Chapter Five
Samus Aran
A short time before I reached the Metroid homeworld, all communications connections on my ship were lost.
I broke away from the fragments and flew around to the other side of the planet before going in to land. I switched to stealth mode just as I was entering the atmosphere. Or what they had for an atmosphere. I still can't help viewing a toxic soup as not being a true atmosphere. I flew Piratebane into a little rock alcove, for hiding, that was as close as possible to an entrance to the planet's underground caverns. "Wish me luck, Cregdith." I sighed as I slid into my suit.
Eighteen missile tanks. That's how many I had found before coming to this planet. Plus, there were the two I'd found while I was here. I'd also found, beforehand, the Chozo ball morpher and the Bomb, Spring Ball, and Spider Ball adaptors. I'd also found something called the Gravity Ball adaptor, but neither I nor the scientists I'd given the device's schematics to had been able to figure out what it did or how it was used. While here, I had found, as well as the two tanks, the Spazer, Wave, Ice, and Charge beam adaptors, and the High Jump boot booster. Well, as you can imagine, I felt pretty confident as I strolled down the planet's many hallways.
Suddenly, I realized that I didn't have my audio recorder on. Bounty Hunter regulations demanded that I turn it on any time I entered a planet where communications were impossible. Then, I was to make a running audio commentary. This was so that if I didn't make it out, the discoverer of my body would be able to get some idea as to how I had died.
Feeling certain it wasn't necessary, I flipped the recorder on and updated my records about what I had found so far. Then, I continued to tell everything that was happening as I continued to explore the planet's underground tunnels.
I would destroy a Space Pirate minion here and shoot some killer plant life there as I pressed forward, continuing deeper into the planet.
That is until I came to one specific corridor. The native life had been growing thinner and thinner as I approached this hallway. A deep sense of danger seemed to take on the form of a thick liquid that flowed around me as I scanned the narrow passageway. No life. No life whatsoever, save myself.
Cautiously, I pressed forward, keeping a close watch for danger. Eventually, I came to the corridor's other end. It seemed almost as though the large, blue door itself was radiating fear. I shot the door and stepped through, letting it shut behind me. I was now in a large, cavernous chamber. Behind me was a now-metal door. Beneath me was a ledge that overhung something beneath it. In the room with me…was a single life form, headed straight for me at an incredible rate!
I dropped to my hands and knees to look beneath the ledge I was on. Dug into the wall at the back of the overhang was a short tunnel, just long enough to fit all of my body into. My senses told me I didn't want to meet whatever was coming for me. My scanners told me that nothing the size of the life form coming my way could reach me if I was in the tunnel.
I laid down flat on the platform. Then, with one quick, fluid motion, I flipped myself over the edge of the platform and into the tunnel, now laying on my back, my arms pressed against the ceiling of the dug-out area. Now, if I'd had my arms flat against my sides, the parts that were now pressed against the ceiling would be the undersides of my arms. A sharp pain in my left arm told me there was something wrong with that very same would-be underside.
Looking at my left arm, I pulled it slowly down from the ceiling as far as I could. This revealed a small, dimly-glowing crystal sticking into a long, deep gash in my armor. Instead of my skin, there was a thick pool of blood showing through my armor.
Suddenly, I felt dizzy. Slowly, my world dissolved into blackness around me.
I awoke with a jolt, still in the tunnel. I scanned the ceiling and didn't see so much as a sign of the crystal. I looked at my left arm and the gash was still there, but puffy, pinkish skin showed instead of thick, red blood.
Suddenly, a voice at the mouth of the tunnel forced the oddity of the situation out of my mind. I couldn't turn enough to see it's owner, but the robotic, genderless voice said "Whatcha' catch, hatchling? Well, I'll be…….Hmm, the only kind of creature that would be smart enough to look and, therefore, be down there would be…….Sorry, hatchling, but you can't prey on this creature, it's sentient. Go on, now, get out of here…Hello down there! Not to sound rude, or anything, but what species are you?"
"Human." I grunted, my suit producing an equally robotic, equally genderless and unrevealing voice.
"Ah, another human, eh? By the sounds of it, another Bounty Hunter, too. What's your name?"
Normally, my first instinct would have been to say something like "Who's asking?" But something told me I could trust this person. So, instead, I said "My name is Samuel Harper."
"Samuel Ha-You're the one I've been waiting for! Don't worry, Sam, your search is over. The creature that chased you down there is my pet Metroid hatchling, and I am Samus Aran."
