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"I have been here for fifteen long, hard years. I do not hold it against my race, for the slavers would wipe us out if we made no tribute. As for why you- all of you- are here: I do not know. Perhaps some of you incurred many debts, or are criminals, or were simply unlucky. It matters not why. All that matters is that you remain strong in spirit."

"You ok?" Grey asked, helping Sergei to his feet. "I'm really sorry about this, my boss made me do it."

Sergei accepts Grey's help as he glances at the vast amount of scattered boxes. Sergei's eyes widen in completely horror, as he stares at the mess of boxes, several of them broke with their contents spilled out. Although, at this point the shrapnel from the destroyed boxes were covering up what would have been in those boxes. "OH no! The boxes broke!" Sergei quickly began sorting the still fixed boxes back into place, "I can't let my boss know about this! Please don't tell him! I've got a chance for a promotion!" As soon as Sergei placed a few boxes back on the shelf, he went down on both his knees as he began pleading to Grey.

As Mika was wandering through the mercantile lobby, a strange creature walked up to her. He was about four feet tall, with incredibly long ears that were pointing towards the side. He stared at her with his oval pupils within his bright yellow eyes. "Yes, you! I need you, yes, yes... I am a Mechanic you see, and I am working on a marvelous device! Do you wish to see it!? I need someone to test it, while I am out so I can best judge it. You are around the right side..."

Mika glances sideways at the creature speaking to her. At first she doesn't pay too much attention, a lot of people were calling out to potential customers around here. He's probably just trying to sell something-- hmm, wait, no. An inventor? Well, why not. Might be interesting. "I'm something of a technician myself. What kind of device are you talking about?"

The creature nodded, "Yes, I thought I had made good choice! Good, good! I am talking about an exo-skeleton." He immediately stared at Mika as he opened both palms of his hands as he did a pushing gesture. "I know what you are thinking, many exo-skeletons on the market. But this exo-skeleton will allow you to control androids that have been programmed to respond with the exo-skeleton! When you move, they move. I know this device may seem common, but I am working on a much faster and more powerful model, able to control multiple models. Some with thoughts, others simply by the muscle movement you produce." He gave Mika a pleading look, "Would you mind testing out my device?"

Sergei glanced at Grey, as he glanced from side to side. "Wait, I have idea. If you don't tell my boss about this mishap, and help me clean up the boxes... I will let you look at that one box your boss wanted to look at earlier!" Sergei's eyes glimmered with hope, "Do you find this an acceptable deal?" Sergei said as he moved a few more boxes that were not broken from the impact caused by the earlier fight.

The Baker slave shook his head as he looked at the ground of the pit. "... Stay strong? Even when the entire planet of Praeclara will be cheering us on to die?! I-I, just want to go home." He let out a deep sigh. "I suppose winning is the only potential way out of this place. I just hope I don't get assigned to some super dangerous guy." The baker glanced at Shah-Nahul, "Who was your first opponent you ever fought? Were they scary? Do these people actually assign far stronger opponents to those who are weaker?" The baker said that last line, as his lip quivered a bit.

"A droid controlling exo-skeleton? Well, alright. Let's see it." Mika waits for the creature to show her to the device. "How are you making it more powerful, though?"

"Grey gave a nod to Sergei "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone,"

Sergei got up as he nodded at Grey, "Thank you, He Who Smells Like the Color Grey and Who's Soul Tastes Like The Sun!" Sergei began moving more boxes to stack onto the shelves. There were a few employees who just watched in awe and confusion, at Sergei, but they quickly returned to work. Sergei glanced at a few of the broken boxes and glanced at their containers, "Why..." Sergei began moving the rubble off of the container as he looked at grey. "Explosives!? ... It was a good thing the person who installed the detonator made a mistake in installing it. But was this box just a standard shipment?" Sergei began searching the rubble above to check for the box's identification number. "Anyway, if your boss is up, go get him, a deal is a deal. I'll help you find that box you wanted to look at." Sergei said as he continued shoveling through rubble.

