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spotlightstudios · 2 years

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"ABNORMAL ENTITY BEHAVIOR"(Prologue)

->Word Count: 9,011

->Warnings: Mild Injury? A Few Deaths. (Nothing Graphic, Promise)

->Eclipse × Reader (Space/Deep Sea AU)

->Part 1 Here

.....☆••••☆.....

He had never seen you up close. No, he'd never seen you since that first day. When the ship had found him by the surface and knocked his suit out of commission.

He'd seen you after he'd been hoisted into the space cruiser. Laying paralyzed in the cargo bay, you had been part of the team who'd approached him. Part of the team that quickly ran to find him a tank big enough to hold him so he wouldn't dehydrate.

At the time, he was too mad to realize it was you who'd insisted on the tank rather than a regular containment block. He didn't need the water to function, but it was kind of you to be cautious.

He hadn't been capable of fighting then, when your ship had worked against his wishes to place him in a large glass cylinder and seal him away. He was confined, barely enough room to stretch his arms. The crew of the ship didn't seem to care, and he was moved further into the complex.

He didn't regain control of his body for quite a while. Along with that, he had noticed that of all the people swarming his tank and running tests, he didn't see you again. Sure, you'd had your face haphazardly uncovered by your contamination suit, but at the same time, you also had an energy about you.

Eclipse wasn't a stranger to reading body language. Back home, when someone would change their shell, Eclipse could read instantly who they were based on the gait of their steps or a twitch of their hands.

He'd noticed the way you had never stopped moving, if even for a second. You'd been shifting from foot to foot, pacing, looking at him, away, and back to him. It wasn't possible that you'd returned to the room with your face covered, because none of these people moved nearly as much as you. One tapped their foot to the floor often, and Eclipse noticed that one really liked running their hand along the glass, despite the scolding from others. They weren't you though.

He wasn't quite sure why he cared. He had to return to the colony. His brothers, their people, they could've been in danger!

When Eclipse's shell was given a charge once again, he wasn't himself. He took every chance he had to swirl in the tank and try every section of it, seeing if it would fracture under the pressure of his large fists.

No communication was successful, and it seemed to the research cruiser that he was a misplaced species. Invasive, even. So, they set a course back to orbit, and a few weeks after that with no change, they set out for another destination.

~▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

Sometime along the way, you ended up weaseling your way into the team in charge of the beast's care. You'd begun to research the scans others had done of its main body, and decided to try you shot at a bit of bioengineering.

You spent most of your days in a room just barely separated from the creature by a thin pane of glass and a door to the catwalks above its tank.

It was a workshop, one where you were constantly working to put the team's research to good use. Your focus happened to be on the unique form of the creature. It seemed, the way they'd explained it to you at least, that the creature wasn't actually made of that hard metal-adjacent material that made its shape humanoid. The jellyfish-esque shape that protruded like a tail was actually the true form of the creature. Its goop (as you were inclined to dub it) continued into the hollow portion of its false body and manipulated it from within.

Along with that, the team was more inclined to call it a carapace or exoskeleton than a body. You, on the other hand, thought of it like a suit. It protected the shapeless creature inside, and allowed it to face creatures more dangerous than itself without getting eaten up like jello. And you'd never admit it, but you had found yourself spacing off as you worked, wondering if the sunset-colored substance tasted anything like a jello shot. When you heard from the team that what they'd found in their tests was that it was poisonous, those thoughts slipped away a bit.

Besides the point. You had made yourself a home up in that observation room, often opting to sleep there to work on your project at odd hours without disturbing the curfew in the crew quarters.

You, and you were quite proud of this, had figured out a compound quite similar to that of the beast's suit, and started to construct one for yourself.

It was only a prototype, something meant to withstand deep pressures, and maybe make expeditions into ocean planets more achievable. The bulky suits they had for the job just wouldn't allow for samples to be taken, and barely any species they brought back would survive the pressure changes in-tact. You'd always been a bit fascinated with the ocean, and the head of the team said that, if you could make a proper suit, then you'd be signed on their trip to return to that planet where they'd found the beast. It was a dream offer.

You'd been happy to focus all of your effort into the project, custom fitting and testing it.

Along the way, You'd also found yourself watching out the little window a bit more. As you needed shaping, materials, and movement observations that the team just hadn't bothered to connect, you had stared through that glass for hours, trying to catch sight of what information you needed.

It just never seemed to arrive. The poor thing could barely shift in the tank. Granted, it was their largest one, but they justified it under the beast only being jelly, and not actually needing to move. Something about that seemed wrong, but you weren't about to tell them how to do their jobs. You just waited patiently, deciding to make temporary parts to replace later, just until you could get a closer look.

That closer look did arrive, but far closer than you'd expected. The moment you told the head of research that you'd completed a prototype, he'd seemed pleased. You'd then told him the drawbacks. You hadn't gotten any data from the beast's joints or the limbs, because unless it was banging on the glass, it barely moved.

