Castaway Planet

Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 153 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Unknown Island / Ruin/ Corridor out of Cavern Entrance

Galactic Standard Time / 0600

As they ran down the hallway, Olv’xic looked around. Something was wrong, something that he couldn’t explain. They had been running for over an hour now, and they still hadn’t seemed to make any progress. He couldn’t explain how he knew this, but he did. And he wanted to understand just why…. He looked at the wall and then he felt his heart sink. What he saw couldn’t be possible, but there it was. the proof that he was right, the proof that he didn’t want to see.

“[Oh by the Firstborne]!” Olv’xic whispered in anger. He just stopped and stared, shocked beyond words. Since he was at the back of the group, the others moved on never knowing he had stopped. When he realized that the others hadn’t seen him stop, he didn’t even react. All he did was sigh as he looked at the wall. Then he just turned around and activated a timer on his mask. He waited, knowing what he would see soon. Barely five minutes later he saw them coming towards him.

With a sigh, he activated his com system and prepared himself for having to deliver bad news. “[This is Oly’xic to command. Reporting that I stopped following you all a while ago. Waiting for reply].”

“[You did what!? Why]?!” Tar’lroia demanded with a hard tone.

“[Hey! If the kid did that then he had a reason]!” Ro’borlar barked.

Some part of Oly’xic felt a little bit happy that Ro’borlar had defended him. But then that feeling died when he thought about what Ro’borlar if he knew Oly’xic’s secret.

“[And I’ll go get him! Sit tight, whatever’s stopping you I’ll come and help]!”

Oly’xic felt himself smile for a second, then he shook his head. “[Thanks Ro’borlar. But don’t worry about getting me. I’m just right ahead of you after all].”

“[Wait, what]!?” Ken’tricx bellowed as the group reached Oly’xic.

All he did was wave as the others all slowed down and looked at him.

“[Wait, what? We have to be…… Olv’xic? How? What is this]?!” Je’ndra demanded as soon as she saw him.

Olv’xic only sighed as the others all looked at him. “[I stayed here, we’re caught in a trap! You were only gone less than five minutes]!”

As the others looked around in horror, Ken’tricx looked down. He punched the wall, revealing a small crater as he removed his gauntlet. “[I knew that this was too easy! Now what? How do we get out of here]?!

“[Good question. We’ve never even heard about this kind of trap. So ideas people]?” Je’ndra asked as she crossed her arms. “[Anything would do, form a

“[I’ve heard of this trap],” Ar’thor’s voice cut through the quiet. Everyone looked towards Ar’thor on Kon’gric’s back. “[A trap found during the first age. The installation was logged as a fallback shelter of a Frontline combat fort. They had to go around it. Scholars theorized that they could have beaten it by going too fast to detect. This was one of the First Ruins when we were just exploring Aether usage].”

“[So Aether Speed then? Not so bad then. You can use that Skill big guy]?” Tar’lroia asked as she looked at Kon’gric.

Everyone looked at Kon’gric who just nodded.

“[Of course. I need to be fast to protect those under my protection after all],” Kon’gric said stiffly.

Olv’xic kept quiet but he looked at Kon’gric. Something about how he said that bothered him, but why he couldn’t quite understand. But then he had felt strange about some of the newcomers to the squad. He hadn’t felt anything about Kon’gric, but was that true now? Was this thing he couldn’t understand important? Or should he keep quiet and ignore it? Something told him that whatever it was, he couldn’t ignore it. It was against everything that he had done before, but his gut was telling him that this was too important.

“[Good catch kid, but how did you know]?” Ro’borlar asked and Olv’xic pointed at the wall. Everyone saw he was pointing at two iron spikes set into the wall, and then they looked at him.

“[When we rested here about half an hour ago? I slammed a spike into the wall to look at my weapon. I have a few of them so I left them here. Once I saw them, I knew,” Olv’xic said softly as he looked around.

He didn’t want to say that his spike was part of an early warning system he was setting up. He had to have a few tricks if he had to run from the team. He learned that one must always have a backup plan if one wants to live.

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Je’ndra kept quiet as she looked at the spike. She knew that that thing was, and she didn’t want to tell him she knew. But if he wanted to leave a few traps in case monsters attacked them, so be it. “[Smart. Everyone keep calm and remember, we will survive].”

As she watched the others get back into formation, she saw a private message from Tar’lroia. Activating the link, she sighed. “[I know that spike wasn’t just to check his weapon Tar’lroia. But leave it alone, please].”

“[Leave it!? Je’ndra, that wasn’t just any kind of trap! The total power behind those]!” Tar’lroia said with an aghast tone. “[There was a reason they stopped making those! The way the explosive device could go off if hit wrong. And where did he get it]!?”

“[I know. But we have bigger gremblors to kill. We’ll talk to the kid soon, but please? Just drop it for now],” Je’ndra said with a hard tone. “[But make sure the kid is behind me before and you’re behind the prince. He’s our protection target, okay]?”

