The Abysmal Passage

[Corvid]

Two parallel hallways run along the center of the ship, sharing a series of recreational rooms in between them, each with an entrance opening to both hallways- three private quarters, a small storage space for personal belongings, and a slightly longer room that served as the 'common area' for the ship's occupants- and branching off into the ship's larger cargo holds on the far end of either side of the ship, used as long term storage for certain spare parts for the ship, other miscellaneous items, and whatever business articles Graphene found himself transporting at the moment.

His most visited room in the ship is a long room that runs along the back end of the ship, flush to the ship's thrusters: the engine room. Filled with a husk of parts- some Cybertronian, others a hodgepodge of innumerable, unidentifiable technologies borrowed from other races- that come together in one great big cluster of an engine.

The cockpit to the ship was lifted above the engine room, at the very back of the ship in front of it's four large thrusters. Here, the controls for the ship allowed a meager staff of one to steer the Abysmal Passage and operate its numerous systems. A meager collection of Graphene's personal articles can also be found here; a few data pads, and a data terminal with the downloaded contents of the old ship registry of his home city. Hidden in one of the walls is also a recharge area that he sometimes uses when working.

[Corvid]

"Hey, Swift, come help me clean this up."

Graphene, a well built Cybertronian of average height had just walked into the personal quarters of one of his crew members with a bucket of wet rags in one hand, and a buffer in the other. On the floor in the middle of the room was a bad scorch mark, skinny, and about arm length in size. Swiftcut was behind him.

"Spontaneous combustion, or something," he explained. "Correlator was playing with his fake arms again."

The distant, unmistakable voice of Correlator shot out from another room. As though he'd been eavesdropping, waiting for this precise moment to correct Graphene's misidentification of the project: "They're artificial appendages!"

"They're a mistake is what they are!" Graphene fired back, "and a messy one, at that." He turned, his shiny grey and goldenrod finish catching the light. "Chemists." Shaking his head in annoyance, he outstretched an arm to offer Swiftcut the bucket of rags.

[Cybiscus]

With light steps, the Aulveni came to Graphene's aid once he asked for it. Her optics dart around the room she entered, quietly listening to the brief argument between the two mechs. Her movements are a little stiff, not quite used to being aboard the ship just yet. She has had a few words between some individuals here and there, but the thought of being different from everyone else held her back. Swiftcut's mannerisms barely compared to that of a Cybertronian's. She had to remember that this was only temporary.

Taking the bucket's handle into her hand, she walks further into the room towards the mark, getting a closer look at it before flicking one of the rags from the bucket, going straight into trying to scrub whatever residue from the floor. "You'd think that Correlator should be the one cleaning up after himself- it makes sense," she quickly adds in, her polite, but timid quirk is seeping out as usual, "not that I mind helping around here."

[Corvid]

Her response brought Graphene a smile. "You'd think, but," he said with a shrug. He was very nonchalant about the whole ordeal, even despite his apparent annoyance. It would have been obvious to Swift that his criticism of Correlator's activities was more friendly banter between the two than an actual problem. "Besides. I'm in the business of handling problems, and the only problems around here are messes around the ship."

Soon, he joined her on the floor with a rag of his own, scrubbing away at scorch marks that didn't seem to have left any real harm. For a while he was satisfied to work in silence alongside her, but eventually he felt the need to address something. It was something that had been on his mind for a while. Perhaps too long. This discussion was long overdue.

"Sorry," he began the conversation simply. "I know you want to look for... but we just can't leave the system. Not yet. The Astrobots-" Until now, the bot was an easy one to read. He wore his emotions on his sleeve, whether he communicated them or not. But when the Astrobots came up, his voice changed. There was uncertainty. Anger, but also concern. It was hard to discern which took the forefront in his mind, as evidenced by how long it had taken for him to approach the subject. "We just can't leave yet. I hope you understand"

[Cybiscus]

“At least you have an abundance of messes,” she motions to the marks with her rag, one of her antennas flicking with amusement. It was true that Graphene and Correlator jest a lot, and there were times that Swiftcut would have to receive reassurance that it was just that. The social barriers were to blame for that, too. And whatever she had done in the past, which she does remember most of- though she’d rather not, has made her more of a jumpy creature.

Being around Graphene, it has staved off the jumpiness only a little. His generosity made it so that she was more comfortable staying around the ship. She does her part around the Passage though, as it would be rude of her to get free trips around the universe while being a freeloader. She has too much pride for that.

