It's another short one.
Life keeps on interrupting.

==

Jeff was still trying to understand what had happened to him. Suit and Royal had set up a perimeter together, as good as they could, utilising every ounce of surveillance skills they could extract from their databases. But, as Royal pointed out.

“The best early warning system we have, seems to be you Jeff?”

Those words didn’t leave Jeff feeling very protected. As they had discussed it there was one thing though, one thing that they all agreed on. The ringlet, it had to be the ringlet that had saved him. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t get it to respond any further. Suit had suggested a variety of meditative techniques, all to help Jeff in his efforts, but none seemed to work.

Then there was this nagging feeling of constantly needing to be on guard, as if there was eyes and ears everywhere, watching his every move. Jeff grudgingly admitted to himself that relaxing most probably was the last thing on his agenda, for now.

“I’m sorry Suit.”

“I understand Jeff. Maybe you should try to get some rest?”

“I don’t think I can rest Suit. How’s Janelle?”

“Still sleeping, but Royal expect her to wake any minute now.”

“Can’t we get out of here?” Being inside the cave had started to play tricks on his mind. Every time he looked out he expected to see that weird cloud descending on him and the suits.

“Well, we could try to find another place Jeff. But we have found no portal.”

“I don’t know, as long as we’re here that, thing, have us pinned down.” Jeff said.

“You’re right.” Came Royals voice.

“We should move, we need to explore other options.”

“Yeah, we’re sitting ducks here.”

“Ducks?”

“Eh, like a animal that can’t move Suit, sorry, it’s just an expression.”

“A unmoving animal? How did they survive?”

“They didn’t.”

Now Suit had made Jeff starting to wonder too. A lot of the expressions he knew made no sense, being so ancient that he wasn't sure what a duck had been. Not that he would admit it to the suits though, still, they had their purpose. In this case to get them moving, which indeed made him feel better. Royal, still expanding his net of surveillance drones, wanted them to sit tight for a while more though.

“There’s no logic to us rushing away. Let me see what the drones report first.”

As they sat waiting Jeff thought he could hear Janelle staring to wake up. Royal had opened a channel to her so that Jeff too could be there as she first opened her eyes.

“But don’t expect her to remember everything.” He had warned Jeff

“Take it slow, and let her assimilate what has happened in her own good time.”

“Royal, where are we, and where is Jeff?” followed a second later by. “Awh God, look at me. What have you done Royal? My hair looks a mess!”

Yep, she was definitely waking up.
=

Planet found it harder than he had expected to pass the barrier separating the crust from the inner space. In fact he couldn’t do it at all at first. It wasn’t until he found an already weakened spot, some sort of escape hatch maybe, in its shield that he finally penetrated the shell.

It worked like an iris as he approached it, opening itself as a flower to the sun, but barely wide enough for him to pass through in his new suit. Yes, he had a suit, he had studied the suits the humans had with them with great interest, and adapted their technology to his needs. His was slightly different though, and as he planned to do this alone he had decided to not make it sentient. He wanted to be free of disturbances for once. This was his alone to experience, a pleasure cruise of sorts, and a fearless exploration into the biological realm.

But it had some other unique abilities, engineered from his extensive databases. As he started to fall he put one to the test, it being a seeker, working not on radiation but on emanations. The kind of emanations that the humans called Kirlian fields, the energy fields generated by living entities. But whereas theirs was crude constructions, using simple EM fields, his worked on a totally different level.

As he watched it starting to search he relaxed slightly, ordering his suit to create a meal. Somehow he found this eating to be quite a novelty. And as he ate he couldn’t help wondering what more pleasures this body had in store for him, maybe Janelle would help him with finding out? Yes, he was most certain that she would. After all, wasn't she his to command?
=