The descent down the strange dark crevasse took much longer than Leon would have initially expected, probably somewhat hindered by his own newfound terror of the dark. He screwed his eyes shut and tried to imagine the sun, but as he placed himself in a green grassy field under that beautiful golden orb he felt his feet slam into something hard and flat, the shock of it causing him to yell as he stumbled forwards under his own momentum. Something seemed to arrest his fall and after a second to recollect himself he gave a great shuddering gasp and slowly opened his eyes.
He blinked them closed again as somebody's suit lights nearly blinded him. Throwing up a hand to block them he adjusted his position and saw that it was Myung who had prevented his stumble.
“Thanks.” He said a bit sheepishly, more than a little embarrassed by his own panicked outburst.
She gave him a curious nod and a smile. “Not at all, you looked a little lost there for a second. Are you alright?”
He gave her a thumbs up as he checked all his seals and the gun slung over his shoulder. “I.. uh.. yeah.” He replied a bit dumbly. Everything seemed to be in order and so he allowed himself to take a tentative look around. “Yes, I’m fine thank you.”
The small chamber they were in was strangely rounded, the organic shape of it with its scalloped walls of dark blue ice seemed to trigger some deep phobia buried in his subconscious as he shivered involuntarily, the walls looking like the textured insides of some dark eldritch beast from the deep abyss of the sea. He had not been claustrophobic before the mission, and as far as he knew he still wasn't. Looking down at his booted feet he saw the same dark grey bedrock that Dr. Kimathi had noticed in her feed. Leon turned and then saw the small wisps of steam that wafted from the ground below, the small streamers looking like the breath of some great beast.
The air temperature down in the small cave was nearly ten degrees centigrade higher than back up on the surface of the icy planet and he took a moment to marvel at the aspect of the planet’s unique formation that had allowed for these very conditions to form.
As he stood there looking around, something nagged at him. It took Leon another moment to realise what it was that had been bothering him. The rest of the crew was nowhere to be seen in the small cavern.
Leon turned on the spot, his suit lights illuminating the small room several more times as Myung let out a small giggle. “They went on ahead, Leon. I was waiting for you though, figured you might want a friend when you hit rock bottom.” She chuckled again and he had to smile at the comment. For it was much more apt than perhaps even she realised.
He gestured to her, “Well then, by all means. Lead the way, Myung.”
She turned towards the far side of the small chamber and for the first time he saw a cleft in the low stony outcroppings that seemed to make up the majority of the walls. It was a tight squeeze, but his armoured environmental suit was more than up to the task of protecting him from some pointy rocks. He grunted as he was pressed close on both sides, that tinge of panic setting in for a bare moment until he felt a hand take his own.
Myung gave it a gentle tug. “Come on Leon, you are going to want to see this, Oliver already told me about it before you got down.”
He swallowed down the fear that burrowed through his gut like parasitic worms and allowed the smaller woman to guide him through the pressing darkness. After another moment of torture he found himself once more free and turned to thank her, then stopped.
Leon’s mouth fell open as he beheld the space beyond the fissure, he may have expected many things. But never in his most inspired dreams would he have drawn up a sight like the one that played before his awed sight like some wistful vision.
The small cleft in the rock had opened into a cave of awesome proportions. He was forced to wipe condensation from his visor as water vapor stuck to the outside of his freezing suit. His suit temperature internally seemed to rise slightly before stabilising as the integral environmental control no longer had to work to stave off the bone shattering cold of the surface.
“What, how?” Was all he managed to utter before he heard a clunk from behind him. It was Myung setting up another signal booster on the side of the broken rock.
She gestured to the space and he looked again. He could somehow make out its total immensity, he realised with a start that the ceiling was bright with some manner of.. well.. they looked like stars and constellations to his beleaguered eyes. The many twinkling pinpricks of slightly cool blue light were a stark simulation of what he might have seen back on the surface through the planet’s thin atmosphere.
He looked down and saw lights moving in the near distance at the bottom of the cave. It must be the others, he opened his comms to wide band and spoke, “This is unbelievable.”
Oliver’s voice responded, “Well you better believe it, because I'm down here and this stuff is thick.”
Leon and Myung started to make their way down the side of the cliff and it took him only another minute to realise that the rocks were alive with tiny growing things. They looked similar to moss or tiny ferns, but they were not green. Instead they were a dark deep scarlet in coloration and seemed to recoil at his passing as if they were able to sense his proximity.
