Castaway Planet

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

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Clearing of Escape Capsule # 405

Galactic Standard Time / 700

“Batteries ready and charged, if the guns run out we can change them in seconds,” Al said as he put the batteries and put them into his pack.

As the group started to get ready outside the capsule, Jinn looked around and nodded. “Good, good. So, you, me, and Sara will have our old load out, but what about you?”

Racha looked up at him and held up a pack, grinning as she looked at him. “Readied last night. And I grabbed another viewfinder!”

Jinn looked at her and tried to keep calm. She knew how to do this it seemed, but then the stories said the operatives of the Service were good. Still, something about her was rubbing him the wrong way, but then that might be because of how he was raised. And he hated that he still let those lies control him so much!

“So ready to go? With the four of us, we’ll need to be moving fast and stay away from the flowers!” Al said with a smirk aimed at Sara who blushed as she looked away.

“Well, about that…..” Racha began before a voice from behind called out.

“I’m going too! So what’s in my pack?” Paige asked as she walked towards them and smiled at Racha.

“Five of a kind, great! Sara has her pistol and what’ll you take little lady?” Al asked with a grin that grew as Paige grabbed a riffle. Al smiled as Paige looked at the underside. Along all their riffles under the barrel was a jury-rigged casing with a single large glass emitter. Paige looked up and Al smirked as she looked at him. “Like it, modded them last night myself. We go into the dark or when night falls, we’ve got lights! Good for about twenty feet!”

“Good, here’s another med kit! Anything else we might need?” Sara asked as she looked into Paige’s pack.

“Rope, I’ll carry the rope!” Paige said as she turned and went to grab a few yards of rope.

Jinn looked at Racha who nodded and he shook his head. If Paige was being brought along by choice from Racha, then there was a chance she was Services too. But she had stayed behind, wouldn’t they have wanted eyes on the mission he had led? Still, Racha said she could handle it and that was enough for now.

A few moments later, Duncan came over and looked at the five-member team. “You five are the only team we’ll be sending out. The rest of us will work on making this place easier to defend. But if you can’t make contact in a week, I’ll have to call you all as dead and hope they fix the beacon. So get back as soon as you can,” Duncan finished in a growl and the others all nodded.

“We’ll be back as soon as we can Chief, that’s a promise. Stay safe,” Jinn said as he held out a hand. Duncan took it and moments later Jinn led the way up the crater wall.

“So I was thinking, we found a river, right? And these two found one too. With the way it was turning, I’d think it was the same,” Al said as they reached the top and looked towards when he, Sara, and Jinn had gone yesterday.

“Right, and they went that way, the ship is that way but with what they found…… the best idea would be to go to the south for a while before turning east,” Jinn said as he pointed in the opposite direction he had led the team yesterday.

“Think we might find a way down that way?” Racha asked and Jinn nodded as he started to walk, the others following him.

“Well, that and I want to stay away from those insect things we ran into. And the creature that attack us went that way,” Jinn said as he pointed to the west, the same direction the paralyzer creature had used to escape.

With a nod to the others, Jinn turned and walked into the forest. As the others followed him, Sara and Al looked around at the trees, hoping that they wouldn’t see the same flowers that had almost taken them.

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For the ten minutes they moved the forest Paige looked all over, not seeing or sensing anything that might threaten them. All she could sense were worries from Al and Sara, and a void from both Racha and Jinn. Jinn was very controlled, he had always been like that.

And she didn’t mind admitting to herself that he and Racha scared her a little. Jinn was strong, a good fighter and he knew things, things most people didn’t. And the way he took charge, he was used to leading others, being in command. That, and now Racha was holding back her emotions just like he was, and that was something. And together that could only mean one thing. He was a Service operator too, most likely Racha’s boss.

Two service operators, one a leader and the other a subordinate. For Service operators to be on board, that meant something was wrong with the ship. She could think of no other reason they would have been on the Spirit. The cruise seemed to be completely normal, but it was also her first. She thought about everything that had happened on board and couldn’t think of anything that would have needed help.

However before she could think of anything else she heard a buzzing coming closer from behind, and as she was the rearguard that scared her. She slowly looked over her shoulder and saw a single green flying worm coming towards them.

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Jinn looked ahead of him and hoped that this would be easier than yesterday, but something told him it wouldn’t.

“WORM BEHIND US!”

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Jinn turned and pulled out one of his pistols as he turned. “DOWN!”

At his bellow, Al and Sara both went to the forest floor as Racha moved to the side. Jinn had a clear line of sight as Paige went down, the green worm raising its tail to target her moments after he shot it. The energy bolt hit and destroyed the worm’s lower half and it flew drunkenly for a few feet before it fell to the ground.

“Green?! There are green ones now!?” Al asked as he got back to his feet.

“We saw red ones yesterday,” Racha admitted and Sara looked at her and shook his head.

“What does this mean? Is the color like different hives or something else? Is the color a result of something they eat?” Sara muttered as Al looked at the flying worm's corpse.

