Chapter Text
It was dark. So dark, she could hardly see her arms in front of her face. That was fine; the stars would guide her. The stars, immutable and eternal, lay along the well worn path; They were not bright enough to light the way, but bright enough to be visible themselves.
At first, she walked slowly along the worn, beaten path- feeling her way along where her eyes could not help her. Then, she realized she could swim, and so she did. She effortlessly rose above the path, and gracefully jetted from one star to the next.
Each star was a tiny red light in the darkness; small enough to hold in the palm of her hand. When she reached one, it would glow bright, so bright, for just a moment, before it would fizzle out, and she would swim for the next one.
The path below her had now turned to a dark, sandy seafloor. Mostly, it was empty, save for herself and the stars. Occasionally, something else would come into view- a building, or perhaps a machine, or something she did not recognize, buried in the sand. She swam around it, following the stars, and the objects disappeared in the dark water behind her.
She had to follow the stars. They would lead her to where she needed to go. She would follow the stars, and all would be well. All that mattered was the stars.
But then there was something else. A terrifying rumble filled the sea, and she panicked. She darted for something, anything- she hid under the nearest bit of debris she could find. The rumble got louder. Then things crashed down from above; huge things. She did not know what they were.
She peeked out from her shelter, and was blinded and deafened- a mighty CRACK rang through the air, and all she could see was white. It only lasted for a moment, but even when it was gone the afterimage of a jagged bolt remained in her vision. Then there was another, and another. The ceasless crash of the heavens falling to earth. Then, she heard it- that monstrous groan of steel ripping apart and falling.
She knew what would happen next. She knew she must flee- the next star was right there. But she could not. She had lost control of her body. Against her will, she crawled out from her shelter and watched helplessly as that huge, metal thing fell down on top of her. If she could just get away, she would be safe. If she could just move, she would be safe. But she could not move. All light left as the thing came crashing down to crush her.
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Inalynn Voltra woke with a start. Her skin was grey and clammy, her breathing was fast and shallow, and her cranial arms flailed wildly. Her vision was blurred from tears, and the world was a confusing and frightening blur of color.
“Hey, hey! You good?”
Gradually, her vision sharpened and focused. In front of her was Tayella Strong, her squadmate and best friend for years. Ina’s breathing slowed down, and she collected herself. She nodded, and Tay made a warm smile. That always made Ina feel better. As she calmed down, she blinked the tears out of her brown eyes, her skin tone returned to it’s normal light-beige hue, and her mantle shifted to her natural ink color, a muted lavender.
She was lying on an old, stained mattress, heavily worn and used by numerous octopi over many years. It was slightly too big for the cutout in the concrete wall that was her bed., and thus bent up at the ends. On the other side of the curtain was a small railing to prevent her falling out onto the floor in her sleep, and past that was a small dormitory room featuring a closet, several tables, and various miscellaneous items scattered throughout; A small book here, a spool of wire there. The overhead light was dim, only barely enough light to see by. A small seed oil lamp sat in the middle of the table, in case someone needed more light.
“Had that dream again, huh?”
Ina nodded. It was nice to have somebody that just got her. She looked up into Tay’s vibrant green eyes- Far more vibrant than even the healthiest young shoots, framed by skin the color of good soil and a mantle dyed the bountiful gold of the sun. Tay chuckled at her gaze.
“I know I’m cute, but we really need to move, Ina. We’re already late.”
Ina checked the clock by her bed It was 2:49; Just fifteen minutes until the next hoverferry at 3:00. She needed to stop sleeping in. The two octolings stepped out into the dorm, and Ina quickly donned her uniform before the two shifted their ink color to agricultural green, shut off the lights, and bolted out the door.
Ina and Tay were privates in the Agricultural branch of the Octarian Woodwinds section, 2nd division, Alpha Company, Sweet Potato Splatoon, Squad 3. Sweet Potato Splatoon currently held 53 troopers in total, divided into 6 squads of 8 and one partial squad of 5. Each squad was assigned a dorm room in the same building, for convenience. Unlike most Octarian Splatoons, Sweet Potato Splatoon did not have permanent squad leaders- instead, Captain Kelly would temporarily grant a given squad member leadership only when she felt it was necessary. Seeing as they were primarily a labor unit who never saw combat, Kelly felt SPS squads didn’t really need to be able to operate autonomously, preferring to individually give each member assignments herself.
