Jordi woke up early the next morning and went to enjoy breakfast, he decided to go with the same as the previous day.
The sun had barely risen though and there was only one cook working so early, a drewell. He remembered him and saw him doing his best to prepare everything but, alas, it showed it was his first time cooking a french omelet or spreading the tomato in catalan style, the slices of fuet and butifarra were also way too thin.
Still, Jordi decided not to complain, the cook had done his best and complaining was no way to start a new day, he would write a comment later.
He was almost finished when his wrist data-pad beeped with a message from Er’anie, she would pick him up in about 15 minutes, more than enough time to finish breakfast.
She instructed him not to bring anything, that they would provide him with a backpack similar to the one he was given on the day he explored.
He waited in front of the hotel dressed with comfortable clothes and mountain shoes. She appeared right on time coming down from one of the few vehicles that were on the wide street in front of the hotel, she was wearing a tight dry-suit, her hair in a fishtail braid.
The moment he saw her he felt himself blushing, which made him sort of angry because there was no reason whatsoever for that, which made him blush even more.
She approached him with a smile on her face.
“Good morning Jordi. I really hope you are ready for today” - she asked.
“Good morning to you too. I really don’t know what you are expecting but yes, I’m ready” - he answered.
She made a hand gesture indicating that they moved to the big vehicle, about 8 meters long and 5 meters wide, with a couple of black tinted windows. To Jordi it looked like a mix between a limousine and a hummer.
Er’anie opened the door and gestured to him to quickly enter, she followed him inside and closed the vehicle door.
The interior had a row of seats with four other beings, two of them were Epsilons as well, a male and a female; the other two were ravnars. They were all wearing the same tight dry-suit Er’anie was wearing.
“Xen’ia, Xuhkro, Rekro, Rethrag, meet Jordi.” - said Er’anie, everyone just waved at him and smiled.
“So, what we’re going to do today is try to replicate some of what you did when you found the worms” - explained Er’anie - “First we will go to that cave with the blue stones. We will scan them and see if they emit anything. We believe those stones have something to do with the worms appearing.”
The vehicle was quickly moving towards the edge of the city, all vehicle passengers immersed in their data-pads or setting up a piece of hardware Jordi had never seen.
After a while, a voice came in from the vehicle sound system.
“Please fasten your seatbelts, we’ll be boarding the ship and moving towards our destination” - said a neutral voice, probably a vehicle AI.
They all did and after a few seconds Jordi felt the vehicle stop, then a sudden push as if they were aboard a spaceship about to take off.
He tried to check the view from the windows but the black tint was two way, he couldn’t see the outside.
The vehicle kept on accelerating and Jordi and the two ravnars looked like they were barely handling those forces, the three Epsilons continued doing their stuff as if they hadn’t noticed any change whatsoever.
He was used to increased gravity from the Espurna, but his ship had inertial dampeners and he had been trained to handle up to 7 Earth Gs. The ravnars looked like they were suffering though, eyes closed and claws firmly grabbing their seats.
The vehicle kept accelerating for about twenty minutes, the pressure getting stronger by the minute.
“We will be starting our descent, please remain seated with your seatbelts fastened” - announced the vehicle AI.
He felt the drop on his stomach and started focusing on his breathing. He was trying to keep his eyes closed but couldn’t help stealing a glance every now and then.
The epsilons were not working any more, they too were feeling the drop and their faces were a picture of meditation, eyes closed and rhythmic breathing.
The two ravnars were, to put it mildly, a horrible mess. Faces visually shaken, skin color clearer than normal with some patches of white, their pupils a fine line and open mouth as if screaming but no sound came from it.
Then they felt the retro-boosters and their bodies hit the back of their seats, hard.
Jordi could feel now how their vehicle was quickly slowing, the pressure on his chest lowering and allowing for easy breathing.
A couple minutes after the descent had started he felt the vehicle touching down.
“We have landed. You can now unfasten your seatbelts and leave the vehicle.” - announced the vehicle AI.
The two ravnars left quickly, almost stripping the seatbelts from their place, and started vomiting the moment they left the vehicle.
Jordi left after them and looked around. He quickly realized they were on the clearing where he had seen the family of oknas two days ago. Which was amazing, he had traveled for hours in mag-lev trains to get here and they just covered the distance in less than one.
The epsilons were the last to leave the vehicle, carrying all the equipment they had been assembling and preparing during transit.
Xuhkro, the male epsilon, approached the still vomiting ravnars and just applied some kind of patch on their necks, then softly pated their backs.
In less than five seconds they stopped vomiting and started recovering their color.
“Don’t mind them, they’re scientists but insisted on coming with us; we warned them though '' - said Xen’ia, looking at them sideways with a bit of disgust in her face.
