Mars Mission

Dreston looks at Zyria with mild curiosity but does not ask any questions. Instead he turns towards the nose of the ship, silently waiting for them to arrive.

Soon after, the beetle comes to a stop. The door opens, revealing that they have entered some kind of underground cave, where there are a few other beetles sitting nearby. A tunnel leads into a more brightly lit area, and the glint and shine of metal can be easily seen from the entrance cave.

>We're here.

He steps from the vehicle and onto the cave's floor motioning for them to follow as he starts for the tunnel.

[Archelaus, you need a phone. To text with. That's how we talk. Well, plus, you're not really on fb much either, so Eris-Tam can't talk with you very much.]

"Amazing....All the work this had to have been..." -Zyria steps out, trying to take everything in as she follows, the others trickling out of the ship, and Caz sticking close to her side. What could he be worried about? We're here, the wyrms can't get to us. Zyria loses her train of thought as they reach the beginning of the tunnel.-

"Must've taken ages to build." Robless looked on in awe at this underground network of structures; it was metallic and mechanical, but held this aura of life that its creator had so painstakingly put into it during its construction. "No wonder you wanted us to return here, it's just so lively," said Robless, absent-mindedly. He looked over at Zyria and Caz and smiled at the love-struck couple. Positions of power already, yet going back to being sweethearts when they see each other... The man chuckled again and continued to follow the group.

Dreston shrugs.

>Actually, I was a little hesitant to bring you. No organics have ever come here before...

He paused, leading them through the tunnel and into a cavern far larger than the first, but the walls of the cave couldn't even be seen beneath the layers and layers of huge gears, electronics, and metal works. Scrap piles and in-progress machines are indistiguishable from the walls, everything blending together in a metal symphony. Some is old and rusted, some is shiny and lustrous. Delicate and sturdy all blend together, everything beautiful in the strangest of ways.

>It's nothing much... just be careful. I designed everything here, I control it all.

Zyria's Post:

-Zyria realizes that this was just as new to him as it was to the group.- "I am honored that you were kind enough to let us come here. Oh, the research that could be done, knowing what little I already do from our short meeting!" -Zyria is giddy, and, if Caz hadn't been holding her hand, she would have been skipping around the room. A clockwork robot, surviving this long on his own, and allowing them into his home! It was almost too good to be true.- 'Absolutely nothing can ruin this moment. We're safe for the night, defeated anyone that wanted to kill us (for now), and I'm with a clockwork boy!' [Here's a what could possibly go wrong moment.]

Dreston shrugged but smiled, and led them through more similar rooms, all lined with huge gears and internal workings that obviously had real purpose; some of them were rotating slowly and others quickly, but it can't really be told what they're for. Dreston looks around, realizing something.

>I'll have to find places for you all to sleep...

It worried him, though you wouldn't be able to tell.

<So true, and yet the feeling remains.. (sigh)>

<Oh well. If you want to bring in a character related to Archelaus somehow just tell me>

Caz squeezed Zyria's hand, not having let go since they'd arrived. She was excited, curious, interested in this new ally Dreston. Caz was intrigued by him, but not at all in the same way. Caz's was more like a polite, respectful admiration, an acknowledgement. But he knew that Zyria loved the science of it. After a moment Caz leaned back against the wall, at least until he realized that it was the junction of two huge, fast-turning gears. He jolted forwards, then blushed slightly and grinned at his own reaction.

((Ladidah))

Dreston's shoulders shook in a silent laugh, and then he turned away to find places where they could sleep comfortably.

>I will be back soon, feel free to walk around and look at my creations, just please be careful. I'm going to find places for all of you to stay.

He disappeared around a corner, leaving them to their own devices. As some of them wandered off, Caz's foot happened to move close to a particularly large gap between the gearwork. One of the loops on his boot suddenly was snagged by one of the gear teeth. It continued spinning until the boot lace was taught, and then it steadily tugged Caz's foot towards a huge, two gear junction. Zyria had moved a short distance away from him and was examining some of the cave's structures, and as the boot was tugged towards the gears Caz looked down instictively in alarm.

