《Starship Rex》


 Chapter 1: Welcome Aboard

    A whirring noise loudly resounded in my ears.


    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± I groaned. I felt cold and that coupled with a pain in my lower back was what welcomed my return to wakefulness. I rolled onto my side to help alleviate the feeling, fumbling for the missing duvet that should have been keeping me warm.


    But as I quickly learned, this was not my bed.


    I fell unceremoniously off the uncomfortable surface I had been lying on to collide with the much less comfortable floor beneath me, letting out an appropriately manly noises of surprise and pain as I landed, having hurt my arm and shoulder as I first hit the floor on my side and then rolling onto my back. Just to add to it all, the momentum made it so my head conked against the hard metal floor too.


    Dazed and disoriented, I slowly stumbled to my feet.


    Instinctively, I reached out to balance myself on the surface I had been lying on. It felt like some kind of padded leather beneath my fingers with metal too. Blinking, I took in my surroundings.


    It was dark, the room lit primarily by small lights coming out from where the walls met the ceiling. The lights were dim, enough to get a vague outline of what I was looking at but I couldn¡¯t tell anything about the room I had found myself in.


    I was distracted from further inspection of my surroundings when I realised next that I was cold because I was naked!


    ¡°What the fuck?¡± I said intelligently. ¡°I definitely put on pjs before bed.¡±


    I leaned on the side of what I charitably assumed was meant to be a bed as I took in this embarrassing detail of my current predicament. But there was nothing I could do about that right now.


    ¡°Where the hell am I?¡± I muttered to myself quietly, still discombobulated. I reached up to the back of my head, finding it a bit sore but there wasn¡¯t any blood or anything. I¡¯d probably get a nasty bump based on how it throbbed, but I hopefully wouldn¡¯t need to see a doctor anytime soon.


    ¡°Okay, okay,¡± I told myself, trying to remain calm. I couldn¡¯t let myself panic. I needed to figure things out if I wanted to get out of here, wherever the hell here was. I mentally put together my current situation.


    I¡¯d been kidnapped, stripped, and then abandoned in a dark room that had probably been prepared for me.


    That¡­ didn¡¯t help with the panicking, to be entirely honest.


    ¡°Okay first thing, I need some lights,¡± I said more firmly, trying to ground myself. I wasn¡¯t going to be achieving anything if I couldn¡¯t bloody see.


    The moment I said the word my vision went white as the lights in the room immediately lit up.


    ¡°Agh!¡± I gasped, closing my eyes and lifting a hand to cover them as the bright light assaulted my vision.


    Blinking again, I realised that there must¡¯ve been some audio sensor on the lights. That was only reinforced when I took in my surroundings properly.


    It¡­ was scifi.


    I had woken up in someone¡¯s attempt at recreating something out of Star Trek, albeit in this case the colours were a lot darker, blacks rather than whites that reflected the light slightly with a metallic sheen. The floor was a deep blue and the ceiling matching it.


    The surface I had been lying on had a little console next to it with a touch screen that was now lit up with text in a language I didn¡¯t recognise, a graph of some sort and buttons lit up in a variety of colours. There was a round desk in one corner of the room, overlooking the bed I had been lying on and there were a trio of screens set to face whoever was sat there. It was clearly a mockup of a medical bay of some kind. There was only one bed though, the one I had woken up on.


    It was a good setup, I thought cynically as I took in the sight of what had to be some sort of joke, someone trying to trick me into thinking I¡¯d been kidnapped by aliens or something. Whoever had actually kidnapped me must have forgotten to tie me up and just left me here unconscious maybe? I had no idea. Whatever it was, the room was empty of life except my own.


    A doorway was visible on one side of the room. It looked like some kind of automatic thing, there was a button to the side that would presumably open it. Again, very sci-fi, wow.


    Another look around showed there were no obvious cupboards or anything I could see and no clothing visible for me to wear. That was annoying, but getting out of wherever the hell I was took priority. If I got arrested for public indecency then that¡¯d only mean I¡¯d get to explain what was going on to the police faster.


    I approached the door slowly, ears listening carefully for any sounds.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    There was a gentle hum of technology, the sound of air moving and I shivered instinctively as the cool air touched my bare skin.


    I could try waiting for my captor to return, ambush them, I thought. It would probably be smarter just to leg it though. I didn¡¯t need to beat anyone up, just get to safety. There was no need for machoness right now, I reminded myself.


    Not that I was in any way macho, mind you. A lifetime of comfortable living, deskwork and no exercise had left me definitely on the soft and pudgy side of things.


    I reached for the door button. Either the button would work and the door would open, or I¡¯d have to manually force the prop to open with my hands.


    With a whooshing noise I was relieved to see the door did open. It led into a corridor that was styled in the same black and blue as the medical room had been.


    I listened for any reaction, rushing feet or a noise of alarm but there was none.


    With trepidation I poked my head out and looked around.


    The corridor was empty. There was no reaction from whoever had brought me here.


    Well I wasn¡¯t going to look a gift horse in the mouth and there was no time to waste. I decided to go left and headed in that direction.


    The corridor lit up before me as I walked. Soft lighting illuminated the way, easy to see by even with the dark decor. The walls were slightly reflective too which helped a bit. The way the lights seemed to be turning on based on sensors was disconcerting, eerie. I couldn¡¯t see any signs of an actual motion sensor or anything like that but I could only assume there were or my captor would¡¯ve probably shown themselves. But then I had no idea what was going on, did I?


    I came to another door quickly. It was the same as the one I had left the medical room through. The door opened at the press of a button revealing what seemed like living quarters with some nice looking seats arranged around a couple of tables. There was what might¡¯ve been a cooking area on one side of the room. I disregarded it and continued on.


    There were another couple of doors separating the corridor into sections but they all opened for me. Unfortunately it seemed I had made the wrong call as my explorations only revealed more of the set. There was what was probably supposed to be captain¡¯s quarters based on the size of the bed and then I finally found my way to the end. It was a final door at the end of the corridor and through that I found the cockpit.


    It didn¡¯t light up as I entered, but there was enough light to see by anyway. There was one seat with a few small screens arrayed in front of it. There were a bunch of buttons and knobs and a joystick controller. It all looked very science fictioney. The only thing to detract from it all was the fact nothing appeared to be turned on.


    They¡¯d done a good job too, I thought dryly as I beheld the night sky, or rather space through the angled glass panels in front of the seat. Whoever had set this up had done a better job than could be found at any amusement park, I thought as I beheld bits of scrap and metal floating around in the distance outside.


    It was beautiful, almost enough to bring up the excited wanderlust of exploring a galaxy and for a moment I did.


    Too late to explore the world, too early to explore the cosmos. That was the saying and the view before ignited that mild dismay that exploring the stars would never happen in my lifetime.


    There was more than just the stars. it looked like I was supposed to be in some sort of space graveyard, surrounded by other destroyed spaceships and such. In the end though it wasn¡¯t anything different than what I had seen in the movies or Tv over the course of my life. I rolled my eyes and turned around.


    It wasn¡¯t real, obviously, and I couldn¡¯t help but resent whoever had kidnapped me just a little bit more as I turned away.


    Only for the door I had entered to slide shut right in front of me.


    I took a step back in surprise and it was then that a sound of static and the light whirring of electronics caught my attention.


    I turned around as the various dials and buttons lit up, screens coming to life with writing and information that wasn¡¯t in English. It was obviously a purposefully made-up alien language of some sort. Like Kingon, or American English.


    I turned back to the door to try the button to open it but I was stopped short as suddenly an electronic voice spoke around me.


    ¡°Greetings Captain,¡± the vaguely feminine voice said. ¡°Welcome to Starship Rex.¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ no,¡± I said flatly, looking around for the camera, or cameras, wherever they might be.


    To my annoyance I didn¡¯t see any cameras, but I knew they had to be there. Whoever had arranged all this could presumably hear and see me. Unless that audio was just a prearranged recording like everything else seemed to be.


    None of this made sense. Who would even go through all the effort of this? It wasn¡¯t like I had any enemies, kidnapping me from my bed would be difficult all on its own and I was sure I went to bed last night as normal. I wasn¡¯t special enough to go to this sort of trouble.


    ¡°Look,¡± I said, allowing a pleading note into my tone. ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are, but I¡¯m not going to play whatever game this is. I just want to go home.¡±


    There was no response for several seconds.


    ¡°Starship Rex has quarters designated for the Captain,¡± the audio came out from the walls.


    I huffed, almost amused at the ridiculousness of all this.


    ¡°Look, you can stop,¡± I said with exasperation this time. ¡°It¡¯s all very pretty but I¡¯m not buying it. I¡¯m not going to be your Captain, so stop pretending.¡±


    ¡°Starship Rex must have a Captain,¡± replied what I guessed was meant to be some sort of AI.


    ¡°Well it¡¯s not me, I  refuse,¡± I repeated my previous statement.


    ¡°Calculating.¡±


    There was a pause.


    ¡°No additional candidates for captain can be identified,¡± said the digital voice.


    There was another pause.


    ¡°Initiating self-destruct.¡±

 Chapter 2: First meetings

    My eyes widened as the voice declared that it was initiating a self-destruct, but only for a moment.


    This wasn¡¯t real, no matter how much it might look real in the moment, I reminded myself quickly.


    I crossed my arms over my bare chest and shook my head in denial.


    Yes, still naked by the way.


    ¡°I¡¯m not buying it,¡± I stated.