“wait…..” Al said softly as he looked around in a hurry. “When you saw the red worms, were there five?”

As Racha nodded she slowly looked around. “Yeah, five of them.”

“So two data points, two groups of five. Why was there only one here?” Al asked softly as Jinn realized what he meant.

Jinn leaned back and a small spike flew by his face, missing him by an inch. He turned towards where it had come from and saw a green worm flying towards him. “AMBUSH!”

As soon as Jinn cried out two more of the green worms flew down from above them, firing spikes from their mouths at Sara and Paige. They moved to the side and Racha fired her rifle twice, killing them as Jinn killed the one that fired at him.

Paige drew her rifle and looked around, trying to find the last one. Finally, she saw something trying to fly away and she fire one shot and killed the last one. As it fell into the forest, a vine reached up and pulled it into the forest.

Suddenly a screech came from around them and Jinn went still. Looking around at the forest he saw vines shoot up into the air from their left as screeches came from near them. Jinn looked at the vines as they shot into the air, cursing as he drew his blade with his free hand.“RUN!”

As one the group ran from the vines, Paige was pulled by Racha as Sara and Al acted as the rearguards. From their left vines tried to grab them but they were able to stay ahead of them. A savage roar from behind them caused Jinn to look over his shoulder to the left and curse.

“HOW LONG DO WE RUN!?” Paige demanded and Jinn looked forward.

“As long as those things will reach for us!!” Jinn bellowed back as he moved to the side and fired his pistol at the reaching vines.

As they were blown in two.

The screeches increased in volume, prompting the party to run faster. Jinn activated his nanite, hoping they would see anything he missed. A moment after he saw movement to the right and swung his blade, slicing off the tip of another vine that came at them.

“From the right, watch out!” Al called out as he saw Jinn’s actions. At his words, ten more vines shot at them from the right.

Paige felt one wrap around her arm, pulling her to the right and off her feet, her rifle falling from her hands. She tried to struggle to her feet and the vine started to squeeze, Paige felt pain and tried to grab her rifle for a moment before it loosened. She felt someone grab her and pull her up. Looking up she saw Racha with her pistol in her other hand firing into the forest.

“Come on, keep moving!” Racha scowled at her and Paige nodded and kept running.

“My rifle!” Paige said.

“I got it!” Sara called.

Ahead of them, Jinn kept watch, hoping for anything that might help them when ten more vines suddenly came at them from their left ahead. “GO TO THE RIGHT!”

As they ran, the vines started to slowly drop in number before they reached a clearing. Paige grinned as the vines suddenly stopped coming at them and she breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh no,” Sara whispered in horror

Paige looked up and saw the clearing they had run into. It was large, maybe 10 meters wide and she felt it looked like a good place to rest. The most beautiful sight was what was at the far end, a grove of trees, and the one closest to them had a large red flower pointing right at them. It was beautiful with petals a good five feet long and wide around a head with green vines all around it.

“Oh by the circuit, one of those?! They were herding us man, they wanted us here!” Al said with a historic edge to his voice.

“What do you mean!?” Racha demanded and Sara took a deep breath.

“Those vines, they attacked us yesterday when we burned a smaller flower that same shade. That much be the source or something else,” Al whispered and Paige felt a spark of horror as she realized what she had just heard.

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Racha moved closer to Jinn as she looked around the clearing, seeing high bushes with large spikes on them. “This is a killing field. And we have only one way out of here without going through those trees.”

“Yeah, and I don’t see another way to go,” Jinn muttered and looked around. He grabbed a rock and threw it back where they had come.

No soon than the rock traveling around twenty feet did a vine shoot out from the forest and grab it. As they watched the rock was turned into dust in moments and the vine retreated out of sight.

“So we can’t go back. The only way is forward,” Sara said bitterly and Racha looked around and grabbed a stray branch.

“Let’s not go there yet, I want to check the sides. Paige go look at the right side and the spikes, I’ll check the left and the leaves,” Racha said and the others nodded.

“Good idea, I’ll watch the flower. Sara, Al, watch our back,” Jinn suggested and Al smirked at him as Sarra nodded

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Paige walked slowly towards the bushes, all her senses on watch. She couldn’t understand it, but this place was as quiet as the grave to her. Once at the bushes, she looked at them closely, hoping to find anything that could help. From what she saw they had purple leaves and blackthorns, each one a good half-inch long, and the bushes themselves were a good four feet tall. And to make matters worse there were a lot of them, each one in an unbroken line.

She moved her hand closer to one of the leaves before stopping an inch away from it and looking around, trying to find anything to use. After a few moments, she picked up a small branch and sighed. Looking at the bush she moved it alongside the thorn before moving it across it. She stopped and brought up the stick to her eyes, wincing as she saw the gorge cut through it.

She looked around before grabbing a stone from the ground she looked at the bushes, her eyes locked on the thorns.

