#i feel comfy going onto some more advanced species now

[bigweldindustries]

every UK mantis breeder has idolomantis diabolica nymphs rn and it's making me laugh I've hardly seen them for sale since I first decided to look into mantises and now bam. everyone bred theirs at the same time 💀

[aristarshower]

Star Catcher

Masterpost

Adventure Twelve-The Spider

It was clinging to us. Dig was proud of the new voice. They made it specifically to sound like the most soothing voice for humans.

“Are you sure it’s contained now?”

As far as I can tell. It took a bit of digging on Dig’s part but they found every record of the hungry sand and studied them as soon as they reached the end of system hosting the thing. I read everything I found, Alina. It isn’t much, surprisingly. They seem to be a newly discovered species. Although how something like this remained a mystery is an interesting question.

“So it is contained then?”

Yes. Safe as I could make it.

“That’s a relief. Thank you, Dig.”

We could just throw it out, captain. I am not sure how it will grow but we could seal it and throw it out.

“No. We can’t let it spread so easily. That’s what the plant wanted.”

Alright. I’ll keep it safe here but you have to keep Mel out.

Mel slinked out from a corner and approached the spores. The swirling purple sand had somehow gotten onto Star Catcher despite their fields and shields. The spores hung innocently in the orb Dig had trapped them in. So far, that seemed to be the only way to contain them.

“Mel! No touching the spores. Do you understand?” Dig had never heard Alina sound so serious. Mel hung her head and left the room.

***

The message reached them the day after they left the plant. Star Catcher was fully equipped for full journeys into unknown space. Rew and her crew worked overtime to make the ship the best they could. Alina was grateful but paid extra to keep their mouths shut. Most crews like Rew’s were just rich bored people looking for some fun. Rew didn’t seem to be that kind but one thing Alina knew was that appearances could be deceiving, just like Star Catcher at that moment. They were passing through a fairly busy wormhole so the ship was camouflaged as a “please yatch” for some Ferlun rich. None of them spoke Ferlun except Dex who downloaded it just in case but no one really spoke Ferlun anyway so it was smooth sailing.

They kept up appearances until they were at the outskirts of the system. There were no natives to the system but it was a prime vacation spot. The planets were so polluted by other species, all chance of any native species died ages ago. Star Catcher drifted serenely like many other ships whose owners had nothing to do and too much to spend.

We are getting close, Cap. Harpie was monitoring their position with Nisha. Amani and V were waiting at their stations, ready to fire in case of any problems. Dig was in their cabin, preparing “lunch” as they put it including the air quotes. Alina was slightly scared.

It was just Dex and Alina in the main control room. “There’s nothing out there, Captain.” Dex was scanning for anything that would give them a clue about what the spider had up their sleeve.

“Keep scanning. Don’t miss a thing. I want even the smallest things checked.”

“Yes, Captain.” Dex sounded uncharacteristically serious. They were all on edge. The instructions they received from the elusive spider were weird. They were told to travel to one of the most visited systems, travel to the edge and “get lost”. That’s it. How is the SC supposed to get lost with two navigators on board?

“How do we know if we are lost enough?”

“When we find them, I guess?”

The planet loomed in front of them suddenly. Alina jumped and so did Dex.

Captain. Harpie sounded just as startled as they felt.

It was a big piece of rock, barely illuminated. Their radars should have picked it up miles away.

Their screens went blank.

“Shit, captain. We lost control.”

Harpie? Nisha?  There was no response. They were dead in deep space with a planet approaching.

“We are going to crash into it.” Dex was slamming all the buttons he could find.

“I guess we are lost enough.” Alina waited. The spider had no reason to want them dead and if they were interested in business they would not crash the ship.

***

V upended a whole bottle of water onto his head when Star Catcher slowed down on what looked like an empty exo planet. He held onto the blasters once the ship hissed to a stop and a door opened up before them.

“That’s not ominous.” He muttered to no one. The door led straight into the surface of the planet. And it was completely dark.

The hatch behind V opened. “Leave the weapons.” Came a disembodied voice from nowhere.

“Great, sure, definitely loving the vibe here right now.” V threw the weapons down but sneaked a small knife up his sleeve. It was a crude human weapon but it was better than anything else.

***

Alina gathered her crew behind her. If they had to go through a hole in the ground, she was going first. Nisha held her hand and squeezed in silent support. Alina reminded herself of why they were doing all this again.

“So much money. All the money we’ll ever need and more.”

“That’s the spirit, love.” Alina smiled at Nisha and stepped in.

“Oh.”

