Crash Course

[shieldman]

The year is 2097. Humanity has begun large-scale colonization efforts among the stars, employing recently discovered near-light-speed travel to explore distant worlds. Scouts are deployed years in advance of any colony ship, both to chart the land and prepare a landing zone for the massive ships that carry civilians. Unfortunately, the very nature of being thrust into the unknown edges of space is dangerous. Unmapped solar storms, strange magnetic fields, curious galactic anomalies-- all hazards for an aspiring scout. There are always safety systems in place, but as any good scout knows: bad luck has a way around everything.

 

[Light Germinant]

so, do you think that luck will smile to us today?

 

[shieldman]

Scylla turned to face her companion, nodding with a slight smile. "Luck or no luck, I hope this planet we're going to has something interesting to check out!" she said, tapping the console touchscreen. "Looks like it's... Primax VI. Such an interesting name."

 

[Light Germinant]

hmm, i think i will like this one, do you think that life can reside there?

 

[shieldman]

"The scanner reports some sort of carbon-based life, but the atmosphere is too thick to allow orbital scans beyond that. Looks like we'll have to get up close and personal with anything we run across." Scylla messed with the touchscreen some more, then frowned. "Hm. Looks like there's a disturbance somewhere in the upper atmosphere."

 

[Light Germinant]

"should we check it out?." he said crossing his arms

 

[shieldman]

"It should be fine," she said, closing the alert and returning to her book. As soon as she did, a huge shudder went through the ship, and the lights dimmed for a moment before cutting out. There was a moment of still disbelief, then the ship began drifting faster and faster towards the planet. "Or... that could happen."

 

[Light Germinant]

"well, we are in trouble now, but i know what we have to do in this kind of cases". he starts running and screaming "WE ARE GOING TO DIE!!! THE LUCK GODESS HATE ME!!".

 

[shieldman]

Scylla had to resist joining him in his panic, since the situation seemed pretty dire. The ship broke the cloud line in a hurtling ball of fire, and though the ground was coming up quickly, they were just on the shore of some sort of lake. "Quickly! If you engage the side thrusters, we can hit that lake and we might make it!"

 

[Light Germinant]

"how can i do that?! the panic makes people forget things you know?!" after saying this he sits in a corner and stops moving.

 

[shieldman]

Scylla sighed and managed to jump across the now-vertical cockpit to the wall, smashing the glass and slamming the button behind it with her elbow. There was a sudden lurch that sent her sprawling onto him, and the ship went spiraling towards the ground, just a few angles different in trajectory. Scylla closed her eyes and muttered a prayer. Everything went dark.

 

[Light Germinant]

"w-were....are we?". when he wakes up all that he can see is the crushed ship and a dark sky, there was nothing around...

 

[shieldman]

Scylla groaned and rolled over, pushing sheets of metal off of her, then sat up. The clouds here obscured pretty much all of the sun's light, making it seem like an unnatural night. The ship creaked as it sank further into the shallow end of the lake, just having been cushioned enough not to explode on impact. "Must be... the surface. Heh, we... we made it. Hooray." There was a thick note of sarcasm in the last words, and she slumped back down in the wreckage. At least it wasn't raining.

 

[Light Germinant]

"even if we made it, who knows when we will get out from this place"

 

[shieldman]

Scylla hoisted herself from the wreckage and stumbled over to him, then sat down again. "Well, if we can send a radio signal somehow, it'd take forever for the ships to get here." She paused, then shrugged. "It's a good place to start. I guess we should make a camp for the night?"

 

[Light Germinant]

"that sounds well". he stands up and starts searching for ship parts to make a camp "hey, do you think that something could be near here?, you know, some kind of species?"

 

[shieldman]

"Hm. Seems like my pocket scanner did survive the crash," she said, pulling a small device out of her pocket and shaking it to life. "Readings say there are numerous species in all directions around us. We must be in some sort of rainforest." She put it away and stood, peering into the tree line next to the shore. "Wait, do you see that?"

 

[Light Germinant]

"what?! did you saw something?!" he starts searching at all directions

 

[shieldman]

Scylla dropped to the ground and grabbed her companion, diving behind a huge metal chunk stuck in the ground. A massive crash shook the ground, and a lumbering creature emerged from the trees, drawn by the wrecked ship. From between metal bars, Scylla could make out a giant creature about ten feet tall and twice as long, crawling across the ground on several pairs of tentacles, its head a strange mottled mass of eyes and teeth.


"Don't. Move."she hissed.

 

[Light Germinant]

"i can't believe it" his face turned pale as he saw the creature, he prefered to stop talking or else that thing could hear him

 

[shieldman]

The beast lumbered around the campsite for longer than was comfortable. Finding nothing of interest, it crashed off into the forest again the way it had come. Scylla sighed a breath of relief and shook her head. "This is going to be tougher than I thought," she said, hoisting herself up from the wreckage. The metal around her made a perfect tent frame, and she was sure a small but serviceable camp could be made. The soft "plip" of a drop of metallic substance falling from the sky caught her attention. Of course it wouldn't rain water, thought Scylla. It's raining gallium.