switching to the Advanced tab, Sebastian looked over the options there. Not looking at Relm he answered her question. "They had at least one. It's dead now though."
"Oh, wonderful. That probably would have been us in a while longer, I gather."
"Probably. Now I'm trying to find out what else is alive in here. Or what was alive for that matter."
Relm nodded again. "That door that fell down outside was corroded by acid, if that means anything to you. Any idea why there'd have been acid around the doors? Some sort of trap, maybe?"
Sebastian winced. "I didn't pay attention to that. Don't think it was a trap though. Whoever created this place could have made better ones."
Various celluar options of which Sebastian cannot make heads or tails appear.
He can, however, recognize the options to search for DNA base pairs, easily discerns the fact that he can narrow his search to Photosynthetic creatures should he choose, and, perhaps most interestingly, see the 'deceased/live' box.
Various other options are present, on such varied topics as respitory systems, date, a list of planets (none of which Sebastian, or indeed anyone else, recognizes), and 'Sentient'.
As Sebastion and Relm talk, Luminous steps back and takes a good look around the room. While he reconized the Griffon, he felt out of his depth here...at least in this body.
Also, the possibility that a Griffon or other unpleasant creature could be around made keeping an eye out a bit more interesting than a glowing piece of flat glass.
Relm flicked a glance back at Luminous, then looked back at Sebastian. "Unless they're in the same awful condition as everything else around here. Something to watch out for, anyway."
She paused a moment.
"Does anyone know where that monster went?"
"I saw it go over there," Luminous said simply.
Selecting the 'Alive' option first, Sebastian run the search.
There were exactly 14 subjects labelled under 'Alive'.
Most of the documents showed no relevance to each other, however, four of them shared a common feature;
They were titled, in order, ExPlTS-73, ExPlTS-74, ExPlTS-75, and, funnily enough, ExPl-TS-76, in order..
Leaving the four documents grouped together alone for now, he quickly pulled the display for each of the other creatures first. "I got a feeling I know the other four already."
Sebastian couldn't understand most of the data, but he could see the pictures.
7 of the pictures were, apparently, last photographs before the subject went 'missing'. They included:
What Sebastian could only discern to be four other humans; two caucasian males, one Asian, and one black man. They all looked to be fairly fit, healthy specimens.
The other creations were a little more difficult to place.
The first appeared to be a spindly, humanoid figure. It didn't appear to have much of a torso; just it's spine connecting a skeletal framework which small amounts of flesh falling off it. It's eyes seemed to glow an unholy red.
The second was a very odd, beetlelike creature. It's exoskeleton looked extremely tough, and it had two long pincerlike hands which extended from it's front, each equipped with 5 very sharp-looking fingers.
The third was a broad-shouldered, green-tinged humanoid, who looked extremely savage. He had large tusks extending from his bottom lip. He apparently had some kind of blade instead of a hand on his right arm, jutting out from his wrist.
The remaining creatures were, apparently, still within the tubes.
They were difficult to make out; one of them appeared to be a larger-than-normal humanoids; but it's face was indistuinguishable, obscured by the strange liquid that held it.
A Centaur was in a larger-than-usual tube, but large chunks of his body were simply no longer there. They had been replaced by strange, cybernetic enchancments. A look of fury was etched across his face.
The final picture was simply blank.
ALL subjects appeared to have various cuts and scars across their bodies..
OOC: Relm and Luminous instantly recognize the green thing as a particularly strong Orc with a blade grafted to it's wrist. Sebastian probably does, too, if he knows stuff about fantasy.
"They had an interesting collection, didn't they? That thing looks almost like an umber hulk, but . . . if all those things are running around, this isn't a safe place to be. Hopefully they're gone by now."
"Interesting. Though that blank picture worries me. Now for the real question. Which of these are intelligent." With that he opened the search menu and added 'Sentient' to the critteria.
The humans appeared, naturally.
The greenskined, tusked humanoid's file also appeared, along with the centaur.
The four as of yet unchecked files also appeared. No other files joined them.
"I'm more worried about the that undead, personally. I think that might have been a liche."
Sebastian looked strangely at the girl. "A what? Liche?"
He pulled up the displays for the other four creatures as he waited for the anwer.
Relm blinked. "A liche. You know. An undead mage."
The noises throughout the ship had remained fairly constant. The occasional rumble, the occasinoal thump, a semi-regular banging..
However, the ship hadn't clicked before.
What's more, the clicking seemed to be getting closer.. and nobody could tell what direction it was coming from, as it somehow echoed throughout the room..
