Yundo awoke with a dull headache and a sore body, and it took the slugcat a moment to figure out where he was. Black steel beams, corrugated iron, coarse concrete, and the dim glow of tiny red lights surrounded him. He was in a shelter, but that was all he could make out. Beyond that, he had no idea where he had ended up. Even worse, the memories of the forgone day came back to haunt him. A terrible shiver ran through his body as he remembered the torment he had gone through with the daddy long legs, who had abducted him, and the belly of that strange, twisted organism somewhere beneath this shelter. But even though he was lost in the unknown, at least he was in the safety of the shelter, away from those horrors. Besides, judging by his plump appearance, he was very well-fed. All those eggs the creature had forced into him had turned into chubby rolls, welcome nutritious padding for the coming cycles because who knew how long it would take him to find a way out of this place?

It took Yundo considerable effort to rise from his resting place. The pudgy male sluggishly rolled onto his belly, reached for the wall, and laboriously lifted himself back onto his feet, shakily stabilizing his weight with his heavy tail. After stretching and yawning, rubbing the last remnants of his sleep from his eyes, he activated a lever and unlocked the door of the shelter. A metallic rumbling echoed through the narrow cell, and one of the walls split open, giving free a tight tunnel into a distant, alien world populated with glowing red dots. The slugcat hesitated for a moment, unsure if his swollen body would fit through the passage, but if he had managed to slide inside yesterday, he would doubtlessly manage to get out again, right? With an exasperated huff, he slumped into the opening and slowly crawled up the shallow incline until he plopped out of the other end and entered a dusky hallway of black steel, dark concrete, and glowing red strips.

Yundo had finally exited the shelter, but where to go next? Fortunately, there weren't too many options to choose from. Two, to be precise. There was the path leading into the endless maze, which was possibly a way to the outside world. However, much more likely, it would lead him back to that horrid monstrosity. Or he simply went up, straight toward a brighter red glow at the end of the corridor. Since the mere thought of returning to the abhorrent proto-organism sent a shiver down his spine, he chose the opposite path toward the reddish unknown. Whatever it was, it couldn't possibly be worse than getting ravaged and egged by some weird hive, right? So, he trudged down the hallway, always moving toward the light, taking corner after corner as he delved deeper into the unknown.

The further the slugcat went, the brighter the glow became. There was also something strange going on with him. Some unseen force warped his movements, and it almost felt like he was running in slow motion. His jumps got higher and farther, walking was now almost effortless despite his heavy weight, and soon, he no longer even walked through the widening hallways but floated from one wall to the next. The downward pull of gravity weakened and eventually ceased altogether. He was no longer bound to the ground, propelling himself through the air with simple pushes of his legs. Subsequently, the words ground, wall, and ceiling lost their meaning as he freely bounced through the corridors.

Yundo's instincts mastered the situation surprisingly well. The weightlessness almost felt like he was swimming through transparent water. However, the unexpected freedom also had its drawbacks. As soon as he let go of the railings or the wall, his bloated body hurtled in the ever same direction until he hit the next wall because while he was flying, he couldn't stop or change his direction at all. Meanwhile, his consciousness became increasingly confused by the situation, his eyes flicking around frantically as he tried to navigate the foreign halls. Wherever he was, this place featured technology far beyond his comprehension, technology able to manipulate gravity itself. He was probably inside a construct of that ancient civilization, and somehow, it still worked flawlessly after millennia of decay. That was impressive and also quite terrifying because who knew what other alien and dangerous devices this place contained?

Just when the slugcat finally had gotten used to his weightlessness, fate awaited him with another surprise. Behind the next corner wasn't just another hallway but a spacious interior filled with bright lights, fancy technology, and bustling activity. The spectacular sight overwhelmed the poor male and froze him in awe. Even when he inevitably crashed face-first into a wall, his brain was still trying to comprehend what he was seeing. It felt like he was looking through a portal at a completely alien world.

