Perhaps they have been walking in darkness for too long, but for the long road ahead, there was nothing but.
Ryanti was trying to keep as much of an eye on Sounsyy as he was on his own light. There was nothing in the old, decrypted hangar that he saw with his own light besides her. He did not move much on the ship, preferring to stay where he was. He had the high ground. As much as he tried to prepare himself for the possibility that they might be truly not alone on this vessel, he found that there was no way that he could rid himself of the debilitating feeling in his stomach that felt like a hot iron twisting away on his soul.
This ship had a darkness, crippling aura to it. It was not like the inventive and ethereal craft of the Allagans that Ryanti would see on the classified objects that he handled in the past. This place was… long abandoned, dark, and cold. There was nothing in this ship that felt welcoming so far in the least. The thought that no one knew where they were besides the small crew on the vessel troubled him. The concept that at this very moment an innocent bystander would be buying a cold beer at the Drowning Wench or a glass of wine at the Bismark while lamenting their lunch hour, would easily trouble anyone’s mind down here.
He was not prepared for this. Jonathan was supposed to be the man to guide everyone through the ship. He was a hardened veteran at this sort of thing. He knew how to let things get to him, and to do his job. Ryanti was just there to be guided into obtaining the material he needed, then escorted out. While he was thoroughly trained, he was not prepared for the psychological aspect of this. He couldn’t imagine what kind of thoughts Sounsyy would be going through. He had to be strong for her.
Then a noise. A far distant clamming from deep inside the ship. Ryanti turned to face where the door on the second floor was, as that was where it came from. It sounded like a panel falling into the floor or tumbling down some stairs. It was subtle, quiet, far, but it didn’t matter. Ryanti knew they would have to climb into the bowels of the ship. Deeper and deeper.
"This ship. It's tryin' to drive us mad."
“Tell me about it.†Ryanti responded to Sounsyy.
While Sounsyy stared at his backpack, it made no quiet light as it did when it was time to be used at the beginning. Nor did she feel any kind of pull or memorization that she used to during the time on the Roehmerl. It was dead for the moment. As dead as this ship.
Ryanti did not look back for the moment. He was too busy glancing his eyes around and shifting his lighting slow, sweeping directions over the second floor. Tiny dust particles blew away with the wind of his calming breathe. All was silent. It could have been nothing…
Ryanti saw her whisper into her linkpearl. A sign of concern and a small, minor look of pity crossed his face. He had wanted badly to call this in too. He was unsure of himself that those words would make it to the outside, but he was sure than she was.
They probably can’t hear you, Sounsyy.
But no sooner than she finished, Ryanti tried anyhow, pressing his finger into his ear. “We are alright. Seems like nothing. Going to brush it off for now. Heading further inside to try to get better reception.â€
He bent down to his knees while getting off of the nose of the ancient shuttle. He briefly slid on his butt before dropping down onto his feet beside Sounsyy. He sighed a bit to relieve some tension, eyeing the braded woman with a gaze. “Yeah. I’m good.â€
He paused for a moment, his mind briefly flashing back to her running into him by accident on the way over to where they were now. He could see the same kind of muddled breathing present now. The subtle shaking. The loneliness the fear. Perhaps she could see some of that in him too. “Just the same old breaking ship, and we can’t let it break us.â€
He lifted up his rifle once more, and gave her a nod to reassure his words to her. He had the same look now that he had when he first raised his sword up to challenge her that one day that now seemed so long ago. He was not challenging her to combat now, no. He was challenging her to press on.
Then he raised the light up to where the door was on the second floor. The catwalk that hugged closed to the door looked relatively safe. Ish. The components that used to be accented guardrails looked like they were a bit deformed and melted a tad. It must have been directly related to the fire that consumed the center of the shuttle Ryanti had just gotten off of. Or perhaps a completely different fire that started or died out centuries or millennia removed from the fire that claimed the shuttle’s innards.
“This room does look like an airship hanger. I guess you could call it an airship. They remind me of Garlemald’s just… a lot more uhh... well made. The Allagans did not need propellers or sails. They had other means. They’re… more than airships.†He murmured to Sounsyy while looking up at the guard railings, letting the subject fade. He lowered his rifle and clicked a switch upon it, turning off the rifle’s torch. It did invite more darkness to surround their presence within the now dead silent ship, but it also gave him an opportunity to sling his rifle to his back.
Ryanti was preparing for something. He knelt onto his knees, looking back up at the place briefly before unzipping a zipper that rested on the actual side of the backpack, hidden from view normally. It was a compartment of the backpack that was in its own place, as it had to be for the size of the object that he contained in it. Light whistling sound of a tight fiber-like rope being pulled was heard as Ryanti whipped out fulm by fulm of climbing rope, a really skinny rope that bent easily and was very tightly woven.
