The Blue Comforter

A Story by Dutch Love

A travelers journal entry about the first planet he visits.

Travelers

Prologue:

A few years ago, I was abducted from my home planet Earth to a station hidden somewhere in the middle of this galaxy. Once in this massive fortress, I was trained in the forbidden art of magic and technology called Technomage. The marriage of these boosts their effect on each other. There, I quickly discover we are not alone. There’s life all over the place. My classmates hail from such places. There are hundreds of different species in this class, but only a select few get to travel. Their goal, to learn, discover and survive. After all the Milky Way Galaxy isn’t going to just give up its secrets. These ten travelers roam the galaxy in an asteroid they call home in search of the secrets hidden among the stars.

The Blue Comforter

There’s a bed in the middle of the room. Some lounge chairs placed around the walls. The bed is shaped like a box. The bottom is solid white with drawers that hold my personals. Above that is the mattress and it’s soft like clouds. The color is this most wonderfully milky white and blue I could conger up. The top sheet is a vibrant blue. The top sheet is made from a milled down bamboo silk mix and is white. The comforter is this furry animal skin. It’s surprisingly soft for being an apex predator. Its stitched together with two other hides and drapes down to the floor. These animals are found all over a planet somewhere close to The Crab Nebula. There they roam free and are kings of their domain. And this is that story.

We were traveling off the beaten path, away from major shipping lanes, and very much away from any space-faring civilizations. when I found this place. When we got to the outermost asteroid belt, I sent probs to check out the system. No one should be around, and there wasn’t. The probs data came in and popped up on the 3d viewer in about an hour. There was an old marker from the last time a Traveler came through. It was on a moon orbiting the last planet in the system and it was on the other side. About a day away. We use these markers so others can get useful information without detailed scans of the system. These markers are usually hidden from others, so we aren’t tracked. It had been a long time since anyone came into here. I started waking up three others who I thought might want to explore with me. Actually, it was the next three in line. Our home was left out here on the edge camouflage with the rest of the space debris. We had an old cargo ship that was loaded up with supplies and even more in case that wasn’t enough. When we arrived at the marker there was a little data on a planet that looked promising. Mostly it said, "get what you need and get out. They don’t play well with others."

“Ok well, that’s promising and should keep us going for a bit,” I said with a bit of sarcasm.

Everyone chuckled and looked at me. I didn’t think anyone thought it was funny. There was some nervousness in the air and that comment helped deal with my jitters.

P4 said,” first time on a foreign planet?”

I smiled and gave a thumbs up then said. “Can’t wait to meet it.”

We loaded the data from the counsel and off planet bound. Once in high orbit, we release a few satellites so we can have real-time intelligence on the planet goings-on. Images started coming in. There’s a valley in a heavily wooded area where we can set up a camp scenario. A scenario is a tool we use to hone our skills. They can be set up any way the controller wants. They are mobile holographic images that look and feel real, so we can train in as many realistic situations as posable. We wanted to know more about the lay of the land and who’s hunting it. We did, and more. P4 sent out micro drones, up to 1000 yards so he can keep an eye on the surroundings. We also found a grassy area and set the same they were a few miles apart. P4 came up with this setup. This wasn’t a bad idea. These micro-drones are where magic meets technology. P7 made these they’re the size of a bug, can be used as a tracker, have a hive mind, and can store data for one hundred hours.

The drones picked something up. Crouched down moving slowly. P4 outlined one and has the drones' search for shapes and color patterns that look similar. It was spotty at first. The way their color pattern blends into the natural flora. The drones move around until they had all critters in view. In a few minutes, a human target from the camp and ventures out of the safety of the encampment. Two 8 feet long hunters attack from either side one high and one mid-torso. The simulated person let out a scream of pain. One more join in and went for the throat snap with the powerful jaws and he stops his screams. The three pull it apart, then drag it away. Once out of the scenario field the humanoids parts vanish. There are three more people in this scenario, and they grab weapons and prepare to defend themselves. On a different console is playing what the scenario sees, and right now, it’s nothing. There are cameras all around in the scenario, and they are not picking anything up. The pack retreats into the forest. One stays back to keep an eye on the strange two-legged potential food source. It lies crouched ready to pounce just inside the forest line. With no threats, people carry on with normal activities. The creature maneuvers itself into the scenario boundaries he’s picked up by the 3D console. P4 linked the drone and scenario together so now there working as one. He lies there waiting for an opportunity. The data from the drones were uploaded to the other camp also P4’s doing, and there were hits.

