CCSF 2012 Day 9: Into a Nightmarish Dream

Written by Jessica as Part of the Shee Journey Series

The alarms droned on, while my assistants and I raced from one control panel to another. We were desperate to alter our course, but the sudden appearance of what could only be a black hole had startled everyone. The Norns, Grendels, and Ettins had been hastily locked away, while I gave them words of encouragement. Wide eyed, I knew there was no way to avoid this. Our course had been perfectly clear, though, and the spacecraft had drifted away. The institute would hear plenty about this, provided we survived. Even with the engines whirring away at their highest speed, we were slowly being pulled towards the deep blackness. I gulped down the last of my tea... This could be the end. Completely out of character, I smiled at my assistants. If this was the end, I could not have imagined a better pair of friends.

An odd tingling sensation was all I was aware of for what seemed like hours. Days? There was no way to know. Yet suddenly, I could open my eyes. Everything snapped back to reality, only it all seemed slightly different. My assistants were next to me, also blinking away the daze. Without pause, I turned and eloquently raced for the cage room. As the door opened, I closed my eyes with fear. I could only hope... And then I heard the sounds my ears had been desperate to hear: The Creatures called out to me bewilderingly. Fright had frozen some faces, but all was well. No one had even been injured. Then, it hit me: We were alive, but where were we?

All communication was down, though I told my assistants to keep trying to get back in touch with our home world. I secretly held the one piece of bone chilling evidence: Our coordinates made absolutely no sense. None. It looked like we were in an area of uncharted space, with no way of returning to the areas close to home. Yet I nearly toppled over when I peeked out the window: There was a planet nearby. It was like nothing I had ever seen, and its surface changed each time I looked at it. There was no other option: Perhaps we would find help here, though it was equally likely that we would be met with hostility. What else could I do?

For the first time, I made the decision to ride inside the exploratory vessel. Although I still had trust issues with the blasted thing, I couldn't send it off into an absolutely unknown region. As much as I had despised it and thought it had a mind of its own, there was no other choice. My assistants stayed with the Creatures, while I nervously set forth on my first surface visit. What I found there was hardly much help, yet my mind was set at ease. I even drifted off to sleep on the long voyage... Although I ended up bringing back several specimens, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had completely dreamed it all. Perhaps it was just the strange properties of the planet below.

From Jessica: "Oh dear! Our CCSF voyage seems to have gone off course, thanks to a black hole. Never fear: The dream theme of the day promises to offer a number of interesting releases. The nightmare of day nine seems to have been confined to the black hole incident! Prepare yourself for some fun downloads... And don't forget about the Activities, whose deadlines are approaching very quickly!"