(I figure you (Eris-Tam) can pick up with him there, I'm sure you get where I was going... )

Caz looked down in shock, staring at the caught lace. He tugged against it, but quickly realized that it was completely stuck. There would be no getting it out. He tugged it in vain until he thought to undo the ties and pull his foot out, but not before his foot had already reached the grinding meeting of the two, huge, thick gears. He cried out to Zyria, "Zyria, hel--" but the sudden pain cut him of entirely and he gasped as his foot was drawn between the two gears. His foot was completely crushed, every bone in it quickly broken as it was mashed between the metal. He continued to gasp and cry out as it worked up to his ankle and part way up his leg as well, breaking and crushing, cutting, destroying. "ZYRIA!"

"Caz! What the hell..." Robless immediately saw what was causing the grinding noise and tried to help Caz. "Zyria, get over here!" She was the only one within hearing range, the others having wandered off and unable to hear them in the noisy machine room. He attempted to jam his extremely rigid shortblade into the gear workings, slowing it down at the least. Robless couldn't pull Caz out on his own, but held him back enough to stop the gears from chewing him up even more. Seemingly helpless to the Kazesqui, all he could do was wait. "Zyria!"

-Zyria wanders through the metal maze, absolutely intrigued. There's so much, ranging from so many different time periods. She had just stumbled upon a rather interesting piece, when suddenly she heard Caz. "Zyria! Zyria!" The terror was obvious in his voice.-


No.

Nononononononononononono.

-As Zyria twists through what had been an easy path, Zyria hears Robless's voice join with Caz's. "Zyria! Hurry! [The 'hurry' is just thrown in there, obviously]" Running full speed, Zyria is finally out in the open, and immediately her eyes are on the scene. Caz's foot/leg, Robless slowing the gears, the twisted shoelaces. Her mind is moving faster than her pounding heart as she runs over.-

-Okay. The size of the gears will be a problem. The foot is completely broken, I don't need to see it to know. The shoelaces are stuck for good. We need something to completely stop the gears, then something to work the foot out. -sigh- This is not going to be fun, for anyone.-

-Zyria pulls out her knife, and before she's even reached the two, it has extended into her sword, and the energy flashes a dark blue as she pulls it above her head. If any of my research on this liquid has paid off, then this should work. Using all her strength, Zyria thrusts her favorite sword, the oldest possession she had, the one item that had as much work in it as sentimental value, between the gears, stopping them completely.-

-The sword groans, almost an actual moan of pain, and Zyria winces. She has to focus, though; a sword, you can fix, to some extent. But a person, no. You can't replace a life. And this wasn't just any life; it was Caz, HER Caz. So Zyria pushes the sword in deeper, making sure that it won't budge anytime soon. Turning to Caz, she holds his face in her hands; unseen by Caz, there is a syringe in one of those hands.- "Don't worry, Caz, I'll get you out of this. Just relax. Try to stay calm." When Caz nods, ever so slightly, his eyes wide with pain and fear, Zyria jabs him with the syringe, the medicine basically forcing him to calm down, so that he doesn't make matters worse..-

-Zyria turns to Robless, whose eyes are just as wide, but with worry.- "You're going to have to help me." -She pulls out her bags, searching for something. After the third bag, Zyria finds it. To relieve the tension, for both Robless and herself, Zyria begins rambling about the item.- "This is actually something I noticed on Earth, but they use it for their vehicles. If I remember correctly, they called it a jack. It was used to lift the vehicles, to modify them. My scientists sort of....tricked it out, so it's powerful enough to pry open the mouth of our Transportation Giants. You know, those animals inspired by Earthen whales that I created, to carry goods through space? Of course you do, I created them to protect my exports from you....." -Well, that's enough chit-chat, for now.-

-Zyria finds a space between the gears that the jack can fit into, and squeezes the jack there. Pressing a button, the jack begins to expand, very slowly. And I mean very slowly. Realizing that the jack may not expand fast enough, she presses another button, and a crank comes out of it. Exerting quite a lot of energy, Zyria begins rotating the crank, using both her arms. The jack begins to speed up, even so slightly, and continues to speed up until Zyria has to stop, sweat dripping from her forehead to the ground. She turns to Robless.-

"I said I'd need your help, didn't I?"

