Day 18
Oh dear. I can't get lazy just because I have nothing to panic about anymore.
"Hey, look over there," Rob said quietly, pointing to a gate as Steven talked about some avoidance tactic.
They all looked eagerly. They had quickly begun to regret having invited themselves along for the instructive tour. It was much more patronizing than it was instructive, even to people who knew absolutely nothing about the outside.
"It's just another gate," Jackie said, sounding very disappointed indeed.
"It looks like it leads to another nook, though," Dan said, trying to take a good look without attracting any unwanted attention to himself.
"Oooh, you mean that it shows promise?" Jackie asked, beginning to smile in a very demented, scary sort of way.
"We could certainly find something interesting in there," Arthur said fairly. "It's very dark, though. We won't get to see too much now."
"Well, it's got to be worthwhile as a detour, right?" Rob asked a bit desperately.
"There's nothing to keep us with this group, after all," Dan said. "And I think that we could use a bit of sleep before we start the real day."
"Just think what we might find!" Jackie said in a rush of breath. She saw this as another chance to find some real excitement in their mission.
"Quietly, now," Dan said urgently. Rob was in front of the group at the moment, so they followed his lead. He started to take slower, smaller steps. They swiftly fell behind the rest of the group, and if they were noticed, they could still play it off, explaining that they had merely been distracted for a moment. Luckily, they weren't seen, and by the time that they had reached the edge of the gate, they could easily slip inside.
Jackie peaked outside to check that the group had moved on, and was relieved to see that there was no risk of their being noticed. The unfortunately group had just rounded a corner, and they were swiftly disappearing from sight. "The coast is clear," she said, using her regular voice.
Rob laughed with relief. "Oh, that was horrible. I was having all sorts of sergeant flashbacks, there. It's good to know that we're not completely lost out there."
Arthur shook his head disapprovingly. "Now, now, show a little bit of respect." He couldn't muster up much of a strict tone, though. Even he was extremely relieved. He, who had regular seminars to attend about much the same topics, couldn't stand to listen to it much longer.
They were moving into the large nook, heading into a sufficiently sheltered and comfortable-looking corner to spend the rest of the night in.
"After all, we apparently sleep at the wrong time of day, for them," Dan said, finally able to express his amazement at that.
"I know!" Jackie said. She took her position in front of the group as they began to settle down for the rest of their much-needed and well-earned rest. "It does make a bit of sense, though. This place isn't as impressive during the night, but it is infinitely easier to see."
"It's strange," Rob said. "We've been away from the colony for long enough to forget what it's like to actually be able to see without so much light. It's like I've forgotten all about that, already."
"Well, that's what we get for traveling during the day, I guess. But I stand by my opinion that we should try to avoid the visors for a little while longer," Arthur added severely. "The best thing possible is always to build up a tolerance for whatever it is that might cause us problems."
"I wonder if it's common..." Dan said quietly to himself.
"If what's common?" Rob asked, almost instinctively.
"Sleeping during the day," he clarified. "I wonder if there are a lot of colonies that sleep during the day to avoid dangerous creatures and avoid the light."
Jackie stretched, getting her body ready for the rest of her night. "Well, it does make sense," she said fairly. "It wouldn't surprise me if the more active colonies followed that general rule."
"The Bright Eyes didn't," Arthur said, pulling out his notes. "They were fairly active on the outside, but they fully active during the day." He started to make notes on what had happened in the past few hours.
"Then again, they are called the Bright Eye Colony. That's got to tell you something," Rob said wryly. He was curling up, trying to get ready for some more sleep. He had pushed himself too hard, and was now too awake to get to sleep easily.
"True, true," Dan said. "My contacts also seemed to be active during the day, or at least their officials were. Then again, it could certainly be a matter of location."
"Hmm, I like that idea," Rob said eagerly. "As we move further out, we might find even stranger things. After all, our isolation would make a lot of sense if we were actually at the middle of this strange noise. That would make our colony much more difficult to reach, so that if we don't venture out, we're simply not going to stumble against anything new."
"That's horrible. How can you be at the center of something and not be effected by it at all?" Jackie asked incredulously.
"Well then, people would certainly surprise you," Dan said.
"People have been known to be incredibly blind to the obvious in the past," Arthur agreed.
"You just get shielded from it by itself," Rob said, floundering a bit. "Oh, just don't think about it and accept it."
