Castaway Planet

Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Underground tunnel/ Circle Cavern

Galactic Standard Time / 1500

Jinn looked down at the insect bear as it started to carry rocks to build a bridge. The sight of something displaying inelegance would normally be a shock, but this planet. But what kept his eyes locked on was not the creature, but its egg. Jinn had seen a lot of strange and terrible things over his lifetime, but this was something else. Whenever he had heard of species that reproduced like this, they were horror stories. Such things were existential threats. They were things that would become threats to all life on any world.

There was the story he had heard on a smuggler's ship in FTL once, about a world the spacer knew about. He said it had been a world in the Frontier, one of those being terraformed for a ‘cult’. But someone had cut corners and called in a ‘special order’ to speed up the process, an additive. The problem was it was banned, it caused….. mutations most of the time. The management group never learned about it, they thought everything was fine. But when they sent a group to build the main colony, the workers woke up something up. The spacer spoke about how he heard the control station recorded the workers being eaten. and the drones sent to investigate saw the monster escape underground. It was so bad that the colony was scrapped and the entire planet was bombed to the bedrock. The spacer said that, the station still there, broadcasting a stay away to live to this day.

But if that insect bear was like those things, then it had to die. The very idea of one of those things being able to plan almost gave him a heart attack, but only just. There were a few things that were wrong with this, the creature’s actions. All those things were unthinking monsters, they just kept coming and used swarm tactics to kill. This thing, it didn’t act like them, it could think and it could plan……..

Jinn looked at the text to his right, so far the counter was dropping fast. All Jinn could do was wait, once he had his power back, he could kill the insect bear. At first, he thought to try that big blast again, just kill it but then he remembered the numbers the nanites gave him. That feeling he felt, was a lot smaller but it was growing all the same. whatever he had done, the nanites had a term, Forced Learning. And the drain and the way he was feeling told him it wasn’t a good thing. So he would use his aura and the lowest skill the ‘Bolt to fight this crea….to fight this monster.

A strange sound caused him to look down, and his eyes widened in shock. A large leg pierced the fleshy egg and as he watched, the spawn was born. Unlike its ‘parent’, this one was different. It had a large head, more like a canine than a bear if Jinn saw it right. It was covered in a black goo, and as he kept watch the creature shook itself, the goo flying away.

The body of the spawn was a wolf-like quadruped. It had a body of black chitin, and now wings. The four legs had looked to be strong and built for speed, and they looked strong. The spawn opened its mouth down the middle, and Jinn could see spikes in its mouth.

The sounds of something falling caused Jinn and the creatures to look towards the rocks. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then one of the stones moved, clicking against the others. Jinn’s breath caught in his throat, the others were trying to get through to help him. All Jinn could do was hope that they didn’t rush into a trap!

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Paige looked at the dust from the stone Al moved and coughed as she tried to fan it away with her hand. So far, Al had moved only a single stone, but the dust was like it had been twenty of them! She didn’t have much experience with this kind of work, but something felt wrong. She couldn’t explain it, but there it was. But then she sensed a bolt of anger next to her and turned her head, seeing Racha’s reddening face through the dusk

“ARE YOU CRAZY!? I thought you would do this safely!” Racha snarled at Al as he moved back, a hand over his mouth and noise. He turned and smiled at them, a strange look in his eyes.

“That was the safe option,” Al said as he stepped back and looked over the stones.

“How was that the safe option!?” Racha demanded and Al shrugged.

“The rocks might be partially holding up this part of the tunnel. I think when I bring down the last stone. Yeah. we’ll have maybe a half an hour until it comes down and blocks the tunnel again,” Al said as he moved toward another one of the rocks. He grabbed it and slowly pulled it out, the other stones moving slightly before dust came down from above. “And I doubt that there’s another way to Jinn, so we have to go through here.”

Paige felt Racha’s shock and winced, knowing that this wasn’t going to be good.

“You should have told us! If something like this is that deadly we have to know!” Racha snarled and Al just shrugged and looked at the stones.

“There wasn’t anything else we could do, I just kept quiet to move this along. We do need to help Jinn after all,” Al said as Racha just looked at him.

Paige felt Racha’s anger and winced. But then Racha’s emotions died and she just glared at Al.

“I know we do, but remember there’s a baby behind us! We need to keep them safe!” Racha snarled.

Al looked at her, then up at the ceiling, and shrugged. “Only everybody maybe five feet close to the rocks would experience the dust. The others were in no danger at all.”