She was taller and more muscular than Er’anie and the tight dry-suit emphasized her figure. Her voice was also a bit deeper and she also had that charismatic aura that Jordi had felt around Er’anie; her smell wasn’t as powerful though, at least not for him.
Er’anie and Xen’ia started assembling something in the ground, putting some of those parts they brought up together and the ravnarse were now sitting in the ground recovering their breathing.
Xuhkro approached him and gave him a backpack.
“There, you’ll find everything you need inside. There’s a dry-suit as well so, if I were you, I would change inside the vehicle before we send it away” - he said with a smirk.
Jordi followed his advice and quickly changed inside the vehicle. It took him maybe five minutes - it wasn’t like those neoprene dry-suits from old Earth and took him a while to understand how it worked - and when he came out they had finished assembling what looked like a small amphibian device with an antenna on top and its sides covered by sensors.
The ravnars were now checking their wrist data-pads and quickly talking between them in some language he didn’t understand.
“Is everyone ready or do we need the vehicle for anything else?” - said Xuhkro looking at him and then at the ravnars.
Everyone gave the ok and Xuhkro pressed something on his data-pad, then the vehicle took off softly, not even bothering the trees around it.
“Let’s go then” - said Xen’ia and started walking, the amphibian robot closely behind her.
Jordi got the feeling that she was in charge and Xuhkro was second in command. Er’anie was following their instructions without skipping a beat.
—----
When they reached the lake the ravnars started talking excitedly between them in that weird and quick language they used before, Xen’ia approached them and joined their discussion.
Jordi tried to sharpen his already pretty good hearing but couldn’t even discern the space between words, when a word would finish and another began, so he discreetly recorded the conversation on his wrist-pad to analyze it after. The way his memory worked, he could take mental pictures of whatever he was seeing to watch them again afterwards, sounds though were another thing altogether.
Er’anie approached the lake’s shore and made a gesture for him to join her.
“Looks like you and me will be going first” - she told him - “The kurtle will follow us” - she finished, pointing at the amphibian robot.
Jordi was looking at the robot when he saw Xuhkro jump and disappear above the trees.
“Don’t mind him, he’s our security detail so he probably went to find a vantage point” - Er’anie explained.
“Whenever you’re ready” - Xe’nia exclaimed from the distance - “The kurtle is now bound to Er’anie so it will follow her”
Jordi and Er’anie walked towards the water and swam to the center of the lake, the kurtle followed them. The dry-suits were quite amazing because he only felt how cold the water was when it touched his face. He looked at her as if waiting for confirmation and, after receiving an affirmative gesture, took a deep breath and dived.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
He closed his eyes and mentally reviewed the last time he was there, activated the power-up on his suit and followed the path knowing Er’anie was just behind him; but this time it took him less time to reach the small cave since he already knew where he was going.
When he surfaced he was breathing hard, even with the power-up on the suit he had swam really fast, Er’anie though didn’t look tired at all and Jordi realized he hadn’t seen her activate the power-up at all.
He struggled to focus though, her wet hair and shiny skin emphasized her violet eyes and those beautiful pointy ears.
“Be a professional, come on” - he thought.
She was looking at the bluish stones on the ceiling, completely absorbed by the view, then the kurtle surfaced as well, awakening her from stupor.
She approached the kurtle and started working with her wrist-pad.
“We’re receiving the data, this is.. Interesting'' - Xe’nia’s voice said, coming out of the amphibian robot.
Er’anie was looking at her wrist-pad with furrowed brow and, suddenly, started speaking in that same weird and quick language the ravnars were using before.
Xe’nia’s voice answered something in that same language and Jordi proceeded to record everything again. The more data he had the better chances to figure out the language.
The conversation lasted a few minutes. Without any clues the only thing Jordi could do was try to decipher Er’anie’s face and gestures; she was serious first then looked worried and then looked relieved. After that she said something and smiled when she got her response. It was the kind of smile you make when you are right about something and you knew all along.
“Ok, come back and tell Jordi to wait there. We’re on our way” - said Xe’nia in perfect galactic language.
Jordi raised his eyebrows looking at Er’anie, as if waiting for an explanation.
“We have just verified that these stones emit a specific kind of radiation, not a dangerous mind you. At least not to us, cannot be sure about the ravnars.” - explained Er’anie
“We believe this radiation either hided you or marked you as a friendly to the worms, so Xe’nia and Xuhkro are on their way to soak on it as well” - she continued - “I’ll be going back to guard the ravnars, we don’t want anything to happen to them. See you in a minute!” - she finished, and after that she dived and disappeared under the water.
Less than a minute after that Xe’nia and Xuhkro surfaced in the small cave.
