The brown gas giant was a storm of brownish red dust with hurricane speed winds and sub-zero degree temperatures.
A hellscape. Literal hell. A person would die in a few minutes exposed to it.
They were safe inside the ship at least. Technically it was no different than the void of space in how lethal it was. But there was something especially disconcerting about the red sands pelting the windows all around them with occasional rocks bouncing off the glass.
Not that they had any chance of cracking the windows.
Inches away from death. No different than a zoo. Which is what Selene told herself in order to relax. She was tired from losing sleep the night before. She could thank her visitor for that... She'd keep it a secret for now. Until she knew more.
Aboleth straightened the cuffs of her uniform and arrived next to her in the cargo-hold.
"Time we send them out. It'll take some time to build the hive. The sooner we start the better."
They were the only ones in the cargo-hold with the Zykra they brought.
"Will these be enough?" Selene asked.
They both looked at the gathering of Zykra then. About 12 scantids and 2 munlocs. Here to gather the biomass to produce potentially millions of them.
"Should be. From what the doctor says there are no lifeforms that should prove a threat here. Sacks of biomass really. I guess living in literal poison doesn't cause things to evolve to be thinking and overly mobile."
Selene crossed her arms. Leaning over to look out a nearby porthole window.
"What exactly is out there?" she asked.
"Hardly matters. We'll never interact with them. The Zykra will handle the killing and collecting." Aboleth said. "Speaking of which we should get out of the cargo-hold. Your human form will probably not appreciate the ammonia in the air."
They left the cargo-hold and lowered the ramp. Unleashing the Zykra. They disappeared into the red-brown mist.
"Can you see through their eyes like I can?" Selene asked as they made their way to the kitchen. It was more of a dining space and a kitchen turned into one really.
"Obviously. It's crucial for gathering battlefield data. A necessary ability if you ask me. No different than how I used to use visor-view on Protectorate soldiers."
Selene was glad. She wasn't in her Zykra form and yet they were doing what she wanted thanks to Aboleth.
"What's with the smug look?" Aboleth asked.
"Nothing..." Selene teased.
Dr. Bryant came into the room. "Once we create a Psyphera we can leave the planet. The Zykra swarm can perpetuate itself without us travelling personally to each planet once we birth a caasiok."
"Hey to you too." Selene said.
He waved her off; "Yes, yes—hello. I've listed a different Zykra variants and the order we should prioritize them in. I'll send them to each of your tablets perspectively. Obviously it's up to Aboleth to decide the exact numbers of each according to her battle strategy."
"Obviously." Aboleth parroted.
"For example, there is the Slaad. They are very familiar to what we've seen on Lamda. The quadruped beasts, large and heavily armored in comparison to our current Zykra variants. Frontline fighters meant to absorb the brunt of enemy defenses."
Selene put laid her head down on the table she now sat at.
"Does this bore you Ms. Carrington? This is crucial information." he slapped his tablet with the back of his hand as if to accentuate the point.
"I just assume there's a Zykra for everything at this point..." she mumbled.
"It would be a good mount into battle." Aboleth said, examining the image of the creature he'd just sent her on her new tablet.
"Don't encourage him Aboleth."
"We will also need air forces if we are truly to contest the Protectorate for control. Another creature we saw on Lamda: Vespaxyn. I combined the latin word for wasp and xyn to add a certain kind of xeno aesthetic. I like to think it-"
Selene groaned very audibly.
Dr. Bryant coughed and changed the subject. "I suppose it's not very relevant. As I've said I sent the data to your tablets, if we hope to enter battle against the Protectorate and aid the resistance forces as soon as possible we should see to producing them in number."
Aboleth nodded. "I already thought up some strategies for these. It seems like the acid these... 'Vespaxyn' fire from their tails can melt through graphene enameled steel."
That excited Dr. Bryant.
"Yes, as revolutionary as graphene was towards the strength of human vessels- 200 times sturdier than the strongest metal, and a fraction of the weight- it's still susceptible to the Vespaxyn's attacks. However, this is not due to it's acidic properties. In fact Graphene is highly resistant to most acids as it is chemically inert and does not react as metal does. Interestingly enough, there is an electric charge in the Vespaxyn's acid that causes the carbon lattice in the graphene to destabilize. An adaptation seemingly meant to be a multi-pronged attempt to aid in armor penetration."
Selene fell asleep sometime during his talk. She was tired, she didn't get much sleep the night before. Some alien had woken her up and messed with her sleep schedule.
She dreamed of the planet they were on. The thorny vines that covered it like grass. The skeletal hand-trees. Pools of brine and strange alien creatures that skittered about in the red haze.
And she saw something gleaming. A pure white obelisk. A pillar stood in stark contrast to the world around it.
When she woke up Aboleth and Dr. Bryant were gone. And instead Zephyr was in the kitchen with Danny making tacos. She could smell taco sauce and oil before she even opened her eyes.
