Kyp the Granger

[Conzul]

Kyp the Granger, an original composition by Conzul. Use with permission. Part Two can be found here
Part Three, the Conclusion, can be found here


          
          Cover art by Gabrielle R.S.                                  


                                           Chapter One
                                                    The Awakening


    The cave was cold, wet, and hard to stand in, even with six legs. Kyp wondered why the Hivemind had chosen this paticular spot, but knew better than to be inquisitive. The complex social hierarchy of the militarized classes was hard to adjust to after the free wilderness of the Homeworld. On his first day awake, Kyp had seen two other wild recruits killed by the brutish dragoon escorts for things as simple as wondering out of sight, and refusing an order to build. These grangers were Kyp's friends, he had grown up with them on Homeworld, and now they were dead without even seeing combat. Kyp would not make the same mistake, he would live to see Homeworld again, even if he had to die trying (in these early days, Kyp wasn't the brightest bug in the hive).
    

    A dragoon with a green, oozing scar sauntered over to Kyp, and emitted a low growl. Kyp wasn't forming the eggs quickly enough, the dragoon pointed out, in the animalistic tones that passed for alien speech. Also, Kyp was reminded that he would not be able to build a hovel until the rest of the nest was complete. Kyp wanted nothing more than a cozy hovel right now, to just crawl into and fade into a light doze. Each hovel was crafted by its granger, custom made, a work of art. On Homeworld, hovels were even made with special herbs and "medicinals" woven into them, a tight alcove of hallucinogenic sweetness. There were no such luxuries on outings such as this, though, and even if Kyp would be allowed to form a hovel, it would be a slop job with no love in it.
    
    "Sssnraaatthhh-grrr!"
    There was pain as Kyp was hit (lightly, believe it or not) from behind. He had been daydreaming again. The green-scarred dragoon - who Kyp would later learn was called "Mnoth" - had planted a tusk in Kyp's behind. This was a warning that his friends hadn't received, and Kyp was grateful that the pain wouldn't be his last. Hastily, he clenched his vepositors - glands that secreted the substance that all alien structures were made out of - and continued to slowly spew thick, opaque ooze into the form of a pod-like egg. Once the ooze dried, it would slowly awaken into a sentient, living object, brought to its low life awareness by the Overmind.
    
    Kyp and several other grangers and combat aliens had been brought to this planet, asleep, holed up in an planetary fragment from the Homeworld. Their directive was to kill - not colonize - the human population here on Ventas 2. This planet served as a naval base for human operations near the Homeworld, and while none of the combat aliens knew it, the Hivemind had the awareness to realize that the humans were building a large orbital structure here, and that it was slowly being oriented at Homeworld. Kyp and his cohorts were to set up several nests (the Hivemind defined a nest as something called "150 points of sentience", even though the builders themselves had no knowledge of this appellation).

    Then, once evolved and in sufficient numbers, they were to wreak havoc upon the civilian population and draw out the human milita. A classic pincer move would then follow, with several nests converging on the human milita, which would already be tied up with saving non-coms. The Hivemind believed that if it could accomplish this, it would buy more time to discover the purpose of the orbital platform on Ventas 2.
    
    Hours turned into watches as Kyp labored on, forming egg after egg, tube after tube. He had more to do now, his friends had all been killed except for two very young grangers, who barely knew their way out of a hovel, let alone how to form buildables. He just hoped they would leave him alone. Mnoth ignored them as well, probably wishing that he had spared Kyp's peers. Mnoth paced slowly back and forth near the mouth of the cave, in the diminishing light. He and two basilisks were the only protection that the builders had, and none of them save the Overmind knew how long it would be till the humans discovered them.

                                    

                                               Chapter Two
                                                  Hide.....and Seek!

    "Olly olly in FREE!" shouted Roslyn. Jake and Tib both popped up from behind shrubs, sighed in resignation, and began to trudge toward her. She held her hand out cheerily.
    
    "Both of you!" She said.
    They reached into their pockets and pulled out one sesame seed each, and layed them into the palm of her hand. They were gone so fast it was like they were never there.
    
    "Chew, why don't you?" Chided Tib, her brother. He was a little annoyed that she was winning so often, both because she was winning so often, and because the stakes weren't higher. The confict had everyone enjoying something humans call "rationing", and the sesame seed packet entrusted to Jake had to last as a week's snacks. Ask any trio of ten-year-olds who galavant around the woods all day, that just doesn't cut it. This vacation sucked.
    
    "I'll bet you're so small, you could climb into that cave and see what's in it", said Jake, who just wanted her out of the picture for a few minutes.
    A meteor had crashed here just last night, and he wanted to search for it with Tib. Maybe they would find some precious mineral, something to trade or hide. Or, perhaps, it wasn't a meteor at all. Maybe it was a satellite with critical information, and if they found it, they would receive accolades and father would get to come back from the front and visit and they would be a family again. Jake let out a cynical guffaw, knowing he was just dreaming, and that would not happen for a long time, if ever. This confict was stupid. The War against the Alien Menace, as the News called it. Heh, thought Jake, this is about something else. Why else would we be advancing toward a threat that doesn't want us near it or just doesn't care(like bees). I'll bet there is some super-special mineral on that Homeworld, something that big companies want, and they are spending good people like my father to get it.
    
