Snowblind
By Chaos Blackwing
Junior Assistant Smith was beginning to think that the Professor was lost. It was the little things, like looking around as though trying to spot a landmark in the bleak white-ness. Scratching his head while looking down at his tablet, moving it left and right as though that would help. The real give-away though was the repeated mutterings of "We are most certainly lost gentlemen" that interspersed these actions.
Looking around a bit himself, it was rather hard to blame the Professor though. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but snow, snow, and, if you were lucky, some more snow. Not that 'as far as you could see' was very far, given the snowstorm that had popped up and limited visibility to a handful of paces, if that. If it weren't for the Professor's insistence that they rope themselves together, made when the weather started looking like it was headed for the worst, the entire group likely would have been lost and separated within ten minutes.
'To think I thought he was panicking when he starting hollering about how we needed to tie ourselves together,' Smith ruefully thought. 'Guess age and experience have some perks after all.' As another hard gust of wind and snow again whited out everything past a foot, completely obscuring the rest of the party, Smith froze, as the Professor had told them to do to avoid yanking the others down should they slip. 'Then again, this is the first time I've seen weather like this. The station were I had my schooling obviously didn't have any weather to deal with, and it's one thing to hear about a storm, quite another to be in the middle of it.'
Unfortunately for the small, four person group, consisting of the professor and three assistants (Smith included), it seemed that he wasn't the only one who hadn't properly taken into account just how bad the weather got on this planet. While the gear they had would probably have been fine on a less extreme planet, whoever had ordered the supplies for the expedition had failed to consider just how bad the weather could get. In particular, they hadn't taken into consideration how well the electronics would handle the cold and the occasional massive snowstorm.
Answer: They didn't.
What had originally been planned as a simple overnight trip to a relatively nearby ice field to study the formations there had almost turned into a disaster, as a snowstorm rolled in and whited-out everything, including the signal to the satellite above, leaving them lost half-way out, about 10 miles from the station. The ski's they'd been using to travel at that point became more bane than boon, as they kept the team from gaining any traction on the slick surface, and the professor quickly ordered everyone to take them off and stow them away alongside the backpacks they all carried.
Waiting for a momentary lull in the winds, Smith yelled out as loud as he could to be heard. "Professor, we have to get out of this storm or we're going to be frozen solid!"
Looking around significantly for a moment, the professor yelled back, in a surprisingly strong voice for one his age. "Agreed, but where?"
Looking around to try and get his bearings, Smith struggled to remember what flashes of terrain he'd been able to see between gusts of wind. Finally he thought he was pointed in the right direction and called out. "Over there, I think I remember seeing a small cliff, it should provide at least some shelter from the storm!"
Not having any better ideas, the professor quickly agreed. "Very well boy, lead on, let's hope your memory is good!"
Tugging a bit on the icy ropes to avoid startling the others with any sudden movement, Smith began to trek through the flying snow, the others pushing through the blizzard behind him as they struggled through the storm.
**
Unbeknownst to the group of scientists, they weren't the only ones out in the storm. 'Watching' from a mile or so away was a large, curious, and very much inhuman being, one very interested in the strange animals wandering around on the tundra. Though tempted to investigate closer, it held back, waiting to see what the funny things would do next. The dragosect hoped the strange creatures were warm, it did so love a toasty belly…
**
Luckily for the party, Smith's memory had been good, and after only five or so minutes the group found themselves clustered at the base of an icy outcropping, some fifteen feet or so high and slightly wider. While fairly small, it did provide some cover from the storm, and under the direction of the professor they quickly set up and staked down the two cold weather tents they'd brought along, setting them up as close to the overhang as possible. To increase visibility should anyone need to leave the tents for whatever reason(and woe betide anyone who couldn't hold it in this weather), and in the hopes it would boost the signal from the satellite up above to a receivable level, the professor also staked out a collapsable, thin, eight or so foot tall antenna with a glowing light atop it between the tents.
