Futuristic They Have Landed (DergTheDergon x Bats)

[DergTheDergon]

After many months aboard this vessel, the Narusian expedition team had finally located it: another planet with intelligent life. All the signs pointed to an approximate 99.9998% chance of this planet, orbited by a massive number of strange metal objects emitting signals, contained intelligent life. These odd signal emitters must be an invention of whatever beings inhabit this area, and of course Maaki, the ship's engineer, was very curious as to thier purpose. Sadly though, they'd just be observing on this first run... contact too soon could send the other race into a panic.


Makki suddenly opened her eyes, contained within her stasis pod. She felt refreshed, she'd probably slept through the FTL jump and hadn't been woken yet. She was wondering why, before she heard an alarm ringing in her ear. There'd been an emergency waking of all crew members stasis, which meant something was very wrong. Maaki was still a bit hazy and sore, but the ship was going down, no excuses. She emerged from her pod, revealing herself to an empty ship that, at least in this chamber, seemed empty and devoid of life.


Standing there a was a lightly blue-skinned young female, her ears an odd elongated shape and her hair a pure white, falling in tresses upon her shoulders and down her back. Her eyes were a light, solid blue-gray, and would not seem to have pupils to the human eye. They looked like two of Narus' moons sitting in her eye sockets in a way She was wearing the standard full-body Narusian engineer uniform, a blue jumpsuit with gray areas on the torso and behind the legs. Her chest was rather modest, and her waist slim and curvaceous is shape. Maaki grabbed an oxygen helmet just in case the ship was leaking, as she felt her breaths become more and more shallow each time. She frantically searched through the ship, only to find dead bodies everywhere she looked. Something had gone wrong during the FTL jump and killed everyone not in a stasis pod... since Maaki herself had worked a doubly-long shift, she was the only one resting when the jump occurred.


Maaki had no time to mourn, which became clear as the ship hit turbulence. It was entering Earth's atmosphere. She dashed through the empty ship, breathing deeply and panickedly, fiddling with the controls. She was able to shut off all the systems that could cause explosions if left running, engaged the landing thruster which, if not provide a safe landing in this situation, would hopefully prevent the ship from collapsing in on itself or any sumpreme, irreparable damage to the ship's hull. Maaki found herself thrust forwards as the ship came to an impact, causing blunt force trauma that knocked her unconscious. She would wake up a few hours later.


(I'll leave it to you were the ship lands, seeing as your character has to stumble upon it for this to continue anyway.)


@Bats

 

[Bats]

"Fuck!" Samuel exclaimed, spitting the molten marshmallow onto the ground. It seemed he was but a novice at this whole 'camping' thing. He fitted another from the bag onto the thin stick he had found for a second try. Other than his now-burnt tongue, the trip was going surprisingly well. It was a cold night, but he had a nice black beanie and thick blue coat to keep him warm, along with a roaring fire. He was accustomed to the bustling city, albeit he had to admit that the nearly silent solitude was a nice change of pace, plus he had never seen so many stars. As the marshmallow turned soft and gooey over the fire, he sat, legs crossed, admiring the night sky above.


The stars were breathtaking, but one in particular seemed to stand out as larger than the rest. Sam squinted, curious, as he noticed it was moving very subtly. A shooting star, perhaps? His thoughts were interrupted, as in his stargazing he had failed to notice the marshmallow burning and the fire creeping its way up the stick to burn his hand. He threw it down and shook his hand, this time holding back the profanity. When he turned his attention back to the peculiar star, his eyes widened; it was now exponentially larger. It was not a star, but a meteor, coming right at him! His panic caused his chair to tip over. He fell on his side and curled into the fetal position. With one eye open, he watched it go down a ways behind the RV that held all of his belongings. The sound of the thunderous crash radiated throughout the forest. Sam stood up and dusted himself off, thankful that no one was around to see what just happened.


For the next few minutes, he debated whether to investigate or not. What if it was radioactive or something? Then again, he could make some cash off of it...couldn't he? Okay, he knew absolutely nothing about meteors, but how many people get the chance to discover one?


Sam grabbed a flashlight from the RV and moved to investigate. Although he knew little about meteors, he could tell as he got closer that this...was probably not a meteor. It was definitely...big. He was thin, and on the shorter side, which allowed him to, against common sense, squeeze through a hole in the exterior.


Once inside the capsized ship, for now it was obviously a ship, Sam stroked his scruffy chin. He stepped through the wreckage, admiring the strange machinery, which looked mostly intact. The ship was littered with corpses, the first of which he crouched down to investigate. It looked very similiar to a human, though its blue skin and white hair contrasted his olive skin and brown hair. Its ears reminded him of an elf, and those eyes...creepy. He stood back up and continued his wandering with the same dumbfounded look, his mouth hanging open.

 

[DergTheDergon]

Maaki's eyes slowly fluttered open, and she lifted her helmeted head, confusedly gazing upon the wreckage for a moment. The crash had given her quite the headache, but only as she went to rub her aching temples did she remember she had an oxygen helmet on. Maaki looked down at the left wrist of her jumpsuit, specifically the sensor console that had been fitted into the suit. This screen displayed the data collect by the suit's atmospheric sensors, hence the name. Oxygen levels here, according to the screen, were enough for a Nerusian to function on, so the next thing Maaki did was remove her helmet, revealing a mess of long white hair. Those things were supremely uncomfortable, and she wouldn't be caught dead wearing it in an environment where it was no longer necessary.


Just then, she began to hear something... footsteps. She froze. As far as she new, the others had perished so what was making that noise? Finding herself shaking in paranoid fear, Maaki stood up. Maybe the predators on this planet prefer to take thier prey unaware... or maybe she was simply telling herself that to give herself a reason to move at all, let alone look for whatever was making that noise. She was the last one, and so had to find something to report back home... if she could get any of the ships comms working that is. Just by glancing at them she could tell they were fried.


