The Record of Unusual Creatures

Just as Hao Ren was seriously pondering the possiblity that all the arks’ inhabitants had perished, an unexpected good news came his way. A group of probes deep in one of the arks had managed to detect life signals, and they were very strong.

The Petrachelys’ thrusters immediately lit up as it glided serenely across the space and arrived above the ark which had the signal. The silver frigate landed slowly on the ark’s darkened hull, almost like a sthetoscope listening to the ark’s heartbeat.

“So, this is the one?” Hao Ren looked at the image from the sensors outside. The ark itself was no different from the rest, old and torn. In fact, the damage on the hull was even worse than the rest. It was hard to imagine that there were survivors beneath its massive armored hull.

“There is indeed life signs. The probes have already locked on to them. The engineering droids are making a temporary pressurized entry chamber for you to head in.” Nolan nodded. “The probes did not find a normal pathway in, it had drilled its way through. That spot had since been sealed automatically.”

“The auto-sealant system is working normally. That means there are survivors.” Hao Ren heaved a sigh of relief. “How about the comms? Anyone responded to your hails yet? Or anyone that is willing to make contact with us?”

Nolan gently shook her head. “Curiously, negative. Also, the probes are bringing in rather bizarre footage.”

As she spoke, Nolan opened another projection screen and what Hao Ren saw was a lit ruined city. Everything looked dilapidated and the interior of the ship looked like somesort of expanding wasteland to him. The screen then shuddered as a ragged looking man with odd lines on his face appeared at the corner of the screen. This was clearly a denizen of the ark. The ragged man ran helter-skelter before kneeling down by the edge of the street, as if he was kneeling to some great figure. He never moved since.

That footage left Hao Ren perplexed. Turning towards the others, he decided that they would need to put their boots on the ground to see things for themselves.

He brought along Vivian, Lily and the Nangong siblings while the rest stand ready onboard.

The engineering drones that were previously cutting the hull had prepared a passageway and Hao Ren and the rest went into the the pressurized chamber before meeting the droids after a long corridor. They did not plan to use the damaged elevators to enter the city this time around. The ship’s ecosystem is functioning, and a sudden opening of the main gate from the outside may trigger somesort of alarm, or the arks reacting violently to the intruders. In place of that was the droids drilling a thin, long hole through the armored hull and had installed an airlock while they were at it. The droids were very efficient and at the very least, their operation did not trigger any alarm.

The ‘infriltration’ was going swimmingly so far.

Hao Ren walked through the airlock and through a few hundred metre long pathway. The outer wall of the pathway still had some residual heat that were produced when the droids cut their way through the metal. Half way through the tunnel, gravity kicked in. The gravitational force was trying to eject them out of the tunnel, but yet this was a good sign. It means that the city within the ark is working.”

They popped out of the tunnel into an abandoned old commercial zone.

Hao Ren was the first to get out of this ‘invasive tunnel’. As he stepped into the city, a damp, cold and musky air assaulted his nostrils. It was also present in the tunnel, but was more profound after reaching the surface. He frowned subconciously, finding an ark city with a functioning atmosphere is a good thing, but their atmospheric regulator must be in poor shape.”

“Ufff.. ufff…” Lily coughed as soon as she got out of the hole. The husky frowned hard as her tail bristled. “It’s like walking into a junkyard.”

“The atmosphere purificator is probably too old for its own good.” Nangong Sanba took a deep breath as he got out. “Better than vacuum I guess. Say this place… why does it look even worse off than the one before?”

The state of the infrastructure around them was horrible.While the probes did provide some useful images, it was still different to see it with your own eyes. All around them was a ruined city, the facades of the skyscrappers were torn, the roads were blocked with dirt and twisted metal. The flowers that adorned the streets were long gone, leaving only muck and mud. From a distance, collapsed bridges and electrical towers were visible. The remaining few light grids were the city’s primary light source. The light grids that no one knew how long they had been in operation dangled haphazardly on the electrical wires and from the top of the buildings, odd shadows were all over the place under the glow of the bad light.

It looked like the place when went through a war, and was then abandoned for the next three hundread years.”

Lily wagged her tail. “Have we came to some ghetto?”

“No…” Hao Ren looked around before pointing upwards. “The whole city is a mess.”

The rest turned towards where Hao Ren was pointing at, and the landscape on the far corner was the same, dilapidated look. The whole city itseems, have been desolate for years.

“….Looks like crap. I can’t believe this is the interior of a hyperlight travel-capable vessel.” The MDT commented. “Once the other ships shuts down, it will be very difficult for the people here to get any spare parts to fix their ship.”

A silver dot appeared from the ruined buildings and landed lithely on Hao Ren’s shoulder. It was the life-searcher probe that was sent out earlier, and the little one had hidden itself in the ruins after completing its task. It was now requesting to be collected.

Hao Ren put the probe into his pocket before turning to Lily. “Stow your ears and tail. We will be going to say hi.”

Lily let out a howl as her ears and tail shrunk back. She turned to Hao Ren curiously. “You think that we’ll be able to mix in with the locals if I’m in my human form?”

“I don’t intend to mix it. I’m just weary that you might scare them.” Hao Ren waved his hand and walked ahead. “They had refused to respond to Nolan’s hails, so it’s difficult to say how these people see outsiders. I don’t want things to start on a bad foot.”

The group walked through the ruined streets deeper into the city. The damage to the place was even more profound. Hao Ren was thinking on how should he greet the first person he meet. After Nolan’s hails were not responded to, he had to play the role of a diplomat now. Worse still, he was not the best at diplomacy either. So he was playing all sorts of scenarios in his head and wondered if he should just head straight to the central control tower to meet the city’s rulers. But as he pondered it, his concentration was broken by a sound from afar.

It was the roar of combat, with clashing metals mixed into the din.

Vivian poked Hao Ren by the arm. “Blood scent ahead. They are fresh too.”

Hao Ren broke into a stride. “Lets go!”

The group quickly ran under the cover of the buildings and swiftly made their way through the ruined streets and collapsed manors. The sound of combat was getting clearer by the moment, and the clashing metals sounded like a medieval battlefield. Lily, who was at the forefront of the group suddenly stopped by a low wall. She quickly found a place to squat before slowly poking her head out. “Mr Landlord… there’s people fighting.”

Hao Ren poked his head out from where Lily was and the scene before him surprised him, and a sense of temporal disorientation assailed him.

A dozen of fully armed and armoured men were at each other’s throat. These were probably the ark’s denizens, but yet their equipment were anachronistic. Their armor were made out of metal plates and reinforced plasteel, colourful cloth were seen between the armor gaps. These warriors held glowing longswords and battleaxes, roaring at the top of their lungs as they swung their weapons in a flurry of murderous strokes.. The blood of the wounded were all over the place, and the scent of blood in the air had Vivian’s iris letting out a eerie red glow. “It’s like a medieval battlefield.”

“How could this be…” Hao Ren was stunned. The footage from the probe did not had these details and before Hao Ren could think of anything, he saw a young soldier breaking off from the melee, his face full of blood. The soldier’s steps were unsteady, fear was apparent in his eyes as he looked like he was trying to flee combat. And the direction he was heading was right towards where Hao Ren and the rest were hiding.

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