Deep within the planet Artin an energy stirred. Compressed stone, metal, and highly pressurized water began to phase out of existence in a 100 yard diameter sphere. All at once the material flashed out of existence. The pressurized water on the edge of the sphere instantly turned into superheated steam, but the rest of the material was held back by a new force.
At the same time, a metal pod ten feet tall, and seven feet in diameter appeared in the center of the sphere. It dropped to the bottom of the empty sphere and the sound of metal striking stone filled the space.
A few hours passed, with the heated steam gradually condensing against the cool metal pod, and forming a small puddle at the bottom of the sphere.
A square line appeared on the outside of the pod, and hissing sound began as pressurized air escaped from within it. The metal within the square started moving away from the pod, and would have revealed the interior, but something went wrong. The door was stuck.
A few minutes later a clanging sound could be heard from within the pod. The door started growing a few bulges, until it suddenly shot away from the pod and landed on the stone walls.
A figure emerged from the pod. They were clad in red painted armor with yellow glowing lines etched onto every inch of the armor. A rifle was in their hands and sweeping the area around the pod, looking for danger. Seeing nothing, the figure jumped out and landed in the shallow pool. They made a slow circle around the pod, keeping their rifle out and ready for any danger.
After they completed the circle and saw nothing but densely packed stone walls, they relaxed and picked up the heavy looking metal door. A gruff deep set voice spoke within the armor.
“What a shite welcome to a new planet. The fockin door don’t even work.”
----------------------------------------
A few hours later the contents of the pod are scattered around the underground pool in a semi organized manner. There is a seismic instrument, an ether stone stabilizer, air filters, a charged particle generator, a high quality runic battery that was slowly being charged, a door, a standard runic anvil, a few other knick knacks, and most importantly a planetary soul analyzer.
Thralic gulped down some water from a metal canister and waited for the results of the planetary soul analyzer.
He knew he was doing things a bit backwards. Most rift expeditionary members would have set up a full scale forge, ether stone generator, a few mining sites, and some basic defenses. But Thralic was old enough to know what most young expeditionary members did not know: this was likely a suicide mission.
The rift he had come through was a one way ticket. A desperate gamble by his people to find a new home, and escape from another dying planet. The energy, infrastructure, and technology to send him here had taken thousands of people to create. And it would take that same level of resources to send him back, but if this planet could support thousands of people there would be no reason to go back. But if this planet could not support a stable population of his people, there would be no reason to send anyone else.
Which is why he nervously watched the planetary soul analyzer with his rifle on the ground next to a small bottle of unopened whiskey.
The device beeped. It was done. He plugged it into his armor to view the results.
Planet Name
Artin
Planet Age
~2 billion standard years
Native Sapient Species
None
Non-native Sapient Species
10-50
Surface conditions
Life supporting
Underground conditions
Competitive
Previous rift expeditions
23
Minerals and metals
Large variety, more than sufficient
Realm physics
Close to standard, deviations in small particle physics, deviation in light speed, deviation in gravity, deviation in base elements, further deviations possible based on realm magic.
Effective Gravitation
0.7
Planet magics
Unknown, possible realm magic interference.
Realm magics
Standard
Divine magics
None
Settlement assessment
Can support large populations.
Waypoint assessment
Near certainty of being able to support a rift waypoint.
Threat assessment
Very high. Large number of previously failed rift expeditions. Other sapient species are likely hostile. Multiple dangerous underground species.
Overall assessment and mission objectives
Attempt to settle, set up strong defenses, try to establish alliances with sapient surface species, gather information on underground threats.
This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Thralic quickly read through the assessment, his initial excitement turning to dread.
“Focking shite, I’m in a gods forsaken hell world.” He jumped back into the pod and started throwing the few remaining items out of it. Once it was empty he jumped back out and pushed the pod onto its side. Then he turned off the particle generator, and unhooked the battery. He let out a few reluctant curses before setting up the runic battery inside the pod, and inputting a set of commands into the pod control console.
The pod began rumbling and changing shape. The last thing he did was place the dented door back on the pod, and seal it up with a quick and dirty welding job.
Insectile legs unfolded from the bottom of the pod, a runic rock recycler started unfolding in the front of the pad.
Thralic went through the pile of stuff laying on the ground. Strapping various pieces of equipment to his armor until he looked like a walking control terminal.
The pod had finished transforming and the rock recyclers on the front started boring a hole into the wall at an upward angle. The tunnel it made was oval shaped, about ten feet tall, and twenty feet wide.
A few minutes later Thralic followed the tunnel the pod had made. The biggest piece of equipment he dragged along was the ether stone stabilizer. The runic rock recycler would suck in material and convert it into a magical substance called ether stone. This was the key magical technology behind his people’s underground civilization. The ether stone was non-reactive to almost everything, except the material it was created from. They could dig tunnels all through a planet and convert the dug out material into ether stone, and not have to worry about constant cave ins and collapses. The ether stone stabilizer that Thalric was dragging along was needed, because the rock recycler was creating more of a slurry of ether stone. Without the stabilizer this ether stone would slowly just drain away into the surrounding rock, and leave an unstable tunnel behind.
