Damn it
...
How long have we been here?
...
I mean, at some point they have to let us out to do a trial... or something
...
I think that's how it works, anyway.
...
Hey...
...
HEY!, are you listening to me, Koh?
...
Asleep again
...
Makes sense
...
Maybe I should get some sleep too
...
But what happens if someone shows up while we're down?
...
I'm going to stay up a little longer
...
Just a little bit
...
----------------------------------------
......
Two figures walked through a dusty ventilation shaft
Edward had never been a fan of small, confined spaces. He didn't really consider himself claustrophobic, but he also wasn't a fan of the idea of getting stuck somewhere where his body would never be found for a few days.
But at least he was getting through it.
He and the spiky figure person.
After what seemed like hours of long panic attacks and existential crises, just analyzing what had just happened to him in less than a day's spam, he had finally accepted his situation.
somewhat.
Either he was in a particularly nightmarish fever dream, in a complicated virtual simulation, or it was the afterlife and he had died since he fell off that cliff and that uneasy feeling was gone.
He preferred the first.
The sleek, sharp figure had sat in its corner across the room while Edward cried his heart out after it gave him the beeping electronic device and tried to explain the situation, deciding apparently to give him some space, or simply waiting for him to be finished whining and lamenting so it could finally communicate its plan.
A few Kuutios did come to briefly take a look at the cell, while they provided the inmates with dry food and liquid, but they just stared at Edward and the figure for a moment, then left.
The character introduced itself as Sachai – or simply “Sacky”, just before pulling down the hood of their robe and fully revealing their face. Spiny, angular shapes predominated all around a heart-shaped head, and two prominent horns protruded from the sides. A strange mask-shaped segment with various dark openings housed those two piercing white eyes, which Edward had identified before.
This all added up to a rather expressionless visage, complete with a long, mechanical instrument embedded near their neck, from which he assumed the robotic voice was emanating.
Sacky had declared that the only linear and concise path out of the prison was the ventilation system present in the vast majority of cells, partially accessible from ceiling shafts, ample and most certainly out of use at the time, judging by the state of the place's temperature.
They were able to rise up the shaft relatively easily, both because of Sacky's surprising aptness to uplift others and itself, and by taking advantage of the time when most of the inmates were resting or sleeping, which gave them a decent window of opportunity to try their luck.
The problem was, they had been crawling silently for a while,
but they didn't really seem to be going anywhere.
The cold metal walls of the well made Edward shiver every time a bit of his exposed skin touched them.
He had removed some of the medical tape from around his torso and limbs, mostly for comfort, but now he was left with just a bunch of uncovered wounds all around.
The mechanical device Sacky had given him to communicate was lightly tucked into one of his pockets. It didn't really fit well, but that was about the only place he could carry it at the moment.
They kept up the pace for a while and Edward began to worry.
Should I ask?
he looked forward, where a few slender legs were moving slowly.
Maybe it will seem rude...
"...Eh... excuse me, Sacky..."
This artificial voice took a second to respond
"Yes?"
"...do... do you know where we're going?"
“Why, yes, the release from the jail”
A moment of silence follows, interrupted by the sound of the walls lightly banging.
“and you’re completely sure of that…, right?”
...
The sound of the well has calmed down.
there was no response from Sacky.
“I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”
As soon as the voice finished, a metallic clicking sound sounded below.
A few minutes passed until they arrived somewhere.
Sacky pushed a ventilation grille from inside the shaft. Edward supposed that whatever held it together was a little rusty or loose, but even then, the strength Sacky possessed shocked him greatly.
They both walked out of the way and found themselves in an empty, dimly lit room.
Ed took a little longer to crawl out, and after he did, he shook off some dust.
They stood still for a second, noticing a complete and dramatic absence of sound. Even taking into account the times when the other inhabitants of the prison were resting, one could never help but hear faint mumbling or snoring.
Yet here, there was none of that.
Edward never questioned how many people there actually were in this place; just so many lives, so many different and innominate beings cluttered all around him. And then there was just him, having negative knowledge of everything that was happening around him at the moment, still so unsure about it all. How many people like him have also been trapped?, how many have ever escaped?. Just thinking about the possibilities made him want to lie against the wall and just go back to lamenting himself again.
Where was he?
Upon closer inspection, the room simply looked like an unused cell.
They both walked out into a hallway that looked a lot like the one on the other side, but completely empty.