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Racha looked at the bushes on her side and tried and failed to find any way to get through them. She tried to think of anything to do, but the bushes looked like something she had seen somewhere before. She tried to poke the leaves with the stick she had, but she couldn’t move them at all. She pushed but no matter how hard she tried, nothing happened and the leaves stayed where they were. She frowned and shook her head; the bushes were so tight together that she saw no way to even think about going through them.

Maybe they could climb over them, but something kept her from trying for a few seconds. Shaking her head in disgust, she cursed the spark of cowardice she just experienced. She reached out her right hand and tried to get above the bush. But then she heard the sounds of the vines and moved backwards moments before a vine reached for her hand! She lunged backwards but the vine stopped before it passed over half of the bush.

So that way was out, but why did the vines stop? Was it something about the bushes, was it giving off something that kept them back? She didn't know why but she felt worried about something. She looked at the bush, and looking closer at it she saw a strange liquid on the leaves. She looked at the leaves and then down at her stick and nodded.

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Jinn watched as the two women moved towards the different sides of the clearing out of the corner of his eyes. So far he didn’t see anything that might let them get away, and this place was a killing field.

His old training took hold of his mind then, and he looked around as his old instants took hold. He saw how perfect this place was, and if he was right then they were in terrible danger.

“We still safe back there?” Jinn called out to Al and Sara who nodded. Jinn looked at Racha and then Paige who both were looking at something in their hands. He sighed and nodded. “Everyone gather up, let's share what we found out!”

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Racha looked at Paige, wondering why she was nodding. She didn’t understand it, but Paige was acting differently. But as she walked towards the others, Racha thought about what she found and if Paige found something as well.

“We can’t go over the bushes,” Racha said bluntly as the team gathered. She looked at them and shook her head. “The vines tried to grab me when I tried to reach over one of them. And I thought I saw something on the leaves, used this stick to check. Soooooo………..See for yourself.”

Racha held up the stick, showing that one end was wet and releasing smoke.

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Al blinked as he looked at the smoke, the nanites in his eyes activating. He quickly discovered that the smoke was a result of the liquid (Oil or acid) eating away at the top cells of the branch. Even with how slow that was happening, before too long their boots would be eaten away. And he couldn’t figure out what it would do to their flesh.

“And there’s another problem,” Paige spoke up.

Al ignored her, all his focus was on the smoke, something about it was bothering him. The smoke was from the leaves, it must be a defensive adaption. But why were they where they were?

“And that is?” Jinn asked absently as turned towards Paige.

Paige only brought up the stick and stone she had picked up, turning them to show two gorges in lines across them.

“The thorns are that strong!?” Racha asked and even Jinn was shocked at the idea.

Al looked down at the ground, his mind on the puzzle he had thought up. So far, from what he had seen and heard; most of the clearings were all round. But this one, it was a rectangle leading towards a larger flower that they thought was above the main plant. That made this place a natural kill zone, but something was bothering him.

“And there have to be vines on the other end too! We have to go through the trees!” Racha said with a hard stare on her face.

Al looked around, his nanites noting that both lines of the bushes were near perfect. The only way for them to be perfect was with machines, but this was just like……! Al stiffened as he thought of something, looking around his mouth dropped open as his thoughts crystallized, suddenly seeing the truth.

He looked around, his eyes widened as he saw what they had missed before. Everything made sense, but how this was possible on a…… He went still as the worst-case scenario went through his mind. If he was right then they were all heading into the blackhole at terminal velocity.

“If that flower is above the main mass, then let’s take it out before we go near it,” Racha said as she aimed her pistol.

Al looked up and paled in fear as he realized what she was doing. “NOOOOO!”

Racha turned as Al lunged for her weapon, grabbing it a moment after she fired.

The bolt she fired tunneled into the earth where she estimated the main mass of the plant. She turned to look at Al, who stared with horror and fear in his eyes back at her. As she opened her mouth to demand he tell her what was wrong, the ground started to shake. As the ground calmed, the three trees started to fall as a cloud of dust formed around when they had been.

A large grey stout creature with green rashes on its skin was revealed out of the settled dust. It had four limbs that ended in half-circle paws with stubby claws. Its head was wide and it had two pure black eyes that seemed to suck in all light. On its back were ten vines that waved in the air as it looked at them and opened its mouth, revealing white spiky teeth.

The group could only stare in shock and horror.

For Sara, this creature was unlike anything she had ever heard of. The vines on its back looked like they were growing from the creature, but was that possible?

For Racha, this was just another creature that needed to be put down, just like all the others she had fought.

For Paige, she looked at it in total shock as only now was she able to sense it. All she felt from it was hunger as it woke up from a deep sleep.

Al looked at it in awe and wonder. He had seen creatures that were symbiotic with plant lifeforms but this took it to another level. How had this thing evolved, what secrets did it hold?

Jinn just saw a threat, something else that was against them. But he knew that the others might have different thoughts, and he had to snap them out of any spirals they had gone down!

“Stay strong, just get ready!” Jinn said softly as he slowly moved his hand towards his blade.

For a moment it just looked at them. before it screeched and jumped towards them!