RP: The Wayward Unlisted (Ep. 6)

Forest

As the two stepped into the forest, Nan's drone gave him a visual feed of what it could see while it was several meters ahead. The forest was overgrown and only the trail they had found seemed to be in the least walkable. The path was almost too clean though, to say there was an occasional branch along the path was overstating it. It would not be hard to believe that the path was man-made if someone told you so.

As they progressed along, there was a creaking sound in the distance, and then a shadow passed through the trees in front of the drone. Soon after there was a clacking sound of two hard materials hitting together that echoed through the trees.


Unknown Formation

Ash's scans yielded no results for refined and processed metals in the vicinity. If there had been an advanced civilization on this planet it was nowhere nearby. However, there was something odd in the scans. When Ash looked up at the floating figures, the scans did show there were abnormal amounts of metal in whatever was up there for it to be organic. But again it showed no signs of being processed material.

"Whatever they are, they look fairly large if they're birds they would have a wingspan just over a meter," Gabi spoke as it examined the creatures as well. "There territory almost certainly includes this rock formation. Though it's possible there is something at the top they are interested in."

Looking for water

After Ana's fall, TB was diligent in marking out a path for them to follow, of course, it wasn't perfect, however, there were plenty of times it nearly fell into a ditch on its own. After some time, however, TB came to a complete stop. It began to give out signals to Ana in its rudimentary language, that it had detected water.

Infront of them was just more moss like the rest, nothing seemed to have changed, but TB refused to go any further and insisted there was water.

Looking For Water

Quinn was considering her question about the flowers still when she fell right over. Quinn stopped dead in his tracks and looked down at her and then the shallow divots and the pattern the moss left across them as it led towards wherever it had been headed. Tracks of some sort maybe? Curious Quinn helped Anna dust off and took her hand once more, following TB and letting his own eyes scan the ground for inconsistencies so he could gently guide Anna around them. There was no sense in breaking an ankle or worse due to terrain changes that even his specialized mechanical eyes were occasionally having issues picking out.

When they reached TB, Quinn crouched down beside the little bot. "Good boy" He mused, taking out one of his knives and using the blade to poke into the surface of the moss where TB reported water. If water didn't come up right then he set about removing a chunk of it. He trusted the little bot's sensors to be accurate and if anything it was quite clear anything that was on this planet was most certainly covered in the moss, even the surface of any bodies of Liquid.

Looking for Water

Ana stayed as close as she could to Quinn as they followed TB. She would pause here and there to look around, but for the most part, she kept her eyes on the ground that she could see easily. When they reached TB, she crouched down on the bot's other side and smiled a bit at Quinn's words. She murmured, "He's not a dog, you know..." Pushing a few buttons, she brought up a small screen that would show what TB's sensors were indicating of the water source. "I wonder how big it is and how deep...and if there's a way around?"

Looking for water

As Quinn stuck his knife into the moss, his intuition paid off, and small amounts of water could be seen as they slipped past the knife onto the surface of the moss. There was a lake here, but it was entirely covered in moss. They knew where the water was, but now it was a matter of what to do with it.

TB turned to Ana and gave a series of beeps, the lake was passable if they went around but it was apparently a few dozen meters wide.

Forest

Nan had been walking as calmly as he could beside Janelle, which is to say he was practically dancing along the path to some unheard beat. He uncharacteristically came to a sudden stop, surprised by the motion caught by the drone. Wild life was a given seeing as the planet screamed habitabilty but all the connections set his hair on end.

"Whoa, hey, the camera just picked up something passing by. here," he lit up the holographic feature of his comm watch and projected the recorded image for Janelle to view. "We are definetely not alone, this path plus that sound, something is up. What do you want to do," he asked his crewmate as directed the rone to try and get a better view of whatever it was that had passed by.

Searching for Water

Ana stood to look around, squinting her eyes at the glare of the sun. "Well, we could go around, if you wanted to explore further. I'm pretty sure you want to get a sample of the water, at least, to test and see if we could drink it." She knew Quinn well enough to know he'd have empty vials in one of his many pockets, being the scientist he was. She started to walk off to the right, not planning on going too far, for she wouldn't leave her companion. But she was rather curious to see what flora grew around the lake. If there was more than just the moss.

