Jinn scowled as he looked around. He was trying to figure out just what had happened to the creature but he couldn't understand it. He had been less than a minute behind the insect bear, but it was gone! He didn’t like any of this, something about this forest was bothering him. He had a lot of experience tracking through hard terrain but this, something was wrong.
As he looked around he tried to find anything, any sign that could tell him what he wanted. But no matter where he looked, it was as if the creature hadn’t even come this way. Jinn knew that the creature had, he had tracked it here after all. All he knew, was that somehow the creature walked into this clearing and disappeared.
“Okay Jinn, it’s gone. We need to set up defenses tonight… and I better see where we are,” Jinn muttered to himself and started to look around. The best idea was to get higher up, so he searching for something, anything to help him.
Finally, he found a large tree a good forty feet tall at least. With one last look to make sure he didn’t miss anything he ran towards the tree and jumped at one of the branches. Once he reached it he grabbed it and spun around, throwing himself ever upwards. A few more grabs and jumps he broke the canopy of leaves and flew upward into the empty sky.
He twirled around, seeing the mountain to his right, and finally ass he started to come back down, he saw the Yard ship. But the worst was he saw that there were three rivers they had to cross. But to his relief, he saw another escape capsule by the first river. As he fell back towards the ground thought he saw signs people were living in it.
As he fell down the tree, he tried to figure out what they could do now. If the rivers were worse than the forest, they would have trouble. He might be able to carry them across, but they would need to plan the crossing. If there was something in the river that wanted to eat them, they would have a hard fight on their hands. And with the baby and Roy, they were even more trouble.
As he landed on the forest floor, he looked around one last time. No matter where he looked, there was nothing. It was only now that he saw a few of the red flying worms, and that was……troubling. If they had been hiding, then that meant the insect bear had come this way. But then where was it now?
If the worms had come out, they thought it was safe to do so. And that meant the creature was gone, far enough away they couldn’t sense it. But could that thing even move that fast? Or had something killed it, and that creature had left fast. He couldn’t find anything to disprove his theory, but the ground was too perfect to mark a battle. He didn’t even see a drop of blood, nothing at all could tell him anything at all.
And if he was honest, that scared him more than anything. From the armor of its chitin to the way it could fight, the insect bear was strong. Anything that could kill it fast and then hide that they had even been there. He couldn’t see any way anything could have done it that fast, and without a sound.
As he looked around, he tried to find anything that might tell him what happened. But no matter where he looked, nothing stood out. All he knew was that he had to get back to the others, they had to make a plan. He knew where they had to go, there was help ahead of them and danger all around them. The only thing to do was try and make the best speed to the other capsule tomorrow. If they tried tonight something that out here that hunted in the darkness might make a meal out of them.
He turned back towards the way he had come and stopped. To the right side was something he had missed, a tree half filled with the same pods he had found that first day. With a small smile he walked towards them, it seemed that their dinner had an addiction to it.
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As Paige led Roy and Sara into the cavern, she could only see Racha. “Hey, where’s Al?”
Racha turned around, a smile on her face. “Good, everyone’s here. Al went to the bottom level, something about a place to sleep.”
Paige nodded, feeling the confusion from Roy and the sense of hope from Sara. For a second she frowned, Roy was a bit of a problem. All of the members of the original team needed to talk to each other, to clear up everything. But she had a hard time even thinking of telling Roy her truth.
The others had earned her trust fighting together, but Roy hadn’t. And she didn’t want to be that person, but she didn’t trust him yet. They didn’t know exactly what had happened before he and the baby had found them. Sure they knew what he said, but trust and verify as her old teacher said once. Until she could trust him, she would keep her secrets. She had to talk to the others
“Good. So Jinn’s not back yet?” She asked as she walked forward, seeing the rope under Racha’s foot.
At Racha’s head shake, Roy looked around before nodding.
“Yeah, this could work. I mean what time is it anyway? We can rest here before we return to your capsule in the morning if the way is long. So why were you so far away from…….what?” Roy asked as he saw the looks the women sent him.
Paige looked at Sara and Racha, feeling conflicted. She could sense what the others were feeling, and she looked at Racha with a question in her eyes.
