Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The weeks dragged on, and Adrial slowly recovered, though I grew ever more despondent about our chances of survival. Varbargn had slowly expanded his numbers, all his officers now were replaced with the beasts, and the routine of our whole camp seemed to becoming more and more militant. The survivors accepted it, grateful for the supposed increase in security, but I grew worried over just how little freedom we had within the camp. We were confined to the camp, and had our set duties to attend to, and were under constant surveillance, via the watchtower we had rigged up in a nearby tree.  I learnt new ways of being able to identify the creatures,  they were unable to sleep. They put on a elaborate charade of appearing to, but after the camp had gone to bed I watched them from my cabin. They met for long hours and stood together in silence, communicating through some unseen way, before disappearing in the night. I watched one night as they carried out Smithson, one of the camp’s engineers out of his cabin, walking into the forest with him in their arms, as almost instantly he reappeared and saluted Vargbarn. I wanted to scream, let the whole camp know, but I was too scared. If I yelled out, there was no guarantee I could catch them in the act before they managed to cover their tracks, and it would simply put them on edge. It would be safer to let them think they are in control. Over the weeks while she recovered I resolved to write an account of what had happened, in case something happened to me, so that others might be able to resist and reveal those monsters. I left a  video recording at the beginning of my record, a plea to the listener to take my writings seriously, though how successful it would be I could not guess. Adrial’s recovery went well, her injuries healed with very little permanent damage, though her nightmares persisted. I took to sleeping in the chair next to her, holding her hand as she slept, our relationship mended to the point of her accepting my companionship as she endured her terrible nightmares.   I decided to tell Adrial the next day what had happened, despite knowing there was no way she would believe me. I had to try, to warn her of the danger.

I took my time explaining what had happened to her, knowing my tale was so fantastic I would seem a madman to try and explain it. Regardless, I told her of the monster transforming into me, and my suspicions of several of the survivors being replaced by the beasts. To my great surprise, she actually listened to me, rather than pointing me out as a madman. She sat in silence for a few minutes after I finished my tale, before responding.

“If I hadn’t seen those monsters for myself I would have called you mad.  But your story explains a lot about why those creatures attacked- it seems like based on what everyone was saying they could have wiped us out, but they didn’t, killing only a few, and running off into the forest with a few survivors we managed to rescue. It doesn’t make any sense. But with your explanation it makes sense- they wanted to hide in plain sight, and keep an eye on us and control our next moves. I believe you.”

“but but-  I don’t understand- I must seem like a lunatic, a madman- why do you believe me?

 “I remember the monster attacking us- I was laying there bleeding out, half delirious from the pain, but I remember the monster changing before my eyes, and suddenly there were two of you standing in front of me. I had dismissed it, thinking I had just imagined it and my mind was playing tricks on me in my pain. Plus since i woke up I’ve noticed something… wrong about the camp, no one seems to be acting like they did before the attack. Vargbarn especially, he always seemed to have time for everyone, but now he seems obsessed with turning out camp into a fortress. I’ve seen him since the attack,  he looks just like him, but he’s not1hing like the captain that organized us after the crash.”

We kept talking about what had happened for the rest of the day, staying inside Adrial’s quarters, the doors sealed off to keep out unwanted ears. It felt good to finally let it all out, to share my fears. Though once we had finished discussing the situation, we had an even harder topic to discuss- what to do next. After a lengthy discussion we came up with a couple of options. Adrial was keen to expose the monsters, and overthrow their control, however the creatures had replaced nearly all of those with combat training or in leadership positions. It was unlikely that an uprising would be able to kill them all, or even if the whole colony would back us on our coup. Both of us realized without saying the cost if we failed in this attempt.  The second idea I came up with was to escape and warn the other survivors, wherever they were.  We would have to  take decisive proof of the monsters, and warn a few of the people within the camp before we left, to give them a chance at least. It seemed cowardly, but if we didn’t get the word out about the monsters, then there was a good chance these creatures would still be in control in the years to come. We had no idea how many of these monsters there were, and if any of our fellow survivors from the ship were to stand a chance we would have to spread the word, and make sure even if not all of us made it, the truth would survive.

