Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Falling…
Falling down…down, down, down. But, which way is down? Is it the direction he falls, could that be down? But… which way is he falling? Down, or up! Left or right? If there’s no down, there’s no up, and there’s no direction at all.
Flares fall as the air ignites. Everything shatters. Blazing metal twists and rains like shooting missiles, and carpet bombs. It’s all crashing down, a shattering meteor racing to the end of life. Running against the event horizon, tumbling towards a burning sun. A supernova, exploding and imploding at the same time.
And… falling, falling, falling, everything falling apart, falling away, falling down… nothing he can do but fall, all control, out of reach as he tumbles endlessly. Everything burning, melting, flashing red, screaming, dying, crashing.
But something’s coming, racing, rushing, it’s out for him, and it’s…it’s-

“Dustin!”
...
The world is an expanse of black. Something in his insides aches, something on his leg stings. His skin is beaten, his muscles spasm and shiver; is head throbs as if his brain is pounding and pulsing against his skull. From the constant ringing in his ears, like blaring sirens, to the harsh earth against his back.
“DUSTIN! Come on! Get up!”
There are hands shoving at him, grabbing his wrists, and touching his forehead.
“He’s alive, don’t worry about that.”
“We don’t know if he’s going to stay alive!”
“Ron, calm down.”
“When has that phrase ever calmed someone down!?”
“…”
“He has a point, Zuzy.”
His eyes open to a blurry soup of greys, greens, and tans. The blurs shape into faces that gaze down at him, with concern, then relief.
“Good morning sleepyhead,” says Ron’s voice.
“Look at that,” says Zuzana’s voice, “he’s okay."
“And he lives! He lives!” cheers Adam.
“You okay down there, hello?” says Brock, waving his hands over Dustin’s face. He winces slightly, as his vision flickers between light and dark. Brock scoffs, “of course it’s you who takes the longest to get up.”
“Like our favorite dumbass would, for skipping the escape pod,” Adam chuckles.
“Dustin is the last person you should be calling a dumbass here,” Ron says, “I could go into the details of how he saved the ship from exploding, but we don’t have time.”
“And you’re the last person who should call someone a dumbass, Adam,” Brock quips.
Dustin rubs his head, as he grunts. He’s so dizzy his head might as well be replaced with a spinning top. He gags.
“Don’t throw up,” says Brock, before Dustin heaves over and does exactly that. Adam barely avoids the vomit splatter.
“Are you okay?” Adam queries.
“…Nnnn…What the fuck…” Dustin heaves.
Ron goes to his side, and helps him to his feet. Dustin wobbles, and leans back on him, ready to topple. Adam rushes to support him.
“We need to get you to the hospital,” he states.
“You think?” Brock grumbles. Dustin pukes again, the rancid fluid drips down his chin.
“Where the hell are we anyway?” Ron questions.
“Some place called Reco-V21, or ‘Crimn,’ as the inhabitants call it,” Siobhan informs.
“Okay…”
“I think there’s nine continents here.” Adam asks. “That right?”
“Oh, I have no idea, sorry.”
Brock face palms. “The map thingy is busted anyway, that means we have to ask people. Anyone speak Crimnish?”
“We still have a bunch of logs on language and dialect, we can use those,” Siobhan suggests.
“I would prefer actually learning the language, it could make communication stronger and faster. Also, one of our translators could break,” Adam says.
“Okay…” Dustin groans, as he wiggles out of Ron’s grasp.
“First things first, we need to make a plan: what do we do from here?”
Their space ship, or at least, what’s left of it, sits shattered and smoking in the forest. Along the broken trail left by the crash, twisting trees are fractured, their branches scattered about the fragmented ground. Shards of shattered glass, contorted metal, and exposed wires are scattered in the ships ruin. The escape pods still have a ton of equipment inside.
“I say we find a town, and ask around,” Adam suggests.
“And get you to a doctor, let’s hope they have free healthcare,” adds Zuzana.
“I think we should scavenge all this stuff first,” says Brock.
“That’s kind of a no-brainer,” comments Adam, “but we don’t know where the nearest town is, at least I don’t.”
“My plan: walk around until we find a random town and go from there,” Ron says.
“How long was I out?” asks Dustin.
“A few hours, I think,” Adam answers.
“And none of you came up with any sort of plan yet?”
“Well, we wanted to wait until you woke up,” says Adam.
“Great idea…” Dustin grunts.
“Hey, we didn’t know what you were going to say,” says Brock.
“Okay, I say we scavenge the escape pods today, go camping in the woods, then tomorrow we can fuck around until we find a settlement, how’s that plan?”
Everyone nods.
Dustin lets out a sigh.
Perhaps a metropolis is waiting right outside the forest, filled with cybernetic, and astral technology, and people nice enough to let them borrow it. Or maybe they landed directly in the middle ages, with no civilization for miles. Even if the citizens are friendly, there’s no way any of them could even interpret, much less process STARSET’s technology. And if it turns out they’re hyper religious, maybe Dustin can convince them that STARSET is a group of divine messengers sent by God. Or the townsfolk instantly assume that Dustin is a primordial evil, and have everyone killed in the most gruesome way their shabby technology could provide.
The only path forwards is uncertain, the world outside the forest is a mystery. Uncovering that mystery means finding their way out, which shouldn’t be too hard, that’s the easy part. The hard part is navigating an unfamiliar and distant world, without knowing how anything works, or how people might act, and not being aware of all the dangers lurking in the dark, or of all the potential ways this world could kill each of them one by one.

Chapter Text

DUSTIN BATES
“Yeah, we get aliens all the time, this is nothing big,” says the nurse. “What’s important is that you’re kind of fucked up.”
Dustin lays back in the plain white bed, that feels no more comfortable than a sheet of metal.
“Oh, thanks for pointing that out, I didn’t notice,” he bleats in sarcasm.
“Don’t worry, this isn’t even bad, sometimes we have to call a necromancer. Also, what are those three glowing dots on your forehead?”
The nurse steps towards a cabinet and swings it open, to reveal various equipment and papers, many of which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with medicine.
Dustin lets out a tired chuckle, almost rolling his eyes.
“Yeah right. To answer your question: this is my BMI; brain machine interface, it’s an implant most people in my planet have.”
“Oh, you think I’m joking, don’t you?” She pulls out a tray of medicine, at least, what Dustin thinks is medicine. The tech around here is awfully outdated, but it should be enough to get him back on his feet.
Dustin scoffs.
“Are you telling me you have magic around here? Prove it, or I’m calling bullshit.”
The nurse grins, as she sets down the tray on the table besides Dustin’s bed. She’s a stout lady, with her messy brown hair tossed into a pony tail. Her outfit is simple; a beige button up coat, with a half undone bowtie. The people here don’t seem concerned at all with looking too formal, or maybe this is how nurses and doctors dress around here. The hospital is drafty, and silent. Evening light drifts in through the wide open window, at the end of the infirmary.
It's hardly sanitary or organized, how is this supposed to be a hospital?
The nurse steps back, and says one thing:
“Hold out your hand, it stings right?”
There is a cut on his palm, it stopped bleeding a while ago, but it still hurts.
He obliges, expecting this to be nothing, but a laughable trick, yet still oddly intrigued.
“Now, watch as I make your cut disappear.”
She takes his injured hand, and for a moment, nothing happens. The lady whispers something under her breath, but Dustin can’t make any of it out. She’s speaking in some mysterious language. Mysterious, because Dustin can’t recognize it. His translator doesn’t even buzz.
An icy sensation shoots up his hand, as if someone shoved a fresh ice cube into his palm. It grows sharp and painful, as if his hand itself is turning to ice. He grunts, as the lady smiles at him.
Then it stops.
She lets go, and utters a single command: “see for yourself.”
Dustin slowly turns over his hand, and takes a sharp inhale.
The cut is completely gone, like it never existed. Looks like he won’t be calling bullshit this time. His pupils are reduced to pin needles, as his eyes go wide. Dustin’s mind wraps like a computer program crashing several times over in a mess of errors. The nurse bursts into laughter at his face of confused shock.
“That never gets old,” she laughs.
“What. The. Fuck?” he breathes.
“What kind of fuckery is this?”
“It’s called magic, sweetheart,” the nurse chimes.
“Don’t call me sweet heart,” Dustin demands.
“Aw, okay. Anyway, what you just saw was what we call charms, special super powers that range from near divinity to predicting when a Tally Hall song will play on the radio on Tuesdays. People can be born with them, but they can be gifted to people by divines, which are basically wizards, or spirits. There’s your exposition for today.”
“Clear as mud,” Dustin says, “also, what in the universe is a Tally Hall?”
“They’re a fellow band of course, no tours right now though.”
“I wasn’t planning on going to a concert.”
The lady smirks, “Well, it’s not everyday you get to meet a living puppet.”
Dustin blinks, “…What? Are they androids?”
“Oh no, they’re dolls, brought to life by voodoo magic by a divine.”
“…” Dustin opens his mouth to speak, but pauses and closes it. He sits there, words falling out of his head before he can put them together into sentences.
“I’m… I’m going to stop talking.”
The nurse giggles, than drifts towards the doorway, past the rows of stale beds the color of dust in the dry sunlight.
“Doctor Sam will see you shortly.”
Then she disappears through the door, leaving Dustin processing the fact that he may have crashed in the most magically potent planet Prox has ever discovered.

~

“So, has anyone noticed that this place is straight out of an eldritch high fantasy?”
Dustin asks.
“Yup,” Ron answers.
Siobhan sighs, then pulls out an anomaly reader.
“Look at this,” she shoves the screen in his face. He squints at the graph, processing the information present, then his jaw drops.
The magic rating is off the charts, literally.
Whatever in the stars happened to their ship when they were “passing by,” is starting to make more sense now.
“That’s…” Dustin trails.
“I know, I don’t think we’ve ever seen a rating this high before.”
“You don’t think? I had no idea this was even possible!” Brock says. “Imagine the kind of stuff that goes on here!”
“Okay, but what if there are evil wizards that try to kill us, then what?” Ron asks.
“He’s got a point,” Adam adds.
“Well, we really don’t know much yet, I think we should wait and find out,” Siobhan suggests.
“And fight evil wizards,” Ron chimes in.
The team is gathered around in the infirmary. Dustin seems to be the only patient, all the other beds are empty, but at this point he wouldn’t be surprised to find there’s an invisible forest spirit in one of them. Why would a spirit need treatment here? Who knows?
“Yeah, but there’s something else I need to bring up,” says Dustin.
“You know how my hand had a cut?”
He asks.
“Yeah. Waaaait, that’s in past tense,” Ron points out.
“Exactly. When the nurse was with me, she took my hand, and did this,” Dustin reveals the palm of his hand to the group, devoid of any scar.
“Holy shit! So much for medicine,” says Adam.
“Well, that does explain why this place looks like it’s abandoned,” Ron says. “Who needs medicine when we have magic?!”
“Wow, that’s...pretty cool!” Says Brock.
“There’s no way it could heal THAT fast.”
“I honestly don’t know what to think…”
“I mean, so much for worrying, you should be outta here tomorrow,” says Brock.
“I don’t think so, it seemed to take some energy from her, I doubt she can just patch up my wounds like it’s nothing,” suggests Dustin.
“I just… I have so many questions.”
“I think we all do,” says Adam.
“She also mentioned something about this other band, that are apparently some kind of dolls brought to life.”
Everyone stares at him like he just sprouted three extra ears on his forehead. Considering the nature of this place, maybe he did.
Ron is the first to speak.
“What? Like… some kind of puppet show?”
“No, she said something about voodoo magic, and necromancy.”
Ron pauses, brows furrowed, mouth agape, as his eyes shift left and right.
“So, we’re talking about sentient, living puppets now?” says Brock.
“I think, I don’t even know right now, this place is weird.”
“I think we’ve already established that,” Adam replies.
“I mean, we’ve never seen anything like this, this isn’t just some weird technology, this is straight up magic! We really don’t know what we’re dealing with, at all… I-… I need to think about this more.” Dustin says.
“Do you want some alone time?” Asks Adam, “or just some silence? I know you like it when we shut up.”
“Yes, we can talk more in the morning,” Dustin yawns.
“Zuzana and Cory should be back soon anyway, you can all get some rest.”

~

“Let me guess, you’re going to summon ghosts to come and posses me, so they can take my pain away.”
“That’s oddly poetic, but no, I’m just your average shaman.”
“Interesting, but my mind still feels like a collapsing supernova...”
For whatever reason, the doctors over at the infirmary are less doctors and more witches. They use magic on him, refuse to elaborate on the eldritch happenings around here, and act like everything is completely normal. For them, it probably is, but meeting ghosts everyday and hanging out with demons is the last thing Dustin would consider ‘normal’, for his own definition. The shaman casts away his bruises like a washcloth sweeping off a spot of dirt. Her magic seems to seep into his skin, and carry away all the aching and stinging.
Besides the ‘shaman’ he's still alone in the room, all the others are exploring town to find out exactly where they are. They landed near a city known as “Lavendale,” in a country called “Fantyrn,” which is close to the neighboring country of “Spyrite.”
One particular city people mention is Redfall, the oldest and most magical place in the entire continent.
Who knows what sort of stuff goes on down there.
On either side of his chair, are white shelves of glass bottles and knickknacks. It looks like a rack of shampoo bottles in some shower stall, but at the same time, the alchemy stand of some medieval wizard.
Dustin leans back on the chair, listening soft echo of the tiny fountain in the corner.
He seems calm, as he takes a deep breath, but on the other hand…
His mind begins to cloud and swirl into a raging storm. Everyone back at home… they must have sensed the crash, watched as the ship disappeared offline, as it’s signal flickered away, and one last cry for help was transmitted.
Every reason points to one conclusion: the messengers on Prox believe one of the most crucial teams of the Starset society is dead.
Dustin can only imagine widespread panic, and inner conflict, as tensions would rise over who their “deaths”.
Who knows how much damage a storm of in-fighting could do in their fight against the New East? So much for finding out what the FEC is up to with them. What if it causes another conflict with the Order?
The entire Starset society could be collapsing in on itself like a dying supernova, and for believing something that isn’t true. And one of their missions is to spread truth, how ironic they would destroy themselves over a lie. That’s funny? Isn’t that hilarious?
The shaman whispers something, and Dustin lurches. His blood catches fire, and freezes at the same time. A gapping pit forms in his stomach, as he nearly doubles down. He lets out a scream, that probably wakes up half the building. But, the pain is gone, as if it never was. He breathes heavily as the worker stares down at him with concerned silence.
“Are you okay?”
Dustin takes a sharp inhale.
“Does it look like it?”

~

RON DECHANT
Ron gazes out the window, from the six-story motel room they managed to snag. Motel, not hotel, apparently. He has no idea what the difference is supposed to be, not like he’s some kind of saint who would know.
(Hehehehehehehe….)
The city seems so regular, like a city you would find near the dark side of Prox. But everything is never as it seems, especially in a place that is bursting at the seams with magic and mysteries.
It's exciting, and thrilling: some crazy adventure unfolding before his eyes like a fantastical storybook. Any book can be more than a single genre, what if this one is not only a fantasy, but also a horror story? Who knows when the next page could turn everything into a tragedy?
The city is alight with glowing windows, and decorative lanterns, that might be party decorations, or will o’ the wisps. From here, it’s hard to tell. Ivy, and vines seen to sprout from every building, transforming the city into a sprawling terrace garden, of twisting architecture and sculpture gardens.
In the room, Brock and Siobhan sit curled in an embrace on the Ron stares, just to see what’s happening. Right now, he would love to go out with Dustin and the others to a local restaurant, but as Dustin always says: they need to focus on the task at hand, which is getting back to Prox. Ron knows Dustin well enough to know he wants to have a bit of fun too, but he doesn’t like to show it. It’s probably because he’s so stressed, Ron always knows it when he notices the tension in Dustin’s shoulders, and the wrinkles on his forehead. As smart as he is, he doesn’t seem to understand how helpful it is to unwind; it releases tension. Ron knows that if you put enough tension on something, anything, it breaks.
In the room, Brock and Siobhan sit curled in an embrace on the couch, sharing one blanket between each other.
(If they’re literally married irl, than I’m allowed to depict them as such, my rule that I shouldn’t ship real people only applies if the people themselves are not in a romantic relationship or do not explicitly state they are chill with it. If you are disturbed by this, than leave silently. Thanks.)
Adam, and Cory are in the other room, where Zuzana is already asleep.
The door clicks, and creaks open, as Dustin steps in, shutting the door behind him.
“I’m going to bed…” he says.
“Hey, is something wrong?” Ron questions.
“No, I’m doing fine.”
“No, you’re not; you’re obviously stressed.”
“Is it in my eyes this time?” Dustin asks, “or is it really that obvious?”
“If you want to-“
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Understandable,” Ron sighs.
“Would a hug help?”
Dustin rolls his eyes, but cracks a tiny grin, “fine.”
Ron wraps him up in his arms, and pulls him in.
“You know I give the best hugs.”

~

BATES
Dustin lies awake in bed, gazing up at the ceiling. Ron snores besides him on the mattress, staying a foot away from him.
A few days ago, STARSET was flying on their spaceship, sent out on a scouting mission to record the planets, and cosmic landscape of the region. They sent out a probe to scan a planet known as Reco-V2, they observed that it appeared to not only be habitable, but already had a biosphere, and signs of human civilization. Of course, they agreed to do a fly-by and see what’s up.
Then, the screens and displays on the cockpit began to freeze and error.
The engines overheated, as the thrusters began to malfunction. Before Dustin could blink, they were tumbling through the atmosphere, course set to crash. Red lights were flashing, sirens were blaring. Ron, Adam, Brock, Siobhan, Zuzana and Cory all rushed to the escape pods.
Ron begged Dustin to board one, but he refused, he demanded to guide the ship to a safe landing, and protect it.
And so, he watched Ron, Brock and Adam, disappear into the pod, not knowing if he would see them again.
He stares at the ceiling, as questions swarm his mind left and right.
What is the magic here capable of?
Are there other planets with this level of magic waiting for them to discover?
Is there some kind of deity here?
What kind of creatures could they find here?
What other civilizations could be different continents?
What kind of eldritch things could such a high magic level entail?
What if there’s something here they can’t even comprehend?
And, most importantly…
Will they ever leave this place?

