Brave New World (redletalis x Gemini)

[redletalis]

"Can't believe we were assigned a prisoner run." He grumbled as he walked towards the cockpit of the Chagrin. His brown hair was cropped short - in space one had to be careful with one's resources, especially food and water, so short hair was a must. It also helped to keep lice and other such nasty little bugs away. The uniform he was dressed in was padded and bulky but it kept him warm and snug and protected.

"Hey, Jensen! Was wondering when you were going to show up and brighten my day!" Rodriguez called out as Adam stepped into the cockpit. It was a surprisingly small space considering the enormous ship that was piloted and controlled from this little room. In return it was full of blinking buttons and screens full of information that Adam wasn't even going to try to understand. He was a sniper with a love for things going kaboom, not a geek.

"The Seargent wants ya to take a break and get some food into you," Adam replied. "I'll look after things here while you go down and get some grub."

"Alright, but if anything happens to my baby Chagrin then I'm holding you responsible!" Rodriguez declared as he jumped out of the chair and headed towards the door.

Adam snorted. "This ain't a 'baby', Angelo, it is a scrapheap just waitin' to fall apart at the seams! Ya should see some of the repairs they've had to do to the engines. They suck. Prisoner transport ship or no, the army should look at upgrading it."

"Let's just hope that you didn't just jinx us, Jensen." The Latino man said as he exited the cockpit.

Adam shook his head and grumbled about superstitious people as he plopped down in the pilot's chair. He may be a simple sniper, but he had by necessity learned to at least be able to keep the ship on course and also realize when the dashboard was telling him that something was wrong, so he could substitute like this for a short while. Besides, watching the blackness of space and the glowing stars outside the window was a break from glaring at prisoners or staring at walls. Sighing in boredom he briefly wished that he had brought along something to read.

Perhaps it was God or perhaps it was something else which had made him forget, but that was the only thing that allowed him to spot the oncoming meteor that was hurtling towards the ship's path. In only a few seconds they would collide and the ship would be history. Adam did the only thing that he could do: he pulled the handle for the emergency breaks and hoped that the ship would stop in time. The large, scrapheap-like vessel shuddered, groaned but stopped. The comet was this close to hitting the ship, and Adam actually swore that he could feel the heat of the celestial body as it flew past them.

"Holy shit." He muttered and ran black, bionic hands through his hair. Taking a deep breath and reaching out for the control that would start the engines again, Adam blinked when the constant hum of the ship suddenly changed into a noise which he knew was not good. The sudden stop must have disrupted the repair jobs the crew had been doing on the engines or destroyed things totally, for everywhere he looked in the cockpit the consoles were telling him that the ship was shutting down totally. The lights had turned into red, warning of danger, and the mechanical voice of the ship's computer rang through the entire ship warning for the crew to get to the escape pods. Adam cursed violently and ran to do the same, only to find that the doors which led from the cockpit corridor and into the rest of the ship, didn't open for him no matter what he did. The entire ship had been totally fucked up, and Adam turned on his heel and ran back to the cockpit. The engines were still working a bit and he could only pray that they worked enough for him to steer the ship to some sort of safety. Or could send out a distress signal. Or something.

"Come on!" he shouted as he sat in the pilot's chair, grabbed the steering controlls and turned the ship in the direction of the closest planet he could see which could sustain human life. It was luckily not far away, and he pushed the ship to its limits as he steered it in that direction. The lights on the console blinked as the crew escaped in the pods, and he wanted to smash all those little lights, cursing them for not even having tried to come back to help him. Or the 900 plus prisoners that they were transporting.

Then suddenly the green planet's gravitational pull grabbed a hold of the ship and the vessel shuddered, metal screeched and the ship lurched a bit as the tail part of it - the cargo hold - was ripped off from the rest of the body. Adam could only count himself lucky that the cells had been placed in the middle of the ship rather than at the back. The green planet was getting closer and closer, the ship was going faster and faster as the pull became stronger, and Adam grabbed for the break again hoping to slow them down, but the second he pulled it the engines of the ship exploded and he lost complete control over it.

"Fuck!"

The curse escaped as he gave up trying to control or steer the ship, and instead scrambled out of the chair and stumbled like a drunk towards the doors out of the cockpit. The entire ship was heating up thanks to the atmosphere and the speed of the descent, the gravity was totally out of whack, and it was only luck that Adam managed to get out of the cockpit and was running down the corridor towards the doors that led into the ship proper when the Chagrin crashed. Adam couldn't stop the scream as he was thrown from one end of the corridor to the other, hitting his head on the doors that led into the cockpit and finally blacked out.

And then the ship crashed.

 

[Gemini]

Osma propped her boots up on the bars of her cell, chewing her ragged lower lip as she surveyed the prisoner across the way. The bulky man who looked to be more fat than muscle scowled back, and their staring contest was broken when a guard passed between them. "What're you in for?" The woman asked, pushing against the bars to rock her flimsy chair back onto two legs.

