Chapter 8: Behold!
The night passed by a little slower than Joseph was expecting after the ambush. He had fallen asleep before he could walk his way back to the fire as the exhaustion took its toll on him, only to be woken up shortly after by Violet noticing his shirt having been torn pretty badly, likely in the scuffle with the last wolf. Though shallow, he looked like he landed torso first on an oversized cheese grater on the finer side. The blood loss from it was paltry in comparison to what came from his mauled hands, but the surface area affected led to somewhat of a grisly scene. The young mantis had seen him bloodied and unconscious, sending her into a second panic of hastily applying as much healroot as would fit. The rest of the night was spent between Mama and him trading off sleep, about every hour, so that one of them would be there to soothe the traumatized child.
The morning came eventually; fitful sleep and calming cooing from the two had eventually eased Violet into slumber. She had refused to remove herself from him, leaving Joseph to remain stationary and only managing to sit upright to keep watch as Mama got what little sleep she could. Every time he patted her to awaken her was met with a bolt upright and him getting another body smushed into him as she confirmed he was still okay. Even Mama couldn’t quite shake the after effects of the event, it seems.
Once everyone was awake and breakfast was distributed, he took some time to observe the corpses of their assailants. Their forms leaner than expected but without any experience with their Terran counterparts nor with the subjects on hand, he could only hope that the bodies weren't displaying near severe starvation. Though that would explain the brashness of their assault. The only other details of note were the teeth marks on their bodies and the various cuts or puncture caused by himself or Mama. The bites could have been due to disagreements or attempted cannibalism, however the equality in distribution suggests the former, a small comfort for their situation.
The wind had picked up somewhat, just barely enough to fill the air with a constant drone of shuffling branches and enough to cool him under the relentless sun. Clouds in the distance of deep blue contrasted the otherwise exceedingly pale blue it encroached upon. Promises of storm weather in the near future lay apparent. The almost dry riverbed they had used to wash up yesterday had filled again somewhat, still of low tide but confirming the wishes of the sky.
They finished their preparations, each donning their armour again and extinguishing the fire by covering it. The lacing that held Joseph’s armour together was replaced as the others packed the unused supplies, the shirt he had been wearing was torn into strips and added to his pack as potential emergency tourniquets. The wolf corpses were loaded onto the larger storage compartment of Mama’s saddle-bag-turned-cargo-wear as they had little time in which to cut the meat from them. Though Mama’s gear now would have weighed almost double with the wolfs occupying it, the constant usage of the materials once stored had left the pack about equal to when they started their journey. Even still loaded down as much as she was, Mama’s leg could now fully support the weight it had been exempted from, leading to an overall faster traversal from here on out. Satisfied that everything was in order, the three set back out towards their destination, following the slowly filling riverbed.
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The harsh sun glinted off the slowed canal, blinding him in flashes until he ripped off a nearby leaf as long as his arm and fashioned a visor to tilt towards the water. Violet, unlike the previous days of trailing behind him and wandering slightly to absorb the environment in curiosity, now remained steadfast to his side, head turning at every sound. At first, she did this fearfully, huddling into him at each startle. His yelp of pain after he had planted his hand to a tree while stepping over foliage had emboldened her into leading the pack with only minor redirection when she strayed. The young Mantis having seemed to take it upon herself to be vanguard as to protect her injured party. Joseph couldn’t help but feel guilty that a child would feel the need to protect him, however he wasn’t sure if denying her this small peace of mind would be helpful. He merely kept a close watch on her and her surroundings, calling out to her if she strayed too far ahead or started off in the wrong direction.
As he was assisting Mama over rough terrain, Violet began calling out from in front of them, having seen something as she broke through the tree line a few feet ahead. Mama seemed somewhat excited by whatever her daughter had observed and ushered him forward, the joint above her blades pushing him. They joined the clicking Mantis past the walls of silver and grey bark, the sun blinding him for a moment until he readjusted his improvised headgear to block the light. Looking forward, he was greeted to a familiar yet foreign sight; The cliff he had fallen from loomed ahead, easily as tall as some apartment complexes like the one he lived in and far wider, spanning large swaths of land in either direction at various heights. Jagged rock and wayward roots jutting throughout the natural wall, small channels of water adorned the steeply angled surface as if jewellery for the monument, water flowing down the complex pathways to meet with the body below. Trees and grasses dotted the rock face, claiming purchase on even paltry landings as they bloomed upwards to soak in what sun the drop allowed.