[Eris-Tam, question: Do you want me to save the foot? Or amputate it? With their advancements, he would have a replacement easily enough after this mission. Your choice, it's your race, so you would know how it would affect him.]

"Right, I'm on it." Robless walked up to the crank and used his suit's augmented strength to move the crank even faster. The jack sped up considerably, but it still wasn't all that much. He could only hope that it was working fast enough. Caz was barely holding on, but he'd need to stay conscious at the least to keep himself from sliding all the way into the machinery. "Come on, Caz, hang in there, you aren't dead yet!"

The word dead echoed in his own head, and he feared that it would soon become reality. Robless looked at Caz with pity, and continued to crank harder, pushing more power from shields and simple non-essential systems into the strength servos in his suit's armor.

-With Robless taking the crank, Zyria is able to look at the gears, and finally sees them being forced apart. There's no way the jack will make it through this, but at least it will help with saving Caz's leg. Zyria can finally see the area that Caz's leg was crushed, and it's bad. Bad. She tries to ignore it, though, and just focus on freeing his foot.-

-With each crank turn, Zyria can see more and more of Caz's leg, until finally the whole foot is visible.- "Okay, Robless, hold it as long as you can!" -Zyria squeezes her way into the space between the gears, and finds the shoelaces. As she thought, they were stuck for good. Well, I can try to take the boot off, I suppose.-

-She reaches for Caz's ankle and, pulling out a small knife, cuts the boot, to give her room. Then, gently, oh so gently, she works his foot out. As Zyria thought, everything was broken. The foot dangles, a mesh of broken bone, muscle, and flesh, as Zyria finally frees Caz.-

The servos on Robless' armor strained to hold the jack open, the crank now moving at a stand-still as Zyria pulled Caz out. Dear God... When the boot fell to the ground and revealed a broken and twisted leg and foot, Robless cringed, even after seeing what he's seen in combat. Never was it ever this personal, though. Caz may have been newer to the team, but he was a friend to Robless.

A power warning on his suit flashed at him, and he looked over to Zyria to make sure she was OK. Holding the crank just a little bit longer, Robless reached down and picked up Zyria's sword, one of her most prized possesions. He barely pulled it out and laid it on a clear spot in the floor before the jack simply snapped shut and broke in two, his suit almost failing on him as it attempted to compensate for him. The gears began to spin again, throwing Robless off onto the ground, his suit locking up to prevent further damage.

"That's gonna leave a mark..."

Caz, finally hauled out of the gearwork, gasped and writhed in pain, his lower leg and foot completely beyond use and quickly losing blood. There's a lot of blood, actually, as the limb was almost torn apart, every bone shattered into hundreds of pieces. Caz's hands clench and unclench over and over, like he's not even there, mentally someplace far away, almost like a subconscious twitch. His eyes are open but he sees nothing, blinded by the pain, starting to lose himself in it. His breathing is fast and ragged, and blood is pooling underneath him...

-Zyria completely removes Caz's foot, and his boot thuds against the gears. Just as Zyria pulls herself out of the space between the gears, the jack snaps. Zyria barely evades the crashing gears, but that's not what she's worried about. My sword, my sword! Glancing where she left it, though, it's gone. There's a glimmer behind her, and she realizes Robless had pulled it out. About to thank him, Zyria realizes he was thrown to the ground by the crank. Noting that there wasn't permanent damage, Zyria focuses on Caz.-

-Caz is.....destroyed. He seems to be blinded by the pain, so Zyria tries to comfort him by talking to him while she's working.- "Caz? Caz, you're not caught in the gears anymore. You're leg's pretty....banged up...but I'll fix it, don't worry, I'll fix it." -Eventually, Zyria becomes distracted with trying to save his leg, and "I'll fix it" becomes a croon.-