    Jake had been disillusioned at 8, when his father was ordered to stop repairing hover drives and start shooting a rifle. He had left after just one week's notice, so severe was this shortage of men. Jake believed none of it. He looked over at Roslyn, so happy as she skipped about, and wondered if it was true what they said about the freedom of blondes. For the first time, he wished he was one. They looked so happy. Roslyn looked so happy. Why be sad and sour when you can jump for joy?
    
    "Well, okay, but I want three seeds if I do that..." she said.
    
    "Deal!" said Jake, and he and Tib walked over to the mouth of the cave.
    
    "Will you be able to see me?" she asked.
    
    "With that hair, and this moonlight....yes." answered Tib.
    
    "You're just making fun of me", moaned Roslyn.
    
    "Are you going or not, Roz?" she turned into the darkness and started crawling. Five feet in she turned.
    "What am I looking for?"
    
    "These." Jake held up the seed packet. She rolled her eyes, turned, and continued onward.



To be continued in a post below....look for Chapter Two Cont

[DeathSkull]

Aside from some grammatical errors and the somewhat short length, I think this is probably one of the best stories to show up in the past year or so, especially the alien's POV. Consider me highly impressed... enough to say that I definitely want to see more!

 

-Death

(Yeah, I'm totally out of it right now, lol. Thanks for pointing that out.)

[Conzul]

Aside from from grammatical errors and the somewhat short length, I think this is probably one of the best stories to show up in the past year or so, especially the alien's POV. Consider me highly impressed... enough to say that I definitely want to see more!

 

-Death

Thanks! I have more planned, if people like it (which is why it's so short). I know I overuse hyphens, that's an American thing. Also, sometimes I say Homeworld instead of the homeworld, that's deliberate (and a Canadian thing). My spelling isn't on par either

Aside from from grammatical errors

[DeathSkull]

Well, don't just write because people like it. Write because you love to write. That's the real spirit of it, I think: writing things because... well, it's just so dang fun and enjoyable.

[mooseberry]

Also, some better formatting would save you from potential readers having the "WALL OF TEXT! Fuck that." kind of feeling I had after I clicked on this thread.

[Conzul]

Also, some better formatting would save you from potential readers having the "WALL OF TEXT! Fuck that." kind of feeling I had after I clicked on this thread.

Thanks, didn't think of that. This is like the first serious writing I've done in three years. I've been playing too many video games, see.

[your face]

Fun, I humbly await chapter 2 cont.

[Conzul]

Kyp the Granger, Chapter Two continued....



    In his exhausted sleep, Kyp did not notice the subtle change in nest's creep, nor did he see the Overmind twitch and spring to heightened awareness. Being a lowly granger, Kyp could not even think on the same level that the Overmind could. Kyp was just an agent, like the rest of the aliens, and the only thing he understood was a directive, things that had to be done. But, unlike most other aliens, Kyp had an imagination, and even that involved some form of conscious thought. Kyp thought so, anyway. The Overmind, however, was highly intelligent, capable of efficient tactical coordination and interpretation of battlefield information. And now, the Overmind sensed Roslyn coming.

    The Overmind had to think quickly. A threat was coming that, insignificant as it seemed now, could jeopardize the entire plan of the Hivemind here on Ventas 2. Fortunately, thinking quickly was what the Overmind did best. Putting all of its focus onto the matter at hand, the Overmind juggled with two undeniable truths. One, that it could kill the human and save the nest from immediate peril, but Two, that if it did so, others would come searching for her soon, and that was just a matter of hours. Then, a third possibility entered the Overmind. Maybe, the human would not notice anything in the dark. The Overmind knew that humans did not see well without light, and it also sensed that this was not a fully developed human. This was a child, and the Overmind knew from personal experience how believable the underdeveloped prawns were to their superiors. Who would believe her? It was night, her supervisors would say she had just been imagining things in the dark. The Overmind made its choice.

    A burst of neuro-electric energy surged from the Overmind, pulsing around the entire creep, sending the will of the Overmind. Acid tubes collapsed into themselves to halt their reflexive spewings. Trappers made themselves limp, and eggs tightened themselves into smaller profiles. The nest was now on silent running, with the Overmind hoping that in the darkness, even if touched, all of it's structures would just seem like wet, mossy rocks. The Overmind now turned its attention to the alien population of its nest. They must be made to hold back from attacking or making noise. The Overmind realized that it could not hide them as easily, so it did the only thing left. It woke them up, grangers, Kyp, and the basilisks, and then ordered them to play dead. Now, if the human saw them, they would just seem like dead or sleeping forest animals, not too different from the indigenous fauna anyway.

