I tried not to scream but my companion squealed and laughed and I just couldn't stay silent after that. We plunged into the unknown with elation and perhaps not a tiny dose of madness.
We fell for minutes and we basked in the glory of it. The wall of the cliff was misty like all the other walls were around here. We reached our hands out and drew furrows into the smoke, watching it swirl and fill in our wake.
I had already started missing this joy when I glimpsed the bottom. It came up fast but there was just enough time for me to realise that we would plunge into an enormous metal flit.
It seemed to lie in wait for us, opened up like a clam, with its metal shells receding.
The green foam burbled out until it was maybe the size of a 3 story building. Probably bigger.
We plummeted into the soft froth and our speed was reduced to nothing. We were bathing in gelatin. Still holding on to the toddler's clammy hand, we got spewed on the floor, out of the creature, sliding away like seaweed on a shore. The foam slowly receded and the flit reassembled itself a few feet away from us.
I guess I had just realised at that moment that these things had saved me twice already and as I got up, I was about to head towards it to show some kind of appreciation. Suddenly I heard the screams of the elder girls behind me. I knew enough French to understand a "no" but it was reinforced when the toddler head-butted my leg and pushed me away.
Huh, they were trying to tell me that using the alien as a ball pool was just peachy, just fine, but walking towards it was out of the question. I supposed that what the baldies told me about some people getting taken that way was true.
Did intention make the difference? Obviously, the three girls jumped off knowing that the creature would land them safely but I was pretty sure that their end goal was beyond this point. The creature was intended as just a stepping stone in their adventure. Would it swallow me up if I walked forwards, focused only on it alone? I really didn't want to find out.
These three girls were braver than everyone I had met up there, jumping off cliffs and treating the monsters as their toys. They approached everything so innocently and yet they were not without caution. I was convinced that my tiny companions knew more about this world than Ross or even Fred did.
We swayed on our feet a bit while the girls waited for us. As we walked further away from our landing spot, the tiny girl let go of my hand and skipped towards her friends. They each took one of her arms and swung her for a few steps. Their antics got tiring not long after and they continued on just walking.
I thought of the fall, wishing it lasted a few hours more. I had barely begun to feel free, weightless, without fault. I would have dared anyone to wish to walk away from an experience like that.
I remembered the landing, how none of the substance got inside my ears or nose or any of my other crevices this time. It truly meant us no harm and removed us gently.
With every thought, I realised that my fear lessened, my urgency ebbed and if I got my hunger back and some food in this place, staying could become an enjoyable vacation from my scramble to survive in the wild. Thinking this way could be dangerous. I don't want to turn into just another bald zombie.
The girls slowed down in front of me, perching on a structure that vaguely resembled a tree. The trunk rose upwards as far as our eyes could see but the base was surrounded with root-like offshoots. I got the impression that the girls were angling for an observation point that would hide them as well.
I could not see what they were trying to spy on. The tree was wide and positioned at the end of a hallway but I got the impression that it stood right on the edge of a large enclosure.
I approached tentatively and found myself a place to watch what was happening on the other side. I first took a look at the girls, assuring myself that they stood securely and were not far off the ground.
They each had an odd expression. Worried? Unsettled? Scared? Had they not been here before? Was it the wrong place? But when I turned my head to take a peek at the room, I felt my face contort into a similar expression.
They didn't look even close to human, nor like any animal, I knew of. I mean, people look at their pets and can intuitively guess their state of being. Does Timmy need a walk? He scuttles around the door and shows you the leash. Missy feels ill? She lays down, makes noises and might hiss at you if you prod her. It's all expressions, sounds and body language, isn't it? But to read an animal's behaviour I'm pretty sure you'd need to have some base data of what behaviour is for ambulatory living organisms rigged up with nervous systems. Hiding away from predators, flinching from pain, attacking if threatened. People do it too so we can recognise it outside ourselves.
I didn't really have any base data for alien behaviour since I didn't know what they are. I've never seen them
interact before now. Putting all of that aside, it was clear at first glance that this gathering of creatures were acting abnormally.
Shivers ran down my spine and if I'd have had any hair left on my body, it would have stood on end.
Taking it all in, I started spotting some order in the chaos, maybe a system, as every flit that entered the room seemed to go through the same procedure. I followed a newcomer from start to finish. It made its way towards a moss-covered shape that looked to be rising from the floor like a hill. My chosen subject leaned on the hill, flattened and bent its plates until it hugged the curvature of the hill. After that, it seemed to swell up, its insides boiling and frothing and spewing out chunks of itself. The thing grew and grew, covering the entire hill and ballooning upwards.
With a sudden release of pressure, the creature violently exploded outwards and splattered around the hill in clumps of green gunk striped with black.