Chapter Text

BATES

Off the west coasts of Orcha, across the ocean is a continent known as Ethai.
Turns out, the lesser technology of Fantyrn isn’t an accurate display of Crimn’s technology. And no one seems to talk about it.
According to what books and others words, Ethai has technology on par with that of Prox. Descriptions depict a blissful utopia, full of servant robots to do all the work, while the people sit back in infinite leisure, surrounded by simulations, and digital dreams of everything they ever wanted, served to them on a silver platter in a endless vortex.
Dustin can’t help but feel unnerved by it all. Something about it feels wrong, but it’s deep beneath the surface, something within the very core that is not right, that infects the entire system, creating more problems that sprout through the other layers like overgrown weeds.
Dustin can’t pinpoint what it is, of course, it’s probably more than one thing that’s wrong. But the individual problems intertwine, and twist into a tangled web.
A web that STARSET seems to be all to eager to fly directly into.
So, running like moths to the flame, STARSET arrives at the coast of Ethai. Getting a boat was surprisingly easy, this planet isn’t very big on overseas travel, so all they had to do was impress some folks by taking out a forest monster, and win a boat. Talk about a video game quest. According to what he heard, the climate here is pretty dry. The continent has dusty deserts and mesas to the north, savannas and prairies to the west, then jungles and rainforests to the south. A contrast to the marshes, swamps, and forested valleys of Orcha.
The environment is mostly left alone, each city is kept as an isolated metropolises, like artificial islands in a sea of nature, kept from it by pale walls of chrome.

BROCK RICHARDS
“I’m feeling pretty excited,” Siobhan says, “how about you?” The couple sit besides eachother on the dingy couch. It’s been three days at sea now, and according to Captain Dustin of the S.S. Starset, they should arrive sometime tomorrow. It’s nice to sit back for a bit.
“I’m a little nervous,” says Brock.
“You’re always a little nervous,” Siobhan laughs, “but it’s fine to be nervous. What is it about?”
“It’s just… weird. One moment we’re exploring space for a mission, next moment we’re sailing to an alien city,” Brock says. “Let me tell you a tiny secret: I’m nervous too,” Siobhan says, “but things will be okay, I know they will.”
“Hm? How do you know that?” Brock asks softly.
“Because, I have you,” she smiles, that wide, grin of perfect teeth that always shimmer no matter the light. “And I have Dustin, and Zuzana, and all the others.”
Brock blushes at that, then pulls her in for a kiss. He presses his lips against hers in a warm embrace.
They’re all soaring straight into the unknown, who knows what lies on this mysterious “Ethai,” as it’s called. It could be spectacular, like some kind of haven to welcome them with open arms. And yet, something wicked could be waiting for them, like some kind of invisible spider web ready to catch unsuspecting insects. But if one of them is caught in the web, it’s up to the team to help them break free. Brock could never abandon Dustin, Siobhan, or any of them if it meant the world itself might end. It’s up to him to help his teammates out of any spider web they get trapped in, and he can count on them to help him out if he gets stuck. As wise, smart, and observant as Dustin is, he can’t predict everything, no one can. He’ll lead them through the mud, and bring them around bullets, but even the best fall down sometimes.
And if Brock wouldn’t help him back up, what kind of teammate is he?

~

BATES
Their ship creeps towards the shore, as the desolate beach fades into view. It’s empty, not a soul wanders in it’s premise. In the distance, is a towering metropolis on the horizon.
“Huh, for a place that has an ‘incredible standard of living’ I would expect more people running around in a spot like this.” Dustin comments.
“This is like a perfect vacation spot, where is everyone?” Adam ponders.
Brock peers at the coast, “Does an android count as a someone?”
Dustin blinks “what?”
“Look,” Brock points at the coast, directing Dustin’s attention to a lone robot roaming the beach, leaving a trailing pattern of prints in the sand. It’s small, and white, with a tiny metal arms.
Could it be some kind of scout, or a patrol bot?
Ron answers the question: “For me, it depends, if it’s sentient, than yes.”
Dustin ignores him, focusing on the droid; “What do you think it’s doing?”
“Well it’s definitely moving,” Brock observes.
Dustin rolls his eyes, “That’s not helping.”
Adam steps up to the safety railing, “Do you think it’s friendly? I think we should test the waters first.”
Ron, Brock and Dustin let out a snicker.
Adam pauses to process what he just said; “Pun unintended.”
Ron leans over the railing to get a better look, “It could also be deadly.”
“But it looks kinda cute,” Adam says.
Dustin sighs, “Adam, don’t underestimate a designers ability to trick you into trusting something you shouldn’t by making it cute.”
Brock shrugs, “There’s no way to know until we say hi.”
The robot beeps as it’s head swerves around. The lenses on it’s face glare directly at them. It lets out a buzz, as it treads towards them.
Silence falls over the band, each of them exchange glances of intrigue and uncertainty. The robot stays still, staring up at them with an expressionless gaze.
Ron breaks the silence, and blurts “Not me!”
“Nope,” Brock declares exactly as Adam mutters “I’ll pass.”
The three wordlessly stare at Dustin, with slight smiles, who releases a tired sigh.
He glances over at Siobhan, Zuzana, and Cory. Cory shoots him a thumbs up, Zuzana shakes her head, but he can’t tell if that’s because she’s also backing out, or if she’s genuinely worried. And then Siobhan actually backs up in fear.
Dustin grumbles “Fucking main character syndrome…”
Dustin grabs hold of the rails and in a swift movement, swings himself over the rusted bar, then grabs a hold of the ladder, and climbs down.
*Splash!*
The water feels cool, and clear, as it washes over his feet. Brock leans over the railing, peering down at Dustin from above, with his hands clenching the bars “You good?”
“Yeah, I’ll message you about what happens.”
Abandon ship, time to head towards the sand. Dustin wades his way towards the shore; as waves wash over him.
He steps out from the ocean, as white-tipped waves roll in over his feet, before retreating back into the sea. Water cascades from his soaked pants as his cape trails behind him, blowing in the soft wind. The robot rolls up to him, seemingly recording him from it’s lense. It stops at his feet. It’s head extends from it’s body via some long mechanical neck. The eye lenses flash blue, as it’s head leans towards him. It shines a bright light from it’s eye that moves down his body, while letting out a high pitched hum. The robot is scanning him. The light goes out, and the robot retracts it’s head back onto it’s body, then pauses for a long moment.
*Ding!*
It’s eye flashes green, as the screen on it’s body displays a silhouette of a human, with some kind of check mark on it, besides it, is some sort of symbol Dustin can’t interpret. It’s blinking red.
Dustin taps his BMI, and call the others,
“I think it scanned me,” he says. “It doesn’t seem aggressive at all, but it’s displaying something that seems… urgent, it’s a red symbol, I don’t know what it means.”
Ron’s voice comes in: “Okay, it might be trying to figure out who you are.”
Adam speaks next: “we are foreigners, so it’s detecting that we’re not from here.”
“Does this mean we’re going to get ambushed by a bunch of death robots,” Ron asks.
“Ron, it didn’t even touch me, but you do have a point, we might not be welcome here,” says Dustin.
“Anyway, there’s more robots approaching me, unarmed. I’ll tell you what happens.”
“Wait-“ Brock starts, only to get cut off as Dustin ends the call.
His voice comes through as he messages Dustin, “wait, is that thing going to scan us too?”
“Probably,” he sighs.
A drone flies down to him, it’s propellers buzzing in the wind as it nears him. It hovers above him. It has a camera lense, and a blinking light. The drone glides ever closer to Dustin’s face, and…
*Snap!*
Dustin winces at the flash of light.
“Did you just take a photo of me? You better not put that on the internet, or whatever internet equivalent you have around here.”
Not that the drone cares what he’s saying at all. It spits out a sticker from some dispenser, Dustin rips it off and stares at it—it’s a logo next to a drone that appears to be making a friendly gesture. He tosses it away.
The drone lets out a beep as it flies above him. Dustin turns to watch as it hovers towards the boat.
“It took a photo of me, I think it wants to do the same to you.”
“Looks like we’re doing a photoshoot,” says Ron. “Strike a pose!”
“I’m going to flip it off,” mutters Adam.
“Good idea,” says Brock.
Siobhan, Zuzana, and Cory step up to the front of the ship with the others.
One by one, the drone snaps a photo of each of them, along with a sticker.
Adam is the only one to actually put it on.

A third robot rolls towards Dustin. This one is notably larger, with blank white sides, and no discernable features save for cameras and wheels. There has to be something more to it.
Infact, there is—with a few clicks and snaps, the box opens up to a display of what appears to be medical equipment. A long, mechanical arm twists out from the back, with at least six joints bending in any direction. The hand doesn’t look human at all, with three digits leading to more extremities.
It rolls towards Dustin and stops.
He backs up…
The robot comes back to him.
Dustin backs up…
The robot rolls to him again.
Before Dustin can run off and swim back to the ship, the metal arm lurches forwards and grabs his wrist.
“Hey!” Dustin tries to wriggles himself free, but the iron grasp of the robotic hand is too strong. He considers pulling out his weapon and slicing the arm, but that isn’t a good idea at all. At best he’ll end up in a drone manhunt. The robot itself doesn’t seem to be threatening him too much, at least not yet.
One of the digits pops off and flies towards the counter of equipment, it pulls out a syringe attached to a thin tube that leads back into the robot’s insides. With it’s other “finger,” it curls around a tourniquet, and then glides back to the rest of the hand.
It ties the tourniquet tightly around Dustin’s arm, as another digit grabs a cotton ball and a bandage.
A blood test, why would a robot want to take his blood test?
No, seriously, is it trying to find out what he is? Perhaps it’s going to send this information out to the city, and alert authorities about him. It might be making a file of him.
Whatever, the city they’re heading too is going to know they’re coming from a mile away.
Dustin watches as his deep maroon blood travels through the tube and disappears. The syringe is yanked out, and the arm shoves a cotton ball over the spot, then covers it with a bandage. It pulls off the tourniquet and puts everything away.
Then it whirrs, and lets out a weird ding; it clicks, and a wall flips around to reveal a red lollipop, letting out a high ding. The arm hands the candy to Dustin.
“Okay, how long have you had that in there?”
He snatches it.
“Is this even safe to eat?”
Maybe there’s nano-bots hidden in the candy, that’ll track him from his stomach, or sneak into his brain and mind control him.
Dustin slams it into the stand and stomps on it.
He starts another call, the others quickly answer.
“It took a sample of my blood, I don’t know what it’s for, it might be trying to find out what I am, or make notice of me, it’ll probably do the same to you.”
“What do you have against candy?” asks Adam, “if you don’t want it, them give it me!”
“Adam, how am I supposed to know if that’s safe to eat?”
“Well it’s not safe to eat now, it’s covered in sand,” says Ron.
“Wipe it off, it’ll be fine,” says Brock.
Dustin grunts, “guys, who cares about a stupid candy? We need to focus on getting into the city.”
Silence falls over the group.
Siobhan is the first to speak up.
“Dustin, I noticed something earlier: the magic rating here is a lot lower than on Orcha.”
“Aww… does that mean no evil wizard fighting?” says Ron.
“I’m chill with that,” says Adam.
Dustin lets out a small groan.
“Here, you all get your stuff, come over, get scanned, and then we can all go to the city,” he directs.
The other six follow along: Ron screams “cannonball!” as he jumps from the ladder, as Adam slips, and pulls a belly flop. Meanwhile, Brock slides under the railing and splashes in.
One by one, each of them are scanned and blood tested. The scanner robot leads them down the beach, and to a sandy grassland. A cart pulls up to them and stops. It’s blue, and white, and looks like a fancy golf cart, except it doesn’t have a driver, or even a wheel.
STARSET reluctantly boards. The cart zooms off the moment Cory takes his seat. Dustin is nearly pinned to his seat, as Ron and Brock cheer as if it’s a rollercoaster. They’re left with the view of the prairie, as the metropolis creeps over the horizon, growing closer with every second.
The walls tower over the land, leaving Dustin to guess what could be lying within.
It could be heaven, it could be hell, but from out here, it’s really hard to tell.

Chapter Text

STARSET
The gates slide open, and they step into a long, glimmering hallway of twisting arcs pulsing with light. Dustin staggers as the floor begins to move forwards. It carries them towards the light like an oversized conveyor belt. Dustin, Brock and Ron still walk forwards anyway. Impatience, anticipation or excitement? Who can tell? The hall opens up, sowly unveiling the pristine city sprawling before them. It’s beautiful, but oddly empty. They enter into the plaza.
There isn’t a plank of wood in sight, it’s all metal, polished stone and chrome. The color is scarce, creating a flat landscape of curvy whites and greys with pops of color. Terraces of trees and hanging vines dot the rooftops, and hanging gardens. Ahead of the plaza is an expanse of trimmed grass, decorated with groomed trees and flowering hedges.
Interconnected spires tower into the sky, with levitating cars zooming between them. Glass orbs hang off of buildings, and robots dart all around the walkways and terraces.
But, there’s a lack of humans. There’s a few wandering around, seemingly off in their own world, but not nearly as many as the crowds traversing the streets of Fantyrn and Spyrite.
A hologram projects in front of them, it’s a person, but their face is covered by a plain black mask. They wear a long, pale lab coat, and dark gloves.
“Hello,” comes a voice.
“What you are about to hear is a pre-recorded message, brought to you by the council of Blancmun the city you currently find yourself in.”
Dustin nearly rolls his eyes, and glances at Ron, who seems skeptical too, yet, oddly amused. Brock looks ready to fall asleep, while Siobhan crosses her arms and frowns.
“Welcome, travelers, or tourists, to the utopian metropolis of Blancmun, near the east coast of our home continent, Ethai. Whether you hail from our neighbor, Orcha, or across the globe to Yalthep, maybe even from a different planet entirely, Blancmun welcomes you. We sincerely hope you enjoy your stay here, whether it be a few days, or the rest of your life, as we do doubt you’ll ever want to leave. Considering you are new, it is suggested you stay at one of our hotels, we do love our guests.”
Dustin glances at Ron.
“This is suspicious as fuck.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“They’re saying they want to keeps us here? That’s having the opposite effect, now I WANT to leave.”
“Where else are we supposed to go? There’s something for us here, even if it’s sketchy,” says Brock.
The message continues.
“Please, be comfortable, the city of Blancmun awaits.”
The hologram flickers out. A white robot rolls up to the band, and begins whirring. On top, is an open slot. The bot lets out a ding, as a tiny tablet pops out from the slot; it looks like some kind of card, or currency.
Dustin takes it, and observes it. It’s frame is dark in color, but the screen is bright, and displays symbols Dustin can’t recognize at first, but they seem to shift and warp into something familiar.
The robot spits out six more for the others. Brock peers at his.
“Is it reading our minds, or something?”
“No, I think it’s from the blood test,” Ron suggests.
“Hmm.”
“You didn’t eat that candy, did you?” Dustin inquires.
“The one it gave me, or the one you threw in the sand?” Ron asks.
“Either of them,” Brock answers. “And no, I didn’t.”
“None then, I chucked mine into the sea.”
“Well, that explains why I only got five,” says Adam.
“Adam…” Dustin stares him in the eye.
“What did you do?”
Siobhan intercepts “He asked us for our candies and ate them all.”
“Adam, we don’t know what’s in those, they could have some kind of drug in them.”
Adam chuckles, “I don’t know man, that’s a bit far-fetched.”
“We don’t know what we’re getting into, we need to be careful, you never know what could be your enemy, especially if it seems like a friend.”
“Always so cryptic all the time, it’s probably just a candy.”
“It probably was, but Dustin’s right, we need to be cautious, and maybe paranoid,” Ron adds.
“Anyway, what is this for?” He fidgets with it, and is able to figure out what it does.
“Universal basic income, of course.”
It is used for payment, but also communication; it’s a sort of smartphone. Dustin peers at his, the screen reads: “BALANCE – 2000 BYTES”
Apparently, that’s the name of the currency around here. There’s no way to calculate how much that is in credits yet. At least they won’t have to worry about getting a job or something.
“Okay everyone, let’s see if we can find a hotel,” Dustin directs. “Come on.”
He leads the team down the silent streets of the city, beneath shimmering spires.
Eventually, they come to a curving building, with dozens of windows glimmering in the sunlight. It’s labeled as a hotel.
They enter, the lobby is spotless, with balconies looking down to it on every floor, going up until it reaches the towering ceiling. There’s no one at the front desk, mainly because there isn’t a front desk at all. All there is in the lobby is a bunch of chairs and terminals, with slots in them. There happens to be rooms big enough for seven people, so they get one of those. They hop in the elevator and ride up to level six. The room is big: three bedrooms, a living room and a kitchenette. The beds come with remotes that let you change it’s position, adjust the temperature and other useless stuff. There’s what seems to be VR headsets, and AR gadgets too in the living room.
A remote opens a hologram TV, and there’s also, an actual TV. The room is spotless, and overall white and grey colored, with spots of green and blue.
Dustin, and the others get situated, putting away their things. He takes off his cape, vest, shoulder pads, cuffs, coat, boots and pants, which takes about fifteen minutes, leaving him in a plain short and shorts. Too tired to throw off his shirt, he climbs into the bed and drifts to sleep.

~

ADAM GILBERT
He finds Dustin sitting alone on the couch. It’s early in the morning, and he assumed he was the only one up. But Dustin, chilling alone in the dark room with a cup of this worlds version of coffee proves him wrong.
“Hey man, what’s up,” he calls.
Dustin whirls around, clearly startled.
“Whoa, didn’t know you were that jumpy,” Adam plops down besides him on the couch, with a little *floof-* sound.
“You good?”
“Yeah, just… can’t sleep.”
“Oh, yeah.”
Dustin sighs, then stares at him, “Tell me, Adam, what do you think of this place?”
“Well, it seems pretty cool to me, how about you?”
“It’s creeping me out…something feels wrong here, and I can see it everywhere.”
Adam sighs “I feel like you’re being kinda paranoid, didn’t we like, just get here?”
“We did, but that’s still how I feel.”
“Let’s give this place a good chance then, if it turns out we need to leave, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Adam slides back to his feet. The silence across the room is almost overwhelming. Boredom comes in and makes it’s place. There’s a weird looking headset perched on some kind of stand, but Adam isn’t sure what it’s supposed to do. Maybe he should put it on and find out for himself. It would take away the boredom.
“So, anything you want to do?” he asks.
“We could talk more, there’s plenty of things to talk about.”
“I don’t really feel like talking,” Dustin mutters.
“What do you feel like doing then?” Adam questions.
“Just… sitting here, I guess.”
“I can offer you my presence, how about that?” Adam says.
“That would be nice,” Dustin responds.
It wasn’t in his agenda to crash land on an alien planet, but what can he do? Shit happens. What matters now is keeping everyone together, and continuing forwards. Dustin remains silent, but if he doesn’t want to talk, then that can be his problem. Adam gives what he can, and keeps rolling. That’s all there is to it, no need to make it more complex for everyone.