Before Yundo lay a gigantic hall filled with massive steel hubs interconnected by beams, pipes, and girders. Every surface was covered by strange geometric shapes. Cans, blocks, and spheres of all sizes and colors were bolted and screwed together, seaming the hubs and beams like metallic grass. Also, there were markings and signs on every single object. Countless even smaller parts and components filled the cracks between the shapes, some of them blinking in red and white, immersing the area in an eerie red glow. And it was not only overwhelming to look at but also overwhelming to listen to. Everything buzzed and hummed, groaned and squeaked incessantly.

Yundo also noticed that some of the things were moving. A whole armada of glowing orbs whizzed around him through the vast, busy hall, making everything look as if he had hit his head and was seeing stars. Their hue circled through all colors of the rainbow as they dashed through the air with endless energy and no discernible target. And on the hubs, there were all kinds of squirming and wriggling tendrils. Some of them were smooth black coils, while others consisted of several connected silver links. Each of the undulating worms had a glowing blue tip that moved around in a seemingly erratic fashion. Some of them fleetingly embraced each other, others fished for the flying orbs, and every once in a while, they actually caught one.

The slugcat slowly swiveled his head, his jaw agape in wonder as he tried to find a way through the busy chaos. The passage that had led him to this place didn't go any further, and so, he had to traverse this mess if he liked it or not. He also hoped that this would lead somewhere and wouldn't turn out to be a dead end. 

Yundo hesitated to let go of the railing. There was just so much going on around him, and he feared that he would get lost in the chaos if he gave up the only thing that gave him safety. Besides, everything looked so alien, and he had no way of knowing which parts were harmless and which parts could kill or tear him apart. At the same time, the lively activity stirred his curiosity. Despite the incomprehensible chaos and unknown dangers, the magical dance of the lights and tendrils enchanted and tempted him the more he looked at it. For just another moment, the slugcat thought about turning around and looking for another way forward, but he finally yielded to his growing curiosity.

Ultimately, it was one of the strange flying orbs that made his decision for him. One of the sparkling critters careened toward him and smacked into his belly, startling the slugcat just enough to make him let go of the railing. He reflexively reached out and caught the tiny assaulter while his legs kicked against the wall, catapulting him right into the busy chaos. Now, he floated freely through the air, past the teeming hubs and the waving tendrils. He was no longer just a distant observer; he had become a part of this alien machinery. Yundo trembled with nervous excitement and fear because now, he would also find out how hostile this area actually was. Luckily, the large tendrils completely ignored his presence. Only once or twice, he got so close that he would touch them, but instead of reaching for him, they darted away. Finally, tentacles that didn't want to eat, kill, or abuse him, the slugcat realized and breathed a sigh of relief.

Eventually, Yundo's journey through the mesmerizing chamber came to a halt when he slammed into one of the many metal hubs. He wheezed as the impact forced the air from his lungs, but he was quick enough to grab one of the many protruding features and stabilize himself. As he closed his grip around the unknown object, he realized that something was off with it. It turned out to be one of the smaller tendrils, and it was extremely unhappy about his grasp. Yundo heard crackles of electricity and high-pitched squeaks as the appendage reared up and lashed around, desperately attempting to get rid of him. Then, something snapped, the tentacle's blue light died out, and its motions stopped entirely. "Oh, oops," Yundo chuckled with a mixture of guilt and relief.

The ride through the exotic chaos was over for now, and Yundo had a moment to calm down. The slugcat wrapped his tail around the dead tentacle to steady himself and turned his attention to the object in his paw. He was still holding the orb he had caught, and despite the rough treatment, that strange bugger was well and alive, wriggling with desperate force as it tried to break free. He wrapped his paws around each other and carefully opened them up to inspect his squirming catch. Upon closer inspection, the thing in his paws turned out to be a glowing sphere with a tiny cylindrical body and several fin-like appendages. This was probably how this critter moved through the air. And while its motions were jerky and mechanic, it also felt warm and oddly organic. A stray thought popped into his mind. Maybe it was even edible? Since it was unlikely that he would find any ordinary prey in this construct, he might just as well try to eat it. After all, there were so many more orbs floating around him, one fewer probably wouldn't change anything, and it wasn't like he had much to lose either.

