Endurance: The Next Chapter (IC)

In the corner of a dimly-lit room was a shadow. Said shadow has been sitting in the room corner for three days, cold, hungry, and devoid of hope. The shadow's name was Strange, and he belonged to a race known as the Ayataans. For half a week, he sat in this corner, hoping for another Ayataan to discover this place and rescue them. Wherever this was. Likely millions of light-years away from his home.
Strange groaned loudly, clutching his head, hoping for a way out of this mess.

Footsteps.

Footsteps?

Strange suddenly stood up, now visible. The creator of the sounds has not yet revealed themselves, but he was pretty sure that they weren't the footsteps of any of the other captives. It was their savior, perhaps? Wishful thinking, he thought to himself. Silently, Strange stalked out of the room and into the hallway. The things making the footsteps must have been very loud, because they seemed to be coming from a distance away. Maybe through a wall or two?

Curious, Strange walked down the hallway, back into the prison chamber, for the first time in three days. He wondered if any of the other prisoners heard it. They must have, he thought, I can hear it from here!

"I believe," Strange said, his voice travelling all across the room, "That this could either be our savior or our doom. Seeing as everything living in space seems to be hostile, probably doom. Perhaps we should get ready to fight?" He held his hands behind his back, waiting for a response, if any.

Somnus brought himself to a stop in the open space a short distance from the ruined ship. He was glad the working Invader ship hadn't noticed him, because it looked like a fighter. He wondered what they wanted with this run-down transport, though. It was unlikely there was anyone alive on that thing, with holes all through the hull.

But there were Invaders on it, now, and Somnus wanted to know why they were there.

He resumed flight towards the ship, and moments later had ducked through one of the larger holes in the side. He landed carefully, already expecting the transition to artificial gravity. Once he regained his balance, he folded his wings tightly against his sides. He was glad Invaders tended to be so tall, otherwise he would have a hard time fitting in the corridors of the ship.

There were several directions he could take, and he had no idea which one led to the Invaders he knew had docked moments ago. After a bit of exploration, he found an airlock. It was a bit difficult for him, but he managed to get through and into the safe area of the ship. He could already tell that there was indeed air, even thought it made little difference to him, by the fact that he could hear the door close behind him.

Now he knew he could find the Invaders, be it by sound or scent. Of course, at the moment he was picking up neither of those things. So, once again, he chose a direction at random and began walking.

A large, white insect lay on the cold floor. He was known as 1050 by the Kyreniens, though he called himself Coin. His attitude was slightly worse than indifferent towards the current situation he was in, which was probably the most negative he'd ever felt. Being an optimist seemed impossible in such times, though he managed to stay positive through the rotting present. He'd lost track of time, thus forgetting his age. He felt only a few months old, probably due to the machines inserted into his body. Kyreniens loved their experiments. He'd seen some others with machines strapped into their bodies. Some struggled to resist, though they always ended up the same. They were mere test subjects, beings that served no purpose to the Kyreniens, other than to advance their sciences.

Slight tenseness was mixed into the insects position. He was uncomfortable and ready to move himself. As he then executed such action, he noticed footsteps. A voice followed.

Coin scrambled to his feet and voiced a few words in a nasally, childish voice. "Maybe they're here to save us, but we can't be too sure."

There was a soft, wheezy, pant coming from one of the corners of one of the rooms of the doomed ship. It had been there, drowning out any silence that might have befallen the place, for quite awhile. Pomona, the source of the struggling breaths had lost count of how many days had gone by. She couldn't remember anything, it was getting harder and harder to recall what was going on. To put it in simple terms, she was wilting. Without much needed sunlight and water, Pomona and the plants that she hosted were quickly dying. The air here was either too dry or too damp and she was struggling to draw in a deep enough breath to call out or even curse.

So she kept in one corner. It was her corner and her corner alone. Pomona was struggling to form thought, so she relied on the instincts planted deep within her genetic make up in order to survive. This meant making a spot and making it hers. It wasn't the roaming hills or the forests with trees hundreds of feet tall, but it was hers until she was leaving. And no one was allowed in her territory. If anyone was to come near to her she would have to attack, in some way, gather up the energy to protect her land. Her territory.

Pomona paced silently along the ground, making a loop around the spot she was keeping to herself. As she passed through light spots it was easy to tell what a bad shape she was in. The flowers that normally sprung from her hair drooped, brown against her flesh. Some ever fell out, leaving a trail of wilted petals behind her. Her foot steps were heavy, as she forced herself to continue to move. She wanted out, she wanted the warm sun and the cool breeze. A long tongue snaked out of her mouth, licking her dry lips. She wanted water. She listened to the voices around her, long slender ears making out every sound. But she made no attempt to communicate.

