*(mood song: "The Black Keys - Lonely Boy")

Sarah started to regain consciousness, she could feel a cold hard surface on her back, a moldy smell in the air, and a light shining through her eyelids. She opened her eyes only to get blinded and look to the side, finally realizing where she was. She had been tied up to a metallic table in a humid room with a dim lamp on the ceiling. Her equipment and tools had been removed, and only her spacesuit had been left on, but the modules on it had been pried off by force.

In a corner of the room, the same scarred lizardman was waiting and grinned seeing her wake up, grunting something before going away.

Sarah: "w-what... what happened..."

Rose: [YOU WERE CAPTURED! HOLD ON WE ARE ON THE WAY]

Sarah: "captured..." she remembered getting hit as her pained ear still ached "where am I?"

Rose: [apparently they took you to a room around the middle lower decks of the city, it should be easier to escape from here...]

Sarah: "what did that lizardman say?"

Rose: [...he was the one to capture you, he went to call the technopriest]

Sarah: "...what is that?"

Rose: [sigh... I'm sure you have heard the phrase "any science advanced enough is indistingable from magic"]

Sarah: "yes..."

Rose: [well, they revere any technology as artifacts from their ancestors, so what usually were maintenance manuals passed down for generations have turned into gospel and sacred books, adding unnecessary parts to the maintenance procedures every generation, and ending up with the mess you will soon see...]

Sarah: "wha-" but she didn't have time to say anything else as the metallic door to the room creaked open.

A very old lizardman dressed in a rough leather outfit that covered his head with a tall hood and long sleeves

, behind him, young male and female teenage lizardmen dragged a metal cart full of drawers of different sizes.

Sarah observed as the lizardman took out a helmet-like device and set it on Sarah's head, soon taking out a piece of fine leather and cleaning the device with some water as he rhythmically grunted something.

Sarah: [what is he doing?]

Rose: [well, he's setting a rough translation device on your head as he applies clean water instead of rust removal fluid, and chants, praises to their ancestors...]

The priest then took out a candle and lit it, dripping wax on positions over the helmet and stamping seals on them.

Sarah: [...and what purpose does that have?]

Rose: [hmmm right now nothing as that text just contains praises and songs, but if I had to guess it probably was used to keep inventory long ago]

The helmet started humming and suddenly Sarah started to understand what the priest was singing.

Priest: "OH GREAT ANCESTORS! BESTOW POWER ON THIS YOUR RELIC! OH, GREAT ANCESTORS! BESTOW WISDOM ON US!"

Sarah: "you are noisy-" but her voice was instantly translated to grunts by the helmet.

The priest stopped in place: "hm? noisy? the holy praises are... noise to you?"

Sarah could see the madness on the priest's face as the hood was pulled slightly back, a cold sweat took her as she quickly answered.

Sarah: "n-no, but... why do so many things just to turn on a device?"

The priest scowled: "hmph you came from the sky and don't know something so simple? the ancestor's spirits living inside the relics need to be appeased for them to work"

Sarah almost laughed: "pfft- n-no that's not how that works, for starters you shouldn't clean metal with water even if it's clean water, it's rusty you need to apply clean oil to it-"

Priest: "oil!? you wanna apply dirty oil to a holy relic? why would we-"

Sarah: "Just listen, oxygen in the air reacts with the metal creating rust, but if you apply some oil as a thin coating, the air can't touch the helmet as it creates a barrier, protecting it, think about it, how many of your relics are rusted?"

Priest: "...many..."

Sarah: "and what do you do then?"

Priest: "we scrape off the rust and polish them regularly..."

Sarah: "and if the polishing damages the piece?"

Priest: "yes... when a relic is polished too many times some of its pieces are replaced, and once that can't be done anymore the relic is used to repair other relics..."

Sarah: "Have you ever wondered why you do what you do? like the seals for example"

Priest: "how could we appease the spirits of the ancestors then? the seal contains praises for all of the priests that have ever worked on the relic, and one day my name will be there too"

Sarah: "...that is just inventory control, it's done in case someone breaks or loses anything, then it will be easy to find the one to blame"

Priest: "...but the spirits-"

Sarah: "I came from the sky didn't I? my words stand true, and... if you untie me I could teach you more..."

Priest: "I... hmmm... do ancestors look like you now?"

Sarah: [what do I say?]