Relm started, and quickly looked around the room trying to identify the source of the noise.
Relm isn't exactly sure, but she *thinks* it's coming from the side walls. At least, that's where the noise seems loudest.
And whatever it is, it's getting closer. Of this there is no doubt.
Relm crouches on one knee and closes her eyes, trying to concentrate.
Luminous quietly listens to Relm and Sebastion as they discuss liches. If that IS a lich and it's active...well, this is starting to sound like a goatfuck in progress. For the first time, Luminous wished he had that accursed holy sword.
As he hears the clicking, Luminous glances around, trying to locate the source of the sound, as well as accounting for all the people(or things in the case of the demon looking creature), as well as looking around for anything that could be used for cover or as a weapon.
Luminous noted the sounds were louder from the sides. He also noted that all his 'companions' were within the control room, with Relm and Sebastian being near the control panel, and the bug-thing just milling about.
He could note that the corridor leading back into the holding pens they'd first come from could provide cover from anything that came this way, though he couldn't see anything usable as a weapon (except, of course, the bug-thing, which looked to have enough spikes to hold up an army).
Luminous turns to Relm.
"Do you know what this...sound is?" he asks bluntly.
"No, but it's coming from under the floor," she paused for a moment "it actually sounds almost like a large bug."
Luminous nods, trying to pinpoint the sound and not be under it or even close to it.
Sebastian stood up from the computer and looked around for any loose small bits of junk before heading to the middle of the room. "We staying here or going back that way?"
It was a little late for talking, as several *more* holes were burrowed straight through the floor in a cloud of dust.
Sharp, elongated pincers emerged from these holes, followed by several disgusting-looking bug-creatures.
They looked like overgrown beatles, but not *quite* like the earlier one seen in the picture. For starters, they didn't have fingers for pincers; they weren't quite as a large: a few feet long, and not very tall.
However, those pincers looked awfully sharp.
Two of them appeared near Relm and Sebastian; one happening to burrow rather close to the command console, which suddenly went blank.
Another one appeared near Luminouis, pincers raised to strike.
And still there was the sound of clicking.
Having known that they were coming and even roughly where it was coming from, Relm pivoted towards the nearest bug and thrust out an arm, compressing the air in front of her and using it like a battering ram to shoev the bug-thing away from her.
Luminous tries to dodge to where he has a bit of space, looking for an opening to counterattack if the thing does attack. (Assuming, of course, he doesn't get skewered or anything.)
Taking a step back away from the creature, Sebastian concentrated on the thing and willed it off the ground and further away. He was ready to duck any attack if his tactic failed.
Relm, having prepared herself earlier, managed to send the thing flying away from her as it burrowed through the ground, sending it into a wall.
Luminous managed to manuever himself somewhere near to the corridor they last left, but one of the bug-things was gazing at him intently.
Sebastian's mental attack was a little too slow, however; his efforts to duck didn't come to fruition as the bug thing stayed low to the ground and used one of it's pincers to slash him across the knee..
Relm drags the same arm through a short arc, releasing another blast of air at the bug - this one compressed into a blade.
As her arm finishes it's arc, she propels herself out of her crouch and to her right, trying to put some distance between herself and the bug she'd seen come up near Sebastian.
The blade slammed into the bug-thing, slashing apart a chunk of it's chest.
It toppled and landed on the ground, then remained still.
Wait a moment...
Luminous stops, takes a step forward back towards to bug in a manner that hopefully gets it's attention further.
Growling at the creature Sebastian used the pain to fuel his attack. "Grrrrr... Stupid thing..."
Luminous certain gets the bugs attention, as it lunges towards him, pincers raised..
Sebastian's attack is unwieldy, but seems to work, sending this bug flying into a wall as well..
However, another bug was coming from one of holes near him, and it seemed there were more on the way..
Luminous strafes to the side, intent on dodging the attack and giving the creaturee a good kick in the rear as it goes past him after missing.(And hopefully into the metal wall).
At least that's the idea.
The creature's carapace is harder than it looks; Luminous's kick manages to send it forward a few paces, but it dosn't look particularly hurt.
Whirling around in time to see the bug disappear past Luminous, Relm . . . realized she didn't have a clean line of sight.
Drawing her arm back and getting ready to throw another gale blade, she yelled, "Wing-person! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"
Keeping the first bug up in the air, Sebastian took a mental hold of several pieces of debree and accelerated them across the floor towards the hole and the bug in it. They were angled in such a way as to avoid the other people.
Hearing the woman, Luminous reacts and dodges further to the side.
The debris piled into the hole, elicting some kind of a skittering noise as the bug promptly dissapeared down it..
