Icarus 001: The Man in the Jungle

Icarus

[Zeke Has been stranded on a strange alien works ever since he was an infant. The only other make of humanity on the planet is the crasjed deep exploration ship [i]Icarus[/i] and the skeletons within.] -09:50 Apr 12
[Ava is a researcher and an explorer, who was -supposed- to stay within the “approved zone”… but what’s the fun in that?] -09:52 Apr 12
Ava: In fact, she probably only stayed with the group for an hour before she took the first interesting path out in to the jungle Path was the keyword, because it looked far too well tracked out to just have been animal trails. [color=goldenrod]Addison, you’re not in the zone. Where the hell are you?[/color] She mimicked the voice as she slipped under a grove of trees, then finally responded. "Get off my ass. You know I hate having a bunch of noisy brains over analyzing everything. I’ll be back." ….by nightfall! -09:57 Apr 12

They were inthe thicj jungle trees around her, small faces belonging to creatures half the hieght of a man and covered in pale green scin. Thier large black heres shone with curiosity as they watched the human, then two of them user thier long arms and legs to scamper onto the path ahead of her, looked at her, one of them bobbing it’s head and then waking it side to side makign a soise that souned like the loud buzz on an insect. If the gestures and speech were not enough to signal a sapient species then the patterns red of red paint on thier skin should. Then they were heading down the path away from her.

Ava: Good training was the only reason she didn’t jump out of her skin. And being a rogue upstart with no respect for authority was what kept her from immediately calling back to camp and reporting a potentially intelligent species. They always brought in the big guns and the stomping soldiers to ‘keep things under control’, which completely ruined any chances of making a real connection with a new life form in it’s natural habitats…! The entire rant was going on in her head, along with all the apologies she’d be making later. Even as she very slowly, and without making too many sudden movements, started following the creatures. "Heeeey there… bzzzt to you too buddy.." -10:08 Apr 12

there were others emerging fro the foloage behind her, one brave on even caught up to her to take her arm and pull her along, even it it did only to so after a few trial touches. Then the ones leading the way turned off off the path and onto a smalled narroer path, so narrow that they occasionally disappeared behind bushes and ferns. Then in a sudden rush they all dashed forwards along the path buzzing to eachother elenging into a clearing where they waited, a dozen on all, in the shadow of a crashed space ship, her hull coated in rust.

Ava: Holy shit one touched her. And they were smart! And curious! …and strangely familiar with her if she was an alien species. Her new strain of questions were answered though when the derelict hull of the ship came in to view. For a moment she stood there dumbfounded. That thing was old…! "There’s a ship crashed here. It almost looks like one of ours. I’m going to take a look at it." ‘There’s what?! Get back to the camp, I’ve got to call- Addison-‘ Nope! With a flick she cut the link, and the only thing they could track her down with. This one was HERS first. Still being wary not to spook the litter critters, she walked around the ship until she found a hole in the side big enough to climb through. "Oh hell, this thing went down bad…" -10:20 Apr 12

The inside was littered with debris, rust, dirt, a few plants, and the remains of the crew. Support struts lay where they had fallen and ruptures lined the bulkhead wall. Some of the creatures pushed past her and ventured deeper into the wreck seeming to know thier way through the wreckage and here and there a lew chenks of twisted metal seemed to have been cleared away. The three they came with her acended a laded through a rusty opening that was missing it’s hatch and into the upper decks of the ship still buzzing to eachother.

Ava: "Well… now I know why you’re not scared of me… And I hope it’s not cause you dun think I’m gonna live long." She paused long enough at one of the skeletons, poking at the bones a bit with a frown. Definitely had been layed out there a long time, they were bleached out from the weather and elements. "So what do you guys do in here? Live maybe? Hmm.. doesn’t look like it…" Ava followed a bit deeper in to the ship, stepping over bits of metal and looking for some signs of a settlement. Maybe a religious ritual! Would they have thought this was crashed gods? -10:32 Apr 12

They all stopped at a doorwaym the metal door itels pying on the floor. They did not go through but gesturered towards it, not making a sound, in hact the buzzing had stopped the second they het come up to the level they were on. Though the door among the wreckage was a man, a human with long unkept hair and the same paint as the creatres. He was sitting on the floor with a book in his lag and the room he was in was the ship’s library, small though it was and only lit by a small bowl of slow burning liquid.

