Celestia 1: An Account

Chapter 5 : Loomer

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Gleaming Waters was in the process of going back to his apartment. The tests that the doctors had run didn't discover anything, so he'd been given the all clear and told to rest for a day or two. He swayed slightly as he walked, feeling pretty out of it. Was he paler, too? Maybe, but he had lost a fair amount of blood. He hobbled up the stairs of the residential area, trying to keep weight off his injured leg. Leave the staircase on the 6th floor, turn left at the split in the corridor, and you'd find his apartment, Number 335. He let himself in and slumped down on his bed. He still felt off. The way his injured leg tingled, the lightheaded-ness, the fact his balance was off. It wasn't anything bad, just odd. "Probably side effects from the pain killers when they stitched me up." He settled down in his bed, ready to just sleep the whole thing away.

~

There was a great sense of foreboding among the biology staff today. One of them was going to have to deal with the crustacean creature that attacked Gleaming. None of them dared to enter until Fluttershy had arrived. A group of scientists were milling around outside the room where the creature was contained. One of them, the unlucky one who had to go in, had donned a deep sea diving suit in an effort to protect himself better.

There was a collective sigh of relief as Fluttershy entered the hallway. She really didn't want to be back here again, but it was something she had to do. The scientists cleared a path for her to the door, and she made her way to where the stallion in the diving suit was standing.

"Shall we?" He asked, moving towards the door.

"I guess sooner would be better than later..."

The door opened to reveal the room exactly as she had left it yesterday, scattered office equipment and blood on the floor, and the creature still in a holding pen. The plan was to study the creature, and get it the hell out of the facility. Fluttershy cleared a space in the clutter, and nodded over to the stallion, signaling him to unlock the holding pen. He brought out a camera, and took a few pictures of the creature in the pen, before unlocking the door, and backing into the room.

The creature erupted out of the door, but seemed to slow down upon seeing Fluttershy. She corralled the creature into the space she had cleared, and the stallion took more pictures. The creature had taken on a defensive stance again, occasionally making a swipe with its claws.

The stallion put a tape measure down next to the thing, it was too distracted by Fluttershy to notice. He took the picture, and turned to her.

"Okay, that should be fine. Now to deal with this...thing..."

Their plan was to flush it back out into the sea using an airlock in the room next door, much in the same manner the creature had been brought in. The stallion opened the door that connected the rooms, and opened the air lock in advance. Fluttershy began to slowly back the creature into the other room, and then finally into the airlock. The stallion swiftly pulled down on the lever, closing the creature away and letting it go into the open waters.

A job well done.

~

"...and so I'm about to surface in the dock, when I see these huge crabs, must've been 4 or 5 of them, all climbing around on the supports. I get nearer and one of them nips me through my suit! Can you believe that?! It wasn't deep or anything, but it went through the suit and drew blood. Luckily I was right at an entrance anyway, my suit could have flooded..."

Twilight didn't mean to eavesdrop, but the ponies having the conversation were rather loud, and walking past her slowly. She couldn't really not listen. It was a rather interesting discussion too, Fluttershy had told her yesterday that one of the biology team had been bitten by a large crab too. Could the species as a whole be aggressive? The mare who was talking mentioned seeing 4 or 5 of them together, did they live in packs?

She practically squeed, all these unanswered questions, more discoveries waiting to be made, it was all so exciting. But she could be excited by it later, right now she had to focus on the task in hoof. She loaded the sand samples she had collected into the machine, and awaited the results. She would know for sure what it was made of, and then could begin to speculate how it was formed.

Knowledge!

~

Gleaming Waters was feeling much worse for ware. He had a splitting headache, he had become very sensitive to the lights in his room, and his limbs felt like dead weight. It was cold, even when he was wrapped up in his bed. He swallowed a lump in his throat, it felt like sand paper. "Should I go back to the doctors? No, no, I'm sure I'll be better later. The tests said nothing was wrong, just gotta relax."

~

"How come I get roped into doing this, this was supposed to be my day off." Snapshot rapped his hoof on the door, number 335. He'd been sent to check on Gleaming, nopony had seen him for 3 days now, and they were starting to get worried. Snapshot knocked again, having received no response the first time.

"Hey Gleaming, you in there? Its Snapshot, just came by to see if you're ok."

"Maybe he's not in..."

His train of thought was disrupted by the sound of something stirring behind the door. There was a clattering as something fell, and audible hoof steps, but the door remained closed as ever. Snapshot brought an ear to the door to listen; the movement inside sounded erratic, and he could hear things hitting the floor, apparently being knocked over. There was a sudden thump against the door, causing Snapshot to pull away, surprised. Pressing his ear back to the door, he could hear the hoof steps getting further away again.

"Uh, Gleaming, are you okay in there?" No reply came. "Hang on, I'm gonna go get somepony to open this door, don't go anywhere."

Snapshot quickly trotted back to the staircase and made his way to the desk at the plaza, explaining the situation to the pony behind the desk.

Two or three minutes later Snapshot was back outside number 335, with the receptionist in tow. She unlocked the door, he nodded in thanks, and pushed it open. The smell of vomit hit him first, followed by a wave of warm, humid air. He wretched a little, and stepped into the apartment. The place was a mess, the floor was littered with books, utensils, ornaments, stuff that shouldn't be on the floor. There was a big pool of vomit in the center of the room, and more worryingly, flecks of blood.

"Gleaming, are you ok?"

"Of course he isn't you idiot, there's sick and blood on the floor."

"Gleaming?"

He began to search glance around the place for a sign of Gleaming, he'd definitely heard somepony in here a few minutes ago. He noticed the bedroom door was open, and tentative made his way over to it. He reached the door frame and let out a sigh of relief, Gleaming was standing next to his bed.

"There you are, you had me worried!"

Something wasn't right. Gleaming didn't acknowledge his presence. He looked very pale and disheveled, and looking around there was more vomit on the bed. Something was certainly wrong. Snapshot shakily made his way over to where Gleaming was standing, avoiding the pools of sick on the floor.

"Gleaming, whats wrong?"

Gleaming's head suddenly shot around to face Snapshot. His eyes, once a deep brown, were milky white and empty. His eye sockets were dark and recessed, and dried blood and vomit trailed from his mouth, clinging to his coat as it trailed down his face and body.

Gleaming let out a loud snarl and quickly turned his whole body around, lunging at Snapshot.

~