NationStates Jolt Archive

Dyer Mycoria was a magnificent city, at least so far as the shroomba who lived there were concerned. A subterranean dwelling based within a highly isolated island, it may have lacked some of the impressive spires and elaborate lights that some of the other cities in the NS world maintained, but to the shroomba it was home and they thought it was incredible. Endless passageways, multiple nurseries, and habitations that seemed to span for miles across the enormous caverns served the five million shroomba who lived there very well. Lighting was provided, where necessary, by entirely natural photoluminescent animals which shared their habitat, and all of the water and nutrients they required could be found within the soil.

But despite their contentment, they were curious beings much like any other, and they sought to advance their knowledge and explore the world beyond Dyer Mycoria, should such a thing even exist. It had taken many years for their scholars to determine where this 'outside world' may reside, with the conventional theory being that it must be above them due to the heavy weight that was always pressing down upon the cavern ceilings, causing the occasional cave-in when expansion work was carried out. Roots from surface-dwelling plants were another indicator, with most believing that they must leave somewhere. Once their government finally consented to an exploration expedition, it took several months for an isolated passageway to be dug upwards, towards whatever may reside above.

Mephughus was one of the lucky ones. He was to be among the first shroomba in history to step beyond the safety of Dyer Mycoria and into the beyond. He had heard many tales of a world without ceilings, but such things were just fairy stories so far as he was concerned.

"Mephughus, it is now a clear path," said Perogus in his calm voice. Wisdom had been granted to him over the seasons that had passed, and although Mephughus respected all life, he had come to respect Perogus more than most.

"To cover such a short distance is such a large step," Mephughus sighed. "It is a nice duty for me, I think, but a most heavy one."

"We have waited so long for our beliefs to be realised," Perogus said. "Haste is better than hesitation. Go forth into the passageway."

Mephughus nodded solemnly. His stumpy legs patted forwards across the recently-disturbed soil as he made his way up the passageway. He had been the overseer for this project, having given up his most respectable position in the primary nursery to further his peoples' knowledge of the world that surrounded them. And now he found himself nervous, as all of the hope and work put into the project culminated in this very moment, and it all lay on his 'shoulders', such as they were.

He found the passageway narrowing as he went, and he was forced to duck and walk cap-first to prevent himself getting caught on the soil and hanging roots that surrounded him. Finally he reached the spot where the diggers expected to break through to the outside world, and he picked up one of the pickaxes that lay on the floor with his slender, barky fingers and began to pick at the remaining soil. For five minutes he hacked at it slowly but surely, and as he progressed he found the soil was loose and he sensed that it was easier to push forwards. Finally his tiny eyes were blinded as the remaining soil fell away, and a light brighter than anything he had ever seen before in his lifetime burst into the tunnel.

Mephughus stumbled backwards with the shock, as a gust of chilly air followed the light that had blinded him, and he tried to shield his face with his short arm. His naive eyes took some time to cope with the new light, and even after the pain subsided he had to cover his face as he desperately tried to take a peak beyond the hole that lay ahead. And he was amazed by what he saw.

Green. Everywhere. The floor was covered in it, glowing radiantly in the bright light that dominated. As his vision cleared up further he saw that it seemed to go on forever, with the ceiling he was used to giving way to an endless expanse of blue. The sky! Perched high above was a yellow ball, brighter than any of the glowplants in Dyer Mycoria put together. Fluttering overhead, in the moving air, were some manner of winged creatures that seemed to coast on air as easily as if it were the ground, and tall wooden structures tipped with green clouds towered above his diminutive status. In the distance, seemingly miles away, an enormous body of water seemed to stretch right across the horizon, certainly bigger than any of the ponds, streams or springs in Dyer Mycoria.

The shroomba behind him took a similar amount of time to adapt to the light, but were just as speechless as Mephughus when they saw the vista presented to them. This was more than the shroomba could ever have hoped to discover, for they had found the heavens.

