Universe: LaNG-ΘΨ1 (PL: Stable, RL: Stable)
Spatial Location: MW-1, [Spaceborne]
Locale: N/A
Writer: Eskoy Lorn
An incredibly frightful 8 days I have just experienced since my last entry! How good it feels to be back aboard the Curious Minds again after that harrowing experience.
Upon touchdown to the surface of Spear, I was approached by three entities belonging to the local civilization. They bore a very remarkable evolution, moving on natural wheels powered by means I could only guess as to the process of, and atop the two wheels were a set of six almost mechanical looking arms that changed position through sharp, almost robotic movements. Despite this, the entities seemed completely organic. They had no visible heads, nor sensory points, except for a single hole on the top of their mass nestled between the joints of the arms. Occasionally it would retract, as if reacting to some input, but what it may have been, I do not know.
As to my bad luck, the entities seemed rather unsettled by my arrival, grasped me firmly with their rigid arms, and led me off to one of their small settlements, deep inside a forest of blue leafed trees, the canopies of which seemed to spin very slowly, as if trying to ensure every side got an equal amount of starshine.
The city itself reminded me more of our own cultures, but with less imagination. The buildings were tall, and metallic, but the metal had not been tended to do adequately and so contained a sort of green rust that resembled moss. The windows were square, devoid of design, and contained no glass, simply seeming like square holes dotting the sides of the buildings. The roads were unpaved but were blanketed in a fine white dust, a poor attempt at artistic diversity in this alien culture.
As they dragged me through the streets, others of their kind wheeled around at the sight. At least, I assume they were "looking" at me, it was somewhat hard to tell due to their lack of sensory organs.
They finally took me into one of the smaller buildings. The insides were just as bland as the outside. Devoid of colour or decor, simply metal walls, green rust, and even in here that fine white dust was prominent. They lead me down a hole in the ground, and into a dark, poorly lit room containing several cages built from a very fine mesh. A prison.
Pushing me into one of the cages, they closed the door behind me, then turned (I believe to face each other). They stood silently for a moment, occasionally an arm would move in its usual robotic fashion, but no sound was made throughout this conversation. Finally, they wheeled away, and left me to my own devices.
So far, I had not seen any weaponry present on this planet, their only advantage over me being their many, abnormally strong appendages. Unfortunately, I was also unarmed, and unable to escape so easily. I contacted Bali, but he, unable to detach himself from the ship, could not navigate into my underground enclosure to rescue me.
I had to handle this myself.
I waited, and waited. My captors did not visit me in that time, not to feed me, not to check on my status. I now believe they may have some sort of psychic ability, which would explain their lack of vocal communication, but also how they could be so sure of my status within the prison. I was beginning to starve and there was no hope for them coming to feed me. At this point, I am unsure if they even eat.
I almost concluded that this was the end for me. I considered trying to use the fine mesh wiring of my cage to cut my throat and end my life quickly, to save me from the suffering of starvation.
And then I realised, I had something these creatures did not. I did have a weapon after all, although using it myself would be incredibly risky. My own blood.
Our earlier analysis of the consequences of 'red' in this universe had concluded that a high enough amplitude of light was required to trigger an explosion, and so it would remain dormant in low-light levels. The light in my prison was incredibly dim, but I believed it would be just bright enough to trigger an explosion. The issue would be making sure my blood didn't trigger an explosion the instant it was exposed. The already low-light of my prison aided me on that matter. I could easily shield my wound until I was ready to expose it.
And so I committed to my plan. Tearing a strip of my shirt off, I placed my finger against the mesh, and then wrapped my finger and the mesh with the fabric. Then, I pressed my finger against the mesh as harshly as I could and slid it down the wire by a centimeter. The small surge of pain told me that the cut was successful, and now I just had to clear the range of my red fuelled grenade before I pulled the pin.
I placed my thumb inside the bundle and covered the wound on my finger, then gently removed my hand from the bundle wrapped around the mesh.
Success. None of the wound was exposed.
Then I grabbed the bundle attached to the mesh… and quickly pulled it away from the cage!
Boom!
The blood still on the mesh was hit by a streak of light, and blasted a hole in the mesh big enough for me to squeeze through!
I quickly wrapped what remained of the bundle around my finger to keep the wound covered, and then made my exit.
As I ran for the ramp that lead to the surface, I was confronted by one of my captors again. It with its many arms, and me without a weapon to my name, I backed up, unsure how to handle the situation. I clenched my fist, ready to fight back with what I could, when I felt the bundle again.
I decided, if these creatures were indeed psychic, then they would very well know what would happen if I removed that bundle. I may go down, but so would they! And so I held up my bandaged hand, and then held the edge of the bandage with my other hand, ready to remove it and destroy us both.
I guess it could read my mind, because now it began to back away. These creatures have a sense of self-preservation at least.
And so I forced it back until I was back on the surface, and out in the open. Two dozen of these creatures now surrounded me, appendages flailing, ready to capture me again. It would not last though, because that that moment, the white dust was kicked up around us, and the Curious Minds made its descent.
Bali opened the door, I jumped aboard, and as quick as we had arrived, we were gone again!
We decided that staying in a universe where my minor injury could possibly destroy the ship was a bad idea, and so here we are, making a brief pitstop in our home universe. An incredible adventure for us both.
However, now that we have somewhat gotten to grips with our mission, and just what we are capable of as a team, we hope to be venturing out to more exciting prospects in the future.
Five discoveries in and things are already beyond my imagination. Who knows what we'll find at our next stop?
