Destiny Among the Stars - Scifi - LitRPG - Adventure

"Nature is a mutable cloud which is always and never the same."
— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The trek south toward the second portal was a sweaty, miserable slog through alien hell.

Every step was a fight. The uneven terrain shifted beneath their boots, with loose rocks that crumbled into acidic dust, hidden crevices that belched toxic steam, and patches of that spongy fungal carpet that felt like walking on rotten flesh. Luca's armor kept the atmosphere from dissolving him, but it couldn't stop the constant strain of navigating hostile ground.

"Fuck," Emily gasped as her foot slipped on a patch of dissolving stone. "This place is trying to kill us with every step."

Luca grabbed her arm, hauling her up as the rock face crumbled where she'd been standing. A hiss of released gas made them both stumble backward, their suit sensors screaming warnings about toxic exposure.

"Watch the vents," he said, breathing hard inside his helmet. "This whole area's unstable."

His multitool hummed constantly as they climbed, cataloguing every twisted plant and fungal growth they encountered despite the brutal conditions. The biological diversity was incredible, but scanning while navigating this toxic obstacle course was like trying to take notes during an earthquake.

"Hold up," Luca said, stopping beside a cluster of mineral formations that caught his eye. The crystalline structures jutted from the ground like geometric flowers, their faceted surfaces reflecting the alien light in prismatic patterns. "Chris, you there?"

"Copy, Luca. What've you got?"

"Mineral formation about fifteen hundred meters south of the first portal." He was breathing hard, sweat stinging his eyes inside the helmet. "Looks like some kind of crystalline growth. It's definitely worth a scan when Ryan's free. My tool's not equipped for detailed mineral analysis."

"Noted. I'll have Ryan prioritize it after they finish with the liquid samples."

Emily stepped carefully around the crystals, trying not to slip on the spongy purple fungal mat that carpeted this section of the landscape. The bioluminescent growth pulsed gently under their weight, creating ripples of light that spread outward with each step.

"This stuff feels weird," she said, bouncing slightly on the springy surface before catching herself against Luca's shoulder. "Like walking on a fucking mattress that's alive."

A thermal vent opened up twenty meters to their left with a hiss, spewing superheated gas into the toxic air. They both flinched, moving away from the sudden heat signature.

"Jesus," Luca muttered, training his multitool on the fungal carpet beneath their feet while keeping one eye on the unstable ground around them. The scan took longer than usual, the tool working to analyze the complex organic matrix while he tried not to fall into a gas vent.

[Flora Scan Complete]
Species: Unknown (Centauri Native)
Classification: Fungoid Network
Cell Structure: Interconnected mycelial matrix with specialized photosynthetic chambers
Photosynthetic Analysis: 23% efficiency, adapted for low-light bioluminescent spectrum
Genetic Sequencing: Logged
Risk-Category: Safe
Mineral Content: Trace phosphorus uptake, concentrated calcium deposits in fruiting nodes
Coordinates: Logged
Notes: Spongy texture from gas-filled cellular chambers. Bioluminescent response triggered by pressure. Forms continuous carpet across 200+ meter radius. Possible collective organism.

"It's not just fungus," Luca said, wiping condensation from his visor as he read the analysis. "It's a network. Like one giant organism spread across this whole area."

"That's... kind of creepy," Emily said, looking down at the pulsing light beneath her feet while trying to keep her balance on the uneven surface. "We're walking on something alive."

Another gas vent erupted nearby, making them both jump and scramble for more stable footing.

"Everything here is alive, Em." He watched the light patterns ripple away from their position while navigating around a patch of crumbling stone. "Actually, look at this! It's responding to our presence. See how the bioluminescence follows our movement?"

Emily took a few careful steps, watching the waves of purple light spread from her footfalls while avoiding a steaming crevice. "Like it's tracking us."

"Or communicating." Luca continued scanning as they climbed, sweat dripping inside his helmet, his multitool adding species after species to their biological database despite the hostile conditions.

At least the science part is working, he thought, watching another scan complete successfully.

"Getting good data?" she asked over their private comm.

"Better than I expected." Luca paused to scan a particularly large fungal cluster that pulsed with bioluminescent patterns. "These organisms are fascinating. The adaptation level is off the charts."

"Fascinating enough to be worth almost dying for?"

"Ask me when we're back on the Triumph." He grinned despite himself. "Though I've got to admit, this beats sitting in a lab analyzing data."

The landscape around them continued its alien light show, the synchronized pulsing of the fungal forest creating waves of color that rippled across their field of vision. Beautiful and probably deadly. Just like everything else on Midnight Veil.