Amongst its base lay several boulders as large as city transportation vehicles, their pale grey and white two-tone colours separating them only slightly from the rust-red accents of their environment that they lacked. Joseph soaked in the sight before him, realizing the end of their expedition was nearing.
“Holy shit, That’s huge. I survived that!? More importantly, we’re almost th-” His voice of celebration was cut off by Mama patting him on the shoulder with her blade, her free arm pointing off to right ahead of them.
“What’s up, Mama?” He questioned, confusion barely out-competing his excitement. He peered in the gestured direction, shifting focus from tree to tree as he tried to parse what item or feature was of significance. He squinted as he noticed part of the topography in the distance droop low to the ground, forming a slanted path upwards they could possibly use to scale up. His face brightened at the prospect of utilizing a natural slope so nearby. “Hey! Good find, Mama. We’ll go check it out and rest before we either try to climb up or find another spot somewhere. Come on Violet, Mama might have saved us a few hours!”
The smaller Mantis caught up with them again as they set out through more forest towards the prospective path, bouncing forwards with small leaps and bounds, leaving Joseph to laugh and wonder how high his insectoid crew could jump. They approached the subdued portion of the landscape after another half hour of walking, the base of which was less populated by trees and allowed them a place to rest to avoid the scorching star above before fully surveying the efficacy of the slope.
The last of their jerky was passed around, Mama removed her bandaging to reveal a fully healed limb, and Joseph was subjected to Violet doing her best as a medic while she swapped out the many pieces of healroot plastered to his body and hands. His naked torso allowed swift inspection of the wounds, reducing the amount of used bandaging as Violet could examine which had already healed throughout the night and morning. God bless Mantis spit and glowing weed.
He stared up at the incline as he ate, plotting out potential courses they could traverse as the path dipped and curved on its way up. Several variations of the climb would likely be outright impossible for the two Mantises, requiring dexterity and careful footwork to traverse thin lips or scale vertical disparity. He moved his gaze to the base portion of Violet, scrutinizing her legs to roughly approximate their range of motion, having only seen them move in ways strictly required for locomotion or being tucked below her when resting. Mama, noticing the increased observation her daughter was attracting, clicked towards Joseph. A few attempts were needed to snap him free from his train of thought, his eyes wide for a moment as his eyes flickered to locate the request for his attention.
“Sorry, Mama.” He scratched the back of his head, his face slightly red after having been caught staring. “Off in space. Do you think you two could climb that if we went something like this?” He pointed to a path among the rock face, somewhat steep but littered with foot-holds. The course was far longer than alternative options but the least technically challenging to do. She watched his hand as he followed the prospective route upwards with his finger, stopping when it reached the apex before returning it to his lap.
Mama nodded, getting Violet’s attention and tracing the way with her blade while talking to her. The two traded off back and forth for a moment before Violet shrugged, a first for the young one, and Mama reaffirmed her earlier acceptance. Joseph huffed a laugh at the adoption of his mannerisms, it made guessing the content of their conversations easier. Pointing was established early on in their company as something both species did, but nodding, shaking the head, and shrugging were invaluable additions. Nothing facilitates easy communication like simple ‘yes, ‘no’, and a dual purpose ‘i don’t know’/’works for me’. He was reluctant to fully admit the gestures made them seem more human to him, he didn’t want to start assuming too much. Either way, it made him smile seeing his company have a discussion he could easily follow.
He lifted himself to his feet from a log he had been perched on, leaning heavily forward to start his momentum to spare his hands. “Looks like our way up is settled! Alright, let’s go. We still got another two or three rest stops before we get to the pod.” he stated with a bounce, grabbing their items and readying again for the hike.
The initial upwards portion they walked was rather tame. A simple rough pathway that continued for a while up, maybe a fourth of the mountain, at a gentle slope. Joseph’s legs burned slightly as they reached a turnaround to continue upwards, stopping to flex and stretch his legs to dispel the feeling. Mama and Violet however seemed perfectly fine with the change in incline, showing no signs of fatigue. A small curiosity was formed and confirmed as the two easily traversed the next two sections which required him to think out several steps in order to not slip and slide back down. The six legs all gaining purchase in sequence with seemingly no effort required on their end, alternating their tripod gait as one set of limbs find stable ground before pushing off to the next, each touching down exactly where the former had secured safe landing.