In the end we decided to combine the plans, Adrial had come up with a brilliant trap,, and  so we began to formulate a plan. Adrial was nearly fully recovered, we planned on executing our daring plan as soon as she was fit enough to travel.  She was doing well, but it was likely the scars would never fully fade, and sadly her nightmares showed no sign of stopping, despite staying with her while she slept. We built up our supplies secretly, readied our rucksacks from our earlier travels again, and made notes of what we knew of the surrounding areas. We decided to head north, the footage from the escape pod seemed to show we had landed on a large continent with a large amount of landmass to the north, and a great deal of pods seemed to land in that region. We reasoned that was our best chance of spreading the message as quickly as possible. Adrial busied herself with the planning, while I worked on our plan to create proof. I ran test after test on the samples of the monsters I had kept, pretending to the rest of the camp I was trying to learn more about them,  all the while secretly trying to find a  weakness. I knew it made me a dangerous target to the fake Vargbarn but I had to take that risk, and besides, we knew we would not be staying much longer. I also socialized with a few of the stronger survivors I knew had not been replaced, encouraging unease and distrust over Vargbarn’s increasingly militant behavior. I recorded a message for each of them, intending to leave a copy of the proof we would obtain with them the night we left. I bribed one of the survivors children to secretly meet me the night we planed to escape to secretly place the messages in their quarters, in case something went wrong. I would sorely miss the last of the chocolate supplies, but sacrifices would have to be made. At last, after two weeks, Adrial was nearly back at 100% we were ready.

Vargbarn had not been idle while we had been planning and plotting. The camp was surrounded by barricades’ of wood and steel, cannibalized from what remained of the drop pod, a watchtower build in the center of the colony seemed to be more for watching the camp than for watching out for attackers. I could feel myself being watched by his cronies, watching what I did. I knew that they were going through my research after I went to bed, so I kept my real findings confined to my mind. With this in mind, it was easy to set my trap. I led Vargbarn alone out from the camp, under the pretense of wanting to talk privately to him. I lead him out a few miles, to a small clearing, lined with bushes and trees.

“Well? What’s this about doctor? I don’t time for you to waste on trivialities- speak!”

His whole manner was abrupt, dismissive. It was clear he had very little time for me, and was not concerned being alone with me, he did not see me as a danger. Time to change that.

“I know what you did. You things do such a great job of impersonating us, I might never have realized if your friend in  the med bay had had shown his hand so fast.” I saw a flash of worry as his face grew pale as his whole body grew stiff.

“I realized as soon as you walked in that vargbarn was dead, you’re just a husk wearing his skin. Your transformation ability is near perfect, but you give it away with your posture. There was one thing I was wondering though, how do you creatures take our memories? You can change your appearance, but its how you take on your victims identity that fascinates me. Come on, tell me you’re going to kill me anyway aren’t you? What’s there to lose?”

His face widened into a cruel grin as he began chuckling, his voice suddenly shifting to a sluring sneering tone.
“hehehe you don’t know? We eat your flesh, ganw on your bodies, devouring your whole bodies, taking your strength, your memories, your identity’s, consuming it to make us stronger. Our minds are able to absorb your essence as we digest you, the taste is…. Unforgettable hehehe.”

“But why take control of the camp? Why not eat us all at once? Why the pretense?

“kekeke,  it’s no fun to eat too many of you at once. We found that out at the last camp. It’s sooo much more fun to take our time and enjoy your fear. It’s the ultimate… how do you up it? Ah that’s it- appetizer. We keep you scared, herding you like your cattle, till you are ready for the feast.

He cracked his wrists, rolling his arms as he started moving towards me, still a human.
“But enough of this, I think I can still manage enough room for a snack. Easy to tell them you ran off in the night-“
He barely had time to speak before I splashed him with a bottle I had been holding behind my back. He screamed and clutched his face as he bucked over, his appearance melting to reveal his true figure. He fell to the ground kicking and screaming as his face burned.

“Enjoy that? It’s a concentrated acid made from the seemingly harmless plant I noticed a few of your cronies tearing out throughout the camp. I was curious about why you would go out of our way to get  rid of it,  it was just a plant,  why would it bother you? So I picked a few myself and ran some tests using concentrated acid made from grinding up its leaves. The results upon my samples were spectacular enough, but I have to say the field test is much more impressive.”

He looked up to me, his face half eaten from the acid, giving off a high pitched scream from what remained of his mouth.

“Oh im not done yet. Adrial dear, you would come out please?
Adrial leapt down for a tree, video camera focus on the doppelganger

“I got it all. Lets finish this up”.