-It's bad. BAD. Zyria stares at it helplessly. I-I can't fix it. It's ruined, his foot and his calf, beyond repair. I'll....I'll have to amputate...There's no other way. All of Zyria's medical research tells her she has no choice, and Zyria wants to deny it, but can't. It...has to be done. Oh, Caz, please forgive me.-

-Zyria turns to Robless, her jaw set, her mind decided.- "Robless, tie Caz's arms and uninjured leg down. To anything, I don't care what, just make sure he can't move them. I have absolutely no morphine, so this is not going to be fun." -Zyria kneels down to Caz as Robless ties Caz up.- "I'm so sorry, Caz. There's no other choice, either I do this, or you die. And I won't have the latter."

-Once Caz is tied up, Zyria goes over and picks up her sword. Looking at the blue liquid with hope, she returns to Caz, and sterilizes her sword. As Zyria raises the sword high above her head, she starts to doubt herself, her decisions. This goes against so many surgical rules. At least, if I use this sword, it should only take one swing. I can't hesitate, this has to be done NOW. With one last breath, Zyria brings the sword, now glowing bright blue, down onto Caz's leg.-

Caz screamed. It was gutwrenching and heartrending, full of pain and terror and utter confusion. Something had happened, his leg... it was gone, and in its place there was only pain, pain, pain for what seemed to stretch for hours. He couldn't control what he was doing, couldn't feel anything at all except for the searing, unending pain.

He struggled against the restraints, struggled hard, but to no avail. Robless had tied him well. Caz's face looked distraught, lost, ready to just give up and let go, ready to end his pain. He would have if he could have, right in that moment. If it had been his choice, that would've been it.

He couldn't think, couldn't even pull the one face that might have brought him strength to mind, he could only scream and wish that he was gone, wish that he'd never been. It was too much... Caz couldn't keep himself together. The pain was so bad that he couldn't even stop his own screams so as to not hurt the one he loved. Not even that.

-The screams.-

-The screams.-

-The screams.-

-Zyria had done, it, cut her only love's leg off. With a sword, and no morphine. She was crying even before she began stitching the stump that was left of his leg up. When she finishes stitching, she should've felt better. The rest of the leg would heal in minutes. But the memory of the pain, and the fact that Caz's leg was cut off caused him to continue screaming.-

-Zyria couldn't handle it. He wanted to die. She could see that. And she had caused that. With her tear-streaked face, she falls to her knees next to him, holding his face between her two hands, still red with his blood.-

"Oh, Caz, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. That was terrible, and it's my fault. I've caused this pain, and I can't fix it. You have to stay with me though. You can't give in to the pain. It'll pass with time, you just have to stay with me now."

-Zyria presses her face to his chest, longing for her Caz, hating herself for having caused the pain in his screams, not caring that the others had finally noticed them and were slowly making their way back. All she cared about was him, this one creature laying in front of her, this man that had cared for her, survived for her, sacrificed for her.-

And now I'm the one hurting him.

Caz's screams and moans finally, finally start to slow, losing their strength as Caz loses his. His head finally rests against the floor again and though his face still betrays the pain, his remaining limbs also start to relax, his struggles losing speed. His breathing is not even, though his eyes are closed, and it is hard to tell whether he is still conscious.

Inside, Caz was falling. It hadn't become any less painful, he'd just become less strong. The blood flow had been stemmed, but there was still blood everywhere and Caz could barely recognize or remember where he was or what had happened. He feels someone there, though, hands on his face, head on his chest. After a short moment of confusion, Caz realized that it was Zyria. If he had been strong enough and if his hands had not been tied down he would have put his arms around her, but it was a miracle he could tell his was tied down let alone able to move. So he just laid there, under the crushing, immense pain and the weariness that had come, not knowing what was going on or if he would even survive.

He did know, however, that the woman who was with him was the only person who mattered. She was the only one that he was there for, his only purpose. Caz knew, somewhere deep in his heart, that they couldn't be separated, no matter what.

