Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 153 of 365. Sol standard year]
Days after of Crash landing/ 1
Uninhabited Island / River that River Spider sleeps in
Galactic Standard Time / 1020
As they floated, Bryce tried to figure out where that feeling to eat the worm had come from. Ever since he had escaped, he had let reason guide him, never letting his instants control him. But the desire to eat, to consume, he had never felt anything like that before in his life, both parts of it. As he floated down the river, he tried and failed to figure out where it had come from.
“This is nice. I mean maybe we should make a petition to have something like this in one of the ship’s parks. But quick question……why are we floating down this river?!” Zane’s bellow caused something to leave the trees on both sides of the river, and Bryce turned his head to look at him. He was glaring at Rodolphe who was watching the forest they had come from, his eyes flashing from tree to tree.
Rodolphe stayed silent and Bryce was worried that he hadn’t heard them when he spoke up.
“I saw what destroyed the tree but there. It was waiting for us to get out of the river. it would have struck as soon as we got onto land,” Rodolphe’s matter-of-fact tone made Bryce stare at him in shock.
Bryce blinked before he turned and looked at the trees, trying to find what Rodolphe had seen.
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Zane meanwhile had gone silent at Rodolphe’s answer, his mind going strange places. From what he knew, a pure energy attack like what destroyed the tree was very easy to learn. But that gave him pause, he had always thought that the ability to reason was needed for that, but could it not be? Could the lower beasts be able to tap into the Power that easier, was the ability to reason just making it harder?
He shook his head and then he looked to the far shore and went still as he saw something move beyond the trees. Something very big.
“We’ve got something over there too guys!” Zane called out and then continued. “Bryce, look at that side, I’ll take this one! Rodolphe watch where we’re going!”
“Got it!” Rodolphe called out as they floated along.
Zane tried and failed to not see what he saw, first, there was a green tail with white spikes, then a green muscular leg. Whatever was following them along, it was green and at least six feet tall, and probably a hunter. This was bad, very bad. Was it like whatever had been chasing them, waiting for them to get off the tree bridge? And if so, did it see them as being its prey? All in all, they might be in more danger than before.
However, that was when everything went worse. It was something he couldn’t identify at first, a distinct roaring that slowly got louder. He looked ahead, his mind going strange places as he hoped he was wrong. But as he saw the river swing to the right, his heart sank in his chest. “We need to get to one of the shores, how big was the thing chasing us?”
“Big, and why can’t we just stay in here until that thing turns tail?” Rodolphe asked and Zane laughed weakly. Before Rodolphe could reply the river carried them around the bend. No sooner did then the roaring suddenly raising to a near-defeating high.
Rodolphe saw those thirty yards ahead the water was dropping off, and beyond was empty air to the ocean.
“WATERFALL!” Bryce cried out and turned towards the shore they had come from.
But before he could make even one stroke, the creature that had been hunting them burst out of the forest!
It was a long red snake-like creature with two rows of white spikes down its back. It had black lines that branched out from each spike and went around its long body. Its head was arrow-shaped with three eyes on top. And as they watched it flicked out a long pink tongue that was split into three parts.
“That’s what was hunting us!? What is it!?” Bryce asked and Zane stared at the snake in horror. His Grandfather liked to use snake venom to spice up his drink sometimes, so he raised them. He had grown up around deadly snakes all his life, and that thing looked like one of the worst. And the spikes it had. They looked sharp enough to kill anyone that they coiled around. And it looked like the mouth could probably unhinge to swallow things whole.
“Go to the other side!” Rodolphe called out as he turned towards where Zane had been watching.
“WAIT!” Zane shouted in fear as the other creature burst from the tree line. While the first had been a snake, this one was a lion!
It was a large green feline-like creature that was six feet tall. With four muscular legs, and from here they could see its paws ended in black claws. Its fur had red lines that went along its body, and its head was like a tiger's, but it had two fangs that went down a foot each. It looked at them with four eyes, two above two that were where they normally were, and Zane felt a spark of fear. It had to be his imagination, but there was something in its eyes. Something about them made him think that this creature was here to kill and slaughter. Not for food, but because it wanted to cause pain.
the river’s current suddenly speeds up, carrying them closer to the waterfall. As they came ever closer, the two creatures both kept up the chase, their eyes on their prey.
The three deckhands could only stare in horror. There was nothing they could do, no way to escape them. To go to either side of the river was to be attacked by that side’s creature.
“What can we do?!” Bryce asked in horror, not seeing anything they could do.
Zane looked ahead of them, the waterfalls only a few meters ahead of them. As he did, his mind flashed back to a time in his youth. A test of courage he and his cousins had done once and he understood just what to do.