    Even though doubt was insidiously creeping up on me I wasn¡¯t going to let a moment of irrational fear cloud my judgement. I was going to let the alleged spaceship initiate its self-destruct and call it out when it cancelled it. Because whoever wanted me here wanted me here for a reason. It wouldn¡¯t make sense for me to just get blown up before they got whatever jollies they wanted out of all this.


    The hum of electricity built up and I could feel a sudden build-up of static on my skin. I had to admit that the strange feeling was very discomforting, that part of me that was starting to believe all this might actually be real, regardless of the rational part of me repeatedly pointing out that it wasn¡¯t real, it couldn¡¯t be real.


    The static feeling only built up. I could feel the exposed hairs all over my body start to lift off and a shiver ran down my spine.


    I licked my suddenly dry lips.


    What if it was real? that traitorous part of me pointed out.


    Then there was a beeping noise from the console in front of the piloting chair.


    ¡°Known friendly ship identified and approaching,¡± the audio stated. ¡°Vessel designated Frozen Hand requesting docking permission. Permission granted in accordance with prior directives.¡±


    The static feeling dropped away almost immediately and I let out a breath I hadn¡¯t realised I had been holding.


    Knowing it wasn¡¯t real was one thing, but that didn¡¯t stop my instinctive responses acting as if it were.


    I looked back at the screen by the Captain¡¯s chair. It now showed a sky blue dot approaching the centre of what looked like a three dimensional display, Starship Rex presumably being the centre of it.


    But this was basically proof now, wasn¡¯t it? I thought to myself grimly. My kidnappers hadn¡¯t managed to trick me into accepting this was real by pretending to threaten to blow this place up. They¡¯d decided to shift the narrative along to keep the illusion up.


    I grit my teeth. It looked like it was time to confront some of my kidnappers.


    There was a jolt that ran through the floor and my surroundings as the other spaceship supposedly docked with this one.


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s do this,¡± I muttered.


    When I approached the doorway this time it opened on its own and I strode out, ready to meet my kidnappers face to face. Hopefully I¡¯d be able to find the exit and maybe even escape past them.


    So I hurried back through the corridors, heading past the doorways I¡¯d already seen.


    I still didn¡¯t know where I was going but I just kept following the corridor. It wasn¡¯t far, but I was sadly too late.


    I arrived in what seemed like a hangar bay. It wasn¡¯t that big, there was what looked like a ramp opening and maybe some space for a couple of vehicles or cargo. To one side of the hangar there was another doorway that opened automatically with the sound of displaced air to allow the person on the other side entry.


    I was too far away to try attacking them, if they were armed then I was in all sorts of trouble. But then I already was in plenty of trouble wasn¡¯t I?.


    Her hair was a puffy mess, a startling white like fresh snow and her eyes were grey, or perhaps even silver. She was short, more than a few inches shorter than myself.


    She wore dark brown boots that went up to just below her knees. Black leggings led up to a brown skirt of the same sort of soft leather as the boots and the new arrival had a leather jacket fastened around her upper half, leaving her midriff exposed if it weren¡¯t for a black underlayer that I realised might have actually been a bodysuit or something. At her side there was an appropriately futuristic looking gun and she had a silver bracer on her right arm with a yellow gem embedded on the back of her hand.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    What stood out most, although I guess I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, was that she was blue.


    Yes, the standard approach to making your alien in most early sci-fi settings. When possible, minimise costs by simply painting someone a funny colour or glueing a bit of mussed up wire to their heads and call it an alien race. Bonus points for using both black and white makeup and calling it an allegory for race politics.


    I gave her bonus points for the prosthetics. They¡¯d given her wide pointed ears that stuck out from her hair like a fantasy elf.


    ¡°Nice getup,¡± I said to her. ¡°You wear that much makeup all the time?¡±


    The supposed alien girl froze when she saw me and her wide eyes went up and down my nude form.


    ¡°Impressive, I know,¡± I said flatly.


    ¡°Il¡¯u eraneel hwe?!¡± She said, seeming to be equal parts shocked and embarrassed, at least based on the dusting of purple now colouring her blue cheeks. Oh look someone had invented an alien language for her to speak.


    Still, the colouring of her cheeks was surprising, I thought. I¡¯d have thought colouring like that wouldn¡¯t be able to get through the makeup. It must¡¯ve been difficult to make it work like that.


    ¡°You can drop the act,¡± I said, deciding bravely to step forward. It was then that I noticed she had what looked like a pistol on her hip and a bracer on her arm. The bracer had a glowing yellow gem located on the back of the hand part.


    The stranger stepped back, but then frowned and looked up towards the ceiling.


    ¡°S-starship Rex?¡± She asked, sounding hopeful, the words sounding foreign in her accent that might¡¯ve been somewhere between Welsh and French. ¡°Go¡¯u deffru?¡±


    ¡°Go¡¯lolou leau datal,¡± replied Starship Rex¡¯s supposed AI, to the girl¡¯s apparent relief.


    ¡°Go¡¯u Relhannon, Godau al Nellhana.¡±


    ¡°Relhannon, Godau al Nellhana datalo. Greco resh Starship Rex,¡± replied the AI.


    The girl took a breath and then her gaze went back to me, albeit for a moment.


    Apparently kidnapping is fine, but nudity¡¯s right out, I thought cynically as she looked incredibly uncomfortable right now.


    I had absolutely no sympathy.


    ¡°Il¡¯u eraneel hwe?¡± the blue girl asked, gesturing towards me awkwardly, her cheeks aflame. The purple having transitioned to a more red colour now.


    ¡°Il¡¯u kren¡¯a minune,¡± replied the voice coming from our surroundings. The response only seemed to confuse the girl and I was left standing there like a muppet while there was a back and forth between the two of them.


    I obviously didn¡¯t understand a word of what they were supposed to be saying beyond that it mainly pertained to myself. The conversation only seemed to surprise the girl as she glanced my way briefly once or twice, unwilling to actually look at me as I was right now and then I finally lost patience. Seeing as nothing else was happening and not feeling quite so afraid right now, I decided to take the initiative.


    ¡°Right enough,¡± I said, stepping forward.


    The girl was taken by surprise as I approached and she didn¡¯t react in time to do more than take a surprised step back. She wasn¡¯t fast enough to stop me reaching out and taking a firm hold of one of her big pointy ears.


    ¡°Don¡¯t play coy,¡± I said bitingly. ¡°Games over let¡¯s call this wh-¡±


    ¡°Gyah!¡± the unknown girl shouted in very real pain as my fingers closed around the fake ear.


    I caught myself, suddenly quite confused as the feel of what I had in my hand registered. I had been ready to yank off the arrival¡¯s prosthetic ear. I hadn¡¯t expected it to feel warm, or for that matter like real flesh.


    Suddenly panicking, I let go and the girl recoiled away from me. There was pain clear in her expression.


    ¡°Il¡¯sh fluteel!¡± The girl complained, her hand going up to cradle her very real ear!


    ¡°Oh shit,¡± said just a moment before the bracer on the girl¡¯s hand lit up.


    Yellow energy sprung from her palm, like glowing threads as thick as a finger and they wrapped around me, rapidly constricting and forcing my arms to my side and my legs together.


    Then it got worse.


    With a crackle, the glowing cords lit up and electricity ran through my body.


    ¡°Gah!¡± I shouted in pain for what could only be a second or two but it still left me reeling. Already off balance, I couldn¡¯t stop myself from toppling over with my arms and legs bound as they were.


    Once again I fell onto my side, colliding with the hard floor below me.


    I managed to recollect myself to find the girl had stepped several steps away from me, she¡¯d withdrawn the gun, no, the laser pistol at her hip and she was aiming it in my direction.


    So that was where I found myself as my entire world view broke apart and I realised my current situation.


    I was on a spaceship, which had only just cancelled its self-destruct.


    Alone.


    Probably with no way of getting home.


    And with an angry alien babe who I¡¯d just pissed off currently pointing a laser blaster in my direction.


    I looked up at her, her lips pursing and glare only intensifying as our eyes met.


    ¡°In my defence, I was really sure this was all fake.¡±

 Chapter 3: Priorities

    ¡°Err, sorry?¡± I tried, although considering we didn¡¯t actually speak the same language I could only hope that my tone got through to the girl currently pointing a laser pistol at me whilst also tying me up with whatever the hell space magitech that bracer thing was supposed to be.


    She glowered at me for several seconds and for a moment I thought she might actually fire, but then she relented. The pistol was lowered, although not holstered, but whatever those glowing bindings were they dissipated around me.


    Slowly, I got to my feet.


    ¡°Maybe we got off on the wrong foot,¡± I said slowly as I put a hand to cover my privates.


    It seemed like I might not have been kidnapped after all, or at least not by this girl, who I¡¯d been brazenly flashing out of pettiness and in an attempt to keep her off balance.


    Oh god, I think I wanted to die.


    The girl gave me a complicated look before gesturing at me with her free hand.


    ¡°Il¡¯u cogni hwe?¡± She asked, expressing confusion. ¡°Il¡¯u sleay,¡± she said with bemusement.


    ¡°I don¡¯t understand a word that you¡¯re saying,¡± I stated and at least that seemed like something she understood as her shoulders slumped.


    ¡°I¡¯m Alex,¡± I said, gesturing to myself. ¡°A-lex.¡±


    ¡°Go¡¯u Rel,¡± replied the girl, gesturing towards herself.


    ¡°Okay that¡¯s great,¡± I said carefully, still quite aware that she was the one with the gun in this situation. ¡°Nice to meet you, Go¡¯u Rel.¡±


    She shook her head.


    ¡°Rel,¡± she said simply.


    I nodded as I realised the mistake. This language barrier thing was going to cause problems.


