March 30, 2009

351. THX 1138 - Trychon

The upside to the amount of brush they were cutting down just to make progress was that it was wonderful for starting a fire. It took them nearly no time at all to gather the resources needed to build one. The temperature hardly dictated a need... but being in an unfamiliar forest certainly did.

They were fairly positive that they would face various unknown challenges on this strange world, but brief excursions into the area surrounding their small camp gave them no evidence of what to expect.

They sat in a circle as the sun set over the trees, with the fire between them. The fire didn't seem to affect the fog, which was not only bothering Trychon more as time went on... but seemed to grow thicker as the light dissipated.

As this continued, they talked about the trip they had in front of them, as well as the issues they were facing. Half an hour after the light had gone, the fog was so thick that they could barely see beyond the outside of their own circle. Raezyr had been avoiding any comments on the fog and the quiet, as he had a strong feeling it would simply irritate Trychon more than it had already. He was already had a nearly permanent scowl on his face as though this very planet was an affront to him personally.

They began to disagree more and more as they tried to plan out their next 24 hours. Raezyr was becoming more irritable too, as he was not used to disagreeing with Trychon. To this point, it was almost always just that one of them would make a decision, and they would move forward with it. In the disorienting fog, with time to plan and potential predators that remained unseen, it seemed that everything became a matter of contention.

Trychon wanted to sleep in shifts because he didn't trust this forest, but Raezyr said that he'd normally agree, but Achkay should be more than up to the task of alerting them should something come up. Raezyr wanted to follow the stream for a bit to see if it turned in the direction they were headed, but Trychon didn't think that was likely and would only waste time. Raezyr was doing his best to keep from raising his voice with Trychon, but his frustration grew with the nitpicking and grew with the fact that Trychon kept lowering his voice the more they talked.

The talk went on for another hour... until finally, Trychon asked Achkay a question and Raezyr could barely hear it. He got up and took two steps around the fire so that he could see Trychon a bit better. "Why are you getting so quiet?!" He nearly screamed, while trying to keep from getting furious over their arguments and his growing mumbling.

Trychon got up as well and took two steps towards Raezyr and yelled back. "Me? You're the one that's barely talking all night!"

"Interruption: You both have been becoming increasingly quiet."

They both turned and looked at the droid. "Really?" Raezyr asked, confused. As he did, Trychon noted that he could hear him better now.

Trychon's scowl grew, and he stared off into the invisible distance. I hate this place.

Then, the creature jumped out of the mist and straight at Trychon.

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