The Nest

Posted on Mon Apr 17, 2017 @ 5:53pm by Commodore Michael Aravan

Mission: An Orion to Die For
Location: Jeffries Tube, Deck 22, Section 7, Junction 12
Timeline: MD 6 || 1900 Hours

The small creature was exhausted and hungry, but it was satisfied with the nest of webbing, bits of cloth and other soft materials it had managed to find. Thus far, it had been surviving off of scraps that the Tall Ones had dropped, but it knew it needed to get a steadier supply of food soon.

In the center of the nest was a large sac which contained its young that it had just laid and they would require nourishment. Especially with so many of them, even if most did not survive to see adulthood in an environment rich with predators. So far, it had seen none other than a variety of the Tall Ones, but none of them had noticed the small creature.

A smell came through the cavernous tunnel system that it had found and it perked up; it was the scent of food and it was reminded that it needed to get nourishment and soon. It scampered away from the nest in a brown and black blur as its eight legs propelled it towards the scent. Soon there would be nourishment and it could provide for its young.

It paused at a vent that was a tight fit to get through, but the creature managed it and found itself in a big room that only had one of the Tall Ones present who seemed to be leaving. It paused before the smell of food was too strong and it darted in the direction of the scent, climbed a piece of furniture and saw a large plate filled with a wide assortment of seeds, nuts and fruit. It leaped to the surface where the food was and began to spin a large web sack and when it was content with the size, it raced back and forth until the sack was bulging.

Satisfied with the amount it had gotten, it attached the sack to its back with more webbing and took off for the vent again. This time, the opening was too small and the creature stopped and looked around. It was stuck in the room but decided to go in the direction the Tall One had to explore other ways out of the room.

It encountered a open door and saw that the Tall One was bent over on the floor removing a part of the wall for some reason. The creature didn't know where the hole led, but it was an escape from the room it had found itself trapped in and its young needed food when they hatched. When the Tall One turned to do something, it ran past and into the hole and didn't stop for a few minutes.

While it had been in the large tunnels, it had left scent markers to guide it like a map and began to search for them. Once it found one, it was a simple matter to track its way back to the nest. There, it dumped the sack of food and opened it to retrieve several nuts which it ate, then began to cut the rest of it up for those to come.