He pulled his hands back from a particularly dense patch as it almost seemed to reach out towards him with thin tendrils and focused on making it to the floor of the cavern alive. It was a short but exhausting climb, the heavy environmental suits made every task a chore and this was no exception. He got to the bottom and opened a direct channel to the ship.
Leon spoke breathlessly, the exertion of working so hard under higher gravity than he had become accustomed too had already sapped his strength. But his voice still betrayed his excitement as he spoke, “Joice! Joice, are you seeing this?!”
Joice seemed to take a moment to respond, but when she did he could hear a touch of jealous awe in her voice. “Wow, a totally self-sufficient subterranean system. There is every possibility that these caverns have not seen the light of the sun for hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years.”
Leon looked around. The cavern was large, long and wider than he would have imagined would be possible for ice and rock alone. That's when he noticed the huge dark pillars that seemed to extend from the foliage below to the gently arched roof of the cavern far above. The dark monoliths terminating quite abruptly amid that twinkling field of cool blue lights on the ceiling far above.
He took several more steps forward through that blood red foliage, soon coming to rest at the base of one of those nearer pillars. Myung followed him as he reached out and placed his hand on it. The surface was slightly rough and lined, tinged a slight bluish brown in color. It looked familiar to him and he measured its circumference with his eyes and followed it up towards the roof. It tapered slowly as it went and with a start he realised what he was looking at.
Leon turned to Myung and gestured, “These are the bases of the trees!? How is that possible?”
She shrugged inside her suit. “I have no idea. They must have formed when the ice was thinner maybe? But who knows how long they have been there on the surface. Could be hundreds of years or could be thousands.”
Oliver and the others reached them at the base of the huge tree and the man reached out to touch the surface next to Leon. Oliver looked at him and he could just make out Max inside the suit wrapped around the big Australian's shoulders.
Oliver nodded towards the tree, “Try tens of thousands, look at the girth of these things. They must be twenty five meters wide at the base here.”
Leon glanced back towards the tree thing, the trunk seemed almost too immense to be a living organism. His suit lights illuminated the patch in front of him in stark clarity and he peered closer for a moment, the surface of the thing did seem old. Ancient even. Covered in tiny scars and gouges, the small pits of a million past injuries evident across its hardened surface.
He looked around, the foliage that surrounded them was bold in its contrast. A deep eye-catching red as opposed to the cooler tones of the massive trees. They may have had a common ancestor, but they must have diverged fundamentally at some point in their ancient past.
The plants, for that was how he looked at them, seemed to shiver slightly as he watched. Perhaps in response to the light of his helmet as it played over their leafless branches. He looked again, they were all covered in some manner of pod-like growths that from a distance bore striking resemblance to leaves or fronds. But they were neither. He was almost reminded of crinoids, as if they were some kind of deep sea organism.
He looked at Oliver. “How far does this cavern go?”
The other man shrugged as Dr. Kimathi stepped close to him. “For not knowing, I cannot say.” He paused and then turned. “What is it, Blessing?”
The Chaddian woman seemed to shiver slightly, her normally stoic demeanour entirely altered by their alien surroundings. She spoke softly, her gruff voice little more than a tense whisper. “We should leave this place.”
Leon didn't exactly enjoy the feeling he was getting from their irregular surroundings either, but he saw nothing inherently wrong with the cavern. “Why? We have already come this far, might as well try and make the best of what we got.”
Myung stepped towards the strange plant-things and pulled out a small sampler from a pouch on her waist. “I suppose we could take a few samples with us back to the shuttle. Who knows what these things are made of, living down in the dark under all that ice for who knows how long.”
Oliver and Blessing followed as Leon strode towards an open patch of the undergrowth. Aden seemed to hang back before he pointed to him, “Leon, you have the only weapon down here. Oliver, what happened to your gun?” In the excitement Leon had missed it. He looked and noticed that Oliver was indeed unarmed.
The big man shrugged in his suit, his apparent nonchalance at odds with the worry in his voice. “I don't know, it got lost when I fell. It may have slipped into one of the steam fissures back where you came down? I have some spare ammo though if that helps.” It might, Leon nodded to the man. Accidents were unfortunate, but there was nothing else they could do.
Instead of worrying about it he just waved a hand towards the way they had come and pushed into the strange clinging plants.
