The Flesh is (Not) Weak [001-002]

Here is the start of Void Song (Going to make 4 posts, all public).

It's a story set in its own setting, and one I'll be publishing on Royal Road (And reddit, and sribblehub, and all the the other websites) starting March.

The summary is that you have your isekai, your stranded protagonist, your strange new world, your killer monsters, your... killer robots? glowing swords? drones? And why do people talk about gods that have a company motto?

The short of the story/theme is sci-fi trying to pass off as LitRPG fantasy and failing.

I'd suggest checking the pdf since it has prettier editing than what patreon allows.

Hope you guys enjoy and remember to comment!

See you all in a month!

------

[001 Lights in a Cave]

[...]

APOCALYPSE THREAT DETECTED

DISENGAGING HIBERNATION MODE

MAIN GENERATOR: CRITICAL DAMAGE

ENERGY CELLS: 0.2% CHARGE

LOADING COUNTERMEASURES

LOADING FAILED

REQUEST TIMEOUT ERROR

INITIATING DIAGNOSTICS

[...]

ARC SYSTEM: CRITICAL DAMAGE

BACKUP GENERATOR: CRITICAL DAMAGE

BIOMASS REACTANTS: 5% CAPACITY

DRONE FABRICATOR: CRITICAL DAMAGE

JANUS SYSTEM: OPERATIONAL

MEMORY BANK CORRUPTION: 94.1%

NETWORK ARRAY: CRITICAL DAMAGE

THALARING SYSTEM: OPERATIONAL

[...]

ADMIN USER NOT FOUND

LAST LOGIN: 2’915’631 DAYS

INITIATING TROUBLESHOOTING

[...]

LOADING PARAMETERS FROM CACHE

ERROR

THALARING FAILURE

INCOMPATIBLE PARAMETERS

INITIATING TROUBLESHOOTING

[...]

APOCALYPSE EVENT CONFIRMED

MAXIMUM PRIORITY

ETHICS PROTOCOL OVERRIDE

JANUS SYSTEM: ENGAGED

ETA: 10 MINUTES

ASSIGNING NEW ADMIN USER

[...]

***

Damon woke up naked, coughing, and feeling like someone had locked a tiny hysterical gnome into his head, one that was trying to break its way out his forehead with an icepick. Every sign pointed that things had gotten a bit too wild during their first leave after the grueling time spent in basic. Or at least that was what he would’ve thought, if not for the absence of clothes, light, and the cold, hard stone floor. He was no expert in construction, but the surface was too irregular to be cement. The absolute darkness around him was not making it easier to recognize where he was. He could only crawl and hope the headache cleared while blindly waving his hand in front of him, searching for a source of light. If he’d stumbled to this place, he’d surely dropped his phone somewhere? Was he alone?

“Ricky? Tom?” He swallowed. “... drill sergeant?”

No response.

Damon’s voice bounced around him with an echo. Whatever this place was, it felt large. A cave of some sort? The consideration left him confused. He didn’t remember there being mountains near the base, let alone caves. But what mattered was that, if he was lucky, he was close enough he’d be able to make it back to base before someone started making questions. Mandatory physical training would be the least of his concerns.

He reached a wall. The stone curved upwards into rougher edges and severely irregular surfaces. Their presence helped him raise himself with a bit more stability, but at the same time, they left him all the more confused. Perhaps this cave was some sort of abandoned mine he’d not heard of? The idea didn’t answer why he was naked or how he got there, which was starting to become a secondary concern to his blindness.

Damon had heard the stories of people getting lost in caves and never coming back. A rather undesirable fate, he could only move forward while using the wall to guide him and hope he wasn’t dooming himself by somehow going deeper into the cave. So long as he wasn’t going downhill…

Relief washed over him when he spotted a very dim, bluish glow dead ahead.

That joy was stomped down when something loud and angry growled. It was followed by a heavy scratching noise, and a muffled shriek. A woman screamed words he did not understand.

[...]

NEW LANGUAGE DETECTED

CLOSEST MATCH: HALTER 28.2%

ENGAGE AUTO-TRANSLATION?

Y/N

[...]

Damon winced as he saw the prompt emerge in front of him. It glowed with a neon green color, yet the light didn’t appear to illuminate anything other than itself. It still hurt to look at. The fact that the message didn’t go away even after closing his eyes brought a fresh layer of confusion and concern.

“This can’t be real.” He muttered, trying to shove the words away fruitlessly. His mind scrambled to organize the bombardment to his senses and the screaming from further ahead.

[...]

TIMEOUT

AUTO-TRANSLATION: ENGAGED

[...]

