The New Thing

It seemed like an eternity passed before I was under the hole and gazing up into it. I saw a shadow moving but the thing seemed to be trying to hide from the light. The opening wasn't too far above my head, I knew that I could probably jump and be able to grab the ledge and pull myself up if that thing weren't there. This thing simply didn't want to move, it stayed right where it was. I could hear it breathing, so at least I knew it was a living creature, though that was little comfort to me at this moment.

It might have been a foolish decision, but I couldn't take this wait any longer. I leapt upward, my head going into the hole and my hands above me, I reached forward blindly and when I felt my hand run into something squishier than stone I grabbed and pulled it back down with me. The crystal fell from my grasp and the thing landed on me, we both scrambled away from each other, me towards the light and it towards a dark corner. As I whirled around with the crystal in hand the pink light lit up the corner it was in, the thing cowered away from it. The thing looked humanoid in appearance and seemed to be wearing animal skins on its body. As I moved closer to get a better look it was clear, it was exactly as I thought it was, though I could not see many of its features due to it having curled up tightly like a scared child. I hadn't realized how much evolution had happened since we had constructed the habitat, to have a creature like this already was surprising. There had been several things that had looked like they could evolve in this way but this was the first any of us had seen. I set the light down on one of the stones beside me, allowing the light to freely illuminate all that it could. I then sat on the ground beside it and tried my best to not look threatening. Eventually this creature looked up from where it was, it first glanced about the room but hid itself from me, it was probably trying to find a way to escape. Finally, it turned toward me and I could see it fully.