[Gmdykfuiygh66476]

Wanderers In Time - Entry 8

After Grandfather, Matthew, Peter, and Clara made it inside...

"Okay, I propose someone patrol here. Peter, Clara, why don't you two wait here and watch the front entry."
"Will do, Grandfather."
"Matthew? You and I will go a few levels and look around."
"If you wish."
"Good luck." Clara wished Grandfather and Matthew.
"Thanks... we'll probably need it." Matthew replied, while rolling his eyes.

After about 3 minutes, Peter and Clara sat down, watching the raging thunderstorm outside. After getting bored with keeping guard, Peter asked Clara a question

"So, Clara, just to clear things up, are you his grand-daughter?" he asked
"No. He just calls himself that."
"So it's just a title? Where did he get it from?"
"I'm not sure myself. There's this exclusive group of individuals on Ros, called the Time Masters. There are very few of them, and they can, in theory, time travel as well as enter alternate realities."
"They aren't really time travellers?"
"Their idea of time traveling is using physical machines instead of their minds and souls. It's a way for them to cheat time and reality travel, considering that only one or two people among some one-hundred are actually able to do it 'correctly'"
"It's just for bragging rights than?"
"For most of them, yes. Grandfather, on the other hand, he tells me he has this ability and uses it fairly often."
"Then wouldn't the Machine be useless to him than?"
"You could say that. But I think he wanted people to travel with him instead of going alone."
"He could always have traveled alongside the Time Masters. Since he has this ability wouldn't they want to travel with him? Isn't he unique among them?"
"Oh, you would think! They despise him. Pure jealousy, it is. They tried as they might, but they simply couldn't do it. So, begrudgingly, they exiled him not only from the Time Masters but from Ros itself."
"So thats why you traveled with him."
"Pretty much. Well, he saved my life. When I began my wandering through time, I was doing it for him. You see, he told of his story of being despised by the Time Masters. And unlike the humans such as yourself from Earth, I kind of just believed it right off the bat. It didn't take much effort considering what he did for me."
"I don't mean to sound like a sour person, but he doesn't have a very good temperament."
"I wouldn't either if I was exiled from my planet because I possess a supernatural ability. It is frustrating, but try and have some patience with him."

Grandfather and Matthew were on Level 6 of the tower, exploring a complex labyrinth of cooridoors and chambers. The walls and ceilings are metallic like stainless steel, and the lighting was very bright and shone off of the steel walls. The floors were cement with a layer of thin and noisy corrugated steel on top, making their movement very obvious as they echoed down all of the passageways.


"So, Grandfather, why do you think the Machine was live? Why did you and Peter get shocked?" Matthew asked
"I don't know and I don't quite care right now. We'll figure that out when we find your human friends and get out of this place."
"Look, you can't just say that. Do you not care about the fact that we may not be able to survive out here without the Machine?"
"Each problem has a solution, and I wouldn't be saying that after you forced your way onto my Machine."
"Alright, fine, I'll admit it, a tiny portion of this problem is our fault. But you can't just dismiss our needs. What are we going to eat? Can we live here if necessary?"

As they continued down a passageway, a barrier similar to an automatic door except plated with corrugated steel closed behind them. As they were turned around, another door closed behind them, blocking them into the passage.

"Now this is what happens when we go looking for adventure." Matthew said, in a tone that made his frustration and distrust for Grandfather obvious.
"Yeah, now be quiet.. I hear -" Grandfather told him.
"Don't you tell me to -"
"There's something approaching, and I'm trying to hear it!"

The two listened to the distant sound. It was quiet and distant, but echoed throughout the numerous halls of the tower. A few moments later, another "automatic" door opened from the side walls, revealing yet another passageway. After telling Matthew to wait, Grandfather walked very quietly toward the end of the passage. It was short and narrow. He looked around both corners and didn't find anything. After confirming it was clear, he motioned for Matthew to quietly walk toward him. The same sound Matthew and Grandfather heard was also being heard on the level above them by Clara and Peter.