    All was going well, thought the Overmind. Then it glowed blue with momentary panic, and attempted to quiet itself. Mnoth the dragoon, it realized, was far from creep (and therefore the shutdown message), guarding the main entrance. This human had come in a smaller side crevasse, and if Mnoth sensed her, he would definitely revel in charging back and chomping her head off instantly. The Overmind made a note of its lack of vision, for not seeing such a thing coming, and cooled itself into darkness.


    Roslyn was plodding forward on hands and knees, barely able to see in the twilight. Her civilian jumpsuit was getting mud, moss, and muck on it. There was nothing in here but rock, water, and now a funny smell. Her dirty blond hair was getting grime in it from the cave walls. A whole packet of seeds isn't worth this she thought. Why did I say yes? I'm going to get spanked or grounded or something for messing up my uniform. This uniform is stupid anyway, why do I have to wear it? I'm not in the army, I'm not a grease monkey, I don't even DIG. Sheesh. I wonder how far back this goes. OW! stupid rock! That's two tears now. Good thing this is a luxury-model-self-mending suit. Hey! How did I remember that? Jake will be impressed. I like Jake. Yeah.........no! I hate Jake, he just wants to get rid of me to play with Tiberius. I thought he was neat. What kind of name is Tiberius anyway? OOooh! Something shiney! I should check it out. Ugh, I hope there are no bats in here....what is that smell?

    She was indeed noticing a growing stench, not outright stinky or anything, just sweet, with a hint of infirmity, mixed with an odd burnt-wood smell. Then, just as the light was refusing to follow her any further, she saw it. It looked like a dead rat or something. It had no hair, and it had a tail about as long as it's body again. It wasn't moving, and wasn't breathing as far as she could tell. Gross. I can't do anything with this! Darn it, I thought I saw a quartz rock. That would be good for my collection. If I ever started one. Oh well. This could be interesting. Roslyn picked up a small stick.

Continued in chapter three, which should appear below.

[Demolution]

Interesting story so far. Kudos.

The nest was now on silent running, with the Overmind hoping that in the darkness, even if touched, all of it's structures would just seem like wet, mossy rocks.

This would be awesome if implemented.

[Conzul]

continued from a previous post....




                                                                  Chapter Three
                                                                                A Basilik's Tale


    Sigig got the message at the same time that the others did. With practiced discipline, he collapsed to the ground and tucked his legs under him. Already a master of stealth, he slowed his breathing to a rate barely enough to sustain him. He then locked his tail to his spine with a special muscle, and similarly clenched his leg joints and neck. Sigig was a Basilisk, one of the ghostly assassins of the alien world. Capable of silent movement and quick lethality, he had a superiority complex that approached a Tyrant's, and a level of skill that surpassed nearly all other alien forms. Who else could secrete a healing hormone to the wounded near him? Who else could move so swiftly and silently? Who else could stab an unsuspecting prey in the back, and hold them in place while he had his pleasure with them? No one.
   
    However, Sigig had something that none of the other basilisks had. Through some mysterious and haphazard circumstance, the Overmind who had formed him had been sloppy. Sigig was functional, but he also had a hunger. A deep, all-encompassing ambition that he didn't fully understand. Somewhere in his inner being, he knew that he would not be a basilisk forever. Sure, we all evolve, but I am going higher, and faster, than you, my deficient brothers. Don't worry, I will be a benevolent tyrant. My day is coming. Though he did not have the capacity to think in words like this, that was his general mindset. He was the servant - for now.

    The human girl was approaching him. She had seen him. She had a stick. Sigig lay still. The girl smelled of curiosity, and some fear. (Sigig was capable of sensing these things as part of his job description). She poked him in the ribs, and not nicely. It hurt. Through the pain, Sigig took pride in the stillness of his limbs, and the glassy darkness of his eyes. He was truly dead, the perfect act. There was no one better than him. The girl got tired of him, and moved to another body, Sigig's cohort basilisk. Though they had all come together what seemed like a few days ago, Sigig had confidence in his wingman, who was delivering right now with an avid display of inertia.

    Sigig's first uncertainty came when the girl moved towards Kyp. Sigig knew that Grangers had no discipline whatsoever, and were prone to even not knowing what was friend or enemy. Sigig wanted to make a small bark, to scare her out. Enough of this!
    NO! Thought the Overmind. Mnoth will hear any noise you make, and come running. There must be no sound of need.

    Since the aliens were playing dead whilst laying down directly on the nest creep, they all had direct access the Overmind, who directed them and gave orders. However, the Overmind wasn't doing so well with the two other young grangers. As the girl crawled over to Kyp, the Overmind was forced to focus all of its attention on the weak pair, to hold them down and keep them quiet. Sigig was a lone ranger, but the rebalance of the Overmind's awareness was too much for Kyp. No one was helping him now, holding him down, giving him strenth. He had never felt this way before. His link to the Hivemind was fading.

    The girl cocked her head, and said something in a strange language. She then poked Kyp hard with a small branch. He fought to stay still, to make no utterance. He was losing.

    She poked him again, harder.

    "Gnnnaaatthh!"
    A pained snort escaped his mouth. They were given away!