Ina, like all Octolings, had been enrolled in pre-elementary training at age 3. She hadn’t been particularly impressive, and didn’t manage to quality for elementary training proper until age 8. At that age, she’d been sent to Beaker’s Depot, where she frequently performed below expectations. Her combat performance in particular was abysmal (something she was beaten for every quarterly review). Still, her ability to repair and maintain machinery was decent enough, and when her class grew onions, hers was one of the better ones. She was deemed competent enough to be assigned to the agricultural sector. Since then, Ina had remained a private, lacking the drive and ambition needed to climb up the ranks. Tay had performed much better in school, yet was still considered menial because of her inclination towards trouble and disobedience.
The two were expected to be diligent workers, to ensure a steady food supply to Octaria, and, most relevant at the moment, to show up to work on time. Although the route to the local ferry dock was short, they would really have to leg it to catch the hoverferry- the rest of the squad had left a good 10 minutes ago. The two of them flew out the door and down the stairs of the dormitory complex they lived in. This, of course, brought them to the elevated catwalks above the streets in Dome H37.
Even months after Operation Everlasting Sunrise, Ina couldn’t help but stop and stare at the digital sky above. Right now, it was set a brilliant orange fading into purple, with white clouds lit up by the imaginary sun below the horizon. When she first saw that sky, she had bawled in joy. Even now, she felt a tear forming in her eye.
If only she could stare at that sky forever. Without her duties calling her away. Without being reprimanded for idleness.
Without the sinking feeling in her gut telling her that the inklings might soon take it all away. Several other habitation domes had already lost their skies, going back to the endless darkness they’d all been born into.
She pushed that thought aside. It wouldn’t happen. The Great DJ wouldn’t let that happen. Everyone would get their skies back, and the future would be glorious.
“Hey, hey! Brass to Ina! Come on!”
Right, right. She had places to be.
The two of them ran across catwalks, down into the street, and towards the hoverferry station. They ran through market square, where the artisan class hawked various miscellanea. No time. They ran past numerous dormitory buildings, a forge, and central command office. Ina winced as she looked at the time on the big clock- already 2:62. Just two minutes to get there!
When they turned the last corner, their hearts sank- the ferry was already steadily rising into the sky. They both screamed and waved their arms, but it was no use. They’d missed it. Ina paled, and Tay collapsed to the floor.
“Carp… Captain’s gonna give us shell for this.”
To conserve power, the ferry schedule had been reduced to once an hour. If they waited that long, they might be charged with dereliction of duty. They had little choice but to walk all the way to dome A3. Ina helped Tay to her feet, and the two resignedly started the long walk of shame. Some of the people they’d passed on their run shot them disapproving looks, having guessed their tardiness. They tried not to think about it. It was a relief when they reached the edge of the dome; they hopped in one of the inklines surrounding the dome’s circumference and swam around the edge until they reached the kettle station. There was a security checkpoint here, manned by a squad of eight bored-looking soldiers. They quickly waived Ina and Tay through, and then the two of them hopped into the kettle opening. They shot through the pressurized kettle tunnel at breakneck speed, only to pop out the other end, only to have to swim through another inkline to enter another kettle, and so on and on.
They passed through five domes before they managed to reach A3. Inside, the towering stack of farm platforms ran all the way to the dome’s ceiling, imposing as ever. Each one was a disc almost half a a mile in diameter, suspended on countless, enormous concrete pillars and steel support struts. At the base of the structure was a small collection of buildings which served as this dome’s command hub. Next to those buildings was the only elevator in this dome. It was essentially a fenced platform and counterweight set inside of twin elevator “shafts” which were actually just sets of rails running up to the top of the dome, leaving the whole system very exposed. The elevator had many sets of controls- one on each floor of the farming terrace, and one in the box itself. There was also a spiral ramp that led around the structure for moving heavy machinery, and as a back up in case the elevator went down. (this could happen quite easily; as a security feature the whole elevator system would instantly shut down if even one set of controls was damaged.)
Ina and Tay gave themselves a moment to catch their breath before running for the command station at the base of the structure. The rest of the squadron was already moving towards the elevator. The two of them looked at each other, and briefly considered following their squad and pretending that they knew what the assignment was… until they felt their tentacles suddenly go stiff with fear. They slowly turned around, and looked at a very cross-looking Captain Kelliana Tracer.
