Castaway Planet

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

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Fallen Corporate Fighter

Galactic Standard Time / 1250

“A swarm!? Are you serious!?” Sara demandedand she felt terror as Jinn nodded.She looked around, trying to think of anything to do.The only thing they had to work with was the fighter, but it was so damaged that was nothing!

“What do we do?! I mean what can we do?!” Sara asked in a rush and looked around in a manic way.

She had seen a lot of holo-movies growing up, and the worst was a movie much like this. A crashed ship, survivors, monsters, and a mad scientist. It ended with giant ants attacking the mad scientist’s compound. The heroes escaped, blasting away in a repaired ship, leaving the mad scientist to be eaten alive.

She had hated that movie growing up, and she never wanted to reenact it live, but it looked like she had.

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Racha looked at Jinn, seeing he was still calm, and wondered just how he was holding it in. This was just another thing that made her wonder about his past, and what he was.

She blinked, seeing a red flashing light in the corner of her right vision. She blinked and looked around, glad to be back in control. “Okay, let’s not go to pieces, do we fight or run?”

“We’d need a miracle to kill them!” Al said before he blinked and looked up.

The buzzing had gotten louder, much louder. They stared upwards as a hundreds more of the red insects flew out from behind the fighter.

“What are they doing?!” Paige asked as she looked up, the bird still in her arms.

“You can’t tell?” Jinn asked and Paige looked at him and blushed.

“It seems bugs don’t have big enough brains for me to ‘hear’ them, or they're not sentient,” Paige said.

All the vines turned brown and crumbled to dust, the fighter slamming down to the ground. As the group braced themselves, Racha wondered just why the bugs had done this.

As the fighter hit the ground, a cloud of dust formed. As she coughed and tried to wave the dust away, she thought she saw something through it. As the dust settled, Racha saw that she was face to point-with the fighter. She went crossed-eyed as she looked at it, wondering if she was point blank to one of its weapons.

“This is perfect! I can work with this!” Al said as he looked at the fighter and pulled out a small brace from his bag. Putting it on his left arm, a holographic screen and keyboard flared to life. His fingers flew over the keys, a small smile forming on his face as he turned to look at the others.

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The twenty-foot tall and long red spider moved along, its four oldest spawn leading the lesser behind it. When it had gone out with all its spawn to try and take over the territory of the nearest ruler, it expected to win. It had led a force three times as big as the remains following behind it, the only survivors of its failed attack.

It had planned everything perfectly, at least it thought it had. The hives had been gathering for an attack for a month, so the rulers forces had gone to strike first. The ruler would then be alone, an easy prey no question! But its attack failed utterly! The Ruler's guards had appeared as if from nowhere! And then creatures able to match his greater spawn attacked from above. The Spider had been forced to leave most of its swarm behind to buy time with their lives. Its plans were failed by the cowardice of its spawn, not how would it rule? And when some of its lesser spawn that had stayed to guard its nest had come appeared, it had been shocked. And they ‘talked’ about how the one it left to lead the guards was dead, well dead messengers tell no tales.

But now its lair was dirtied, by those strange things! But it had learned a long time ago, that sometimes problems were solutions to other problems. range claws might be the one thing it needed to break the stalemate with that ruler! Yes, it could see it now; a new brood, ones that used the far clawers. A new horde of them, raised into perfect pawns and then, and then it would feed on that ruler!

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As the largest spider moved along, it absently killed one of the smallest spawns with one of its legs. As it led the way, the others drew away from it as one of its bigger spawns glared at its sire in anger.

The large spider didn’t know that there was a growing hatred against it growing within its horde. Nor that only its strength and size kept it alive. The one that was glaring at it had been around longer than all the others, the last of its first generation of spawn. It had watched its siblings die for its sire’s ego time and time again, or if they grew stronger so they wouldn’t become threats to it. It needed to be smarter, slyer than that idiotic brute. That was why it had told the ruler what its sire had planned, but the trap failed. Its sire had sent in the smaller ones, instead of fighting the ruler itself. It had meant to kill and eat the smaller ones if they killed the ruler, so it could inherit the mantle and territory. It had to be smart, and hope that those creators in the den were able to at least wound its sire enough for it to die.

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The largest spider felt a spark of glee as it entered the heart of its territory. Once it had the power of the range claw, it would spawn a group of spawn with that ability and take over this whole land! It would be the master of all, all would be prey for its webs! As it reached the edge of the den it slowed down. It stood there, letting the smallest spiders rush past it. After all, a wise leader let the expendable ones pay the price after all. As it waited for sounds of battle to come from within, it heard nothing. It blinked before it moved after them. The weaklings were probably staying away from the intruders, the cowards.

