The Flesh is (Not) Weak [015-016]

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[015] [Cave Again]

Finally, after having shown up in the village and fought a murder-not-robot, finally, they were heading out to the cave Damon had woke up in. Damon, Sybil, and Idina walked up the hills covered in blue grass, leaving Han behind to protect the village. Also to finish the traps, since the villagers couldn’t get past the edicts and do that on their own.

The sky was nice and only slightly cloudy; the two suns shone down on them, but the air was fresh, the scent of wet grass still lingered in the wind that blew through the mountains. Damon’s spirits couldn’t be any higher, with an extra spring in his step. Especially since he had a shield in one hand and a big reinforced club on his hip. Which was a shame, since the group’s travel speed was more like a leisure walk when he was looking forward to a jog.

“Are you sure you need another rest?”

“Yes, Damon, we need rest. You might make it in one day, but we need two.” Sybil’s tone was strained. She tucked her hood lower, gaze flickering at Idina before her shoulders slumped. “Unless you’re interested in fighting any monsters that show up along the way on your own?”

There was a hopeful edge in her voice, she wanted to see him fight some monsters and it wasn’t a secret. Damon just shrugged at her. “You’re right. It’s safer if we don’t push ourselves too hard.”

His proclamation made her slump further. Her mood hadn’t exactly been the best one since leaving the village, not that Damon could really guess why. He would’ve figured she’d be ecstatic since she’d been so enthusiastic about the whole “place of power for Janus”.

Rather than sit down with either of them, he searched for some pebbles around the area, pulling out a length of rope with a small pouch in the center. Placing the rock on the pouch, he began spinning the rope. Soon it was whizzing as it spun at an increasingly frenetic speed.

“What’s that?”

“A sling.” He declared, releasing one of the two ends of the string.

The rock shot out faster than he could track, bouncing against the ground and definitely missing the tree trunk he’d intended as his target.

“It’s a weapon.” Idina looked more closely at his second throw as the rock missed the tree again.

“Yup.” Damon proclaimed, starting to spin the third rock. “Where I come from, it was very famous for being the weapon a tiny kid used to kill a giant.”

“Your world has giants?” Sybil turned to him with suspicion, looking him up and down. “Or are you one of the giants?”

“I’m just slightly above average height.” He began spinning it again. “But slings were a really popular ranged option for anyone that didn’t have bows or wanted to avoid throwing spears. Personally I’d rather have a gun, but apparently, gunpowder isn’t a thing. Somehow. Even when you have freaking robots.”

“How do guns use the powder made out of other guns?”

“It’s called gunpowder, but it’s not made out of guns.” Damon grumbled. “I’m not even sure what it’s made of, sulfur and charcoal and some other stuff. But the fact that you guys don’t have guns as a concept is unnerving.”

“Is it really that odd?”

“It feels like some steps were skipped somewhere along the way.” He muttered, rolling the sling and letting loose another rock. “Why wouldn’t you have projectile based weaponry past throwing sticks with a bow or as a lance or dart?”

Both Idina and Sybil grimaced, shaking their heads and sharing a confused look. Sybil was the one to speak-up first. “It’s just a silly idea. Grafts and your own skills are more than enough.”

“If killing monsters were easier, it would save lives.” Damon spun up the next rock as hard as he could.

With a grunt, he released, the stone sailed. It missed the tree he was aiming at, but impacted the next one over. The bark exploded at the point of impact, a crater the size of his fist, made of crushed splinters and sap, the stone embedded half-way through the tree. The vegetation being less dense than back on earth was convenient to make a point, it seemed.

“Like that.”

Idina paled, Sybil’s eyes narrowed. Of the two, it was Sybil that stood up and marched straight towards Damon, pointing at his chest, glaring. “Janus gave us the axons so that we may prove our worth. To fight monsters is his way, and to slaughter them off-hand is nothing less than to squander your gifts.” Her voice shook slightly, and she was very intently avoiding looking at the tree Damon’s rock had struck. “A powerful user fighting a weak monster deprives a weaker user from learning. To rely on tools that cheat and give a false sense of power is nothing but folly.”

