The Station, Part 15 cont.

Are you still receiving? Hope so. I just stepped off something and fell. I’m not hurt. Suit’s fine. I’m just startled. Fell down a small slope. There’s a tree. Well, it looks like a tree. Why is there a tree here? Where’s Frontier? She should be just ahead. Now there’s tree in my way. I don’t understand. It has a trunk, and it’s sprouting some kind of feathery branch-like growths from the top. The truck is odd. Not like wood. More like skin. Wonder what it feels like—whoa! Holy shit! As soon as I touched it, the whole thing shot straight into the ground at lighting speed! That was incredible. My heart’s going a mile a minute. There are more of them. It’s like a grove. Where Frontier should be there’s a bunch of these things. I can see the closest one’s branches swaying very slowly. These branches are opening and closing in a grasping-like fashion. I can see something flitting in and out of the light around the branches. Looks like some kind of insects. They look kike flattened centipedes, translucent and about 15 centimeters long. They’re not really flying, more like drifting, as if they were at the mercy of a current. I guess the air in here isn’t absolutely still like I thought. The tree just caught one of those insect things. Some of the little leaves; tendrils really, are curling around the floating thing. I’m beginning to think that these trees aren’t really trees. They must have been underground when I first got here and popped out after I had left. Maybe my presence disturbed them. But that doesn’t explain the lack of holes in the floor when I was here last, or this slope. There was definitely no slope before. There’s enough space between the non-trees to move through without touching them. I’m going through now.

More non-trees and no sign of Frontier. I’m trying not to lose control. The station has to be here. I only went down the one tunnel. No possibility of making any wrong turns. This is the right chamber. I know it. I’m traveling in a more or less straight direction towards the middle of the chamber. The non-trees are taller here, and somehow look older, more weathered somehow. There are more floating thing sin the air as well. Those centipede-like creatures and more shapes are appearing now. They are look-alikes to moths, jellyfish, and shapes that have no analogue to earth forms that I can think of. All of them are ghostly, transparent and float about aimlessly it appears. Enough sightseeing. Where the hell is Frontier?

Jesus, fuck! Jesus fucking Christ! Where the fuck is she? She’s supposed to be right here Right here! Just more and more tree-things! Where the hell could entire space station go? Goddamn it! Tell me! Somebody tell why I’m being fucked with!

No, I’m not going to lose it. I’m going to calm down and rationalize this. I went down the tunnel, found the glowing mushroom valley and turned right around to find this. This has to be the right chamber. I just changed while I was away. But how? And how could the Frontier be moved? There’s no sign she was ever here. No debris, no disturbances in the ground. It’s like she was lifted out of the crevasse by giant hands and taken to who knows where. Speaking of which, where is the crevasse? Should be here too. It’s just flat, lichen covered ground and the non-trees.

I’m going to search this entire chamber now. Make one search thorough search then I’m off. Look for any sign of where Frontier might have gone. I only have so much air, food and water. If she’s not in here, I might be in some serious trouble. Can’t waste time walking in circles. I’ll have to try another tunnel. The last one ended in more or less a dead for me. Unless I learn how to fly that chamber is off limits. There’s a lot of choices. Dozens in fact. More if I, again, learned how to fly. I’ll pick one at random, leave a beacon. I’m so glad I brought these little wonders with me. I have about twenty of them. That should be more than enough. It’s not like I have chalk to draw arrows with. Although that would be very useful right about now.

Nothing. No station. She’s just gone. I’m going into a new tunnel then. Wish me luck.