After an hour of dragging the stabilizer along and following the rock recycler, one of Thralic’s pieces of equipment started beeping at him. It took him a moment of searching to find which one.
He grumbled when he saw the readout “That is way too damn fast, this planet has to be crawling with worms.”
He followed the machine for another ten minutes, carefully checking his beeping equipment every minute.
Then he anchored the stabilizer to the ground and started taking off the various pieces of equipment he had on him and leaving them leaning against the anchored stabilizer. Finally he called up a bit of free form stone manipulation magic to encase his equipment in a protective shell of hardened stone.
With his delicate equipment safe and his armor unburdened he jogged to catch up with the pod. He swept the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel with his rifle. It was on the small caliber setting for now.
A pointed head on a worm-like body burst through the floor 20 feet behind the pod. The creature’s head wiggled around in confusion before it seemed to lock onto the pod and the rest of the body popped out. It was about 6 inches wide, and 4 feet long.
Thralic fired a single shot into the worm. There was no kickback from the small caliber shot, and almost no noise as the shot was subsonic. But it was still enough to tear a hole through the worm and leave it wiggling in its death throes.
There was another minute of nothing happening before more worms started bursting out in the tunnel. Thralic meticulously put bullets into the worms closest to him. Even when his shots only wounded the worms, he didn’t shoot them again. After a few minutes of target practice on the worms behind him he turned back around to look at the pod. It was covered in worms. There was a slight hissing sound as they secreted acid from their mouths in an attempt to melt their way to the center of the pod.
Thralic switched modes on his rifle to buckshot. He fired multiple times at the worms around the pod. Trying to make sure there were as many bleeding worms as possible.
While he was doing this, one of the worms behind him had caught and started trying to gnaw on his armored boot. “Get off me ya ugly shite” A point blank buckshot to the worm’s head shredded it. He looked at the black blood of the creature covering his boot. “Might as well start cleaning”
He slung the rifle over his shoulder, until it locked onto part of his armor, and a metal protective case extended over it.
Thralic knelt down and activated a flame function on his armor’s gauntlet. The worm’s black blood easily caught fire, a thick cloying smoke came from the fire, and random pops sent bits of burning flesh flying a few a few feet away. The worm’s skin was heat and fire resistant, so he was able to grab its unblemished tail end and fling the entire worm at the pod. The fire caught on the other bits of leaking worm blood. Within a minute the whole pod was on fire with burning worms and thick black smoke was filling the tunnel.
Thralic’s respirator had been providing breathable air ever since he arrived, so the smoke didn’t concern him. His natural dark vision was only slightly impeded by the smoke, but he activated a thermal overlay on his visor. Grabbing the configurable melee device off of his hip, he selected a short spear. With the fires still sputtering around him he began stabbing any ‘cold’ spots in his vision. The cold spots were the worms he’d missed, and when their blood was exposed to the fiery environment they quickly went up in flames as well.
----------------------------------------
Fifteen minutes later he returned to his equipment cache and began reattaching all the more delicate pieces of gear. He had to run to catch back up with the still moving rock recycler.
After five hours of digging he had to do three more purges of worms. Every time the pod had cooled off, a new group of worms would show up to try and eat the mana battery.
The temperature of the surrounding rock was getting cooler as he got closer to the surface. He was happy when the pod finally broke through. Sunlight streamed into the tunnel, and a cold breeze carried a drift of snow. His dark vision grew strained at the light, and his stomach flipped. He took deep breaths trying to fight back the nausea, but ultimately he lost his personal battle with tunnel sickness and puked into the clear white snow outside the tunnel.
He stood at the mouth of the tunnel for a few moments observing the mountain range he’d popped out of. The tunnel faced south east, so he couldn’t see in that direction. To the North the mountain range seemed to thin out. To the south west the mountains got taller and he couldn’t see very far in that direction, to the west the mountains stretched as far as he could see.
His dark brown braided beard whipped in the harsh wind, and icicles had started to form on his beard. But the cold felt like nothing in comparison to the duty he bore on his shoulders. This place might be the last chance for his people, but 23 others had been here before and failed.
He sighed and pushed the heavy thoughts to the back of his mind. With his helmet resecured he turned to the pod and smiled with excitement.
----------------------------------------
Twenty minutes later a runic mana battery sped down the side of a mountain on a rough looking stone sled. The sled went flying off a ridge line and soaring into the air. It flew far enough to clear the snow line of the mountain, and hit a rock scramble that obliterated the sled and sent the battery spinning through the air.
Another rocky ridge was at the bottom of the rock scramble, and the runic battery was careening towards it. The battery impacted the ridge and a brilliant flash of light reached Thalric’s shaded eyes. The light was gone and a brilliant fireball was lighting up the sky. The shockwave of the explosion visibly distorted the air, and kicked up a wave of snow as it raced up the mountain.
The rumbling explosion reached Thalric and he stopped the recording he was making, and quickly slipped through the small crack in a metal blast door and shut it behind him. Moments later an avalanche washed over the entrance and buried all evidence of the tunnel.