***

Months and months of study followed. They managed to waddle their way around the entire island, drawing crude maps and examining all of the flora and fauna they could see. It was the 'ocean' which interested them most, though. Now that they had discovered the heavens, they wished to see how far they extended. Their best scholars and metalworkers came to the surface to study ways of getting a team of shroomba into the water and away safely. Their expertise in internal combustion engines were to power a seafaring craft that would help them in this goal. Using propellers, they were able to float and propel a metal craft around one of the bays nearest to the surface access point, and they were ready to find out what lay beyond the horizon.

A team, led by their finest diplomat, Mephughus himself, were assembled aboard the craft, dubbed the 'Shroomba Mariner 1', and it set sail, sending radio signals all the while as they tried to find out if any other shroomba - or perhaps even some other intelligent form of life - resided in the heavens. A friendship message.

Construction Convoy 32, 50 kilometers from Naval Port 53

Naval Port 53... a name that sounded like it was picked straight from a computer. As far as Kerosov Menersovich Katorov knew, it had been picked straight from a computer. Naval Port 53 was not a large island, but it was determined to be of a sufficient size to set-up a naval base there.

The island itself had been discovered by sattelite, and, due to its strategic location near Red Tidean trade partners, was ear marked for base construction.

Katorov was feeling a little woozy. He was from the countryside and not used to sailing, for the first couple of days he had actually been violently ill. Katorov was the assigned overseer for the naval construction project. A member of the Red Tidean Interior Ministry, his job was to manage the whole project... with the 'advise' of a State Naval Forces Commodore and a Commissar from the Intelligence Commissariat, of course.

It was thus decided that a helicopter be arranged to take Katorov, and his staff, on an airborne tour of the island.

The TC-2B Heavy Transport Helicopter lifted into the air. As this was a construction project, the helicopter was not armed, as the need was deemed unnessecary. There was no evidence of any native people on the island.

With a whine, the helicopter lifted off the transport ship and flew away towards the island.

"There it is..." The pilot said, as the island came into view, "In all its beauty..."

Katarov scanned the island without any sense of regret that his job was to destroy this pristine environment.

Yelling into his radio link with the pilot over the roar of the helicopters turbine, he said: "Take us over for a closer look! And fly lower! There should be a cove around here!"

He didn't know that the island had new inhabitants.

By now the hole that had been dug out from beneath the soil had been consolidated into a proper shaft, reinforced by wooden supports and boasting a simple wooden elevator to make the trip up and down a little easier, and quicker. Outside a series of small huts had been constructed, where Shroomba tenders took the various plant samples they had collected back for cataloguing before being sent down into Dyer Mycoria for proper analysis. A couple of nearby Shroomba carried peculiarly-shaped 'boomsticks', as they called them, which were simplistic bolt-action rifles, so as to protect the others from any dangerous animals that may lurk in the heavens. Although peaceful by nature and isolated, Shroomba were not particularly physically strong and had to find ways of fending off the ferocious predators that preyed on them from time to time, and so the bow and arrow ultimately gave way to the boomstick.

Shroomba tenders milled around outside the huts, placing various plant samples on the tables they had laid out for that purpose. The daunting forests, like something out of a fairy tale with their over-sized mushrooms, gargantuan trees and enormous leaves in the underbrush so strong that one could probably walk across them, provided them with much material to study, possibly in the hopes of finding medicines or simply nice food to eat. It hadn't taken them long to toddle off into the forests collecting snips of the various plants, with some of the leaves they had collected being so big that numerous Shroomba had to carry them back and fold them up to take them down into Dyer Mycoria, and they were quite pleased with how much they had accomplished in only a few months.

