Bound to the Stars (Xenophylia and TinyInconvenience)

[TinyInconvenience]

Red emergency lights were lighting up every hallway of the colossal ship, in some areas being barely visible through the smoke and fires crackling throughout, spreading between rooms. The sirens going off over the intercom system were ear-deafening, a requirement for them to be audible amongst the terrified cries of the crew trying to reach the nearest escape pods. Many had already perished from oxygen loss as the many hull-breaches would drain the rooms of all air, others had been caught beneath piles of rubble and debris, left behind to bleed out and die. Those who remained would spend their last moments pounding on the electronic doors of the ship, most of which had seized to function or been locked down to seal rooms from breaches, ultimately making it impossible to reach any of the escape pod bays.

Nona, however, had never given up because something had been impossible, and she refused for this to be her destiny. So far, she had been lucky to find a path towards one of the bays, having taken a few detours to bypass locked doors or burning rooms. The only people she had met on her path had been in inaccessible hallways, some of which already being dead, their lifeless faces pressed up against the thick vacuum glass that could be found in each of the reinforced steel doors. She had wanted to help many of those she had met but statistically seen, it would've been not only difficult but incredibly risky, and with time being of the essence, she would have no choice but to leave them behind; no choice but to keep running towards her escape.

Turning a corner, she saw through the window of the next door and spotted the familiar escape pod bay sign through the dense cloud of smoke looming below the ceiling. As she quickly ran towards the door, she noticed that the keypad next to it was flashing red. Lockdown. Her chances of escape had just drastically dropped. She pounded the door: No results. She bashed her shoulder against it: It didn't budge. She tried again, with more force this time: She'd feel that for a few weeks. It was no use, and she knew it already. These doors were made to counter even the largest explosions, and her shoulder was undoubtedly unable to exert a force of that magnitude. She stepped back, noticing the screws on the keypad next to the door. They were small, but her military-grade multitool was likely to be able to unscrew them. She pulled it out of her pocket, and its red shine was made redder by the emergency lights. It resembled a swiss-army knife, something she had specifically requested when it had been made, but it had a vaster collection of tools. The screwdriver it had, however magnificent it was, would be too large for the small screws; her only option would be to unscrew them with the knife-blade. There had to be an emergency switch behind it somewhere. There just had to be. As soon as the knife fitted into the slot on the screw, she turned it as quickly as she could, unscrewing three out of the four screws. Time was valuable, and she needn't unscrew more than the three she had. Turning the cover around the last screw, she looked at the wiring in the wall. There didn't seem to be any button labelled as "override". It was hopeless. At first, she felt defeated, then it turned into frustration. She stabbed her knife into the wiring, cutting some cables and seemingly frying the circuit board. Whatever she had done, it had been as convenient as an override switch, as the door seemed to open itself.

The room was on fire, explaining the lockdown of the door, but it wouldn't stop Nona. Showing no hesitation, she rushed through the flames, holding her breath to avoid inhaling any smoke. She swiftly turned the vault to the door and pushed it in, closing it behind her as quickly as she possibly could. Releasing her breath and inhaling oxygen once again, she went over to the interface of the pod, commanding it to detach from the ship, and it obeyed with a sudden jerk. She stumbled over from the sudden movement and proceeded to walk over to the cryopod stationed in the very back. The cylindrical room was crowded with much equipment in the case that someone would end up stranded on a planet, but soon, it would activate its thrusters and seek out the nearest civilization; hopefully. She undressed and stepped into the cryopod, relieved and tired from her escape, and closed the glass door behind her. The pod activated, and soon enough, the gas valves activated, freezing her down in an instant to put her in a deep sleep until they found a planet with a civilization, which could take anywhere from days to several years.

[xenophylia]

Dr Alan Jenkins' final moments on the ship were a sharp contrast to Nona's experience. He'd been wakened from a sound sleep in one of the science lounges immediately adjacent to the lab in which he was working. Alan had decided to catch a brief nap between steps in an experiment he was running on some spores found on a meteor sample. He'd awoken to the sound of the alarms, and a certain tone in the sound told him this one was not a drill.