"Contact from base," Emily said, pressing her comm. "Go ahead, Chris."

"You're about five hundred meters from the second portal site," Chris's voice came through clearly. "Energy readings are similar to the first one."

"Copy that. Any sign of activity from the survey team?"

"Danny and Ryan are making good progress. They've scanned about half their target sites. Zoe's keeping watch while they work."

Good. They were making progress, despite the lack of samples. Luca continued scanning as they walked, his multitool adding species after species to their biological database. Each scan brought them closer to completing their survey objectives, even if they hadn't found a portal they could actually tackle.

"There," Emily pointed ahead.

The second portal shimmered in the distance, another cosmic anomaly hanging in the toxic air. As they approached, Luca could see the dimensional gateway pulsing with a steadier rhythm than the first portal.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Looks more woobly," Emily observed.

"Let's hope it's more our speed too." Luca raised his hand toward the portal, accessing the System information.

[System Message: Operation Site]
Scenario: Research Expedition
Gateway: Unstable
Recommended Level: 72
Maximum Level: 84
Mission Objective: Explore abandoned research facility and recover critical data before hostile forces arrive.
[End of Message]

"Level 72," Emily read over his shoulder. "Same as the last one."

"This is like Sol all over again," Luca muttered, wiping sweat from his visor. "Every planet's going to have different entry levels and level caps."

He looked at the portal's swirling energies, frustration building in his chest. The mission description was intriguing: a research facility, critical data, and hostile forces. It sounded like the kind of operation that could provide both loot and information. But they were still sitting at level 67, just shy of what they needed. But it was unstable, which meant it would go critical soon, then snuff out, to be replaced by another portal elsewhere.

"We'll mark it for later," Luca decided. "Get the coordinates logged."

Emily nodded, pulling out her communication pad to send the portal data back to base. "Chris, this is Emily. Second portal catalogued, coordinates uploading now. Level 72 minimum, research facility scenario."

Static crackled through her comm, fragmenting Chris's response. "Storm..." he said, as interference built into the radio signal. "Coming in faster than expected... return to base."

"Shit," Emily muttered, trying to type a message on her pad while the interference worsened. "Weather's moving in."

They turned to head back toward the Centurion, but Luca froze.

"Oh my god, Em."

"What?" she asked, still focused on typing her message to Chris.

"It's a purple people eater."

"What?" Emily looked up from her pad, following Luca's gaze.

"Oh, wait..." Luca said, his joke landing flat. "It's larger... way larger than it looked!"

The creature that slid out of the crack in the ground was enormous for a slug. What had initially looked like a modest alien gastropod was actually about six feet tall and stretching several yards in length. Its semi-transparent purple skin pulsed with bioluminescent lights that shifted across its bulk. Thick mucus dripped from its form in glistening streams that hissed when they hit the toxic ground.

"First indigenous fauna we've seen," Luca whispered, raising his multitool carefully. "And it's actually kind of cute in a slimy, disgusting way."

Emily started moving toward it, plasma blaster lowered. "It doesn't look dangerous. Maybe we can... gross!" She stopped as more mucus oozed from the creature.

Luca's multitool completed its scan just as something erupted from the shadows.

[Lifeform Scan Complete]
Species: Unknown (Centauri Native) Catalogued as "Caustic Slug"
Classification: Hybrid
Cell Structure: Eukaryotic with mineral-crystalline matrix
Genetic Sequencing: Logged
Age: Adult

Gender: Asexual
Behavior: Passive
Dimensions: 2m height / 12m length / ~3,880kg
Risk-Category: Harmless
Edibility (Human): Lethal
Caloric Density: High
Useful Compounds: Crystallizing mucus secretions, bioluminescent minerals
Coordinates: Logged
Notes: Mucus trail hardens into glass-like ridges, no visible sensory organs, appears to reshape terrain through digestive processes.
[Field Catalogue Integration Complete: New Species Detected: "Midnight Veil Caustic Slug" catalogued.]

"Guess we won't be eating that."

"Gross, Luca, so gross."

A creature that looked like someone had crossed the circular mouth of a lamprey, full of teeth, burst from behind the crystals, like a giant anaconda. Its body was covered in flat armored plates that cracked open as it moved, venting toxic gas with each strike.

What the hell is that? Luca thought, instinctively raising his multitool even as his brain screamed at him to run. The thing's mouth was full of concentric rings of crystal teeth that ground together with a sound like nails on glass amplified through a megaphone. He quickly lowered his helmet's environmental audio filters, but the grinding still made his teeth ache.

