Empyrean Iris Story Collection

Fear

Fear..... I think it would be safe to say that it is the one universal emotion across the galaxy. For most of us, fear is a means to an end: a simple mode of survival, but for humans..... Well fear is something more. Fo us fear comes in situations where we might die, and that's it. The only thing we fear is the loss of life before our time is up.

Humanity..... Humanity fears implication.

Sure humans experience fear in life or death situations, but sometimes they don't . Humans will jump from planes, play with fire, and swim deep under the crushing weight of water well over three to four times the pressure of their own gravity. They will tie ropes to their ankles and then jump off of high places.

I don't think I have ever seen a human that was truly afraid, or at least not overtly.... Not until today anyway.

Sure humans fear death, but they fear implications more. Life or death situations are hardly an issue when you have your own imagination to fear. Humans are a strange species that can leap from the sky for a thrill, but alone in the darkness and safety of their own homes, they conjure up things to fear in the dark. THey see shadows out of the corners of their eyes and reflections in mirrors at their backs.

They fear the implication of things that are unseen.

Believe me, the human mind is a horror house or personal torture.

Just watch their movies, and I promise you that some of the scariest ones to humans, do not involve natural disaster, life or death, or even dangerous killers, but they do involve the unexplainable, the uncontrollable. Those things that hide unseen in the dark and infect the mind like an insidious disease.

Man does not fear life or death, he fears his own mind and what might hide in it's dark recesses.

***

"Get everything locked up, we do not want to be out here after dark." The Commander ordered, pushing through a thick stand of deep purple foliage, and out into a large-circular clearing where three of their shuttles stood surrounded by that day's camping supplies, and a group of waiting marines.

They stood as the second team of marines trudged their way from the bushes covered in dirt, slime, and sweat from their day's work.

"Break it all down and get it back inside." The commander ordered.

Krill, who had been waiting in camp with the marines floated over to absently eye the marines as if for scratches scrapes and bruises. Sunny was the last to break through the trees hauling her bulk over a mossy stone and onto the strange purple moss of the clearing. She snorted a leaf from her face, "Why in such a hurry, Commander, afraid of the dark." Her voice was playful, but the expression he shot her was serious.

She stopped

"No, not the dark, but what might be hiding in it." He began locking their food away into the climate-controlled lock boxes, "Plus, the last group of colonizers that tried to settle on this place ran screaming after one night. THe UNSC wants to know what's up. The report had something to do with a 'mimic" Now I'm ot sure what that means, the civilians were to shaken up to talk, but they seemed adamant that it was important not to go outside after dark, and I am not in the habit of ignoring warnings."

Sunny nodded a tiny bit apprehensive. Whatever could have made a human run screaming was not something she particularly wanted to deal with.

Krill was as skeptical as ever, "Probably just some strange planetary creature, no big deal. They probably saw it, assumed it was some sort of folk monster and worked themselves up enough to run away."