Felt odd to have a cat strapped to his chest like some demented baby, but Faustite tried to put the audacity of it out of mind. The mission had just begun, and success presently rode on Tama and him to route power throughout the building and open it to their forces. Once he was certain Tama was secure in the holster, Faustite hooked his carabiner to one of the spikes and tossed a length of rope over the side of the gaping maw.

By his own firelight, he witnessed some of the rope unspooling on its way down, but could not see the bottom. Sighing, he stepped up to the craggy edge and caught hold of a length of rope. He shifted his weight from side to side, testing his nerves for this endeavor.

"Tuck yourself in. Shouldn't be a complicated descent." He spared the cat no more than a few seconds to prepare before he dropped off the side of the hole, rope in hand, and started rappelling into the dark.

Unlike the others, he forewent a flashlight of any sort. Firelight echoed off the walls, lending animation to shadows that danced and flickered as long as he made his careful way downward. Faustite was wary of every broken rock that tumbled and ricocheted to the bottom, of each piece of the gaping crag that broke free underfoot. Sparing any speech on descent, they had only the company of their breathing and Faustite's crackling fires until the General reached the solid ground of the building's foundation.

"Careful," he murmured to the Mauvian. A clawed finger pointed at the myriad pinpoint lights below, each delicately suspended in the air like microscopic stars.

Catching hold of the rope once more, Faustite descended the last dozen feet to the floor of the room, bumping stars out of his path as they approached the bottom. Soon, the stars coalesced into a glittering galaxy that spun into the floor, becoming a singular bright light that then spread through the grooves between tiles. The light rushed throughout each groove in the facility before flashing brightly, settling into a glowing, several-pointed star that barred the way through a single exit point.

For now, it was much too dim to see. Faustite unclasped the cat slowly, then lowered him to the ground. "Know you can see better than me. Look for a console – and a way to get to it."


Meighei
This was not how I planned to die.

That’s all the cat thought as he was strapped onto the general like some sort of piece of useful but disposable equipment. If Faustite was going to repel down there into an unknown hole in the Scar and Tama was going to be attached to him, he’d much rather it not be in some yet unexplored corner of the Rift. In fact, he’d rather not do it at all. Consenting to being attached to Faustite was like agreeing to a very high likelihood of being set on fire.

And he had rather flammable fur.

He took the general’s advice to tuck himself in as if there was any more room to be tucked. If he had had a full tail, it would surely have brushed the light from the man’s flaming grate and would be burning well.

“Do you think I am not being careful?” The Mauvian hissed in a whisper. “I have no interest in my fur catching fire or, Metallia forbid, you drop me.”

Still, he couldn’t help but look out at what looked like a field of stars below them.

“I’m assuming you see all this. It reminds me a bit of that Tower — all stars, or their simulations, anyway.”

When his paws hit the floor, he allowed himself a closer look. They were certainly standing on a ceiling, but of what kind of building, it was hard to tell. Things look quite a bit different when they were entirely upside down, after all.

His violet eyes adjusted to the darkness and the pinpricks of light much faster than a human could. He noticed patterns in the lights straight away. Galaxies forming and moving. Stars twinkling in and out. This alone would have been worth the visit.

“I see a console up ahead. Looks to be around human height. At least, at one time. Now it’s half way up the wall. I loath to make you pick me up again, but we’re going to need the additional height.” He surveyed Faustite like he was eying a new step ladder.

“And you’re rather short, I’m afraid.”



Tucking that thought away, he looked about for anything resembling a ladder or step-stool for the feline ratfink. Little existed in the area besides rubble that covered some of the tile ceiling and the remnants of those ghastly-looking stars. Unsurprising that he couldn't find much; nothing about the room suggested needing a ladder when it was upright.

As his eyes slowly adjusted, Faustite realized that Tama was right about the console — human height, seemingly built into a wall. It looked quite clearly dead, but for a message displayed in red that he couldn't read from their distance. Didn't look like there was any keyboards built into the wall; he had to assume it was either a touchscreen like their current tech, or there was some magical way of producing a keyboard about it. Seldom could he tell when magic met technology like this.

"Have to kill the light," he warned as he pulled his cincher from subspace. After donning it, he stooped and picked up his feline companion before very carefully edging his way across the room.

Should've brought a flashlight, Faustite.

"Could be linked." He hadn't thought about the celestial map since they visited that tower, but he recognized the resemblance now. "Don't know why they're here, or what we should be expecting from them. Don't like that they reacted to us." Even if it was undeniably beautiful to watch. He supposed that was the downside of the human part of him — always prone to that stargazing nonsense the way people naïvely were.

Hoisting the cat up, he hoped that tailless furbag could read the screen in such darkness. "What do you see?"


Meighei
At first, all Tama did was tilt his head to the side kind of like a dog would that was confused about something and wanting confirmation from its master.

It all looked rather ridiculous, really. Faustite holding him up once again like a piece of equipment and his lithe body trying to wiggle into a better position. His eyes were focused on some light on the console and his pupils widened and closed to slits to get the best look at it in the near darkness.