The sounds his helmet was projecting to him were mostly a combination of low subtle groans as the ice shifted overhead and all around them ever so slightly. The sporadic low groaning sound eerily akin to the growl of some titanic beast to his ears. Leon found himself shivering slightly inside his protective suit as a chill traveled down his spine at the thought of being inside the belly of some humongous creature. He looked around again, the massive pillars of the tree trunks as they supported the ceiling of the cave far above once more made his eyes swim with their sheer immensity.
Leon took another step forwards before he whirled, the sound of someone shouting setting his already shot nerves even further on edge. It was Aden, the man had been tangled in some sort of vine that hung from a tall plant nearby. Well, plant was one term for it, the thing was unlike anything he might have considered himself familiar with back on Earth.
It was thin and spindly, the trunk a horrid fleshy red color and looking almost segmented like the leg of an insect. The top was a nest of those feathery pods like he had observed on many of the other plants, though these ones seemed larger and altogether more sinister. Each one hung low and seemed to trail its own set of those long red vines.
Even as he watched the vine seemed to move slightly and Aden shouted again, “Hey.. hey! This thing is stuck to me, what the hell?!”
Leon pulled a knife as he stepped towards the man and slashed it through the vine before anyone else had the chance to react. The section attached to Aden fell limp immediately, the tall plant shuddering slightly as if in pain as the now severed section seemed to retract away from the damage. But plant’s didn't feel pain, did they? Leon wasn't so sure the thing was a plant as he learned to classify them. It was an alien from an alien world, who knew what kind of things were lurking in that red darkness?
Aden took a step back. “Thanks, Leon..” Leon nodded to the man as Oliver reached out and prised at the small scrap of vine that was still attached to him.
Oliver grunted after a moment as he ripped his hand free, the effort of his action actually pulling Aden slightly off his feet. “Oh wow. That’s really in there, it looks as if it is coated in small hairs that secrete some manner of chemical that has bonded to the exterior of the suit like glue. But the instantly drying kind.” Small pieces of the man’s outer glove seemed to remain stuck to the vine where he had touched it.
Leon nodded and then gestured towards the tall spindly plant, many similar vines hanging from its upper bulb-like growths. “Okay then, stay away from the tall ones. I don't want anyone’s suit compromised because of some sort of plant. It seems like the environment down here isn't such a cakewalk after all.” Leon paused and then gestured to the group, “Stay together, maintain eye and close range radio contact at all times.”
He received only nods, the simple encounter startling enough to make them all wary of the otherwise silent surroundings. Somebody muttered quietly behind him, “Nope vines, got-it..”
Leon’s suit seemed to pick up on small rustling sounds but he was unable to place exactly where they were originating from. The roof above still sparkled, though the light was dim enough to be drowned out by the bright head-lights of the armoured environmental suit when he looked directly at it.
The undergrowth was thick in patches, but it seemed to follow some manner of natural path, somewhat like a deer-path. A dark stain on the ground soon became apparent and he stooped to observe it more closely, it looked like some manner of dried liquid. It wasn't like the rusty brown of dried blood, it was more of a dull purple in coloration he noticed. He looked around, wondering what could have left it.
The ground was barren here, not ice or stone, but loamy looking soil. The kind that held water and living things as the dark soil of a swamp might. The caves seemed to act as some manner of isolated ecosystem entirely separate from the icy surface of the world.
Not for the first time he looked up and wondered how the cavern roof was prevented from simply melting entirely through and collapsing upon the inhabitants below. He looked up again through the covering red branches and saw once more that strange proliferation of twinkling lights. The ceiling was far away, but it still seemed to have a strange smoky or fluffy texture he couldn't place.
Leon gestured towards the ceiling as he stood back to his feet. “What is that?”
It was Aden who replied first as the others also turned to look. “I had the opportunity to take a closer look while we were waiting for you to finally get down here. The lights themselves seem to be moving so I would assume some manner of biological process. Perhaps some manner of creature that has a sort of bioluminescence. I also noticed thin strands hanging from the ceiling as well, they barely registered in my scope and it was purely by chance that I saw them at all.” The man shrugged and fell silent.
That was about as good of an explanation as he could have expected under their circumstances. It wasn't as if they had an entire research suite available to them. He paused at that, what was their closest research area. Probably the ship itself, the SSV had no facilities on board besides the rudimentary storage of specimens and such. Leon blinked as he felt something brush past him. It was Myung, the small botanist was moving once more towards the base of one of the huge trees that seemed to allow the entire place to exist at all.