Sadly, even with the antenna boosting the signal, the storm outside was just too much for the device to deal with, and the party remained disconnected from the base. However, Smith mused privately, this wasn't really as important as it could have been. Being the only ones currently on the frozen rock, even if they had been able to get a signal through, there wouldn't have been anyone to receive it and send help. A supply ship was supposed to show up every two weeks to drop off food and other necessities, and take back reports, but given they didn't have more than two or three days' worth of food in their packs, and the next supply drop was at least a week away… well, that wasn't much help either.
Like it or not, they were on their own, and if they wanted to get back, it would be up to their small group to do so.
There was a silver lining to all this however. Given they had been caught by surprise by the storm, that suggested that it was a fairly minor one, too small to be noticed by the satellite in orbit above. If that were the case, it would likely blow over relatively quick, and if they were lucky they'd be able to head back within a day or so. Until that happened, their best bet would be to hunker down, and try not to get too bored waiting out the storm.
**
Sneaking as well as something of it's size could(assisted of course by the storm), the curious dragosect soon found itself crouched on the other side of the ridge where the strange animals had made their temporary nests. Though unable to see them, it was able to use the electrically sensitive feelers at the end of it's antenna to get a good idea of what they were doing. Sadly, it seemed they were bedding down, likely hiding from the storm like the few other, smaller animals on the planet usually did.
Though tempted by the desire for a warm, full belly to offer an 'alternative' nesting place, the dragosect didn't want to be cruel and destroy the elaborate nests the funny creatures had put together, instead choosing to settle down in a watchful stance for a bit of a rest itself. Introductions could wait for the morning.
**
Halfway through the night the dragosect perked up, woken by some change down below. With a quick check, it saw that one of the animals had left it's nest, and was standing near the outcropping, though what it was doing was a mystery to the dragosect. Though initially determined to hold off on 'introductions', the opportunity presented was just too great. The animal below looked to be shivering in the cold, and the dragosect's belly was so very empty…
**
Eric swore under his breath as he once more tried, in vain, to shift his body to keep his sensitive bits out of the biting wind. Even though Mark, the other assistant he was sharing the tent with had warned him not to, he'd had just a bit too much hot cocoa to drink the night before, and now he was paying the price.
He should have just had a single cup and waited for the heater to warm up the tent, but by the time the tent had been set up he'd been almost frozen through, and in his impatience he'd tried to thaw himself out quicker with three cups of warm, liquid chocolate. Warming and delicious it may have been, now his bladder was demanding he do something about it, leading to his current predicament, where he tried to empty it without having anything frostbitten in the process.
Finally, mercifully, he finished, and quickly stuffed his bits back into his pants, fastening them back up as quick as he could without getting anything caught. With a sigh of relief at making it through the process without too much trouble, Eric looked up, spotting the glowing blue light of the antenna over the camp, providing an easy way to find his way back. Except… wasn't the light on top of it supposed to be red? And shouldn't it have been farther away?
Before Eric could worry about the discrepancy too much however, the rope-like antenna attached to the luminescent blue feeler quickly wrapped itself around his torso, swiftly pulling him up and over the outcropping, and into the waiting mouth on the other side.
His scream of surprise muffled by the strong winds of the storm, none of the others heard a thing, and the rest of the camp remained blissfully unaware.
**
When morning arrived, it wasn't long before the group realized that one of them had gone missing. While at first they thought he had just wandered off for a bit to have a look around and stretch his legs, when several calls out into the brisk air went unanswered, the three remaining members of the group started to worry. Thankfully, the blizzard had cleared out over the course of the night, so once they were packed up they'd be able to set off in search of the missing man.
To the annoyance of the other assistant, the professor insisted that missing person or not, they still needed to eat, so that they'd have the energy needed for a search, leading to a rushed breakfast before packing up the gear in preparation to leaving. As Smith helped the professor fold up and stow the tent and sleeping gear, he looked over to see the other assistant staring up at the overhang above them, not moving at all. Before he could call out to the man though, he was off, running towards where the cliff sloped down to meet the ground, yelling something about having 'seen something moving up there'.
