With the great sphere hanging so low in the sky it was only now possible to see the array of new stars and obscure constellations the small moon had to offer. The huge Jovian-Class planet laid lethargically on the horizon casting an odd green hue about the surface which shimmered in the thick evening air.
"The evenings here are long," a voice crackled over the radio, "but the days are even longer."
"What about the nights?" the radio hissed back, leaving a strange, intangible echo around the helmet of the spacesuit.
The radio remained silent for a few seconds more, then snapped on again. "None existent," the feminine voice on the other end seemed sombre at the prospect. "Get back ASAP, we still don't know the full extent of the radiation here," she ended quickly, briefing over how truly alien this world was.
"Acknowledged," the radio sounded one last time before clicking off.
There was no sun here, at least none apparent to the small moon in orbit around the vast green giant that crawled slowly across the sky. Majestic as the sight was the planet bathed its tiny partner in a sea of radiation making its celestial beauty all but un-viewable.
As the recon team neared a small cave entrance in the rocky landscape the ground glinted against the planet high in the sky. Minerals in the rock shone and refracted with an intense purple, strange to look at but somehow natural as it transited, shimmering from the otherworldly green layering the thick air.
"Base, we've got something here we should check out," the recon leader crackled again over the radio.
"There's a lot of things we need to check out, Epsilon, but we need you back here," there was a pause and a clatter over the frequency. "Stasis systems are failing already and the encampment isn't up yet, let alone the radiation shield."
The recon leader squinted into the dusky haze and raised some optics to his visor to see a concentration of the purple rocks around the cave entrance. "Copy, but there might be a cave system out here that could temporarily shield the sleepers."
There was static for a moment or two before the radio buzzed back into life. "Understood, Recon Epsilon, investigate the caves to confirm viable protection for our people then immediately return to base."
"Acknowledged, Discovery. Will report progress in one standard hour," the radio clicked off again and the recon leader turned to his two colleagues. "Looks like we're doing some investigating, guys. Harris; I want rock samples and Peterson; keep an eye on those radiation levels. This place might be home for a little while."
"Great..." Peterson mumbled perturbed and muffled by his helmet, "I always loved caves."
Harris bent down, running her gloved hand over the glowing ground. "I've never seen anything like this," she hovered her hand over the surface, blocking out the planet-light, causing the rocks to loose their luminosity. "They're reacting to the light."
"Or radiation," the recon leader added quietly.
"Speaking of radiation..." Peterson tapped a monitor on the arm of his spacesuit which was acknowledged by his commander nodding and touching Harris on the arm in order to leave.
As the planet reached ever higher into the sky it obscured the thousand million pinpoints of pure light in the deep black. Its sheer enormous size was capable of blotting out the very sky itself and its deadly radiation able to exterminate all exposed life in seconds. This being the case they decided it was more than a good idea to start moving.
The walk to the cave entrance, although short, was made exhausting from a combination of the moons unusually high gravity and a tidal force from the giant planet that was placing abnormal stresses on the recon teams bodies. By the time they had finally arrived the planet had completed its low roll along the moons horizon. Already it was climbing higher into the dazzlingly starlit sky, the radiation levels rising dramatically as it did.
"Quickly, get inside," the recon leader hurriedly pressed the other two into the entrance and down into the dark tunnels that followed. Before he followed suit he looked back out and over the brilliantly bright dawn mixed with green and purples as the whole surface of the moon came alive with dancing colours as it responded to the growing radiation.
"Alright, we're safe for now," Peterson said quickly, staring at the falling needle on his monitor.
"Phillips!" Higgins barked at the recon leader, breathing heavily, "Weren't you supposed to know when planet-rise was?"
"I swear it didn't happen that early yesterday," Phillips tried to gain some limited amount of health back from the dwindling supply of air in his tank. "Peterson, will this place be safe until the planet sets?"
Peterson looked back at his monitor and gritted his teeth. "Well, it's all academic now, last rise planet exposure was deadly for six standard hours. Not to mention that at this rate we'll have to keep going deeper to escape the radiation, it's already rising here as it is."
Phillips looked back up the tunnel they had come down. "Go any deeper we might not be able to get a radio signal out," he mused to himself. "Discovery...Discovery come in," there was a short pause and a garbled acknowledgement. "Discovery, planet-rise has occurred earlier then expected. These tunnels are providing some protection but we cannot return until radiation levels have reduced. Say again, we are unable to vacate cave system until radiation has subsided."
