THE SWARM: STAY
PRELUDE.
Five days have passed since you, The First, woke on the strange and barren planet of Kharas. Four days since the pods housing you exploded when tampered with, and Three since the strange Trilobite-like sand crabs began hesitantly crawling their way into and around the boneyard. At first there was only a few brave specimens to be found, keeping mostly to the shadows and scuttling this way and that. Now, however, at least a hundred of them can be found in and around the boneyard in various placed, commonly grouped together in batches of two or three, sometimes even four.
Notably they do not interact much with one another despite their groups and are much more interested in scouting out their surroundings for fibrous materials. On the odd chance that they manage to obtain any scraps they will begin to wander back towards the tracks your
counterparts began following earlier. Odd, isn't it?
As the softer morning sun overhead slowly begins to heat up with the encroaching afternoon more of the Trilobites begin to fill the area. Only unlike their predecessors these ones do not wander around aimlessly, and instead beeline their way to any Coral stalks that remain in the area. They bury into the sand beneath them to avoid their harsh shells and attack the roots until they topple and collapse under their own weight. Once this happens they practically swarm, working to segment it into pieces with their mandibles. When the Coral's shell cracks the Trilobites pry all vegetable matter from within and begin dragging it into the desert.
And that's not all: these new Trilobites seem
much braver and more interested in you than their predecessors. They will openly wander up to characters and gnaw uselessly at their ankles or feet, chittering and chattering. If enough of them happen to get together around an individual they will form a tiny ankle-gnawing mob intent on clambering all over you.
As the daily eclipse nears their numbers will begin to grow even further. Odd tremors can be felt beneath the ground, even in spite of all the sand, but characters won't get much of a chance to look into the matter before their wrist communicators begin to emit that same strange static from the mist.
...Only there's none to be seen in
any direction whatsoever.
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Clark finds himself thinking about the movies. It's been a while since he's watched them. But Vestara mentions them like they were real. And perhaps to her, they were. So he mutes his surprise as he gives her question due consideration. ]
No. And it doesn't surprise me that you haven't heard of them. They're all gone now.
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I'm sorry to hear it.
[ She draws on her own feelings of loneliness to put honest sympathy into the words. After the last few years, she knows a fair bit about being on one's own. ]
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It was a long time ago. I'm the only one left.
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... and you've been in hiding since then? [ she guesses. ]
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You've seen me at work. Do you think I need to hide?
[ And if he was on Krypton, he would have been normal. No powers, no hidden strengths. ]
Krypton wasn't attacked or targeted. They had planetary issues that led to their destruction.
As for me, I prefer not to broadcast my status. That's all.
[ A moot point on Earth though. ]
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I just met you. I don't have any idea what you need to do.
[ She lifts a finger. ]
And no matter how strong you are, someone still stuck you in that pod.
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They stuck all of us in pods and suits. Whoever they are.
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But it's more impressive that they did it to you.
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Does anyone remember how they got taken?
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Which would you prefer?
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[ Both imply an almost omnipotent level of meddling. Clark has a few guesses as to how he was so easily taken. But the rest of them seemed open for questioning. ]
Did you pick up anything? Some of us heard messages.
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Nothing since we arrived.
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I had two. And they started to make sense.
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No. I think something was activated remotely. Or it may not be us. We picked up the transmissions but they might not have anything to do with us.
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[ Clark can't confirm or deny it. ]
We have too little to go on right now. We have to take care of ourselves before we solve any mysteries.
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We can't stay here. We can't hold them off forever if they keep swarming.
[ No need to specify who "they" are with all those dead trilobite bodies around. ]