"Accusations of murder, rape," the big man mumbled, voice vibrating through his barrel chest. His scowl never faltered as he leaned against the door of his cell, making the hinges groan.

"Accusations?" Osma echoed, and her chewed lips curled into a smirk as she said, "What, you saying that you're innocent?"

He growled and opened his mouth to reply when the ship shuddered to a halt. The sudden deceleration threw Osma's chair backwards, and she righted herself to find everyone at the doors of their cells.

"What was that?"

"We ain't to Tarsen yet."

"Bet they're gonna pop us in an airlock and float us."

The cries ceased briefly as the ship's hum changed to an unpleasant whine, then they rose to a clamor as automated warnings began to chime. Several crew members thundered by, dodging desperate hands as they fled for the escape pods. Some prisoners began to slam themselves against the bars in hysterics, screaming their innocence as if that would somehow spare them. The ship shook violently, throwing bodies like rag dolls. Howls of pain reverberated through the halls of cells as an explosion shook the ship further, and the few clearheaded prisoners - Osma included - jammed themselves under their bunks in the hopes of surviving whatever was happening.

With a horrible shriek of metal on metal combined with wails of human agony, the ship plowed into solid earth. Rivets burst, beams snapped, and fuel lines exploded as the Chagrin slid across a rocky plain, leaving chunks behind. When she finally came to a halt, she was unrecognizable. For a moment, the wreckage was still except for the flames licking across sections of the warped and fragmented hull. Then survivors began crawling out of the twisted junk heap, and cries for help began to fill the smoky air.

Osma's was one of them. The door of her cell had been smashed inwards, forming an effective cage over her bunk. "Hey!" She could see her heavyset neighbor crawling out of his own cell, and his gaze flicked over to her. "A hand?"

For a long moment she thought he was going to leave her, but he finally crossed the warped floor to wrench the twisted bars away enough for her to slither to freedom. "Thanks," she said with a nod, and he grunted in response.

"Where d'you think we are?"

"Definitely not Tarsen, unless they've changed their docking policies." Sparks flew overhead as metal shifted with a pained groan, and Osma turned in search of a clear path to freedom. The hall that they had brought her in through had collapsed, leaving only one option. Wordless agreement passed between the two prisoners - until further notice, they were allies. There was no telling where they were or what they would face when they left the bowels of the wreck. And so the two made their way down the corridor, heading towards what they hoped was daylight.

 

[redletalis]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Adam came back to the world of the living slowly and in stages. The first thing that he noticed was the pounding headache which made his head feel like it had just been used for a drum during some sort of wild tribal dance. The second thing he noticed was that fresh air was running throughout the ship. They did their best, but during long journeys in space fresh air was a rare commodity and though they got the needed oxygen, the air never smelled so fresh or, well, sweet in a way. Nor was the space ship rigged to simulate a gentle breeze through the twisting corridors.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He groaned and slowly opened his eyes, only to hiss and close them quickly as they started stinging like hell. It took about fifteen minutes of careful blinking and slow opening of the eyelids for his eyes to get used to the light again, and Adam could finally look around. The part of the ship's hull which had housed the corridor to and the cockpit had been torn off the rest of the hull in the crash, and now this frontal part was embedded in the ground at almost a vertical angle. Adam himself was lying on the doors that led into the cockpit and they were only halfway closed allowing him to see that the cockpit windows had been smashed and that it was filled with dirt, sand and rocks. He was lucky to have gotten out of there before the crash otherwise he would have been either crushed or would have suffocated under the sand long before now. Sighing and carefully turning his head to look down the corridor Adam blinked as he stared at a pink, star-dotted sky. He'd heard about worlds that had a pink sky, but this was the first time he saw one. It was fascinating in a way, and Adam simply lay there for another while staring at the sky and trying to comprehend that he had survived the crash.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He might have blacked out again because the sky was suddenly a deep, almost blue purple. He groaned as he carefully turned around until he could get onto all fours. That was as far as his movements went before a dizzy spell came over him and nausea ran through him with a vengeance, and he threw up. It landed on the detritus that now filled the cockpit. Moving was obviously out of the question for now. Running his hands through his hair, Adam winced and groaned when he found the goose-egg sized lump. Well, that answered that question. Definitely a mild concussion. Luckily there seemed to be no blood and so far it didn't seem like he had broken any limbs, so he would be fine soon enough. As long as he did everything with the speed of a snail. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]He kept up this mantra as he slowly straightened into a seating position. He had to stay like that for a while before feeling confident enough to move into a standing position. Adam nearly lost his balance when he stood up, his knees were so shaky and weak. His mind cleared slowly until he sighed in relief when he could function normally - as long as he didn't turn his head too fast.[/BCOLOR]

"What to do now?" he muttered, bionic hands grabbing onto the wall to keep him standing. "Contant. Distress signal. Right. Get that done first."