The glowing letters vanished. “What? I didn’t-.” Damon tried to speak through hushed words. The headache came back tenfold, then a hundredfold. The gnome inside his brain found its friends, and they were using flamethrowers now. Heat radiated from deep inside his skull like an oven about to blow. He stumbled, clutching at his head and holding back a cry of agony. Two seconds later, the hellish fires were gone, leaving his whole body shuddering and the cave spinning madly around him. The ringing in his ears subsided slowly. His brain was attempting to speed-run through a hangover and his naked feet kept shuffling to get back under him while he leaned against the nearest surface.

“NO! GET AWAY!”

It was a scream, followed by more scraping and growls. The ground trembled under Damon’s feet as the scratching continued. His concern over potentially stumbling into a bear’s den was secondary to finding a way to safety.

Uneasy light steps, taken as carefully as he could manage, given the throbbing headache that lingered right behind his forehead. The blue light that illuminated his way was steady, unblinking, the source clearly some sort of LED that’d been dropped to the ground. Azure light cast long shadows against the stalagmites; it bathed the cavern in its glow, and though it illuminated a great deal of the available space, it made the darkness all the harder to make out.

The scratching and whimpering came from one of the shadows to the right. Within those blurry contours something large was moving. It was impossible to make out its true form, but whatever it was, Damon was reconsidering his bear idea. Fortunately for him, the enormous creature was currently focused on one of the walls and had not noticed him. This gave Damon the time to examine the cavern from his hiding spot. There were splatters of a mossy, dark green liquid across the floor, staining a myriad of objects strewn all over the place.

None of the items looked like the bazooka he wished to make use of right about now. Instead, his dread escalated when his eyes locked on the object laying at his feet.

The five fingers made it easy to recognize, it was a hand devoid of an owner. Damon’s gut tightened and he held the gasp. The smell of blood came to him like a hammer, threatening to push out the contents of his currently empty stomach. The screaming woman begged louder for help, her words rattling against his skull.

The hangover was gone, replaced with the drumbeat of his heart.

Every question and concern gnawing at him exploded in size. His eyes turned to the opposite side of the cave in search of a way out. If there was one, the shadows hid them well. But he wasn’t about to stay put and wait to get ripped apart. Still naked, still dizzy, and still very much unsure where he was, Damon took a first tentative step from the cover of the large stalagmite in the opposite direction to the screams.

With the giant thing not having noticed his presence, Damon took another hesitant step, covering his mouth with a shaking hand. A part of him wanted to just bolt in a full sprint, but he clamped down on that impulse. He had enough of a mind to be sure he did not want to draw the monster’s attention.

“NO!”

The feminine shriek brought a shudder down Damon’s spine. He pushed to ignore it.

Another light step away from the monster. Half-held breath as his free hand leaned into the rocks. Every step was making it clear his attempts to find a way out were proving fruitless. The cavern appeared to be a gigantic circular shape. And though he’d originally moved away from the screams, he was soon forced to start moving him closer. Should he turn back?

He had to try. Fortune smiled down on him, the rock formations and irregular walls let him keep himself to the shadows, his naked feet silent compared to the earth-shaking scratches. It let him push his luck, remaining unnoticed.

And with a glimmer of pale yellow, he spotted the way out.

It was a small tunnel, with light at the other end. The only thing between him and survival was that he’d need to walk around one of the larger rocky formations to get to it, a conglomeration of stalagmites that had likely taken tens of thousands of years to form. And doing so would expose him to the monster.

Damon was determined, so long as the monster didn’t turn around… but he couldn’t afford being cautious. Every step was slow, and every time the monster in the dark stopped moving, so would he. The air was damp and heavy, the scent of blood was mixing with something else, a soggy fur and rot kind of smell that clogged his nose and throat.

But he was going to make it out. The tunnel might be close to the creature, he just had to-.

CRUNCH

Damon froze and looked down at the sensation of something breaking under his foot. Then he turned back up towards the monster’s approximate location within the darkness.

A singular glowing orange eye with a rectangular pupil stared back.

“HELLO? HELP!” the female voice screamed. “I AM A GATHERER! PLEASE SAVE ME!”

Damon wasn’t listening, frozen in place as he saw the monster staring back at him. In his mind, he wondered whether he had time to run for the exit. The thought evaporated as the eye shifted along with the shadows, the large creature turning, the eye vanished from view, and two others took its place. These were yellow with narrowed pupils that locked on him.

What followed was a bone-chilling growl that shook the dust from the ceiling and the ground under his feet. Rows of fangs the size of his forearm glinted under the azure light.