“‘Low power’”, the cat quoted nonchalantly. “Don’t think we could find a power source down here, unless that furnace of yours can get us some thermal power.”

It was hard to tell if he was joking or not.

“If not, we’ll have to find whatever it was that used to provide power for this thing.”


So the terminal remained the same as when Heliodor messed with it. Whatever they did last time must have been used up, and the location returned to the same state it was in when he found it. Unfortunate that they didn't time it to know how long it lasted. It would have been helpful for Faustite to have an indication of how long the place stayed powered.

Faustite sighed, clearly exasperated by what he was about to say. "I know. Unfortunately.

"Think Heliodor said something about touchscreen options. Something about replacing a power supply. That got it open to us last time." He kept the cat hoisted, much as he would prefer to throw it. Perhaps he'd toss Tama into the beam to see if it would accept a furbag as a power supply and alleviate himself of that burden. Would be better for him to stay free and mobile, perhaps, given that they knew so little about they were up against.

And he was certain he would gloat if that sack of catshit was imprisoned and used for energy. Finally, his lack of respect would be catching up to him. But, much as he wanted to see the end of the catty little Mauvian that mocked his every move…

Laurelite was invested in this one's survival. And trusted Faustite to keep him alive. Most unfortunate.

"Hurry up and find the button. Radio the others when we're through."


Meighei
“It does appear to be a touch screen.” Hopefully, the thing would take his paw print. He didn’t want to have to suddenly become human-shaped while on top of Faustite.

“‘Low power’… there!” He read the console quickly and then pushed his pink paw pad into the device. “Hope it’s got enough power for what we have to do. Best we work quick, then?”


"Mm." That should have been all the cat needed to do, but Faustite had no way of keeping him supported while he worked on the console. "Won't be able to hold you up anymore. You've my leave to pick an agent and have them be your step stool while you work. Need you to plug into this thing and download its map data, send it to our tablets. Cats topside will collate it with the tablet feeds."

Letting the cat down gingerly, Faustite stepped away from the console. He faced the beam of light that erupted from a cylindrical metal dais in the corner of the room, knowing that it would likely draw him up into the beam as it had before. Hopefully, this time, he could supply the thing with enough power that their agents could case the place thoroughly, without putting his life too much at risk.

"Oh –" He paused, fiddling with his fingers all the while. Once the rings were removed from his fingers, he disappeared them to subspace. Seemed better – safer – that way.

Upon approaching the dais and its beam of light, he reached out and tentatively spread his fingers into its luminosity. Then he felt the pull, and behind him erupted a barrier that pushed him the rest of the way into the beam, where he was suspended into the familiar vacuum. He felt his ire build for it, and a bitterly resigned determination that his hair or clothes might be caught in whatever was keeping him afloat. He found it utterly inhumane to trap him in a space where he couldn't pace, for hours, but there weren't any other convenient sources of energy on the roster.

In the moments that followed, he mounted enough roiling fire within him to release it violently, filling the static-laden barrier with a compacted inferno. The machine sucked up all the excess heat and flame as free energy, which poured into the thin tubules that spidered through the complex. Soon, the tiles on which Tama stood began to glow, then illuminate the space with a brilliant orange light. The barrier over the entrance lit in a similar fashion, though the white star on its surface remained steadfast in barring the way.

Behind the dais, part of the wall flickered and faded, revealing the same maintenance passageway that Heliodor had previously discovered. Narrow as it was, and laden with bundled threads of light, it would allow passage for the teams if they proceeded single-file.

"That's it." Faustite's voice was laden with the static interference from the barrier. "Call them in."


Meighei
“Downloading map data shouldn’t be too difficult. Heck, I might not even need a lift for it since I’ve gotten the full cat’s eye view of the console.”

Tama allowed himself to be placed gently on the ground. He looked at the lines of light on the floor, wondering just what they were for. Regardless, he had a mission.

He transformed into his human form, all long limbs and lank. In this form, he was considerably taller than the general, but still not quite as tall as being held. While his long fingernails painted with black lacquer could easily reach the touch screen of the upside-down console, it was no longer the perfect height for his violet eyes.

Still, he watched curiously with his hand on the console as Faustite did something peculiar. He removed his rings, one of which he knew was from Albite and given at their wedding. Why would he take that off? He pondered with a flick of his furry ear towards the dais.

“Merp?~” A very cat-like sound came from his human lips as his ears flattened to his head and eyes became saucers as he watched Faustite become trapped in the beam of light. This was not part of the plan, he told himself. But part of him — a part he didn’t want to admit — was more than a little worried about the general’s safety.

“I was joking about using you for thermal energy!” He yelled through pointed teeth. “You better come out of there just fine once we’re through here, you b*****d!”

The Mauvian watched as the crimson flame flowed violently into the machine and wondered how long the half-youma could maintain that sort of firepower.

“It’s showtime, folks,” Tama said into the tip of his pen-like communicator. “And get here quick. We’re burning daylight down here.”