Homestar Saga

Chapter 86: Saving the City

"So the city's dying." Mims frowned, scratching his head. "Is that what knocked out our tech? Some kind of death throes?"

"Uh..." Yvian was tempted to lie. There was a person in there. Sad and lonely and defiant and afraid. After touching her mind, Yvian felt connected. Protective. The human didn't like things that attacked him. He'd let City 43 die if he knew the truth. "Not exactly," she hedged.

Mims focused in on her, suspicious. "Then what, exactly?"

Yvian shifted uncomfortably. Mims had been with her through a lot. Been there for her. "I think..." she said, slowly. Crunch. She couldn't lie to the Captain. "I think knocking out our equipment is what's killing her."

The Captain's frown deepened. "How so?"

"It's..." How to explain? Yvian took a moment to think, then started again. "She... the city, the energy field that stops computers, she was using that. I think she decided it wasn't enough. She, uh, I think she used a stronger version. Like a pulse instead of a field." The human's expression darkened. Yvian quickly continued. "The pulse used too much energy. She doesn't have enough to keep herself alive."

Lissa scowled. "So you're saying it's dying because it tried to kill us."

"Basically?" Yvian raised her shoulders in a slow shrug, hands held slightly out. "She's getting a little power from the starlight, but it's not enough. I don't think she'll make it another hour."

Lissa harrumphed. "Sounds like a problem that's solving itself."

"No!" Yvian had expected the human to be against her, but Lissa? That might be worth panicking over. She'd been counting on her sister to win over the Captain. "You don't understand. We can't let her die!"

"Why not?"

"She's a person," Yvian explained. "There's a person in there!"

"So? We kill people all the time." The engineer gestured at her sister. "I mean, look what she did to you."

"Yvian's right," the Captain stepped in. The pixens both turned in shock. Neither expected the human to care about a giant crystal that had tried to kill him. He continued, "If there's a person in there, she might be the only one who can tell us what's going on with these cities. Hell, she might be able to tell us what happened to the Lucendians. Maybe help us get our hands on some of their tech. It's too big an opportunity to let go."

"And what if she tries to kill us again?" Lissa argued. The flare she was holding started to gutter out. She dropped it and pulled out a new one.

"With what?" Mims scoffed. "If she had weapons or those crystal guardians she'd have used them by now. I doubt she'd risk killing herself if she had other options." He turned to Yvian. "You said she's a person."

"Yeah." Yvian nodded.

"So you can communicate?"

"Sort of." Yvian scratched her head. "We can feel each other's feelings. I heard a bunch of things that were probably thoughts, but I couldn't make sense of it. I don't think she understood me, either. We don't speak the same language."

"Ok." Mims thought for a moment. "Lissa," he ordered. "Go through the duffel, see if anything we brought's still got a power source. The crystal ships eat heat, light, plasma, and electricity. Give her whatever you can find and buy us some time."

Lissa frowned. "I don't think-"

"Just do it," Mims cut her off. "Yvian, I want you to talk to the city. Do whatever you can to keep her calm and get her on our side. Do not," he pointed at her. "Let her hold on to you if you feel her start to go. For all we know she could take you with her."