Drawing Varbarn’s knife, I knelt down next to him looking down upon the repulsive mess of flesh before me.
“ I knew there was no way anyone would believe me if I tried to expose you, so I decided to get some evidence that no one could refute. I guess I should thank you for making our plans so much easier. But now its time for you to go.. Rot in hell you sick bastard.”

I drove the knife deep into his brain in one strong thrust, and his screams abruptly stopped.  His body fell to the ground, his flesh still being eaten away by the acid. Without a second glance, we began the trek back to camp, still half giddy from our success. We met up with the child, who we gave quick messages, and bottles of the liquid to bring back to those we knew we could trust. The messages simply read
“Be ready to fight- the monsters will appear at the meeting I will call in the morning- splash them with the liquid in the bottle and they should die easily- stay quiet and mention this to no one- Dr Swift”

We took the chance to rest up and prepare the next stage of our trap, waiting till sunrise to return to the camp. We doubled checked the bottles, rested up and made our way back to the camp.

The camp was a mess when we arrived. Vargbarn’s cronies were tearing the place apart looking for us and Vargbarn and even the human survivors seemed to realize something was wrong. We slipped into the camp and stood up in the center of the clearing, upon the makeshift stage Vargbarn’s doppelganger had made for announcements. We called everyone over, and as we expected, the monsters bullied their way to the front, anger and hatred burning from their eyes. They knew something was wrong but they  were disorganized, and felt they still had control of the situation.
The one who had replaced Perton, one of Vargbarns officers, demanded to know where Vargbarn was.  Stepping forward towards them I addressed the whole colony.

“Everyone, I’m afraid we will not be seeing Vargbarn again”
I heard gasps and moans from the crowd,  but I  did not hesitate. We had come too far to stop now.
“But that should be old news to us, after all, we have not seen Vargbarn for the past few weeks, ever since he set off on his rescue mission. The man that came back from the mission was not Vargbarn and I have proof!”
Adrial played the video of Vargbarn’s unmasking on the projector screen behind the stage,  showing the crowd what he had said. The crowd was uneasy seeing this dark side to their leader, But the moment the acid was thrown upon him and he was revealed the crowd recoiled in shock, and i yelled out to the crowd, taking advantage of the chaos.
“AND HE WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE! THEY ARE STILL AMONG US!”
Adrial and I instantly splashed the doppelgangers in the front row, throwing bottles at those who tried to run revealing their terrible forms.  Like before, they buckled and screamed, unable to move from the pain. We had been lucky, they had all been in the front row, and we managed to get them all. Confused, but clearly seeing the threat the crowd rushed the monsters, crushing them under a rush of blows and kicks, tearing them apart with whatever was to hand. I saw a few of them using the bottles I had sent them, the monsters practically melting down to goo under the sheer amounts of the acid they had been hit with.

After that, it just took time. The people were scared, confused and panicking, but in time we were able to explain what had happened. The danger had passed, but we knew now what these monsters could do, and we took precautions, every time we left the colony, we went in groups, we kept a lookout for the creatures, and I worked on new ways to fight and reveal them.  We had planned to set off almost as soon as we could after the we had over thrown the creatures, but the people were lost and needed leadership and guidance. In the end, it took us nearly 6 months to bring the colony back to self-sufficient state, and convince the others we needed to spread the news, and link up with other colonies. I took over in a leadership role during this time; the people seemed to look to me for guidance. I liked to think I did a good job but really, I was desperate to leave, who knew how many of these creatures there were on this world, and if we hoped to survive we needed to warn the other groups. Finally we were ready. Adrial and I, plus three other volunteers set off to the north, unsure of what we would find, but driven by our mission. We would stop these creatures, whatever the cost.

THE END!

