[Round Two] Survival of the Fittest

[Altamira]

The entire world was an immersive, pacifying blue.

Schools of fish swam by in clusters of tangerine orange, coral pink, and sun yellow, their brilliant scales tinged with the all-engulfing hue; seaweed swayed and shuddered in the ebb and flow, their willowy forms darkened by it; the bleak gray sands were livened with the touch of it, the colored light washing over their shapeless expanse in elaborate patterns.

This was the panorama of the ocean floor.

Hayden gazed skyward through the clear dome’s vaulted ceiling, looking as far as the sprite’s eyes could see without even spotting the slightest hint of where the surface could be. No matter how much she strained, she only saw a blurry plane of swishing water that told her that sweet air and land were far beyond her visual limits—not to mention much further than she could ever physically strain herself to go. This underwater shelter was an alien world to her; such a vast and deep body of water anywhere at all was alien to her. It was as if someone took the tallest peaks of the mountains back home, hollowed them out, and inverted them, so that rather than reaching into the wispy bellies of heavenly clouds, they burrowed deep down into the furthest reaches of the planet’s core. To think of such a space filled entirely with saltwater was mind-boggling; she and this shelter were just blips in this underwater world, insignificant and unnoticed in the grand scheme of it all.

But even so, at the moment, the shelter and her own well-being were her greatest concerns. This dome was the only thing standing between her and the tons and tons of water bearing down on the structure at that very second, exerting a pressure great enough to crush her many times over. And this structure was failing—when she had awakened that morning, one of the marine biologists that had asked her to come along to help build this research center was at her bedside, screaming to her in a language she only partly understood about how the pressure was becoming too much for the structure to handle, and how they would have to evacuate that day. Most, if not all, of the scientists had already left, having been given first priority because of the research and knowledge they had to convey with them, both in their minds and on paper. Hayden and the others that helped with the construction were requested to stay until all the researchers could get away, locked out of the evacuation bay until further notice. There was supposed to be a signal given automatically immediately after the last of the humans went, but hours had passed before the dome’s program reacted and the siren rang out. Its power systems were already failing.

Soon, escape would just be a distant, drowning dream.

Staring up, unable to even glimpse the surface, drove that reality home even more. Hayden was unsure of just how many people were left in the shelter, but the low-resolution read-out screens that were still functioning reported that only one of the egg-shaped, single-person escape pods remained in the evacuation bay. The whole of the bay was blocked off from access by anyone whose eye-scan didn’t identify them as a scientist; even though all of the researchers had left long ago and the “civilians”, as they were being called, should have been allowed to go. The sprite could have bent the metallic door without so much as a second thought and gone inside, but she knew even the tiniest bit of pressure applied to the building might jeopardize the delicate structural integrity of the entire failing structure, bringing the shelter crashing down all around her and extinguishing the spark of life in her body quicker than she could blink. Someone needed to obtain the bypass codes that were kept in the auxiliary computer lab in the case of the eye-scan’s malfunction if they ever wanted to leave—and doubtful that she was the only one left to escape, that was easier said than done. No one would give up their only shot at survival willingly.

So, who was left for her to compete against then? It was a terrible thought to have, but a necessary one. One of them still stuck here would escape and any others would die—and that was best case scenario. At any moment, the dome could just be crushed and they would all be wiped out. Nothing was guaranteed.

Survival of the fittest is an ugly way to decide things.

[Kiriyama]

Amidst the panic and confusion, a lone kitten sat on the floor. One of the builders found the kitten before heading down, and decided to bring the furry critter with him. At the moment that man was off puking his guts out somewhere, leaving Ziran to his own devices.

“Mew?” Kunto questioned. He leapt to the side to avoid being stepped on, mewling loudly. “Me-mowow! Mew?!”

Another booted foot came down on Ziran. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get out of the way in time to avoid having the two-hundred pound man’s weight come crashing down on him. He was forced to shift into his hybrid form in order to survive. Staying a kitten would mean another death by crushing.

