The Core: The First Guest

9. Discoveries

ZV-1 and I hovered there and waited while the escaping panel continued to coat the area with paint particles. What was revealed was truly something different. There were webs or rather possibly roots connecting to each of the 5 rocks. The creature or whatever it was that lay spread out in the center was like nothing I had ever seen before. I had to mix creatures and animals together to be able to describe in my mind what I was seeing. It was like an upside-down jellyfish was suspended or being held in place in the middle of the rocks.

The jellyfish had pulled its crab-like claws back inside pouches all along its circular outer edge. This made the claws look like parts of the pod just floating in space at various points where the paint yet hadn't coated. It was hard to tell but I guessed that it was the thing that was somehow holding the rocks in place in space. I told ZV-1 my thoughts as well and that I suspected that it might even be a creature from the other side of the transdimensional barrier. By this point, ZV-1 had stopped saying that my ideas were improbable and instead seemed to just be listening.
"Can you use the paint and draw up a scan of this thing for me to look over?" I asked.
"Yes, Guest Kevin," ZV-1 replied as a 3D smaller recreation appeared in the air in front of me. "Hmm... that is odd," I said as I floated closer to the huge painted creature. There were gaps where the paint had not touched anything around the edges of the creature... yet the paint had hit something on the other side. "I believe that this thing has two faces, one that points towards the sun and the other to point outwards towards deeper space. That way both sides are covered and it can catch things from both sides." I said as I looked closer and found that the paint had indeed splashed on the backside of a reverse hood pointing the other way. We couldn't see the other side because no paint was able to spray from that direction.
"What is going on here?" I said as I noticed that there were disk-shaped spots that seemed to repel paint around the outer edge of the "jellyfish" like hood. "Surly paint has hit these points?" I asked as I moved to hover a little distance away from two of them.
"ZV-1 can you replay the paint splatter action from the beginning please?" I asked as I watched the empty circle spots in front of me as to what happened to the paint.
"Repeating full paint spray," ZV-1 said as we both tracked and watched the paint as it slowly spread and covered the huge monster. All except for these points. "They appear to be vibrating at an incredible rate," ZV-1 said. "I am just able to detect the paint being redirected in other directions when they reach the surface of these points. Yes, I see it now, the paint is splattered in other directions all around this point instead of sticking to whatever these circles are." ZV-1 said as we both studied and looked at the lines it traced away from the invisible "pads".
"I think.... I think this is how it detects or sees cr propulsion. If you want to verify this you can have one of the panels that are attached to the crab daggers try to move with your cr spacial propulsion." I said as I moved away from the creature. Just being too near it was giving me the creeps. It was too alien and way too deadly for my comfort. I knew I was safe, just like I knew I was safe when watching a horror movie. That didn't stop you from having nightmares or looking under your bed with a flashlight before heading to bed.
"Understo..."
"Wait stop! Don't do that! Cancel that suggestion!" I said quickly as I realized something.
ZV-1's cube froze in place for a moment before I heard it ask me "What is your reasoning for canceling this scientific test Guest Kevin? Many scientists are currently observing us and wish to know what the results of your action would create. They all are requesting a reason as to why the action was canceled."
"We don't know anything about this creature or being. We couldn't even see it until we coated it with paint. What I am not wanting to do is to give it something to learn from. What if it isn't just capable of eating something but also to take it apart and learn from it? You would be feeding it your spacial propulsion technology." I replied as the area all of a sudden turned red around us and four disks appeared in the area. I was beginning to learn that red was a sign of danger or interruption from normal processes.