02-13-2018, 12:03 PM
IGN: BuzzAldrin
Genre: Written for "Dark," but it seems to fit "Lore" about as well.
Word Count in Microsoft Word: 997
Finding a large enough clearing in Alpha 38-914’s dense forests to rendezvous with my craft had been nearly as challenging as my quest there. As I climbed the ladder, my head turned, planning to survey Alpha for the last time. Nothing remained for me here. I’d defeated the forest guardians. As expected, I’d located their orb. During my time on the world, I’d even secured the crystals I’d need to activate it. With no conceivable reason to stay, I pondered why my gut was telling me there was something more.
A night owl burst from a tree, catching an overgrown rat almost before I had reflexively raised my weapon. I’d been here long enough neither of these threatened me, but any activity in this place was a cause for concern. A realization overcame me. The physiology of neither species was right for their level of aggression. I’d killed enough of both to know that the rats, while clearly quite carnivorous, had the teeth of an herbivore. The talons on their claws where almost comically oversized. The night owls were their own worst enemies. I’d seen more dead from accidental wounds during preening than I’d killed myself during my mission here, as if the creatures were still adapting to their razor-sharp beaks. These were recent, almost haphazard, adaptations. This forest had been considerably more peaceful a few centuries ago.
Securing my weapon in its holster, I climbed the remaining rungs towards the portal into my craft and paused again. Reason told me not to look back. I was through here. Still, I found myself making one final survey of the valley below. Dusk was slipping towards twilight and Alpha’s already ominous forest grew more menacing as it fell into shadow. A glint from the far side of the valley caught my eye. Whatever it was, it was metallic and had no place on this forsaken world.
Then, I could count three places in the universe less appealing to me upon which to spend another night. (I count more now, and one of the worlds I then counted was actually rather nice except for the presence of an ex I was desperate to avoid.) Still, sleep there I did. I was confident I’d cleared all the Forest Guardians in this valley, and motion sensors would wake should that belief proved ill-founded.
I rose early and began my trek. The experience I’d gained here left me with little to worry about; the local fauna was far too viscous to hunt in packs. Four hours later, I’d reached the foothills across the valley. Finding a promontory sufficiently above the trees for a quick survey took longer than I’d hoped, but I’d done well keeping to a relatively straight path through the thick wood and arrived closer to the metallic object than I had expected. Approaching it revealed more detail. What had reflected the sun last night was the upper portion of a stabilizing fin on a spacecraft of some sort. Utterly utilitarian in design, the vessel had no discernable markings on the modest fraction of its hull not covered by creeping vines.
Something resembling an embarkation ramp was extended and the hatch remained open. Alpha’s ecosystem had spread inside to the point that thick debris made much of the interior inaccessible, but upper floors were relatively clear. Hundreds of genetic modification pods lined the walls. Most were shattered and whatever contents they once held had decayed beyond recognition, but the oxygen-free environment of those few which had remained intact preserved the specimens surprisingly well. Three held creatures resembling dark spiders, but without the species famed armor-piercing fangs. The single tube holding a nightowl held a creature one might picture catching mice.
After three wretched days exploring the craft, examining the electronic logs and my Discord unit’s imperfect translations, it became clear what had happened here. This world had once been an idyllic forest world, quite suitable for colonization in fact. Something had genetically modified its inhabitants into the rabid predators haunting these forests today. The Forest Guardians had once been peaceful. Their lives extending through many millennia, they preserved the equilibrium of the forest. It was hard for me not to imagine them as gentle and wise, an image virtually incompatible with the savage giants I had battled only days previously. I took some comfort in piecing together that some modified entlings had escaped and eviscerated this ship’s crew, whoever they were.
---
I usually found peace during interstellar transit. The barely perceptible motion of nearby stars against distant constellations, the hum of life support, days with nothing more urgent than finishing books on history and philosophy while sipping fine wine. A palpable gloom hung over this trip. It was more than the perfectly justified dread of what I would face on Beta 10-3238e. I’d never set foot there myself, but I’d heard more than enough stories. I somehow knew I was ready for the world, but I didn’t know if I was ready for what I might find there. Though I’d pieced together what occurred on Alpha, I couldn’t discern who or why. The only clue I had was a storage room. Though of the supplies had deteriorated beyond recognition, several environment suits were recognizable. Whatever creatures once dawned these were decidedly not humanoid. But, shards of something glasslike had pierced several of them. Examining it, I found not glass but ever-ice – centuries old but still bitterly cold to the touch. A search through my ships database confirmed what I already knew. Ever-ice had only been found once, when the body of the famed Ray Lynn, the madman who sought the legendary Ice Elementals rumored to inhabit the upper crags in Beta’s Desolation Mountains, was recovered in a glacier four centuries after his disappearance. I pocketed six shards, the smallest of which could easily finance my next major spacecraft upgrade. I was unsure whether answers awaited me on Beta, or only questions more disturbing than those now haunting my sleep.