It was the animals that perplexed them the most. One expedition had escaped a near-miss when a predator not unlike a small dinosaur - perhaps similar to a deinonychus - attacked them. It seemed to give up the chase quite quickly, perhaps after it realised that the Shroomba were fungal lifeforms, but it was still unnerving for them. Apart from anything else they were unfamiliar with 'fleshy' lifeforms, with the exception of insects and grubs, and they weren't sure how to approach studying them. So far as birds were concerned, they couldn't even catch the darned things if they wanted to, being as they were high up in the sky and nesting in the treetops.

For now the expedition had a more immediate concern. A horrific noise could be heard somewhere, and as the party members glanced around in the sky, squinting with their beady eyes as the sun blinded them, they saw the cause. Some kind of whirling metal bird was approaching, making a bizarre and loud sound as its blades rotated rapidly through the air. The nursery guards, accustomed to the rather uneventful task of fending off any predators trying to burrow their way into Dyer Mycoria, panicked and began to evacuate the Shroomba from their huts and plonked them into the rickety lift. When it was full, the lift descended below the ground and the remaining Shroomba immediately dove in after it, disappearing into the darkness.

200 Kilometres from Island, On Board NAFS Reliant Fuji-E Class Survey Cruiser.

Massive Propellers Churned as they strove to push their load of steel at a respectable 19 Knots, The Standard Cruising speed once completing survey run. The crew, having been at sea for two months, were extremely happy to be heading back to FordHaaven Naval base, Norsikia, to meet their wives and Girlfriends. However, that mood was dashed as the Bridge crew located a Unbefore-mapped island in international waters, and changed course to investigate. Physicists had yet to explain how huge masses of land could pop out out of nowhere without adversely affecting earth, so most countires retained dedicated exploration Fleets.

Up on deck, A Motor launch was being prepared, carrying 20 Explorers and 10 NAF soldiers lead by an army Lieutenant. Unknown to any of them, the Motor Launch would arrive at the Unknown island, marked as Island #45335, as almost precisely the same time as the Tidean Helo.

"What was that?" The Commodore said, as the helicopter whisked over the landscape.

"What was what?" Katarov said sharply.

"Pilot," The Commodore ordered, "Turn us around..."

"Yes sir." The pilot said.

"What is going-"

"I think I saw a house." The Commodore said.

"A house? Rediculous... no-one lives here." The Commissar-Colonel objected.

"Pilot! STOP!" The Commodore said, and the helicopter seemed banked and began to hover in midair. The Commodore pointed, and the Commissar-Colonel, as well as Katarov and the rest of his staff looked.

Sure enough, not just one, but a group of huts could be seen through the trees. A group of huts and a... crude mining shaft?

After a moments pause, Katarov said: "I see no flag. PILOT!"

"Sir?" Was the pilots response.

"Is there anywhere you can land us?"

"Does the good Interior Minister have a weapon? You do remember there are supposed to be wild animals out there..."

There was a moments pause... then the Interior Minister looked at the Navy Commodore.

"Here." The Commodore said, handing over a M-1 6.5mm handgun. "It's my extra."

"Good, you and Commissar-Colonel are coming with me." Katarov said.

The Commissar began to object(which he had the authority to do), but was beaten by the Commodore, "We will."

"Good, PILOT! I have a weapon for personal protection. Now, is there a place to set down?"

The Pilot said, "Da... this camp itself looks like a pretty good clearing. I am bringing us down."

The helicopter banked and flew towards the camp. Landing wheels extended from underneat as the chopper began to descend towards the ground. It touched down, the side-passenger doors swung open, and the three men climbed out.

With a increasing roar, the helicopter took off again.

"I have 50 minutes of fuel..." The pilot declared over Katarov's headset, "I will wait thirty, call for another chopper, and then leave. Unless you want us to pick you up."

"Da... I see." Katarov said. Then he removed his headset and nodded to the Commissar and the Commodore, "Looks abandoned..." He noted, "And small..." He added, noting just how low to the ground the huts were. "Let's go investigate that shaft..."

OOC: Pulling out due to RL matters...