-It doesn't get better.-

-Eventually, Caz stops struggling. But Zyria can feel that he's still in pain, by his ragged breath, and his racing heart. Caz, what have I done to you? Zyria continues crying, not knowing how to make this any less painful for Caz. Then she remembers his tied up arms and leg. Without really sitting up, Zyria reaches for the restraints, and slowly undoes them. When that's done, Zyria merely lays there, not wanting to leave him, even for a moment. So, instead, she talks to him, hoping that eventually, a word or two might get through, and help Caz resurface.-

"I'm sorry, I truly am. I had to do something to save your life, and that's all I could think to do. You're so much better than I am under pressure, you would've figured out a better way. I've saved you, physically, but now you have to save yourself. I don't know any other way to help you, other than staying here, talking like this. Whenever you're in trouble, I just....can't...seem to work as smoothly, I usually make it worse than I have to. But...at least you're alive, and for that, I'm thankful, so very thankful. I love you, Caz, so much, and I don't want to lose you a second before I have to."

Caz hears her words and some of them manage to penetrate the layers and layers of hurt and pain. "Sorry... better... pressure... staying... I love you..." These words do reach him. He felt her undo the restraints on his arms and leg, and he weakly, ever so slowly drug his hand up to place it on her back as she laid on the floor next to him, both of them covered in his blood. It was as close as he could get to holding her, and that was all he wanted to do.

He could feel his implant automatically kicking in and sealing off the knub that was now his leg, the flesh reforming over the open wound. It didn't take much of his strength--flesh was relatively simple to create for someone as practiced at it as Caz.

He could not properly formulate a response to Zyria, but if he could have it would have gone something like this.

'It's not your fault, Zyria. It was an accident, there was nothing you could have done. You did save my life, which was more than I could do for myself. You would stay with me forever, and I swear that so will I. I won't go to the Alteriian homeworld. I won't. Not if it means leaving you. I don't want to find my Neiede, I just want to keep you. Forever. I'm never going to leave your side, Zyria, I swear. I love you. With everything I am, with everything I have been, and with everything I will ever be. I love you.'

Even though Caz couldn't say these things, all of the things he desperately wanted to say, he could open his eyes. Things were blurry and out of focus, but maybe he would be able to communicate his message that way instead. Maybe she'd be able to see in all in his eyes, and maybe he would be a little less alone...

((Zyria's gotta go for the night, and I'm getting off now too. Goodnight everyone! People can respond to what happened.))

<OOF>

<Caz wears sneakers... WITH SHOE LACES!? Holy cow... haha... yeah... Also... um... this is the doctor part of me coming out here... Even with all the pain that would obviously come from losing an appendage, especially a leg below the knee,
Caz wouldn't be in THAT much pain... it wouldn't cause him to lose his grip of reality or anything...

Perhaps combined with the blood loss and other recent tramas... (sigh) Oh well.

It was interesting to read anyway.>

<IC>

Archelaus smiled slightly, as the sight of one of the Kot'chey. He had not seen one in such good condition in many years. It was slightly refreshing that even in the searing heat and cold of a place such as Mars, there was simple goodness.
That is what the Kot'chey were... simple goodness, despite their vast complexity.

Despite his rather limited knowledge of the Kot'chey, Archealus frowned. Normally one of these machines would never be seen without a master to serve or some kind of duty to fulfill... He wondered what had happen to this curious little machine...

But, unlike Zyria's, his curiosity for such things rarely motivated him to seek the answers. The questions themselves were good enough.

So instead, Archelaus split off from the rest of the group, seeking time to himself amidst the virtually silent machinations around him... naturally however, such a place was not designed for an Alteriia, and the ceiling was usually too low for him to pick whichever direction he wanted to safely...

Archelaus, after a few minutes, simply sank to the floor in weary anxiety.
He was not fond of waiting, while Aurora faced a terrible evil, alone.
He wanted to leave. Tonight. Now. Too many had died, had been hurt, by waiting.

