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 / 1615

Roy looked up at the ledge as he rocked the baby back and forth. Al and Racha had gone up there, and he was starting to get worried. He remembered how the cult leader had started to act, and what had come from it. But he was trapped down here, there was no way out! He had been lowered down with the baby, so to get out he would need someone’s help. But who’s?! Jinn was still missing, the other two girls were at the entrance and he was alone. If Racha and Al caught whatever had caused most of the people in his pod to go crazy…… he didn't know. But his time he wouldn’t go quietly, he would fight and take one of them with him!

Roy didn’t know what to expect from Racha, but Al was a friend from the ship. He, Jinn, and the others had been on his training schedule. Jinn helped the others train their hand-to-hand skills while Al did the same with the mind. Roy personally thought Al was almost as logical as a robot! But Racha, Roy didn’t know her. She was the unknown, the extra actor in this drama. If whatever had happened to the officer that made him go crazy had happened to her….

He couldn’t see Al helping her, but then that was the problem. As far as he had known, most of the people in the escape capsule were the same way before the cult leader spoke to them. If one person could brainwash people then another could as well. But did Racha have that ability like the cult leader? If she did, then Al would be happy to walk to his death because she said so, and kill Roy and the baby first. And if that was true, was Roy and the baby even safe down here?

He didn’t know, and if she did was she doing that to Al? From what he was hearing everything they were talking about blocking the tunnel. He didn’t know what was happening, but he wanted to believe he and the baby were safe.

He just hoped that Jinn made it back soon, he could help him get the baby out of here. If Roy could convince Jinn to lead Roy back to Jinn’s escape capsule, then they could warn everyone there!

“Jinn’s back and he brought dessert!” Sara’s call from the entrance caused Roy to look up, smiling as he saw Jinn, Sara and Paige walk into the cavern.

Roy looked at Jinn as he walked down the spiraling ledge and felt a sense of relief. Jinn was strong and smart, he wouldn’t be brainwashed!

“Jinn you’re alive! I thought I left you to die!” Roy called out and Jinn grinned down at Roy.

“It’ll take more than the little things that chased you down to kill me, Roy!” Jinn called out with a smirk.

Roy felt a spark of hope and felt the tension leave him. With Jinn here, things were looking up. Jinn was one of the most stable people Roy knew, and one of the strongest too! Back on the Spirit, Roy had seen Jinn handle thugs and beings who tried to abuse others. Each battle Jinn won, and each time he stood strong in his beliefs. Jinn would help him, Roy was sure of it!

But then he felt a spark of worry, could Jinn already be plotting to kill him? If Jinn wanted revenge on Roy, all he had to do was help Racha. And with the others having all the weapons, he was in a bad place. All he could do was rock the baby back and forth as he looked up at Jinn.

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Jinn looked at Roy from the corner of his eyes, worried about how he looked. He couldn’t explain but something about his friend was wrong. But Jinn was an old hand at the battle, Roy probably wasn’t. It was probably what one of Jinn’s old teachers called, ‘happy to be alive’ jitters. Yes, that was probably it. If Roy got worse, then Jinn would talk to him.

Gazing around the cavern, Jinn nodded. When he had fought here, he hadn’t had much time to look at where he was fighting. The chamber was tall and round, a single line of stones jolting out that led upwards to the exit. Beside the other way into the tunnels, this place was completely solid. If one could hold the entrances, this place could be the most defensible location he had ever seen. He absently thought to let Chief Duncan know about this once they made it back and to remember this place. He didn’t know what they would need it for, but if they did he would know where to go.

But as he let his eyes wander around, something bothered him. He had seen a lot of places created to be forts, and this place had most of the signs. Something about that caused him to feel strange. As he looked around, he tried to calm down but with each second the feeling grew stronger. Everything about this place made sense from a military perspective. With the proper work, this could be the perfect base. But everything looked too good, it was like something created this place.

For a few seconds, Jinn let his eyes rest on the smooth wall, the too-smooth wall. He moved his eyes upwards, looking at the tall and smooth walls. For a second he stood still, his eyes seeing space as he thought of something impossible.

“Good, you’re here! Come on over, we need to know what happened to that thing you fought,” Racha called out, snapping Jinn out of his thoughts.

Jinn nodded and handed over his bag to Sara who only looked at him as he shrugged.

“Sorry Sara, but you and Racha need to check all the fruit I picked. I mean one was safe but the soil might have turned these into poison,” Jinn said absently as he walked towards Racha and Al.

“Smart. Yeah, I can see the reason. Al, where’s the bio-sensor?” Paige called out.

Al looked at her before pointing at the lower level.