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Racha knew what Paige was asking, and she understood why. They all knew what she was, and that meant a lot. As an agent of the Federation, it was up to her to tell the truth. Roy had already been through the void while he was being hunted, and he deserved the truth. So she nodded at Paige and then she turned her head to look at Roy. “Roy, we’re not going back to our capsule. We were sent out here to secure a yard ship.”
“What!? A yard ship!?” Roy asked softly with wide eyes. He looked from Racha to Sara, his mouth open in shock.
“Yeah, I saw it myself. Chief Duncan thinks that even if it's damaged we can use it. Just one of those weapons on it might be able to keep us safe,” Sara said and Roy looked at her.
Racha nodded, keeping her face blank. That was true, but the real prize was the fabricators. Those machines plus Al’s help would let them make anything a starter colony could. Well, they need would materials to feed them. But if the Yard-Ship had supplies, that would let them build a few things. Then at the very least could reinforce the ship, and make it somewhere they would be safe. Once they were all secure, they could find the others. Together, they could do what they needed to survive here. and if she could find the rest of her team, then so much the better.
But she wanted to create a vehicle to travel over the waters. They were either on an ocean or a lake, one of those two. The only priority had to be getting every survivor in one place, or at least make contact with them. The motto of the Federation was ‘Stronger Together’, time to put that into practice.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Wow, just wow. I wonder where it came from? I mean I haven’t heard any of them getting lost out in the black,” Roy asked in awe as he looked down at the baby in his hands.
Racha looked at the baby, smiling to herself as she saw it was still asleep. And for a moment she had to wonder if this was the best thing to do if they should still go on. So far they had learned that creatures on this rock could think, they found an old fighter from the Corp War. And finally to top it all off, they found a creature that might be a world-ender. The smart play would be to try and head back but with the attack on the capsule the other day…. No. They had to go on, it might be the difference between the life or death of everyone under their protection.
“It’s not a new class. It’s one of the first generation,” Al’s voice caused Racha to look down. Al had climbed back up while the others were talking. From the way he looked, there wasn’t anything the in cave that could hurt them.
“So good place?” Racha asked and Roy nodded.
“Yeah! It's perfect! No bones or waste, one single entrance and I can set up a few sensors here and there to let us know if anything comes at us! Once Jinn gets back you two can make a final sweep of it while I set up the sensor at the tunnel,” Al said as he climbed onto the ledge and put his bag down.
As they watched Al opened it and started to look through it, something on his mind.
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Al sighed internally as he looked for the sensor pods. He had told them everything he found, not what he thought. He didn’t want to say anything, but there was something else in the cave. The front was as he reported, perfect for their needs. It was at the back that he ran into something, something surprising. From what he found, this cavern had a master before the insect bear, something strong. From the few marks he found, this place had been fought over before. And that was another reason to put up his sensors.
If his theory was right, then that meant the insect bear had taken this place from something. And their luck meant this happened often. So if that was true, something else might come to try and take this place from the insect bear. And if it came when the party was here, then they needed an early warning. He didn’t want to scare anyone, stars, he didn’t want to scare Roy.
Al had been around people like him before, and he knew the signs. Roy was close to bolting, and if he did that he and the baby would likely die. So the best thing to do was not to startle him too much. They needed to get him to sleep, and then all of them could pass around a holo-board talk through text. It was the best idea he had to ‘talk’ without the others having one of his friend’s inventions in them.
As he found what he was looking for he took stock of the number he had; ten. So maybe he could use around three, two in the tunnel and one at the opening.
Normally, that would be enough, but he had trouble believing it. That setup would work on any other planet, but this one had thrown all his perceptions into the void! But this was the best that he had.
“Good, good. I’ll help you set them up. We’ll start at the tunnel, Paige, Sara, you two go watch the opening over there. Anything comes, you scream, got it?” Racha asked as she looked at the others.
“What about me?” Roy asked and Racha looked at him and smiled.
Al didn’t think, all he could do was think about everything he knew about this mad planet. Something about him was pulling at his mind, something that was at the limit of his memory. He didn’t know what it was, but it was there, some kind of strange feeling he couldn’t explain.
“I want you to say back, just rest and keep an eye on that baby,” Racha said and Roy nodded.
This planet was insane, the monsters might all be able to think, and the ones that weren’t were all predators. The food chain on this planet was so unnatural that he couldn’t even think of how it was possible. This was unlike anything that he had ever learned of, and anything he could have thought of. All he knew was that this island was mad as if evolution had gone wrong.
