“So I suppose you weren’t the only species that landed here.” My flesh was slowly returning to normal, although the veins through my arms didn’t seem to fade as much as they should have. My arms were skinny and I could see my ribs poking through my shirt. It seems Myc used a lot of my own flesh as nutrients to create our little disguise for Tony.
No, it appears there are others.
“What do you think this means, for us?” I thought back to the little capsule we took from Tony Woodrow’s basement. It was almost identical to Myc’s, although we didn’t have time to compare the messages on it closely.
I don’t know, other than that for whatever reason I am here. It was not for the purpose that I had hoped.
Myc had thought that perhaps his species was sent to other planets to civilize them. When life had advanced enough, Myc’s species was sent to create something that wouldn’t turn into a race of violent animals. That the other pods held more of his kind, and that they would eventually unite to unify the planet.
However, as unlikely as that was, it was the best hope for us. It would mean that we would only have to convince enough humans to join us. Then we would find the other groups and be able to convert the entire planet with little to no bloodshed.
Finding out that the other capsules had other species dulled that theory. While Tony’s behavior also showed that at least some of the other species didn’t have a mind of their own. That meant that anyone else who was infected would be alone, with only human memories to aid them.
It seems that many of them revert to their baser instincts. If one of the species' base instincts is that of a predator, we could have many strange deaths in the future.
When we went down to the basement to find the prison, we found that Tony had been digging tunnels over the last few weeks. He started making a map of the strange holes, although it seems he stopped for some reason. Whether he was unable to grip a writing utensil or he stopped remembering to, we weren’t sure.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
The tunnels seemed random in direction, although many of them linked to each other. Sometimes he would dig deep into the ground, other times he would go off in a straight shoot for several hundred feet. Without any piles of dirt or rocks piled up it seemed he was most likely eating the debris from the tunnels. “What do you think will happen to him? Why do you think his memory is going?”
I am not sure. My species seems so capable of advancement that I thought the rest of the species would be too. It could just be that he as a human was developing dementia, and his new form hasn’t fully encompassed his brain. Although it could just be that the species itself is not as capable of critical thinking of even that of a human.
“That could mean that they are terraforming this planet, I mean unless we find another intelligent species than…maybe your species is attempting to terraform this planet closer to your home world.”
Perhaps, but with our capsules being so similar, it seems that the rock species was meant to be able to read the language as well. The species may be a slave race, used for their ability to mine stone. If another race was willing to essentially domesticate them, they could use them as living drills. Teach them to dig tunnels and save the ore and precious gems for their masters. Similar to how your species uses pigs to look for truffles or oxen to pull plows.
“Man that is dark.” Thinking about using another race for menial labor. I mean we did that here, and it was our own race we did it too.
Exactly, and if a race had several times the I.Q. as these creatures. They may not see it as immoral, it is simply them using animals for their own needs.
“Well now that we found one of them, should we go look for the other ones?”
Perhaps if we find any that we pass while looking for a suitable location to start our project.
“Well I suppose we should go somewhere out south or west, the land will be cheaper. Staying in the U.S. may be better as I don’t have a passport. So we have to choose a climate.” The main choices were between desert, forest, or mountains. All three areas had similar advantages: isolation and cheap land. Although the harsher disadvantages meant better advantages, desert land would be cheaper but have the harshest climate and most difficult to build on. While the mountains would be better isolated, the cold climate and altitude would make it harder for some people to get to. While the forest was the easiest out of all of them, land would be more expensive and depending on where it was we may barely be isolated.
A forest sounds the best.
“Alright.” We were both pretty sure that Myc’s species had some connection with nature. It seemed like the only other thing that Myc was capable of bonding with was trees. It suspected that at some point the native species started to create bodies or use some native animals as hosts to better take care of the forests of their home world. “So we should head to check out that monster roaming the forests.”
Yes, then we should head south. The land will be cheaper and the climate will be warmer, allowing larger forests to grow.
Looking on my phone at the best places to buy land, it seemed Arkansas was the cheapest option. So with a plan set we started to head to Kentucky, hoping that the monster lurking in the woods was another species. And therefore another capsule to compare to our two others.