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Day
One, Burning Hallway
Looking
into that idiots eyes I couldn't just knock him loose. Grumbling I
grabbed the chain with both hands and carefully drew my legs up. My
spine proved to be more limber than I hoped as I managed to bend
nearly double so that I could wrap the chain firmly around my ankle.
A metallic squeal started below me, followed by Ed's soft cursing. I
tried not to imagine what would happen if any of these chains
snapped.
The
chain held as I dropped head first. With one arm I grabbed Ed's
shoulder, and the other could just barely reached the Captain's
dangling wrist. His eyes widened in astonishment and he began to
swing, but I heard the chain holding me begin to hiss dangerously.
“Don't move,” I warned him. “At most I've bought us a few
seconds.”
“Sorry...
yeah... I won't...”
“I
don't suppose you can alchemy us out of this?” I asked Ed.
He
shook his head very slowly. “I can't use alchemy, besides my hands
are full.”
“Right...”
I looked down and noticed the two soldiers standing down there like
idiots. “You two!” I shouted. They seemed to startle at my
addressing them. “We need your help if we're going to save your
Captain!”
“Yes...
yes!” the one of the right shouted back.
Ed
gave me a curious look. “You speak their language?” he asked.
I
stared back at him. “You don't?” I shook my head. “Not
important!” I looked back down and ran my tongue over my teeth,
trying to figure out how to handle this. “Okay, you two are going
to have to catch him,” I yelled, keeping my voice calm.
“How
are we supposed to do that?” the one of the left shouted back, his
mask was still intact which gave his voice a hollow quality.
“One
of you leans out, while the other holds him. We'll try and throw him
towards the corner. If you can find something on the walls to grab a
hold of that's even better.”
“Captain?”
“Ah,
yeah... do that!” the Captain shouted, somewhat distracted. He was
giving me an odd look.
“We'll
count to three and then release him, after that you'll have...” I
looked at Ed. He gave me a long look.
“What?”
“Do
you have any idea how long it will take this guy to fall to them?”
He
closed his eyes for a second. “One and a half seconds. Probably
less due to air drag.”
“You'll
have a two count to brace yourself for him,” I yelled down the
shaft. “Are you ready?”
“Just
a second...” Leftie called. I heard the chain above me squealing
and there was a sharp snapping noise that echoed through the shaft.
“No
more time!” I turned to Ed. “On three. One, two, THREE!”
It
happened so fast I almost missed it. The Captain slipped from our
grip and plummeted, screaming loud enough he temporarily drowned out
the fire. He smashed into Rightie hard enough to almost drag the two
of them over the edge. Leftie held onto his friends legs and was
dragged to the edge of the dropoff, before they managed to halt their
momentum when the Captain grabbed one of the lower chains.
At
that point the chain holding Ed finally gave up the ghost. The sudden
lurch almost ripped my own chain out of its mooring. For a horrible
moment I floated above the firepit, convinced we were both going to
plummet. Then we jerked to a halt hard enough that I felt my ankle
pop in its joint. I bit back a scream of pain. However, we remained.
“Right...”
I hissed. “Can you climb over me? I don't think I can move.”
“Y-yeah...”
Ed said dryly. Working hand over hand he began to pull himself up my
body. I tried to ignore that magnetic tingle his touch seemed to send
through me, especially since it was doing things to this body I was
unfamiliar with and unwilling to deal with at the moment.
Finally
his foot vanished from my vision and a few seconds later I felt his
weight leave me. “Just hold on a second!” I dangled uselessly. My
arms felt like limp noddles and my ankle was sending burning jolts up
my leg. I don't think I could have moved if I tried. “I found a
rope!”
*
The
facility shuddered and lurched about a few more times as we made our
way outside. It was only because we were leaning on each other that
we managed to make it without falling. At least we seemed to have
risen above the flames, though the entire place was still as hot as
an oven, leaving our clothes clinging to our skin with sweat. The
sensation was remarkably unpleasant, especially down there. The sight
of Ed, who it turned out was very much physically fit, and the fact
we had to cling to each other didn't help. I was just thankfully the
flush from the heat concealed the flush from my embarrassment.
On
our way out we stopped at a few rooms to loot what we could. Ed got
his hands on a few brush and a few bottles of ink which made him
inordinately happy. I managed to get my hands on a small knife, not
much more than a cooking knife, but still it felt better to have a
weapon on hand.
