Catharsis of Cthulhu
All five of the doctors you resuscitated seal themselves into the security of their space suits for the journey outside onto the planet's surface. You have no need of suits, as you have no need of breath. By your calculations, your body can withstand the elements outside, so you should be fine.
Doctor Hall still spares you a worried glance before the gate opens out onto the rustic red and black hued expanse. It does not worry you.
Before all of you is only rock and gravel. By your understanding of the readings you have gathered, no life was found on the planet, though it was a little mixed in some of its returns. You allow all five humans to get started on their individual tasks before mentioning these inconsistencies in some of the readings.
"I am fully aware of the inconsistencies!" Professor Dahlik quickly replies to you with what you hope you do not misunderstand as malice. You think that maybe she thinks only she can hear you through her headset, but you had actually addressed the entire group. "It was most likely just a miscalculation of the instruments. God knows we have been out here for a very long time," she finishes in a haunted tone.
You do not think it has been very long of a time and you feel that you have kept up the maintenance on the instruments to an acceptable degree and that they did not malfunction. You decide to attempt to sway her further by the ease at which they can look at the source of the strange readings.
"Professor Dahlik, they could possibly be malfunctions. But, I did make special provisions to land within walking distance of the anomaly. It would not be a great stretch to examine the area," you offer.
You hear Professor Dahlik snort.
Doctor Hall cuts her off, "That sounds just fine, Unit, uh, Soldier! If you lead the way, we'll follow you there."
You nod in compliance, glad that Doctor Hall was appointed the leader of your team.
You move in a general northerly direction, towards a small outcropping of rock. You have to stop every few minutes, so as not to get too far ahead of your human companions. Their breathing rasps roughly against their microphones and into your sound input.
It takes some time, but finally they follow you into the strange hollow / valley to which the overwhelming majority of abnormal readings were contained. All throughout the valley, a strange fuzzy black mold grows.
You begin to run some initial scans on the growths, when you hear your human companions begin to moan behind you.
Curious, you glance behind only to see that Doctor Hall and Dahlik are the only ones still standing. Eve Catharsis has began to mutter and squeak into her mouthpiece, her words barely making any sense. Randal John is down on one knee, clutching his head and moaning through clenched teeth. Scrofa has wasted no time in falling completely forward onto her face.
"What is the matter?" you ask in wonderment.
"Our heads. God, what is that noise?" Hall grinds out.
"It's hideous," Dahlik hisses.
"STAR SPAWN!" Catharsis screeches, before you see the whites of her eyes flash in the otherworldly light of this system's sun as they roll back in her head. She then promptly collapsed into the sandy firmament.
As if a string of dominoes had been knocked, all of the other doctors and professors begin to collapse (excepting Scrofa, who had already been on the ground).
You are moving toward them before their heart takes a full beat and dragging them away. You are unsure what caused them to act in such a way, but you can only assume it is the fuzz that you were just in the process of scanning affecting them in this adverse way.
One by one, you pull all five doctors toward the ship until they are back where they started, where they hadn't complained of any effects. Then, satisfied that all their life signs are stable, you return to the valley.
You run every scan that you are equipped with, but still nothing jumps out at you as being overtly harmful. Again, the strange inconsistencies (the numbers are never the same, no matter how often you run the scan), but none of the readings come up as dangerous.
For perhaps the first time since your creation, you are absolutely befuddled. Yet, you know that it is no time for you to sit about in your confusion. You have some perfectly fine human minds to tap and are sure that at least one of your scientists will be able to find an answer.
With the same careful persistence you displayed before, you move each human back to the ship and request for assistance moving them to the Medical Bay.
Doctor Hall still spares you a worried glance before the gate opens out onto the rustic red and black hued expanse. It does not worry you.
Before all of you is only rock and gravel. By your understanding of the readings you have gathered, no life was found on the planet, though it was a little mixed in some of its returns. You allow all five humans to get started on their individual tasks before mentioning these inconsistencies in some of the readings.
"I am fully aware of the inconsistencies!" Professor Dahlik quickly replies to you with what you hope you do not misunderstand as malice. You think that maybe she thinks only she can hear you through her headset, but you had actually addressed the entire group. "It was most likely just a miscalculation of the instruments. God knows we have been out here for a very long time," she finishes in a haunted tone.
You do not think it has been very long of a time and you feel that you have kept up the maintenance on the instruments to an acceptable degree and that they did not malfunction. You decide to attempt to sway her further by the ease at which they can look at the source of the strange readings.
"Professor Dahlik, they could possibly be malfunctions. But, I did make special provisions to land within walking distance of the anomaly. It would not be a great stretch to examine the area," you offer.
You hear Professor Dahlik snort.
Doctor Hall cuts her off, "That sounds just fine, Unit, uh, Soldier! If you lead the way, we'll follow you there."
You nod in compliance, glad that Doctor Hall was appointed the leader of your team.
You move in a general northerly direction, towards a small outcropping of rock. You have to stop every few minutes, so as not to get too far ahead of your human companions. Their breathing rasps roughly against their microphones and into your sound input.
It takes some time, but finally they follow you into the strange hollow / valley to which the overwhelming majority of abnormal readings were contained. All throughout the valley, a strange fuzzy black mold grows.
You begin to run some initial scans on the growths, when you hear your human companions begin to moan behind you.
Curious, you glance behind only to see that Doctor Hall and Dahlik are the only ones still standing. Eve Catharsis has began to mutter and squeak into her mouthpiece, her words barely making any sense. Randal John is down on one knee, clutching his head and moaning through clenched teeth. Scrofa has wasted no time in falling completely forward onto her face.
"What is the matter?" you ask in wonderment.
"Our heads. God, what is that noise?" Hall grinds out.
"It's hideous," Dahlik hisses.
"STAR SPAWN!" Catharsis screeches, before you see the whites of her eyes flash in the otherworldly light of this system's sun as they roll back in her head. She then promptly collapsed into the sandy firmament.
As if a string of dominoes had been knocked, all of the other doctors and professors begin to collapse (excepting Scrofa, who had already been on the ground).
You are moving toward them before their heart takes a full beat and dragging them away. You are unsure what caused them to act in such a way, but you can only assume it is the fuzz that you were just in the process of scanning affecting them in this adverse way.
One by one, you pull all five doctors toward the ship until they are back where they started, where they hadn't complained of any effects. Then, satisfied that all their life signs are stable, you return to the valley.
You run every scan that you are equipped with, but still nothing jumps out at you as being overtly harmful. Again, the strange inconsistencies (the numbers are never the same, no matter how often you run the scan), but none of the readings come up as dangerous.
For perhaps the first time since your creation, you are absolutely befuddled. Yet, you know that it is no time for you to sit about in your confusion. You have some perfectly fine human minds to tap and are sure that at least one of your scientists will be able to find an answer.
With the same careful persistence you displayed before, you move each human back to the ship and request for assistance moving them to the Medical Bay.