“Fuck” he muttered, trying to brush the sleep from his eyes. It was a full evacuate alarm. Not only would it interrupt his experiment but he'd have to enter one of the cryopods, which didn't do much for his mild case of claustrophobia. He also hated cryosleep, which always seemed to make him feel rather shitty for days after awakening. As he exited the lounge, various nameless crew ran here and there, none of whom replied to his inquiries as to what was going on. He could hear the sound of explosions in the distance, though none of the chaos Nona had encountered has reached his level yet. As far as he knew, they'd been in a rather peaceful segment of known space. Had they been hit by an asteroid? The ship's defenses were supposedly state of the art but like everything else on the ship their effectiveness was purely in theory.

There was a pod bay literally adjacent to the lab- the feds hated losing their valued science officers and made sure the science staff had a safety net nearby. He punched the access buttons to enter one of the remaining pods. Two of the pods were already gone. He quickly disrobed, feeling the anticipated chill of the fluid in his veins before he'd even gotten into position. The door to the pod closed over his reclining body and he winced as the needles accessed his wrists. By the time the thrusters launched the pod into space he was already unconscious, sedated as the frozen fluid began to enter his veins. The rest of the journey would be a crapshoot as the pod tried to locate the closest habitable world. From there it would send a distress beacon to attract any potential rescue ships in the area. Till then, he'd have to survive on his own, although as a xenobiologist the thought of setting down on an unknown world didn't particularly scare him. His instincts and training should be enough to keep him alive until rescue.

[TinyInconvenience]

Nona became aware of her surroundings as the door to the cryopod slammed open. Her muscles were stiff after the cryofreeze, but she managed to get out of the small pod after spending some moments remembering what had happened. The ship she had been on had burst into flames. Or something of the sort. She couldn't quite remember, which wasn't unnatural after spending some time suspended. How much time had passed? Minutes? Years? She looked to the interface next to the escape pod door to check, but the only words on it were "Critical thruster failure" in white, flashing against a red background. They'd never been told what it meant or what to do in such a situation during any of the emergency drills, but it would take an idiot not to realize that you'd best buckle up.

The pod was shaking violently, and much of the equipment already laid scattered on the floor. Tripping over a suit helmet and a couple of medical supplies, she stumbled towards the seat in the middle of the cylindrical room and immediately sat down. The buckles were a nightmare to grab onto with all the shaking, and she could eventually see what appeared to be a horizon through the window in the door. And it was approaching fast. Finally, she managed to grab the buckles and attach herself properly to the chair, just in time for the pod to crash into the ground, the very impact of which caused her to fall unconscious.

When she came to, the world was but a blurry mess. Nona felt sharp pain everywhere in her body, particularly in her leg. Outside the broken window in the door of the pod was something that resembled a lush climate under a night sky, and it was apparent that the atmosphere was breathable. She'd been lucky that the chairs in these things were of the most advanced manufacture one could find these days, a model specifically renowned for being able to counteract at least 50% of all G-forces it is subject to. She unbuckled the belts, and to her surprise, it felt as if all her organs remained in place. It took her some time to get the strength to try, but she eventually attempted to stand up. The pain in her leg felt sharper, and looking down, she saw that a large metal plate had penetrated right through it. She was still able to stand, but most of her weight would have to remain on her other leg, and she knew better than to remove the only thing keeping her blood from flowing out.

The entire pod was in disorder. Most notably, there was a large, sharp rock pillar right next to her, going from the bottom of the pod through its roof. The entire pod was slightly slanted, most of its supplies having gathered in a pile on her left, and the medical locker had been left wide open by gravity, glass shards covered in ruined salves and mixtures. She walked over to the medical locker to see if there was anything of use, but all of the fancy equipment had been too fragile to survive the impact. The only thing left of use was a roll of bandages, which she picked up and began to wrap around her leg. She didn't wrap around the metal shard, but she tried her to bandage as close to it as possible until she had a satisfactory result. She then proceeded to move over to the pile of supplies, scavenging for anything still functional. All of the air filters had broken, and most of the oxygen tanks had ruptured, not that she could use them without a functioning suit, anyways. Of course, the two spacesuits that had been on the pod had been ripped and torn and impaled by debris. One of the helmets had its glass shattered whereas the other was leaking battery acid. She could still manage to use the leaking helmet, but its lifetime would be quite short.