The camp was being surrounded by six of these animals. This was the first setup and was in the forest. Four went after each of the people. Two stayed back just outside the camp. They seemed to be watching the others. They looked to be smaller, but none less vicious. They dispatched the scenario like pro’s, confident, precise, and with purpose. When they got to the edge the holographic corpses disappeared. We sent trackers with the pack maybe they would lead us to their main pack.

“So that’s two packs,” P4 said.

“Can we keep looking? There seems to be a lot this place has to offer.” P3 said.

We flew around and seen that every five hundred kilometers there was a massive tree among a forest of normal size ones. We passed by some to get a better view of them. These trees not only stood out by size but also by their white, smooth, bark if you can call it that. it looks like someone placed symmetrical shapes together. The limbs shoot out and spiraled around they stretch about halfway around the trunk; the leaves are broad and dark blue almost black. We marked one as interesting and kept scouting about. This place is mostly land. High planes, and mountains. It had no oceans, only some big lakes. The polar caps were large and came down further than necessary. Maybe we were looking at their ice age? Life here was abundant. Plenty of meat, and plant-based foods to stalk upon. We spent a day filling a few bags with what we found.

We hovered above one of the big trees. The door to the ship opened, we grabbed our packs, and P1, 2, and 3 jumped onto the top canopy and disappeared, climbing falling towards the bottom. We stopped about one-quarter way down to assess our surroundings and get bearings. The life up here seems to be curious about what just fell into their laps. They all moved towards the ends of the branches so they could escape if needed. The leaves were concentrated there and helped hide them. With the internal limbs of the tree free from leaves, we had lots of space to navigate the descent. We made our way down using spells to grab and swing and fly to more assessable holds. As we descended through the canopy of the forest, we spread out so we wouldn’t bump into each other. They were less manicured and made the descent difficult. We had to move branches out of the way and dodge the bigger ones. This took more time. My bag got caught up a few times. We stopped when we were about fifty feet from the bottom.

The forest floor was beautiful. The collage of colors ranging blue, green, purple, and darker colors to lighter ones like yellow, pink, white. Made it difficult to focus on any one thing. That was scary when there was a blue cat-like killer somewhere down there. P3 sent drones out to see if we had any unfriendly visitors around. Having a ground-level perspective might just keep us alive. The hive mind memory store helps so they don’t have to relearn things. If they spot any potential threats, they’ll be highlighted red. All information will be stored in the ship system. P4 will see on a 3D display in real-time and He would communicate to us. That’s the plan anyway.

I descended when the word came back from P4 all was clear. I ran to the base of the smooth tree and started to look around for out of the ordinary. anything that would give a clue as to an opening or a hidden gem. Something, anything I was exposed and felt a little like a menu item. I took a deep breath and relaxed.

“Common this was a long shot and just because they were on Earth a long time ago didn’t mean they were anywhere else.” I thought to myself.

Just when I had that thought there it was, two eyes looking at me. These eyes where big. Studying me as he moved into place and preparing to pounce.

“Wow, they hide well. We didn’t see anything, and yet they're right beside me well one anyway. So, this is what lunch feels like.” I thought so everyone could hear.

Grabbing for the bolt rifle on my pack and teleport six feet behind the creature, it lunged for me. I took a shot and missed the mark but got it in the hind leg as it spun around. The big cat spun his head trying to find me. One more jumped where I was just standing. Maybe that was what through the shot off. I was spooked on the fact that there were two. I took a shot at the other beast. That bolt pierced the front of the breastplate as it jumped after me. I ported to another spot, to the side and fifteen feet away. The big cat looked at me, then to his fallen hunting partner. It then turned and limped away. Clearly, these drones weren’t working, so I looked around through all the spectrum my eye upgrade had. I was given everything they had. We all were. They were more mechanical than natural. Nothing, I was in the clear. I walked back to where the animal was lying and gave him a good nudge with the muzzle of his weapon just to make sure.