“You were not present for Role Call.”
Ina gulped. Tay shakily asked for permission to speak.
“Granted.”
“We, uh… missed the ferry?”
“Why.”
“Because, um… we, er I, sorta...”
SLAP!
Tay stumbled back from the impact, and fell on her rear. Ina visibly jumped, and remained perfectly still.
“Ina. Tay. Are you aware that Commander Copper herself is observing us today?”
Both grunt’s eyes widened in shock, and their tentacles involuntarily paled in fear.
SLAP!
Ina fell to the ground alongside her comrade.
“KEEP YOUR SATURATION WHEN ON DUTY!”
both girls apologized and quickly stood up, forcing their cranial arms back to standard agricultural green.
“Do you think it reflects well on me when two of my splatoon are absent for role call?”
…
“ANSWER ME!”
“no, Captain.”
“Is this behavior an appropriate way to honor the great Octavio?”
“no, Captain”.
“Do you think it is appropriate for such behavior to go unpunished?”
“...n… no, Captain.”
It was then that Captain Kelly gave her signature “smile of unspoken doom” as the splatoon called it. Her face looked nothing but calm and serene, but even someone who hadn’t served under Kelly could feel the sheer depth of rage behind it. Both girls gulped once more.
“Because you missed morning meeting, I will relay your assignments to you. You will join the rest of your squad on layers 5 through 9 for inspection and weeding duty. You will then report to leader Jay on level 3. Several of the lights have been reported as malfunctioning. You will repair all of these. You will have this done by 7:32, at which time you will report to me at the command station.”
“Yes, captain!”
“And you will be given reduced rations for one week.”
Ina paled again, and Tay opened her mouth to protest.
SLAP!
“DO NOT SPEAK BACK TO ME!”
“yes, captain!”
Kelly gave the two one last sneer.
“Go.”
The two didn’t need to be told twice.
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They ended up staying in dome A3 long after the rest of their squad had left. They missed the ferry home; Captain Kelly had dismissed them just in time for them to see it fly off without them. They were forced to swim back home again.
Ina wanted to go home as soon as possible, but Tay insisted on making one quick detour. It was to a small shrine not too far from home. A shrine to Octaria’s old gods; Gods they’d worshiped long ago.
The shrine was small, nestled in between two larger apartment buildings, and featured a small brass statue featuring a goddess. Tay said her name was Mathilde. She was placed on top of what used to be a fountain, before it had been shut off to conserve water. There were only a couple other people here, mostly elderly octolings who worked in simple jobs not involving much labor.
The shrine was surprisingly clean. Not many people still cared about, or even knew the old gods, but those few who still did were very devoted. Tay was one of them. Ina, personally, didn’t understand why anybody would bother- if the gods were so great, after all, then why was Octaria trapped underground?
Ina had asked Tay about this once. As Tay said a quick prayer, Ina recalled that conversation.
“...Tay, why do you care about the old gods? All my schoolteachers said that the gods are just old superstitions.”
“That’s because the schoolteachers are trained to dismiss any power that isn’t the brass.”
“But still, why bother? What does this accomplish?”
“You’d be surprised. The gods may not make themselves obvious, but they still intervene in our lives in little, subtle ways that you’ll miss if you aren’t looking.”
“The schoolteachers say you’re just attributing any fortunate coincidences to the gods.”
Tay simply grunted dismissively. Ina, however, was not done questioning her.
“Doesn’t it make more sense to devote yourself to Lord Octavio? He’s the one who led us into the domes at the end of the Great War.”
Tay smiled smugly.
“And the gods helped him do it. They guided him to the domes so that he could guide us.”
“And if the gods are so great, why didn’t they help us win the Great War?”
Tay hadn’t had an answer for this. Even so, her devotion remained unshaken.
Back in the present moment, Tay finished her prayer and lightly jostled Ina back to attention. Time to go home.
When they finally reached their dorm, the rest of the squad was quietly chatting. The chatter stopped dead when they noticed the others, and they all looked away self-consciously. Ina, teary-eyed, hungry, and exhausted, climbed straight into bed and collapsed. Her cuts and bruises flared up every time she moved. She hadn’t even taken off her chestplate. She started softly crying, careful not to be overheard over the music player sitting on the main table.