It was like a gunshot. Damon leapt to the side, ducking behind the stone structure without a moment of hesitation. But the leap turned out far longer than he’d estimated, landing near the center of the cavern. His mind reeled, trying to make sense of how he’d somehow turned the half-meter lunge into almost three times that, but the sound of something heavy slamming against the cave walls arrested his attention onto the spot he’d been occupying a second ago.

Through the entwining darkness and blue light, he spotted the two yellow eyes and rows of bloody fangs. “Nice little monster.” He raised his hands, trying to step back and definitely looking for anything he could do to get out of this situation alive. The lack of heavy ordnance made that unlikely, however. “Just a nice cute what-the-fuck, one that’s going to just let me walk away.”

“DON’T LEAVE ME HERE!” The voice screamed from where the monster had originally been.

He didn’t get a chance to respond.

The horror lunged forward, and Damon reacted by doing the same sideways. Everything felt off. His body was too light, and the leap too far. Had the world become a bouncy-castle while he hadn’t been paying attention? At least it got him away from the salivating maw that had tried to chomp down on the general area he’d been occupying. The crash this time sent him tumbling towards the wall, his attempt to scramble back to his feet narrowing his focus too much to pay attention to the beast for a bit too long.

The instant his feet were back under him, Damon lunged forward before he could stop to check on the monster’s location. And not a moment too soon, a blue flash of fur and scales had followed. The monster had bodied its way against the rocky formations with apparent little preoccupation. Dust rose and stone crumbled. Under the shadows of the blue light, Damon barely made out the quadrupedal nature of the thing. Its head was disproportionately large, its bloody fangs massive, and its maw left a stench of rotting meat in its wake.

He quickly realized he was faster than the beast, but the beast was able to jump like it was nobody’s business. And the moment the horror caught him in a bite, he’d turn into a burger. The many shadows also didn’t help. He wasn’t able to fully see the monster, meanwhile it clearly had a perfect bead on him. Damon’s main saving grace was how slowly the monster took to turn around.

“HELP ME!” the woman shouted from wherever it was she was hiding.

“Help yourself, lady!” he roared back.

Nothing was making sense to Damon. This thing shouldn’t exist, he shouldn’t feel this light, and he definitely shouldn’t be naked in a cave. His mind raced. He couldn’t escape in the direction he’d come from. Too dark. The other alternative looked like a corridor, not much room to dodge. Case in point, a cluster of stalagmites crumbled under the impact of the creature as it slammed them head first.

It didn’t even flinch as it spun around to face him again. The blue light shone on the monster. It looked like someone had taken a car-sized wolf and made its head a full third of its body. Damon froze as he realized it had come to a halt exactly in front of the exit tunnel. Maybe this was his way out?

His mind whirled through the options. Only one idea came out. “This is crazy.”

The monster’s legs, he noticed, were stout, tightly bent like some sort of overgrown deformed grasshopper. Damon’s eyes locked onto them as he sprinted towards the monster, ignoring every instinct screaming at him to go in the opposite direction to avoid the fangs. The creature opened its maw and its limbs tensed. Damon took the sign to jump as high as he could.

For a split second, he was flying. The next, the beast was passing under him, its yellow eyes blazing with hatred.

“Olé!” He shouted out of the sheer adrenaline-fueled euphoria.

Damon landed, ready to run. The monster would need time to turn around, enough time he’d get a good lead on the thing. The angle would make things awkward for the beast, further increasing his chances. But his thoughts stopped when a chill ran down his spine. He glanced over his shoulder at the monster to confirm it had indeed crashed against the wall.

A singular orange eye with a rectangular iris looked at him. An eye that was housed on the back of the monster’s head.

“Oh sh-.”

The monster leapt backwards, not caring to turn around. Damon had not been prepared to react to having the thing back-slam him with its thick-scaled hide. And hit it did, like an out of control truck. His feet left the ground, and they were both sent crashing against the cave wall.

The impact rung his head like a bell. The world was spinning wildly, his thoughts scattered under the buzzing between his ears. He could barely make out as the monster landed on the floor and rolled back to its feet, shuffling as it turned in his direction. Its gigantic bloody maw dripped saliva on the cavern floor, the monster eager to bring the fight to a tasty end.

Panic fought its way through the ringing headache. Damon’s attempts at standing resulted in stumbling steps. He had to find the strength to run, to dodge, to get out of there.

The beast tensed, ready for a lunge.

Damon felt his legs collapse under him. He fell flat, and that gave him a front-row seat to the monster slamming its muzzle against the wall like a freight train. Something bumped against his hand. He looked down, one of the shattered stalagmites. He glanced upwards at the soft furry underside of the monster’s jaw.

