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c r y o s l e e p (Noun.)

a deep sleep where the body is preserved at a very cold temperature

The world spun around a young girl on the verge of tears. Her surroundings were masked by thick clouds that were the same color as the suns setting on the horizon. Had the child's mother not disappeared from her grasp, she would stop to admire the eerie glow. The bright array of yellows and oranges, which were her favorite color. Instead, her round doe eyes strained to make out a figure. Any figure at all.

Someone tapped her face several times, waking her from what she thought was going to be an endless slumber. When she first heard of this mode of preservation, she was told that the sleep would feel like it only lasted seconds. To Elain, though, she felt like she could run a mile with this pent up energy. This wasn't a second that flashed away. It was time that she was constantly able to feel her stiff muscles and it was a time that she was stuck with memory after memory. She wasn't happy with the experience, but mostly because she was lied to about it. Her honey colored eyes opened for the first time in six years to see one of the scientists checking her vitals on a window-like clipboard. Sometimes Elain would take the time to admire how far technology has really come. She tended to forget, since she was born into one of the poorer sides of the economy. Sadly, her eyesight was poor and she couldn't take in the true beauty of the station and its mechanical handiwork yet. They must have made it to the new planet that she is meant to study, otherwise she wouldn't have been up and out of her temporary coffin.

She was given her circular glasses again soon after the thought left her mind, which thankfully made the blurriness fade away. They had them sitting aside to collect dust, but her shirt wasn't the correct fabric to clean it without scratching the lenses. She would have to clean them once she got settled with the cloth that she had definitely put somewhere into her bags. Her straight black hair floated around her face, waiting for the rest of her body to be free from the straps that held her to the uncomfortable white bed. Of course the one thing Head Quarters decided to drop the budget on would be the beds they were stuck on for years. The scientist had been able to secure a position as lead biologist on the newly found planet, Miea, at the site 27-43. A place, that the few that discovered the site from above, named the Mushroom Forest.

Elain had her thoughts interrupted by the nurse as she instructed Elain to go to the waiting bay to be dropped to her location and that was where her luggage awaited her. The biologist followed the instructions perfectly. For the cryo-sleep, all riders were placed into a black long-sleeve along with cargo pants and some combat boots to match. Not like she was ever to fight anything on the planet, though. She was only there to observe and report back to Head Quarters. If it came down to aggressive natives, they were to preserve what they had and book it to keep from interfering more with the planet's natural ecosystem. The biologist did not openly agree with Head Quarter's rule, but she understood how detrimental it could be to add a new species to an already packed environment. She doubted that humanity's first time around on Meia would be with them sat at the top of the food chain. They would need to fight for that spot, like any other invasive species. She hoped that wasn't going to end up being the case.

Elain had just gotten to her belongings and took a seat before she was interrupted once more. "Dr. Mavka!" Her head swiveled to the strange boy who called her name. He must have only been around eighteen to twenty years of age, while she was late into her twenty-eighth year. The boy had curly brown hair that was a thick mess atop his head and blue eyes that reminded her of the planet Neptune from humanity's original solar system. "I am Milo Zephyr, it's nice to meet you! I was tasked with assisting you in your assessment of site 27-43." He seemed to be seeking approval from her as he stuck out his hand for her to shake. He must have just gotten out of schooling and this was his type of internship. She could just imagine the type of essay he would have to turn in to get the position. She could still remember the one she had to make when she actually applied for the job.

The woman pressed her glasses closer to her face, letting the technology analyze him as it would any other living creature. It gave her the basics, but would say more if she had put separate programs into it. These basics included gender, species, age, health status, approximate weight, height, and the glasses showed off his skeletal structure as well over his figure. All of which disappeared in the blink of an eye. She smiled back, reaching out to take his hand for only a split second. Elain was never a big fan of human contact. "Nice to meet you, Milo. Go ahead and call me Elain, since I don't care much for titles. You'll have the misfortune of dealing with me for these few months of your contract." He lips parted as he decided on a reply, but they were approached by a military personnel before he could come up with anything. The woman with a doctorate knew why he initially used her formal title. Many female scientists had problems with getting the recognition that they deserve, and she was one of them. She simply decided that if she was going to be stuck with this boy for months on end, they might as well be on a first name basis.

The man in the military uniform informed them both that they were arriving at their destination and asked them to follow him. She picked up her duffle bag and backpack, following after the man. They were put into two pods that were to be shipped to the floor. The pods were small and compact with a thick glass shield that allowed them to get their bearings before they were even on the floor. The straps to keep them in reminded her of the old seatbelts of cars. A transportation method that was no longer used back on Earth. The pods allowed them to slowly get accustomed to the new thickness and humidity in the air as they slowly descended to the surface of Meia. The pods ran on a magnet system, the magnet at the top slowly lost its strength to fit how low the pod needed to be. Then, when there were no passengers, it was easily swooped up and they would be on their way again. The pod created a puff of smoke, which looked similar to a small pebble being dropped on to the ocean floor.

The new planet was everything that she had imagined it would be. Of course she was given the few photos that they were able to capture, but that was nothing compared to standing on the mucky soil in her own flesh. Now she was able to remember why it was named the Mushroom Forest. Shrooms, most taller than the trees on planet Earth, filled the open areas. It was a damp place with a lilac fog keeping the planet's two suns out of view. The purple color possible coming from the mushrooms themselves The mushrooms were of different shapes and sizes, but they all had bright bioluminescent colors decorating the dark tops. The ground where the mushrooms didn't grow was filled with puddles that reflected the bright colors perfectly. The air was very heavy and thick when she breathed it in, but that was something she would have to get used to through time. Stone bridges wrap around everything, looking like tentacles with the blue bioluminescent moss creating dripping rings on the bottom of each.

