Eimose bolted up and vomited up contaminated water, grimacing when he put his respirator back on without being able to rinse the taste out of his mouth.
“Where am I?” he managed to groan.
“No ‘thank you’? See if I try to save your life again.” Terra muttered.
“You’re the reason why we fell in the first place! What happened after that anyway, I can’t remember. Seriously, where are we?” Eimose clutched his chest in pain. “And why do I feel like I was punched a hundred times?”
“Probably because you were.” Eimose glared at Terra. “Hey, it’s not like I had many options! You hit a beam coming down and were knocked out by the time you hit the water, and robots don’t exactly float so I had to find a way to the surface somehow.”
“That still doesn’t explain why my chest hurt so much.”
“You looked like you were dead and I didn’t know what to do so I kept punching you. I lost count after fifteen.”
Eimose looked at Terra in disbelief.
“Hey, it worked didn’t it?” defended Terra, raising her arm in defense.
He shook his head trying to remember exactly what happened but his memory was blank from after he fell until now, so he had to believe Terra. Looking around he couldn’t deny that he was in some sort of subaqua considering how many pipes there were running along the length of the wall and how musty the air tasted. Although that may have been caused the remnants of getting sick earlier.
“There are two life signs on board at the helm of this thing and they haven’t moved, so I doubt they realized we snuck on. We should hurry and get my bag while we’re unnoticed.”
Eimose couldn’t fight that logic and followed beside Terra as they walked down a narrow corridor. He was glad to see that all the anger Terra had been emitting earlier had abated and she was actually treating him like a person and not a parasite. Maybe this was her way of apologizing for nearly getting him killed? Whatever it was, he was glad she hadn’t left him to die in the water, although his chest was already blossoming with deep purple bruises and breathing felt like his lungs were being squeezed. Nonetheless, he was alive, and at this point, he just needed to work with what he was given.
It didn’t take long for the two to make their way down a ladder and through a few more corridors until they reached a room tightly packed with crates and canvas bags. There were shelves on the walls, but they were overflowing with luggage and the ground was non-existent due to the vast amount of boxes and miscellaneous items scattered throughout the room.
“So is there an easy way to find the bag or do we have to do this the hard way?” Eimose tried.
Terra stayed silent for a bit, thinking.
“The tracker tells me the bag is at the bottom of that back shelf over there.”
Eimose followed the line of her finger and saw that she was pointing to the densest area of clutter. Using the partially exposed corner of a table, Eimose clamored on top of the mountain of stolen goods until he reached the corner. He grabbed at crates and bags and threw them over his shoulder, cursing when more junk flooded the area he’d cleared.
“How far down is it?” He called out over the piles of luggage.
“You’re almost there. Just a bit farther.” Terra replied.
He kept throwing his obstacles out of his way, trying to spot the dark fabric of the bag. His frustration grew as he found a third bag identical to his own yet wasn’t. When he bashed his chin against the edge of a crate for the fifth time, he finally snapped.
“Are you sure it’s here? I can’t find it. Am I close?” He cried out after he’d let a long string of expletives out.
“Yup,” Terra yelled out. “Oh wait, silly me, it’s right here.”
Eimose jumped up to see Terra stroll over to a nearby shelf and pluck out a bag that was on top of the mess. She’d been messing with him the entire time. A wave of anger washed over him, but he shoved it away. Taking a deep breath, he pushed his way back to the top of the pile of goods and made his way back to level ground, sweating and covered in more bruises than when he started.
“Alright, let’s get out of here,” Eimose said in a huff.
“Not yet. You need to carry this bag while I hunt for the bag with my arm. Wait, nevermind, it’s right next to it.”
Terra grabbed a second bag and opened it, revealing a matching pair to the arm she was currently using.
“Any way you can replace my arm now or do we still have to wait until Onto?”
“Umm, I don’t think I’m qualified for that,” stated Eimose, caught off guard.
“Not talking to you. There’s so much stuff around here that you could probably find the equipment you need.” Terra paused, listening to Neiman explain to her the mechanics of assembling a robot. “Fine, fine, Onto it is.”
The metal around them suddenly shuttered and a loud humming noise reverberated the very walls around them as it lurched forward. Eimose caught himself on the edge of the table before he landed on the corner of a box while Terra’s stability systems kicked in and she barely had to take a step to right herself.
“Stupid question, but why are we moving?” Terra’s voice shook.
“Well we are in a subaqua,” stated Eimose.
“Do I look like I know what that is?”
“Uh, it’s a ship that travels underwater. The tech was lost a long time ago but I guess someone found it and made it.”