As she reached it she asked, “Does this look familiar? Look at the branches of the bushes and things here. They all have the same texture on their surface. Do you think they could be related, Aden?”
Aden looked at the nearer bushes and seemed to agree with her, “Maybe. But we would have to take a few samples to really be sure.” Leon watched as the two began to take out tools that were strapped to the outsides of their suits.
He was about to comment when he once more felt that same earlier prickle. Like there was something watching him, he whirled around and lifted his gun into a ready position. But there was nothing. Just that same still silence that seemed to blanket the entire place.
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Oliver stepped to his side as the others grabbed small samples of the surrounding vegetation. The large Australian man glanced towards his raised weapon, “You feel it too?” Was all the man asked him.
Leon gave him a sideways look. “Feel what?”
Oliver nodded out into the dark undergrowth. “A presence. Like something is watching you? Samuel was talking to me about it. He said that after his encounter with that grey star, that everything was different, that he could feel things watching him all the time from other places.”
Leon shook his head slightly. “No, not like that. I’m not paranoid, Oliver. Not like Aden was anyway, not like Samuel. I just.. had a strange feeling that..” he paused and gave Oliver a serious look. “I feel like we are not alone in here.”
Oliver just chuckled. “That's for sure, there are probably all kinds of wacky creatures in these caverns. But I have yet to see anything so big as a bug.” Leon peered at the man, the still form of Max was coiled loosely about his neck. The two never seemed to leave each other, even in such situations as they found themselves in.
Leon turned and looked back into the dark before he shivered slightly. Oliver was right. Leon looked around again, there was virtually no activity in their vicinity. A thought crossed his mind but he pressed it down. Their suit’s were decontaminated, there was no way they had spread some manner of rapid contagion to the area. That would have been an issue otherwise, besides, what could possibly have acted that fast.
Dr. Kimathi, who had up until this point remained silent, spoke up out of the blue. Her voice having regained some of its earlier sturdiness. “What about the lights?”
Oliver turned to her and Leon heard him respond over the close range comms network, “What about the lights?” The inflection in his tone showing his curiosity at her comment.
Myung looked around as the woman stepped back from her sample collection. “No, wait. Blessing has a point. These caverns have been undisturbed by the light of their star for countless years. We should turn off our suit lights, they may be disturbing the natural environment of the cavern.”
Leon immediately raised an objection, “We can't do that. No way.” The deep seated fear of the darkness began to creep into his mind at the thought of being plunged into pitch blackness on an alien world. His breathing began to quicken slightly as the others talked amongst themselves, but he didn't hear them. All he could hear was the rushing of blood in his ears, the beating of his heart and his own labored breathing as he hunched over slightly.
After an indeterminate amount of time he felt a hand on his shoulder and he straightened, it was Oliver. The man seemed to give him a pointed look and Leon tried to put on a better face. The act of faking a smile actually worked to lessen the terror somewhat and he nodded. He pushed the other man’s hand away and spoke in a slightly wavering voice, “I’m fine, Oliver. I’m fine now. Thanks.”
Myung looked up at the ceiling. “We shouldn't be in total darkness. There seems to be some manner of biological or chemical light source in here anyways.”
The fact didn't really comfort Leon much as the woman reached up and switched off her suit’s lights manually, darkening their surroundings noticeably. One by one the others did the same till only Leon’s lights remained.
“Leon?” Myung prompted as the others looked on curiously.
With a slightly shaking hand Leon reached up and flicked the manual switch on his wrists control panel. All at once the cave was plunged into darkness and he jolted as a stab of panic nearly unseated him. But before he had a chance to truly lose himself he gasped slightly, his eyes began to adjust to the darkness. No, not darkness. It wasn't bright, but neither was the cave pitch black as he had been fearing.
A dim glow seemed to radiate outwards from the ceiling of the place at first. Those twinkling spots seemingly growing brighter as the atmosphere of the place returned to normal, well, its own version of normal that was.
Myung’s suited figure could just be made out by him in the dimness as he felt his vision readjust to their new conditions. The woman had moved a few steps forwards in the dark, the slight rustling of the undergrowth marking her passing close by him. And then he blinked, for where her feet trod the soil itself almost seemed to glow faintly.
“Look at that.” He said, pointing as he forgot that the others might not be able to see the gesture at all.
It was Aden that noticed it first. “What.. Oh! Myung, your footsteps.”