***

Harpie stepped gingerly into the small living room. It looked …quaint. If they knew more about human culture they would see that it was a standard living room with a huge comfy couch, some assorted chairs and bean bags, a few shelves with potted plants on them and a small entertainment screen in the corner. Harpie knew that some of the plants were fakes of extinct earth species. They had seen them in the shifting market before. The spider definitely had expensive taste.

The whole room looked mostly like the lounge/dining room they had on SC except for the huge robotic spider in the corner. Dex let out a squeal when he saw it and promptly hid behind Amani.

“Forgive me for this.” The spider’s mouth actually moved when it spoke. It was very life like but Harpie could tell from the buzz on their skin that it was just tech. Advanced and expensive tech but tech all the same. “It’s a necessary precaution.”

The spider’s many eyes fixed on each of them in turn. Harpie was sure there were more eyes than would be on an organic spider. The spider scuttled over to the center of the room. Harpie was the tallest of the bunch beating Alina by a few inches but even they felt small while the spider towered over them. Their whole body was black covered in some soft fuzz.

You can just wear a mask instead of the suit. The spider turned their full attention on Harpie.

That’s a suit? Dex tried to sound brave and failed miserably.

“Ah…a Harpie. Of course, I see it would be stupid to pretend this is my real form in front of you. Funny that one of you is free and I didn’t know before.” Harpie felt anger rising within them. They hated the careless statements other species made about their kind like they weren’t equal just because the stupid federation decided they were a “secondary” species.

“I am sorry. I did not mean to offend you. I am, in many ways, a secondary species too.” Harpie narrowed their eyes. The spider cleared their throat and changed the subject.

“So I hear you need a harvester?”

***

Alina squared her shoulders and took a seat. Here it goes!

“Yes.” It wasn’t the strongest start but it felt sufficient.

“Oh right…sorry…take a seat please.” The spider fussed around with the chairs. There was an awkward moment when they tried to sit on a chair and realized they couldn’t in the suit. That, more than anything else, convinced Alina that the spider was probably human and a young one at that.

Once they were all settled the spider began again. “So you want a harvester?”

“Do you have one?”

“Yes.” Alina could feel the whole crew tensing.

“How do we trust you?” The spider shrugged which was impressive considering they had eight fuzzy legs and no hands.

“You don’t trust me. I don’t trust you. That isn’t how this works.”

“Tell us how this works then.”

“I need some star dust.”

“We have some category A on our ship right now.” It would be hard to get more A dust again but not impossible especially if they left the planet with a harvester.

“No, I need the dust from a specific star.”

“Which category is it?” Something about all this seemed off to Alina.

“None. It’s not a regulated star.”

***

“How are we supposed to get dust from it then?” V demanded before it clicked into place.

“You can test the harvester with this star but you have to bring me the dust.”

“So we know the harvester works but why unregulated?” V knew that voice from Alina. She did not like this deal.

“My needs are mine, captain. I need the dust from one star in particular. If you can get me that, you can have the harvester for three months.”

“Wait, we don’t get the harvester?” Nisha interrupted.

“No, obviously. Do you think I’m an idiot? The harvester will come with a remote device I can detonate if you are late without notice.”

“Seems extreme.” V muttered to Alina. Alina turned her head a fraction to look at Nisha on her other side. Nisha was biting her lip worriedly.

“How do we know you won’t kill us immediately?”

“Like I said, I don’t trust you. You don’t trust me. This is your need, not mine. I’m only considering you because you came highly recommended.” If the spider thought flattery would work on Alina, they were wrong. V smiled at the annoyed expression on Alina’s face. Their whole job depended on secrecy. Having a reputation is not good.

“What else?”

“What?”

“You must have some other conditions.”

“Well, the standard stuff really. Don’t damage the harvester more than absolutely necessary. Don’t try to sell it off to others. Don’t give it up to the federation. Don’t try to remove the detonation device. Don’t expose me or my associates. I’m sure you get all this, captain.”

Alina nodded thoughtfully. V tapped a silent message with one of his hands on Alina’s hand.

Seems dodgy.

Do we have a choice? Alina tapped back.

Meanwhile, the spider’s eyes found Dex and kept staring at him. Dex started and clutched at V’s hands. Dig on the other side of Dex also held onto Dex’s other hand.

“What’s to stop us from taking the harvester and leaving without bringing you the dust?” Amani was serious. V was thinking almost the same thing but he was furious she gave up the plan.

“Oh you won’t. Until you bring me the dust, I am keeping one of you here.” The spider’s eyes settled on Dex and V’s heart stuttered.

“No.”  Alina’s answer was easy. V was relieved.

“It’s your choice. If that’s your answer, you can leave.” V made to stand up but Dex pulled him down.