The two went to the second level. As they got up there, a door closed behind them in the same way that it did to Grandfather and Matthew. And after that, the one in front of them closed too. Clara began panicking as her and Peter ran down various hallways as doors closed behind and in front of them, eventually trapping them into a small space, terrifying Clara. Then, a side door opened, and the faint sound appeared again.

"I don't know how to describe this sound... its like a machine of sorts... speeding up and slowing down, then stopping." Peter said, quietly.

"Oh no, it's getting closer." Clara said, terrified
"Listen, calm down, calm down, okay?"
"It's coming!"
"SShhhh! Listen to me. Just stand here."

Peter then walked forward and Clara sank to the ground.

"Hello? If you're there, we do not come to cause harm to you or yours. Please, reveal yourselves." Peter shouted

At that instant, a hideous white robotic creature came around a corner, with a strange weapon-looking device pointed directly at Peter, as Clara let out a blood-curdling scream.

[Acko]

Nice to see it's back!

[brian51]

Comments-

Entry # 7-

continuation of excellent descriptions.
I especially really like how you have integrated the elements of weather into the story all along. Also still maintaining the high levels of suspense for the readers. your doing a nice job there also Josh.

Entry # 8

Outstanding character development and interactions. i really think that aspect has been right up there with one of the best elements of the story , since you have started this. perhaps along with descriptive ability.
This part also shows excellent creativity again with your unique concepts of time travel. This is all you and you alone .

Outstanding "Closer" also to this part of course !

I look forward more and more to each subsequent entry
keep going man !!

[Gmdykfuiygh66476]

Wanderers In Time - Entry 9
Back in the city, a group of five humans, or humanoid creatures at the very least, were standing around the Machine. They wore torn up clothing made of cotton and fabric, and clearly looked like they were the only remaining survivors after a great war. One of them was a tall, striking and handsome young man, the other was a beautiful young woman, while the remainder appeared to be middle aged men.

"What.. is it?" one of the men asked another.
"I don't know, but I suggest we go and find out."

One of the middle aged men, who's name was Elion, attempted to open the door, but discovered that it was locked. He than made the mistake of attempting to pick the lock, and also received electric shock.

"It's a defense mechanism, of course. The people who arrived in it must have set it in place when they left it."
"How do you know it was them and not the Thornax?"
"How could the Thornax carry such a huge thing away?"
"Perhaps they used the mechs. They must've enabled them to fly if that's the case."
"We're going to try to break in the door. Elion, are you alright?"
"I guess. But I'm still in pain." Elion replied.
"Then you wait here while we find something to break the door in with."

The other four started searching for anything which they could utilize to get into the Machine. They stood underneath a tall building, and a block of concrete about 2 feet wide and deep broke off of the top, right above them, and fell straight down. After hearing the concrete detatch itself, they managed to jump out of its way, and not even a split second later, it landed right where they were standing. They all looked up, and as soon as they did so, another black shadow figure was seen on top where the cement had broken. However, in the blink of an eye, it disappeared.

Setting aside speculation as to what or who unleashed the cement block on top of them, they immediately decided to use it as an implement to break the Machine's doors. It took three of them to manage to throw the extremely heavy concrete at the door, but it was a success. Inside the Machine was a horrifying sight - the entire control panel of the Machine was almost entirely destroyed! The source of the power to the door was being supplied by an exposed copper wire connected to the Machine's power source on one end and directly into the exposed lock on the other.

Back inside the tower...

"You will remain silent. Do not speak unless you are told to do so. If you attempt to escape, you will be killed. Both of you will walk side by side ahead of me, right now." the creature demanded. He had a deep and very monotonous but frightening robotic-sounding voice.

After a few moments, Clara, with her head hung, seeming as if she was about to cry, walked ahead of the creature. It looked very similar to a wasp, except with its body upright and didn't have legs, wings, or antennae. It also had a long, slender, and curved beak-like feature at the bottom of its head. It was smaller than a human, at approximately three feet tall, but flew as high as one. As Clara walked ahead, Peter stood silently, staring intently down a passageway in front of him.

