Starborn: Origin of the Stars

Completely stunned and oblivious to everything around them, Robin, Landom and Patience stood atop the small hill and looked down into the forest.

They had been wrong, the scenery didn’t change at all compared to before. Even here, huge trees grew like hands grasping for the sky above while the ground was unnaturally tidy and only a single green island made of shrubs and small bushes could be seen. This island however attracted the group’s attention. It was quite the sight: a few trees had been toppled over, leaving a hole in the foliage above. The sun, Goya, was shining with its eerie light, illuminating the glade in different shades of red. And even though Robin could only guess most of this play of colors, he was completely captivated by the enchanting scene.

It was as if all this was an elaborate setup with just one purpose:

Crafting the most perfect environment for the huge alien… thing resting in the center of the green island.

The black behemoth was oval shaped, like the shell of a turtle, and rested on four thick legs at least 40 meters above the ground. The legs each were more than 15 meters wide at the bottom, slowly thinning towards the upper end where they were connected to the main part. The central body alone was roughly 60 meters long, 45 meters wide and 20 meters high and, like the rest, made of a dull black metal with many rough edges. At its side it had two small wing-like protrusions sticking out. The whole thing was completely encased in the black metal and windows couldn’t be found, but Robin spotted a few shutters which could be hiding them.

“Just what is this thing…” Landom muttered, enthralled by the scene in front of him.

“That must be a spaceship, right? That doesn’t look like a building at all!” Patience exclaimed and tilted her head, “But I can’t see any thrusters. Maybe it’s some kind of ‘Walker’? Running around on those huge legs…”

“No, that should be a spaceship. It’s too big to be a planetary vehicle.” Robin whispered in awe. He had completely fallen in love with the ship’s design the moment he laid eyes on it.

“Maybe it’s both? It walks on the ground as long as it stays on a planet but can still take off and do some space-traveling if needed.” Patience suggested.

“That’s not the main question right now.” Landom interrupted her guessing game, “I’m more concerned who’s ship that is…”

“I don’t recognize the style.” Robin said without taking his eyes off the ship, “But it should have been here for a long time. Just look how some of the smaller trees are growing around it. It must have stayed here for years and years.”

“You think it’s abandoned?” Patience asked.

“I’m pretty certain no one is living here, yeah.” Robin nodded.

“I do agree.” Landom said, “This also doesn’t look like a spot for a trap…”

“You are saying…” Patience began and slowly looked from one to the other, “The SOS was actually just that? An SOS from an old, maybe crashed or broken ship? Great! This whole trip was for naught then?”

“What?” Robin yelped and finally looked at his friend, “Are you crazy? This is absolutely amazing! We may have found a lost ship from an unknown or forgotten race! Can you believe this?”

“Well, while I’m inclined to celebrate with you,” Landom interjected, “I’d like to remind you about our reason for coming here. While it may be an interesting discovery from a historical or maybe even scientific perspective, we’re still stuck on this planet, about to be attacked and need a plan to escape our pursuers, do you remember?”

“Maybe we can just use this ship to flee the planet. I doubt any of us are sentimentally attached to the Hubble.” Patience suggested, clearly trying to salvage this otherwise wasted trip.

“Do you really think this ship is still working? Fat chance!” Robin waved her off, “Why would they have left it here to rot then? Some critical parts must be broken.”

“We still should take a look.” Landom said, “Maybe we get lucky. We still know too little.”

“Of course we will go down there!” Robin exclaimed and began to descend the slope. There was no way he would leave this marvelous piece behind without first examining it from top to bottom. Landom followed behind him while he vigilantly observed their surroundings, his weapon at the ready.

Excitement rose in Robin while he closed in on the ship. This discovery was huge and he felt a bit like back on Ruca II when he finally found the Drel outpost. However, he also had learned to keep a calm mind in situations like that. Last time he lost focus at some point and didn’t notice that his oxygen was about to run out; no need to make the same mistakes twice and rush things. The constant itching from his passive sense reminded him that the storm was still at full power - they had time.

