"Alright, everyone, listen up.” Gizzy said, circling the mess hall table covered in guns. The crew looked worried. “We have no idea what we’re facing and some of you, *cough cough* Nicole, have no weapons experience.”
“I owned a revolver.” She objected. “I hit the paper with it too.” She pouted cutely.
“Well, as impressed as I am, here’s the rundown. This is the OMG20. Osirian Modular Gun 20mm by 20mm by 50 cal by 6mm. No traceable alien tech, brand-new systems. We kept it primitive but effective.”
“It’s frigging huge.” Nicole objected.
“Because it’s the everything configuration. Each of you gets one of these huge cases with everything you need to make about 48 different configurations with zero tools or skills. It’s basically a pistol with a detachable rifle on top of it. The pistol fires the new 5mm OS, quad stacked, 50 round flush fitting mags, and 100 round ones that stick way the fuck out of the grip like an Uzi. Pistol detaches in an emergency. The forward pump action can handle shotgun rounds or low velocity grenades, the top can handle shotgun shells or high velocity 20mm antitank rounds. The magazine between the grip mag and the rear mag can handle 50BMG pressure. It’s 4 guns in one and the weight of 3. you’ll be glad it’s heavy when you fire the top barrel.
“Hell of a jump from the other little gun to this.” asked Vicki.
“Well, I’m trying out something bigger. It’s 15 pounds and bulky, but it’s better than dying. The pistol mag rounds may as well be a 408 CheyTac anti-vehicle rifle.”
“I’m familiar.” Jack nodded.
“Now everyone, myself included, gets the same general crate of goodies, except Vinn. Vinn…you’re lucky I like you, this took 17 hours to print and assemble. Yours is an upscaled version. Vinn clearly just gets the artillery, so we covered everything. If you hate it, we go back to the old guns, but give it a try."
...
The shuttle bay doors opened, and the crew stood in awe of the world before them. The sky was a slightly hazy pale blue, much like that of Earth, but the similarities ended as their view shifted further down. The foggy mist of an ancient city rolled slowly over the planet’s surface, leaving it all wet with a red liquid. It was thin, barely even covering the ground. In fact, the water seemed too low. They stepped out, making contact with the ground, yet still seeing their boot tops. Bare patches of brown and red covered ground, hard as stone, and cracked and dry. Even in the submerged areas they were hard. It was as if the world was made entirely of solid rock, without the slightest hint of clay or soil, no sediment, just a thin painting of watery red pigment. As they silently approached the city, the fog revealed taller and taller buildings. They reached several hundred feet into the sky, and were corroded and rusty with age. Front doors and walkways loomed above them. They were as tall as some of the buildings, mounted on pillars of stone and some kind of woody fibrous composite. It was as if Venice dried up and bled. There wasn't a soul, or even a sign of life.
“This is a dead planet. But it didn’t used to be.” Gizzy sighed.
“Who lived here?” Nicole gasped. “These buildings look almost…human built. Obviously a bit too tall, but this is almost more middle eastern stone and Japanese highrise than alien.”
“Maybe, but you’d be surprised what things you find in the outskirts of reality that just seem too human to be here.” Gizzy said, sloshing her way through barely an inch of moisture, the occasional dry spot or 3 inch puddle. She looked back at the coastline. Magenta beaches lead to clearer and deeper waters. There were very few waves, no wind, and the sea was almost silent. On closer inspection, the paint on the buildings that was even more red than the water was just a fluffy layer of crystallized algae.
“God, Barbie would love this world.” Nicole sighed. “Or probably not, it’s a bit depressing and soggy.”
“How you doing back there, Vicki?” Asked Gizzy. “This much red getting you excited or concerned?”
“I’m not a bull, you know. A vaguely red and pink color scheme doesn’t turn me into a feeding machine. It doesn’t even smell like blood.” She said.
...