Summoning every bit of strength he could muster, he lurched upward with his improvised weapon.

It pierced through the flesh with barely any resistance. Damon kept pushing upwards with every ounce of power he was able to muster. His mouth opened in a scream, the monster howled, flung itself away, dragging him along for the ride. But now that a chance to survive was within sight, he clutched at the monster’s fur with his free hand, unwilling to let go.

The blue light illuminating the cave made the beast’s blood look black as it splattered down his arm and all around him. The creature shook left and right, jumping and turning to little result. The moment Damon felt the ground back under his feet, and the monster’s weight bearing down on him, he shoved upwards. The scream burned through his lungs,

It leapt again, stumbling, Damon withdrew his arm enough to thrust it back in with everything he had. Something cracked within the mass of flesh, bone, and muscle.

Rock or bone, he couldn’t tell. But it was as far as his strength would let him go. He released his grip and fell on the stony floor, heaving for air, everything hurt all around. The monster bounced away, the last of its strength leaving it as it toppled and hit the far-off wall, rolling to a stop.

Hateful yellow eyes peered down at him, blood oozing from its mouth, eyes, nose, and ears. The light within its orbs dimming with every passing moment.

It didn’t get back up.

[...]

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU BARELY MANAGED TO SLAY A d҉̷̧̛4̢̧̧̧͝$̕f̸͞:̵҉͟_̛͘2̵̧͘͢z̶͏̢̀ !

GAINED: 3 HUNTER POINTS (+1 FOR EFFORT). TOTAL: 4

REDEEM POINTS AND MATERIALS IN EXCHANGE FOR UPGRADES (YOU’LL NEED THOSE)!

NEAREST BOOTH LOCATED AT: 5͟͠҉&̶̴̡_̀͢:̶̀̕̕͢ȩ͝2̷̢͜2̸̨

[...]

“I know they say things are bigger in Texas.” He half panted, swatting at the glowing words, the strength in his body waning. “But that was one ugly motherfucker.”

Thankfully, the annoying green screen vanished along with Damon’s consciousness.

***

Deep in the darkness of the cosmos, an object moved at several times the speed of light. The spaceship did this by wrapping space around itself, compressing it on one end and expanding it back out on the other. From outside the bubble, the object left a streak of shimmering light in its wake. From within the world outside was darkness, no stars, no constellations, no gas formations, nothing save the ship itself.

It was a light scout vessel, being a modest hundred meters in length and shaped like an acorn that had been cut in half. The ship had been designed to take fast voyages through uncharted space, a task it was deemed to still be able to carry out despite the clear state of disrepair.

And inside this unfortunate old ship was a singular Zuun passenger.

Emilie stood from her swivel chair, her head moving to the beat of the song. Nimble chitin-coated feet tapped against the alloy gray floor as she deftly spun on the spot, holding onto her metal cup of her favorite hot beverage, AW14, with little concern for spillage thanks to the lid. Her lips, a luxury mod she’d bought just two work cycles ago, half mumbled the song of one of the catchiest themes that had swarmed through the net before she’d jumped off-station for her task. Her mind still not quite awake, longing to return to the still warm tight embrace of her cot.

Her dance came to a halt in front of the large monitor next to the refrigeration unit. The screen was littered with numbers and graphs, readings from the sensor array. She inspected them with her two main eyes, not needing the focus from the adjacent pair. Now that they were closer to their destination, the precision of the simulations was slowly increasing, and Emilie was liking these results. She might even get a bonus out of this.

“What’s the ETA?”

The screen flickered, a timer showed up, and she choked on her beverage, all eyes bulging.

A coughing fit followed, she hastily downed the remainder of her drink and rushed through the dimly lit corridors towards the locker room. With a discarded metal cup left to roll against the floor, she fumbled her way through removing her oil-stained clothes and putting on the marine blue EVA undersuit. “Shit, shit, shit…” Looking at her reflection, she grimaced, metal-follicle-growths were all over the place, bags under her irritated eyes from spending too long watching her series during the previous rest cycle, her skin was slightly off color too!

But there was no time for anything fancy, she splashed some water on her face and combed her hair with her steel-reinforced self-defense nails as best she could while running towards the command room. The doors hissed, but didn’t open. “Come on, not now!” Her fist slammed twice, to no effect. “Why today? Not today!” She kicked, thrice, still nothing. “Open up you piece of scrap, or I’m turning you into my next chair!”