    The girl hopped back, and made a small screech. Sound coursed everywhere, too late now, hammers hitting anvils and trains and bombs, so loud her small squeal seemed. Through the heavy layers of control one of the young grangers started to get up. The Overmind had had enough, and called Sigig. The basilisk hastily rearranged itself, stood up soundlessly, and crept quickly up to both grangers. Moments later, their throats had been slit from behind, no noise had escaped them, and they lay still, now without outside control. Angrily the Overmind turned its attention to Kyp and the intruder, who were both some distance away from the main cluster, on the edge of creep. Why hasn't Mnoth come running, bounding? There is still a chance to keep her alive, but where is he? Are we undone? Should I awake all and cause as much havoc as possible before we die? The Overmind thought quickly. It sent its awareness to the far edge of creep, and took hold of Kyp.

    Kyp felt shame. He had let down the nest, he deserved to die. But wait! A new order was emitted from the Overmind, a chance at redemption. Step Back, it said. At first, Kyp had no idea what this would lead to, but he slowly realized. The Overmind had guessed correctly that the girl was (oddly) not afraid of Kyp, and even still curious. Maybe, she would follow a few steps, and step onto the creep. Then, the Overmind would attempt to control her weak underformed mind, or at least direct Kyp to act a certain way. And if that failed, Sigig was silently walking toward her, to act as the Fixer.



To be continued in Chapter Four, somewhere below.

[Conzul]

Interesting story so far. Kudos.

Thanks.

[Conzul]

On this green planet there was a green land, and in this green land, there was a green forest, and in this green forest there was a green hill, and in this green hill there was a grassy cave, and in the mouth of this cave was a dragoon with a green scar, who watched the setting sun.
                          ~Me



                                                                Chapter Four
                                                                     The Stuff that Goons are Made Of


    Mnoth had stopped pacing, and was just now sitting down on his haunches, much like a camel. As he faced the fading light, he let out a rough, content sigh. No one knew they were here. The grass felt good on his thick hide, and tickled a little between the chinks in his armor. A few feet behind him, the cave was getting darker, the noises of the grangers finally mute. They were all getting to sleep after their hard work. Mnoth sometimes felt drowsy while on watch, but when that happened one of the basilisks would saunter out and overcharge its healing glands, giving Mnoth a jolt of well-being and awareness. This would have to sustain him for hours at time. With no enemies nearby, Mnoth was free to wander over his memories.

    What you must understand, is that each class of alien had a sort of gift, bestowed upon them at creation, from the Hivemind. Grangers had imagination; Dretches had mindless glee; some basiliks had hunger; marauders had focus; and dragoons - dragoons had memory. Not that they ever understood what they came into contact with, mind you, but they had this gift with reason. They were scouts for the Overmind. What they saw and remembered, the Overmind would understand. The brutish psych of a dragoon could never understand something as basic as a spoken language, but it certainly could remember it. An Overmind could then tap into the dragoon's head while on creep, and translate the information.

    And Mnoth had much experience with that. He remembered everything. Before he became a dragoon, he had been told, he had dretched an entire platoon of marines, simply by hiding in a duct and dropping down as they passed. For his accomplishments, he had been taken to an Overmind. This was where his memory began, a glorious awakening. He remembered the sudden pain as his body grew by several orders of magnitude within the space of several minutes, by the will of the Overmind. He remembered first feeling the new power in his limbs, the urge to leap, and his heightened, tingling senses. He remembered being sent on various missions, from things as basic as stealing packages from supply depots, to spying on transport ship unloadings. He remembered the face of the marine who had given him this scar with a bowie knife. That marine had died messily moments later, begging in some unknown dialect for help. Then, "Fuck You" The marine had sputtered, as Mnoth pinned him down and plunged his tusks into his chest. Mnoth understood none of it, but remembered it word for word.

    More recently, he had been promoted to this mission, with the promise that if all went well, he would be allowed to evolve yet again, into a Black Dragoon, a coveted class of empowered, respected, and feared fighters. Mnoth would not let anything go wrong, he had shown the nest that truth with the execution of the insubordinate grangers. Everything would be fine. Even now, with darkness falling, and night birds beginning their slow woody song, Mnoth felt at peace, confident in his destiny.

    Craaack!
    A burst of adrenaline coursed its way through every fiber of Mnoth's body. Something had stepped on a dead branch. Mnoth knew that no animal would have done something so ungainly. This must be a human approaching! He remembered the Overmind communicating about how clumsy humans are in their movements, about how the aliens would always know the humans were there before being discovered. Mnoth also remembered that he wasn't allowed to let anyone know about their presence here on the planet. The Overmind had told him only to kill intruders who entered the cave. Mnoth stood quickly and pushed into a thick bush near the entrance. He wanted to kill so badly, but he also wanted that advancement, and that meant following orders to the letter. Restraining himself, he heard voices which he would remember with everything else, for the rest of his life:

    "Wow look! A bigger one! We should have looked here first."
    "No, otherwise we wouldn't have had an excuse to get rid of your sister. We would fit in this cave."
    "Oh. Well it's getting dark. We should head back and see if she's out yet."
    "Just a few more minutes, come on man, I know it hit around here somewhere!"
    Jake searched the ground for scorch marks, and looked around for broken branches or trees that might have been hit, while Tib bounced up and down whining about getting grounded again. At least you have a family who WILL ground you, thought Jake. What I wouldn't give for that.....