“So, how does this work?” - said Xuhkro - “We just stand here and wait?”
“From what the kurtle scans could tell us, yes. It should take about a minute or so for us to receive enough radiation to last a while” - Xe’nia explained.
“And from what we could detect in him” - she pointed at Jordi - “It should dissipate easily. We didn’t detect anything when we rescued him”
“Well, I’ve been here longer than the other day” - Jordi interceded - “Are you sure it is not dangerous?”
“Hundred percent sure? No. But close enough” - Xe’nia answered with a smile.
Then Xuhkro jumped from the water and managed to grab the stones with both hands.
“You weren’t joking in your report, this damn thing is slippery as fuck” - he exclaimed, but managed to hold and even climbed approaching the light in the center.
“Don’t do that. If we’re right and this is some kind of nest or cocoon you might be bothering them, if they attack… we have a human with us, please remember that” - said Xe’nia
“Oh, right” - said Xuhkro, and slowly descended to the water - “I always forget they’re not like us. What with us coming from the same planet and all” - he said smiling.
At that point Jordi was made painfully aware of the physical differences between humans and epsilons. They were stronger and more agile. They could probably fight those worms without any problems whilst he could only run and barely dodge them.
“Ok, time’s up. Let’s go back and walk to the red zone” - said Xe’nia, and they both dived and disappeared under the water, the kurtle following them closely.
Jordi activated his suit power-up and followed them. While swimming he realized they too hadn’t activated any power-up whatsoever, which made him kind of angry. Did they have to show their superiority or was it something they didn’t even think about?
When he surfaced on the lake both epsilons were already on the shore and the ravnars were scanning them with a handheld device, they did the same to him once he approached them.
They then scanned the kurtle and exchanged some words in that weird language, Xe’nia spoke to them and then started moving.
When they were a good distance from the red zone Xe’nia made the stop hand-sign.
“You two and the kurtle will wait here, Jordi stay with them” - she said, and gave him what seemed like a small gun.
“As an explorer you have small arms proficiency and your academy records say you’re quite good with it so cover them if something happens. We’ll be back in a few minutes” - she said, and the three epsilons started walking.
Jordi kneeled and checked his wrist-pad, there were no signs of any creature but after his encounter with the worms he knew that didn’t mean anything, so he closed his eyes and told his brain to remember the sound the worms made when moving underground and to be aware of it.
Sounds and the memory palace don’t work too well, at least not for him. Instead, he had learned to create something like a playlist but he needed to browse it first and select the audio file for his brain to react to it.
With his eyes closed he was fully aware of any sound around him in a 500m radius. Birds, the wind, the ravnars slow breathing, every sound was drawing a picture on his brain.
He was a fan of old-Earth fiction and had tried to steal or copy some of those stories. For sounds he had tried to copy Daredevil, but his hearing was nowhere that good.
Still, he could make something similar and draw a mental picture of anything around him.
—---
The minutes kept passing and Jordi kept his position, kneeling down and facing the direction the three epsilons had left.
The two ravnars were chatting behind him, almost whispering, their voices added to the background noise around him.
All of a sudden the forest became silent. Jordi couldn’t hear any insects or birds, just the movement of the wind. The two ravnars stopped their quibbling as well and looked around.
Then he felt something, his instincts kicked in and he focused on the point he was watching. From the horizon he saw some dust and heard the sounds of running, he readied his weapon and prepared himself.
HIs wrist-pad vibrated and he quickly looked at it, three animals were coming to the clearing from the east. He decided not to be distracted by that and kept looking forward.
The first thing he saw was the three silver heads, the afternoon sun making them shine above the background.
They were running fast but kept looking back. That’s when he saw one of those worms jumping from the ground and attacking. Before he realized, he had already shot and hit it, but not enough to kill it so it disappeared in the terrain.
The wrist-pad kept vibrating intensely so he just silenced it and half screamed and half whispered “call the ship!” to the nervous ravnars.
The three epsilons were coming closer but they were still a good distance from the clearing. More worms were jumping to bite them but between his precise shots and their agility they all missed.
Then he noticed the terrain vibrating as well. He thought it could be an earthquake at first but a quick check of his surroundings told him it wasn’t so.
With the three epsilons about a hundred meters from the clearing a massive worm appeared, jumping from the ground, its mouth was a couple meters of diameter easily and part of his body was still under. That’s when the animals the wrist-pad was warning him about appeared.
Three adult male orknas, about five meters long and three meters tall with massive antlers, came running. Two of them charged the worm with all their strength, the other one stood between the worm and the clearing, all of them ignoring both the surprised epsilons and himself and the two ravnars behind him.