Her antennas twitch once more as he speaks again. As his sentences draw out, she was scrubbing the floor slower than she was before. She was listening intently, her face wielding a faint frown just from the tone of his voice. Her eyes never leave the floor while he speaks- just listening. She takes in a deep inhale before sighing softly. As much as she wants to find what she is seeking, she understands Graphene’s concern for the Astrobots. She knows of their relationship, at least she believed that it was a mutual friendship.

“I don’t mind waiting however long. Besides, it’s not like the place is going anywhere.” Swiftcut finally looks up at Graphene, tightening her grip on the rag a little as a simple crutch to make eye contact, “If there’s anything else I could do to help at all, I’m technically not in a hurry to go anywhere. I owe you that much at least,” She then gives him a gentle smile, hoping that the gesture could reassure him somewhat, along with the light bounce of her expressive antennas.

[Corvid]

"Thank you," he practically had to choke the words out. Even now, they felt a little unnatural passing through his lips, and as hard as it was to tear his gaze away from Swiftcut, the heat of embarrassment that rose up in him made him want to plant his gaze anywhere else. Despite that, he was determined not to take Swiftcut's aid for granted. When she offered to do more to help, the wheels in his head began turning as he finally willed his sight to fall on something else. His own scrubbing efforts paused, most of the scorched mess clean thanks to their shared labor. Standing, a casual toss of the rag nearly missed, leaving the cloth to drape lazily over the edge of the bucket. He began leaving the room, leaving the buffer behind.

"Then I'll leave the finishing touches to you. I've got work in the engine room," he said in departing. A sudden thought stopped him just short of turning the hallway, and he glanced back at Swiftcut quickly. "Join me there when you're done." And with that, he'd gone.

[Cybiscus]

The smile quickly vanishes from her face, leaving behind confusion as the Aulveni kept her gaze on the mech before her. Maybe she said or did something wrong? Perhaps her body language didn’t match with what she was saying that could’ve made him respond in such a strange way? Swiftcut’s antenna flicks once as if it was to reassure herself that it couldn’t be the case. The kind of tone used could’ve been foreign to Graphene- it’s a possibility. She notes yet another mental note to stop second-guessing. One thing’s for sure though, staring isn’t polite. She looks back to the scorch marks, focusing on them as she practically pushes the damp cloth against it, hastily scrubbing away at it- almost comically. It almost made her jump just from Graphene’s movement; she was distracted.

Swiftcut didn’t question him at all when he gave her the job to finish clean up, because honestly, it was a one-person job, she couldn’t complain. She gave the mech a side glance as he exits the room, raising a brow. It wasn’t common for her to have any business inside of the engine room. Could she be receiving a task that was important? It was the first thing that came to mind, especially the conversation that just happened.

With a soft hum, she finishes rubbing the remaining residue from the floor, placing the rag straight into the bucket. She looks at the draping rag for a second before using a finger to move it into the bucket along with the other one, her antennas flicking. Without a moment longer, she grabs the buffer next to her, rotating her hand around to examine it before finding the switch. After turning it on, she carefully presses it to the remaining scratches on the floor, taking care to keep the tool parallel. Slowly maneuvering counter-clockwise, the Aulveni listens to the only sound in the room- the soft, whirling buzz of the buffer. The sound was somewhat overbearing, the antennas slowly dipping back to show a sign of slight disgust. It wasn’t long before it began to ring through her head, and for her heart to gradually pump faster. That tingling sensation going up her left arm was there again. Swiftcut narrows her eyes just a bit to keep her focus on the marks, working a bit faster until the spot was pristine- well almost.

The Aulveni immediately switches the buffer off once the cleaning finished. She gathers all the supplies in her hands before standing up, being mindful of the filled bucket as she turns to hastily walk out of the room, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind her. Her gaze flickers around her, letting the bit of haze leave her vision. She stands there for a moment, taking slow, deep breaths to clear her mind. She closes her eyes to make one last, deep breath, before exhaling. All is well.

Swiftcut turns to walk down the hall towards the engine room, taking a bit of her time to gradually walk with her usual, straight posture, looking forward attentively. She takes another gander at the sleek hallway, which was taken care of quite well. If any stranger were to step on the ship and take the time to look at it, they could probably tell that there was a lot of love put into it. Even though she’s seen parts of the ship- a lot more specific areas than others, Swiftcut was still amazed by it. Definitely a lot different than the vehicles she has seen back home. Her heart skips a beat then, stopping in her tracks briefly. She had almost walked past the doorway to the engine room. Quickly adjusting herself, she stood just outside the open door, using the knuckles of the hand that was carrying the buffer to knock on the frame. “Hello?”