He had seemed to think, before he offered you a solution. The tank was big enough, and they needed data too, so he offered to allow you to test your suit, and get your data, in the beast's tank.

You... hadn't thought it over. Not really. It only occurred to you when you were already suited up and equipped with cameras that your co-workers had complained about the big buy destroying probes they sent in for information. He'd squish them in his large palms. He never let them near his tail. You were way easier to smush than a probe. It was too late now, though. The big guy was watching you as you'd started pacing up on the catwalks, and now the small portion to let researchers in and out had been unsealed.

Moving forward felt like a feat all its own, but you needed this information. They'd pull you out via tether tied to your back if they really thought you were in danger, and it wouldn't be long. You just needed a few close-up scans that weren't muddled by the glass.

You sat on the edge and dipped the feet of your suit into the water carefully. No response. The moment of truth. You shoved off the edge of the port and felt yourself sink downwards very quickly. You just barely avoided stepping on the big guy's jellyfish tail as your feet clunked to the base of the tank. Your limbs felt heavy, something about the water in here was different. Unlike your test runs, you weren't floating.

That was the least of your worries, though. Upon taking two moments outside your thoughts, it occurred to you that the beast had propped itself away from you. Its tail was towards the top of the tank now, and its upper half was twisted upright towards you, like a contortionist. Two of his large hands were planted alarmingly on either side of you, palms flat to the glass, while his similar two limbs on his side were pressed towards the center. It looked like he was stabilizing himself.

You trailed your gaze from his arms to his big, round, face. This was actually the first hint that had alerted the team to this portion being non-organic. The neck, out of your view at the moment, was far too dense and thin to have contained enough organic material to swivel the head and move the eyes and mouth as it did.

Said eyes felt like they were burrowing into your soul, and the mouth was twisted into the visage of a snarl, despite the fact that it had never opened in the lab thus far. It was unknown if it would.

You and the beast seemed at a standstill like this for a while, until you finally got tired of how heavy your arms felt hanging motionless at your sides. It was a workout just to stand in place. "Hey, buddy. Don't mind me," You muttered, not daring to break eye-contact. You extended your arm, until the palm of your suit gently rested upon its large arm to your left. It didn't react, so you took a tentative step forward. Still no reaction, even as you trailed your hand uneasily up its arm, closer to where an elbow might sit. "I'm just trying to get a look at this suit of yours." You said aloud again, pausing as your hand slipped from the solid material of the forearm onto a softer material. The upper arm.

You waited. Still no reaction. You deemed it safe enough to look away and examine the arm. Nothing killed you in the five seconds you held your breath, so you began to actually take in notes.

The substance reminded you a bit of canvas, but fibers woven this tightly tended to be more stiff. Retracting your hand, you realized a thin coat of goop seemed to cover it. It was slick on the metal of your suit, only flaking off in a matter of moments as though it didn't want to be away from the material. You made a quick scan, and hummed at the results.

The arm retracted from you. With such a speed that you yelped and stumbled back in surprise. You half-expected your tether to catch you, but you ended up flat on your back, staring up at where the beast was now looking down at you. It had moved itself away from the floor of the tank entirely, and now its face hovered just above you, one set of palms pressed at the corners of the tank, while the other two hovered at the ready.

You wanted to get up, but god, your suit was just too heavy. Being trapped on your back gave you no leverage to move, and you nearly wanted to yell at it to back the fuck off. But you didn't. It wasn't getting any closer. It was like it was waiting to see what you would do first.

You took a deep breath, and calmed yourself first and foremost. Then, with a bit of a struggle, you did sit yourself upright.

The beast tilted his head so he was still upside down to your perspective, but he'd given you distance again in the enclosed space. You actually kind of wanted to laugh at how silly you felt. Your arms, despite working on this ship with no shortage of physical chores, felt like they might give out under the weight of the suit alone. Yet the beast before you propped himself up with ease, despite being made of literal jelly.

You grinned despite yourself. "Sorry, I must've spooked you." You started, before speaking up again. "I wish I knew how you're moving around so easily. My arms feel like led." You gave a weak, breathy laugh at that one.

The beast shifted, and you waited, entirely still, as he did something you hadn't expected. He lowered himself, his two free hands cupped at both of your sides, and with a bit of panic on your end, you were lifted from the floor of the tank. Instead, he flipped so his back was against the floor, and you were trapped in his two large palms.

The thing was, his snarl was gone. Instead he was watching you like a cat watches fish in a tank. His expression was curious.

You nearly yelled when he released you, and your balance sent you spinning head-over-heels, until you landed stomach-first on his chestplate. He stared at you, and you gazed back at him. That was, until a puff of bubbles escaped the Crack in his chest just beneath you, and you flinched in surprise.

It happened again, and this time, you didn't react as much. As you looked from the chest plate back to the beast's face, you almost would've sworn there was a hint of humor, the edges of his eyes creasing. Tauntingly.