---

One robot guard walked towards Zharkov's cell as he banged on the wall. "Designated Slave "Zharkov", I have come bringing the information on your newest opponent in the ring." the droid hummed out. He walked closer to the cell as he beamed an image of a large opponent, which appeared to have been loaded to the brim with active bio-prosthetic pieces, "Your opponent is Herald the Abomination. This will be a match to the death, you will perform after the "Festival of Beasts" I am not sure how long it will take for clean up afterwards, but you will be fighting after that.. Herald has been upgraded by his owner to feel little pain, and to be a fleshy "Wall of Death", due to these upgrades he is not as fast as he could be." The Droid showed a holograph of a smirking man, "I did not tell you the information about Herald's abilities. If Herald is unable to fight, I do not know of your next opponent. Relax and enjoy your bath, and kill your opponents for your Master. Do not fail him." The Droid said as he left the area so Zharkov could enjoy his bath.

---

The Mechanic creature peered at Mika as he cocked his head to the right. "Yes, yes stronger. I am making it so that it will control at least twenty separate droids at once. I do not recall what the highest is on the market, but twenty droids for one exo-skeleton is good deal yes?" He shook his head as he gestured a following motion to Mika. "Anyway... Come, come. Oh, if that doesn't interest you, I still have something that I keep much more secret." He walked closer to Mika as he stared her square in the eye, "I would need you to promise not to tell about this project, it is very important to me."

"Well, I certainly wouldn't mind having a look at the drone controller exoskeleton." Mika follows along after the mechanic. "Something that you keep much more secret?" She matches his gaze, obviously curious about whatever it might be. "Well... You can't just say that and expect me not to be interested. And you don't need to worry about me spreading it around, I'll keep your secret." Though, it couldn't be that sinister if he was willing to show it to someone he just met, so... Yeah. Still, it was well enough to pique curiosity.

The Mechanic nodded at Mika, "Yes, yes. I know that, perhaps I have a loose mouth!" The Mechanic chuckled as he mimed zipping his mouth shut. He also mimed locking his mouth with a key, and then using that same hand to perform a throwing gesture. The Mechanic waved Mika, as he maneuvered through streams of people who were shopping in the Mercantile District. He lead Mika in a strange zig-zagging pattern, which with the density of the crowd, and his small size would probably make it fairly difficult, even when he was occasionally jumping up which he thought would help give Mika a decent idea of where he was going. They passed by several shops and walked for some-time, before the Mechanic arrived at a large metal vault door. The door was seemingly out of place in this district, which appeared to be hosting several trash-compactors against the wall and there were many dumpsters, some of which were on large conveyor belts which took them out to Disposal Ships. Others were there and stationed in a strange grid-formation making a weird sort of labyrinth. The Mechanic waited to see whether or not Mika was able to follow him to this destination.

Zharkov grumbled as the informant called out his name. He stuck an arm out from the cold bath, ice cold dripping from his arm over the floor. The large man pulled himself out the water, his body still dripping and wrinkly. He crossed his arms as the robot shot a holographic image into his cell. "Herald the Abomination" he parroted, nodding at the hologram. He looked closely at the image, bringing his head as close in as he possibly could to get a better look. The fighter dreamed of ways to rip apart the man's insides.

A Cyconoid guard walked above the pits as he stared down at the slaves there. He pointed at all of them, "You slaves will be participating in the Festival of the Beasts. All of you." The guard chuckled as he let out a devious grin, "But ah, this is not going to be the Typical Festival match against beasts. I will return if I know whether or not you are acting as the "beasts"." The guard chuckled as he left the pits.

The Baker sobbed a bit before wiping his tears. "Well, if we are all going to die in this "Festival", I at least want one of you guys to at least know my name, so I can get a burial. The name is Ferris Samkol. We've shared a bit here haven't we?" Ferris said as he glanced at the other slaves. The small hairy slave with the pig-like snout glanced around, "Well if we are sharing our previous lives I guess I'll speak next. I'm Goxug, and I am a criminal. I want to specify that I am NOT a debtor. I was sent here for assault." Goxug shook his head as he smiled a bit, "You know, being sent here by that guard was actually kind of funny. I did NOT expect him to have a sense of humor."