Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 155 of 365. Sol standard year]

  Days after of Crash landing/ 4

  Uninhabited Island / Clearing of Escape Capsule # 405/ Unknown Structure/ Water Chamber

  Galactic Standard Time / After 1600

  Zevortro

  <>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

  Firing into the air again as one of the monsters attacked them, Zevortro could only glare upwards. “You want us!? Try it monster!”

  As soon as the lights had come on, the three of them had been blinded for a few moments. Once they had their sight back, Zevortro had looked around and been stunned. All to the right was water and more islands than he could count. But it was to the left that he had been shocked at. At most two hundred feet away was a large landmass that took up the horizon. On it was a large forest ten feet from the water, and that was where the problems started.

  On the tops of the trees were nests, and more of the strange bird-insects that Jessie had brought down before. After the lights had come on, flocks of the creatures had taken flight, and then bigger things had as well. The skies had been filled with the strangest creatures that he had ever seen, and that was saying something! Creatures with fur and insect wings, chitin-covered creatures with bat wings, and more! Most of them had started to fight each other, but then some had seen them. Within a single moment, the creatures had started to attack them.

  With no other choice, they fired and the dead fell into the sea. Terra had frozen the sea around them, anchoring it to the island as the three fought. But even after refreezing the water, some of the creatures had fallen into the sea. Already they had seen five Lurker tentacles come out of the water and grabbed the dead. It would only be a matter of time until the tentacle's source came onto land. And then they would be attacked from two sides.

  “WE HAVE TO GO!” Bryke bellowed as he fired at a creature his size with feathers, two wings, and two tails that dripped liquid. Bryke’s shot hit the creature in its head and blew it clean off.

  As the body fell, blood gushing out of the ruins of its head, Zevortro had to agree with his friend. There was nothing else that they could do. Trying to hold them here, was nothing but a dream! But they couldn’t go, they had to wait for Jessie to get back. That was the hardest thing they could do, but it was the right thing to do.

  “We wait! We go only when he gets back here!” Zevortro barked as he fired at the flocks above them. But as he saw the ice breakup, he knew that trying that was getting harder by the second. But what else could they do? They didn’t have any long-range comms, so the only thing they could do was wait. If they lost Jessie, they might as well go down fighting! Even if they made it up to the top chamber, Jessie was the only chance they had of getting over the hole.

  “I understand why, but it’s getting impossible! If those Lurker things join in! I don’t see how much longer we’ll even survive here!” Terra declared as she fired up and killed something again.

  Zevortro only gritted his teeth as he looked at the hole, and he hated to admit it but Terra was right. They had stayed as long as they could, and that was the worst. Once they went down there, there was no reason to think they would see Jessie again. And that meant leaving him to survive on his own. But if they stayed, everyone would die. There was nothing else to do, they had to leave!

  He looked at the hole and opened his mouth. But before he could say anything, something grabbed him around the waist. He looked down and saw a large black fur-covered tail that had to be a foot tall. As he tried to break free, whatever was holding him started to pull him into the air. Crying out in shock, he looked up and saw a large maw peering down at him as he was carried into the air.

  “NO! ZE!” Bryke bellowed.

  Zevortro looked down at his friend and saw him aiming up as something was coming towards him from behind. His eyes wide, he called out, hoping his friend would act. “BRYKE, BEHIND YOU! MOVE!”

  <>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

  Bryke

  <>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Bryke threw himself to the side as something hit the ground where he had been. He glared at a large strange-looking quadruped covered in blue fur as it bared its beak at him. Before he had the chance to comprehend what he was looking at, it was covered in ice. Nodding at Terra, Bryke looked up and saw the creature that had grabbed Zevortro.

  Aiming his pistol up, he prayed that he wouldn’t hit Zevortro. But before he fired, the thing holding him suddenly shot downward. Standing on the thing’s back was Jessie, firing at the thing’s head.

  As all three of them neared the ground, Jessie jumped before impact, still firing upwards.

  “ABOUT TIME! We were going to leave you here!” Terra exclaimed as she fired up.

  Jessie only looked at her and chuckled. “Sorry, I had a lizard problem! But how can we get out of here? I can’t go through these things with my trick!”

  “We don’t go up!” Bryke said as he pushed the dead thing off Zevortro. Zevortro looked up at his friend and then smirked a bit as he got up.

  “We go down there!” Zevortro said as he pointed at the hole.

  Jessie followed Zevortro’s arm for a moment before he fired at a fur-covered bird ten feet wide. “Good idea! I’m last, go!”

  “You heard him! Move!” Terra bellowed, firing at a Lurker that had gotten up onto ice before the creature’s weight caused a crack to form.

  Bryke looked at Zevortro who only glared back at him. “You first!”

  Zevortro opened his mouth and then he scowled as he started to climb down.

  Bryke looked up at the flocks above them and fired, hitting something that had insect wings and scowled.

