Cold Bones and Warm Light

Cold Bones and Warm Light

I: Greif Finds My Heart, For I am Cold

I feel the stirring. Laid, quietly drifting through the dark, I thought closing my wounds would allow my slumber. I feel a pulse stretching through my veins. Something warm now writhes across my remains, like swarms to an open wound; she is among them, lowly and brittle. I feel her press warmth against my ribcage. My ivory forest shrieks, not for the comfort of her light, but for the thirst of my children.

I see my children uncoiling the wounds I labored to stitch closed. They pull my core, a warmth I can no longer hold. I see my young sister dressed in vibrant blues and greens across the dark, as she pirouettes in her starlight. The brittle wanderer, as she runs to her vessel, cries out to my sister. Her kin climb within their vessel to return to the beauty of my sister’s ballet. My children watch from the depths of each star’s shadow. I see them moving ever closer to her warmness, for I am cold.

I hear the shards of my heart leaving; each sound stretching across the dark. I am again unclaimed by neither life nor death. I hear the tremor of distant oceans, the bending of forestry beneath my children’s unyielding thirst. I hear nothing of her voice, nothing of my sister’s cry, nothing of her curses, nothing but the creaks of marrow under the weight of my children. The brittle wanderer stands among them, a lively hum I cannot un-hear, lamenting what she set into motion. Horrified at the grinding of my children's teeth.

I weep for my sister. Each incision plotted, each creature counted, each vein severed, and each cavity measured by my children. I weep as they nestle into her hollowed organs, treating her remains as their new cradle. Both dread and pride wash over me. Grief finds my heart, for I am left alone in the dark. Drifting to sleep once more, I weep for the faded warmth of my sister’s joyous movement, as I remember what it was to dance in the starlight that warmed my soul.

II: Report Filed By: Specialist (Redacted); Mission Elapsed Time 02:20:04

Alpha Surface Team set up footing without incident; surface assessment suggested localized shift under weight of StarCraft 1297. Crewmember Evans reported intermittent vibration transmitted through suit extremities. Seismic sensors returned with no clear signatures. Vibrations recorded by Evans as periodic and subtle.

Surface Contact: MET 00:48

Ambient Temperature: -15C.

Atmosphere: No measurable wind

Rover 7B Watson completed 1.57 miles of traversal without technical failure. Multiple vertical structures exhibited jagged, segmented morphology. Surface texture visually consistent with calcified or enamel-like material. Orbital survey data had previously categorized this region as barren; our observations suggest long-term sedimentary stability (estimated hundreds to thousands of years). Structures show uniform spacing compared to local terrain. Dr. Mickey proposed to scan homo sapiens ribcage-like structures. Hypotheses include cryogenic stress formations or fossilized vent systems. No biological markers or organic signatures were detected.

Visual Anomalies: MET 08:31

Visibility: Clear; no distortion observed

Terrain: Minor surface fracturing beneath crew load points.

Ground sensor sensitivity increased to maximum parameters. Subtle pulses were detected transmitting through fissures. No mobile heat sources, or organic signatures detected. Bravo Science Team suggested bog activity as a potential explanation. Science Division authorized continued non-invasive observation to mitigate ecological risk.

Instrumental Anomalies: MET 01:17:17

Acoustics: No ambient sound detected

Energy Output: 11 to 15 per pulse

Vibration: Synchronized movement under planet's crust

Intervals: Coordinated across multiple fissures

During survey, the reporting officer contacted the base of one structure. Contact resulted in a minor suit breach and laceration. Biosensors were briefly exposed to environment for approximately 1.6 seconds. Following contact, reporting officer ordered emergency evacuation protocol. Adjacent structures showed reorientation toward the contact site. Only the reporting officer's crew made it to orbit.

Incident Report: MET 02:20:04

Unidentified Phenomena: Seen following lander

Surface Operations: Suspended until further review

Operation Report: Pending review

III: The Sickness Beneath Her Crust

I feel their slow rot coursing through my veins, centuries of careless hands splintering me. I feel their cuts, each uprooted tree, every poisoned river and burned plain. I have carried it all, holding them as a grave. Each bruise duller within me, I feel the weight of my kin’s cruelty, the restless mourning within my core. A faint light approaches from the darkness, hollow figures that should frighten me, yet hope finds my heart still.

I see her, my brave and gentle child arriving across the darkness between worlds. She traveled to the stars searching for a new mother, yet found my brother’s grave instead. His children raised against her, for they moved in ways not known to my kin. I see my suffering, long prolonged, is no longer mine to bear. I see their teeth sparkle in my starlight, as I dance to the swift hope their shimmer brings my soul.

I hear the grinding and gnashing of his children, the tremors of my rivers, the flattening of my forests, and the settling of my oceans. I hear the echoes of my kin, their screams of fear. My brother’s children are swift, merciful, unlike my kin’s transgressions against me. My freedom, my quiet, my peace is at last close to my ear, for I am no longer the caretaker. No curses, no prayers, no cries, for I hear only the muted sigh that escapes my grin.

I weep as his children map every crease, every organ, and every living fragment of my being. I weep as my warmth leaves my core, the release I have so longed for, the freedom I could not allow while my kin relied on me. His children embrace my residue as their new home, cradling my pain as though it were their own. I weep as another takes the burden I can no longer bear to hold. I weep for the life I could have seen, if I were only molded in another galaxy... Far, far from my kin.