The botanist turned and he saw her stoop towards the ground as she exclaimed in surprise and wonder. “Oh, look at that. There must be some manner of bioluminescent bacteria or algae in the soil. I wonder..” She trailed off as she claimed yet another sample for her rapidly growing collection.
Aden all at once exclaimed. “The trees, or whatever you want to call them!”
Leon looked towards the nearest thick pillar and saw it too, the previously dark brown exterior of the three was pulsing slightly with a dim but noticeable luminescence. Not the pale blue of the ceiling or floor, but a slightly orange color that made them look almost warm. For some reason he was reminded of the sun and he smiled involuntarily at the sight as pleasant memories surfaced in his mind.
Leon noticed that some of the surrounding vegetation was beginning to glow dimly now that their suit lights had been turned off. The various stalks and pods responding to them with a slight orangish glow that seemed to center on where they had been disturbed. The sight was both mesmerising and foreboding in equal measure. What could the plants need such a reaction for, where there other large things that moved through the dark as they did? Disturbing the plants and soil as they had, Leon gripped the rifle in his hands more tightly as he took another step into that strange coruscating mass.
Those thoughts were cut short as he noticed something else moving nearby, at first he thought it was a speck of dust. But the slightly yellowish light flitted and moved in an entirely different manner. Almost like unto that of some manner of flying insect or moth.
Oliver saw it too and took a step back to be level with Leon. “Well, that’s certainly something. But what is it I wonder..” the man mused quietly beside him and Leon just hefted his gun uncertainty.
He glanced towards Oliver and spoke, “I don’t have the foggiest idea. But if it looks dangerous then I will not hesitate to put it six feet under.”
The man grinned, clearly not as worried about the entire situation as Leon himself was. As he watched, more and more of the flitting lights appeared till they were nearly on top of them. As one zipped its way straight towards Leon he yelled in surprise before something doinked off the front of his visor.
Oliver laughed as he flailed around wildly for a moment, but Leon calmed after he realised that he was in no real danger.
“You look like a complete rube, Leon” Aden chuckled as Myung said it, the woman took a few steps forwards and swiped something out of the air with a small telescoping net she had produced from somewhere in her pack. “Look at this, it is some manner of insect or other bug.”
Oliver tapped Leon on the helmet as the lights flitted about them. “Bugs.”
He snorted and moved closer to see what had startled him so, Myung transferred the specimen into a small glass vial and held it up. Inside the vial was indeed something that he may have called a bug, though it had more than six legs and the body was the wrong shape. It was obviously alien, the stubby wide legs had no joints, instead seeming more akin to flexible tendrils made for grasping. Its body was also a strange shape, curved with a wide flaring abdomen that seemed to pulse yellowish light from time to time as it buzzed angrily against the glass.
Dr. Kimathi pointed to the small creature. “I wonder if the luminescence is chemical or biological?”
Myung responded as Leon peered at the scrambling alien. “Only one way to find out, and it isn't down here.” She said it as she placed the sample in her specimen bag and then pointed up. “Oh!”
Oliver seemed to see something too as he looked up and exclaimed, “Oh, wow.”
Leon looked and saw that the lights on the ceiling had moved. Rather, they had seemed to lower from the ceiling on thin strands of something that could have been like silk. The lights moved slightly as they lowered towards the flitting yellow lights. As some of them got close he could see something shoot from the blue lights and ensnare several of the yellow ones. Like a spider ensnaring a fly, the blue lights reeled in their catches and seemed to cocoon them.
As he used the zoom function on his helmet to get a closer look and saw they were some manner of worm-like things that looked to nest atop the roof of the cave. Maybe that was the reasoning for the strange texture along the top of the cavern.
They seemed to be carnivorous, or at least they were eating the bugs that flew through the air and alighted atop the highest pods in the undergrowth. The entire scene was a kaleidoscope of iridescent and glowing neon lines, sparkles of the bugs and the flashes of the spider-worms all worked together to give him a sensory overload.
Leon blinked and turned his head away, trying to clear his mind of the lights and sounds and the everpresent dark spaces that surrounded them in the huge underground space. So far the entire experience had been a trip and a half with his own inner fears being on full display. He took a step into the dark and then stopped as he heard a rustling in the undergrowth only a few meters from him. The slight glowing of the plants in the near distance announced the movement of some larger thing nearby and he stumbled back with a pang of alarm, raising his gun once more as the sound of something moving drew nearer.
Oliver took a stance near to Dr. Kimathi and Myung dropped to her knees as Aden stumbled over her in his suit and fell heavily to the ground with a pained grunt. They had been experiencing reduced gravity for years now and it made them all a little sluggish on the ground.
