Endurance: The Next Chapter (IC)

"So he could survive?" Ketryn asked, feeling hope swell up in her metal body. "That... is good/" She found herself turning it into a question, unsure if fighting in an arena was a good thing to survive through. She sighed flatly, feeling herself calm down. "So when will they be done discussing what our outcomes will be? I am growing tired of waiting."

"He could, yes," Vetrys said. "What you must understand," he continued, "is that no one goes to the games for fun. We are required to, as an example of what happens to those who break our higher laws. It is... Effective." He stopped, quietly looking over the prisoners. It was late. "Levith will be here in the morning. If you wish to sleep, do so soon." That said, he sat down in a chair at the end of the hall, where he could see everyone.

* * *

Kirex grinned and answered one of his favorite questions with one of his favorite words. "Aye!" he exclaimed, much too loud. "This 'ere's cap'n Parrath! And I be the first mate, Kirex!" He seemed to be dancing back and forth between his feet, as if he was wary of being in one place for a long time. Either that or incredibly excited, it was hard to say.

Kirex stood away from Thray, though not far from Parrath. He eyed the Invader, mistrusting. This was stupid, really. The Hunter was capable of killing every last one of them, unarmed. Or at least Kirex was pretty sure he was. This seemed like a terrible idea, but he trusted Parrath's judgement. Usually. "Cap'n..." he mumbled, trying not to let Thray hear, "What're ye thinkin'?"

* * *

Somnus sighed. He supposed they weren't going anywhere any time soon. It was unlikely he could talk his way out of anything with Vetrys. Quietly, he laid down on the floor, too big for the bed. He closed his eyes, mostly, but did not sleep. He probably would eventually, but not until everyone else did.

Ketryn looked at Vetrys blankly before sitting on the ground, plugging her wires back into the battery she had been provided. She closed her eyes, still sitting up. She couldn't sleep, really, but Ketryn preferred to pretend that she was. It helped her mind relax and think things over. She let her chest rise and fall, as if she were actually breathing. She was just going to have to wait for the morning, then, and find out what everyone's fates would be. With her luck, it was going to be life in prison or something

Kirex considered this for a while, and then a grin slowly appeared on his face. "Parrath," he whispered, "ye're a genius." That said, he sat down, not intending to sleep, but resting. He kept his pale blue eyes fixed on the scowling Jakulo at the other end of the room, but said no more. This was likely to be a long night. But it would prove their trustworthiness to The Hunter, and that was the first step towards their escape...

* * *

Vetrys leaned back in his chair, calm. The prisoners had expressed little interest in escaping, and were probably unable to anyway. Now all he had to do was wait for the night shift to arrive, so he could sleep. Speaking of which... "Wratchet," he said suddenly, "you should go, too. It's late."

Ketryn's eyes were closed, her mind in another place when she was lifted out of her thoughts by yelling. The light on her forehead glowed the brightest it had been in a while, signifying that her systems were finally completely chargeds as she unhooked the wires of her mechanical body from the battery and looked up to see who had called out.

Kydi was playing with the door of his cell, rushing as he did so. Ketryn watched him with a blank face, wondering what he was doing. Wasn't there an electric field around the cells or something? Wait... It was the door to the cell. Maybe it didn't have a field around it so prisoners and guards wouldn't be unable to enter? But then they may have just turned off the electric field as they walked into the cells.

Ketryn stood up, letting a fake yawn overcome her- she always liked doing that. It made her feel more... Real. She walked towards the edge of the cell, looking curiously at Kydi. "What are you up to?" She questioned, quiet so that no one would become suspicious of a lot of noise.

Kirex, who had been curled up in a ball so tight that his tail covered his entire face, shifted slightly. He moved his tail first, and stared up at Parrath for a moment. What were they doing again? The next thing he saw, though, was quite the famous face. The Hunter, of course. They had to tell him what was going on today. Having figured out what was going on, he immediately became wide awake, jumping straight up from the floor to his feet with a grin.

"Aye!" He agreed cheerfully, "if ye're goin' ta survive here, ya gotta know tha ropes!"

* * *

Somnus was alert long before he opened his eyes. Kydi was doing something, he could hear clicking noises coming from the cell door. Ketryn had asked a question, and judging by all this activity, there were no guards around. Finally, he opened his eyes, got up, and stretched. He was right. There was no one nearby except the prisoners. He watched Kydi, silent, in an attempt to judge what he was doing.

When the lights came up he jumped up fists curled,teeth bared expecting to fight his captors to the death if he had to....turned out it was just Ketyrn she did a robotic thingy with her head. He got up and stretched his arms and legs then he removed his helmet to reveal a large thick horn that was jutting out the top of his cranium smaller dull horns sprouted all along the base of his horns they continued until stopping just above his brow line he ambled over to the glowing wall across the hall was a Kydi messing with his cell wall as someone who had already had an injury with the walls decided "I wouldn't try messing with that buddy you're liable to get shocked or turned to ash or both".

Ketryn silently looked at Kydi and then the door. She was tempted to bring up her theory- of adding electricity to the electric layer and using that to maybe make it short-circuit somehow. But then she didn't want to seem like a fool, or low in technology when it came to her knowledge of it (She might be a cyborg, but that doesn't mean she is good at electronics). She stood, frozen for a bit, thinking things through.

Finally Ketryn shook her head, scolding herself in her mind for doing this as she asked, "What if some more energy was added to the electrical field? Some open wires or something? Could it be possible to short-circuit it?"