The only thing that looked out of place was the lab set in the middle of this untouched universe of site 27-43. Grabbing her things, she set to get ready first. Basically ignoring her new assistant. It wasn't meant to be rude in any way, though she doubted that the boy took it that way. The biologist was much too excited with finding out more about the place that she would be calling home for at least a year or so. There was something inspiring about being the first to step foot into uncharted waters. That and their names would be written in history as the first to claim the land.

When they got into the laboratory, it was in a messy state and looked as though it was rummaged through before they got there. Elain assured Milo, when she saw his distressed expression, that it was just a rough landing on the placer's end. It wasn't hard to get everything in order in this small, portable laboratory. Most of the space was taken up by equipment to study and report their findings even when it was clean. The rest of the space held two bunk beds and another door that led to a bathroom. Once she was done with getting the place to look homey it was nearing night, but she continued to get one of her computers set up and online. She wanted to be ready for the next day, seeing as there was so much to do and so little time while she was still in this body.

"Oh!" She spun around on her chair to grab the attention of Milo. He was sat relaxing on the top bunk with a paper book in hand, but nearly jumped out of his skin when the abnormally quiet woman yelped loudly. It was hard to come by any of the paper copies of books anymore. They had a lot of deforestation back on earth and, now, the only reason trees were to be cut down would be absolute necessity. She grinned when he relaxed again, "Get some rest. We'll be taking a walk through the forest-muck tomorrow. I don't want to waste any time that could be put to good use." He saluted with a grin of his own, before getting ready for bed almost immediately. She had to appreciate that commitment, because even she would have at least finished the chapter she was on.

Elain went until two in the morning preparing things, so she barely got six hours of sleep, but she felt like she had been sleeping for one hundred years. She woke up Milo while he was still on the top bunk, then got her own things ready to go. She had several beakers and jars to put samples, utensils to acquire said samples, a brand new journal to write her notes, and she made sure to have something to take pictures of what they will experience. Her glasses gave her that ability to take images and was basically a portable phone with many of the same features. Milo volunteered to hold the backpack that contained the supplies, so she didn't have to lug it around everywhere.

"Let's go, let's go!" Elain pushed them both outside the laboratory, ready to explore their new surroundings. The pair made it out of sight of their home, before she actually began to start taking notes and started scribbling sketches. She didn't want their home to be a reason for any sort of difference in the land. It was called taking a control group. If she wanted to see the damages that their landing had done, then she would use that space as a sort of experimental group. That would have to be later, after they had sufficient data to actually see any of the change.

The mushroom trees' bases were a leathery and wavy texture. The atmosphere around each seemed to hum lively and she made sure that Milo felt it as well before it was written down. Her own biases were not to get in the way of her data. "I wish we could inspect the tops, but it will be fine. I'll just have to find a way up whenever I can. We still have everything on ground zero that needs to be taken care of first. Take a clean sample, will you please?" She tapped the base twice, then moved to the smallest sight of movement that she saw.

Maybe twenty feet from where she left her assistant, she was in the presence of her first creature. It was a long creature and, at first glance, reminded her of the centipede. It was twice her height in length and had several segmented body parts. Unlike the centipede, it had a little amount of legs. Four large, crab-like legs stretched out from what Elain would call the head and were helping move it along. Slow, lazy strokes that seemed to be difficult for the creature. The head had seven bright blue eyes that resembled the bioluminescence around them. It may have been eight in the beginning, because of the lack of symmetry and the crease where the eighth eye should have been. Down the body segments were bright blue patches of the exoskeleton to represent eyes.

Her hand skimmed it's mid section, since there weren't any legs that could end up swinging out at her, in awe at the rocky texture. It was most definitely a an ambusher. Perhaps with the same hunting style of the Moray Eel. Quite possibly, it has grown too large for its den and was seeking a better fit? She began writing everything down almost as soon as she noticed them. Never anything that wasn't observable. Watching as her glasses brightly outline the alien. No. She was the alien. It was but a native creature of the place she was staying in. It was odd not to think of un-Earthy creatures as aliens, but it was something that she was going to have to get it straight.

When Milo was back at her side, he seemed just as taken aback by this large creature. If she laid down ten of herself in a connected line, she still wouldn't be the same length of the beast. "What do you suppose, Dr. Mavka? Carnivorous or not?" If he had seen the large mandibles and sharp fangs, she would be disappointed in him. Either way she answered him, writing down all that she could as it crawled away from them. "Should we take a sample of it's exoskeleton! Hold on, let me get the knife."

"Scalpel," she corrected and stood from her spot crouched beside it. She used to call it a knife too in her training days, but now it was her turn as the instructor to correct his vocabulary. "And no. Let's not. He won't be the only thing out there and he is going to need the shell. Come on, at some point we'll get a piece sometime through more... Ethical means." She began their adventure again, climbing obstacles and walking along the stone bridges. There weren't any bigger creatures than the centipede look-alike, but she made sure to document and take samples of each plant they had come across. Milo did most of the sample taking and she stuck to the writing about all that she could find from her first analysis.

It was only when they were coming back to the lab when Milo brought up a topic unrelated to the environment around them. "Uhm, Dr. Mavka?" Her bright eyes turned back to him, slightly annoyed that he continued to use her formal name. She would have to talk to him about it when they got home, but simply let him continue on for now. "Do you feel anything watching us right now?" Her brows furrowed and she looked around for anything that may have gone unnoticed by her already sharp eyes.

"No, but I'll trust your judgment. If anything we haven't noticed is watching us, it has to be from the mushroom tops... Or maybe from the cavern systems that I was told about in the site description. Probably trying to decide whether we are an easy prey or not. We can't do anything about it, except to hurry back to their home." She passed the still boy while headed straight to the lab, still in a leisure stroll as to not show her rising panic.