As Tar’lroia dropped the link on her end, Je’ndra sighed. She watched as Je’ndra started to get everyone to move. She knew her friend was right, too many things about the kid didn’t add up. And she just knew that when she had the rest of the picture, she wouldn’t like it. As soon as the others were ready she sent some aether to her leg muscles and started to run.

Within moments of starting, a shield of aether formed around her like a comet. As the comets of the group merged, she felt that she was speeding up. The strange way that Skills like this merged and multiple themselves, it made her wonder.

The priests would talk about blessings, the scientists would talk about the laws of the world. But to her, this was a gift from nature itself.

As they ran, she looked ahead and at the wall. After they were running for five minutes she never saw the spikes that Olv’xic had driven behind. She had to hope that they were safe and out of the trap, but she had to wonder. Just what else would this place throw at them? The fact that this Ruin was built by a society of Firstborns that they had never found before bothered her. Just what did this say about how hard the beings who made this place fought?

Finally, after another five minutes, she saw something in the distance. With every step, she saw the wall they were running towards. “[Everyone, stop using your skill, now]!”

As soon as everyone started to slow down, the comet aura died down. As soon as it did, Je’ndra saw their goal and smiled. Within five hundred feet was a large wall that rose beyond sight. Set in it was a large black steel double doors, and there was a strange symbol on it. Part of it was burnt off, and that caused her heart to slow down. The one thing most Ruins had was that the artwork was left alone by everything but time. If the battles here were so bad that the very art was targeted, then who knows what was within the doors?

“[Everyone, we’ve made it. We were caught in one trap our people only encountered once before, so look alive! If anyone sees anything, call out. Kon’gric can you move with your shield up]?” Je’ndra asked and sighed as he nodded. “[Good. Keep it up for as long as you can. Protect our prince]!”

As the group started to move, everyone stayed quiet, their senses and eyes ready for anything.

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Ken’tricx smirked under his mask as the group moved. He clenched his weapon, ready for anything. Busting bots from the Ruins was his favorite pastime! But he had to admit, that the way that trap caught him was a problem. Normally, the only traps they encountered were crushing walls or hidden robots. With drones leading the way, team members rarely died nowadays. But he had become a Raider during the times before the drones. Where only their equipment, knowledge, and senses kept them alive.

And everything his instants were telling him one thing. They were walking into someplace very dangerous, the worst Ruin he had ever seen. The Bot that had attacked them outside of the Ruin already told him that, but there was something else here. He couldn’t explain, but there was something here.

Finally, they made it to one hundred feet from the door and the corridor suddenly widened. Instead of only fifty feet wide, it had bulged out to a hundred feet from side to side. And to his horror, there were holes here and there all over the floor. There was enough space between the holes that the group could walk, and the holes were all ten feet wide. Something about them bothered him.

Looking around, he went still as he saw the remains of something near the hole closest to them. “[HOLD]!”

As everyone stopped they looked at him, but Ken’tricx only stared at the holes. The more he looked at them, the more they were familiar.

“[What is it Ken’tricx]?!” Je’ndra barked.

But Ken’tricx willed his mask’s sensors to look around, and slowly he understood what he was seeing. But that was impossible, it didn’t make sense! After another moment he sighed and looked at the group. “[Anyone have any sensor orbs? Kid]?”

“[Yeah but why…. Oh stars],” Olv’xic whispered in horror.

Ken’tricx looked at him and saw what he was looking at. He thought the kid was smart. “[Hand it over, everyone else, move back].”

As the others tried to find what was wrong, Olv’xic slowly held a hand out to Ken’tricx. A small foot-wide silver sphere appeared and took flight. With a slow movement that everyone watched, the silver drone flew towards the hole. As soon as it passed over, the sphere sent a blue searchlight over the hole.

For a moment, Ken’tricx hoped what he feared was gone. This might have happened so long ago, that the creatures would be dead by now. But if he was right, if this was what he thought it was!

A screech from the hole heralded something large shooting out of the hole. Something swallowed the sphere before it exploded! Green blood splattered all over as the body of the mouth that ate the sphere crashed down before them. It was a large beast, at least five feet wide and tall. But to his horror, it was at least twenty feet long. It was covered in brown chitin and had tens of sharp legs. For a moment, all they could do was stare before more screams came from the other holes.

From the closet one hole another chitin-covered creature shot up. This one was whole and it looked at them all. The head had two mandibles that curved forward and were sharp. Behind them were mouth coverings that opened upwards and revealed sharp needle-like teeth. Above them were two large multifaceted crimson eyes.

For a moment, all was quiet. The beast only looked at them and Ken’tricx hoped that it would go away. But it screeched and from the mouth came a glob of a black liquid.