[BCOLOR=transparent]It was obvious that the cockpit was a lost cause, the entire control panel was covered with tons of sand and rock, and there was no way that it would have survived that. He had to think - not an easy thing when his head was still aching like hel - and find some other way. [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Okay. Okay, let's see. The escape pods woulda automatically sent out a distress call, but their range ain't good, and the crew inside might simply float 'round in space 'til they're dead from hunger and dehydration. No help there." He didn't linger on that. "The spare radio! If it ain't ruined and I can get it to high ground, boost it with some of the batteries and such from the ship, and send an SOS as far as I need. Hopefully."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]It was a good plan. It was the only plan he had, and Adam didn't even want to think about simply staying where he was, accepting and trusting to fate. No way in hell. Determinately he sat down in the opening of the doors that led down to the cockpit and slid down through the hole. He sank down through the sand as if it was water, and he was just starting to grab for something - anything! - to pull himself out when his feet landed on the back of the pilot's chair. Using the chair as a somewhat rickety standing place Adam reached out to one of the cabinets that had been nailed to the wall and carefully opened it, wary of anything that might come tumbling out. Luckily nothing did, and he breathed in relief when the spare radio transmitter seemed to not have suffered anything during the crash.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Luck. I need luck." He muttered as he stood on his tip toes on the rickety chair's back, pushing the radio towards the doors hoping that it wouldn't fall back into the water-like sand and rock. If it did he was screwed. He managed to push the metal box to safety with the very tips of his fingers. At this point he needed a break and stood there, panting and waiting for another dizzy spell to pass before he jumped up, grabbed the edges of the open doors with his metal hands and pulled himself out of the cockpit. Then followed another break as he checked the radio box carefully and decided how to proceed now.[/BCOLOR]

"I ain't gonna run [BCOLOR=transparent]around on an unexplored planet with no supplies. Gotta get some medical supplies, those gross long-lasting packs of food and water, and extra parts in order to boost the radio transmitter. Oh, and weapons. Weapons are good." At least some of the prisoners must have survived the crash, and they wouldn't be happy to find a crew member alive. Or, perhaps, they'd be far too happy. Not a good situation. And who knows what kind of creatures he might encounter out there? [/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Alright, time to get outta metal scrapheap."[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]Using cut wires as an improvised backpack for the radio transmitter and tying them around hi\s neck and torso, Adam started the climb out of the front part of the ship. It was far from easy. The climb was nearly vertical and there was little to grab onto, and if he fell down now there was no doubt that he would break a leg or an arm. Little by little, he managed to get to the top. Panting and sweating like a pig he looked around at the scenery. The ship had landed on a rocky plain, the front part halfway buried, while the back part was on its side. It was about half a mile away, and between the two parts debris was spread all around.[/BCOLOR]

[BCOLOR=transparent]"Holy shit." Adam stared at everything. He was trying to figure out how he was going to handle the drop from the top of the front part of the ship where he was, and across to the rest of the ship where the rest of the supplies were to be found. "Fuck."[/BCOLOR]

 

[Gemini]

It turned out that it was daylight, but unreachable. The pair stared up at an opening fifty feet above them that showed a tantalizing chunk of pink sky. "That ain't gonna work," Osma mumbled. The ninety degree angle of the ship wasn't working in their favor - the once level corridor now created a sheer column of space straight up. And so they moved on.

As they went, they began to amass a group. The majority of the prisoners that they came across were dead or dying, but the few who were still able to walk were picked up. A wiry little man, a silent woman who clicked with each step, a couple that looked shockingly young for the company they were in, and a towering fellow who was more tattoo and bionic implants than skin. At one point they met another group scavenging through the skewed corridors, and they skirted each other warily.

"That's max security?" The young woman - she seemed to be barely into her twenties - was staring down a hall that ended in heavy steel doors. They had survived the crash, and judging from the yells behind it, a considerable amount of the prisoners behind it had too.

"Yup," Osma said, the declaration punctuated by a scream. "Let's hope it's as secure as they brag about. We've got enough to worry about."

"Hey." The big man, who had briefly introduced himself as Turk, pointed to a badly scorched wall sign that looked as if it had once read "Cargo." "Food and weapons, this way."

The motley band moved with purpose now. Everyone still alive would be looking for supplies to keep themselves that way, so with any luck they would be the first to find this stockpile. Thus far they hadn't seen any survivors this deep in the ship, so the chances were good.

"Fuck." The curse rippled through the group when they reached open air where the cargo hold was supposed to be. Now they could see where they were more clearly. A deep indigo sky arched over a rock-studded plain that was scattered with wreckage. A dark mass - presumably forest - loomed on the horizon. A silver band snaked away from it, and everyone silently hoped that the water would be drinkable.

"It could be worse," Wiry Man said, and no one replied. After a long moment of silence, Osma began to climb down towards the ground, and one by one the others followed.

By the time they were on solid ground, the sky was already lightening again. That was maybe an hour of "night," Osma thought, mind racing. What planet is this?

"No actual nighttime," the young man - Osma was mentally calling the pair Bonnie and Clyde - said. "My guess is multiple suns."

"That still leaves half a dozen planets we could be on," Wiry Man added.