Not wasting a moment, she put it over her head and activated the heads-up display. 289°K, 8.2N, 6% [| }... At least the conditions on this planet seemed to be close to those on earth. One distress beacon located 13 kilometres south-east. There wouldn't be any hope left for her if she just sat and bled out in her own, broken pod, so she took off the helmet and gently placed it back into the pile. Turning the valve on the door, she limped through the opening and onto the green grass. The night sky was beautiful, vast purple nebulas stretching from west to east, stars twinkling in the black sky. The light from the planet's moon shone bright, illuminating the ground. On the pod, the shield covering the chemical generator was broken, and the containers of bright yellow chemicals had spilt out onto the grass. She began limping away from her pod in the direction the helmet had shown, hopeful that whoever was in the pod would be able to help her out.

...

It felt like she had been limping in a direction for hours, and so far, she had not yet seen any sign of life. Exhausted, she toppled over and fell onto the grassy ground beneath her. Either it had been the blood loss, or the atmosphere hadn't been as good as she had initially thought, but breathing had become difficult. She passed out, unknowing that the pod she was seeking was right over the hill, perhaps a couple of hundred meters away. If her blood loss didn't kill her, the toxic atmosphere would finish the job soon enough.

[xenophylia]

The escape pods belonging to Alan and Nona had found each other and paired, working in tandem to use their computers to find a suitable landing site. They'd detected a suitable planet almost immediately. Whether Nona's pod had been damaged in the process of ejection or simply malfunction they'd never know. But whatever caused it, her landing was less than ideal.

Close by, Jenkins' pod ascended much more smoothly, touching down on an relatively flat piece of ground. Once the engines disengaged the revival process began, which took only several minutes. He quickly awoke, feeling rather disoriented as he tried to remember where he was. The display before him indicated a breathable atmosphere. The pod had done its job. He opened the doors and took a deep breath. Definitely breathable. From a nearby locker he grabbed a plasma pistol and one of the helmets, which would allow him to scan for any survivors. Typically these pods stuck together, and he expected that others had probably set down nearby. But a quick scan only indicated one signal. It was dark and the topography was varied enough that he couldn't see anything from his present location. He flicked on his headlamp and exited the pod, heading off in the direction of the signal.

As he approached its source he could see occasional flashed indicating the other pod had sustained electrical shorts. None of the light beacons on the pod appeared to be functioning. In the end he almost tripped over the pod's former occupant who lay sprawled in the grass a short distance from the damaged pod.

He knelt by the figure, doing a quick look to see if the person was still alive. The crew member was a young woman, and she appeared to have a serious injury to one leg which appeared to have been bandaged crudely. He didn't recognize her, which didn't exactly surprise him given the size of the ship. Trying to be careful about her injury he shook her lightly trying to bring her back to consciousness. He wasn't exactly a medic but knew enough to probably treat her if he could discover what her problem was. "Hello..." he said softly, not wanting to attract undue attention. Being outside in the dark on an unknown, unexplored planet was typically a recipe for disaster. If he could get her on her feet, he'd try to get her back to his own intact pod, which would offer some protection. He assumed by her condition that her pod had been damaged during the landing though it was too dark to see much.'
'
"Hello...." he said again, hoping that some mild stimulation would revive her to make it easier to get her back to his intact pod.

[TinyInconvenience]

By removing the helmet, Jenkins revealed the woman's facial features. Her face had seen better days, now being mostly covered in cuts from her harsh landing, but her hair was seemingly untouched. It was smooth as silk, and its black colour partially reflected some of the moonlight. It was somewhat long, reaching barely past her shoulders. She didn't appear to be wearing any makeup, which was a measure that had been taken to avoid some of the effects of wearing it through the cryofreeze. Nevertheless, her face still had a strange, natural beauty to it. Besides the helmet, all that she was wearing was the standard-issue uniform that most of the ship crew were obliged to wear. It fitted tightly around her slim frame, exposing her lack of visible muscle.