You were lifted again, and this time he hovered you above his large, round face. You weren't nearly as scared as you may have been a few moments ago.

He let you fall again, and this time his face acted like a platform for you to sprawl on relatively easily. His eyes seemed to cross as he stared at where you sat. You took a moment to process that, while his face was certainly made of that hard material like the rest of his upper half, it felt soft and malleable. Again, it seemed to have a thin coating of that goop. What was in that stuff?

You actually, genuinely, laughed this time. He took that as a good sign, and started to tilt his head, you tumbling off, still laughing a bit, back into his palms.

That was when you realized, staring at him, sprawled out in his grasp. This wasn't a creature playing with its food. He was genuinely just playing. He wasn't a beast, he was intelligent.

Before this idea could permeate in your mind anymore, a warning blared across the internal audio in your suit. The beast hissed, and nearly fumbled you, while you covered your ears to no avail. It was the one audio cue you'd installed. A blaring horn to signify critically low oxygen. You shouted this through your com, and almost immediately the tether on your back dragged you up and towards the exit. To your dismay, the beast lunged after you, but you exited the tank just in time.

Back on the catwalk, still alone, the hatch sealed behind you, and you quickly popped off the helmet. The sound stopped as air flooded back inside.

You noticed your suit was back to normal in the open air, no longer heavy and restrictive. You were able to breathe easy for just a moment, before slamming could be heard on the other side of the hatch. Leaning over the catwalk a bit you could see that the beast, you'd have to find a better term for him, was ramming into the roof from which you'd just exited. He looked mad. You wanted to go and comfort him somehow, explain you needed to breathe, but to no avail. The research team's expedition men were already moving down the catwalk so you could hand over the evidence and findings you'd uncovered.

Decidedly, before they made it all the way to you, you let your hand slip from the railing, the 'weight' of your bulky limb swinging into the little filming module they'd placed on your side with a sharp crack. You jolted in surprise as pieces of the device went skittering off the catwalk to the floor below.

When they made it to you, and asked for it? Well, you said the man-handling in the tank must've broken it. You didn't get any meaningful samples either. Besides the information about his joints. You were no professional in the field, they knew that. It's why they sent you back without even checking to see if you'd lied. After all, they could get into deep trouble if anyone found out they'd let an engineer into the tank with a bio-species.

Back in your design room, you'd shucked off your suit. As you expected, you found quite a lot of that clear goop coating the space between your chest plate and wet-suit beneath. You only could assume it'd gotten in there in bubble form when you'd been on his chest.

It only confirmed your suspicion as to intelligence being involved. You'd asked a question, and he'd provided you with an answer to study. Now, why he'd helped you rather than professional researchers you weren't sure yet, but you figured he had reasons. When you splayed it all out on the work stations, you mused that, just maybe, your designs impressed him. Maybe he wanted to help you get it right! Yeah, you'd go with that.

A quick glance out your window secured you another glimpse of the big guy. It seemed he'd settled towards the ground, maybe accepting you'd gone for now. Maybe turning in for the night as the rest of the research team finalized their work. His lower half, the large jellyfish shaped mass, really did glow like a sunset. At there was something special about it that you just couldn't place yet. Something that let him lift his big bulky limbs with such precision and delicacy. He hadn't ever fumbled you, despite the fact you were almost as big as one of his palms. You needed to know how he managed that. You pointedly chose to ignore the fact that the memory of just a few minutes prior had you longing to interact with him again. You'd just have to finish this prototype even sooner, then.

You moved out of habit, quickly grabbing hold of vials and your audio-logs. The vials easily scooped up some of that clear, thin goop from inside your suit. You'd look at it yourself later. For now you dumped the entire thing into a sink at the far end of your lab station and set the water to run. You'd hand-wash it after a good soak, just to see if the goop was water-resistant like you expected. In the meantime, you spoke aloud into something vaguely resembling a human tape recorder. It held the same purpose, at least. It was one of the few personal items you'd brought from your home colony.

"Log Entry 001 of the, uh..." You paused, before resuming, "The personal reports on what I'll refer to as, the Entity." A few short steps placed you at your door as you sealed it off from outside entry. "The Entity seems to be a species of alien we recovered on Exo-Planet Karthos. Thought to be an invasive species, it was taken on by our research team on Vessel 817-B." You paced as your spoke, often finding yourself glancing between the water still filling the basin you'd discarded your suit into, and the window that showed a partial view of the resting entity. "I made first contact, I believe, with it less than an hour ago. It was a bit finicky, but non-hostile. I was forcefully removed from the environment due to lack of oxygen, but gathered valuable information during this time."

You paused, lifting your finger from the recording button as you noticed a lonely researcher wander out onto the lower deck from your window, but resumed a moment later when they passed. "It seems my attempts in replicating the suit encasing the entity for humanoid use was only partially complete." The water drew your attention again. "While the materials I used were synthesized perfectly to that of the entity, there was another component missing. It was too heavy to move while in the water." You shut the flowing water off, looking down now at the chunks of useless metal submerged. "I'm inclined to believe that the Entity wanted to help me, as I was continuously lifted from my position on the ground, into higher waters. Along with that, there is a clear, uhm..." A pause as you considered your words. "A clear gel, coating the inside of my suit, which might have come as a gift from the entity. A secret as to how easily it moves underwater? I'll study it further at a later date."