~

RICHARDS
*Ding! Ding!*
The doorbell rings.
“I got it,” says Brock, as he makes his way to the door.
He slides open the door, to reveal an actual human woman, not a robot. She wears a long white suit, and a headset. Her green eyes are wide and dim, and she has an ever present grin.
“Hello, Brock is it?”
“Uh, how do you know my name?” He asks.
“Recordings of course, you know we’ve been watching you since your arrival.”
Everyone in the room stares at her.
“I would make an allusion to a popular novel, if it existed in this world,” says Ron.
“Just do it,” mutters Cory.
“Yeah, this is some 1984 stuff going on here, and I don’t like it.”
“Anyway, we need some help getting back up in space, could you help us?” Brock requests.
“You already have a home here.”
“Excuse me, we just got here, and we’re not on vacation, also, we’re not on tour either,” Dustin explains.
“You could book us if you want,” says Ron. “I’m sure your robots would love cinematic rock!”
“So, I see you don’t want to stay,” says the woman.
“Yes, we’re here to get help so we can get back to our home planet, Prox,” says Ron, as he steps up to the door besides Brock.
“You’re extraterrestrials, I know. We love our extraterrestrials, so much… potential.”
Brock tilts his head to the side.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Potential for our communities of course, it’s nice to see others who are different.”
He couldn’t agree more with what she just said: yes, it’s great to accept people who are different then you, and hear their voice, but the rest of it is reeking of bad vibes.
“Listen, we have one goal around here, and that’s leaving,” Ron insists.
“Any place we can find a rocketship? Or a place we can send a message hundreds of lightyears away at a particular angle?”
“You’ll have to wait to wait for that, one thing we can get you is a brain implant.”
“Sorry, we only have room for one of those,” Brock says, turning his head to show his heavily modded BMI.
“They’re called BMI’s, short for ‘Brain Machine Interface’” Ron informs.
“And we’ll be staying with them,” calls Dustin.
“Well, if you decide to stay with us, getting an implant won’t be optional.”
That… that sounds like straight up authoritarianism. Obviously, they’re not staying, but now finding a way to get back to Prox is starting to feel like the least of their priorities.

~

DECHANT
“So, what’s the plan here, exactly?”
“Walk around, and get a taste of this place. As everyone can tell, something’s up about this city, I want to find out what it is,” answers Dustin.
“Okay,” says Ron, “let’s go!”
The city is tiered, split up into several levels, their hotel is on layer two, which is known as the “visitors district,” above layer one, the “welcoming district,”
The city almost seems like one giant palace of intertwining walkways, towers and halls.
Dustin and Ron make their way down a metallic path, under the twisting skywalks above them. Besides the humming of cars and drones zooming by above, and their clicking footsteps, there’s little sound. A few robots and cars cruise by, delivering whatever, but there’s little people. Ron would expect more people around, but things are very different here, it’s not the same as home.
“Hey,” Ron calls to someone strolling by. He wears a headset over his face, and plain white clothes. Ron steps towards him, as a car zooms by on the road.
He doesn’t even look at him, or slow down at all. It’s as if Ron doesn’t exist. Ron taps lightly at his shoulder. “Hello? Anyone there?”
The boy pauses, but doesn’t turn at all. Ron moves in front of him, waving his hands over his face, or at least, the screen covering it.
“Hello?”
“Wait…” the boy mutters. He pauses for a moment, and finally reaches up to his mask, presses something, and pulls it down, revealing two baby blue eyes.
“Hello…? I was kind of in the middle of-“
“Hey,” Ron interrupts, “Sorry to interrupt. I’m pretty new here, wanna chat?”
“Oh…” the boy trails. He seems confused, maybe frustrated because Ron interrupted his VR session.
“Uhh… I’m Ron, and this is my bro, Dustin.”
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me your bro?”
“Oh… hi Ron, I’m…Kelli… I think.”
The boy, Kelli, stares at him like a deer gazing into the headlights of an approaching vehicle.
“Hi Kelli, nice to meet you,” Ron greets, holding out his hand, but Kelli doesn’t shake. Instead, he stares blankly at the outstretched hand.
“…You’re supposed to take it, it’s a handshake,” directs Ron. The boy slowly takes Ron’s hand in his own, and gets a small shake. He winces, not in fear, but intrigue, or confusion, almost as if he never made physical contact with another human for a long time. Ron’s starting to think that might be true.
“…Where did you come from?” Kelli asks after a pause.
“A planet called Prox, we crash-landed here after our ship went all crazy.”
“Oh… you’re like aliens, you’re not from here.”
“To say the least, what about you?”
“I… I-I uh… I’ve lived here all my life, basically. I’m not sure if I’ve been anywhere else.”
“What is that thing you’re wearing, that headset.”
“Oh this? This is my NR-SM… or reality machine… whatever you call it. I wear it all the time…it takes me to a different world… I don’t spend much time in this one… ever.”
Puzzle pieces begin to click and connect in Ron’s mind. He glances at Dustin, who seems as intrigued as he is unsettled.
“Why do chill in the other world so much?” Ron asks.
“This place is… boring, and sad, the digital worlds are so much better…I think you should try joining… do you not have a headset… I thought we all did.”
“Well, we just got here, this is our second day here.”
Kelli turns his blank stare to Dustin.
“Who are you?”
“Ron already told you, I’m Dustin.”
“Dustin…hi.”
“Hello,” Dustin holds out his hand, this time, Kelli takes it without much hesitation.
“Are you… with Ron?”
“Yup, we’ve been friends since forever,” Dustin answers.
Kelli falls silent for a moment. His eyes gaze at the world surrounding him, as his mouth stays agape. He seems curious, yet cautious, but at the same time, oddly amazed at something, but Ron can’t pinpoint what that could be.
“What is it?” he asks.
“Oh… I’ve just… I haven’t been out here… much, really… I guess.”
Dustin glances at a building and bites his lip.
“How much do you take that off?” he blurts. Ron shoots him a stare.
“Uh… I don’t know…not very often, I guess.”
“Well, you can get back to your other world if you want,” Ron stammers.
“Nice talking to ya.”

The duo continues down the street, there are a few more people milling about, each wearing the same headset as Kelli, with no regard to the world around them.
Some of them seem to cast glances in their direction. There’s shops, vending machines, restaurants and parks, that are all mostly empty, besides robots and androids idly awaiting orders. What would the shops even be selling? Ron considers going out to eat at one of the restaurants with the others, but Dustin remains too on edge to consider it.
Eventually, they come to what seems to be a library. Or, this place’s equivalent of one. There’s no books, only hard drives, computers, and discs. In the corner, is a printer, which may or may not be an everything machine.
Ron checks the computer, and taps on some of the keys.
[NO ACCESS]
Huh?
He pays more attention to the keyboard beneath his fingers, trying to make out what each of the buttons do. There’s no mouse, just a touch-pad that controls the cursor. He tries pressing on another key.
[AUTHORIZED PERSONEL ONLY]
Ah.
This is a public space, so why would anyone have to be “authorized,” to access something clearly set out for anyone to use. Maybe they forgot to sign up for something that would “authorize,” them, but where would they do that? Or maybe it’s citizens only.
“Reveal your secrets,” he demands to the screen. As he expected, nothing happens.
Ron sighs.
This is going to be difficult.
Around the room, are several security cameras stalking him. Anything he does is watched, recorded, and saved. Ron tries to hack the computer anyway, by managing to open an interface of sorts, but, before he can make any sense of the symbols, the computer flashes for a moment, and flickers off. He attempts to turn it back on, but nothing seems to work.
So much for that.

~

BATES
“I have a few things to say, but first, we need to take care of those things,” Dustin points to the security cameras around the room.
“Already on it,” says Brock, pulling out his computer. Dustin, Ron, and Cory gather around, while the others watch on. Brock pulls up an interface, and opens a few windows all over the screen.
“I think they’re robots too, the cameras?” Cory suggests. “You might be right,” Dustin affirms.
“What would that entail?” Brock ponders.
“Several things that probably aren’t good,” Ron says.
“Good enough.”
Ron looks at Dustin.
“They might be able move around and save, or send recordings on their own,” he says to him.
“If that’s true, we need to be careful of that,” he stutters. “Give me a few seconds here…” Brock mutters, as he tries to hack in, and hijack the cameras. “Do you need any help?” Ron asks, staring at the cluttered screen of Brock’s laptop. “Yeah…”
After confusion, arguing, failure, frustration and more confusion, they get in, and shut off the cameras.
“Okay, they’ll be down for like, ten minutes, be quick,” says Brock.
Dustin gets up and clears his throat.
“We should leave,” he says. “I don’t care what anyone says, this place doesn’t care about whatever it is we want. All they want to do is brainwash us.”
“Okay, but what happened to getting a rocket?” Brock asks.
“Blasting off can wait, what we need to do now is let everyone on Prox know we’re not dead,” says Dustin.
“Gotcha,” he responds, “is there a communications thingy around here, or are you thinking of something else?”
“No I’m not; my idea is that we find something to hack into and transmit a message to the Starset Society.”
“Sounds like a plan,” says Adam. “I think we should chill out for a bit.”
“I don’t know if I spotted anything,” says Ron. “There has to be something around here we can use.”
Brock yawns, “It might be outside the city. And I’m with Adam; I’m tired.”
Dustin sighs, “but we can’t just talk more tomorrow, the cameras…”
Adam falls down onto the bed. “Well, we can skedaddle tomorrow, and then we’ll have all the time in the world to talk about this stuff, how about that?”
“That’s fine,” Dustin grumbles.
“Are you okay?” Ron asks him.
“I’m just… scared.”

~

SIOBHAN CRONIN
“Hello?” Siobhan calls into the empty street. There’s almost no one walking the sidewalk; it’s awfully lonely, like a ghost town. She continues down the street, scanning for someone to talk to, but most of them are off in their own worlds, behind a headset of sorts. The woman tries calling out to many of them, none answer, the best she gets is a quick glance, and a “hmm?”
It's no use, she’s speaking into the void. Like constantly calling for someone, but no matter what, they never pick up.
While Dustin and Ron plan to escape the city, Siobhan doesn’t see all the urgency, even Brock admitted he thinks they’re being a bit paranoid. Then again, isn’t Dustin always a bit paranoid?
She continues looking around. The architecture around here is almost surreal, it’s fantastic, and she could gaze at it all day. Who could have designed this place, and how? Robots line the streets and cruise along, many of them seem to be staring at her for whatever reason.
“Hey, this is a beautiful city you got here.” The robot stares blankly at the blond, as she waves at it. It’s eye flashes blue. A drone flies down to her, and starts blinking. “Oh, hi!”
She strolls down the walkway as the robots continue following her. In a small park, she sits down on a bench, and tries to take everything in. She begins to doze off, as energy seems to drain her body. Siobhan gets to her feet then stretches out, but her legs wobble and shiver. She takes a few steps, but something is wrong, her head grows heavy like a pile of rocks, as the world spins and distorts into swirling blurs.
She collapses, her consciousness flickering.
“Little... Robot… did you do this…?”

RICHARDS
“Where is she?” Brock paces back and fourth in the sterile room.
“I mean, she said she’d be back in an hour,” says Ron, sitting on a chair. Dustin and Adam went out to organize and schedule their leaving. Really, it was Dustin who insisted to go, and Adam who tagged along for the hell of it.
“I don’t think she meant that,” Brock mutters. “…she uh, probably fell asleep or something.”
“Yeah, go with that,” Cory chimes in.
“I’ll just, go out and get her, okay?” Brock drifts towards the door.
“Okay, if anything happens, scream or something,” Ron says, as Brock disappears out the door.
“Actually… maybe don’t-“
*Click-!*
Brock makes his way through the hall, down the elevator, around the lobby, and into the shimmering sidewalk, keeping his eyes wide open. Does he actually think she fell asleep on a bench and hasn’t woken up yet? Maybe she did, in some way. You don’t say your going for a walk, say you’ll be back in around one hour, give or take, then disappear for six. Especially for Siobhan.
He calls her again. There’s no answer, just like the last time, and the time before that. Why isn’t she answering!? She always answers, and if she is napping, why wouldn’t her BMI wake her up? It might be broken or something. Or the technology here disrupts it for some reason.
He continues down, scanning the road for any sign of her.
“Hey,” he kicks at a robot. It stares at him, releasing a pinging noise.
“Have you seen my wife? Short, blond, beautiful green eyes?”
The bot begins humming, as it’s screen flickers, and eventually projects a picture of Siobhan.
Ignoring the creepy implications of the fact that a random robot has access to a photo of his wife, and the mystery of wherever the hell it got that, Brock nods rapidly.
“Y-yes, that’s her.”
The robot plays a little jingle, and begins leading Brock somewhere.
“I can’t believe that worked…” he mutters, following it down the twisting streets.

She’s leaning on the wall of a low building, staring off into her own world.
“SIOBHAN!” He exclaims, “THERE YOU ARE!”
Brock dashes up to her, as she looks up to him.
“I was about to turn the city upside down.”
“Brock,” she stares at him blankly, with an toothy grin. “I apologize for staying out for so long, this city is just so fantastic.”
“It’s fine… I was just worried about you; you weren’t responding to any of my calls.”
“Oh. Sorry about that, I was sleeping,” she tilts her head slightly, and gazes into him. Something feels off, she usually doesn’t talk like this; her voice sounds almost robotic, and blank, like her speech is forced. She smiles awkwardly at him, awaiting his response.
“Are you good?” he queries.
“I feel fantastic,” she smiles. Brock pauses, furrowing his brows. He bites his lip.
“No, something’s wrong.”
“It’s okay Brock, I’m fine.”
“Here, we should go back. Come on.”
“Okay,” she says, with more life to her voice, as she trails behind him.
Maybe she’s just tired?

~

“Found her,” stumbles Brock, as he steps into the room. Siobhan drifts in behind him, and sits down on the couch. “Sorry about that, I fell asleep on a bench and forgot to wake up,” she says, as Brock slides on besides her, prompting her to lean into him.
“Oh,” says Ron.
“Hey, you snooze, you lose,” calls Adam, earning a chuckle from Ron.
“Where’s Dustin?” Brock asks.
“He’s up in his room, probably shouldn’t bother him,” Cory answers.
“Yeah, when he came back, he was upset,” Zuzana comments. “Oh,” Brock voices.
“So, anyone wanna do something?” Adam suggests. “I’d like to go out and eat somewhere, try some new food,” Cory suggests.
“I haven’t seen much of anything around here. As much as I would love to go indoor skydiving, I don’t feel...safe.” says Ron. “This city is massive, there has to be some cool shit around here, so let’s go,” Adam says, starting towards the door. “Hold your signals, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Ron says. “Now you sound like Dustin,” Adam scoffs.
“This place gives me the creeps: first of all: there’s security cameras literally everywhere, even in the fucking shower, and second, remember what that lady said about the brain implant? It won’t be optional.”
“That’s questionable at best,” Brock adds.
“And authoritarian at worst.”
“Also, when I was looking for Siobhan, I asked a robot about her, and it showed me a picture of her. That’s fucking creepy,” Brock recalls.
“Yeah, something is definitely off about this place...” Zuzana agrees.
Adam pauses, and lets out a sigh.
“Yeah…well this place is kinda fucked up…”

Chapter Text

RICHARDS
Brock awakens. The room is almost completely black, save for a few blinking blue lights on the bed frame. Consciousness returns quickly as he leans up and blinks his eyes open. The bed feels empty, some kind of weight is missing. Oh, Siobhan is gone.
“Siobhan?”
He pulls away the covers, and slides too his feet. Light automatically explodes into the room, causing him to wince and squeeze his eyes shut. He blinks as his eyes adjust to the burst of light. Brock makes his way out the bedroom, and into the hall towards the living room. Zuzana slumbers peacefully on the couch, but she’s not what catches Brock’s attention.
Standing in dead silence, in the center of the room, is Siobhan. She’s still as a stone statue, until she turns slowly, every so slightly, to face Brock. “It’s beautiful isn’t it?” She smiles at him; a dead grin. “This city, it’s all you ever wanted, isn’t it?” She approaches him, with silent footsteps, as if she isn’t walking, but levitating towards him. “W-what are you saying?” He asks. “Brock. Forget about the messengers, forget about Prox, it doesn’t matter anymore,” she continues. Her voice is deep, and hollow, like the creak of bones. “Wait, what’s going on, did something happen?” “Come on, don’t be shy, a world of your own minds creation stands ahead, your journey is about to begin.” Siobhan, at least, what looks like her, gazes blankly. Brock stares into her eyes, and almost screams. Her eyes flicker into a milky white, all color washed away from her face. He grabs her body, “What did you do to her!? Where’s Siobhan!?”
Zuzana shuffles on the couch, and begins to wake up.
Brock rushes to the other bedroom, and bursts through the door.
“Dustin, Ron, get up.” he shakes at Dustin’s shoulders, as the lights flicker on. Dustin groans, and begins to shuffle awake.
“Hey…fuck off…” he slurs, as he leans up.
“Dustin. Somethings wrong.”
“Ugh…?” he mutters, as he spots Brock. Meanwhile, Ron begins to move, and grumble as he wakes up.
“Brock? What the fuck are you doing?”
“It’s Siobhan. Somethings wrong with her.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“Whassgoinon-?” Ron mumbles, half asleep.
“Ron, I think Siobhan got brainwashed.”
“What!?” Dustin blurts, tensing up, and breaking Ron into full consciousness. Ron rubs his head and looks at him in shock.
“Siobhan is what?”
“She got brainwashed or something!” Brock cries.
The door clicks open.
“Sweetheart? Is something wrong?”
She stands in the doorway, gazing blankly with eyes wider than pale moons. Ron gasps, and backs up against the bedframe.
Zuzana creeps into view behind her.
“Siobhan? Is that you?” She yawns.
Siobhan turns her head and gazes directly into her eyes.
“Zuzana, go back to sleep, I’m in the middle of something.”
Zuzana gasps sharply, and scrambles backwards, nearly falling down to the floor. Then, she screams.
“There’s no need to be afraid, please remain calm.”
‘Siobhan’ turns back to the others, with a smile so wide it seems to cut into her soulless eyes.
“Now, where was I? Ah, Brock, my sweetie, why are you so… fearful? Dustin, Ron, will you join me in virtual bliss?”
Dustin’s face grows into a fuming scowl.
“Absolutely NOT!” he declares.
“Hell no!” Ron cries.
“Ah, that’s too bad…”
“What the fuck happened to her!?” Dustin demands.
“I-I don’t know! It started when I found her on the walk. I think something got her!”
The other door in the hall creaks open, as Cory and Adam step out.
“Guys? What’s going on?” Cory asks.
“SIOBHAN!?” Zuzana cries in horror, before whirling to face Cory. “It’s h-her! S-she’s like possessed!”
She turns to stare at Adam and Cory.
“Ah, just in time for the full meeting,” she cocks her head to the side. “Cory, Adam, will you join me in virtual bliss?”
“What? No,” Cory gasps.
“Ah…hell nah!” Adam backs up, shaking. “Nope!”
Dustin, Ron, and Brock stand in a semicircle around ‘Siobhan,’ as Zuzana backs behind Adam, who stands besides Cory, blocking the hallway.
“What do we do with her?” Brock asks.
“Keep her here, we might be able to find a way to get her back, if we can’t, then I’m afraid you’ll have to say goodbye.”