Putting the other assistant out of his mind, Smith turned back to helping the professor pack up the last of the gear. In fact it was only once that was done that they realized that they hadn't heard from Mark since he crested the cliff's edge. Slightly concerned now, the professor told him to check the campsite to make sure that they had packed everything up, while he went ahead to check on Mark and make sure he hadn't slipped or something. A quick walk through the area revealed only one unsecured folding cup, and Smith slipped it into the pack, looking up just in time to see the professor round the cliff's edge and disappear.
Jogging over to catch up, Smith was halfway there when a loud yell was heard from the professor, causing him to speed up in case the older man had fallen on the icy ground. Rounding the cliff's edge however, and finally able to see the other side of it, Smith stopped dead in his tracks, almost tripping in his haste to halt his movement. A massive gray and blue creature was crouched behind the cliff, head turned his way.
His first thought was to wonder at just how something that huge had managed to hide itself, but that was wiped from his mind upon seeing a pair of wriggling legs protruding out of what he guessed was the creature's mouth. Unable to believe what he was seeing, it was only once the creature tilted it's head back, and the legs, and the old man they belonged to, disappeared down the creature's gullet that he snapped out of his shock.
"Professor Imbiss!" Smith screamed as he ran towards the creature, not sure what he could do at this point, but unable to just stand back and do nothing. However, before he had managed more than a dozen steps he found himself grabbed and wrapped up by the long, and apparently prehensile antennae sticking out of the creature's head. Quickly drawn towards it's head, he was sure he was about to be eaten as well, but was instead relieved when it merely held him in front of it's face, tilting it's head back and forth to study him, along with twisting him around so it could see all of him.
Though he felt ashamed as soon as it popped into his mind, Smith couldn't help but hope that after eating three people(at this point it was pretty obvious what had happened to Eric) the creature would be full, and let him go after it satisfied it's curiosity. This was not to say however that he wasn't curious in his own right. The animal, whatever it was, was truly impressive, both in size, and appearance. On top of it's physical aspects, the fact that it was showing curiosity towards another creature, to the point of examining it, as well as the look in it's eyes as it twisted him this way and that, made it pretty obvious that this was no dumb beast.
After several minutes of careful scrutiny, the creature's curiosity finally seemed to be satisfied, as it held him still and just stared at him. Before he could get too relaxed though, he was lifted even higher, and brought over the creature's mouth as it tipped it's head back and opened wide. Despite knowing it was hopeless, Smith couldn't help but struggle as much as he could in the biological bindings he was in, as he fought to escape. Even with all his efforts though, it was only a matter of moments before he felt his feet and legs surrounded by the surprisingly cool, though not cold, mouth of the creature, as the mandibles surrounding it's mouth ran over his body.
Expecting a painful 'crunch' of the creature's teeth at any moment, Smith instead found himself surrounded by nothing more than soft flesh, as he was forced, slowly but surely, into the the creature's maw. Guessing the creature ate it's prey whole, he wasn't quite sure whether to be releaved or not by the lack of fangs in the giant mouth. Before he could spend too much time thinking on it though he felt his feet gripped by a tight constriction and drawn in even more. Realizing he had reached the creature's throat, his struggles renewed, though at that point intellectually he knew he was well past the point of escape.
A strange thing happened though as he thrashed about, gradually slipping through the ring of muscle. With the antennae no longer needed to keep him contained, he felt it run up and down his body in an almost caressing motion, with the tip of it brushed across his head. If he didn't know better, he could have almost thought that it was trying to comfort him. A predator trying to calm it's prey... Smith would have laughed at the idea if he wasn't otherwise occupied.
After a minute or so of feeling the constriction and pull of muscles move up his body, only his head remained. Taking one last look at the daylight filtering through the creature's mouth, Smith felt his body pulled down, and the daylight was replaced by another sort of light. From the inside, it was clear that sections of the creature's body did indeed glow, as, far from the dark and dank surroundings he had been expected he instead found himself bathed in a gentle blue light
The throat was different than expected in another fashion too. As he was swallowed, he pushed against the muscles, and to his surprise felt very little moisture. No saliva, no drool, instead all he could feel was a steely, but flexible strength, undulating against his body and bringing it deeper and deeper into the creature.