The three silver heads didn’t take much time in observing the situation and quickly kept running towards the clearing, passing a few meters from the standing orkna who ignored them, his posture focused on the worm. Lowered head and forward legs. ready to charge.
The worm fell after the impact but quickly stood up, a good ten meters above the ground with part of it still hidden, and let out a horrible shriek.
The two orknas that had charged it lowered their heads as in preparing for another charge, it was obvious that they were protecting the clearing.
Jordi was stunned by the espectacle in front of him but since he was still focusing all his senses he heard one ravnar saying “record this, record this! We need a video!”
The worm charged toward the orknas but they were impossible fast and not only dodge the attack but jumped to each side and charged as well, backing off quickly after the impact. It all happened in less than a second.
Some green liquid fell from the worm, probably blood, it made a moaning cry and started slowly disappearing under the ground.
The orknas started trampling the place where it had appeared, the third orkna that was covering the clearing joined them as well.
By then, the epsilons had arrived at the clearing and were breathing laboriously. Xuhkro’s left arm was a mess, blood everywhere and some bone clearly visible.
The orknas stopped their trampling and took a couple steps towards them. Not menacing but with their heads held high.
The ship had just arrived on top of them but they were all fixated in the view, one of the ravnars still handling the kurtle with his wrist-pad and recording everything.
One of the orknas clearly looked at the ship and then slowly at them, as if to say “that’s the moment when you leave”.
Xe’nia signaled the ship from her wrist-pad to land softly, which it did under the watchful eye of the massive beasts. They all got the feeling that anything else and they would be dead before they could react, the speed and strength they had just demonstrated was clearly no joke.
So they all entered the ship and slowly left the place, watching how the orknas approached the clearing carefully as they left as if to make sure they were gone.
From the top of the trees, before they left the zone altogether, they saw the three beasts trampling all over the terrain where they stood before.
“I believe they are removing our presence and marking them again as theirs” - said one of the ravnars. But Jordi couldn’t tell which because he was fascinated by the view.
Once the ship started really moving, Er'anie started taking care of Xuhkro's destroyed arm.
“Well, that could have gone better” - said Xe’nia - “Still, impressive shooting mister explorer. Remind me never to make a joke of one of yours again.”
“What the fuck happened there!?” - Jordi exclaimed
“That’s.. Classified.” - Xe’nia answered - “In any case we have learned a lot about the worms and we have more data about orknas”
“Was the video any good” - Xe’nia asked, this time looking at the ravnars
“Oh yesss! We knew they were territorial. We knew they were strong. But now we can really judge their speed and reflexes and the first analysis says that they are incredible” - answered one of them. Then he looked at Jordi.
“As a curious human from Earth you must have seen a video about a cat versus a snake, how the cats can easily dodge a snake bite and hit it before the snake can even know what’s going on. From what we can see here” - the ravnar explained, showing the video to Jordi, which was slowed and with notes everywhere - “an adult orkna could dodge any feline, jump to the side, impale it, back off, and the feline would die before knowing what the heck happened. This is incredible! Their speed, reflexes, they’re more than we ever guessed!” - the ravnar finished excitedly, and continued fiddling with his wrist-pad.
Jordi went for a second to his memory palace and watched the aforementioned video, a cobra versus a house cat. The cat tapping the cobra’s head twice after dodging its bite.
Then, quickly watched again the orkna video, he had been in “recording mode” the whole time so it was right there for him. That a thing so massive could move so quickly defied everything he had seen up until now.
“You ok there?” - Xe’nia asked him.
“Yeah, I was lost for a second. The video is truly amazing” - Jordi answered. - “I can’t imagine the implications though”
“Well, that’s for the scientists to think about. You should think about enjoying your holidays and we will do some necessary rest” - she answered looking at Xuhkro.
He was resting on his chair, eyes closed, with something similar to plaster covering his whole arm.
“Well, the bones weren’t broken” - said Er’anie - “But the muscles, tendons and skin are a mess. He’ll need at least a week in the healing tank”
They all rested while the ship took them home at a normal speed, there was no hurry now.
—--
They stopped in front of the hotel and the AI announced their arrival.
“It was nice meeting you, Mr. Explorer. Please try to have normal holidays and avoid uncovering any more of this planet's secrets. You’ll make us all look bad otherwise” - said Xe’nia with a smile.
Er’anie just smiled at him and made him the universal “I’ll call you later” sign, which made his heart start to beat rapidly and his face blush.
The ravnars waved goodbye with what he imagined was a smile - he hadn’t interacted with many ravnars before - and he abandoned the vehicle, not without waving back and stealing a glance to a sleeping Xuhkro before.
He ordered his dinner to be brought to the room and decided to go for a shower. Xe’nia was right, this was not a normal holiday at all.