    Introductions having been made, she apparently decided I wasn¡¯t a threat and holstered her weapon. Although I knew now that I wasn¡¯t actually a threat with that weird light thing she¡¯d tied me up with. I hadn¡¯t even seen her make a gesture to activate it.


    I also needed to think about fixing this whole nudity thing. Now my life apparently wasn¡¯t in danger, or at least not in an immediate sense, it was probably time I put some effort into fixing that¡­ I thought to myself awkwardly. This was highlighted by the way the girl¡¯s eyes darted down to my now covered crotch before glancing away again in embarrassment.


    ¡°Err, Starship Rex?¡± I asked. ¡°Are there any clothes somewhere I could wear?¡±


    ¡°There are clothes designated for the captain in the captain¡¯s quarters. Only the captain may enter the captain¡¯s quarters.¡±


    ¡°And is me being captain still on the table then?¡± I asked awkwardly. I glanced towards Rel.


    Would she qualify to take command of this ship too? For all I knew the only criteria for being captain was being on the ship at all and with her here now, she would be far more qualified to be the ship¡¯s captain than me. I obviously didn¡¯t know anything about spaceships or how to pilot one.


    ¡°No other candidates for captain can be identified.¡± The spaceship told me, repeating what it had said before.


    ¡°Then.. that¡¯s a yes then?¡± I asked hopefully. ¡°I accept being captain,¡± I said for clarification.


    ¡°Acknowledged. New Captain designated.¡±


    I sighed with relief, glancing towards Rel who was still unaware of what we were saying.


    ¡°Okay, so let¡¯s get dressed,¡± I said. I gestured towards the doorway and then I had a thought.


    ¡°Rex, could you tell her that I¡¯m going to find some clothes?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Please refer to this vessel by its full title,¡± Starship Rex stated.


    ¡°Err, sure,¡± I said. ¡°But please tell Rel what¡¯s going on,¡± I said as I started making my way to the door.


    I ignored the conversation in an alien language going on around me as I quickly made my way through the ship to the room I¡¯d seen before.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Upon entry a cupboard opened on its own, revealing some folded up clothes.


    Grateful that Rel hadn¡¯t decided to follow me inside, I threw on the clothes I found. Black pants and a shirt the same shade of blue as I¡¯d seen in the ship. There were even underpants and socks in black and black shoes, or more like trainers really.


    I stepped back out into the corridor, perfectly decent. Which was an absolute relief all things considered. I¡¯d rather keep this all PG if possible.


    Rel had patiently waited for me outside, trusting enough not to have to keep an eye on me at all times, which was a relief. Hopefully she could help me figure out what was going on. When she saw me fully dressed she let out a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Okay, why don¡¯t we sit down and try and figure out what¡¯s going on,¡± I said. I gestured to the side. ¡°I think there¡¯s a sitting area nearby. Starship Rex, are you going to be able to play translator for us?¡±


    ¡°Translation is unnecessary. A mental language download has been prepared and is ready in the medical bay.¡± My eyes widened with interest.


    ¡°That sounds incredible,¡± I said.


    Well of course the spaceship would have it¡¯s answer to communication with aliens. Instead of a universal translator, here there was technology to literally educate someone, presumably in minutes.


    I couldn¡¯t express how incredible such a thing was and here it was presumably normal, automated even and that only reminded me about the exciting situation I¡¯d found myself in.


    I was in space, on a spaceship with advanced technology the likes of which I would have never seen before. Space, the final frontier in all its glory, was laid out before me to explore.


    The horror of probably never getting to go home went on the backburner for the moment as I appreciated the incredible reality of my new situation.


    Space, spaaaaaaaace!


    ¡°Okay, to the medical bay,¡± I said excitedly. I knew the way and quickly headed back, followed by the alien girl who said something, confused about what was going on but I didn¡¯t let that stop me.


    I stepped forward into the room, looking around with more interest now than I had before. The room was almost entirely as I had left it. Only now there was a metal headpiece which was glowing with blue lights along the cable that led from it to the ceiling.


    A hand on my arm stopped me.


    ¡°It¡¯u menchi hando?¡± asked Rel, stepping forward past me and seeing the device. It clearly worried her, based on her expression. ¡°It¡¯un face,¡± she told me.


    ¡°It¡¯u menchi hando face,¡± replied Starship Rex from around us.


    The girl¡¯s expression didn¡¯t change. She looked at me and slumped, muttering something else.


    ¡°Fana,¡± she said, shrugging uncomfortably, stepping aside. ¡°Il¡¯u dene menchi cheeas.¡±


    ¡°Okay, you¡¯re not giving any positive vibes about this thing,¡± I said frankly. ¡°This is safe, right?¡± I asked, looking around as I spoke to Starship Rex.


    I mean, yes exciting and everything but it¡¯s still technology that was going to be messing with my brain and the alien girl who knew a lot more about all of this than I did seemed worried so I¡¯d take her word for it.


    ¡°This educational download has a zero point zero four percent chance of failure,¡± the ship¡¯s AI told me.


    ¡°Those aren¡¯t bad odds,¡± I said. ¡°What happens if it fails?¡±


    ¡°There will be no severe side effects if the procedure fails, excluding immediate brain death.¡± the spaceship told me.


    Oh.


    ¡°Thanks for the warning,¡± I said.


    I looked to Rel who only shrugged again, gesturing weakly to the device. She said something which I obviously didn¡¯t understand, but that was the whole reason why I was doing this.


    ¡°Does anyone else speak english in this galaxy?¡± I asked the starship.


    "There are no species in the current era whose societal and historical records indicate they speak English," Starship Rex told me.


    That was certainly interesting.


    Because why then did this spaceship somehow know English?


    Things weren¡¯t adding up already. Something must have brought me here, by deliberate design and I was starting to think that maybe the spaceship had a hand in my arrival.


    But why?


    I shook my head. I had no way of figuring out and I suspected if I tried to pry then I wouldn''t be getting any answers from the AI of the spaceship I had woken up in.


    Hopefully my new friend might be of more help, but to get her help I first needed to be able to actually speak with her. Away from this particular spaceship if possible.


    ¡°Okay, let¡¯s do it,¡± I said.


    I stepped forward and went to sit down on the bed, picking up the helmet and then readying myself to lie down.


    I looked at the helmet and then back to Rel. The girl looked genuinely worried for me, which was appreciated, especially given how badly our first introduction had gone.


    Well at least this would be further confirmation that this was all real, I thought to myself. It was maybe possible that this was still all a hoax but an actual working information download would certainly qualify as irrefutable proof, even better than the alien girl with real elf-like ears.


    ¡°Let¡¯s do this,¡± I said.


    I put the helmet on and closed my eyes, bracing for whatever was about to happen.


    ¡°Commencing upload.¡±


    There was a whirring noise, I saw lights behind my eyes and then a spike of pain ran through the back of my head and I lost consciousness.

 Chapter 4: More questions than answers

    It was like a thousand moments had flown by my eyes in a moment. Words and phrases coupled with the impression of the meaning behind them were imprinted on my brain. It left me feeling like I had the equivalent of the spots in your vision when you¡¯ve looked at a bright light too much.


    And then as suddenly as it began, it was over.


    I grunted, the noise coming out strangely through my dry mouth.


    ¡°Bloody hell,¡± I said, reaching up to my forehead, only to realise a moment later that I hadn¡¯t said those words in English.


    I had spoken¡­ Basic? Apparently the language was called Basic.


    How incredibly unimaginative, I decided. What kind of unimaginative loser would think of calling a language that? Someone writing for some no-name sci-fi franchise that would be going nowhere, I imagined.


    This sci-fi setting wasn¡¯t exactly impressing me so far either, but it was presumably the only one I¡¯d be getting. Was this an isekai? I mean I was in another world, so to speak. I hadn¡¯t needed to be run over by any heavy good vehicles though. I¡¯d put that one down as a positive.


    ¡°You¡¯re awake,¡± came the relieved voice of the girl, Rel, who was more or less where I¡¯d left her standing beside the bed. She was speaking Basic too. ¡°How do you feel?¡± She asked me.


    ¡°It worked,¡± I said.


    ¡°Obviously,¡± the girl replied dryly. ¡°But are you okay, do you feel strange in any way? Education downloads aren¡¯t supposed to be very safe.¡±


    ¡°I think I get why,¡± I said as my head spun. ¡°But aside from being on a spaceship, and that I have no idea how I got here, I don¡¯t feel strange at all,¡± I snarked back. I winced as a jolt of pain ran through my head.


    ¡°Mostly fine,¡± I clarified as I reached for the helmet and pulled it off. ¡°How long was I in that thing for?¡±


    ¡°A while,¡± Rel told me. ¡°I had time to go back to my ship and eat and sleep before coming back. But you¡¯ve recovered much faster than I¡¯d been expecting. Normally an education upload like that takes several day cycles for someone to wake up from, and those are the ones that are properly calibrated.¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± I said as I turned to stand up off the bed, doing so a bit more gingerly than I otherwise might have. I let out a sigh, now I felt hungry.


    ¡°Starship Rex, does this place have any food?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There are no food stores currently aboard. Resupplying is recommended as soon as possible.¡±


    ¡°Great,¡± I sighed. ¡°So you don¡¯t have any¡­ replicators to just make food or anything then?¡±


    ¡°Power supplies are low. Matter generation technology is currently unavailable.¡±


    ¡°Shame,¡± I said, mentally putting the really cool fact that this ship could do that to the side for the moment. For all I knew that sort of tech was commonplace but it likewise could be incredibly valuable.


