“Hold out your arm,” Con demanded of N-81. N-81 complied.
“What is your purpose with my arm?” was the inquiry.
“If I told you, you probably wouldn’t approve. A little lower, please.” N-81 lowered his arm. Con raised a rock over his head. N-81 jerked his arm back.
“Please do not damage my-“
“Just-!” Con paused with an exasperated sigh, “Just hold your arm there, I’m not gonna break it off.” N-81 placed his arm back out. Con struck the arm with the rock and sparks flew off into the small patch of kindling he had made. The kindling started, burning a gentle orange. Con moved it carefully into the arrangement of wood logs he had made. The small fire began to grow as sun began to set. Soon, it was a full fledged bonfire.
They huddled around this somewhat small beacon of hope as the wood crackled and the sparks flew. The night had grown dark, the dying pink sunset having faded away. The forest around them had come to life. Trees glowed bright blue and green, casting light into the dark forest. Small beetles crawled along the ground aimlessly. Essa had nicknamed them “Glow-Beetles” for the red light they cast. Strange bats darted overhead, their eyes glowing yellow in the night. Con had fallen asleep, snoring loudly as Glow-Beetles crawled over him. Sweetcrazy slept on a makeshift, ramshackle wooden bed made from logs and leaves. Her servants slept on the filthy ground around her. Skull-eye, “Agent Ultra”, and their companion had disappeared somewhere into the ship. Boomer slept away from the group. Essa was no where to be seen. A quick look showed her silhouetted against he glowing forest.
N-81 stood and walked over to her, trying, and failing, to be quiet. She turned to him, slightly startled, then recognized the friendly droid and gave a small wave.
“Why do you not sleep with the rest of the passengers?” N-81 inquired of his companion.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said then, turning her attention back to the jungle of light, “It’s beautiful.”
“I cannot fully understand the concept of beauty, however, analysis of human patterns indicates that this would be considered as ‘beautiful’.” Essa gave N-81 a sideways glance.
“It’s kind of sad.”
“What is?”
“You. I mean, you don’t understand…I mean—you…you can’t…feel.”
“I am programmed to simulate emotions. I can recognize certain electrical impulses as different emotions, and therefore alter my behavior accordingly. So, in a sense, I can feel.”
“But it’s not the same. You can’t feel happiness when you’re friend makes a joke, or when it’s your birthday and people are all around you celebrating. You can’t feel sadness when you lose a game or fight with a friend. You can’t feel loss. You can’t feel joy. You can’t feel—“ she glanced back at Con, but then reverted her attention to the droid, “love. You can’t feel any of that.” N-81 caught the glance and cocked his head to the side, looking from Con back to Essa.
“You have feelings-“ N-81 started.
“It’s…complicated…” Essa said, dismissing the subject with a small wave of the hand. There was a pause. N-81 mentally identified this as what was referred to as an “awkward silence”. “Come on,” Essa said, beckoning N-81 to follow, “I want to show you something.” She then walked into the jungle of light. N-81 took a step to follow, hesitated, looking back at the sleeping group, then followed her in. Through brightly lit ferns and over glimmering roots of jungle trees they walked. Eventually Essa stopped. N-81 became distracted with a rather familiar creature. The creature was small, about the size of a quarter. A larger one, the size of an old computer disk from 2017 scrabbled past it up the tree. The creature had a long, thin body and a pill shaped head. Two bulbous eyes rested on either side of its head, and between them were two smaller eyes. Two pincers sat just below a pair of mandibles on it’s face. The creature had three spiked legs on either side of it’s body and a whip-like tail. N-81 let the larger one crawl onto his hand, where he held it up to his great eye and regarded it with curiosity. The creature blinked its two smaller eyes at him.
N-81 turned to what she was pointing to, allowing the Crawler back onto the tree, and his suspicions were confirmed. There, in a cluster, flew Flash-Flies. The wasp-butterfly hybrids were the natural predator of the Tree-Crawler. Gracefully through the air they flew, fluttering their wings that glowed faintly blue. The alien insects’ flashlight tails blinked as they tried to draw in suitable prey from the tree they flew next to.
“What are they? I noticed them earlier tonight, flying around the trees.” Essa asked.
