[Guofu this is it, the first man on mars. A historic moment. No hope of rturn and just a resuply package every few months… alone with the rocks.] -09:18 Oct 03
[Ninharrissi is a very big surprise waiting to be discovered.] -09:20 Oct 03
Guofu: "I am not approaching site 27." he said to no one as the wheels of the open top. "I have been studying the site for two weeks ever since one of the drones discovered an unusual arangment of stones." Fifty miles away his tiny colony picked up his transmission and recorded it. The wheels ground to a halt kicking up a cloud of red dust before he disembarked, turned to pick up his tool box and then walked over to the plastic door to pull it open and then close it. Thhere was pressure inside the dome placed over the site, but the atomsphere wasn’t breathable. He removed the bulk of his suit, meaking a transparent face mase attatched to am air cannister he slung over his back and stooped low into the passagway… and there it was. -09:26 Oct 03 Guofu
Guofu: Every inch of the door had been pgotographed, sampled of the material had been collected and even a hole drilled though to collect a sample of the gasses inside. They had then been replicated adn the dome flooded with them… all for this moment. He set down the box and then checked to see if the camera on the tripod was recording, and the one mounted on the side fo his mask was working. "I will now attempt to open the door…" he was speaking in his native chinese… "So many hours of work come to this moment." A Deep breath hissed over the microphone as he pushed the door and then eased a pnumatic cushion between it and the frame and then with the press of a buttong the ancient slad was pushed aside, and the room withing became visible. "As the cemera pushed through the sample hole shows it is a tomb…" there was wonder in his voice as he stepped forwards "Or maybe a shrine…" there was a raised dias in the center of the room… and it is there where his steps were taking him. -09:34 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: Though the tomb had been sealed, everything still had suffered the effects of time. It was impossible to tell if it were metal or stone that made up part of the walls, or the dais itself. And on the dais was a long sarcophagus like structure made of that same strange material, covered in several layers of dirt and dust. On drawing closer, with dust becoming disturbed by the movement within the tomb, it seemed that the lid was made of a transparent stone like crystal. Inside was an odd, coal grey shape. Long and slender, but not entirely solid. -10:11 Oct 03 Ninharrissi
Guofu: "I can confirm that it is a toomb, there is a tomb on mars." he said the light from his torch glinting off the crystal at he ran his hand over the surface, sweeping away the dust. "God.. there’s a fugure inside. I could be the first human to ever see the face on an alien species. If only I could see it clearly." he gave the lid an experimental push. Maybe he should get a sample of the air inside first… he reached down and pulled the drill from his belt and tapped the tip against the crustal, concidering, then he klentt down and examined the side of the sarcofogas… yes, better t drill here. -10:20 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: Twitch. A movement so subtle, it may not have happened at all. But then it happened a second time. Followed by a wave of movement. The shape’s surface seeming to ripple almost like a black ocean wave in time with the high pitched whir of the drill boring in to the sarcaphagus wall. -10:27 Oct 03 Ninharrissi
Guofu: He didn’t notice the first time, but as it continued he did adn the drill stopped just as it broke through. "There seems to be movement inside the sarcophagus…" he said a chill going down his spine. Slowly he stood and looked inside, the camera catching the ripples. "I will move the tripod closer and moniter the movement from a safe distance…" -10:31 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: THUNK! THUD! A sudden slamming of the strangely fluid grey form hit against the lid. The third time it almost seemed to be scratching against the crystal in sharp, frenzied movements. The steady thumping stopped, replaced by a loud hissing sound almost like a container being depressurized. The lid itself was begining to slid aside, stone grinding against grit and dust as it opened… -10:38 Oct 03 Ninharrissi
Guofu: All of this was caught on camera as he backed away. "Gods It’s alive, It’s breaking out. EAS. It’s openign the container…" There was a clatter as he fell backwards the impact knocking the camera off his helmet and severing the oxygen pipe. There was a loud buzing of warning as the alien gasses began mixing with the sair around his face. He tried to scramble to his feet. There were more tanks outside… -10:43 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: It oozed out more than climbed. A long stretching tendril of grey flopping over the edge of the sarcaphagus as the rest of it rose. Another tendril flopped over, then the entire mound of it crumpled to the ground and poured down the dais in his direction. It rose again, greyness rippling before it become a little bit more solid. The shape twisted to something bipedal, seeming to try and mirror his structure. But then just as suddenly, it went liquid again. Leaping forward on top of him with a long grey tendril wrapping around his head and plucking away at his suit and helmet. -10:49 Oct 03 Ninharrissi