“Well… let’s see if this works.†Ryanti muttered to her, forming one end of the rope into a little lasso loop. Afterwords, he stood himself up and launched the lasso’s rope three times until it finally hooked onto one of the vertical railings that had lost its horizontal railing long ago. Ryanti gave it a few harsh tugs, tightening the loop around the notch with two hands before turning to the Captain with a few moments of silence. “I’ll go first.â€
The young man pursed his lips and leapt onto the rope, immediately wrapping his legs around the material, his face looking up and his eyes constantly focusing on the top of the railing to see if it moved any. Did it become weaker because of the ancient fire or stronger? He pulled his arms downwards and slinked his legs upwards as he began to climb. So far, so good.
“Okay Ryanti…†Sounsyy might have heard him say quietly to himself as he solemnly kept climbing with a sure medium pace. It was not too long before he was quite a few fulms above her. It was a lot of cardio work to do this, so Ryanti did not rush himself, knowing that he had to at least partially save energy as he knew he was going to be working on rations. However, the Hyqo’te wasn’t sucking wind. His training served him well. Upon reaching the top, he hooked his arm underneath another one of the melted notches and hoisted one side of his body upon the upper neck, untangling himself from the rope and letting it seep down, Sounsyy hearing Ryanti’s words in her ear via local linkpearl. -Hzzzt- Hold on. Need to clear this.†Followed by a heavy breathe.
Ryanti got himself up rather quickly, checking the rope briefly before taking a few steps towards the door. From the bottom, his torchlight on his chest quickly faded away, then silence. Moment after moment passed as Sounsyy was left alone for ten seconds… twenty… thirty… forty…
At about one minute, a very distant sound was again heard from within the ship. Two singled-out groans, then many clicks of smaller groans from somewhere deep within.
A few seconds later, a light of salvation shined down from the upper deck as Ryanti clicked back on his rifle torch to add to his chest torch when he peered over the railing, his voice crackling in her ear again. “-Hzzzzt- I’m here. I just I thought I heard something and I had to listen. The upper floor is clear though, you’re good to climb.â€
He let the rifle down, but let the light on, shifting onto his stomach and letting his arms dangling down below, so that just in case the rail broke during her climb, he would be able to catch either the rope or the Captain herself. “I got you.†He called down to her, beckoning her to join him above.
Ryanti was trying to keep as much of an eye on Sounsyy as he was on his own light. There was nothing in the old, decrypted hangar that he saw with his own light besides her. He did not move much on the ship, preferring to stay where he was. He had the high ground. As much as he tried to prepare himself for the possibility that they might be truly not alone on this vessel, he found that there was no way that he could rid himself of the debilitating feeling in his stomach that felt like a hot iron twisting away on his soul.
This ship had a darkness, crippling aura to it. It was not like the inventive and ethereal craft of the Allagans that Ryanti would see on the classified objects that he handled in the past. This place was… long abandoned, dark, and cold. There was nothing in this ship that felt welcoming so far in the least. The thought that no one knew where they were besides the small crew on the vessel troubled him. The concept that at this very moment an innocent bystander would be buying a cold beer at the Drowning Wench or a glass of wine at the Bismark while lamenting their lunch hour, would easily trouble anyone’s mind down here.
He was not prepared for this. Jonathan was supposed to be the man to guide everyone through the ship. He was a hardened veteran at this sort of thing. He knew how to let things get to him, and to do his job. Ryanti was just there to be guided into obtaining the material he needed, then escorted out. While he was thoroughly trained, he was not prepared for the psychological aspect of this. He couldn’t imagine what kind of thoughts Sounsyy would be going through. He had to be strong for her.
Then a noise. A far distant clamming from deep inside the ship. Ryanti turned to face where the door on the second floor was, as that was where it came from. It sounded like a panel falling into the floor or tumbling down some stairs. It was subtle, quiet, far, but it didn’t matter. Ryanti knew they would have to climb into the bowels of the ship. Deeper and deeper.
"This ship. It's tryin' to drive us mad."
“Tell me about it.†Ryanti responded to Sounsyy.
While Sounsyy stared at his backpack, it made no quiet light as it did when it was time to be used at the beginning. Nor did she feel any kind of pull or memorization that she used to during the time on the Roehmerl. It was dead for the moment. As dead as this ship.
Ryanti did not look back for the moment. He was too busy glancing his eyes around and shifting his lighting slow, sweeping directions over the second floor. Tiny dust particles blew away with the wind of his calming breathe. All was silent. It could have been nothing…
Ryanti saw her whisper into her linkpearl. A sign of concern and a small, minor look of pity crossed his face. He had wanted badly to call this in too. He was unsure of himself that those words would make it to the outside, but he was sure than she was.