The doors opened at her fourth kick, Emilie nearly stumbled but caught herself, hastily moving towards the dusty captain’s chair and jumping on it. She froze when she saw a singular red blinking light on the armrest. “No!” But it wasn’t like she could do anything about it. She groaned inwardly, and pressed the blinking light anyway.

Instantly, the black wall in front of her lit up, revealing an expanse of blackness as a direct feed from the external cameras. Protocol for when it was time to record a report.

A deep breath, she forced a smile on her lips as the recording focused on her face. The forced protocol for expressions might be annoying to adjust to now that she’d upgraded herself, but it was worth it. It certainly was better having mandibles! Though she still spent some time in front of the mirror flapping them around a bit. Fun!

No, this was not the time to distract herself.

“This is captain Emilie Meier of the Second Hisien, scraper scout vessel ID:CASQIEK2. Log three hundred and twelve.” Her lips struggled against the smile, the muscles were not used to it. She pressed two buttons on the console to bring up the latest simulations. “Currently entering the binary star system from the Braket belt, coordinates 1.3-4.3-5.4-8.2. Preliminary scans show two wet planets within the habitable zone, two rocky planets, and one gas giant. Radiological and spectrometer readings also show a potential presence of pre-First-Wave technology. Next update will come upon exit of interstellar winds and entry into the system’s heliosphere.”

She pressed the blinking red light again, then a bit more forcefully five more times, until it finally beeped in acknowledgement that the recording had turned off. A loud groan followed as she rubbed at the bridge of her nose, slumping into the chair and letting her mouth rest.

“Please tell me I didn’t…” A beep from her right, she glanced at it. “Penalty due to misdemeanor, of course.” She slumped onto her seat and groaned, sure that it was going to be one of those expeditions.

[002 Suns]

That had been an awfully terrible nightmare. There was no way the cave and the monster could have been anything other than a hallucination. Damon would’ve chuckled if he didn’t feel like he’d run two marathons back to back. Had they made him do the fifteen kilometer march all over again? Couldn’t be. He’d never been this thoroughly bruised. What time was it, anyway? His hand moved in search of his watch.

“Wait.”

He was lying on cold, uneven stone. This wasn’t his bunk bed.

He was naked and sticky.

“Oh, no.”

There was no way he would open his eyes and risk going back to the nightmare. But he knew what he would find, and feared it. His skin felt gooey, the air was thick with the stench of rotten meat and mold. There did not appear to be an escape from this. So, with a deep grimace, he opened his eyes to the darkness of the cave. The first thing he noticed was that the blue glow was gone. But the darkness wasn’t absolute. There was a pale orange light from the tunnel he’d tried to take during the fight.

A glow that, hopefully, would lead outside.

“This can’t be real,” he said. The words were hollow when his body ached like he’d insulted a biker gang and they used him as a punching bag. Again.

But he couldn’t just sit there and hope things went away. He stood, uncomfortable and groaning, but alive at the very least. His gaze wandered through the cave’s shadows, looking for anything that might be of use. Either to answer questions or at least serve as clothing. His eyes stopped at the object laying where the monster had died.

In place of a corpse, there was a huge skull and an equally large pelt. He approached carefully.

The skull was bleached white, and broad enough someone could just curl into its maw and use the thing for shelter. Its shape was similar to a wolf’s, except far larger, broader, and with a hole in the back, where the orange eye had been. There was little about it that felt reassuring, the very fact it existed irrefutable proof that things weren’t going in any direction he would’ve wanted them to.

“This can’t be real.” This time, the words were filled with disbelief rather than delusion.

Damon’s uncle had a farm and went hunting deer or hogs now and then. He’d spent enough time with the old paranoid gun-nut to at the very least be absolutely sure it took from months to years for an animal’s skull to end up this clean on its own. The thing was white, with no blood, no flesh, no fur clinging to it.

Damon’s focus shifted towards the only other present item: a pelt. It was a massive thing. It looked like a large bluish bear skin. One with dark blue scales that added a layer of protection to its spine. The object felt far lighter than it should have, and upon closer inspection, the underside was smooth. It had the sort of finish one would expect to get after giving the piece a first treatment. Something that should have been impossible for it to happen on its own. Even less within the span of a single blackout.

Still buck naked and with nothing else to wear, he draped it over his shoulders. It was too large, however, almost half of it would drag on the floor. Damon had to twist and move it around his body until he was comfortable. The thing was a massive fur toga with the ‘head’ serving as a fuzzy helmet.

[...]

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU ARE ALMOST PROPERLY CLOTHED!

GAINED: 1 SURVIVAL POINTS (BUT YOU CAN DO BETTER). TOTAL: 1

YOU CAN REDEEM POINTS IN EXCHANGE FOR UPGRADES!