    "Okay, okay, I'm coming. We'll try tomorrow." Together they headed up the hill and out of sight.

    Mnoth waited till they were sufficiently far ahead, and then began to follow them. On the other side of the hill, he watched as they paused at a clumping of boulders. Realizing that they might have found one of the alternate entrances, he maneuvered for a better view. One of the humans was leaning in and calling out a word repeatedly.
    "Roslyn! Roslyn! How did you get lost in FIVE minutes? Come on, we have to go!"
    
    Putting simple ideas together as only a simple mind can, Mnoth realized that there must have been a third human who had gone in that way. It must have been a small person, and quiet too for it to have fooled his hearing. This was a serious breach. Mnoth's perfect memory flashed his life before his eyes. How could this happen!?!? His failure was being played out before him. At best he would be reprimanded by an angry Overmind, and at worst, he would condemn them all to death, thanks to his poor sentry stint. Thinking quickly was not Mnoth's forte, but he had to do it now, or face the consequences.



To be continued in Chapter Five, somewhere below

[SevenOfNine]

I'm liking your writing style, but you cut off each POV before anything ever happens. Like... nothing's happened yet at all...
Good work though, I'm sure when you get the hang of writing it'll get better.

[Conzul]

I'm liking your writing style, but you cut off each POV before anything ever happens. Like... nothing's happened yet at all...
Good work though, I'm sure when you get the hang of writing it'll get better.

I got that from Star Wars novels, it was intentional. Don't worry, I'll put in the interesting bits, they're just coming up.

you cut off each POV before anything ever happens. Like... nothing's happened yet at all...

Nothing ever happens at the beginning of a story, that's where character introduction goes. I'm not trying for a combat narrative, I want some real (imaginary) characters.

[Conzul]

                                           Chater Five
                                              The Trial


    Roslyn was tiring of poking the dead rats, when she noticed a larger, rounder animal a ways off. Curious, she crawled over to it. It had no hair, and looked like a green, soggy barrel of something she had seen once in a warehouse. Leaning closer, she noticed that the sweet scent that seemed to permeate the cave was coming from strange spindles in its mouth. They dripped with something that looked like clear glue. Also Roslyn thought that the creature was somehow.....cute. It had big, glossy black eyes that were tinted with the setting sun. She hoped that it wasn't dead. She took the stick and tapped it lightly on the torso. For a moment it seemed to wobble in place, but that was so minor she doubted it had moved at all. She didn't notice that its eyes had closed tightly. Softly, she said,

    "Please, don't be dead. Muggles wandered off and we haven't seen him in ages! You could be my pet...please..."
    Roslyn hit it again, not that confident that it was alive. Suddenly, at the contact of her stick, it jerked violently and snarled. Roslyn was shocked, and said so. Her screech echoed through the cave, and scared her just as much as the animal had. She crouched, paralyzed, and watched as the creature righted itself and stood shivering, not trying to run. Its eyes were wide now, and it seemed planted in place, terrified. Roslyn took some breaths and slowly calmed down. It was cute, cuter than Muggles had ever been. It was even whimpering a little. It wants a HUG!, thought Roslyn, or at least a quick pet. She tentatively reached her hand out towards its thick body. It let her get a tiny, quivering touch, and then stepped back a few feet. Now, Roslyn noticed that it had six legs. This changed everything.

    When school had been in session, she and all of her classmates had been educated about the alien threat. They had been shown pictures of aliens that had been taken by marines. These aliens were dead, and often old carcasses by the time of the photo shoot. This alien was very real, and very alive. Though she recognized it as a builder, she was still terrified. The aliens were supposed to be far away, in a different system, and incapable of independent space transit.

    A voice, Tib's voice, echoed from behind her. How was this poss-....he was coming in the way she had, and had to be having a time with it, she had barely squeezed in herself.

    "Roz! Are you there? Roz!"
    "I'm here! Tib, there's one of those 'gandor' things! I think there are aliens in here!"
    "A granger?!" Tib yelled over his shoulder, "Jake, aliens! Get help!"

    Roslyn crawled frenetically towards the exit. She would have to wait for Tib to emerge, or there would be a traffic jam. Looking back, she saw the granger backing off, still watching her wide-eyed.


    Mnoth was bounding down the hill, making for the cave's main entrance. As he rounded the turn into the cave, he remembered how serene everything had been just a few minutes ago. He remembered his happy sigh of contentment. He wondered if it would be one of his last, so sharp had been his failure tonight. Now, he would rectify. A human was inside of his nest. Even if the Hivemind condemned him, it was a small consolation that he would get to eat soon.

    Roslyn turned to the exit. The dark shape of Tib was coming into sight, just feet away. She would be rescued!

    The world turned upside-down as the wind was knocked out of her. Nothing made sense.

    "Roz! NOOOO!"