When he reached the bottom of the small hill, Robin turned around and surveyed his surroundings. Landom stood beside him, also maintaining a vigilant stance. A few of the big trees grew here and there and while you could probably even hide a small ship behind the thick trunks, it wasn’t likely. He also couldn’t spot any clusters of holes in their vicinity.

“Maybe we’ve left their territory?”

The alien ship was a few hundred meters ahead of him, snuggled in the shrubs that formed the green island in the otherwise barren forest. Now that he had left his elevated position on the hill, the ship appeared even more enormous. The four legs alone were bigger than the Melody II and exuded a feeling of stability and safety.

“Just who had crafted such a beautiful ship?” Robin muttered and threw Patience a last glance before he continued to approach the ship. She lagged behind a little l but carried on, her eyes darting nervously from left to right.

“You’re okay?” He asked and looked around once again to find what was disturbing her.

“Huh?” Patience jumped up and quickened her pace, “Yeah, just thought I heard something.”

Both men gave her a scrutinizing look, but then just shrugged. They were pretty sure they were alone in this area, not even small animals could be found.

Slowly the group crept closer to the ship and just as they were about to reach the first bushes, at least that last assumption could be thrown to the wind.

From the midst of the green island a Stalker rushed out, heading straight for their position. It was fast, running as if its life depended on it and its maw was opened in a silent scream. Robin couldn’t hear it, but he didn’t need to as the panicked fear in its eyes told him all he needed to know.

“Prepare to fight!” Landom shouted and raised his weapon even before Robin could yell his warning, “Something else must be following it…”

They quickly formed a half circle with Patience in the front to tank the Stalker’s mad charge. However, when the beast came closer and noticed them, it screeched to a halt and fled to the side. Dumbfounded, the three watched as the panicked Stalker crashed head first into one of the huge trees. A loud, dull thump echoed through the forest and Robin winced from the imaginary pain. Blood flowed down the beast’s head and formed a small puddle under its feet. Soon it stood back up and screamed once more, this time however, it was audible to everyone and Robin reflexively grabbed his helmet in a futile attempt to cover his ringing ears.

“Just what can terrify a Stalker to this extent?” He gasped when the scream finally stopped, but got no answer as the beast wasn’t done yet. It stumbled back a few steps, took a running start and charged into the tree again.

Robin, Landom and Patience watched in horror as the Stalker suicided in the slowest and most painful fashion possible. Time and time again it headbutted the thick trunk until it finally couldn’t get up any longer. All around it the earth had turned red with blood by now.

Robin saw its chest rise and fall one last time, then the Stalker’s eyes turned dim.

“Burn in plasma, what the fuck is going on here?” He whispered in shock and looked at his friends. Landom also seemed shaken and carefully watched the bushes from which the Stalker had first emerged.

“I don’t like it here!” Patience said. Her eyes erratically flitted from bush to bush and she was even more nervous than Robin.

“We’ll quickly leave after we’ve checked out the ship, okay?” Robin said and looked at the man next to him, “Do you think it really was hunted?”

“No, it’s been a few minutes by now. If there was a pursuer it would’ve long reached us. It seems like the beast was mentally unstable somehow. Maybe something psychodelic?”

“Like from eating the wrong mushroom? Maybe.” Robin shrugged, “Let’s hurry up, I don’t wanna stay here longer than necessary.

With careful steps the group moved forward and it didn’t take them long before they finally found themselves next to the closest of the ship’s legs.

“I don’t even recognize the material…” Landom marveled as he touched the cold metal. Patience stood a few steps behind them, clearly more wary of their surroundings than interested in the ship.

“This is amazing!” Robin said and inspected the craftsmanship more closely. It was as if the hull had two layers. The outer one was made from a dull metal-like material that was cut into pieces and then attached like armor plates. It looked like a rough crafting technique at first but the pieces matched together perfectly, even if some edges protruded here and there. It wasn’t sloppy work, Robin realized, but a skillful technique needed for the legs to retain their mobility when moving.

Through little gaps between the plates he could see the glint of the second layer made of a polished metal. It was too dark to make out any details though.