Ava: In a split second she ducked away from the doorway, pressing herself up against the wall as she held her breath. Was that a human?! Ava leaned, peering around the frame to take a second look. Human…! Male, associated with the creatures. Unarmed as far as she could tell… Now she was thinking maybe protocol would have been the way to go. Trying not to make a sound, Ava attempted to backup and make a discreet exit. -10:41 Apr 12
Zeke: They blacked her way and buzzed, then there was the sound of a closing book and a scraping from inside the library. Then there was a face peering around the door frame and a look of surprise, and then fear. One of the creatures moved over to the human and climbed up his back to cling to his shoulders and gestured at Ava, then the rough direction they had come in…. his only reply was a buzz and to retreat back into the library. -10:46 Apr 12
Ava: Argh, human sacrifice to a human! Her moment of panic dissipated when he seemed to be just as alarmed by her as she was of him. Of course, all the critters seemed to be just fine with the entire thing, which might have made her laugh if the situation were a little different. ONE of them had to have some guts though. Taking a deep breath, Ava slinked forward in to the library. Taking a wary look around the room and keeping herself close to the wall in case his little buddies wanted to back ambush her. "Hiii… I don’t have any weapons, and I am not edible?" So it wasn’t exactly the instructed first contact phrase. SHE thought it was funny. -10:50 Apr 12
Zeke: He bobbed his head and looked at her, taking a step forwards and pucking the native off his back to put it on the table as he got closer. "Hi…" he repeated slowly and then took another step. "From earth?" -10:54 Apr 12
Ava: "Yes, I’m from earth. Aren’t you?" Boy, she was really wishing she passed that weapons test now. If only for the security of knowing she could shoot something. But he didn’t seem to be hostile and she was… insanely curious! Ava didn’t move, but held out a hand to get him to stop from coming any closer. "Were you on this ship? Or a different one? Do you live here?" There were a million questions to ask! -11:00 Apr 12
Zeke: He narrowed his eyes as she spoke too fast for him to easily follow. "Icarus…" he said stopping his advance and gesturing around him to the ship. "Fall as fire." He made a buzzing noise and gestured to the natives who were waiting by the door watching him. "Find baby." he held his hands out indicating the size of a newborn. "You look for Icarus?" -11:04 Apr 12
Ava: "So they found you in this mess? That’s gotta be impossible…" Ava was assuming Icarus was the ship, though if he were a baby when it happens she couldn’t fathom how he knew. Or how he could speak! "I’m not looking for Icarus. I was exploring. Looking for lifeforms. Like those guys…" She pointed towards his strange assortment of friends that seemed to have no problem chirping and buzzing at him. "You can talk to them, have you lived with them all this time? How are you even alive! Where did you learn to speak? This has to be completely unprecidented!" Raised by an alien culture with no prior contact with the human world! It was a one in a million find. -11:11 Apr 12
Zeke: She was going to fast again and he was battling to follow her, but she wanted to know things and there was one place he knew where she could find answers. He reached out and grabbed her hand and with his other hand trabbed a hide bad from the floor and slung it over his shoulder a design he had coppied from the bags that used to be on the ship. Then he was pulling her out the door and following the scampering aliens down andother coridoor. "Here, you will learn." he said as they reached another breach in the hull, on that had had an earthern ram built up to it and then they were heading down into the trees again. -11:15 Apr 12
Ava: Leave with a lost jungleman. Yeah, that was a great idea. …but curiosity was a beast. If she went back, next time she found him there’d be a swarm of people. Ava warily allowed herself to be pulled along. Slipping her hand in to a pocket to find her camera. "Where are we going…? I guess I should tell you my name. I’m Ava. You have a name? What about all these critters? Do they have names?"" -11:24 Apr 12
Zeke: "Zeke." The way he said it it sounded like the buzzing the creatures made. Speaking of the creatures one of them jumped onto his back again to hitch a ride as they descended into a valley thick with vegitation and "Zoot." he said gesturing at the one of his back before they slowed down and he looked around and then back at her. "Dark soon. Creatures come. You will stay here." there was no sign of anything other than trees, no vilage, no shelteds. "You have friends, tell them stay inside when night." -11:29 Apr 12
Ava: "Zeke and Zoot. That’s cute." She wasn’t going to argue about staying with him and his friendly hosts. That was going to be her pleasure! But the ‘creatures’ talk had her frowning. "What comes out at night? There is more than little Zoots?" -11:33 Apr 12
Zeke: He reached up and grabbed hold of a low hanging branch, then placehd her hand on it too before holding onto it with both hands. "Predators." he said before pulling the branch down, unhooking it and then it pulled back, a counterwieght pulling them upwards though the branches. Then they were deposited on a wooden platform high in the trees that was coonected by rope brodges to others with shelters clustered around that trunks of large trees. There were painted letter too, some in english, some abstract, nonw of them said anything coherent. "Come." he said as the zoot dashed off ahead of them and more who were in the village started to stare."Hungry we can eat. Not hungry meet mother." -11:41 Apr 12
