A life was in the balance, Jennifer’s life and it was imperative for me to find out what was being so heavily protected. Something was living in that building but I needed to know more about the people who built it. Who were the residents of Dimidium, and who, specifically, were the ones who lived here.
The Atlas Obscura wasn’t a lot of help. It said the planet had become too hot and when the temperature of the planet was estimated at 1000 degrees Centigrade and tidally locked it seems those who lived on the “light” side decided to flee. The orbit had changed over many centuries and the heat had risen. Those on the Dark side had dug down and lived underground – those on the Light side could not dig deep enough and fled the planet. They settled on Kepler 22-b , green and a rich gaseous atmosphere. The air so thick fish could swim in it. This is where they settled and built this edifice.
They weren’t alone. They feared the others on the planet and tried to protect themselves. I still didn’t know why. I suppose that the only way was to go inside the structure itself and confront whatever lived there. Time was running out , and Jennifer was about to become the Blue Plate special .
It didn’t take long to get back to the area, and ,thankfully, Jennifer was still in one piece. That would be points in my favor. I scanned the pyrosome looking for a weak point. I knew it was basically a colony of clones, and not really a worm, so after examining the area where Jennifer was trapped , I noticed a small tear, maybe Jennifer had fought enough to cause a rip and the it hadn’t regenerated yet.
I reached my hand inside, the jelly like substance stinging at my gloves, fumbling to reach for Jennifer. Her hand was swollen and I heard a low murmur of pain as I pulled her closer to the rip.
“Jennifer, can you hear me ?” She moved and moaned at the sound of my voice.
“Just get me out of here, my legs are going numb”.
I pulled harder and the gap tore wider. One more pull and she was free and on top of me. I rolled her off as she wasn’t moving well. Kind of an exaggeration, she was barely crawling. I threw her over my shoulder and made my way back toward the ship.
This wasn’t over, I wanted to know what needed protection on this planet.