Edward chose to stay right behind Sacky, just in case.
They moved silently towards the other cells, noticing the complete absence of inmates or guards.
Everything also seemed dusty and the few lights in the ceiling flickered very often.
Sacky turned towards Edward in a sudden movement, surprising the human.
“An unused prison block, I suppose.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Ed almost reached for the mechanical device in his pocket again.
"...I see"
Sacky raised an arm to the right, gesturing to the far end of the elongated hallway, where a metal door filled the entire end frame.
“If the architecture is like the other side of the ventilation, the exit is on the right.”
Sacky reached down and looked at Edward expectantly.
Ed just stared back, diffidently.
...
The bristling, spiky figure took a step back and began walking to the left.
The human remained motionless.
Sacky walked away, silently.
there was a moment of quietude.
Edward looked to the right.
trying to get himself to move.
The metal door loomed above and a very faint draft of dry air passed through it.
Shuddering thoughts ran through his mind.
the mechanical device was cold in his pocket.
He headed to the left, at a considerable pace.
Sacky had disappeared from sight.
his pulse quickened for a moment.
nevertheless, he tried to make as little noise as possible.
You never know.
Once Edward found it, the spiky figure remained lying on the wall of an empty cell, in a particularly off-putting manner.
The timid human peered through the bars, making no sound.
Sacky turned and stared.
Ed once again felt a cold sweat covering his forehead.
He walked over and sat down right next to Sacky.
The other still looked at him, just as blankly as ever.
Finally, Sacky looked away at the wall again.
"Why are you here?" » the artificial voice echoed lightly in the room. "in the jail"
Edward rested his head on his hands.
"I-I...I think--"
“You don’t know, do you?” Sacky's synthetic voice declared, while Edward shook his head. “Infringement of private property”
Ed raised his head slightly
"Um...how do you..."
“Because that’s also why I’m here.”
"So?..."
“And you were on my cell”
"...I...I'm not sure that's how it works."
"It is"
"...Okay then..." Ed replied, intrigued by this strange exchange. “Why did you violate private property?”
"Because I needed to go somewhere on this moon, but private property was on the way. So I tried to cross it but a lot of people grabbed me and put me in the cell"
Edward just thought Sacky was exaggerating, maybe it just sounded silly because of the mechanical voice,
But then again...
He glanced around the empty cell they were in, not noticing anything in particular.
"...by the way...Why this cell?"
“Because there’s humidity in the walls,” Sacky expressed casually, “I need it from time to time.”
"...All right"
Sometimes talking made ed forget that he was on a distant moon full of unearthly creatures.
so he preferred to keep talking.
Sacky lay against the wall for a few more seconds, before standing up and rubbing their neck a little.
“Let us go,” the bristling figure returned to the hallway and headed to the right.
Edward followed right behind.
Something about that made him smile, if only a little.
Across the hall, the large metal door creaked, the slight draft of dry air growing colder as they got closer.
It wasn't too difficult for Sacky to open it, in fact, the material seemed oddly low quality, compared to most of the other things in the prison.
After the gate there was a large staircase with a small balcony.
A strange landscape was emerging on the horizon.
The sky was dark and gloomy, there was a huge flickering fog filling the stale, bluish ground, several lights palely illuminated small areas in the distance.
Above the clouds, however, a huge ghostly sphere took shape.
“Qbique Meilleur, the planet who's moon we are in” remarked Sacky's voice, the synthetic speech distorting in a strange way, probably due to the lack of direct translation of the name in the chosen language.
The two walked down the steps, Edward glancing at the balcony every now and then.
The place spanned a secluded courtyard and a set of rectangular buildings surrounding a circle.
There was a distinct, larger one on the far left, and some dim lights could be seen from the windows, and distant shadows moved.
"Their office"...
Saving this one for last, they began moving towards the next building on the right. A similar door closed the entrance to the building, just as strangely easy to open as the previous one.
Inside, they encountered a corridor almost identical to the previous one.
They entered cautiously, as usual, but saw nothing at first glance.
Sacky stood still and looked around in silence, then raised an arm pointing to the first cell to the right
“Someone is here”
.
Two figures sat at the corners of the confined space, one taller and bulkier than the other.
The second shook its head and reached out to the one on the other side, muttering something in the dark.
"...Get up, Koh. someone came"
----------------------------------------