The smells of stained oak, burned pine, and smoked meats permeated the air. Laying on my bed mat next to the cold fireplace in the main room, I rested half asleep. The first rays of dawn were creeping through the bay window to my right. Alfred lumbered down the stairs, loud, clumsy, and uncaring of the scents of sweat and old food he gave off as only his kind could be. I loved him.
His big bushy beard, pot belly, and constant humming were perfect. But what was best about Alfred was his pups, who were probably still asleep upstairs. I moved to get up for the day as well, leaning forward over my forelegs to stretch out my back legs, then rearing my back legs up to stretch out my forelegs. Every day it seemed like my joints cracked and groaned a bit more, but that just made the morning stretches feel better. I shook myself a bit and trotted over to the cold tiled room. Alfred always went there first and made his bitter water. His kind were always doing something weird like that; it was their way.
I trotted past him, to my food spot, and checked my bowl. I found it distressingly empty, which would just not do. I needed my morning meal, and Alfred was slacking on his duty. I leaned over and picked up the shiny bowl in my mouth and brought it over behind Alfred. I sat down and let it fall to the ground behind him with a clatter. It was always funny when he would jump around and speak his kind's gibberish. This time he even threw some of his bitter water over the counter; he was so funny.
He leaned against the counter after settling down and mumbled in his strange tongue. That was fine; I was very patient after all. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long. Setting down his small bowl with the bitter brown drink, Alfred leaned over and picked up my bowl. He brought it over to the far side of the counter and filled it with my food from inside the small doors. He set it down in my food spot, and I happily gorged myself on my morning meal. Halfway through my meal, smaller, quieter thumps ran down the stairs to the fire room.
I left my meal unfinished and scampered to meet the pups. Ash and Ron were coming down for the morning. Ash was the smaller of the two, but she would grow, just like Ron had. And Ron would help, he was kind to her as one of Alfred's pups should be. I stood and waited, and they rounded the corner to the tiled room. My tail beat a steady rhythm on the chair that was in the way of its wagging. Ron patted my head, and walked past to make his own bitter drink, Ash stayed with me and hugged me tight to her shoulder speaking and cooing in her gibberish tongue.
I was brilliant, though, the smartest of my kind for sure. I knew one or two words of gibberish actually meant something. It was shocking to find meaning in their ramblings. Sit, come, shake, Gizmo, they all meant something. It was hard at first, but I figured it out. Ash let me go and held up a hand flat in front of her saying. "Sit."
I knew that one! I sat back onto my rear, and Ash came up to hold me again, cooing more in her gibberish. She eventually let me go, and I followed as she moved to sit at the tall table with her brother and Alfred. She took a box of food from the tall door and the creamy white drink from the small cold room to the table before she sat down. Her kind were nearly perfect, except that they could be quite greedy. They hoarded all the best foods for themselves. I made my displeasure known. No one wants to be stared down while they eat after all.
The family was probably used to this, though; it hadn't stopped them from hoarding their food any of the other times I tried. With nothing more to do, I moved to my food spot and finished my filling morning meal as they did the same. One by one, they left the cold tile room to go up the stairs to their respective rooms. I went back to relaxing on my mat and closed my eyes for a little bit.
When I awoke, all three members of the family were making a ruckus together. They had changed into their puffy, fake fur forms. I jumped up, wagging my tail for all it was worth. This was a great omen; it meant we were going outside today. The family milled about, picking things up and putting things down, completing their kind's usual unnecessary rituals. At the same time, I patiently waited at the solid oak door, occasionally pawing at it, barking at it, and leaning against it to see if it had opened yet. As Alfred in his puffed-up fake red fur, approached the door and laid his hand against it, it opened.
I bolted outside, leading my family into the great white drifts that awaited us. Bounding outside, I ran headlong into one of the larger drifts and buried my upper body into it. The cold refreshing snow felt terrific against my fur. I clawed my way out and shook off the excess. I looked back and watched as my family trudged through the snow, leaving the wooden, not-home house we had been staying at for several days. They carried large flat things with them, which meant they would be going to the tall hill covered in snow again.
I ran ahead, occasionally circling back to run around my slower family. Eventually, after a long time of travel, we came to the base of the big hill they had previously slid down using the flat things. It was a lot of fun to chase after my family as they flew down the slope. I ran to the top first and looked out over the big forests, covered in white. It smelled like fresh, crisp heaven. Ash was the first of my family to make it to the top.