Ava: Going home with him didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore when she found herself off the jungle floor and up in the trees. Ava’s head was warring with her amazement at the treevillage, and that now sinking, wibbly feeling of being way, way too high up. She was grabbing on to his arm to keep herself steady. Or from spontaneously tumbling to her death. "This is… too high. And I’m not supposed to eat things without proper testing. …though… I guess you’ve survived somehow… Wait, mother?" -11:47 Apr 12
Zeke: He moved along the narow bridge as it it were nothing and reathed the next platform as more branches came shooting up with passengers fleeing the impending night. "Village mother." he said stopping to look at her and then slowly sitting on the platform that the creatures were gathering on. "Leader." -11:50 Apr 12
Ava: "Matriach society, that’s cool." Night was serious business around here. And if she didn’t sit down, she was going to be dizzy. Ava took a seat next to him, giving some curious looks right back at the creatures peering back at her. …crap, the camp. Ava fumbled for her communicator and flipped it back on. "Erikson, keep everyone in the camp after sunset. I think there’s predators out here." ‘Addison, where the fuck are y-‘ "I’ll be back tomorrow." There was a bleep as she shut it down again. "…so does your leader like strangers…?" -12:00 Apr 13
Zeke: He looked at the communicator and then up at her. "Likes good people." he said in an almost warning tone before a zoot came up to them with a bowl of what looked like fruit, nuts and another bowl of clear liquid. "Safe." he said picking up a handful of nuts as the zoot touched Ava’s hair curiously and then sat down with them buzzing and picking up a fruit. "They want to know why you look different. Smaller. Different shape." -12:09 Apr 13
Ava: "Good people, duley noted." That pretty much discounted half the people on staff. A leader after her own heart! Ack, touching. She leaned away just from natural reflex. Ava wanted to touch too, but -she- was behaving! She reached out to take one of the fruit and gave it a wary lick to taste. "I’m a female, you’re a male. We have different.. uh… parts. What about them? You said mother before, do they have genders too?" Now she was learning towards one of the critters trying to get a better look. -12:15 Apr 13
Zeke: "Boy." he said pointing to the one that was watching them before putting a few nuts in his mouth and chewing. "Girl." he said pointing to another that looked almost exactly the same. "Who earth girls different?" he was looking at her chest and the curve of her hips with curiosity, and her distinct lack of facial hair. -12:18 Apr 13
Ava: Yeah, there was so way she was gonna get genders right any time soon. Now SHE was getting stared at, which resulted in her giving him a raised eyebrow look. If anything she should be examining him. He’s lived on an alien world raised by critters, and managed to grow up in one piece! "Human come in a lot of shapes and sizes and colors, yeah. I’m not so sure I wanna give an anatomy lesson to a jungleman, though…" She finally stopped eyeing that bit of fruit with dubious mistrust and popped it in her mouth. ..that was a weird taste! "How did they know what to feed you?" -12:23 Apr 13
Zeke: "Feed a little, if not sick feed more." he said tipping the rest of the unto his mouth and chewing before swallofing. Then he took one of the fruit and pressed his thumb into the skin to break it allowing him to peel it while eying her and then offered her a peeled one. -12:30 Apr 13
Ava: "They’re very smart. I don’t think we’ve encountered anything like them." She accepted the piece, tested with another lick, and it too was popped in to her mouth. Ava decided she liked that one better. Remembering her camera again, she finally pulled it out of a pocket. A long slender thing no bigger than a pen, and she took a shot of the fruit. One of his Zoot, and one of him too. Documented proof of a miracle! "So they found you and had no problem adopting a strange creature… do they have family units? What are their children like? With eggs or with babies? Do they mate for life or have harems?" There went the questions again! -12:37 Apr 13
Zeke: "Like good people." he repeated. "I repay by gathering food. Bigger and stronger than zoot. Build, gather, carry, protect. Dark and zoot not home, find." he looked at her camera nervously but didn’t abject then explained to the zoot what she had said so far and that he planned to take her to speak with the leader. The zoot when swayed hsi head side to side and went off to rejoin his group. "Zoot family is mother who has young. Young cared for by whole vilage. All young, all children concidered to be child of leader. Whole vilage is children of leader. -12:50 Apr 13
Ava: "There used to be human tribes like this. But it was a really long time ago. Now it’s a lot more complicated." Ava frowned, pocketing her camera. Whomever HIS family was, they died in the ship wreckage. That made her heart hurt a little bit. Exploring new worlds didn’t tend to come with stuff like this! "What’s out there in the dark? The predator? I’m assuming it can’t get up here in the trees. …I hope." That’d be a nightmare! Stuck in the trees while some flying teeth filled monster tried to pluck them out! Ava -really- wanted a gun! -12:59 Apr 13