Before long, she heard somebody else climbing up to her hole in the wall.
“Mind if I join you?”
It was Tay, naturally. Ina quietly grunted to confirm, and Tay climbed on top of her. (Technically, that kind of physical closeness wasn’t allowed, but many dorms ignored that rule as long as no higher-ups were watching.) It was comforting, having somebody else’s weight on her, Ina thought. She was happy to spend the rest of the night like this, to try and forget her troubles for just a little while. The idle chatter of the rest of the squad had started back up, and it mixed with the quiet music from the player to form a pleasant sort of white noise, preventing things from feeling too empty.
...Tay was very soft.
Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted; one of the other squadmates was speaking outside the curtain. It was Viola.
“Psst- hey, you two. Did you hear the news?”
As always, Tay took care of the speaking for her. Ina appreciated that.
“What news?”
“The concert! It’s mostly still a rumor, but word on the street has it that Lord Octavio’s planning a big victory concert!”
At this, Tay practically jumped up and tore open the curtain (shoving Ina’s face into the mattress in the process).
“WE GOT THE INKLINGS?”
The rest of the room shushed her, and Tay winced- both from embarrassment and from the injuries she’d just re-aggravated.
“sorry.”
“Ah, well, no, not yet… but we’re gonna! Rumor has it that they’re gonna bring the menace right into the concert and kill’em during the performance!”
“Wha- really?”
“...well, it’s like, just a rumor, but… Like, I know somebody who says she knows somebody in the Brass, and she says they're already prepping the concert hall!”
“Holy carp, that’s cool! We haven’t had a big concert since Sunrise! Ina, what do you- Oh, carp! sorry!”
Tay took her weight off Ina’s head, and Ina gasped for breath after being smothered in the mattress.
“So, when is it?”
“I haven’t heard an exact date, but supposedly it’s gonna be in just a few weeks. They’re calling it “Operation Angler!”
Tay and Viola continued chatting for a little while, before Ina decided to interrupt with her own thoughts.
“Is all this really worth the trouble? Getting tickets isn’t exactly easy for grunts like us.”
Viola responded quickly.
“Bite your tongue! This is the most important concert in the history of Octaria!”
“That’s what they said about the Sunrise Concert” Ina replied sullenly. “I didn’t get to see that one in person- I just watched a recording.”
At this, Tay gasped.
“Oh, Cod no!”
Ina scoffed. “I mean, does it really make any difference? You hear the same music either way.”
Tay looked appalled.
“Bite your tongue! It makes all the difference in the world! A recording just isn’t the same!”
Ina still looked unconvinced, so Tay took matters into her own hands.
She pulled Ina off the mattress and held her face right up against her own. Ina suddenly felt very warm- she was painfully aware of Tay’s hands on her cheeks, and Tay’s sharp green eyes pierced her soul. Her skin unconsciously started to flush blue with blood.
“Inalynn Geothrudulus Voltra, I will personally see to it that you see this concert in person, come hell or high water.”
Oh, clamn. She was serious about this.
“We’ll work double duty if we have to! We are getting those tickets!”
The thought of working double duty instinctively sparked a sense of fear and revulsion in Ina’s hearts, but as she looked at Tay’s steadfast determination, all her concerns seemed to melt away.
“Don’t you even think of backing out of this, Ina! Swear you’ll work with me! Swear we’ll see that concert! Whatever it takes!”
It took Ina a moment to find her voice.
“I, uh…”
“Swear on The Great DJ’s honor!”
“on the… the gr… wh…”
“Swear!”
Ina’s hearts were beating faster than any synth beat she’d ever heard. The fear she felt would be overpowering if it were not for this… other… sensation she felt when her face was so close to Tay’s. A part of her wanted to shut her eyes, but a bigger part declared that doing so would be sacrilege.
“I… uh…”
Ina gulped. There was no getting out of this, was there?
“I, Inalynne Geothrudulus Voltra, swear on… on the honor of the greatest of all disc jockeys, may… may he d… dubstep my face in should I falter, that I…
Tay, seeing her hesitation, led her through the rest of the oath.
“That I will do whatever it takes to get into the greatest victory concert of all time, and have my mind and soul blown open and changed forever!”
“That… That I…”
Ina gulped again. Now or never, she supposed.