Jackie shook her head, a little bit amused. "Oh, don't work yourselves up into too much of a frenzy," she said fondly. "We're going to have another long day ahead of us tomorrow. And it'll be a long night, too, if we keep going at this rate."
Eventually, the team finished their notes and settled down for some rest. As soon as she was sure that they were deeply asleep, she pulled out her own notes to write down whatever she could think of. OF course, she didn't lose track of her very important task of watch her team. She regularly looked up from her work to check that nothing was out of place, and her ears were wide open the entire time.
Nothing happened during the night, but there was quite an interesting incident as morning approached. She could tell that day was coming by the lightening of the room, but she also noticed that the light wasn't its usual color. Usually, it was a sort of intense white-yellow. Now, it was very yellow. It actually seemed to be orange, in fact. The more that she tried to make sense of this, the more that the light continued to change brightening up and going through a countless number of hues.
She had no idea what it was that she experienced, or even if it was a normal sort of occurrence, but she knew that she had witnessed something special. She was quite happy to have experienced it alone, as well. It would have been cruel to wake her teammates for for something trivial like that. What did they care about colors and the way that the light bounced off strange objects.
The next creature that entered the room didn't have the same regard for her friends' rest as she did. The floor rumbled, and the three men quickly rolled out of sleep. They blinked quickly, trying to get the cobwebs out of their minds and take an active role in what was going on. Jackie gave them a small, sympathetic look, and quickly returned to following the creature's movements by sound.
In the light, it was clear that this nook was quite like the last one that they had seen. It seemed to exist solely for the purpose of sleeping. Which was still a completely ridiculous notion to have. The creature approached the bed in the center of the nook.
There was a rustling and rumbling that seemed rather frightening, but Rob was sure that he could hear part of a conversation.
"My apologies, Miss, but it's time for you to wake up," said a fairly female voice.
The rumbling that came in response didn't have any discernible meaning, but the conversation had not stopped making sense.
"You must begin your day now. This is an important day for you," the voice urged.
"You brought breakfast?"
"Of course, Miss. Would you like to sit up to eat it?"
"Yes, please."
There was some more rustling and rumbling above. "Do you need anything else, Miss?"
"No, everything is fine for now. Thank you, Hilda."
"Yes, Miss." The rumbling started again as the creature set to moving. It left the room quickly, and they were all left alone with the strange being in the bed.
"Did you hear that?" Rob asked urgently.
"Unfortunately," Dan said.
"That was painful to listen to," Arthur said, rubbing his ears with his hands.
"You didn't hear the words?" Rob asked in disbelief.
"Words?" Jackie stared at him in shock.
"I swear I heard words!"
"Shh, don't raise your voice too much," Arthur cautioned.
"It sounded like the creature that just came in woke up the creature in the bed and brought it breakfast," Rob said, trying to convince himself of this fact as well.
"The creature in the bed?" Arthur asked, his eyeballs almost popping out of his skull. "There's a creature in the bed?"
The others seemed to be thinking the same thing, at least judging by their stunned expressions.
"Would seeing the creature prove that I really heard something?" Rob asked eagerly?
"Well, it would prove something," Jackie said, weakly.
"Come on!" Finally excited, Rob rushed up one of the chairs to get a good look for himself. His teammates followed behind him at a safe distance.
They were at a good angle to see what was in the bed, especially as this platform was placed relatively high. Their mouths dropped open as soon as they saw what was to be seen.
"It looks like that head statue!" Jackie exclaimed.
"The basic features certainly seem the same," Dan confirmed. "But we still don't really know what the rest of it looks like, considering that fact that it's covered up, now."
"Look, it's eating," Rob pointed out. "Those must be its arms," he said, pointing. "We know at least that much."
"It doesn't looked clawed, at least," Arthur said quietly, unable to believe his eyes.
"We should wait for the other one to come back. We can see what the whole thing looks like. And we'll be able to see how it moves!" Rob was finally getting excited about his mission. That should have been a good thing, but it was still s fairly frightening moment to get excited in.
"Let's go to the back, behind that blue thing. That way, we can still peak out, but we'll lessen our chances of getting seen," Arthur said urgently.
The rest of the group complied readily, eager to do practically anything to have the chance to learn more about these creatures. They would have a fair bit of waiting to do. Then again, they had plenty to talk about as they waited.
"So you can understand them?" Jackie asked finally.
"It just sounds like they're speaking plain English," Rob said in amazement. "It's a bit grating, even to me, but the words are perfectly easy to distinguish."