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning with a start; my sleep had been troubled and dark. I sat up on the side of my bed as I remembered what happened the day before. I shuddered as I remembered the beast’s terrifying face, how it morphed into my face.  I couldn’t work it out- why would it do that? What possible reason could it have for trying to take my place? With a sinking feeling I remembered the way it enjoyed the fear it invoked in the men as it ripped them apart. How it spoke to me, saying my form was needed, but I had to die, and how it morphed into me, and tried to kill me. Suddenly it hit me- the man said something about how they fed on our fear- they wanted to hide in plain sight right next to their next meal. By killing me, and most likely ripping apart my corpse it would have been able to take my place without anyone being any the wiser. But wait- if they were going to do it to me, what’s stopping them from doing it again? I remembered the first officer, he had lead a search party out, it would be easy to replace the survivors, or even snatch members of the search party and replace them. I never should have lied to Vargbran, Id put him in terrible danger.  I ran out of my tent, it was early afternoon,  and span around looking for him, a sinking feeling in my chest. I ran up and  asked someone nearby if they were back yet, but they said they had heard nothing. I wanted to chase into the forest after him, try and warn him before it was too late, but I knew I had to check on Adriel. Her condition had not changed. She was healing, but very weak from her fever, lying in a half conscious state, ranting and moaning. I went through the supplies again, but we had run out of anti botics weeks ago.    I spent the next few hours in a panic, pacing back and forth debating to chase after him when I heard a cheer erupt from the crowd.

 He had arrived, battered and bruised but with all the search party and survivors. The people celebrated, but I hung back, and studied the group. I knew only a few of them personally, but even still I could tell there was something wrong, something no quite right.  About 6 of them stood with an oddly tight posture, like they didn’t know how to stand naturally. Their faces looked human, but there was an odd sort of tightness, like too little skin was stretched over too much face. It was too late, they were among us now. I had to warn First Officer Vargbran.  I slipped away from the crowd, not wanting to tell him in public, intending to approach him in private once the crowd died down when I felt a suddenly clamp down on my shoulder.

“Dr Swift! Mayson tells me you had something you wanted to talk to me about?”

I looked into his eyes and with a grim realization I knew it was too late. The man I was speaking to was not Vargbarn. They had gotten him too.

“Ah its nothing Officer, I just wanted to tell you Adriel was healing but weak- we need to find another group of survivors, or another crash site and try and get some anti-biotics or she won’t be able to pull through.

He nodded seriously, and began a  lengthy reply. I listened somewhat, but I was watching how he spoke. He spoke with the same accent, gave off the same intonations that the officer did, even  pausing for breath in the same way he always did. But it felt wrong, like someone was trying to show an emotion they had only ever read about, it felt flat and empty. His eyes didn’t blink enough, and his whole face seemed stretched over his skull, like his skin was not enough to cover his face.

“I’m sorry doctor swift, but I can’t risk any sending a party out into the forest. It was risky enough going after those who were captured, and we have no idea how many more of those creatures are out there.  Then men who did go are exhausted and on edge. We need time to rest and build up our defenses, we could be attacked again at any moment.”

I had to fight the urge to run to the hills, and scream the truth to the whole colony. But I knew, it would be useless-  no one would believe what I had to say, they would think I had simply cracked from the pressure and my fear was making me paranoid. I had no way to prove that the creatures were capable of imitating us and hiding among us. If I tried to warn people, odds are word would get to one of the beasts who had impersonated the kidnapped survivors, and all I would do was make myself a target to them. I couldn’t risk that, not when Adrial still needed me. I protested;

“But sir, if she doesn’t get the drugs she needs,  she’s unlikely to pull through. I can go alone, I know the area, I can plot a course based on where the survivors came running from. I know what drugs to look for-

He cut across me suddenly

“”And then what Dr Swift? While you go out into the forest, who will look after Adrial if she takes a turn for the worse? None of us have any medical training, you are our only source for medical care.  By running off into the forest, you are leaving us without a doctor, if we get attacked again we will have no way of patching up those who get minced by the creatures claws. Michal, I need you here, everyone does. I know that Adrial is important to you, but I can’t risk loosening you.”

I realized that the more I pushed the issue, the more attention I drew to myself as a danger to the imposters. By opposing him here, I would broadcast myself as a possible troublemaker, someone who could oppose him,  and   if I continued to argue with him, there was a very real chance I would make myself a immediate target again to these creatures to target. It would be easy to make me disappear, or suddenly snatch me from my bed at night and  replace me.  If I was to save Adrial I had to back down and hope she could pull through on her own. Recovery would be meaningless if I didn’t survive long enough to warn her had happened. Realizing this, I decided to drop the argument and get away from Vargbarn.

I gave a loud cry of frustration, turning and stormed off.
“Fine! But if she dies, it’s on your head you hear!”

I gave off the perfect image of a doctor far too close to his patient. Trouble was, I was.