The wasp-like cyborg repeated himself. "I said, RIGHT NOW!"

Peter took off running as fast as he could into the passageway. The creature shouted "Get him! Get him!", and four more of the bots came out of intersecting passages, blocking each possible exit as they drew near him with their strange weapons drawn. He reluctantly, with a disgusted facial expression walked toward Clara, until one of the bots shoved him forward with his beak. The original bot demanded once again that they begin moving. They escorted Peter and Clara down a narrow and dark passage and then into a side room, where Grandfather and Matthew were waiting.

"Oh, Clara, Peter! I'm so glad you're -"
"SILENCE! We wish to speak with the young man with the long, dark brown hair and blue coat right now!" The creature demanded.

Grandfather stood up and walked forward slowly as one of the bots escorted him away.

"Are you guys alright? I hope they haven't hurt you!" David asked, hurriedly.
"Well, not too much. Do any of you have a clue what those things are?" Clara asked.

"You are the most intelligent and advanced human being we have ever encountered. Why?" One of the creatures asked Grandfather.
"What do you mean, human being?"
"You are a human from the planet Earth among with your friends."
"No, I'm not. I don't know what you're talking about."
Then why do you look and act as a human being from Earth?"
"Who said I was a human? I'm a Rossian. Just because Rossians look like humans does not mean that they are in fact humans."
"I will assume the others are Rossian as well."
"No.. they're from Earth."
"Now tell me how you got here if you are from Ros and they are from Earth."
"Wait, this planet isn't Ros?"
"That's besides the point. Answer my question NOW!"
"It's the Machine..."
"Explain!"
"I don't think you'd understand if I told you what a TRSC was."
"You mean the device disguised as a strange type of a house?"
"Um.. yes."
"And what is a TRSC?"
"It's the abbreviation for Time, Reality, and Space Capsule."
"And you managed to find this.. TRSC?:
"Yes. And thanks to you, me and Peter... we were shocked."
"You are not lying to me, are you?"
"If you think I am, take a look at the effects it had on my hands!"

The creature looked at his hand, which was slightly swollen and had branching red lines trailing throughout it, which faded out in his wrist, as a result from the shock.

"So you were attempting to escape the Thornax. That is impossible to do and any attempt shall be faced with severe consequences."
"If you thought I wasn't trying..."

Then a voice similar to a Thornax voice could be clearly heard over an intercom system. "Urgent! Urgent! There are even more invaders in the Thornax Tower. They seemed to have found the Device. They got inside and discovered the damaged control room and the power source!"
"What.. did you do to my Machine?!" Grandfather shouted.
"Remain silent or you will face DEATH!"
"Deploy reinforcements! They are wandering in the Tower right now!"

to be continued...

[Acko]

As always, some quality writing from the cheese.

[Darth-Apple]

Very interesting twist in this update. Looking forward to more.

[Gmdykfuiygh66476]

Thank you, aco and DA.

Wanderers In Time - Entry 10
At that moment, the two thornax interrogating the Grandfather left him in the room alone. Blaring sirens began sounding all throughout the entire tower as Thornax moved throughout the tower to stop the intruders, the people who broke into the Machine. However, at ground level, the sirens were not heard and the building appeared entirely empty.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" one of the men asked another.
"I won't be satisfied until I know more about that ship." he replied.
"Ship? How do you know it's a ship?"
"Well, did you see all of the control panels and things? That obviously has to do something. That is some sort of vehicle, whether you like it or not. Now let's get moving."
He whispered to himself, "That crazy idiot.. he's not fit to lead us."
Then, the leader who started the expedition turned around, and pointed a pistol at the man.

The Grandfather scrambled to try to find a way out. The thornax approached the door, and it opened for them. This obviously didn't work for the Grandfather. He continued searching for any controls within the room which could operate the door, but to no avail.