She ran up ahead of her father and brother, laid the flat thing on the ground, and took a few steps back from it. Taking a running start, she leaped onto the flat thing and shot off down the hill. I took off right behind her. We passed by Ron and Alfred, who were only now cresting the top of the hill. The wind rushed by as I careened down the hill, not catching up to Ash, but following the path she carved through the snow. She began to slow as she reached the bottom of the slope, sliding on for a while on momentum alone. I kept running. By the time Ash slowed to a stop, I had run right past her. I tried to stop, but I failed spectacularly and flipped over onto my back, my tumble cushioned by the powdery snow. Ash was laughing as I got back up and vigorously shook myself free of snow.
Her laughter halted abruptly. Looking up at her, she was staring past me into the dense forest of barren trees. The wind shifted, and an unfamiliar sweet scent wafted up to me. I spun around and looked out into the woods behind me. A faint light was shining off in the distance, it was even brighter than shining snow and sunlight, and it smelled wonderful. Ash was standing now and was walking into the woods toward the light, I decided to follow along.
She walked through the snow, arms slack at her side as she stared straight ahead toward the light. As we approached closer, the glow grew more distinct, and a ball of shimmering grays and whites appeared to be floating off in the distance. That impossibly delicious smell hung heavy in the air. Obviously, Ash was looking for that food as well. Wait, would she hog this food too?
Not this time, I deserved good food too! She and the rest of her kind couldn't claim all of it for themselves. I bolted up ahead of her. At that point, the shouts of Alfred and Ron echoed through the trees toward us. No! they couldn't have this, it was mine. Ash had stopped moving and shook her head when she had heard her family's calls. She looked up, blinking in surprise.
"*&%#$ @#$ %^ Gizmo?" She called out.
I stopped as I recognized my name amid her incomprehensible speech. As I stopped and looked back at her, I realized we had both moved far deeper into the dense woods that I had thought. Most concerning, however, was the other shape I hadn't noticed moving through the trees in the same direction as us. Hulking, furry, and bulbous, its musky scent was not intermixing well with the sweet smell I had been searching for. The beast was massive, brown-furred, with large clawed paws and aggressive eyes, and it looked confused or dazed as it approached Ash and I.
NO! That food was mine, not Ash's, not Alfred's, Not Ron's, and definitely not this interloper's. I left the horrified Ash and took off toward the light. It called to me, beautiful and delicious. The brown bear gave chase as I raced forward, and Ash screamed as it passed by her. She would have to fend for herself, I decided. I needed to get to the food first. I broke through the edge of a tree line of a small clearing. The light was floating near the center of the clearing. I rushed forward and lept at it. A burst of sound and bright shimmery light caught me unawares and threw me backward.
The next thing I knew, I was floating in darkness. Ash or my family were nowhere to be seen. Fear caught me as I realized I had left Ash alone with a predator. I tried to discover a way back to her, but I didn't have long to think about my horrendous failure or a way to fix it. In quick succession, I was blinded by a bright white room, struck with a painful metallic net, and thrown into a daze. The flashes and lights of the room sped up, shifting by at an unprecedented speed. I stayed like this, in fugue for longer than I can recall.
I was vaguely aware of other things in the room with me, a big silver thing, and what I could best describe as a furious red ball. I stayed with these silent companions for a long while, realizing time passed only by the intermittent bouts of consciousness. Then, without any warning, there was another. Bright, vibrant blue, it burst into the room. It outshone the walls, and its presence dominated the room. It shrugged off the silver lines that attacked it; instead, it seemed to grab ahold of them and yanked back against it. The strangling net that trapped me loosened in response to its aggression, and when I tried to think of what to do, the net clamped down on me once more, calming and silencing my mind once more. Then it approached me.
I was knocked back, and the wave of earthy brown light receded. All that was left was the wispy looking ball of brown, Gizmo. I stewed in the revelation that Gizmo wasn't the mote of brown light, nor was he Data Cluster 2. He was Gizmo, a thinking, feeling creature that was stuck here just like me. He floated in a loose and broken net of silver tethers, his pent up emotion, and energy spent in one burst of exceedingly clear memory. He shone briefly and spoke in an uncertain and weary voice.
"Friend?" He asked, a distinct shake to his voice.
I moved to comfort the confused spirit of a dog, trying to convey some type of comfort, despite having no real tangible answers for him.
"Yeah, I am. It'll be okay, buddy." I said reassuringly.
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It dimmed a little more until it looked like a glob of dark muddy brown liquid that only slightly glowed. It flashed and spoke once more before quieting down and floating away to rest.
"Sleepy." He said, weariness evident in his voice.