"What planet it is doesn't matter if we don't get food and water. Weapons, too." The group turned towards Osma as she spoke. "Cargo came off at some point during the crash, so I'm betting we can find stuff scattered around. Pair up, collect what you can, and meet at the cockpit. We'll see what we can salvage from there. Move quick and fast. Anyone else still alive is going to be doing the same. Don't pick up strays unless they're smaller than you."

They split off, spreading out wide as they started to circumnavigate the wreck. Osma ended up with the tattooed cyborg, who introduced himself as Farrell. They found more bodies than anything useful, and as they rounded a large chunk of the hull they startled a flock of massive birds that were feeding on the corpses. This planet's equivalent of vultures were five times the size of Earth's and had coloring more like peacocks than carrion birds. It made the gore that specked their plumage even more disturbing, and the two survivors circled the flock at a safe distance, not liking the way that the jewel-like eyes followed them.

Both Osma and Farrell had managed to fill the packs they had found by the time they rounded the ship to see that the cockpit had broken off some ways away. They each had several guns as well, and Osma had gotten her hands on a shock staff. Several others were already partway to the ruins of the cockpit, but it was impossible to tell if they were part of their group or not. Regardless, the pair struck out towards the meeting place as large orange sun began to climb into the sky.

 

[redletalis]

There was no really good way to do this climb. He could go down where he was, it was shorter, but the angle of the cockpit was far too steep here and he would be hanging off the hull as he made his way down. Bionic arms or not, Adam wasn't that strong. The sides were little better, again he would be hanging off as he moved. No. It wouldn't do to have survived the crash only to die from a stupid fall.

He turned around and looked at what was usually the ceiling of the ship, but now acted more like a wall. If he jumped over and managed to get out onto the hull, then he could hopefully slide and climb down that way. It would be steep as all hell, but at least he wouldn't be hanging off of things nad would always have some metal in easy reach for footholds and handholds. The outside layer of the ship had to have been ripped up pretty badly during the crash, it would provice nice holds for him.

Now he just had to get over there.

Adam sighed tiredly and rubbed his head. He was aching all over, and what he really wanted to do was to lay down and sleep. But sleeping with a concussion was not a good thing, that much he remembered from his schooldays. He sat down where he was, leaning against the wall of the ship at the very edge of the drop, one of his legs hanging off and swaying in the air. At least it was warm out here even if there seemed to be too many suns for comfort. It had to be incredibly warm during what passed as daytime for this plannet.

Voices drew his attention, and he frowned as he spotted the people making their way towards him. Or, rather, making their way towards his part of the broken ship. This could become a problem, Adam knew. With the swift way the escape pods had jettisoned it meant that not one crew member had stopped long enough to help the prisoners, that was bound to create some bitterness. It could easily be turned against Adam in the worst ways possible if he didn't play his cards right. There was no way he would be able to climb down and get away before they reached him. Besides, where was he to go? There was a dark mass in the distance but he would have to pass the convicts in order to get there, and there was nowhere to hide out on the plain as far as he could see.

"Speakin' 'bout seein'..." he muttered and narrowed his eyes as he stared into the distance. The odd light and the rising sun made it difficult to see, but he swore that there was something back there kicking up a dust cloud. Something big and probably not very friendly. There was a dark shape in the cloud, and it was moving against the what little wind there was so this was not an average sand storm.

For a moment Adam hesitated, then he got to his feet grabbed the powerful flashlight fastened to his vest and turned it on. It was military grade and had several settings, and he put it on the strongest one, then turned it towards the people slowly walking towards the ship and waved it around to get their attention.

"Hey! Somethin's commin'! Make a run for it!" he shouted as loudly as he could, waving his arms like crazy. "Heeeey!"

 

[Gemini]

"So why're you here?" Osma shot a sidelong glance at her companion as he stooped to gather a mess of silvery food packets.

"Drug bust," he said, tossing several packets to her. "Wrong planet at the wrong time. Haze ain't legal on Earth yet."

"Must've been a good amount to get you in with this group."

Farrell laughed outright. "I could've supplied all users in the Americas for a solid month."

The pair had just flushed several rat-like creatures out of hiding when the light beamed over them. Farrell cursed as he misfired, kicking up dust instead of hitting one of the alien rodents. "What the hell?"

"Looks like one of the crew," Osma mused, squinting against the increasingly brilliant sun as she stared at the frantic figure. "Bit of a fool to be attracting attention like that. Now everyone from the ship is gonna be coming this way."

"I'll shut 'im up." Farrell adjusted his weapon to sniper and had knelt down to take aim before pausing. "Feel that?"

Osma tilted her head. "Yeah. Something big, moving fast." She turned to see the looming dust cloud. Whatever was causing it was also creating noticeable tremors as it approached, and the wreck behind them was beginning to groan again from the disturbance. "Fuck, fuck, run!"