Robin looked around and felt really small under this huge ship. He still couldn’t see any kind of command bridge, windows or at least some thrusters but he was convinced that this definitely was a ship made for space-travel.

“Give me a moment and keep an eye open!” Robin instructed and sat down. He wanted to check the ship with his G-Anomaly. Maybe he would learn something if there was a little energy left in its systems.

After he closed his eyes, Robin first checked the feedback from his passive skill. The high ambient energy level and the raging storm in the sky made this a futile attempt however. Next he used his active sense and concentrated on the ship’s main body 40 meters above him. It was just in his reach after his gene-repair session on Seavis and should do the trick. Robin had spent countless hours by now on training his ability to filter out unwanted energy sources. However the image in his mind was flooded with a blue hue instantly, representing the chaotic energies created by the storm.

He needed six attempts before he finally managed to fade them out and everything turned dark again.

“Now, let’s see if there’s anything left…” He muttered and took a deep breath.

Focusing on a random point of the ship above him, he looked for any blue lines to form before his inner eye.

“Nothing…”

Switching to another spot, he tried again… and again… and again…

“Nope, nothing.” He said with disappointment.

“Was a long shot anyways.” Landom said, “If it crashed here years ago, there is most likely no generator active anymore.”

Robin knew that as well, but what Landom didn’t know was that his senses were so sensitive by now, that he could find low-level systems powered by emergency supply and maybe even bits and pieces of residual energies. However, this ship was just dead. Time had killed all backup systems and no energy signatures remained.

“Ugh.. you are probably right.” Robin sighed, “So, it’s dead. No entry in sight and without special equipment, this wreck will remain a closed treasure chest, right?”

“I’m afraid so.” Landom said, “Sorry, Captain. I know you’ve wished for more.”

“Maybe the ship belongs to the Keeper, then you would never be able to sense anything without painting the whole ship first.” Patience joked.

“By the way, why is that a thing?” Landom asked intrigued, “Why did you need to paint the monolith?”

“When I feel energy, it’s like painting a picture with blue colors in my mind. Æther however is colored in black. So with black lines on a black surface, I see shit. Same if I close my eyes and only paint a ‘mental picture’.” Robin explained.

“I’m no expert in these kinds of G-Anomalies, I’m obviously more into modification of body parts.” Landom said, “But that’s not how it works, isn’t it?”

“What do you mean?” Robin asked.

“Well, the blue or black lines are nothing but a visual representation of what your body is sensing, created by your mind, right? So shouldn’t you be able to, well, change the colors? Like: ‘I want to see energy in green and Æther in red’ or something?”

Robin abruptly opened his eyes and blankly stared at Landom.

“It can’t be that easy, can it?”

“Uhm, as I said I’m no expert. But that is how it works with other mind-based mutations I’ve heard of. Didn’t Timothy tell you about it? He should know more about these kinds of things.”

“Timothy has some… memory issues right now. But, you’re telling me…”

While Robin didn’t know what to say, Patience was laughing her ass off.

“You should see your face!” She said, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably, “Rob, you are such a moron! I always knew it, but the extent of it never ceases to amaze me!”

“Fuck!” Robin cursed, annoyed by his own negligence.

In a flight of anger he sent out an Echo-Pulse, fueled by his frustration. His head nearly exploded from the overstimulation and he sank to his knees. However, suddenly the image in his mind began to brighten up; the dark void glowed in a dim blue hue, representing the all-encompassing ambient energy. What really upset Robin, however, was that the color actually began to change from blue to green.

“You are kidding me!” He muttered as he observed the dark space filling with green light nearly everywhere. Only the area occupied by the spaceship remained dark, as if no energy managed to penetrate its hull.

“Interesting…” Robin mused.

“What is it?” Landom wanted to know.

“The ship, it’s shielded somehow. The whole ship is just one dark spot to my-”

He stopped. Just as the snapshot from the quick Echo-Pulse began to fade away, he saw it:

Small red lines formed all over the ship’s body.

“This really is a fuckin’ Keeper ship…”

Chapter 113 - The Keeper Ship