The hallway was very quiet now. Almost as quiet as it had been eons prior. Their presence at this time seemed so insignificant to Ryanti, so tiny compared to the size of the rest of the ship. The silence was welcoming in a way. At least in the company of another. The young man wondered if Sounsyy realized now why he could not do this alone. It stood for certain that if she didn’t now, she will eventually. Company… company prevented insanity. Right now, he was thoroughly enjoying this tiny escape from the very grim reality they were in right now.
His slender hands began to unfasten a strap from one of his larger pouches on his waistline as Sounsyy began her recalling of her former master. His body seemed to respond automatically to the situation, knowing what tools to apply to any given uncertainty. It was a trick of his trade – they almost always had to improvise.
He had a second eye upon the woman as she examined the adjacent room, only accessible through a broken window. It was a relief and at the same time, concerning to be informed that it was empty. If they could not open this door, they would have to take that path and do whatever it took to get deeper inside the maul of this giant mechanical beast of an incomprehensible era.
The gadget Ryanti pulled out of his pouch looked like a little black scanner about the size of his hand and shaped like a cylinder. It was designed by Sharlayan to detect electricity and aether flow. With a quiet click, he turned the device on, and a tiny red light from the gadget began to blink in a slow, continuous rhythm as he hovered the device over the door while listening to Sounsyy’s story. This figure of hers, this Sterransa… she seemed so colorful, and so bitter a person. He admitted that part of him was deeply amused about the idea of imagining Sounsyy paying her dues, albeit unreasonably of course. He almost wanted to make a jab at her about how she never would tie her hair neat anymore or make everything spotless because of her former master, but he made no such comment outloud.
As for her comment about the lift, Ryanti had a look about him that confirmed her suspicions that he was thinking the same thing.
He said nothing when she tried to break the latches open with her sword. He wanted her to experience for herself the immense strength and resilience of Allagan steel. Even after five thousand years, the metal was as strong and abstained from neither rust nor decomposition. Even the modern steel of the Sharlayan blades were pitiful compared to this unknown molecular composition. It was alien. Foreboding.
Ryanti had looked back at her while she told the tale. He could tell by the little sparkle in her eye that she hated her – dearly. Yet, at the same time, he could sense that she respected her. Perhaps Ryanti’s own eyes betrayed interest.
His attention was briefly diverted by the notification of the device. It made a little beeping noise, and the blinking red light slowly began to morph into an unblinking green light. The look that Ryanti gave the device told her that it was important, and once again concern emerged from the surface of his expression. But it did not seem like it was all too much a bad thing, just… suspenseful.
His eyes turned to the blade Sounsyy held up in their torchlight’s embrace. The steel glinted off of the light which bounced off of the dead Allagan walls. A little smile graced him as he whipped out his cleaning rag from his back pocket again. Clean every blade thrice over… funny it was then when Ryanti decided to wipe the dust off of Sounsyy’s blade right then as she held it aloft. Perhaps their Sharlayan tools and skills could never be sharp enough. Not for a job like this.
But this was a sign of respect from Ryanti. He figured it was a better way to show it than most.
“This door is incredibly thick. It would take Garlean machinations hours, maybe even days to carve through it, and that is if they can even do it in the first place.†He sidestepped her towards the door after cleaning off her blade, his initial sigh wisping some of the dust into the close air around him. “Perhaps these doors opened to some kind of repulsor lift, but something of this magnitude would have not been for passengers.†Perhaps one of the inaccessible doors held the former passenger elevator but… they had no other options but to try to take this one.
“My device indicates that there is a power source beyond this point.†Ryanti mentioned, his voice dead serious. He truly didn’t know what power source could be there. “It’s still functioning. After all this time. We need to access it. If the room behind this door happens to be a lift of some sort, and if we can still use it, it would beat climbing. Regardless, we need to press on, we need to go deeper inside… we are not even in the bowels yet.â€
He gently tapped the device against his chin in thought as he switched it off, eyeing the windowsill again. Gears in his mind began to click together, and he pulled out his utility knife from his thigh and walked over to the broken glass. He stabbed a point of glass sticking out from the bottom, and it shattered a bit. Satisfied with his ability to break it, he placed the blade in a bottom corner of the windowsill. “Let’s go through here, but first help me out with clearing the glass. If our suits get caught in it, gone will be our modesty for sure. There’s a time and a place for that, but definitely not here.â€
With that, Ryanti began to jab his blade against the bottom of the frame, tiny bits of ancient glass crumbling under its age and his knife. Sounsyy’s eyes had seemed to dare Ryanti from before, and he was not about to decline the invitation.