Somnus got up and walked to the front of his cell, where he could better see Kydi across the hall, as well as look at his own cell door. He really didn't know much about technology, but it might have been worth looking at anyway. He fixed his eyes on Kydi for a moment, then spoke. "If this technology is Kyrenien, then they must have somehow taken it... Which means either the Kyreniens left in a hurry, or..." He paused, considering what he was about to say, how unlikely it was. "Or the Jakulo truly are a force to be reckoned with..."

* * *

"Aye," Kirex said, still grinning. If they could get Thray to help them, there was no way they could get themselves killed. Even better, they could probably escape. It occurred to him how much he liked having Parrath around to think of these things, since Kirex himself tended to be fairly short sighted. At least Kirex could hold his own in combat. Mostly. Speaking of which... They probably didn't have much time.

Ketryn slowly nodded, glad, really, that she didn't have to try such a feat as shorting the wiring. But the Jakulo being able to change the technology of Kyrenian tech.... such a thought made her nervous. She looked down at hands, slowly opening and closing them to create fist. What if they got ahold of her? Would she be hurt?

A sudden thought came to her mind. What if they could help her? Change the wiring in her system so that it could read emotions sent from her mind? It would be.... she would probably do anything for that, even allow them to experiment on her. Ketryn looked at Kydi, her expression as blank as ever.

"So what do you think this is all going to grow into? Something prosperous or something disastrous?"

She glanced at the door. When are they going to come in and reveal their fates already?

There was a quiet thump, and a small door in the side of the hall opened. Somnus looked up, surprised that whoever it was hadn't come from the hallway, the way he himself had come the previous day. It was Vetrys, already fully armed.

"Of course we would modify the cells," he said casually as he locked the door behind him, "You aren't the first alien prisoners we've held. Or the first Kyrenien."

Having finished locking the door, he located his rolling chair, brought it to the front of the hall, and sat down. "By the way," he said, leaning back, "I don't advise trying to escape. Levith will be here within the hour, and that would not be news I'd want to have to give him."

Vetrys tensed, looking at Wratchet.  This was news to him.  "You were supposed to be rewiring things in B24.  Don't tell me you were outside the whole time?"  He stared at her, clearly worried.

This confused Somnus.  Vetrys acted as if Wratchet was somehow his responsibility, and yet she was the head engineer.  There was no reason she should be under his command.  Come to think of it, there was no reason for her to be in the prison at all, unless she was going to repair HL3, and it seemed that would not be happening for quite some time.  So why was she here?

*  *  *

Kirex darted along right behind Parrath, barely listening to their conversation.  Something about Thray being the sun, he didn't care.  It was time for the games, and the doors had yet to open.  Which meant only one thing...

Clearly they needed to bang on the door until it opened, as if that would change the time.

Of course, this made perfect sense to Kirex.  Or at least, enough for him to justify yelling at things, which he enjoyed anyway.  And so he did.  "Aye!  Ye've no idea how bored we be down 'ere!  Open up, ye cowards!"

Vetrys nodded at Levith without a word, then turned to the prisoners. "Alright everyone," he said in a loud voice, "the Games are about to start, and you-" he paused for a split second, glancing at Levith out of the corner of his eye, "get to watch. The doors will be opening in a moment. I expect none of you to attack anyone, or there will be a problem."

With that, he turned and went back into the small room he had come out of. There was a click, and slowly all the doors in the high security area began to open. Except for HL3, which was disconnected from the system until someone decided to fix it.

Somnus slowly padded out of the cell, looking around cautiously. Levith had brought several guards, and so he hoped none of the other prisoners would do anything to aggravate the Jakulo. He saw Vetrys exit the small room and lock it behind him once more, then begin walking back up the hall. Somnus followed not far behind him. Close enough to hear Vetrys whisper to Wratchet.

"Let me know next time you go to the surface. So I can lock you in one of the cells."

Ketryn felt herself internally wince, despite the lack of feeling. They had to watch the games? Ketryn's heart began to pound. W-what? Why? Ketryn took several steps back in her cell, tripping back to sit on the cot as the guards came in to escort them. She didn't want to watch the fighting. She remained sitting on the cot.

Her voice, while flat, was somehow able to show fear and nervousness- perhaps it was the stammering she had somehow been able to add into her voice as she spoke. "P-please don't..." as she said this, however, Ketryn slowly stood up. Despite her fear and wanting to stay where she was, the logic of Ketryn's mind still overpowered her will. They would make her go either way, correct? So why try? She followed the others out of the room.

Donfroste simply put on his helmet and joined the group,Arena Games? Donfroste was quite suprised that they'd let potentially dangerous inmates to a place where there are a lot of sharp,pointy,zappy gadgets and blades. Sure they were being "secure" with all the guards but all that was needed was a distraction and all hell could break loose,He could probably take out a guard steal his tech and boom he was free,a plan was formulating in his head, oh yes a plan....

Kirex leapt in right behind Parrath, cheering, and dove straight for the far corner. A familiar glint had caught his eye, a small pile of things that were always found together. Four small knives that fit perfectly in the loops in his belt, and several sacks tied closed with a string, which he tied on the other side of his belt. That done, he looked up, still grinning ear to ear with sharp teeth, and waited.

* * *

Vetrys gave Ketryn a sympathetic look, and whispered, "you don't have to watch, but I'm afraid you do have to come." He looked forward once again, showing no sign that he had said anything. He climbed into the transporter without another word.

Somnus followed, trying to stick close to everyone else. He had no particular wish to watch the games, but perhaps they could learn something about how to get Thray out, if it came to that.