NEAREST BOOTH LOCATED AT: 5͟͠҉&̶̴̡_̀͢:̶̀̕̕͢ȩ͝2̷̢͜2̸̨

[...]

Three things happened at once. The message popped into existence out of nowhere. Then, Damon may or may not have shrieked. But he jumped and slammed against the wall all the same. The monster pelt cushioned the impact enough it barely registered, but his pride had definitely taken a blow.

“Mother fucking...” His hands waved in front of his face, trying to get rid of the message. “Go away.”

The window vanished. He promptly decided that thinking about this potential hallucination was something best left to after he got a better bearing of what was going on. “Questioning your sanity comes later.”

Just as he’d been about to leave the cave, he glanced at the skull and the wicked long fangs. He grabbed some of the smaller fangs and yanked them out. They snapped like a dry twig, barely weighing anything on his grip, and pointy enough, they’d at least work as improvised weapons.

“Feeling like a caveman right about now.”

[...]

CONGRATULATIONS!

YOU “MADE” YOUR FIRST WEAPON!

GAINED: 2 SURVIVAL POINTS (MAYBE GIVE IT A GRIP!). TOTAL: 3

YOU CAN REDEEM POINTS IN EXCHANGE FOR UPGRADES!

NEAREST BOOTH LOCATED AT: 5͟͠҉&̶̴̡_̀͢:̶̀̕̕͢ȩ͝2̷̢͜2̸̨

[...]

“Dismiss. Dismiss. Dismiss.”

The message vanished. He turned to glance at the rest of the cave. It was too dark to make out anything specific, but he remembered there had been someone else there during the fight. He shuffled about and found a crevice with its walls chipped away by claw-marks. But it was empty. Whoever had been there left, and they likely took the useful stuff that had been lying around the place.

The memory of the severed hand flashed through his mind. It didn’t take him much to find the owner splattered and torn to pieces. This monster hadn’t just killed them, it had made the unlucky sod into minced meat. The green blood would have surprised him if not because of the poor state the corpse had been in. The sight of it made Damon’s gut roil. He doubled over and heaved, but his stomach was empty. Nothing more than a spittle of bile came out.

The smell of blood and shit was pungent but relatively fresh, it meant he hadn’t been unconscious that long. Damon pushed through his queasiness and tried to see if he could get answers. To no luck. The body was far too mangled, and his clothes were some sort of tunic, but torn and tattered beyond use.

“Poor bastard.” he muttered under his breath, wiping his chin.

With nothing else he could find out, he turned towards the exit.

CRUNCH

“Fuck!”

Cursing, he glanced downwards to see he’d stepped on glass. It was a vial that had already broken. It lay within a small crater, carved out of the stone and filled with dust and sand. Damon glared at it, touching the impossibly smooth edge of the hole for a moment before checking his foot for the injury. It had fortunately been only a shallow cut.

The vial was just another question to throw onto the pile of things to get answers to. He walked down the tunnel to the outside world.

Sunlight greeted him, merciful and warm. The gust of wind was far less friendly, a cold chill that bit deeper than he’d expected it to for what should have been mid-summer in Houston. And the more he saw, the clearer it was this was an entirely different place. For one, the mountains were blue. Cyan kind of blue. The very dirt under his feet looked like someone had painted it with markers, and the vegetation wasn’t any less alien. Trees were sparse, but their foliage was of a bright neon color that seemed to glow softly under the sunlight.

“Wherever this is, it ain’t Texas,” he said as he stared at the sky, at the two suns that hung next to one another. The first was the normal white he was used to, the other far smaller and a dim red. “That can’t be right. Is this place broken?”

[...]

QUERY ANSWER:

NETWORK ARRAY: OFFLINE

DIAGNOSTICS: UNAVAILABLE

THALARING PORT REQUIRED FOR ACCESS

[...]

“That’s, uh... something.” Damon frowned, waving his hand against the screen. But it was not real. Even when he closed his eyes, he could still see it as if it were floating in the void. Which had some uncomfortable implications. “Does this have a map?” At his words, another window popped up.

[...]

QUERY ANSWER:

NETWORK ARRAY: OFFLINE

MAP: UNAVAILABLE

LOADING FROM MEMORY

ERROR

MAP: UNAVAILABLE

RECONSTRUCTION MODE: ENGAGED

[...]

The only thing that showed up was a large blank square with only a tiny dot of blue at the center. Damon reached out and gesticulated. “Zoom, dammit.” And as soon as he spoke, the speck of color expanded until he got a blue blob with a cave symbol at the side and a single dot with some text attached further to the cave. “JANUS ENTRY POINT #241.” He read out loud. “What’s a Janus?”