"...planet...-diation...t-...-el sy..." The radio crackled uncontrollably making the message unintelligible, "unab-...-eam...-main in...-ion...is saf-...-se ou-..."
"Radiation..." Peterson stated simply, "we need to get deeper."
"Agreed," Harris quickly offered while Phillips nodded shallowly.
Without a second thought the team immediately started down the rocky tunnel with an eerie purple glow coating the alien walls. As they dove deeper into the moons crust the glow grew brighter. It grew so much that as the natural surface light grew dim it was quickly replaced by the unsettling hue. Eventually they emerged into a large subterranean cavern with a dark pool at its centre and odd structures hanging from the ceiling. Again the place was lit by the same strange glow as though the walls themselves were tinted floodlights.
"Can you believe this?" breathed Harris, gazing at the distorted reflections in the shimmering pool.
"Hmm..." Peterson failed to acknowledge as he intently watched the monitor on his arm. "I think we should be alright here," he checked the monitor again and waved his arm around in front of him, "but there's still small levels of radiation, unrelated to the surface."
"Is it dangerous?" Phillips asked quickly, turning from the spectacle before them.
Peterson took a few steps towards the pool and crouched down the best he could in his suit. "No. It seems to be this," he reached down to the pool, making the surface frost over before he could touch it. "Caesium," he stated abruptly, pulling his hand back, "the coolant in my suit is causing it to freeze."
Phillips took a step closer and peered into the slick, sliver like pool. "Fascinating, I'm sure, but I'm more concerned about when it's safe to leave."
"Planet exposure will be lethal for at least the next six hours. Discovery is fully aware of this and knows we are at least safe," Peterson paused for a second, considering the best way to make his request. "That in mind I'd like to collect some readings and I suggest we explore this place the best we can."
"Supply camp?" Phillips mused abruptly, looking around at the open cavern.
"At the very least. Discovery hasn't got nearly enough space, especially with everyone waking up," Peterson looked around subtly. "This could be just what we've been looking for."
Phillips thought for a second and looked to a set of openings at the rear of the cavern. "Fine, take your readings, I'll check out the rest of this place," he turned and found Harris examining the glowing cave walls. "Harris, you're with me," he stepped closer, reaching out a hand to her, "Harris."
"This can't be," she murmured to herself, twisting awkwardly in her suit to face Phillips, "it's like there are living veins in the wall itself."
"Organic?" questioned Phillips, looking closely at the s
urface. Embedded into the wall there did, indeed, appear to be veins that pulsed a glowing fluid through the solid rock. "What the..."
"Bio-luminescent fluids," Harris started, "possibly some form of nutrient transport," she stood back and looked intently at the throbbing wall, focusing on a strange cluster of small grass like fibres which some of the veins centralised around. "These appear to be some form of cilium; a means to filter feed or absorb nutrients. What could it possibly be absorbing?"
"The radiation?" Peterson offered, "as a energy source to fix atmospheric chemicals," he finished, not even turning away from what he was doing.
Harris raised her eyebrows, her mouth hanging open. "It's not unheard of. Radiosynthesis in Fungi back on Earth using Melanin instead of Chlorophyll," she considered the idea for a few more seconds. "Question is; where is it being directed?"
Phillips looked around again, concluding the directionality of the fluids. "Let's find out then," he pointed to one of the rear openings that the veins appeared to travel down. "Peterson, I want contact every twenty minutes." Peterson nodded shallowly as he continued to work, barely even aware he had been addressed with the other two heading off towards the tunnel.
After several minutes of walking Phillips and Harris came to another, much smaller cavern. This had two other exits and a much higher concentration of veins, coalescing into several large, vertically elongate polyps on the ground. Each throbbed like the veins and seemed to sway gently against a breeze that didn't exist.
Harris knelt down to one of the polyps to inspect it. "This is new," she said, stretching out an arm to it, mesmerised.
"Careful," Phillips snapped, "we've got no idea what these things are or if they could be dangerous."