“Great, so I can out-last you, but not out-climb you. I’m starting to think you guys are half mountain goat.” he complained, taking a deep breath. Sweat started to roll down his neck from the climb. “All you’re missing is fur and a shit personality.”
The two glanced at each other while he laughed off the fatigue at his own joke, continuing up the remaining stretch without him. “Wait, Mama! Violet! Was it the fur? It’s fine! I’d rather your scales anyway! Guys? Guys, wait up!” He clamoured after them, risking a few jumps here and there to close the distance while they waited at the peak.
He reached them significantly sweatier than before, out of breath and flush. He squatted down, arms resting on his knees as he recovered from the hurried pace. He held a hand up vertically, all but his index resting. Steadying his breath, he stood up with once large exhale. “Seriously, ever pull a hair out of your ass crack? Um...” He paused for a moment, resting his fist on his lip as he considered the question. “Guess not. Anyway, it sucks. Fur is harder to clean too. Don’t get me wrong, fluffy things are great and all, just wouldn’t rather it over your scales and carapace.” He clarified, finishing his sentence looking at the ground, feeling a bit more heat on his cheeks than the exercise would explain. “If I'm right, pod should be this way. You guys seem good to go, so let’s skip resting here.”
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
The sound of Mama chittering a laugh followed shortly behind him, Violet clicking in response.
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Joseph was excited to begin to recognize the valley they had seemly wandered into, the path he had taken out of it being visible to his left some distance away and quite a way up. He didn't think it was that far from the pod when he had walked it originally, but something about early stages of starvation and days of being only technically conscious had not played nice with his perception of time. Likely small blackouts caused by the impact from his initial failure at climbing the tree mixed with malnutrition and exhaustion. If he had a concussion back then, he was lucky to be alive. He shook the thought off and decided that it wasn’t of much importance so long after the fact.
They only stopped one more time while they neared their destination, taking a moment to lament their lack of fresh water. A simple water-skin would be in the cards for them eventually, the issue could be delayed as the pod could process even atmospheric humidity into clean drinking water, but it would become an issue if they wished to hunt for any meaningful amount of time or for general storage. The amenities in there were indeed a powerful resource for their survival, but would fall short of supporting all three of them were they to require its services simultaneously due to the time required to process. It could supply the lavatory, shower, and taps for one person just fine, but if multiple were used more frequently there would be a very noticeable absence and delay as it replenished.
Joseph, considering their options for storage of a slowly produced resource, stumbled over something as he walked, the ‘something’ in question squeaked in protest. Observing it, the rock-worm stood out from the others scattered around, the normally flawless facade broken by etchings on its face.
JOSEPH WAS HERE
The horribly scrawled marking caught him off guard, a roaring laughter causing him to bend over and almost fall in an attempt to subdue it. Mama and Violet both approached, curiously eyeing the apparently hilarious animal that had all but disabled their human. The markings, being completely intelligible to the two, stood out as a divergence of form, but nothing of any significance.
“I- I- Oh, God. Okay. Ohh kayyy. Phew. Okay.” Joseph blew out several lungfuls of air to recompose himself. “I marked that when I first landed, thinking it was a rock. Never thought I'd be eating the things.” He explained, barely restraining the amusement plastered to his face. Violet proceeded to poke and prod the creature while Mama cocked her head to the side, more confused than before.
“If you’re curious,” He started, a smirk barely contained. “It reads: ‘Joseph was here’ in all capitals. Mostly a reference to both immature graffiti and an old ‘weeping’ wall that some Nordic had scratched the words into, not ‘Joseph’ though, his own name. I thought it was funny at the time.” He finished sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.
Mama seemed to ponder the answer to her unvoiced query, copying the thinking gesture of placing her fist to her mouth that Joseph exhibited frequently, lacking the thumb to rest under her chin and a fist in which to rest, she defaulted to the joint above her blade as she inspected the markings.
“Assuming those things don’t move much, and even if they do, they’re slow enough it couldn’t have gotten far, the pod should be this way!” He pointed slightly off they course to the right, downhill and into the tree line that densely packed the forest floor. Once the Mantises had finished playing with and inspecting the rock-worm, they breached the treeline, only travelling for about fifteen minutes before the dull grey hull of the pod entered view.