Soon enough though he had other things to worry about, as he felt his feet slip through a second ring of muscle, into what he could only assume was the stomach. Fearing the worst, he clenched his eyes shut as he slid down into... the sound of someone saying "I told you so"? Snapping his eyes open he was greeted with the other three team members lying down in a spacious, glowing 'room', grinning at his look of shock.
Looking over at the stunned fourth member of the team, the professor had a wry look to his face as he addressed their latest addition. "Ah, Mister Darke, so good of you to join us. Please, take a seat, Mister Gosaria was just about to tell Mister Frokost and myself about how he decided to investigate the native wildlife without informing the rest of the group."
'Mister Gosaria', or simply Eric to everyone but the professor, couldn't help but grimace at the older man's joke. "Hey, it's not like I went looking to get turned into a snack. I'd left the tent to attend to some 'business', and the next thing I knew I was being reeled in by the creature, before being turned into a late night meal. Hell, I thought I was a goner at first, but after the first hour or so of nothing happening once I was down here, I figured nothing was going to happen anytime soon, and since getting out didn't seem like an option, I ended up falling asleep once the adrenaline wore off."
At this Mark couldn't contain his laughter. "You... you fell asleep... after being eaten?! Do we need to get you checked for narcolepsy or something?"
Looking mildly offended, Eric shot back. "And just what was I supposed to do? You may not have noticed, but there's not exactly a sign with 'Exit here' anywhere, and the way we came in doesn't open up even with a 'Pretty please' or 'Open Sesame'."
Looking over at the professor Smith had a worried look on his face. "Not to spoil the mood or anything but, Professor, how is Eric still alive? I mean, he was eaten last night, shouldn't something have happened by now? Especially now that all of us are here too?"
Shooting Smith a sour look for reminding them all of just where they were, Eric had just opened his mouth to reply when the professor beat him to it. "Hmm, an astute question Mister Darke, if a bit macabre. While I am of course relieved to see Mister Gosaria unharmed after his rather... interesting night, your question is a good one. For a large predator to consume it's prey, and yet not even begin to digest it... most unusual, and it's not the only thing out of place."
Nodding around the stomach surrounding them, the Professor gestured to the surroundings before continuing, almost as though this was just another lecture to him. "For example, as I'm sure you all have noticed, despite being in what we would assume to be a location for digestion, the air in the chamber is surprisingly fresh, despite Mister Gosaria's confinement in it for a number of hours. It is almost as though it is being circulated, or filtered, to enable breathing, a feature that would seem to solely benefit the creature's prey, yet what does the predator get out of it?"
Crouching down, the professor ran his hand over the surface they were resting on. "As well, consider the flesh we sit on. From the mouth, down the throat, and even here, there has barely been any moisture at all. At most there seems to be just enough to keep the flesh from drying out, but nothing beyond that. How does a creature digest it's prey, if it seems to have no noticeable digestion juices? A conundrum to be sure..." By the end the professor had lapsed into silence, apparently deep in through over this new mystery.
A mixture of annoyance and confusion on his face, Mark spoke up. "That's all well and good professor, but what does that mean for us? Personally I like to do my xenobiology studies on the outside of whatever I'm looking at, and while this creature may be scientifically interesting, that's not going to do us much good if we never make it out of here alive."
Snapping out of his thoughts the professor looked back at the others. "I'm sorry gentlemen, I let my scientific curiosity get the better of me for a moment there. As for what it means, I couldn't rightly tell you, but with so many discrepancies, I can't help but think things might not be as they seem." Shaking his head to keep his mind from wandering again, the professor continued. "Regardless, there doesn't seem to be much we can do either way at the moment, so our first order of business would seem to be a closer examination of our surroundings. Perhaps with a more careful look, we may be able to discover some answers regarding out current situation."