Guofu: He was suppocating, but still his screams rent the rail and were transmitted back to the basecamp and added the the secure transmission packet t be sent before the sun blocked the path back to earth, the camera on the floor catching the blob hit him before a foot kicked it as he fell again. His head was spinning from lack of oxygen but he naganed to screw his eyes shut, tear off his mask and then put the broken end of the oxygen pipe into his mouth. He might get eaten but at least he wouldn’t suffcate. -10:57 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: The kick did little to deter the grey form beyond making it ripple and shift around his flailing limbs. The helmet was off now, and a tendril brushed up against his face. For such a liquidy looking thing, it felt firm and solid with an oddly skin-soft texture. Then as suddenly as it pounced on him, it retreated several feet away to the foot of the dais. It rose again, mirroring his shape like it had the first time. Only now it defined it’s shape, becoming more and more human. A perfectly recognizable human female. The only oddities seemed to be the cool grey shade of her hair and the oddly tinted lavender eyes. Her head tilted to the side as she seemed to be struggling with adjusting her facial expression. -11:08 Oct 03 Ninharrissi
Guofu: As soon as he was free he pulled himself up to his hands and knees and started crawling unsteadily towards the exit, his helmet being dragged along as he tried to cough and keep the tube in his mouth at the same time. He get as far as the exit, his vission swilling, reached out and grabbed a fresh tank, jammed the tube into the helmet and then, blacked out, the hemlet rolling along the ground. -11:15 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: The alien was struggling. It would not respond to her inquiries. It was trying to escape. Fear? Something else. Even in this new shape, her movements were fluid, graceful. She followed, expression now perplexed as the alien fussed with it’s bizarre ornaments. No, this was more than ornaments. The moment the alien had fallen still, she was knealing beside it. Picking up it’s silly dome and awkwardly trying to replace it back on his head. It sealed him back up again, and now she stared, waiting expectantly for it to return to life. -11:21 Oct 03 Ninharrissi
Guofu: There was coughing and convultions before the he rolled onto his back. His eyes were burning and he didn’t want to open them but he had to. He wasnte to get his barings, find out where he was. His mind wasn’t responding at it should. "I’m alive…" the tansmission didn’t make it back in time to be sent with the rest. "My head feels like someone filled it with rice and waited for it to expand…" his eyes opened and he saw… it, no… this didn’t look like the same creature. First contact and the thing had tried to kill him… He felt around, locating a spanner and slowly eased his way away from the thing… it looked so human… "Hello?" -11:28 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: Her head tilted to the side again and she looked perplexed. He was no responding to her communications. She was trying to understand his process, but it was so… garbled. The alien was trying to use sound to communicate, how… strange. "I-… I’m alaeeeeve." Mimicing the sound was difficult. Her sound was softer with a higher tone. "Mai hed… feels lahk summun feeled eet wi raice. Und ated eet tu expahn." That was not quite right, but using verbal sound was getting easier. "Hello." She reached out to try and touch the alien. What strange construction… this could not be an outer skin. -11:35 Oct 03 Ninharrissi
Guofu: Was this a halucination making fun of him? He backed further away and stood, the dessolate wastes of mars beyond framed in the doorway. "Who are you?" -11:47 Oct 03 Guofu
Ninharrissi: "Whooo arrr yoo?" Fear. Yes, this was fear. He was afraid of her. Was he not looking for her? He did not come for her? He still would not reply to her questions. And she could not yet decipher his thoughts and his language. This was difficult and the air quality was terrible. It was getting harder to breathe… What is that place? She seemed to forget him now, stepped passed him through the doorway to stare at the world beyond the odd dome-shaped plastic that seemed to house them. Where IS this, she questioned, again. He could understand couldn’t he? -12:00 Oct 04 Ninharrissi