“So if a user could’ve saved themselves with a better tool but dies instead is… acceptable? I can’t agree with that notion.”

“To die fighting a strong opponent is an honor to all users. To stand above the challenge more so.”

“Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree.” Damon snorted, crossing his arms. “I don’t tell you how you fight is wrong.”

Sybil recoiled. “What about how I fight?”

“Nothing, that’s the point. If I disagreed with how you did things, I wouldn’t be on your face trying to shove it down your throat.”

She stopped, taking a step back and blinking, confusion flashed across her brown eyes before she turned. Quiet steps led her out of the clearing and away. Damon frowned, moving to follow but stopping as Idina quickly reached to grasp at his sleeve. “I’m not going to be able to keep up.”

The sasin was a non-user, helpless if a monster came out.

“Sure, one sec.”

Reaching out, he pulled her over his shoulder. The young woman shrieked as he carried her like a sack of potatoes, starting his march to track down Sybil as she’d gotten quite the lead on them. Fortunately she’d stopped not too far off, still within the map’s detection range.

He expected her to lash out, instead, he found her pacing.

“What was that about?” He asked, putting Idina down. The sasin’s face a deep blushing green as she muttered a quiet thanks.

“I don’t know.” Sybil stated.

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I had to get away from… the thing. It made me angry.”

Damon could only blink in confusion. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Um… it made me angry too.” Idina’s raised hand made them both focus on her. Her long silver ears drooped. “After the shock, I just felt… wrong.”

Sybil nodded. “I fought a shrieker once, and… this felt similar.”

“Pretend I don’t know anything and am increasingly confused about what just happened.”

“Shriekers, they attack your axon, they make users angry, aggressive, furious. It is a monster that tests your self-control and skill because if you hunt it with another, you might end up fighting your friend instead.” She explained. “Looking at what you’d done to the tree with the sling, it… it made me feel the same way.”

“Ok, but why?”

“I don’t know.” Sybil muttered, turning to look away. “We should focus on the cave.”

***

“The gaper re-birthed.”

It had been a decent if awkward couple days walking up the mountain. The teethers had mostly avoided them, and the other monsters in the area hadn’t popped out to meet them. It had practically been nothing more than a stroll since Sybil and Idina moved more slowly than Damon did. The only thing that had hung over them being the awkward silence and long contemplative looks Sybil kept giving as she’d stare at Damon and then off into the distance.

And with the proclamation of the big ugly monster having returned, Damon’s mood dropped.

“So…” He glanced at Sybil, who looked back, crossing her arms.

She crossed her arms. “You killed it once. You can do it again.” She made a gesture at his hip. “It’s newborn, the club should make it simple enough.”

“Not gonna talk about the rocks?”

“That is that, this is this.” She stated, hesitating and turning away in discomfort. “I only wish Janus’ blessing upon your battle.”

Damon let out a heavy sigh and turned his focus to Idina. “You’ve been here more times than me. Got any suggestions?”

“It… usually hides on the left side of the cave.”

“Anyone ever get it to come outside?”

“Gapers don’t like ringing noises.” Sybil stated, arms crossed but looking more interested in confirming the area was safe.

“Awesome.” He walked up to the entrance of the cave.

It was about nine feet tall, and he moved to the top of the hole. Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the shovel and banged it against the rock. A steady loud rhythm, making sure it wasn’t so hard it would break or bend, as he didn’t have any desire to repair the thing.

After about three minutes of clanging, he heard movement from inside the cave.

So he lifted the large club in one hand, while keeping the clanging going with the other.

The monster moved with shuffling stomping sounds, small hops that followed a half-waddle. The thing was incredibly awkward about how it moved through narrow spaces. It seemed it’d only really be dangerous in wide areas with few obstacles.

Damon really didn’t care to test it out. As soon as the monster’s head was peeking over the lip of the cave, he jumped down, swinging the club with everything he had. He expected there to be cracking sounds and instead found the thing’s head bending inwards like he’d just hit a gigantic cardboard box.