[Corvid]

It was the heart of the Abysmal Passage- and of Graphene, too: the engine room. Beyond the door frame the mess that were the ship's engines could be glimpsed; not wholly seen, no: the engines themselves were larger than this room alone, even given its size- filling almost the entire back end of the ship- and expanded past the room's boundaries into the rear turbines. From inside the room, however, what could be seen of them was all the more amazing than almost all the rest of the ship.

"Come in," Graphene answered, voice distant. When the Aulveni stepped to, she could see it- or them; it was hard to tell if it was closer to being one, massive unit, or a machine constructed of numerous smaller ones. Some systems had physical gauges measuring temperature, pressure, and other variables less obvious to the untrained eye. Others had more sophisticated systems, using blue, white, and yellow holo displays with schematics of the machine's components- some dotted with the occasional red or yellow warning, alerting to parts that would soon be in need of repair, replacement, or another form of maintenance. It was such a dazzling, dizzying display that one could almost find themselves getting lost in it- as Graphene had found himself doing on many occasions, clearly; several work tables were dirtier than the rest of the machinery in the room, littered with parts strewn about in a chaotic pile. Each had its own unique order to it, in spite of how others might see nothing but disorder in the random assortment of parts. Either way, it was no question that the mechanic spent much of his time here.

As Swiftcut went deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole, she'd find herself ogling more machinery of similar types. No two systems were identical, though many shared similar traits. And even to the foreign eyes of an Aulveni, it wouldn't take long to figure that not everything was Cybertronian. If the style of systems' designs weren't enough to tell her as much, the few holo displays sporting scrolling text in an array of different, non-Cybertronian languages was a dead giveaway. Why these were different from the rest wasn't immediately obvious, though. If one wanted to figure out why, they would have to do some digging.

Finally, not too far off from the entrance, Graphene could be seen emerging from somewhere on another level of the engines to greet Swift. He was the same as when he'd left her a short while back, but now held a greasy engine part. Maybe it was out of order somehow, and he was taking care of it.

"So." he said without taking his eye off of the part, tinkering and picking at it with his fingers. "Take a look around." So far she hadn't been to the engine room. Passed by on occasion, always to find the doors open and welcoming, but never entering. Swiftcut seemed like the kind of person who respected people's personal space, and Graphene could appreciate her for that. Admittedly, the time he spent in here he preferred to be spent alone, free of distraction and able to find peace surrounded by the heat and the noise of his work. It was almost a euphoric experience to him, the simple bot he was; he liked his work. It made him content. Before now he hadn't mentioned any of it to her, so the nature of his work on this part of the ship would have been an enigma to her. For him to invite her in was new.

[Cybiscus]

Swiftcut’s eyes wander the room, bright and mystified from all of the different objects from within. A lot of them she hardly recognized, but just the size alone was enough to catch her attention. With careful steps, she ventures further in to look at everything. She was so entranced she forgot about the items she had in her hands. Most of the things to her were foreign to her- she was never the type to mess around with technology, or anything of the sort. To be honest, the Aulveni was practically raised to be a fighter on her homeworld. She had knowledge on how to use weapons- well, weapons from her homeworld.

“So, is this where you hang out most of the time? Don’t you ever get claustrophobic?” The Aulveni asks this after she notices just how much stuff was in here. It was a miracle she hasn’t broken anything yet. She also eyes the materials in her hands and lightly swerves her head around to try and see if she could set them down anywhere. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem that she’s had any luck yet. By now, Swiftcut just stands in place, her lips pulling into a straight line to show a slightly disgruntled expression. The bucket was still a bit full of fluid, and she didn’t want to risk spilling it on anything. It could very well break something, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.

[Corvid]

There was some hesitation, his mind racing, fighting off thoughts to step in and begin ushering Swift out of the room after thinking better of letting her into this place. It didn't show, however, as the hesitation lasted but a fleeting moment.

"Yeah. No," he answered her very simply. Yes, this was where he spent most of his time. No, he didn't get claustrophobic.

Almost on automatic pilot the mech takes the bucket from Swift's hands, setting it down on the floor and kicking it into a gap in the machinery where it fit near perfectly, water splashing up and over the sides to only dampen the floor somewhat. He didn't seem to mind, and sure enough the moisture was already being sucked away by the heat no sooner had it fallen to the floor. Confidence could be seen in his every movement as he guided his way by feeling more than by sight, unlike the bewildered Aulveni warrior who was trying to soak the experience in whole with her roaming eyes. Navigating this place was like second nature for him. A hand reached over to a holo display to enlarge it for him, checking some gauges that seemed slightly off which he looked back from every now and then very casually to catch Swift, keeping tabs on her while he continued to work in case he might spot something in her behavior to recall the doubt he'd had before in allowing her in here. The fact she hadn't rushed around touching everything she could instilled some confidence in him for her.

