FURTHER ADVENTURES IN NO MAN'S SKY
My spaceship sped over the landscape of an alien world, passing over canyons and sparse clumps of tree-like vegetation.
I found a place to land and surveyed my surroundings. Purple grass covered the floor, giving way to a golden hue in the distance, those far-off hills almost lost in the haze of morning. Somewhere out there in this landscape were clues to the identity of whoever had occupied that downed ship I had found, crashed and abandoned. I needed to get to a vantage point where I could use a signal booster to point me in the right direction, so set off for one of the higher hills.
Onward I trekked, that strange purple grass soft beneath my feet and the skies above blazing orange. An inhabitant of this world came my way. Unusually for an animal of its size, it had six legs. I wondered if that was common to creatures on this world, or if this animal were some kind of mutant. Upon its head it proudly wore two horns, and I didn't doubt that it would be more than capable of defending itself if it needed to. But I did not bother it, and it did not bother me. Instead it just trotted purposefully past, leaving me to get on with my journey.
Eventually I made it to a spot where I thought my signal booster stood a fair chance of working. Two more of those six-legged horned creatures watched as if mildly interested as I set up the booster and activated it. A beam of laser light shone up into the orange sky and after a few minutes it had located a location from which the unmistakable signature of technology was coming from.
Guided by my sensors, I walked over the hills and plains of this world. The few trees that grew here threw increasingly long shadows as the sun slowly sank behind the hills.
While I was watching the spectacle of the sun setting behind those hills, I sensed the presence of something large approaching. I hid myself behind a tree, nervous about what might be approaching. When I saw what it was, I almost dared not breathe for fear of giving myself away. There was an animal close by that looked like a tyrannosaur! Huge teeth jutted out from its lower jaw, and large ears twitched as though tuned to the slightest noise. It raised its head and sniffed at the ear. My God, had it caught my scent? Then, with a surprising amount of speed it took off, and I pitied whatever was the target of its attention.
Night was beginning to fall by the time I was approaching the location I was heading for. I could see that it was a tall structure, set on a plateau.
I approached the structure, craning my neck to take in those platforms as they towered over me. It must have taken quite some time, effort and coordination to erect a platform such as this, and I wondered what had become of the people who had undertaken such work. A staircase wound its way up to the platforms, and I ascended them toward the top.
At the top I beheld a circular platform and approached it. As I got closer a dazzling array of orange lights made the platform glow almost as bright as the sun, and I was thankful for a visor that could save me from being dazzled. As the glow reduced to more comfortable levels I could make out a figure. It was a man-sized alien, clad in armour and standing tall and proud, two of the blackest eyes I have ever seen gazing forth, deep with intelligence. I cautiously reached out my hand, but instead of touching the alien my fingertips just passed through what was just a hologram. For a few moments I stood there, contemplating that projection and wondering: Was this Artemis?
The adventure continued...
Thanks to Hello Games for the images