I've always been the type of person to have an idea in mind then make some half-assed attempt to bring it to reality. I don't know the reasoning behind it, but when I was younger I never really learned to put effort into anything cause I was told by essentially everyone that I never had to- I was already good at something. In a way it was true, there are many many things I'm innately good at. Understanding is probably my biggest strength, at least when it's not something that pertains to me. One of my peers essentially told me I'm good at my current job (car sales) because it's like a video game to me. Now, I'm sure he meant that as a backhanded compliment in a way, but I may also be coming to that conclusion because my hobby of playing video games has always been portrayed as a bad thing.
In a lot of ways, it is a bad hobby. During my childhood I spent a majority of my time playing video games rather than socializing or even learning how to talk to other people. One of the biggest tells for me is that fact that I side-eye throughout my daily life a ton. I'm not sure where I learned it from, but it's much more natural for me to merely move my eyes rather than my head. I don't think it's normal, at least from what I've learned throughout my life. It's just a habit I can't seem to shake, as I've been doing it for so long, but it's a mannerism that I hold in a personally abnormal regard. So in many ways, despite the fact I'm good at socializing, I'm still a tad socially awkward. That being said, I absolutely despise small talk, and that's a big reason why I believe it's difficult for me to form long-standing relationships with people.
While I do plan on having a bit of a blog alongside the story I want to tell here I'm only typing this out because I owe to myself to explain why I haven't written this story out at all. In fact, I haven't thought about it in a few weeks now. Whereas when I first created this blog, it's all I could think about and talk about with essentially everyone. The biggest obstacle I've run into is that I want the story to be grounded in reality. Not nessecarily non-fiction, but at least if the conditions were correct that it could be possible. I've nothing against it, but at least for this story I didn't want it to possess a backbone that's solely impossible. I don't want this story to have too many pieces that involve something being solely possible because- it is. I love sci-fi. Fantasy is nice too, although I have bit of a bias against it. I just envisioned this story being a bit different. Either way, I'm getting a bit too off topic for my taste.
One of the big reasons it's taken me so long to get this off the ground is because I noticed my plan becoming a little too much like Journey to The Center of The Earth. So I kind of had to start from scratch.
If anybody would ever like to know why and how I'm a 30 year old burnout loser, let me know and I'll be glad to tell.
chapter? 1:
I try not to fall asleep when we journey beyond, but it's proving difficult this time. The road feels bumpier than usual. As if something heavier than the conveyors that we have used it recently. Ren said I was imaginging things. Perhaps he's right, it's been millenia since any Gargans have come close to any paths we utilize. So you think it'd be just us, right? Something just feels off, but I'll leave it alone. We've got enough scrubber components to get us farther away than I've personally been from the Anomaly. Although I never thought to ask about our Hydrogen supplies.
"Let's make a quick stop here."
Ren interrupted my thought just before pulling off to the east side of the road.
The roads aren't constructed with anything unnatural, it's more of a path carved out by the wheels of the conveyors. It happens rather quickly due to the nature of them, but they've been here for longer than I think any of us truly know. There's tons of roads, but hardly anybody deviates too far from them. It's extremely dangerous, because despite how long we've been around exploration has been a bit of limited venture. The Anomaly exists on it's own, with no other instances that we've been able to travel far enough to discover. Nobody even knows how we came to exist. Just one day, we were.
As far as we know the Anomaly is the only place on this earth that we can exist. Our bodies aren't well equipped to handle the amount of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere outside of the Anomaly. Our existence began in the middle of the Anomaly, andExpansion took a few generations. Once they discovered that we couldn't venture out of the "boundary" we've been working on ways to go further. Hydrogen chemical reactions power the conveyors, though the power produced through them still only allow for limited movement far out. Batteries within the machines allow for the scrubbers to work much longer, so explorations that are further out are still very viable.
The history of my species is vast, and to be quite honest not very well kept. Our elder generations simply state that there have been numerous extinction level events throughout our existence, and that's why much of it is unrecorded. That's always been a bit hard for a lot of us to believe however, and most of us- through exploration- still try to uncover the true history. I, like Ren, still do our best. Granted, he and I have ventured much further than others. We try to adjust to the carbon dioxide discrepancies by force, but we can't withstand it for very long. It's exactly what you think: suffocating. It's only through shortbursts in order to extend our reserves that we try to face it head on.
"It won't be long, let's just face the atmo' eh?" Ren stated as he opened the door, as if I had a choice at that point. It was too late, but I already had the same thing in mind.
"What are we stopping for exactly? There's nothing special about this spot, but I don't recall ever stopping here before."
"Well, most of the ride up to this point I've been considering what you said. The road does feel different, and I don't know if you noticed yet, but this... clearing, is different."
He's right, I don't see anything particularly special about this point. Most of this spot is full of broken Horsetails, but that could be attributed to previous extruders having fun on the way home. A few flatenned Mirabells, and-
"I see it now, Ren. There's no way anybody would've tried to do that with a conveyor."
A snapped set of Bilobs, grand trees with leaves shaped as fans, almost as if a gargan forced it's way through them.
"Right, but a Gargan wouldn't come out this close to the Anomaly. We should take a look and see if there are any indications as to why. Could be just the fun you needed, to wake you up of course." The end of Ren's statement was marred with a misstep. Tal, my best friend, has yet to return from an exploration she took on her own.
It happens from time to time. Not returning is something we're taught from a young age to be ready for, but with Tal it doesn't sit right with me. I wanted to go, but couldn't. For reasons I hadn't shared with Ren. Those around me know I've taken it particularly hard, but it's best to act as if you don't notice. They also know I don't want to seem weak.
"Let's grab our gear." I stated in a persuasive tone, as a I turned around towards the conveyor.
Ren began jogging off excitedly towards the opening in the snapped bilobs,
"We won't need it! We've been practicing enough, 'sides we won't go far. If it's what I think it is, it really isn't a good idea." He turned around as he spoke but kept up the jog.
I didn't care. I picked up the pace and got our scrubbers from the conveyor. I still planned on making this an exercise, but I didn't want to not have them but need them.
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I didn't intend to end it here, but I'm happy with the progress and wanted to share it. I welcome feedback greatly!
