Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

The Return

"Are you sure they are going to want to see us after what happened?"

"My money is on killing us on sight."

"Ether way, I think it's important that we try to make contact with them again, a lot has changed since they went into hiding."

The group of marines, and two Drev were in orbit over the Adaptid home world. Below them thousands and thousands of miles of densely packed forest clustered around thin trailing source of water. The entire planet was a bog, or at least this side of it was. The other side was supposed to be mostly rocky, comprised of large pillars that reached up towards the sky and were pockmarked with dozens of caves.

He could only imagine what kind of adaptids spent their time there.

Admiral vir adjusted them into an angled dive and headed towards the planet's atmosphere, listening to the rattle of the ship as they slowly lowered through the first hundred feet or so. Little tongues of flame liked up at the side of the screen before fog began to build up on the front of their windscreen.

The planet was humid, humid and hot.

All of the creatures here were bigger than they arguably should be, and that included the trees which towered hundreds of feet into the air, twisted and warped like great old oak trees, supporting themselves on each other like crippled old men straining for purchase

It took them a moment to find an open clearing near what had been the nest of the queen Adaptid. They lowered themselves through the canopy and, eventually, found purchase on a tree branch wider that most helicopter landing pads.

When the engine was cut, their shuttle was filled with the distant sounds of swamp creatures, low moaning, and the high chirping of insects.

The marines readied their weapons as the Admiral did, and Sunny and Canon readied their spears as they opened the ramp and jogged out into the muggy heat.

Adam was already sweating as he wiped his hand against his face.

Maverick was panting with the heat.

Sunny and Cannon didn't seem disturbed in the slightest as their heads turned around the dark forest. Most of the sunlight from above was drowned out by the twisting canopy and it's strange alien leaves, leaving what lay beneath in near complete darkness. Small beams of light filtered down on occasion, flitting over branches before vanishing moments later.

Adam readied his weapon and jogged forward down the branch, sliding some twenty feet before coming to the forest floor. His boots squelched against sodden mud, clods of moss jumping away from his footsteps.

A small blue animal, not so different from a frog, leaped out of his way and into the murky green water.

A ripple spread out under the giant arching roots of the tree, and then went still. The marines jogged down behind him, Ramirez taking point, Adam just behind him. The marine held his weapon in his two hand though an ancient Spartan spear was inexplicably slung over his back. They continued their way forward into the darkness of the trees.

The GPS on Adam's implants was beeping softly, getting more and more urgent as they got closer and closer. They did their best to keep on dry land, though the wet suits they wore came in handy plenty of times as they waded through waste deep puddles of slime.

No creatures bothered them, though he saw strange apparitions and shapes appearing through the mist. He thought he saw a troop of spider legged creatures vanishing behind a root before the beeping of his radar finally went off, and they emerged onto a patch of land he had not seen in a very long time, though he could hardly forget being the recipient of an alien egg sack.