Suddenly, the woman let out a cough. Two coughs. Many coughs. Then she finally opened her eyes. The very moment she noticed Jenkins kneeling in front of her, she used her healthy leg to push herself away from him as much as she could in one kick, startled by his proximity. For a moment, she said nothing, staring directly into his eyes. She spent a moment, then ultimately relaxed as she concluded he was unlikely to hurt her. "Can you help-", she coughed once more, "-help me?" The bandage on her leg had already started to bleed through, and her skin was unnaturally pale. She put her hands under her and tried to get up on her legs, but she only managed to sit up before her entire body began shaking from the strain.

Nona realized that she must've been lying there for a while, as she didn't remember feeling so weak when she had collapsed. Her entire body felt cold, and her continuous coughing was often accompanied by the taste of blood on her tongue. She didn't feel capable of standing up on her own, let alone walking, and it felt like she'd fall asleep at any moment. Even just sitting up made her feel dizzy, and she had to struggle to maintain her balance. She'd lost a lot of blood already, but it would take some time before she'd be unrecoverable, but moribund she was nonetheless.

[xenophylia]

The face that looked down at her was a man in hi slate twenties. She couldn't make out many fine details but he had short wavy hair and a goatee. He smiled at her, trying to look non threatening.

“Let's get you back to my cryopod. Those things also double as med bays in the newer models, which we're fortunate enough to have. Didn't get a good look at yours but I'm guessing by the smoke it's not intact.”

She was rather cute despite her rough condition. Jenkins supposed he could do worse for company, although of course he didn't know her yet. It struck him as odd that her pod was the only one nearby- usually the pods grouped up in space and he knew many had launched prior to his own. He helped her to her feet and the two made a slow path back to the undamaged pod. There was enough room inside the main chamber for them to both spend the night, rather than being exposed to who knows what on an unexplored alien planet. Maybe the girl didn't know what things went bump in the night in such places but Jenkins did, and he had no desire to face any of the horrors he'd encountered during his brief career.

He got her into his cryopod and initiated a full scan. The pod itself could assess injuries and perform basic treatment as well as talk a layman through basic medical procedures on the wounded. The scan took several minutes. In the end it told him what he'd already seen- she was bruised all over and she had a serious injury to her one leg. He indicated for the pod to begin treatment. It cut away the damaged lower leg of her uniform, then bisected the piece of metal using a laser. She had been anesthetized, of course, so she felt nothing. It then removed the two pieces of metal- pulling them out with a deliberate slowness to avoid further trauma. Finally she was injected with a course of long acting antibiotics and her wound was sutured and covered with a dressing. Jenkins marveled at the surgical precision of the robotic arms. He'd been an advocate for adding the medbay feature to the cryopods and it was awesome to see it in action.

The nameless girl dozed in the cryopod as the anesthesia wore off. Jenkins gathered some bedding from one of the compartments and made himself a bed on the floor. There was no sense in doing anything further till it was light once again.

[TinyInconvenience]

The cryopod kept Nona dozing until the sun had just passed over the horizon, likely to give her time to naturally recover what the machine simply couldn't, like generating new blood cells to account for the lost ones. The door unlatched itself as she awoke, requiring only a weak push to open up enough for her to exit. Dozily, she tried to remember what had happened up until that point, but she only managed to recall so much. Something had happened to the ship, then... Something else had happened, and then there had been this man she had never seen before. Oh, and she'd had a metal plate in her leg. She looked down to where the wound had been, but the bandage she had put on was gone and had been replaced by a dressing. The man had said something about meds and pods. The biggest lapse in her memory appeared to be between when she had left the ship and up until the man had found her.

Looking around her, she only saw two things of notice: The aforementioned man sleeping on the floor, and a familiar broken helmet lying on a small shelf on the wall of the pod. Like a child for sweets, she went straight for the helmet, completely ignoring the man. Had she been the one who'd brought it back? She couldn't quite remember, but the fact was that it was there, and that meant she had something to tinker with while she waited for the man to wake up. She once again concluded that the battery was leaking and that there was a large crack in the very backside of it, but everything else still seemed fairly usable. She rummaged through the medical closet, looking for any kind of tool she could use to mess around with the helmet, and eventually came across a handheld, precision laser cutter intended for surgery. This thing would cut into the helmet like a breeze. Bringing the device back to the shelf, she began dissecting the helmet into its components, specifically caring about the visor and the projectors used for the heads-up display.