As Leon watched the dark, his eyes as wide as dinner plates, he contemplated turning his suit lights back on for better visibility. But he never got the chance as something stepped from the undergrowth and then froze in front of them.
It was large, about the size of a large dog and covered in jet black fur that seemed to drink in the surrounding light in the most peculiar way. He only managed to get a glimpse of huge reflective eyes with horizontal beaded pupils before the strange creature let out a small bellowing squeak and bounded off into the darkness again. It crashed through the dark accompanied by the sounds of several others. Leon was tense, his finger on the trigger of his weapon as he tried to put together the events that had been happening all around them, not yet sure whether he should open fire into the darkness or not.
Oliver held onto Dr. Kimathi’s shoulder and mused, “Some manner of herbivore perhaps? Maybe some type of ungulate analog? Look at those footprints, they look like some manner of hooves.”
Leon wasn't interested in the man’s comments. Instead his mind was racing, the way the creature had reacted made him think that they were threatened. And that meant that there was something in the dark with them that was able to hurt or even kill the creatures. He turned around and then turned on his lights to the exclaims of the others.
“We need to leave, now.” Leon said, his tone clipped as he tried to retain some measure of self control.
Myung seemed a little put out as she raised a hand to shield her eyes. “Why? Come on, turn off your light Leon. You are making the local fauna avoid us.”
Leon nodded as he took a step back towards the direction they had come from. “Good. That’s precisely what I am trying to do.”
Oliver raised a hand as he had to shield his own eyes, Leon turning to look at the man as he argued, “What is your problem, Leon? They seemed more scared of us than we were of them, well.. maybe not less scared than you.” He was probably trying to inject humor into the situation, but Leon was well past caring about how the others thought of him now. Alarm bells were screaming in his mind, all his combat instincts telling him that he was being watched from the darkness.
Leon hefted his gun and then gestured towards the direction the creatures had run. “Put it together, Oliver! Why did they run?” the Australian man shrugged. Leon continued, his voice reaching a higher pitch as he felt that earlier prickling sensation from earlier. “They ran because they were scared. And why would they be scared unless there were things down here to be scared of. And with all the noise and commotion we have been making I would not be at all surprised if we had not attracted the attention of everything within a kilometer or two of us in these damn caves.”
Oliver looked set to argue again, but Myung stood and stepped towards Leon. “You know, he makes a good point Oliver. Nobody said that we can’t come back down and take another look later. But we don't really have much in the way of defense, and I have plenty of samples already to look through.” She glanced at Aden and the man nodded. His dark eyes flitting around the dark around them as he reached up and turned on his own suit lights.
Dr. Kimathi nodded inside her helmet too. “Yes, please Oliver. Let’s go. I don’t like it down here either. It’s too quiet.”
Leon had noticed the silence as well. But it could simply be because they had turned their lights back on, only Oliver had still stubbornly held out. Leon gestured towards the exit, it was several dozen meters distant at this point as they had traversed into the dark red undergrowth a short distance. “Come on, let’s at least get back to higher ground while we have this argument.” He muttered under his breath wordlessly.
Leon watched Oliver hesitate once more and swore internally. He didn't want to try and force the man, over the course of their journey he had learned not to treat them as soldiers. But to treat the crew as friends and equals. He was still struggling every day with the little details, but Natalia had told him now on multiple occasions that he was getting better. Oliver was testing his newfound patience though, he took a small steadying breath and tried to think of what Natalia would say in the situation.
Leon reached out his hand to the obstinate man. “Oliver, I am asking as a friend. A friend who sees that there is value in staying but also risk. And I cannot allow the risk to outweigh the rewards, so let’s pull back to the SSV just for now. Assess the situation and see where it goes from there. I promise that I will give you and the others every opportunity to continue exploring this place. But only after we have determined there is no real threat to us here.”
Oliver opened his mouth to reply and then simply nodded as he stepped forwards after them. They had moved a small distance through the not-trees and Leon frowned to himself in mild annoyance as another of the strange plants snagged the edge of his suit causing him to turn back and untangle the straps of his gun from the blood red clinging fronds.
As he did so the short hairs on the back of his neck seemed to stand on end and a bolt of alarm shot through him, for in the darkness of the foliage behind Oliver he saw four glinting eyes that jerked as his suit’s lights illuminated them.