“If the waterfall isn’t too tall, we could survive! Go over the falls, it might be our only chance!” Zane barked as he swam forward.
Rodolphe almost didn’t react, before he looked at Bryce and shrugged. “It can’t get worse!”
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The creature slithered after its prey. it was mad. Its eyes darted from the prey to the fanged creature on the other side, trying to figure out how to deal with this. It was right, one of the local ruler’s sub-leaders had been nearby, and the fanged one at that! It had led many of the nearby ruler’s forces against the others and to victory most times. It had thrown back the shelled ones many times, and those had retreated from these lands for many quakes.
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But if it got what the creature had been hunting, then that one might become the ruler instead of its master. It could smell the scent that had driven it from its den even now, and as it followed them it almost went over the cliff. It stopped and slithered along it, coming around to watch as the three big, small bipeds went over the falls. As they hit the water below it wondered what to do, and then it saw the fanged one going after them.
If it was here, then there was a chance to kill it after it fought against the prey! The strength it could gain from that one, oh how it could kill with such! And all that stood against it was one prideful creature and striking when it wasn’t looking.
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As they hit the water, Zane covered his mouth and looked around, trying to find the others. Bryce was easy to find, sinking deeper ten feet away. He stared at him in horror before looking around, searching for Rodolphe. Finally, he found him, seeing that Rodolphe was fighting up to the surface twenty feet to his left. With a sinking heart, he swam towards him. Before he had even made it two feet Bryce started swimming upwards. Zane followed, shooting upwards.
As they broke the surface, Zane looked at Bryce in shock.
“I thought you died!” Zane gasped out and Bryce looked at him, a confused look in his eyes, a look that slowly turned to terror.
“He might not have but we might soon!” Rodolphe spat out in horror
Zane turned his head and saw the fanged feline creature was farther downriver. For a second, he hoped it would ignore them, but it looked right at them as it came closer.
Zane looked around, trying to find anything to use. He finally noticed something about the roar of the falls, it echoed. He looked at it, and with a spark of hope he saw something through the falling waters. “There’s a cave! We can fight it off in there!”
Rodolphe turned and looked into the water, his mind going miles in seconds before he nodded. “The best thing we can do, move!”
As one they swam through the falling waters, coming out into a cave warmed by the waters a good thirty feet deep. As they got out of the water a growl from the outside caused them to turn and stare at the fanged cat as it came in from the far left. Without a word, the group moved deeper into the cave, their weapons on the cat as it followed them in.
“Why is it still following us? Shouldn’t it have gone after better prey?” Zane muttered under his breath as he looked at the fanged feline coming closer, its eyes locked on them.
As they moved backwards they came into a cavern deeper within. Zane looked over his shoulder when he noticed that, and his eyes went wide in shock. The chamber was a good fifty feet round, with a few stalagmites around the chamber, each one over ten feet tall. But what took his attention was at the far end. A large silver metal door behind two stalagmites that looked like horns, AND had strange markings on the door causing him to stare at it.
“Run to the door, then start firing!” Rodolphe barked. Bryce ran with Zane following, the sounds of Rodolphe firing his rifle echoing off the walls. As the fanged feline roared in pain before it moved back.
Zane only had eyes on the door, Bryce only a few steps ahead of him. As they reached the door, Zane went to the right stalagmite and pulled out his rifle. He aimed around at the fanged feline as Rodolphe ran to them, the creature starting to move only to run into Zane’s fire.
As Rodolphe made it to them, he joined Bryce at the left stalagmite, joining his fire to Rodolphe’s. As the fanged feline dashed to cover behind one of the stalagmites near the right of the entrance. As it poked its head out, the deckhand kept firing at it, hoping to scare it off.
“Great plan! Go behind the falls, and now we’re deadlocked!” Bryce said bitterly and then felt Zane’s eyes on him. Bryce grinned at him as he fired, a sheepish look to them. “Not that I had a better idea man.”
Zane stayed silent, knowing that Bryce was right. He kept his eyes locked on the fanged feline and tried to figure out if it was trying to get them from hiding.
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The creature had seen the prey being chased by the fanged feline behind the moving liquid, and if it could it would grin. So far everything was going perfectly, all it had to do was use its power and it would kill the fanged feline. It moved towards the waterfall, a sense of satisfaction. Its plan looked like it worked, and it came closer to what it hoped would be an easy feeding it felt satisfaction.
But then it moved into the cavern behind the falls. It then went deeper in, until it was close enough to peer into the chamber. Only then did its good mood died. Looking, it saw the prey sting the fanged feline from a distance and if it could, it would scowl. It had expected the fanged feline to be close in, using its claws but it was staying back. The fanged one was being a lot more reserved in battle than it ever had the few times it had seen it fight.