“And you never told us that!?” Racha demanded and Al just shrugged.

“You never asked,” Al said as he got back to work.

Paige just looked at them, shaking her head as she felt Al’s total ignorance and Racha’s budding fury. This was one of the times she hated her abilities, how people couldn’t understand each other. She went still as she looked beyond Al at the rocks, sensing something just past them. She felt the ‘taste’ of Jinn, but he felt horror beyond anything she had ever sensed from him.

“We need to move, we need to get in there now!” Paige exclaimed.

Racha looked at her, her mouth open slightly but Paige kept talking.

“Jinn is scared, almost beyond reason,” Paige whispered and she felt the others fear in turn.

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Farther back Roy looked at the cloud of dust as it settled, a scared look in his eyes as he hugged the baby. When he saw the dust, he was worried that something had broken through the rocks. When the others didn’t scream in terror before dying Roy relaxed a little, but only just. He was almost ready to run the other way, only Sara’s presence kept him from running away.

“How do you think they are? Are they trying to get through the rocks?” Roy asked softly as he looked back where they had come. He didn’t want to abandon the others, but he had someone to protect.

“I think yeah, they are. If I know Al, he’s probably almost through. I hope Jinn’s okay,” Sara said and Roy looked at her as he felt shame.

The very idea of leaving Jinn after everything that man had done for him made him feel like a little worm. No matter how he tried to justify it, that was what he would be doing if he ran. To even think about running away and letting his friend die without helping him? What had he become?

“Yeah, me too,” Roy said softly and looked back towards the dust as it settled.

As the baby started to whimper, Roy cooed at it and started to rock it back and forth. As the baby giggled he smiled and shook his head, a smile on his face. No matter what happened, he would see this little wonder alive and safe at the cost of his own life. That was what was important now, protecting the baby in his hands. He had run and argued against what that mad fool had called his ‘rightful leader’ and he would die before this one.

And he wouldn’t dishonor himself. If he could save Jinn he would, if not then that was how it would be.

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Back within the chamber, Jinn could only watch. Another minute and his powers would be back, but was it in time? As he watched the insect bear push another rock into place, its spawn ran past it and moved over the small bridge. Jinn gritted his teeth and stood up, ready to fight. He didn’t see anything that might be eyes on the spawn, but it had to see somehow. All he could do was hope he could strike as soon as it saw him.

As the spawn ran towards the boulders it stopped and seemed to be sniffing something. It moved towards the edge of the ledge, and then it stopped. Jinn looked right at it as the second on the timer died, only less than thirty seconds. As the spawn looked at him it opened its mouth and screeched.

That was the signal, everything happened at once.

As the insect bear looked around and roared, Jinn was already moving. As the numbers hit zero, a message appeared in Jinn’s right vision.

Abilities reactivated. Note; due to force learning, Aether Cannon and Aether Bolt are offline, Aether Comet and Aether Dart are online. Unlock Aether Cannon and Aether Bolt by mastering Aether Dart and Aether Bolt respectively.

Jinn read the words in an instant and reacted as the spawn ran at him and the insect bear turned to look at him.

“Aether Comet!” Jinn barked moments before he felt the spark of energy pulse around him.

As the spawn reached him Jinn was already airborne, having jumped over the spawn. As he looked at the bridge the insect bear was standing on he aimed his pistol and barked another command.

“Aether Dart!” Jinn barked and he felt energy gather in front of his pistol’s barrel. As soon as he pressed the trigger, a bolt of energy covered by a coating of blue energy shot out! It shot through the air in an instant and hit the boulders the insect bear had used and in moments they had crumbled.

As soon as Jinn landed on the ledge he turned and dashed back towards the spawn. It had turned and was running at him, its mouth open. However before they reached biting range, Jinn jumped over it. As he passed over it he slashed down with his blade, severing the creature’s front right leg.

Moments later a bolt of electricity hit the spawn. Jinn thought for a second that the insect bear was killing it but he was wrong. As he watched the energy coulees around the wound Jinn had made. Moments later a spark of lightning shouted from the wound and bound the leg back in place. Jinn watched as the spawn kicked out with its healed leg before it roared again.

Jinn kept moving backwards, firing his pistol again and again at the spawn. In response, the spawn opened its mouth revealing a round hole at the split. From where he was, Jinn could see revolving teeth within and that made him worry about how it could eat. As he jumped backwards he spared a glance at the insect bear. It had gone back to get another boulder to replace the one Jinn had destroyed another sign of sentience.