Zeke: He had no idea how to describe it so he just shook his head. There were pictures where he was going to take her, drawing by the Zoot. He picked up another fruit and then drank from the other bowl then stood. "You want learn. This way." he then moved away in the fading light towards the bridge to the largest structure and as he crossed onto it he reached over to pull a spear nestled in the railings free. Just in case this human caused trouble for the young. -01:03 Apr 13
Ava: Arrrggh, another bridge again. Ava made sure she didn’t look down and just sucked it up to cross. She gave the spear a squinty-eyed looked, but deemed it nothing to worry about. None of his critters seemed at all aggressive, she doubted he would be after being raised by them. "I seem to be asking all the questions too… don’t you have any? You’ve got to have a lot of them…" -01:07 Apr 13
Zeke: "Icarus taught me." he said reaching the other side and waiting for her. "But this is home, I know zoot, I know here. What to ask?" He moved into the building which was small on the inside and since everyone was eating empty except for a zoot, much pailer and thinner than the others, and the eggs that sat among fire pits to provide light and warmth. When she entere the matriarch looked at her and buzzed and zeke buzzed back gesturing at the hundred of drawing on the inside of the wall, most of them were about the zoots nad the zillainge but some showed the Icarus crashin, when who stars appeared int he sky and one fell from it… and the creature they had found on board. -01:13 Apr 13
Ava: Baaaabies! Critter babies! Ava didn’t know what she was more intrigued by. The hive-room for incubation, or the fact they kept their history here with them painted on the walls like a mural! "Hiiii…" Ava had to restrain herself. No sudden movements as to not freak out the matriach, despite the fact she wanted to touch. To look, to touch, to document… she couldn’t even think of what to ask next! "…this is all pretty amazing. Were you kept in here with these, or is there a place they go after hatching…? I can’t remember, are they all hers or are some from others too? How long back does the history go on the walls? Do they have books?" Maybe it wasn’t so hard to think of more questions after all. -01:22 Apr 13
Zeke: "No books." he said. "No remember where." he was trying to answer all her questions but she was speaking so fast. Children sleep with…" he paused trying to think of the word. "Chosen parent…. Where Earth?" -01:30 Apr 13
Ava: "Prolly about a bazillion trillian light years away from here. Give or take some time and space. I’ve never even seen it myself." She was stepping carefully now, leaning down to peer at some of the eggs. She nearly reached out to touch one, but her hand hovered and retracted when she thought better of it. Ava moved to the wall to take a look at the pictures. "I live on a ship like your Icarus." Ava pointed upwards. "It’s in space right now, circling the planet’s orbit like a satellite." -01:39 Apr 13
Zeke: He had no idea what she was saying. "Ship." he repeated looking up at the ceiling of the shelter. "Mother ask why come here." he said looking at her. "Ask how many." -01:42 Apr 13
Ava: "Ours is a reseach vessel. For science and discovery and mapping." She turned to eye them both, and tapped her chin as she counted in her head and tried to think of a better way to explain. "Uhhm… We find things and write down what we find. Sometimes to find new homes for humans and sometimes just to know where things are. There is less than five hundred on our ship. Maybe thirty or so are at the camp. I’m not sure how they are going to react to all this, though. This has never happened before…" Ava just wanted a chance to explore it all without gobs of people in the way, but knowing there was already indigenous people living here… -01:47 Apr 13
Zeke: "If thry know. They will come." he said before looking at mother then back at Ava. "They will hurt us?" he watched her carefully then looked at one of the eatlier drawings of a large crearure that looked like an elephant with a large tail and two trunks. -01:51 Apr 13
Ava: "I certainly hope not. It’s a rule not to destroy or harm habitats, so I don’t think they would do it now. But there has never been anyone like your zoots before either…" Ava stuffed her hands in her pockets and frowned. It’s not like she thought anything bad was going to happen to them. …but she knew the history of humanity pretty well too! There was no predicting what could happen. "I’ll try to make sure nothing happens to your zoots. I’m their best researcher, pissing me off would be a bad idea." -01:58 Apr 13
Zeke: "Long ago, creatures come from far away. They hurt Zoot. Zoot move into teritry or predator bbecause creatures fear predator more than want hurt Zoot." he said. "If hurt Zoot leave. " he moved away from the mother, curious if she noticed that there hadn’t been a word said between them while he was relaying questions. -02:04 Apr 13
Ava: "The interesting thing about us humans is that we tend to take up being the guardian of helpless things, even when it’s against other humans. I don’t want your zoots to have to move." Ava crossed her arms, watching him watching her, and getting a little uncomfortable! She couldn’t figure out the look he was giving. "You’re staring at me a lot, and I get it, but it’s weird. I’m not used to being the one that’s getting stared at." -02:11 Apr 13
Zeke: He looked away and then glanced at her. "You new. You strange. Curious. Sleep my home tonight. Safe, for everyone." -02:18 Apr 13
Ava: "Well I’m sure not sleeping with your predator…" Whatever that was. Now she had the thought of him sleeping with a pile of his zoots everywhere, which instantly had her grinning. "Okay. I’ll sleep at your place." -02:21 Apr 13

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.