“Flash-Flies. They are the natural predator of the Tree-Crawler-“ he pointed to the Crawlers scuttling along the branches, “and are native to the planet designated ‘CC-31’. Their only known natural predator is a highly aggressive species called ‘Weavers’. “ Essa’s face scrunched up.
“What are those?”
“As the human saying goes, you don’t want to know.”
“Fair enough,” she said. Her face then lit up when she saw a plant glowing orange and green. “Look at that one!” she cried, rushing over to it. N-81 ignored this, fixing his attention on the Flash-Flies.
***************
Con wasn’t sure when they’d left, only that they had. He’d woken up in a cold sweat after a nightmare. N-81 was gone. That’s fine, he’d thought, the rust bucket can handle himself. It was when he’d noticed Essa was missing that he grew worried. He crawled over to Boomer, giving him a strong shove. Boomer awoke with a groggy moan.
“What?”
“Where’s Essa?”
“I don’t know. Why are you worried? She can handle herself.” Boomer fell back to sleep. Great, Con thought, just great.
Stooping, he picked up his helmet and set into the woods.
Essa brushed the great leaf of the plant and instantly billions of glowing yellow spores were released into the air. N-81 turned his attention to this, bewildered. Essa stood in the midst of the spore cloud, awestruck.
“Essa?! Nate?!” a voice called faintly in the distance. Something dropped into the ferns, causing N-81 to turn. Another thing dropped. N-81 identified it as the Flash-Flies, who were now caught in the spore cloud. More and more dropped. N-81 came to the horrifying realization that the spores were the cause. He turned to tell Essa.
“Nate…” he heard her voice trail off. He turned just in time to see her collapse to the ground, unconscious.
“No!” It was Con, who had just emerged from the trees, who screamed this. He tugged on his helmet and rushed into the spore cloud, dragging Essa out. “What were you thinking?!” Con yelled at N-81 as he dragged Essa back to camp. N-81 didn’t have an answer. “You may have just gotten her killed! You stupid pile of scrap!” They reached camp, the others wide awake now. “Don’t just stand there, do something Nate!”
“I am an engineering model, not a medic!” N-81 retorted with artificial disgust and a touch of false panic. Boomer saw his sister on the ground and panicked, rushing over to her.
“Essa! Essa!” he yelled, gently slapping her on the face, “come on Essa! Wake up!”
“Go get some anti-toxins!” Con shouted at Boomer. Boomer nodded.
“Where’s the med bay?”
“You!” Con pointed an accusing finger at N-81, “Take him there!”
N-81 nodded, completely calm in the midst of the crisis. He stood and set off for the ship, as the embers of the fire rose into the night sky like burning starlight.
That’s the end of chapter 4 folks, hopefully chapter 5 will be up soon! My apologies to Essa! XD Post your comments and/or questions below, I’d love to answer them!
Fun Facts with Nexo! Fun Fact #1: “Burning Starlight” was actually the title for a book I had planned to write IRL, but had abandoned. The title was derived from part of a planned speech that went “and the fires of hope shall burn bright, their embers rising into the sky like burning starlight.” (Another sub-fact, “Fires of Hope” will be the title of the next chapter!) Fun Fact #2: The bioluminescant forest is part of a currently unnamed phenomenon on the planet that takes place only once every 2-4 years! Fun Fact #3: N-81 may be an engineering model, but he is programmed with knowledge of basic medicinal practises. (However, this does not include being able to diagnose Essa’s condition or anylize the toxic spores she inhaled to produce a specific anti-toxin!)
It is rare somebody out-vocabularies me. I had to look those up.
That's okay, it's not often someone makes sense of my otherwise incomprehensible or simply underused lexis. I usually end up using better known synonyms, especially in my stories.
You and I, sir, need to hold a very verbose CONversation that way I CON learn your way with words.
N-81 stood and walked over to her, trying, and failing, to be quiet. She turned to him, slightly startled, then recognized the friendly droid and gave a small wave.
“Why do you not sleep with the rest of the passengers?” N-81 inquired of his companion.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said then, turning her attention back to the jungle of light, “It’s beautiful.”
“I cannot fully understand the concept of beauty, however, analysis of human patterns indicates that this would be considered as ‘beautiful’.” Essa gave N-81 a sideways glance.
“It’s kind of sad.”
“What is?”
