A Smouldering Evolution - Part 1

 

 

As the OGs and Femz traversed the desolate planet looking for something, for anything. Trixie and Curt find themselves distracted. Trixie by something glinting through the black dirt and Curt because, well because all he can focus on when Trixie is about is Trixie. Curt finds her very distracting... 

 

 

Curt was wondering why Trixie had stopped, just looking and pondering. That is until Trixie starts to dig through the black dirt. None of the Goonz are happy about the Deadz planet. Yet here Trixie is, getting her handz dirty. Curt starts to protest, Trixie hurriedly shushes him, telling Curt to come here and help her dig. Curt approaches apprehensively. Then he sees why Trixie is excited. 

 

 

Trixie is holding the end of a bone, but it was unlike any bone either of them had ever seen. And the Femz had been studying the anatomy of Goonz for as long as they can remember. Trixie would have known if it was a Goonz bone. That was enough for Curt, he wanted the bone out, he knew it would please Trixie. 

 

 

Little did he know, these bonez were all Trixie would be able to think about for the foreseeable future. Eventually they coax the first bone out. As it comes loose from the dirt, they see more glimmers of white in the dark earth. Could this be a whole skeletal structure? 

 

 

Trixie decides they need supply crates, some scanning equipment and as many excavation tools as they can get hold of. Sending Curt to get them from the ship, she carries on digging. They spend the rest of their time on the dark and desolate planet, scanning and digging for more bonez. By the time the Goonz returned... with what looked like walking Skeletons! Trixie and Curt had gathered their own collection of inanimate bonez. 

 

 

Back on the ship, Trixie spends all of her free time trying to piece together the skeletal structures. She has no idea how many. A fair few of the bonez fit in multiple places confusing the picture further. She’s beginning to see some patterns though, these creatures were all underdeveloped. Especially the one that she swears was a Goon.

 

 

Trixie couldn’t quite piece it together. She is about to go and search for Curt when a Dead Goon appears in her lab. She’s aware that Deadz just appear without warning, so she continues looking at her work. As she’s staring at the puzzle before her, the Dead picks up a bone and puts it in what looks like its correct place. Trixie motions the Dead to carry on. Before long they have a full skeleton that loosely resembles a Goon…
 

 

A Smouldering Evolution - Part 2 

 

 

Trixie was managing to keep Curt out of the way with little missions. She was finding things for him to do, she felt it was a necessary distraction for both of them. Curt’s interest in her was fascinating and intriguing. Before she could explore that (from a scientific perspective of course), she had to work out what these bonez were. 

 

 

The Dead is still there, sometimes. But even when he isn’t visible both Trixie and Curt feel a presence, almost like he is still there. More frustratingly the Dead only has odd moments when he is willing to offer insight. For some reason, he has never offered anything when Curt was there. 

 

 

The Goonderthal, Trixie liked that name, it feels like a good fit. It’s the only completed skeleton. The rest are still a bit of a mess. There are at least three different creatures, two of them that are similar to the Goonderthal but different at the same time. Trixie and the Dead are tantalisingly close with this, they both know it. And then there are a further set of bonez that are different. It seems like there are too many bonez for one creature. 

 

 

The bone structure of the Goonderthal is similar to the Deadz, but not as developed. The Femz technology has confirmed that the Deadz are Goonz. At least in terms of bone structure and organ. There are other clear differences, as well as some subtle ones! In her free time Trixie sketches a Goonderthal, based on the scientific information she has and a little artistic licence.

 

 

Trixie's next breakthrough comes from an unexpected place. She is helping some of the other Femz scan the Astroz and that included scanning a Goober too. Trixie’s stops in shock when there is a match between the cell structure of the Gooberz and the bonez. She decides to take the Astro and their Goober to her laboratory. 
 

 

The Astro looks at the skeletons and the collection of bonez, then pulls out a scanner, asking Trixie for the data she has. He connects to her console, then looks at the Dead, who’d popped back in. A few moments later the scanner beams an image of 5 skeletons. A fish, a lizard, a cat, an ape and The Goonderthal. The Dead nods knowingly and Trixie looks at them stunned for a moment, then she quickly turns to her work station. 

 

 

The three of them work together and it doesn’t take them long to arrange the bonez correctly. As they stop to admire their completed work, Curt walks in. He stares in amazement for a moment and asks how. Trixie explains the projected image and stops. The link between the Gooberz cell structures and the bonez couldn’t be ignored. 

 

 

Curt cuts her off and explains that the Gooberz can merge, he would normally wait for Trixie to finish but this felt important. Trixie looks back at him with confusion etched on her face, then the Astro confirms it. Gooberz merge. Not often and when they do they quickly disappear. Gooberz that have a symbiotic relationship with Astroz never merge. 

 

 

Now all the skeletons were complete, Trixie had time to think and to draw. She had already decided to call their sturdy The Goonelution. They all agree it is time to share it with the rest of the Goonz, even with the knowledge that there are still gaps. Before they leave, Trixie looks at Curt and thinks to herself that at least she has another mystery she can investigate…

 

how it workz