It just died, blue blood bursting out from its mouth and ears, eyes bulging out of their sockets and blue ooze leaking out from underneath, the face twisted into a twisted grin of fangs.

The body collapsed. It was dead.

[…]

Congr-

[…]

“Dismiss. Also, what the fuck?” He’d rolled out of the way and prepared for a follow-up, but there’d been none. He glanced back at the other two. “The last one was… tougher.”

“I told you. It’s a newborn.” Sybil’s tone was almost scolding. “The longer a monster lives, the hardier their bodies become.” She walked out from behind the trees with Idina. “Gapers that are just a handful of days of age wouldn’t be able to survive jumping head first against a wall. The one you fought first likely was several months old.” She shot a pointed look at their guide.

Idina nodded vigorously, keeping herself a step behind Sybil as they both observed the enormous monster’s body froth and evaporate.

“You could’ve killed this one with your bare hands.”

“Thanks, but no thanks.” He kept his eyes on the corpse. The fur was dissolving as well. “Just how durable can they get?”

“Monsters never stop becoming stronger. I’ve heard of gapers in the land of terror that have grown metal plates around their bones.” Sybil said. “Of course, the stronger the monster, the more they leave behind once they die. It is recompense for the tougher fight.”

“‘Land of terror’ doesn’t sound friendly.”

“It is a continent, far south and east of here, across the black sea. The monsters there are the most dangerous. The continent itself has only one city, at the coast.”

“I somehow get the impression you want to go there.”

“Yes. One day.” Sybil nodded solemnly. “All followers of Janus must, at some point of their life, make a pilgrimage there.”

“Huh.” Damon rubbed his chin. “Anyway, let’s go check that cave. Ladies first?”

“Are you afraid of encountering another monster?”

“I have poor night vision and no sources of light.”

“You have the big shield.”

“This is a small shield that’s nearly a medium at best.”

Sybil’s eyes narrowed. “Do you really intend to enter a place of power of Janus by showing cowardice?”

Damon’s brows narrowed. “I killed the monster, didn’t I?”

She rolled her eyes and stepped into the cave, pulling out a rock of some sort from her pouch. With a little squeeze, the rock began to shine, its light bathing the cavern walls in a pale, white glow. The smell of rot and stale air was the first thing Damon noticed, and it became more intense the further inside they went.

The cavern room opened and revealed the debris of crumbled stalagmites and stalactites. Damon’s mind leapt back to that first fight and he grimaced. There were stains of blood, both green and blue, staining the cave in some sort of grotesque abstract artwork.

Damon’s eyes fell on a small hole on the stone floor, a half-sphere perfectly formed, and so smooth it looked polished. He remembered there’d been a vial within back then, glass.

“The gaper ate the corpse.” Sybil proclaimed nonchalantly, cutting off Damon before he could speak up.

Whatever she was looking for, it wasn’t here, her sweep of the immediate area being rather quick. She didn’t wait for either Damon or Idina as she stepped further into the cave, past the curves of the round room and into the area he’d come from. The white light washed over the bleached gray walls, the stone was bent, scratched, and… twisted. Damon remembered seeing this kind of thing in a book once, of caves that had water running through and had, over time, eroded the stone as if it were slowly melting away.

The gasp from Sybil made him rush further in, club at the ready.

She stood in front of a wall.

A wall made of metal, covered in dust.

Sybil dropped the glowing stone and rushed forward, pulling a metallic bottle from her backpack and emptying the water onto the metal surface. All around her the floor was littered with debris, broken stone, dust, and dirt, but she paid little mind as her hands moved to clean the surface of the metal that had clearly been buried until not that long ago. The speed with which she moved was dizzying, a whirlwind of action, using her own cape to scrub away grime and dirt.

The metal was a dark gray, unscratched, unblemished. And as she continued her work, she eventually reached its center, revealing a singular symbol, etched onto the metal with perfect precision. Damon recognized it instantly. After all, it was-

“Janus.”

An archway with a person walking into it, a sun contained within.

