When Dave’s colony was within sight. Dave started saying “Oh, you should know about the colony before we arrive, the colony is known as the Survivalists Meadow. Vern, a friend of mine is the colony leader and was the one who came up with the name. He may be cold to you at first but he will open up to you if you talk to him and show that you are willing to help out. Then there is Casey, she is our scientist and mechanic. She is a very curious person and will probably like to know about what you are and maybe test some stuff.” I got nervous when he said that and he seemed to have noticed. “Oh don’t worry, it won’t be anything bad or painful, she will probably just ask you questions and see what you can do but won’t do anything that you find uncomfortable,” he said to comfort me. “Me, Vern, and Casey all crashlanded on the same ship and are good friends with each other and we all have our reasons for traveling on the ship.”

I was surprised by this because I had thought that they were from this planet. He continues talking “There are two others that have joined after we had set up a base, there is Bark and Gorge. Bark is a tribal lady who is from another tribe and is very knowledgeable about this planet’s flora and fauna. Then there is Gorge and he is our farmer and cook, He was a part of another faction’s colony but he got separated from his caravan.” When he finished we were at the edge of the colony. There were some turrets and barricades at the very edge of the colony. I asked what they were for and he said that they were for defenses against raiders. That is a big problem on this planet, and I was lucky enough to not run into any slavers or cannibals looking for a meal. He said that most colonies on this planet practice drug trafficking and organ harvesting to make a quick buck because there is no central ruler on this planet, but there is the empire that is trying to be the ruler of the planet but they don’t have much a foothold on the planet. He said that the empire has only 2 bases on this planet when factions usually have around 5 to 6. The Survivalists Meadow isn’t its faction and is just a small colony that is trying to survive the harshness of the planet.

I am very surprised by this because I had heard of “rimworlds” as he mentions but never thought she would ever be on one. Willow thought that she would be born, live, and die on the farmworld she grew up in.

We had entered the base and someone walked up to us. Dave told me that it was Vern that he told me about. Dave told Vern that I wished to join the colony. Vern gave a cold glare toward me and asked why I wanted to join such a colony like this one. I explained that I escaped from an empire lab and had been alone in the forest for a few days with nothing. Vern nodded and told me that if I behaved and made myself useful to the colony then I would be treated like family. Vern said that in an oddly kind way, I said that I would try and that I would be happy with some people around.

Vern and Dave took me on a tour of the colony. When they said it was a small colony they meant it. Also when Dave said that I would “Dig” my room I didn’t know what he meant until they showed that while the defenses and the farms and solar power were outside, all of the colony stuff was inside of the mountain nearby. Dave saw my surprise and asked me what I was surprised about. I said that I didn’t know that The colony was inside a mountain. He laughed and said that It was Vern’s idea to live on a mountain because there were a lot of benefits to living like a dwarf. I laughed at the dwarf joke, someone else came over and Dave introduced me to Gorge, the farmer. We introduced each other. After introductions, Dave brought me into the mountain. He showed me all of the rooms, where the kitchen, dining room, and bedrooms are, and then he brought me to the workshop where Casey was. We entered the room as she was in the middle of crafting something that I couldn’t tell. Casey wanted to know who was disturbing her and looked from her workbench to see us. She has gotten up from the table to take a look at me. She then had a big smile on her face and asked who I was and what I was. I told her my name was Wilow and that I was the new member of the colony. She nodded and then she asked again what I was. I told her that I was unsure of what I was because I was experimented on by the empire and became what I am now. She looked excited and that she wanted to see what the empire was trying to do now. I told her that I did not know and that I didn’t want to be experimented on again. She sighed and then said, “Well, if nothing else is happening then I guess I’ll continue crafting some components for the deep scanner.” I asked what a deep scanner was, she told me that it was a device that scanned the ground for resources and that they used a deep drill to harvest the resources. She asked us away and so we continued on the tour. At the end of the tour, he was talking to himself about where bark might be. He then had the idea to check to room. We went to Bark’s room and saw that she was asleep, Dave woke her him and introduced me to her. Her eyes widened when she saw me. She jumped out of bed and walked right up to me. I asked her what she was doing and she said “Wow, you look just like a humanoid version of a megascarab. What are you? Are you an insect?” on cue Mike, one of my pet scarabs scuttled up to her. She picked it up and started petting him. “Well whatever you may be, you sure did bring some nice friends,” she said with a laugh as she lifted Mike.

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“Well, It was nice meeting you Willow, we are going to be good friends,” she said with a large smile. Dave then took me out of Bark’s room and we walked down the stone hallway a little bit then said that we had arrived. When I asked arrived where he said to my room. When I asked what room he said that I would dig out my room. Each colony member did so as if it were a tradition for new members of the colony. He then left me there and said that he still had to do some chores around the colony and that I should start digging out my room If I wanted somewhere to sleep. He left and I was just there thinking about how the hell I was going to dig out a whole bedroom. The scarabs gladly remind me that they are great diggers but starting to peck at the wall. It took me and the scarabs a few hours but the room had been dug out, it was less of a room and more like a dark cave we dug out but it would work for now. And with all that had happened today and with me being exhausted I went to sleep and the cold stone floor.