Chapter 16
Sixteen
Ellie
Ellie had always been interested in historical relics.
She'd only seen a few of them during her time in Tau, and even then they had been hard to come by.
She would never forget the first time she'd been allowed to place a black disc onto a record player and listen to the tinny sound that had likely been listened to by countless people before her.
The music had been unbearable. But she had been so fascinated with the sound of it.
The woman's voice was a little warbly as time had bent the record, but that didn't matter.
She had been enraptured by the thought that there had been people just like her hundreds of years ago and they had still wanted to sing.
But here in Sanctuary, she was surrounded by the past.
The room was slowly revealed over the course of a few days.
Proteus remained in the water where it was safest for him, and she threw sand into the hole they had arrived through.
Her underwater companion had found some fabric that was still sturdy enough for him to catch most of the sand she threw down, and then he dragged it away through the rocks.
It was slow, backbreaking work. Her body hurt within an hour, but she kept moving as much as she could. Thankfully, it took Proteus more time to get rid of the sand than it did for her to scoop it into the water.
At least at first.
She uncovered what looked like a floor about a foot and a half down from the sand closest to the opening.
It was an old tile floor, similar to the designs in Tau, and some small artifacts that had lingered behind.
A floor lamp that had been bent in half, likely by someone stepping on it.
An old access card with someone's face and name.
A plastic bag full of sand with ancient words on it in a language she couldn't read.
But it looked like it used to be maybe something edible.
Then, once she got to the areas where people had worked, moving the sand became nearly impossible. It was deeper in the back, closer to the hole in the wall where it had blown in. And even then, it was harder to move around all the equipment that she revealed.
Not to mention Pilot jumped to work. The little droid knew how to fix broken machines, that much was very obvious. But suddenly she had to maneuver sand around a droid that was pulling things apart to put them back together.
Proteus also had to discard the metal pieces that Pilot tossed into the water with muttered expletives. So much of what was still here wasn't useable. But there was still hope that they could put all of this together.
After four days, she had to take a break.
Her back hurt so badly it was spasming even when sitting down.
Her legs ached even though she didn't feel like she'd used them all that much.
Not to mention her arms. Those had turned into useless noodles, so she was mostly using her chest and back to shove sand.
They had gotten maybe a quarter of the room revealed, though, and it was starting to look like the place it had once been.
She just needed a few minutes, and she'd get the broom out again.
She'd found it in a metal locker that had been sticking out of the sand.
It must have been a cleaning supply cabinet.
Most of what remained was useless, but the bucket had proven helpful in moving sand, and the broom made it easier to get all the little granules that always seemed to spread out no matter how often she chased them.
Ellie sat down on the lip of the hole in the floor and marveled at the design. Clearly, this was no mistake that there was an entrance here. The edges were still smooth. Tile curved over the lip, so there wasn't any sharp metal to bite into her legs as she dangled them into the water.
She'd love something else to put on her body. This black suit had once been stylish, but now it clung to her skin and made her feel itchy.
Or maybe that was all the sand that was jammed into it from days on end of working in it.
Ellie started unzipping as the water rippled around her feet. Proteus was arriving soon. Those bubbles were usually the precursor to his appearing. The suit parted easily enough, and she'd just gotten one of her arms out by the time his head appeared in front of her.
His eyes went to her arm, strangely enough the one he had chewed upon, before flicking his gaze to hers. "What are you doing?"
"There is sand in my suit."
"And?"
"And I would like to get it out. It's uncomfortable.
You washed the sand out of your scales. It's the same feeling for me.
" With one arm free, she was still so impossibly itchy.
It was hard to even focus on anything other than the incessant itchiness that plagued her.
Scratching at her other arm through the fabric, she finally shook her head and continued pulling it off.
It didn't matter if he looked at her anyway. They were friends. Sort of. Or he looked at her as a means to an end. Proteus didn't care if he saw her boobs or if she got into the water with him naked.