Matthew asked, "Who are they going after?"
Emily told him, "Well, I'm in the dark as much as you are."
"How can those beings carry off the Machine anyways? They don't have the means of doing so."
"I wish I knew the answer to that question. All I remember was seeing something massive approaching behind me, and a second later, I blacked out. I don't remember anything else."
"Something.... massive?"

The leader of the men slowly walked forward with his pistol pointed straight forward toward him. Then, one of the women of the group came up behind the leader with a large chunk of cement which had fallen from the lobby ceiling, which she quietly raised up above the leader's head.

"So you're saying that you heard something, looked behind you, and there was a giant flying robotic creature behind you accompanied by thornax?"
"Um... I'm afraid so."
"Oh, Grandfather, WHY did he have to take us off Earth, he knew we were safe there..."
"More to the point, why did he kidnap us?"
"Now let's not be accusing people of things. Believe me, I tried to convince him otherwise."
"So he's not going to take us back."
"I think he will, but does it look like he can now?"

After those words, Matthew gave Clara an angry glare.

"So you think you'd make a better leader, huh?"
"I think I would, yes"

At that moment, the man jumped out of the way right as the leader fired his pistol. In that same moment, the woman hit the leader over the head with the cement block, causing him to fall to the ground.

Grandfather continued searching around the interrogation chamber for something he could use to open the door, but to no avail. However, within the drawer of an old desk, he found a strange small gadget half of the side of his hand, with a single large red button in the center. He pressed the button, and the device began beeping continuously, as if it was transmitting a signal.

"Look, Matthew, I'm just as afraid as you are. But what can we do?"
"Okay, I'm done discussing it. You won't listen."
"I'm sorry his behaviour had to be so irrational. But we will go back to Earth. Just believe that we will. He can't keep you forever like this, after all."
Matthew looked at Clara with a smile and told her, "I guess I'm just not the adventuring type like you are."
"Heh, well you sure look the type."
"How so?"
"Well, messy hair, you seem big and rugged... it looks as if you've done your share of adventuring too."
"I suppose you could say that. I took a lot of hiking trips up in the mountains back on Earth."
"Otherwise you probably wouldn't be here, right?"
"Well, yes." Matthew said with a chuckle. They both smiled and stared intently at each other, until they both realized that Emily and Peter were watching them and listening to their conversation.

"Are you okay? Do you need help?"

The man was unconscious. It seemed that he jumped too late.

"Is he alright?" Another one of the men asked.
"I don't know. He's entirely unconscious."

Just then, the leader attempted to struggle back to his feet. He shouted, "You fools!" He reached his pistol. "You utter FOOLS! You will regret this you little sons of..." And at that moment, the woman hit him over the head with the cement block once again. This time, he died.

The gadget the Grandfather had continued producing the beeping sound. As he moved toward the door, the beeping grew in strength, and then it slowly opened. "A magnet.", he told himself. After cautiously looking both directions and confirming that there were no thornax nearby, he carefully tip-toed down the passageway. Toward the end of that particular hall way, he saw the cell where the others were located. He began running toward the room, but six thornax came out of another passage, and surrounded him, with their weapons pointed.

"It's safe to say that I don't have the spirit of an adventurer either", said the tall, middle aged Peter, wearing a blue suit and a blue bow-tie.
"So, Peter, who are you, anyways? Perhaps we should get to know eachother at this opportunity." Emily suggested. She was a young blonde in her late teens.
"I was a desk jockey at the North Grove Police Department. That's a city at the base of Wolf Mountain.
"Me and Emily both go to school together. And as for you, Clara?" Matthew said.
"I'm afraid I can't relate to you fellows. I'm a Time Master from Ros. A long-time friend of the Grandfather. He took me with him on his adventures when he left the School of Time and Reality in the capital city of Dres."
"So... we have an alien among us!" Peter said cheerfully while chuckling. "So, we're all friends now.. in time."
"We definitely are." replied Clara.