“So... were you there? When she died?â€
His slender hands began to unfasten a strap from one of his larger pouches on his waistline as Sounsyy began her recalling of her former master. His body seemed to respond automatically to the situation, knowing what tools to apply to any given uncertainty. It was a trick of his trade – they almost always had to improvise.
He had a second eye upon the woman as she examined the adjacent room, only accessible through a broken window. It was a relief and at the same time, concerning to be informed that it was empty. If they could not open this door, they would have to take that path and do whatever it took to get deeper inside the maul of this giant mechanical beast of an incomprehensible era.
The gadget Ryanti pulled out of his pouch looked like a little black scanner about the size of his hand and shaped like a cylinder. It was designed by Sharlayan to detect electricity and aether flow. With a quiet click, he turned the device on, and a tiny red light from the gadget began to blink in a slow, continuous rhythm as he hovered the device over the door while listening to Sounsyy’s story. This figure of hers, this Sterransa… she seemed so colorful, and so bitter a person. He admitted that part of him was deeply amused about the idea of imagining Sounsyy paying her dues, albeit unreasonably of course. He almost wanted to make a jab at her about how she never would tie her hair neat anymore or make everything spotless because of her former master, but he made no such comment outloud.
As for her comment about the lift, Ryanti had a look about him that confirmed her suspicions that he was thinking the same thing.
He said nothing when she tried to break the latches open with her sword. He wanted her to experience for herself the immense strength and resilience of Allagan steel. Even after five thousand years, the metal was as strong and abstained from neither rust nor decomposition. Even the modern steel of the Sharlayan blades were pitiful compared to this unknown molecular composition. It was alien. Foreboding.
Ryanti had looked back at her while she told the tale. He could tell by the little sparkle in her eye that she hated her – dearly. Yet, at the same time, he could sense that she respected her. Perhaps Ryanti’s own eyes betrayed interest.
His attention was briefly diverted by the notification of the device. It made a little beeping noise, and the blinking red light slowly began to morph into an unblinking green light. The look that Ryanti gave the device told her that it was important, and once again concern emerged from the surface of his expression. But it did not seem like it was all too much a bad thing, just… suspenseful.
His eyes turned to the blade Sounsyy held up in their torchlight’s embrace. The steel glinted off of the light which bounced off of the dead Allagan walls. A little smile graced him as he whipped out his cleaning rag from his back pocket again. Clean every blade thrice over… funny it was then when Ryanti decided to wipe the dust off of Sounsyy’s blade right then as she held it aloft. Perhaps their Sharlayan tools and skills could never be sharp enough. Not for a job like this.
But this was a sign of respect from Ryanti. He figured it was a better way to show it than most.
“This door is incredibly thick. It would take Garlean machinations hours, maybe even days to carve through it, and that is if they can even do it in the first place.†He sidestepped her towards the door after cleaning off her blade, his initial sigh wisping some of the dust into the close air around him. “Perhaps these doors opened to some kind of repulsor lift, but something of this magnitude would have not been for passengers.†Perhaps one of the inaccessible doors held the former passenger elevator but… they had no other options but to try to take this one.
“My device indicates that there is a power source beyond this point.†Ryanti mentioned, his voice dead serious. He truly didn’t know what power source could be there. “It’s still functioning. After all this time. We need to access it. If the room behind this door happens to be a lift of some sort, and if we can still use it, it would beat climbing. Regardless, we need to press on, we need to go deeper inside… we are not even in the bowels yet.â€
He gently tapped the device against his chin in thought as he switched it off, eyeing the windowsill again. Gears in his mind began to click together, and he pulled out his utility knife from his thigh and walked over to the broken glass. He stabbed a point of glass sticking out from the bottom, and it shattered a bit. Satisfied with his ability to break it, he placed the blade in a bottom corner of the windowsill. “Let’s go through here, but first help me out with clearing the glass. If our suits get caught in it, gone will be our modesty for sure. There’s a time and a place for that, but definitely not here.â€
With that, Ryanti began to jab his blade against the bottom of the frame, tiny bits of ancient glass crumbling under its age and his knife. Sounsyy’s eyes had seemed to dare Ryanti from before, and he was not about to decline the invitation.
“So... were you there? When she died?â€