~

DECHANT
They lock ‘Siobhan’ in the closet, but in the morning, she’s gone, nowhere to be found.
Brock isolates himself in the room. Ron checks on him. From behind the door, echoes broken weeping, and snivels. Ron taps on the door.
“…Brock?”
He creaks open the door, where Brock sits in the middle of the bed, a crying mess. Brock stares at him with a tear soaked face.
“What’s wrong?” Ron steps towards him.
“I-I don’t know what to do,” Brock sniffles in a sickly voice “I feel lost.”
Ron sits besides him on the bed, “you know what? I’m lost too.” “W-what’s going to happen? She’s gone now...”
“Hey, even if you don’t have Siobhan, you have me, and I’m here for you. Got that?” Ron comforts. “And, you’re not alone, I miss my girlfriend to pieces, she probably does-“ Ron breaks off, as his eyes too well with tears.
“Thanks… I guess we can be lost together…I-I just, don’t know what I’m supposed to do,” Brock weeps.
“Here,” Ron sniffles. “Do you want a big hug?”
Without a word, Brock lunges at him, and wraps his arms around him in a tight hug. Ron snickers, and hugs back.
“I take that as a yes.”

“Dustin?” Ron stands before the door. He takes the door handle, creaks it open and slowly steps into the room.
Dustin paces back and fourth in a manic loop. He breaths on the verge of hyperventilation. Dustin gasps, and glares at Ron, who doesn’t even quiver.
“W-what are you doing!?”
“Checking on you,” Ron states. “Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay. Happy? Now leave me alone.”
“What’s wrong?” Ron queries, “you’re stressed.”
“You just noticed that?” Dustin snaps.
“Yeah, I couldn’t tell because you were pacing nervously, and sweating,” Ron quips, maybe a joke could work.
Dustin scoffs, “Yeah right.”
“Just, tell me what’s up?” Ron sits on the bed, standing his ground to Dustin. He’s not going anywhere.
“You want to know? Everything. Fucking everything!” He curses.
“The Messengers, The New East, The FEC, The Order, Siobhan, This stupid fucking city, this stupid planet, the stupid robots! Everything! It’s fucking everything!” He thunders, every inch of him shaking, bursting at the seams. Dustin scoffs, as his hissing shatters into broken laughter. He giggles and chuckles in a hysterical panic, letting out bounds of uncontrollable laughter. The laughs devolve into a fit of hacked coughing and choked tears, as he doubles down with his chest convulsing. He climbs up to the bed.
Then he sits there, crying softly, with little tears streaming down his cheek. Ron silently slides besides him. He inches a hand to his shoulder to test the waters. Dustin stares at him with a tired, red face for a long, and star speckled irises like tiny galaxies. Wait. His eyes are usually a dim brown. Ron’s own eyes widen at the enigma.
“Your eyes,” Ron gasps. “They look all starry.”
Dustin sniffles. “What do you mean? Is that supposed to be a compliment?”
“No, they literally have stars in them, check the mirror.”
“I-I don’t care… right now.” Dustin trails, before tearing his gaze from Ron. He takes a sharp inhale, and doubles over, shaking. Ron stares at his broken form, and places a hand around his back. Dustin looks back at him, once again showing his enigmatic eyes they pull one another into a tight hug. Ron pats Dustin’s back as he sniffles into his shoulder.
“I’ll be here if you need me.”

~

BATES
“I need to go…” Dustin declares to the band.
“Wait… what’s going on?” Ron asks.
“What do you mean?” Cory questions.
“You need to go where?” Brock wonders.
“Where are you going?” asks Zuzana.
“What’s happening?” Adam probes.
Dustin sighs, as he turns to everyone else, with his back to the door. He pulls out his tablet, and double, triple checks the message displayed on the front screen in big letters.

“I’ve been called to the city hall, the council wishes to ‘speak’ with me.”

The hall lies alone within the tenth sector of the city, which rises above all the others in the center of Blancmun. A nauseating spire of twisting chrome and metal, spiraling up into the stars, sitting on the tallest tier, and the heart of the city. Dustin makes his way towards the jaws of the lions den. The taxi drops him off at the entrance, then zooms away out of sight. A giant pathway stretches towards the skyscraper, lined with looming arches, and stationary robots, silently watching him with glowing lenses.
The door is enormous, above it, are hundreds of eyes gazing down at Dustin, like circling vultures. He stands before the door, as it begins to open, in a series of mechanical clicks, clangs and roars, each layer shifting away until the gate is clear.
He already told them, “If I don’t come back, run, just run, do whatever it takes to flee the city. Decide for yourselves if you want to come after me and Siobhan alone. Focus on calling the messengers, and when they arrive, you can plan a counter attack.”
Ron is the second in command of the team, he himself once swore to lead the others if something happens to Dustin.
He made sure Ron knew of this, because Dustin knows he won’t be returning to them anytime soon. If ever.
…He could’ve directed them to flee at this moment, and went with them, but who knows what kind of hellfire the city could send after them if he doesn’t come to them. They’ll know if he doesn’t comply with their command, they’ll Plus, he could find out something important, and by the language of the invitation, he knows he doesn’t have a choice no matter what he does. Those robots will drag him screaming and kicking if he doesn’t go himself.
But maybe the same thing will happen to the rest of the team anyway.
Or perhaps he’s already lost hope so soon.
Inside, it’s silent, save for Dustin’s footsteps echoing off the pristine, dome shaped hall. Someone stands in the hall, in front of what seems to be an elevator. She wears the same white coat and headset as the other lady.
“Dustin, we’ve been waiting for you. Please, come with me.”
She leads him to the elevator. The glimmering doors slide open automatically, and they step in. Dustin is nearly thrown to the floor by the force of the elevator shooting upwards, but the lady stands perfectly still.
The elevator slows to a stop, and opens up to reveal what almost looks like a throne room.
Screens displaying security recordings cover the walls, humans and robots stand around the throne, where a council of humans sit in a curved line, above the throne, is a massive camera.
“Dustin Bates, it’s good to see you,” says a council member. Each of them wear pale white robes patterned with light blue circles and a large patch on the left chest. They wear dark headsets that cover their faces.
“I can’t say the same for you,” Dustin says. There’s no point in trying to be nice.
“We understand it was not your choice to come here,” they say.
“Just get to the bit, why am I here?” he asks.
“We wanted to discuss your purpose here,” says another council member.
“We are aware you want to leave, why is that?”
“The only reason we came here was in hopes you would help us get back to our home planet. We’re very high up in our organization, and our allies need us.”
“Who are your allies?” asks another council member.
“Like I would tell you,” Dustin spits.
“Bates, you are being exceptionally rude,” says a council member. Dustin can’t tell which, they’re all the same.
“Now, back to the topic at hand: if you are to leave our haven, what do you plan to do once you are out?”
Dustin sighs.
“Find a way to get back to our home planet.”
“Bates, what is the name of your home planet?”
“I’m not telling you.”
“Keeping secrets are we?”
“I have a right to tell you nothing,” Dustin insists, his face cracking into a scowl.
“You’re a shy one, aren’t you?”
“I’m not shy, I just know not to trust people who exploit technology to manipulate people,” Dustin spells it out.
“Is that not what you’ve been doing? The people here are practically brainwashed.”
Each robot besides the line turns to gaze at him in a simultaneous movement, their lenses flashing purple.
“You’ve got it mixed up, we’re not exploiting people, we’re giving them everything they ever wanted. Say, why don’t you try one of those headsets, I’m sure you’ll love it.”
The rest of the council nods in agreement.
“No one can have everything they ever wanted, because no matter how much you give them, they will always want more,” Dustin advises.
“You don’t understand, everyone here is perfectly satisfied and happy, I truly do not understand why you don’t trust us.”
Dustin bursts into laughter.
Now they’re really starting to sound like The New East.
“You want to know why I don’t trust you? Oh, where do I even start? I already told you, you abuse technology, you brainwashed my friend, and you’ve now made it clear that you only want one thing: power.”
Silence falls. The robots lenses fade to a deep red, as a member of the council rises to their feet. One by one, they stand up.
“Power, yes. But we use our power for good, don’t we?”
The rest of the council nods.
“Did you forget that power corrupts? Also, seeking validation like that isn’t a sign of confidence in your argument,” Dustin jabs.
“You are being very undesirable right now. I believe you could use a bit of… correction.”
Dustin scowls.
“You’re despicable.”
The guarding robots flash towards him before he can blink. They glow red, and shoot at him, causing Dustin’s muscles tense up and freeze involuntarily at their electromagnetism. Bots rush in from every angle. The guards grab his shoulders on either side, with a grasp so harsh it might crush his bones. He growls as they detain him, holding him down.
Then, comes the pain.
Electricity burns through his body, as his muscles freeze up and paralyze. He growls in pain, as it crackles out like a thousand scorching needles stabbing him at once.
It stops.
Dustin drops to the floor with an echoing thud. He lays in a motionless heap on the ground, as the droids circle him, and close in.

Chapter Text

*SPLASH!*
Down, down, down…
Down, down, down he sinks. The abyss below seems to stretch beyond infinity, sucking lost souls down into it’s depths like a gaping black hole. Water envelopes him like a blanket, but Darkness eats him alive, consuming all light, and muffling any cry for help. How far does he sink? Is there a bottom, or just an endless void? If he would dare to swim, could he reach the surface?
Is there a surface?
It’s oddly peaceful. Quiet, and almost serene, an eldritch flavor of bliss. Bubbles endlessly pop from his mouth, but he doesn’t drown. Water washes into his nose, but he doesn’t suffocate. Yet he can’t breathe. All there is to do, is sink, let the abyss claim his tortured soul…

…

*Beep…beep…beep*
... Dustin groans, as his consciousness fades in. Blacks, reds and whites swirl in his vision, as his eyes blink open. He’s laying on something soft, and staring blankly at a wall. The air itself is sanitized, and numbing, with no sound but a maddening buzz of electricity and a constant beeping.
Dustin sits up, his muscles crying in pain. He wears a plain white body suit, with some kind of code on it’s chest. There’s something cold around his wrists, and some metallic choker around his neck.
Handcuffs.
Long glowing ropes stretch from his cuffs to the wall. His collar appears to be making the beeping noise. Dustin slides to his feet from the mat, and looks around.
Besides the mattress, his cell has a sink, a toilet, a chair to sit on, and of course, several security cameras. Then again, prison cells tend to have those. There’s a hatch of sorts in the corner, next to a pull-out table. Probably for food or something.
Dustin lets out a tired sigh, not like this is the first time he’s been locked up. Then he gasps, and flies to the door. It’s a translucent, red screen of sorts, that takes up the entire wall.
He scans everything he can see. Ron, and all the other band members are nowhere to be seen.
Dustin can only hope they escaped safely.
The cells are lined around the walls in a giant ring. Up and down, there are several levels, each filled with a ring of cells. In the center of it all, is a giant pillar, covered in surveillance cameras, slowly rotating around the prison.
*Ding!*
It comes from the corner.
A tray of food slides in from the hatch, it’s a plain meal of bread, cooked meat, and juice.
Dustin hasn’t given up yet, so he’s not letting himself starve: he digs in. The meat somehow tastes like nothing, Dustin wonders if it was lab-grown. All things considered, it probably was.
Dustin peers into it. Oh.
Ron was right.
In his eyes are stars, mini constellations, and tiny nebulas. He gazes for a moment at the enigma in his eyes. The questions flood in almost instantly. Where did they come from?
How long have they been like this? What caused his eyes to transform like that? Is this a side effect of something that’s afflicted him? Like an otherwordly disease or some superpower? Maybe a connection to a spirit or divine intervention? Can it go away? Is so, then how?
He turns on the cold water, letting it run through his hands. The trickling sound of running water grounds him for a moment. He brings the water to his face and splashes himself. Dustin clings to the sink, as his harsh breaths drown out the running water, and his heart pounds in his ringing ears. He watches the water level rise. Maybe to overflow, spill down to the floor, and wash along the tile, slowly flooding the room. The water rises up, as the deafening trickle of the faucet echoes endlessly. It rises to the mattress, the chair, and up to Dustin’s neck. He floats up as the water climbs to the ceiling. Taking one last breath, as the water hits the ceiling, and traps him under, he sinks. And he drowns.
But, reality returns.
Dustin stares at the pool of water, then shoves his head under, and drowns his screams in the water. He bursts up from the water with a gasp. Dustin gazes into the mirror, water streaming down his face. He turns off the faucet, and splashes his face again.
After that, he’s left at the last place he ever wants to be, whenever he values his own sanity: alone with his thoughts.

~

How long has it been? Days? Hours? Weeks? Dustin can already feel his sanity begin to leak from his head like blood from an open wound, as time endlessly flows on as it always does. How many meals had he had again? Did he even eat the last one he was served? He stares at his reflection in the mirror. Deep bags under his tired, sunken eyes, messy mohawk that hasn’t been taken care of in who knows how long. The tattoos down his neck, a tiny anchor to his identity, a small reminder that he’s still him, the one and only messenger 3301.
He lays back on the mat, and tries to fall asleep. Maybe he does fall into a blissful slumber, where he can forget about it all, but that sounds like a distant dream. Most likely, he’ll stay in a terrifying in-between, a prison of sleep paralysis, except the creature creeping from an existential abyss, and haunting his nightmares, shares his face. A manifestation of his own thoughts, pulled from the deepest depths of his mind, an abyssal trench to consume the bravest divers one by one. Does he even know what it is that gazes down at him? Some creature, oozing out from the cracks in his brain, and dragging him down into a dark ocean, to endlessly drown.
Sleep.
All he ever wants some nights: true rest, void of swarming demons. But all he finds is an endless sea of darkness, with no sign of a bottom. He stays there, keeping his head above the surface, as demons and monsters lurk below, always threatening to tear him apart. No lifeline, no island, nothing to cling onto in the raging waves.
And he doesn’t know how much longer he can keep himself afloat...

There’s no floor or path around the cells, but instead, moving platforms that shift up, down, and around the levels, carrying robots and people to check on the prisoners.
And one glides directly to Dustin’s cell.
It’s a person, wearing that same headset, and the same white coat as the others. Besides him is a four armed robot, on three wheels.
The screen flickers away, and the person presses a button on the outside wall. With a small hum, the red ropes dim and lose their color, then detach from Dustin’s cuffs and drop to the floor. Another button is pressed, and the cuffs fly around his back and click together.
Dustin considers rushing through the open door, but that couldn’t possibly end well. Either he breaks his legs from the twenty foot drop, or the robot detains him in an instant, and delivers a painful shock. Judging by the build of those arms, that robot could beat him up in a hundred ways, and slaughter him in a hundred more. Or, maybe there’s something programmed in the choker or cuffs that would stop him.
The person leads him down to the bottom floor, where Dustin gets a better look at everything. There’s no sign of his bandmates, but there are a few other people locked up, some are sleeping, or entertaining themselves, but one is staring directly at him: it’s a man with dark hair, and deep eyes. Dustin gazes back. There’s something in the prisoners face, some kind of curiosity, mixed with a hint of fear. The man watches him intently as Dustin is taken to the exit. As the door shifts closed out of the corner of his eye, he can almost glimpse the man shooting him a gesture, it’s a slight nod of the head.
At least he’s not alone here.
The person pulls out a cloth and blindfolds him, and then, the robot practically carries him down the twisting hallways. Eventually, Dustin is let free, and his blindfold is pulled off. He winces at the flashbang of light, and squints at the room around him. It’s fluorescent, and sanitized. Three people sit in a panel, at a white desk. Dustin is guided to stand before the panel. Each person wears a mask that covers their entire faces. From here, it’s hard to tell if they’re human.
“Dustin Bates,” one of them says. “You are here to answer some of our questions, please, be cooperative, we do not want things to get difficult, do we?”
Dustin scowls.
“What do you want from me?” He utters. “Just a QNA?”
“First question: What planet do you come from?”
He could lie, he could make something up, and present it as truth. Dustin’s done it before, even rehearsed his own made up stories to himself to make sure they sound convincing. But, considering all the footage they have of him, anything he says could be disproven in a way even he couldn’t see. From a conversation with Ron and the others, to something he muttered to himself in the shower. Yes, there are security cameras in the shower, which may be less for security and more straight up voyeurism.
Dustin sighs, and tells the truth.
“Prox, we’re from Prox.”
“Where is Prox?”
“I’ll tell you, but first: why do you want to know?”
He might be able to get away with lying about this one, there’s several other planets he could use as a decoy, similar enough to Prox, at least mildly habitable, and one Dustin can name the location of.
“We are simply… curious, we want details, that is all.”
That’s probably not all.
Wait…
What if there’s something in the choker or handcuffs that monitors his heartrate, and might be able to detect if he’s lying? Some FEC agents used something like that on him once. But if he asks them if the cuffs can detect lies, then they’ll already know he’s lying.
“It is an exoplanet, about three hundred lightyears from here, in your lightyears. While we have great space-faring technology, our other areas aren’t as strong. I’m very intrigued by it, even the cuffs you put me in, that’s why we came here.”
“You are getting off-topic, but we appreciate your praise, those cuffs are designed to monitor your footsteps and heartrate. Please tell us more about your planet.”
Dustin takes a gamble, and hopes they’ll pass of any ‘increases heartrate,’ as a result of the pressure that comes with being interrogated, he’s gotten better at controlling his heart beat after all.
“It’s the tenth planet from a blue giant, around three hundred and ten light-years away,” he states.
Who knows what they could do to him if they find out he’s lying, at best, he’ll have to reveal the truth, at worst, he’s dead. The panel seems pleased with his response, as Dustin keeps up his poker face.
“I’m assuming you don’t have enough knowledge of the sky here to direct us to which star you are talking about.”
“I don’t,” says Dustin.
The planet he directed them to is actually an outpost of The New East. It’ll be fun when the enemy gets a horde of unannounced visitors from across the galaxy. The confusion would create a good distraction, but that might also drag these guys into the conflict, fuck. Then again that might not happen, the council might actually be simply curious, but who knows how their people could disrupt Starset’s mission if they find Prox?
“That’s fine enough for us,” one of them says.
“Now, what are your intentions coming here?”
“I’ve already told you, get you to help us by lending us your technology so we can get back to Prox. But instead, you imprisoned me, thanks for that, by the way.”
“We were wondering why your friend tried to hack into one of our computers, and why you yourself helped hack into security cameras and shut them off. Also, why would you trap our latest citizen in a closet? So disrespectful!”
“Citizen? You brainwashed her against her will,” Dustin corrects.
“We simply gave her some improvements we felt were needed,” they say, as if it’s common knowledge.
“Here’s what I think: Ron attempted to hack into the computer, because he wanted to know why something that should be public was kept from him. We turned off the cameras, because we like this thing called privacy. Also, another question: why won’t you just let us leave?”
“Well, as you are interested in us, we are also interested in you, we wanted to know if there’s anything you could do to for us, or something we could learn.”
“Are you saying you want to enslave us? Or assimilate us for the purpose of more power for yourself?” Dustin asks, refusing to take any bullshit.
“It’s power for all of us,” another panel member adds. They are playing dodgeball with his arguments, oh the amount of songs he could write about this kind of back and fourth cat-fight of a chess game. How many pointless cards until the deck is gone?
“Anyway, we are getting off-topic again. Let’s give you another question, this can be your last: what caused you to crash here on Crimn?”
“I have no idea actually, we were literally just cruising by, inspecting planets on a scouting mission, when our ship went haywire. It might have something to do with the magic around here, or Orcha.”
“Really, it just crashed? Is that all you want to tell us?”
Dustin nods “yes.”
“Fine then, you are dismissed.”