Sybil stumbled back and away from the door, falling to her knees.

With trembling hands, she reached up to her marred hood and took it off. Shoulder-length fiery red hair sprung free, two triangular fur covered ears standing on top. The cowl was lowered, revealing her face, beautiful high cheeks and pristine smooth skin, marred only by a jagged black scar that started at the side of her nose and reached all the way to her left temple.

Whatever apprehension of her looks there might have been, she ignored them. Sybil cape was thrown to the side as she lowered her head as she faced the symbol on the wall. She muttered several things Damon couldn’t quite pick out, but judging by the aghast look on Idina’s face as she joined Sybil on the ground, he figured this was of some sort of religious importance to them.

Meanwhile, he quietly remained near the back, eyes glancing around in search of a button, wondering if there was some way to open the thing and get inside. But finding none, he waited.

After a quiet handful of minutes, Sybil raised her head, keeping herself kneeling, eyes firmly gazing at the metal door. “Idina.” She spoke in almost a whisper. “Your father had users killed here.”

The young woman nodded, head head lowering as she trembled. It didn’t take long before she started to sob. Damon felt a twinge of concern at the somber tone in Sybil’s voice.

“I led them here.” Idina spoke with a shaking breath, her hands caressing her ears. “Had I known…”

“What’s… going on?”

“The knight and his daughter desecrated this sacred place.” The answer was simple, but resolute. “They have forsaken the gifts of the Gods. The punishment is clear.”

“Death?”

“Worse.” Sybil shook her head slowly. “They will have their grafts removed, and be exiled from the kingdom.”

Damon nodded, stepping closer to the metal wall and touching it. “Has anyone ever opened one of these before?”

“They are indestructible, and only the Gods may open them.” Sybil spoke with a frown.

“I’m no God.” He traced the perfect etching on the metal. “But my axon says I’m an administrator. Maybe that’s enough. Sys? Open the door.”

“Don’t be-.”

Whatever Sybil was about to say, it was cut off as a synthetic voice spoke out. “Administrator Damon confirmed. Welcome back.”

There was a loud thumping sound from behind the metal. Screeching and grinding followed, the icon on the door glowing with dim greenish light. The cave shuddered around them.

And just as quickly it started, it stopped, the synthetic female voice speaking once more. “Critical damage to all systems. Insufficient power. Janus Entry Point #241 inoperable.”

“Well shit.” Damon let out a long sigh, turning to look at the two women that had remained kneeling, looking at him through wide eyes and slack jaws. “What?”

[016] [Back Again]

According to Sybil, the cave was clearly a place of power for Janus, one of major religious importance, especially for the followers of the God of Heroes. It would be a great boon to the village, as places of power such as this one would attract many seeking pilgrimage and users looking for a blessing. There was even mention that it could trigger a potential new wave of exploration in the area to see if they could find new ruins nearby.

Any attempt to ask whether such places could actually open would get the same response, however. “Only the Gods can open them.”

All of that had turned into stunned silence when the metal door had spoken in a distinctly synthetic female voice.

“Administrator Damon confirmed. Welcome back.”

The first time, it had attempted to open and it had shaken the cave. But on the second try, Damon got the voice, a flicker, and a pop-up.

[…]

Janus Entry Point #241 inoperable.

Critical damage to all systems.

Insufficient power.

[…]

“Definitely broken.”

“That was the voice of the Goddess Rali.” Sybil was shaking as she spoke, taking stumbling steps towards the door and pressing both of her palms against it. “Please open.” Nothing happened, and she swallowed, turning wide brown eyes to look at Damon in stunned silence. “This… this cannot be.”

“It’s a shame it’s broken, but I’m guessing there’s other places?”

“You cannot be a chosen of Janus!” Sybil declared.

“Of course I’m not.” He snorted. “Look, the voice said the place needed repairs. You know if anyone’s, dunno, drilled through or something?”

“The doors of Janus are indestructible and ancient, older than even this very kingdom we stand on. None have so much as scratched their surface let alone destroy them. None would dare!”

“There’s an edict for that?”

