You step over a stray limb absentmindedly, your focus on the information coming in from your less biological senses. The Grineer had arrived first, but if they'd found what they, and now you, were looking for, it wasn't at their camp. On the other hand, that there was (had been) a camp here suggested they hadn't found it yet.
You stop in the dust and look around with your more human eyes. Worst case scenario, they'd been wrong - the artifact didn't exist, or wasn't here, and both you and the recently deceased had wasted your time. And if it was here, just not exactly here, well...
You look up. Seven kilometers of rusted stone nearly gives you vertigo. Look left, and the alley continues in perpetuity. Look right, and you see the exact same thing. Turn around and, well. You can see the other cliff-top, but that's because it's tall, not because it's close. It's nearly two hundred thousand meters away.
Yeah, nobody was going to try and go over the Marineris with a fine-toothed comb. Hope instead that the Grineer's information had been right, and that you could use it better than them. You turn back to your scanners. It doesn't seem like there's anything beneath the sands other than rock and ruined mining equipment. Maybe if you jumped into one of the pits you'd get something more-
Wait, was that a ping? From... inside the cliff?
You turn back to the sheer wall and inch closer. Something's there. Just barely within detectable range. And here you are, having destroyed the Grineer mining equipment. Oops. Still, it was the only thing worth investigating around here. Maybe there's another way in?
Time to find out.
-X-0-
Well, on the upside, it turns out there is a way in.
Unfortunately you can't fit. You stare down the narrow, sandy tunnel in frustration. Your sonar is telling you that the path is unobstructed, but that doesn't help you if you can't even get in the entrance.
You relax your arms so you're dangling loosely from the tunnel mouth. You're a few dozen meters up the cliff and left of where the Grineer had been digging, which explains why they hadn't found it before you showed up.
You could try to dig out the tunnel by hand, but given how long it was, that would be tedious beyond belief. And possibly collapse it, which'd mean coming back with proper mining equipment and hoping the Grineer didn't get it in the meantime. Not digging also meant leaving and coming back with a frame that could fit, so either way it was a gamble.
Or... you could leave the frame behind. It's not a comfortable idea, but it is the only option you can think of that'd let you get what you're here for now. You hoist yourself back up and stare down the tunnel again.
Ah, what the hell.
You don't close your eyes - you can't. You just... stop paying attention to them. Focus on the feel of the rock beneath your clawed fingers, try and imagine what it would feel like through thin gloves on much softer hands. You're already here, after all, along for the ride, now just...
step...
...outside.
The first thing you notice is the cold - by the void it's colder than you'd expected.
The next thing you notice - or are forced to notice - is the heavy weight of your warframe bumping into your back, forcing your masked face to eat some Martian stone in the brief moment before gravity takes hold and pulls it off the wall and down to the sands below. You manage to keep your grip, and you hear the soft thump of impossibly tough flesh hitting dirt. You sigh. Not your cleanest transfer, but it's not like anybody's around to give you grief about it.
And then you notice that your arms are burning (metaphorically) and you're forced to scrabble your feet for purchase on the cliff below you and hoist yourself up with muscles that really aren't used to this, or join your warframe a few stories down. You manage, eventually, and lie flat on your back just inside the tunnel, gasping.
It's definitely different, being on Mars in the flesh. The shadows are darker, the wind cutting, and the rocks now threaten scrapes and injury instead of just footholds.
Blink. Breathe. Do all the things you're not accustomed to doing. When you're ready, you'll go down the tunnel.
You stare at the stone above you for a while. You think you're ready, and roll onto your stomach. The tunnel's too small, even now, for you to crouch your way through. But you were trained to crawl under barriers, even if you tended to slide. So you get up on your elbows and you crawl.
"Ow!" you cry, flinching downwards and rubbing your scalp reflexively. Okay maybe you're out of practice. Keep your head a bit lower this time.
It takes a while and more than a few mild contusions before you reach the end of the tunnel. You solved the issue of the darkness by calling up some-
[ ] What Is the Colour of your Void Energy?
- void energy, so at least you can actually see. It's much warmer here, deep in the rock, and it'd be almost pleasant if your neck wasn't sore from staring ahead. And if it wasn't patently clear that you'd just wasted your time.
The ping on your sensors had been an automated prospecting drill. You have no idea why it wasn't retrieved, or why there weren't others nearby - was it for telemetry? Part of the current expedition? Or was it much older, part of some swarm that simply drifted away from the rest of its batch and found nothing of value?
"Fuck- damnit!" you shout, before wincing as the acoustics of the cave bounce your curse straight into your ears. Well this was great. Now time to crawl out of this tunnel, and then climb the cliffs back up to where Ordis had dropped you off. You try and turn around and... wonderful. You'll be headed out backwards and blind.
What a fantastic day.
-X-0-
You're a lot slower getting out than getting in - and you know entirely too many people who'd make a joke about that - but eventually you feel the wind whipping at your clothes and your toes finding nothing but thin air. At the entrance at least, it's big enough that you can turn around and-
Oh no.
