Wanderer Ch 27: Entrance Into The Ship Of Black

(Jack)

I was trying to wrap my head around what I was seeing, but nothing made sense anymore. The monolithic woman—the Wanderer or whatever she was—who had thrown my entire life into chaos, was crumbling. Her colossal form, once so imposing and unstoppable, was now visibly faltering. Her fingers—those impossibly huge structures of flesh and bone that had kept me steady—began to twitch and flex, almost as if she was losing control.

The ground beneath me—her palm, her actual palm—shook violently, and I stumbled to keep my balance. Each tremor felt like an earthquake, the sheer scale of her movements making me feel smaller than I ever had before. Her fingers curled slightly, casting massive shadows over me. For a terrifying moment, I thought they mighty close in, crushing me like a bug.

I looked up at her face. It was like staring up at a mountain, her features impossibly high above me, but I could still see it. Her expression—one of determination and annoyance earlier—was now slack. Her eyelids drooped, and that glowing golden light in her eyes, the thing that made her seem otherworldly, was fading fast.

And then it hit me—what would happen to me if she passed out?

I was alive because of her. She was doing something—somehow keeping the vacuum of space from turning me into a popsicle. If she went unconscious, if she lost control of whatever power she was using to protect me, the void would claim me in an instant. My breathing quickened, not because the air was thinning yet, but because of the growing realization that I was completely and utterly helpless.

I had no plan. I had no escape. My ship was floating somewhere out there, unreachable. I wasn't even sure how much oxygen was left in it. All I had was her. And she was slipping away.

The shaking grew worse, and I dropped to my knees, trying to steady myself against the fleshy surface beneath me. That's when I saw it—something in the distance. At first, I thought it was just another one of the countless ships from the fleet surrounding her, but it was moving differently. It didn't dart and weave like the others. No, it was steady. Purposeful.

It grew larger as it approached, and my heart sank. This wasn't a fighter ship. This was something else entirely. A massive craft, sleek and black, with no visible engines or rockets. It wasn't flying so much as it was gliding, as if space itself bent to its will. The closer it got, the worse the pit in my stomach grew.

The ship stopped in front of me, hovering just above her palm before lowering down with eerie precision. There was no sound. No hum of engines, no whoosh of thrusters. Just silence, broken only by the occasional tremor of the giant beneath me.

A door on the side of the craft slid open, and out stepped... people? No, not people. They were humanoid in shape, but their armor was black and glossy, reflecting the faint light of the stars. Their movements were unnervingly synchronized, like they were part of a hive mind. They didn't speak. They didn't gesture. They just stood there, staring at me—or at least, I think they were. Their faces were hidden behind their helmets.

I knew what they wanted. It was obvious. They wanted me to get on the ship.

I hesitated, glancing back up at the giant woman who had held me in her hand like I was some fragile treasure. She wasn't even looking at me anymore. Her head tilted forward slightly, and her eyes were half-closed. The glow was almost gone now, just faint flickers of light struggling to stay alive.

The air grew thinner. I could feel it—my chest tightening, my breaths coming shorter and faster. My vision blurred at the edges, and panic clawed its way up my throat. There was no time to think, no time to weigh my options. If I stayed here, I'd die. Plain and simple.

I stumbled toward the ship, the soldiers—or whatever they were—parting to let me through. But just before I stepped inside, I looked back one last time.

Her face filled the horizon. She looked down at me, her enormous eyes flickering weakly, barely clinging to consciousness. For a second, it felt like she was trying to tell me something, but no words came. Just silence. Her massive lips parted slightly, and then closed again, as if even speaking was too much effort.

I don't know why, but I felt... sorry for her. This massive, incomprehensible being, who had done nothing but uproot my life and make me feel like an ant in the grand scheme of the universe, now seemed so... fragile. Vulnerable. It was a strange thing to see.

I swallowed hard, then stepped into the ship. The door closed behind me with a hiss, and I felt it rise beneath my feet. I was moving now, away from her and into the void, toward the largest ship in the fleet.

I sat down on a cold metal bench, my head spinning. The soldiers didn't say a word. They just stood there, still as statues, their unreadable faces giving me nothing to work with.

Something about this felt wrong. Very, very wrong. I didn't know who these people were, or what they wanted with me, but I doubted they were rescuing me out of the kindness of their hearts. And as much as I hated to admit it, I didn't feel any safer now than I had on her palm.

I closed my eyes and leaned back, trying to steady my breathing. All I wanted was to go home. To see the blue skies of Rilios Prime again, to hear the hum of the city, to feel the ground beneath my feet. But deep down, I knew.

There was no going home. Not anymore.