The Deep

[Starlighter]

The color had completely drained from Toby's face, leaving him pale and anxious. Part of him wanted to think he'd imagined the horror scene that had just played out over the radio for all of them to hear, helpless to intervene. He raised a shaky hand to wipe the sweat from his brow, and forced himself to take a deep breath, then another. Exhale. We're safe right now, just get to the rendezvous, meet up with the other survivors…. Safe. For now. Or…. were they?

He risked a quick glance at the trees. Sarah's voice brought him back to the present, and he swallowed his hesitation. As forced as her words had come out, he didn't blame her a bit. All he could manage at first was a nod in response; he didn't trust himself to speak. Rather than voicing his agreement, he offered his arm to support Emil, and started walking.

Try as he might to block out the memory of hearing someone being torn to pieces by a monster in real time, the task proved impossible. At any moment, that could be one of the people around him - it could be him. The thought made him all too aware of how defenseless he really was - he could patch up wounds, but inflicting them wasn't a skill he'd ever anticipated needing.

"Um…. someone should probably keep an eye on the trees… y'know. Just in case." His voice wavered, and he cleared his throat to steady it enough to say the words he wanted to hear. "But just as a precaution… I'm sure we'll be fine." Even as he said it, the sentiment seemed hollow.​

 

[Dipper]

Emil willfully blocked out the woman's final moments, but no matter how hard he tried, the idea of something so brutal and powerful as whatever had torn that girl apart being on the same island was...

He swallowed past the lump in his throat. He could hardly stand or even walk. Emil's chances of survival took a steep nosedive the moment that transmission came through he couldn't fight the sickness rising in his stomach. Looking to the treeline gave him only a view of swaying alien trees and the unfamiliar sky above, and further along, the rest of the beach and whatever had washed up from the escape pods. Their smoking remains bobbed along with the waves and made his head spin.

Murmuring a quiet thanks, Emil took Toby's hand and struggled to his feet. Or, one foot, as the other remained uselessly limp and would surely buckle beneath him if he tried. It burned, but he would live. He let Toby go once he'd found his balance and gotten the makeshift walking stick under one arm.

Emil's voice wavered when he spoke, the barest hint of uncertainty clear in his tone. "The ship has - had - a distress beacon, prepped to send out a signal in the event of a catastrophe. A-any standard transmitter through the hull and reactivate the beacon, assuming whatever blew us out of orbit didn't damage. Assuming."

"I can possibly connect to it from here using a PDA."

 

[noodle]

Date: March 5th, 3040 Time: 10:45 Location: Shallow Reef/Valley Shore

The radios were silent for a good few minutes after that- just soft static crackled through, mixing with the screeching of the shoreline birds and the rustling of the wind through the trees. The trees looked similar to the ones home on earth, all brown trunks and branches and vibrant green leaves.

At least some things hadn't changed- the color scheme, at least, seemed to be the same.

The weary band of four survivors limped toward the rendezvous point, which was a half mile inland. It was nestled in a small oasis of twisted, windblown trees, and the treeline of the nearby forest could be seen in the distance. A huge mountain resided to their right, and to their left and front was an impossibly thick wall of forest. To their backs?

Ocean. Maybe more dead people.

The air was warm. Salty.

Gentle gusts of wind brushed themselves through the survivors' hair, but they weren't really paying attention to the romantic side of their situation. They were looking at the trees. Said trees were much, much smaller than the ones that resided in the nearby forest, but there was no danger of anything hiding in them. They were twisted, leaning from the heavy gusts of wind that sometimes rolled through the valley. Their leaves were all but gone, and their roots, sticking up from the rough dirt, were parched and stiff.

They could make for good firewood, and perhaps a makeshift club, but not much else. They offered some prtection from the wind, but not much, and there was no clear water source in view.

To get wood for building, they'd have to brave the forest. And Emil wasn't exactly up to that task at this moment- It would probably be best if they were to start handing out assignments now.

Relevant Links

Shallow Reef
The Island
Rendezvous Valley

 

[Applo]

The rest of the journey towards the rendezvous was a tense affair. The rugged terrain, combined with Emil's injury meant that the group progressed at a crawl when all Sarah wanted to do was sprint. Every crack and rustle that came from the tree line sent her heart and imagination into overdrive. Whatever creatures lived on this planet did not mess around it seemed. They wouldn't get second chances here.

A rapid succession of pings from the various PDAs the group had made Sarah jump out of her skin. With a veritable torrent of muttered curses pouring from her lips Sarah made her way over to steal a glance at one of her companions devices. What she saw burst the already microscopic bubble of hope that she had sustained herself with on the journey so far. They, and as far as she could see and only they, had made it to the rendezvous point. She hadn't expected a crowd. The number of known survivors was practically tattooed in her mind. Even so, one or two others surely should have made it by now. She hadn't exactly been racing here when she'd been by herself. Somehow, even with the addition of Emil's broken leg she was still one of the first here.