Somnus, hearing the sound of gunfire, instantly turned and barreled down the halls toward the sound. A few moments of trying not to crash into the walls and he slid around a corner to face three Invaders. One of them was dead, and it was evident that the larger of the other two was the killer.

A scourge on the galaxy, they even kill their own kind.

Without spending a moment longer watching, Somnus let loose a mighty roar. He would have spread his wings, but the corridor was too small for him to do so. And so he unsheathed his claws and prepared to strike.

Strange scanned the room, narrowing his eyes,

"Why... why are you people being no nonchalant about it? Coin, in the half-hour that I've spent being in the same room as you four days ago, I thought that you'd be a little smarter than this. Not to insult your intelligence, or anything. In case you didn't know, the... the things that are in this spaceship probably want to kill us. I admire your optimism, Coin, but you need to think rationally. If they don't try to destroy us on sight, then I'll give you whatever you want. Let's make a bet," Strange said quietly. He was pretty sure that he'd be right, but it would be a hollow victory.

"On another note, we need to find any weapons that our captors haven't brought with them. Preferably guns," Strange muttered.

With that, Strange began pacing rather quickly around the room, hands behind back, looking in every nook and cranny that he noticed. No weapons so far... With his luck, he'd find nothing after a full scan around the room and be obliterated.

Strange heard the footsteps stop. He walked more quickly, as he began to fear that they may have found some entrance. Suddenly, a huge roar caused Strange to stop cold. Something strange was going on. Strange looked back at Coin with a slightly amused look that said, "You may win your bet, but don't be too careful."

A tall black-skinned creature sat in a corner of the room. He had an eerie look. Two enormous batty ears. Two large red eyes. A bright pink tongue he licked his lips with. He seemed different. He didn't care. He would rather die now anyways. It would spare him so much more depravity.

He slouched, slowly uttering in his smooth and soft voice, "Let them come" he told himself, closing his eyes and simply getting ready.

Pomona has slowed her stalking around 'her' corner of the room. She crouched low to the ground, steadying herself on her hands as well as her feet, looking like a cat ready to pounce. She listened to the voices around her, as well as the voices not too far in the distance. Roars, gunshots, shouts and whispers. None got past her. She wondered what was going on deep within the halls of this strange ship, and wished to explore, but upon remembering the weakness in her body she refused to leave her territory. She cupped her hand around one of the flowers growing out of her scalp, easing healing like energy to flow back into it. It began to stand back up on its own, some of the light colors retuning to its petals and leaves.

She had never heard of one of her kind looking all of the plants it's hosting, and she didn't want to be the first. Even upon death, more flowers would continue to grow and would grow until the end of time. Graves looked more like fields of flowers and moss to Pomona and her people. Thinking about home made a pang of sadness travel through Pomona, but this was quickly replaced with the drive to continue to live.

Pomona spoke in hushed whispers, speaking in her foreign tongue. She spoke a far number of languages, but speaking her own made her feel almost calmer as she continued to pace around the space she had claimed as her own. Her feet making soft sounds upon the floor. Her wheezes continuing.

Coin stretched out his body, somewhat like a cat would. It wasn't that he was stupid, he just looked on the bright side, probably way more than he should. Coin smiled at the "I admire your optimism" comment, and ignored the insult. "Like you said, whoever they are could kill us just as well as they would save us. We'll just have to see."

He noticed a rusty pipe on the ground. Coin gripped it and swung it around, nearly hitting Strange, "Will this work as a weapon?" The pipe was nearly two feet and had a bend in it.

Somnus froze, the fur on his back standing straight up and his eyes wide.  His roar became a low growl as he stalked toward the two Invaders.

"What did you say?" He hissed, glaring daggers at the smaller Invader.  Kalia.  That was what he had said.  Suddenly, he rose his voice, not breaking eye contact with Kydi, "How do you know her?!"

All his worst fears ran through his mind.  He hadn't seen his sister in many years, but he had always assumed she was safe.  But, what if...  These Invaders knew her, and that could only be bad news.  What if she was dead, or-  He cut off his own thoughts with another snarl, awaiting an answer.

"Y-yes," Strange said, taking a step away from Coin to avoid getting hit.

"Just be careful, 'Kay? Don't kill anyone with that... yet. We'll have to see what finds us." Without missing a beat, Strange found a shiny metal rod lying in the corner and picked it up. It seemed to be much lighter than Coin's pipe, but Strange figured that he'd be able to use it as a sword. He'd at least be able to use it as a javelin. With a sigh, Strange heard yelling. He figured that a big fight was about to follow.

