Chapter Text
“- and that's just Alfredo, we don't know the clear case behind why this even happened in the first place. We can speculate what the Irving family had seen and if it was real or not, but we'll never truly know.'' Trevor's voice came over the radio. He always sounded very knowledgeable about the topic at hand.
“Yeah I still think it was the daughter that made up the ghost, but with the facts you gave me it doesn't seem 100% cut and dry.” Alfredo responded back to Trevor. He always sounded so interested in what Trevor was telling him.
“Anyways good night everyone. It was a pleasure telling you about the mysterious story behind Gef the talking ghost mongoose. I was your host Trevor Collins with my lovely co-host Alfredo Diaz." Trevor said as a closing remark to the audience.
" See you next week for a new episode of the Red Web" Alfredo said before the Radio segment ended.
Jeremy then reached over and turned off his radio. He wasn't too interested in the next segment as much as he was into the Red Web.
He honestly wasn't even into any other radio segments as much as he was with this. He only listened at all for Trevor and Alfredo. It's just his inner mystery loverain him couldn't help but listen. All the strange events that couldn't be solved, it just engrossed him more than he could even imagine.
He would love to be just like one of these people that interacted with the strange. Be it a ghost or any other form of strange monster. He would relish in every moment of it.
But unfortunately as much as he loved to speculate on what was real or not, he knew it wasn't. He loved the idea of all these strange creatures, but he was a realistic person. He would not believe in any of it until he saw something with his very own eyes. Though that didn't mean he didn't like listening to all this obviously.
He just wanted proof before he went around saying something weird like Bigfoot was real.
Jeremy quickly got up from his bed. He stretched his back before going towards the window. Looking out he noticed that it wasn't that dark yet. Because of the fact that it was late summer or early fall, the sun was still up later than it would normally be. It was already 7 and he could still see the sun a bit over the Horizon.
Just enough time to go for a jog. He had been pretty lazy today and spent most of his time playing video games. Then of course listening to his favourite radio show. He needed to go outside and stretch his legs. Plus the fact that he could also bring his camera with him. Snap a couple pictures on his run.
So Jeremy did just that. He grabbed his camera, making sure that it was full, and put on the appropriate clothing. He quickly grabbed his keys and things as he locked behind the door and rushed outside down the stairs.
His favourite place to go for a jog was the forest just outside of town. It was a very peaceful area, nothing bad had ever happened to him in it. He was also smart enough to keep on the paths.
A beautiful atmosphere to be in and also it was a great place to snap pictures with this camera. Though he really should hurry up if he wanted to take any pictures with this camera. Sunlight was dwindling, and even though he didn't mind too much running in the dark, it wasn't going to be very good for his pictures, even with flash.
He quickly ran down the sidewalk, taking the most direct route to the forest. As he was running down the sidewalk he noticed something weird. Some yelling coming from a man standing in front of a local store.
He couldn't help himself as he walked towards the sound, just to at least hear what he was going on. He needed to know what was going on.
“- I know none of you guys will listen to me. You just think that it's crazy old Geoff. But I'm telling each and everyone of you. I saw an alien!” Geoff said as he was standing on top of a soapbox. His hands were waving around very sporadically. He seemed like he was very distraught.
That made a little more sense. It seems the person making a big situation was the local chicken farmer, Geoff Ramsey. He was known to be very recluse, only giving the time of day to his chickens. Whenever someone asked him about it he said the only people he needed to talk to were his chickens.
It was actually quite sad. He was once a normal farmer, with a normal family before his wife divorced him. Ever since then he became shut in, only ever talking to his chickens. Because of this most everyone tried to keep a distance away from them. Not wanting to interact with the Crazy Chicken Man.
Unfortunately it seems to have gotten worse for Geoff. The man really doesn't seem to get a break does he? Jeramy really did pity the man. He hoped he could get some mental help.
Someone in the very sizable crowd around Geoff laughed at what he said, “You think that we would believe crazy old chicken farmer Geoff?” Another person yelled to him.