Without further ado, the slugcat shoved the struggling orb into his muzzle and swallowed it, waiting for a bit. It wasn't very filling, but it also didn't appear to do any immediate harm. However, just when he wanted to move on, a warm, potent tingling ran through his body and spread through his limbs. Everything suddenly felt strange, and his vision was warped, becoming blurry and incoherent. Luckily, none of it was painful, and suddenly, a feeling of empowerment surged through his body, bursts of images and scenes blinked into his brain as if he had eaten someone's memories. That was odd... and it got even stranger. Glancing at his skin, he noticed a dim, milky glow that rapidly intensified. Apparently, the orb had passed its luminescence on to him, for better or worse. This would come in really handy when he went spelunking in the dark again, but it also made him an even easier target for light-sensitive predators. A blessing or a curse, entirely dependent on the circumstances.

Fortunately, his surroundings didn't seem to mind the loss of the orb. Its innumerable companions didn't come to avenge it, and the tendrils around him remained as indifferent and oblivious to his presence as before. Or so he thought. It turned out that a bunch of the thinner, hairlike tendrils that covered most of the hub around him were suddenly very interested in him. They all turned toward the slugcat and brushed over his skin, exploring him with excessive curiosity. Since they had ignored him before, Yundo concluded that they were mistaking him for a particularly gigantic orb and tried to do to him what they usually did to the smaller orbs. He didn't mind, though, and let them go about their business, curious to what they would do. After all, those feeble tubes didn't pose any threat. They were nothing more than thin, frail wires with tiny blue beads at their tips, and he knew that he could rip them apart without breaking a sweat if he had to.

While feeble, the enthusiasm of the wiry tendrils was impressive. They ceaselessly whirled around Yundo's body, examining and prodding every last inch of him until they found a few spots that tickled their interest. Being long and slender, they were ideal for slipping into cavities, and there were a few obvious areas on his body that were perfect for that. Before he knew it, they slithered into his ass and into his slit, bouncing and squirming around furiously. Fortunately, Yundo pulled his head away in time. Otherwise, they might've also explored his muzzle, his nostrils, and even his ears. It already felt weird enough to feel them inside his urethra, but he was absolutely terrified of what would happen if they slipped into his ears and possibly into his brain. No, that was something he had to avoid at all costs.

The slugcat also quickly realized the power of numbers. A single one of these wiry tendrils couldn't do a whole lot, but thanks to their sheer abundance, their forces quickly added up. As soon as Yundo noticed this, he quickly made sure that they couldn't get a firm hold of his limbs and actually restrain him. However, he didn't stop them from exploring his holes because it felt surprisingly pleasant, and he kind of wanted more. There was just something very thrilling about having countless tiny tentacles squirming inside his butt and urethra, each of them pushing in a different direction, exploring every nook and cranny. And while their individual movements were seemingly random, they twitched and jerked to the rhythm of a distant clock, their forces surging and receding in a distinct pattern. Besides, the vibrations weren't the only source of pleasure. A weak electric current leaked from the thin strands and spread through his flesh, stimulating his abdominal muscles in rhythmic bursts and making him involuntarily contract his sphincter around the tendrils. The mellow, glowing numbness of electricity complemented the intense mechanical stimulation and enhanced the whole experience many times over, quickly flooding him with pleasure.

As the tendrils and electricity billowed inside Yundo's ass, his brain fogged up, and his thoughts dispersed into a lusty mist. The slugcat lost himself in the pleasure, and his eyes fell on his swelling cock. He noticed that it was larger and prettier than it used to be. His newly-gained bio-luminescence made it glow and glitter in all the colors of the rainbow. Intrigued by the enchanting sight, he sluggishly reached down, brushed away the tiny tentacles inside his slit, and took matters into his own paws, avidly stroking his throbbing taper. Moaning and crying with lust, he jerked himself faster and faster until his paw wasn't enough anymore, and he bent over, wrapping his lips around the tip of his taper.

It wasn't the first time Yundo was sucking himself off. Even though his pudgy belly was in the way, he just squirmed and shuffled around until he was where he wanted to be. Finally, his muzzle slid around his cock and engulfed the throbbing meat with tight warmth. After having tasted nothing else but weird, disgusting tentacles for so long, his own sweaty, musky, and slightly slimy flavor was a blissfully comforting and familiar mixture, stimulating even. 