"I think we just found your secret ability!"
"Hey, look over there," Rob said quietly, pointing to a gate as Steven talked about some avoidance tactic.
They all looked eagerly. They had quickly begun to regret having invited themselves along for the instructive tour. It was much more patronizing than it was instructive, even to people who knew absolutely nothing about the outside.
"It's just another gate," Jackie said, sounding very disappointed indeed.
"It looks like it leads to another nook, though," Dan said, trying to take a good look without attracting any unwanted attention to himself.
"Oooh, you mean that it shows promise?" Jackie asked, beginning to smile in a very demented, scary sort of way.
"We could certainly find something interesting in there," Arthur said fairly. "It's very dark, though. We won't get to see too much now."
"Well, it's got to be worthwhile as a detour, right?" Rob asked a bit desperately.
"There's nothing to keep us with this group, after all," Dan said. "And I think that we could use a bit of sleep before we start the real day."
"Just think what we might find!" Jackie said in a rush of breath. She saw this as another chance to find some real excitement in their mission.
"Quietly, now," Dan said urgently. Rob was in front of the group at the moment, so they followed his lead. He started to take slower, smaller steps. They swiftly fell behind the rest of the group, and if they were noticed, they could still play it off, explaining that they had merely been distracted for a moment. Luckily, they weren't seen, and by the time that they had reached the edge of the gate, they could easily slip inside.
Jackie peaked outside to check that the group had moved on, and was relieved to see that there was no risk of their being noticed. The unfortunately group had just rounded a corner, and they were swiftly disappearing from sight. "The coast is clear," she said, using her regular voice.
Rob laughed with relief. "Oh, that was horrible. I was having all sorts of sergeant flashbacks, there. It's good to know that we're not completely lost out there."
Arthur shook his head disapprovingly. "Now, now, show a little bit of respect." He couldn't muster up much of a strict tone, though. Even he was extremely relieved. He, who had regular seminars to attend about much the same topics, couldn't stand to listen to it much longer.
They were moving into the large nook, heading into a sufficiently sheltered and comfortable-looking corner to spend the rest of the night in.
"After all, we apparently sleep at the wrong time of day, for them," Dan said, finally able to express his amazement at that.
"I know!" Jackie said. She took her position in front of the group as they began to settle down for the rest of their much-needed and well-earned rest. "It does make a bit of sense, though. This place isn't as impressive during the night, but it is infinitely easier to see."
"It's strange," Rob said. "We've been away from the colony for long enough to forget what it's like to actually be able to see without so much light. It's like I've forgotten all about that, already."
"Well, that's what we get for traveling during the day, I guess. But I stand by my opinion that we should try to avoid the visors for a little while longer," Arthur added severely. "The best thing possible is always to build up a tolerance for whatever it is that might cause us problems."
"I wonder if it's common..." Dan said quietly to himself.
"If what's common?" Rob asked, almost instinctively.
"Sleeping during the day," he clarified. "I wonder if there are a lot of colonies that sleep during the day to avoid dangerous creatures and avoid the light."
Jackie stretched, getting her body ready for the rest of her night. "Well, it does make sense," she said fairly. "It wouldn't surprise me if the more active colonies followed that general rule."
"The Bright Eyes didn't," Arthur said, pulling out his notes. "They were fairly active on the outside, but they fully active during the day." He started to make notes on what had happened in the past few hours.
"Then again, they are called the Bright Eye Colony. That's got to tell you something," Rob said wryly. He was curling up, trying to get ready for some more sleep. He had pushed himself too hard, and was now too awake to get to sleep easily.
"True, true," Dan said. "My contacts also seemed to be active during the day, or at least their officials were. Then again, it could certainly be a matter of location."
"Hmm, I like that idea," Rob said eagerly. "As we move further out, we might find even stranger things. After all, our isolation would make a lot of sense if we were actually at the middle of this strange noise. That would make our colony much more difficult to reach, so that if we don't venture out, we're simply not going to stumble against anything new."
"That's horrible. How can you be at the center of something and not be effected by it at all?" Jackie asked incredulously.
"Well then, people would certainly surprise you," Dan said.
"People have been known to be incredibly blind to the obvious in the past," Arthur agreed.
"You just get shielded from it by itself," Rob said, floundering a bit. "Oh, just don't think about it and accept it."
Jackie shook her head, a little bit amused. "Oh, don't work yourselves up into too much of a frenzy," she said fondly. "We're going to have another long day ahead of us tomorrow. And it'll be a long night, too, if we keep going at this rate."
