#(shells bend shells break)

Seriously, could you give me a hand?!

*Daze doesn’t leave her shell, but she moves so she’s blocking the passage. Harmony relaxes slightly now that the drapemite can't get to them—*

*The giant drapemite leaps right over Daze, pouncing on Harmony and pinning them under its claws. They try to push it off, but it only digs in harder. They hiss in pain—*

*Daze whacks it with her twistpin as hard as she can.*

*The drapemite turns around, letting Harmony go. It scuttles towards Daze, and she hits it again and scuttles back as it retaliates. She takes something from her tool pouch—a drapemite trap—and tosses it on the floor. The giant drapemite jumps again, though, sailing over the trap. It slashes at Daze, leaving a nasty gash on her arm.*

Hey! Over here!

*Harmony throws another screwdriver at the drapemite. It ignores them in favor of its more threatening opponent.*

*Daze tucks herself into her shell again and charges at the giant drapemite, knocking it backwards. The trap activates, piercing into the drapemite’s body; as it struggles to free itself, Daze bashes it once, twice, thrice. Once it's not moving anymore, she stops, panting heavily.*

*The fight is over, and as usual, Harmony has done absolutely nothing helpful. They sigh and take some cloth from their pocket, gently wrapping it around Daze’s injury. Daze tries not to flinch at the wave of pain.*

...I’m sorry for not doing something sooner. That was cowardly of me.

It’s okay. I’m sorry for getting mad that you didn’t, that thing was scary.

I wasn’t scared. I mean, maybe a little bit, but I mostly just… don’t like getting into fights I don’t know I can win.

That makes sense. And you did help me in the end, that's the important thing! …Also, um, I’m sorry for being upset when you said that stuff about the Citadel. I still don’t think it’s true

(don’t want to think it’s true)

but we can just agree to disagree, can’t we?

...Alright.

*Once Harmony finishes with the bandaging, both bugs turn to look at the dead drapemite.*

Man, that thing looked way too big to jump...

Eh. It's close to the same size as me and I can jump higher than that.

Wait, really? Can you show me?

Once we're somewhere with a higher ceiling, maybe.

Yay. ...Anyways, I bet I could feed a lot of workers with this! Could you help me drag it?

That can’t possibly be true. There’s no way the Holy Citadel would do that!

Told you you wouldn’t believe me.

I do! Just, that Architect must be… mistaken. They have the wrong information, or misunderstood something, or…

They’re cogwork, they have a silkfly in them. I think they’d know.

Not necessarily!

So, an Architect is wrong? One of the most important bugs in the Citadel?

Better than the whole Citadel being wrong!

*That was not exactly what Harmony meant to say. They stare at the floor until Daze speaks again.*

Look, Harmony, the Citadel… I don’t think it’s as perfect as everyone says.

*They frown at her.*

They make bugs go on an incredibly dangerous pilgrimage, and then they send half of the survivors here to work until they die—

That’s not true! We’re just working until they bring us up there!

That has literally never happened before.

It has! Last year, Citadel bugs came and brought up some bugs who… couldn’t work…

...

...It’s not true.

*Harmony gets up and starts walking again, faster than before. Break time's over.*

*There's a particularly rusty bar on the silkfly cage; Daze snaps it in half. The silkfly flies up and hovers before her face for a second, wings beating brightly, before flying away.*

Oh, a light! That's nice, it's kind of dark in here.

...Yeah.

*As they walk, Daze's thoughts keep wandering back to the silkfly inside.*

*This was a person once. A person with thoughts and feelings and dreams and fears. Now it’s a lamp.*

*She figured the Citadel can’t be taking many bugs from the Underworks for this because many sick and elderly and disabled underworkers can still work—have to work—even if they’re less “efficient.” Then again, that must be true up in the Citadel too. And what about the ones who can’t work at all, no matter how much they might want to?*

*Citadel bugs don’t often come down here. But disappearances do happen sometimes. Generally assumed to be from falling into gear pits or lava or whatever, but sometimes...*

*And then, using silkflies to power cogwork bugs. What if those can't work anymore either? Move the silkfly to another shell, she supposes. Squeeze as much labor as you can out of every bug in Pharloom, one way or another.*

*She wishes she could talk to her dads about this. Pop would give her a hug, which probably wouldn’t make her feel better, and Dad would say there’s nothing she can do about it anyways so there’s no point being upset, which wouldn’t help either. But still…*

Daze? Is everything okay?

Just... thinking.

What? You're mumbling.

Just thinking.

Do you want to talk about it?

I don't think you'd believe me.

Of course I would! Why wouldn't I?

*Because they have a lot more faith in the Citadel than she does. But… This is one benefit of being on good terms with someone, isn’t it? To be able to talk to them about things like this?*

*She squeezes the silkfly cage tighter and sits down. Harmony sits across from her.*

*Standing on hot coals, Harmony scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, and their feet blistered and burned, and they cried for a minute at some point, continuing their work all the same. They didn't know how long it had been when someone lifted them up and set them down on safe ground.*

*It was one of their friends. Xe had tried calling out to them first, but between xer high-pitched voice and a nearby lava flow and Harmony's general exhaustion, they hadn't heard xem. Xe asked what the hell they were doing, but they still barely comprehended the question.*

Can't... fall asleep. Cita... del...