By the time the sun became fully visible above the horizon, she'd managed to take the entire helmet apart, leaving the broken parts aside and sorting the wires. Perhaps this wasn't what she should be spending her time on, but at the very least she had found something to entertain herself while they were stranded. She would've headed outside, and she genuinely wanted to go out and have a look at whatever was out there, but she decided she'd have to wait until her host woke up. After all, she didn't want him to wake up wondering where she had gone off too, and more importantly, she didn't want to stumble into any more trouble without someone else to help her out.

[xenophylia]

Throughout the remainder of the night, Jenkins woke up periodically to look outside and check the pod's scanners. The pod told him what his eyes had already confirmed- that the planet was teeming with life. All sorts of creatures came into view as he watched. He'd only wished the night vision were a bit more clear. Most notably the pods had seemed to attract the interest of one certain species. There were several sightings of man sized amorphous “beings” outside of the craft. They appeared and often joined physically with each other as they seemed to observe the pod. Oddly enough, they didn't register any life signs on the scanners. This didn't mean they weren't living creatures, but only that they weren't carbon based. Non carbon based lifeforms were merely theoretical at this point- none had ever been discovered in all the known worlds. Would these creatures prove their existence? It filled Jenkins with hope that this might be the case.

The creatures came and went throughout the night. At one point he counted eight of them. It reminded him as a sort of vigil. None approached or touched the pod itself. They simply met and merged portions of their bodies in a perimeter around the pod. Though the video did pick up sound they made none whatsoever. And by the time the sun rose they were gone. Jenkins was awake long enough to see the hint of dawn, then he fell into a deep sleep, exhausted by his observation. The wounded woman was still sleeping off her anesthesia. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her what he'd seen. Or the fact that they appeared to be on a planet thought unable to sustain human life. There was definitely something odd about the place from what he'd gathered so far. It all depended what the woman's background was. Once she was conscious he intended to find out, and only then would he decide what she needed to know.

[TinyInconvenience]

Five minutes was how long Nona had to spend waiting before she decided the man would never wake up without her help. How could she help herself? There was an entire planet outside, just waiting for her to search every nook and cranny of it. The very idea of finding something to revolutionize the universe as they knew it, however unlikely that was, had already put her on cloud nine. That and the fun she'd had getting to practice engineering again. How would she wake him? It was tempting to do it with a slap, but that wouldn't make a good first impression on the only other survivor she'd seen so far, and to be fair, she might not have been alive right now had it not been for him. Instead, she knelt in front of his face and patted the side of his head. "Wake up", she whispered cheerfully before tilting her head, "Are you always this lazy?"

[xenophylia]

He woke almost immediately, though it took him a moment to reorient himself to where he was and just who exactly was waking him up. “Lazy?” he said with a certain tone. “I was up all night trying to piece you back together. I had- up till last night- assumed it was impossible to crash a cryopod...but you did a stellar job. And I assume I must have done an adequate job repairing you, considering you're still awake and alive enough to disturb my sleep.”

He looked her over trying to decide if he'd ever encountered her on the ship. He was reasonably sure he hadn't. Kind of cute. Seemed to be in good physical condition other than the obvious. He quickly decided he could have done much worse. “So...I'm Alan. Dr. Alan Jenkins. Staff xenobiolgist. And you are?”

He reached out his hand to shake hers. The act seemed kind of formal given the circumstances but he didn't have a better tactic and in truth wasn't used to dealing with crew outside his particular clique of lab rats. He hoped she had some useful training to bring to the table, as Jenkins had compiled a list of questions overnight with needed answering pronto and he was eager to hear her thoughts. Hopefully she wasn't custodial staff or some sort of administration. There were only two of them so it wasn't like there was a huge talent pool to draw from. On the ship, answers to everything were just a call away. He liked that sort of environment and their current disadvantage due to lack of trained personnel wasn't lost on him.

[TinyInconvenience]

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, did we?" she teased him, "I didn't intend to sound ungrateful, but I'm guessing from your tone that's how it came through". She bobbed a curtesy then shook his hand in such a graceful manner that one would've guessed she was used to such formalities. "The name's Nona Brooks. Military intelligence. Can you believe they brought me onto that death trap of a ship?" She rolled her eyes, "All I ever did was loiter. They probably just picked me out because there was a lack of marines to bring along. What am I supposed to do? Think of strategies against alien invasions? To believe they have the audacity to..." She was on a tangent, ranting about how her superiors had been morons to send her, of all people, to protect a colony ship.