Your attention stayed, for just a moment. "I'm hoping to finish the next model in two weeks time, and schedule another up-close interaction with the entity. I..." A sigh escaped you. "I think it may find my curiosity amusing, and I'd like to learn more about it. End Log." You clicked the recording off, setting it with a clank to the workbench near the sink. It was off-putting in the quiet of your design room.

As much as you wanted to think you could eventually become friends with the entity somehow, you knew it would be childish to voice aloud the desire. Instead, you set to work, dragging the first piece of the suit out of the basin. Grabbing a regular wash cloth hanging nearby, you got to work.

It had taken you another hour to clean the remaining goop from your suit, and even longer to ensure you could get it off your wetsuit without detection. Something about the method it had been given to you made you hesitant to share it.

You'd even researched the goop on your own time over the next several days rather than sending it to the lab for testing. Usually, you never got those samples back. There was a feeling deep in your gut that told you to hold onto all of it that you could. So, it took longer to manually make changes and collect all the supplies.

Taking your time. It was a matter of will that controlled your pace, knowing that significant improvements would be needed to get back into the entity's presence.

Apparently, the big guy had attacked a researcher that they'd lowered in to take samples. He broke their leg, apparently. Crushed it against the rim of the port with his arm. This news, along with the fact that they'd found corrosive goop all over the wound, had initially really concerned you. Yet, the team assured you that they believed he favored you. That he wouldn't attack because you appeared similar to him with the suit. An ally.

You just went along with that. You only knew that you'd have to work smarter, and harder, and ensure you could move when you need to. Not be entirely under the entity's mercy.

It was quite the accomplishment that, in three short weeks, you'd managed to reconfigure nearly everything in your suit to match your new hypothesis. You were cleared for another visit, and suited up in the afternoon yet again.

The journey over the catwalk felt longer this time. Your tether was already hooked to the wench on the ceiling, and your limbs felt heavier than they had last time.

Unbeknownst to the research team, the changes weren't only cosmetic. You'd found that the clear goop could be placed like insulation throughout the suit's various locations. It was like a layer of buoy that would, in theory, make the user less of a stone in the water. It did make moving outside the water a bit more bothersome, though.

Your mood improved, only a hint of nerves peeking through, as you saw a glimpse of the Entity in the tank. It seemed stationary, and you were ready to reunite a second time.

When the port opened, the first thing you did was look down through the water. The entity was staring up at you from its position at the base of the tank. It still took up majority of the space, but there was still enough area to maneuver around him if allowed.

So, you gave a small wave, dipping your hand below the surface of the water. No reaction. It was good enough for you. You swung your legs over the edge of the port, and plopped in as gently as you possibly could. The water swallowed your sides, but you noticed you didn't sink nearly as fast. It felt like being in a swimming pool, and you could now tread in the clear waters. It was a big improvement from your last visit.

You grinned, redirecting your attention back towards the entity. Though, he'd already moved. You found his face much closer than you'd expected, seeing as he propped himself up. One hand hovered, palm-up, beneath your kicking feet as you hovered in the water. His gaze was entirely focused on you. "Hey, buddy," You said aloud, still only hoping he actually heard and/or understood you, "Thanks for your help, I think I'm getting the hang of this!" Your tone was a bit more chipper than it had been in a few weeks.

The entity seemed to scan your form, before he rotated himself around you, as though unwilling to try and make you turn yourself. When he'd made the rotation around to your back, you felt a nudge against your whole back, and you were shoved forward by what you assumed had been his flat face.

You yelped and flailed a bit, but ultimately remained upright, managing to turn towards him in the process. "What was that for, bud?" You questioned, a bit offended at the action. He tilted his head a few degrees, before one of his big palms moved to hover beneath you again.

This time, he lifted his palm upwards, and you decided to let your feet settle on the platform we provided. Again, you stared at each other. "Hey, big guy. What ideas are you getting over there?" You questioned him again, no response on the way.

In less than a moment, it felt like there was the thump of a deep bass sound. It vibrated through the water around you. In the same breath, the entity's head swiveled a full 180° to look at the space outside the glass tank. You hadn't thought to look outside before, but it seemed the glass was only 1-way. You could see the silhouettes of the research team outside, but nothing more. You assumed the entity could see more though, as he was fixated on something outside the chamber.

One of his free fists slammed into the glass just in front of one of those silhouettes, and both the person on the other side and you jumped from the force of the action. You lost balance and ended up floating to sit on his large palm. Meanwhile the person outside didn't have nearly as nice a cushion. The entity turned back towards you, his expression visibly morphing from that aggressive scowl you'd seen before, to something far more docile. It was like he was only showing this to you. What the hell got you on his good side?