" You guys always have to make it about the chickens! So what if a man likes talking to his chickens, it's normal!" Geoff yelled back at them, he seemed pretty annoyed they weren't listening to what he was saying, "But that's besides the point. I'm trying to save your guys's asses from getting probed or some shit. I've seen the aliens with my very own eyes. They were in my dreams and even at my farm."
" Yeah right. You're probably making this up because your brains to scrambled to remember what really happened." Someone else from the crowd yelled. He got some agreement from the others in the crowd. It seems like no one was actually listening to Geoff, or his bizarre alien stories.
"You know what? Fuck you guys! I went out of my way to try warning you about the incoming aliens and all you do is laugh at me. You know what, I don't even care what happens to your anuses. Let them get probed. I don't care." Geoff yelled back at the crowd as he got off the soapbox, then proceeded to kick it over. He was fuming.
Geoff then stormed through the crowd and towards his farm. Obviously he was going back home to deal with his alien menace himself. The crowd seemed to pay him no mind as they quickly dispersed and went back whatever they were doing.
Well that was interesting. It was honestly very saddening to think that Jeff had gotten this bad. Maybe he should talk to his buddy Gavin about this later, if he doesn't already know.
Gavin was one of the few people who actually talked to Geoff sometimes. He would go over and buy eggs from him to sell in his store. So he was the person that got to see and talk to Geoff the most. Maybe he can convince the farmer to go seek some Mental Health help.
Oh shoot the sun was really setting now, he should really make a move on and get on to the forest. So he picked up his run and tried to get there as quickly as possible.
After a few minutes of jogging he finally made it to the edge of the forest. With only a little bit of sunlight left. Perfect, the dusk of the night was going to make his pictures have a nice glow.
Jeremy started his run down the path through the forest. The path was quite worn with very few bumps. He himself had travelled down it quite often, plus the fact it was quite a popular path for other people to take.
Jeremy could almost jog down the path with his eyes closed as he knew it so well. So much so that his mind started to wander. Thinking about work tomorrow and about what he just saw Geoff say.
It was an interesting concept to be sure. He would love to be able to talk to an alien, hopefully without the whole probing bit. He wasn't a big fan of that. But aliens were one of the mythical creatures that he hoped was true the most. It was just so interesting to him. Plus the fact that there were so many planets out there, there just had to be other living species. If they had contacted humans though was a completely different story.
No offense Geoff but I highly doubt that if aliens did come to earth he was the first person they would talk to.
Jeremy then stopped as he noticed the perfect place to take a picture. The dusk of the night was coming down perfectly on this particular area. Making it almost glow with light. He took out his camera and started to take a picture of the area. It looked like something you would see on a postcard. Showing the beauty of the area you were just at.
Jeremy took a few moments snapping different pictures to get the perfect angle of the light. Hopefully at least one of them would turn out good. He could only see when he got home though.
Then as soon as it was there, it was gone as the sun was completely dipped underneath the horizon. Placing him in almost complete darkness. He could have probably made it out of the forest before the darkness came but he was just too busy taking pictures.
It wasn't too much of a big deal though as he had gone down this path a million times, he could easily navigate and get back home even in the Darkness. So Jeremy started to do just that as he started to jog back towards his apartment.
It wasn't very long though before he noticed something was off. Specifically in the fact that as he continued to jog towards the direction he came from, he could start to see some light. The sun had just gone for the night so it was quite peculiar that he could see some light. Maybe it was someone with a flashlight? He kept on jogging towards it to see.
As he got closer it just got brighter and brighter, so much so he knew it couldn't be a flashlight. It was just so unnaturally bright.
Unfortunately yet again his interest had picked him and he wanted to know what it was. So he continued on despite knowing it was going to end badly.
Eventually he got to a point where he knew he had to leave the path to go where the light was coming from. After thinking about it for only a second he easily left the path going straight for it.
He felt like a horror movie character walking directly into danger. About to be cut and killed into little pieces. Though he obviously knew that there wasn't any axe-wielding maniac towards the light. That would just be absurd.
Honestly it was probably someone that needed help,he could rush in and save them. Or at least that's what Jeremy hoped it would be.