Yundo slowly began to bob his head to the rhythm of the tendrils and their distant heart, slurping and sucking himself with deep strokes while his mind dissolved into pure lust. As he became more comfortable in his curled position, he ramped up his horny frenzy, moving faster and faster. While he blew himself with insatiable desire, he noticed the tendrils squirming and writhing around his head, trying to get a hold on him, but he was moving too fast for them to latch on, and their tickles and caresses riled him up even more.

With every stroke and suck, the waves of pleasure surged higher and pushed the slugcat closer and closer to a blissful release. Yundo clutched his ass to gain even more thrusting leverage and pumped his cock with every bit of strength he had, gobbling it up with insatiable greed. Lust had become his entire world; everything else was secondary. Only a tiny drop of bitterness impaired his rapture. This moment would've been much better if he could've shared it with Lash, and he felt a little sorry that he had yielded to some random tentacles again. First the worm grass, now these curious critters. Somehow, their primitive charm was so irresistible to the slugcat. And as the electricity of the tendrils spread deeper through his body, it catapulted his mind into a blissful rapture and washed away all still remaining worries.

Huffing and snorting like a machine, Yundo overcame the last bit to the finish in a randy frenzy. He closed his eyes to fully focus on the mounting pleasure, the electric humming of the machinery, the slurping and squelching of his lust-controlled body while the insatiable tendrils plowed his ass without sense or mercy. They battered down on his prostate in an endless rage and ultimately drove him over the edge. With a muffled, desperate groan, the slugcat exploded. All the tension and built-up arousal burst like an air bubble and erupted into a wonderfully wet climax. His mind collapsed under the flood of sensations, and his instincts took over. The slugcat's erratic twitching aligned with the rhythm of the tendrils, and there was only one goal: Pumping out as much tasty cum into his tight, warm maw as possible. His dick twitched and tensed inside his neck, frantically jizzed out wad after wad of hot cum. He reflexively swallowed and gulped his own load as fast as he could, but for the first time, his own output overwhelmed him. There was just too much cum and the vigorous prostate massage coaxed out even more, showering him with a flood of unparalleled dimensions. And as the semen backed up, it began to squirt and spray from his lips, drifting away in the zero gravity in a thin, milky mist. 

Not wanting to lose any more of his precious load, Yundo thrust his cock even deeper into his maw, wrenching the spurting tip into his storage sack. Although there was no need to swallow, he gulped hard and greedily sucked on his erupting taper, trying to coax out everything he had to give. Squirt after squirt, he drained the rest of his load into his stomach, letting nothing go to waste.

Eventually, Yundo's internal nuts ran dry, and he squeaked in disappointment as the convulsions of his dick suddenly didn't yield any more cum. But as his climax petered out, the insane drive of lust disappeared, and the slugcat dropped into exhausted tranquility. His muscles relaxed, and he unrolled himself, pulling his cock from his muzzle with a wet plop. With a big, stupid grin on his face, he lay back into the bed of squirming tendrils and moaned with satisfaction. 

The appendages inside the slugcat's ass were still very busy, writhing and squiggling as if nothing had ever happened. Relentlessly massaging his insides, they kept him in a state of strange but blissful arousal. Unfortunately, the facade of carefree happiness started to crumble as a few more tentacles curiously coiled around his waist and pulled him closer. One by one, they slowly overwhelmed him and soon reached even further, grabbing his chest, his head, and most importantly his ears. However, as soon as one of the curious tendrils touched his left ear, Yundo abruptly snapped out of his afterglow. Panic surged through him as he reflexively imagined it penetrating his ears and dig even deeper. He jerked up and violently tore through several dozens of tentacles with a gruesome crackle.

Once unleashed, his panic roamed freely. Yundo thrashed around in a frantic struggle, kicking and punching everything around him until he eventually severed all ties that connected him to the hub. Finally, a single stray kick sufficed to send him flying across the surreal machine once more. Spinning and hurtling through the air with panicked shrieks, he passed girders, beams, pipes, and hubs, brushed along mechanical tentacles, and crashed into swarms of glowing orbs. For a moment, he lost all of his orientation, his mind was roiling, and his vision was a blurry, incoherent mess of whizzing red and blue lights.