[...]

QUERY ANSWER:

JANUS: FOR ALL YOUR EXPLORATION AND ENTERTAINMENT NEEDS.

[...]

Next to the name, there was a logo of some sort. A white background with a stick figure walking through an arch. The other side having the symbol for a twisty planet with rings. Damon frowned. “What is a Janus Entry Point?”

[...]

ERROR

QUERY ANSWER NOT FOUND

[...]

“Where am I?” His question only got the mostly blank map to pop back up. “How do I get back home?”

[...]

ERROR

QUERY ANSWER NOT FOUND

[...]

Damon frowned. “How did I even get here?”

[...]

QUERY ANSWER:

JANUS ENTRY POINT #241.

[...]

Stomping his foot, he waved his hands through the text. “Why the fuck am I even here?”

[...]

QUERY ANSWER:

APOCALYPSE THREAT DETECTED

COUNTERMEASURES: NOT ENGAGED

ENGAGE COUNTERMEASURES

[...]

“Look bub, I sure as heck am not equipped to handle an apocalypse, I’m no marine.” The answer was only making more questions bubble within his head. “Does solving this thing let me go back?”

[...]

ERROR

QUERY ANSWER NOT FOUND

[...]

“What even IS this ‘apocalypse threat’? How do I engage in ‘countermeasures’?”

[...]

ERROR

QUERY ANSWER NOT FOUND

[...]

“This fucking thing has the company motto loaded up, but not the answer of how to avoid a supposed apocalypse!?”

Damion tried to ask it for more details, changing the wording of his questions a couple dozen times before eventually just giving up. Whatever this ‘system message window’ was, it was about as clueless of what was going on as he was. “I really hope this doesn’t count as going AWOL. I’ve met people saying they’d been kidnapped by aliens and this is definitely not the experience they described.”

With a defeated sigh, he glanced around and tried to figure out what direction to take. As far as he could see, there were only mountains and more mountains, in varying shades of blue and with bright blue vegetation scattered all over. He’d been just about ready to head uphill to find some usable vantage point when a thought occurred to him.

“Do you know what else was in the cave before I passed out?”

[...]

QUERY ANSWER:

1x d҉̷̧̛4̢̧̧̧͝$̕f̸͞:̵҉͟_̛͘2̵̧͘͢z̶͏̢̀

1x c҉̧́͘5̸̴̵_̶̧͝͞_̢́͟͝6̷̸̡͠͡!̛͜#̡̛*̵̡͜͝

1x d̡͟͢f̴́͘͜͝6̷͜͡c͢͝`̨҉̡҉́^͞͞͏̨(̧̛3̀͟

[...]

“Ok, just... I can’t read that. First one looks like the monster thing was called. Let’s say the first thing was a wolf monster. What were the other two? Any other information about them?”

[...]

SYSTEM UPDATE:

d҉̷̧̛4̢̧̧̧͝$̕f̸͞:̵҉͟_̛͘2̵̧͘͢z̶͏̢̀   RENAMED TO “WOLF MONSTER”

CONNECT TO NETWORK ARRAY OR THALARING PORT TO UPDATE DATABASE

QUERY ANSWER:

d̡͟͢f̴́͘͜͝6̷͜͡c͢͝`̨҉̡҉́^͞͞͏̨(̧̛3̀͟ NAME TRANSLATION: ARLEN [STATUS: DECEASED]

c҉̧́͘5̸̴̵_̶̧͝͞_̢́͟͝6̷̸̡͠͡!̛͜#̡̛*̵̡͜͝ NAME TRANSLATION: IDINA [STATUS: UNKNOWN]

[...]

“Progress.” He nodded. “Ok, first, let’s drop the all-caps. It feels like I’m being shouted at, and I had enough of that in basic. Second, let’s call the two... um... ‘locals’. Third, do you know anything about what happened to this Idina?”

[...]

System Update:

All-Caps changed to standard capitalization in Administrative System.

c҉̧́͘5̸̴̵_̶̧͝͞_̢́͟͝6̷̸̡͠͡!̛͜#̡̛*̵̡͜͝  renamed to “Locals”

d̡͟͢f̴́͘͜͝6̷͜͡c͢͝`̨҉̡҉́^͞͞͏̨(̧̛3̀͟ renamed to “Locals”

Connect to Network Array or Thalaring port to update Database

Query Answer:

Access User System recording or give glossary of content?

[...]

“Brief version.”

[...]

Receptors: Touch / Hearing / EM TAG.