Zephyr noticed her waking up from behind the stainless steel kitchen counter and smiled; "Look who's up! Feel like tacos?"
Selene shook her head groggily. She didn't like eating greasy foods so soon after waking up.
"Want some coffee then?"
Selene nodded.
"Coming right up." Zephyr said, going over to the coffee maker and pushing a few buttons on it.
She felt something brush her pantleg and looked below the table to see the smallest scantid curled up next to her foot.
"Aboleth said the little guy wanted to see his queen."
Selene yawned as Zephyr brought over a cup of steaming hot coffee. "Just leave it." Selene said as Zephyr offered cream and sugar. And she began to mix her drink.
What a weird dream. Short. Straight to the point.
That was probably the device reaching out to her as the preserver thing said it would.
Zephyr plated some tacos and sat across from her. Danny took a seat at another table nearby.
"Sooooo, how's it going?" she asked.
"Well, it's going." Selene mumbled taking a grateful sip of her coffee.
"Is this your usual style when you're not borrowing my clothes?"
Selene looked down at herself. A white hoodie and light blue skinny jeans with hightop sneakers.
"What? It's comfy. It's not exactly what I wanted, but it's what the new general shop on Endelon 2 had."
Zephyr smirked; "You dress like one of those skater girls."
Then when she saw Selene's glare she chortled and rubbed her arm consolingly; "No, it's cute! I just think you're doing yourself a disservice. You complained about people misjudging your age—but can you blame them when you dress like this? Let me go shopping with you next time."
Selene put her face into her palm with a bored expression; "Fashion just isn't my thing. I don't get the point."
She raised her eyebrows at that. "You don't—pfft, well that's what you have me around for. Style is all about self-expression. You do that with your drawings all the time, you don't choose to draw birds and bowls of fruit. You draw portraits of people, and ships."
"You did look through my book then."
Zephyr gave her a sheepish look; "Well it was lying right there—open on the table. I didn't think you'd care."
"I don't. I wouldn't draw anything I wouldn't want other people to see."
Zephyr blushed a bit then and looked towards her plate of tacos.
"What?" Selene asked.
"If that's the case could I have that picture of me?"
Oh. That. Selene had forgotten she even drew that. The forest on Endelon with Zephyr hiking and a scantid following her.
"Okaaay.. I guess."
Zephyr beamed. "Thanks! And in return I'll give you that jacket you wore the other day, and -oh! Maybe this adorable Protectorate shirt, it has this little pug in an enforcer outfit with it's paw saluting saying; 'I did my part.'"
"Don't mention it. And please don't. Why would I wear a puck shirt anyways?"
Zephyr chortled at that; "I think it'd be funny..."
Selene gave her a polite smile then stretched; "Well I better go check on our progress..." she pushed up from the table. Causing the scantid to stir and follow her.
"Mhmm." Zephyr mumbled with a mouth full of taco.
It took days for the hive to grow. The scantids would kill something, process the biomass, deposit said biomass, and repeat. And each night Selene dreamt of the white statue thing.
It was a boring process. Everyone just lounged around, unable to go outside.
What did the dream expect her to do? Walk around the entire planet until she saw it? It's not like there were any distinguishable landmarks.
"Is everything all right Ms. Carrington?" Dr. Byrant asked her. They were in the pilots cabin. She was exploring planets on the hologram table.
"I'm fine. Think I'm going to go out for a bit. In my Zykra form. Been cooped up in here for too long."
"Very well, your form should prove resilient to the harsh environment."
She already knew that. If her Zykra could handle it—she could too.
She had to at least look for it. Maybe if she got closer she'd be able to narrow it down.
As she left the cargo-hold ramp and stepped out onto the planet she put a hand over her brow and squinted through the swirling brown/red storm around her. There was a domed hive structure growing in the distance. The sun that barely broke through the dense red mist was rising over it.
An above ground hive had an interesting look to it. The pillars of carapace were layered in plates like armor. And curved into sharp points inwards like a rib cage. Between them was a smooth and wrinkled hard substance. As if it formed by dripping and hardening over and over like icicles.
Aboleth was probably in there.
Selene walked up and the sphincter-adjacent door opened with a low squelching sound.
The ceiling hadn't closed yet so she could see and hear the wind whipping by. Howling.
"Selene, here to drop off some larvae?" Aboleth asked. She stood towards the center of the chamber. In the red-tinted light that cast down from the opening above.
"The 'zythera' variant still not born yet?"
Aboleth shook her head. "Takes some time it looks like." she said as she glanced towards a large egg in the corner of the room.
"I guess I can drop off some. But I was actually going to look for something. This thing I've been seeing in my dreams."
"Your dreams huh?" she asked skeptically.
"—I know how it sounds. But I know this thing is real. I can't explain how yet, it's a secret. I was wondering if you could have some scantids look too."
"I'll do you one better. We got vespaxyn. That should be able to cover more ground. What's this thing look like?"