They made their way through the very compact city of identical buildings to a spot that looked almost…inviting. Like a park, but with a strang color. The bushes were pink and tree like, and their roots fit perfectly in the crevices in the black stone ground. The dock was made with a dark purple timber that had the texture and consistency of straw. There were occasionally posts made of an ebony black wood, with rusty metal hooks that looked like they were made to hold lights. There were also a few wells scattered around, painted in a purple and black something. They were overflowing, though only barely, with water.
Nicole began wandering ahead, noticing a few patches of green. The green was reminiscent of moss at dusk. Bright red mushrooms and flowers were sporadically placed between vines on the ground. The group noticed the sound of running water after a couple minutes of following Nicole, and they finally knew why she was reading. She always knew where the nearest source of running water was.
“It’s beautiful here.” She said, removing her helmet.
“Captain Alekseev.” Gizzy scolded. “Rule 1 of offworld exploration: just because there is air, does not mean that it is safe to breathe. Check your scanners before taking your helmet off.”
“It’s too pretty to look at through glass. I’ve been in space for months. Everything nature has to offer has been stared at through glass and camera screens. I needed to look at something with my eyes. I mean look at it. Streams of water from the open roof, draining perfectly into little carved pools. Someone carved this white stone out to look like trees and canopy, leaving perfectly shaped walkways. Look how it flows. Drainage slots, intentional footpaths, big, hobbit-like round doorways and arches. Someone, some people, spent ages making this to stay just above the water, and for no reason I can see other than that it looked pretty."
“Now THAT looks like blood.” Vicki noted, looking less thrilled. The water below had a far brighter red tint from something. Nothing could be seen that was more than a couple inches deep. The water around the sides of the walkway resembled something far less watery than the crystal clear liquid trickling in from the overhead waterfalls. There was a very ominous “water to wine” effect happening at some point, although it wasn't clear exactly where.
“Look.” Jack noted. “The plants are turning the water red. It’s clear when it lands and it’s redder where the green moss goes into it. This IS blood, it’s just plant blood.”
“Beet juice world.” Vinn announced dramatically.
“Well don’t touch the beet water, it’s moving. There’s something tiny in it moving against the current here and there. The planet may be abandoned, but it’s not dead.” Gizzy said. “It’s very alive, just not populated by whoever made the buildings.” She said while heading out the other side. She quickly realized that the city just ended there. Beyond the green moss and the serene yet oxide garden was just a wasteland. A few large trees, red and terracotta colored, formed a very loose border. The city just ended right there. There simply were no more buildings past the trees. Gizzy knocked on one of the trees, pulling her hand back quickly. A sticky, mucus-like substance stretched between her hand and the tree.
“These pods look halfway between bark and muscle. It’s definitely fibrous and alive.” She noted.
“Looks pretty petrified to me.” Vinn said while scraping his hand across the bark. It felt as hard as stone.
“Vinn, why is your gun hanging on that limb?”
“It’s not going anywhere, I just wanted to see the trees closer.”
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Rule 2: Assume everything and anything on an alien world is alive. Trees, rock formations, piles of goop... Anything could be a plant or an animal, and plants can kill you too. NEVER put your gun down. This is space, anything is possible, and anything could be at the top of the food chain. Life is about surviving, and if it survived long enough to still be here, it has killed something. Alien life is all just bugs, teeth, tentacles, and murder.” She insisted. She sat her gun down on a stump and stepped back.
“You could step 3 feet from your gun like this and in a second you could need it, and in the time it took to step 3 paces ba-” she said, interrupted by the sudden crunch of the pod opening up and beneath it’s armored bark, a fleshy red tube of muscle and teeth chomped her off her feet in the blink of an eye. Nicole and the other drew guns, unsure what to do or where to shoot to not hit Gizzy. Suddenly the fleshy pod gleamed with light and a shiny glare ran down the side. The pod ripped open as Gizzy’s hands sprouted forth, making several precision slashes with her knife. She stepped from the pod, covered in a red substance. She casually strolled to pick up her gun as the pod quivered in pain. She shouldered her weapon, and fired 2 separate bursts, 3 rounds at the base and 3 at the center of the pod. It stopped moving. Covered in plant viscera, yet still acting completely unfazed, she removed a cigar from her pocket and lit it off the end of the barrel.