Even
turned practically on its head the facility was obviously a prison of
some sort. Though what surprised me was the complete lack of
prisoners. The doors of the various cells (big sturdy solid metal
doors, not like the barred doors of our prison) were mostly hanging
open. There were small piles of belongings scattered about in them as
well. However aside from the obvious there was no signs of a struggle
or violence anywhere we looked, no blood, no weapons marks... just,
nothing.
Ed
found it eerie. I just was glad the open doors served as handholds
for climbing.
Finally
we found a door that led outside. Carefully we opened it to find it
led to what had once been a catwalk around the outside of the prison.
Glancing out I felt my heart sink.
“Is
that water?” I asked rhetorically.
“And
a whole lot of it,” Ed agreed. He stuck his head out and took a
deep whiff. “Salty, too. Looks like the ocean. So that would make
this... a derrick?”
“A
derrick?”
“Artificial
island, made out of metal, in the middle of the ocean...” Ed
trailed off. “Who would go to the expense of building a metal
prison in the middle of the ocean? Why?”
I
didn't have an answer for him. Instead I gestured to the water.
“Looks like this place is sinking,” I said. Sure enough, the
waterline was rising. Slowly, but who knew when the buoyancy of this
place would stop holding out, or the stress of being held up like
this would make the whole thing crack in two around us.
“Well,
at least that will put out the fire?” Ed offered with a wry grin
that I couldn't help but return. “Come on, the ocean air is better
than the air inside.”
Nodding
I followed him out onto the catwalk. The floor was metal grating and
there was a safety rail on the side which made climbing it easier,
even with my protesting limbs. The cool breeze off the ocean
certainly helped. Ed paused halfway up our climb and peered out into
the horizon. “I think I see land in that direction,” he said,
pointing vaguely off towards what looked like low hanging clouds. The sun was rising vaguely in that direction, which didn't help my eyesight any.
“If
you say so,” I muttered after squinting in that direction for a
second. “See any boats?”
Ed
shook his head and we continued climbing in silence. The rope we used
to tie ourselves together slackened and tightened rhythmically as we
moved. I was amazed at how nimbly Ed moved even missing one of his
legs below the knee. My own ankle had turned out to be sprained, not
even broken, and it had severely slowed me down. Thinking about that
made my own situation seem less horrible.
All
I was missing was a bit of fat on my chest and hips, Ed was missing
something much more vital and I hadn't even heard a word of complaint
from him. Thinking like that kept my own screaming mental voices from
overwhelming me now that the danger was slightly less immediate.
“Smoke,”
Ed said, his voice a harsh whisper. A thick column of black smoke was
climbing around the side of the prison derrick. We moved slower, more
quietly as we came to the edge of the facility. Ed glanced around the
corner and grimaced before gingerly climbing to the side so I could
look.
It
was a ship, and obviously not one built for anything peaceful. It was
huge, made entirely of menacing black metal with large smokestacks
belching out constant streams of thick smoke. The front of the ship
curved upward into a pair of horn-like spikes. Across the ship moved
three or four dozen of those red-armoured soldiers, some of them
manning large catapults or other, more menacing, weapons.
The
ship was lashed to the derrick by a handful of rope lines and a
gangplank extended across to it. A tall man, the only one not wearing
a helmet, stood imperiously at the edge of the plank. His hair was
going grey at the temples but was otherwise lustrously black and he
must have outmassed any of the soldiers by a good head or two. He was
shouting something, but it was hard to make out at this distance.
Frowning I climbed gingerly back around the side.
“I
think we know where those soldiers came from,” I told Ed. He
nodded.
“We
still don't know what is going on here. But I don't see many other
way off this wreck but that boat.” He looked down at himself. “If
I had my alchemy, we could maybe take it, but even if we did who
would run it? I've never even seen a boat like that up close, much
less know how to run it. Do you?” I shook my head.
Then
again, I hadn't expected to be capable of gymnastics like I'd pulled
off earlier.
“None
of the things I can think of sound good. What about you, any ideas?”
[
]”We should go back into the prison. We survived in there, someone
else may have as well. Maybe we can find some help, or at least a
clue as to what is happening."
[
]”We might be able to sneak on board. That armour conceals the
face, so if we ambush some soldiers we could hopefully remain hidden
until we reached some port.”
[
]”We're injured and tired. Find someplace to hide until the boat
leaves. We'll think of another way off this thing, or maybe get
rescued.”
[
]”I'm sick of running away, we can take the boat. I have a plan,
trust me!”