~

DECHANT
Adam is gone.
Ron hides out in the savanna, with Brock, Cory, and Zuzana.
Siobhan got brainwashed, Dustin never returned from his ‘meeting’, which prompted Ron to get everyone packed up and out. He and Brock had to hack into the terminal to get the door open, which caused a squad of robots to attack them. Adam, Zuzana and Cory fended them off while Ron and Brock found a way to open the gates. As the robots began to close in, Adam charged forward, and swung left and right with his plazma axe, taking out several bots. But something hit him, and he went down. Zuzana screamed at him as the drones came in to fly him away. Ron could hear the buzzing propellers of the drones, but couldn’t look, he had to keep focus at his task until the door was open.
And then, they ran for it.
Now, the four of them are out in the open savanna, carrying around heavy bags full of their stuff, including Siobhan’s and Dustin’s. They’re hungry, tired, and lost on what to do.
Ron’s first course of action is to set up a base camp. They brought tents, and other useful supplies for camping out. Getting food should be as simple as finding an animal, killing it, and cooking it’s meat. Or finding some fruit, but that could risk them getting poisoned. Water shouldn’t be to hard either, they’ve already come across several bodies of water, and all they need to do is get it into a container and boil it.
The hard part is figuring out how to save Siobhan, finding out what happened to Dustin, and Adam, along with finding a way to contact the messengers.
Dustin could either be brainwashed like Siobhan, or locked up in a prison cell, or he’s straight up dead. Anything but that last one would be awesome.

~

BATES
Dustin lies awake on the mattress. His thoughts are scrambled in a thunderstorm that keeps him from sleeping. He’s been here so many times before, stuck in a purgatory between being awake, and true rest, always kept away by a constant swarm of what if’s, guilt, rage, anxiety, and questions that can never be answered. His eyes are closed, and he’s curled up in a blanket, yet he tossed and turns in tormented, restless sleep.
How long until they take him in to get brainwashed? Hell, why didn’t they do it the moment he was captured? Perhaps they want to ‘play’ with him, study him like a lab rat, and observe him in his own little enclosure, until they decide it’s time for a trip to the slaughterhouse.
*Bang!*
A noise echoes through the prison, snapping Dustin out of his spiral. He leaps to his feet, and flies to the door. The security cameras go dark, their red glow fading to black, as they halt in their rotation. Who did that?
The door to the prison slides open, and three figures step in. It’s clear they’re outsiders. They wear mostly black outfits, and carry firearms. One of them wears a glowing mask, that covers their entire face, and a hood that conceals the rest of their head. They point their hand at the surveillance tower, and from thin air itself, they shoot a sort of sonic blast at the cameras, shattering the lenses.
How did they…?
They don’t carry anything in their hands that could’ve done it, and there’s nothing notable to spot on their outfit, like a gauntlet or a cuff that would let them do a trick like that. It should be impossible, unless…
Magic.
Another of them pulls out a remote of sorts, and fidgets with it a bit. Then, one of the platforms glides over with a smooth buzz, not to the floor where one of them could get on, but straight up to one of the cells. Specifically, the cell with the prisoner who was staring at Dustin before his interrogation.
Glowing mask bends down, seemingly charging up for their next move. They fly forwards from the ground, and shoot up through the air like a bullet, landing cleanly on the platform next to the cell.
They’re breaking him out.
The red screen flickers away, and mask steps into the cell. They pull out some kind of bright blade; the prisoner stands completely still as they snap off the cuffs, and the collar, which clatter to the floor to be left behind.
The prisoner, or the man who was a prisoner, gives mask a tight hug. Then, he points directly at Dustin’s cell, and says something to mask.
He might be getting free after all.

???
His friend guides his vision to another cell. He peers into the red screen. Inside is another prisoner: it’s a tall man with a messy black mohawk and short beard.
“That one caught my eye. I think he was interrogated or something, he definitely doesn’t seem like he’s from around here. I think we should get him out too.”
He nods, and gestures to the other two to direct the platform over to other prisoner. The ground launches forwards, causing him to stumble, but he catches his balance.
Getting a closer look, the prisoner has tattoos on his neck and on his hand, that seem to stretch onto his arm. He seems less relieved, and more shocked at the thought of getting out. The screen fades away, and he steps through.
“Thank you...” he mutters in a broken language, yeah, he’s definitely not from around here.
“Can I trust you?”
“We can talk later,” says the friend, “we’re going to have some company.”
The platform carries them down, and they rush to the others.
“Do we have a new member now?” one of them asks.
“I’m not sure, but he seems like someone we should help,” says the friend. “What’s your name?”
The stranger looks at him, “Dustin.”
“Okay, Dustin, follow us.”
The four of them race through the twisting grey halls, all sanitized and spotless, with no colors but a constant blinding grey. At least, it used to be all grey.
Fractured robot parts lay scattered on the floor, alongside splatters of oil, like streams of black blood. Metal that was once pristine, is dented and riddled with so many holes it’s trypophobic. Dustin seems impressed, as they fly by doorways and around corners.
“I have a question... where are you taking me? Do you know where we are?” he asks.
“We’re in the sub levels of Blancmun, it’s like a giant facility in the foundation of the city. These hallways lead to an elevator which leads to a gate which leads to the great outdoors.”
“Mmm...”
To everyone’s surprise, guard robots round the corner, with their weapons ready.
Everyone else pulls out their weapons, as Dustin reflexively reaches to his back, only to realize he’s completely unarmed. The mask charges forwards, unleashing a sonic wave at the robots, as electricity crackles from their circuits. The others run in front of him, shooting blazing rounds of plazma at the drones, blowing through the arms of metal and wire.
They stop.
All that’s left is a pile of sparkling metal and burnt wires. From it, a tiny bot zips out, diligently dodging the bullets from the others, as it begins to beep and blink.
Dustin darts forwards, tracking the bots rapid movements as he twists towards it, and delivers a kick. It flies down the hall, before exploding in a burst of flames. Dustin is thrown back, as heat bites at him.
He slams into the mask, who flies back from the blast. Everyone falls to the ground.
“Did you not notice that was a bomb?” Dustin grunts, as he gets up.
“You want to get it away from you, not shoot it so it explodes in your face, and kills you.”
“I… didn’t think about it,” says one of them, “Thanks though… not bad, not bad.”
Eventually, they reach the elevator, and ride it down to the surface level. The doors open to a long hallway of gates, which they pass through with ease.

BATES
“I can’t thank you enough...who are you guys?”
Could he thank them? They might be spies, or some kind of nasty trick from the authority of Blancmun. Or, they’re going to use him for something, and take him for themselves. It's highly unlikely, but he's still a stranger to them. Either Dustin is breaking out of prison, and running into another one, or he’s a free man returning to his team. He decides to play along, they choose to free him, and have shown the signs of a friend, but even the most compassionate can use their own kindness against you. They’re his only chance right now, and he doesn’t have a choice to run away into the sun.
“We’re a group of rebels, but you probably already noticed that,” one of them says, a man with a long face and brown hair.
“I’m Chris, the unofficial leader, of ‘Smash into Pieces,’ as we call it.” says another guy, he wears a hat of sorts, abd dark goggles.
“I’m Benjamin, technically the reason you’re free now.”
“Per, I’m the awkward one, so you know.”
“And this is Apoc, short for ‘Apocalypse Drummer.”
“Oh,” Dustin smiles, genuinely, perhaps for the first time since he entered the city “are you in a band?”
“Perchance,” Chris grins.
Benjamin sares at him, “You can’t just say perchance...but yes, we are.”
“What if I told you, I’m in a band too?” says Dustin, “alongside rebelling against our enemy and going on missions, we also record albums and perform across the galaxy.”
“Sorry, who’s we?” Per asks.
“My team, there’s seven of us. We’re from a planet far away from here, called Prox. It’s the home planet of the Starset Society, which I am a leader of. We travel around to warn people about the dangers off technology when put in the wrong hands, in order to prevent what happened with the New East, and the FEC, from happening elsewhere, but it seems we were too late for this place.”
“That’s… a lot.”
“I know, honestly, I have no idea why I’m trusting you like this, for all I know you could be spies."
Benjamin laughs, “I assure you we’re not spies. Also, your Crimnish is amazing, where did you learn?”
“Translators, for a start, but being trapped on an alien planet for two months, surrounded by people who speak it also helps. We also wanted to teach ourselves with some of the records we still have, back at home, it’s important to have language skills," Dustin explains.
“Anyway, I’ve told you my backstory, so can you tell me where you’re from?”
Chris points into the distance, where a dark metropolis lies on the horizon.
“Arcadia, if you thought this place was hard to get out of, you have no idea. Most people are trapped in some kind of augmented reality, and we’re always getting chased by drones and androids.”
“Tell me about it, I’ve had to fight off more drones than I can count.”
“Hey,” Benjamin asks, “what’s that thing on the side of your head?”
Dustin lets out a long sigh, which sparks concern among the others.
“Nothing, it’s just that I’ve had to explain this so many times. This is a BMI, I had it forced into me, and my crew when I was captured by the New East, our enemies. When I was rescued, it had to be modded. We were able to decipher the technology, and create a heavily modded version of it, which we use to our advantage.”
“Ah, now that’s a good revenge,” says Chris, “turn the enemies weapon against themselves.”
“I never really thought about it that way,” admits Dustin, “it was before the tensions really started to heated, I would call it the inciting incident.”
“Anyway, where are you going to go from here?” Per asks. “I need to find my team, that’s for sure,” Dustin says. “But I’m pretty pathetic out here on my own with no supplies or anything.”
“Well, you’ve proved yourself pretty trustworthy, I guess you can stick with us until we find your buddies.”
Dustin smiles, a wide, genuine grin, there’s a warmth in his heart, like a fire igniting in a frozen tundra. For the first time since he arrived on this cursed continent, he feels happiness. “I’d like that, thank you.”

Chapter Text

Ron sits down on a rock.
The sunset is majestic. An explosion of orange and red fire blazing across the sky, as amethyst violet bleeds in from below. There’s swirling splatters of dreamy pink clouds. All surrounding a shinning scarlet star, that sends shimmering rays across the sky.
Ron could gaze at it forever, but there’s stuff that needs to be done.
Siobhan’s gone, Dustin’s gone, and now Adam’s gone too.
Dustin said to focus on contacting the messengers, but considering everything, that can wait. Right now, they need to recollect themselves.
Ron turns to the sound of footsteps, it’s Brock, and he’s clearly upset. He steps slowly, staring down at the ground as his hands droop lifelessly to his sides.
“Hey Brock, what’s up?”
“We need to save them. I know Dustin said to message the messengers, or whatever, but he and the others matter more.”
“I understand,” says Ron, “we’re not a full team without them, are we?”
“Nope. I was just asking what you think.”
“If we go to save them, that means going back into the city. If I had to guess, Siobhan is probably wandering the streets like a supplicant, both Dustin and Adam could be brainwashed, or imprisoned, and I didn’t see a jail anywhere,” Ron explains. “One problem: one step into that city means…”
“Robot attack,” Brock finishes.
“I know it’s hard, but we need to call the messengers first, we can’t risk losing another member.”
Cory returns with some firewood, and helps Brock build the fire. Zuzana carries a load of stones, and places them in a circle around the fire-pit. All it takes is a heated touch from one of their melee weapons to ignite it.
Brock signs up for the hunt, not just for food, but also to ‘relieve his frustration,’ which makes sense.
Ron watches over as things progress. Brock returns carrying a dead mammal of sorts, which tastes surprisingly better than Ron expected. It makes him wish he could’ve spent more time on Orcha, just to get a better taste of this world.
That’s when he get’s a message from his BMI. He pulls it up.
“Hey, Dustin told us he needed to find you guys. If you’re seeing this, that means it must have worked. Please respond if you can find us.”
Huh?
Ron is able to send a message back.
“Who are you!?”
A reply comes back soon after.
“Perfect! It worked. We’re ‘Smash Into Pieces,’ and you can thank us for freeing Dustin from jail. We’re going to send you our location, it should pop up on you’re BMI, as Dustin calls it.”
Ron blinks.
“Did anyone else get that?”
“Get what?” Brock asks.
“Someone just messaged me on my BMI, they claim to have Dustin, and now they just sent me their location.”
“Well, you can’t make that up,” Zuzana mutters.
“This could be a trap,” Cory advises.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Brock adds.
“It’s probably not,” says Ron. “They also said they freed Dustin from jail, and they were able to send me a message to my BMI, with the phrase: ‘it worked.’”
Another message comes up, this time, all of them seem to perk up. It’s a voice recording.
“Can you guys hear me?” It’s Dustin. “I’ve ah- I’ve made some new friends, let’s say. You should have a marker to my location.”
Several other voices jump in.
“Hi, my name’s Chris.”
“This is not a trap.”
“I’m Benjamin, I was locked up too.”
The message ends, leaving the four members of STARSET in silence. They cast glances at each other, before Ron speaks up with his hand raised.
“Raise your hand if you vote to go after him.”
Brock, Zuzana, and Cory all raise their hands, one by one.
“Okay, to Dustin it is,” he declares, “Zuzana, you stay, and keep watch.”
“Got it, see you all later,” she says, “I’ll scream if something happens. And call you too.”

~

BATES
It isn’t too long until Dustin can spot three figures approaching in the distance.
The effects of the prison wear down on him. All the constant stress and anxiety storming him always threatens to push him to insanity. Thinking back, maybe he could’ve avoided getting sent to prison in the first place, but he was breaking, he’s been breaking. From the nightly spirals, to the constant feeling that something is wrong.
He already let himself snap once with Ron, what if he snaps again?
No, no, he needs to focus, Ron and the others are coming to get him. He can rejoin with the team, and they can get a message to Prox.
The three of them grow closer, and Dustin can make out who they are: Ron, Brock, and Cory, all decked out in their messenger gear. They don’t seem to be carrying anything besides weapons.
No, don’t overthink, he can get the full story when they reach him. Dustin breaks into a dash across the grasslands, as the others begin rushing towards him.
“DUSTIN!” Ron calls, between pants of breath. Brock begins to stumble, but presses forwards through the sweat, as Dustin draws closer.
“RON!”
They meet.
Ron tackles Dustin into a hug, and squeezes him tight. He’s covered in dirt and mud, visibly exhausted, but that doesn’t hide his joy.
“Get in here!” he cries, as Dustin folds his arms to Ron’s back. Ron’s heartbeat pounds against his chest, in a harsh rhythm from the running, as Dustin pats his back.
Brock and Cory jump in, and they all wrap each other in a warm group hug.
“What happened? Is-“
“Zuzana’s fine,” Brock assures.
“And Adam?”
Brock pauses, as his eyes widen slightly.
“He was taken during our escape,” Ron explains “Something hit him, he went down, and the drones carried him away.”
Dustin pauses, and says nothing. His pupils dilate for a moment, and shiver.
“What? Adam’s gone too?” He snaps.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” Brock sighs, then leans in to give him a hug. “Hey, at least we have you now.”
Dustin frowns.
“Well, we’ll have to be a team of five for now.”
“Wait, wait, wait, wait!” Brock blurts, as he stops him.
“What about them?” He points towards Smash into Pieces, catching up behind Dustin, who turns to look at them.
“Oh, they’re rebels from around here, well not here, here, but another city nearby, you can thank them for rescuing me.”
Ron darts up to them, followed by
“Hey! Thank you so much! You’re all lifesavers!” he exclaims.
“Also, awesome looking mask.”
Apoc shoots him an unfamiliar gesture.
“It means thank you,” says one of them, “or good, it can mean a few things. Oh, I’m Per by the way.”
(Ya, this worlds version of a thumbs up, which I refer to as thumbs up.)
“Chris, this is Benjamin, and Apoc, he doesn’t talk much.”
Ron reaches out his hand, and after a slight pause, Chris shakes it.
“Is that a greeting?”
“Yup. Anyway, Ron here, this is Brock, and Cory, you’ve already met Dustin.”
“Hey guys, thanks a ton,” says Brock.
“Hi, it’s Cory, you already know that though.”
“Anyway, how did you free Dustin?” Brock asks.
“We were able to hack into the prison security with some help from our friends, and turn it off, then we fought through a bunch of robots. We originally came for Benjamin, but Dustin was also there.”
“It’s super impressive,” complements Dustin.
“Think Thomas Bell could do that?” Cory mutters to Brock.
“So, I’m guessing Dustin has already told you how we got here,” Brock says.
“Yup.”
“Any chance you could help us out? You’ve already done so much, but…” he trails off.
Dustin turns to him with a sigh.
“They already said no on the way here, they’re extremely busy with missions and stuff.”
“Sorry about that, we could lend you some supplies though. But, hey, if you ever need us…” Chris draws a device out of his pocket.
“Feel free to give us a call.”

~ (I hate writing those scenes…)

ZUZANA ENGEREROVA
They should be here any second. Meanwhile, all she needs to do is unwind for moment. Sit, back, gaze at the sunset, as the wildfire of reds fades into deep blue, and the stars begin to show themselves.
She yanks out some grass, and neatens up the campsite best she can. It never hurts to let your team have a little something to come back too. She has Dustin’s tent set up in no time, with his bag setting off to the side.
Sure enough, four silhouettes appear on the horizon. Four of them, not three, Dustin must be back! She smiles, as a warm hope expands in her heart. Zuzana waves at the figures in the distance as they draw closer.
Their familiar faces come into view. Dustin appears to be wearing a white jumpsuit of sorts. She can’t help but wonder exactly what happened. Was he brainwashed!?
No, the people who messaged them said he was imprisoned, and that they helped him out. Now, she wishes she had gone, if only to thank them for what they did for Dustin, and all of STARSET. To think, what might’ve happened to him if he wasn’t freed, or what could happen if they were to go on their mission without him. At least she doesn’t have to worry about that anymore.
“Dustin!” she exclaims, “Welcome back!”
Dustin glances around at the camp.
“Hm, not bad,” he comments, prompting a toothy smile from Zuzana. She skips up to give him a hug, which he promptly accepts, giving her a nice pat on the back.
“Your bag is over there to the left,” she points to where she placed his stuff. He makes his way over to his tent, where his clothes wait for him.

