Week Fourteen: Creating Empathic Worlds

*"As the concluding assignment for this class write a story that takes place on/in one of the worlds you have created this semester."*

It was Ckreelinasks-ss's first time on the scouting patrol. They had just become of age, and they had never been outside the colony. They were excited and terrified. There were all sorts of stories, from the elders and everyone else who had been around a while. And they had been prepared, just as all other Blattodeains had, for their place in the colony. They had never been a particularly scientific mind, or particularly strong, but they were swift on their feet and a small, which was always an asset to the scouting team.

This was an over the wall mission. It was a big mission for a first timer, but the colony was trusting them. They felt the warmth of support from their fellow Blattodeains when they were finally announced 'of age' and told that their first mission was going over the wall. Their colony believed in them, and they would not let the colony down.

The mission was small. Only four other individuals, so a total of five. Ssekettrik and Tettiiknok were the security detail. They held the flank and the were the only ones carrying arms heavier than a standard plasma knife. Each had a large nuclear energy gun and a vibrant glowing green bandolier slung over each opposing shoulder. The Manteni avoided any contact with anything 'contaminated' so the nuclear energy would hopefully deter them and prevent engagement rather than having any real hope of damaging them and their highly advanced machinery. Klarrissk-ss and Rralisskiieer were the gatherers. They were equipped with containers and were meant to gather as much of the local flora as they could when they went over the wall. Anything they gathered with intact roots or seed pods could hopefully be transplanted and used to try and grow underground farms and forests. But of course that wouldn't be useful without Ckreelinasks-s job completed. Ckreelinasks-ss's job was going to run. They needed to run as far and fast away from the wall as possible. They were the fastest and smallest on the team, so hopefully they could go a long time without being noticed by the Manteni. They had to just run and try and reach the water. Any water over the wall (not including the quarantined lake, but it wasn't like that would be easy to get to anyway) was fair game.

It's not like it hadn't been done before. Loads of Blattodeains had made it back with water. All were celebrated and embraced and thanked for bringing life-giving water back to their side of the wall if only for a little while. But with as many parties as had made it back, even more had been lost partially or entirely. The runner's job was the most risky. They went the furthest from the wall and spent the most time in Manteni territory. Runners could be gone for days or weeks. Ckree wasn't scared, per-se, but to say they weren't nervous would be a lie.

Ckree was loyal to the colony. They loved the colony with all of their soul, and they would do anything to protect it, just as it had always protected them. The colony was everything, and the colony needed water. The efforts to tap into groundwater near the wall had proven less fruitful than they all had hoped, so scouting and regular runners were still always necessary. Ckree was ready, for the sake of the colony.

The scouting party approached the wall with apprehension. It was familiar and foreign every time. It was heavy duty Manteni tech, but not up to what they had developed inside. They knew. They had all seen what the Manteni were capable of. It was made of a thick, reinforced metal material, and sporadically electrified itself at random intervals. It couldn't stay electrified, because of the power it would take to maintain, but it was unpredictable in pattern, so scaling was generally not an option. Digging was possible, but the wall went well down into the Earth so it took a long time to make a tunnel, and any tunnel that was made very quickly was filled in by the Manteni. The only real way was directly through. For being as imposing as it was, the wall actually had quite a few holes and gaps where maintenance had been lacking. Collapsing internal organs and squeezing through tight spaces wasn't terribly difficult, but the wall still sporadically electrified itself all the way through. The best bet they had was to go through one at a time, immediately after the wall became electrified and hope that the gap between shocks was long enough.

The party approached the gap that they had been using most frequently recently; it had been pretty reliable. Klarri went first, squeezing through and skittering to the other side. The rest of the team had their antennas perked, waiting for the telltale trill that would be the signal Klarri had gotten through. When a soft trill came through the gap in the wall, Rrali flattened themselves and followed promptly after. A few moments later, another trill came. Ssekett went. Trill. Then Tettii. Trill. Ckree was the only one left. They collapsed their tiny body and squeezed in through the hole.

Ckree's first thought was that it was warmer than they had been expecting. The metal always seemed cold when you looked at it. But perhaps that was just because it was a stark and cold reminder that they had to live this way. Ckree pushed their way through, going around support structures and under and over wires. Ckree could see the opening at the other end of the wall when suddenly they felt a tremor. Ckree panicked. They knew the tremors meant the generators were starting up. Ckree skittered faster, dipping and dodging to reach the end. Ckree flung themselves out the opening, but not before the whole wall electrified. Ckree's leg was still touching the wall, and although they pulled away quickly and rolled onto the firm ground on the other side of the wall, they felt the stinging, pins and needles feeling from their foot all the way up through their leg and into their body. And their was the pain. The pain of electrocution. Ckree tried not to scream, and their party mates did their best to hold them still and quiet while they writhed in searing pain. Their leg twitched wildly for several minutes.

After several more, the feeling subsided into a dull ache. The other party members helped Ckree to their feet. Ckree was shaky, but as their party-mates clicked their condolences and apologies, Ckree waved them off and whistled. They would continue. The rest of the party members whistled in thanks and agreement. Klarri and Rrali split up, one each with a guard, and they went separate ways to gather. Ckree tentatively tested their foot. It sent warm shivers up their electrified leg, but they ignored it. The started out in a limp, then slowly worked up to a jog, then they started covering more ground doing a strange combination skip-hop. Ckree heard the telltale melodic whistles of the Manteni from high above, and Ckree began to run.