    The kaleidoscope of her vision focused to see a large shadow making for her. Gasping for beath, she wondered absently how she could see....looking left, she saw a large, blue monolith, glowing fuzzily. The Overmind was awake.

    As she lay, the shadow leaned over her, coming into focus. It was the devil himself, adorned with tusks the size of daggers, and a stinking mouth decked with pointed teeth. Through the fog, she saw herself in its many eyes.

    "RUN! NO! Don't let-"

    The devil stooped and tore at her leg. As her foot was pulled off, she experienced true pain for the first time. It brought a dazzling focus she had not known could exist, a horror that could not be described. She drew in one, continuous breath, that refused to let itself out. Something broke in her mind, the wave of unspeakable agony abruptly stopped, and there was no pain. All that remained was wide-eyed awe. Breath frozen, mouth agape, she watched as the devil took a second tear off of her leg, watched as red strips of her flesh waved goodbye, were swallowed into a swinging vortex of red conflagration.

    "Gotcha!"
    The devil reared up on it's rear legs, and Roslyn noted dully that Tib was hanging by a knife from its back.
    "Go! Now!" He cried again. Roslyn got up slowly, nearly oblivious to the sinister rodeo going on behind her. She was experiencing the calm focus of complete shock. There was no pain. She awkwardly sidled into the crevasse, and began the slow crawl out of the hillside. She tore her face. She tore her hands. She felt none of it. Her stub of a leg painted a masochistic, sprawling mural on the cave walls as she squeezed past. Behind her, the screams of animal and boy etched themselves into her mind.

    Collapsing outside of the cave, the fog returned to her vision. No thought was in her mind, no feeling in her body. A face leaned over her, and she heard more voices.

    "Jake."
    "I'm......here." He was having trouble with the quantity of blood he was seeing.

    The fog strengthened. Roslyn passed into oblivion, her last thought nothing more complex than "Why?"


To be continued......

[Demolution]

Oh snap! This just got better.

[your face]

Love it, except o_O

moar epicness and less gruesome murder pls

[Conzul]

Love it, except o_O

moar epicness and less gruesome murder pls

Sometimes, I just don't get you didn't you ever read/watch jaws?  
Gruesome murder = epicness IMO. Anyway, this is just the setup, where characters get introduced and the setting starts. There will be one more chapter in this Part, then'll I'll start Part 2, which occurs six years later. Expect to see Jake, Roslyn, Kyp, Sigig, and Mnoth return.

[SevenOfNine]

There will be one more chapter in this Part, then'll I'll start Part 2, which occurs six years later. Expect to see Jake, Roslyn, Kyp, Sigig, and Mnoth return.

Okay Conzul, we get that you're building teh suspense, but seriously?
COME ON AND WRITE SOME MORE YOU EGG HEAD! 

Haha, I'm just messing, but you can't just stop there -- get a move on.

[Conzul]

There will be one more chapter in this Part, then'll I'll start Part 2, which occurs six years later. Expect to see Jake, Roslyn, Kyp, Sigig, and Mnoth return.

Okay Conzul, we get that you're building teh suspense, but seriously?
COME ON AND WRITE SOME MORE YOU EGG HEAD! 

Haha, I'm just messing, but you can't just stop there -- get a move on.

Egg.......head........NOOOOOOO!
Heh, I'll have the next chapter by the end of the week.

[your face]

yesssssss

oh wait, darn, end of the week just passed.

[Conzul]

<----lost track of time. I'll have it by Wednesday.

[your face]

<3

[Conzul]

The Conclusion to Part One, Kyp the Granger, an original composition by Conzul.


                                           Chapter Six
                                              The Dogs of War



    High in a tower, just outside the village, Jeff Midz and Adam "Munchy" Vortson were eagerly awaiting the end of their shift. They were forest rangers.

    "Oh - ho ho! Good one!" Jeff bellowed. "'Bout stinkin time....."
    "You know, when they kick it at the net that many times, statistically speaking, it has to go in once or twice."
    "That's enough out of you." Jeff said. Munchy's glazed eyes twinkled momentarily with irony.

    Behind them, on the control console, a light started to blink. Neither of them noticed. The light blinked three times, then a chime joined in the fun.

    "Ugh. This better be good...or nothing, we only have ten minutes left on our shift."
    "Don't have to remind me," Munchy replied, "sitting affects me more than you."

    Turning away from the screen, they both faced the panel. Jeff picked up a receiver.

    "This is Ventas Forest Station Zero-One-Zero, what is your situation?"


     Jake had never run so fast. Fear kept him moving, panic slowed him down. The moment he had heard that aliens were here, he didn't doubt it in the least. They had all three seen the meteor crash here. It was not a coincidence.
    As he had turned from the cave to run back to the village, he had seen a tree upset at the top of the hill, and the flock of napping birds who had been there moments before had taken off loudly. His heart skipped a beat. It's my imagination, he thought. A builder has no business outside making so much noise....
    Even as he continued toward the lights of the village, he pulled a comlink out of his pocket. While not the oldest, he was the most mature of the trio, and had been entrusted by his mother with it for their forest excursions. He pressed a small X symbol with a circle around it, and held it to his ear as best he could while running down the path. Several moments later.....