She kept it up for a couple of minutes, before realizing she had gone off-track. "I'm sorry", she apologized, "I guess I'm feeling a bit stressed. I know I'm military and all of that, but I'm not used to being in the action like this". She distractedly glanced over at the helmet she had tinkered with, then to the door, then back to Alan. "So, are you ready to head outside?" she inquired as if it had been his idea, "We won't discover anything by lollygagging". It was almost impressive how quickly her personality changed. One second she would act as formal and disciplined as a soldier, the next second she would be as impolite as a spoiled teenager. Surely this woman's head couldn't be quite right.

[xenophylia]

Jenkins was somewhat of a smartass and the girl was making it all too easy for him. “Military intelligence, huh?” he said with a smirk. “I typically use that phrase when I'm trying to provide someone with a concrete example of what an “oxymoron” is. But I suppose that's good news. It looks like there are plenty of beasties here for you to shoot at. While you were dozing last night I kept an eye on the monitors outside and the place seems to be well populated- at least with nocturnal species. But before you run out there guns blazing, I need to get you up to speed on some of the details of our situation. Maybe you'll have some ideas about why we're here, but I'm at a loss.”

He decided not to mention the creatures that appeared to watch the ship overnight. If this were a “first contact” situation it made their rules of conduct much more complicated and he hoped to avoid that. And as a member of the military she'd likely make sure he followed every rule to the letter. But most of all he considered his theory about them to be a bit too wild for him to go public yet, least of all to her. So he told her about the fact that their two cryopods seemed to be the only two that had landed on this planet, as well as the fact that past planetary surveys indicated that this world was a barren rock devoid of any life.

“So...any thoughts on those revelations? I have a few ideas, but none of them make me very happy. So I'm looking forward to hearing yours...”

[TinyInconvenience]

She was offended by his obvious insults, and defensively, she lashed back. "My profession having "military" in the name doesn't automatically make me a brainless brute with an itchy trigger finger, but I'd happily be one if it meant I wouldn't be some boffin who gained a god complex from drawing alien flowers for their doctorate". Vexed, she let out a short "hmph" and walked back to the helmet without looking at him. "So much for trying to be kind", she grumbled to herself. Regardless of her annoyance, she kept listening to his summary.

"I haven't the slightest", she replied as soon as he had finished updating her on what had happened so far, "But since you're such a genius and I'm a military idiot, why don't you figure it out yourself?" She was in no mind to cooperate with him anymore, and the optimism she had towards him had completely faded by now. It almost appeared that she was growing more and more irritated by the second while she stood there. "Why, of all the people on that massive ship, did I have to get stranded with the anti-social scientist?" she asked herself, before reaching for the valve on the pod door. "Nevermind the invitation outside; I'd much rather you stay here than follow me". She turned the valve and violently pushed the door open, although it was too heavy for the push to even be considered powerful. With no information on the creatures that were outside, she left with only a weak plasma pistol attached to the belt of her outfit as she ventured in a straight line from where the door faced. Surely Dr Offensive just hadn't checked well enough. They couldn't have been the only people to land here.

[xenophylia]

The doctor chuckled to himself at the irony. Of all the military he'd dealt with over the course of his career, he had to get paired up with one of them that had actual feelings. But he knew they had enough problems in addition to starting out on bad terms.

He called out after her. “Hey....look....I'm sorry. It's just that my past dealings with military personnel have been less than positive. I apologize. And I wouldn't run off alone if I were you. And I do mean alone. The scanners haven't detected signals from any other pods. Sorry to say we've only got each other...”

He added a plasma gun to his own belt. Doing a survey in the area directly surrounding the pod was likely the best choice of action. He was also going to suggest to Nona that they try to scavenge items from her damaged pod. When and if she calmed down. He'd have to lay off the sarcasm if she were so sensitive. Or maybe if he exposed her to it gradually she'd develop a thicker skin. Then again, maybe they'd be rescued quickly and none of it would matter. Praying for option three, he exited the pod, trying to see where she'd run off to.