Sybil faltered. “No, but-.”

“Champion!” Idina had thrown herself to Damon’s feet, bowing her head until it touched the ground. “Please, I beg for forgiveness! Spare my father, he will repent, we-we-we will serve! I-.”

“Uh… pause for a sec.” Damon took a step back, turning to Sybil, trying to look as confused as he felt.

“The chosen of Janus may rescind divine punishment. Such as the desecration of a place of power.” Her words came in an angry hiss.

Idina whirled and faced Sybil with a determination that startled the user. “You saw the light, heard the Goddess’ voice!” Idina declared. “He is acknowledged!”

“I think I’m going to step outside until whatever this is gets resolved.” Damon pointed with his thumb over his shoulder. “Don’t kill each other.”

“Wait!”

Sybil’s call didn’t stop him. Damon marched right his way directly outside and into desperately needed open air. And then he started marching past that, and did not stop until he was entirely and wholly out of sight of the cave entrance. He tried to reason with himself that all he had to do was just ask and find some other entry point, one that wasn’t busted.

Seems simple enough. Sybil had mentioned other such ‘places of power’, right? And this one was number two hundred and forty, the things were probably all over the place. All he had to do was find them, give a knock, go home.

He kept pacing back and forth. He was missing something. The religious implications felt like something he’d want to steer clear of, but there was something else. Why here? Why him? What was he missing from this picture? There were no Gods, the door had a robotic voice, there was a chip planted in his damn brain.

His hand reached to the back of his head, but he held back from touching the metal nub.

“Damon?”

Sybil’s voice startled him out from the pacing. It felt like it had been a good twenty minutes at least.

He stepped out from between the trees, glancing at the two women as they awkwardly stood next to each other. Idina in particular looked several shades of green paler than when she’d entered the cave. Her head was bowed as she walked, and her gaze flickered towards him the moment he emerged.

“So…?” He asked, crossing his arms.

“We… have questions.”

“Not sure what you think you’ll get from me.” He replied. “I’m the guy that’s lost here.”

“You are an ‘Administrator’. Neither of us know what that word means. It is the first time we ever heard it, and the Goddess acknowledged you as such.”

The implied question hung in the air, and Damon grimaced.

“An administrator is someone who has control.”

“...control over what?”

“Over whatever it is they’re administrating.”

There was a confused look Sybil and Idina shared. “We know what an administrator is. But we don’t know what an administrator is.”

The two words had sounded the same to Damon’s mind, yet as he paid closer attention to what his ears were listening, they were different. Only the second had been spoken in plain English.

He frowned further. “What language did you hear the message from the door?”

“When the Gods speak, it is always in the tongue of the listener.”

“Well, the two words are the same word.”

“Does…” Idina swallowed. “Does that mean that sir Damon is more than just chosen but meant to impart the God’s will in their stead?”

Sybil shot a glare at the other woman, but clearly hesitated as she turned to look at Damon with the same question remaining unspoken even as it lingered in her eyes.

“Look, I’m as confused as you two. I don’t know how I got into that cave, I never heard of Janus or anything about this place before I woke up. And though this thing in my head says I’m an administrator, it keeps repeating that it needs connection to some sort of network to work.”

“The Gods chose you.” Idina’s words were spoken with determination, her eyes staring at Damon with a conviction that stung to look at. “She might not believe it, but I do.” He could only grimace and turn to Sybil.

“We… agreed to keep this secret until we can find out more. Doing anything without certainty could be dangerous for everyone, you in particular.” It was a concession, and something else hidden in her tone, a hesitation. “I also found remains of other users, and some scraps from the familiar, which corroborates Idina’s story.”

There was a pregnant pause.

“The question is for the punishment.”

Both of them stared at Damon long and hard, and he could only grimace. “I’d rather it be just forced labor, pay back what they took.”

Idina nodded sharply, stepping closer but stopping at a raised hand from Sybil.

“I will talk with Han.” Sybil said. “We’ll… suggest extreme leniency, put the blame on the merchant, and claim he pressured the village into it.”