    "This is Ventas Forest Station Zero-One-Zero, what is your situation?"
    "Aliens! They're here! In a cave! My sister saw them!"
    He heard a muffled sentence that seemed to start with "Oh God."
    "This isn't a prank or anything! I swear! My name is Jacob Henri and my two friends are back in the woods! Roslyn is stuck in a cave!"
    There was a pause....
    "Uh, that would have got our attention if you said it first. We didn't need the science fiction."
    There was another pause.
    "What is her position? The rise near your comlink signal?"
    "YES!" gasped Jake, "about halfway up on the west side."
    "Okay, just stop now and stay where you are. We'll pick you up on our way over."
    "I'm not stopping! What about the aliens?"
    "Oh, I forgot, the aliens. Climb a tree or something." And the connection broke. Jake hadn't been this angry since his uncle Vort had called him an "Emo". Fear, however, reminded Anger who was stronger in a child, and Jake actually began to climb the nearest tree.


    The Overmind, on the other hand, was not an Emo. Though capable of complex thought and minor emotions, both had their places and were comfortable in them. Now, as it watched Kyp back off from a curious Roslyn, it suppressed fear and anger, and focused on the girl. The stupid granger had flinched at the lightest of touches, the Overmind realized. I really have to revise my evolutionary process for Grangers. I've never made one who wasn't trouble." This line of thought was cut short as the Overmind realized that what it had been waiting for had occured. The girl had stepped onto the creep.
    Quickly and precisely, the Overmind probed the girl's mind.

    It found nothing.

    Disappointed, it turned to her emotional complex. The Overmind flinched at the tangle, but was able to discern some lumping of curiosity, ambivalence, and physical discomfort. Withdrawing its consciousness, the Overmind thought about what to do. It noticed the girl looking closer at Kyp, noticed her fear reaction starting to surface. It heard another voice, this time a young male human. This was getting to be too much. Before the Overmind could sort this new development, its answer was decided for it in the form of a bounding black shadow. Mnoth had come.

    Somewhat perturbed, but oddly relieved, the Overmind "switched" the nest on. No longer suppressing itself, it felt a rush of physical freedom and focus as it awoke from its hypnotized lockdown. A light blue glow seeped out of it, and as it heard the weak gasp of lungs collapsing, it stirred the eggs to life. They were discovered, so now they would fight to the death. Perhaps the Hivemind would be able still to salvage its plan here. As long as this nest's Overmind was alive, he would make it so.



    Mnoth pounced into the cave, now hearing voices of more young humans. He pounced harder. His keen eyes saw a human form standing next to a Granger. Aiming for the human, Mnoth pounced as hard as he could. Mnoth's head went a little numb, and he experienced a moment of nauseous vertigo. Whaaa? The girl had been standing under a stalactite, and Mnoth's pounce had hit more of that than the human. No matter, she was down for the count. Straightening up and shaking his head, he listened to the human boy bellow from the cravasse mouth, just feet away. Pausing, Mnoth let a sadistic suggestion race through his small brain, and changed his position near the fallen girl. He wanted the other human to watch.

    The girl leaned up on her elbows, dazed. The boy yelled louder. Mnoth took a bite.

    The taste was no where near as satisfying as the look on the human's face (for as we all know, a foot is mostly bone). The girl contorted like a worm on a rainy sidewalk. She screamed a scream that broke near the beginning, but seemed to keep coming anyway. The dragoon tore off a little more, and let it hang from his mouth before her eyes. She has so few... thought Mnoth, as blood dripped down his chin. Gasping and wide eyed, her vision darted to Mnoth's blind side. She was trying the oldest one in the book, Mnoth realized.

    I didn't evolve yesterday, you -
    Something cold buried itself in his back, from behind.

    "Gotcha!" Mnoth didn't know what this meant, and certainly wasn't worrying about it. His role had been reversed completely. No longer the torturer, he roared with a thick, ululating call that told everyone how badly it hurt.




This chapter is continued below...

[Conzul]

Chapter Six, continued.........


    Weren't children supposed to run and scream? What was this burst of bravery? This sacrifice, how could this happen? Yes, it was a sacrifice, this human had earned a complete rearrangement of bodyparts. Mnoth knew that. But he was holding on so well....

    Mnoth roared and tumbled. He shook himself left and right. The leech was still on him, the girl was crawling away. This was a nightmare. He saw Kyp in front of him, backing away, deeper into the cave. Would this never end?