Shaking his head at the professor's attitude, even in a situation as strange as this, Smith couldn't help but smile at bit at the old man's words. 'A scientist and seeker of knowledge through and through that man,' he though. 'Still, not like we have anything better to do, and a distraction would certainly be welcome.' Mind made up, Smith cautiously tried to stand, though after losing his footing twice, quickly decided that he'd be better off traversing the chamber on hands and knees, something the others followed suit on after having their own troubles keeping their feet.
Right then, first of all, just what is with this 'floor' we're on...
**
Out on the frozen tundra, the dragosect couldn't have been happier. The sensations of the little creatures shifting about inside, along with the heat emanating from them... ooh, it practically had her thrumming with pleasure. It was almost enough to cause her to jump about with joy, however, not wanting to rattle the little things around too much, she was careful to keep her movements steady.
A fairly young dragosect, she had only occasionally ran across some of the small animals that lived on the icy planet, and while they made for pleasant belly warmers when they could be caught, having a full stomach like what she enjoyed now, with multiple creatures inside, was far more pleasant.
As enjoyable as the sensation was though, she knew that it was only a matter of time until she would be forced to release them. Unlike her race, the smaller creature she had encountered so far needed to eat on a fairly regular basis, and that meant being outside. Of course there was no reason she couldn't bring them right back inside her once that necessity was taken care of, and if the actions of the last of the creatures in running towards her was anything to go off of, it was possible that, unlike the handful of other creatures she had eaten, these ones might be willing to stick around for a while at after they were let out, perhaps be her own little belly warmers.
Not wanting to give up the delightful little creatures just yet though, the Dragosect decided that she would keep them inside for a bit, give them time to relax and enjoy their new, temporary den, while allowing her to enjoy their movement and heat. Wanting to be helpful, she set out in the direction that the creatures had been coming from the day before, guessing that was where they had their main nest. That reaching it could end up taking several hours was of course a pure coincidence, after all, it would be cruel to just drop the little things off in the middle of nowhere, when she could deliver them to their nest.
**
After an hour or so, the team of trapped scientists had just about had their fill of 'research'. Beyond confirming the anomalies that the professor had noted of fresh air and minimal moisture, there really wasn't much to examine in their prison. As time passed, everyone, even the surprisingly spry professor, had tried to climb back out the tube they had come in, yet even with everyone helping at once, the muscular opening stayed shut.
With escape not an option, and the 'research' completed, the team had taken up various ways to pass the time. Mark and Eric had apparently loaded a game or two onto their tablets, and were busy duking it out on whatever it was they were playing. The professor had claimed a 'corner' of their room, and was busy making notes into his tablet, mumbling all the while. Torn between the more serious task of taking notes like the professor, and loading up a game or book to read, Smith had just reached for his tablet when he noticed something.
Ever since they had been stuck in the small 'room', there had been a slight but steady movement to it, likely caused by the creature moving around. Though it was minor, it was still enough to notice, and now it seemed to have stopped. About to bring it to the attention of the others, Smith soon noticed something far more alarming. Their 'cell' seemed to be shrinking.
Before he could call out to the others though, the professor, who had been leaning against the 'wall', found himself pushed forwards, until even his focus on his notes wasn't enough to distracted him from what was happening. His yell of surprise got the attention of the other two, and the four of them very quickly noticed that room was starting to get a little sparse.
Expecting the worst, the team pushed against the slowly tightening walls with all their strength, yet even as hard as they tried, it was still all for naught. After only a few minutes, the walls had closed in, until each member of the group was tightly surrounded by gently pulsing flesh, unable to see or hear anything due to how tightly they were surrounded. Thankfully, just before the constriction reached the point where it might have done some physical damage, the pressure eased up, holding them firmly, but not harmfully.
Before Smith or the others could wonder about what was going to happen to them next though, they all felt large ripples in the flesh surrounding them, as it propelled them towards an unknown destination. Though he tried to call out to the others, and he was sure they tried to do the same, the flesh surrounding them was close enough to muffle all sound, leaving each of them in their own little 'bubble' as they were moved along.