Maaki stood up, slowly and carefully walking while glancing all around her. Once she made it outside the bridge, she saw it... a living creature moving throughout the ship. She found herself freezing at the sight of it, though oddly enough it didn't seem all that different physiologically from her people. She found herself silently, fearfully watching the creature for a moment before remembering something. If this creature had a brain structure anything like that of the Nerusians, there's a chance she could communicate with it. She concentrated, reaching out with her extended consciousness, and astonishingly was able to interface with his mind. She felt a word come to her all of a sudden, and found herself speaking it timidly. "H-hello!" She found herself blurting out.

 

[Bats]

Sam stumbled through the wreckage in a haze. The full gravity of the situation had still not dawned on him. He found himself grasping at any explanation besides the obvious. Surely, this had to be some elaborate prank or the like. No, that made even less sense. He was almost certain that he was sober, and this was no dream...this was first contact with alien life, only they were all dead, with the assumption being that they were killed in the crash.


For a moment, Sam pondered what to do with this discovery. Surely, someone would have wished to know about this. Perhaps there would have even been a reward. He was figuring out how to go about this when a sound startled him back to the present.


Sam turned to the side, where the alien girl stood. He shone his flashlight on her and froze for a moment. Did it just speak? In English? Nervously, he responded. "Did you just...um...hi?" He waved his free hand awkwardly.

 

[DergTheDergon]

Maaki cautiously observed the strange new being, head tilted to one side and eyes wide, and was surprised when it replied. She could understand this odd language somehow, even though she's never encountered it before. Her people have a natural ability to adapt languages and communicate with other ethnicities in among her people without necessarily having to learn the language in the far slower conventional way, though she was astonished that it worked with these strange creatures, whose langues seem to vary greatly from all of her people's ways of communicating. She wondered if this worked with this creature's entire race or if, for some reason, this one was special. She then replied, her words perhaps not exactly on point since this is the first time she's ever tapped into this male's language.


"You did not finish your question, so I am unsure how to answer. Greetings, I am Maaki. I have come to investigate if intelligent life reside on strange planet. I have another question: how did strange creature come upon this vessel? What is thy name?" Looking at this unfamiliar being inquisitively, she blinked every few seconds while waiting for his response.

 

[Bats]

(My apologies, life happened. If you still wish to continue, i should be more reliable now)


Exploring the corpse-filled alien spacecraft was a surreal experience, to say the least. That seemed almost trivial now that he had stumbled upon a survivor, one that was not only speaking to him, but doing so in mostly-fluid English. It was honestly somewhat nerve-wracking to be essentially acting as humanity's representative to an alien race. Sure, this lone female was obviously in a bad situation, but there was always the possibility of her hiding a weapon of some sort. Perhaps, with a single misstep on his part, she could signal the mothership to begin an invasion.


These anxiety-fueled worries left him standing silently, slack-jawed and stupid, for several seconds, before putting together an answer. "Well, Maaki, you can call me Sam. I was in the area, and your landing wasn't exactly subtle."

 

[DergTheDergon]

Maaki observed the strange sentient creature curiously as he stood there not speaking, body language indicating anxiety, nervousness, or perhaps shock. This certainly made sense, as any sentient being, race aside would be uncomfortable wandering about a vessel full of another species' dead bodies. Maaki thought that this crash could upset the balance of the human race now that she thought of it... let them know things they aren't ready to know yet. This human male had already seen too much... she wasn't the type to kill for something like that, although her superiors probably would be... she isn't able to contact them though. Finally, he spoke up, granting slight reprieve from her own anxious thoughts as he spoke, stimulating Maaki's near-boundless curiosity. "Sam... pronunciation foreign-sounding. To be expected. By landing perhaps "crash" is meant. Brethren... unfortunate. All deceased. Only one left. I have no intention harming human Sam. Sam is welcome here. If Sam knows where I can hide, safe from humans with many eyes, gratefulness abound." She looked him over hopefully with those haunting deep blue eyes of hers.

 

[Bats]

Although Sam had somewhat expected it, and she did attempt to reassure him that she meant no harm, the strange syntax of Maaki's speech only unnerved him further, giving another reminder of the strangeness of the situation.


"I have a camp nearby; not sure how safe it is from 'humans with many eyes', but I guess it'll have to do...can you walk on your own?" He chalked her survival up to dumb luck, but with every other alien on board seemingly killed on impact, it was reasonable to assume that she sustained some sort of injury in the crash.

 

[DergTheDergon]

A slight, fleeting frown crossed Maaki's features as she took in the human male's apparent increase in anxiety, despite her efforts to console him. Her attention was refocused on more positive and promising things, however, when he spoke and she began channeling his speech through her temples in order to understand his words. It was still very odd to her, this form of communication was, as far as Maaki knew, only compatible with Nerusian physiology... but she had to try it on this human at least once and it... worked. Twice! The excitement of this was undermined by the relief of Sam's offer for help.


"Cautious... safety not guaranteed. Many eyes, spread signals, spread knowledge of vessel. Must not be known... but must not stay here." Maaki was now pacing back in forth, deep in thought and mumbling her thought process out loud. "Camp... camp human abode of a kind? Must be. Safer than here. No chance of electrical death. Satisfy curiosity of planet." Maaki suddenly looked back towards Sam and smiled slightly. "Maaki grateful for offer of camp. I will accept. Am mobile, injuries limited to gash on left lower limb, bruises on right and left upper limb. Will be fine, heal with time. Lead me to Camp?" She looked towards Sam pleadingly.