“No signs of life,” I said to the onlookers, who were still processing the events that just unfolded in front of them.

I then brought out my knife and started to get working on cleaning the beast. After gutting my kill, I put a levitation spell on it and opened a small bag. It stretched big enough to get the animal inside. When done the bag was the size of his hand again and went into his pack. The sun was starting to set, and that’s when the tree started to glow in the cracks. He jumped into a nearby tree and was met by the rest of the crew.

P2 said, “There must be something about these trees. This is way to cool for there not to. I’ll stay here you two go up to see what’s going on above.”

We all agreed to the plan and started our ascent up through the tangly mess of trees. When we got to the top of these trees, P3 stayed back and I teleported to the bigger branch of the now glowing tree. The glow was coming from under the bark layer and was purple it faded then slowly grew bright. It pulsed like that regularly. The pulses shot out from the base to the outermost limbs. I started to feel something. We all did. The meditative calm of a waking dream. A place that had the three of us. All around we could only see crystal blue, like what a river looks like before humans get a hold of it. we didn’t feel like they were on the trees. White dots started to appear. They started to form patterns like constellations. P3 reached for one and a solar system appeared, and the fifth planet had white highlights around it. This was a map. I used my hands to focus in on a planet once it was in the palm, I used his other hand to enlarge it so he could see the features. They played around with this map zooming in and out and spinning it around. Then suddenly without notice, we were spat out. It disorientated us enough that we almost fell off our perches.

I asked, “What just happened?”

P2 and P3 said confused, “I don’t know.”

P2 said and you could hear some excitement in her tone, “We should get samples Bark, sap, some of the leaves, and pitch. There must be something resembling tree blood. I’m closest to the ground I’ll get a root sample.”

P2 jumped out of her perch and ran to the base of the tree looking for fallen branches and some exposed roots. There weren’t any. She grabbed at some dirt as she dug to expose some. The drones picked up some movement, seventy-five feet and moving fast. When it closed about half the distance, it sprang. The cat was too fast for her to react. Its paw slid between her back and pack. P2 was flung into the air spinning. The beast rolled to its feet. Three claws raked her back and opened her up. her backpack flew off and landed away. She rested five feet from where she was digging when another jumped to get her. She vanished, and then appeared opposite side of the tree and two feet from where she was digging. P3 and I jumped and fell towards the ground. Not ideal but necessary. We pulled our weapons as we fell teleport around most of the branches that wherein our way. Closer to the ground we ported in different directions and rolled to minimize the force of the fall on our bodies. I took shots with the bolt rifle at anything that moved, teleporting in random places. P3 had a curve bladed sword, he slashed at a beast and ported away. After a minute of running around and dodging all the chaos. P4 started to point them out, there’s five of them. They didn’t seem to want to retreat and were in this fight. They were reacting and focused on the strange two-legged animals that just seemed to appear and vanish. The cats ran and jumped as one unit. P2 was hurt and they seemed to be aware of her situation. She wasn’t a threat now, but two others needed their attention. A beast came from the side to attack P3. He ported just in time. I took some shots at one hitting it in the lung. P4 relayed that their movements suggest they are protecting their kill. With two down they’re changing strategies. P2 finally had enough energy to port away. She found herself in the trees. P3 and I see this and quickly retreated up into the trees too. P3 got to her first and started to heal her with some energy spell. Her back was flayed open and losing lots of blood. When he was mostly satisfied, she stopped bleeding, I got to work securing her limp body for transport. She was levitated in the air. I opened a bag and slid her in.

“This might smell like dead things,” I said with sympathy.

We climbed up the trees and into the ship. It was dark so P4 went into low orbit. While this was happening, we put her into a cot P3, better at first aid hung a bag of her blood, we keep some stored for such purposes. I left her in his capable hands and hung the carcass in the back, sliced off a peace close to a paw, and took it to be analyzed. Then to work on the tree samples. All we had were some leaves, a part of a branch, some pitch from the bottom of a nest, and that was it. Into the analyzer, they went. There was nothing for them to do tell morning when they could head back down.

You put me in your meat bag!! That’s what everyone woke to. A pissed off P2 looking over me and yelling.