Selene felt excited to here that. Flying zykra. She glanced over to a corner of the fifty meter or so wide chamber to see a creature with six scorpion legs and four leathery bat wings folded inwards along it's back. It had a tail very similar to hers, but it's bladed end was tipped with a nozzle.
"It's a square white obelisk. It seemed pretty big, like a statue. Just out in the middle of no where." she explained as they walked over to the 3 or so vespaxyn. More seemed to be growing in eggs nearby.
Their faces had eyes hidden behind what looked like tears in it's flesh. Like slits in an organic knights helmet. Two yellow eyes slightly glowed therein. It's head was topped with numerous horns that grew smaller down the length of the center of it's back. And it had two pinchers like a tarantulas. Shiny black that turned green towards the center of any of it's carapace.
A giant scorpion with horns, a spider mouth, and four bat wings. Essentially. It was about the size of a car.
"That's..." she began to say.
"—A bad ass bug dragon?" Aboleth finished for her.
Selene nodded.
"Want to ride it? We have two. We can go look for this white obelisk thing together."
"I could just fly." she said.
Aboleth went to say something harsh, but stopped herself. And let out a sigh; "Your little wings wouldn't work in winds like this Selene. These guys have real wings. They're made to fly in weather like this." she patted the side of one. Which it completely ignored.
Most Zykra when not being actively ordered to do something often just searched around idly.
"Alright. Fine. Where do we even sit on these things?" she asked.
"Who said anything about sitting? They curl up their legs when they fly. We can just hold onto them like a hang-glider."
Selene wasn't sure about this. It was a big planet. A white obelisk would be hard to miss, but there was a lot of ground to cover.
"No harm in trying I guess. We have to start somewhere."
They didn't find the obelisk. And they both got a ton of dirt in their hair to show for it.
After showering they went into the kitchens so Selene could relax a bit and draw. But Zephyr came and found her.
"Hey... Could I talk to you for a minute? In private?"
"Sure. Oh, and I guess I could get that drawing for you." Selene began to open up her art booklet. But Zephyr put a hand on her arm; "Not here. Could we talk in your room?"
Selene gave her a confused look. But nodded.
She followed her to the captains quarters all the while Zephyr kept giving her shy looks. Seemingly at odds with what she was about to tell her.
When they finally entered the room Zephyr began pacing around in front of her bed.
"What is it?" Selene asked, starting to feel somewhat nervous herself. Was she about to say what Selene thought she was about to say?
"The past few days since we I've been having these strange feelings..."
Oh no. Right now? Selene hadn't even thought about it, but she's not bad looking. Quite the opposite actually. But she never had experience with this kind of thing. Was she going to ask her out? What should Selene say if she did?
Her face was rapidly turning pink.
"It's that—I'll just say it."
Selene cringed in preparation. Her breath hitching.
"I've been having these weird visions."
Huh.
"It's like this thing is calling to me, a white obelisk somewhere on the planet. I keep seeing it. Sometimes when I'm asleep! I know how it sounds—"
Selene let out a relaxed breath then. She was very relieved. And also... Slightly disappointed? She went over to a desk near the door and leaned on it.
"—No it makes perfect sense. It's probably something to do with our telepathy. I've been having the same dreams. But I haven't been feeling it call to me."
Zephyr had a relaxed breath of her own then. "Good. I was worried you'd think I was crazy- that you wouldn't believe me. I don't know what it is, but it couldn't be a bad thing right? It doesn't feel like a bad thing... It feels like.. I should find it. It's hard to describe.."
"Could you guide us to it?" Selene asked, hopeful.
"Maybe... But, hey—what did you think I was going to say? You seemed to get pretty red there for a second..." she smiled coyly.
"Who knows? I can sense vibes-not read minds. B-but in any case I don't do that to people I know."
"Uh-huuuuh.. Well anyways, I guess I'll take that drawing now."
Selene grabbed a pair of scissors from the desk and ran them along the page in the art book.
"Here." she said, offering it quickly.
Zephyr took it slowly, giving her an appraising look.
"We'll go searching for it tomorrow?" she asked after a overly long moment.
Selene crossed her arms insecurely; "Yep-first thing! See what this thing does."
"Okay." she went to the door and opened it. Glancing back at her; "See you then." she said before giving a half wave and disappearing from the door. Selene just stood there staring a moment longer.
"Idiot." Selene grumbled to herself.
After the picture and that awkward interaction Zephyr definitely thought she was into her. How embarrassing.
...It made sense she would be somewhat interested. It was fine to be interested.
Why was she beating herself up about it? Just because you feel attracted to someone doesn't mean you have to act on those feelings. Or those feelings were wrong. It just kind of snuck up on her.
They were just two people around the same age... Cooped up together on a ship all the time. It was cabin fever probably.
That's all. It'd go away in a week.
It didn't matter. What mattered was this obelisk. That's what she should focus on.
Hopefully the preserver was right and it would be a good weapon for Zephyr—or someone.
A note from ApeGo