Chapter 10
The Fox Creatures And Lana
The once raging waters had now slowed down to a calm crawl, flowing peacefully out of the mouth of a small cave. Mountains dotted with leafless trees rose up on either side of the river creating majestic walls of protection for the river. The stagnation of water along the edges of the river mixed with the freezing temperatures creating a slush of ice along both sides of the bank. Lana's unconscious body floated atop the water face up like a dead log, making a trail of moving water through the slushed ice. The river finally widened about 100 feet across and the mountains drew farther back, giving room for a field of snow. Amongst the barren white field of snow, a small group of five creatures roamed about as in search for something, nosing around in the cold toxic snow. They were covered by brown robes and there faces hidden under large hoods. Slightly mutated looking hands covered in red fir shifted back and forth as they walked around on all fours, a bushy tail following closely behind each one. One stopped in its tracks and shifted its head into the wind, picking up the scent of something it had never before smelled. The others stopped and they all shifted their gaze toward the river where they saw a shiny object floating down the river.
In what would be, to a normal human, a great feat, the creatures went from walking on all fours to balancing themselves on two feet, their robes fell down along their red and white fur covered bodies and slightly rustled in the breeze. One of the creatures hood fell back from its head revealing an almost completely fox-like face. Its nose was not quite like that of a foxes as it was a little more snubbed and the ears were not as big, barely sticking out from the top of its head like little triangular satellite receivers. The creature's eyes were black, but not an evil black, a black that reflected curiosity and concern. Its eyes were marked with white fur around them, creating a mask like appearance on its face. The being immediately covered its head back up and tied the loose hood down with a little string, its hands were closer to paws but the finger-like appendages allowed it to grasp things easily. The creatures changed their route to intercept the floating object in the water, their trail of prints in the snow shaped oddly human-like without toes but small claws.
The creature that had picked up the unusual scent led the way to the riverbank and watched intently as the odd shaped object floated toward the slushy bank. The five creatures sat back on their haunches as Lana's body bumped against the edge of the soft bank and swayed back and fourth. The creatures exchanged glances, as they seemed to realize that what lay before them was a being, yet a being they had never before encountered. The creature that seemed to be leading the pack brought out one of its hands and tapped the creature to see if it would stir; the others were back to their feet prepared to flee if the creature awoke in a stubborn mood. The body of Lana Aran just bobbed in the water and feeling no threat from the unconscious being, the creature grasped Lana by the neck and pulled her up onto the snowy bank, the water falling off the armor causing the snow beneath her body to melt away, revealing frozen brown grass. The creatures surrounded Lana's body and one by one they nudged the unconscious being until they were sure she was either dead or incapacitated from the cold. One of the braver beings noticing the clasps on Lana's helmet carefully snapped them off and slowly removed the helmet.
The creatures seemed to gasp in awe as they gazed upon Lana's frozen face, her eyes were frozen shut and the color had run from her lips, leaving them a dull grayish blue. Her cheeks had sunk to the bone and turned a pasty off white while her hair lay in a bun, frozen to the top of her head. The creatures looked at each other in confusion and began talking amongst themselves in a language of tongue clicks and whining. Again, the creature that had discovered Lana's body carefully placed its hand-like paw on her throat and through the sensitive pads on its palm, it could feel a very light heart beat. The creature took Lana's arms into its own and with help from one of its friends, carried Lana toward one of the mountains where some dead trees hid the entrance to one of the mountain's caves.
......
Lana's eyes slowly opened but all she could make out was a blur; her voice wouldn't work for her and she struggled to sit up. Someone pushed her back down gently and she could make out a series of clicking noises coming from the beings direction. Lana's mind was rushing, trying to remember the last thing that had happened to her. She could remember seeing the SA-X being approached by the Houston parasite and then she had been pulled under the rapid rushing river before she had blacked out. Her body felt like it was on fire and she lay still, cooperating for the time being with whoever was holding her down, as they didn't seem to be harming her; she could only make out a blurry orange figure leaning over her. The smell of lavender seemed to fill the air and Lana began feeling something soft carefully massaging her legs and chest. After a while, Lana's body began returning to normal, only her fingers, nose and toes felt like they were going to burn off of her body. Her eyes had slowly begun to clear up and she could make out a few of the features of the being in front of her; it was trying to test her vision by moving its finger from side to side. Lana resisted following the creature's finger, as she didn't want them to think she could see straight when really she couldn't.
"Wh...", Lana tried to speak but her voice came out in a cracked gasp as her throat closed in on her. She tried gasping for air and when she couldn't breath she began clawing at her throat in a frenzied panic. One of the fox creatures ran over to the table and shoved a slimy tube down her throat, while the other held back Lana's arms, the other pushing the tube through her enclosed esophagus. Oxygen flowed through the tube and Lana settled down as she began breathing easily again, relaxing her body again as the creatures continued massaging her body. Lana slowly slipped back into sleep as the fox creatures began rubbing another layer of oil over her body, the inflammation in her appendages slowly transitioning to a light tingle.