Only when the slugcat's body crashed into another wall, the forceful collision managed to shake him to the bone and liberate him from his paralyzing panic. As Yundo regained control, he anxiously scanned his surroundings. He had crashed into a chamber wall, and his limbs and body were entangled in support beams and rods, but it luckily didn't look like there were any hazards near him. Instead, he noticed that he was close to a vent that exited the chamber. It was brightly illuminated, spacious, and several glowing orbs dashed through it, telling him that this was a way forward. Without a second thought, he untangled himself and cautiously accessed the new exit. However, after passing through the vent, he ended up in yet another chamber with hubs and tentacles that looked almost identical to the first one. A terrible shiver seized him as he realized that he stood at the beginning of a glowing, shiny labyrinth, and he was pretty sure that if he attempted to go any further, it could take him an eternity to find out of it. If this maze even had a proper exit. To make matters worse, his accident in the first chamber had muddied his sense of direction, and he wasn't sure if he would be able to find back to the shelter.

Suddenly, an uncomfortable noise pierced through the monotonous humming of the machine. It was wet, gross, and revolting, and a horrible memory resurfaced in Yundo's brain. Not a second later, a massive tentacle smacked against the surface right next to him. A daddy long legs! Here? No! NO! The slugcat's panic returned fiercer than ever, and he reflexively thrust himself into the weightlessness once more. The slugcat didn't know if it would try to return him proto-organism he had fled, if it wanted to eat him or abduct him, but he didn't want to take any chances. All his thoughts merged into a single goal: He had to get as far away from that beast as fast as he could. Besides, even if it just killed him off, his death would be an inconvenient hindrance on his path to freedom. Reincarnation would weaken his body, and he had no idea where he would even reincarnate. Maybe he would regain his consciousness back in the shelter or somewhere deep inside this maze? No, it didn't matter if it snuffed or abducted him. It would set him back either way.

Thanks to the weightlessness, Yundo escaped the first daddy long legs with little effort, but just when he settled on another surface to calm down and collect himself, he learned that there were more nightmares hidden in this surreal place. Another beast lurked behind the closest corner, and it lashed out at him with eerie precision, trying to treat itself to a tasty slugcat. The resounding smack made Yundo completely lose his mind, and his panic returned with a vengeance. Away! He had to get away from it, no matter the cost! He desperately thrust from wall to wall, delving deeper and deeper into the strange machine, ever further away from his pursuers even long after they gave up on their pursuit. Most of it happened on autopilot, his instincts guiding his trajectory while his consciousness decayed into a chaos of fear and terror. And as he kept bouncing and dashing through the strange interior, he was slowly becoming accustomed to the zero-G environment and started to appreciate its effects. With normal gravity, the fattened male would've never gotten anywhere so fast and turned into nightmare prey already.

Even more daddy long legs surprised the fleeing slugcat and drove his panic into overdrive. He hasted from room to room, each identical to those before, and in his terror, he soon lost track of his position entirely. He never rested and never paused, and his perception ultimately blurred into a single haunting memory, chasing him further through the construct in a manic frenzy for hours on end.

Eventually, the ugly surprises ceased when Yundo entered a part of the machine that wasn't infested by those monsters. However, it took him another few rooms to fully realize that they were gone. After spending an eternity on the run, his mind needed a few minutes to calm down enough to process his new surroundings. He was still trapped in a simple steel hall, the walls studded with countless glowing red dots, but there were no more hubs, pipes, or girders. He was surrounded by empty space, and there were also no more signs of life or any movement. No glowing orbs, no mechanical tendrils, and thankfully no daddy long legs. The danger was gone; he was safe, at least for the moment. 

The slugcat swallowed nervously and took a few shaky breaths while his body hovered through the air, still unbound by gravity. A new sound rang in his ears, a dull thumping that emerged from the only exit, a barren vent in the wall, and he was hurtling right toward it without any way to slow down. What awaited him on the other side? Yundo was terrified to know, but he didn't have much of a choice. Once again, it was either forward into the unknown or back into an area teeming with striding, creeping manifestations of his worst nightmares.