“That I will do whatever it takes to get into the greatest victory concert of all time, and have my mind and soul blown open and changed forever!”
Tay’s smile was almost blinding. She pulled Ina into a hug, and now her face was almost as blue as her mantle.
“YES! NO REGRETS, BABY!”
“SHHHH!”
“sorry.”
As Tay continued the hug, Ina’s various cuts and bruises flared up again. Somehow, she didn’t mind much.
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The weeks after that seemed to pass by in a blur. Before long, the concert was officially announced and titled. It would be called the Great Anniversary Concert of Glorious Octarian Supremacy, or the Supremacy Concert for short.
Even on reduced rations, Ina worked harder than she ever had before. Every time she started to slow down, Tay would remind her of her vow and keep her moving. (It helped that Tay occasionally stole extra rations to keep her motivated. That was awe-inspiring in and of itself- Ina couldn’t imagine herself doing such a thing.)
Even Kelly seemed impressed… probably. Ina really hoped she wasn’t just imagining that.
Each night, when she got back to the dorm, she was exhausted, and dropped into bed immediately. Frequently, Tay would serve as her weighted blanket. The rest of the dorm didn’t mind, so long as they didn’t make any weird noises. Ina wasn’t sure if this helped her sleep or not- Being so close to Tay didn’t used to make her hearts beat quite so fast.
All was not well, of course- the Inkling Menace continued her horrible work all the while. More domes had their zapfish stolen, and more and more facilities had to go low-power or shut down altogether. Eventually, even Ina’s own sky was shut off, returning her to the world of Darkness she’d known from birth… But that didn’t phase her. She knew that once the menace was finally ended, Lord Octavio would launch operation Everlasting Sunrise 2, and all would be restored to glory.
Their performance was rewarded. In addition to their standard pay, Ina and Tay managed to earn a small bonus each week, which they carefully saved up. When they finally had enough, the two of them applied for the Supremacy Concert ticket raffle. After that, all they could do was wait. Tay prayed for good fortune regarding the tickets. She did think it was a little selfish to pray for such a thing, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime event that, according to Tay, Ina simply could not miss. As for Ina herself? She simply stewed in anxiety. This made her feel ill, which affected her performance at work. She was reprimanded for this, of course.
Finally, one night after Ina had stayed late trying to repair a particularly troublesome sprinkler, she got home to find Tay standing at the door waiting for her. Despite her best efforts, Tay was unable to hide her beaming smile, and from that, Ina quickly guessed why she was waiting. The two of them laughed and embraced, and joined in with the rest of the squad to celebrate (they’d all gotten tickets, too).
That night, Ina felt more hopeful for the future than she’d felt in a long time.
Of course, it didn’t last.
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A few weeks before the concert, Ina and Tay were working on one of the Autotillers on layer 7. The autotillers were large robotic rototillers which operated on a modified version of the Industrial Squee-G AI. They were based on the Industrial Squee-G frame, as well, giving them a similar appearance. The biggest differences were that the autotillers had far more powerful drive motors, to help push them through tough soil, and in place of a scrubber system they had a series of strong tilling blades for shearing dirt. To use them, operators would ink the soil they wished to till, and then set the autotiller loose; A simple and convenient way to till one part of a field while leaving the rest untouched.
This one in particular, however, when moved into position, would start moving for just a second or two, before making uncomfortable noises and shutting down. Normally, this sort of job would be done by one of the splatoon’s more mechamusically inclined members- usually Ori and Sprocket. Unfortunately, Ori had recently lost an arm in an unrelated accident, and Sprocket was busy with the main sprinkler control system.
Truth be told, Ina and Tay were not at all qualified for this job; the smart thing to do would be to ask one of the other A3 splatoons for assistance, or perhaps to send out a request for a DJ. Unfortunately, Captain Kelly wanted this repair job on her own personal record- so, lacking available qualified candidates, she simply assigned the two members who had been most generally productive in the past few weeks.
And so it was that the two grunt workers were currently scratching their heads in confusion, trying to read blueprints that were far beyond either girl’s understanding.
“Do you think maybe it has a bad motivator?”
“Could easily be the glubwoofer instead...”
“Maybe if we move the main synth beat down to a D Flat?”
“...how would we do that, exactly?”
“...no clue, sorry.”