    Hold Still! The Overmind told him. The dragoon obeyed blindly, and a second later the boy was off of him, and rolling on the cave floor. A few convulsions and some coughing later, the human lay still. Sigig had worked his magic, apparently. Shivering, Mnoth turned to the crevasse. The girl was already out of sight. How did she move so fast? Is everything I think I know about humans - wrong?!? Sigig took advantage of the momentary distraction to grab the pocket-knife and pull it out. The larger alien whipped around and deliberately bit at Sigig, who darted away. Moron. Doesn't he know I'm trying to help? Get someone else to heal you!. Sigig had to bow to the Overmind, however, who immediately contradicted the basilisk's wish. All around them now were small legs, and wet sputterings, as full eggs began to release a platoon of dretches. Falling wetly onto the rough cave floor, they broke from thin membranes of green slime, and darted in happy circles. Mnoth was laying down, now, barely feeling the healing hormone do its work, staring glassy-eyed as dretches coursed around the small body, getting while the getting was good. He would remember this with all of the other convolutions of the day.


    "This is the place? Are you sure?" Jeff was irritated, and if this even remotely turned out to be a spoof, heads would roll. Jeff would see to that.
    "Yes, just between those boulders." Jake leaned out of the hovercraft as it settled down quietly on the hillside between the trees. Two others alighted behind them, with more forestry personnel. This planet behaved itself, so any excuse for excitement was met with anticipation. Except in Jeff's case. His shift had been about to end, dammit!

    Right next to him, Munchy dismounted with a long case grasped in two hands.

    "What did you bring that for? We're not duck hunting!" Jeff knew that Adam was always looking for an excuse to use his Mass Driver. How he had got his hands on it, Jeff never knew. The Lucifer Corporation didn't sell these to just anyone. Whenever Jeff asked about it, Munchy just gave him that look that he had invented just for that question.

    Munchy patted the case and smiled almost gleefully. "There are aliens, remember?"
    They both chuckled as they got their flashlights.
    "Okay, son. Where are - "

    The troop stopped everything they were doing.

    Something white and gold was entering the beam of the hovercraft lights. Slowly, a blond head emerged from a (seemingly) tiny gap between the rocks, followed by a torn jumpsuit, then by a bunch of red. Silence reigned, broken by nothing but the dull thud of a Mass Driver falling onto the grassy slope. Jake was faster than the rangers. Breathless himself, he leaned over her. Her eyes were slowly closing.

    "Jake."
    "I'm......here." There was blood everywhere. Jake wasn't used to this. He began to feel lightheaded. NO! This was not the time for weakness.
    "Roslyn, where's Tib? Wasn't he in there with you?" All around him now, the medics were pushing in. Roslyn's eyes closed. Jeff was calling for reinforcements.
    NO!...Ah, Crud - nooo.... Unable to fight it anymore, Jake fell over backwards, having passed out.



     After Jake and Roslyn passed out, neither of them knew that they were ferried to the town medical center. Neither of them knew that Jeff actually did get to see heads roll that night, as the Overmind released its dretch storm against the unprepared rangers. They only later heard about the responsiveness of the local garrison, how they found the nests and weeded them out in the space of twelve hours. They certainly didn't know that a limping dragoon and a pair of basilisks had been able to make it far into the wilderness, unknown to the inhabitants of Ventas 2. And none of them had the faintest remembrance of a small Granger named Kyp.

     Kyp knew little of what had been going on himself, partly because he wasn't that smart, and partly because he was hiding at the back of the cave.
    His front row seat treated him to a frying Overmind, one that he himself had formed just over a day ago; the pathetic, insectoid cries of dretches as they scampered uncoordinated into streams of fire; the heating and eventual burning of the eggs that had been his silent companions.

    Kyp was having a paradigm shift just as he was discovered.
He felt a new layer growing in his head, sluggishly beckoning in some basic thought. Unyielding hands closed around him, and he had a muzzle wound around his head. They wound it so tight, his vepositors almost collapsed on themselves.

    What was their problem?
Not for the last time, Kyp dreamt of a warm, smelly hovel back on Homeworld, where he had been young, happy, and illusioned. He was shoved unceremoniously into a metal-lattice crate, and left in a guarded warehouse. Even though he was trying it for the first time, he had plenty of time to think. In a way, this was a blank period for Kyp as well. The journey to consciousness would be painful and murky. He would never know what happened to his nest-mates. He did not know that the funny looking human was still alive. He did not know that the label on his prison cage read:
                                                         [ A.  T.  C.  S.]
 


This is the conclusion to Part One. I'd like to thank everyone for their interest and feedback, much appreciated!

[DeathSkull]

It's not bad, but it does feel pretty rushed at points, and there's a few words here and there that seem awkward; otherwise it's the best alien story I've read yet. I've attempted to write my own in the past, but it's currently in Limbo.  

Once again, not bad at all.

-Death

[Conzul]

Thanks. I wasn't actually planning on writing this bit when I planned the story, I was going to start at the beginning of Part 2, six years on. I guess it just kept occuring to me that I didn't want the prologue to drag on. As far as setup is concerned, I think it has too much detail.
   Also yeah, I haven't written in ages. I used to do it all the time, lost a bunch of grammatical know-how

[A Spork]

* A Spork claps

Very enjoyable read.
Moar!

[Conzul]

Added Cover Art to OP. It's by my younger sister who tells me she read the story. Looks like some combination of GIMP and Paintbrush, not sure. I thought it would be cute.

[CreatureofHell]

I can recognise those aliens. Pro art.