Lana awoke again, this time her vision was clear and she was surprised to find herself laying on a bed and looking up at a mirror reflecting light from some unknown source. From the rock structure, Lana could see she was inside a cave, but the inner walls had been carved smooth and there were no lines in the wall indicating that the structure had been built. The wall was covered with drawing; similar to the ones Lana had drawn as a child, with creatures with unrecognizable body parts and weird writing covering what would have been white space. Lana slid to the edge of the rock bed covered with some type of feathers and swung her legs out over the ground. She carefully tested her stability and tried standing, holding on to the edge of the rock bed for support. Though her legs were a little clumsy, she could manage walking over to the wall for a closer examination of the art. It was then that she noticed that her armor had been removed and looking around the room, she could see no sign of where it might be. The only feature in the room was the cave entrance, covered with a long grass curtain to act as a door. Lana studied the symbols and didn't recognize anything, the drawings showed what appeared to be a bright light at the middle of a cave and a tribe of fox looking creatures stood around it with their hands held up toward the ball of light. She placed her hand on the wall as if expecting something miraculous to happen, but nothing of the sort did, the wall only greeted her with a cold hard surface.
Lana heard the grass curtain pulled to the side and she spun around to see one of the fox creatures peek its head in. When it saw Lana was up, it pulled the curtain completely back and walked into the room on two legs, as expected, Lana cautiously pressed herself against the wall. The creature motioned to the bed and Lana shook her head yes and took a seat on the bed. The creature then attempted to communicate with Lana, moving its tongue around its mouth creating a series of clicking noises. Lana lifted her hands halfway into the air and shook her head no to indicate that she didn't understand the creature. The creature turned to a slab of rock hanging on the wall and produced a piece of chalk-like material from behind it and wrote some symbols onto the tab. Lana looked at the tablet and didn't recognize any of the symbols and shook her head no. The creature cocked its head in a questioning manner and looked at Lana curiously. Lana went over to the creature and asked for the stick of black chalk and the fox creature handed it over, eager to see what the creature before it was going to write. Lana first wrote her name in English and under her English name she wrote her name in Chozodian. The fox creature scratched out the English and circled the Chozo writing indicating that it understood Chozodian.
Lana then drew a picture of a Chozo on the tablet and handed the chalk back to the fox creature and pointed to herself, then at the Chozo, and then brought her hands into a mock shake to try and indicate she was Chozo friendly. The fox creature in return pointed at the Chozo, then itself and followed with the mock handshake. It looked between Lana and the Chozo drawing and as if deciding that Lana was not a threat, it pointed to itself, the Chozo picture, Lana, and then ended by extending its hand toward Lana. Lana stared at the creature momentarily before lightly grasping its hand and enclosing it with her other hand, giving it a light handshake. The creature brought its lip up into what was assumed to be a smile and walked out of the room.
The creature came back with a few others of them and this time wrote in Chozodian on the tablet. Lana could make out very little of what they were trying to write and it was like trying to read a child's handwriting as it was learning; she could make out that they could not read or write Chozodian very well. Lana frowned a little and then smiled, taking up the chalk and writing out translator. The creatures looked at the word for a minute before deciphering it. Lana herself was not fluent in the ancient language of the Chozo but she knew enough to get by if the need was to arise; she looked back on the many instructions Scint had given on the language. Most Chozo had lost the old language, conforming to a new age of Chozodian language and only the most isolated Chozo tribes continued to use it before they disappeared.
One of the creatures disappeared and within a few minutes re-appeared with a little gadget in its hand. It offered it over to Lana, and after looking it over, Lana could see that it was a translator, she eagerly put it on expecting to be able to speak with the creatures in her own language. When she spoke in English, the gadget only whined and the fox creatures looked at each other in confusion before replying. The reply translated into the ancient Chozo language and she could understand a little of what they were saying. Lana knew she had to get up with Adam if possible and find out what had happened to Samus. She pronounced the word suit in Chozodian and the creatures shook their heads. Again, one of the creatures left and in a few short moments it returned with a friend, each one carrying pieces of her dismembered fusion suit. Lana frowned for a moment and rumbled through the pieces before finding what she was looking for, the suit's transmitter. She tried to turn the device on but she could see that battery acid had leaked from the back, indicating that the once useful device was now dead. She held up the transmitter and said power into the translator. The creature at the front of the group nodded its head and took the device from Lana; it beckoned her to a corner of the cave.
Lana followed the creature over to the corner and showed her a hold in the ceiling where light was shining down and bouncing off of a mirror and up into the one above the bed, creating the light that lit the room. The creature placed the transmitter on the mirror and told her to turn it on. Lana fumbled with the transmitter for a few minutes and to her amazement, the transmitter began working. She quickly removed it from the mirror and it turned off. Lana smiled again and placed it back on the mirror and watched as the device beeped back to life. Lana thanked the creatures and then asked to be taken outside. The fox creature shook its head no and said it was dangerous, but when Lana asked again, the creature waved at one its friends who handed Lana its robe. Lana put the robe on and covered her head with the hood; she could feel something wash over her body and it made her a bit uncomfortable but she did not complain. She followed the creature out of the cave and into the snowfield.
After waiting for a half hour, a high pitched whine echoed through the valley and from over the top of one of the mountains, Adam flew down into the field, using his thrusters to stop his descent and resting a few feet above the ground before the landing gear on the ship came out and supported the ship as the engines whine down. The fox creatures watched on amazed at the ship that had landed in their little field, the snow beneath the ship had melted away and the brown grass and dirt showed beneath the ship. The underside of the ship opened and the elevator came down, but much to Lana's dismay, no SA-X was there to welcome her back.