The sheer size of the thing was a bit of a surprise to him, having been gone for well over a month, but he remembered mostly just the interior. The vessel laid as wide as a humble town house you would find near the few hydro-farms on Earth, a large blast door was off to the right of it, big enough for even the Gensei to use with their fourteen-foot frame and wide tentacle sprouting waist sitting at a little thinner than Mama was tall. The roof of the building mirrored dimensions expected of a two-story home, though with a flat and rectangular shape instead of a tented one. The entire thing was buried into the ground somewhat, tilted at a twenty-degree angle, though the on-board gyroscopic framing around the interior would render that moot, naught but a slight step required to enter. Torn plating and sheered electronic lines frayed the exterior, breaking the wall of grey with copper and gold.
“Finally!” The man shouted, running full speed to the door, only stopping to realize the bio-lock had failed. Letting his head thump against the metal before him, he cursed lightly, remembering that the other half required for this system to function laid destroyed inside the room during his initial escape.
“Mama, can you punch th- WOAH" His call for assistance was cut short as Mama had assumed the remainder of his request and punctured the scanner, cleaving it neatly in two, the remains falling to the ground. Joseph blinked a few times, stunned at the sudden excessive violence that he had requested, but expected to occur at a further distance than it had. “Okay, Mama, imma’ need you to warn me if you’re going to nearly kill me, or at least send me off after dinner and an intimate night.”
Mama chittered, seeming to find his discomfort amusing, while bumping into him lightly. He smiled, shaking his head at the friendly teasing that was far too dangerous, yet not unnerving. “Alright, alright. Step back so I can open this, it swings out and I would very much like a door to be on the list of things our shelter actually has.”
The Heavy door was harder to pull than it was to push, gravity from the angle it was buried working against him. Inconvenient for general traversal, though a small blessing for the defensive nature of the construct. One large wind up and a bit too much force threw the door open, almost taking Joseph with it. Stumbling to regain his footing, he quickly rushed to the door way to block the entrance. “Give me a second to clean up, I want this to be spectacular!”
His face reddened as he closed the door, activating the lights and taking stock of what items he needed to trash or clean. He began by quickly gathering litter and broken electronics, storing the latter in a spare plastic box. Contents from bags he had scavenged his original crutch from were returned to it from the erratic mess it had created on the floor. Laundry was quickly given a sniff test and sorted into a ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ pile. The ‘dirty’ pile having majority of his options that were transferred into the bathroom hamper. Fetching a shirt from the ‘clean’ pile, he removed his armour and donned the shirt, storing the protective equipment in a closet. Lastly, he gathered any vintage or special-order physical copies of books and... personal entertainment... that laid in various locations throughout. Satisfied that everything is where it should be and that it was suitable for display, he returned to the door, pushing it open with much less effort required.
Outside, Mama and Violet peered into the pod to take in their promised new home. The layout was very simple, a single large ‘bedroom’ with three over-sized closets, several storage containers, a simple kitchen arrangement to the right of the door, and a bathroom to the left all the way in the back.
The bedroom consisted primarily of a bed several sizes too big for traditional human usage on the wall opposite the door and a long desk spanning most of the space of the wall the door was situated on, terminals darkened on standby. The room was coated in an ashen black, accented with purple and red on furnishings and the bed.
The kitchen sprawled the rightmost wall, mostly a wall-mounted counter-top with no underlying supports, with varying sections being colour-coded to signify that each segment served a different purpose. Several serving trays laid in the corner next to some simple utensils in containers slightly depressed into the counter and cups of hardened micro-polymers displayed separately near those. Below the table and in the centre laid two large cabinets that served as both a refrigerator and a freezer, able to switch function as required, though both lay empty. Cupboards were mounted above the counter, each containing various cookware and any specialized tools for specific preparations of various home dishes of assorted cultures should guests wish to cook for themselves.
The bathroom was a fairly spacious affair with a large tub, a separate shower, an adaptable toilet, and even a dust bath basin. It was designed to require little specialization as to cater to every species commonly aboard the mother-ship of the pod, though Joseph had never used the dust bath as it consisted primarily of ground glass. There was an option to convert it to a mud bath of some sort but he never cared to try it. A combo washer/dryer sat in the corner next to a hamper full of dirty clothes. Even though the whole process only took two minutes, He was usually too busy checking out the facilities of the ship to remember to switch it out.