It wasn't long before Smith felt his trajectory shift, with his head now pointing down, rather than up. At first fearing the worst, that they were indeed to be digested, the feel of fresh, cool air quickly changed the dread to hope. And indeed, shortly after that first caress of air, Smith found himself once more in the mouth of the creature, where he was once more gripped by the ropy antennae, though this time they were pulling him out. From there it was a matter of moments before he was gently placed on the ground in front of the kneeling alien.
Still somewhat dizzy by the transport from squishy stomach to firm ground, Smith could only watch as the others were likewise quickly pulled out, one after the other, before being placed next to him. That done the glowing creature, crouched yet still towering over the humans in front of it, looked down at the confused scientists, with a look on it's face one could almost mistake for an expectant smile.
Trying to snap out of the daze he was in, Smith looked around to see where they were now, only to be struck dumb once more. He didn't know how, he didn't know why, but the strange creature that had 'eaten' the four of them had somehow found out where the research station they were based at was located, and had dropped them off right in front of the main building. While before it was just speculation, this pretty solidly confirmed it: The creature they had encountered clearly possessed an impressive intelligence, and was anything but a 'dumb beast'.
Moving to stand up, Smith carefully watched the creature for any responses, but other than a slight nod at his actions, almost as though it was encouraging him, it continued to sit still and passively watch. Walking over to the professor, he noticed the older man was still sitting on his haunches, apparently lost in thought and muttering to himself. Lightly laying a hand on the professor's shoulder, he gave a gentle nudge to try and bring him out of this thoughts.
"Professor. Professor Imbiss, we need to get up and inside, we can't just sit around out here all day. If our new 'friend' is going to drop us off right in front of the base, we really should head inside before it changes it's mind."
Shaking his head sharply to clear it, the professor stopped his mumbling to look up at Smith, before easing up and, with a little assistance from Smith getting to his feet. Nodding his head once more, the older professor looked towards the one who had helped him up. "Of course, of course you're right, no sense sitting around out here freezing our backsides off when there's a nice warm building just a dozen feet away." Looking over at the large creature that was watching the four of them, the professor had a speculative look on his face. "I must say, I've never heard of a creature acting quite like this one. Consuming it's prey, yet not digesting them. Smart enough to deduce and find the location of the nest of it's prey, and then releasing it's meal once it arrives there... indeed, quite the fascinating find."
With the elder scientist apparently lost in thought once more, Smith spoke up behind him. "Professor?"
Looking over his shoulder at the younger assistant, the professor had a smile on his face as he addressed Smith. "This my boy, this is why field work is so exciting and valuable. Being able to make such remarkable discoveries, often purely by accident, things that no amount of lab work could have found... indeed, it's enough to get even an aged scientist like myself feeling like a young man again."
Slightly bemused at the old man's enthusiasm, Smith still couldn't help but agree. They'd come out here to perform some minor geological studies, running across a new species like this was an amazing find, and one that, handled carefully, could really give a boost to all of their careers. However, that was something to consider at a later point, their first priority was getting out of the cold and writing up a report on what had happened while it was still fresh in their minds.
As the two of them turned to go inside however, they felt something brush across their backs. Quickly glancing behind them, they saw that the long antennae from the creature were the culprits, with the glowing tips mere feet away. At first worried that they would be 'eaten' again, Smith and the professor were instead surprise to find the tips gently nudging them forward, as though telling them to go inside. With that kind of encouragement, the two of them hurried inside, bemused smiles on their faces at the strange creature, and eager to write about their incredible find.
**
Watching the little things scurry into their strange gray nest, the dragosect had a pleased expression on her face. While two of them had hurried inside fairly quickly after being released, the other two had stayed outside watching her, making their strange noises. Such lack of fear boded well for the future, as hopefully it meant they would be willing to warm her belly the next time they came out of their nest as well. To have several belly warmers all to herself... she practically thrummed at the thought.
With nothing better to do, she settled in to rest where she was, eagerly waiting for the next time her and her little toys could play.