A soft sound rocked through his chest, and then air bubbles burbled up from around his chest gills. She almost thought the sound was a scoff, but then his face turned a rather interesting shade of greenish gray and he spun away from her.
"I..." He cleared his throat, and that sound happened again. "I will give you privacy."
He seemed almost ready to swim off into the rocks again, but Pilot interrupted them. "Proteus? I have a report for you."
Ellie watched his shoulders bunch even more before he blew out a long breath and seemed to resolve himself to stay. "What is it, Pilot?"
She finished stripping off the suit while Pilot spoke about all the equipment that had been repaired and what was unsalvageable.
There wasn't much that was still working.
Most of what had remained here had been so damaged in the storms that it was likely they were either ruined by water, sand, or time itself.
Sitting unused for two hundred years would do that to almost anything, she assumed. Pilot was quite disturbed by how much of the remaining equipment had been left to rot long before the facility was no longer in use.
Finally pulling her last leg free, she turned her back to Proteus as well and dipped into the water. She still couldn't swim, so she had to hold on to the ledge, but at least she could swish her legs around in the water and feel like the sand was moving off her skin.
But it wasn't. The damned jagged little pieces seemed to cling to her form, no matter how hard she tried to wiggle her body. The water wasn't making them get off. It was just existing with the sand. How was that even possible?
"The hologram pod seems to be working the best. The puck had to be thoroughly cleaned, but I managed.
" Pilot sounded pleased with himself. "The logs are very thorough, and watching them might help us determine which of the remaining equipment we wish to uncover, and perhaps decide if there are any we can ignore or remove from the facility. "
"I would prefer this place to be cleared of sand entirely," Proteus said, his rumbling making the water vibrate around her.
"Unfortunately, that is unlikely. There is nothing to patch the walls with, and I've already identified multiple areas where the structure of this building is compromised. Unfortunately, even if we fixed the major damage in the wall, sand would still get in."
Proteus grunted, clearly in disapproval.
Ellie tested moving one hand off of the wall and using it to scrub at her torso. That seemed to work to remove all the spiky granules. So she leaned down a little farther and instantly lost her grip.
Her head dunked underneath the water, and she waved her arms like she'd seen others do. Kicked her legs. She even wiggled her body the way it was supposed to so she would float to the surface, but nothing seemed to work.
Then, a massive arm hooked around her waist and hauled her back up to the surface. Spluttering, she leaned back against the massive wall of muscle that was Proteus and trusted him to hold her up while she shoved her hair back from her face.
"Try not to die," he said, although his voice sounded strained.
"I still don't know how to swim."
"I will teach you soon enough."
She thought he would bring her back to the wall and allow her to cling to it.
Instead, he moved her in his arms, and then his tail was between her legs.
Thick and muscular, it made something deep inside her chest awaken in a way she hadn't realized it could.
Her entire body felt hot. Her breathing was a little more rapid.
Her heart felt like it was trying to beat its way out of her chest and between her legs. ..
Heat.
Indescribable heat.
Proteus sounded almost pained as he said, "I will keep you afloat. Finish your bathing, Sisu."
How was she supposed to finish bathing with a sinuous tail undulating between her legs? She hadn't even realized her body could feel like this! It was glorious, terrifying, aching, everything she had not realized a human could feel.
Pilot was still prattling on about the holograms, and she was supposed to be scrubbing herself. So that's what she did. Robotically. Trying not to move at all because she was so terrified that the feeling would get worse. Or better.
It was best not to encourage a rebellious body.
"Perhaps you should turn the hologram on," Proteus said. There was still an odd edge to his voice. Clipped and different from normal, as though he were straining himself.
Was she that heavy? She didn't think it would be a struggle for him to keep her afloat with his tail, but she really had no idea how much effort he was exerting. Maybe it wasn't easy to use his tail like this, although it sure seemed like there was enough of it.