But The High Druid knew that the others needed rest, even if he himself was used to staying awake for 70 or 80 cycles (hours) in a row. Vertrus was a rather large planet, and it had no night or day, just the ebbs and flows of the fire rivers. High tide at 0 cycles, low at 76. That constituted a "day" for the Alteriians. Many simply slept when they wanted too, and did not worry about the tides of the fires.

Archelaus sighed.
And then he heard the screams...

[Okay, so I typed this huge thing out. But then I accidentally, hit Backspace......yeah.]

[Archelaus: I was sorta thinking that the pain was from being crushed between two large gears. Plus, that added to the pain from having his leg cut off with a sword and no morphine...thus the trauma you mentioned. That was at least my idea on it....]

-Zyria lays there. Doesn't move. Doesn't care when she hears the others finally reach them. The only thing she cares about is seeing Caz awake. And at some point, hours or minutes later, she notices a hand, dragging itself up to lay on her back.-

-As though not wanting to scare it away, Zyria slowly pushes herself up to a position where she can clearly see Caz's face, and he hers [Except, his vision's blurry].-

-And his eyes are open.-

-Zyria stays there, her eyes locked on his. The glossiness of them tells her his eyes are too blurry for him to see [Just roll with it.], but she doesn't care, she just wants to be the first thing he sees when he returns from his murky pain.-

"I'm here, Caz, I'm here."

-His eyes focus. Not enough to make his vision less blurry, but enough that it shows he recognizes her, and that gives her strength. He's going to make it. Not in one piece, but he's going to make it.-

-Those eyes. The eyes that burned with determination when he would save her, all those times. The eyes that softened, whenever they had a moment alone, and would just enjoy the other's company. The eyes that would at one point leave her, to burn and soften for another....But this isn't the moment to think like that.-

-Zyria looks into those eyes, love and apologies filling hers to the brim. And as Caz slowly and surely awakens, she sees the love reflected in his, the understanding for her actions.-

-The forgiveness.-

[Yeah, so, obviously everyone can put their POV on this. That's sorta what I was going for... And Eris-Tam is going to be busy in an area with no wifi, so she won't be posting much, only what she sends through texts, which I'll post, or, if I'm on my phone, will post to fb. <- Thanks to whoever is able to copy over the stuff I'll post to fb.]

Caz blinks slowly, clearing some of the haze and blur away, bringing things into slight clarity. And it was Zyria's face that he saw. And then, even more slowly, some of his strength returned, through whatever strange and unknown process that restores a Kazesqui's energy with time, the energy that seems to come from nowhere, the true, physical feat of the Kazesqui. Energy cannot simply appear or simply disappear, the Law of Conservation of Energy. But the Kazesqui seemed to live in complete defiance of the Law, their energy seeming to come from the universe itself.

In Caz's great moment of want and need, the universe had decided to be there for him. Slowly, energy seeped back into him. Not enough to, for instance, regrow a leg, but enough to allow him to move, and to finally speak.

((This next paragraph is extra, but it goes into the details of how their body control works, and the reason for why Caz was unable to move, speak, etc. This should clear some things up, Archie.))

When a Kazesqui converts its energy into mass via controllable implant that physically does so using their own energy, it uses part of that Kazesqui to create the body. If the Kazesqui does not have enough energy, the body can still be created, but the Kazesqui will not be able to control said body because they are so reduced in strength that they cannot extend full control over it. Creating a body uses a lot of their energy. The solution to that is normally that the remaining life-force of the Kazesqui just sits in the central nervous system for control, but in this situation Caz doesn't have enough energy to even control that.

((Now back to the plot...))

Caz's mouth moves, finally forming words that Zyria can hear and can understand. "Z... Zyria... I love you too. A--And I'm... I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going... to the Alteriian homeworld. I won't leave you. I refuse. I... I don't want to find my... Neiede. I just want to be with you." The pain is still great, but it's something Caz can ignore, can keep in check. He slowly moves his other hand to the floor and then uses it to start to prop himself up, slowly, painstakingly. But he manages it. After a long moment he is fully sitting, and then his arms are around her, holding her close to him, his cheek against her hair and never wanting to let go.