Almost inclined to ask, you'd wanted to speak up. Yet, you nearly screamed when the palm you were sat on clenched around you a bit tightly, and you could hear, through the water, the snap of your tether. The entity had broken it clean off your suit, and pulled you down towards the bottom of the tank. You did grunt in pain when you collided harshly with the metal ground, and the pressure from his palm above you was heavy.

Back flat to the metal floor, you freed an arm from beneath his hand and stared up. It looked like he was covering the opened hatch with one of his palms, and the rest of his form was lowering towards you. For a split second, your heart caught in your throat. Was he gonna smush you? You had so many more projects to work on, you couldn't die yet!

You stared up at his round face, the one that looked over you, and you felt that bass-like rumble in the water pause. All at once, he released the pressure from your chest, and placed two of his arms behind you, leaning at an odd angle just before you. Another rumble traveled through the water, but this one wasn't threatening. "Hey now. It's... alright." The wobble of nerves in your voice was working against you. The thing was, you had a feeling about why he'd done that. "If... if you were worried about me leaving, I have more air this time. I can stay longer." This head tilted to the side again, before another rumble set out. That, you assumed, meant you'd been right.

His free hand moved forward, and you held your breath as it paused just before you. It retracted just as quickly, but you followed its movements. To your shock, you could see something you hadn't noticed before.

Without thinking, you shoved yourself upwards and hovered in the water. One less-than-graceful doggy paddle forward to the other end of the cylinder revealed the entity's jelly portion.

You'd been trying to avoid it. Apparently it was poisonous, and it wasn't your department. Besides, he seemed protective of it. Now, as you were just a few feet off from it, he was allowing you to look at a section of his jelly that looked like it'd been torn open. Some of the sunset-colored center was even trailing upwards from out of the clear outer coating. You grimaced, turning back to his face where he was watching you intently. "What happened?" The quiet question seemed to echo in the near complete silence.

He responded with that deep sound, that you had chosen to equate to a growl. A growl of danger, maybe. The research team?

You whispered the question, and he nudged you closer to his tail again. As though encouraging you to do... something. You had no idea what. You looked nervously between him and his tail, before he let bubbles escape his chestplate like a sigh, and he instead guided you back towards his upper half. Like, a gentle drag through the water. You were disappointed you hadn't been able to help him, but you were brought out of your thoughts when there was tapping on the glass outside.

The entity abandoned his hold on you, bubbles rippling through the air as he slammed a fist into the glass again, right where the noise had been directly behind you.

The air, you assumed, would still last about five minutes. However, without your tether, you realized you might have to convince the big guy to let you leave. So, you reached out tentatively and patted his nearest arm. He growled in response, still focused on the people behind you outside the glass. "Buddy, hey." You started, gently. "I'll have to leave again soon. I can't breathe underwater like you can, and my air is running low." The words seemed like they fell of deaf ears, only for the entity to turn back towards you a bit.

Bubbles escaped his chestplate in a blast, bubbles rising around his form towards the top of the tank. "Yeah, like that. I need a lot of it though..." You paused. You had a great, horrible idea. "How about this? I'll come back tonight after the crew finishes up." The words were said so quietly. You didn't think anyone would be listening, but you couldn't be sure.

In response, the Entity shoved his face towards you, until you were back to back was the glass, and his face was only a few inches from you. He made that furious sound again, staring right at you. It occurred to you that, maybe if he could see through the glass, then he'd also seen your face this entire time too. "Yeah, I can do that. Only if you let me go right now though, okay?" He stared at you, and you tried for a slight smile.

Slowly but surely, he backed away. He uncovered the latch last, and hovered in the center of the tank, waiting for you. Watching.

You nodded in thanks before slipping upwards. Just a few short kicks later, you were up at the top of the hatch. You hoisted your top half through, and arms immediately gripped either of your upper arms to drag you completely out. You nearly wanted to smack the guys, but instead you shrugged them off once you'd gotten your balance.

Releasing the mask on your helmet was the next step, letting the open air hit your skin.

It seemed like a party had formed up on the catwalk. The two guys who'd pulled you out, and at least three other researchers were all stood there, staring at you like you were the alien creature and not the literal alien.

After a minute of confused silence, you spoke up. "I uhh, definitely got more data for the project guys, thanks." You glanced away. "Gonna need better mobility. Maybe more oxygen storage." Your thoughts were interrupted when one of the women researchers stepped forward, and placed her hand on your shoulder. You both recoiled, you from the contact, her seemingly disgusted by the cold-wetness on your suit. Nonetheless she spoke. "How did you get out of there? We thought you were going to die." The concern in her voice was laced with something you didn't care to pick out at this time.