...but this mattered little, as another two bugs started coming out other holes, and the clicking sounds was getting to the stage where it was constant.
The moment she got a clear line of fire, Relm let fly with said gale blade.
Relms blade wasn't quite as effective against the bugs hardened carapace, but it did leave a slight scratch.
The clicking is growing to something almost like an extremely loud orchestra, and then, suddenly.. it stops.
Frowning, Luminous says "Now what?"
Ignoring the question - which was coming at a more than moderately bad time - Relm swung her left arm around in a sweeping arc, a look of intense concentration on her face. Air buffetted the nearest bug as Relm attempted to send this one flying as well, hopefully to crash into the other one near it.
The blade left another dent inside the things carapace, but Relm lost her direct line of sight as..
..a huge section of the floor in the centre of the room erupted, taking a pair of bugs with it. A great, huge, spiky bug thing came out of it, looking like much, much more than simply a larger version of the initial bugs.
For starters, it had more than two pincers. At least a dozen extended from it's frontal area, each coated in some strange, green liquid.
It was large; at least two metres across and almost as tall. It emitted a loud, piercing noise that deafened the four beings inside the room at the time..
Tremors also rocked the room, sending the three inside it severly off balance.
Luminous does his best to keep his balance in the quakes, looking to the way back...
OOC: Is the way to fall back blocked, and are any of the knocked out/dead bugs within reach?
Flinging the held bug behind the big one, Sebastian took hold of a few more pieces of debris and sent it hurtling towards the thing.
"Get to the corridor, girl!" he shouted at Relm, before narrowing his eyes and bringing a small wall of flames into existence between himself and the creature.
OOC: Yar, post when I say, Rez. ^^
IC: The creature had gotten mostly out of the hole when Sebastians attack hit it, creating several small holes within it's carapce. However, it appeared mostly unaffected.
The flaming wall was not burning particularly bright, but it was there, at least. The entire room was bathed in a bright, orange glow..
Putting words to actions, Relm went for the corridor. As quickly as she could, too.
Sticking around to pick a fight with this thing was probably not the best idea if it could be avoided, after all.
As soon as Relm started moving, Sebastian headed to the corridor himself.
Luminous, realizing that the shit was getting neck deep, followed Relm and Sebastion.
As the trio started moving, the thing managed to pull itself out of the hole in it's entirety, and let loose an ear-splitting screech.
Sebastian and Luminous managed to make it into the corridor, but the creature lumbered between the door and Relm before she was capable of reaching it, apparently trying to claw a way through the too-tight corridor.
As it did so, it travelled through Sebastians wall of flames, but it's hard shell seemed to resist most of the burn. Nonetheless, it was scorched black in places.
Sebastian flung a hand out towards the bug and sent more loose objects flying at the thing at high speeds. "Damnit. I canne take much mo'e. Need to be rid of the beastie soon."
The individual bits'n'pieces did little to distract that thing..
Noting that the creature was in between her and the corridor she'd been heading for . . .
This figures.
. . . Relm pivoted on her heel and ran for the door that they had entered the room by, concentrating and using an air effect to boost her into a flying leap over the smaller bugs in her path.
OOC: Ok, to stop all confusion. @_@
Relm just jumped in the *first* corridor, y'know, the one you all came out of.
Luminous and Sebastian just ran into the *other* corridor, y'know, the one Spite and Relm went down earlier to see if they could open the door.
Right, that's sorted out. @_@
IC: Relm managed to propel herself towards the corridor, managing not to hit her head on the wall or roof and getting clear of the majority of bugs.
Meanwhile, the big bug had started putting it's pincers to work, shredding parts of the corridor as Luminous and Sebastian watched..
OOC: Righto, here we go. There may be flaws in my memory. If so, I apologize. However, only bother to correct me if it is an Important Detail. I'm also jumping a little bit back in time to orient myself.
IC: Sebastian and Luminous had both found their way into another room, which contained a window with a magnificent few of.. space.
There are four doors in the room; two are obviously (to sebastian) Elevator doors; the other two are more corridors. There are a pair of corpses on the floor; Sebastian claimed a concussion pistol from one of them. They are currently uninjured; they have slamed the door back to the other room behind them, cutting off an onslaught of bugs. They have left Relm inside there, where she will be promptly ripped into a million pieces unless something is done about that, either by her or her former companions.
Queen Spite has just made her latest kill, and his hiding behind a console while a strange, elf-life being is searching a room for her. She is in the engine room of the ship, and has just overheard a pair of fey have a chat about the state of the ship in general.