Searching For Water

Quinn nodded and fished out a container which he filled with water and then stuck back into one of his many pockets. He shadowed Ana, letting TB mark where the edge of the water was so neither of them ended up taking an unexpected bath. He pulled up his little pocket-watch communicator "Hey Tanja we've certainly found a good sized body of water under the moss. Not sure if it's potable or not yet, but I've got some samples we'll bring back in a bit." He lengthened his stride to join Ana once again, occasionally poking at the moss around them and trying to be careful about where he stepped.

Forest

Jan could easily have the drone advance, but getting a better image of the creature was like trying to get bigfoot on camera. The images were blurry and the trees created so much shadow that it was difficult to tell what it was. However one thing could be certain, it was fairly large, about the size of a bear.

Searching for Water

The water sample was easy to acquire, but it was just as easy to notice the slight coloration to the water, a turquoise hue to it. It was pretty obvious that the water was not pure, the question was if what was in it was safe though.

Tanja's voice could be heard over the comms and she sounded somewhat excited. "That's good you two, while you're at it get a sample of the moss near the water, so we can see if it's any different from the rest of the moss."

Stefan was next to speak up "Of course if there is any flora there besides the moss, samples would be good too."

As if on qure they noticed a flow in the distance a little ways more away from the lake, at least as much as they could tell from about 100 meters away it looked like a flower.

Searching for Water...and now Flora!

Ana smiled a bit as she heard the requests. She had hoped to find some sort of flowers or something other than this odd moss that surrounded them. When she looked around, she saw that there was a flower off in the distance. "TB...go check that out." She instructed her small bot to make a path towards the flower, her following closely behind. Even as she walked along, she did idly pick up some of the ground vegetation, putting a bit into a pocket.

When the two got closer, fairly sure that Quinn was not too far behind, Ana squatted down with a small frown, "Odd...only the one?" She scanned the area to see if there were any others.

Deep within the foreboding forest

Nan harmuphed as he had trouble really getting a clearer image of the mystery fauna. He looked briefly at the ever silent Janelle and shrugged since it was obvious to him she did not have any more of an idea than the did. This wasn't surprising seeing as he was usually the idea guy on the ship, and obviously always had the best ideas any way, at least he thought so.

A nagging feeling kept itching away at the back of his head though, did someone say something earlier about him and pets. Granted it was probably that, should he encounter any potential ship pets, he should investigate and attempt to bring back it back for everyone to enjoy. He thought about messaging the Captain about his discovery but he just couldn't stop smiling at how happy Tanja would look when he brought a fine present home for her.

He looked up at Janelle with yet another trademark smile and spoke up, "Come on, we are totally going to catch up to this thing and make friends. Don't worry though, I am excellent with animals, they love me." He stood and even though he exuded confidence, he still unclasped his holster to his energy pistol. He began to move slowly down the path, peering this way and that at the lasting wonders of the planet, the video feed from his drone still up on his holographic visor.

Forest

Janelle's eyes moved like tracking cameras from Nan's display screen to the Minkan's jubilant face, locking on his from her squatting position, her elbows resting on her knees. Though her expression was deadpan, the underlying tone in the otherwise flat delivery of her response was one of abject disbelief: "We're gonna do what?"

She didn't lift her voice at the end of the sentence as was customary when one asked a question; instead it sounded more like she was uttering a statement of such profound ridiculousness that it was almost necessary to repeat it in order to assure herself that she'd heard it correctly. She didn't move from her spot for a few seconds as Nan moved on towards the source of the disturbance, staring blankly at the back of his head. Her fingers twitched near the butt of the pistol holstered to her thigh, but she didn't draw, more out of paralyzed, flabbergasted indecision than anything like pity.

Finally she seemed to snap out of her daze, and rose slowly to her feet, but she made no move to follow him immediately. "Whoa, whoa, hold on there, cowboy," she called after him. "This ain't what we signed up for, is it? What possible reason do we have to go pissing of the local wildlife?"