He did start walking slowly well crouching down just to be safe. Crunching the foliage as he continues towards the light.
Eventually he stopped as he saw something. The light that was almost blinding as he was looking at it, was suddenly and completely, gone.
It hurt his eyes as it went from such a bright intense light to the complete darkness of the forest. His eyes needed a moment to adjust back to the darkness. He was instinctually starting to back up with the realization that the light had disappeared, once his eyes adjusted though he wanted the Run.
There was this weird creature in front of him. It was certainly not a human and certainly not any animal that lives on this planet. It was bipedal but somehow almost looked like a cat. Well it had some cat like features if they had multiple eyes. Well it certainly had a cat ears and face but it was certainly unnatural-looking. No man, nor cat or even something in between the two.
Jeremy couldn't help himself as he brought up his camera and took a quick picture of the strange creature. The flash that came off his camera was quite bright and seemed lert the creature to his presence.
Oh fuck great, he just had to get a picture even though it altered the beast. He was an idiot but he knew he could run. They were a good few feet away so he had time to move. Just as he was starting to turn tail and get out of here, he noticed the creature pull a strange object out and point at him.
Before he could even process what was happening the creature had shot him with it and he was down. Passing out as he was thinking about the strange creature. Fucking shit, maybe Geoff was onto something.
----
It actually hurt a lot the first time he transforms into a new creature. It's completely new consciousness for the machine, so the first one wasn't the smoothest. So after a moment of everything twisting and moving around the pain had subsided enough for him to move.
He quickly looked down at his hands to see the complexion of them. They were small and covered in a soft type of skin. No fur to speak of. Another species that had no outside protection from the elements. In fact most of his new body seems squishy.
Moving his hand around his body he discovered more things about him. Like the fact that he did seem to have not fur but hair around his head, as well as his face. Didn't make too much sense as those areas didn't need the heating of hair as much as the rest of him did.
Though he could get over the fact that he wasn't fuzzy anymore. His two other comrades want that fuzzy of a species either. They were more skin like, like the creatures that seemed to inhabit this planet.
He walked up towards the creature that was in front of them. It was the creature that he initially stole the consciousness from. Hopefully this was the main species of this planet. Though he seemed to be much bigger than all the other creatures he had ended up seeing up until now. So most likely this was the dominant species.
He closed his eyes for a moment and thought about the language that he stole from this creature. This creature only knew English, but it seems that was the main language that is spoken in this part of the planet, forchenetly. Or at least that's what the creature thinks so.
It seemed the creature was wearing some sort of human? clothing? That's what they're called right? He was pretty sure. Not all of the human knowledge was transferred over perfectly to him. It seemed like his consciousness extractor was not working completely. He got enough at least, he just needed to fill in the blanks himself.
He should probably take the clothing from the creature in front of him. He would probably be immediately found out as a fake if he was not dressed properly as the species did. Plus the fact the species was much colder if not wearing anything, and he was shivering.
He bent down and picked up the creature into his hands. He knew the thing would be out for quite a while but that didn't mean he wanted to harm it. If he was going to take everything off this creature the least he could do is bring it to a safe area. He would not let the thing freeze in the cold of night out here.
He walked quickly out of the dense forest onto a clearing of a path , which he easily followed out to the edge of the trees. He put the creature that was in his arms, down onto the ground. Quickly taking off his clothing and putting it on himself.
Yes, that fit well enough. If not short on his legs. Good enough for now.
Then he closed his eyes and looked into the little knowledge that did transfer overtones him.. How does one get help for this creature? After only a moment he realized that he had to use the strange box that was near the darker concrete path nearby. Once he was in there he pressed the appropriate numbers of 911.
Once he got a response from the number he put in, he then simply said that there was a human that had passed out outside of the forest pathway. Then he let go of the device in his hand and walked away.
He was sure whatever human creatures lived on this planet could help the man. He should be fine unless he hits his head. The process of the extraction though does take a lot out of one person. It will probably be quite a while on this planet before the creature wakes up.