They were sitting on top of the tiller machine- It’s outer plates had been removed, but it was otherwise intact. Not knowing what else to do, they had thoroughly scrubbed all of the components clean (or at least, those they could reach easily), and that hadn’t fixed the problem.
“I still think there’s maybe just a rock in the drive system we missed.”
“Ugh. I don’t wanna check that again.”
“Got any better ideas?”
“Not really… these diagrams might as well be written in Inklish for all I can read them. Like, seriously, what the shell is a 5 pole harmonizer? ”
There was, in fact, a rock in the drive system they had missed. It was not the cause of the machine’s malfunction. And so, they kept on working… or, more accurately, idling about the machine and trying to guess what each part did. As the day went on, the girls started to become anxious. At the end of the day, they would need to report their progress at the stand-up meeting. If they had to report to Captain Kelly that they had gotten exactly zero work done in a full day… better not to think about it.
“Um, maybe this wire’s in the wrong spot?”
“What makes you think that?”
“I mean, something has to be wrong, right?”
“Well, where do you think it should go?”
“Maybe… here?”
As the two of them randomly connected and disconnected parts, they periodically tried re-starting the machine to see what changes had been made. Most of the time, nothing happened. At one point, they did manage to identify the main motor for the tiller, which gave them quite a fright, but other than that, they accomplished little. As the day came to a close, the two started to panic. Leaving a mess like this would only make Kelly more angry. Ultimately, they were forced to conclude that they could not repair the machine, and would have to report as much to Captain Kelly.
“...But we can’t just leave it like this! There are parts and cables everywhere! If Kelly sees this, we might not get any rations at all next week!”
“Um… maybe if we can just get it the way it was when we started?”
And so, consulting a manual that neither girl understood, the two of them tried to re-assemble the machine they’d steadily deconstructed over the course of the day. When they were confident they had all the parts in place, they powered it on again, hoping that against all odds, they had somehow fixed the problem. They knew it wouldn’t work, of course, but what else could they do?
“Well, here goes nothing…”
Tay pulled the main power lever, and stood back as the thing booted up. It played that familiar jingle most Octarian machines played on startup, ending in the onward motif, of course. Then, it remained still for just a moment… before it started to move. The two watched on in astonished disbelief, before one of them dared to speak.
“Wait, is it actually…?”
“It… It’s following the ink trail I left!”
“Ina… Ina, I think we did it!”
“Oh my cod, we did it!”
The two then proceeded to hop around and squee with pride and jubilation, before they jumped into a hug. They were now officially super soldiers. The respect this repair would earn them would be considerable, and they knew their futures were bright. The massive machine, unaware of their display, steadily drove forward, it’s enormous tilling blades churning the soil before it.
“Wow, look at him go!”
“I’m proud of you, Auto!”
“...hey, Tay?”
“I just can’t believe we really did it!”
“...Tay?”
“yo?”
“is it supposed to be flashing orange like that?”
As a matter of fact, they had successfully fixed the problem. The machine simply had dirt clogging up some of it’s crucial connection points, interfering with the electric signal. All they had needed to do was disconnect and clean some of the cables.
...However, in their rush to put the machine together before end-of-day stand up, they had made a critical mistake. They hadn’t forgotten to connect anything, mind you, nor did they plug any of the cables into the wrong sockets. The machine’s builders had cleverly welded on various little key-shapes on the ends of the cables to prevent this from happening (an innovation that their superior took all credit for).
Rather, they had connected something they weren’t supposed to; the machine’s main sensor apparatus.
If you are familiar with the Industrial Squee-G, then you are probably aware of the machine’s most notable flaw- a flaw that would only be partially fixed with the MK 11 several years after this story. The flaw in question is, of course, the machine’s… overenthusiastic attitude towards cleaning. The Industrial Squee-G has an advanced array of sensors allowing it to detect even the tiniest amount of not just ink, but any hazardous materials or organic contaminants, leaving the surface underneath spotless.
Trouble is, from the Squee-G’s point of view, people count as organic contaminants.
Several of Octaria’s most clever and devoted DJ’s had long since been working on this safety hazard, but trying to convince the AI that some contaminants were OK had proved… challenging. This made them incredibly difficult, logistically, to use, as the entire area had to be evacuated before a Squee-G could be sent in.