As a loud shriek reverberated through the cavern Leon tried to raise the gun and shouted a wordless alarm to the big Australian man. Oliver had time to turn partially before something large exploded out of the blood red foliage like some nameless forgotten predator from humanities lost nightmares. He only caught a glimpse of blood red flesh and slavering teeth that glinted a stark white in his suit lights before Oliver was bowled over by the thing.
More shouting erupted as the others took notice, Leon put them out of mind as he ripped the gun free from the foliage that had ensnared him. The barrel of it raising towards the man and beast as Oliver rolled away from the snarling creature with another yell of panic. Oliver was separated from the creature, and Leon didn’t hesitate as he squeezed the trigger of his gun like he was trying to choke the life from it.
His eyes were dazzled by the flashes of the gun as it sprayed out a stream of hot lead that struck the creature all across its center of mass. Despite his training and years of military experience, it had been a long time since he had fired a gun in anger. This was made starkly apparent as his recoil control failed, the barrel of the weapon rising up and over the top of the creature as the stream of death spat from it. As a result, only a few of the bullets found their mark in the enraged beast’s hide.
Oliver had by this point tried to scramble away and Leon fumbled with his suit’s bulky gloves as he tried to load a fresh magazine into the slightly smoking rifle. But Oliver was no longer the primary focus of the thing it seemed.
Leon watched as it roared in pain and anger and then turned its horrid body to face him. Drool and blood dripped from its face, one of the bullets seeming to have struck it in the jaw. He could see shattered teeth in the thing’s mouth as it opened it wide to scream that same terrible shriek. The sound of it digging deep through his consciousness and triggering some deep primal fear inside his mind. It made him want to flee, to turn and run with wild abandon. But he was a military man, and fear no longer held such sway over his higher mental faculties.
He managed to slam the new magazine in place just as the monster charged for him. He pulled the trigger again, but it was too little too late and he only managed to hit it twice before the great weight of the thing slammed into his armour reinforced chest and the gun was sent flying from his suited fingers.
Leon grunted as he was born to the ground, the feeling of something heavy and sharp scrabbled for purchase on the front of his environmental suit as hot liquid splashed his suit. In desperation he threw a clenched fist into the mass in a desperate attempt to dislodge the creature before it managed to find a chink in his armour with rending claws or teeth.
The punch was less effective than he would have hoped. The higher than normal gravity of the world combined with his sustained living in the lower gravity of the ship had rendered his normally devastating blow somewhat impotent. That or the creature was just so maddened by rage and pain that the blow failed to motivate it properly. Either way it mattered little as the thing simply locked its remaining teeth around his wrist and bit down, hard.
Leon once more grunted but then smiled, it had bitten his cybernetic arm. And so instead of horrible rending pain, he felt only a slight pressure. He used the arm as a lever to throw the thing off his chest and it seemed to yelp in surprise as his arm was dislodged from its maw with a loud tearing sound.
He felt a slight pressure on his upper arm before he used his real hand to pull the multitool from his belt. Rolling to his feet, he assumed a more aggressive stance as the thing once more roared its defiance towards him.
Now he really had a good look at the creature. And he immediately wished he hadn’t. It was repulsive, not in any immediately quantifiable way. It was if it’s proportions were simply wrong, alien of course. It’s head was a blunt wedge full of sharp teeth and impossibly wide seeming for its head. The head itself had no eyes or nose or other discernible sensory apparatus its four glinting eyes instead being situated on its powerful shoulders. There was some manner of tendrils that sprouted from under its jaw however. Almost looking like the whiskers of a catfish to him. They likely made up for any blind spot the thing had.
Whatever the case was, it was mad and hungry and seemed to think Leon himself was on the menu. He kept his gaze on the blood red thing as it took another slow step in his direction. Leon wanted to make sure that the others were alright and so spoke slowly.
“Oliver, are you alright?” He got no immediate response and so flicked his eyes towards where the man had last been in an effort to confirm his condition.
It was in that exact moment that the thing charged him once more, almost as if it knew his attention was divided. Leon shouted in alarm and a little fear as he raised the multitool in a paltry defense.
Before he had the opportunity to use it however there was a terrific noise and several bright flashes of light, the alien thing was smashed to the ground as a row of purple wounds opened on its flank. The thing skidded to a stop amid the noise and let out a gurgling whimper before falling still, the ragged holes that now marred its hide leaking a thick purple ooze. Leon stood stock still, the sight replaying itself in his mind in slow motion as he jerkilly turned his head to his right.