"I severely doubt that," she brushed away some loose sand from its base to find a tubule seeming to connect each of the polyps. As she did the growth began to split along the sides, its outer layers peeling back slowly to expose a fleshy, stem like structure wrapped in the pulsating veins. "This is incredible. I never could have believed we'd find something like this," she scrutinized the structure, causing Phillips to shift uneasily. "I don't think this is floral. The closest thing I could say it resembles is terran Hemichordate, possibly Pterobranchia, but with it being completely alien I couldn't even begin to speculate."
Phillips pulled her up from the swaying polyp. "In English, doctor."
"It's technically animalia," she started, turning around, "possibly one huge colonial creature throughout these tunnels. The fibrous growths on the surface and in the cavern absorbing radiation to metabolize with," she looked back at the eerie sack of flesh as it seemed to lean towards her slightly. "As for this thing...Could be some type of Zooid, a single living organism within the greater colony," despite Phillips' encouragement against going near the creature Harris, again, knelt back down beside it. As she did the veins began to unwrap from the central stalk, allowing a collection of short tentacles to peel away from it, wavering in the air as if it were water. "This is fascinating, I need to take a specimen."
"Harris-" Phillips tried unsuccessfully.
"I know the risks but this is possibly the most complex extra-solar organism ever discovered. We can bring a team back later, yes, but the sooner I get this under the microscope-" she was cut off by Phillips raising his hands and nodding quickly.
"Fine, just try not to hurt it."
Harris smiled briefly and set to retrieving a small surgical knife from her field kit. " Of course not, I'm sure it won't miss one of these stalks," she moved in towards the creature with the knife in hand forcing the tentacles to recoil away from her as if they knew what was coming. She carefully managed to maneuver her blade against the base of the stalk and cleanly slice free a tentacle. As soon as she did though, the polyps skin snapped shut, barely allowing Harris to free her hand. With this the purple glow illuminating the site abruptly ceased, leaving them in complete pitch blackness.
"Lamps," Phillips addressed subtly in the overwhelming darkness.
"Don't have to tell me twice," Harris murmured uneasily, scrambling to find the switch to her headlamp. Finally she grazed across it causing a momentarily blinding burst of light before her eyes adjusted to see a deadly still, black polyp. She sighed and turned around where her light met a ghostly skeletal face, tinted a sickly green as it darted across her vision creating a sheer panic that forced her to scream. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it was replaced with Phillips' visored features.
"What's wrong?" Phillips said quickly, stretching a hand out to help her up.
She snapped her head from side to side, desperately trying to illuminate the cave walls with the meagre beam of her headlamp. "Did you-" she considered what she had seen, or if she had, in fact, seen anything at all. "It was...A shock. Loosing the light like that...I..." she stuttered, trying to make sense of what was happening, "my eyes were playing tricks on me."
"It's alright," Phillips said reassuringly, "we're trapped in an alien cave network on a world parsecs away from home, its natural to be a bit jitterish." He tapped the dull, flickering light on his helmet. "Especially when your damn lamp won't work."
Harris looked around again nervously, the flickered shadows catching her eye uneasily. "Maybe we should head back."
Phillips nodded, reaching for his radio. "Peterson, we're on our way back," he stated clearly only to be met with a steady static. "Peterson, respond," still there was nothing but the grating drone. "Report your situation. Have the-" the radio blasted static again for a second before abruptly stopping leaving the two in a deadly silence. For several long seconds there was nothing as they looked at each other in the unnervingly low light.
"Maybe it's the radia-" Harris tried, only to be cut off by Phillips' radio again. It blasted a stunted, rhythmic timbre that dipped in pitch with each passing sequence of repeated tones. Its frequency whipped from squeals to rumbling growls, continuingly stamping out the eerily irregular rhythm until it abruptly stopped. It now left the dark cavern in an absolute silence that was no better then the chaotic din that had preceded.
"Phillips!" the radio garbled at last causing Phillips and Harris to start back, "where the hell have you been? I can't see a damn thing."
Phillips tentatively reached for his radio again, unsure whether he should risk using it again. "Peterson?" he said cautiously, deciding take the chance, "we've..." he considered giving him a full appraisal of the situation but knew brief contact was probably better, "we've got some issues, heading back now," he tentatively released the radio, allowing the faint crackle of the open channel to fall silent. "Come on," Phillips gestured to Harris encouraging her to take the lead back down the tunnel they had originally entered through.
As they walked further back towards the first cavern it became apparent that the blackout had occurred throughout the network of tunnels, leaving the entire labyrinth in a dense, sickly blackness.