I looked up at her a bit surprised and flatly said. “well I got you out didn’t I.” and then kind of smirked

P2 even angrier and now annoyed because she has seen the little half-smile form on my face. Responded with. “There were other bags the other two had bags. You didn’t have to put me in with that slab of meat.”

I responded in a tone that tried to deescalate the hostility. “Yes, we could have done that. We took very good care, getting you in there and out of the situation as fast as we could.” As to kinds share the blame.

P2 turned and walked away. Feeling disgusted about the whole situation.

I said, “that’s going to leave a cool scar. Something one would tell their grandkids about.”

And before I got another word out, she raised her arm and a mug hurled across the bay. Inline for me. It was deflected and slammed to the wall next to the cot.

P4 conjured up some drinks for everyone. Something to pick us up. They all decided that P4 was going in P2’s place for today. The drones Showed that the bag was there a little torn up, but there, So where the dead. They checked on the projects going on in the 3d console. Tree parts weren’t finished yet, but the meat sample was. Nothing that could harm us. The hide and fur were interesting. When the hide was warmed up the pores expanded and when cooled they shrank to almost nonexistence. That was there cooling and heating. The fur, even though it looked ruff and thick at about two-inch-long it was soft like a rabbit. They were able to hide from our heat vision by controlling how much heat they can expel. The big cats were able to control their heat for a time.

The ship started its descent to the tree as the sun was rising. It was good timing. the long shadows will help conceal their presents. The two scenarios were hit again and were a mess. Tents got shredded the gear had been strewn about. It seems that more than the big cats had been there. The video was being uploaded as they descended. They wanted to check out the tree before heading back to check out the carnage. When they got to the top of the tree everyone jumped off the back of the vessel. The fall was more familiar this morning, well, not for P4. He had the same jitters as the crew did yesterday. Just before they got to the forest floor they stopped and waited for everyone to get into place. The drones were sent to scan the tree and out about one hundred and fifty feet. Some high and some low. They found one it was coming in towards them. They must have picked up their noise. I went high into the trees and tried to lead him maybe them away. I jumped from tree to tree making lots of noise. That got the attention of more that were in the area. They started to move towards me. I throw down a trap and set it on hardest to keep them busy. All he had to do was sit and watch from high above and at a safe distance.

P3 and 4 jumped down when the coast was clear, picked up the bag, and dropped it in a pouch. They used another pouch for the two beasts. P3 was on guard while the other did the work. They made their way to the tree. Once there P4 started in on the roots while P3 grabbed for the laser cutter. The roots were almost exposed when P2's dug yesterday. They severed peace and started in on the tree trunk. P3 went for one of the shapes. It cut into the tree and started to pull back. Once that started to happen, the sap started to pour from the cut. It was collected in a jar.

I watched the beasts work the scenario. It was on the hardest setting, so almost unwinnable. What he liked was that it would stun them. That was his advantage. He wanted some of these cats back on mother. Thinking they would pass some time out there in the endless black of space. All six of them filled the bag and they were going to be out for quite some time. He knew from personal experience. The crew rallied back at the tree and started up.

P2 was busy too. She ran through the footage while we were on the ground. There was a clear image of what tore through the camps. It knocked out the campers and bleed them out. It then rummaged through everything like it was looking for something. It was wearing a long dark robe with the hood up. It was bipedal and stood upright. It stayed in the shadows mostly, drowning out the lights when it got too bright for it. She cut the footage out and saved it to a crystal. She was done there and wanted to go. When the crew reached the top, she flew down, and they jumped aboard. The ship went to the other sites for cleanup. They didn’t want to leave any sign of their visit.

They landed deep in a cavern back on Mother. There wasn’t any way into the belly of mom, so they had to teleport into a hallway. The crew went into their rooms to get ready for the deep sleep. Sometime later they meet up in the sleep chamber and laid in their beds.

P2 said, “Don’t wake me again unless it's super important.”

I responded, “Got Ya.” And smiled and flipped a switch, I was alone. Later, I went to my room to get the cat bag. There was a crystal sitting on the pillow with a note. It said this looks interesting you’ll have to tell me about it when you solve it. P2