The four beings made their way through the debris of the ruined space shuttle, being careful of the flames. But no matter how far they walked, there only ever seemed to be more flames, more scraps of metal, more carnage. It seemed as though they had been walking forever.
“I have a feeling this isn’t working…” Verlais admitted as they entered a small clearing. “How long have we been walking for now? What does your thingy say, Arksi?”
Arksi look down at his wristbands, a strap of plastic-like material wrapped loosely around the joints below his hands. Embedded in each one was a screen and various bits of tech, including ID data and, more importantly, a clock.
“About thirty minutes.”
Ct’Era though didn’t seem to care. She suddenly charged ahead, only to abruptly skid to a halt.
“I cannot believe this.”
Below the Banikan was a large, perfectly formed crater. The exact crater they had seen earlier, complete with the tiny claw marks on the other side, where Arksi had placed his hand and attempted a telepathic probe.
“How is that possible?” Verlais exclaimed as the others caught up. “We can’t have… I don’t get it…”
“Is it possible that we’re right on the North or South Pole of Portalia?” Kindyna suggested, then immediately retracted, not wanting to look stupid.
“I doubt it. The distance we travelled was in a straight line…” Verlais was just as confused. The three towering beasts turned to their smaller counterpart. “Arksi, what do you think? How is this possible?”
Arksi didn’t say anything. He was busy thinking. As the Rethavok walked towards the edge of the crater, he sniffed the air, then scanned the smooth edges of the crater. Finally, he came to some sort of conclusion.
“We’re not on Portalia.”
Kindyna sneered. “That’s not fucking helpful. How the fuck do you know that anyway?”
“Portalia’s poles are cold and frozen. This place is not cold and frozen. Yet we’ve managed to walk in a circle despite travelling in a straight line. We’re clearly walking in some form of non-euclidean plane.”
Ct’Era and Verlais both looked dumbfounded, neither of them having understood what Arksi meant.
“Could you say that again, please?” Verlais asked. “Preferably in Panglish.”
With a sigh, Arksi started to explain. “Our universe, or at least our neighbourhood of planets, is a euclidean plane. In such a plane, two parallel line are always parallel, and the angles of a triangle always add up to 360 degrees. In a non-euclidean plane, that is not the case. In our example here, parallel lines always eventually bend towards each other, thus causing the effect we are seeing.”
Ct’Era still looked confused and Verlais didn’t look much better. But Kindyna seemed to understand.
“The question is, little Threan-type, how do we get out of here?”
Arksi shrugged. “That, unfortunately, I do not have an answer to. If we made our way in, then we can make our way out, but I am unsure how we got here in the first plac- Wait!”
Kindyna decided that Arksi’s answer wasn’t adequate, and jumped down into the crater, rushing towards its centre.
“You do not know what is down there!” Arksi protested, only to watch as Ct’Era and Velais chased after the Thanatian. The three beings skidded down the side, only to come to a sudden halt just short of the crater’s centre. Not wanting to be left alone, Arksi hesitantly joined them.
At the centre of the crater was a tiny, shiny box, spinning and glowing happily to itself. As the beings looked into it, they could not see reflections of themselves, rather reflections of something otherworldly.
“I’m gonna touch it!” Verlais proclaimed.
“But what if-”
“You worry too much, Arksi!” Kindyna interrupted. “We’re stuck in this stupid fucking place. This might be our way out.”
“Or it could kill us horribly!” Arksi argued. “We have no ide- oh for the Light’s sake…”
Verlais touched the thing, then disappeared. Kindyna and Ct’Era both followed suit.
“Um, friends?”
Arksi’s call was unanswered. With no other choice, Arksi closed his eyes and decided to touch the shiny box, expecting the worst.
…
“What in the name of the L-”
“SHUSH!” Kindyna snapped, interrupting Arksi’s exclamation.
All around them were glistening, organic walls, with slimy tendrils hanging from the ceiling. Every couple of meters, there would be a dull, gooey sack, with something moving inside. The only thing not covered in horrible slime was the floor, which was curiously pristine, with a blue and black patterned plastic floor.
“What is this place?” Verlais whispered.
“I am more worried about those sacks…” Ct’Era muttered, cautiously moving her tail as to not disturb the gurgling walls. “Are they… alive?”
Arksi and Kindyna both approached the closest sack. Kindyna attempted to place a hand on it, but Arksi slapped her down.
“Could be toxic.”
“Good point… Can your telepathy… reach inside?”
Arksi concentrated, focusing on where the sack was moving the most. But as quickly as his telepathy reached out, he quickly pulled away, a shocked look on his face. Arksi stumbled and was caught by a very worried Verlais.
“By the Light…”
“What did you see?” Kindyna quickly questioned him, ignoring his sudden bout of weakness.
Arksi blinked a couple of times. “That… stuff… It was trying to get into my mind. Begging me to join it, like the creature trapped inside it…”
“So this is all… alive?” Ct’Era panicked. “Where is that shiny cube? I would rather die in a burning wasteland than be eaten by this… THING!”
At the sound of the Banikan’s heightened voice, the walls began to move. Behind them, large tentacles began to move, swirling and flailing towards the four beings. Without thinking, Ct’Era grabbed Kindyna and Arksi and began to run in the opposite direction. Verlais hesitated for a moment and decided running was a good idea.
The tentacles quickly began to close in on them, but some sort of glowing shield stopped them.
“Who is doing that?” Verlais shouted. “Whoever it is, don’t stop!”
“Shut up and run so I can concentrate!” Arksi barked, as more tentacles from the ceiling started to expand in size and take pot shots at them.
As they continued to run, the walls seemed to close in around them, coming closer and closer until they were almost touching. But as Ct’Era’s horns scrapped across the ceiling, the organic mass quickly pulled away, sending out a horrible screech of pain.
The tentacles chasing the four beings stopped in their tracks and stopped following. The ceiling tentacles retracted out of view.
Seeing what Ct’Era had accidentally done, Verlais decided to try it for himself, and scrapped his claws against one of the walls. Again, the organic matter pulled away in agony.
“It does not like us…”
Arksi did the same, with his own claws, only to get the same reaction. Kindyna though didn’t want to get weird goo on her painted nails. Ct’Era tried again, this time clawing and tearing at the slime. She didn’t stop until she’d reached the physical wall underneath, revealing a plastic material.
“That… is weird…” Ct’Era murmured.
“No, it’s not weird at all!” Verlais exclaimed. “That’s the inner wall of the shuttle we were in! And I bet the creatures in these sacks, they were the other beings on the flight!”
“But how comes they didn’t take us?” Kindyna asked.
“You saw what our claws did to that stuff,” Arksi tutted. “I bet that is why they left us behind.”
Verlais though seemed distracted. He looked all around, then turned back to the others, a concerned look on his face.
“We need to save the others…”