The most practical solution found so far had been to make a smaller Squee-G which lacked the physical means to cause any serious damage. This worked for the most part, but the “Safety Squee” didn’t quite have the same mmph to it, so to speak; it lacked the power to clean up the most severe and hazardous messes. (It also kept tripping people when it rammed into their legs, meaning it wasn’t actually quite as safe as advertised.)
So, then, why were the users of the autotillers so callous with their machines? The answer is that the DJ responsible for the autotiller had found a surprisingly simple workaround to the machine’s behavior: Unplug it’s eyes. Without it’s main sensor array, the autotiller is only able to detect ink immediately in front of it through a secondary sensor (in this case, tuned specifically to ink.) Thus, the reason why autotillers do not attempt to “decontaminate” their handlers is because they cannot see said handlers.
Some of the readers may be wondering why, exactly, the autotillers have this sensory apparatus at all, if it isn’t meant to be used. The reason is the Octaria’s general lack of material resources and general belief in recycling. Rather than build new units from scratch, higher ups preferred to repurpose existing machines. In this case, that meant converting existing industrial Squee-G's into autotillers by replacing the cleaning rig with a tilling rig, and supplying a much stronger drive motor set. The higher ups also wanted to be able to convert them back if necessary, and so it was decided to leave the sensory apparatus in place for convenience. To prevent accidents, the commander responsible for this order sent a memo to all splatoon captains that the sensor system was not to be plugged in- something Kelly quickly relayed to her most mechamusically inclined subordinates and then forgot about entirely.
The point of all this being that although they hadn’t quite realized it yet, Tay and Ina had just set loose a bull shark in a kiddie pool.
When Tay looked at the machine again, it’s behavior did seem notably different. It had left the neat square pattern it was in before, and it seemed to be moving faster than it did before… and was it just her, or was it moving straight towards…
“TAY!?”
Ina had now backed up several meters, and the autotiller had left the ink path it was meant to follow.
Tay, beginning to feel worried, also instinctively stepped backwards. The Autotillers spinning array of soil blades suddenly looked a lot more threatening. As the autotiller continued to advance towards her, Tay watched in growing horror as it chewed right through a wooden fence, spitting out huge wood splinters in all directions… and yet, she could only slowly back away. She was caught in a sort of panicked trance, seemingly instinctively trying to move slowly to avoid notice. Some part of her knew that this wasn’t working, and it was flooding her mind with alarm bells.
...It suddenly occurred to Tay that there were no spawn pads set up in this dome. They were expensive to maintain, after all, and why would simple farm laborers need such a thing?
Just as she started feeling soil particles hitting her face, Ina grabbed her hand and forcefully yanked her out of the way. The trance was broken, and Ina screamed a single command at the top of her lungs.
“RUN!”
As the two took off, the machine’s main motor roared in apparent anger as it pursued them. The pair were initially able to gain a sizable lead, as the autotiller had to churn it’s way though almost two feet of dirt and soil wherever it moved… until the machine realized it could raise it’s tiller blades into the up position, at which point the overpowered drive motors that normally pushed it through the dirt now raced forward at terrifying speed.
Even at a full sprint, Ina and Tay were only slightly faster than the mechanical reaper on their tail. The octolings tried to use terrain to their advantage, as they’d been taught in their combat classes, but the autotiller simply ripped through anything in it’s path. Their only hope was to escape to the elevator, where it hopefully couldn’t follow.
They pushed and shoved their way through a thick plot of wheat, hoping to loose the monster on their tail. When they emerged from the other side, they saw, to their horror, two other squads, oblivious to the approaching danger. The most they could do was scream out a warning as they flew through their work area- earning confused and angry shouts when they carelessly trampled the new bean shoots being planted. When the neighboring wheat plot was mowed down, however, and an enormous steel catfish with spinning razors for teeth, roaring like an angry tiger shark, emerged from the greenery, they put the pieces together pretty quickly. Everyone present scattered among a chorus of panicked screams.
The machine, on emerging from the dense brush, had briefly lost track of it’s current targets, and upon finding a whole gaggle of walking goo-stains, found itself unable to single just one of them out. Whenever it got close to catching one, the contaminant would rapidly dodge in another direction, and it would loose focus, latching on to the next potential target it spotted. This continued until it found one particular target that was slower than the rest…
...and when Inalynn heard one particularly desperate warble, she turned in horror to see one of the cut-tentacle octotroopers had been singled out. Without strong running legs like an octoling, it was practically a sitting duck.