The two pelted across the expanse separating them from the cockpit. Farrell quickly outdistanced Osma with his lanky frame and cybernetic enhancements, and was already halfway up when she started climbing. About a dozen others were also scaling the sheer wall of metal, and she thought she recognized a few from their little group. When she reached the top, she immediately turned to the guard that had flagged them down. "Shut up and get down!" She demanded before dropping down into the shelter of the cockpit. Besides Farrell, Bonnie and Clyde were there along with the silent woman. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know. Turk fell behind when we started running," Bonnie said, cradling her pack in her arms.

"He split," the other woman said in a robotic monotone, referring to the Wiry Man.

They all looked up as a flock of carrion birds flew overhead, shrieking at an impossible pitch. Osma heaved herself up enough to try to get a look at whatever was approaching. By now it had reached the body of the wreck, and before it was enveloped by dust she could see it start to tip to the side, righting itself again. Several other prisoners climbed past her, too rushed to look at her and pausing only to shoot glances at the guard, expressions ranging from blank to baleful.

 

[redletalis]

He watched as the scattered people noticed him. Some of them paid him no mind, a couple tried shooting at him and missed spectacularly. The others simply didn't seem to know what to make of him until they looked behind and spotted the approaching cloud of dust and possible doom. Then came the screaming and the running. The people at the back started running before the people at the front, and despite the plain being completely open and with more than enough space for everyone, there was still pushing and shoving going on. He also saw a couple of people drop dead from being shot in the back.

While the escapees ran and tried to climb the outer hull of the ship, Adam took the chance to conceal the transmitter. He used exposed wires and bent pipes at the very edge to bind it securely in place, and then simply let it hang along one of the walls. It didn't look out of place at all, mixed in with about half a dozen other sorts of boxes and millions of wires hanging loose.

"Fuck you!" Adam called back and stayed right where he was. Then he silently cursed himself for ruining his plan of being friendly with the escaped prisoners. Then again, he had more worrying things to think about right now. He activated the lenses that slid over his eyes seconds before the sandstorm hit them. The mechanics lit up in front of him and he could see through the sand, though his vision was limited to the heat spectrum only.

There was a big heat signature in the middle of the sandstorm. It was enormous, on par with some of the biggest creatures alive in the universe, but with far more bulk than most of them. It was definitely not something Adam would ever want to face. And not only was there a giant mass of heat in that cloud of dust, there were also dozens if not hundreds of smaller heat signatures. They were circling and flying back and forth right around and above the giant one.

"Shit. Shitshitshitshit!" Adam started climbing downwards into the ship, heading for the doors to the cockpit. "Climb down unless ya wanna die!" he shouted as he passed people on the way down. Fuck the radio transmitter, he wasn't worried about it, Adam just wanted to survive this whatever it was!

 

[Gemini]

Before the dust and sand hit, Osma dropped back down with the others. She didn't fancy having her skin flayed off by the millions of gritty particles, and who knew what whatever was causing it could end up doing. Hopefully it would pass quickly. Close quarters with this group wasn't pleasant. Two of them didn't look human or friendly, and the homo sapiens were also noticeably irritable about being trapped in a small space yet again and so soon.

Only a few moved when the guard passed them. The others, not trusting someone in uniform, decided to take their chances were they were. After a moment's hesitation Osma followed him. Apparently he'd seen the cause of the storm and it was something that required more shelter than roofless walls. When a high-pitched chittering began to pierce through the rushing sound of wind and the groaning of metal, she immediately knew she'd made the right choice.

She was nearly down to the cockpit when the screams started. Looking up, she found that the dust had filtered down into the area where the majority of the prisoners had stayed. Through the haze, she could see flailing limbs as they fought off whatever was coming in with the storm. It looked bat-like, with leathery wings that carried it through the air with surprising speed and maneuverability. Someone got a lucky hit and one dropped past her, stunned. The cat-sized creature was scaly, with a barbed tail and disproportionately large claws. The edges of the wings were razor sharp as well - it clipped her arm as it fell, leaving a wound that looked like it could have been made by a surgeon's scalpel.

Osma didn't waste time by looking up again when something screeched. Judging from the volume, the creature that had fallen past her was juvenile. Swearing under her breath, she dropped the last few feet into the cockpit, hoping there was some way to shut the doors behind them. However, she didn't expect to start sinking into the sand that had filled the space. A stream of curses escaped her as it immediately enveloped her up to her waist, and she scrabbled for something solid as she slid further. A handful of wires helped slow her descent, but her weight proved too much and they tore out of the wall. Blood from her arm stained the sand as she sank in to her chest, trying to tread the sand as if it were water while searching for something that would hold her.

 

[redletalis]

The faster he moved to get away from the approaching danger from above, the more his head ached. His bionic arms could take care of themselves and the screens in front of his eyes had slid back when it became too dark to see properly, but the elevated heartrate and rushing blood weren't doing his head any favours. The concussion wasn't gone - if he survived this he would need some medical equipment stat! - and by the time Adam actually reached the half-open doors leading down into the half-drowned cockpit his vision was swimming.

