A week flashed by in the blink of an eye.


    Now that we had a home base, we fell into a comfortable rhythm. Our days were spent gathering food and power crystals as well as weaving rope and cutting nails out of the bus. I took my time getting the frame just right, creating a platform that was rectangular, eighteen feet by twelve feet, the long side following the ridge. I measured for holes that would match the cypress tree and our fire pit. Using the Dual Metallicar cutting torch, I was able to cut a circle of the side of the bus and hammered it into place around the fire pit to protect the boards I’d sawed from the pine logs.


    Holly noticed that most of the power crystals could be found on the border of sectors, almost as if the Ravana Storm had left them behind. With the power crystals, using the chainsaw was easier, but I still had to take long breaks, which made the whole project take longer.


    Cutting nails from the bus wasn’t easy, but with some hammering and some filing—


    we had a file in the alien toolbox—we were able to get some pretty good spikes. Even with the nails, I still cut joints into both the beams and joists of the platform. We added some sap to glue them together while I hammered the logs into place.


    Setting up those first support logs was the hardest part. I had to find really good places to anchor the ends. Luckily, I found several crevices that worked well, as long as I got my cuts right. In the real world, I would’ve used concrete anchors, but I didn’t have any.


    Holly went into detail about how the roman’s had created concrete using volcanic ash, slaked lime, and water. There was a volcano in the Dinosaur Swamps, though it was far away. The real issue was the slaked lime, which came from superheated limestone.


    I thought we might be able to add concrete later, if we ever made any. For now, I would have to rely on rocks and crevices, that I sometimes had to hammer off chunks to stone to make better places for my support beams.


    Once my frame was in place, I started laying the joists.


    One of the best parts of that whole week was watching the girls light up as they saw our home taking shape. From cutting metal, to pounding nails, to sawing boards, it wasn’t long before we had a floor as well as a whole collection of baskets, thanks to Holly, who was getting faster and better in her basket weaving.


    One night, we’d gone walking along the beach, watching the waves roll in. Out in the distance, we saw shapes swimming around. The big giant things might’ve been whales or maybe huge fish, which was what Opal thought, given her information on the Greater Marusian Sea.


    That could all wait. We weren’t going to be visiting the skyscrapers of San Submerged any time soon.


    The beach stretched about a mile in each direction, ending in surf-soaked rocks that blocked our way. We found some seaweed that was edible, and we were able to kill some of the huge seagulls for meat. Like most things, they tasted like chicken. Drying the seaweed over the fire helped the taste, a little, but it still wasn’t good. Eating it with the gulls helped, though. We’d also found some nuts south of Privacy Rock. Most of the time, the peanuts were our breakfast along with some sweetberries. With her allergy, Holly didn’t risk an anaphylactic shock, so she stuck with the berries.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    I wanted to fish, and I had some ideas on how to get a fishing pole, but we needed a shelter first, and I’d managed to throw my spear into the side of another deer. This one was smaller, but it was still several days of food, even after I gave the huntress one of the haunches.


    Khanna had blushed and said something, which sounded suspiciously like an apology, but she was clearly grateful. She returned the favor by leaving little presents by our front door. One night we got a bag of Twankie Krunchies, some kind of potato chip that was greasy and salty with a sharp radish taste. They were kind of nasty. Another night, we got some little candies in brightly colored wrappers. They reminded me of butterscotch but with a bit more vanilla.


    I knew Khanna was watching me work, though I didn’t see her. Every morning, the huntress would meet me at Privacy Rock. We’d have sex, and then she’d take off. Opal promised me that she was slowly learning Khanna’s language, though the huntress didn’t talk much. Opal was also using the time to analyze the huntress, to see where she might be from. With her natural ability to survive on her own, Opal didn’t think that she was really Arkadian, since those galactic explorers were so much more advanced.


    In the end, Khanna was primitive, but that was what we needed. Damn, if I could’ve spoken her language, I would’ve asked her to help us make flint knives. I needed a damn knife.


    After my time with the mystery woman, I’d then go start sawing while Holly and Billie took their turn, bathing and doing whatever else, one after another, never together. Both were steadfast that they were going to get through their lust on their own.


    In that week, there was no more talk about kissing. That was okay with me. I had my girl, and I was slowly learning to anticipate Khanna’s little moods. She was a strange one, and yet, so beautiful and strong.


    On the rainy nights, we’d move our beds into the bus. Billie had made us bus seat pillows, which worked out pretty well. Holly had stripped the hide off the deer and had plans to make a deerskin blanket, though the fur on the skin was scratchy. She thought she could make the leather side soft, though she wasn’t sure. Again, Khanna could help us with that.


    Once we ate through the meat, I took the carcasses out to where Jack and Reggie hunted along I-70, the Rainforest World’s main road. I made sure that they saw me throw the meat to them before I sped off. I wanted them to associate me with food—I would feed them, so they wouldn’t eat me.


    I took several trips back to Red Dune World, if only to see the body of the giant rattlesnake slowly decay. Part of it was covered with the scarlet sand, while the suns slowly bleached the exposed bone. Other critters had come for the meat that the fleas had left behind, since they’d mostly just sucked the blood out of it.


    The yellow mounds were getting bigger, taller, wider.


    I wasn’t sure which troubled me more: those yellow termite mounds, those huge whale sized monsters out in the ocean, or the drums coming from the Dinosaur Swamps.


    At least we were eating, and so far, nothing had come to bother us on Lonetree Ridge.


    A week later, I was with the huntress, for our morning time at Privacy Rock. I was on my back, on the stone while she rode me, kissing me, pressing her tits against my chest.


    I reached back and grabbed her ass while I thrust into her.


    My finger brushed the swirl of her pucker, and she growled into my mouth. She seemed to like me touching her back there.


    She ground herself into me as I banged her harder. I came dangerously close to erupting inside of her. I didn’t want to get her pregnant, so she took care of the rest. Using her hand and her mouth, she took me to the edge and over it.


    Grabbing her soft hair, I gave into the lust as I felt the ecstasy take hold.


    She only nodded in enthusiasm as I came in her mouth, and she drank down every drop.


    Rocking back to sit on her legs, she gave me a big smile. She said a bunch of stuff, and it must’ve been enough for Opal to figure out her language.


    HOST COMPANION: Khanna the Huntress grammar and vocabulary translation task partially completed. Lexicon status 76%. Root is an unknown dialect of Arkadian. Khanna is distantly related to this unit’s current understanding of Arkadian biology. Real-time translation ready. Uploading lexicon.


    Then the pain hit before I could stop her. I was being optimized again, and damn, it fucking hurt, and that bitch Opal didn’t even have the common courtesy to warn me.