Apparently you'd only mostly killed a Grineer. You're not sure if you're more angry at him for not having the courtesy to die, or yourself for not doing it right the first time. Even worse, he's hacking away at your motionless warframe. The damage is severe, and you really should intervene before he does more damage - or calls in that there's an unattended Warframe for pick-up.
He's severely wounded, at least. Missing an arm, visibly unsteady even in the half-ton of armor. You can finish the job as you are, the question is how-
[ ] Burning Gaze
- When the Zariman returned, the first reaction was desperate relief. These powers put an end to that. Your offensive void powers are varied and deadly.
- Bombard him from up here.
[ ] Scaled Soul
- The children of the derelict were difficult to subdue nonlethally. You can armor yourself with the Void to keep yourself safe, or to blow through opposition.
- Jump down there and scramble his organs inside his armor.
[ ] Dark Tides
- Executions were ordered and carried out, to little effect. You can walk through what should be crippling blows, and heal from severe wounds quickly.
- You heal, he doesn't. Wear him down to nothing.
[ ] Slippery Mind
- Attempts at physical confinement were made and deemed inefficient. Your movement through the void is not limited by footholds or arrested by a tight squeeze.
- You can hide in an open field. Even if the first strike doesn't kill him, he won't be able to retaliate. [ ] Void Heart
Their most human part - their minds - proved the only thing capable of holding them, and so the Orokin built a prison of dreams. You[data corrupted].
[X ] Slippery Mind
- Attempts at physical confinement were made and deemed inefficient. Your movement through the void is not limited by footholds or arrested by a tight squeeze.
- You can hide in an open field. Even if the first strike doesn't kill him, he won't be able to retaliate
You can't leave him alive. You try, for a moment, to transfer back into the frame, but it's too far gone. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. You're going to have to handle this personally.
You jump before your brain can protest too loudly, and dive into the Void. If you had to analogize it, you would say it felt like being underwater, except without the water, or like holding your breath while breathing. The colours of the Marineris, already dusty and barely there, bleed to gray.
You land impossibly lightly on the sand. The Grineer can't see you, can't touch you, is still hacking away at your frame. Time to get its attention. Your palm fills with blue fire, the only vivid colour left to you. You can't attack it from the Void directly, but - a half-step, a brief instant to catch your breath and throw -
You don't need to be vulnerable for long, you think, as you slip back into the Void just as the Grineer's armour cracks under your first strike. He spins around quickly, machete raised and ready to block, no matter how severe his injuries are. You'll give that to the Grineer - they die hard, to a clone.
But you're not there. You're back in the Void, feeling its vise tighten slowly around your heart, watching his confusion play out across his face even as you circle to his back. Your palm burns again, as you see the cracks your first strike caused. Another shuffle, another throw - a bit high, this time - and he spins again, confusion quickly turning to frustration, even rage. This time he approaches, and you're a bit less cautious.
You throw the next strike from barely a meter behind him, and he howls, striking blindly with his machete. It passes through where your head would have been without resistance and you get a nice, close look at his face.
Oh, he is mad now. Mad, and frightened. Eyes frantically dart around the deserted canyon, trying to figure out where you are. He turns in place, clearly noticing that you're aiming for his back. So this time you just stand still, and wait for him to expose his back of his own accord.
You have time.
-X-0-
A few tedious minutes later, you're alone in the canyon again. You sigh deeply as you exit the Void - staying in it for extended periods is unpleasant.
You approach your warframe and wince. You hadn't tried your absolute hardest to transfer while the Grineer was still there, but now that you can inspect it closely, you know there's no hope for a field repair. It's been dead too long, and injured too severely. Great. Just... great.
"Ordis?" you say, only slightly surprised by how reedy your voice sounds. "Ordis, I need retrieval?"
Nothing. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. A quick pat-down confirms your fears. You don't have a communicator. You don't have a communicator. All your frames, of course, have them integrated, but you haven't made a habit of wearing the one Ordis gave you when you went after Umbra.
And now your warframe is wrecked, and you can't ask for a pick-up. You need a plan.
Plan A - stay here, and hope Ordis reacts to comms going dark by sending a landing craft to your last known location instead of diving into the Sun. If it worked, it'd be the fastest way out of this mess. But if the Grineer also react to their comms going dark, it could end very badly. So that's a no go.
Plan B - return to the area where you first arrived. Safer, but without the mapping system built into the warframe, you don't... actually remember where that is. So that won't work either.
Plan C - find some way to contact Ordis and arrange pick-up somewhere else. That means equipment, and that means settlement. You passed by one on your way here which was inhabited, so that's your best shot.
You walk over the nearly bisected corpse of your warframe and try and figure out what you can salvage.