Eventually, the team finished their notes and settled down for some rest. As soon as she was sure that they were deeply asleep, she pulled out her own notes to write down whatever she could think of. OF course, she didn't lose track of her very important task of watch her team. She regularly looked up from her work to check that nothing was out of place, and her ears were wide open the entire time.
Nothing happened during the night, but there was quite an interesting incident as morning approached. She could tell that day was coming by the lightening of the room, but she also noticed that the light wasn't its usual color. Usually, it was a sort of intense white-yellow. Now, it was very yellow. It actually seemed to be orange, in fact. The more that she tried to make sense of this, the more that the light continued to change brightening up and going through a countless number of hues.
She had no idea what it was that she experienced, or even if it was a normal sort of occurrence, but she knew that she had witnessed something special. She was quite happy to have experienced it alone, as well. It would have been cruel to wake her teammates for for something trivial like that. What did they care about colors and the way that the light bounced off strange objects.
The next creature that entered the room didn't have the same regard for her friends' rest as she did. The floor rumbled, and the three men quickly rolled out of sleep. They blinked quickly, trying to get the cobwebs out of their minds and take an active role in what was going on. Jackie gave them a small, sympathetic look, and quickly returned to following the creature's movements by sound.
In the light, it was clear that this nook was quite like the last one that they had seen. It seemed to exist solely for the purpose of sleeping. Which was still a completely ridiculous notion to have. The creature approached the bed in the center of the nook.
There was a rustling and rumbling that seemed rather frightening, but Rob was sure that he could hear part of a conversation.
"My apologies, Miss, but it's time for you to wake up," said a fairly female voice.
The rumbling that came in response didn't have any discernible meaning, but the conversation had not stopped making sense.
"You must begin your day now. This is an important day for you," the voice urged.
"You brought breakfast?"
"Of course, Miss. Would you like to sit up to eat it?"
"Yes, please."
There was some more rustling and rumbling above. "Do you need anything else, Miss?"
"No, everything is fine for now. Thank you, Hilda."
"Yes, Miss." The rumbling started again as the creature set to moving. It left the room quickly, and they were all left alone with the strange being in the bed.
"Did you hear that?" Rob asked urgently.
"Unfortunately," Dan said.
"That was painful to listen to," Arthur said, rubbing his ears with his hands.
"You didn't hear the words?" Rob asked in disbelief.
"Words?" Jackie stared at him in shock.
"I swear I heard words!"
"Shh, don't raise your voice too much," Arthur cautioned.
"It sounded like the creature that just came in woke up the creature in the bed and brought it breakfast," Rob said, trying to convince himself of this fact as well.
"The creature in the bed?" Arthur asked, his eyeballs almost popping out of his skull. "There's a creature in the bed?"
The others seemed to be thinking the same thing, at least judging by their stunned expressions.
"Would seeing the creature prove that I really heard something?" Rob asked eagerly?
"Well, it would prove something," Jackie said, weakly.
"Come on!" Finally excited, Rob rushed up one of the chairs to get a good look for himself. His teammates followed behind him at a safe distance.
They were at a good angle to see what was in the bed, especially as this platform was placed relatively high. Their mouths dropped open as soon as they saw what was to be seen.
"It looks like that head statue!" Jackie exclaimed.
"The basic features certainly seem the same," Dan confirmed. "But we still don't really know what the rest of it looks like, considering that fact that it's covered up, now."
"Look, it's eating," Rob pointed out. "Those must be its arms," he said, pointing. "We know at least that much."
"It doesn't looked clawed, at least," Arthur said quietly, unable to believe his eyes.
"We should wait for the other one to come back. We can see what the whole thing looks like. And we'll be able to see how it moves!" Rob was finally getting excited about his mission. That should have been a good thing, but it was still s fairly frightening moment to get excited in.
"Let's go to the back, behind that blue thing. That way, we can still peak out, but we'll lessen our chances of getting seen," Arthur said urgently.
The rest of the group complied readily, eager to do practically anything to have the chance to learn more about these creatures. They would have a fair bit of waiting to do. Then again, they had plenty to talk about as they waited.
"So you can understand them?" Jackie asked finally.
"It just sounds like they're speaking plain English," Rob said in amazement. "It's a bit grating, even to me, but the words are perfectly easy to distinguish."
"I think we just found your secret ability!"