For the next week I barely slept, nursing Adrial, checking her IV, wiping her sweat off, scouring the remains of the medical supplies for anything that could help. Adriel seemed to slowly be improving but it was hard to tell, the fever was still very strong. I did all I could. but no matter how hard I tried I could not escape the long periods of waiting, desperately trying to think of a plan to escape or reveal the monsters to the rest of the survivors.  Try as I might, i could not think of a plan even remotely feasible that could save my fellow colonists without the creatures being able to silence me or invalidate my seemingly impossible truth. Finally, after a week, Adrial finally awoke.

She stired slowly, still dazed and feverish, slowly sitting up in the bed.

“Where… Where am i? what happened?”

“You’re in your room,  we moved the med bay after the attack. It’s okay you’re safe now- we fought them off-

Jumping in shock, her eyes suddenly went wide and she began shaking clutching her self, half crazed with fear.

“Oh god those monsters- they ripped them apart, covered in blood oh god oh god-“”

Grabbing her hand I  looked into her eyes and spoke loudly to her face

“”Adrial- we fought them off- you’re safe. I killed the one that hurt you. He won’t touch you again”

Her eye widened at the mention of her injury and she looked down at her chest, an ugly scar covering her belly. Before she could speak I interrupted her, trying to calm her down.

“You were lucky, its claw missed hitting any important organs., but you’ve  been  unconscious for nearly a week and a half now, you developed a fever.  How are you feeling?”

“Like I just went 3 rounds with a tiger, while wasted. Ough, what happened anyway? I remember the attack by the monster but nothing else”

I gave her a brief summary , leaving out the monsters replacing Vargbarn and some of the survivors. She was still very ill, and telling her now would just terrify her, and possibly jeopardize her chances of recovery. I would tell her once she had recovered, and then we could come up with a plan.  Noticing she seemed to be tiring, I brought her meal and urged her to eat before she rested again. We sat in silence as she ate, till she lay down again to rest.

“”I’m afraid to sleep again… I remember seeing those monsters in my dreams, tearing me apart, again and again.”

Gently holding her hand I looked into her eyes.

“Il be here with you the whole time. I won’t let them harm you again. I’ve already failed you twice, I won’t do it a third time. I love you too much for that.”

Blushing she pulled the sheet over her head and turned over. I sat with her till she fell asleep, desperately plotting late into the night.

chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was about three weeks after Aridail and I shared that awkward night together.  We had successfully planted a large crop of potato like vegetables on the outskirts of our camp.  We had discovered despite being small and covering in hair like roots, with just 2 of them prepared in a stew provided a grown man enough nutrition to work for a full day. It tasted foul, but the weeks of rationed supplies made them very popular among the survivors.  We were off checking the crops when we saw them approach. At first glance they appeared to be survivors like us, but something was wrong. Their clothes were torn, they carried no supplies, but upon seeing us they seemed even more distressed.

“Run! Run” one of them yelled out, sprinting towards us, gasping for air.

We hesitated for a second, until we heard a scream from the forest, with some unearthly bestial growls,. We needed no further encouragement,  and started sprinting towards the camp. I yelled towards the group, about 6 or so people.

“This way! The camp is this way!

We ran into the camp, the rest of the survivors rushing to see what was wrong. I turned to the new arrivals, desperate for information

“who are you? What's going on?”

It doesn't matter! We need weapons, they are coming! Don’t stand around come on!

“What do you mean they? Who is coming!?”

“monsters! I have no idea what they are! They look like us, but they are crazy strong and attack us! Don’t let the fact they look like people trick you!”

First officer Vargbran quickly took command of the situation and began issuing orders

“All crew members break out the weapons locker and prep weapons. Everyone else grab a large branch, something to use as a club, and stick together. Form a circle like we practiced, and cover your partners to you left and right- And Doctor- get these new guys looked at and be ready to treat patients. NOW STOP STANDING AROUND PEOPLE! MOVE IT MOVE IT!

The camp exploded into a wave of activity as the terrible cries came closer, I ran over and saw the new arrivals, a number of them had serious injuries from what looked like claws, and bite marks. They looked like they could barely stand. Adrial helped the others inside the makeshift med bay, while I looked at the most critical patient. He seemed delirious, in a high fever, his chest ravaged with a deep pattern of scratches, Painful but not life threatening. He began shaking, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me.

“They don’t want to kill us! They want us to hurt! They need our pain! Arghh!

