Zi’raxi, the Xenoform.

As a member of X.E.G.O –Xenognosis- Your mission is to explore the universe, searching and observing every living xeno species. It’s an honor to be part of X.E.G.O.

You are exploring a planet in the system REDACTED, this planet has a particularity, she barely rotates on herself, meaning one side is in constant day, and the other in constant night. You prepared youself to explore the night side on the planet, which is mostly fascinating and exciting for you.

You started to catalog different species, some will need additional observations, but you have the time for that, it’s not of a true concern. You barely seen any predator, which is somewhat strange actually but it can happen, you don’t even found bones actually. Maybe there is more life underground, you are not on that for now, as you don’t have the required equipment.

It’s been 1 week now, you settled up a camp not far from a chain of mountains and near a river, so you could have a water access for your needs, -after some tests of course-. And some more materials, furnitures and structures got delivered 2 days ago to enhance your camp and the studies who can be made, meaning you can now have access to a strong underground scanner and a small flying drone assistant with a camera, infrared view and a lot of littles things. He is here to help you catalogue more easily and transferring data.

Since you are near the mountains, there is something odd, a lot of creatures, well the ones that are big (close to human mass or more), seems to be pregnant, with eggs. It’s not abnormal to be pregnant, but, males are too…even that you know there is cases of males bearing the eggs, the thing is this some of this species are mammalians and don’t seems to be oviparous. Is there some sort of parasitic creature here ? But even if there is, there is still the fact you don’t saw any bones and life is thriving, there is no sign of imminent extinction, and the animals don’t even seems to suffer…What the hell is happening here ?

The ground scanner is set, it’s time to launch the tests, maybe be you will have some sort of answers. So, the first scan revealed galleries inside the mountains, they don’t seems to be totally naturals but you didn’t found any intelligent life for now, an extinct one maybe ? The thermo-scan revealed nothing, the galleries seems to be empty, no source of heat, not even in the biggest gallery. Minerals scan indicate rich veins of various minerals, good to know.

Well, now is time for an echo scan, but for that you will need to place an equipment at the entrance of the galleries, there is just 30 minutes of walk and you can remote launch the scan with your portable device, don’t need to be on base to see the results. You pack the equipment, the drone is full of battery and you got a gun just in case.

40 minutes later, you are at the entrance of one of the galleries, you use your drone to illuminate the entrance, nothing special to see so you enter and place the device. There is a faint odd smell in there but as you are on an unknown planet, it’s fairly usual, but still. Anyway, now that the device is set, you activate the scanner remotely. The device will emit multiple echo sounds, imperceptible by human ear. For now, what you see on your screen seems to be felled rocks, you then decide to power up the sounding to have a better response with a bigger range of action…Done. And then, you heard something, it was very faint, like a screeching from very afar.

“Wait, is there something inside ? But I see nothing on my monitor, maybe the echo has made something sharp fall over a wall. Nothing is moving in any case but…there seems to be…sculptures sparsed inside the galleries ? Well, this is not of my concern, I will send the collected data to a archeologic team, my thing is the livings, not the deads. Time to pack this up, I got no answers…Will think about this while walking.”

5 minutes later, while walking and thinking, you heard the screeching sound again, or at least, you think, from the galleries.

“What ? Certainly just the wind passing cavities after all.”

5 minutes later, you start to feel observed, something feel off, you don’t get why, but just in case, you took a look at your portable device and launched a thermo-scan.

“What…I see myself but, there is no life signs around, just, nothing, I should see some animals tho…and…that…silence ? Why is that so quiet ?”

You start to feel stressed, there is something clearly off, you decide to walk faster, you just don’t like this, you see nothing and yet, you feel danger.

5 minutes later, you are close to the base, but you think you heard steps, fast steps, and strange somewhat imperceptible noises, the thermo-scan is running and still detect nothing ! You are sweaty and start to get really scared, you release the echo equipment and start to run, pulling your pistol out of his holster. You are sure of it, you are in danger, this is why there is no heat signatures, the animals knew it and flew. And you start to understand another thing; the danger don’t have a heat signature ! You need just 3 minutes if you run fast enough to go inside your spaceship.

1 minute later, you hear noises, something is following you, fast, you hear the screeching sound again, but louder and still see nothing ! You need to run faster !

30 seconds later…the spaceship is activated and heated, you just need to get inside as fast as possible !

30 seconds later…you brutally stop your running and froze in terror as you see her. This is the unknown lifeform who was following you, but she succeeds to be faster and got ahead of you…she is at 2 meters. An eyeless female creature covered with red scales, with powerful legs. Her body is steaming, there is no doubt, she can hide her heat. Her maw is open and drooling on her huge breasts, you are going to die…wait she is heavily pregnant and her…navel ? Is opening ! Something is getting out of it and she start to hold it, the appendage is leaking a lot of fluids…It’s pulsing more and more, wait, something is moving in her belly and start to…

“Oh my god…”

This is a big egg, she is blocking it inside her appendage, it’s an ovipositor ! You understood everything. She doesn’t want to eat you, she is going to use you and put her eggs inside you. You don’t even know if it’s possible considering the size of them !

Wait, your gun ! You looked at your hand for an instant and wanted to point your gun at the creature, but she lashed on you in an instant ! Pinning you on the ground, she was strong, very strong, she was “looking” at you, and drooling on your face, something was happening in your head as she was screeching very close…

Telepathy ?, Echo ? Mind control ? Your mind is floating in a transe, you are barely conscious but you are sure of one thing…

Her name is: Zi’raxi.

Pinned on the Ground Bad ? Ending