Gravity is a suggestion until you're falling at terminal velocity inside a five-million-ton coffin.
The Mothership was no longer a vessel; it was a falling mountain of dead circuits and groaning alloy. In the absolute pitch-black of the Core Room, the only sound was the screaming of the wind as it tore through the hull and the terrified screeching of Snack the Griffin.
"Cain! We're going to be pancakes!" Isolde's voice cracked in the dark. She was floating, her feet kicking uselessly against the ceiling as the ship tumbled.
"Pancakes are flat," Cain's voice was disturbingly calm. "I prefer being a spike."
Cain didn't try to grab a handrail. He didn't try to use his Liquid Body to cushion the blow. He did the opposite.
[Skill Activated: Ring of Burden – 200x Weight Multiplier]
Cain's mass shifted instantly. He became so heavy that his body tore through the metal ceiling he was floating against, smashed through the floor, and began plummeting through the ship's internal layers like a bullet through wet paper.
"Catch!" Cain shouted.
He reached out and grabbed Isolde's ankle as he tore past her. The sudden change in momentum nearly dislocated her leg, but she held onto Snack's collar with everything she had.
Cain wasn't falling with the ship anymore. He was falling through it.
CRASH. CRUNCH. SHATTER.
He punched through the mess hall. He tore through the barracks. He smashed through the secondary hangar. He was using his own body as a kinetic drill to reach the bottom of the ship before it hit the water.
"Brace yourself, Princess," Cain grunted.
They hit the bottom hull. Cain didn't stop. He tucked his head, increased his weight to the maximum his bones could handle, and hit the final layer of armor.
BOOM.
He burst through the bottom of the Mothership like a cannonball. A split second later, the ship hit the Atlantic Ocean.
The impact was cataclysmic. A wall of water five hundred feet high exploded into the sky. The Mothership snapped in half, its massive black wings folding as it groaned into the deep.
Cain, Isolde, and the bird hit the water a hundred yards away from the wreckage.
Because Cain was still at 200x weight, he sank like a lead anchor. He dragged Isolde and Snack down into the dark, cold silence of the sea.
Ten feet. Fifty feet. A hundred feet.
Cain finally deactivated the ring. He felt his heart lurch as the pressure stabilized. He grabbed Isolde and kicked upward.
They broke the surface amidst a graveyard of burning metal and floating debris. The ocean was on fire where the ship's fuel had leaked.
Isolde coughed, gasping for air as she clung to a piece of floating carbon fiber. Snack climbed onto a dead robot, shivering and looking very much like a wet cat.
"We... we survived," Isolde wheezed, looking at the sinking remains of the alien fleet. "You actually did it. The sun is gone. The ship is gone."
"Not all of it," Cain said.
He was looking at a patch of water that wasn't moving. The waves were breaking around an empty space.
The air began to pixelate. The Administrator didn't appear as a hologram this time.
The pixels turned into white carbon-fiber armor. A physical body, seven feet tall, sleek and faceless, stepped out of the air and stood on top of the water. In his hand, he held a staff that hummed with the same white light as the star Cain had stolen.
"You have caused a significant delay in the harvest, Cain," the Administrator said. This time, his voice didn't come from speakers. It vibrated in their very bones. "You have damaged the hardware. Now, I must manually delete the bug."
Cain waded through the debris, his wet coat heavy on his shoulders. He ignited his Plasma Blade, the blue light hissing against the rain.
"I've had a long day," Cain said, his eyes glowing a dangerous red. "Don't make me use the sponge again."