“You. I mean, you don’t understand…I mean—you…you can’t…feel.”
“I am programmed to simulate emotions. I can recognize certain electrical impulses as different emotions, and therefore alter my behavior accordingly. So, in a sense, I can feel.”
“But it’s not the same. You can’t feel happiness when you’re friend makes a joke, or when it’s your birthday and people are all around you celebrating. You can’t feel sadness when you lose a game or fight with a friend. You can’t feel loss. You can’t feel joy. You can’t feel—“ she glanced back at Con, but then reverted her attention to the droid, “love. You can’t feel any of that.” N-81 caught the glance and cocked his head to the side, looking from Con back to Essa.
“You have feelings-“ N-81 started.
“It’s…complicated…” Essa said, dismissing the subject with a small wave of the hand. There was a pause. N-81 mentally identified this as what was referred to as an “awkward silence”. “Come on,” Essa said, beckoning N-81 to follow, “I want to show you something.” She then walked into the jungle of light. N-81 took a step to follow, hesitated, looking back at the sleeping group, then followed her in. Through brightly lit ferns and over glimmering roots of jungle trees they walked. Eventually Essa stopped. N-81 became distracted with a rather familiar creature. The creature was small, about the size of a quarter. A larger one, the size of an old computer disk from 2017 scrabbled past it up the tree. The creature had a long, thin body and a pill shaped head. Two bulbous eyes rested on either side of its head, and between them were two smaller eyes. Two pincers sat just below a pair of mandibles on it’s face. The creature had three spiked legs on either side of it’s body and a whip-like tail. N-81 let the larger one crawl onto his hand, where he held it up to his great eye and regarded it with curiosity. The creature blinked its two smaller eyes at him.
*mouth drops open*
*mouth dangles there, not sure if it will ever close again*
That’s the end of chapter 4 folks, hopefully chapter 5 will be up soon! My apologies to Essa! XD Post your comments and/or questions below, I’d love to answer them!
Fun Facts with Nexo! Fun Fact #1: “Burning Starlight” was actually the title for a book I had planned to write IRL, but had abandoned. The title was derived from part of a planned speech that went “and the fires of hope shall burn bright, their embers rising into the sky like burning starlight.” (Another sub-fact, “Fires of Hope” will be the title of the next chapter!) Fun Fact #2: The bioluminescant forest is part of a currently unnamed phenomenon on the planet that takes place only once every 2-4 years! Fun Fact #3: N-81 may be an engineering model, but he is programmed with knowledge of basic medicinal practises. (However, this does not include being able to diagnose Essa’s condition or anylize the toxic spores she inhaled to produce a specific anti-toxin!)
N-81 stood and walked over to her, trying, and failing, to be quiet. She turned to him, slightly startled, then recognized the friendly droid and gave a small wave.
“Why do you not sleep with the rest of the passengers?” N-81 inquired of his companion.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said then, turning her attention back to the jungle of light, “It’s beautiful.”
“I cannot fully understand the concept of beauty, however, analysis of human patterns indicates that this would be considered as ‘beautiful’.” Essa gave N-81 a sideways glance.
“It’s kind of sad.”
“What is?”
“You. I mean, you don’t understand…I mean—you…you can’t…feel.”
“I am programmed to simulate emotions. I can recognize certain electrical impulses as different emotions, and therefore alter my behavior accordingly. So, in a sense, I can feel.”
“But it’s not the same. You can’t feel happiness when you’re friend makes a joke, or when it’s your birthday and people are all around you celebrating. You can’t feel sadness when you lose a game or fight with a friend. You can’t feel loss. You can’t feel joy. You can’t feel—“ she glanced back at Con, but then reverted her attention to the droid, “love. You can’t feel any of that.” N-81 caught the glance and cocked his head to the side, looking from Con back to Essa.
“You have feelings-“ N-81 started.
