The occasional clang still echoed down the tunnels as you wearily searched for another vein of “ore”. Was there some logical way to figure out the best locations? This was not, you were pretty darn sure, how mirrors were made in the real world.
All you could do was investigate the walls and conserve whatever energy you could afford to. The lack of food was really wearing on you now. But with the lot of you split up among the different tunnels, surely someone would find what you needed. Whether or not it was someone in condition to mine it out… Well. One step at a time.
Clang, drip, your own tired footsteps… Every sound seemed to wear you down further.
At least, until the cacophony of falling rocks. When you took from nature, you should not have been surprised when it decided to take something back.
Jolted more awake, it still took you a panicked second to determine it wasn’t happening around you. But was it coming this way? Had you heard a yell, or was it just someone’s startled reaction? No matter your rationale, you found yourself hurrying back to the mine’s center chamber. Between you and the others that had gathered, it didn’t take long for someone to point out the clattering of rocks down another tunnel. You followed, though you weren’t sure you wanted to go too far in here…
“Oh, f-ck–!”
Though one soul had ventured too far. Maybe by chance. Maybe by fate. Maybe by some other design, Viper had made her way in too deep. The rocks rushed to meet her, but some other force, moving faster than you could think, had made its move first, pushing her harshly. She was sent flying, away from danger. Away from the rocks that wished to get up close and personal. She let out a yelp as she skidded across rock, hitting the floor hard. Whether you thought the sight of her on the ground was karmic, or amusing, or just relieving, the rocks tumbled down, down, down… away from her.
Wide-eyed and certainly terrified, she could only watch as the rocks fell. As the place where she had stood just moments earlier was crushed by the falling boulders. If it had just been a moment later…
Splinters of a supporting frame lay scattered among the dislodged rock. A large silvery gleam made you think someone had at least struck it rich here before the collapse—until you realized what it actually was.
Or who it actually was.
Pinned handily beneath the slowly crushing weight of stone was R.N.A. Surely as the largest among you they had some hope of strong-arming their way out—but it wasn’t looking hopeful.
“I… I appear to be stuck…” The robot said, tone still calm and soft, even in a situation seeming so dire. “I’m… sorry. I didn’t mean… To worry you all.”
There were those of you already surging forward to help before they’d finished speaking. The other supports seemed perfectly stable, so if you could just move one rock out of the way at a time… If R.N.A. could just hang in there until enough of the weight was off of them…
But you were all weary enough to begin with, and so few of you had the strength to contribute without even accounting for injuries. Even with the rockfall stopped, your progress was nonexistent.
“Stop… You have to… get back. It might… there might be a second falling… you might get buried.” There was the sound of the robot shuffling. “I think… I think I can get… out if I just…” There was the futile struggling of a robot who had been bested. Metal scissors that could not beat rock. You could hear some of the rocks shuffling… shifting.
You heard a creak of metal.
“In truth… I’m… scared… I feel… human… right now… But I don’t know why… Is… Is Viper okay… I can’t see. I can’t see her… But I got her… out of the way. Because I want… my friends… to get off the train. All of you… I know there has to… be a better way off the train. A way… away from killing… Even… Jack could have. The train doesn’t… make him happy… it just lets him… forget how sad he is.”
Maybe that was rude. But R.N.A believed everyone could escape. That there was salvation and a way back to life for them all.
“I’m safe–” There’s a weak, wavering reply from behind those who had rushed forward to try and help, as Viper tried to wobble to her feet, her gaze fixed on the robot being crushed beneath the stone prison.
“…I don’t… I don’t know if I can escape… I have… one more idea…”
Just enough chips of rock sprinkled down from above that even the most desperately striving among you finally backed away. R.N.A.'s metal joints groaned under the pressure. A few more rocks hit. A crack split their digital face, and the light sputtered out.
They didn’t speak again.
The ensuing shocked silence was only broken by a faint echoing drip from some other tunnel. Then some of you finally heard a mechanical whir—but R.N.A. hadn’t moved. Your hope evaporated all over again as Neko-Neko strode up to the rock pile.
“Are… Are they all right?”
The cat rapped a not-so-soft paw on the side of R.N.A.'s head. The resulting clang made a few of you flinch.
“Nothin’ but an empty shell here.”
They turned on the rest of you.
“We’d be happy to congratulate the murderer on a job well done, if we had one!”
“Please at least play the game, nya… Even if we lose Passengers, I can’t guide anyone back home if you aren’t following the rules.”
With a shake of their head(s), they left R.N.A.'s lifeless face display behind.
First Jack, now this? You were hoping this horrible game would end… but not from everyone dying off of their own accords instead. And how safe were you? If you had been in this tunnel instead of a different one…
Maybe killing to go home wasn’t that terrible an idea after all.