~

BATES
Dustin steps out from behind the rock, his yellow cape waving in the light of the new sunrise. He wears his messenger jacket, the color of a blue starlit sky, under an armor vest, rigid like ashen basalt.
The rest of STARSET forms a semicircle around him, as he clears his throat.
“We may be far from home, we may be somewhere unfamiliar, and bizarre, but we still have a mission, we have our message, and most importantly, we have each other. Our first course of action is to call the messengers on Prox, luckily, we already know where we can do that. Ron.”
“I was able to locate a bunch of communication signals in a facility of sorts, to the northeast, we can go there, hack in and encrypt a message. Slight problem, that place is swarming with bots, many of which are capable of beating our asses.”
“We can make a code that’ll help us hack into comms thingy, all we have to do is plug it in,” Brock adds.
“In that case, I could go alone, to avoid attracting too much attention, but I would prefer if someone comes with me, incase something happens,” Dustin says.
“I think I’ll stay back here,” says Cory, “not just to keep watch, but to help with hacking remotely.”
“I can get us all some food, and keep watch in case a robot dares to approach our camp,” says Zuzana.
“Okay, here’s my plan: me, Ron and Brock will go hack one of the telescopes I will focus on taking out robots, while you two do the hacking, once Ron locates a node. Zuzana, Cory, you will stay back until we return, and help as you can. Once we get back, our next goal is freeing Siobhan and Adam. Sound like a plan?” he asks.
Ron holds out his hand, prompting everyone to put their hands together in a circle, then, throw up their arms to the sky and cheer.
Ron smiles, “Let’s get this party started.”/p>

Chapter Text

Dustin marches through the prairie, as Ron and Brock follow alongside him. The plan is simple, get to the array, locate the node, hack in, encrypt a message to send to Prox. The actual mission is dangerous, confusing, and an unpredictable mess. The facility is more than big enough to get lost in, and it’s filled with robots and security.
For now, they have to actually get there, it’ll be easier to stitch together a plan up close, where they can interpret their immediate surroundings, as they still don’t know exactly what this place has to offer, so Dustin’s first plan is to expect nothing, and get there as quickly as possible.
Crimson bushes and grass break up the course dirt and mud. Like a brown, and sienna backdrop splattered with bits of red, and scarlet paint. Rodents weave through the grass, many of them have pointy horns or antlers poking from behind their eyes, which range from sets of two, to three, or just one.
The sound of a flowing river echoes in the distance. They come closer, to find a winding current cutting through the fields. Dustin steps across the sandy bank, leaving a trail of footprints in the mixture of soil. The constant dashing, and misty splashing of the water chimes in the air. It’s oddly soothing.
Dustin scans left and right across the bank, there’s no kind of bridge, or anything to use as one. The current is mild, and smooth, but still more than capable of sweeping them away if they’re not careful.
“So, do we have any ideas, or are we just…going for a swim?” Brock asks. Dustin responds by stepping into the water, and beckoning them forwards.
“Last time I checked, you know how to swim,” Ron smirks, following Dustin into the water.
Brock scoffs, “cannonball it is.”
The trio wades into the river, as water washes up to their knees, then onto waists and hips. Dustin’s cape floats behind him on the gentle waves as he wades deeper in. It’s not too cold, but he still shivers a bit, as it gets to his chest. He pauses, and stares back at the others.
“It’s not to far, but we need to be quick, that current doesn’t look too friendly.
Luckily, their vests come with a bit of flamboyancy built in, but that alone is not enough to carry them across. Dustin jumps into a paddle forwards, treading water with stubborn strokes.
The current sweeps him and his team to the right, but he swims on. Dustin frowns, as the facility in the distance grows further away. He picks up the pace, forcing himself against the current, as his muscles burn up in retaliation.
“Hey, wait for me,” Brock calls over the constant splashing. Dustin slows down for a moment, and glances back at him.
“Swim faster,” he orders.
“I don’t know if I can,” Brock shouts back.
Dustin sighs, and continues until he reaches the river bank. To the left, there’s a small pack of long necked mammals drinking from the river. They appear sort of like deer, save for the long, narrow tails and stripe patterns.
As Dustin splashes his way onto shore, the pack darts leaps away into the grass. He waits for the other two to make it ashore, crossing his arms as they step onto the sand. Dustin beckons them forwards, as he turns, and continues marching to the looming facility. Brock starts panting.
“Can we slow down for a bit, I’m tired.”
“We need to get there as fast as possible,” Dustin responds matter-of-fact.
“Why? We still need energy to fight…” Brock counters.
“He’s got a point,” Ron adds.
Dustin sighs, holding back a scowl. “fine, we can slow down, but the faster we do this, the faster we can get out of this place.”
Ron steps up to his side, and pats his shoulder, tilting his head with concern.
“Hey, you okay?” he queries.
“I’m fine,” Dustin insists, swatting his hand away. “Just… I’m a bit stressed, okay.”
“It’s okay,” Ron assures, “We got this.”
Dustin takes a breath, and continues forwards.
“Drone!” Brock exclaims, pointing up at the sky. Dustin gasps, following his hand to a white object hovering over the prairie, peering down at the ground like a hawk hunting for it’s prey.
“Hide!” Dustin commands, “in the bushes!”
He charges to the nearest cluster of foliage and dives at it. Creeping into the brush, he hides himself in the leaves, as Brock and Ron crawl in besides him. They stay there for a moment, curled up under a roof of leaves.
Brock breaks the silence, “psst, are we clear?”
“I don’t know,” Dustin whispers back. He listens for the buzzing of the drone, as it grows louder, and sharper, then softer, until the sound slowly fades away into silence.
“Okay, I think we’re clear,” he observes before peeking out from the bush. There isn’t a drone in sight. Dustin waves the others forwards, before crawling his way out. He stands up, brushing leaves and dirt off his jacket.
“Good call Brock,” he compliments.

~

“We’ve arrived at the array, I’ll update you on what happens.”
The facility is fortified with a long, probably electrified fence. Dustin gazes into the fence, on the other side is a large, black building, almost completely void of any detail, save for wires crawling up the wall, and weird symbols. Several other buildings like it dot the place, with pathways and bridges between them, and instruments littering the flat rooftops. Giant antenna and telescopes pop up between the larger buildings.
“Ron, Brock, do you read me?” Dustin calls through his BMI.
“Yup.”
“Yeah.”
“Any of those transmitters should be able send a message to Prox, but obviously, we can’t just walk up to one. Well, technically, we do, but that’s the first step of many. Second step, hack into it’s systems, and take control of it, third step, encrypt a message. Fourth, align the telescope with Prox, if we can find it, and send it out.”
Dustin furiously types out the plan onto his tablet as he explains it. He slides the device back into his pocket, and turns his focus to the fence.
“Ron, you’re on finding the right telescope, and locating Prox, Brock, you’re on hacking in, and encrypting a message, I can figure out the telescope and help with both of your tasks. All of us have one common task, however, and that is beating up robots.” Dustin explains.
“Well, property damage it is,” says Ron. “Let’s do this.”

~

They spot him pretty quickly. The robot releases a resonating ping that rings through the facility. Dustin draws out his spear, swinging it over his back, and gripping it’s shimmering handle. It’s tip sparks up with a red glow, and ignites in a gleam of yellows and greens, before rising in a flaring cyan. A squad of robots rolls around the corner, armed with built in defense turrets and blades in their metallic arms which, seem to have been designed for a different purpose. Dustin leaps in a jagged zigzag path for the bots, as bullets and lasers shoot by him. Static arcs as he slashes his spear. The electrified blade burns into the sanitized metal of the robot, leaving a searing red cut as plasma discharges through it’s circuits. He follows it up with a twist and a stab deep into it’s wires.
Dustin yanks it out, and quickly ducks under a glowing attack. He turns to the attacker, as it winds up to slash at him. Holding his spear up, he blocks the attack, and counters with a downwards jab. Dustin leaps back, and swings again, hitting two at once. He winces, as something hits him on his side. His vest blocks the strike, but it still burns for a moment. He presses on, leaping upwards, and winding up his spear high above his head. The blazing tip stabs deep into the robots circuitry, as he strikes down, unleashing a wave of electricity discharging around him.
Static runs up his body as the air itself seems to crackle. He picks himself up from the dented, charred, and broken body of the robot.
Dustin reels back, and lets out a cry as he slashes forwards.

~

DECHANT
Electricity and steam discharges from the robot in a wonderful thunderstorm. Ron raises his arm, as his shield comes soaring back to him. He turns to observe what looks like a telescope, as the robot collapses into a heap behind him.
He darts up to it. It’s larger than most others in the facility, yet still not the biggest towering high above the pristine buildings next to it’s base. There’s no inside, but a simple terminal, well, simple would be one of the last words he’d use to describe it. It’s for robots to use, not humans, much less extraterrestrials who don’t know what half of the symbols even mean. Ron peers at it for a moment, before glancing around the structures surrounding him. More telescopes, most of which appear the same to the one before him, except smaller. He could check them, see if any of their terminals are easier to make sense of, but the truth is: he doesn’t feel like it. If anything, it’ll make things slightly easier at the cost of a huge time waste. Dustin may want things done faster for the sake of things done faster, but Ron knows the more time they spend messing around, the more robots will try to beat his ass into the ground.
For example: the one buzzing up right behind him, with a flaring weapon that doesn’t look friendly.
Ron whirls, and swings his sword at it, only to miss as it rolls back, leaving nothing but a red scratch. The machine counters, diving forwards at Ron as it’s weapon crackles. He holds out his shield, before-
*ZZZZRPP!*
Electricity surges up his body, with a nauseating crackle. His muscles tense up and freeze, as his consciousness flickers like a broken light switch. He drops to the ground with a small thud. Ron lays in a motionless heap, yet he clings to awareness.
He reaches out to Dustin…“Help…need help…” he manages through his BMI. Ron lets out a weak cry, as the robots blur into abstract blobs in his fading vision. With a grunt, he pushes himself back up with shaking arms. He reaches for his blade, but-
*BZZZZZRRRP!*
His blood seems to ignite and crackle like static, as he flinches and freezes up into a paralyzed statue. But he’s already out before he can see them close in like circling vultures.

~

BATES
Fuck.
“RON!” he screams through his BMI. No answer. Dustin reaches out, and connects back to Ron.
“Ron, do you hear me?”
No response. He closes his eyes, and concentrates, and taps into Ron’s end, focusing on the other BMI. Through the connection, he can sense Ron’s status:
…Unconscious.
“What is it?” Brock cries.
“He’s down!” Dustin transmits to him.
“Come on, let’s meet up and save him!”
He takes off rushing towards Ron’s location on his BMI.
“Over there, at the telescope!” says Brock. “Let’s meet there.”
“Which telescope?” Dustin demands.
“I- oh yeah…the tall one on top the shiny building.”
Dustin sighs, and transmits an update to Zuzana and Cory.

RICHARDS
“You see him on your BMI?”
“Of course I do.”
“Just making sure.”
Cory’s voice comes through “Do you see him out there?”
“No, only his BMI.”
Brock peeks out from behind the telescope, at the drones swarming over the facility, and the blinking dot a few buildings away, under a telescope. He leans forwards a bit, and squints.
It's moving.
“Look Dustin, it’s Ron, he’s moving.”
“Huh?” he peeks over his shoulder. “Shit, come on, we have to get over there now!”
“I don’t know if we can get there fast enough,” says Brock.
“Well, what do you think we should
do?” Dustin snaps.
“I…” Brock peers at his surroundings, as Ron’s BMI continues to drift away. Meanwhile, Dustin sends another message to Cory, who sounds worried. Drones buzz by, most of them are small, no bigger than a dinner plate, but many are much larger, with little hands at the bottom to pick up stuff.
Hmmm.
“I have an idea, it’s crazy, but it’s an idea.”
“What are you thinking?”
Brock eyes a nearby drone, as it hovers close to the roof. He charges up a jump, as his boots begin to glow. Focusing his sight, on the drone, he takes a breath, and leaps. He flings out his hand, and snatches the metallic claws of the drone. It lets out a loud buzz, as he wrestles with it, dragging it down to the roof. Brock hovers above the ground. With his free hand, he pulls out his pistol and shoots at the propeller. The drone buzzes, and falls for a moment, giving him enough time to rush to a wide eyed Dustin.
“Hold on tight!” he shouts, as Dustin grabs onto his torso. Brock charges forwards as the drone takes off again. He leaps off the roof.
And he flies. Brock clings on for dear life, as he soars above the facility. His stomach drops, and his eyes go wide. Yet his heart bursts with life, as the thrill lights him up. It’s like a roller coaster, as he flies like a free bird, the wind rushing with him. Dustin holds on with his life, as Brock smiles like a child arriving at their favorite theme park.
“Wooooooo!” he cheers over the loud buzz of the propellers.
The BMI blinks closer, as Brock steers the drone in it’s direction. He hovers over a building, and around a telescope.
“I see him!” Dustin calls.
There he is, laying unconscious, and locked away in some kind of pod. He’s being carried by a large robot, and is surrounded by several others.
“Can you get us down?”
Brock aims the drone downwards, his knuckles already paler than a ghost from holding on. There’s a loud crack, and some sparks flying from the drone. Brock’s heart sinks as the drone lurches downwards, and begins to descend rapidly.
“Oh shit! We’re going to crash-!”
He swerves the drone to the right, and swings back to the left, gliding down towards Ron, as the ground approaches fast. They crash. Dustin breaks off of Brock, and tumbles to the ground. Brock lets go, plummeting several feet to the hard floor.
*Thud!*
Ow. Aching pain bursts up his bones. He lays there sprawled on the ground for a moment, before picking himself up with a groan. Dustin already has his spear glowing like a lightning bolt, as the bots charge for him. Brock darts up besides Dustin, and swings out his staff. They stand back to back as the robots close in.
“You ready?”
“Let’s give them hell!” Dustin declares.
And they leap forwards.
*BZZZRT!*
Dustin swings and stabs, sending bolts of electricity discharging in a thunderstorm of circuit carnage. Brock slashes back and forth, swinging both ends into the metal of his enemies. He twists his staff’s handle, releasing a click. The staff splits into two twin swords. Brock spins, and slices at the bot in front of him. He blocks it’s attack, and counters by impaling his blade deep into it’s circuitry.
“Almost got him,”
Dustin slides his spear back into his sling, and pulls out his rifle. It clicks as he loads it up. Flaring bullets shred through the metal, as Dustin stands firm.

The last robot falls in a heap of steaming metal. After sending a quick update to Cory, Brock rushes towards Ron, skidding to a stop in front of the pod laying in the middle of the battlefield. He kneels down over it, feeling over it’s cool surface. Brock finds the hatch, and pulls it open. He grabs Ron, and lifts him out with a grunt of effort. Dustin kneels besides him, as he places Ron carefully on the ground. "Nap time's over."
Ron lays motionless, save for the gentle rise and fall of his chest.
“Time to wake up,” Dustin says, patting on Ron’s shoulder.

DECHANT
The first thing he sees, is Dustin’s creased face staring down at him. Brock is there too.
“Whaa-?” he mutters, rubbing his head. He leans up, as his head aches and throbs. Brock lifts him up, and supports him.
“You up?” he asks, as Ron leans into him.
“Yeah…” Ron scratches his head. Brock slowly lets go of him, and steps back. He wobbles a bit, but stands on his own.
“What happened?”
“You were knocked out, or something,” says Brock.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Come on, we should get back to the mission,” Dustin suggests.
The trio goes up to the terminal of the telescope. Brock pulls out his tablet, and huddles with Dustin and Ron as they find a way to hack in. Eventually, after several minutes of arguments and confusion they break in.
Ron is able to locate Prox through a star map built into the terminal. Dustin guides him through some of astronomy, and mathematical stuff, then gets the angle for the transmission. Once the telescope is aligned, Brock jumps in, and encrypts a message.
“We are still alive.
Our ship crashed on the exoplanet: “Reco-V2” we were unable to contact you from our ship due to the damage. We are currently on a continent filled with advanced technology, including sentient robots, VR, and brainwashing. The authorities are power hungry and insane; they are trying to force us to join them. Siobhan and Adam have already been taken, the rest of us are hiding out in a camp. This message is from a communications array we were able to hijack, after fighting off several robots. Please, send help to our location as soon as possible, we need to get out of here before something happens.
We are still alive.

-With purpose, Messenger Bates, Dechant & Richards.”

And with that, the transmission is sent out.
Who knows exactly how long it might take for it to reach Prox, if they’re going off light speed, that’s at least three hundred years. Dustin peers at the terminal, and then at hit tablet… about…two to three months.
Who knows if they can hold out that long?

~

CORY JUBA
“We’re coming to get Ron, he’s in a sort of pod.”
He sits alone next to the campfire. Zuzana is still sound asleep in her tent, all she said was “just wake me up if you need me.”
Dustin, Ron, and Brock are out there, potentially risking their lives. Cory wanted to tag along, even if just to make sure everyone gets out alright. As the newest member of the team, he knows he should prove it was worth it to add him. Yet, despite all he’s done to earn his spot, he always seems to get put in the backseat. An extra, but he’s more than an extra number to make six into seven, and he knows it. He follows Dustin’s light with every step, even if just to say “incase you forgot, I’m here, and by the way, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Almost got him.”
All of them, Ron, Brock, Adam, Siobhan, Zuzana, even Dustin himself, trust him. They’ll go after him if he’s in danger, just like he’ll go after them. And yet, what if they don’t come back. What if he and Zuzana are the last one’s standing. No, that shouldn’t happen, that can’t happen. Dustin is a warrior; he’s brilliant, and even though he’s stubborn, that means he’ll never give up, even if all the stars went supernova. He’d find a way, like he always does.
Dustin himself is a star, shinning bright, through the darkest nights, and giving everyone back their sight. And yet, Cory feels like a candle.
“We got him, he’s unconscious, but he looks fine.”
All the other messengers, whether it be at a demonstration, during a mission, or as they do their jobs as one of the top teams under Aston Wise himself, seem to forget about him. Once, after an acoustic show, a newer fan gave them a letter, thanking STARSET for all they’ve done. They wrote their names individually, Dustin, Ron, Brock, Adam, Siobhan, Zuzana… but not Cory, his name was missing, as if they forgot about him. Or maybe they didn’t they just felt he wasn’t important enough to mention.
Cory is dragged out of his thoughts as a message comes through his BMI. It’s Brock
“We’re almost there, hacking into the telescope right now. Ron’s awake, and we should be back in about two hours. See ya.”
Cory lets out a relaxed sigh.
“Do you need any help?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
“Okay, what are we looking at?”
…
The message is sent, and the trio announce they’re on their way back. Eventually, three familiar figures appear over the horizon.
Zuzana climbs out of the tent, with a graceful stretch.
“Look, they’re coming,” he calls, pointing into the distance.
“Oh, they’re back already?” she yawns.
The two watch as the trio come closer.
Ron’s voice comes through “guess who’s back?”
“Back again,” Brock follows up.
They meet just outside the camp. Dustin calls everyone for a meeting around the campfire.
“So, what’s our next quest?” Brock asks.
“Get Adam and Siobhan back. That’s as simple as it gets,” Dustin starts.
“First of all, we need to find them, if I had to guess, both of them are wandering the streets like supplicants. We could capture them, but that might reveal our location, the authorities can probably see through them from those brain chips. Our best bet would be to knock them out, and remove the chip as fast as possible, Cory can help with that.”
He smiles, of all of them, he has the most medical knowledge, maybe he’ll have to put it to the test.
“The thing is, we don’t know how to remove them, and brain surgery is risky to say the least.”
Brock raises his hand.
“Yes?”
“When Siobhan was possessed that night, I noticed something on her neck, I think it was the chip.”
“Hmm, if we can’t remove it, we can try to break it, or deactivate it,” Dustin suggests. “But that still poses risks.”
“Yeah, might put then in a coma,” Brock adds.
“Or cause seizures,” adds Cory.
Ron clears his throat, getting everyone’s attention.
“Please note that removal of a brain chip can result in several minor side effects, such as seizures, fainting, blot clots, internal bleeding, blindness, and also death.”
Dustin and Brock chuckle, while Zuzana bursts out laughing.
“Okay,” Dustin continues the conversation.
“We can rest and plan for a few days, but eventually, we will have to do our mission. I don’t want to leave this continent until Siobhan and Adam are back.”
Dustin pauses, then lets out a sigh.
“There’s also something we have to accept. We might not be able to get them back to themselves at least not fully. If that is the case, we will have to hold out until the messengers arrive. If the city is still tracking them at that point, then might have some trouble on our hands. Another option is going to Smash into Pieces for help, but they may not be able to.”
“I think we should go over to their camp, maybe they’ll let us stay,” Brock suggests.
“They’re still strangers to us,” Dustin says. “They’re not enemies, but I don’t trust them completely. They could still have ulterior motives, or some kind of scheme. We don’t know exactly what their goals are, or what they believe we are.”
“Dustin, they had no reason to bust you out of prison, but they did it anyway out of compassion. I do see where you’re coming from, they might be up to something” Ron argues.
“If it weren’t for them, you’d still be locked up,” Brock adds.
“I think we should trust them,” Zuzana chimes in.
Everyone turns to look at Cory for his perspective.
“I don’t see much of a problem,” he shrugs.
“Alright, for today, we can stay here, and argue more about this tomorrow,” Dustin says. “I’ll let you all think about this more, how does that sound?”
Everyone nods, while Cory shoots a quick thumbs up.
“Okay, you are dismissed.”