With barely a thought and even less hesitation Sarah popped a couple out of their packaging, placed them on the back of tongue and swallowed. She genuinely didn't care if anyone saw her or what they thought, right now, Sarah knew she needed this. There was a part of her mind that knew what was needed now was calm and rational action. Unfortunately that part of her brain was surrounded by neighbors who were strongly advocates of a plan of action that involved lying on the floor and screaming. She hoped a taste of oblivion would bring a little serenity to help her make the right choices now.

"I guess we collect the gold medal." Sarah turned to look at the rest of the group. "Does anyone have a clue what to do now? Should we wait here for anyone else or I dunno find some shelter or water or something?​

 

[Rosé Moon]

Almost as soon as she'd finally found the courage to speak to the two that had come to her, she heard a roar. A roar from the land, and it opened her mind to all the danger they were still in. Again, her body seized as an unfortunate-timed wave pushed the pod. In her fearful state of shock, the rocking of the pod slide her off like hot butter off of a knife. She slide off, and fell face first into her fear.

The light above the water was gone. All that fell around her now was darkness. Heavy, unchangeable darkness. Her brain snapped to life, and it began snapping orders to her body, that her body wouldn't listen too. Panic ensued, and she didn't realize her body was still trying to breath, and that's when her body began to move again. Water entered her lungs and her legs kicked violently, and her arms followed suit. She had to get up and out! Those two up there would pull her out! She just had to get to the surface!

Somehow, she did just that. Flopping her arms irrationally, she slowly surfaced and the light was like a warm hug after a cold beating.

"Help me!" she scream in a pitiful cry, arms a flail "Aidez-moi, aidez-moi!" as she looked around, it was in horror, that she realized the other were gone. How was that possible!? Niomi was in no position to know that she'd been pulled away from the others. Once she realized they were gone,her sights, in her panic, fell on the shore. Now, Niomi knew how to swim. Swimming wasn't an issue? A safe, and secure swimming pool? Then it was a great hobby. An open ocean, let alone on an alien planet, with no help in sight! This was a nightmare!

If she hadn't made it to the shore, she would've died. There was more than a couple times she wanted to stop. She was scared, and terrified, and her body wanted to stop, but she didn't want to die. Not now. Not here. Not after she fell out of space after sleeping for God knows how long. She did make it to the shore though, and when she did, the first thing she did was throw up. Water. She must've taken in a vast amount of water, because once it started coming out it didn't stop for a while, and when it did... it was in a flurry of sobbing and coughing. Niomi needed a moment. A moment in all this, and so she cried. She cried for an amount of time she didn't know.

Finally, she was on her feet, and she was walking. A blank expression on her face as she didn't think about the PDA she'd lost, or the two that had been lost to her. All she thought about was the map on the PDA before, the people it'd showed and finding them, and just that happened. She rounded a small hill atop the beach she'd crawled out of and thrown up on and her eyes fell onto them. Three individuals were all she could see from here, and that was all she needed. They were he best bet to get time to screw her head on straight. It wasn't until starting down the decline did she realize she must've twisted or sprained her ankle in the water. He gate turned into a limp as she approached them, quietly, almost cautiously. Her pace slowed and she eyed the others; a man slender and dark haired. A woman, red-hai- strawberry blonde? It didn't matter. Then the last one she could see... some man in a uniform. He looked official. Had he been security staff on Moonbeam? If so, he was worth staying close to.

"Bonjour..." she uttered in a low tone, "My name is... Niomi."

@Applo @Dipper @Starlighter

 

[Starlighter]

As their small group trekked onward, Toby found it difficult to stay focused on one thing at a time. Every few steps he glanced quickly over the trees surrounding them, then checked to make sure Emil was still moving alright. Then he'd look back over his shoulder at where they'd come from. Rinse, repeat. Their progress was achingly slow, but at the same time he couldn't bear the thought of moving any faster. Maybe, just maybe, if they were careful enough then they wouldn't draw any undue attention.

Not surprisingly, they were still alone when they reached the rendezvous point. Toby swallowed back the sickening disappointment that threatened to turn his stomach. So, maybe this was it. Just them, the island, and the ocean. He cleared his throat and looked between his two companions; he spied Sarah throwing back some more pills, and while part of him wanted to warn her that they needed to ration their supplies, he couldn't bring himself to blame her.

"We should probably try to wait here, just in case…. But it might be a good idea to get some fresh water." He paused to clear his throat, feeling entirely out of his league. What did he know about surviving in alien wilderness? "And shelter, yeah…"

Something moved on the other side of the clearing. He tensed and took an instinctual step back, but a moment later a woman appeared. She was drenched and looked to be limping slightly, but the sight of her brought a smile to his face, and he almost dared to hope again that some of the other survivors might make it after all.

"Hello there!" he responded, gesturing for her to come closer. "I'm Tobias - er, Toby. Whatever…. Anyway. It's a relief to see someone else made it." He peered around her, hoping to catch sight of another person coming from the same direction, but there was no sign of movement. "We were just talking about what to do now…." he trailed off, hoping that someone else would step up to the challenge of taking charge.​