You shrugged, waving a hand out in front of you. "I'm not sure. Just gave it a stern talking to," your hand moved into a playful point as though scolding someone, "And it just let me go. I think it could tell I'm stronger than I look." You thought your humor was top notch, but when the silence persisted, your brow furrowed and you turned back to look at the team. They were all still staring, though some were centered on the woman who still stood before you. You had no idea what her name was. Was she a higher-up?

Well, either way, she looked pissed. "You're the reason we lost him." She then said. You wanted to ask who. Didn't get the chance. At the same time someone seemed to reach out to her worriedly, she stormed forward and shoved you back against the railing of the catwalk. Now she was stronger than she looked.

You wished you weren't gaping in shock like a fish, but the rage on her face stopped you in your tracks. "Because of your friendly little meet-and-greet with that thing, they decided to let more people in the tank." You tried to steady yourself against the rails, but the large hands of your suit could find no purchase. The woman kept ranting, "He was so sure he'd be okay, and that thing killed him. Yet, here you are, perfectly unscathed. Mocking it." Your eyes shot wide. You knew the big guy was dangerous, but he'd killed someone?

The protests you had died on your tongue. You knew he was dangerous, and there was something about you that humored him. He was still immensely hostile to anyone besides you. Instead, you muttered something. "I'm... sorry. No one told me." Yeah, it was pretty shitty that you'd just made jokes. Even if you hadn't known. These people aren't your friends. You were an outsider to their department. You didn't blame her for being so upset.

"You should be." She replied, and with absolutely no hesitation, the hands that had been planted on your chest shoved just a bit harder. Her entire weight went into the action, and you processed that people were lunging, and probably yelling in surprise. You were stumbling backwards. The railing gave way under the weight of your suit, and as the woman used her momentum to land safely against someone's chest on the walkway, your limbs were too heavy to move fast enough. There was nothing to grab.

You fell. Wind rushed in your ears as you gained momentum, and at least one person from above shouted your name, but you were convinced you were going to be a splatter on the hard tile below. For some reason, you worried about what the big guy would do if he saw that. Your suit probably wouldn't break, but-

The thoughts were cut short when your shoulder collided painfully with metal, and you definitely shouted in pain when the rest of your body followed suit. For a solid minute, you lay flat on your back with your eyes closed until the pain became somewhat bearable. Adrenaline must've kicked in, or something of the sort, because you managed to prop yourself against the railing beside you. Railing? It looked like you'd fallen from the set of catwalks that connected to the observatories to the ones a floor down that connected to the labs.

The railing felt dented under your side, and your ears were ringing. Still, you hoisted yourself to your feet. You were shaky, and didn't think you could walk. "Hey!" The voice shouted your name. You tried to look up at the catwalk above you, but your neck refused to move at that angle. "Are you alright?" It was that voice that had shouted your name when you were pushed. You grimaced. "Fucking great, thanks for asking!" Your shouted back, not bothering to hide your frustration. "Just leave me the hell alone!" You attempted to take a step forward. To get away from your audience on the upper catwalk. To get back to your room. Your legs faltered and you gripped the railing for dear life before you could slip again.

A door, just down the catwalk from you, slid open with a hiss. It was some workers from the bio-lab. You realized their observation window was right in view of where you'd just fallen. They probably all saw your epic fall. Something about that made you think of Icarus. No, you were just getting loopy. That had to have been at least a twenty foot fall into solid metal.

Normally you might've shooed them away, but the two that made the walk out to you seemed so concerned, and you couldn't bear to deny their offers when you knew damn well you couldn't walk.

You let them help you walk. To your mild dismay, they guided you to the infirmary rather than your room. They were bio scientists though, and a fall that far could be fatal. Apparently they wanted to make sure you didn't have any broken bones.

They helped you to take off your armor, seemingly neither of them acknowledged just how slime-covered your wetsuit was, and they sent one of the delivery druids back towards your room with the suit pieces while they kept you for scans.

You, miraculously, hadn't broken anything. They thought you might've had a fractured rib, and quite a lot of bruising, but all they recommended for that was to refrain from heavy lifting. The thing that was bothering you though, was that they claimed you might've had a concussion. You were still having trouble balancing at least an hour after, and more than once you'd spaced out. You refused to tell them that you didn't even remember trying to stand.

After at least an hour and a half, one of them helped you back to your design room, and personally stuck around to make sure you changed out of your wetsuit and laid down, to sleep and recover. It was sweet of them, but also very counter-productive.

Almost a full minute after the bio-scientist had left, you stood right back up and changed back into your suit. The Droid had done as you asked, placing your suit in the basin for a soak, and rinsing it. You just had to scrub each piece now.

After all, you had 5 hours until the shifts for the night were all finished and you had a meeting with the entity. Even if he had killed someone....who was it again? Eh, they must not have mentioned a name.

It was the simulated midnight when you returned to the tank. You had taken a 3 hour nap, and woke up sore as hell. However, that wouldn't stop you. You'd donned your suit and made your way to the hatch. Apparently, they'd repaired the catwalk already. You wondered if someone would get in trouble for that.