He then started walking down the sidewalk until he could find somewhere to acquire some nutrients. The process of changing a form was quite taxing on a person. He needed to eat something soon.
So we wandered down the path, hoping that if he kept on coming straight he would eventually find where he needed to be.
Eventually after a few moments of walking down the sidewalk, he finds himself in front of the bright light. Words that say 24/7 in bright neon lights in front of him. This seems like the right place.
Walking inside he was bombarded with different items of varying colours. It was all so bright and colorful, though he did notice he could see less colours then he could previously. He wasn't complaining though it was already way too bright in here. Why did these people need everything to be so colorful?
He looked throughout the store for a few moments before he came upon something he was very familiar with. He could pretty much smell it underneath the bright plastics. The sweetness of sugar that he loved so much.
He quickly picked up a bunch of things that were familiar but different to him. A box that says donuts, a bar that says chocolate and a bag that says candy. It all looks so interesting to him. So very delectable.
He then begin to open the box of the donuts when he hears someone yell at him. The person at the front of the building was yelling at him for opening it.
Oh yes he probably needs to pay with whatever currency these humans use to pay. He remembered taking what he thought was money from the creature he stole from.
“Gey you better be paying for that before you eat it! We aren't a charity here. I'll call the cops if you continue doing what you're doing.” The person continued to yell to him.
He promptly moved over towards her to pay for it. Reaching into the pockets of the clothing he had stolen he pulls out some of the money. He hands her 20$.
“I can understand you being real hungry sweetheart, but you know you got to pay first.” She says she brings the money to the machine. Starting to get him some change.
“I'm sorry. And you can keep it, the change I mean.” He says back to her, hoping what he said makes sense.
Looks up at him in Surprise as that's quite a bit of money for her to keep. "Well it seems that you're just trying to bribe me cuz I caught you stealing food. Well it works! I'm not gonna get you in no trouble. If you want to stay around and eat it here I wouldn't care too much.” She says with a smile as she quickly pockets the money.
Hearing her give him the go head, he begins to eat the donuts he was denied eating before. They're the best thing he's eaten a while. They remind him of home back before everything happened. Before he was on the ship with his two crewmates. Before the three of them had the flea and live on the ship with barely a sweet thing insight.
He quickly eats through all of the sweet donuts. All the while thinking about his crewmates. He needs to find them. He has the working ship so he can go as soon as he finds the others. But he has very little idea where one of them is, otherwise that they are vaguely in this area. And the first one that got lost? He has zero idea where on this planet they are.
He needs to find where they are before everything goes bad for them. He has no idea what the planet, and its creatures, are like, otherwise the vagueness that he got from the consciousness he stole. He needs to understand this place more.
“Well you are a strange one,” The lady at the counter says to him, looking at him in deep thought. “I was sort of joking about you eating all that but you just go on ahead and eat it in front of me. Though I got no other customers so it's not a big deal. Oh by the way what's your name?” She was now leading her head on one of her hands. She seemed very interested in him.
Oh no. He didn't think about this. He only knew one name and it's the person I stole in the consciousness from, Jeremy Dooley. He couldn't say that name because he clearly wasn't him.
He looked to his left and saw a rack of books or maybe magazines? He thinks that's the word? One of which had a man on the cover. Matt Damon.
MATT
Then he looked to the other side of him. Lots of bottles line the wall. One of which was something made of a fruit apparently called an apple. Bragg's apple cider vinegar.
BRAGG
"Uhh.. Matt Bragg? What's yours?” He mumbled towards her after combining the two names. Hopefully that sounds like a convincing name to be on this planet.
“Lindsey. And if you got the time, I would love to just sit and talk to you. I got nothing else to do for a while and you seem very interesting." She says as the smile on her face grew even wider.
He thought about it for a moment. This was probably the best moment to get some information about where he was. So he nodded his head and said,"As long as you're okay with answering some weird questions?"
" I'm the queen of weird questions." She says as she does a fancy hand gesture. It seems like she will answer his questions no matter how bizarre they were.
Good because he needed to ask a lot about this planet.