"Holy shit!" Emily backpedaled, raising her blaster but struggling to track the serpentine creature as it writhed toward the slug.

The lamprey-thing snapped up the purple slug in one fluid motion, those crystal rings churning with wet crunching sounds that his suit mercifully muffled. But even through the reduced audio, Luca could hear the sizzle of acid hitting rock, the crack of crystalline formations shifting.

Scan it?

Something else came scuttling out of nowhere. A motherfucker that looked like a nightmare centipede, one of those that screamed deadly poison. Thousands of feet of joints that folded like scissor-blades, each one dripping with acidic fluid that hissed when it hit the ground. Spikes protruded out of its body, each long enough to impale Luca if it decided to slither its way over. The sound it made was like bacon frying, but more wet and chemical.

"We need to go," Luca said, backing toward a cluster of crystals for cover. "Right fucking now."

Cover, find cover!

The newcomer pounced on the crystal lamprey, its scissor-joints slicing through those hexagonal plates with metallic shrieks that cut through his audio dampeners. Emily lined up a shot but hesitated; the creatures were large, too large, and were moving too fast, too chaotic to get a clean target.

"What do I shoot?" she called out, blaster tracking back and forth.

Good question. Both of them? Neither?

As the blade-creature fed, you could see the prey's lightning-bolt patterns flickering inside its transparent belly like trapped electricity. But the sound that came from overhead made them both look up, a whistle, getting louder, like something massive cutting through the fog.

Oh shit, oh shit, what now?

The ground beneath the feeding millepede? shifted, and what Luca had thought was just another boulder started to unfold. A creature bigger than their fucking Centurion, and it was covered in rocky bumps that had made it look like part of the landscape. The rock-mimic opened a mouth that could swallow a person whole.

But as it started to chomp down on the millepede from hell, something impossibly long and sharp descended from the fog above. A stalk, almost like a massive lance, punched straight through the rock-creature's back as the ground around them shook.

"What the fuck—" Luca started, grabbing Emily's arm and pulling her behind a crystal formation.

"How did we not see these from orbit?" Emily whispered as they gawked.

In one smooth motion, the lance lifted the entire hill-sized predator clean out of the ground. Rocks cascaded down off its back, and toxic fumes erupted from the disturbed earth with violent hissing, and chunks of crystalline debris scattered everywhere, ringing like broken bells as they hit the ground.

"Cloud cover..." Luca replied.

The sounds that came from overhead were indescribable. Crunching that echoed through his helmet despite the dampeners. Grinding that sounded like machinery chewing through metal. Things that suggested whatever was up there was eating the rock-mimic like it was a snack.

We are so fucked.

"RUN!" Emily screamed.

They turned to sprint back toward the Centurion, but stopped dead. Where the rock-mimic had been sitting was now a steaming crater of toxic sludge, bubbling and hissing as acidic fluids leaked from the disturbed earth. The direct path back to base was completely blocked.

"Fuck! Not that way!" Luca yelled, grabbing Emily's arm and pulling her toward a cluster of jagged rocks.

They scrambled over the uneven terrain, but every step was a struggle. The rocks were slick with some kind of acidic slime that made their boots slip and slide. Thick, rope-like vines hung from the fungal structures above, dripping corrosive fluid that sizzled against their armor.

Luca tried to push through a curtain of hanging vines, but they clung to him like wet tentacles. "They're stuck to me!" he gasped, wrestling with the sticky organic cables that wrapped around her arms and legs.

Emily drew her plasma blade, slicing through the vines that were trying to entangle them both. Each cut released more acidic sap that splattered across their visors, making it even harder to see.

Behind them, more sounds of movement echoed through the toxic air, clicking, grinding, and the ominous crack of rocks shifting as hidden predators emerged from their camouflaged positions.

"This way!" Emily pointed toward a gap between two large fungal growths, but as they pushed through, more slime coated everything. Their boots squelched with each step, threatening to pull them down into the muck.

A thermal vent erupted right beside them, forcing them to veer left into an even denser tangle of vines and crystalline formations. Luca's shoulder scraped against a sharp crystal outcropping, the impact sending him stumbling into Emily.

"Careful!" he said, steadying her as they both fought through another mass of clinging vegetation.

The sounds behind them were getting closer. Whatever predators they'd disturbed were definitely mobile, and the difficult terrain that was slowing them down probably wasn't affecting the local wildlife nearly as much.

"There!" Emily spotted a clearer path between two steaming pools. "We can get around the crater that way!"