“It’s in the cave with my bag. Sorry, but I’ve gotta handle this!” Al said and Paige nodded.

Jinn walked to Racha and Al, looking over the boulders. Al was looking down at the ground before Racha, and Jinn saw the letters in the dirt. Reading the 'conversation', Jinn looked up and his eyes hardened before he nodded.

“So what’s the plan here?” Jinn called out loudly.

Paige and Sara looked up, seeing Jinn was looking down at the dust. Al gestured at Jinn’s bag before pointing at himself. Sara nodded and pulled Paige towards the rope down.

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Sara looked at Paige as they reached the rope and moved her face next to Paige’s ear. “Text comm in his bag, don’t tell Roy.”

Paige reared back, her eyes went to Racha and after a few seconds, Paige nodded. They were quiet as they repelled down the cliff face, and Roy met them when they hit the ground.

Roy looked from one of the two to the other, his eyes wide. “Is everything okay up there? Nothing out of the ordinary?”

Sara looked at him and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Paige try and lean away from him, not good. She hadn’t talked about any of Paige’s powers before they heard the creatures chasing Roy. She was starting to feel that she should have. If distance helped her separate what she sensed from people, the fact that she was doing that to Roy was bad. She had wondered why Racha and Al were acting like they did, but now she knew.

“Everything is fine Roy, just fine. We’ve got MREs ready to eat, and we just need to check something Jinn found. And I’ll need to give the baby a physical soon,” Sara said and tried to smile at Roy as he reared away from her.

“A physical, out here?!” Roy asked in shock and Paige nodded.

“Nothing beyond what we can do, make sure they're okay, see what else we have to do to make them stay that way,” Paige said in a soothing tone.

Roy licked his lips and looked from the top of the cliff to Sara, a weary look in his eyes.

Sara hated that she thought that she was seeing a crazed edge in Roy’s eyes. She knew that something was up, but she hated how she was starting to see the worst of Roy. In his own words, he had tried to protect the baby in his arms. Most other people would have stayed quiet, but he hadn’t.

“Okay, okay. I….. I want to watch okay,” Roy said and Sara nodded.

As far as Sara was concerned, that was something small. If he wanted to keep protecting the baby, more power to him. After everything that happened, it showed something good about him. “Sure. But later, before we eat. We just need to make sure we can eat what Jinn found first.”

Roy nodded and walked towards the stone ramp, humming a little tune under his breath.

Paige looked at Sara and pulled her towards the cave, a strange sense of urgency coming off her. Sara frowned, something beyond what she saw was wrong if Paige was acting like this.

Once the two made it into the cave, Paige looked out at Roy. Sara meanwhile moved to the bags, finding Al’s she pulled out the biosensor unit. Below it was a small handled device she pulled out. Looking down she sighed then cupped her hands around her mouth as she leaned out of the cave. “al, the machine under the biosensor, that’s the reader right?”

“yeah, that’s it! Just activate it then the sensor, that’s how it done!” Al called back and Sara nodded as she leaned back into the cave. Turning on the handled unit, she looked at the screen as text came over it.

‘Racha thinks that Roy was hit by a Power that made him either unhinged or paranoid. Could you Power help him?’

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Paige looked at Roy as she put down Jinn’s backpack. She hadn’t been able to sense it before, but there was something wrong with him. All the people she sensed before, they all had a sense of their emotions just being their own. But Roy’s, it was like looking through a transparent sheet changing what she sensed from him. This was so wrong, and she wasn’t surprised that she ran into this feeling again. This planet seemed to be doing its job to drive them mad or horrify them, and this was the same.

Sara nodded as she put one of the pods onto the sensor, looking at the handheld unit at the same time.

Paige moved closer, trying to make it less obvious that she was trying to look at the handheld unit. She had done a few things before she signed onto the Spirit and she knew what Sara had done. The machine in her hand was anything but a link to the biosensor, that Paige was sure of. It had to be a way for Al to contact them, that was the only thing that made sense.

She looked down at the screen out of the corner of her eyes and paled at what she saw there. If that was true, then this was a big problem. If Al was right, then they needed to get the baby away from Roy fast! If whatever was affecting him ‘triggered him’ then the baby would be the first to be affected!

She looked at Sara, her other sense showing her that Sara was radiating confidence. And that told Paige that Sara was sure they could do it. The problem was how were they going to do this without setting Roy off. They had to get the baby away first, and then they had to try and get Roy to stand still to let Sara use her Power. But how to do that?