Finally, he slipped through the vent and entered a new hall, finding the origin of the nose. Fortunately, it was nothing alive or hostile, but it was stranger than anything he had ever seen. The slugcat didn't even know what he was looking at. In the center of the room, there was an object veiled in a blur of compressed air. It huffed and thrummed to a mechanical pulse and glowed with mellow turquoise. Whatever it was doing there, it seemed to distort the gravity around him as it exerted a noticeable tug on his body. Unfortunately, the only other way out and onward was beyond this thing. So if he wanted to move on, he had to climb around that machine and hope that he didn't get too close. Who knew what it would do to him?

Warily, the male shuffled along the railings, moving from one steel beam to the next and holding on to the cold metal for his dear life. The tug of that strange orb was omnipresent, constantly reminding him that a single mistake could make him lose his grip and fall into the thumping thing below him. The constant fear made his palms sweaty, and his natural slime coating didn't help with his grip either. So he crawled onward at a snail's pace. It took him an hour, perhaps even longer, to reach the other side, and only when he climbed into the exit vent, a cautious sigh escaped his lips. He had done it. He had survived another obstacle on his path. Sure, Yundo didn't know if he was making any real progress, but as long as it felt like he did, he wouldn't complain.

Unsurprisingly, the consequences of Yundo's taxing escape were beginning to make themselves felt, and he was growing tired. He hoped that he maybe found a safe spot or a shelter to take a breather or a nap in this new area, but his terrible fate granted him neither. Instead, he entered an even larger hall filled with strange blue tubes and a cryptic black cube in the center. His heart stopped beating for a moment as he spotted another daddy long legs wedged between two of the buzzing tubes, but before his panic could take control, he realized it was dead. The blobs that made up the horrifying critter had lost cohesion, twitching and spasming erratically as arcs of electricity flashed between them. This beast was long gone, but the uncaring machine didn't stop frying its decaying remains. Yundo felt a deep satisfaction as he watched the jerking corpse. For once, one of these stumbling horrors had met an appropriate fate. To be honest, he hadn't even known that it was possible to kill them, and it relieved him even more to learn that they could. On the other side, the monster's fate urged him to be extremely careful. If he lost his grip and hovered in the wrong direction, he could easily end up like that disgusting creature, zapped and roasted by arcs of electricity. At least it would be a quick end for once.

Yundo cautiously continued his exploration, climbing as far as possible and only letting go if he was sure that he wouldn't accidentally fling himself into one of the deadly blue lanterns. Fortunately, they posed the only threat in this immense chamber. Eventually, he also passed by the central black cube. While it didn't have any discernible entrance, there were infinitely many wires and ropes running out of it. Oblivious to the tiny creature on its surface, the cube filled the air with an infinite symphony of electric bloops and bleeps. The slugcat didn't know what it was doing, but he was amazed that it was still doing something after all these years. This place had really withstood the test of time. It was increasingly obvious that he was inside one of the ancient civilization's constructions, and somehow, it still worked. He really wondered what this was all about while he explored the other half of the hall.

In total, there were six entrances to the room with the beeping cube. Five of them were just simple vents, and one of them was a surprisingly spacious hallway. The slugcat just assumed that the smaller exits would only lead him to areas like the one he had just escaped, so he picked the one exit that looked different. Something told him that this would be the way out, even though he couldn't see what lay past the first corner. Yundo really hoped that his suspicion -- desperate hope -- would turn out to be valid. After hours of non-stop exploration, he wanted it to be over. Or at least find a spot to safely take a nap.

While the slugcat didn't find an exit or a shelter, at least his surroundings were looking much more welcoming as everything was bathed in bright, warm light. For the first time, he had left the dusky twilight. The room was even busier than any he had seen so far, and the walls were clad with fancy, white tiling, granting it a pleasing, timeless elegance. The flying orbs and the tendrils had returned, and they were joined by large, mechanical arms and an armada of paw-sized, pearly spiderlings that crawled over the surfaces with four little legs. Apart from whatever was happening at the different, tentacle-studded hubs, the arms and spiderlings were busy constructing curious red grids in the middle of the room. The mechanical arms carried new grid pieces to the growing structure while the spiderlings picked them up and welded them to the construction with crackling sparks.