BATES
He climbs into his tent, and shuffles info his sleeping bag. It’s not that comfortable, but still better than the prison cell.
This time, he falls asleep. His mind finally comes to rest, as he sinks into a warm slumber.

Chapter Text

BATES
He wakes up, and climbs out from his tent. There’s Ron, sitting at the campfire, chatting to Cory, there’s Zuzana, writing something on her tablet, and Brock, still sleeping.
“Look who finally decided to get up,” Cory calls.
“Good morning!” Ron smiles, “did you sleep okay?”
“Actually, yeah,” Dustin answers.
“That’s good.”
Dustin glances around the camp, and then at the glamorous city across the plains. He turns to the others. Ron dons his simple shirt, meant to be under his jacket, vest and armor, all of which lies spread out on a nearby tree.
“Okay,” he starts with a clap.
“Ron, you’re on scouting duty, Cory, you’re on hunting, Zuzana, you’re on getting water. Brock can help me prepare for the mission when he wakes up.”
“Aye,” Ron complies with a salute. He and Cory leave the camp, as Zuzana circles around, scanning for threats.
Dustin sits back, pulls out his tablet and starts plotting out potential plans to get their stolen friends back. Cory comes back dragging a bush ripe with dark berries, him and Ron had tested them earlier, and confirmed they weren’t poisonous. There are a few times Dustin, or the crew had to hunt for food, whether because they end up loosing all their food at an outpost, or ended up stranded in the deserts of Prox. This is the first time they’ve had to do it for a prolonged period. Stomach aches and bouts of nausea creep up on him through out the days, but he’s been through way worse. Brock has already thrown up twice, and Zuzana may have gotten a virus. Dustin would poke at her for having been lazy lately, but he can hear the sickness in her voice. She comes back with water, which Cory gets to purifying.
Dustin and Brock sit together and build up plans to free Siobhan and Adam.
“Let’s see if I can get in …”
“Can’t believe I’m saying this, but that’s too dangerous.”
“Nope, can’t find anything.”
“Apoc can help us with his abilities…”
“Do you think they know the way around the city?”
“I think Per said something about being good with computers, and dancing…”
“Maybe we could get through here and…”
“Finally, I think I got something.”
They converse a bit more, scrapping plan after plan like discarded paper. Cory and Zuzana join the meeting, and slowly, ideas start to stitch together, and take shape.
Their meeting is cut short when Ron rushes into the camp like he’s being chased by an eldritch demon.
“ROBOTS! THE ROBOTS ARE COMING FOR US, THERE’S A FUCKING ARMY!”
Everyone pauses, and stares at him in silence, as he pants.
“Look…” Ron gestures to the distance, towards Blancun. Sure enough, dozens of mechanical soldiers march towards them.
“Come on! Get your gear,” Dustin demands. Instantly, everyone rushes to their tents to throw on their stuff, and gather what supplies they can, tossing it into cramped backpacks. Soon, they all stand in a line, armored up and weapons in hand.
“Where do we go? They’re just going to keep chasing us,” Ron says.
“I don’t want to drag Smash into this, but…” Brock trails off.
Everyone looks to Dustin. He gazes at the oncoming army, to the dazzling city, to “Arcadia” in the distance, then back to his team.
“If we can’t kill the beast from the outside, then we’ll have to take it down from the inside.”
“You mean, we’re going back into the city?” Brock stutters.
“You’re crazy,” Ron says, “Anyway, go on.”
“No need to remind me. When I was escaping the prison, Chris told me about the sub levels underneath the city. It’s not just the prison I was in, there’s facilities, power sources, and labs down there, and I know how we can get in.”
“That’s so crazy it might just work,” Cory comments.
“Well, I don’t have any other ideas,” Ron says.
“We can find the heart of that tangled web, and destroy it, but we need to stick together,” Dustin declares.
“Hey...guys?” Brock stammers. “Look, is that-“ he gestures to the frontline of the machines, where something stands out among the mechanical soldiers. There’s a person. He pulls out his binoculars, and gasps.
“Siobhan?”
Brock looks at Dustin, “How do we get her back?”
“I don’t know!” Dustin grunts.
Brock sighs, then takes off towards the army.
“Wait!” Dustin yells, reaching out and starting forwards. Ron stops him, as Cory dashes forwards.
“I’ll get him.”
“We should gather more stuff,” Ron says. “And some food.”
Dustin sighs.

RICHARDS
He rushes across the dry grass, growing ever closer to the army as his heavy breaths sound in his ears. Brock slows down for a moment. Cory catches up to him, and pats his shoulder.
“Feeling okay?”
The robots spot them, some begin to rush ahead. Siobhan stares at him, as she darts forward at an unnatural speed.
“Siobhan!” Brock calls. Her whip glows at her side, as she comes to meet him. She grins so wide her face looks like it’s being torn apart like wet clay.
“Siobhan! I missed you, I was so worried I-“
She pulls out her whip, and prepared to attack.
“Starlight? Wait- NO-!”
She attacks.
He leaps back to avoid her slash, but the pointed tip of the whip grazes his vest.
Tears well in his eyes. “Siobhan…”
Cory rushes forwards, claws unsheathed and glowing red.
“WAIT-!”
She swings at him, but he parries it with a quick slash. Instead of clawing her, he kicks her down to the ground, and rips the whip out of her hands. She kicks him off and springs to her feet. The whip goes flying, and lands at Brocks foot. He steps back, as Cory continues to fight her, refusing to watch. Cory lands a hit on her head, and she collapses. Brock takes the whip, and rushes over to her. He kneels by her side, as Cory stands over him. Brock flips her over, and brushes her blond hair away from her neck, revealing the chip. It’s blinking red and blue, sending out signals up to her brain. Brock stares at it in silence for a moment.
He goes to touch it. But then there’s a blinking light on his hand. He gasps, as a robot prepares to fire. Before it can shoot, a soaring spear stabs into it’s head like a meteorite. It falls backwards, as steam shoots from it’s vents. Brock follows the spear as it flies back to Dustin’s hand.
“You take care of her, we’ll handle the machines” Ron says, as Zuzana runs up besides him.
Brock smiles, and inspects the chip on Siobhan’s neck. He touches it, and tries to pull it off. Of course, that doesn’t do anything. He plays with it a bit, it’s connected to her brain through some wires or something, but if he removes the chip, that should be enough to stop the signals from going in, right?
Brock takes out a screwdriver, and lines it up with the chip. He takes a deep breath, aims it right, and stabs it into the chip. Pulling it out, he looks at it again, the circuits are damaged, but still intact. He needs to get it off. But getting it off might include… cutting.
“I-I can’t do it,” he stammers.
Cory kneels next to him.
“What is it?”
“I can’t get it off, I need to-”
“Let me take a look,” Cory leans over the chip, and inspects it.
“We need to cut in.” He states, before shaking off his backpack, and scrambles through it, pulling out bandages, and a few wipes. Then he pulls out a blade.
“I got this.”
He cuts in, cutting slow and careful into the flesh around the chip. Brock winces at the blood blossoming across her skin. He gets under, and cuts at the wires below, severing the chip.
“Pads?”
Brock snatches them and puts them in Cory’s open hand. He covers the wound, letting blood absorb into the pad.
“Wipes?”
After cleaning up the site, he covers it up with a bandage. The chip lays bloody and broken on the grass. It’s blinking and buzzing are gone.
“Thank you, man” Brock gives Cory a quick hug, before sweeping Siobhan into his arms.
He takes off as fast as he can, but exhaustion comes quick with the extra weight. Siobhan lays motionless in his arms, but he hear her soft breaths. She’s still alive, and he’s going to make sure she stays that way.
He rushes past broken metal and mechanical corpses, as he takes a path around the army. Dustin, Ron, Cory and Zuzana battle on behind him. Robots rush at him, and take fire as he runs by, but he pays no mind, all that matters is getting into the sublevels, and keeping Siobhan safe.
As he nears, he glances behind himself. The others have stopped trying to fight, and rush around the bots towards the gilded city. Exhaustion chases him, but he keeps moving forwards, walking, or running. Dustin and the others catch up to him.
“Here, let me take her,” says Ron, as he catches up to Brock. They stop, and Brock hands Siobhan to Ron’s arms. Instantly, his energy comes back as the weight is taken off. He dashes forwards once more, followed by the others.
“I see an entrance!” Ron calls, “Right next to that tree!”
“What tree!?” Dustin shouts, “Wait, I see it.”
“Come on!”
They rush towards the closed door. Closer, closer, closer…
“Here’s your wife back,” Ron says, tossing Siobhan back into Brock’s arms. “Anyway, let’s crack this fucker open.”
He rips away the panel and hacks into the door. The shimmering doors shake, and begin to pull apart, revealing the insides of the city.
They rush into the dark.
Ron darts to another panel and gets the door shut before any bots can make it in. He then stabs it through with his blade. The space before them is expansive yet gloomy. Their clicking footsteps echo, as they attempt to make out the shapes and figures in the dark. The lights on their vests light up automatically, but it doesn’t do much to illuminate the shade. Another light cuts through the dark a few meters away, this one is an orange red glow, like a nearby star in a tiny galaxy.
A second light appears, then a third, and a fourth…
Soon, there’s lights everywhere, as shapes and forms make themselves clear. There’s metallic stomping, rolling, and buzzing.
Everyone already has their weapons out, except Brock.
“I’m starting to get tired of this,” Ron sighs.
“Yup…”
“Okay, we should stay together,” Dustin says, “Ron-!”
Ron darts ahead at the bots, quickly followed by Cory and Zuzana. Dustin sighs.
“Go, find somewhere safe, we’ll meet up.”
Brock nods, and dashes off. He sends out a message through his BMI to the others, but he’s meet with static. He tries again, but somethings blocking his reception, and distorting all connection. It gives him a headache, so he stops.
“There’s something wrong with my BMI, I can’t send anything!” he shouts to Dustin.
“It’s not you,” he replies, “I feel it too, it’s like the connection is just gone, there has to be something disturbing it.”
Dustin lets out a frustrated sigh, tapping his foot. Meanwhile, a hulking robot collapses to the ground nearby. He walks up to Brock.
“Don’t go far, just find a place to hi-“ Dustin begins. Brock gasps, as a glowing laser shoots by him, missing him and Siobhan by a near inch; it’s heat licks at his sleeve. Dustin’s already rushing forwards at the culprit.
Brock takes the opening, and books it. He rushes into the dark, as his lights shine brighter, letting him see further. Spotting a staircase, he twists forward and rushes up. He makes his way up a few flights, before stopping to rest as his muscles burn. As he pants, the walls start to light up, as something activates. Brock forces himself forwards, and through the next door he sees, as the turrets barely miss him. He makes his way through a winding hall, past several turrets that shoot at him, and enters a series of rooms, all filled with computer equipment. He stops.
The walls remain dark. He finds a small door, and enters into a closet. There, he kneels down, and gently places Siobhan onto the cold floor. She lies still, almost serene, yet haunting. Her chest rises and falls, as her soft breaths grace the silence. Still alive. Brock lays down next to her, and nudges her shoulder.
“Siobhan? …Siobhan, wake up.” He whispers. “Come on, wake up, nap time’s over okay?”
She doesn’t respond. He tries shaking her awake, but nothing happens.
“Hello? Come on, we gotta go…Siobhan!” he raises his voice.
“Wake up! Please…”
Still nothing. Her face seems at peace, still beautiful through the dirt covering it. Tears begin to well in his eyes. He sniffles, and lets them stream down his cheeks.
“Please? Don’t…” he chokes out, as he lays to rest his head on her soft chest. “Please…” Her small heartbeat echoes in his ear, and her warmth chases away his own coldness. Brock buries his cries into her shirt. “Don’t leave me.”

BATES
He plants his foot into the ground and twists down the narrow hall. Dustin darts down the dark passage, glancing back at the swarm of blinking red lights following him. He gasps, then skids to a halt.
A dead end.
His feet stop before a drop off into a dark descent. He gazes down into the deep drop, then back at the buzzing lights, that draw ever closer.
The robots corner him, he backs up. His feet grace the edge, and a piece of metal chips off from the overhang, vanishing into the darkness below. There’s no sound to be heard, if it hit the ground at all. He can’t back up, unless he wants to fall. His gaze flickers from the threatening fall to the robots closing in. Only one way out. He swings out his spear, as it ignites like a crackling thunderbolt. Dustin rushes forwards, slashing at the bots, as bullets fly by. He stabs through the metal, cutting one down, as sparks discharge from it’s ruined circuits. The others block his attacks, and slash back at him. He ducks, then counters with another strike, landing a hit. But for every bot he slays, there’s five more advancing forward. He backs away, as the robots push him further towards the drop. A bullet hits his shoulder, but his armor stops it from wounding him. One of them moves forwards. This one is bigger than the others, with a giant red eye gazing down on Dustin. It’s stare is lifeless, and still, yet intimidating, as it’s lights starts blinking rapidly, and its blade seems to glow. It strikes, but Dustin blocks the attack. He growls, as the bot pushes back against him. Metal screeches as his feet slide back. He puts in all his strength to force the thing back, and stand his ground. But it’s no use. His muscles burn, and start to give in, as his legs threaten to collapse. The bot gives one final push, sending him flying backwards, and into the dark drop. Dustin falls, vanishing into the descent, as light fades from his vision. He tumbles ever downwards, spiraling, and spinning through the dark. His screams leave him before he can even open his mouth.
*Splash!*
Pain bursts up his body from the waters surface. The waves wash him away, as his mind is left numb, and aching. He squeezes his eyes shut, and tries to cry out, but his calls are lost in a flurry of bubbles. Water washes down his throat, making his lungs burn. Panic chases away his confusion, as he kicks his legs in a frantic rhythm.
He surfaces with a gapping gasp for air. It’s completely dark, and his lights show nothing but an endless tunnel, there’s no way to know where he is, or what’s ahead. His head sinks under, before bobbing back up to the surface, only to go down again. The rushing current sweeps him left and right, washing him up and down a winding tunnel like a bug caught in a storm drain. Something sucks him down.
He’s under. His head collides against a ceiling, as his body slams and bumps against metal on all sides. He tries to move, but the space is too cramped, and claustrophobic.
The pipe spits him out into another tunnel. He coughs up bouts of water, while fighting to prevent more from coming into his pipes. Lights illuminate the chamber, allowing him to see clearly. The current is calmer, letting him carefully tread water. He scans his surroundings. The walls are plain sheets of stone and metal, and the tunnel continues forwards. He leans back, and lets himself float for a bit. Up ahead, the passage opens up to the right into a chamber. Splashing water echoes from up ahead. Dustin squints, the stream sweeps to the side along the chamber. The current picks up, moving him faster, and allowing him to make out what lies ahead.
A whirlpool.
“Oh, fuck me…” Dustin mutters.
Around, and around, and around it whirls him, like a speeding carousel. He doesn’t try to fight it, there’s no way to escape anyway. The spiraling only accelerates, until his head spins. He shuts his eyes, and takes a deep gasp of air before it sucks him under.
It drags him down, and he sinks as if he’s made of dense metal.
Then, he’s falling. He lands bottom first on a metal grate, causing a deep ache. Water cascades through the drain, splattering onto the metal, creating a constant patter. He drags himself out of the choking downpour, and collapses onto the dry floor. Dustin lays there, coughing and gasping almost uncontrollably. He pushes himself up, and scans the dark room; he’s alone.
Knowing it won’t work, he sends out a signal on his BMI anyway. Nothing but static responds.
“Ron?” he calls out. “Brock?”
Nothing, nothing but the endless roar of gushing water.
“Zuzana? Cory? …Anyone?”
Dustin sits down on the metal floor, and waits. He collects his breath for a moment; his soaking jacket sticks to his skin, and makes everything cold. There, he sits still, with his arms crossed, and his brows furrowed up, but no one shows up, no one steps out from the darkness, no one spills out from the pipe.
“RON!?” He cries, “BROCK, ZUZANA, CORY…ADAM, SIOBHAN!? ARE YOU THERE? ANSWER ME!”
Nothing.
He’s alone.
Where…WHERE ARE THEY? His heartbeat accelerates into a constant pounding, as his head throbs with pulsing blood. Are they dead? They can’t be dead!
Maddening ringing in his ears drowns away the rushing water. The world blurs, and swirls into abstract blobs, as darkness closes in on all sides like a stalking predator.
*Ka-thump! Ka-thump! Ka-thump!-*
There’s something in him, it’s rising, it’s festering, it’s bursting it’s-
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH-!!!” Dustin screams.
“AAAAAAAARRGH! AAAAAAAA-!!”
Let it out, let it out, let it all out.
He doubles down into a fit of tears, sobbing uncontrollably. His vision clouds into in cohesive fog, as he sniffles in, and collapses into a sopping heap. He pulls himself into a fetal position, and curls up in his cape. he cries, and cries and cries.
But no one answers.