    ¡°Okay, look, can I get some answers now?¡± Rel asked. ¡°Like¡­ how are you alive?¡± She asked with incredulity.


    ¡°I only just woke up here right before you arrived,¡± I told her, my brow furrowing. ¡°But what do you mean about me being alive?¡± I asked with confusion.


    The young woman offered me an uncomfortable expression.


    ¡°I think we should sit down and talk,¡± Rel replied.


    ***


    We went to Starship Rex¡¯s living area. It was pretty cool. I sat down in a comfy leather seat, more of a bench really arranged in a half circle around a table. Like much of the ship not made of black metal, the leather was coloured in a pleasing shade of blue.


    Rel sat opposite me, resting her elbows and interlocking her fingers nervously.


    ¡°Okay, first I think I really need to clarify this,¡± she said. ¡°You are Alex Murphy, aren¡¯t you?¡±


    ¡°I am,¡± I said. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you my last name,¡± I realised. Rel shook her head in agreement.


    ¡°Do you remember someone, a woman called Nelhana?¡± Rel asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t, no,¡± I said honestly, which didn¡¯t seem to be the right answer based on Rel¡¯s expression.


    ¡°She¡¯s the same race as me, she would¡¯ve been about my age last time you saw her,¡± Rel said.


    ¡°This is the first time I¡¯ve ever met an alien,¡± I told her, starting to realise that something was clearly wrong about all this, at leat from Rel¡¯s perspective. ¡°Before waking up here the last thing I remember is going to bed at home, on my home planet, which hadn¡¯t barely begun to explore space yet.¡±


    ¡°No, that doesn¡¯t make any sense,¡± Rel replied. ¡°You knew her for several years before, well,¡± she gestured around us. ¡°Starship Rex was destroyed,¡± she told me to my surprise. ¡°You weren¡¯t on board though, you¡¯d managed to sneak aboard a Megaship  with some other people and you managed to blow up its core, but you didn¡¯t get out in time. It¡¯s only in the last few years that this sector of space has even been safe enough to explore again¡­¡±


    She trailed off weakly.


    She was an alien, but her mannerisms were human enough and I couldn¡¯t sense any lie in her tone or expression.


    ¡°Again, I have no memory of any of that,¡± I said. ¡°But¡­ how long ago was all of this.¡±


    ¡°Years,¡± Rel replied weakly. ¡°Before I was born. But I don¡¯t understand, even if you had survived you¡¯d be much older by now. And Starship Rex is here too. It doesn¡¯t fit with anything my mother told me and I don¡¯t know why she¡¯d lie about this. It doesn¡¯t make any sense.¡±


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°You¡¯re right this doesn¡¯t make any sense,¡± I replied. None of this did.


    I glanced around my surroundings and wondered if I should take a chance.


    ¡°Starship Rex, can you tell us anything about this?¡± I tried, wondering if the ship would actually answer the question. ¡°Do you have a log or anything?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Calculating,¡± replied the vessel.


    I glanced at Rel, but she didn¡¯t seem worried. Then the ship replied.


    ¡°Databanks indicate that this ship was destroyed in an explosion while aboard the Megavessel designated New Order. Captain Murphy was aboard at the time of the explosion.¡±


    ¡°That was definitely me?¡± I asked. ¡°Who was Captain when you were blown up?¡±


    ¡°Alex Murphy is registered as the previous Captain of Starship Rex.¡±


    ¡°Okayyy,¡± I said carefully. I was doing a frighteningly good job of staying calm, if I do say so myself.


    ¡°Then what the hell is happening? Why am I here?¡± I asked. ¡°I don¡¯t remember going to bed on board a spaceship, o-or leading an attack on a super spaceship or whatever it is that happened. I¡¯m not him, so how did I get here?


    ¡°Calculating.¡±


    There was another pause, that only inflamed my growing confusion and anxiety.


    ¡°No data available.¡±


    ¡°Oh come on!¡± I shouted in exasperation. ¡°You speak English, but the rest of the galaxy doesn¡¯t? How did you learn to speak my language then?¡±


    ¡°The language designated English was programmed into this vessel by Alex Murphy,¡± the ship¡¯s AI voice spoke.


    ¡°I just woke up here!¡±


    ¡°This doesn¡¯t make any sense. There can¡¯t be two of you,¡± Rel said, interrupting me briefly, but I wasn¡¯t going to let that stop me.


    ¡°Well you¡¯re goddamn right about that!¡± I responded.


    I looked up, at the ceiling, because I couldn¡¯t bloody look the spaceship in the bloody eye now could it?


    ¡°I wake up here, naked and with no idea how I got here and the first thing that happens is you tell me that you want me to be your Captain. You must know something.¡±


    ¡°No data available,¡± was the only response I received.


    I scoffed.


    ¡°Maybe Starship Rex doesn¡¯t know how you got here either,¡± Rel suggested. ¡°It¡¯s just a computer.¡±


    ¡°Then why did it ask me to be its Captain?¡± I asked. ¡°Once you were on board it could¡¯ve offered you to be the Captain, you¡¯d make more sense than me,¡± I pointed out. ¡°I know fuck all about any of this. I don¡¯t know the technology, I don¡¯t know how to fly a spaceship. Until five minutes ago I didn¡¯t even speak Basic.¡±


    Rel opened her mouth to reply but couldn¡¯t produce an argument against what I¡¯d said.


    ¡°Well?¡± I asked the spacecraft. ¡°Why was I the one you wanted?¡±


    ¡°No other suitable candidates for Captain were available,¡± Starship Rex told me.


    ¡°And she¡¯s not a suitable candidate?¡± I asked, gesturing to the alien woman opposite me.


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever been insulted by a spaceship before,¡± Rel muttered.


    It was those words that finally took the wind out from my sails. I slumped down into my seat and chuckled weakly.


    ¡°I just don¡¯t get it,¡± I said.


    ¡°Maybe whatever brought you back to life just didn¡¯t do a good job with the memories?¡± Rel suggested. ¡°Firstech can do pretty much anything, as long as that¡¯s part of its functions, maybe it couldn¡¯t fix everything, or maybe something went wrong.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s Firstech?¡± I asked before immediately chastising myself mentally. It was a stupid question. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure that one out.


    Meanwhile Rel seemed slightly surprised by my lack of knowledge before remembering my words before about not knowing anything about anything.


    ¡°It¡¯s ancient technology from before the current era that¡¯s survived to the present day. From before any of the modern races started to travel through space¡± she told me. She lifted her hand, the one with the bracer holding the yellow gemstone in it for me to see.


    ¡°There¡¯s plenty of it but nobody can figure out how it works or replicate it and plenty of people can¡¯t even use it. This thing produces whips made of light and can electrocute things too, but that¡¯s pretty simple as far as Firstech goes. There¡¯s supposedly one that can make miniature black holes but the Federation won¡¯t admit to having it. Maybe someone got hold of something that rebuilt Starship Rex and brought you back to life, but not with all your memories.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± I said.


    I could certainly think of some ideas how sci-fi technology could be used to bring someone back to life. When you got to the precursor race¡¯s technology it was basically space magic, not space science. Literally anything could be possible.


    Maybe I was a clone? Recreated from some kind of copy someone made however long ago before the original died. I decided I could hold off on the existential crisis until that was confirmed.


    ¡°Or maybe¡­ I dunno it reversed time,¡± I thought out loud, trying to figure out any ways that could justify all this and fit with what I¡¯d been told. ¡°If it had rewound time just for me and the starship, but it¡¯d rewound me too far and now I didn¡¯t have any of my more recent memories.¡±


    It sounded stupid, so incredibly stupid and contrived, but Rel actually shrugged weakly as if to agree with the idea.


    ¡°What really, you¡¯d believe that?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Firstech can do anything,¡± she told me. ¡°It sounds outlandish, but if that¡¯s what happened then it¡¯d explain why you¡¯re the same age as you were before.¡±


    ¡°Damn,¡± I muttered. ¡°So what? I got isekaied years ago and now I don¡¯t even get to remember it?¡±


    Or maybe this was a time travel deal, somehow. Some bullshit wonky continuity thing. But that wouldn¡¯t explain the fact the ship knew who I was.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what that word means,¡± Rel said apologetically. ¡°But this ship¡¯s supposed to be Firstech too,¡± she told me.


    ¡°Is it?¡± I asked. ¡°How do you tell?¡±


    ¡°There should be a gem like this one,¡± Rel laid her arm down on the table and she pointed to the yellow stone on the bracer. ¡°It¡¯s probably in the engine room, or maybe somewhere secure. Every example of Firstech has one.¡±


    I leaned forward and looked at the gemstone on Rel¡¯s wrist. On closer inspection it wasn¡¯t just a gem. It was like there was some liquid in there, barely moving, but there was definitely something there, trapped in a perfectly spherical shell.


    ¡°Cool,¡± I said. ¡°So if this ship¡¯s Firstech then what makes it so special? Can you at least answer that?¡± I asked, looking up to indicate I was speaking to the ship¡¯s AI.


    ¡°Starship Rex is the finest ship in the galaxy, built for comfort, speed and style,¡± Starship Rex replied.


    ¡°That¡¯s one hell of an advert,¡± I said dryly.


    ¡°Unknown vessels detected,¡± Starship rex suddenly declared.


    A second later the ship shook wildly and a rumble of noise echoed through the walls. I had to stop myself from being knocked around by gripping the edge of the table.


    We were under attack!

 Chapter 5: Bumpy rides

    The ship shook again as whatever was attacking us fired in our direction.


    ¡°What¡¯s happening, who¡¯s attacking us?¡± Rel demanded to know.


