The all-encompassing darkness of the chamber was exasperated by the dim glow of the cradled machine in the middle of the room as Free kneeled before Gristle's corpse.
Gristle's body was still warm. His face was frozen in shock and seeing it made Free's body wash over in grief.
"Gramps..." Free muttered over his weeping.
But his grieving was interrupted by the skittering of the Basilisk that was circling around him in the dark.
Free knew what a Basilisk was, but had never seen one before. Named after a legendary monster from ancient history, they share similar characteristics from the myth.
All Free knows is that once you heard it's roar, your life was likely already forfeit.
"Gramps, what do I do? T-They took Maria and I'll probably be branded as a criminal by the Crawler Crew if I even manage to get out of here." Free's eyes scanned the shadows around the chamber in hopes of finding the Basilisk.
"Why did you call me down here? Why didn't you ask for more help!? I'm, I'm just a rookie." Free pounded the ground.
"If only dad was still alive, he would've saved you."
Suddenly, Free felt an immense pressure form in his head. It felt like his head was going to split in two.
And now just before him, at the entrance of the chamber and from the darkness- he saw the maw of the Basilisk creep out of the shadows.
Slowly, the Basilisk's form began to appear from the darkness and into the dim glow. It's maw and head was the size of a DW. It had no eyes, and from it's throat was a large sac that hung from it loosely.
Free frantically scrambled back, all the way up to where the cradled machine was. He fumbled over the multitude of wires and cables that were connected to it spurring the Basilisk to react.
But it did not move, instead, it opened it's maw and as it did it's sac grew. Free's head felt like it was going to explode as the sac increased in size. He felt his body reverberate from a hidden pressure. It was the powerful clicking that the Basilisk was producing from it's throat sac that was the root cause of it.
Free looked at the monster's throat and raised his revolver.
"If I'm going to die, then I'll make sure it wasn't easy." He hissed.
He squeezed the trigger, and a bullet flew making purchase into the Basilisk's sac. From it, a fountain of blood blew from it as the Basilisk roared in pain.
"That's better." Free cheered as his headache resided; the Basilisk wasn't producing the clicking anymore.
But his victory was short-lived as the basilisk recovered from the shock of the injury, and began to rapidly skitter over to where Free had shot from; it finding it's prey through sound.
"Shit!" Free cursed as he further ran up the mountain of cables that surrounded the machine.
But it was too late- the Basilisk had already caught up to him.
Free latched onto the machine as the Basilisk opened it's jaws, and snapped; catching his left leg.
He felt no pain, but he knew what had happened as he heard the nauseating crunch.
"AGHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Free screamed over the numbing loss of one of his legs. He tumbled over the final cable and fell into the machine's cradled embrace.
The Basilisk hissed and swiped at the machine, but it's strength was no match for it's impenetrable design. Free watched as the enraged Basilisk fail to reach him from where he was.
Free felt as though he was going to pass out over the mental shock of losing one of his legs, but he held on. He didn't want to fall unconscious, he wanted to stay awake and witness his own end.
His life, having barely begun, was going to end here; in the arms of the machine that ended the world. He wanted to make damn sure of it that he'll catch it all, to his final breath.
The Basilisk in it's rage, teared away at the cables that were connected to the machine. And the more the Basilisk did, the more of it's body was revealed under the wire work.
Until finally, freed from it all, the machine was fully revealed.
"!?" Free was roused from his half-dead daze to the sudden brilliance of light shone from the machine's body.
It begun to come to life.
"Full system reboot, activated." A foreign, genderless voice spoke out from the head of the machine.
"Analyzing immediate environment... hostility levels at critical value."
"Initiating counter-defensive procedures... hyper-lethal action cancelled due to presence of human life." The machine shuddered to a limp halt as it's head looked down at Free sitting on it's abdomen.
"Human male, occupation: unknown." It's face was that of a holographic visor that curved over it's head in a ovular shape. And extruding from the sides of it's head were two long antennae that swiveled in response to the machine speaking. From it's visor, a big red question mark appeared indicating it's confusion.
"State occupation." The machine asked, Free could see his reflection on the machine's face.
"W-What?" Free could hardly stay awake anymore, he was about to pass out from blood loss.
"Occupation: 'W-What?' is invalid. Please state occupation." It asked again.
Before Free could say anything else, the Basilisk attacked- knocking into the machine's body with great force once more.
"Analyzing... current conditions unsafe for human life. Condition protocol override, activating fail-safe mode Alpha: Protect Human Life." The machine hugged it's arm close to Free, and it began to stand up.
The Basilisk hearing the machine, it readied itself once more to charge at it. It circled around the darkness of the room, increasing it's momentum once more to crush the machine with it's weight.
And it flew, it opening it's jaws in mindless rage at the machine.
But instead, it was met by the machine's hand. It had grabbed the Basilisk by the throat in mid-air.
The machine now stood at it's full height within the room, it towering over the size of the Basilisk nearly twice over. The Basilisk writhed and struggled to escape the machine's grasp, but it did not let go; it held Free up to it's face with it's one open hand.
"Current threat condition's stabilized, fail-safe mode on standby." It's visor indicated an image of a shield to Free.
Free's breathing was ragged as he lied down flat on the machine's palm, his vision bleary and darkening at the edges; he was about to die.
"State occupation, human." It asked once more in it's cold and lifeless voice.
Free looked at his revolver, the strange hunk of iron that's managed to keep his alive this far; the last keepsake left behind by his father. So far, has he really managed to become the Engineer that he had hoped to be like Gristle? Or was he now following in his father's footsteps?
This question swirled around in his mind- but he knew his answer as he tightened his grip on the revolver's hilt.
"Pi...-lot." Free managed to choke out with the last of his strength as he closed his eyes.
As Free begun falling unconscious, the visor of the machine exploded into a rainbow of various symbols and colors.
"Occupation: Error, Error- System Reboot re-initiating...-- OVERRIDDEN." It's visor went black as it's body slackened; nearly letting the Basilisk out of it's grasp.
"Ego script 'Seven' code decrypt, activated..." It's voice crackled weakly in it's deactivating state.
"Occupation: 'Pi...-lot', confirmed!" Jolting suddenly back to life, it's genderless voice was replaced with that of an energetic, young woman's.
"I'll keep you safe, just hold on!" It reaffirmed Free, as from it's chest opened a cavity; it was a cockpit. It then dumped him inside, situating him onto the cockpit chair.
The last thing Free could hear was the sound of water rushing around him as the cockpit shut itself closed; he felt weightless as everything went black.