“What happens if something goes wrong? What if there’s a leak? Aren’t people afraid of drowning? Why are people doing this?”
Terra’s eyes glowed more brightly than usual and she looked around as if the walls around her were going to collapse inwards on her. She bolted out of the room and Eimose quickly grabbed the two bags and followed as quickly as he could. He lost sight of her within seconds, but the frantic pounding of her boots against the metal interior of the subaqua made it easy to follow her path. When he finally caught up with her, she was where he’d come to trying to pry a hatch open on the ceiling he hadn’t noticed.
“Gods! Stop or you’ll really kill us all!” Eimose cried out, dropping the bags and grasping at her arm to pull her away. Even though she only had one arm he was confident she had the strength to release the pressure seal and fight the weight of the water above them to escape.
“I need to get out of this death trap! I don’t want to drown!” She cried out.
“You can’t drown! You’re a robot! You were just in the water!” Eimose yelled as he struggled to pull back Terra’s arm.
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The words sunk in and Terra stopped trying to pry the hatch open.
“I can’t drown. That’s right, I’m safe. I can’t drown. I can’t drown.” She chanted to herself, caught in a trance.
Eimose waved his arm in front of Terra but she was still reciting her mantra and not registering anything. In the distance he could hear a set of footsteps echoing down a corridor--he needed to snap Terra back into reality or they’d get caught! He waved his hands and snapped his fingers, even slapped Terra in the mask, but that only resulted in a very sore hand and no progress.
“AI override." Neiman’s voice came online. "Alright, Eimose, let’s get out of here.”
Neiman grabbed both of the bags in his hand and sprinted down the corridor, taking a different route than before. Eimose ran after him and was glad to see that Neiman was taking his speed into consideration and slowing down so Eimose wouldn’t be left behind.
Neiman came to a stop in front of a door and dropped the bags, using his hand to push buttons very rapidly and systematically into a number pad to the side of the entrance. The footsteps got closer and Eimose was beginning to wonder if Neiman would be able to get them in, but just as he thought the owner of the footsteps was about to turn the corner and spot them, the door slid open and they both jumped in, quickly sealing the door behind them.
Eimose stood at the side of the door holding his breath as he heard the footsteps pause for a moment outside the door, letting it out when he couldn’t hear them anymore.
“What the fuck just happened out there?” Eimose asked angrily. “Terra just panicked and then froze! She could have killed everyone and gotten us spotted!”
“Don’t blame her. According to what she told me about her life before she got trapped in this body, her first memory is drowning. She’s unsure as to why she was in the water in the first place, but as you can imagine it is a very traumatizing experience for someone as young as she is.” Neiman defended.
“But she was just in the water! She was in the water when we fell just fifteen minutes ago!”
“I admit, I had to force control much as I am doing now when we fell to the bottom. She began chanting like you saw and refused to move. I exhausted over half our battery magnetically charging this body so it would be attracted to the subaqua and I could reach you. As soon as we entered the subaqua she came to and proceeded to save you. She was never aware she was on this machine.”
“Remind me why you're not the one always in control? It makes way more sense for someone meant for a robot’s body to be controlling the robot than an eleven-year-old.” Grumbled Eimose.
“Powering an AI system requires much more battery as the super coolant systems must be engaged. When Terra is in control there is no fear of overheating and the only battery consumption she uses is for purely mechanical reasons like movement. A Combatant’s body is not made for energy efficiency so we need to be careful of power levels. Fortunately, we have four more power cells in this bag here, which will last us until Onto if we conserve. Speaking of, Terra is coming to.”
Eimose tried to find something to say to make Neiman stay but the logic of his argument was solid so Eimose was just going to have to be a young girl’s companion for a while longer.
“Are we still on the subaqua?” Terra asked quietly.
“Your attempt to kill us all failed, so yes.”
“Oh.” Terra sat down on the floor and hugged her knees.
This time, before Eimose opened his mouth again to chastise Terra, he saw an eleven-year-old stuck in a six-foot robotic shell.
“Listen, I know you’re afraid of the water, but there’s no way you’re going to drown. I love reminding you that you’re a robot, and this time is no different. Plus, this ship looks like its old and made a lot of trips and it’s still functioning, so it’s probably not going down just because you’re on it. I promise you that even if somehow this super-sturdy subaqua breaks and you start sinking, I’ll grab you and do everything in my power to get you to safety.”
Terra mumbled something into her knees and Eimose asked her to repeat what she’d said.
“That’s rich coming from someone who almost drowned a few minutes ago,” she said, a lighter lilt to her voice.
