—Jiro—
...
Quickly, in here.
I guess we're doing this

Jiro beckons to pull Glard up into a vent, a notion he finds particularly objectionable.

  Glard Gorpnan
We can't-- we can't go in the vents!!
They're only rated to carry air! We're not air!!
These weren't designed to hold people!

Sunny
* You say that, but given what Nix told me about this world I reckon they probably literally were.

  Glard Gorpnan
What?

Sunny
* Yeah, nah, don't worry about it.
* Change of subject: I am bloody curious as to why you're risking your shit for us here -- not that I don't appreciate it -- cause that's a level of common fuckin' courtesy we've not really been getting from the rest of these arseholes.

  Glard Gorpnan
Ahh-- of course!

Glard yields to the vent and follows Sunny and Jiro in, as he explains the chain of events that brought him to this point.

  Glard Gorpnan
Your world, Sunny, your Earth-- I've been there. I've seen it.

Glard recalls his past in a pixellated 4-bit style. A ship travels through hyperspace, but something is wrong

My squad and I were on a routine mission when our hyperspace node malfunctioned. We went hurtling off course, until our ship crash landed on your planet.

Among a forest of Avean corpses, a saintlike Coral stands between Cliff Mason and Glard.

My squad... we were slaughtered. Cliff Mason found us there, somehow. He gunned them down one after another...

I was the sole survivor, all thanks to the charity of your friend, Corala Jasper, who stood between Cliff Mason and myself to ensure I would live on!

Sunny
* Jazza???

—Jiro—
...
Coral...?
The dog girl?

  Glard Gorpnan
It wasn't just Corala, either... my survival was the will of Helix! It must have been!

Glard recalls Sitara's parents, the peacock and the macauque, elevated in his mind to the king and queen of a new age.

Helix showed me a vision of another world, where all species could stand together, hand in hand, as allies and equals.

I just... didn't understand what I was meant to do with it.

Glard sees himself alone before a great divine helix.

How could it be me? I thought. I couldn't-- I wasn't the worthiest. The others were stronger, or smarter, or braver, and I was just-- just a Grunt! A coward Grunt who ran and hid! What could Helix possibly see in me!?

But now... I see it too. Another vision-- you, Sunny! You risked everything to save this human from his shackles -- now it makes SENSE!

  Glard Gorpnan
There IS better way! Helix has shown me the light!

All we have to do is have the courage to reach out our claws and make it so!!!

Sunny
* YEAH! YEAH, CUNT!!!
* I'm likin' the mass of that nutsack!!
* So what's the plan from here, huh?

  Glard Gorpnan
The plan... the plan is...

Glard, now sitting with Sunny and Jiro in a vent nexus with an overhead fan, just full-on panics with wailing and weeping and everything.

  Glard Gorpnan
I DON'T KNOWWWWWWWWWW

  Glard Gorpnan
I didn't think I'd get this far!!
OH HELIX I'M PLUCKED I'M GOING TO DIE!!!

Sunny
* Jesus Christ, mate, calm your farm--!

  Glard Gorpnan
My farm is in SHAMBLES!!
I'VE MADE ONE MOVE AND I'M ALREADY A FAILURE!!!

—Jiro—
...
You and me both
You're not a failure, that's stupid. If it weren't for you, I'd be locked up back in the labs and Sunny would be facing a military tribunal.
Better than me, everyone would be in a better place if I were never even born.
Sunny would probably be dead right now if I hadn't been there to help her in Hellfuck.
Oh shut up

Glard snaps back into a confident proclamation!!!

  Glard Gorpnan
Of course!! We've made it this far... anything is possible!

—Jiro—
...
Okay let's not get ahead of ourselves
You just switch that bravery on and off, huh. Like a horse.

Sunny
* Let's not get behind our own arses either.
* We breathe the stale fuckin' air of this ventilation system too long, our lungs'll prolly start growing yet undiscovered species of fungus.
* Or. Y'know. We'll get caught again.
* So if you don't got a way out, that means it's time to invent one.

Sunny sends a pointed glance back at Jiro.

Sunny
* For all three of us.

—Jiro—
...
You're never leaving me behind, are you
Fine, I won't stop you. You can drag me along all you want, even if it's just drawing out the pain.
Thank you
The last plan actually got pretty far, for what it's worth. There was something to it.
...
Glard. You wouldn't happen to have yellow keycard access, would you?






Lum says:
BIG NEWS, EVERYONE! I've got a game coming out!!!
Check out the trailer:


It's called Jamhouse -- an action puzzler about clearing stacks of jam away before they rack up too high. I've worked real hard on it over these past few months.

Give it a look, and if you're interested, be sure to drop a wishlist! That'd help me out a great deal. Thanks for your attention!