The hatch, unbeknownst to you, actually didn't have a lock code. Therefore, when you just hit the unlock button, it spun open to reveal the water below. It seemed pitch-black from above.

You sealed your mask, and eased yourself into the murky darkness before letting yourself sink.

You didn't kick your legs, rather sliding the edge of the glass until you collided gently with the floor. You wanted to hover, a lot, but the kicking motion jostled you too much. So instead you sat in the darkness for a few seconds, holding your breath worriedly.

Then the tank lit up with color. It seemed like the entity had been waiting up for you. His tail was glowing brightly like a lava lamp now, and he stared down at you from a higher vantage point. You gave him a soft wave in greeting, and one of his hands followed the motion. He chimed curiously, the ripple in the water making you shiver slightly. "It means to say hello, big guy." You told him, and he seemed to be waiting for you. As though he wanted you to swim to him.

You shifted and really did make an attempt, but two kicks in you ended up grunting in pain and sinking to the bottom again.

This time, he trilled in a higher pitch than you'd heard. It was like he was worried. He flipped his positioning, now with his tail above him, his four arms stabilizing him on the ground. Two of his hands hovered at your sides, like he was trying to hold you without doing so. You chuckled slightly. "Sorry, bud. I took a fall earlier and it took a lot out of me. Can't swim right now." His head tilted in question, and he was careful as his hands scooped beneath your back and lifted you from your feet. You only grimaced a bit, trying to ignore the pain shooting across your spine.

He tilted himself, and you almost found it silly that it looked like he was sitting like a person, his jelly tail acting as his legs or lap, and his back propped against the glass.

He tilted his palms, and your pain finally won out when he dumped you from one pair of hands to the other, the jolt of lightning up your back making your head throb. You gasped, sucking in as much breath as you could bear. "Okay, okay! Let's stop doing that for now!" You insisted quietly, and he let out the high-pitched trill. You were considering calling it a whine, honestly.

That was when he brought you a bit closer to him, and stared intently at you. This was weird. He'd been man-handling you since the first visit, but now he was acting significantly less feral. His pupils were bigger, and his expression was soft. More intelligent, even. "You've understood me, right? You're not just a creature." The words escaped before you could think, but to your surprise, he nodded. Then you were right. "Do you... do you want to be here?" Immediately he shook his head no. He was here against his will, just like you thought. No wonder he was so hostile. "I... you must've had a home back on that planet. And family." The look in his eyes, he seemed upset, but he just blinked it away and nodded.

This... he must've not wanted these people to know this. For some reason. Yet he told you.

Something was telling you he was important. You wished there was a way to petition for his re-release, but without another proven member of his species back on the planet, they'd keep him in captivity. Part of you wanted to stage an escape, but that wouldn't work....

Despite your doubts, you sighed. "You've been a big help to me. If I can find a way out of here for you, I'll get you back to your planet." He didn't react. No nod or shake of his head. He actually looked away from you. He didn't believe you.

You slumped a bit forward, but a moment later one of his digits pushed you back upright by the chest, supporting your weight. Confusion engulfed your expression. Then cold engulfed your back.

"What the- hey!" You yelped, grappling with the digit in front of you that was now preventing your escape from the cold substance that was somehow seeping into your airtight suit. "Dude, what are you-" "Shh." That, along with the stinging ache in your neck, put you into a full stop. Did he just say something, or were you going crazy? "Helping." Yep, that was definitely the entity.

His mouth didn't move, but the water rippled the same way it did when he growled. The voice itself was smooth and deep, the pronunciation of the words vaguely reminded you of when someone's nose was clogged. There was a low static too, as though it were a Droid voice box... actually, it might've been.

"O-oh. Alright." You muttered, deciding yet again to trust the entity. It honestly felt like the pressure at your back was a giant gel ice-pack, but it almost dragged itself down your back and across your shoulders like a slug. It was painfully slow, and their expression couldn't have been very pleasant. Still, by the time the cold substance cradled the base of your head as well, your upper back felt better. It reminded you of aloe for sunburns, but, internal pain rather than external.

When he shifted his digit that was holding you up, you propped yourself up with one of your hands, and took just a moment to soak in the cool relief before craning your neck slightly to meet his eyes. Now, for the first time you'd seen, he was smiling. It wasn't very wide, but it was enough to tell that he was pleased. With himself or you, you weren't sure. Still, you grinned back at him. "Geez, you're a walking, er, swimming box of surprises. What was that?" His head tilted, and he raised one of his palms. In it, a small orb of his goop floated, the jelly shape remaining a moment, before he shoved it against his tail. It was reabsorbed in just under a second.

You squinted at it, then back at him, before you paled slightly. "Isn't that, like... corrosive?" He only shrugged. "Not always. Help now." His reply was short.