Damon frowned a little. “Will this put you into trouble?”

The answer was brusque. “No. The merchant dealt in axons, the investigation that will ensue will look for his clients. This will corroborate the claim.”

“Ok.” He nodded.

“I believe we should head back.” Sybil pushed, giving Damon a weird look, the emotions behind her eyes entirely unreadable. “Today’s events have… left much to think about.” She appeared drained as she glanced at Idina. “And we will not tell anyone of this.”

Idina in turn glanced at Damon, who nodded. “Let’s just go and pretend we didn’t find anything weird.”

That settled it, Idina nodded. “Yes, sir.”

***

The way back to the village was several orders of magnitude more awkward than when going to the cave. Damon could feel the stares from Sybil and Idina on the back of his head whenever he took the lead, and marching behind the group only resulted in them glancing over his way every other minute.

“Could either of you explain what this whole ‘chosen of Janus’ means?”

“The Champion of Janus is the one who leads all users, sir.” Idina quickly spoke. “Their word has the same weight as that of a king. But there has not been a champion in over a hundred years.”

Damon arched a brow, glancing at the deathly quiet Idina. “What decides who’s the champ?”

“The chosen of Janus must be the strongest user. They must defeat a dragon lord in single combat, the most dangerous monster in existence.” Sybil lowered her gaze to the piece of dried fruit she’d been snacking on. “The former chosen was Porthos the Magnificent. He used his familiar for flight, and fought with a thunder-blade.”

“You said dragon.” Damon’s brows lowered. “Big scaly thing, wings, breathes fire?”

Sybil perked up. “Yes. Do you know of them?”

“If it’s anything like the thing from my world’s mythology, I will wish luck to whatever sorry bastard has to go against one of those without a couple dozen javelins and an attack helicopter.”

“Your world doesn’t have dragons?”

“Nope, it’s only in stories.”

That took away some of the motivation from Sybil.

“They killed them all?” Idina asked, looking at him with eyes that were a bit too intense.

“Never existed.” Damon replied, waving his hand. “What likely happened was that some people found bones from the old dinosaurs and their imagination went from there.”

“What are ‘dinosaurs’?”

“Big scaly lizards that lived billions of years ago but went extinct.”

“Because humans hunted them all?”

“That would’ve been intense, but no, some big rock fell from the sky and killed them all. Just like that, wiped out every gigantic creature in the world overnight. We weren’t even around at the time, humans showed up much later.”

There was a long silence. Sybil and Idina shared glances, there it was, that unspoken conversation that Damon could not hear because of the hymns. His only clue to what was going on was Idina’s persistent glare and Sybil flinching.

“Anything I should know?” He finally asked.

“I… want to apologize.” Sybil spoke, lowering her head marginally. “I remain unsure why I became so angry over your stone throwing, but it is clear it is very important to you. I should have controlled my temper better.”

“Do humans pay respect and tribute to rocks since one killed all the monsters?”

Damon couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing, much to the other two’s confusion.

***

Upon reaching the village, the first thing they noticed was that the number of holes for traps had increased. Apparently they’d been kept busy. They found Han working to complete one of the traps. He’d take the sharpened spikes and plant them on the ground, tying them to a wooden pole laying against the dirt to ensure they remained perpendicular.

The bearded man had stopped half-way through, head poking out of the hole he’d been occupying and staring at their approach.

“What happened?”

“There’s indeed a place of power, but we’ll talk later.” Sybil responded with a snap, her gaze darted at Damon. “Privately.”

She might have said that, but Damon could feel more and more eyes turning in their direction. “Any news from the prisoner?” He tried to change the subject.

“Mostly asking about Idina. Ah, he got another familiar. I put it in a box.”

“Another?” Damon felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.

“Familiars are born out of the user, or knight, in this case. It’s a graft on their backs or chest.” Han explained with a shrug. “If the familiar is outside of its owner’s range for a month or more, it dies, and when it dies, the user’s graft makes another. They start off tiny though, and will only grow if they eat monsters.”