“[Scatter]!” Ken’tricx bellowed as he aimed and fired. He ran to the left as the liquid hit where he had been. To his shock and horror, the liquid started to eat into the floor. For a second he was shocked at how it was doing it, then he understood. That acid must be how this thing made the hole it came out of. His rifle fired and the bolt bounced off the monster’s shell. “[STARS! Augment and keep fighting]!”

As more five centipede-like creatures shot up from some of the holes, Ken’tricx knew that this would be hard. But as he fed aether into his rifle, all he could do was hope. Hope that they will be able to handle this, hope that they will live.

As the others started to fire, all Ken’tricx knew was that this would be a nightmare to handle! As his shot hit and drilled a hole through the eyes, the centipedes fell. But then another two came out of the holes alongside the dead one. One started to savage the corpse as the other looked at the group and shot a glob of black acid. As the other centipedes all started to fire, Ken’tricx kept dodging and firing.

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As he willed his shield gauntlets to work, Kon’gric could only look at the monsters and scowl. He always hated these kinds of creatures, and for good reason. The damage insect-like monsters did to his homeworld! And the threats monsters and normal swarms posed to others. The thing about insects was that they were mindless monsters. He didn’t understand the science of how these things sent commands to their bodies. He didn’t need to. All he needed to know was that you needed to be lucky to kill them. Or if destroyed most of their bodies.

“[How are going to get by them]!? Alexander asked with a note of fear in his voice.

For a moment all Kon’gric could think of was this might be his chance. If he ran into the nests, both had and his Prince would die. They would die but his family would live. And then he felt the same of that very thought. He didn’t know what to do.

“[Boss, there’s a pattern here]!” Olv’xic called out with a note of shock in his voice. “[I think that the holes along that wall are empty! But if not where did these….. ones eating the dead one]!”

At this, Kon’gric looked and saw what Olv’xic had found. There, the corpse of the dead one that had lost its head. Another smaller centipede was eating the corpse. But what shocked Kon’gric was that the smaller one was sticking out. Its body was in a hole that had an empty hole between it and the corpse!

“[Do you have another drone to check each hole]!? Je’ndra demanded.

“[NO! But I have the tools to modify one of my two remaining Searchers! Give me five mixtures at most]!” Olv’xic reported and the noise of blasts dimmed as he moved to behind Kon’gric.

Looking at him and the Prince, Olv’xic nodded before a copy of the Drone he sent into the hive appeared. Two copies of the sphere he had given Ken’tricx appeared and he put them down. His right glove started to glow red and he touched the Searcher’s wing. As the underside of the wing came apart, Olv’xic went to work.

Kon’gric stared in shock as in moments Olv’xic had wired the sphere to the wing! Moments later sphere shined the blue searchlight down and he nodded. The Searcher suddenly hovered and moved to allow Olv’xic to work on the other wing. In a total of four minutes, Olv’xic had wired in both spheres and sent the Searcher up into the air, climbing upwards.

One of the centipedes saw the drone and screeched. It shot a glob of the black acid upwards but it missed and fell back onto its eye. As its eye started to burn and smoke, it screeched and started to thrash around. It hit one of the others that had been and then that one screeched and attacked the thrasher. As the two started to fight each other, Kon’gric stared in shock.

“[They eat their own! That must be how they’ve survived down here! They must have other foods but they eat their own]!” Kon’gric bellowed over the open coms.

“[Yeah, I can see that! The holes at the left edge, their free of anything but remains for a single row! The drone is moving along the side by the door, and there’s a shelter there]!” Olv’xic

“[What kind of shelter]?!” Jen’dra snarled.

Kon’gric listened and felt his heart clench as he looked around, seeing the area with a new eye. Suddenly this place was all too familiar.

“[Some kind of raised barrier, twenty feet tall! And holes only go up until forty feet of the barrier! I think the way to get the doors open is behind it….. yes! The other side is free of those things. It’s just like on the other side, one free row between the living and the wall]!”

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Jen’dra looked at the centipedes and tried to think of a plan. There was only one way that this could go and part of her kept trying to find a way out. But there it was, time to take a risk.

“[Got a plan boss lady]?” Tar’lroia asked with anger in her voice.

“[One, but its danger close]!” Jen’dra admitted as she fired at another of the monsters.

“[The best plans! So what’s the play]!” Ro’borlar said as he laughed over the coms.

“[Everyone we’re splitting up! Olv’xic, lead Kon’gric to the right! You two keep from firing at all unless you have to. The rest of us will be on the distraction team on the left! Ken’tricx, go loud]!”

“[STARS YES! Face my augment boom]!” Ken’tricx bellowed before he fired a bolt at one of the centipedes in the second row. This bolt when it hit released a loud sound blast that her mask blocked. But the centipedes were all stunned.

As five more of the monsters came out from behind that row, Jen'dra smirked. She knew was this was going to be very loud and messy before it was over. But part of her relished the coming battle. This was where she was best at, fighting and killing!

She watched as Olv’xic led the way to the right, and she hoped that her plan would work.