"Go and rest up, we'll figure this out." I said,
Gizmo floated listlessly away, a dim globule of brown energy that was calm and relaxed enough to truly sleep for the first time in who knew how long. I let him rest, from everything I had seen in his burst of emotion and memory, he needed it. I didn't know how long I had taken to relive his memories, but the room had grown to a pale gray shade. A significant improvement over the nearly pitch-black hue it had been previously. I brought my mind off of that for now, though, I still had one more tenant to interview. Data Cluster 1, the red mote of light. It was time to find out who he was.
I flew beneath Gizmo and brought myself up to the ball of silver wire that had a furious red glow emanating from between the threads. I wasn't looking forward to this. If the sheer depth of hostility that had originated from this creature when it had been free to speak was anything to go by, talking to it may go poorly. But, it had to be done. I would rather not have a pent up psychopath ready to pop at any given moment living in my head.
I readied myself for what may have come and willed its net loose. The threads picked themselves from the mote's form one by one. Excruciatingly slowly, the core of red light was revealed. It appeared hard, static, almost crystalline. As its net continued to expand, it shifted and warped, condensing itself into the smallest shape it could. I spoke and tried to calm the scared thing down.
"It's okay, this is alright. I'm not going to hurt you. I just wanted to talk." I said as calmly as I could.
It didn't react at all. Remaining a small dense spot of light. I reached out and attempted to consol it further. As I made a move to reach out to it, the mote lashed out. Twin spikes of light shot at me and impacted the side of its net, they malformed like liquid slamming into a glass. Once the mote had made the decision to attack, it began to repeatedly launch itself at me, and to attack the net holding it in a violent frenzy. Thankfully the threads didn't seem at all affected by the assault. I spoke to it in as calm and assured a voice I could, only just managing to reign in my nervousness. "Stop. You need to calm down. Let's just talk, alright?"
It slowed its assault and grew into a puffed-up cloud of red light in the center of its loosened net. Periodically it would send out a red tendril to probe its net, all to no avail. A faint raspy voice called out from its prison. "Let out?"
"That depends, are you going to attack me, or anyone here?" I asked.
It stopped probing its net, and I thought I could feel its focus shift to me.
"Why?" It asked while simultaneously launching itself forward, nudging the net closer to me. I flinched backward from the sudden movement. It remained silent after asking its question and remained pressed up against the sides of its prison. I took a moment to gather myself, but I was growing increasingly annoyed.
"What do you mean why? I think it's pretty reasonable that I'd prefer not to have an angry psycho trying to kill me. What the hell kind of question is that?" I asked.
It grew dimmer, and seemed to relax as it shrunk back to its original size.
"Tell you what. If you agree not to cause problems or attack anyone here, I can let you out. Does that work?" I said, trying to sound calmer than I felt.
The globule of red light moved closer to me, separated by a thin mesh of silver threads. That same raspy voice whispered. "Yes"
I attempted to nod before I realized that expression would be lost as my current form didn't have a head to nod. But the red light seemed to understand whatever emotion I had meant to convey. A mirrored feeling of acceptance without words emanated from the prisoner. I moved closer, and while it still twitched away from my approach, it wasn't as violent as before. I willed the net to fully release as I had accidentally done for Gizmo. I imagined resting my hand against the net's threads and pulling. It felt cold and hard metal, but with a pop, the woven prison disappeared, leaving only the primary tether connecting the mote of light to Silver. The now expected wash of unrestrained red was released, and for a moment, I was somewhere, and something else.
Static, still, unseen, perfectly unobserved. The darkness, my shroud, my armor. I hung where I was unexpected and where I could expect every eventuality. All avenues of approach were seen, watched, observed. Every movement in the night, shifting of shadows, or absence of sound was noted. I was perfection incarnate, and nothing escaped my notice. Every fiber of muscle was taut and ready.
A glimmer of a wing in the distance.
I twitch my foremost limbs instantaneously.
With explosive force, they flick forward.
Their deadly payload flew, unerring as the death it foretold, an impossibly thin string flew behind the payload of sticky glue ready to be recalled. The glimmer shuddered and dropped. Before the victim understood its inevitable fate, its future was sealed. I retraced the line and drew my chitinous victim to myself. With deft movements and practiced easy, I wrapped, restrained, and poisoned the fly.
The cache of meat and sustenance was shifted between myself and the leaf beneath which I hung. I spun more of my dealy implements, the previous tools having been spent to preserve my last meal for later. I unspooled my web, applying a generous glob of adhesive to the end of the line, before propping it on my first limbs. I reclined back, set my legs, and watched.
I was static, still, unseen, perfectly unobserved. The darkness, my shroud, my armor. I hung where I was unexpected and where I could expect every eventuality. All avenues of approach were seen, watched, observed. Every movement in the night, shifting of shadows, or absence of sound was noted. I was perfection incarnate, and nothing escaped my notice. Every fiber of muscle was taut and ready.