-------------
Epsilon
Day
One, Burning Hallway
Looking
into that idiots eyes I couldn't just knock him loose. Grumbling I
grabbed the chain with both hands and carefully drew my legs up. My
spine proved to be more limber than I hoped as I managed to bend
nearly double so that I could wrap the chain firmly around my ankle.
A metallic squeal started below me, followed by Ed's soft cursing. I
tried not to imagine what would happen if any of these chains
snapped.
The
chain held as I dropped head first. With one arm I grabbed Ed's
shoulder, and the other could just barely reached the Captain's
dangling wrist. His eyes widened in astonishment and he began to
swing, but I heard the chain holding me begin to hiss dangerously.
“Don't move,” I warned him. “At most I've bought us a few
seconds.”
“Sorry...
yeah... I won't...”
“I
don't suppose you can alchemy us out of this?” I asked Ed.
He
shook his head very slowly. “I can't use alchemy, besides my hands
are full.”
“Right...”
I looked down and noticed the two soldiers standing down there like
idiots. “You two!” I shouted. They seemed to startle at my
addressing them. “We need your help if we're going to save your
Captain!”
“Yes...
yes!” the one of the right shouted back.
Ed
gave me a curious look. “You speak their language?” he asked.
I
stared back at him. “You don't?” I shook my head. “Not
important!” I looked back down and ran my tongue over my teeth,
trying to figure out how to handle this. “Okay, you two are going
to have to catch him,” I yelled, keeping my voice calm.
“How
are we supposed to do that?” the one of the left shouted back, his
mask was still intact which gave his voice a hollow quality.
“One
of you leans out, while the other holds him. We'll try and throw him
towards the corner. If you can find something on the walls to grab a
hold of that's even better.”
“Captain?”
“Ah,
yeah... do that!” the Captain shouted, somewhat distracted. He was
giving me an odd look.
“We'll
count to three and then release him, after that you'll have...” I
looked at Ed. He gave me a long look.
“What?”
“Do
you have any idea how long it will take this guy to fall to them?”
He
closed his eyes for a second. “One and a half seconds. Probably
less due to air drag.”
“You'll
have a two count to brace yourself for him,” I yelled down the
shaft. “Are you ready?”
“Just
a second...” Leftie called. I heard the chain above me squealing
and there was a sharp snapping noise that echoed through the shaft.
“No
more time!” I turned to Ed. “On three. One, two, THREE!”
It
happened so fast I almost missed it. The Captain slipped from our
grip and plummeted, screaming loud enough he temporarily drowned out
the fire. He smashed into Rightie hard enough to almost drag the two
of them over the edge. Leftie held onto his friends legs and was
dragged to the edge of the dropoff, before they managed to halt their
momentum when the Captain grabbed one of the lower chains.
At
that point the chain holding Ed finally gave up the ghost. The sudden
lurch almost ripped my own chain out of its mooring. For a horrible
moment I floated above the firepit, convinced we were both going to
plummet. Then we jerked to a halt hard enough that I felt my ankle
pop in its joint. I bit back a scream of pain. However, we remained.
“Right...”
I hissed. “Can you climb over me? I don't think I can move.”
“Y-yeah...”
Ed said dryly. Working hand over hand he began to pull himself up my
body. I tried to ignore that magnetic tingle his touch seemed to send
through me, especially since it was doing things to this body I was
unfamiliar with and unwilling to deal with at the moment.
Finally
his foot vanished from my vision and a few seconds later I felt his
weight leave me. “Just hold on a second!” I dangled uselessly. My
arms felt like limp noddles and my ankle was sending burning jolts up
my leg. I don't think I could have moved if I tried. “I found a
rope!”
*
The
facility shuddered and lurched about a few more times as we made our
way outside. It was only because we were leaning on each other that
we managed to make it without falling. At least we seemed to have
risen above the flames, though the entire place was still as hot as
an oven, leaving our clothes clinging to our skin with sweat. The
sensation was remarkably unpleasant, especially down there. The sight
of Ed, who it turned out was very much physically fit, and the fact
we had to cling to each other didn't help. I was just thankfully the
flush from the heat concealed the flush from my embarrassment.
On
our way out we stopped at a few rooms to loot what we could. Ed got
his hands on a few brush and a few bottles of ink which made him
inordinately happy. I managed to get my hands on a small knife, not
much more than a cooking knife, but still it felt better to have a
weapon on hand.
