The color was fading from the echidna's containment, and lights, monitors and other foreign-looking indicators were quickly losing power. It was hard to tell from looking at the bizarre, misshapen body if it was alert or not, but it soon became clear enough when he finally spoke again.

"The voice isn't here anymore," he observed quietly. His voice no longer came from all around, but instead only weakly from a vibrating panel beneath his tank. "... But I—... I don't feel any different."

The container went completely dark, emitted one high-pitched tone, then began to drain all fluid through the tubes connected to its base. It was officially done. m!

After indulging himself a brief, yet glorious moment of not having to stand up, Ace offered a scraggy sounding "Thanks" at Geoff's hand, and was eventually pulled up to his feet.

He had waddled away from the others for a moment, but only to return, sliding the glove smeared with now half-dried blood back over his fingers. He stopped in front whatever capsule it was that the AI man was floating in... It was a mixed glance he gave it from over his shoulder, full of contempt and pity, but ultimately too worn out to care. As he marched his way to the newfound ship, hand pressed to his gut, only one thing seemed to be on his mind.

"...I wanna go home..."



Looking down on the great room from above, one could see the group's members as they trailed like ants down the tall stairs of the core. Gizoids gently moved and parted as an indiscernible mass, clearing and making way for their departure, but never once taking their eyes off of the strange foreigners, fascinated, focused on their every movement, word, and interaction.


***


Downstairs, the cells had all powered down and been opened. Lost and disoriented refugees chattered in some combination of happiness, nervousness, and quiet caution as they went about the task of getting themselves down from their precarious perches. Some of the Gizoids down there took it upon themselves to start helping even before the crew arrived, raising elevator platforms up to each grouping of cells, and silently helping the detainees out—the same detainees they had just stuck in there hours before.

The Nocturnus ship was probably going to be enough to collect the lot of them. Of course, it wasn't long before the Lagrange and its pilot landed outside, too. There were still some things to figure out before either transport took to the air, like how their return was going to actually work—what exactly it was that enabled the Nocturnus vessels to traverse the void, how the Chaos Emerald played into it all, and countless more questions like that. Yet, it was all... minor, now, compared to what they had just faced—all questions that Omnis could answer, and the rest, they could figure out as they went.


***