“Alright, so maybe I’m not the best rescuer you could get, but I promise you that I will come after you,” he said with a smile, hoping to keep Terra talking and get her moving. They needed to figure out where the subaqua was heading and somehow divert it to land so they could escape. Or did they?
“How are you feeling, because you might not like what I’m going to say next.” Eimose started, giving Terra a nervous smile as he proposed his idea.
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Henarie stepped over a bloodied hand as she approached the quivering male blonde pointing a rifle at her head.
“Don’t take a step forward! I swear I’ll shoot!” He yelled out. “You don’t know who I am! I am all-powerful here! I can make you rich!”
His gun shook and his sweaty fingers slipped over the trigger, eager to pull and end his nightmare. How had this woman gotten past all of his security and his elite pillaging team? There was no way an army could defeat his forces, and yet this lone woman had done it within an hour. This was no woman, no, this was the devil. When she took another step toward him he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger this time.
The bullet tore through her heart and she fell to the ground, blood pooling out of her open wound. The blonde’s face pulled up in a taut smile when he saw that he’d single-handedly killed the devil.
“Ha! You see that you bitch! You can’t take down a king!”
But she rose once again with a grin as she watched a floating black substance cling to her bleeding wound, sealing the wound and healing her, leaving only a torn hole in her shirt.
“Now that we got the fun part out of the way, how’s about you tell me where you took her?” Henarie said while flicking away bits of blood that had landed on her chin.
The blonde was at a loss for words. He had killed her, hadn’t he? He’d pulled the trigger--seen the bullet travel through her chest. So why was she standing? His knees buckled and he collapsed to the ground.
“Oh get over it, just tell me where she is. I know she’s nearby since it took a way shorter time for me to come back this time than usual. So, whatever your name is, where is Terra?” Henarie closed the distance between them and roughly grabbed his hair and forced him to look up at her. “Tell me now or I stop being nicey-nice-pants.”
“M-mercy!” He coughed out, flashes of his life passing in front of his eyes as he saw the face of death smiling down at him.
“Did I tell you I was merciful? No. Just tell me where she is and this will all be over so much faster,” she groaned with impatience.
“I don’t know anyone named Terra. I swear!”
“That’s unfortunate.” Henarie snapped his neck without a second thought and let his body crumple to the ground. How did no one know Terra? She was just going to have find her the hard way.
She sat down on the ground with her legs crossed and closed her eyes, focusing on the trail of concentrated black crystal energy. The trail was faint, but the remnants of the power it left behind made Henarie radiate with energy. Keeping her eyes closed, she followed the trail through corridors, not being stopped by any opponents since she’d dealt with nearly all of them. She hoped she frightened off anyone who dared think of stopping her--she wasn’t going to be interrupted this close to finding Terra.
The trail got stronger when she entered a room that had been obliterated. The energy in the air was full of stress and anger and fear, meaning there had been some sort of fight. She walked to the wall the energy was leading her to and removed a loose metal panel, revealing dense packing of fallen rocks.
“Oh, so you think you’re so clever, huh. Think again.”
Henarie squared up her feet to the rocks and took a deep breath and slowly released it, letting her energy settle in her body. She twisted her body and focused all her energy on her fist, bringing it down on the largest cluster of rocks. What happened next could only be described as nothing short of an explosion of dust as all the rocks within the impact zone of her fist were obliterated into near nothingness.
Henarie ran out of the tunnel, coughing and sneezing.
“Wow, I did not think that one through. Got the job done though.”
When the rocks and dust had settled enough for the respirator to stop intaking vast amounts of dust, Henarie stepped through the opening and into the dark tunnel. The pitch black didn’t deter her from her mission as she had closed her eyes to focus on the trail of energy. She had to crack her eyes open when the trail vanished into the distance and yet had a more concentrated cluster in front of her. Luckily she’d opened her eyes on time otherwise she would have been at great risk of falling through a large hole that led to a cavern.
“What are you doing Terra?” Henarie asked into the air.
She jumped down the hole, landing gracefully on an exposed beam. There was an odd fluctuation in the air that made Henarie hesitate before jumping down into the dark water below. Sitting on the beam, she closed her eyes again and focused on the oddity of the energy, carefully following its trail along the beam. There!
Henarie smiled as she picked up a small black crystal.
“Terra, Terra, Terra, how could you leave this behind. Someone bad might take it and use it for wrong.”
She smiled and stuffed it into her pocket.
“Terra, ready or not here I come.”
Her feet left the beam and she plunged into the water.