“Adrial! Get over here, hold him down, I need to sedate him”

He continued to thrash, until I managed to inject the needle into his arm, holding him down until he went limp. I had barely began to clean the wound when a  wall caved in behind me, and something knocked me off my feet.  I was terrified, a figure was tearing at my body with sharp claws, I couldn’t get a clear view. I heard screaming but all I could focus on was thrashing, fighting this shadowy figure on top of me. I threw punches, kicked, the pain and adrenaline fueling my fight or flight instinct, knowing everything depended upon fighting off my assailant. A survivor swung a makeshift crutch at the figure, knocking him off me, as I scrambled to my feet seeing my attacker for the first time.

At first he looked  human like, though his limbs stretched out too far. He was crouching, hissing at me, his fingers laced with sharp claws, his head long and bird like, with sharp teeth, dripping with drool  poking out of his jaw. His skin looked human like, but was grey, almost ashen. His hair was clotted and greasy, clinging to his face, as his large orb like eyes dug into me with a fierce hatred.  I barely had time to take him in before he delivered a vicious kick to my chest,  knocking me to my knees.  My vision went black, as he turned to the wounded survivors, tearing them apart before I could even react. He slit their throats with his teeth, tearing vast chunks  as they screamed,  even punching a claw into one poor souls heart. He gave a final gasp before falling to the ground. He turned towards Adrial, who had frozen in terror, shaking with fear. I screamed out to run, but before I could do anything he stabbed his claw into her gut.

He turned to me, his face twisting into grim smirk of satisfaction, letting off a growl of pleasure seeing my horror.  Then before my very eyes his appearance began to shift. His body warped, buckled and shrunk in, his features melding, growing, until before me stood a mirror image of myself. He had even replicated my clothing, glasses on his face, even with the tape over the frame. He twisted my features into a smile,  his features lit up with a murderous hunger. He began to stride towards me, licking his lips trying to form words

“The forrrm- is sssuffficent. Your role is needed. But you are no longerrr neeeded…  I will be you now yessss….  MMMM youur fear will fuel me, your meemoriees  will be mineeee!”

His hands morphed into claws once more, his teeth jutting out ready to tear me apart. I was terrified, but seeing this thing kill the woman I love, the people I tried to save and now to take my face? I could take it no more. With a feral cry I seized a scalpel and leapt upon the imposter, my desperate final attack taking it by surprise, squealing driving the scalpel deep into its eye.  It thrust its arms at me , raking me with cuts, but I kept stabbing, again and again and again, screaming in a berserk rage  until finally it was still. I watched as my features faded from the creature, reverting back into it inhuman appearance. I barely left time to check it was dead before running over to Adrial, who had gone into shock.  I worked in a fury, righting the makeshift surgery table, lifting her up and desperately trying to clean and seal her wound. I could see her weakening, her pulse slowing but I kept fighting, screaming at her to live. Finally I heard others approach the room, but I took to time to explain, I screamed at them to help me. After 2 hours of frantic surgery, I had done all I could with the supplies we had. It was down to her body now, as I had no idea if she could endure the injuries she had sustained on top of the fever she had developed, most likely from the creatures claws.

First officer Vargbran lead me from the blood drenched med-bay and sat me down by the fire.  He was stressed, angry, and demanded to know what happened in the med bay. It took me a while to calm down enough to speak properly, I had been so hyped up on adrenaline and rage I hadn’t had time to process what had happened. Eventually I managed to tell him what happened, though I paused before telling him about the beast transforming into me. It was crazy and I could hardly believe it myself. There was no way he would believe me. He would think I was out of my mind, and odds are would lock me up, and who would treat Adrial then? So I lied,  omitting the strange creatures transformation abilities. He seemed to accept my story in the end, and told me what had happened in the main camp. They had been attacked by a large group of them, about 20 strong. They managed to drive them off, killing a large number of the creatures but they managed to snatch a number of survivors away into the forest. He said he was going to form up a rescue party and go after them.

“Get some rest Dr Swift- you look like hell, and Adriel needs you up on your feet as soon as you can. I’l  handle everything tonight, and you need some rest.