Even
turned practically on its head the facility was obviously a prison of
some sort. Though what surprised me was the complete lack of
prisoners. The doors of the various cells (big sturdy solid metal
doors, not like the barred doors of our prison) were mostly hanging
open. There were small piles of belongings scattered about in them as
well. However aside from the obvious there was no signs of a struggle
or violence anywhere we looked, no blood, no weapons marks... just,
nothing.
Ed
found it eerie. I just was glad the open doors served as handholds
for climbing.
Finally
we found a door that led outside. Carefully we opened it to find it
led to what had once been a catwalk around the outside of the prison.
Glancing out I felt my heart sink.
“Is
that water?” I asked rhetorically.
“And
a whole lot of it,” Ed agreed. He stuck his head out and took a
deep whiff. “Salty, too. Looks like the ocean. So that would make
this... a derrick?”
“A
derrick?”
“Artificial
island, made out of metal, in the middle of the ocean...” Ed
trailed off. “Who would go to the expense of building a metal
prison in the middle of the ocean? Why?”
I
didn't have an answer for him. Instead I gestured to the water.
“Looks like this place is sinking,” I said. Sure enough, the
waterline was rising. Slowly, but who knew when the buoyancy of this
place would stop holding out, or the stress of being held up like
this would make the whole thing crack in two around us.
“Well,
at least that will put out the fire?” Ed offered with a wry grin
that I couldn't help but return. “Come on, the ocean air is better
than the air inside.”
Nodding
I followed him out onto the catwalk. The floor was metal grating and
there was a safety rail on the side which made climbing it easier,
even with my protesting limbs. The cool breeze off the ocean
certainly helped. Ed paused halfway up our climb and peered out into
the horizon. “I think I see land in that direction,” he said,
pointing vaguely off towards what looked like low hanging clouds. The sun was rising vaguely in that direction, which didn't help my eyesight any.
“If
you say so,” I muttered after squinting in that direction for a
second. “See any boats?”
Ed
shook his head and we continued climbing in silence. The rope we used
to tie ourselves together slackened and tightened rhythmically as we
moved. I was amazed at how nimbly Ed moved even missing one of his
legs below the knee. My own ankle had turned out to be sprained, not
even broken, and it had severely slowed me down. Thinking about that
made my own situation seem less horrible.
All
I was missing was a bit of fat on my chest and hips, Ed was missing
something much more vital and I hadn't even heard a word of complaint
from him. Thinking like that kept my own screaming mental voices from
overwhelming me now that the danger was slightly less immediate.
“Smoke,”
Ed said, his voice a harsh whisper. A thick column of black smoke was
climbing around the side of the prison derrick. We moved slower, more
quietly as we came to the edge of the facility. Ed glanced around the
corner and grimaced before gingerly climbing to the side so I could
look.
It
was a ship, and obviously not one built for anything peaceful. It was
huge, made entirely of menacing black metal with large smokestacks
belching out constant streams of thick smoke. The front of the ship
curved upward into a pair of horn-like spikes. Across the ship moved
three or four dozen of those red-armoured soldiers, some of them
manning large catapults or other, more menacing, weapons.
The
ship was lashed to the derrick by a handful of rope lines and a
gangplank extended across to it. A tall man, the only one not wearing
a helmet, stood imperiously at the edge of the plank. His hair was
going grey at the temples but was otherwise lustrously black and he
must have outmassed any of the soldiers by a good head or two. He was
shouting something, but it was hard to make out at this distance.
Frowning I climbed gingerly back around the side.
“I
think we know where those soldiers came from,” I told Ed. He
nodded.
“We
still don't know what is going on here. But I don't see many other
way off this wreck but that boat.” He looked down at himself. “If
I had my alchemy, we could maybe take it, but even if we did who
would run it? I've never even seen a boat like that up close, much
less know how to run it. Do you?” I shook my head.
Then
again, I hadn't expected to be capable of gymnastics like I'd pulled
off earlier.
“None
of the things I can think of sound good. What about you, any ideas?”
[
]”We should go back into the prison. We survived in there, someone
else may have as well. Maybe we can find some help, or at least a
clue as to what is happening."
[
]”We might be able to sneak on board. That armour conceals the
face, so if we ambush some soldiers we could hopefully remain hidden
until we reached some port.”
[
]”We're injured and tired. Find someplace to hide until the boat
leaves. We'll think of another way off this thing, or maybe get
rescued.”
[
]”I'm sick of running away, we can take the boat. I have a plan,
trust me!”
-------------
Epsilon