The Coming

CHAPTER 2 - ANTICIPATION

…Terrans where observed by the Jovians for a long time after The Coming. The Jovians concealed their presence and maintained observation records. It saddens me to say that we used the Terrans as laboratory rats but unethical as it may seem, we were acting in good will. These records together with a plethora of background information about the harvesters were eventually used to compile my personal records. I now present you the knowledge I have collected through my long-term research, with the thought and hope that future generations will be able to stand against The Harvesters and reclaim the earth for mankind…

Journal entry 01-01-01-15 from the Personal records of Ahien the Elder.

Four well built men walked together into the night. Each of them overlapped the other’s viewpoints in order to avoid creating blind spots to their small group. They had met each other not so long ago; each arrived from a different direction but all shared the same destination. They were dressed lightly for speed and endurance. Each man also had a long dagger carved from Diamandyte, strapped to his hips. A light but sturdy weapon that had as a purpose only to defend them if fleeing was not an option.

They covered the remaining distance single file, and walked as quietly as they could. They avoided drawing any attention on them. Aspects were, after all, always around. The men also avoided taking in deep breaths. The same air needed in their lungs was at the same time poison for their bodies. They would need to consume a lot of dew-sacks and vermin-spores after a journey like that. The alternative was not appealing to any of them. None, however, declined their tasks. Someone, after all, had to go out.

Each of the men could find their destination in the darkness of the night without any problems. They had done so on a multitude of occasions already. They nevertheless welcomed the light now visible to their eyes after they climbed a small hill. Beyond them, shining like a fire-fly was the welcoming entrance to the Den. They were almost there now. With both their hearts and legs rejuvenated by the sight, the men increased their pace with renewed vigour. They were almost home.

The cave, or the Den as people had come accustomed to call it over the generations, was huge. A small cylindrical entrance, partially closed by a huge carapace fragment to keep the wilderness away, led to a small chamber which terminated into a huge domed hall. A fire burned in the middle of this reception chamber. In the darkness of the night, the dome’s roof was barely visible despite the light of the various fires that burned within the hall in order to keep the toxin levels low as well as to provide light and warmth to the Den’s occupants.

All around this massive space, stalactites above, stalagmites below and enormous columns of limestone that connected roof to floor, casted elongated shadows that ran away from the fires like chased prey. Although the Den was fairly level, some areas by the walls led to higher and mainly darker grounds like ramparts that surrounded and protected the rest of the hall. These raised, high vantage-point areas were mainly shaped like terraces and alcoves from which sentinels peered down, always on alert for any disturbances.

A large number of openings on the walls of the hall led deeper into the Den and to the storage spaces beyond the hall. Some of these chambers, where guards were posted, were used to store dew-sacks and vermin-pods. Others were used to store Aspect carapaces and skins while different chambers, stored weapons. Almost every material stored in these chambers, apart from the metal weapons, had been derived from the successful hunting and killing of Aspects. Anything that was salvageable had found their way into these storage pens and awaited their usage from the cave’s occupants.

A large number of these people, clustered into groups of families and close acquaintances around their fires. They were in a primitive stage of existence, clad in strange fabrics made from Aspect’s soft parts. Most of them finished the rationed vermin-pods that made their supper and were ready to call it a night. Mothers tended their infants while fathers told stories to all the children around them, old and willing enough to listen.