"Peterson can't be happy being left alone in this," Harris murmured after several minutes, trying to reassure herself against the desolate silence and dark.
"I am sure he is not," came Phillips' voice, still and without concern. Then it was silent once again, nothing to break the stillness but their footsteps crunching on the alien gravel.
Eventually the narrow tunnel opened back out into the main cavern where Harris darted forward, glancing around, spilling small pools of light about the ground. "He's gone," she spurted out, swinging around having caught no sight of Peterson.
Phillips stared straight forwards, un-phased by the fact one of his team had disappeared. "Indeed he is," he flicked his glazed eyes to Harris, "but he is safe...For now."
"Phillips..." Harris mouthed subtly, unsure of what was taking place.
"Phillips is here...He merely...facilitates our presence here," as he finished speaking the air around him shifted as another of the ghostly skulls jumped from Phillips' helmet. It streaked around him for a second before blurring back, leaving a faint green haze in the air.
"You're s
entient..." Harris considered, too intrigued to be terrified. "Please, don't hurt them."
The creature inhabiting Phillips snapped its attention back to Harris, having been distracted by the design of body. "You hurt us," it said sternly, "we felt your presence and welcomed you...You hurt us."
Harris tightened her grip on the sample container housing the specimen of the alien being. "We didn't know, we thought you were-"
"Lesser?" the being finished, clearly displeased with human rational, "we learn much from this body but not that all is equal in your eyes."
"I'm sorry, I truly am," she raised the sample container, offering it before placing it on the ground in front of Phillips. "Please, let him go."
The being turned its gaze quickly to the container and produced a low hissing sound as its true self shifted into the open air once again. This time instead of withdrawing it darted around Phillips' helmet, the hissing changing into an off key whine, shifting in pitch and forming a rhythm much like that produced by the radio. With the tempo like whine growing in intensity several more eerie green skeletal figures raced into vision causing the fear to finally overwhelm Harris' inquisitive nature. They hovered around Phillips, each momentarily blurring into each other, dragging the being of one another across the thick air. Harris tried to step back, only to realise that these strange ethereal creatures were all around her, boxing her against Phillips.
"Please..." she tried again, her voice weak and trembling, tears beginning to form in the corner of her eyes, "please," she mouthed one last time as a tear finally broke loose and streaked down her cheek.
"Ours is not yours," the creature inside Phillips stated firmly as the veins about the walls began to faintly pulse again, affording the cavern with an uncomfortable illumination. "Our body is weak..." with the light level rising again it slowly became clear that there were dozens more of the aliens all around, each now with a faint, skeletal body. Their arms fell to their reverse jointed knees with three long, gripping fingers on each hand. A rib dominated torso made up their upper body leading to a long, thin neck that afforded little support for the heads that drifted around on the tenticular vertebrae. "Our mind is strong," it continued, "you harm our body...we will take your mind..."
Harris whimpered as the ever growing presence of the creatures around her moved closer "...No..." she murmured, the tears now streaming down her face as one of the ethereal beings reached forward its bony arm towards her, clasping its long, slender fingers as it went.
"One must remain..." the creature inside Phillips said finally before Harris was taken, "so that no more return."
Several hours later a slow, distant clicking drifted through a dreamless void approaching closer then falling away again. It swung back and forth for some time until it took a place in the real world, gradually awakening Peterson from a disturbing slumber. He opened his eyes slightly and caught a glimpse of the moons surface, the planet now low in the sky and the intense field of purple fading away. He managed to move his arm to see that it was the radiation monitor that had been clicking so readily. The needle was high but not so high that the dose he was receiving was fatal. Suddenly his radio blasted, making him start up, looking around and finding that he was at the mouth of the cave. The radio blasted again, this time causing him to answer it.
"Peterson," he answered weakly.
"What happened? You've been out of contact for hours," the commanders voice crackled, "are you all ok?"
He looked around to find he was alone. Then it all came back to him. The creatures, their minds, so free and powerful but their brains so fragile, housed in those polyp like structures. They had show him everything and kept the others as a warning. "I...I'm all that's left..."
"What is that supposed to mean?" the radio demanded.
Peterson thought for a second, trying to comprehend all that he had gone through and could only manage one simple statement. "We're not alone."
Within