Chapter Text
The violent winds greet me, cold and harsh; the greens and browns that flashed behind me shrinked rapidly before sealing me shut in Antarctica’s blizzard. My paws crunched against the snow and ice while pieces of that same snow and ice clung to me, and especially my fur.
\New world, new problems\
I looked around, it was just a frozen landscape on ice, noting though that it is quite similar to a few past worlds.
\Those often had intelligent life\
Rhythmic frequencies caught my attention, bringing me down to earth. I sniffed around and felt the electricity around me, semi-mapping this world. Gravity was comfortable, it was a familiar strength. Something enormous passes through the planet—most likely the planetary magnetic field. The downward gradient is stable and the planet is a large spherical body. Close to Earth actually.
\There is a large possibility that I am currently on another earth. If so, my priority for enjoyment should be eating food. It has been a while since I have eaten great food. I've missed it, how long has it been since I had proper food?
Does it matter?
Well I won't be eating any time soon if I stay here in the pole\
Shrugging, I focus back on the rhythmic frequencies; nature is messy, that means the rhythmic frequency is probably artificial. My paws crunch and crush as I walk towards the frequencies, though my footsteps were soon covered by the violent winds of the blizzard.
In the winds of whites and blues, a large dark metal base with organised lights soon came up into view. It had 2 sort of pillars holding the protruding base, most likely having 2 others supporting pillars on the other end. The rhythmic frequencies stretched below the ice, meaning that it is likely an underground base. There are many boxed items packed near the supposed front of the base, like materials to build.
\Time to do the most repetitive thing I always do, observing. For now I have to find a way to enter the base, at least without being noticed.
I mean I sense an enormous mass beneath the ice so it might be fun… heh—I should focus first\
People in winter coats and black pants and boots came and went, some were bringing these things in and out, other tiny figures holding guns watching the surroundings. After a few moments, a plane carrying cargo landed on a pad. Many of the tiny figures came out of the base to the plane which had opened, they took out the load and started dropping them near the entrance. After everything was taken out, the plane closed and lifted off, flying back out, most likely to gather more items.
Taking the chance I quickly pull my energy inwards, suppressing it to imitate a human. Then I minimize strong reflections by slightly redirecting incoming electromagnetic radiation. Which after I slightly alter the paths of incoming and outgoing photons, essentially causing an optical distortion for nearby cameras.
[Readers, think of heat haze/mirage, when hot air rises and mixes with the cooler air, it acts like a moving, shifting lens that distorts your vision, like on a now normal sunny day]
After, I sneak in and hide between the items, redistributing escaping thermal radiation to hide my more than normal heat.
The personnel (they are humans up close) take the items through and into the storage. Once no other sound is heard and the humans have left, I jump out and return everything to how it looked before (humans have a keen eye for things that seem even a little off) and leave the storage room. Taking quick glances all around before making my way through the hall.
\1. Find an empty room with a computer. 2. Find out what needs improvement in this world. 3. Help it
Ugh, goodness. Everything is so bright, I shouldn't stay here for long, especially as maintaining everything takes a bit out of me, already getting a headache\
[She is sensitive and has heightened senses , especially in the hybrid form she is in. But also maintaining the human body temperature and other things take up a lot because she is already constantly maintaining her body so she doesn’t die]
I held my breath unconsciously while walking around, mainly focusing on keeping me to ‘human’ level, it takes quite the control in the hybrid form to do so, better to be human but alas. After passing a few empty rooms without my desired computer which does not need a password or is already unlocked, I turned the corner and found a bright rectangular light from a distant dark room. The doors here do at times creak open so it was a lucky gamble that I did not get it, nor get caught.
The desk contained scattered documents but I turned my attention towards the screen. I opened a fresh desktop and started with the basic questions. Using the poor person’s account to get what I need.
>Current year: 2018.
>Location: Antarctica.
>Facility: Outpost 32.
>Organization: Monarch.
From there, one question became twenty. Human history to the geopolitical state of the world then to environmental conditions, the San Francisco incident, and lastly the Titans themselves. The titans are very interesting and quite cool. The last thing I searched for was the specific titan in this outpost.
I stayed on the files about the Titan longer than I intended.
There wasn't much. The creature here is called Monster Zero. It’s measurements. Ice depth. Biological estimates. A ridiculous amount of incomplete speculation for something they had apparently built an entire outpost around. I skimmed through another file about its possible capabilities before stopping.
Something felt wrong.
My hand remained over the mouse.
At first I thought it was the Titan itself. It was difficult not to notice something that large when I was practically sitting above it. Even buried beneath layers of ice, its mass disturbed the space around it enough for me to feel the difference when I focused. But this wasn't its mass.
I closed my eyes.
The electrical activity of the outpost immediately became irritatingly obvious. Current through the walls. Computers. Heating. Radios. People moving elsewhere in the facility. Beneath all of that was the enormous, mostly dormant presence trapped in the ice.
And around that presence was something else. It was faint. Strange. Directional.
My eyes opened. \What…?\
I turned slightly in my chair, although looking around in this room obviously wasn't going to help.
Whatever I was sensing didn't seem contained within the outpost. It didn't even feel contained within the Titan.
Something stretched away from it. Up.
Far beyond the ice. Beyond the storm. Beyond anything nearby. Toward space.
I couldn't tell where it ended. I wasn't even sure what I was feeling yet. Trying to follow it was like running my fingers along several nearly invisible threads and realizing they continued long after I could no longer see them.
\Chains\
That was the closest comparison my brain gave me.
Not literal ones. Nothing physical wrapped around the creature. But something about the connection felt restrictive. Attached. Deliberate.
I looked back at the Titan's file. Then toward the wall, as if several metres of metal, rock and Antarctic ice weren't between me and it.
\Guess food can wait\
I leaned closer to the computer and opened another file. I was staying a little longer.