Snippet #2684538

Celcius smiled stupidly as she cried out, "I believe it's a scale!" Her eyes paced the two companions who dared venture out with her but found a tingle of disappointment twitch through her circuits. The hope she felt was pale in them - at least outwardly. But that was a thing about bio-organisms: their wonder was suppressed by survival. Still, she stuffed the silver disc into a pack she had tied around her hips and began to climb again. Her limbs almost hugging a small portion of the tree as she wiggled upward, one hand and then the other. It was after about three of these reaches that she heard it.

A great scraping sound echoed through the forest, thin yet loud. The android's head had twitched to see its source but failed. In the direction, all that was seen were the trees. Without thinking, Celcius dropped her hold and landed flatly on her feet. Quickly she straightened up. A wide smile breached her features as she looked back to the cook and doctor. "Well?" She hadn't dared see their reaction. Instead she ran - bounded really - off the tree and onto the green grass. She slipped slightly from the distance but quickly recovered to jog deeper north of the ship. Her crew could follow if they chose but it was time for adventure.

Most of the trees appeared uninteresting compared to the first. All had twisting roots and branches with scaled bark and green leaves. Very few also bore the same splitter markings on their trunk, Celcius noted as she skirted between them. It didn't take long for her to stop running however, when a spark of silver crossed her path. She stood motionless and watched with wide eyes as thick silver monstrosity swayed through the trees. All she could see was a torso - maybe thirty feet in height - pass between the trunks until a clear fin swished by, tapered to the bottom of the mass. "It couldn't be..." She mused quietly. Slow to start, the woman jogged closer to the creature, arriving past the trees to see the monster in all its glory.

It was a silver fish, floating in the air between the tree tops and the ground. It was slow but deliberate, weaving between the trunks. It had a pair of pectoral fins that hung five feet above the ground and swished in turn to propel it forward as large, black eyes stared mindlessly from its sides. A mouth, suffering from a massive underbite, opened and closed to pull in air and filter it through the large gills on its side. A pair of orange dots slipped into the gaping mouth, found not to return out again. She watched as its tail brushed against a tree, which scratched the bark and rattled the leaves, as the monster slightly altered its course. As such, the mystery was solved.

With a modest grin, Celcius mused, "So it is a scale after-all." She paused, thinking on her situation for a brief time. Turning to whatever company dared follower her - or none, possibly - Celcius placed her hands heavily on her hips and stated with determination, "I believe it's about time we went fishing. Any idea on how to go about it?" She smiled with a very silly idea in mind.