[TinyInconvenience]

The lush, grass-like ground brushed in the wind as Nona walked over the plains this planet had to offer. Although it was an incredibly calming experience to stroll through a place like this, it was almost eerily Earth-like; The ground was covered in green, blade-like plants, and there would occasionally be small sprouts and saplings growing from the ground; but at the same time, everything would be a little off. Some of the plants had intense, unnatural colours, and others had large, bright bulbs that hung overhead and creepily seemed to be leaning towards her, stalking her movements. Although she noted it, her focus wasn't on the plant life, but rather on trying to find some form of structure that seemed human-made. The scientist must've been out of his mind to think there was still some sense in the pod's computer: This was nowhere close to being a barren rock. And if it indeed turned out that the computer was haywire, it wouldn't surprise her if it had been wrong in its tally of escape pods.

Those were the thoughts that Nona had been caught up in as Jenkins had shouted after her, and those were the thoughts that she used to drown his voice. She had no intention to listen to him. He was probably just shouting at her how she was acting like a child. He wouldn't have been wrong to shout that at her, though. For someone who had been in the military, she acted very much like a child. The very instant he had even said something slightly hurtful, she had lashed out at him and then stormed outside. Of course, she had her reasons for behaving like so, but to most, she'd just appear to be making a scene.

Despite her childish mind, she kept a good pace, the speed of which truly shone that she had been through military training, and eventually, she passed a hill and broke her sightline to Jenkins' pod. He'd have to put some work in to keep up with her.

[xenophylia]

By the time Jenkins popped his head out of the pod hatch Nona was cresting a small rise and quickly disappeared from his sight. He could scarcely believe how careless she was acting. He had no intention of running after her. He'd been to one too many planets where humans were not at the top of the food chain. And though all he could see now were patches of lush grass and a few weird looking plants, it was the things he didn't see that worried him. The weapons the pod provided were barely adequate for defense. He shook his head and began walking off in the direction she'd gone. He could track the ID badge on her uniform, so it wasn't like he'd lose her.

As he walked he could swear some of the large plants moved as if reacting to his presence. There was only a mild breeze, but some of the plants seemed to sway as he passed. He didn't want to get close enough to any of them to tell for sure. He was used to having a full team to do biological surveys- it was literally suicide to explore an unknown world alone. If Nona had seen some of the terrible things he'd seen throughout his career she wouldn't have left his side.

Meanwhile, Nona crested yet another small hill. To her surprise she saw Dr. Jenkins standing several yards in front of her. He stood silently, looking at her. The pod- where she'd left him- was nowhere to be seen.

[TinyInconvenience]

Nona recoiled as she spotted him. "Jesus, didn't I tell you not to follow me, lab freak?" she shouted at him from a distance, "And how did you get ahead of me, anyway?" Although the terrain seemed quite similar to where the pod had been, she doubted it was the same place. No way had she lost her orientation and walked in a circle; She refused to believe she'd have done something so amateurish. It was quite uncanny, however. She hadn't seen him pass her, and neither did she think he'd be able to catch up to her while taking a detour to avoid her. It simply didn't feel right. She'd slowed down her pace considerably, but she was still moving towards him at a steady rate.

As she got a bit closer, she felt the hairs on her body rise as it tingled. Something about the entire thing was offputting. Maybe she had walked in a circle? Everything would make more sense if she'd walked in a circle. Indeed, she had definitely just overestimated her abilities. But then where was the pod? "Uhm, I didn't realize the escape pods had a camoflague function", she said to him, chuckling nervously to herself, "You're not going to trick me that easily". She was about five metres away from him now. Why did she feel so nervous now? She hadn't felt this nervous when they'd been in the pod together, so what was it that was so different now? She kept moving towards him. She was three metres away now.

[xenophylia]

He said nothing as she approached, but rather oddly opened his arms as if he were planning on hugging her. As he did so, Nona felt an odd buzzing in her head like nothing she'd ever felt before. Suddenly, the idea of walking into Jenkins' open arms seemed like the greatest idea in the world. There, she'd be safe. And that was all she wanted, wasn't it?