Back in the hallway, the Grandfather was surrounded by thornax.
"Take him to the cells."
"I will arrange for his execution."
"No. He is to be interrogated first. Then he will be executed. Now, you human, follow me NOW!"
"I already said I wasn't a human, I'm a..."
"SILENCE! One more word and you will be destroyed. Now walk ahead of me now!"

[Darth-Apple]

"SILENCE! One more word and you will be destroyed. Now walk ahead of me now!"

I love that line.

Nice update, looking forward to more.

[brian51]

story comments-

Chapter # 9 -

This was the best chapter so far Josh !
I really enjoyed the descriptions of the creatures. You have also given there personalities as mean and ruthless which i like a lot. the reader is still kept on the edge of their seats, so your doing a great job with this so far, so your doing a great job.

Chapter # 10 -

This part had the most action ini t so far.
Almost non stop action that easily captured the reader's imagination and could hold their attention span.
Great writing skills and I hope it will continue soon Josh !

[Acko]

They finally come. As always, I'm all up ins your writing.

[Gmdykfuiygh66476]

Wanderers in Time - Entry 11

"I think it just burned the side of his head."
"But why's he in a deep coma?"
"I think it's shock."
"And what about Ruvater?"
"Dead."

Ruvater, the leader of the inhabitants of the planet, laid dead on the ground next to them, with a fracture in his skull.

Grandfather was escorted to another interrogation chamber. However, this time, he was laid on a table in the center of the room and was restrained to that table by his wrists and ankles. Shortly after, another thornax entered the room and began questioning him.

"So tell me, time master, why are you here?"
"Because you're keeping us here, that's why."
"The thornax are the supreme leader of Thalar. You will not question us."
"Thalar? And just what do you think you're doing here?"
"We will only explain if you cooperate with us."
"And just how do you think you're the supreme leader, eh? This planet is inhabited by the Thalarians, and has been for the past several thousand of years."
"We have killed the remainder of the Thalarians."
"Oh, no you haven't."
"You shall not question me."
"Shall not? Shall not? This universe is free last time I checked, I shall question you all I want."
"I will give you a final chance to cooperate with me."
"Ah, but what shall I expect in return?"
"If you cooperate you will be allowed to continue living."
"Ha ha ha ha! Continue living! And if I die, do you not think that I will return only to escape from this dreadful place? You have no idea of my powers. As it happens to be, I am THE Grandfather. And I say that I don't have to cooperate with anybody!"
"Take him! Take him!"
"Take me? Take me where, huh? And just what do you intend to do to me?"

At that moment, 3 other thornax entered the room. They released the restraints holding Grandfather to the bed, and escorted him away. The thornax who tried to interrogate him repeatedly told himself: "The thornax are the rulers of the world! The thornax are the rulers of the world!"

"I looked all over that door. I've not the tiniest idea just how this thing operates and how we can open it."
"Hmm..."
"What is it, Emily?"

She saw a security camera in the corner of the cell. She climbed up on top of the cement bed, and ripped the camera out of the wall.

"I just hope you didn't set off an alarm somehow by doing that."
"It's either that or have no chance of actually getting out of here."
"I might know how this door works."
"How?"
"Look at everything, it's covered with a layer of some metal. I think underneath it is a huge magnet. And that is what the thornax are - the floor somehow powers them. The tower itself is probably held together in a magnetic field, and so are the thornax themselves. So the attraction effect the floor has on this door is what's holding it shut."
"How would it open then?"
"The thornax must have the ability to create a sort of... disruption in the magnetic pull of the door. Have you noticed that it opens and closes very quickly? Something above is suspending the door upward, but the magnetic floor overpowers that suspension and pulls the door down."
"So how do we use that to our advantage?"
"It's simple, isn't it? We wait until a thornax opens the door, and we have to put something on the ground underneath the door to prevent the magnets from working. Either that or someone will have to hold it open."
"Hold it open? How much do you think that door weighs?"