“I’ll stay.”

“Dex!”

“It’s only until you can bring the dust.”

“We are not leaving you here with…that.” V pointed aggressively. Dex swallowed.

“He’s not so bad.”

“They. I use they/them pronouns.”

“Sorry. They are not so bad. I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“Alina tell Dex this is stupid.” V turned to Alina only to find her actually considering it.

“Where is this star?” The spider pulled up some maps.

“Nisha.” Alina didn’t have to prompt more. Nisha went to work, plotting the route.

I can’t believe you guys are considering this. Dig said. Their voice had changed from soothing to growling.

“Thank you, Dig. Finally someone is talking sense!”

“Will the two of you calm down?”

“A week. To get there and get the dust and come back.” Nisha specified.

“See that’s not so bad.” V was ready to scream.

“Alright. Take us to the harvester.”

“It’s already being loaded onto your ship.” Alina bristled at the violation.

“Fucking rude but okay.” V stood rooted to the spot as the crew prepared to leave. Dex was sitting right next to him, his hand warm and shaking in V’s.

“Can I stay with Dex?”

“V, we need you.” Dex flinched. It was slight but V felt it.

“If you hurt Dex in any way…” He rounded on the spider who was four feet taller but in that moment, V felt like he could trash them with his bare hands.

“V, come on. We need to hurry if we want to get back soon.”

“Fucking fine.” V pulled Dex into a bruising hug and slipped the knife into Dex’s back pocket, making him jump.

I’m leaving Dex with a way to communicate with us. Harpie announced and dropped a small comm device into Dex’s lap. If that turns off at any time, we are gonna come in guns blazing.

“Okay.” The spider shrugged again making V’s blood boil. “You are taking something far more valuable than what you are leaving.”

V threw himself at the spider who jumped back so hard, they hit the ceiling. Amani and Nisha pulled V back and dragged to SC snarling.

Be careful, Dex. Dig said and the hatch closed behind them.

***

Dex watched as SC disappeared into space, one sentence playing over and over again in his mind. ‘V we need you.’

Previous/ First / Next

[lightyears-domum-blog]

The beginning...1

Ugh, before i start, i just want to put it out there that my friends put me up to this… Normally this is the part of the story where the author says somthing along the lines of “there was a human, they thought they were normal… but they were about to find out the truth.” Typical story opener right? Well I am not an author, and to be honest, I kind of suck a writing. So instead I will just tell you like it is:

Hi, my name is Ash. Just ash. Nothing else. I am 36 years old, I am male, I am gay, I am transgender, I am an Aquarius. I like to draw, and go on adventures. I also love to star gaze and imagine what it would be like to travel to the stars and planets. Normal stuff, nothing special. I am an average guy, working and paying the bills. Trying to scrape out a living on this god forsak-

“Ash what are you doing?”

“Ummm, writing the story you all insist I write?”

“Let me see…” quickly skims over the paper. “What is this?!”

“What? I suck a writing! I told you this!”

Breathes in deeply and sighs. “Alright. Just, hold off until I get back from training the troops and I will help you write it…” I smiled really big when he said this.

“Sweet cookies! Thank you love!” He rolled his eyes at me and waved as he left out tent.

“You are hopeless sometimes leisthar.”

“But you still love me!” I stuck my tongue out at him and he left. well, I guess I have the afternoon off! And I don’t have to write this stupid thing! Hell yeah! Bye!

———

I had thought to start afresh and leave out what Ash had written, but in the end i decided to leave it. it gives you a glimpse into who he is, A quick peek into his personality, so to say. He has two major sides to him; a playful non-stop joking side you only see when he gets to know you well, the other is very reserved, very quiet, and very respectful. And seeing as how he is not taking this task seriously, I will be stepping in to write down the events that have led him, and myself, to this point.

Earth is a rather small planet filled with, according to the ministry, primitive lifeforms known as humans. Humans are considered lesser beings, and are seen as more of a working animal rather than an intelegent species. There is one thing about humans that make them the subject of many scientists studies; their DNA is easy to manipulate. Since it is simple and uncoplex compared to most other beings, they are prime targets for genetic manipulation of all kinds, from all different advanced races in the universe. This, as you may, or may not, have guessed by now, is where Ash’s story comes in.

Ash had been running errands all day, grabbing groceries, toiletries, paying bills. It was his only day off and he was making the most of it. He stopped in the local shoe store to purchase a new pair of sneakers, his old ones were fraying and had large holes. This would not have bothered him so much, were he still living in his old home town. There it was dry and hardly ever rained, so holes in your shoes were not such a big problem.