My ritual played itself out, again and again, every night. I waited with eternal patience as every true hunter must. This fly would sustain me, another would allow me to thrive, and third would keep for the next night in case of ill-fortune. I was prepared, the burning fire would not return for some time. I would have my fill and more before its hateful aura forced me to seek refuge in my sanctuary. I would have my fill, no victim unlucky enough to wander into my domain would escape. I was perfection incarnate. I was prepared for every eventu-.
Light burst forth from beneath me. My eyes burned and blackened. I tried to flee the destructive illumination, my armor rent, my shroud shredded, my sight ruined. My forelimbs flung forward, releasing their pent up energy and my prepared tools. All was lost to the devilish gleam. All I could think of was confusion and pain. In a blinded stupor, I attempted to retreat to my sanctuary, but my left legs failed to find the leaf's edge as I ran. Without their additional support, my right legs loosed themselves from my perch as well.
Suddenly perfection fell far. From the heights of the perfect hunter, I fell to become prey, running, falling, vulnerable, scarred. The faint heat of the light grew stronger as the wind rushed by me. The wind whistling by deafened me, and I felt the world become lost to me. A blast of sound and wind unlike anything I could conceive of broke past the deafening wind.
The next thing I could see was a blindingly bright room filled with even more baleful light. I could see through it this time, but could not comprehend why. Colors, threads, pulsing lights, illumination, madness. Alien in the extreme to my darkly shrouded home, I found myself restrained, just like the prey I had become deserved.
The hours passed by in a blur. Ages on ages of sitting waiting, in unthinking stasis. Between two points of rare true consciousness, a shift had occurred, and I glimpsed a brown light floating with me in that nightmarish light. It remained for the next eternal moments, tied and restrained as I believed myself to be. Then with a shuddering quake, the room changed. A third light, blue, and bright emerged from the nothingness. A great deal changed with its appearance. I caught a glimpse of larger predators than I could have ever conceived of through warped vision, I felt the echoes of pain I hadn't known since my last hunt. Then that blue light brought with it the glorious darkness that had been lost to me. It approached the brown light and myself through the gloom.
I reeled, and tried to reorient myself as the last remnants of the red wave passed. The red mote of light was now free, and I had the challenge of trying to conceptualize sharing brain-space with a spider. A female spider. There was a lot to wrap my head around in that line of thinking. Gizmo's pent up memories and emotions had been a lot easier to parse out. He was very straight forward and relatable compared to the red light's memories. Okay, Tom, I thought to myself, first things first. I turned to talk to the now freed mote of light and found her making an awkward beeline away from me toward the edges of the room.
"Hey, wait!" I called out as I made to follow her. Turns out, even if she was my senior here, I had a lot more practical experience in navigating my mind. I caught up to her almost immediately, the meandering beeline was likely as fast as she could move. "I need to know what your name is. I can just keep thinking of you as the "Red Mote of Light, any idea what yours is?"
The mote froze, and I got the feeling she turned to face me. Silence reigned for a long while before her raspy voice broke it. "No, What is name?"
Ah, should have figured that would be a strange concept for a non-domesticated animal.
"My name is Tom. For now, do you mind if I call you Red?" I said.
Red stayed quiet a little longer before I felt her focus drift from me as she continued on to presumably find a corner to hide in. As she drifted away, she called back an affirmative. "Okay."
And, that was that. Red was done talking, Gizmo was still knocked out, and Silver was muted for all intents and purposes. At least I knew who my neighbors were now. I checked on my view outside my room and found nothing to have changed. Inspecting my injury, I was pleased to see the fracture in my upper arm was almost entirely sealed. The room around me was still returning to a pearly white from the muted gray hue, but it was a good sign, I thought. I turned inward again and called out. "Silver, how long was I talking to Gizmo and Red?"
Silver pulsed a few times in response, still muted.
I willed the net to unmute him and caught the latter half of his response. "-ed unknown."
"Please repeat that," I said, mentally pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Designations "Gizmo" and "Red" unknown." He completed.
"That won't do. Designate Data Cluster One as Red, and Data Cluster Two as Gizmo. Now, how long was I talking to them?" I asked.
"Designation change confirmed. Primary controller interacted with Red and Gizmo for 6 hours, 14 minutes, and 32 seconds. Current structural and runic integrities within operational bounds." He answered.
I felt myself giving off the feeling of a smirk. I supposed that was the Empathic expression at work. I put that line of thought aside, now it was time to get some of the answers I so desperately wanted. I floated a few spaces closer to Silver and said, "That's more like it, thank you Silver. Now I have a few questions that have been really bugging me. First and foremost, where the fuck are we?!"