Samus Aran
A short time before I reached the Metroid homeworld, all communications connections on my ship were lost.
I broke away from the fragments and flew around to the other side of the planet before going in to land. I switched to stealth mode just as I was entering the atmosphere. Or what they had for an atmosphere. I still can't help viewing a toxic soup as not being a true atmosphere. I flew Piratebane into a little rock alcove, for hiding, that was as close as possible to an entrance to the planet's underground caverns. "Wish me luck, Cregdith." I sighed as I slid into my suit.
Eighteen missile tanks. That's how many I had found before coming to this planet. Plus, there were the two I'd found while I was here. I'd also found, beforehand, the Chozo ball morpher and the Bomb, Spring Ball, and Spider Ball adaptors. I'd also found something called the Gravity Ball adaptor, but neither I nor the scientists I'd given the device's schematics to had been able to figure out what it did or how it was used. While here, I had found, as well as the two tanks, the Spazer, Wave, Ice, and Charge beam adaptors, and the High Jump boot booster. Well, as you can imagine, I felt pretty confident as I strolled down the planet's many hallways.
Suddenly, I realized that I didn't have my audio recorder on. Bounty Hunter regulations demanded that I turn it on any time I entered a planet where communications were impossible. Then, I was to make a running audio commentary. This was so that if I didn't make it out, the discoverer of my body would be able to get some idea as to how I had died.
Feeling certain it wasn't necessary, I flipped the recorder on and updated my records about what I had found so far. Then, I continued to tell everything that was happening as I continued to explore the planet's underground tunnels.
I would destroy a Space Pirate minion here and shoot some killer plant life there as I pressed forward, continuing deeper into the planet.
That is until I came to one specific corridor. The native life had been growing thinner and thinner as I approached this hallway. A deep sense of danger seemed to take on the form of a thick liquid that flowed around me as I scanned the narrow passageway. No life. No life whatsoever, save myself.
Cautiously, I pressed forward, keeping a close watch for danger. Eventually, I came to the corridor's other end. It seemed almost as though the large, blue door itself was radiating fear. I shot the door and stepped through, letting it shut behind me. I was now in a large, cavernous chamber. Behind me was a now-metal door. Beneath me was a ledge that overhung something beneath it. In the room with me…was a single life form, headed straight for me at an incredible rate!
I dropped to my hands and knees to look beneath the ledge I was on. Dug into the wall at the back of the overhang was a short tunnel, just long enough to fit all of my body into. My senses told me I didn't want to meet whatever was coming for me. My scanners told me that nothing the size of the life form coming my way could reach me if I was in the tunnel.
I laid down flat on the platform. Then, with one quick, fluid motion, I flipped myself over the edge of the platform and into the tunnel, now laying on my back, my arms pressed against the ceiling of the dug-out area. Now, if I'd had my arms flat against my sides, the parts that were now pressed against the ceiling would be the undersides of my arms. A sharp pain in my left arm told me there was something wrong with that very same would-be underside.
Looking at my left arm, I pulled it slowly down from the ceiling as far as I could. This revealed a small, dimly-glowing crystal sticking into a long, deep gash in my armor. Instead of my skin, there was a thick pool of blood showing through my armor.
Suddenly, I felt dizzy. Slowly, my world dissolved into blackness around me.
I awoke with a jolt, still in the tunnel. I scanned the ceiling and didn't see so much as a sign of the crystal. I looked at my left arm and the gash was still there, but puffy, pinkish skin showed instead of thick, red blood.
Suddenly, a voice at the mouth of the tunnel forced the oddity of the situation out of my mind. I couldn't turn enough to see it's owner, but the robotic, genderless voice said "Whatcha' catch, hatchling? Well, I'll be…….Hmm, the only kind of creature that would be smart enough to look and, therefore, be down there would be…….Sorry, hatchling, but you can't prey on this creature, it's sentient. Go on, now, get out of here…Hello down there! Not to sound rude, or anything, but what species are you?"
"Human." I grunted, my suit producing an equally robotic, equally genderless and unrevealing voice.
"Ah, another human, eh? By the sounds of it, another Bounty Hunter, too. What's your name?"
Normally, my first instinct would have been to say something like "Who's asking?" But something told me I could trust this person. So, instead, I said "My name is Samuel Harper."
"Samuel Ha-You're the one I've been waiting for! Don't worry, Sam, your search is over. The creature that chased you down there is my pet Metroid hatchling, and I am Samus Aran."