Then, the door flew open, and a thornax entered some small articles of food wrapped up and a few small bowls of water on a tray. He demanded that they take the food and water. After hesitating for a few moments, David stepped forward and accepted the food and drink. The Thornax left, and as the door began closing, Matthew rushed over to hold the door open. He held it high enough to allow the others to crouch underneath it. He motioned for the others to exit. The door was very heavy, and as he began struggling to open it as the others ran underneath. After everyone left, he let the door close on his own, creating a loud crashing noise.

The thornax that gave them the food and water was still down the passageway. Hearing the sound of the heavy iron door crashing shut behind him, he stopped for a few moments as the group stood paralyzed. The thornax, instead of turning around, decided to continue moving.

Meanwhile, Grandfather was being lead into yet another room. This chamber, however, had very intricate machines on the ceiling and along the back wall, and had a convoluted control panel in the corner. It was dimly lit, and had a single small table in the center. Like everything else in the tower, it was made of metal, either iron or steel.

The thornax ordered Grandfather to lay on the table. They once again secured him to it, rendering him helpless.

"He shall be killed, and completely destroyed!" one of the thornax shouted.

An image came on a screen above the control panel. It displayed two larger thornaxes, slightly bigger than a person, standing side by side between an even larger robotic creature which moved on the ground. The robot was a very crude square chunk of steel painted yellow, with a small control panel on its front, and a camera-looking device attached to the front.

"No. The Master Thornax has ordered his conversion." the robot said over the screen.
"Very well." one of the thornax in the room replied.

The screen above the control panel went black. One of the thornax, the one who communicated with the yellow robot, approached the table that Grandfather was chained to.

"Your life will be spared." The thornax said.
"Is that so? Will you also be letting me return to my Machine?"
"No."
"Than what am I doing here?"
"You will be converted!"

The thornax moved back over to the control panel and shouted "begin the process now!" He pressed a few buttons on the panel, and then a device above the table turned on and began making a loud, high-pitched buzzing noise. The thornax pressed another button on the panel, and the hideous, grim, dreadful machine making the noise began lowering toward him.

[Acko]

Those thornaxes... quite the interesting creature

[brian51]

Josh ,
great creativity and imagination with this chapter !
I especially enjoyed the part about how there doors operate.
Re: the magnets, magnetic fields, ECt.

In addition looking forward in the next chapter, to seeing the final outcome
of the Thorax conversion process.

brian

[Gmdykfuiygh66476]

Aco - thank you
brian - little bit of a spoiler, but the final outcome will be in Entry 13.

Wanderers In Time - Entry 12

"Well, had it turned around -"
"Yes, that's no matter now. Let's go."

Matthew, David, Emily, Peter, and Clara quietly tiptoed down the corridor. The floor was bumpy, and made a creaking sound which echoed through the passageway. They stealthily looked around, crisscrossing passageways after checking for thornax.

At one point, they heard the distant sound of a thornax moving down a corridor. It was the sound like a commercial jet flying high in the air. It resonated through the corridors until it reached the group. Hearing the sound, they quickly jumped out the way and hid around a corner, undetected, until the thornax went by.
Eventually, they found their way to an elevator. They summoned it, and as it moved down to their floor, they began hearing the same sound that the thornax make when they are in flight, coming from inside the elevator. Quickly jumping out of the way a split second before the doors open, they went undetected this time as well as a thornax exited and began flying down another one of the corridors, part of the endless labyrinth of interconnected chambers and doorways.

The group hurried into the elevator and went up. The thornax, who had just exited, heard the elevator moving up.

The group got off on a floor a few levels higher. Once the elevator stopped, the thornax summoned it back down, and then went up to the same level which the group got off on. The thornax looked around, but didn't see anyone, so it decided to patrol a passage to the left - the same one which the group had taken.

In the conversion chamber, the deathly machine lowered even further toward the Grandfather. Then, at the push of a button over at the control panel, it emitted a brilliant blue ray pointed directly at Grandfather. After screaming in intense pain for a few moments, he fell unconscious, and the beam disappeared.

Inside the main control room, the robot and the two larger thornax were talking with an even larger one, this one roughly twice the size of a human. As the massive thornax spoke, his deep and loud voice resonated throughout the room.