The odd compulsion was quite powerful. Even as the rational part of her brain screamed at her to stop she continued forward. The situation was just so....wrong. As was the odd smile on Jenkins' face which only widened as she got closer.

[TinyInconvenience]

She kept moving forward. Her brain had already puzzled together that this could not possibly be the 'real' Jenkins, and she consciously realized it herself, but yet she didn't stop moving towards him. With every step, her body felt a bit hotter and her heart fluttered increasingly. It was as if everything had drained of colour except him because everything else just seemed so much less relevant- so much less appealing- so much less attractive. The entire situation felt like a dream- moved like a dream- and she felt less and less connected to reality as she approached his figure. After all, this wasn't reality. This was heaven.

Absent-mindedly she stopped in front of him and wrapped her hands around him. Every contact point felt like she was being electrocuted. Her entire nervous system was being overloaded by sensation, and at every instant she rubbed against him she felt another surge of pleasure through her body. He- No, IT had the most beautiful goatee she had ever seen. It was just so handsome. And the best part was that it had Jenkin's appearance. Which was strange; It wasn't that he wasn't attractive, but somehow this article in front of her just seemed to nail the looks so much better.

"What the hell are you doing, Nona!? Get away from it, you moron! You don't know what that thing is!" Her brain was shouting at her to stop. And she was listening. But her brain was wrong in this case. There was another voice speaking to her. "Move closer. It's okay to be scared. I'll comfort you". The voice was coming from everywhere, from both her own brain and from the figure in front of her and from the plants and the trees and the rocks. She was in bliss, occasionally letting involuntary moans slip out of her mouth. It couldn't be more perfect.

[xenophylia]

As she entered Jenkins' welcoming arms the illusion dissipated. Fleshy leaves embraced her rather than human arms. They curled about her body, thin but remarkably strong, pinning her arms to her sides and cocooning her legs. They also enfolded her head, silencing her. She could feel more of them surrounding her immobilized body, making sure there was no chance of escape. It all happened so fast that she barely caught a glimpse of what had caught her, but from what she did see it was some kind of plant.

Strangely though, the buzzing in her head continued. Though she realized she was being devoured by some sort of alien creature, the thing's influence made it difficult to struggle. Within the grip of the creature she felt oddly safe and peaceful just as she had when it attracted her to it. It was as if the thing wanted to reduce her struggles by convincing her that being eaten by an alien plant wasn't all that bad.

Jenkins meanwhile crested the hill and saw immediately what was going on. Although the thing was no longer trying to actively lure prey, he recognized the sensation of the buzzing. Whatever the thing was it was telepathic, though he could only sense echoes of its ability. With prey safely in its clutches it had no need of its ability to project itself beyond the woman who struggled in its grip.

As he approached he drew his pistol but quickly realized the thing was harmless. Nona had made sure of that by offering herself to it as a meal. The good news was that it probably wouldn't kill her quickly. Most similar creatures he'd encountered either suffocated or constricted their prey which was often a slow process. Alan thought briefly about observing its actions for a bit “for science”, but then it occurred to him that the thing might be secreting digestive fluids within Nora's leafy cocoon. As careless as she'd been, he figured she'd probably already learned her lesson.
“Nona....you ok in there?” he called out cheerfully, figuring she probably could hear but couldn't speak a reply anyway. He wanted her to know he was there. The leafy prison vibrated occasionally, though he couldn't tell if it were her struggling or part of the digestive process. But as he watched he could clearly see the leaves tightening around her body. As much as he wanted the learning opportunity he couldn't justify allowing the plant to continue.

He knelt at the base of the plant. Most of these things had the bulk of their anatomy hidden underground. One blast of the pistol to the base of the cocoon should sever or disrupt the sensory impulses from the mass below. But before he fired he did take a few photos and a brief video for posterity's sake. If nothing else he could use it to emphasize to Nona why one doesn't just run off on an unexplored planet. They were clearly going to have to have a long talk after she was free. The plant was tight enough around her now that he could clearly see the curvy shape of her body through the leaves. She did kind of have a cute shape now that he could appreciate it without the distraction of her voice. Smiling at the irony of her predicament he snapped another picture and then fired his pistol at the plant's base.