Grateful for dismissal I stumbled over to my quarters and promptly passed out  on my bed without a second thought.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In the first few weeks following our landing it was clear that that our new lives on Perda would not be easy. While the atmosphere, gravity and climate were survivable for humans, the slightly heavier gravity made physical labor even harder, and the air had slightly less oxygen than earth, making our attempts to build a settlement and establish a fresh food supply via agriculture and hunting difficult. In time I hoped our bodies would adapt to the new conditions, as our original plan of terraforming the planet to suit us was lost with the colony ships, the complex geo-manipulating systems and equipment destroyed, too complex to rebuild with our resources. Despite this we did manage to build a solid settlement, cutting down the tree’s to build houses and buildings- I think we all realized pretty quickly that we had to make do with what we had. After all, the prefabricated buildings and supplies had been destroyed during our arrival. We had no contact with any other survivors, our coms system was either too damaged to pick up distant transmissions, or the other pods also lost their coms devices. None of us really wanted to face the possibility of us being the only survivors on the planet.

After the initial rush of injuries from the crash had been dealt with I found myself in a new role, assisting our agricultural scientist in inspecting local flora as potential food supplies- it was out of my area of expertise, but our food supplies from the pod had ran out, and our genetically engineered seeds from the pod were struggling to grow as effectually as we had hoped, resulting in careful rationing. We needed to find a new source of food and fast. After giving me a quick crash course in key traits or combinations to spot in plant genetic code, Aridail, our Agricultural Scientist and I set off, wandering the hills around our crash site.  The work was slow,  our trekking for new specimens was time consuming, and waiting for our basic lab equipment to finish analysis held us back. In time, we did make a fair amount of progress, finding a number of plants, fruits and vegetables suitable for widespread farming and consumption, though this process took a number of weeks.  So we made the most of opportunity, using the down time to talk and reminisce about our pasts, and get to know each other.  At least, the few good parts of our pasts, neither of us initially wanted to bring up what life really was like back on Earth, the real reason we became colonists. We tried to avoid the topic, bantering, bickering and joking, trying to ignore the fact we had escaped from hell only to end up in purgatory. In time, we grew closer, and one evening we sat down in her cabin, and I took the nervous first step of sharing my past with her.

I had been a moderately successful doctor in a small town in Austria before I signed up for the colony program.  At the time Europe was embroiled in a turf war, the overpopulation meaning the smaller countries were desperate for more land, and had eye the fresh and bountiful lands of their rivals, hungry for conquest and glory. Even the massive advancements of technology by the 22^nd century could not change the lust for war in man’s heart. As the years progressed, I grew tired of the constant clashes between the countries around us, constantly patching up the young men of my country so they could go and die another time fighting for a mere scrap of land. It broke my heart to see these passionate young men and women brought before me, their bodies ravaged by bullets and wounds, dying for a war that they did not understand, for a war that was not theirs.  I confessed, I could take it no more, I wanted to be free of warfare and the sick politics of Earth, to find a new way to protect and save my fellow man.   So I signed up for the colony program,  as a respected and experienced doctor in his mid thirties, in good physical condition I easily qualified, and signed up for the voyage in stasis, on the condition I unthaw in the last year of the journey to assist in preparations for deceleration and arrival.

After I told my story, she was silent for a long time. I thought for a while I had somehow offended her, but just as I was about to speak she began to speak. She was a young woman of Indian heritage, an orphen from the civil war. She had grown up in poverty; her family was one of a lower caste, struggling to survive.  There was no way she was even supposed to have basic education, but he father had taken time to teach her as a child, an incredible oddity considering that even as a man, his lower caste meant he had no chance of an education.  One day while out on an errand for her mother, she returned to find her village in flames, a victim of one of the many radical revolutionary groups desperate to gain power through fear and oppression.  She grew silent and trembled telling me this, her whole body wracked with silent sobs. I reached over and held her hand, until she began to speak again.  She was taken in but a foreign aid worker who was witness to the massacre and brought to Australia and adopted her as his own. She spoke of a burning desire to help her people, to save them from poverty and the desperation to turn to war and violence simply to survive. She studied hard, and moved back to India, determined to take a role in helping her people, by introducing new ways of farming and new crops to plant, to help her people rise out of povety.  But her people would not listen. They saw her lower class status, and refused her right to speak, to work denying her the one thing that had kept her strong growing up, the desire to save her country. She was cast out of village’s when she tried to speak, men insulted her, the police beat her. She gave up, she said. I ran away, I could not stand living on earth any more, being reminded of my failure and my people’s suffering every day. So I signed up for the colony program,  lying to the recruiter, all to escape her past. At this point she broke down once more and kept sobbing. I drew her close into an embrace as she cried herself to sleep. I longed to find the perfect words to comfort her, but everything I came up with seemed inadequate. I simply whispered  “I’m so sorry” as she fell asleep in my arms, curled up on mat next to me.  I felt so powerless, all my medical knowledge, all my experience and I could not help one women with a broken heart.