    ¡°Unknown. Enemy vessels are too far away to identify due to radiation interference,¡± replied Starship Rex as we both hurried out of the room and into the corridor.


    One way led forwards, towards the pilot¡¯s chair, the other went back towards the bay I had first met Rel in only a few hours ago.


    ¡°I need to get yo my ship!¡± Rel told me, already turning away.


    ¡°What should I do?¡± I asked of her. panic was starting to set in.


    I¡¯d never been in danger before. Not like this.


    ¡°Go pilot your ship!¡± Rel replied exasperatedly as she turned away.


    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know how to pilot it!¡± I replied.


    Rel froze, her mouth dropping open as she was reminded that I had no background in any of this. I might as well have been born yesterday.


    ¡°I¡¯ll get to my ship and try fighting them off. Just, see what you can do,¡± she told me.


    With that she left me, heading back to the ship she¡¯d arrived in.


    I hurried through the ship, having to stop as another rumble sent me almost flying against one wall. They had fired on us again, only this time it came with a much larger effect. Whatever that was they must have hit something vital.


    The door to the cockpit swung open for me and I all but jumped into the captain¡¯s seat.


    Two blinking red lights could be seen on the three dimensional radar thing.


    ¡°Does this thing have any, I dunno, blasters?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Affirmative,¡± replied Starship Rex.


    ¡°Then let''s shoot back!¡± I suggested hysterically.


    ¡°Targeting orders must be input manually by the Captain,¡± Starship Rex told me.


    ¡°Damnit!¡± I cursed. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to pilot this thing, what makes you think I know how to target enemies!¡±


    ¡°Calculating.


    I had to stop myself from being flung out of my seat as another attack must have hit us.


    ¡°Hurry up!¡± I shouted, finding a seatbelt and quickly fastening it around me. The straps went around my waist and shoulders and clicked together in the middle.


    I saw out of the screen in front of me. A blocky, metal spaceship flew past, a large looking canon swivelling to aim in our direction.


    There was yet another explosion. Only this was the largest ever and the wind was knocked out of me. It was only thanks to the harness I was wearing that I wasn¡¯t sent flying.


    ¡°Ship designated Frozen Hand destroyed.¡±


    ¡°W-what?¡± I asked, dumbfounded to realise the girl I¡¯d barely just met had just as suddenly died. ¡°What happened? Didn¡¯t she have shields or anything?¡±


    ¡°Shielding technology is currently inoperable due to the surrounding radiation,¡± Starship Rex reported.


    ¡°So we don¡¯t have any either?¡± I voiced the thought out loud with worry.


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    ¡°Then what can we do?¡± I asked hurriedly as I looked at the radar. The enemy spaceships were coming back around, no doubt to finish the job with this spaceship too and I had no idea if whatever had brought me and Starship rex back to life would be coming back to do it a second time.


    ¡°This vessel is capable of acting on autopilot, but is incapable of carrying out combat activities without a pilot¡¯s direct input,¡± Starship Rex told me.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°But you can fly, can you get us out of here?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then do that, get us out of here right now!¡± I shouted as the other spaceships began their approach.


    ¡°Initiating emergency faster than light in one, two, three.¡±


    The ship lurched forward and I was thrown back into my seat.


    Stars swam before my vision, blurring together after a few seconds into a blur of colours as we moved.


    It was beautiful and that beauty was only compounded by the sense of relief I felt at escaping whoever had attacked me, us.


    A sense of shame struck me then, even as Starship Rex exited faster than light travel. Rel had died, doing her best to save us both.


    ¡°There was nothing I could do,¡± I told myself quietly. I didn¡¯t know how to pilot this ship and couldn¡¯t have been expected to be able to do so either. The situation I¡¯d found myself in prevented me of being any real help in this situation. Perhaps if Rel had qualified to command the ship, or I could fly Starship Rex then things would have been different. They would have been different.


    I mentally pushed my self recriminations to the side. I knew intellectually there was nothing I could do. Right now I needed to take stock of where I was.


    We had arrived in a solar system and right before me there was the round, practically glowing form of a planet. It was green and blue, covered partly in clouds and to one side the planet was bathed in shadow, on account of the positioning of the single orange star far away in the distance.


    For a moment I imagined it was Earth, but it clearly was not. The landmasses I saw looked nothing like Earth, broken up into shapes that were nothing like my home planet.


    ¡°Incredible,¡± I said softly.


    ¡°Power supplies minimal,¡± Starship Rex interrupted my moment of awe.


    A second later the lights in the ship started to wink out.


    ¡°Emergency power is unavailable. Commencing deactivation of all systems. This vessel will enter forced hibernation in three minutes¡±


    ¡°When you say all systems?¡± I asked. ¡°That includes life support, doesn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Correct.¡±


    It was just one thing after another. I brought a hand to rub my eyes.


    ¡°How long will the remaining oxygen last me?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Existing oxygen will allow two occupants to survive on board for six hours,¡± The starship¡¯s AI told me. ¡°Vital systems will be restored in three hours following hibernation.¡±


    Well that was probably the best bit of news I could¡¯ve heard, I thought as I let loos a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Wait, two occupants?¡± I asked, brow furrowing in confusion. Then my eyes widened.


    If Starship Rex was talking about two occupants, then that meant Rel had to still be on board!


    I ignored whatever it was the spaceship was saying as I jumped up out of the pilot¡¯s chair and hurried out, going through the ship towards the cargo bay where Rel had doubtlessly been heading when I had last seen her.


    I came through into the cargo room and immediately spotted her.


    Rel¡¯s crumpled up form was left leaning on the rear corner, furthest away from the doorway that had been leading to her ship.


    ¡°Smeg!¡± I cursed as I raced up to her. I didn¡¯t know anything beyond the basics of the recovery position and I didn¡¯t even know if that would actually apply to an alien¡¯s physiology.


    ¡°Rel, Rel, can you hear me?¡± I asked, carefully pulling her so she could lie on her back. I cradled her head, feeling for any lumps or bruising.


    There was definitely a lump there, but when I pulled my hand back I didn¡¯t see any blood.


    I looked towards the hatch that had been leading to her ship. The hatch leading out was shut, probably closing automatically. I¡¯d found her in the corner opposite and to the rear.


    At a guess she¡¯d arrived in the cargo bay too late to get aboard, but just in time for whatever explosion had seen her ship destroyed coming through and knocking her back. Then when we had entered FTL she had been dragged back by the momentum  of our acceleration and wound up here.


    Her hair was singed, there was red blood from little cuts to her cheeks and head and her clothes likewise looked singed. It looked superficial but she wasn¡¯t conscious, I had no way of knowing what might be wrong with her.


    I put a finger to her neck and after a couple seconds of panic I found a pulse.


    The artery, whatever its specific name was, was running up the left side of her neck where it would on a human. Her circulatory system was apparently the same, or at least similar, to a human¡¯s.


    I didn¡¯t know what to do. I needed to get her medical attention but if the power systems were offline then I doubted that the medical room was going to be operational.


    A groan from below caught my attention and Rel¡¯s eyes opened.


    ¡°Lords strike it,¡± Rel said. It sounded like a curse.


    ¡°Careful,¡± I warned as she went to sit up.


    For a moment Rel swayed and I braced myself to catch her if she fell but she recovered. Rel put a hand to the back of her head, hissing in pain.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± I asked, asking the most helpful question in the world.


    ¡°I¡¯m okay,¡± she replied, before making another noise of pain. ¡°I got lucky, I think.¡±


    As if the universe was in disagreement, that was the moment the lights in the room cut out.


    ¡°All systems now offline. Warning, this vessel is entering a gravity well and will impact the nearby planet in ten minutes. Please prepare for crash landing. Systems shutting down in three, two, one.¡±


    The prevailing hum I hadn¡¯t really noticed was there cut out, leaving us both in complete darkness and I could practically feel the now completely offline ship begin to accelerate towards the planet below us.

 Chapter 6: Prepare for landing

    ¡°Starship Rex, can you hear me?¡± I asked.


    There was no reply.


    I¡¯d only been here for a little while but not having the ship answer when spoken to was still disconcerting.


    ¡°Lords¡­¡± Rel complained. I could sense her rummaging around.


    ¡°I left everything else on my ship. Hang on, I have an idea¡± she said.


    A moment later those glowing yellow threads shot out from her hand and wrapped around it. It left her arm basically glowing and lit up much of the space around us.


    ¡°That¡¯s pretty clever,¡± I said.


    ¡°It¡¯s just a trick my mother taught me,¡± Rel said idly. ¡°Come on,¡± she said, going to stand. She swayed slightly and I went to catch her but she recovered without me needing to help and started walking to the doorway leading through the shop.


    Then I started to feel it as what I guessed was artificial gravity started to get weaker.


    I felt lighter, needing less force to lift my feet and it left me flailing for a moment before I got myself back under control. It felt really weird but at least the gravity hadn¡¯t cut out entirely.


    ¡°It said to prepare for a crash landing,¡± I said, following after the glowing yellow light on her arm. Apparently Rel was better prepared for the gravity starting to decrease. ¡°What do we do?¡±


    ¡°We need to strap in somewhere,¡± Rel replied. ¡°Anything will do really but ideally it needs to be cushioned so we don¡¯t hurt ourselves in collision and we¡¯ll need to strap ourselves in.¡±


    ¡°The pilot''s chair. That had proper seatbelts,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°Was there another seat in there?¡± Rel asked.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t see one,¡± I replied.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s one,¡± Rel agreed. ¡°But unless you fancy sharing then we¡¯ll both need somewhere to sit. I¡¯d prefer not being near the front of the ship either. Starship Rex can probably come out of it all in one piece, it¡¯s Firstech so it should be able to handle a collision but I¡¯d rather not take any chances.¡±


    ¡°Agreed,¡± I said. I went to stand up. ¡°How long should we have, do you think?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯d depend on how close to the atmosphere we were and how quickly the ship was moving when we exited FTL.¡±


    ¡°So there¡¯s no way of knowing?¡± I asked. ¡°Let¡¯s hurry then.¡±


    We arrived back in the living area.