Joseph stood proud in the centre of the room, arms high and spread as if he had just landed mid jumping-jack. He took a deep breath and threw his arms wide.
“BEHOLD! My stuff.”
Mama chittered at the theatrics and Violet busied herself frantically inspecting everything she could find, lifting pillows and sheets before bouncing off to inspect the kitchen. Joseph, still very happy to be able to excite the Mantis this much, turned his attention to the remaining one that would actually hear him.
“Welcome to our new home, Mama. I hope you like it. I know you’re probably pretty worn out from the trip, so go rest on the bed and I'll get you some clean water. The good stuff.” He offered, turning to join Violet at the kitchen counter.
He pulled a cup from the stacks and pressed it to an off-white coloured square slightly to the left of them. A small spigot sprouted from it as the coloured panel was moved behind the wall above it, clear and cold water pouring into the cup. He brought the refreshment over to Mama and then repeated the process to supply Violet with some as well. Both began taking sips of the liquid, purring as they did, happy to drink again since leaving the river.
“First things first; I need a fucking shower. I’ll get washed up then show you two how to use everything okay?” Two soft clicks were returned, Mama nodding at him to show her agreement while Violet inspected a spork.
“Sounds good. I won’t be long.” He gathered a clean outfit consisting of a boxers, shorts, and a tank top. The rest was dirty, so work out attire was all that remained. He headed to the bathroom, chuckling as Violet constantly found more mundane things to marvel over. He removed his clothing, tossing the shirt he put on for the ‘presentation’ with the rest of his dirty clothes, it having already been stained by the glowing bandages and traces of blood. A towel was resting alongside the shower, so he simply opened the sliding glass door and stepped into it. The glass frosted to a near-black as the soft white glow of a wall-high terminal displayed the controls. Setting it to a comfortable temperature and opting for the full vertical spray, he initialized the settings, hot water raining from directly above that barely cooled to a comfortable temperature as it fell from the ceiling. He reached for his hygiene products and started giving himself over a month’s worth of scrubbing.
Joseph exited the bathroom to see Mama still quite comfortable on the bed, having adjusted to be sitting upright as she finished the last of her water. Violet looked to have lost interest in the kitchen and had moved to exploring the closets. “Violet, I'm going to show you how to clean up here, okay?”
Violet peeked from the closet, considering her options before nodding and exiting the storage space. He brought her to the bathroom and explained what each of the items do. Violet elected for the tub, though looked to consider the shower before settling for something she had grown accustomed to. He showed her the controls, confirming that although her blades would work for navigating the menu, the joint would offer less of a destruction risk.
She set the water to various temperatures, testing it each time with a tepid step. Eventually she settled on something that seemed comfortable as Joseph read out various containers of cleaners that he had never looked at before, leaving the decision on which, if any, she would like to use. Having given all the direction needed, he continued to dry off his hair as he closed the bathroom door behind him, Violet clicking and purring away in the tub, the sound accompanied by splashing.
He made his way to the bed, grabbing and refiling Mama’s cup before sitting on the edge of the bed, resting the towel over his shoulders. “Once Violet is done, I’ll show you how to use everything too, that way we can all end this night off-”
His attention was pulled by the terminal across from his bed lighting up, displaying a simplistic alert upon its screen. An incoming call of unknown origin, awaiting him to accept or deny the communication.
“-clean... That... That shouldn’t be working. I checked it as soon as I could and again when I crashed here.” His eyes met Mama’s, her head tilting in lack of understanding at what the symbols on the screen could indicate. Slowly, Joseph approached the console, hand hovering over the command to accept. He turned to look at Mama again, nervously laughing. “I hope to fuck this has nothing to do with car insurance.”
He steadied his breathing and accepted the call.
“JOSEPH!” The speakers blared, sending him stumbling backwards in surprise. “Joseph, where the absolute FUCK have you been! The pod wasn’t responding to my hails and I can only use this line briefly, so I FUCKING HOPE you have an explana...tion... Joe... Why in the fuck is there an Atmo on your bed?”
Joseph visibly stalled for a moment, reeling from the verbal assault before glancing between the screen and Mama. He took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly to still his rapid heartbeat from the shock. He gestured between the two figures, a stiff smile forced onto his face.
“Robert, Meet Mama. Mama, this is my brother, Robert.”