You were still amazed that you were getting answers from him verbally, and it must've been obvious, because he smiled a bit wider. He was definitely proud of himself now. You thanked him, and he only traded you from hand to hand, lifting you closer to his large face. You knew there was something you meant to ask him... "Hey. Why did you-" a pause, "Why did you kill someone?" You wrung your hands as he looked at you, then back to his tail. You then remembered his tail had been injured earlier. "They... hurt you. I'll guess you didn't mean to." He nodded, and you sighed a slight breath of relief. He didn't mean it.

That... that was enough of that for now. You only had about another hour before the morning shift patrols would come through. Enough of the heavy topics, it was time to just relax. You'd hope you could befriend the entity, and here you are.

Log Entry 026: The Entity.

"It seems that my nightly visits are proving useful to both my recovery, and my project. The substance that he coats over my wounds has accelerated recovery time. The bruises are almost entirely healed, and I can now resume my normal duties."... "I'm avoiding going to the medical wing for another month, so they won't suspect anything." ... "On the other hand, I have installed a set of propulsion poets on the base of the feet, as well as in the palms and back. They use the same formula as the entity to create bubbles from unusable insulation slime." ... "The goal is to begin planning once I'm allowed another public test of the suit."

Log Entry 054: The Entity.

"After thorough research, it looks like the Entity is actually a species of alien that was entirely poached from their planet, almost 25 years ago. Little is known, besides the information about their jelly forms." ... "The jelly can either corrode, or repair damages. It seems that the Entity is a rare case in which the gel does both, depending on the intent of the user. It is uncommon for members of the species to have a shell like he does " ... "They are critically endangered. It says that unless the specimen is of higher ranking, there is nothing to be done, but I think I will approach the research team about it anyways. He's getting restless."

Log Entry 63: The Entity.

"I am beyond livid. I brought up my concerns with the team's head, and was told they planned to harvest the entity's jelly. All of it. I moved those claims up as far in the chain of command as I could, but they refused." ... "They said I was to finish my research on the suit, as they suspect the entity was only a guardian, and that there may be an entire colony of the species hidden in the depths." ... "No one I've spoken to agrees with me, and I've realized I'm planning alone." ... A loud buzzing starts up in the background, and there is a sudden screeching of metal being bent... "I am destroying all prototypes besides my own, along with my research when we leave. This place won't get anything else from me."

Log Entry 102: The Entity.

"I had to delay the escape date, solely because we were informed of a mission back to the planet. The entity and I have agreed that our plan is set for two days from now while we orbit the planet." ... " I have yet to inform anyone that the suits I have built are frauds. I have, however, volunteered to join the team going down in order to be sure the suits 'don't malfunction'. We'll be taking a research vessel down with a portable lab, and..." ...The tape switches off suddenly....

Log Entry 107: The Entity.

"Our escape worked a little too well. The entity escaped containment mere minutes after I'd set off the explosives I'd left in my work area. All of my documents should have been the first to go, and I'd planned to contain the burn to my room. However, the radio says the entity broke the glass, and the corrosive fire has spread, forcing the ship to make an emergency landing." ...There are voices in the background, they sound angry. You ignore them... "The recon team and I are in the research vessel, but the entity has just escaped. I need to get them out, but I just. I can're remember the plAN-"... The recording cuts off just after the start of a loud sound and screaming.

What is this thing? A tape recorder?

"I uh... I'm not sure what's going on." ... "I'm on a research vessel, it seems like a wide oceanic planet, and there seems to be debris from a crash nearby. Did our cruiser crash?" ... "I'm... not sure what's going on, but I'm going to try and figure it out. Maybe I can get the radio working and call for help."

Oh God. Oh no.

"I got through to someone on the radio two days ago. They said that they would be by to pick me up, but they attacked me. Said I was wanted for the destruction of my cruiser. For hundreds of deaths. That didn't sound right, but they still tried to take me." ...There's shaky breathing... "There's something I'm missing. I... I know what they do to interstellar criminals, there are no fair trials. I'm guilty until sentenced to death." ... "I'm forgetting something. A chunk of my life is gone, and I can't figure out what I did. So... I didn't have a choice." ...A choked sob echoes into the audio recorder... "I- I killed them. I sunk their ship. N-no one can know I'm here until I figure this out. Figure out how to avoid giving up whatever important stuff I forgot."

There was no more storage left on the recorder. It was discarded into a junk drawer, repurposed into various other gadgets later down the line. You stayed on the planet, rations on the ship lasted you just long enough to figure out how to fish. You remembered most of your life, your training. You certainly remembered the way you were doing research.

At some point, you managed to re-engineer your suit, write the components and plans out. The suit was something new that you didn't remember from before. You figured whatever it was you were hiding, the suit was part of it.

And, that was how you stayed. You uncovered more and more about yourself, dodged the law when you could, and when you couldn't, you took care of them. You began to research creatures on the planet, finding it to be something that kept you sane in your time alone. Right up until the day you were alerted of an entire cruiser coming to apprehend you.

By then you'd known you'd committed too many crimes, undeniably. You had to go out on your own terms, so you'd put your plan into action soon enough.

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