“Neat. Here’s hoping I don’t need to stab this one, too.” Damon declared with a sigh. “So, quick uptake here, the cave had the Janus thing, but it seems I’m staying for the time being. What happens now?”

The blond man leaned against the edge of the hole, sharing a look with Sybil. “We’ll flip a coin and see who gets to stay in the village and who leaves for the larger village further down the mountain to send a report.”

“We will also ask for the next merchant caravan to hurry over.” Sybil included, receiving an odd look from Han. “The users escorting them will stay here guarding the village and prisoner while they wait for the replacement knight.”

“I could do the trip on my own faster.” Damon offered.

“No!”

Idina and Sybil had stated at practically the same time, earning even more odd looks from everyone involved.

“You… you shouldn’t go alone. Your lack of a hymn would draw suspicion and trouble.” Sybil quickly added.

“I guess.” He shrugged.

“You shouldn’t be in too much of a hurry if you’re coming with us to Sky Bridge.” Han said from the hole. “Taking the chance to learn a couple things would prevent many problems.” Han’s lips curled upwards with some amusement. “Sybil here almost got herself sent to prison because she beat someone up.”

“They questioned my skills as a fighter. I helped them see the errors in their perceptions.” She crossed her arms, snorting loudly.

“Either way, once the message reaches the town, it should only be a week or so before a caravan comes.”

“I guess the village could do with more traps.” Dan deflated a little. “By the way, why haven’t they built traps before? Seems like a waste.”

“They didn’t have a need. The knight alone could deal with the monsters around these parts.” Han proclaimed. “Places this remote have eminent threats at the start, and then it’s reduced as the older monsters are killed until it becomes mostly not much of a challenge. There are exceptions, sure, but those are places that stand next to massive swaths of land that have been untouched for eons.”

“Like the eastern swamplands.”

There was something in Sybil’s voice that gave Damon pause, but she didn’t elaborate.

“I’ll be going in, get cleaned, rest, and all that.”

Han sighed, nodding. “Just make sure the ‘all that’ isn’t as loud this time.”

“What?”

Idina’s face turned several shades of darker green. Sybil snorted and rolled her eyes, looking away. Han chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. Damon’s eyes narrowed, seems he was going to have a talk with Linda.

***

Like many other races across the galaxy, the Zuun had long ago been engineered for the hardships of space-travel. They were peculiar in that they were one of several dozen modified species that came from the same originator species. Usually, the races would orient their modifications in a particular direction and keep it at that. But with the originators, they had split the modifications by certain desired specializations when it came to life in the stars.

And the Zuun had been made intending to maximize survivability and toughness. Their bodies were designed to survive extreme acceleration even if they lacked the strength to handle any gravity that wasn’t the galaxy standard. Along with this, they had a metabolism that could slow down to a near hibernative state in case of serious injury or an extreme lack of resources such as breathable air or food.

Emilie woke from hibernation, feeling like she was just one stiff shake from dying.

Everything around her was dark. She could not pick out any light, meaning she was still inside the ship. The lack of gravity confirmed this, her EVA suit warning her she’d been hibernative for at least twenty sleep cycles.

Emilie didn’t bother to try and move, instead trying to determine what was the damage before she could make it worse accidentally. She could feel several of her bones were tender, but not broken. Her organs were complaining, but not from pain. Slowly, she groaned her way into activating the EVA suit lights.

She was still strapped to the captain’s chair.

The computer was unresponsive, meaning not even backup generators were functional. EVA readings pointed there was no atmosphere, so that meant there was a hole somewhere in the ship.

Or that maybe part of the ship was gone entirely.

“At least I can’t be penalized while the overseer is offline.” She grumbled, fumbling her way to releasing the straps to the chair. A look around the cockpit, and nothing looked broken other than the fact that the lights weren’t turning on. “Time to assess the damage.”

She reached the door.

It didn’t open.

Reaching for the manual override, she opened the panel and pulled the lever.

The doors groaned, but did not open. She tried again, with the same results.

“Uh oh.”

----

Space Babe is stuck! Oh no!

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