But as it came into the clearing, all it saw was its dead spawn with the guard it left. As more of the smallest ones speed past it, it stared around. Finally, it noticed a few tracks and screeched, pointing with a leg where it wanted them to go. But as the first of the spawn charged ahead, strange red spikes flew at them, killing all of them.

The largest spider only watched in glee, the far claw was everything it wanted! For a moment it wondered why the intruders had gone to its ladder. All that was there was a strange hard plant. It ignored the question and screeched, sending more of its spawn, it could always make more. Finally, as the number of dead started to rise, the far claw started to die down, and the spider sire felt a sense of pride. Its perfect strategy worked again, and now it would claim the prize!

It walked into where the far clawer was to……… just see the strange growth on its side and dead spawn around it. It blinked its eyes as it looked around, trying to find the far clawerer. It felt anger erupt from within it as it looked at its worthless spawn. It was good that they died before it found out they failed, or it would have eaten them alive!

As it walked closer into the clearing towards the strange growth, suddenly it felt fire go through it. It went still before it tried to move backwards but more of the fire pierced its body as it stumbled towards away. It fell to the ground and screeched for its spawn to save it, only for more of the fire to pierce its body.

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As the angered spider looked on, it saw its siblings screech in anger and charge at their sire. As one of the smaller spawn bit into its eyes, their sire screeched and tried to throw it off. As the swarm attacked, the angered spider sensed something was wrong. It had always listened to this sense, it had led it out of danger many times. And right now, it was telling it to turn and run as far as its legs could carry it! To not stay and kill its sire, just to turn and run as fast as it could.

As the other spiders its size moved to take their pound of As the other spiders its size moved to take their pound of flesh from their sire, the angered spider turned and ran. As it fled away from the slaughter, it just ran. Whatever was coming, it had to get away fast if it wanted to live!lesh from their sire, the angered spider turned and ran. As it dashed away from the slaughter, it just ran, hoping to survive.

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The swarm attacked. They never noticed anything behind them. As the Corporate Alliance Fighter’s blasters start to glow red, they just wounded their sire. As the glow intensified, coming closer to a meltdown . Finally, as the sire expired, the fighter exploded and the shrapnel flew and killed the swarm!

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As the angry spider, the lone survivor of the swarm watched as the shrapnel fell short of it, it knew it was a good thing to follow its sense. It turned around and walked back, looking upon a slaughter field. It looked around and saw its brethren and sire dead, pieces of their bodies all around.

It felt happy as it looked upon the feast before it. It gave thanks to whatever had caused this feast, and it started to feed on the carrion. As it ate it, it wondered where the far clawer things were. The power they had was enticing, after it created a swarm of its own it should hunt down them. All power it had to stay alive was a good thing after all.

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As they felt the explosion, the party looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel. They stood still as the echo from the boom died down before they all let tension melt away.

“It worked after all!” Sara said with a laugh in her voice.

Paige meanwhile cuddled the bird she was carrying, and it cawed softly. “Thank you, little friend, we couldn’t have found this place without you!”

“Stay close, we might have gotten away but getting out is gonna be harder!” Racha barked as she looked around,

“Lighten up, we’re alive and going to the sea a lot faster after all!” Jinn said and Racha scowled as she remembered just how they had gotten away.

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

Days after of Crash landing/ 2

Uninhabited Island / Fallen Corporate Fighter

Galactic Standard Time / 1245

Racha gazed around at the others as they looked around the clearing, trying to figure out how to escape. She wondered if fighting here with their backs against the fighter might be the best thing to do. The idea would keep them from attacked from behind after all.

But when the bird in Paige’s hands started to cry, Paige looked down at it. “What’s that, you know how we can escape?”

Paige looked up and she looked at Jinn who only looked at the bird.

Racha felt a small spark of hope, if that bird could reason and think, then it might have a way for them to live. But she also felt the question about why it would help them, it might only be leading them into a trap. But she had to admit that there was no way that this becomes worse for them after all.

“Even if we can get away they’ll just follow us!”Sara asked with a note of panic in her voice.

Racha looked at her and was about to try and give her courage when Al spoke up.

“Not if I can help it!” Al cut in and looked around, a grin on his face.

“Al?” Jinn asked and Al grinned back.

“All I need is thirty seconds to send a VI to this thing!” Al said as he slapped the fighter and smirked.