They probably can’t hear you, Sounsyy.
But no sooner than she finished, Ryanti tried anyhow, pressing his finger into his ear. “We are alright. Seems like nothing. Going to brush it off for now. Heading further inside to try to get better reception.â€
He bent down to his knees while getting off of the nose of the ancient shuttle. He briefly slid on his butt before dropping down onto his feet beside Sounsyy. He sighed a bit to relieve some tension, eyeing the braded woman with a gaze. “Yeah. I’m good.â€
He paused for a moment, his mind briefly flashing back to her running into him by accident on the way over to where they were now. He could see the same kind of muddled breathing present now. The subtle shaking. The loneliness the fear. Perhaps she could see some of that in him too. “Just the same old breaking ship, and we can’t let it break us.â€
He lifted up his rifle once more, and gave her a nod to reassure his words to her. He had the same look now that he had when he first raised his sword up to challenge her that one day that now seemed so long ago. He was not challenging her to combat now, no. He was challenging her to press on.
Then he raised the light up to where the door was on the second floor. The catwalk that hugged closed to the door looked relatively safe. Ish. The components that used to be accented guardrails looked like they were a bit deformed and melted a tad. It must have been directly related to the fire that consumed the center of the shuttle Ryanti had just gotten off of. Or perhaps a completely different fire that started or died out centuries or millennia removed from the fire that claimed the shuttle’s innards.
“This room does look like an airship hanger. I guess you could call it an airship. They remind me of Garlemald’s just… a lot more uhh... well made. The Allagans did not need propellers or sails. They had other means. They’re… more than airships.†He murmured to Sounsyy while looking up at the guard railings, letting the subject fade. He lowered his rifle and clicked a switch upon it, turning off the rifle’s torch. It did invite more darkness to surround their presence within the now dead silent ship, but it also gave him an opportunity to sling his rifle to his back.
Ryanti was preparing for something. He knelt onto his knees, looking back up at the place briefly before unzipping a zipper that rested on the actual side of the backpack, hidden from view normally. It was a compartment of the backpack that was in its own place, as it had to be for the size of the object that he contained in it. Light whistling sound of a tight fiber-like rope being pulled was heard as Ryanti whipped out fulm by fulm of climbing rope, a really skinny rope that bent easily and was very tightly woven.
“Well… let’s see if this works.†Ryanti muttered to her, forming one end of the rope into a little lasso loop. Afterwords, he stood himself up and launched the lasso’s rope three times until it finally hooked onto one of the vertical railings that had lost its horizontal railing long ago. Ryanti gave it a few harsh tugs, tightening the loop around the notch with two hands before turning to the Captain with a few moments of silence. “I’ll go first.â€
The young man pursed his lips and leapt onto the rope, immediately wrapping his legs around the material, his face looking up and his eyes constantly focusing on the top of the railing to see if it moved any. Did it become weaker because of the ancient fire or stronger? He pulled his arms downwards and slinked his legs upwards as he began to climb. So far, so good.
“Okay Ryanti…†Sounsyy might have heard him say quietly to himself as he solemnly kept climbing with a sure medium pace. It was not too long before he was quite a few fulms above her. It was a lot of cardio work to do this, so Ryanti did not rush himself, knowing that he had to at least partially save energy as he knew he was going to be working on rations. However, the Hyqo’te wasn’t sucking wind. His training served him well. Upon reaching the top, he hooked his arm underneath another one of the melted notches and hoisted one side of his body upon the upper neck, untangling himself from the rope and letting it seep down, Sounsyy hearing Ryanti’s words in her ear via local linkpearl. -Hzzzt- Hold on. Need to clear this.†Followed by a heavy breathe.
Ryanti got himself up rather quickly, checking the rope briefly before taking a few steps towards the door. From the bottom, his torchlight on his chest quickly faded away, then silence. Moment after moment passed as Sounsyy was left alone for ten seconds… twenty… thirty… forty…
At about one minute, a very distant sound was again heard from within the ship. Two singled-out groans, then many clicks of smaller groans from somewhere deep within.
A few seconds later, a light of salvation shined down from the upper deck as Ryanti clicked back on his rifle torch to add to his chest torch when he peered over the railing, his voice crackling in her ear again. “-Hzzzzt- I’m here. I just I thought I heard something and I had to listen. The upper floor is clear though, you’re good to climb.â€
He let the rifle down, but let the light on, shifting onto his stomach and letting his arms dangling down below, so that just in case the rail broke during her climb, he would be able to catch either the rope or the Captain herself. “I got you.†He called down to her, beckoning her to join him above.