    ¡°There must be some secure seating here,¡± Rel said.


    ¡°But where? I didn¡¯t see any before,¡± I replied.


    The glowing threads from Rel¡¯s bracer helped but they didn¡¯t fully light up the space.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± Rel said, having been exploring the seats.


    The ship trembled for a second. I could practically feel as we started to enter the planet¡¯s gravity. There wasn¡¯t enough time to spend looking.


    ¡°We need to hurry,¡± I said. ¡°Maybe we should check the cockpit.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± Rel said.


    We made our way as quickly as we could through to the front of the ship and during that time it was obvious that we were starting to accelerate. There was light coming in through the viewscreen we could see by at least. Rel deactivated her bracer, the yellow ropes looped around her arm disappearing.


    Unfortunately it was quickly apparent that there wasn¡¯t a second seat. Only the pilot¡¯s chair met our needs.


    Rel let out a huff.


    ¡°We¡¯ll have to share the pilot¡¯s chair,¡± she said awkwardly.


    She went and sat in it and gestured for me to join her but the chair was designed for one and it was immediately obvious that both of us weren¡¯t going to fit in either side. One of us would have to sit in the other¡¯s lap.


    The sip trembled slightly around us, another warning that we didn¡¯t have much time.


    ¡°You sit first,¡± she told me. ¡°You¡¯re bigger,¡± she defended a moment later, seeing something in my expression. ¡°It makes sense.¡±


    ¡°Alright,¡± I said, allowing her to get up so I could sit in the chair properly.


    ¡°But this doesn¡¯t mean anything, understand?¡±


    ¡°Absolutely,¡± I agreed.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    I wasn¡¯t even lying. I¡¯d rather not have to go through thinking about Rel dying a second time. The first scare had been enough.


    I adjusted my position as she got up and then Rel went and sat in my lap and I pulled the buckles around us.


    ¡°Not like that,¡± she said, turning so she was sat sideways against my front. The buckles still went around us and clicked together easily.


    ¡°This doesn¡¯t feel like it¡¯ll be enough for both of us,¡± Rel said, eyeing the straps that were meant to go over my shoulders and didn¡¯t really provide anything for her. I couldn¡¯t help but agree.The material felt strong but it wasn¡¯t enough for the two of us and it didn¡¯t do anything to hold our heads from bouncing around or anything.


    ¡°We need more stuff to hold us in place,¡± I stated. ¡°More to hold us both together in the chair, some to stop us bouncing around and knocking against each other too.¡±


    ¡°I have an idea,¡± Rel said after a few moments.


    She adjusted herself a bit and then the space was lit up as she activated that bracer. Yellow ropes of energy came out and around us, wrapping around us tightly and holding us against each other and the chair.


    ¡°That should do,¡± Rel said from somewhere below my head. I could feel her shoulder digging into my chest and her head somewhere by my shoulder. There was a bit of slack at least. I couldn¡¯t adjust my head to look down properly.


    ¡°Should¡¯ve thought of that before,¡± I muttered. ¡°Could¡¯ve tied us both to that chair in the living quarters.¡±


    ¡°You were rushing me,¡± Rel complained, sounding slightly embarrassed. ¡°I would¡¯ve thought of this if you¡¯d given me more time to look.¡±


    We were practically wrapped up in glowing threads now. Funnily enough the only thing I could move was my arms and feeling a bit awkward but with nowhere else to really put them, I wrapped them around Rel.


    ¡°So now we wait,¡± I said as the planet below us seemed to get ever so slightly closer. The ship trembled again. It couldn¡¯t be long before we started our entry into the atmosphere.


    Neither of us said anything, both our gazes directed in front of us, waiting to see what would happen. But after a few minutes nothing had changed.


    This really was taking a while¡­


    It had seemed before like we hadn''t had much time to get ready but instead now we were here, the entirely offline Starship Rex was taking its sweet time as it drifted closer and closer to the planet.


    The silence left me to my own thoughts, always a bad idea in my experience, and that meant as we continued to wait for the inevitable that things started to get uncomfortable for an entirely different reason than the threat of imminent death and suddenly I was having to concentrate on other things.


    Yes, hello libido. Yes there is a pretty girl basically sat in my lap. No, this definitely isn¡¯t the time.


    ¡°This is taking forever?¡± Rel finally said, sounding more annoyed than anything else.


    ¡°Should we get up?¡± I suggested.


    ¡°There¡¯s no way of knowing when we¡¯ll properly start entry into the atmosphere,¡± Rel replied uncomfortably.


    So she wasn¡¯t going to be getting up. To try and distract myself from inappropriate thoughts I decided to try making conversation.


    ¡°So how did you find me?¡± I asked curiously.


    ¡°What?¡± Rel replied.


    ¡°How did you find Starship Rex?¡± I asked. ¡°Why were you there? It was a junkyard, wasn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Oh, I was just exploring,¡± Rel said. ¡°I¡¯d heard bits about the last war and wanted to see it. I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d find you, or Starship Rex for that matter.¡±


    ¡°Seems like you got lucky finding me,¡± I said.


    Rel let out a noise of amusement.


    ¡°Those other ships did too,¡± she pointed out. ¡°I¡¯d figured there would be scavengers, but normally they¡¯re smart enough not to try shooting at a ship like mine. They were just lucky I wasn¡¯t aboard.¡±


    ¡°Sorry,¡± I said.


    ¡°What for?¡±


    ¡°You¡¯d still have your ship if you hadn¡¯t found me and come aboard.¡±


    ¡°Maybe,¡± Rel agreed.


    ¡°Can you tell me anything else you know about me?¡± I asked. ¡°I¡¯d like to figure out what happened, who I was.¡±


    ¡°I know a few stories,¡± Rel replied. ¡°Not sure how true they were though. I¡¯m pretty sure she started making them up at one point though. You¡¯re probably better off speaking to my mother if you want the truth. She was the one who actually knew you.¡±


    ¡°Fair enough,¡± I replied.


    It¡¯d been years since I¡¯d been on the scene, long enough for Rel to grow up hearing stories about me as a little girl from the sounds of things. I let out a huff of amusement.


    ¡°What?¡± Rel asked.


    ¡°This whole situation is insane,¡± I said.


    Here I was, in space. I¡¯d been involved in a short space battle, learnt that I, or at least some past version of me had been some sort of storytime hero and now I was about to crash land on an alien planet.


    ¡°I guess it is,¡± Rel replied, shifting slightly against my side. ¡°I didn¡¯t think I¡¯d be sitting in your lap after the way we met before.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry about that,¡± I said with embarrassment. ¡°I really did think this was all fake.¡±


    ¡°Apology accepted,¡± Rel said. ¡°It¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t get my ownback,¡± she commented.


    ¡°Being zapped by those threads of yours isn¡¯t a sensation I wanted to repeat, no,¡± I said. Rel chuckled.


    ¡°It¡¯s thought that it was originally used as a torture tool by the Lords,¡± she told me. ¡°A whip to punish the servants, my people,¡± she elaborated.


    ¡°Interesting,¡± I said. ¡°I take it these Lords are gone now then?¡± Otherwise Rel wouldn¡¯t have this whip bracer thing.


    ¡°Thousands of years ago there was a liberation,¡± Rel told me. ¡°The Lords were overthrown and destroyed. Some people think they were from the First race, but it¡¯s so long ago there¡¯s no real records or any evidence to prove anybody right. They might¡¯ve just had access to a big cache of technology. Not that it matters now.¡±


    It wasn¡¯t noticeable at first but as we had been speaking the shaking of the ship became more frequent until it was a constant rumble. Vibrations were starting to build up in intensity and I could feel as the gravitational force of the planet seemed to grow stronger as we got closer, starting to enter the atmosphere. My stomach flipped at the odd sensation of two gravitational forces acting on me at the same time.


    ¡°Here we go,¡± I said. ¡°If I die, it was nice meeting you.¡±


    ¡°Likewise,¡± Rel said dryly. ¡°Despite how badly it started, it was good to meet you in the flesh. Even if you don¡¯t remember anything from before. ¡±


    We started to accelerate, the glass, or whatever it was in front of us dimmed automatically, going almost entirely black as we continued to pick up speed, heat and light building up in front of us.


    It was like a theme park ride, only more real, more terrifying because I knew there was no hidden safety mechanism. We were going to crash and crash hard.


    All I could do was sit and wait and hope for the best.

 Chapter 7: Hard landing

    Trailing fire and heat behind us, Starship Rex soared through the air.


    We didn¡¯t go straight down, instead arcing almost slowly as we burned a path across the sky of the planet.


    I held onto the girl I¡¯d barely met, waiting for the inevitable. I wanted to say something witty, or just anything but the shaking made it impossible to move my jaw without feeling like I would be risking biting my tongue. G-forces left us trapped in our shared seat, Rel¡¯s shoulder was digging into me uncomfortably and the light-ropes from her Firstech bracer kept us firmly in place in the pilots chair.


    If I actually knew how to pilot this thing then none of this would be a problem right now, I mentally cursed to myself.