Yundo floated through the alien, beautiful factory with renewed curiosity. There were no daddy long legs to haunt him, and all the tendrils ignored him. For just this moment, he felt safe. Distracted by his excitement, his eyes wandering about the marvelous sights instead of looking ahead, he crashed head-first into one of those red grids. The frail construction burst with a crackle that reminded him of cherrybombs, and he passed through with little resistance. For a moment, the slugcat feared that the spiderlings or the construction arms might retaliate for the brazen destruction, grab him, or spark him to death, but they couldn't care less. The spiderlings just helplessly waved their mechanical limbs as they were flung into the air, and the mechanical arms simply ignored him and the damage he had done altogether, waveringly continuing to stack new parts onto the destroyed grid as if nothing had ever happened. The male felt pretty bad about disrupting their efforts, but in the greater picture, his interference probably didn't matter anyway. If this place was really as old as he thought it was, they had been doing the same for millennia and must've created countless such grids before. One less probably wouldn't be an issue.

At least that's what he hoped. The slugcat didn't want to imagine what it would feel like if the entire machine he was in suddenly turned hostile and took its revenge upon him. But as long as it let him be, he would just carry on and try his best to avoid any further mishaps. 

Unlike before, Yundo finally had the peace of mind to create a mental map of his surroundings. He systematically scanned each room he visited for exits and committed everything to memory before progressing to the next one. Hall by hall, he floated through the growing army of nearly identical rooms. To him, it seemed ridiculous that the machine had so many redundant rooms. However, he probably simply didn't understand it, just how he didn't know the real reason why any of this existed.

Eventually, just when the slugcat thought that he had exhausted all directions, he found a way out of the seemingly endless mess of clone rooms. The light faded as he left the last of them and crawled into a dusky, narrow maintenance vent. However, even after minutes of climbing, there was still no end in sight. He just moved on and on while nothing appeared to change around him, everything was dark, and the walls looked and always felt the same. But then, he finally heard something new, a faint rumbling in the distance, swelling and faltering like the breath of a gigantic creature, interspersed by an erratic beeping and ringing. The further he went, the louder it became until it grew into all-encompassing background noise, filling his ears and drowning out any other sounds. Looking up, an end was finally in sight, heralded by weak flashes of turquoise.

Yundo crawled faster until the maintenance vent ended and spat him out into a vast, empty void. He was inside a gigantic, hollow cube. There were no lights in the ordinary sense; the entire illumination was provided by the walls, which acted like displays, showing off signs and symbols, drawings, and geometric shapes. The slugcat recognized a few of the symbols and believed to spot the silhouettes of scavengers, slugcats, and lizards among the otherwise indecipherable drawings. Besides, the shapes were permanently moving and changing, transforming, growing, and shrinking, and every time the machine's deafening breath reached its peak, everything flashed up and went black for the blink of an eye. He had no clue what any of this was about. The visual stimuli his brain received were useless and only ever added to his mounting confusion. The only thing he knew was that this place was special. He hadn't seen anything like that before, and it was absolutely massive. It had to be special.

Once the male had weathered the initial sensory overload, he noticed a smaller cube sitting in the center of the vast hall, suspended by a single, thick beam. Whatever it was, this was his next target. After all, it didn't look like there were any other exit vents or points of interest, just more display surface. Yundo hovered over to the central cube, latched onto the side, and curiously crawled around it a few times, trying to figure out if there was a way inside. Eventually, he found a lever and a handle that looked a lot like those on the inside of a shelter. Maybe they worked similarly? Or perhaps this was a shelter?

Yundo quickly put his paw on the lever and pushed it down. Moments later, the door hidden underneath the handle unlocked and swung open, revealing a narrow shaft that led straight to the center of the cube. From deep within, a warm, pink light emerged, rousing his curiosity and tempting him. As with everything else about this foreign place, he didn't know what awaited him, but he finally felt like he was making serious progress. This was the way out, right? It had to be!