We woke up the next morning,  I tried to speak to her about last night, but all simply whispered “I don’t want to talk about it, can we get on with our work?”  We got on with our duties, but it seemed like there was a distance between us from then on. I had no idea what to do, I had no close friends to consult for advice or support,  so I simply tried to put my feelings aside and work professionally. It almost worked, until that day where everything changed…

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“hello? Is this thing on?
Ah good there we go. …. Phew where do I start? So much has happened, so much strife and hardship…. I guess I should start by telling you my name. My name is Dr Augustus Swift, and I’m leaving this message as a historical record of what really happened on our early days on Perda, so that maybe whoever you are, you don’t copy our terrible mistakes. Odds are this recording will be completely at odds with what you have learned about the history of our planet, and you may question my intent or even my sanity as I tell you this tale. I beg of you, give me time to tell you the truth so that you may see the truth for yourself.

We never really did find out exactly what happened on the fateful day our race arrived on Perda. Our massive colony ships arrived from the warp jump, hovering in orbit over our new home, but something went terribly wrong, either as we arrived, or before we were ready to descend onto the planet's surface.  Only a few managed to make it to the escape pods, moving as many of those in stasis as they could.  Barely half of the pods were launched before one of the ships warp drives went critical, enveloping the surrounding 4 colony ships, tearing them apart. Barely 4000 people of the 2 million strong colonists survived long enough to begin their entry into the atmosphere.

The pods screamed down through the atmosphere, a magnetic storm throwing the pods far off course, spreading them out across the alien landscape. Many of the pods landed badly, the occupants killed from the botched landings, their pods landing in the sea, shooting to the bottom of the ocean, drowning them long before they reached the surface. But enough of us survived, stumbling dazed and confused from our pods, still groggy from effects of emergency stasis release. My pod came down on the northern section of a large continent on the upper hemisphere, the climate warm, with mild winters, well suited to farming.

It was hard to adapt in those early days after our emergency landing. Not all of us had made it in one piece to the surface. We had managed to escape the destruction of our ship, but the situation was dire. Of the 40 people who had managed to reach the pod, eight of us had died during the emergency landing. We had barely enough food to last a week with our numbers, and our only power was from the emergency generator. As the only doctor on the pod, i had to quickly shake my feverish state from the emergency thawing. I worked in a blur, setting broken limbs, inspecting injuries as we tried to comprehend what had happened. Thankfully we still had our comms and geo-mapping systems, though they were limited in range and we had no idea how long they would last on the emergency power.

 We had intended to arrive on the planet with plenty of resources and tools to quickly adapt to our new lives, but those had been on the colony ships. All our emergency pods had were basic food supplies and limited basic tools. Thankfully though, our group of survivors had a broad range of skills, we had an engineer, a trio of builders, a few crew from the colony ship, an agricultural scientist, and most importantly a first officer. The rest of us of us were civilians, shocked and scared from the sudden crash, and to this day i'm still amazed with the way first officer Vargbran managed to take control. Though scared and out of his depth himself, he went between us, reassuring, comforting, supporting us, before making a speech to the group. He outlined the situation, and that our existing colony plans could not be used, and we would have to adapt based on what we had. He sent out a small squad of crew members to find a nearby river and bring back some fresh water, organized the engineers and builders to salvage what they could, assigning a few volunteers to bury those who died in the crash.

When the crew members came back with fresh water it was getting dark. We had a fire going, and held a brief funeral for those who had died. We barely knew them, most of us were linked by the coincidence of just happened to be closest to this particular pod d but we still felt like we owed it to them. After all, any of us could have easily have been in their place. I remember that night clearly, lying on my back staring at the new alien sky, unable to sleep, terrified but at the same time ashamed of my own excitement. I could see the wreckage from our ships dropping through the atmosphere, burning comets against the clear sky. It seemed sick that something so beautiful to come out of such a tragedy. I remember. After hours of lying awake, exhaustion finally took me and I surrendered to the peaceful oblivion of sleep.