    I couldn¡¯t see anything beyond streams of light breaking through the glass screen which had gone almost completely dark, like a fancier version of those light sensitive glasses you could buy.


    I could scarcely breathe but I could feel as our trajectory changed. I could practically sense as we approached the hard, unyielding ground.


    It felt like we levelled off a bit, travelling almost horizontally near the end but that wasn¡¯t much of a relief. I¡¯d seen video clips of how badly a commercial plane could land and I doubted crash landing like this was going to be any more gentle. I could only hope that our landing would see us landing intact, rather than hitting the ground with all the grace of a sperm whale that had found itself hopelessly out of its natural environment.


    We¡¯d done everything we could to try and survive this. There was enough slack to let us bounce around just a bit, bleeding off force as Starship Rex crashed into the earth beneath us. All I could do was hold on and pray that fate was on our side, that I and Rel would come through this in one piece.


    And then finally we hit the ground.


    After several long seconds of being thrown around as best the forces of nature could manage, Starship Rex came to a stop.


    It was a few seconds longer before I managed to open my eyes.


    The screen was turning transparent again, allowing light into the cockpit and I could see blue sky and green foliage in front of us. We had crashed into what looked like a forest and I figured that some of those trees had helped slow down our landing.


    Thank you trees, your sacrifice shall be remembered.


    We hadn¡¯t landed smoothly though. We were now at an odd angle, the ship having finished its descent was tilted sideways. My weight was leaning heavily to that side but we were still held comfortably in place by the improvised restraints.


    It was my companion that broke the silence.


    ¡°We survived?¡± Rel said, sounding more surprised than anything else.


    ¡°We survived,¡± I confirmed, almost laughing with relief. ¡°You can let us go now,¡± I suggested.


    ¡°O-oh yeah,¡± Rel replied.


    The glowing threads withdrew into Rel¡¯s bracer and she climbed off me quickly.


    She went too quickly though and with the floor angled like it was she slid down, barely catching herself on the side of the room.


    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Careful,¡± she warned. ¡°It¡¯s a steep drop.¡±


    Taking the advice I slowly tried to push myself up but sudden dizziness overcame me and I quickly fell back down. my head fell back into the cushioned headrest behind me but even that was enough to set off a throbbing pain in my head and I gasped in pain.


    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Rel asked from somewhere to the side and below me.


    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± I said. ¡°Think I shook something loose there. Just give me a minute or two.¡±


    After giving myself enough time to recover I tried again, more carefully this time.


    ¡°Y-yeah I¡¯m fine,¡± I said.


    ¡°Maybe you should just stay here,¡± Rel suggested carefully. ¡°I¡¯ll go and see if there¡¯s any damage. I won¡¯t be long.¡±


    ¡°No, I¡¯m coming,¡± I argued immediately. ¡°I¡¯m the Captain, remember? It¡¯s my job,¡± I winced as I turned my body, holding myself up on the chair so I didn¡¯t just fall down.


    The blue skinned girl didn¡¯t seem entirely on board with my perfectly sound logic but she didn¡¯t object.


    I carefully pushed myself up and not so gracefully let myself slide down to the wall. I winced as I made contact. I¡¯d tried to brace myself with my feet and arms but despite my efforts I still jostled my head and winced as the pain shot through me.


    ¡°See? I¡¯m fine. Let¡¯s go check out the ship.¡±


    We clambered carefully up to the still open doorway and then through the corridor leading through the ship.


    Nothing inside seemed to have been damaged, the rooms were exactly as I remembered them as we passed through to the cargo bay. Whatever Starship Rex was made of, it was clearly durable.


    Of course I had no idea how it rated as far as sci-fi materials went, I wouldn¡¯t be complaining though. We could only see inside thanks to the light produced by the ropes from Rel¡¯s bracer but the living area seemed fine, the Captain¡¯s quarters and the medical room too.


    ¡°So what now then?¡± I asked.


    ¡°We should make sure there isn¡¯t any external damage,¡± Rel pointed out. ¡°We could probably open the exit door in the cargo bay.¡±


    ¡°We don¡¯t know if the atmosphere outside will be safe or not,¡± I pointed out.


    ¡°It should be. There were trees out there,¡± Rel told me. ¡°Come on, let''s check out the outside.¡±


    I wanted to be sceptical about that. Most sci-fi settings glossed over the whole alien diseases or safety of the atmosphere thing. Sure there¡¯ll be one or two episodes where that is a problem, as if to point out that the writers had thought of it. Then it would probably never show up again until it was relevant to the plot. This was obviously because it would be an unnecessary complication to the stories they were trying to tell. Like how everyone invariably spoke English for convenience¡¯s sake, even when there was no rational reason why that would be the case.


    But Rel seemed confident and she hadn¡¯t really steered me wrong yet. I didn¡¯t have it in me to argue the point anyway.


    We found our way to the cargo room. The entrance Rel had entered through was fortunately on the side of the ship that was currently angled down, meaning that all we had to do was slide down to the wall and clamber across to the hatch.


    ¡°Can we open it manually?¡± I asked.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know. It¡¯s your ship,¡± Rel pointed out.


    ¡°A ship you know more about than me,¡± I pointed out, a bit annoyed. The dull throb of a headache wasn¡¯t exactly helping my mood now that the danger seemed to be over.


    With the light of Rel¡¯s bracer, that we¡¯d needed to see in the still offline ship. I found some buttons to press which did the trick. I narrowly avoided falling in as the doors suddenly opened, leading to a second hatch that presumably went to the outside.


    Very carefully I lowered myself down onto the second doorway, letting myself fall the last couple of feet and doing nothing to help my throbbing head.


    I¡¯d need to get that checked out as soon as possible. I¡¯d last until Starship rex came back online.


    ¡°It¡¯s safe,¡± I said and Rel followed me down. Her lighter frame meant she had an easier time of it and it didn¡¯t take long to find the second set of buttons to open up the second doorway.


    Light came in from below and we could see torn up dirt and bits of destroyed timber. There was the sound of fire crackling and we carefully climbed out to view the wreckage of our landing and for the first time I saw Starship Rex from the outside.

 Chapter 8: Plans for the future

    I stumbled back over the rough terrain, making sure to keep my balance. The trees were sparse enough that sunshine could come down through the branches and there was enough space to step back and take a look.


    The dirt had been displaced and the bits of tree that had been strewn everywhere made things a bit uneven too but there was plenty of light to see by and I took in the view of my spaceship.


    Like the inside, Starship Rex was mostly sleek black metal with dark blue accents running along seams in the metal plates that covered it. It had a main central body which was vaguely wedge shaped and in which I assumed the majority of the ship¡¯s interior was located. The front tapered off into a long nose and either side of the main body there were broad wings that stuck out horizontally. A fin stuck out at the back over the rear engines. It came across as fairly minimalist, but every angle seemed to stand out more because of it.


    I could just about see the cockpit somewhere at the front and top. It was at an angle given the position Starship Rex had come to rest in. After walking around to the back, which took a minute or two, I found there were a series of what I guessed were the exhausts or engine parts that let the ship fly, in space.


    It was so cool! My inner child had realised we weren¡¯t in danger and had come out to see the spaceship with awe in his eyes.


    I don¡¯t know how long I spent just walking around and inspecting Starship Rex¡¯s design but I didn¡¯t really care. It was only when Rel¡¯s foot snapping a twig or something distracted me that I remembered our current situation. She looked amused.


    ¡°I don¡¯t see any damage,¡± she said.


    Yeah,¡± I nodded. ¡°Will we be able to take off again once it¡¯s finished recharging?¡±


    Exactly how did it recharge? I wondered. Unless it was generating energy ex-nihilo then it had to come from somewhere. Solar radiation perhaps?


    ¡°Most spacecraft can manage atmospheric reentry,¡± Rel told me. ¡°Not like this, obviously, but I¡¯d be really surprised if a Firstech ship couldn¡¯t fly in an atmosphere or take off from this position.¡±


    ¡°Good,¡± I said, relieved. Rel was my only authority on this stuff right now. If she said Starship Rex was going to be okay then I believed her.


    For the first time I took a proper look at my surroundings.


    There were trees, normal trees with green leaves and brown bark. They could¡¯ve passed for something on Earth easily. In fact this entire forest could.


    If I hadn¡¯t already seen evidence that this had to be another reality, or universe, or whatever it was, then I could¡¯ve convinced myself that I was just in a forest somewhere back home.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°What do we do now, then?¡± I asked Rel, returning to stand in front of her. She shrugged.


    ¡°Might as well wait for Starship Rex to wake up. We can figure out what to do next after that.¡±


    It was a lot harder than getting out but we managed to clamber back aboard to wait. I sat in the pilot¡¯s chair while Rel leaned back against the wall.


    With nothing better to do we traded our backgrounds. I gave Rel a basic rundown of Earth. The world I knew, the world I¡¯d left, had been trundling along from one problem to the next and it was only our steadily advancing techbase that offered any hope for the future. There wasn¡¯t much worth talking about, I realised. At least there wasn¡¯t much worth mentioning that would be interesting to a girl from a space age civilisation like hers.


    ¡°God knows what I¡¯m gonna do now, I told her.¡±


    ¡°With a Firstech ship there¡¯ll be opportunities,¡± Rel told me. ¡°Courier, messenger. I don¡¯t know how fast Starship Rex¡¯s FTL is but mother told me it¡¯s FTL was very fast. That¡¯d be straightforward enough if you want to earn money.¡±


    That sounded¡­ pretty dull, in my opinion. I didn¡¯t voice that though, just humming to indicate I had heard what she¡¯d said.