It had hoped that the battle would have been more damaging to all of them, but if it would have to fight then it would.
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Bryce looked around his cover, he went still as he saw the snake thing coming into the chamber. “Guys, both of those things that hunted us are here!”
He fired a bolt from his pistol, and it hit right above the cavern’s entrance, sending a stone to hit the creature with a small boom, startling everything within. As the fanged feline turned, it locked eyes with the snake creature, which blinked away the dust to stare into the feline’s eyes
For a moment the two creatures stared at each other before they charged at each other.
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Rodolphe could only stare in awe. In the center of the room, the two titans struggled, each trying to kill the other. As the snake tried to coil around it, the fanged feline jumped at one of the stalagmites. It hit it before pushing off at the snake, slashing off one of the snake's spikes near its tail. As the snake whipped out with its head, the fanged feline dodged the blow.
The mouth of the snake opened, and a small blue glow started to grow from within. Before the fanged feline lunged and force the snake’s head down against the cavern floor. As it tried to struggle free, the head kept pointing at the silver door. As the glow intensified Rodolphe could only stare in horror. “move! To the walls!”
As the three deckhands ran, the snake released an energy bolt like the one that destroyed the fallen tree. As he was running, Rodolphe looked back. He could only stare in horror as the bolt hit the door. It drilled into it for a second before a large explosion of light and sound blasted out.
Rodolphe was flung into the air and hit the wall, his vision going dark as he lost consciousness.
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Zane blinked his sight back and looked around. He was lying down against Bryce who had hit the wall head-first. He saw a small stain of blood and his hand went to Bryce’s neck, finding a pulse caused him to sigh in relief. Looking around he saw that the explosion had caused the front of the chamber to caved in. They were in a pocket twenty feet wide. He saw Rodolphe against the other wall and no blood stain, a good sign.
Getting up he walked towards him, but when he reached where the door was, he went still. It had opened onto a large golden corridor a good forty feet long at least. The metal was shining off a warm glow from a light in the ceiling. But he could see farther back there were patches of darkness every ten feet. He stared in total shock, not understanding just what had been revealed.
The place looked like an abandoned facility, like people had just stopped caring for it. The corridor was like someone just stopped maintaining it and let it rot. He almost took a step into it, trying to find out what it was when he remembered his friend. He ran to Rodolphe as the man started to come around and smiled as he helped him up.
“Hardhead R?” Zane asked and Rodolphe chuckled as he let Zane pull him up.
“Titanium my friend, what about Bryce” Rodolphe asked as he shook himself back to full attention.
Zane was about to say he was worse than Rodolphe was when a voice interrupted him.
“Better, but that took a lot out of me…… what happened to our pets?” Bryce asked.
Zane whirled around and saw Bryce dust himself off. He couldn't understand how that was possible. He had seen people hurt like he was, and most of them were out for a lot longer. The only reason that he wouldn’t be……… he went still for an instant before forcing himself to relax. He cursed in his head for being a fool, and his thoughts crystallized.
He thought about everything he knew, and it made sense. It explained everything, but who Bryce was. Who could have sent him and why, was there a spy in his Clan? And his mission, it was nothing to warrant someone coming to kill him for!
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Rodolphe forced himself to ignore the ringing in his ears as he looked around, trying to figure out what to do. With the passage back to the falls blocked, there was only one way to go. Into the unknown hallway and deeper into whatever facility this was. He had to admit, that this place didn’t look like his base, this place just gave off a different vibe. And that was bothering him, he had been part of raids into space stations of his enemy. They had a….. feel to them that this place didn’t, this felt worse. And given what those stations had been used for, that was very concerning.
He looked at the rocks blocking the way and then upwards before shaking his head. That way was impassable, so he thought this was the only way.
“So, the choices; go into the unknown or stay here and die? Any other ideas?” Bryce asked with a note of humor in his voice.
Rodolphe shook his head and looked around at him and Zane. “No, I don’t think there is a way for us to live without going into it. ’ll take the lead, you tow watch our six and the walls. If you see anything, say something.
And without another word, the three people walked into the hallway.
Twenty minutes later, one of the stones blocking the way moved and a red arm pushed through the opening. After the arm retreated, a strange three-part tongue thrust out into the open air.
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Alert, Alert!
Alarm from damaged section of facility, facility has been breached!
Status of breech and composition of intruder units
Unknown. Condition of Abandoned sector, unrepaired. Last remote sensor broken on the release gate for test templates.
Observation capabilities are non-existent. Servitor units already on hunt within damaged sector, send others?
Confirmed, send Servitor Units, have Worker Units speed up work on wielding passage to Core.
Confirmed. Sending two Serviror units to investigate, sending message unit to three tracking Templates 99850.
Alpha order, purge complex of Biological Templates