He nearly blacked out when he had to lower himself down into the cockpit, legs searching for the back of the submerged pilot's chair. It was only by sheer, dumb luck that he actually found the foothold and balancing precariously while trying to not black out or throw up again, well, it wasn't an experience that he wanted to repeat. Ever again.

As the pounding in his head settled down Adam finally registered the screams and the screeches, and he looked up through the opening only to curse and punch away a flying creature with it's snapping jaws. It had been sticking its head through the opening, trying to snap his head off. It was knocked senseless for a moment, it's body blocking the opening, but then other creatures - smaller and bigger, but definitely of the same species - fell on it and started feasting.

Adam grimaced at the blood that dropped down on him, rubbing his hand at the same time. By the feel of that creature Adam would have had a broken hand if he hadn't been blessed with bionic arms. It still hurt though.

Something bumping against the chair he stood on caught his attention. Waving his arms to keep standing, Adam looked around and spotted the sinking woman. He groaned. "Ya've gotta be kiddin' me!"

Grabbing a hold of a piece of sharp, twisted metal from the wall and ignoring the blood and whatever else was falling down on him, Adam leaned out as far as he could, and reached out towards her. "C'mon, woman! Grab my hand! Quickly!"

 

[Gemini]

"Fuck fucking dammit!" A nonsensical stream of curses poured out of her as she continued her desperate search for something to keep her head above the sucking sand. Her foot hit something briefly, but then it was gone. Finally - finally - someone came to her aid. The guard, who was apparently much taller than she had realized or had found a foothold, was holding out a jagged strip of metal. Ignoring how it cut into her palms when she grabbed it, she used it to pull herself to him, shifting her grip to his hand as soon as she was in reach.

Her feet came to rest on something relatively sturdy. The sand was nearly to her collarbones, which was far too deep for comfort, but at least she wasn't sinking anymore. "Thanks," she gasped, though she was more preoccupied with the cannibalized creature overhead. "What the fuck are these things?" Learning had never been her favorite way to pass time, but she couldn't imagine anything about these being boring enough to make her tune out and pass scandalous notes to Kieran Sanders, two seats to her right in tenth year's Habitable Planets course.

It wasn't much of a surprise that the guard was one of the three others in the cockpit with her. Though it would have been ideal if none of the crew members had survived, he had at least helped her twice now. That was more than what was likely from any of the others she had been locked in with. The other two occupants were Farrell, who seemed to have found his own island, and a tiny humanoid female that had fit herself into an open cabinet. For now they were safe, but if the creatures above them were still hungry after consuming their fallen sibling, they were fish in a can. However, the dead beast was effectively blocking the doors from closing all the way.

"When they finish that thing off, maybe they'll have eaten enough that we can get the door closed." Osma was thinking aloud as she spoke in the near darkness. "It'll be risky." There was a serious gamble in whether or not they could close the gap before the creatures realized that there was more fresh meat within reach.

 

[redletalis]

"The fuck should I know what they are? I ain't been here before!" Adam protested. When she was standing on something and seemed relatively steady he briefly let go of her in order to shift his own position. Then he grabbed her again and with a heave of powerful bionic arms he lifted her up out of the water-like sand. "Here, put ya feet next to mine. We're standin' on a chair's back, so don't wriggle about too much."

He kept an arm around her as they stood there. They had to be close because the chair wasn't too big and any move could send them both tumbling into the water-sand to drown. All his attention, though, was upwards at the doors and the rapidly diminishing corpse of the flying thing.

"Ain't possible to close the doors." Adam finally said. "They got ruined durin' the crash, won't work anymore neither. We can block the entrance I think as long as we find somethin' that's long enough. And wide enough. I can hold it in place for a good while if need be, or we could tie it in place with the exposed wirin'. That's our best bet. I doubt anyone else has survived, at least not here in this part of the wreckage."

Looking around the cockpit and trying to ignore the screeches up above, Adam's eyes flickered from one piece of scrap metal to another. He couldn't see one single piece that would be long enough, but several shorter pieces would do it.

"That one over there." He pointed to a piece close to the humanoid female in the cupboard. "And over there. We need one or two more."

 

[Gemini]

"I was hoping someone would have paid attention in school!" Osma retorted, her less than charming character made even more prickly by the stress of danger. Cheeks flushed from anger and exertion, she sucked in a sharp breath when he wrapped an arm around her. In her experience, when she was this close to someone, they were trying to break her neck or vice versa. However, she grudgingly did the same when she realized it was the only way to keep from slipping off their precarious perch and drowning in the sand.

The news that the doors were no longer functional deepened her scowl. His idea seemed solid enough though, and she turned as well as she could in search of material. The humanoid passed over the pieces nearest her, surprisingly strong for her diminutive size. Osma hissed softly in pain as handling the pieces aggravated the cuts on her hand, and she awkwardly tugged them into the guard's reach. "Got anything, Farrell?"

"Plenty of wire." He was stripping lengths of it out of an exposed panel within his reach as he spoke. "There's a good sized piece to block the door too, but I can't reach it."