“….Al. Hey Al!” Paige’s voice caused him to look up
“Oh, sorry. I was lost in thought,” Al apologized and Racha sighed and shook her head.
“Try and keep your mind on what’s important! So let’s get to work!” Racha said as she clapped her hands.
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Sara looked out into the forest from the cave mouth, her eyes searching for anything. So far today has been one problem after another. From the vine beast to the spiders, she didn’t know how much more she could handle. The fact that they found two more survivors out here was surprising. Roy was being tight-lipped about something, she didn’t need senses to tell that. She just hoped that whatever it was wouldn’t hit them before they were ready
But something bothered her more, the way that that Paige had looked at the corpse on the way up. Something about it was more than it appeared, but it had died like any other creature on this island. Maybe it was something that Jinn had said, something the others hadn’t shared with her and Roy. She could understand if that was the case, with how Roy was she would have done the same. He was rounded up so tight, she was sure that a single spark would cause his mind to break. What kind of madness had he endured, what terrors had he faced since they landed.
But was it because of this island? That stray thought caused her to look up at the sky, a thoughtful look in her eyes. She had read a paper once, the researcher had studied a lot of amnesia cases and learned a lot. What they found was that sometimes, the mind didn’t forget everything. Some of those who lost their memories to shock still had a few things from the experience. Terrors and ticks that still affected them, even if they didn’t remember what happened.
If that was true, then maybe Roy saw something before they all made it to the escape capsules. And that was bad, if he had seen something then it hadn’t been an accident. Something truly shocking must have happened to the Spirit of Adventure. Something that was beyond everything that they had trained for. And that was even worse, for headquarters had created a lot of strange events to train for. From drone uprisings to pirates and civil war, the Spirit of Adventure had prepared for them.
Still, if he could remember them even in dreams, they might be lucky and learn what had happened. But that was only if that was why Roy was in such a state. It could have been anything, even something they couldn’t think. Even something to do with the Powers she and Jinn developed. If one of the things that had been tracking Roy had powers and used it on him, then that made sense.
“You okay?” Paige’s voice caused Sara to look at her, shocked out of her thoughts.
Sara nodded after a few seconds, an embarrassed look on her face. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just let my mind wander.”
“I could sense it, what was it?” Paige asked and Sara looked away.
Sara looked away from Paige, trying to figure out what to say. How to explain what she was thinking about? And on that track, could she dare not say anything about it? Paige was a lot better at seeing things about people, but her abilities kind of explained some of that. And that was another problem, should they tell Roy their secrets? She and Jinn had to tell Roy about their abilities, they didn’t have a choice. With how everything had happened, they would probably have to use them before him sooner or later.
She took a deep breath and looked at Paige. “I was trying to figure out how to tell Roy what I can do. I don’t think we should just spring it on him.”
“Yeah,” Paige said, she sighed and looked up at the sky. “He doesn’t feel that stable really. I mean he wanted to run before, not even try and help Jinn. But he has that baby to look after, and he felt shame about that at least. At least I think he did.”
“No way to identify them closer then?” Sara asked with a raised eyebrow.
Paige giggled and looked away, a happy look on her face. “No, not really. I mean, if I’m around them for a while I can kind of guess. But if it's someone I’ve never met, I really can’t tell the specifics about someone.”
Sara nodded, looking away as she started to think about this. Paige agreed with her, and her idea about what he had felt in the tunnel was good. But Sara hadn’t even mentioned telling Roy about their secrets, and it was something they had to talk about. If there was a chance that they could keep them hidden, that was something she wanted to do.
She wasn’t like Paige who had been hunted, but something about Roy was just bothering her. Why had he been chosen as a sacrifice? If the baby was the only child, why give over a large body? In this kind of situation, every single body on their side was something that was needed. And if the ‘cult leader’ hated Roy, then all that meant was that he could be used for suicide missions.
But if that person didn’t think about the total situation, then that was even worse. If they found their way to other escape capsules, then that was just as bad. Some Movies told tales about cults that killed other survivors when ships crashed. For now, all she could do was trust in Chief Duncan to lead the way.
The sounds of rustling in the forest startled both of them. Sara and Paige both raise their weapons, ready to fight off anything that might attack them.