“And that, kids, is why rule number 3, is why you always carry a blade. They don’t run out of ammo, and you can’t drop what’s strapped to your leg.”
“We need to go.” Nicole said, looking as serious as death.
“Oh, now it’s not as pretty when the plants can eat you, huh?” Gizzy scoffed.
“The planet’s not drying up.” She said confidently. “It’s just low tide.” She said pulling herself up over the ridge to look back at the wasteland. The soft rushing sound of distant ocean began growing louder as they noticed the soggy desert horizon was just a wall of water. And it was moving towards them. Quickly.
“Move to the center of the city.” Gizzy ordered.
“Our ship is the other way.” Vinn noted.
“Oh, we don’t have time to make it to the ship.” Gizzy said, calculating how long it would take the surge of water to approach. They moved like ants, in unison. They went over debris and barriers, while steadily making their way to the nearest tall and sturdy building. Gizzy spotted a structure that looked like it was mostly made of stone, and had very few pieces missing. They rounded the doorway, and went up the front steps into what looked like a very Victorian style castle interior. With stone handrails, and yet another shade of blood red for the walls, it fit in very well with the rest of the city. A central staircase loomed in front of the group, colored in the same blood red as the walls. It was accented with a range of beiges and whites, and ornately decorated designs covering everything but the floor.
Out of seemingly nowhere, seawater began to flow past them, and from down above them. They moved as quickly as they could up the stairs, fighting the current. They anchored themselves with the handrails, although they were starting to get slippery from the water and the algae.
Jack’s foot slipped, and he was taken with the current. Vicki started yelling for him, and almost dived in before Vinn stopped her. He reminded her that neither of them could swim all that well. Gizzy and Nicole jumped in, and were swept away by the waves.
“JACK DON’T DIE!” Vicki screamed as Vinn picked her up and headed higher, knowing they would just drown trying to help him. Both Nicole and Gizzy were practically fish at that point, and Jack's best hope was that they would find him.
“V-team, do you copy?” Said Gizzy on the body coms.
“Is that us?” Vinn asked.
“…Vinn and Vicki. Both V’s on the crew, do you copy? Obviously you do. We got Jack and he’s fine, he just lost his footing. Keep moving higher, the way we came is fucked, and the water is rising fast. We have another route we're gonna try. We got this, just get both of your easily drowned asses to higher ground. That’s an order.” Gizzy yelled over the sound of rushing tide. Vinn and Vicki pushed onward. Vicki began breathing heavily as the water got to her waist. Vinn picked her up and slung her on his back as he stomped on, finding stairs, and finally starting to notice they were outrunning the rising water, but just barely. The speed of the water level's rise got slower, but it still wasn't far behind them.
...
Gizzy and Nicole practically dragged Jack forward as the echo of some kind of siren faded into the room.
“Oh, thanks for the warning system!” Gizzy barked as the storm sirens filled the halls at a similar speed as the rising water. Finally, after what felt like hours of effort, they noticed dry floors that were covered in splotches of beige and red. If one squinted hard enough, they might even think that it looked like carpet.
They made it a few more floors up before slowing down to rest. Gizzy found a window and peered out. The tide had settled.
…
Vinn staggered to a stop on dry stone tiles and dropped to his knees, sending Vicki rolling to the ground as he plopped her off his back. The thump of his antler stubs on his helmet made Vicki aware that something had changed. She made it to a window and noticed that the water had stopped rising.
“Jack, are you guys okay?” She asked over the radio.
“We’re safe, you guys?”
“We’re okay. We’re stuck up here but we’re fine for now.”
“The tide will fall eventually, we’ll wait it out.” Gizzy said.
…
“You saved my life.” Vicki sighed.
“Yeah, I know. That’s what friends… do.” He huffed trying to play it cool as he almost died on the ground from exhaustion.
“You carried me. Vinn you can’t swim at all.” She sighed.
“You can’t swim at all in that heavy current, so you may as well not be able to at all. You’re not that heavy, which is both good for me and bad for you when you’re waist deep in current. Plus I’m Delmarian. I can hold my breath longer.”
“I hate people risking their life for me.”
“Ah, it’s fiiiiine.” He wheezed.
“You don’t seem fine. For someone who can hold their breath and fight current, you seem like you’re bluffing that you’re okay.”
“Phantom knee pain. I know I’m a brand new Vinn, but the old me had that bad knee and when I push myself, for some reason, it gets phantom pain. Makes no sense to feel something that’s not real, but it still hurts.” He nodded.
…
“Lost my damn helmet.” Jack huffed, looking ashamed and pissed.
“You were dragged underneath the surface of the water, the helmet isn’t that big of a deal.”
“Well it’s stupid, and also, those are military issued, we can’t 3d print those. I gotta find it.” He said, looking exhausted.
“I can look for it.” Nicole said stripping out of her suit.
“The hell are you doing?” Gizzy asked.
“I can’t move or see in these stupid armored space suits.”
“That suit protects you from the elements, if everyone was wearing their damn helmets when the water hit, we could have breathed underwater.
“They’re too buoyant, they’re meant for space, not water. I can breathe underwater. I can’t move in that suit.”
“Nicole you don’t know what kind of seamonsters are down there in the tide, or what kind of microbes are in that water.”
“Which one of us is the seamonster here, and which one of us is the captain?” She smirked.
“You just can’t resist the scary dark water, can you, you little psychopath?” Gizzy smirked, knowing she wouldn’t listen.
“Where’s the adventure in hiding from your own element?” She said, diving in and vanishing beneath the surface of the mildly red water.
“You’re not following her?” Jack asked.
“Jack, I’m not the captain of this crew, and sometimes she’s actually right. I can’t drown, because I don’t need oxygen, but I can’t see for shit down there, and I can’t swim that well.”
“You seemed pretty avid a moment ago.”
“Yeah, well, your ass was going down like Titanic Jack, and there was no big door. Do I look like Rose? Do I look like a bitch who lets their crew go?”
…
Nicole surfaced in a stairwell, stepping up with the helmet in hand, and into a small wooden room with no exit. The damaged and corroded wooden floor creaked as Nicole examined the room. She sat on a wooden box, opening it only to find moss and silt.
“I found the helmet. I just need a break before I come back. I’m in a safe spot.”
“I think we’re all resting for a while, just check in periodically.” Gizzy said.
“I don’t like us being separated like this. We’re cut off from Vinn and Vicki, and Nicole’s playing around in the water.”
“She’s right. We do treat her like she’s just a breakable human. Jack, do you remember the night you and Vinn almost got yourselves killed looking for her in that drain pipe back home?”
“Yeah. She was all alone.”
“She went into the dark and the water alone because she was compelled to, and she took on a monster and won. The same monster Vinn nearly died fighting, and the same one that you and Vicky nearly died fighting until she showed up. We’ve all fought the Kraken, Jack. She’s the only one who beat him twice, in his element. The water is where she belongs, and it’s where she’s the strongest. She came out here for adventure and you know Nicole runs TOWARDS fear for some reason. Let her have her world. There may not be many watery worlds we encounter where she has control. She feels helpless and babied by us. Everyone protects Nicole because she’s important, but she’s also better protected when all alone than you might realize. Trust me Jack, She doesn’t need protecting as much as you think.”
…
The light dimmed as the blue sun began to set. Vinn and Vicki huddled with their lights and guns handy, but draped loosely. They were waiting out the night and just wishing it passed quickly on this world. Jack and Gizzy casually set up perimeters, militantly checking gear and cleaning their guns in shifts. Nicole stared at the sunset from the cracks in the wall, smiling as her heart fluttered and the lights lowered. Her eyes expanded, going as black as 8-balls as her nocturnal side felt awake. She breathed the soft breath of the cold air, watching as the temperature dropped to a chill. A smile cured on her face as she felt almost at home. Like the ancestors of her home world calling her to the black waters. She walked to the flooded stairs, turning with a spin and falling back into the water, closing her eyes and disappearing.