"Blegh..." Ester gagged as the symptoms of Aether sickness attacked his senses. "How much longer Eva?"
Having returned to the driller after escaping the pull of the Rift, although the two of them were still suffering from the gravity pockets punching them when they passed through them, the Aether sickness they had contracted from the insides of the rift was a more pressing problem.
They could function from stalled blood flow in the bruised area's, it was a lot harder to function when Aether sickness granted the symptoms of dizziness and nausea.
As an example, they tried to bring the broken extractor through their air lock when it should've gone into the dedicated store system that could shift larger than people sized objects in and out of the Driller.
Eva's speaker buzzed as it formed more coherent words than before it was exposed to the Rift's aether waves. [O-one more minute.]
Her only reply was a groan.
She shook her head in an attempt to keep conscious as she placed Judgement bellflower blossoms into the Injector bands accompanying tubules, letting it grind the petals down to a not so fine dust.
Popping the glass tube out of the Injector band with trembling hands when it finished, her elbow brushed against the table filled to the brim with precariously placed things.
Thankfully all of the precariously placed things were contained in durable enclosed containers, but the loud racket it made was much to overstimulating for their already aching heads.
[M-make that two.]
"Ow."
Shaking her head as she moved to grab the containers on the ground for what she needed, after three minutes of nauseous and dizzy stumbling, Eva poured the completed drug into the tubes of the injector band.
Attaching wires to Eva's exposed upper body via means of repurposed defibrillator pads as she wrapped the injector band against her arm, Ester ignored the thins scars on her body and had to ask.
"Remind me... why we didn't have any spare A-Clean?"
[Project V-void Buffer.] Eva answered, her voice echoing in on itself.
"I hate those guys." Ester groaned as he made sure that the defib pads stuck properly.
[P-preach]
Pressing on the injector band and letting the needle snap into her skin, Ester watched as the orange fluid seeped into her veins.
Following the dissolution of all the solution, Ester pressed a button allowing electrical currents to flow through her body from one repurposed defib pad to the other.
[IEAHN aAHu Jkia alleoa!]
The electricity had the side effect of messing with the speaker, but it was a price Eva was willing to pay if it meant the cleansing of the Aether sickness making her nauseous.
[Now I-I feel alive!] Raising her arms with bright eyes as the excess Aether was absorbed by the buffer being spread by the electricity flowing through her body, Ester weakly raised his hands in tandem.
"Woohoo... Now do me."
[G-gladly.]
"No innuendo's right now, to dizzy."
[Fair.]
Moving the repurposed defib pads that were previously stuck onto her exposed upper torso onto his own exposed upper body, Ester grunted as the A-Clean was injected into his body with a push of the Injector button.
There was the option of waiting for the A-Clean to naturally spread to the rest of his body via time, but Project Void Buffer was still a thing.
And going off of the weird vision that had proven three times that it was able to be trusted, it was highly unlikely that Project Void Buffer would end at just Phase 2.
"So call it a gut feeling, but we might not have much time to linger since I don't think that a rocket that's able to move a planet twice can't fire a third time."
[T-this is t-the face I-I make when I a-agree with you so. C-can you f-fix my legs? O-Or experiment with u-using t-that weird omnivision y-you were o-on h-harping so much about, after a-all-]
Ester let out a sigh as he anticipated the following words Eva would say. "[Explore, E-Experiment and Echo it all three times.]"
[S-So you do rem-remember it.]
"Preeetty hard to forget when the Old man talked about it so much that my ears nearly fell off."
[T-Then you should d-do it before I talk y-your ears !#(* jans.] Eva finished with a smattering of garbled words.
"Let me guess." Ester sighed. "If I get the time, I fix your speaker for the bajillionth time this lifetime?"
Eva affectionately slapped his back.
"I'll take that as a yes." Ester stared up at the ceiling in acceptance. "Just get to driving first while I fix your legs first... Maybe second... or third. Whenever I get to it."
Eva rolled her eyes before swiftly signing with the both of her hands.
"...Just because of that I'm experimenting with my Omnivision, Patent Pending, for three hours before I get to your legs. If I get to your legs."
Eva formed several more angry hand signs which Ester countered by turning around.
What you don't see won't hurt you after all.
Letting out an angered whistle of air as a shirt bounced off of his back, Ester stumbled when the Driller suddenly began moving.
Looking back to see the innocently blinking cause, Ester rolled his eyes before returning to his desk.
Then he remembered that he was going to practice the Omnivision before fixing Eva's legs, and since he wasn't one to go back on his words, it didn't make sense that he was at his desk.