"Anyone else willing to beat down any intruders?" Strange called out, half-sarcastically.

"Please, don't kid yourselves" Senn said. "They probably have technology far more advanced than your little pipe, there. I wouldn't look so confident. Be wise and do what they say, or you can give it up. That I would recommend. It'll save you the depravity. Look at us. Our homes are gone. Families destroyed. Everyone we knew and loved... is dead. The many empires... Gone. Forever. To me, that's a pretty good reason to... beg for death. Which is what everyone should do. Beg for death." Senn stood up an walked over to Coin and Strange. One would have to admit, he was extremely creepy.

Senn's leathery black, bat-like skin gave him a freaky look that often creeped others out. But it was only like an Errian.
He extended a hand, which was tipped with enormous black claws, to shake one of their hands. "The name's Sennak. Senn for short."

"Mm-hmm," Strange said, suddenly very hostile towards Sennak. "I'm Strange, and I'd like to strangle you."

The logical side of Strange wanted to tell Sennak everything he thought was wrong with his statement, but his more polite side made him hold his tongue. He'd let Sennak live in this depressing fantasy for a while longer.

The truth was, after sitting in the corner for three days, on the inside, Strange knew that Sennak was right. Most likely, all of their families were gone. What was the point?

To carry on their spirit, Strange decided. To remember their hopes and dreams. To remember their stories. To remember what made an Ayataan an Ayataan. After what had to be 5 seconds of staring at Sennak's hand, strange finally shook it. "Huh... Pleasure to meet you... I guess..."

"Strangle you say? It'd be funny to see you try, but I digress" he said as his hand came back to him. He may or may not have tried to cut Strange with the tips of his claws as he did so. One of Senn's ears twitched. "Well, I suppose you know I'm right anyway. Hopefully you're smarter than you look. I'd hate to have stumbled upon yet another idiocy driven fool destined to fail my situation. Now then, let's see if we can get out of this room."

Somnus looked surprised. He didn't lower his guard, but he appeared to relax a tiny amount. He kept his eyes locked on the smaller Invader, distrusting. "She's my sister," he stated simply. He almost seemed like he didn't want to be associated with his own race, the way he had called them 'they'. It was odd, but probably not important.

"What do you mean was?" he asked, stern. He refused to let this young Invader start asking him questions.

Pomona had slowed her crawling on the floor, listening to the voices that filled the room. Were they really that stupid? They had been there for days, if help was coming it would have been here long ago. They were trapped, abandoned, there was no way off this doomed vessel. And for some strange reason, Pomona was almost okay with this thought. Or if worse came to worse she would just have to eat her 'roommates'. At least one of them seemed edible, and stupid. He would make an easy meal if the time came for her to feed.

She even had to halfway agree with Senn, as ugly and seemingly egotistical he looked. Someone was firing a gun, there was no way two pipes would be able to protect them. But there was no way her home planet was gone. It was full of peaceful people and riches. There was no way her people would or could make enemies of anyone or anything. But leaving this room sounded like a nice idea. She moved her paces closer to the door, speaking quietly to herself in her native tongue, expanding her territory.

Somnus took a step back and narrowed his eyes.  These Invaders...  They didn't really seem hostile.  Whatever had happened between them and his sister, he was beginning to think it had been... Peaceful?

After a moment, he spoke again, more quietly.  "Who...  Are you?"

Strange glared daggers at Senn as he walked away. He could already tell that if the got out of this mess, they wouldn't get along at all. He noticed a strange creature crawling along the floor. It seemed to be covered in dirt and plants. It was kind of creepy. Strange stepped away from the creature as it crawled by.

Wait... Why was this creature here?

"Hey," Strange said to the creature, "Are you sentient? We could appreciate more sentient people to help."

He changed the subject as he waited for the creature to respond. "Senn, as proof that I'm intelligent, I propose a way to win a fight against these Invaders without guns." Strange pointed towards a shelf, rather high above the door leading to the hallway.

"Ambush," Strange said.

"Ambush... With what? The pipe? Jumping on them will only cause them to throw us off and shoot us, and other similar circumstances. Honestly, do you think of those things at all? Find me some sort of projectile or something more lethal than a pipe, and something bullet proof. Unless, you'd prefer me to use you as a shield, which would be equivalent in my opinion. You're probably so thick-headed that bullets bounce right off your skull. But anyways, that's what you'll need" he said combing his ears with his palms for a minute.