*Xe told them that rumors about the Citadel finally bringing up underworkers went around periodically, but it never actually happened. Harmony didn't hear. They wobbled on their feet, and their friend picked them up again and let their head rest on xer shoulder.*

'M not a baby...

*Still, as xe carried Harmony away, despite the pain, they finally let themself drift off to sleep.*

Hey! Hey, do you know how the new processing machines work? My friend got her claw caught in a machine, and we managed to turn it off but she can't get her claw out and it looks really bad—

Whoa, uh, slow down. Where's your friend?

*The kid drags her over to a room in which ores are processed. There are two more kids inside—one has the tip of her claw stuck between some rollers and is crying loudly, and the other is giving her a half hug in an attempt at comfort.*

Okay. Okay, let's see...

*Daze examines the rollers, trying to ignore the crying. She manages to unscrew and remove the one on top, and the kid shakily pulls her claw away. It's badly crushed.*

Here, I have some bandages in my bag. I—I know you're not bleeding much but, it's the best thing I can think of…

*The kid lets her friend clumsily wrap a length of cloth around her limb.*

A-am I gonna be okay...?

I mean, you're definitely not gonna die. Unless it gets infected—I mean, no, no chance of dying at all. I don't think you'll be able to use that claw anymore, but I'm not a doctor or anything...

*The third kid gives her another hug. She squeezes them back.*

Will I s-still be able to w-work?

Should be. If you need, you can probably ask for another job where you don't need your claw.

We should go find Granny, she'll know how to help.

B-but the cycle isn't over...

It'll be fine. I think. Come on, let’s go…

*There's a worker on the platform ahead of Shale who appears to have fallen asleep on the job. Understandable, but it's not safe to sleep in the Cauldron, so she goes gently to shake their shoulder.*

*Suddenly, threads nearby that Shale hadn't noticed until now swirl around the worker. She jerks upright.*

*...Shit. Shit, that's not good. Shale tries to back away before she's noticed, but the worker's head snaps towards her, and they lunge. For something that's meant for cleaning, her steel-bristled pin looks awfully pointy.*

*Shale dashes out of the way. Oh, there is not a lot of space on this platform. She looks around, but the nearest sections of ground are blocked by periodic lava flows. Can she get the timing right while—*

*The worker swings their pin again. Shale holds up her brush in a feeble attempt at blocking; it's knocked right out of her claws.*

*Shale knows this worker, not well, but she knows her name and has their emergency contacts on a clipboard somewhere. If Shale gets out of this, she'll have to dig those out, and awkwardly try to comfort someone for the sixth time this month, and she really, really hates this place—*

*Shale tries to dodge again, but the worker hits her in the stomach—not with the sharp end of the pin, but with enough force to knock her flat on her back.*

I cooked some drapemite meat like I said I would! I even removed the silk. Do you want to try it together?

Sure, thank you.

*Harmony hands Daze one of the bowls. There's a large chunk of slightly charred meat inside. Daze doesn't quite like the smell, but she doesn't complain.*

Sorry about the bowls, I don't have any plates. Or eating utensils. Hey, do you think you could make utensils?

Probably not, that's more metalworking than tinkering...

*Daze picks up the meat and takes a bite.*

*...Hm. That's...*

*Daze tries not to gag. She quickly chews and swallows.*

*She takes another bite. She can feel how it used to be alive, muscles and organs in her mouth, the taste of hemolymph making her feel sick. She looks at the meat in her bowl, and she can see how the parts connect, like a machine made of flesh instead of metal.*

*...Okay, maybe that's a little dramatic. But you get the point.*

*In any case, food is food and Daze is hungry, so she chokes down the rest of her meal. By the end... well, she certainly doesn't feel like eating again anytime soon.*

You ate that fast! Did you like it?

No. I mean. Thanks for sharing with me. But I don't think I like meat.

Oh, okay! I can try cooking it differently next time if you want. You don't have to try it, though.

*Harmony themself enjoyed the meal very much. While it was plain and a bit burnt, it's the best thing they've eaten in a while.*

...Anyways, I didn't know the cogwork bugs are powered with silkflies! How does that work?

I have no idea. I don't even know what silkflies are. I mean, they don't eat or sleep or reproduce or anything. They just... exist.

Huh, I've never thought about that. Going by the name, I guess they're made of silk?

Maybe. But then how are they alive? Are they alive?

No clue. ...You know, one pilgrim I met thought they were the souls of the dead!

Weird thing to think. Why would we use the souls of the dead as lamps?

I don't know. It's probably not true, but it did make me feel nice! Like someone was watching over me.

That sounds more creepy than anything.

...Hey, Daze, what do you think happens when we die? There's no official Citadel teaching on that, or if there is, it hasn't made its way to the rest of Pharloom.

I figure we just. Die? Nothing after that.

That seems kind of glum. I like to think it's like a long, peaceful sleep!

So almost the same thing.

*Still, Daze thinks of her family and Cam and various other bugs she's known, and finds herself hoping they've finally gotten to rest.*

Some bugs where I grew up said we get reborn as someone else. And some bugs said we go to some sort of afterlife once we die—if we were good, we get to be happy for all eternity, and if we were bad, we suffer.

Like ending up in the Citadel or the Underworks?

No!! Not like that!

I have heard someone say bugs get sent to the Underworks for sinning...

That's not true.

Probably not. From what I’ve heard, it seems like it's up to chance.

...Look, I finished replacing the pipe. Does that look right?

Yeah. Good job.