Snippet #958039

10 min after leaving.

Tildy woke to darkness, it was most complete; without any hint of release. Her heart fluttered in her chest, she hated the dark greatly, having never been given pure darkness before it was almost maddening. She groped out with her long imperceptible fingers, reaching for anything that could give an anchor to the darkness she now found herself to be in. They touched down on something rough, waxy in feel, but impossibly hard. With care she wrapped against the material, not wanting to hurt her knuckles. She wondered mildly how she had managed to get into such a dark place, the last thing she remembered was picking up the bag of blood. She reached out behind her, hoping to find that her pack had joined her, wherever she was now she would need what it held. Sure enough she felt the soft leather straps of her backpack, never had she been so relieved to have it at her side. Her hands deftly searched through the pack, weary of the fact that any noise might attract notice from whoever had bought her hear. Her eyes flickered back and forth in the impenetrable darkness, poring through her clothes till she felt the cold touch of metal. She flicked on the small torch light, shining it about the small capsule.

Peng opened her pod, a hiss of air escaping into his small cave; knowing that she might be fearful now she was awake. His grey cog eyes glittered in the bright beam of her flash light, hair briefly whipping about his head before it settled back into his human looks. At his feet the Skitters (A distant relative of the Spoun, flightless, with a dislocatable jaw. They range in size and colour; pale yellow to almost black red, 16 inches to 3ft) mewled, their little red and yellow heads rubbing against his legs. He glanced down at them for a second, clicking the sliding capsule door into place. To his eyes she looked better, he had been frightened that she would be eaten if left out to the cold, so with much effort he had dragged her back to his small cave, off the side of the main cave for beasts. He moved away with her, picking up his singing from where he left off, surrounded by a cloud of small mars creatures. Though he was young, he looked after himself with great care, being valuable with his medical skills, he was often given whatever he needed without question. His request to be given a separate cave however was welcome, the other beasts finding him somewhat creepy.

“Peng, do you need any assistance?” The large deep voice shocked her, making her gasp. She shifted about the capsule to look at the… Well in truth she could not tell what the creature was, she supposed another beast like Peng, but she could not know. “She is fine, but if she can trade for what she wants, then I will take her back to her dome.” Peng’s words seeped into her mind along with his music. She looked down and noticed that his legs were unravelling as he spoke to the creature, she looked down at him with a more careful eye, taking back her assumption that he was a child. The large lumpy creature moved away, out of the entrance of the cave, its legs strong yet short, skin dark and leather like to deal with Mars’s hash conditions. Words stuck in her throat as it turned to watch her. She reached her finger to where she knew her knife to be, letting her skin part to release the medium sized silver knife. She knew she would not stand a chance against any creature here with it as her only weapon, she would need to trade it, she only hoped it had some worth.

“I would like a gun, something big.” Her green eyes looked at them both, flickering between the curious creatures. “You will be able to get much for that, silver is valued for its purity. The domes often want medical supplies when they run out, silver is clean” Peng’s voice was melodic in her head and she noticed his curious looks at her. She shifted her bag with care to her shoulder, stepping down into the small crowd of animals that seemed to fill the room. She followed the creature that would trade with her, taking note that her cloth host kept close to her side, giving up the pretence of legs. Under his hovering form and around him trailed the Skitters, reminding her of the kitten she and her brethren had received as a present at the organics company. They were too long however, too thin; moving with serpentine grace opening their mouths unnaturally wide whenever one got angry with the other. She watched them as the wandered into the beast’s homes. The mouth of the cave was lit with great red fires, large creatures bent over them, hammering metal and cooking whatever they could find.

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An quarter hour later Peng stood at the strange woman’s side, he had soon warmed to her, kind despite her hardness. One of his family had become quite attached to her in the short time they had been with her. He was glad that she did not ask him to talk, did not ask what was going on, taking it all in her stride. They had managed to get her a beautifully crafted gun and ammo for the price of her silver knife and a few of her more interesting items in her bag. Inside the main cave she had remained calm yet tense, her eyes often darting to him with questions. Inside him his gears ground at the idea of giving such easy company back to the dome. With weary eyes he looked up at the Dome, he had so wanted to be accepted back into it, but it would never happen he was now beginning to think. He glanced at the quiet yet heavily armed woman on his left, eyes falling to the young Skitter next, standing alert on her shoulder, no more than a few months old. He lent forward and pressed the button to ask for entrance to the inner gate.

“Section 2 Gate 4 is not scheduled to be opened, please state your name and reason for requesting access.” The voice through the intercom was grainy but defiantly human.

“This is Tildy Bedwyr and Peng…. Of the beasts, can you inform Leon that one of his lost sheep have returned.” She smiled running her fingers through the Skitter’s fine yellow pelt, the creature exuded no heat, its wiry almost metal inner coat raising to act as a block ,while the soft inner fur lay like warm quilting. She turned to her savior, giving him a respectful deep nod, her green eyes analyzing his little form. She hoped that she was not to far behind, according to Peng they had been gone no more than half an hour over all, for she had not slept only passed out for a few minutes, too far to take back to the landing dock. A few of the beasts had given the a ride in there makeshift vehicle , swiftly traveling over the dust surface of the planet.

The door hissed open letting them in and the voice called from behind “When the Captain calls in we will send word you are being held here. Please wait with patience.” The voice grew louder as his bandages whipped lower creating legs, to keep the malformed at ease. He caught Tildy’s look of distaste, but ignored it, many of the others would not be so understanding that he was not like they. Immediately when the door shut the Skitter scrambled down, heading for the signs of weeds that clung on. He smiled down at her little wiry form, his song following it as it sat and ate the little food, its abnormal jaw distended to eat whole plants in an mouthful. The little omnivorous creatures were well adapted to life here, eating almost anything it came across that was willing to stay still for long enough, with sometimes ghastly swollen stomachs they would lie in his cave waiting for the food to digest. He sat in silence on the floor, trying to remember how limbs moved to do so, otherwise his wrapping could go most wrong.

“So this is my home?” She spoke to herself, fingers running over the familiar shape of her new sub-machinegun, taking comfort in its weight on her shoulder and hip. She looked up at the bigger dome, with this small section attached to allow cargo through. Her fingers reached out touching the glass with awe, the place was a marvel in itself and she felt it somewhat beautiful, a haven for her kind. She knocked her spare handcuff against it without realizing, causing a sharp tapping to resound in the side pod. Soldiers moved into the room to her left, but she paid them no heed, her eyes simply kept to the massive structure before her. She did not in truth need to pay them any attention, she did not feel that they were in any way a threat to her. On her sleeve she felt the gentle tug of Peng, who obviously felt nervous in the face of such force and smiled down at him with kind eyes. She put her hand over his soft cloth one, and turned to look at the man and woman. Her eyes lit on their weapons with envy, not because they were particularly better than hers, but because she wanted to have them, they were like the comfort of home to her. She smiled walking towards them, she supposed it would be best to introduce herself at least.

(I hope this works for you all! And of course that you dont mind me rejoining)