  <>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

  Jessie

  <>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

  As he fired up, Jessie felt his nanites taking stock of everything, all to find weaknesses to use. There was so much to look over here, and as he kept fighting he was barely able to fire. Each one of these things was different from the others, but were they the many species?

  There were more secrets here than in his genetics, and that made him want to take them all apart himself! But as Bryke moved down the hole, Terra started to laugh.

  “What?!” JJessie asked, shock in his voice. What in the stars could Terra be laughing about now!? What about this was funny!?

  “Nothing, this is just like that time before we won!” Terra said, a note of joy in her voice.

  Jessie stopped firing for a second and then ’Air Dashed’ back a foot, dodging an attack. The thing that had lunged at him had fur, two legs, and insect wings along its worm-like body.

  “Yeah, I can see that. But the time for you to go!” Jessie barked as he looked around, taking stock of everything that was on the ground. Finding the cover, he nodded as he fired upwards. “Get down there! I’m right behind you!”

  “You better be!” Terra barked as she stopped firing to drop into the tunnel.

  Jessie looked around when he saw two Lurkers climb onto the remaining ice. For a moment he thought that they were going to attack him. But all they did was screech and a few of the flying things fell to the ground.

  With a small smirk, Jessie aimed upwards and started to fire. If those things could think he wasn’t an enemy for only a few seconds, then he would have a better chance to escape. For the next few moments, all the Lurkers did was screech at the flyers. When some fell near them, they ate the smaller things, throwing the others into the water. There other Lurkers would pull them down and the water would bubble. This was all that happened until they all heard a roar from the forest. Once the roar started to echo, all the flying things started to suddenly fight together. Thankfully, the Lurkers were the only targets and Jessie was ignored.

  Using that as a cover, Jessie ‘Air Dashed’ to the cover and then to the hole. Climbing down, he grabbed the cover as he was just deep enough. As he started to put it into place, he heard roars, screeches, and cries from above as he locked the cover into place. No sooner had he moved his hands away from the holes than the stinger slammed through the gap. He just climbed down farther, and he looked around and smirked a bit.

  <>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

  Bryke

  <>------------------------------------------------<>------------------------------------------------<>

  As he looked around the large forty-foot-wide room, Bryke just had to whistle as he took in everything. He had to admit, that this was beyond high tech! The walls had a few screens built into the walls, but there were few keypads. But if the builders of this place used Augmented Reality, then it could be just out of sight. But thankfully, the chamber’s lights were on. The color was a soft teal, and the machines were a startling red, just lighter than blood. The room was shaped like a square, with only one double door on the wall opposite the alcove was in. Thankfully, the doors were partly open, so they knew the way was safe to walk. If they had been stuck in a closed box, then he didn’t know what they would do.

  “What could this mean?” Zevortro asked from one of the computers, a scowl on his face.

  “What do you mean…… oh. Color theory? Yeah, I can see what you’re asking. But really, it could be anything. From the leader’s choice to something religious, it’ll take years of study to even know what question to ask!” Terra exclaimed as she stood near the ladders.

  Bryke understood what she was thinking, that roar. Even down here, it had echoed off the walls and almost made him pass out. As they had recovered, they were all worried that Jessie was dead.

  Zevortro coughed and looked “So we have one door, that I think we can force open. After that, we don’t have a choice but to find a way to the main part of this place. We need to go up, that has to be our goal.”

  Looking at Terra, he was about to say something when they heard the echo of boots on the ladder.

  With a smile growing on his face, Bryke watched with the others as Jessie climbed down. He looked up at the others and grinned. “What, were you all waiting for me?”

  “Yeah, man!” Zevortro said with a laugh as everyone gathered around him. He looked up the hole before continuing, a smirk forming on his face as he did. “After what we heard from up there, can you blame us? What happened up there?”

  “Seems the Lurkers, those things from the water? That attacked you all? They have this kind of screaming sound attack. Two showed up and started to kill the flying things. I thought maybe I could use them as cover, but then this louder roar came and all the flyers started to work together!”

  “Wait, what!?” Bryke exclaimed as he felt his eyes widen as Terra and Zevortro both paled in fear. The idea that those things could fight as one was a nightmare! They had only been able to survive up there because they were fighting each other as much as the humans!

  “Yeah, but they only attacked the Lurkers. I was able to close the cover behind us. There’s no way that anything can get down here now! So what do we have here?” Jessie asked as he looked around the chamber.

  “Eh. What you see is what you get. And what you don’t see,” Bryke muttered and Jessie nodded.

  “Yeah, hold on. Let’s see what my nanites can do,” Jessie said as he looked around, his eyes flashing green.

  Bryke blinked, and then he looked at Jessie, feeling shocked as he took in what Jessie didn’t say. He was changing the sequence of what his Augmented Reality nanites could see? That was possible? Everything that he knew told him it wasn’t, but it was? This changed everything, and as he watched Jessie he felt that their chances of surviving had gone up.