Chapter 4045  Crystalline

WHOOSH…

The turbulence and the friction dialed down as they slowed their descent with a gentle pedaling motion, their feet pressing against the near-solid air beneath their feet as they slowly made their way to the surface of the planet.

The view of the planet was exotically beautiful in its own way; the reddish brown of the surface of the planet contrasted sharply with the yellow-green sky of the exoplanet, creating a sense of the unknown within them. It truly hammered in the point that they were in another world entirely.

Eventually, they arrived upon the surface of the planet, setting foot upon its rocky surface.

THUD

Their heavy landing made the ground quiver a little, causing dust to lift into the air. The gravity of the planet was higher than that of Gaia's, but it was barely noticeable to the likes of Martial Sages.

"We've arrived," Sage Gurren's tone was serious and excited. "Let's commence the ground survey."

They activated the surveillance system on their spacesuits that began recording their environment with not just visible light, but also other wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. This allowed the ship's command to gain access to direct surveillance of the planet on the ground.

The Martial Sages had extraordinary senses too, allowing them to see with more than just the five senses. They could sense heat, scan their environments with sound, and see other forms of radiation that the human eye could never hope to detect. They immediately noticed the anomalies.

"It's shifting…" one of the younger Martial Sages muttered. "Everything is constantly shifting."

Sage Gurren's eyes lit up with fascination. The young Martial Sage was right. Aside from the visible light, the other forms of radiation that emerged from their environment displayed anomalous volatility. Heat was constantly shifting; matter itself appeared to be constantly shifting. There was constant activity.

Sage Gurren kneeled to the ground, reaching for some of the dust and gravel on the ground before him. He identified the elements as iron, silicon, and magnesium. Exactly what one would have expected based on the spectrography of the planet.

"Extract samples." The voice of his handler emerged in his voice, transmitted from the Pioneer I omni-ship. "Will do," Sage Gurren remarked as he plucked out a long cylindrical object from the utility belt in his exosuit, planting it into the ground, pressing a button to activate the device.

VMMM

The ground began shaking a little as the machine vigorously dug into the ground, extracting soil, dirt, and bedrock across several meters. RUMBLE

The ground began shaking more.

Even more than the vibrations that the sediment extractor normally caused.

RUMBLE!

Sage Gurren's eyes widened. "Jump!"

WHOOSH

They took to the air just moments before the ground itself came undone, cracking and fragmenting into pieces as a large number of strange but similar objects emerged from within the depths of the round.

They had legs like pillars, made up of a crystalline structure that was translucent, containing tints of brown and blue. The four legs were to the side of what seemed to be the main body, a chunk of crystals with glowing rubies at the very front, resembling eyes, while the back of their bodies contained jagged crystalline ends. They contained claw-like structures emerging from either side of the front of their crystalline bodies.

"What the hell?" one Martial Sage exclaimed with shock as they skywalked into the air, away from the strange crystalline crab-like structure. "Are those… alive? They're made up of rocks!"

"Silicon crystals," Sage Gurren's eyes widened. "Their bodies are made up of silicon. They're alive in an entirely different sense from us! Sara, are you capturing this?!"

"The data is automatically being transmitted to the Analytics Department," his handler told him with a more subdued tone of voice. "I have received a command to put you through to the director of the department who wishes to coordinate your surveillance mission."

BZZZT

The line of communication shifted with an electronic buzz as an excited voice emerged next. "Sage Gurren! I am Director Derel of the Analytics Department. I am communicating with you directly to first congratulate you on discovering advanced extra-terrestrial life on Serun Planera I! I am also speaking with you to coordinate your surveillance mission. I will be overriding normal protocols, so follow my direction. We must document these amazing creatures without harming them or their environment."

Sage Gurren nodded with enthusiasm. He was happy to be speaking with someone who clearly felt the same way as him. When he got back from his mission to Pioneer I, he would have to sit down and have a drink with this Derel fellow.

"For now, maintain your distance and try to isolate yourselves with your breathing techniques," the director informed them. "Make sure that there is minimal contamination. And absolutely do not retaliate against the crystal striders, no matter what!"

"Crystal striders?" the woman on the team muttered. "That's the name we have given them for now. Just make sure that they are untouched and unharmed."

Unfortunately, that wasn't easy to guarantee.

The crystal striders seemed to kneel to the ground, coiling their limbs, vibrating with what seemed like a lot of energy.

Before launching themselves high into the sky towards the sky-walking Martial Sages at exceptionally high speeds despite the heavy gravity of the planet.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

The striders flew in the direction of the Martial Sages, their pincers threatening to crush the creatures. Sage Gurren narrowed his eyes as he activated his breathing techniques, creating a domain of powerful currents that would gently redirect the incoming crystalline striders that launched themselves at the three Martial Sages.

Not a single one of them was hurt by the gesture.

"Yes, just like that! Don't hurt them!" Director Derel insisted. "As long as you keep redirecting them like that, we'll be able to keep gathering more data! Keep on going like this for the next twenty-four hours!"

The younger Martial Sages did a double-take at that. "Twenty-four hours! Have you lost your goddamn mind, old man?! We don't have that much stamina!"

"Limit yourself to the Martial Heart," Sage Gurren declared. "You don't need your Martial Minds for these creatures. We can keep going on for a week if we don't activate our Martial Minds!"

"A week?! Fuck that!"

"Nobody wants to do this for a week!"

"If you want to stay here for a week, you can, but I'm returning at the standard end of the mission!"