As he was falling backwards he aimed his pistol and fired again, this time scoring hits around the creature’s back spikes. So he was able to wound the base, if not the spines themselves, something to think about. As he landed a screech from the spawn caused him to snarl at it. with a thought, he turned and ran at the spawn. In reply the spawn screeched again, its mouth opened wide. Jinn jumped over it again, this time towards the blocked passage. As he landed he looked at the bridge and fired again, this time destroying all the boulders with quick shots.

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The creature felt its anger rise as it saw what the big little one had done. This was beyond anything it had experienced before. This fly was moving around, stinging it and always keeping ahead of its wraith. But no matter what it did, in the end it would win. It felt the seeing sphere regenerate within it. Trying to create another one had worked, something it had never discovered before! With this and how it had reasoned out another trick, it was stronger than it had ever been. And it was all because of the big little one, and the fact it had created a spawn!

It almost wanted the big little one to run away, just so it could hunt and use it to train. But it had a feeling that this one was too strong to let go. If it grew stronger, then that one would too. And it had already destroyed its seeing sphere, and it couldn’t let the chance it had another trick. No, the best thing to do was kill the big little one. And of course, anything it could take from that meal was just a lucky coincidence.

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Al smiled as he moved another rock. So far, everything had gone right. the old project of his classmate had proven useful. He had been ahead of his time, a set of nanites to deal with cave collapses, genius! Now all he had to do was move maybe three more, and they were through. But instead of moving towards the last one, he looked at the others.

Paige was looking beyond him with her eyes closed. She had her head down, and something about that bothered him. Ever since she said that Jinn was scared, she had been quiet. Al was worried too, he had seen Jinn fight a lot since they crashed here. he had never, ever shown fear. He had fought the spider and the vine beast like it was a barroom brawl or a cage fight, he hadn’t even blinked. If whatever had blocked off the tunnel was something that scared him, then it was a monster beyond belief.

And every minute that they let him stand alone was one minute too long as far as Al was concerned!

Racha had brought out her rifle and was looking it over, adjusting it, and making sure it was in fighting shape. So far Racha had only sent a look at him, not saying anything more. She had even tried to help but Al had said no, this was something that he had to do. Another reason to get to the yard ship, once there he could make something to create more nanite strains. He had a lot of designs in his Library that could help them survive here, and the tech to make it possible. And if he had to think about it, that might have been one of the true reasons for the attack. Before he could spiral into a mental black hole, he shook his head.

This wasn’t the time, that was for later tonight. Now he had to deal with what was ahead of them, and nothing else. So stepping forward he looked at the two women as he whistled to get their attention.

“Once I’ve gone ahead with the next three, we’re there. We might be jumping into the supernova, but we can’t turn away. We have to be ready, so are you?” Al asked as he looked from Paige to Racha.

Paige and Racha looked at each other before Racha nodded at her. “I’m ready, I only sense one other mind in there besides Jinn. And he’s not feeling the terror anymore, maybe he killed whatever caused it.”

“Or Jinn is dealing with it. You never felt the Vine Beast, did you?” Al asked and Paige nodded, he just sighed and shook his head. “Then if something like that thing is in there, you wouldn’t know.”

Al had thought about how that was possible for Paige to have not felt anything. Jinn had said it could think, and he wouldn’t say something to worry them. And if that thing could think, it was good they had escaped from tis den. But Jinn was stuck in this thing’s den. They had to help him, turn the tide and kill this thing so the group could live.

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“That’s the truth,” Racha said as she closed up her rifle and started to put her tools away. Since they had met the Vine-Beast, Racha had thought about it. She had seen a lot, but this plant was beyond reason. The only answer she had come to was the ‘mind’ in control of that thing was too small for Paige to sense. And that called down the meteors, but they could deal with it later. ”But we need to deal with this, nothing else. I’ve got experience with breaching chambers, you two fine with following my orders?”

“You say jump, I say how high Operator. I just want to keep my friend alive,” Al said as he turned around and went back to work.

“Same here Racha! So what’s your orders?” Paige asked and Racha sighed.

The fact that they were willing to follow her orders might be the difference between life and death. All they needed to do now was hopefully survive what was to come.

“Thank you both. Then I’ll take point then. I’ll go first and clear the right. Al looks to the left and Paige, you stay back. Your job is to look forward. If any of you see anything you yell contact and fire at it. Don’t let anything or anyone in there get the first blow, we need it. Anything Jinn is fighting, we kill,” Racha said as she shouldered her rifle and took a step forward.