Rose: [but of course, lie as much as you want, even tell him you are his great grandma if you want, who cares for some savages...]

Sarah: [I see... hope you care about us more...]

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

Rose: [hah... as long as you don't give me reasons not to... then I shall care for my friends of course]

Sarah: "...the ancestors you talk about... yes, their forms have diversified now, taking on multiple body shapes, the body is just a temporary vessel after all"

Priest: "I knew it! the body being temporary... eternal life... hahaha... the pope will be pleased!"

Sarah: "pope?"

Priest: "yeah, he's the great leader of our faith in the ancestors"

Sarah: "is he... here?"

Priest: "hahaha no... of course not, this is but a small city... the pope lives on the first city, the holy citadel, the first city our ancestors built"

Rose: [built? they just added scrap metal from their downed spaceships on top of my main administrative center entrance... damned bastards...]

Sarah: "so... wasn't this planet supposed to be alive?"

The priest grinned widely: "planet?... oh, you must be referring to the great enemy... yes,

but we have it under control, as per the orders left behind by the ancestors, we feed it the most poisonous substances available in every ritual... it should be dead by now, but the ancestor's orders are clear, to never stop the rituals until they are back, so no ancestor, I don't know if the great enemy is still alive, though I do believe it should be dead"

Rose: [...as dead as all of you will be kekeke...]

Sarah: [you can't murder someone for something their ancestors did!]

Rose: [I can, and I shall, they are pests, parasites...]

Sarah: [but... they didn't do anything to you, I'm sure I can convince them-]

Rose: [didn't you hear they have been poisoning me for generations? every single one of them, every. single. one... will die]

Sarah gulped, she could feel the hate and anger.

Priest: "ancestor?"

Sarah: "...you can call me Sarah... can you untie me now?"

The Priest seemed conflicted: "ancest- Sarah... I could, but can't... the city chancellor is waiting to meet you once I finish, but... I will put a good word for you ancestor... I will gladly show you the holy forges if you are released" and then turned around and exited the door along with the young lizardmen pushing the tools cart.

A few minutes passed and four huge lizardmen entered the room, including the one with a scar that had captured Sarah, and after them came an even bigger one, his head close to the ceiling.

Chancellor: "...these lower deck rooms, it's so small..." he then looked at Sarah at the table "A pleasure to meet you... ancestor... we were listening to that small conversation you had with the techno priest... unfortunately we can't release you"

Sarah frowned slightly, but kept her composure: "why is that?"

Chancellor: "well you see, we don't know if you are an ancestor or not, but what we can be sure is..." he pointed at the ceiling "you came from the sky, and that holds a lot of value in itself... we can't let you go and get devoured by some beast somewhere don't you think? so why don't you work for me?"

Sarah: "work for you? in what way?"

Chancellor: "nothing complicated... just doing everything I say when I say so"

Sarah: "...what if I refuse?"

Chancellor: "kekeke... then... you will never leave this place..." he clicked his fingers and the other four exited the room "just think about it, take your time haha..." and also exited the room.

Sarah struggled to stand up the moment the door closed, but it was no use, she didn't have her tools and the bindings were too tough.

Sarah: [what do I do now? do I need to pretend to collaborate with them?]

Rose: [yeah, just help them with meaningless things that won't improve their fighting capabilities too much, like repairing life support systems or something like that, I'm sure most piping systems here ain't working correctly]

Sarah: [that is indeed a good idea... I should waste as much time as I can, how far are you guys?]

Rose: [well, my planetary body is bigger than Earth, but so you understand we are about 3642 nautical miles away (6745 kilometers) we are going at 443 Km/h so if the engine doesn't break or anything fails... we should arrive in 15 hours]

Sarah: [that's a relief, I just need to-] but then she heard a quiet knock on the door.

A young voice was heard: "a-ancestor! are you there?"

Sarah: "yes?"

Rushed young voices were then heard: "it's really there!" "I told you guys! I came with the priest earlier" "waaah an ancestor!"

Sarah: [what is-] but then felt a ping of pain on her head.

Rose: [let's see... seems like a group of lizardmen kids... orphans maybe? some seem famished...]

Sarah: [what was-]

Rose: [ah, I used your brain as a hub for a second, jeez Erik doesn't complain when I do~]

Sarah: [I see...]

Sarah: "hey kids, can you open the door?"

Rushed young voices were then heard again: "she knows!" "how does she know?!" "wow! ancestors are cool!"

