D.E. Shuttleport
You stand upon the dark soil of Dionysius Epsilon. Dionysius looms overhead, it's dull red spot swirling eerily like a blank stare from the heavens. The air is strangely still despite the heat. You are in the midst of an alien jungle, squat ferns of bright red, black fungoid trees looming high overhead. A small metal shack to the east has the symbol of the D.Epsilon expedition stencilled upon it. A hacked path leads north through the jungle, although the jungle seems to be quickly recovering the lost foliage.
There is a dim computer screen upon a metal kiosk in the middle of the landing area. A green panel glows intermittently upon it.
You see DeLorean, Speedy Gonzalez, and Rio Grande here.
l kiosk
A metal pillar standing in the middle of the landing area. It looks strangely purposeful.
l dionysius
The gas giant that this tiny world revolves around. In the farther distance beyond it, you can make out the faint silhouettes of the sister moons of Dionysius Epsilon. Dionysius, at it's zenith, takes up at least 3/4 of the sky.
l fern
Round ferns with strange tendrils that lie on top of the soil and seem to creep further from the stumps they grow from. Their diamond shaped leaves shine bright red, even at night.
l trees
Hardly large trees compared to Earth standards, but they still have an alien majesty about them. Their knotted surfaces are warm to the touch and seem to emit a slight sigh at first touch.
l shack
An abandoned shack, definitely not indiginous to this small world. A weathered design upon the wall seems familiar.
l soil
The soil is dark and rich. Extremely fertile.
l path
The path is slowly being reclaimed by the surrounding flora. No tracks leading from it are visible.
Edge
You stand at the edge of a tall cliff, at the bottom you find an area where jungle has been hacked away to reveal ruins of some sort. Here and there, you spot strange yellow box-shaped things. Running down the side of the cliff is a rope ladder. It's hold to the cliff face seems precarious. Out into the distance, you see only black forest stretching as far as the eye can see in bumpy waves. Several tall ochre trees spike up from the level horizon line.
l down
It looks like a long drop from here. Far below, you see the excavation site. Seems as if the forest around it is slowly taking back what has been cleared.
l yellow boxes
The boxes don't really seem to be boxes, they seem to be vehicles used by the expeditionary force to clear away the jungle.
l cliff
A cliff made of greyish-red rock, it is very craggy and seems that one could climb downwards if given the right equipment or training. But there already is a ladder.
l ladder
The ladder is greenish-black from rot and disuse, but as you pull against it, the ladder seems to be still quite strong. Strong enough to support the weight of several terran humans.
l forest
As you gaze out over the horizon, it soon dawns on you that the forest canopy is not as monotonous as it seems. The fungoid trees vary in height and color, and they are interspersed with small violet flecks that shimmer in the light.
l trees
The tall ochre trees seem to vary considerably from the more common fungoid trees about them, in that they seem to have leaves of sorts rather than thick branches that eventually join.
l ruins
Strange polyhedronesque ruins reclaimed from the jungle. Definitely not of human design. The buildings seem to be grouped into threes, from the shape of the nearby undergrowth, you assume the rest of this alien colony expands out like a fractal.
The Site
The main dig site doesn't seem to be much larger than it had looked from the top of the cliff. Large yellow earth movers lay rusting, covered in vines about the floor. As you step back and get a view of the area, you realize you are in the middle of a small courtyard. To the north is a spherical hive-like structure with myriad entrances. Behind you is an inverted tetrahedron, almost precariously balanced on it's point. To the east, are remnants of a post & lintel gateway leading to an open square that is now the site of the colony on Dionysius. All of the alien structures seem to be carved from shiny green stone alien to this world.
l yellow machines
These rusting hulks seem to have been earthmovers and lawnmowers of sorts long before the original expeditionary force abandoned them here. They creak faintly as the green vines crush their shells.
l vines
Long, green vines snaking in from the jungle floor. Of all the flora here on Dionysius Epsilon, they seem to be the most earthlike, and the most mobile of all the plants here.
l cliff
A tall craggy cliff of greyish-red rock.
l courtyard
A triangular space covered with triangular bricks. Tiny weeds and plants shove their way through the cracks from disuse. The flooring material seems to be similar to the stone the ruins are sculpted from.
A strange hive like structure, a polyhedron of 12 sides, with each side open to the air. The doorways seem to go much deeper into the structure.
l tetrahedron
Anomalously balanced upon it's tip, this structure seems to have no visible entrance save for a triangular scratch on one side that may be an entrance. For a radius of 4 meters around it, no plants deign to grow near.
l square
An open square, surrounded by post and lintel structures fencing in the area. Of all the areas at the site, it seems to be the most overgrown of them all.
l stone
Shiny deep green stone, with no veins or marks upon the surface whatsoever. It seems heavy to the touch and definitely not from this world.
Colony Prime
Sunlight sparkles over the surface of thetransparent aluminum roof that covers the main entrance to the Dionysius colonies. Already, the ferns and vines outside have begun creeping over it's smooth surface in a vain attempt to reclaim that was once theirs. To the west is a greenhouse filled with plants, and to the north are the living quarters for the colonies.
l bench
A green bench carved from alien stone.
Epsilon Transporter
The main transporter for the Dionysius Area. From the console you are standing in front of, you can [view] the list of destinations or [press #] of the destination you wish to go to. Pressing 2 will take you back to the Universal Nebular Metroplex Air-Lock.
Temple
Less a temple, it is more of a shrine to some alien god.
A Cell within the Hive
Much brighter inside than outside, this cell is pretty much the same as the other cells within this hive, apparently a modular building to aid in housing by the aliens that live here. The walls seem translucent, making it less gloomy.
There's another place called Dionysius Delta which is a small rocky moon that orbits a bit further from Dionysius. So far the locations there are not described but there are various features which I've named and are part of its topography. Dionysius Delta is a mining colony run by robots.
Places of interest on Delta are: