I can’t be certain, but I’m pretty sure something is amiss. The Ceph with the tentacle mustache has been by three times with more water-gels, and normally, the other two arrive with every second trip. Will they come back, or is this it? No, it can’t be. After the gesture incident, they appeared to be...normal? All I know for sure is that it’s too hard to read them; if they weren’t coming back, I doubt any of them would be back at all. Still, I have to do something, anything, to try and get their attention. I glance at Gary while pacing. He’s recovering physically, but his mental state seems even worse. We’ve used a number of the water gels to clean his wounds, but that likely won’t help all that much. I realize that I’m pretty thirsty myself and grab two from one of the crates; leaning forward makes me realize I’m a bit unsteady, so I drop to a knee. I lean my head back and bite the top and with a crunch, a flood of clean tasting fresh water fills my mouth; the rest of the once hard object begins to soften, giving off the faintest smell of fish, and my head gently spins, causing me to look back towards the ground.
A couple deep breaths and I’m good to go. I get up and take the other gel over to Gary; he looks rough. Lips are drying out, face and skin paling, eyes sunken and red with the short tail of a tear under his left eye.
“Hey Gary, how you doin’, mate?” No response. “How are his hands?” I ask those around him. Some ignore, others shrug but one speaks up.
“He’s going to need some antibiotics pretty soon.” The young woman answers.
“You a doctor?” I ask.
“Was a paramedic back on Zexxis. Carolyn.” She held out her hand. As I crouched, I noticed her eyes looked somewhat dull.
“Kevin; botanist.” I took her hand and gave a quick, firm shake; her grip was light, as if this was nothing more than habit. “When was the last time he had water?”
“I don’t know, probably sometime before he was injured.” She responded.
So about a day then, if sleep cycles were to be trusted. It was hard to keep track of time in this place, where the dim bluish light and temperature never seemed to change.
“Gary, you look a little thirsty, you need a drink?” I held the gel up to his mouth but he didn’t react. I frowned. “Carolyn, is there a...non-traumatic way to get some water in him?” I ask.
“I tried earlier, he just coughed it out. If we had medical supplies I could keep him hydrated, but right now I think the more immediate concern is his wounds...Which I can’t do anything about.”
I gave her a sympathetic look, knowing that she meant Gary would probably die of infection before he died of dehydration. I handed her the gel and gave her a nod. She looked at me as I stood from my crouch and she spoke again. “Hey, I...I don’t know what to do. I tried, right? That’s what matters.” Her eyes started to redden, before she furrowed her brow and looked away as though some thought interrupted her.
“I’ll figure something out.” I said, walking towards the flooded tunnel.
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“What is this?” Halfblue asked, floating around the strange object.
“I named it ‘drysuit.’ It is a containment sheath that allows us to maneuver on dry land. It is not quick or efficient, but it is enough.” I respond.
“Toroid is a talented builder, and has been of significant assistance when attending to the bipeds.” Threedots adds unprompted.
“I understand. Please educate.” Halfblue instructed.
“Halfblue will be using the primary drysuit.” Threedots added. “We will likely need another primary made for Shimmer.” I turned to her for confirmation, which she flashed briefly. I flashed compliance, before slowly floating more to the side of Halfblue, maneuvering my tentacles into a large circle around myself, filling most of the perceptual area of one of Halfblues eyes.
I dimly flashed attention before Halfblue flashed acceptance. I focus inwards, preparing the patterns and colors I need to convey for the appropriate knowledge to transfer, and then begin to release the information; slowly at first, but faster until I reach a point where Halfblues passive patterning slows. I maintain that rate for but a short time before there is nothing left to convey, and I relax my tentacles and control over my patterning.
“It seems you are also talented at education, Toroid. Your imagery was clear, if simple, and your language concise. Your patterning was fluid, and rate excellent. I was not overtaxed.”
I flash gratitude in response. “It is with great effort that I reach even that simple level of education; my own educator was far beyond my own capabilities.
“That may be, young builder, but your educator was an educator and you are not. To even approach the capability of another specialty not that of your own suggests you are an exceptional Ceph. I will note that I was also never very good at receiving, occasionally needing additional education to obtain what was missed; as such, I have no questions for you.”
I shade a deep blue for gratitude; I then monitor as Halfblue maneuvers into the drysuit, making sure no mistakes in equipping, configuring or usage occur. Should I notice any, it would be my mistake for not properly conveying the requisite information.
“Unconventional, but not difficult.” Halfblue remarks before Threedots situates herself within the secondary suit. “Perhaps you should investigate common devices for improvements, Toroid.”
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I flash acceptance, followed by gratitude. “I will add that suggestion to my queue, Halfblue.”
Halfblue and Threedots start slowly making their way to the bipeds, movement speed severely limited, even under water, by the confining suits.
I flash dim purple for simple assistance towards Shimmer, who responds with acceptance. We enter one of the smaller side-caves, and I grasp one of the crates that was filled earlier with fish and objects found near land while Shimmer does the same. For efficiency, we bring the crates to Halfblue and Threedots, as they would otherwise be in the drysuits longer. Normally, they would be prepared much closer to the entrance to the dry cave, but giving Halfblue time to acclimate to the new knowledge seems prudent. If she considered this herself, she did not mention it.
Crates were placed on the fronts of the drysuits which were, in turn, adjusted to grip them for transport.
I followed Halfblue and Threedots to the entrance to make sure there were no issues during the transition to land, but Shimmer returned to the side cavern to look over the crates more carefully.
Since the last drysuit was likely in use by Curtsey in the cavern and there was no further pressing tasks, I headed off to the geneforge to work on more drysuits. While the primaries took longer to grow, the secondaries were much faster, so I decided to make several of them first.
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Mustache, or Stache for short, had no response to anything I’d done. I was preventing it from leaving by standing between it and the flooded passage, and Stache was simply slowly trying to go around me. I even tried both gestures and even tapping on the slightly slimy bag to no avail. I shuffled back and forth in front of Stache for what must have been several minutes before someone in one of the groups of huddled together people spoke up.
“Behind you.”
I turned quickly and saw the two Cephs that were just out of arms reach, presumably observing my interaction with the third; the slow, soft movements they made traversing in the suit really made them extremely stealthy, at least sound wise. I recognized Threedots, who was not in their usual more advanced suit. The other looked like it might have been injured or had some kind of problem, because roughly half of it was dappled with faint blue spots. I know that squid have those skin color things, but it looks like this one has half of their blue ones stuck or something. My tired, anxious brain forgot for a moment that I was rudely staring at the blue, just as Stache managed to finally get around to the side of me. I stepped out of its way, but stayed facing the other two.
They turned slightly, and then started heading to the sides like usual. I walked in front of the half blue Ceph, who stopped, then bent down and grabbed the crate and walked it over to where it would normally be placed. I did the same with the crate that Threedots had, and both of them moved towards each other, stopping as I approached. I looked over Threedots, but since it wasn’t in the more advanced suit, I assumed that they were lower rank or caste or whatever system these squid people used. Turning to and stepping in front of the half blue Ceph, I waited.
There was no observable response from either Ceph, so I tried the blue gesture. Still nothing. I frowned, took several steps back and did the gesture that seemed to agitate Donut; this time, the half blue Ceph rippled a small number of black lines across themselves, which looked a bit odd as the blue was still present. The two turned to each other slightly, probably communicating with brainwaves or radio- just as I caught my mind wandering again, Threedots flashed a brief wave of rainbow colors across its body, followed by a solid brown. I stepped forward towards it, but as I did, the half blue Ceph flashed white, then black then red. Well, half purple-ish, half red. I stepped over to it, and it held up a tentacle. It took me a moment, but I realized that this must be another gesture, so I did the same, mirroring the motion. A flicker of white rippled across the half blue Ceph.
I dropped my hand back down to my side, then crouched and drew a simplistic squid shape that resembled them in the sand at my feet. Looking back up at the two, there was no response. The two Ceph flashed rainbow colors at each other for a moment before both shifted brown and then back to normal.
“OF COURSE!” I half yelled; several people probably started and looked my direction, but that didn’t matter right now. “How did I not figure this out before? They probably talk with light and patterns or something similar.” I stood up maybe a bit too fast, causing my head to spin a bit.
I waved my hands in wide arcs in front of the half blue Ceph, and they responded in kind with two tentacles. I pointed at my eye, and the Ceph pointed on roughly the same location on their...front? Head? Whatever it was called, the only thing there was skin and not the eye. I took a moment to think, my pulse rate now elevated probably with anxiety and some small amount of excitement. I pointed at both my own eyes with both hands, then stepping to the side of the half blue Ceph and pointing directly into the middle of their right eye, then my own left eye, and repeating the same for their left. I then gestured by running my hands all over my arms, chest and stomach.
The lack of response channeled frustration and a small amount of anger; not towards them but rather, the situation. I paced back and forth a bit, not knowing how to explain to creatures that I can see their skin change colors… Changing my own skin color would probably work, but we had no dyes or paints or anything like that, and I’m sure that trying to get ink from them was a waste of time. Repeated slaps could make skin turn red, but would that be enough? I needed to find out before they made to leave.
I stepped back from them, not wanting to make an aggressive move that close to them, and held my left forearm down but turned toward them to be visible; palm up. I then proceeded to slap it as hard as I could a number of times, until I saw spots of dark blood form. Looking up at the Ceph, they were clearly alarmed, showing ripples of white and black, with both of them having several tentacles trembling. I panted from exertion; was I really this out of shape? I- I need to get back on task. Holding up my left arm to show the darkening skin, some small amount of blood forming droplets on the surface in spots. I waited a moment before cautiously moving over to the side of the half blue Ceph. I pointed at my own left eye, then my darkening left forearm and finally directly at the right eye on the half blue Ceph, who was still showing some white and black banding.
It didn’t look like they were paying attention, so I hid my slightly bloody arm behind me, stepped back and patiently waited. It took them a moment to realize nothing else was going to happen without some response from them, and their coloring returned to normal. I stared at Halfblue, waiting, and when it held up a tentacle, I took a cautious step forward; no response. I took another one and I was then right next to the both of them. I held up my dark arm now with a couple small streaks of blood crawling towards my palm before I pointed at my eye, then my arm, and then them. Seems like they still didn’t get it.
I stepped back and rubbed at my temples. I need to think about what I could do next, but my head felt cloudy or foggy or full of cobwebs; I should just get some sleep and try again the next time they come back. I turned to leave, only to see to my surprise that a number of others had approached. Was this interest, or hope? Or was everything about to go sideways very quickly?
“You said they talk in colors or something right?” A man I did not know asked, his face looking like he was concentrating.
“I think so, but I’m not entirely sure. Could be brainwaves or something.” I chuckled.
“Well, they wouldn’t get anything out of me then. Heh.”
I chuckled once more, this time along with several others, then sighed. My heart felt like it was pounding in my chest, but why? I looked back at the man, who was smirking like an idiot, and it pulled my thoughts from my racing heart.
“I don’t know if we will ever be able to bridge this gap…” I say quietly to the man. “I don’t want us to all die in here just because we can’t tell them we can’t live off of…” What are we eating again?
The dizziness returned, so I sat down; the Ceph, once more, had no response, unless being blurry was a response.
Everything went black.