DECHANT
He backs up. The hulking mechanical foe prepares an attack. Ron dives out of the way, as a lase blazes behind him. He rolls over onto his feet and shoots up. The wall behind where he once stood is almost melted through, and smoking. He turns his attention to his other opponent: a robot with an uncomfortable amount of cannons attached to it. Luckily for him, that limits it’s mobility. He leaps to the side, out of it’s gunfire, then darts forwards and slashes into it’s wired flesh.
Ron jumps back. He pants for a moment, as sweat pours down his red face. There’s another one, of course there’s another one. This machine seems swift on it’s wheels. Ron is quick to lift his shield, but not before the other two ready their attacks.
His shield flares out, as the second bot fires, only for it’s bullets to ricochet. Ron darts forwards, barely avoiding the laser, as it’s heat laps against his vest.
That’s when the third one knocks him off his feet. He lands hard on his back. Ron picks himself up, and gasps. They’re all charging an attack. He jumps to his feet, holds out his shield and braces.
“Not so fast!”
*THUNK!*
The first robot lurches forwards, as something strikes deep into it’s back. Steam starts to rise as it collapses with a booming crash. The second bot get’s the same treatment, as it’s circuits seem to fry. Ron jumps out of the way of the third, and counters, finishing it off. He whirls back, facing the metal heaps fallen before him. Someone comes running out of the steam.
“Zuzana!”
“Ron, there you are!” She calls. “I-I can’t find Dustin, have you seem him!?”
“He was fighting a squad of bots, I think he booked it down some random hallway, but hell if I know which. Thanks for saving my ass by the way.”
“Any time,” she smiles, sliding her bow back into its hold. “Did you see anyone else?”
“Y’know what? Let’s talk later, we need to get out of here before we get vaporized.” Ron turns and takes off through the hall, followed by Zuzana. Together, they run, down twisting hallways and winding passages until the clanking and buzzing of the bots is void.
They slow to a stop, and catch their breath.
“We should be good,” Ron pants. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Mmm hmm” she gets out, out of breath. In the dim light, her face is red, and sweaty, as she gasps. Ron isn’t much better.
“What do we do now?” Zuzana asks.
“I don’t know exactly. There are still robots everywhere trying to attack us. Even if we defeat them, they’re just going to keep coming, which isn’t going to help us in finding the others.”
“Do you think the others are around here?”
“I have no idea, let’s take a look around for now, we might find something.”
“Okay, I’ll go where you go.”
Ron leads down the hall, looking around at the metal walls surrounding him.
“Dustin!?” He calls, “Brock!? You there?”
“I think we should be quiet,” Zuzana suggests. “The robots might hear us.”
“Oh, good point, I didn’t think of that.”
They continue forwards. Ron peers into the windows of the rooms. There’s tons of screens in every one, with little terminals, and computers.
“I think this is... Some kind of security center,” he says.
“Wait, I have an idea,” he pulls out his blade, and cuts down the door to one of the rooms. Zuzana follows him in, as he makes his way to the terminal. The screens display footage of the underground where they are right now. Ron struggles a bit, but manages to get in, and browse through the footage.
He finds a clip of Brock running through a room, dodging bullets from the turrets in the walls. The last footage he can find, shows Brock running into a closet and shutting the door. He skips forwards, but the door doesn’t open, he must still be in there. Oddly, he can’t find any footage of the closet itself, as much as he would expect every corner of this place to have a camera watching it. But for once, they missed a spot, and of course it happens to be the spot Ron needs to see.
He finds Cory taking down another bot, and fleeing into a hall. Thankfully, he seems to be okay for now, but he’s alone. Where’s Dustin? It takes him a minute, as Zuzana guards the door. His forehead creases, as he scans clip after clip, double, triple checking and rewinding, almost in a frenzy. Finally, he finds footage of a water pipe, for a moment, there’s something big washing down it. He rewinds a few times, and looks closer. Zuzana gasps.
“Is he-?”
“Let me see.”
He finds more footage of Dustin, he’s swimming perfectly fine, that is, after he stops coughing. Ron searches through a few empty waterways, before skipping to another recording.
The first thing that hits him is a pained scream. Zuzana gasps in horror. Ron stares in dead silence, mouth agape. Dustin sobs and cries, in a broken way Ron hasn’t quite seen before. Right there, all he wants in the universe, all he wishes to do… is to dive right into through screen, to enter it like a portal, and see Dustin, so he can hug him, talk to him, comfort him, and tell him he’s here, that they can make it…that they’ll be okay.
But he can’t.

JUBA
“DUSTIIIIIIIN-“ He calls. His voice echoes off the expansive walls. No answer. Clicks, clanks, and buzzes saturates the air. He gets an idea, and steps up to a blank wall. His claw begins to glow, as he taps it to the wall and scratches a message into it.
“If you see this, Cory is probably nearby. -Cory.”
Looking around a bit more, there’s moving conveyor belts, mechanical arms, and machines hard at work. They work in beating harmony, creating a constant rhythm. It’s almost like a song.
So, is this where robots are made? Cory gets to work quickly, scrapping into the metal, and tearing at the machines. He works at the joints and bolts, quickly dismembering the robotic arms and turning the mills to disrepair.
“Hello~”
Cory freezes and gasps at the voice.
“Are you hiding from me? Don’t be shy, come out and play.”
The voice is oddly familiar, yet broken and distant. Footsteps echo, growing closer and closer.
“Come out, come out wherever you are, I know you’re there.”
There’s someone here. Not a robot, a person.
“You can’t hide forever Cory.”
A human figure emerges from the dark, and into the light, creeping closer and closer like a predator stalking prey, with haunting footsteps; Cory peers at the human nearing him, and gasps.
Adam.

Chapter Text

Monsters…
Twisting hands grab at him, pulling him deeper down into the abyss. The more he wiggles, and fights back, the tighter they grab him. And yet they’re his only friend down here. They’re all that he was, and ever could be. No end, no bottom, no stop to the abyss’s insatiable apatite. It keeps feeding, and feeding on the guts of dread and the blood of grief.
He screams, but nothing can hear him, and if anything does, it’s not listening, or it’s as helpless as him.
He kicks, but the hands snatch his feet, and bind his legs.
He tries, but it always pushes back harder.
There’s sharp teeth biting at him, and eyes watching him. Hundreds, thousands of lurking eyes, in the dead still water.
He reaches up at the void above, but the hands pull his arm back. Not that there’s anyone coming down here for him. Atrophied, he sinks, with nothing to do but succumb to a horrifying metamorphosis, as the monsters fester.
…
*SSSSCSCCSSSCSSsscsss…*
Dustin wakes up to the endless flow of water.
His head is pressed against the cold stone floor, as his body lays still, and aching. The world is a fading blur, an expanse of foggy darkness. His mouth is dry, his back is bruised, his head throbs, and…
Everything hurts, his heart, his brain, his bones, his muscles…it all hurts, constantly breaking down to build up again. He’s dying, and reviving at the same time.
And to top it off, one of his nostrils is clogged.
Dustin drags his head up, and grunts. He pushes his hands against the floor, forcing his body upwards, his joints pop as he shifts into a sitting position. Putting a trembling foot on the ground, he lifts himself up with a heavy groan. His face is red, and sweaty, as his vision flickers into focus. He pants, and wobbles, but holds himself up.
Not dead, he’s not dead. Alone, Tired, bruised, and lost, but alive.
No one’s coming to save him, but he can survive on his own, at least for a little bit. His spear lays on the ground, next to the drain. He drags himself over, and picks it up. Right now, a walking stick might be more useful than a spear. There’s something down here, something that pulses and thrives in the walls, ebbs and flows through the wires of this place. And Dustin’s going to find it, even if he has to do it alone, it’s going to take more than getting flushed down a drainage pipe to destroy him. They can knock him down, beat him into the ground, and break his bones, but they can’t stop him from crawling back out from the mud to rise yet again.

CRONIN
It’s dark.
Her heavy head is filled with thick fog, that closes in on every thought. There’s only a glimmer of light in the dark, allowing a bit of sight. Lost in confusion, like deep goop swimming in her brain.
Her eyes blink open. Where Is she? There’s no one there, no figure standing in the dim, flickering light, no voices coming from anywhere. She’s alone.
Okay, focus! Or try to.
She scratches her head, letting out a groan. The next thing that hits her is hunger, she’s starving! How long has it been since she ate? Better question: how long was she asleep for? No, even better question: how the fuck did she get here? So many questions, too many questions. She’ll have to get answers at some point, right?
Put one foot in front of the other. She digs into her memory as it starts coming back. The team, they were in an alien city, trying to find a way off this planet, she was on a walk, and…
It hits her like a bullet through the heart. She gasps. There was Brock calling her name, as he finally found her, then his horrified face, oh voids, his face, as something pulled her strings…and she obeyed. She stared down at her shaking hands, were they even hers anymore?
Did she have control? She flexes her hand into fist, and opens it back. Nothing pulls her strings except her own will. She’s in control again, right? Deep breaths, in and out… in and out.
She remembers… it was Cory who knocked her out, to protect everyone else. Brock refused to attack her, didn’t he? But she attacked him anyway, she tried to kill the one she loves. She didn’t even hesitate, her strings weren’t hers anymore, she was someone else’s puppet. Someone who didn’t care, indifferent to love or empathy itself, seeing her as just an asset to use in their play.
Footsteps.
She gasps, and backs against the wall. Her heart shakes in terror, as someone steps into the room.
“S-Siobhan?”
It’s Brock. His face is pale, and sunken in, and his hair is a tangled mess. He stands still in the door, gazing at her with deep, tired eyes.
“Brock, are you…where-no, what…” she mumbles, her words scramble up into an illegible scribble, trying to say too many things at once.
“You’re awake!” Brock rushes over, and stumbles down besides her.
“How do you feel…are you alright?” he queries, as she shakes, and shivers. She shuffles away from him, as her harsh breath hitches in her throat.
“What’s wrong? I-it’s okay, I’m here.”
He reaches out to her, slowly inching his hand to her shoulder. She takes another shaking breath, to calm her racing heart. There’s no danger; she’s safe, and he’s here with her, yet she still shivers. Tears stream down her cheeks.
She grabs his jacket, and buries her sobs into his chest. Brock wraps her up in his arms, and pulls her in close.
“I thought I lost you, for a moment,” he mutters, “can you tell me what’s
Wrong?”
“I feel…confused…what happened? Am I still under control?” she cries, looking up at him with wide, teary eyes.
Brock almost chuckles, “no, the chip is gone, I promise. We’re in the sub-levels of the city. I got separated, and something is disrupting our BMIs, how convenient?”
“So, we’re alone?”
“For now, I mean, we gotta find the others.”
Siobhan stays silent, and remains curled up to him. Brock rubs circles in her back, his fingers moving back and fourth across the rough fabric of her ragged shirt. He begins to hum a soft tune. His voice is always soothing, like warm silk. She smiles, they’re lost in some labyrinth, far away from their home of Prox. Then again, what did that matter—her real home is with Starset. Danger is lurking, and her heart is shaking. But she has Brock, and that’s enough to make everything okay.
“Let’s stay like this for a moment…”
“Okay…You know you need it…”

BATES
He walks along the canal, his footsteps echoing off the expansive tunnel. Dustin shivers constantly, but he’s not cold at all. His throat is dry, and a slight nausea haunts him. A constant, thumping rhythm agitates him, it’s fast, and distracting. He whirls left and right, scanning for what might be causing the sound. Is something blinking in the darkness? Watching him. Stalking him. Waiting to- He shuffles forwards, and pins himself against the wall. There’s nowhere to hide. No way to shut out the awful noise. He stares down at his sweating hands, they’re shaking. Shivering, throbbing, bursting-
His heartbeat. It’s his heartbeat.
He’s panting, as he keeps going through the dark.
Focus, just fucking focus. Nothing’s there, nothing’s attacking him. There could be cameras everywhere, all watching him like stalking vultures, but that’s too bad, because he can’t see shit, and his lights only glow so much. Spear in hand, he goes on, as the water’s current picks up, growing louder. Water whistles and echoes, as he continues onwards. The tunnel seems to cut off ahead, into a big black void. It’s a waterfall.
He picks up the pace a bit, to investigate.
Then he sees it.
A camera.
*THUNK!*
It drops down dead to the floor. Dustin plucks out his staff, then looks down.
The waterfall disappears into the darkness below, as the dark itself is some giant creature, endlessly gulping up the water. Something lurks down there, in the deep trench, and it’s waiting for him.
Dive, dive deeper…
Dustin glances around, and his eyes land on the broken security camera. He picks it up and examines the twisted metal. There’s no sparking. He steps up to the edge, gazing into the dark drop at his feet, and holds the broken camera over it.
“Th-three, two, one,” he counts down. The camera plummets into the hole, to be devoured by the creature of the dark. It accepts the camera, as it vanishes. Dustin listens.
*Splash…*
Doesn’t sound too shallow, or too far.
He sits down, swinging his legs over the edge. Taking a focused breath, he holds his spear with a tight grip, and shuffles ever closer to the edge.
Then, he leaps off towards the dark.
He twists, and stabs the spear into the wall.
*SCRRRRRK-!*
The metal shrieks, as the blade cuts through it like butter, and comes to a screeching halt. Dustin holds on tight with both hands, with his boots against the wall.
He gazes down to the darkness. The echo of the running water is louder, as mist flies onto his legs. He takes a deep inhale, then yanks out his spear.
*Splash!*
He surfaces, as the current sweeps him forwards. Haphazardly putting his spear into his sling, he swims forwards into the dark.
The current carries him down the dark tunnel, and towards the unknown. The little light he has allows him barely make out the walls around him. There seem to be cameras gazing down at him, they appear a bit different, and let out a quiet buzzing. Maybe they’re scanners? Doesn’t matter, Dustin takes a deep breath and dives under. As his vest drags him up, he swims deeper down to make sure all of him is out of sight, then treads forwards. But his lungs start to tighten, and his breath runs out, so he resurfaces. The cameras are gone now. Thanks to the flamboyancy in his vest, he’s able to float on his back for a while. The water feels oddly pleasant. Its cool, but not cold, and it’s clean too; a nice contrast from the last waterway he swam in. He lets it wash him away.
But…
There’s splash, and a presence. Dustin gasps, and scrambles over, splashing everywhere as he fights through water. He kicks at something, kicks between its jaws. It’s here, eyes watching him, teeth hunting him.
And there’s cameras everywhere.

DECHANT
“Alright, this way,” Ron directs, as Zuzana follows behind. They make their way down the twisting halls, and flickering rooms.
“We need to get to the drainage pipes, that’s where Dustin should be.”
“You already said that…five minutes ago.”
“I should reinforce our objective before we go insane.”
Zuzana eyes the rooms as they pass by. “I think we already went this way.”
Ron sighs, “Are we going in circles?”
Zuzana shrugs.
“Maybe we can find a map or something.”
He opens the door to a room and steps inside. There’s terminals, servers and screens spread in an orderly chaos around the dark room. He goes up to one. Red lights flash on, as metal shifts and moves.
He gasps, as several machines advance at him, blinking and beeping in a mess of sounds. His sword is already out before he thinks to reach for it. He swings forwards, and the blade unfurls like a whip, slashing the bots advancing at him. Zuzana leaps at them, separating her bow into two blades, and stabbing one into a bot. She yanks it out, and stabs again. Together, they’re able to clear the room. Ron pants for a moment, and takes a breath, before going to investigate the terminal.
“Ron,” Zuzana stammers. “I think they hurt me.”
“Oh shit.”
There’s a bit of blood dripping from her abdomen, just below her vest. She sits down, and shakes off her bag.
“I think I brought some bandages,” she mutters, as she shuffles through it’s contents. Her breath hitches in her throat. She pulls out a bandage, and quickly hands it to Ron. Zuzana pulls away her jacket to show the wound, which Ron is swift to patch up.
“Thank you,” she says, climbing back to her feet.
Ron moves to the terminal, and observes it. There’s a few outlets, and buttons, but no sort of screen. Zuzana kneels next to him as he pulls out his tablet. He sighs, as he opens software and attempts to get in. Without Brock or Cory, he has no idea what he’s really doing.
Somehow, by dumb luck, or sheer willpower, he gets in, but the symbols still don’t make sense. He recognizes them from the communications array, and the tablet the city gave him, but it’s still impossible to know exactly what they mean.
“I’m sorry,” He sighs, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”
“I wouldn’t even be able to get in,” Zuzana says. “So you’re doing better than me.”
He gets up to his feet, as his stomach rumbles again.
“Okay, we need food, which is a problem, because this place has no food at all, and we’re stuck here.”
“I still have some dried food in my bag,” Zuzana says, “I made sure to grab some before we left.”
“Oh, you’re a lifesaver,” Ron smiles, as she swings off her backpack, and unzips it to pull out a few bags of sustenance.
It tastes icky, dry, and bitter, with an almost leathery texture, but it’s better than starving to death.
“We need to save the rest of this later,” Ron says, “we might be able to find something else edible down here, like a garden or food bank, but that’s still unlikely.”
Zuzana nods and packs away the remaining food.
They continue onwards into the dark.

BATES
“Dustin.”
He gasps, and whirls around, but there’s no one to be seen.
“H-hello?” he calls out, but no one responds. Dustin backs up, and slowly scans the dark hall enclosing him. He shudders at the sound of a splatter, but it was only water dripping from his soaked jacket.
“Dustin.”
“Is someone there? Sh-show yourself!” he stammers. His intense breaths hush in the air, as his very bones shake and shiver.
“Dustin, Dustin…” it’s a voice, a haunting, echoing chant in the dark.
Eyes. It’s there, right there, staring back at him from the shade. So many eyes. Stalking, staring, gazing, glaring, watching.
“Who’s there?”
“Dustin…Duuuustin…”
“WHO’S THERE!?” he cries. His heart pounds, as cold sweat pours down his throbbing crimson forehead.
“Dustin?”
His breath hitches in his throat. That voice.
“Dustin! Is that you?”
Ron.
He twists around, and takes off towards the noise. Rushing into the dark, he opens his arms wide.
“RON!” He cries, as tears well in his eyes.
“Dustin!?”
Out of the dark, a light pierces through, and runs to embrace him. It’s a warm light, a flame burning bright to free him from the frozen blizzard.
But.
It disappears.
There’s no one there. Dustin stops dead on his feet. The only sound in the dark is his shaking breath.
“Ron…?”
He’s hallucinating. None of that was real. Holding back a scream, Dustin takes an aching step forwards, and continues down the dark and gloom.
Deeper… dive deeper…
As he makes his way through a flooded tunnel, a heartbeat pulses through the metal. Water splashes and leaps as he wades through the passage, it’s rubber walls like the squishy tissue of a vein.
*Ka-thump! Ka-thump! Ka-thump!*
It rings in his head, shakes up his legs, and shivers through his cold blood. But it might not be real. He feels against the fleshy- metal of the walls. How can he know if it’s really there, whether it’s flesh or metal? Is any of this real at all? Maybe it’s all a bad dream, and he’ll wake up back home on Prox, in his own room, and his own comfy bed, with Ernie licking at his face.
But he knows it’s not.
And he knows he has to keep going.