Suddenly A Rock Hits The Other Side Of The Hex It Stays There It’s Just A Few Inches Away From Me

Suddenly, a rock hits the other side of the hex. It stays there. It’s just a few inches away from me. It’s roughly triangular, kind of a dark brown, and has rough, jagged edges. Like you might see on the tip of a spear from a caveman. Have I met spacefaring cavemen? Stop being stupid, Ryland. Why did they put a rock there? And is it sticky? Are they trying to block my view? If so, they’re doing a terrible job. The little triangle is only a couple of inches wide at the thickest point and the hex is a good 8 inches across. And it gets sillier. Now the rock is bending at articulated joints, and there are two similar rocks that do the same thing, and there’s a longer rock attached to them that— That’s not a rock. It’s a claw! It’sa claw with three fingers! I’m desperate to see more! I press my face against the hex. It burns, but I resist the urge to pull away. There’s pain, yes, and it’s probably going to leave a mark. I should go back to the lab and find a camera, but come on. No one would have that presence of mind at a time like this. I groan as my face aches, but I’m rewarded with a better view. The alien’s claw—er…I’ll call it a hand. That’s less scary. The alien’s hand has three triangular fingers, each one with articulation points. Knuckles, I guess. They can close up into a raindrop shape or widen out to a sort of three-legged starfish. The skin is weird. It looks like brownish-black rock. It’s irregular and bumpy, like someone carved the hand out of granite and hasn’t gotten around to smoothing it out yet. Natural armor, maybe? Like a turtle shell but less organized? There’s an arm too. I can barely see it from this angle, no matter how hard I stupidly press my face into the Hot Wall of Pain. But there’s definitely an arm leading away from the hand. I mean, there’d have to be, right? Not just a magic floating hand.

17.07.2025 07:57