[x] Your K-Drive [ ] Your Archwing
Choose One Weapon
[ ] A Dagger from the Veil - Easily Concealed, Many Uses
[ ] A Pistol from the Arbiters - Monofocused, Raises Suspicion
[ ] Spectres of your Enemies - Limited Use, Powerful
Choose One Utility
[ ] Credits from the Merchants - Civilized, Legitimate
[ ] Ciphers from the Cephalon - Surreptitious, Can Be Overclocked
[ ] Apothics from the Silver Grove - Highly Conspicuous, May Have Side Effects
You quickly determine that trying to use your rifle is an exercise in futility. Even if you could comfortably shoulder the damn thing, you're fairly sure the recoil would shatter your collarbone. Still, even if most of your kit is a bit... oversized, you can still use some of it. You clip what you can to your belt, sling what you can't over your back, and consider the rest.
The warframe is just too heavy to move yourself, and too awkward to load on to your K-Drive, now deployed and floating above the ground with a gentle hum. Strictly speaking, you should probably destroy it, in case the Grineer come back.
In practice, like hell you're doing that. You're coming back for it, and that means it has to be hidden. But how...
-X-0-
With the warframe's impromptu grave/mine-shaft filled, you really should be setting off. Clambering on to the K-Drive is a lot harder than the vent kids make it look, you think, trying to keep your weight near the center so the damn thing doesn't accelerate out from under you. The edges tilt wildly as you finally get both your knees under you. You could stand up, take your hands off the deck, and try and ride it properly.
You could. You just... don't want to. You're fine going like this. Everything's secured, and you don't have a lot of obstacles to worry about, so you should be fINE-
You shriek as the board pounces forward, and quickly lean back on the brakes. Okay, maybe a bit more slowly next time, you think as your heart calms down from its adrenaline high.
Words cannot express how grateful you are that you don't have any directions more complicated to follow than 'keep along the wall'.
-X-0-
Like most smaller settlements on Mars, the buildings are more carved out than built. Admittedly, you think this is the first time you've visited one that wasn't abandoned or run by Grineer, so there's some new things. Lots of curtains and cloth decoration, some very brightly dyed, and the hydroponics look like patchwork Corpus tech instead of the mass-produced metal bulbs that feed the Empire.
It's quiet and empty when your unsteady legs meet ground again. It's nothing like a Relay, or even Cetus - it wouldn't be surprising if you were the first fresh face to come by in months. The place seems dead, even if the signs of recent habitation are plentiful. Are they sleeping? Working somewhere?
You stow the K-Drive and walk up the stairs into the... foyer, you suppose. It's a buffer against sand and wind, more than an inhabited room, and you can barely see the floor under the dust. Again, you curse your lack of radar as your cautiously go deeper into the cave-rooms. Getting lost is a serious risk.
A sound, echoing across the stone. Laughter? Shouting? You're not sure, but it's better than nothing. You follow it.
As you get closer, you can make out more details. The voices are high-pitched, childish. Too young to work or study, if you had to guess, but you don't think Martian colonists would just leave children unattended at that age, so presumably they have a minder.
This deep into the caves the air is warmer, and there's hardly any sand on the floor, but plenty of sand on you. You sheepishly shake out your clothing in a dark corner, even though nobody is around to notice you were the one tracking grit in. It's getting dark, dark enough that lights have started showing up on the walls and ceiling, at least in some rooms. Lots of rooms are left dark and empty, and you avoid those, following the lights as well as the sound.
Eventually, after passing through a few decorated, lived-in but empty rooms, you make it to the source of the sound. It's a much larger space than all the rooms other than the foyer, with a high ceiling and what you think are the remains of a bunch of walls.
Also, children. Lots and lots of children. Playing.
You stare at the chaos for... you don't know how long. You don't usually see people who are - physically, at least - younger than you. The ones you do see are more like small adults. Not the sort of children who just run around, shouting, and don't notice the stranger watching them.
"And who are you?"
You pause. That voice was... from behind you. You turn slowly and look up to meet the glare of the older woman.
Sketch a stiff bow as you try and figure out how to salvage this unfortunate first impression. "You'd be the, uh, creche mistress then? My apologies-"
Her glare sharpens as she takes in your clothing. You wince underneath your mask, knowing you look-
[ ] Strange. You're still wearing your transference suit, and while it hardly marks you as what you are, it definitely sets you apart.
[ ] Unfamiliar. Your clothes are, well, actual clothes. Not as protective as other options, and still obviously foreign, but less suspicious.
[ ] Suspicious. As practical as armour and hazardous environmental gear is, it doesn't make you look harmless or innocuous.
[ ] Unnatural. Dressing in clothes taken from the Void means making a statement. If any clothes would mark you as Tenno, these would.
[X] A Dagger from the Veil - Easily Concealed, Many Uses
[X] Apothics from the Silver Grove - Highly Conspicuous, May Have Side Effects
[X] Unnatural. Dressing in clothes taken from the Void means making a statement. If any clothes would mark you as Tenno, these would.