Of all the people he might have expected to come to his rescue, Dr. Kimathi would have been the last. The dark skinned Chaddian doctor was holding his dropped rifle, the torn and frayed strap hanging down to her booted feet as she slowly lowered the barrel of it towards the ground.
She dropped it all at once as he watched and rushed past him with nary a second glance in his direction, he saw her reach Oliver and help the man to his feet.
She spoke worriedly, “Oliver! Oh Oliver! Are you alright, you look hurt, are you hurt?”
Leon walked towards his gun and picked it up before he stood and looked around. Myung and Aden were staring at the scene in shock, the sounds of Dr. Kimathi fretting over Oliver somewhat fading into the background as he ignored them and instead turned to look once more at the corpse of the thing that had nearly ended him.
Seeing it up close didn’t make it any easier on the eyes. He walked to it and reloaded his rifle once more. Using the barrel, he prodded the corpse gently before giving it a solid kick to its ugly head for good measure. It remained thankfully still. Very much dead as its strange pale purple fluids leaked out onto the loamy soil.
Myung and Aden had joined him at this point and he gestured to it, “What the hell do you think it is?” Aden mused.
Leon shrugged. “Clearly some manner of predator. Did you see the way it targeted me instead of attacking Oliver again? Almost as if it understood I was the threat instead of him?”
Aden replied slowly as Myung knelt by the thing and rummaged around in her pack. “Yeah, it must have noticed where the danger was.” He paused and then looked at Leon. “But how? It looks so different in comparison to the others.” He mused aloud.
Oliver and Dr. Kimathi had by now started to make their way towards them, Leon would have rubbed his chin had he not been wearing the suit. “Yeah, it is.”
Aden pointed to him. “That looks bad, Leon.”
Leon looked down and then for the first time noticed that his suit had been torn open causing the emergency pressure seal further up the arm to trigger. That had been what had caused the feeling of squeezing on his upper arm earlier during his struggle.
Leon shook his head. “No, that’s my cybernetic arm. I'll throw a patch on it before we leave, and we are leaving.. Myung.” He stated while looking directly at the woman that was busy taking various samples of the dead alien creature.
She nodded inside her suit, the action only just barely visible from his position. “Oh, yes. I am fine with that, now.”
Leon only gave a slight snort and then turned to look at Oliver as the pair reached them. “What is it with you and getting to know the local wildlife?”
Oliver chuckled as Dr. Kimathi fussed over him, the woman applying yet another small patch to the seams of his armoured suit. “What can I say, I am an adventure magnet!” He gave a slight grunt as winced. “Yeah, maybe next time I will take a rain check on the wildlife safari though.” He stopped again and seemed to hesitate before putting a hand on Leon’s shoulder. His tone getting at once more serious and heartfelt. “Thank you once more for saving my ass, Leon. I might have been mincemeat there had you not intervened..” He looked as if he was wanting to say more but Leon just waved a hand to cut him off.
“No thanks are necessary, I was simply doing what was right. It’s my job to protect you all, and that is what I will continue to do.” He smiled as he said it, knowing full well that it was a bit of a cheesy response but not caring in that moment.
Dr. Kimathi responded for the both of them as she shook her head. “I am getting tired of you two almost dying, I swear.. next time I might not be here to put you back together after.”
Leon chuckled and then turned to Aden and Myung, the two scientists apparently having a small argument over what bits of the creature to snip off and preserve for study. “Okay you two, last call for alcohol. So finish up carving your turkey and let’s get moving.”
He rolled his tired and stiff shoulders before taking a step towards the exit and sending a message to the ship at the same time.
He spoke quickly and concisely, not wanting to cause worry. “Leon to homebase. We have successfully made contact with alien life and gathered some samples for analysis, returning to the SSV for extraction. Keep the coffee hot.” And with that he cut the link.
He glanced back towards the others as they followed his lead towards the cleft in the rocks they had entered from. Another pang of fear stabbed through him as he contemplated just how close he had come to that eternal sleep. But he would not go easy into the darkness like so many others before him, no. He would forever fight against the dying of the light, even as his own internal despair threatened to consume the last fragments of his soul. It was all he could do, all any human could ever hope to accomplish.
Leon shuddered at the thought. The human race as a whole had already been through so much, nearly being wiped out on multiple occasions due to their own selfish actions. But one thing was as certain as steel in his mind, their journey amidst the stars had only just begun.