Guofu: The thing was looking past him and he stepped out f the way, while it as distracted he would rght the tripod camera and point it at her, then he would get his equipment, what did this thing breathe? What did it eat? Could he keep it alive? Did he want to? He had no weapons, he had ni supplies here. "Who are you." he repeared. "What are you?" "I am Guofu…" he tried that in English, maybe that would help. -12:06 Oct 04 Guofu
Ninharrissi: His mind was growing more cohesive, perhaps because he mimicked her questions nonverbally and through the voice. Her eyes turned back to him and watched him curiously. "Guofu..?" She gestured at him, not quite sure of the motions, but gauging the correctness by the way he responded. "Ninharrissi. I Ninharrisi." She gestured to herself. This form of communication was so primitive… "I… em alive. Awakened. This place is… my death?" These words did not feel correct. She let out a breath, which proceeded to quicken that ill feeling. -12:17 Oct 04 Ninharrissi
Guofu: He watched the screen on the small computer and fugured out which gas was decreasing and then walked over to a pile of cylanders left over frm filling the dome and with a little work fitted it to a spare mask and held it out to her. "If you don’t put this on you will die." he said slowly. "There is no air on mars anymore. Not enough anyway." -12:24 Oct 04 Guofu
Ninharrissi: She did not give that mask a very approving look. Even hesitated as she took it. "My… world. This place is now death." She understood now. This was her world. The worst had come to pass and it was dead. "You… have search for me? Take me to new home?" -12:31 Oct 04 Ninharrissi
Guofu: She was speaking now and he was still holding out the mask. "Mars is dead." he said. She thought he was hew rescue party. "I as from earth. Third planet from the sun. We did not know nayone was here." -12:35 Oct 04 Guofu
Ninharrissi: "Three from the Sun… the star? Yes, that is new home." Once she had the mask, she did not quite know how to work it. It was slightly different from his strange outer skin. Her glance at him relayed her mistrust. "I em to be taken to primitive world at time when home cannot be saved. You are not here for me, then what are you for? You have come to take what is mine?" The language was coming easier now, but reading his mind was not. All she could seem to get were words and faint thoughts. There were no images. Primitive creature, what good is he… -12:45 Oct 04 Ninharrissi
Guofu: "I am an explorer." he said. "We thought Mars, your world never had life. I came here to study mars and try to find out what it used to be like. That mask will give you air." he looked at her thught he plastic visor of his. "As was as we can tell mars hasn’t had like for millions of years." -12:50 Oct 04 Guofu
Ninharrissi: "Millions…?" she was trying to translate the number and calculate in her head. Being dizzy was unpleasant, thus she put on the mask. After a deep breath, she decided that was a wise choice. "There was much life, until the core began to fade. We found a new world, but could not all travel at once." This meant she had been here quite some time. Such an extended stasis did not concern her. Her people had incredible lifespans. …it was the realization she had been forgotten and left behind that stung. "I see. They did not come for me…" -12:57 Oct 04 Ninharrissi
Guofu: He stood watching her carefully. "I don’t know. Maybe they did but for whatever reason couldn’t find you, maybe they never arived. We have no memory of people coming to earth, but we have no memory from that long ago." -01:02 Oct 04 Guofu
Ninharrissi: "…you are a primitive species." He did not know or recognize her people. Had he, he would not have been afraid to find her in her natural state. This was vexing. "You will take me to your Emperor. Your King. I will negotiate terms of my establishment." -01:06 Oct 04 Ninharrissi
Guofu: He scowed at the word ‘primative’ "I can’t." he couldn’t even h home himself if he wanted to. "We have no king, out leaders are elected by popular vote." Primitive at that. "And there is no way back to earth." -01:19 Oct 04 Guofu
Ninharrissi: "If you have reached here, there is a way to go there." her response was that patient-yet-irritated tone one would use for silly children. "I cannot live here. The air is toxic and makes my inners burn. This flesh itches and it is vulnerable. I suspect this is why you wear your skins and dome…" She was reaching towards him again to pluck at his off coverings. -01:27 Oct 04 Ninharrissi
Guofu: He loved his hand away from her. "One way trip to study Mars. Not enough fuel to get back. One man, first one on the planet that’s me. Guofu isn’t my given name. It’s an honoroy name hiven to those who are dead because I can never go home. My sacrifice lets us learn about Mars, and learn about you." -01:36 Oct 04 Guofu
Ninharrissi: "I chose to be the last so that others were sure to live. I did not have intent to die here. We will go to your world." What a strange custom. Sending a man to die alone in the name of study. "I teach you something now. My way is law. It was then and it is still now. You will take me to a new home and we will survive." -01:41 Oct 04 Ninharrissi