But since he was already here...
Adjusting to the seat which had changed after the Driller had been flipped over twice Ester paused.
'...But what am I supposed to do here?'
He was supposed to be experimenting with his omni vision, but so far, all he could do was just focus really hard on a weird Scrapling shaped spot on the wall in front of him.
'Or is it a rotling shape?'
Staring at the cone shape on the wall, Ester shook his head when he got off track. 'Back to exploring how to activate Omni vision so that I can begin experimenting with it.'
He rested his hand on the palm of his hand. 'What were the common denominators between all three times that the Omni vision activated Ester?' He asked himself.
'It activated suddenly.' Ester answered himself, continuing to list off all the similarities between the abilities activation. 'My vision was taken away from me, they all happened in real time... maybe, I don't exactly know- Shut up Ester. Only commonalities in this thought train... Damnit.'
Frowning as his train of thought was derailed, Ester moved on to the differences as he adjusted his posture, the warm sensation of his skin focusing his thoughts.
'The first instance of Omni vision was mobile as it followed the Driller unlike the other two instances where they were static.'
He tapped his fingers against his skin.
'The second instance of Omni Vision was... the largest of the three instances, showing the entire area affected by the Rift.'
He adjusted his posture so that he was now resting on his right hand, the cool sensation of metal further focusing his thoughts.
'The third instance of Omni vision was definitely far away from me and it was also the only one that blurred details... I think.'
He shook his head.
'It was also the only one where I heard sound albeit it was as incomprehensible as when Eva's speaker breaks.'
A wry smile found itself onto Ester's face as he wondered what in the Void were the requirements for him to manifest the ability before his eyes widened.
'Wait a minute.' Ester snapped his fingers as a belated realization struck him. 'Another similarity between the three instances is that the Omni vision only happens when we're in danger!'
Then he felt the familiar feeling of his vision being taken.
'???'
---
It was the inside of a cockpit of some sort Ester thought.
Complete with a number of computer screens flashing with blurred out images, a window depicted a familiar sight of trash and chemicals as far as the eye can see.
Of course said trash had been melted together into a colorful mess by the chemicals as far as the eye can see, but it was a fact that this place was able to see Thousands upon thousands of kilometers of trash and chemicals on end.
'So somewhere up high...' Ester thought.
Five figures with blurred out identities lounged atop chairs as they looked through the windows within this cockpit, several voices intertwined.
Curiously, Ester was able to hear the content of these voices unlike the third time it had happened.
"This shithole is still ugly no matter how many time I see it." The one furthest to the right commented.
"Admire it as much as you can Jake" The one next to him said. "Soon enough you won't be able see E-2073 at all."
"Call it what it is J'klara! A trash planet!" The one next to the left most figure yelled from across the cockpit.
"Speaking of Trash, look at what I found" The one furthest to the left called, their hands dashing across a board of clickity clacks as an image of a Driller appeared on the screens in front of them.
Ester's metaphysical eyes widened.
"It's betting time." The furthest left cackled. "How long do you think they'll survive Sylneth?"
Slyneth chuckled from besides the furthest left. "The usual bet Hattie. Five hundred on over twenty minutes."
Hattie yelled. at the two across the room. "And you fine folk over there!?"
"Five hundo on over fifteen!" Jake yelled back.
"Five on... over thirty minutes." J'klara echoed soon after.
"I see we're doing five hundreds!" Hattie let out a laugh. "Well I'm not one to chicken out, five hundred on over thirty minutes!"
The four people turned to look at the only one who hadn't made a bet yet.
"Are you going to make a bet or not Glider? C'mon man, don't chicken out and place your bets!" Hattie goaded.
Glider, the one who was in the middle and was quite quiet all of this time let out a small chuckle. "I bet that they'll be buried under ten minutes."
"There's my captain!" Hattie yelled jovially as he pulled a switch.
A loud tremble shook the cockpit as the camera's shifted to depict several items whizzing past its lens as it fell towards the lone Driller dodging the numerous cracks in the ground.
It was all trash.
---
14 DAYS SINCE PROJECT VOID BUFFER FIRST FIRED ITS FLAMES
2 DAYS SINCE PROJECT VOID BUFFER FIRED ITS FLAMES THE SECOND TIME
2 DAYS SINCE THE CORRUPTED OF C-POINT BEGAN 'HER' HUNT
+++
Somehow this tree has not been able to put out a single chapter on his own self inflicted deadline.
Of course this tree has an excuse and the excuse is that this tree got stuck organizing his 33 page lore book (How in the hell did it get this big)
Tree