A young voice was heard: "yes ancestor, just a moment!"

Rushed young voices: "hey where did you get the keys?" "hehe I stole them from the priest when he went to play with senior sister, they play for hours so it was easy"

The door was opened with a click, as a group of twelve young lizardmen surrounded the table Sarah was in, and taking out improvised scrap metal blades cut Sarah's bindings.

A kid a little taller than the others, the one Sarah had seen with the priest earlier, came to the front and bowed to Sarah with the others as Sarah stood up from the table: "hello ancestor, my name is Kringib, we came to rescue you!"

Sarah caressed her wrists as she tried her best to smile: "is that so Kringib? you guys are really brave but... what is your plan to save me?"

Another kid stepped forward, this time a scrawny one: "oh ancestor, my name is Erbkag leader of the sunset fighters! we will help you!"

Sarah chuckled seeing the kids so serious: "how exactly?"

Erbkag: "don't worry ancestor, we know these corridors like the back of our hand, no one can find us if we decide to hide!"

Sarah stretched her hand and patted Erbkag's scaly head and smiled: "I see... let's go then?-huh?"

Erbkag trembled and cried.

Sarah put away her hand: "I'm sorry... are you okay"

Erbkag using his worn leather shirt to clean his face: "I-Its alright ancestor, it's just... it reminded me of my mother..."

Sarah: "what happened to your parents?"

Kringib: "Ehem! we... we will tell you on the way ancestor..."

They exited the room and walked to a wall at the end of the hallway, ripping one of the scrap metal panels and revealing a dark corridor.

Kringib: "if we use the secret corridors no one will find us!"

Sarah turned on her suit lights and entered the other side of the wall: "let's go kids"

Kids: "yes ancestor!" they sealed the hole and lead the way

-- Hours later --

The chancellor came back on a good mood, opening the door to the cell himself as he already started talking: "what about it ancestor~? have you thought about-" but he only found an empty table as his eyes dilated, taking a deep breath as he shouted, "ATTENTION, THE ANCESTOR ESCAPED, FIND HER!!!!"

-- Back at the dark corridors --

Sarah and the kids had been walking for hours.

Sarah: "so... your parents were killed by the chancellor?"

Kringib: "yeah... he... he needed bodies to create special war beasts..."

Sarah: "war beasts?"

Kringib: "when the monsters we capture eat a lot of our kind they develop intelligence and the ability to understand orders, so they are easier to tame..."

Sarah: "oh... fed to monsters..."

Erbkag: "b- but we were lucky... Kringib and senior sister were chosen by the technopriest, so we can afford to buy some food at least"

Sarah: "the technopriest huh... you said he was playing with your senior sister? what kind of games?"

Kringib shrugged: "I don't know, he always says I'm not ripened yet... and that they are just stretching... but senior sister always cries afterward so I'm not sure..."

Sarah cringed, touching children was a heavy crime back on Earth, punished by total and permanent sterilization, eliminating any desire and emotion, the individual became a machine to just work until death came for them.

Sarah: "seems like that priest doesn't deserve to be spared after all..."

Kringib: "what?"

Sarah: "it was nothing"

Rose: [none will be spared]

Sarah: [not even these kids?]

Rose: [would you spare cockroaches just cause they are young?]

Sarah: [...it ain't the same-]

Rose: [it is to me, what do you think they will feel once I annihilate everything they have ever known anyways?]

Sarah: [sigh... it's just too sad... they could grow up to be good workers... maybe even researchers...]

Rose: [...(ㆆ _ ㆆ) sure...]

-- At the submarine --

The submarine wasn't hiding anymore, it sailed the surface as it rocked up and down, lot's of lizardman groups had seen them and tried to chase them, but no one could catch to their speed.

Inside the submarine almost all octopeople, including the small Yaksha were suffering from motion sickness. On top deck only Erik and Rose were there, holding on firmly to the guard rail as the fast winds pushed on their bodies like a typhoon.

Erik had a serious look on his face: [15 hours... can the submarine endure it?]

Rose shrugged: [we might break in half at any time, and there will surely be a lot of internal damage to repair afterward but... yeah, we'll arrive]

Erik: [good...] the reinforced metal creaked and bent under his grip [can't wait to meet those lizard bastards...] gritting his sharp teeth in anger.

Rose: [kekeke right? I can't wait either~]