“It’s…complicated…” Essa said, dismissing the subject with a small wave of the hand. There was a pause. N-81 mentally identified this as what was referred to as an “awkward silence”. “Come on,” Essa said, beckoning N-81 to follow, “I want to show you something.” She then walked into the jungle of light. N-81 took a step to follow, hesitated, looking back at the sleeping group, then followed her in. Through brightly lit ferns and over glimmering roots of jungle trees they walked. Eventually Essa stopped. N-81 became distracted with a rather familiar creature. The creature was small, about the size of a quarter. A larger one, the size of an old computer disk from 2017 scrabbled past it up the tree. The creature had a long, thin body and a pill shaped head. Two bulbous eyes rested on either side of its head, and between them were two smaller eyes. Two pincers sat just below a pair of mandibles on it’s face. The creature had three spiked legs on either side of it’s body and a whip-like tail. N-81 let the larger one crawl onto his hand, where he held it up to his great eye and regarded it with curiosity. The creature blinked its two smaller eyes at him.
*mouth drops open*
*mouth dangles there, not sure if it will ever close again*
XD Are you ok Con? Do I need to add a disclaimer? XD
That’s the end of chapter 4 folks, hopefully chapter 5 will be up soon! My apologies to Essa! XD Post your comments and/or questions below, I’d love to answer them!
Fun Facts with Nexo! Fun Fact #1: “Burning Starlight” was actually the title for a book I had planned to write IRL, but had abandoned. The title was derived from part of a planned speech that went “and the fires of hope shall burn bright, their embers rising into the sky like burning starlight.” (Another sub-fact, “Fires of Hope” will be the title of the next chapter!) Fun Fact #2: The bioluminescant forest is part of a currently unnamed phenomenon on the planet that takes place only once every 2-4 years! Fun Fact #3: N-81 may be an engineering model, but he is programmed with knowledge of basic medicinal practises. (However, this does not include being able to diagnose Essa’s condition or anylize the toxic spores she inhaled to produce a specific anti-toxin!)
N-81 stood and walked over to her, trying, and failing, to be quiet. She turned to him, slightly startled, then recognized the friendly droid and gave a small wave.
“Why do you not sleep with the rest of the passengers?” N-81 inquired of his companion.
“Couldn’t sleep,” she said then, turning her attention back to the jungle of light, “It’s beautiful.”
“I cannot fully understand the concept of beauty, however, analysis of human patterns indicates that this would be considered as ‘beautiful’.” Essa gave N-81 a sideways glance.
“It’s kind of sad.”
“What is?”
“You. I mean, you don’t understand…I mean—you…you can’t…feel.”
“I am programmed to simulate emotions. I can recognize certain electrical impulses as different emotions, and therefore alter my behavior accordingly. So, in a sense, I can feel.”
“But it’s not the same. You can’t feel happiness when you’re friend makes a joke, or when it’s your birthday and people are all around you celebrating. You can’t feel sadness when you lose a game or fight with a friend. You can’t feel loss. You can’t feel joy. You can’t feel—“ she glanced back at Con, but then reverted her attention to the droid, “love. You can’t feel any of that.” N-81 caught the glance and cocked his head to the side, looking from Con back to Essa.
“You have feelings-“ N-81 started.
“It’s…complicated…” Essa said, dismissing the subject with a small wave of the hand. There was a pause. N-81 mentally identified this as what was referred to as an “awkward silence”. “Come on,” Essa said, beckoning N-81 to follow, “I want to show you something.” She then walked into the jungle of light. N-81 took a step to follow, hesitated, looking back at the sleeping group, then followed her in. Through brightly lit ferns and over glimmering roots of jungle trees they walked. Eventually Essa stopped. N-81 became distracted with a rather familiar creature. The creature was small, about the size of a quarter. A larger one, the size of an old computer disk from 2017 scrabbled past it up the tree. The creature had a long, thin body and a pill shaped head. Two bulbous eyes rested on either side of its head, and between them were two smaller eyes. Two pincers sat just below a pair of mandibles on it’s face. The creature had three spiked legs on either side of it’s body and a whip-like tail. N-81 let the larger one crawl onto his hand, where he held it up to his great eye and regarded it with curiosity. The creature blinked its two smaller eyes at him.
*mouth drops open*
*mouth dangles there, not sure if it will ever close again*
What will abbie say!!! (I think he just refed your ark ward Silence tho....)
WOW! I read the new chappies Nexo, and I'm finding out crazy stuff I never even knew about myself! Also, it makes sense that I would be done in by spores, I have allergies Irl. XD Nice job! The shocks I got reading these were stimulating and keep me on my toes! Keep it up!!
I had to look those up. 
I usually end up using better known synonyms, especially in my stories.