Nan stopped walking and glanced back at Janelle, not fully processing the look she was throwing at him. Her tone was mild in comparison which really threw off the young Minkan. He pivoted lightly and walked back to his new friend.

"Who said anything about pissing off the wildlife? I'm merely suggesting we track down whatever is out here and make friends with it," Nan explained as if it were a perfectly reasonable rebuttal. He cocked his head as he looked at her.

He liked Janelle a lot, especially since she was going to help him become a universally renowned spy. Wait, can spies be universally renowned? Would that defeat the purpose of being a spy? That would be too bad if it couldn't happen. Nan's face slightly frowned, a rare occasion indeed.

She seemed very hesitant to really open up and connect with others, especially whatever fun critter was running around in these woods. At least she was willing to talk more.

"We are here to explore and document all this awesome planet has to offer, how could we do that without encountering the local wild life? I mean what if we came across something dangerous but failed to tell anyone about it and someone gets hurt because of it? So come on, let's go make friends with the big thing in the forest," Nan spoke quickly and ended by jabbing his thumb over his shoulder towards the forest behind him.

Forest

Janelle was dumbstruck. For a full four seconds she could do nothing but fix Nan with a blank, nonplussed stare before she tore her eyes away just long enough to glance in the general direction towards which the Minkan had gestured, then back at him. The mind behind those nondescript, greenish brown eyes was clearly wrestling with what she was hearing so hard that steam was practically blowing out of her ears.

"You're frackin' crazy, you know that?" she muttered, hardly even blinking. Looking around their environment, her shoulders sagged slightly as she seemed to come to the conclusion that she was attempting to reason with either an idiot or a child, and Nan was not going to be dissuaded by her as the newcomer even if there had been anyone around to back her up. Which, she was reasonably sure, they wouldn't anyway. With a defeated groan, she adjusted the seating of the breathing mask around her nose and mouth, and with a flick of her thumb released the pistol on her thigh from its holster. "Fine, but just so we're clear," she said as she moved up behind him, gun held in both hands, "I ain't cutting you out of any predator's belly. Or rooting around in its shit for your bones."

Forest

Nan smiled again seeing that Janelle was fully on board with his train of thought. "While that was a little aggressive, I think we are coming together as a team," He said as he brought his hands together, intertwining his fingers as an example. He flicked his head a little sending his bright blue tipped bangs out of his eyes and looked up at Janelle, his brown eyes were indeed very childlike.

"Now, follow me and don't worry, if anything attacks I will protect you. Oh and if it is a bear, don't play dead, I actually heard that the bears were the first one to suggest that so they could make people easier prey. Just saying," he said as if this was the most sane thing anyone had ever heard, even using his hands to imitate his head exploding while mouthing the word 'boom'.

He backed away letting that sink in, knowing he had just laid out a massive brain egg for his new friend. He once again began to walk along the rough path, though maybe a little slower because while he seemed to shrug it off, Janelle's warning did strike a certain chord with the boy.

Forest

Nan and Jannelle continued forward into the forest. Of course with some effort they did manage to catch up to their 'prey'. Though the quesiton of whther or not that was a good idea quickly rose to teh front of their minds. In front of them was a bear or at least that was what it was in basic terms, but it's body was about 20% larger, and covered in what almost looked like armor plating made out of some kind of mineral. This plating however seemed to be growing out of the creature. The problem was not the 'armor' though but rather just a glance at it's face and they could see foam at it's maw and blood shot eyes as it slamed it's body against a large rock, making sharp sound that reverberated through the forest.

The beast had not seen them just yet, but they were easily within the range a normal animal would become cautious.

Forest

The sight of the fearsome bear-thing, appearing as much like a biological, quadrupedal tank as it did an animal, made Janelle freeze in her tracks. Her deadpan expression didn't falter, but her eyes flared open wide upon spotting the thing, and the knuckles on her weathered hands turned pale white as her grip on her pistol clamped down like a vise.

