Let me know honestly what you guys think, as it might be the foundation for a future space odyssey RPG. Please don't copy it or use it without my permission. Thanks

The Lava Lillies

Of all the many alien species my crew and I have encountered, undoubtedly the most fascinating would be those which we nicknamed the Lava Lillies. These, mind you, were no ordinary flora, but an intelligent race with a complex life cycle and social structure. After studying them for over a year, we had only a rudimentary understanding of them.

First contact was made shortly after our arrival on X-18. We were studying the geography of an oddly shaped shield volcano, which more closely resembled a pet food dish than any volcano we had seen thus far. It appeared that several layers of the upper crust in the center had simply been scraped away, and we would have to ascend it to find out just how deep it went.

And then we saw it. In the middle of this boiling lake of lava stood what could be described as nothing other than a giant tree, easily over a hundred feet tall. It had great purple leaves which swayed in the wind, and bore great silver fruits, each roughly the size of a human head, that glowed in the ultraviolet under the light of the setting twin suns. The bark, if it could even be called that, was the same slivery color as the fruits. at this time, we had barely noticed the other plant life in the area, which other than being unusually large for a planet of X-18's gravity seemed nothing significant.

Sanders suggested that we might take some samples of the leaves and fruit if we could, to have them analyzed. after all any natural, living thing that could withstand the intense heat of the volcano, much less thrive within it, was a wonder to behold, and more importantly, be understood. It took us only an hour, by the ship's standard time of course, but we finally had a bot set up, ready to collect the samples. But the first sun had already set, and the second was rapidly descending, so we had very little light to see by. Many of us had switched to our night vision, but Langley had had another idea. The bot was just about to close it's clawed arm around a silver fruit when she shouted, "Wait! STOP! It's alive! It's a creature! You'll hurt it!"

"What are you talking about?" one of the others asked her.

"Switch to heat vision and see for yourself!" Langley had always been a bit too sensitive, but we had to admit, she was usually right about stuff like this, so we complied.

What we saw made every one of our jaws drop. Not only was the heat from the lava pool circulating throughout the tree, but it was pumping rythmically. And there, higher up in the trunk, just before the first branches split off...

"Oh my God... It's beating... The lava is acting like blood... This thing has a beating heart... but how-"

"That's right!" Langley broke in, a touch of pride evident in her voice, "And you know what that means. It means that it also has a brain, and who knows how many organs besides. Which also means that it's a conscious being, flora that's also fauna, if you will.

Just then, Rogue tapped me on the shoulder. "Excuse me sir, but as truly fascinating as all this is, sir, we have a bigger problem at the moment..." I slowly turned to see what it was that Rogue was pointing at.

It was then, when the last light of day had fallen, that the lillies awoke.

(to be continued...)

Awesome.. Yes I would make a game about this if I where you.

I liked it. Kinda short, but, still good.

The game won't be entirely based on this story, although if I do end up making it, it will probably have the lava lillies in it. I do intend to make some changes in the game, though. For instance, I have already decided that the main character, the captain, will be a woman in the game. There are various reasons, but the number one is that there are not enough RPGs out there with female main characters.

I'm not finished posting the story though, I'm just giving my hands a break. Note the "(to be continued...)".

It was one of the scarriest sights these eyes have ever beheld. A thousand roots came up from out of the ground and began walking with deliberate slowness towards us. Up until then I had not noticed just how tall they were, many of them upwards of eight feet high. Great violet petals opened in the dark to reveal exposed, glowing brains. Sets of eyes, which had before been hidden behind lids disguised as thorns while closed, now opened to reveal great staring yellow orbs. Watching all this take place before me, I remember feeling like my mind was slipping away from me towards a vast abyss.

Which was when I realized that these creatures, whatever they were, were standing between us and our ship. But not standing, no, much worse. They were now running with great speed towards us, and if they did not stop soon, my crew and I would be sent flying into the volcano by the sheer force of them. But there was nothing we could do about it but stand there, wide-eyed. I had lost the will to think, to move, to breathe. At last I gained control of myself enough to close my eyes and brace for the impact.

But nothing happened. I opened my eyes. They had stopped in their tracks, the wall of them not but a few yards in front of us. A different flower, larger, with blue-green petals and emerald eyes stepped forward, and glared at us all in turn one after the other. Its eyes finally came to rest on myself. I had unconscously stepped forward from the others. It knew that I was the leader, and so it spoke.

Most, probably all of us have read stories about aliens with extrasensory perception and psycic abilities, but no ammount of reading could have possibly prepared us for that first, unnerving word, not so much spoken to your mind as brought forward out of your own subconscious for inspection, like a stage-frighted actor forced shivvering onto the stage for all to see.

Who?

I struggled to keep my composure as I looked into it's vast and knowing eyes. They were communicating with us, so they must not want to harm us, yet. Well, I thought to myself, the show must go on. "I am Jordan Asher, captain of the Starship Emberwing, and this is my crew." I looked around for what seemed the first time in ages, and realized that by the looks on their faces, my companions had heard the voice as well. I cleared my throat and continued. "We are here to collect data on your planet, and we mean you no harm."

It bowed in an almost human fashion, placing one of its great roots before it, with one of its large and strangely muscular leaves touching what might have been its own heart, and replied I am one with no name, a daughter of the Great Tree, and these, she gestured widely with two other leaves, indicating the other plants, are my people.

(I would write more of the story, but it might spoil the suprise for the game, if and when I get around to making it. Tell me what you think.)

It seems quite interesting, Aeldra. I too think that you should try to make a game out of all this.

This story is really interesting.