Despite shifting to a larger body, the catboy found that he wasn’t quite safe. True, the man’s weight didn’t crush him to death, as it would surely have done if he were still a kitten. Having the man step on his tail was far from painless, of course.

“What the hell?” the man questioned, looking down to try and find the source of the crunching he’d heard under his boot. He jumped when he saw the windigo below him (Landing on the exact same spot on Ziran’s tail, sadly), and took off again. “It’s all the water pressure! I’m losing my mind!”

Ziran slowly stood up, nursing his wounded appendage. Had he heard the man right? Water?! He looked around, finding no pools of water nearby. What was that guy talking about?

“He was just being silly,” Kunto thought, walking off in a random direction, wounded tail tenderly held in his hands. “There’s no water. Water’s only on the ground. Unless it‘s raining… Wait, is it gonna rain?!”

His ears flattened against his head and he hugged himself, looking upwards in search of storm clouds. He was immediately thrown into a panic. How did so much water get in the sky?! Ziran screamed and started running on all fours. Maybe he could get out of the water’s way? Then the water could fall, and it wouldn’t fall on him!

Three minutes later he looked up and found that the water was still above him. He was crying at this point, and didn’t notice that there was anybody in his way until it was too late. The catboy wound up tackling somebody and pinning them underneath himself.

OOC: Yes, I know it's short and crappy. Today's the last day of Summer Vacation, and I've got a loooooot of work to do. ;_;

[Altamira]

OoC: Nuu, it was fine! Ziran posts are always great (even if this one's sad, because he gets hurt! ;_; ) to read.

IC:
There was a commotion in the eastern sector of the dome that brought Hayden back to the present. A fight, it might have been, judging from the sounds; the curses of rough-necked builders were eminent among the whimpers and rumbles, their voices booming and boisterous. At every crash and cry, fearful, white-coated engineers could be seen rushing out of the area with their hands over their heads like some kind of strange, timid creature of the sea, wishing for their respective mothers more than they ever could remember doing so before. Hayden could scarcely imagine how they might react once they learned the terrible truth that had sunk her spirits minutes ago. With that thought grasped in her mind, she knew it was time for her to act.

Think--what can I use...what can I do...

Her severe lack of knowledge about humans had never been so apparent to Hayden as it was at that moment. What items in the dome were metallic and not vital to its struggle against the ocean hammering down on its surface? Were there any at all?

She surveyed the room she stood in, drawing the images of all the metal objects to her mind like a super-powered magnet; there were the glasses and pens of the scattered engineers who owned either, but that was insufficient material for what she was devising; there were a few chairs stationed at desks here and there, but they were too small in number to be of much use alone; and lastly, there was the faucet and sink. Before the sprite's eyes had even caught a glimpse of them, an idea hit her.

The scientists--they said they filtered this water, but left in the beneficial minerals. And there's a supply as large as the threatening ocean itself, since it the system draws its water from the sea! If I can get enough iron from it, I could create steel and maybe make some simple escape pods to save us!

Exhilarated by this new idea, the sprite rushed for the sink and threw the handle, loosing an intense stream of water from which she began to work. Along with the engineers, she had been one of the main contributors to the escape pods' construction and design, and she found modeling a less-sophisticated one to be rather doable work with proper concentration. The "innards", the true technological marvel of the piece, took what felt like hours, but the thick casing went quickly once she drew enough material from the gushing water that had now given her hope. When she finally finished with her project, she examined it minutely, and then, satisfied with the craftsmanship, went to tell the other builders of her idea.

But rather than finding a organized group of men ready and willing to accept any possible plan of escape, she walked in on an all-out brawl; rock-hard fists sailed through the air, connecting with targets on equally hard, sunburned faces; the more magically-inclined swiped at each other with fire and light, singeing the very hairs on each others' faces. At the center of it all was a short male with the ears of a kitten, cringing away from the flying fists and magic bursts, and apologizing through hands that covered his frightened face to a burly builder with a look that certainly wasn't advertising his love and forgiveness towards cat-people.

Hayden was just about to step closer to get a better look at the feline-man when one of the builders spun round and gave her a swift left hook to the chin.