I am never volunteering on the exploration team again.
I thought it was a quick trip. I thought it might be fun. I thought it might make me desirable to Qxxl.
We started out with ten of us. Four Oipons, four Vians, and two humans. Two flora experts, two fauna experts, a charter, a linguist, a historian, a scientist, and two survival experts.
We were less than a half mile from the ship when we lost all the Oipons to the higher concentration of gases produced by the oversized plants. We rushed back only to see our ship was destroyed by a large bipedal beast.
The other Vian flora specialist was taken out right in front of me. One second there, the next gone. I found out hours later that his blood sprayed across my face from the attack, but I never noticed.
The human fauna expert saved me from that beast. We regrouped and figured our next move was to get to the command center five miles west.
The Vian scientist burned their hand in a river. Whatever it was, it wasn’t water. They had to be knocked out and carried for the next three miles to keep them from alerting our position to the monsters.
We lost the human survivalist running through a clearing to get to the command center. It was down to just four of us.
The human fauna expert led the way through the building. I had assumed we were safe once we were inside, but I was quickly proven wrong.
One of the smaller beasts with green fangs and red markings attacked me, catching me by surprise. The Vian survivalist shot it, and it attacked in retaliation. The creature died, and the Vian survivalist bled out shortly after.
The Vian scientist and I began preparing our deaths, but the human refused to let us.
She found a functional signal booster and despite not being a technician, hooked her comm to it and was able to contact the ship. There she spoke with the other survivalists on the crew about extraction.
The human told us there was a plan, but we didn’t know what it was. We followed the human without asking. It’s known that humans are deathworlders, so if anyone was going to help us survive, it was a human.
Once in the plane, she told us what to do and gave me a slip of paper. She said to give it to her brother from the bridge crew. She said it would explain everything. That’s when she told us she wasn’t coming. We were escaping, but she wasn’t.
I am ashamed to say I left her without a second thought. The retrieval ship met our failing plane and we crossed over quickly. It wasn’t until we were leaving atmosphere that I realized she sacrificed herself for us. She didn’t die in a plane crash, we saw no evidence of one. I have no clue what she’s doing down there, but I hope her death is quick and merciful.
As for me, my own wounds will leave me barely a step above deformed. I still have functionality, and I’m forever grateful for that. But my chances of mating with Qxxl were long gone. A small price to pay for my life. The Vian scientist had to have their hand removed and replaced with a cybernetic.
It was several weeks later before I met up with the brother from the bridge crew. I gave him the note I never opened. He read it and immediately requested a special retrieval team to go and get his sister.
I knew human littermate bonds were close, but to go back to that nightmare of a deathworld was simply insane. It took a month before he had the needed crew and supplies.
I watched as the odd crew left for the planet. Mostly human, with a few Wiiqs added in. I prepared to say goodbye to them all. The human brother nodded to me before they left.
Miraculously, they all survived. What’s more? They even brought back several crew I assumed dead. Every Oipon was rescued, along with both of our humans. They had all sustained substantial injuries of course, having survived on a deathworld for nearly three months, but they survived.
I approached the human littermates and asked how they rescued everyone. The brother human stated it was easy once they knew what they were getting into. The fauna sister human thanked me for passing along her message.
I broke down in shame and told her how long I waited to give it because I assumed she was dead. I begged forgiveness, and was granted it immediately.
It was several more days before I pulled up the full report of what happened. Fauna expert sister human kept diligent logs because she ‘knew her brother would show up sooner or later’. I found and finally read the message she asked me to send. I have no clue how brother human was able to tell anything from four simple words, much less lead a rescue team successfully.
A fauna expert and a bridge crewman shared four words and saved 8 crew members. One day, when my wounds finish healing and I’m mentally sound, I will ask what those words mean and how they conveyed so much with so little.