That might not be as bad as she thought it would be. The medicine she brought had some tranquilizers, that could be the thing. If she used a sprayer, and a dose big enough to put him out fast…. This could work. It really could. She looked at Sara and wondered how to tell her the plan without Roy knowing, but maybe….. yes that could work.

“So the pods are okay to eat then? Even for the baby?” Paige asked calmly and Sara looked up. She saw the look in Paige’s eyes, and then Sara nodded. The biosensor blinked.

“Yeah, everything looks perfect. And I liked them the last time we had some. So how many more are there?” Sara asked and Paige grinned.

“Good. Say….. when we got out you remembered to get all the drugs right? Even the ones for Mr. Barig back at the escape capsule?” Paige asked and Sara looked at her sharply.

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Sara wondered why Paige brought him up. And back at the escape capsule? He hadn’t even been on the Spirit! Mr. Barig was a patient that the head medic had told them about one day during training! He was a patient from years ago, and he hadn’t needed medicine at all! He had to be….. Sara blinked and looked at Paige in understanding.

“Oh, Mr. Barig. Yeah, we’ve got even some of his medicine with us. It’s in my bag next to the stuff we’ll need to look over the baby! Yeah, I see just what we would need it for,” Sara said as she looked over at Roy and smiled. “We’re ready for the baby now Roy!”

Roy looked up and swallowed, walking over to the cave. Sara could see his eyes darting around as if he was waiting for an ambush. This only made her more convinced that what Al told them was true, something was wrong with Roy. All she could hope was that her ability would cleanse him.

As Roy came over Paige went to Sara’s bag and started to look through it.

“What do we have to do?” Roy asked as he held the baby close to his chest.

Sara smiled as Paige came over with a small blanket in her hands. As Sara reached her hands out Paige passed over the blanket and Sara felt something else in Paige’s hand. “First Roy, let’s set this up!”

As Sara spread the blanket Paige passed over a small medical sensor. Sara took it, put it next to the blanket, and held out her hands for the baby. Roy slowly passed over the baby and smiled down at it. Now that she was able to take her time and look at it, she saw that she had a small baby girl in her hands. “This little princess is gonna be fine. Now let’s see what I can find out about your little one.”

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Al stood up and moved one of the boulders into place. Thankfully, the work was easy to do and soon it would be ready. At first, Al had thought to put a sensor in the tunnel and leave a gap, but the more he thought about it the worse the idea was. If Roy had been hit by a Power, then that meant that the creature needed line of sight. And if that thing came down into the tunnel, that might give the game away as it’s said. No, the best thing to do was to seal the passage up tight. He could modify a sensor to only hear in a cone, with the proper setup, everything could be golden.

Now the only thing to do was wait and hope that Sara and Paige could handle Roy. He had to admit that part of him was a bit worried about them. He had seen a lot of data from recovered vile scientists. One of them ‘studied’ the mind, and that scum showed what could happen when people were turned into bombs. The best thing was for Roy to be cured, and then they could move along and hopefully make it to the Yard-ship soon.

“So anyway, I chased that thing until the tracks disappeared. And I mean disappeared. It was like someone just erased all the signs that it even passed through the forest!” Jinn said behind Al.

That was another thing, Jinn was telling Racha everything about his hunt, and Al hoped if Roy heard he would buy it.

“Concerning, and it was a living electric blasting artillery monster? This planet I swear to the void,” Racha said bitterly and Al felt for her.

“Yeah, and I saw it kill those lizard things before it barfed up that monster over there. And that was something to see,” Jinn said bitterly and Al felt a rush of fear. The kinds of creatures that could spawn like that, were the true monsters.

“I can’t believe this place still has so much life here. Any other place and that thing would have eaten everything! Plants, animals, and thinking beings! How in the void could that be true?” Racha said and Jinn snorted.

“I saw what I saw Racha, I can’t explain it either!” Jinn said and Al felt a small spark of something.

Stopping his work he turned and looked at the others, a frown on his face. Al looked down before sighing as he looked back up. “I did a debate about those things once. A friend argued that if one of them evolved a way to only reproduce when they ate a certain kind of matter. We all theorized that said creature might be part of a larger stable ecosystem. I guess we were right.”

Jinn looked at him, shaking his head. “That’s if that thing wasn’t able to plan Al. if it could, it might have not wanted to spawn. And if it could, could they? We’ll never know. And there’s something else. This place, it’s a perfect place to set up a base. I mean if the rock could hold back anything from tunneling in, and only two ways in. This place is perfect. If I didn’t know better, you’d think that something made it this way!”

Al went still, slowly he leaned out of the tunnel and looked at the wall. He hazed at the smooth stone wall and felt a chill go down his spine as he saw Jinn’s point.