Genre: Written for "Dark," but it seems to fit "Lore" about as well.
Word Count in Microsoft Word: 997
Finding a large enough clearing in Alpha 38-914’s dense forests to rendezvous with my craft had been nearly as challenging as my quest there. As I climbed the ladder, my head turned, planning to survey Alpha for the last time. Nothing remained for me here. I’d defeated the forest guardians. As expected, I’d located their orb. During my time on the world, I’d even secured the crystals I’d need to activate it. With no conceivable reason to stay, I pondered why my gut was telling me there was something more.
A night owl burst from a tree, catching an overgrown rat almost before I had reflexively raised my weapon. I’d been here long enough neither of these threatened me, but any activity in this place was a cause for concern. A realization overcame me. The physiology of neither species was right for their level of aggression. I’d killed enough of both to know that the rats, while clearly quite carnivorous, had the teeth of an herbivore. The talons on their claws where almost comically oversized. The night owls were their own worst enemies. I’d seen more dead from accidental wounds during preening than I’d killed myself during my mission here, as if the creatures were still adapting to their razor-sharp beaks. These were recent, almost haphazard, adaptations. This forest had been considerably more peaceful a few centuries ago.
Securing my weapon in its holster, I climbed the remaining rungs towards the portal into my craft and paused again. Reason told me not to look back. I was through here. Still, I found myself making one final survey of the valley below. Dusk was slipping towards twilight and Alpha’s already ominous forest grew more menacing as it fell into shadow. A glint from the far side of the valley caught my eye. Whatever it was, it was metallic and had no place on this forsaken world.
Then, I could count three places in the universe less appealing to me upon which to spend another night. (I count more now, and one of the worlds I then counted was actually rather nice except for the presence of an ex I was desperate to avoid.) Still, sleep there I did. I was confident I’d cleared all the Forest Guardians in this valley, and motion sensors would wake should that belief proved ill-founded.
I rose early and began my trek. The experience I’d gained here left me with little to worry about; the local fauna was far too viscous to hunt in packs. Four hours later, I’d reached the foothills across the valley. Finding a promontory sufficiently above the trees for a quick survey took longer than I’d hoped, but I’d done well keeping to a relatively straight path through the thick wood and arrived closer to the metallic object than I had expected. Approaching it revealed more detail. What had reflected the sun last night was the upper portion of a stabilizing fin on a spacecraft of some sort. Utterly utilitarian in design, the vessel had no discernable markings on the modest fraction of its hull not covered by creeping vines.
Something resembling an embarkation ramp was extended and the hatch remained open. Alpha’s ecosystem had spread inside to the point that thick debris made much of the interior inaccessible, but upper floors were relatively clear. Hundreds of genetic modification pods lined the walls. Most were shattered and whatever contents they once held had decayed beyond recognition, but the oxygen-free environment of those few which had remained intact preserved the specimens surprisingly well. Three held creatures resembling dark spiders, but without the species famed armor-piercing fangs. The single tube holding a nightowl held a creature one might picture catching mice.
After three wretched days exploring the craft, examining the electronic logs and my Discord unit’s imperfect translations, it became clear what had happened here. This world had once been an idyllic forest world, quite suitable for colonization in fact. Something had genetically modified its inhabitants into the rabid predators haunting these forests today. The Forest Guardians had once been peaceful. Their lives extending through many millennia, they preserved the equilibrium of the forest. It was hard for me not to imagine them as gentle and wise, an image virtually incompatible with the savage giants I had battled only days previously. I took some comfort in piecing together that some modified entlings had escaped and eviscerated this ship’s crew, whoever they were.
---
I usually found peace during interstellar transit. The barely perceptible motion of nearby stars against distant constellations, the hum of life support, days with nothing more urgent than finishing books on history and philosophy while sipping fine wine. A palpable gloom hung over this trip. It was more than the perfectly justified dread of what I would face on Beta 10-3238e. I’d never set foot there myself, but I’d heard more than enough stories. I somehow knew I was ready for the world, but I didn’t know if I was ready for what I might find there. Though I’d pieced together what occurred on Alpha, I couldn’t discern who or why. The only clue I had was a storage room. Though of the supplies had deteriorated beyond recognition, several environment suits were recognizable. Whatever creatures once dawned these were decidedly not humanoid. But, shards of something glasslike had pierced several of them. Examining it, I found not glass but ever-ice – centuries old but still bitterly cold to the touch. A search through my ships database confirmed what I already knew. Ever-ice had only been found once, when the body of the famed Ray Lynn, the madman who sought the legendary Ice Elementals rumored to inhabit the upper crags in Beta’s Desolation Mountains, was recovered in a glacier four centuries after his disappearance. I pocketed six shards, the smallest of which could easily finance my next major spacecraft upgrade. I was unsure whether answers awaited me on Beta, or only questions more disturbing than those now haunting my sleep.