Pincushion

The Unexpected Encounter

As the gates exiting the facility grounds opened, I was left with a hollow feeling. Like none of my journey had mattered. All I had done was broadcast the final words of a dying god. I placed my paw over the wound on my chest. All of it had been for nothing.

I walked out the gates into the murky and mechanical wasteland, the path ahead of me would be hard and painful.

A red overseer sprung into existence beside me, it looked to be doing a dance of joy. The one watching must have been excited to see that I was still alive. I take comfort in knowing that my pal was watching over me, I had been in constant fear since they had left me back at the chamber of an angry Five Pebbles.

They guided me along, showing an image of a shelter symbol nearby. As I walked along the lonesome, desolate tracks that once were used for great machines of travel, I came across a giant tower sticking out of the fog. As I got closer it was revealed to be a giant cathedral, standing alone in the middle of the swamp. I jumped down onto some of the scaffolding that was sticking out and made my way into the old, decrepit place.

My overseer friend watched me, urging me to go back on the path it was taking me. But I wanted to see this place, surely there would be another shelter nearby. I continued down the path, deeper into its old stone walls. Light shined in through the windows. I could hear something. The low growl of a lizard nearby.

I quickly make myself two spears, getting ready to attack. I looked over the mound of stone and saw a huge beast with six legs and a brownish tone. It had its back to me and with no hesitation I threw both my spears at it, stunning it for a brief moment. It was enough time for me to run around the corner and make more spears. The creature tried to flee out of a nearby pipe, but it made the fatal mistake of turning its back to me once again. With another two spears it was down on the ground. Dead.

Once the thrill had died down I began to notice the rumbling of the earth, the rain was coming and fast. In a panic I looked for my overseer friend but they were nowhere to be found. I began to hyperventilate, running as fast as I could through the rooms looking for a shelter. Room after room I was met with nothing, I made my way out into the courtyard of the cathedral and ran for my life, passing by faster than the dropwigs that had been set up could catch me. I entered a room that had similar machines to that of a gate. Perhaps there was a shelter on the other side?

I made my way to the other side of the room and was about to go through the pipe before.

BWAM!

I was knocked out of the pipe and back into the room. I hear mechanical buzzing as I come back to my senses. I look up and a large pale orange creature stares at me.

I backed up instinctively, forming spears as quickly as I could.

"Whoa! Wait! I am not a threat, I'm just getting shelter from this storm." They say as they lay down.

I calm down and I get a good long look at the creature. They looked like me only paler with no holes coming out of their tail. They were also quite more rotund than me.

They stared at me with a puzzled look in their eyes. They were looking at my tail before they spoke yet again.

"What happened to your tail? Why does it have so many holes?"

I gaze at them a little longer before lowering my guard. I raise my paws and begin to sign " Nothing happened, I was just made that way."

I didn't expect the slugcat in front of me to know anything about the gestures I was making. It was taught to me by my creator as a way for us to communicate.

Slowly they raised their arms and to my surprise began to sign "Interesting, I haven't met any slugcat that has had such bizarre evolutionary traits. Are you perhaps from a region farther north?"

I stood puzzled, how did they know such fluid slugsign.

"I come from a region far to the West, it looks alot like those structures you can see in the skyline when the clouds clear."

"Fascinating, I come from a large tree near here. I was searching for a couple of lizards to hunt for my tribe. Though it seems I underestimated how much time I had to get back to them."

I make my way over to a corner of the shelter, inspecting the walls. I look back at the slugcat with me.

"So, do you have a name?"

"My name is Gourmand, what's yours?"

I thought really hard about that, in one of the broadcasts I had read my creator had called me 07.

"07 I guess."

"07, huh that's an odd name." They looked at me, thinking.

"Is it alright if I call you Spearmaster? Since yaknow, I saw you were able to make spears out of the weird tail of yours."

Spearmaster. I liked the sound of that.

"Sure." I signed

"Well nice to meet you Spearmaster. What brings you to this part of the outer expanse?"

"I was tasked with delivering some message to an angry iterator. They didn't take so kindly to the intrusion however." I pointed to the wound on my chest.

"Wow. What's an iterator?"

I stood puzzled by the words. I guess it made sense that the knowledge of iterators existence is not known much to the creatures below them.

"Those huge machines you see in the distant horizon. That's an iterator."

"Neat. I always thought those were mountains. I would love to see one up close one day."

I inch away from the slugcat. Trying to make myself comfortable in the corner of the shelter. Only then do I realize that I hadn't gotten enough food this cycle. I was only one short from starvation.

"Something wrong, your expression changed. I hope I didn't offend you." Gourmand signed to me

"It's not your fault. I just didn't manage to get enough to eat this cycle."

"Oh! Well why didn't you say so." They signed before reaching their hand up to their mouth and pulling out a live hazer.

"How did you do that?"

"I just have a lot of food saved up just in case. Gotta feed my tribe yaknow?"

"Thank you." I begin to pull out a spear and stab the creature.

They look at me with interest.

"What" I sign

"I didn't think that would be how you would eat"

"Well I don't have a mouth, so it's my only way of getting nutrients."

"Is it still edible?"

"Should be, I only took the energy from it."

They take a bite out of the hazer and then quickly devour the rest. I take a step back and just watch.

"Well I'm going to sleep for the cycle." Signed gourmand

"Goodnight" I signed back.

They fell onto their side and curled up into a ball. Looking perfectly relaxed.

I try to curl up and sleep. As my eyes get heavier and my heart pumps slower I drift off into a deep sleep.