Her other hand shot out with the speed and silence of a cobra, snatching the back of Nan's shirt and locking it in an equally merciless grip, halting his forward momentum as she stared in wide-eyed terror at the beast, rooted to the spot. In actuality no more than two seconds elapsed, but in that span it seemed like a breathless eternity before Janelle was able to shift her eyes towards the Minkan, and spoke to him through tightly clenched teeth in a hissed whisper so quiet it was barely audible above the ambient sounds of the woods around them. "You still think this is a good idea!?"

Forest

Nan, as usual, was really only half paying attention when he felt his jacket being wrenched and his momentum halted. His first reaction was to complain loudly until both Janelle's verbal warning and his focus falling on the beast before them. Nan's jaw dropped from shock and surprise and worked up and down as if he wanted to say something but could not find the words.

He turned and faced Janelle with a serious and truly scared look, his voice cracking as he said in a low tone, "Why would you let us come here? Look at that thing, it's gigantic. Seriously, you should have known better." The incredulous look he was giving Janelle at the moment really made Nan look like a young boy. His fingers were twitching nervously as he glanced back at the beast, to Janelle and then just past Janelle toward where they came from.

"We have to get out of here lady, you have put us in some serious danger," Nan said as he gestured slowly to the path they came from. He even slowly began inching his way around Janelle. His hands gripped his backpacks shoulder straps in the emergency case he needed to gain quick access to his drones, for what little he thought he could do to the thing.

Forest

Though it didn't even seem anatomically possible, Janelle's eyes flared even further open as the bewildered shock at Nan's reply was dumped unceremoniously on top of her terror at the sight of the armored bear-tank. Her clenched jaw went completely slack as it fell open, and for what seemed like an eternity she just stared, aghast and speechless.

The stupefied look in her eyes was quickly replaced with a dangerous flash of raw fury, however, and when her jaw closed again her teeth ground together so hard that they sounded like scraping rocks... or a scythe being sharpened. The hand clamping the back of Nan's shirt somehow summoned even more strength, far more than the gaunt woman standing over him appeared capable of exerting, and twisted it hard. Nan's shirt collar tightened around his neck like a noose, pinching off some of the blood and air travelling through his throat. "Why you fracking, stupid..." She hissed slowly through her grinding teeth, her backwater drawl veritably dripping off of her carefully enunciated words as she raised the butt of her pistol. For a split second, it appeared absolutely certain that she was going to beat him until his face was little more than a crater.

But she didn't. Perhaps it was the look of childlike innocence on Nan's face that moved her into believing that the Minkan simply didn't know any better. Or perhaps she had simply remembered the gravity of their situation and had elected to just delay taking out her frustration until their lives weren't in immediate peril. With a slow turn of her head she cast a wary, sideways glance at the animal, then surveyed their surroundings. Spotting a massive tree trunk nearby, she returned her eyes to Nan and pulled his face so close to hers that the tips of their noses were practically touching. "No talking," she whispered menacingly in a tone that brokered no argument, her teeth never parting, "Not. One. Sound."

Watching the bear-tank, and never releasing her grip on Nan's shirt, she slunk towards the tree, taking every step with calculated, cat-like silence and precision. She dragged Nan along as firmly as she could without causing him to stumble or shuffle his feet and alert the beast. If they could get out of the thing's line of sight, they could make a cautious retreat without startling it.

Forest

Nan and Janelle could feel every hair on their body stand on end as they tried to navigate away from this strange creature. Every sound resounded crisply in their heads. Just to position themselves out of direct line of sight seemed to have taken half of forever, but they made it to a blind spot behind a tree.

They would not progress further however, the bear began to move and grunt. Had it noticed them? The only way to find out was to risk peeking around the tree. When they did, they were met with the sight of the creature digging in one location, but after only a few strokes it stopped and moved to another location. It was sound that could be used to cover their tracks, but the bear was slowly moving closer towards them in a staggered path.

Hidden Lake

All was quiet as the group approached the lone flower in the strange moss covered 'grasslands' of this unexplored world. When TB approached though, things quickly turned for a shocking and unexpected event. The ground seemed to open up and several vines lashed out at TB, quickly wrapping around it. The drone of course struggled against the vines as it fought to remain on the surface, but it was slowly sinking into the moss.