Planatae

Escape

Once they began to move, conversation died. The group was too focused on coordinating their movements and responding to Erin's periodic directions. Ricardia would inform her of their current path, and she in turn used her memory of the map to tell the other woman where to steer them.

Lukas felt his vision return in increments as they rushed through the complex. Colors slowly grounded themselves again in shape and dimension, until his throbbing eyes were finally able to make out the blurry features of the people alongside him.

Erin seemed to have similarly recovered, as she untangled herself from the rest of them and took the lead.

"Can you see?" Ricardia asked.

"Enough to get us out," she answered, her speed increasing. Lukas was forced to keep up, a now-familiar, and oddly reassuring feeling.

They raced through the tunnels, and luck seemed to have tipped the scales the other way for once, because they encountered no one.

Whatever blackout Erin had triggered was temporary; the lights were buffeting them with a flashing intensity again, and the alarm had resumed its wail.

With his vision clearing, Lukas felt comfortable enough to open up his feed vision, and quickly located them on the map. To his surprise, he realized that they were moving away from the embassy and any potential exits it offered. Instead, they were moving towards the edge of Onyx, retracing the route they'd taken upon their initial arrival to the station.

Ricardia, who had been given access to the map, gave off a soft exclamation of surprise when she realized it herself.

"We're heading to the port. You have a ship?" Even the strain of exertion in her voice couldn't mask the note of hope."

"Yes," Erin said, dismissive. "Why? Do you need passage?"

Ricardia could do nothing but gape at Erin for a long moment. It took everything she had to maintain each stride, to stop herself from collapsing in shock. The chance to get off Onyx... it was everything she'd been working towards for weeks and weeks now. To have it dangled in front of her like a shiny new present, amidst all this terror, was overwhelming.

You're forced to make a choice now.

The terrible thought slipped through the cracks in her mental defense, leaving her reeling. That was the problem, wasn't it? She'd had chances to leave by now, had made enough money with her success of a performance. But now the decision was upon her, and she was panicking.

Erin appeared to have misinterpreted her silence, because she added, without even glancing at her, "don't worry. You'd have full protection under my authority."

Ricardia knew couldn't stay in Onyx, but the idea of returning to Caedem, forfeiting her body to the Planatae was an awful one. Despite the lessons, and the stories, and the propaganda pushed by the Ferrum Rete, she'd never seen it as the honor so many assumed it to be. Still... this was the chance of a lifetime. If Ricardia played it right, she could take this woman's offer and find herself a different, safer refuge from the Rete.

"Okay," Ricardia said. Then she asked, "Do you have access to long-range communication? I haven't been able to reach anyone down here."

"Yes. I'll patch you in." Grateful, Ricardia sent a message to Sana, piggybacking on Erin's feed network. Running all the while, she quickly composed and sent out the message. Still, by the time she could focus on the world around her, they'd reached their destination. She knew it was so because Erin had come to a sudden stop along one of the endless, nondescript tunnels.

Erin allowed them all to take a moment to breathe as she inspected the space around them. Finally, she pointed towards a series of indents a little further down from where they were standing. They were deep-cut and irregular, and Ricardia recognized the design for what it was: a built-in ladder.