"From the way you're looking at everything, I'd almost be tempted to say Aulvenia has no technology of its own," he broke the brief silence that'd fallen after her questions. "Never been in a ship before, or are Aulveni ships different from this?"

[Cybiscus]

One of her antennas flicks from hearing the question, blinking a couple of times as she stares past one of the objects she was looking at. She can’t help but get a knot in her gut- mostly from being in the room entirely. It didn’t contribute to alleviating it when Graphene took the bucket from her and stored it somewhere so carelessly. Seeing that sort of action, along with the cluttered engine room, she began to suspect that the mech might have some hoarding problem. This opinion only adds to the conscious desire to remain careful. She thinks about the question more, her antennas drooping slowly in the process. With a gentle hand, the Aulveni places the buffer down on a small pile of trinkets closest to her.

“Well- if I remember right, a long time ago, Aulvenia did have some record of having the technology. There are even some remnants of it. I think that some ship or vehicles were made- but I’ve only heard about them in forms of stories from my band.” One of her fingers start to tap on a random surface subconsciously, building up the next sentence in her head, “Back before I ever came to existence, my people shifted away from exploring technology relating to personal tools. We wanted to focus on weaponry to fight against our- problem.” Swiftcut has never brought up details about her homeworld before. She did not want to think about it much, or where her band could be now. Even now she’s shameful of pushing the thoughts of the band away. They were practically family to her and not knowing their current state only brought her more stress.

[Corvid]

Every twitch and flick of her antennas got a crinkle of his nose. Almost in automatic response, like seeing the twitching made him itch. He managed to mostly keep it hidden from her by burying his nose in a holo display, not wanting to offend.

The slightly more sullen turn in Swiftcut's voice struck a cord in Graphene; she sounded like he did whenever he spoke about Terracost. He made mental note to handle Aulveni subject matter with more delicacy in the future.

"Must be quite the problem," he sympathized. Then, a small grin betrayed his idea to brighten her mood a bit. "I did say I was in the business of handling problems, didn't I? Ahah. Talking about something big enough to steer an entire race away from technological advancement, it would sound pretty pretentious of me to offer my help solving it, wouldn't it?" And finally, with a more serious tone: "So, what happened?"

[Cybiscus]

Even with Graphene’s attempt at making the mood less negative, it was mostly in vain. The question after that only cause the Aulveni to tense up. She kept her spot near the piles of parts and trinkets, staring down at a small, bare spot of a surface, assuming to be a table, facing away from the mech and from whatever body language he might have on now. The spot looked so cramped- the same feeling of tension one would get when facing a dangerous enemy. It was the same feeling that Swiftcut would get back on her homeworld. The knot in her stomach grew some more.

“From what my band learned, the High Command- the ones who make decisions for our kind- they wanted to make us all stronger, they wanted to make some concoction that would make our lifespan last for many moons. They came close-.” Her finger starts tapping on the surface more frequently, and more apparent. “They managed to create successful Syrems that made sufficient fighters- for whenever enemies came we wouldn’t be so delicate to take them down. But, the High Command only desired more strength, so much that it drove them to achieve it- only for it to go wrong.”

Swiftcut’s brows furrow slowly, remembering the gruesome, revolting forms that the “perfected” Syrem had created. All the innocent Aulveni that were tested on, they have lost all cognitive reasoning, only the primal desire to survive. “The Syrem- it turned many Aulveni into things- I really can’t describe. But they were no longer who they once were. Their only desire was to…” Swiftcut winced at the thought, “-eat other Aulveni. The High Command turned to their perfected soldiers to remedy the problem. The Aulveni that were infected- whatever they had in their system, it wasn’t infectious. But somehow, they were multiplying; we never discovered how- not that we wanted to.” A quick, quivering exhale escapes from her lips. “The soldiers required so many resources to function, and the High Command provided- but they completely forgot the rest of the Aulveni. They wanted to clear their mistakes so much that they were willing to let the rest of them die out from hunger- only for the strong to live on-…my band didn’t want that to happen. We thought that if we could destroy the High Command- things would get better, and we as Aulveni can get rid of the ones who were infected…. My band tried- but we didn’t succeed. After that- all I can remember is getting exiled from Aulvenia. I just hope that the rest of my band are safe- or even that maybe our actions left some difference. I wish I knew what was going on now…” Swiftcut’s voice trailed off, unaware of the smallest drops forming at the corners of her eyes.