Here though, here it rained, A LOT. And not just a nice drizzle, no, the heavens seemed to open while the atmosphere collapsed, and the sky would fall to the earth. That kind of rain, huge unavoidable puddles; So new shoes were nessasary. He handed the clerk 45 dollars, took his change and went to his truck to try on his new black and red stripped sneakers.

“Ohhhh!” He said slipping them onto his feet, he threw the old worn pair into the back seat. “These are much nicer! Mmmhmmm! Comfy on my feet!” Wiggling his toes inside them he put the key into the ignition and started the old Chevy. It roared to life with a few protesting squeals from the engine. Ash looked left, then right, before pulling out of the parking spot.

“Drivin’ down the road! Gonna go home and eat some food!” He sang to himself as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the freeway heading back to his apartment. He checked the time, it was only 2:45 in the afternoon. Plenty of time to relax before his sister and her boyfriend came home from work. He had recently moved in with them when he was looking to get out of his old town. His sister had offered for him to move in with her. Not only was it convinent for him, it would help them out with bills and food.

So, Ash packed up his stuff and drove 15 hours to his sisters. It was an interesting change for him, he had lived in his home town his whole life. Sure he had traveled to different places, but never lived anywhere else. It took him quite a while to get used to the new humid climate, the different culture, the lack of his favorite foods. But there was work out here, he did not have to struggle to pay his bills . That, in and of itself, made the new place tolerable for the time being.

Ash drove down the road singing loudly to Steam Powered Girrafe’s newest song ‘I don’t think there’s a name for it.’ his latest song obsession. The cars around him were flying past him going well over the speed limit. He didn’t mind, he was in no hurry to be anywhere today. As he pulled off the freeway and onto the side street that lead to his apartment complex, Ash noticed someone sitting on the side of the road.

They were wrapped up in so many layers you could not even see their face. It looked as though they had 15 different hoodies on, each larger and larger to accomidate the layers underneath. The hoods of all were pulled up over the persons face, shrouding it in darkness. They were also wearing layers and layers of sweat pants, again each increasing in size, white dirty shoes, and thick mittens. They had a shopping cart overflowing with cans, paper, and other scraps of what seemed to be garbage.

The person didnt move a mucile as he drove past them. It was strange to see this in the middle of summer, but ash had seen stranger things in his lifetime, so he paid it no mind. He pulled into the parking lot and parked in his usual spot, four slots down from his door. He saved the front row parking for his sister and her boyfriend. Not because he had to though, he didn’t mind walking 10 extra feet to the front door.

Ash looped his arms through every grocery bag, making him look like a strange bird with heavy wings, and quickly hobbled to the front door before the weight of the food became to much for him. He fumbled with the key until it finally slid home, quickly unlocking the door, he let it hang open, while he rushed to the kitchen to gently drop everything in front of the fridge with a huge sigh.

“Jesus moses! Food is friken heavy sometimes!” He commented to himself as he went back to the door to shut it. Rounding the corner ash nearly jumped out of his skin, simotaniously letting out a shriek. The strange person covered head to toe in layers of clothing was standing in the doorway.

“Holy crap man! You scared the shit out of me!” Ash said laughing nervously, his heart was beating a thousand miles a minute. “Can I help you? Do you need food or water?” He asked, ready to give the person anything they may have needed. The stranger just stood there, not moveing, it didn’t even look like they were breathing.

“Hello?” Ash cautiously moved around to stand in front of the hooded person. “If you don’t need anything then you need to leave.” This caused the head of the person to lift suddenly, Ash flinched at the unexpected motion. He could not see the face under all those layers, but the feeling of the strangers eyes boreing into him was undeniable. Fear ran through ash like lightning, then was quickly followed by hot fury.

“I am dead serious, you need to get the fuck out of my house before I either escort your ass out, or call the cops! Your choice.” He was not quite yelling, but he was speaking loud enough that he was sure the neighbors could hear him if they were home. Still the stranger did not move, they just continued to stare at him from deep within the darkness of the many hoods they wore. Ash had had enough, keeping his eyes on the intruder he walked over to the knife block and grabbed the first thing he felt. It was a small serrated steak knife, good enough to scare anyone out of the house.

The stranger followed his movements, tuning their head slowly. When Ash grabbed the knife and pointed it at them the intruder advanced. They were fast, much faster than Ash had time to process or react to. he only had time to shout 'fuck!’ Before the intruder had the hand with the knife wrenched up behind his back, and the other hand squeezing Ash’s throat so hard tears began to form in his eyes. Dark blotches spread from the edges of his vision as he rapidly lost contiousness. The last thought he had before passing out was 'you have got to be fucking kidding me with this bull shit.’ Then the world went black.