"How long will it take for the highly intelligent earthling to be converted?"
"He is unconscious now. He will be fully converted in about four hours."
"It is very important that this procedure does not fail. We cannot lose him - he is the most intelligent being to undergo conversion - he will be of great use to us."
"There is still a high risk of death."
"How high?"
"50%"
"No. He shall not cease to live. If he does, the thornax carrying out the operation will be punished."

The robot stood in disbelief, as there was no way to prevent death during conversion - it was a very dangerous procedure."

"Well, what are you waiting around for? The service bot will make it clear to them that they shall die if we lose this... human."

The robot that moved on the ground moved over to the scanner and operated a few switches before the image of two thornax hovering right next to the scanner, with the Grandfather lying unconscious in the background, came on the screen.

"The Master insists that this human must not die. If he is lost, you will both face severe punishment."
"What kind of punishment?" One of the thornax in the conversion chamber asked.
"Death."
"But we cannot prevent his death, especially since he is a human."
"The Master's orders. Do not fail him."

The service robot turned the screen off.

"It has been made clear." The robot said to the Master.
"Good. I trust they will not fail me."

Back in the lobby, the group of remaining Thalarians was preparing to explore the labyrinth. Elion, one of the four remainign Thalarians, assumed leadership and directed the group into the elevator. They went up to the same floor that the escaped prisoners Matthew, David, Emily, Peter and Clara were on. As soon as they disembarked from the elevator, they were met with six thornax blocking each possible exit.

"You will go ahead of us. Remain silent." one of the thornax demanded.

Without saying a word, the four walked ahead of the group of thornax. While this was happening, another patrol thornax opened the door of the cell that Matthew, David, Emily, Peter and Clara were in to bring them food, only to find that they were missing. After remaining still for a few moments, the thornax flew away.

The Thalarians were being led down several passages. They walked quickly in a straight line with their heads up, unafraid of the thornax and what might happen to them. Nearby, Matthew, David, Emily, Peter and Clara were continuing to explore, looking for the Grandfather. They began to hear brisk footsteps and the in-flight sound of the thornax, prompting them to hide until they passed by. One of the Thalarians briefly saw Matthew jump out of the way of the corridor, something the thornax didn't see.

"What was that?" the Thalarian asked, startled.
"BE SILENT! Now keep moving."

The four continued to walk up until they encountered the escaped prisoners. Three of the Thalarians briefly made eye contact with the humans, while Elion looked intently at them with a certain expression, as if to indicate that they would be rescued.

"What are you looking at? MOVE!" The thornax demanded. All four of the Thalarians continued walking forward.

"Who were they?" David asked.
"They're Thalarians." Clara replied. "I can tell, because I've seen them before."
"They look just like humans. Are you sure?" Matthew insisted.
"Well, not 100% positive, no. But the last time we were here, Grandfather noted the magnetic field. Not only is this entire tower held together by Thalar's magnetic field, but the entire planet as well. Something that Earth definitely does not have."
"So we're not on Earth anymore?" Emily asked, discouraged.
"Absolutely not." Clara replied.
"Doesn't matter. We must find Grandfather." Matthew insisted.

Without even checking the corridor, the group walked around the corridor. Having heard their conversation, a patrol thornax was hovering in the center of the corridor with its weapons pointed at them.

[Darth-Apple]

I love the "thelarians" making an appearance.

I love the descriptiveness of the writing. It's very well done. Looking forward to the next update.

[brian51]

I love the "thelarians" making an appearance.

I love the descriptiveness of the writing. It's very well done. Looking forward to the next update.

Yes I agree with those comments..
But man these Thorax are scary mean creatures !
Great description on those, Josh

Also continued great creativity in this " conversion process",
loved that aspect also. !

[Darth-Apple]

Agreed. I've genuinely been impressed with what's been posted so far. A significant amount of content is coming together quite nicely.

[Acko]

Moved back into public view, the new open archive.