This sort of behavior was something the Aulveni wasn't expecting to show, or ever had to deal with. It was obvious that she was so passionate about her homeworld, just as if she were back there igniting the spark of Aulveni who had fallen as victims to their dwindled resources. Just saying all of this out now, it was so hard to believe- yet it happened. She felt so many different emotions brewing up inside of her. Anger, because of how irresponsible the ones in control were, and sadness because of the sudden departure from the band she had so many positive memories and relationships with. The band was practically the only family she could ever go back home to now.

[Corvid]

Well, this didn't go the way he'd expected it to. A hand rubbed his chin, not thoughtfully, but nervously as she began, already appearing somehow more uncomfortable than she was before. He shifted his weight from side to side, leaning on each leg for only a little while before moving on to the next; then his hand moved from his chin, up to his mouth, to anxiously rub his cheeks- one before the other- and finally settle on covering his mouth as he started to turn before returning to facing Swiftcut, thinking it would only make the awkward situation worse. Body language that was a full display of every nervous tick Graphene had when he felt awkward. But he stood and listened; it was all he could do. Her story sounded intriguing, and if he weren't caving in on himself he might have even come up with some questions about some of the things she mentioned. Aulvenia had a High Command? Syrem, was it an actual serum? or some other form of technology? Did Swiftcut have any theories about how these 'infected' Aulveni were reproducing? -yet none of these crossed his mind, even for a second. Right now, aside from giving her what little respect he could by listening intently to the answer for his misguided-yet-well-intended question, her increasingly distraught demeanor was all that his attention could grasp onto. When she finished speaking and he hummed a single ‘mmm’ to signify he understood- as far as it was possible to understand- what she’d said, the silence that threatened to resume caused Graphene to panic. Before she could turn back, his head darted back and forth in a frenzy to find some means of a solution.

“Uhm- uhm-”  Panic couldn’t be more clearly evident than this. "W-well, you see this-" his hands fumbled over themselves half as bad as his voice, controls being triggered to bring a map of the entire solar system they were in. From Leva III to Iuclite and its moon, to the asteroid belt that nearly half of the system's Cybertronians called home, she could see it all. Graphene got around. It seemed like he'd accumulated a map of nearly the entire system, short of a few cloudy spots to the map that had yet to be filled. "You can't tell from a glance, but some of what you're seeing is even in real time. The ship's Cybertronian navicomp is fed information from a Coalescent Lens I got from the Theta System, which through a series of relays- er, mostly Coalescent Lenses on other ships, tapped into the satellites of whatever local planet the ships are from- can share live footage of planets throughout the system. And- and-" He double-checked the console, seeming in a hurry to explain. "It looks like most of the other Coalescent Lenses in this system are at Leva III, so that's where we're getting the most live feed. Heh, you know, t-that actually makes sense," he was stuttering still, and talking a bit fast. "Since this system doesn't have many ships from the Theta System, and those that are I'd assume belong to neutrals like us. Leva III is a popular spot for those types of people." He chuckled a bit, nervously smiling at Swiftcut while rubbing the back of his neck. “That’s pretty- p-pretty interesting, right?”

[Cybiscus]

The Aulveni’s antennas flinch briefly, catching the tone of Graphene’s voice before she shifts her weight to turn and glance over towards him. From a distance, the few dew drops of tears can be seen forming from the corners of her eyes might not be noticeable- but they were there. Mostly conjured up from stress. With a couple of blinks of her eyes, those drops fall down her cheeks, causing her to jolt a little and quickly turns her head away to wipe them away. The antenna that faced in his direction was focusing on the garbled voice. “Huh-? Sorry.” She says lightly, clearing her throat to get it back in order. How embarrassing, she really shouldn’t have lost her cool in that moment. She probably shared too much information that wasn’t necessary, and evidently made things awkward. If anything, the tone in Graphene’s voice said it all pretty much. Again, embarrassing.

Just as she turned her head away, it was back to look at the mech once more, wearing a confused expression as she listens to him go on. Her attention flickers towards the map as soon as it came up, as she was trying to catch up with the information coming all at once. The sort of technology that appeared was foreign to her- though it looks amazing. Honestly, it would’ve done wonders for her band if they had something like this. She quickly pushes the thought back with a single blink, forbidding herself from thinking about anything relating to homeworld again. She made herself look like a fool enough.

Swiftcut listens intently, slowly straightening up her posture, meanwhile leaving one of her hands resting on a table for a little bit of leverage, not wanting to show any rudeness unintentionally while the mech spouts information about the map out. Once his gaze was back on her again, she shifts around a bit, clearly flustered, “I- well-” a quick throat clearing once more, “-yes, it is interesting. I bet it’s useful to see when unknown ships are coming in your direction, huh?”