Moving without thought, Ina whirled around backwards and ran towards the autotiller. With grace rather uncharacteristic of her, she scooped up a sickle and hurled it at the machine like a shuriken. Fate was on her side, it seemed, as it landed straight in the machine’s main robotic eye- This stunned it just long enough for two other octolings to grab hold of the trooper and drag it away. One of them shouted a command at her as they dragged their fellow soldier away:
“Keep it distracted! We’ll evacuate the others!”
When the autotiller recovered, Ina was now it’s closest target.
“INA!”
Tay had briefly lost her in the scuffle, and quickly rejoined her best friend in running for their lives. Ina quickly relayed the order, and the two of them fell back on their training to lead the machine on a wild goose chase. When one of them started to get tired, they would dart into cover while the other tried to grab the autotiller’s attention. This worked for just long enough for a couple other octolings to join in, making things quite a bit more manageable. Somebody- one of the male octolings from another squad- had taken charge of the situation and acted as squad leader, making life much simpler for Ina and the others. If there was anything Ina was good at, it was following orders.
And so, under the direction of their new leader, five Octolings played an elaborate game of hot-potato in which the “potato” was the attention of a 2-ton hulking robotic catfish trying to murder them. Once somebody else had caught the things attention, the former target would back of and catch their breath, waiting until they were called for again. This worked well, for a while, but they could only stall for so much time; Octopi were not built for endurance, and it wasn’t long before the squad started to tire.
Thus, it was to everyone’s relief when another trooper ran in and called everyone to the elevator. The temporary distraction squad directed their game of cat and mouse in that general direction, until the elevator was in sight- at which point the squad all broke formation and made a mad dash for it.
Ina was the last one holding the autotiller’s aggro, and she was exhausted. Even with safety in sight, she could feel herself slowing down. Everyone was calling her forward- if she could just make this last push… She dropped into octopus form, and gathering as much strength as she could, launched herself straight into the open elevator. Even before she was in, their squad leader had activated the controls, sending them up and out of harm’s way… or so they thought.
There was a flaw in the leader’s plan- he hadn’t considered what would happen after the elevator started moving. The autotiller did not simply stop when the elevator started to rise up- instead, it kept chugging forward, until it’s tiller blades ripped that floor’s elevator controls to shreds. The elevator jolted to a sudden stop, and everybody on board simultaneously paled in terror as the metal monster kept moving.
“It’s gonna break the elevator rails!”
and it did. In a last-ditch attempt to clean up the escaping contaminants, the autotiller tore right through one of the four steel rails making up the elevator shaft… and then right over the edge, where it smashed through the next one. With it’s support rails bent out of shape, the elevator platform tipped to the side, and all it’s passengers helplessly slid into the simple fence gate. Ina in particular would have flown right over the edge if Tay hadn’t managed to grab her arm just in the nick of time. The others instinctively grabbed hold of the safety fence as the elevator platform tipped fully sideways, clinging above a drop over a thousand feet. The autotiller smashed into the ground below, smashing a supply shed under it’s considerable weight, and finally rendering itself unable to chase down helpless contaminants.
Tay hauled Ina back on board, and the terrified squad held their breath in anticipation. In a moment of clarity, their leader took control of the situation once more.
“Everyone, we’re going to jump back onto the farm platform one at a time!”
One by one, each octoling carefully climbed into position, and leapt for the safety of the stable concrete structure in front of them. As they did, their momentum sent the elevator swinging backwards on the single cable now holding it aloft, and the rest had to wait for it’s momentum to slow down before they could make a jump for it. The hearts of those still on board hammered in their chests, hoping against hope that the elevator cable would hold just long enough for them to all get off. When at last, the impromptu squad leader jumped off, everybody immediately collapsed from fear and exhaustion, and most of them broke down sobbing. Tay and Ina fell into each other’s arms, and Ina actually blacked out.
When she came to, Tay was holding her protectively, face frozen in terror once more. When Ina looked up from Tay’s arms, she paled in shock and fear. Captain Kelly was looking down on them. Ina had believed that she’d seen the full extent of Kelly’s rage before this point. She was mistaken.
She passed out again.