 

[redletalis]

There were several wires hanging about within Adam's reach as well, and he began pulling them down as the others started gathering the various pieces of debris. Fastening the wires to the door itself was impossible, the door was only slightly dented, not ripped open. Adam frowned at it before he made a special move with one of his bionic arms. A knife snapped out of his forearm, held in place by mechanics. He nudged it around into the proper position and then used the tip to make rips in the metal of the door. After that Adam started tying off the wires at one end, and then let them hang for now.

"Thanks, luv." He muttered as he accepted the first sheet of scrapmetal. Holding it in place with one hand, he grabbed the hanging wire with the other and threaded it through a rip in the other door. It was a balancing act to tie the wire off with one hand while holding heavy metal up with the other and trying to avoid falling into the water-sand, but he managed it. Once the first wire was done, the three others were easier and easier to tie off, and soon there was one sheet of metal hanging over their heads and blocking the opening.

Adam stared at it for a moment, frowning at just how makeshift it was. It swayed where it hung in the wires, and every time one of the creatures crashed into the door or into the walls the entire contraption looked like it would fall apart. The wires also looked flimsy now that they were actually carrying a piece of metal.

"Well, we'll just have to hope for the best." Adam muttered and then sighed. "Right. Any other wires or metal pieces lyin' about? The smaller the openin' is the better it is for us."

 

[Gemini]

Osma's eyes narrowed when the blade popped out of his arm. She would have to remember that when they were no longer allies against nature. It was a shame that she hadn't had time to get enhancements of her own beyond the heart and lung regulating implant she'd gotten as payment for a job. She'd finally had enough cash for a deal with one of the black market doctors she knew, but had been turned in before she could use it.

As the guard worked overhead to block off the door, she wrapped her arms around him to keep both of them upright. The close quarters gave her ample chance to study him, and she wondered why he hadn't fled with the rest of the crew. Though he had survived the crash, the surviving prisoners would prove even more dangerous. Her gaze shifted from him to the haphazard blockade. It wouldn't hold if the creatures started attacking it with purpose.

"Here." Farrell tossed his jumbled handful of wires towards the pair. "I need longer arms to get the other piece. Osma, if you can get over here you can lean out to grab it and I'll hold you. You," he said, looking at the guard. "Think you can get her over to me?"

Osma, catching on to his plan, shifted carefully so she was between the guard and the other prisoner. "Hold my hand," she said, holding her right hand up between them. All she needed was an anchor so that she could lean out far enough to grab onto Farrell and let him pull her over to his side of the cockpit.

 

[redletalis]

He caught the wires easily and pushed them into his pockets and in the straps of his tactical vest. A small tug made sure that the wirest were as secure as possible before he shifted as much as he could to let the woman take up her position. Adam looked around until he found a beam that was close enough, and wrapped one bionic hand around it. Then he grabbed her wrist in as secure a hold as he could manage, and tested that the beam could hold the both of them.

"Right. Ought'a hold. I hope. Let's get it over with. Lean out when you're ready." He said when he was satisfied. He followed her movements carefully, slowly stretching out her arm as she leaned further and further across the gap of water-sand. When the arm holding her was straight, Adam started stretching out the arm holding on to the beam, giving them another foot of reach even if it put the woman just barely above the sand.

"Can ya reach from here? I ain't able to stretch' anymore." He said, wincing slightly as the metal pulled on his skin where the two were grafted together. Bionic limbs were powerful and incredibly useful, yes, but their weakness was where metal and skin met and fused together. Always had been, always would be.

Up above them the beasts were almost finished with eating their comrade, and bones were hanging and dangling on stringst of gristle and skin. Adam looked up at it, trying to see past the corpse. They were granted a slight grace period as the creatures that had crashed against the walls were falling down and were being attacked by their comrades. It kept the attention away from the humans, and hopefully the distraction would last long enough to block off the opening in the door.

 

[Gemini]

Osma gripped his wrist with callused fingers, ignoring the strange sensation of touching metal instead of flesh. Muscles and joints that had been battered by the crash screamed in protest as she started to lean out. Her right shoulder popped quietly and she gritted her teeth against an exclamation of pain. "Dammit Farrell, reach."

The other man stretched out as far as he safely could, and he and Osma clasped hands over the pit of sand between them. "Gotcha." He pulled her towards him as she let go of the guard, whose braced position he had imitated.

Once she was securely on the platform he had found - it felt like a cabinet that had come off the wall - they began to plot the logistics of getting her to the nearby sheet of metal. "Here, turn like this -" The two shifted awkwardly so that the female could lean out once again. Her reaching fingers closed around the warped rim and she tugged it close before Farrell pulled her back in. It was like a dance, she mused wryly as they moved again so she could slide the metal across the sand towards the guard. A dance that death was constantly waiting to cut into.

"Sorry about the blood," she said when she realized that she was leaving red streaks of it on everything she touched. Her gaze darted up to the partially blocked doors. Hopefully they wouldn't prove similar to sharks and track blood. That was the last thing she needed, to be bait for carnivorous flying lizards.