“Okay little friend, where do we go?” Paige asked and the bird pointed its head beyond the fighter.

Racha looked at the bird and took a deep breath and sighed.

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“Okay, I’ll admit. I was wrong. But that drop was something that I’ll blame on you!” Racha admitted as she glared at the bird who only looked at her and opened its mouth. Racha felt a spark of anger and Paige carried the bird out of her reach.

Racha’s hand twisted, imagining the bird’s body in them. As she looked around, she had to admit that this place was something else.

They were walking through a cave at least three minutes down in the earth. The tunnels were lit by rocks at the top that shinned down a blue light. It had to be at least as good as sunlight as there were actual plants down here. But that raised the question of how the crystal created the energy they sent out as light in the first place. She had seen some crystalline organizes that created energy from absorbing chemicals before. And if the bird used the tunnels then maybe they ‘ate’, carbon dioxide, it was possible.

She had to admit that she hoped they would find a way out soon. Not having an escape path was doing nothing for her paranoia. Even up there, they were ways to escape or try and deny combat against something that attacked them. But down here, there was nothing. All they had was the tunnel and their guide a literal bird!

“One thing for sure, they are going to think my report is because I was on drugs,” She muttered as she looked behind them, acting as rearguard.

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At the head of the group, Jinn looked around trying to make sense of what he had seen. After he had activated his aura the second time, the vision in his eyes came back. Each action he had taken when he activated his aur…… Aether Comet, it had drained from a bar. Said bar had appeared in the bottom of his left vision, and went away as he stopped using the ability.

He remembered a game he had seen some of the other deckhands playing one day, and how they reacted when he asked what they were doing. He hoped they bought his excuses about how his parents hadn’t believed in those games but he had heard about them. What happened after that was a two-hour explanation of video games, the subtypes, and the basics of each one. This seemed to be something like the RPGs they told him about, but he saw the energy in the second bar grow as he walked.

He didn’t understand anything about how that was possible but he had an idea. His nanites sent him a report a minute ago, he now had a new type in his blood. And surprise, it was of a kind that he couldn’t access with his mind. He sent a command to investigate them, but he didn’t expect much. They were the only explanation for his abilities, but how had they gotten in him? He sent a request for his physical data for the last few days, and a file appeared in his right vision. He looked it over and found nothing that could tell him just how it had gotten into him.

He had to wonder, was it from that time when he couldn’t remember, from when they left the Spirit? But if that was true, then the passengers might also be infected, and if that was true………. Things were going to be very, very weird.

He looked at Racha over his shoulder and thought about what to do. He looked to his left and saw Al grinning, and he nodded. “Al take over the lead, I’m checking out what’s behind us.”

Al nodded, looking at him as Jinn stopped walking. After a few moments, the group passed by him and he started to walk next to Racha. “We need to talk.”

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Racha looked at Jinn and tried to figure out what he was after now. “About what?”

Racha looked at him, a strange feeling going through her. She didn’t like Jinn, but what he just said caused her to stare at him.

“The abilities of me and Sara. I’ve figured something out, why we have them, the how at least,” Jinn said gruffly and Racha’s eyes widened.

If he cracked the secret about how he and Sara had abilities, that meant that she might be able to gain them too. And she had to admit that the chance to be as strong as some of the Ancients she had fought was very tempting. But the way he spoke, it was like a doctor telling a child their parents had just died.

“And you reasoned what about why you two gained your powers?” Racha asked, waiting for the asteroid to crash into her ship.

“I think the way is….. there’s no easy way to say this.They’re nanite-based,” Jinn admitted as he looked up the passageway at the others.

Racha felt her heart stop at his words, seeing the horror behind them so clearly. If whatever kickstarted the abilities was nanite based, then this is very bad. There was no way to find out who had them or if they could be passed on! And if they were in Jinn and Sara’s bodies, then they had to be in everyone’s bodies. And that meant anyone could gain any number of abilities, from Duncan to Jones. And the passengers, like that slime Bradford Golrick! The very thought of Bradford being able to fire energy blasts was enough for her to shiver in horror. The man was already the number one threat to her mission. And now her current biggest headache was telling her this was going to get even worse!

There had to be a way out of this, something Jinn hadn’t seen! There was no way to even think that this problem was as she thought it could be. He had to have made a mistake.

“Wait…… How did you figure that out?!” Racha asked as looked at Jinn with a note of panic in her voice.

Jinn only looked at her before looking away.

“I’ve…… got class 10 nanites,” Jinn admitted and Racha looked at him, her mouth falling open in shock and horror.