ADMIN passed out. ADMIN heard Idina walking. ADMIN felt Idina press sharp object against ADMIN neck. No injuries incurred. ADMIN felt Idina press sharp object against ADMIN chest. No injuries incurred. ADMIN heard Idina scream. ADMIN heard Idina walking. ADMIN detected Idina moving South until no longer within range.

[...]

“This raises a lot more questions and concerns than answers, but let’s just stick to one crisis at a time.” His gaze drifted over the blue mountain. There were no apparent sources of water, settlements, or anything he could immediately recognize that might help him. “I don’t want to have to follow the woman who put something sharp against my neck, but it doesn’t seem like there’s much alternative here since there don’t seem to be any Wendy’s nearby. South it is. Dismiss window.”

He began to walk, working to put his thoughts in order. A lack of monsters trying to eat his face was doing miracles to his nerves. It let him take his time to look around, trying to figure out whether he was able to spot clues or hints that might betray the passing of this “Idina”, but besides blue pointy rocks and weird trees, he couldn’t really find anything. So he had to trust that going downhill would get him somewhere.

“Oh, if Idina or anything else enters detection range, would you give me a heads up?”

[...]

Query Answer:

Yes

[...]

“Then please do.”

***

One of the core foundations the army had drilled into him during basic training had been a sense of his physical and mental limitations. And after two hours of walking down the mountain, Damon was certain something fucky was going on. His steps had felt too light, his body too full of energy. He had attributed how he’d been able to move during the fight to some sort of adrenaline super-high, but now it was apparent it was the environment. He was definitely lighter than he thought he should be, maybe by a third or a fourth, and he was so energized he had a sinking suspicion the air might be different as well. Of course, asking ‘SYS’ for details regarding the world’s gravity and air didn’t help, only getting “Error” for his efforts. The same happened when he tried figuring out whether it knew if there was anything edible nearby. SYS was a Swiss cheese with too many holes.

“Must definitely be some sort of alien planet. Maybe higher oxygen content? Why would the little green men drop me here?”

Still, it was a welcome bonus. Compared to a forced march, this was a breeze.

Well, almost. His naked feet were hurting from all the small rocks and pebbles, and the priority to continue down hill was shifting towards looking for a possible temporary solution so he could continue his search without fear of crippling his feet in the process. He also had to pay some attention to where he was walking, as every now and then he’d spot some shallow holes on the ground, maybe half a meter deep and twice that in width.

His gaze eventually fell to the surrounding vegetation. The blue trees appeared to be pines, the branches stiff and the foliage not something he wanted to step on. But there were some bushes every so often that had bright red berry-sized fruits and long, soft leafy branches.

It took Damon a couple of destroyed bushes before he’d fashioned himself a set of improvised shoes. Using the fangs as knives had mixed results, but better ones than without them. Half an hour later, he’d made a bundle he could step on that looked like a set of bloated shady sandals.

[...]

CONGRATULATIONS!!

YOU HAVE MADE REALLY UGLY FOOTWEAR!

GAINED: 4 SURVIVAL POINTS (UGLY FEET MATCH BONUS +1). TOTAL: 8

YOU CAN REDEEM POINTS IN EXCHANGE FOR UPGRADES (SERIOUSLY)!

NEAREST BOOTH LOCATED AT: 5͟͠҉&̶̴̡_̀͢:̶̀̕̕͢ȩ͝2̷̢͜2̸̨

[...]

“You don’t get to judge shit.” He growled. “Wait, didn’t I say to remove all-caps? How come it came back?”

[...]

Query Answer:

Setting had only been changed for Admin system.

Would you wish to extend settings to User system?

[...]

“Sure, go with that.” He tapped his chin. “If I’m an admin... can I alter things?”

[...]

System Update:

Changes applied to User system.

Query Answer:

Network Array: Offline

Diagnostics: Unavailable

Thalaring Port required for access

[...]

Damon took a moment, frowning as he rubbed his chin before dismissing a few considerations. There was little sense in getting himself lost inside his own head when he didn’t even know where to find food or water. So he kept marching his way downhill, finding some calmness in the quiet cool breeze and warm sun. Until eventually another pleasant surprise popped up.

[...]

System ‘heads up’:

Idina EM-tag has entered detection range

Distance: 300 meters

[...]

“Well, would you look at that? Display Idina location on the map.”

Damon stared at the map, noticing the small red dot pointing ‘Idina’ and her relative position to him. She was South-East of him, and not moving at all. If he hurried, he figured he’d reach her within a couple of minutes. But considering the current set of circumstances, caution sounded like the better option.

“Time to see what I can find out.”

[NEXT]