 

[redletalis]

It was a relief when the other man - Farrell - reached for her and she finally let go of him. Adam watched as they moved careful and she crossed the water-sand between them. Funny thing that. The cockpit had never actually seemed so large before. Until then Adam had actually found it to be just a tiny bit on the too-small side for his liking, but now it might as well have beent he size of the bridge on a luxury cruiser!

He pulled himself upright and started working with the wires he had gotten. Some of the wires were too short so he had to tie two together, and he had made far too few holes in the metal of the door, too. That was actually a good thing. It meant that the scrapmetal sheets would be just a little bit more secure with more wires holding them up. He was in the middle of balancing precariously on the edge, leaning out over the sand and trying to tie off a wire when the sheet of metal was pushed across the water-sand to him.

"Let's just hope it ain't gonna attract the bastards." Adam said and tied off the wire with a grunt. He carefully balanced himself back in place on the wobbly chair, took a deep breath and grabbed a handhold on the beam. He had to grab quite a bit lower than earlier because otherwise he wouldn't reach the metal she was pushing towards him, and his nose was about an inch above the water-sand when he stretched out.

He was still about a foot short of actually reaching the metal sheet.

"Fuck. Oi, you." Adam pointed at the little humanoid female. "Think ya can climb on over me an' reach the damn thing? You oughtta be light 'nough for me ta be able ta hold us in place."

 

[Gemini]

As the guard reached for the metal, Osma's face twisted in grimace. This was better than going to prison, but not by much. Chances of survival seemed equally slim either way.

The female chittered in surprise before nodding. "I can." Her voice was high and soft and unsettlingly like a child's. She shifted in her little nook before jumping up to grab the beam that he had used to anchor him. After shimmying along it, she climbed down his arm and across his shoulders. She couldn't have weighed more than forty or fifty pounds, and had an agility that spoke either of a lifetime of dancing or of quick and silent assassinations.

She dropped off his arm into the sand, but kept his wrist tucked under one of her arms to stay above the hungry earth. Tiny fingers reached out and gripped the other end of the metal that Osma had pushed towards them, and she tugged it into reach. "Got it."

 

[redletalis]

Adam held as still as he possibly could while the small female climbed down his arm and across his shoulders. He tightened his grip on the beam while gritting his teeth and doing his best to keep as still as possible while she climbed out across his extended arm, ignoring the way his skin pulled with the added weight no matter how light she was. It was a bit better when she was actually in the odd sand, slightly buoyoed by it, and he turned his hand around to hold onto her arm as well just in case. She would definitely drown in a second if she actually went under. There was no way her feet would reach down to anything to stand on, and they didn't need to lose an ally at this point in time.

"Hold on an' I'll pull ya back." Adam carefully drew her and the cargo back towards himself. Once the little female was close enough to either stand on the back of the chair along with him, or to grip his leg and climb up, Adam let go of her arm and extracted it from her grip. Then he reached out and grabbed the metal sheet and finally straightened up properly and let go of the beam. "Thanks. We'll ned more of 'em, so keep an eye out, savvy?"

Flexing his bionic fingers to make sure that everything was working properly, he looked up at the hole they were trying to block up. The corpse of the creature was completely picked clean, and bones were starting to fall into the water-sand as the living creatures above fought over them as well. Even as he watched the skeleton started to collapse in on itself, and a second later most of it fell into the water.

There was a moment of silence and surprise from the flying beasts before one of the bigger ones landed on the doors. It sent a shudder through the hull of the cockpit and the doors groaned at the weight. A long tentacle like thing was lowered into the cockpit, a thousand small mouths with sharp teeth clicking and clacking as the tentacle started moving around in search for something edible.

Adam slowly unfolded the knife from his arm again, ducking low and hardly daring to breathe as the tentacle came dangerously close to where he stood. He would cut the thing if he had to, but it would be better if they didn't announce their presence at all. If they were lucky the thing would just think there was nothing worthwhile there and would go away and they could finish blocking the opening.

 

[Gemini]

The little female had to cling to his leg and torso to keep from sinking into the hungry sand. Osma eyed her during the entire process - though all the prisoners were dangerous, she was the most unsettling. It was always the ones that seemed harmless that were the really dangerous ones.

The collapse of the skeleton drew her attention away. "Fucking hell," she cursed under her breath as the blockade shook and a bizarre tentacle slithered through an opening. Subconsciously holding her breath, she and Farrell gripped each other for balance as they crouched down. With only their heads above the sand, they watched with wide eyes as appendage felt its way over the sand.

"Maybe getting killed in the crash would have been more pleasant," Farrell muttered lowly. She glared at him, not knowing if the thing had some way of sensing sound. On this planet, it was starting to seem like any outlandish situation could be possible.

As the tentacle moved away from the guard, it wound its way towards where the other two were standing. When it didn't seem like it would stop its approach, Osma acted on instinct. "Hold your breath." She pulled Farrell down under the sand with her, praying that they would keep their footing and that the thing would be gone when they ran out of air.