    With a universe at my fingertips getting a job, any kind of job, just¡­ seemed like a waste.


    Maybe practicality would assert itself at some point, the more rational part of me said. I¡¯d have to wait and find out.


    ¡°What about you?¡± I asked, far more interested in the alien girl¡¯s background than my own less than exciting one. ¡°What¡¯s your world like?¡±


    ¡°Cold,¡± Rel said. She chuckled.


    ¡°Our world is mostly frozen but it¡¯s not that bad. Mother¡¯s a Minister on the Global Council but that¡¯s mostly because she was involved in beating the Star Empire when they began their attack on some other systems. She was just in the wrong place at the right time. That¡¯s what she said anyway.¡±


    ¡°This Star Empire, it¡¯s been destroyed?¡± I asked, interested.


    ¡°Yes, they weren¡¯t too special but their leader was charismatic. Promised people everything they wanted as long as they joined him. It wasn¡¯t even a real Empire or anything, more of a syndicate really.¡± Rel sighed. ¡°Full of selfish people who weren¡¯t interested in looking past their own noses, all sorts joined up from lots of systems, thinking that anything about their situations would change if they banded together and started conquering systems. Their Emperor died on their megaship when you blew it up and they collapsed into infighting after that.¡±


    ¡°Blimey, that¡¯s a lot to live up to,¡± I muttered, wondering what kind of guy my past self must have been to have gone through with everything I was being told he had done.


    We sat in silence for a while, occasionally commenting on this or that. I didn¡¯t know what Rel was thinking about, but I had plenty to think about so that worked out pretty well for me too.


    After an hour or two the buttons and screens around the cockpit lit up one by one in rapid succession. Starship Rex announced itself.


    ¡°Power restored. Re-activating systems. Error, insufficient power to reactivate all systems. Calculating. Sufficient power will be restored to be able to take off in four standard days,¡± the spaceship told us.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s not the end of the world, I guess,¡± I said. I looked towards Rel.


    ¡°We¡¯ll need to find food in the meantime, but yeah,¡± she agreed.


    ¡°Great,¡± I said. We could do that. But my first thought wasn¡¯t about food.


    ¡°Starship Rex,¡± I said. ¡°Do you have any more of those education download things?¡± I asked.


    ¡°There are prepared education downloads for many skills and information, would you like a list?¡± Starship Rex asked me.


    ¡°No,¡± I replied. I just needed one.


    ¡°I want to be able to fly this thing,¡± I said.

 Chapter 9: Flying lessons

    It would take a couple of hours for the ship to be ready for me, power supplies were building back up but slowly. So in the meantime we decided to set up a little camp and find some food.


    We didn¡¯t need to go far to find anything. I spotted what looked like a little ginger rabbit but the creature darted away before I could get anywhere close. Not that I had any chance of catching the little thing.


    Instead I grabbed some dry looking sticks and some stones to assemble a campfire with. There was plenty of other broken bits of wood around that we could use to keep the fire going, but we¡¯d need a proper fire first or the fresh wood probably wouldn¡¯t catch.


    That was unfortunately the extent of my bushcraft knowledge. I wasn¡¯t sure how we were going to start a fire. Rubbing sticks together was something I¡¯d heard about and seen on TV, but never actually tried.


    When I got back Rel had her arms full of what looked like berries.


    ¡°Thought these looked edible,¡± she said. ¡°Spotted some birds pecking away at a few of them.¡±


    ¡°That sounds good enough for me,¡± I replied.


    We set ourselves up near the entrance to the ship and I assembled a rough circle with the rocks I¡¯d gathered. Then it was time to see if daytime Tv had lied to me.


    After a few minutes it seemed it probably had, or I was doing something wrong.


    ¡°Hey, let me,¡± Rel said. I looked at her and saw she had her laser pistol out and was fiddling with one of the dials on it.


    She came a bit closer and saw the small pile of dry twigs and leaves I¡¯d gathered, then she aimed her weapon at it.


    Instead of a single beam of plasma or whatever instead there was a short lived beam of red energy that came out of the weapon. The twigs immediately ignited, bursting in flames and I reared back slightly.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± I said as I tried to stoke the fire a bit more.


    ¡°It¡¯s something my mum taught me,¡± Rel said before shuffling a bit in place and watching as the fire began to lick at the other bits of log I¡¯d gathered. She offered me one of the berries and I eyed it. It didn¡¯t look entirely like anything I recognised. More like a slightly rounder strawberry, but blue instead of red.


    When was the last time I¡¯d eaten anyway? I thought as my stomach rumbled again.


    Hunger won out over my fear of the unknown and I took a nibble of it. It was actually pretty good.


    ¡°Tastes like a raspberry,¡± I said. It probably counted as a fruit instead of a berry, more fleshy like the strawberry it resembled.


    We ate and then sat in front of the fire for a bit. I didn¡¯t really have anything to say and neither did Rel it seemed. So the fire crackled away merrily in front of us, keeping us warm while the sun ahead began to set.


    ¡°I think I¡¯m gonna see if Starship Rex is ready for me,¡± I said.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± Rel asked. ¡°Maybe we should wait a bit and make sure you¡¯re okay after that first time.¡± I shook my head.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    Before, the ship had also given me a warning that I couldn¡¯t just keep doing this one time after another. If I did a third one of these downloads again within the next year then I was running the risk of a brain haemorrhage.


    That had put a bit of a damper on things, but Starship Rex thought it was safe for one more right now and my mind was made up. ¡°I¡¯d rather do this sooner than later,¡± I told her, making Rel frown.


    ¡°Alright,¡± she said, frowning. ¡°I¡¯ll be here when you¡¯re done.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll see you later,¡± I promised before climbing back aboard.


    ¡°Starship Rex, do we have enough power to do that education download?¡± I asked.


    ¡°Yes. Power supplies are regenerating at a steady rate,¡± the vessel told me.


    I needed something to ground me, something to show that I wasn¡¯t so monumentally out of my depth here on an alien world, an alien universe, alone and relying on someone I¡¯d only just met for basically everything. We¡¯d already risked dying twice since I¡¯d woken up here and both times were because I hadn¡¯t been in a position to do anything.


    After not being able to stop those spaceships when they attacked us before, I absolutely didn¡¯t want that to happen again and I knew I was going to be spending a lot of my future time in space.


    To fix that I wanted to be able to fly the ship. Starship Rex had told me that there was an education download of flying skills to suit my needs and I was more than ready for it.


    The helmet was waiting for me but with the ship lying at an angle I wasn¡¯t going to be able to lie down on the bed without falling off. Instead I settled for half lying, half sitting against the side of the bed, holding the helmet in my hands.


    ¡°I know it¡¯s not my first time, but please be gentle,¡± I joked weakly before putting the helmet back on my head, taking a deep breath and bracing myself for the discomfort that was about to come.


    I put on the helmet.


    ¡°Ready when you are.¡±


    ¡°Commencing upload.¡±


    A moment later and my brain was being assaulted by images and sensations like before. It was all too fast to take in properly but I got glimpses of a few things. How to control a spacecraft seemed to be the primary focus, which was good because it was what I wanted to learn. There were other things though, like the way a jetpack felt on my back and how to control it in both atmosphere and space and there was tons of other stuff too. I came away with more than I¡¯d honestly wanted, or probably needed, but then the package had been described as teaching me how to fly things.


    My head began throbbing as it kept going. It felt harsher, or perhaps more rapid than before, picking up speed and whether it was because I was learning more stuff this time or because it was the second time doing this in such a short space of time, it really started to hurt.


    I couldn¡¯t stop though, I could only bear through it until the plethora of images and feelings started to die down, the education download completing. Relieved, I tossed the helmet to the side to let me rub my temples.


    ¡°Yeah, maybe leave learning Kung-Fu for a year or so,¡± I agreed with the prior warning. I wasn¡¯t looking forward to a repeat experience until I needed it.


    If I went in for a third time I was sure I¡¯d have my brain leaking out of my ears by the time it was finished.


    But it¡¯d worked!


    I made my way back towards the exit of the ship.


    Getting out was a lot easier than getting in and feeling slightly giddy I dropped down to the firm ground.


    The fire was still crackling away merrily.


    ¡°Rel, I¡¯m finished,¡± I said brightly, standing up and looking around and my eyes widened in surprise.


    Rel was on her knees, a knife pressed against her throat and a dozen figures stood around the campfire, armed with bows and arrows.


    Slowly I raised my hands as what I could only assume were the local population levelled their weapons at me threateningly and I said the first thing that came to my mind.


    ¡°We come in peace?¡±

 Chapter 10: Hands up

    They stood around the shadows, beyond the dwindling light of the campfire and they wore cloaks with hoods that obscured their faces. The bows and arrows were visible though, and I kept my hands raised in surrender as I carefully took in the scene.


    One of our attackers was visible, though their thick cloak made it impossible to see any of their features beyond a generally masculine build. They had a hand in Rel¡¯s voluminous hair, tilting it back and holding her in place on her knees with the sharp edge of a dagger pressed to her throat to ensure she wouldn¡¯t try anything.


    They must have got the drop on her, I figured. Her pistol was still on her hip, she was still wearing her bracer too. Rel was armed, but regardless that the weapons she could use were certainly more dangerous than a mere bow and arrow, quantity certainly won out against quality right now.


    ¡°We mean you no harm,¡± I said slowly, hoping that my tone at least could get what I was trying to say through to these people. This was a random, presumably pre industrial civilisation on some random previously undiscovered planet. I didn¡¯t fancy my chances at these guys being able to understand the basic language that people spoke up in the stars but this was the best I could do.


    There was a bit of shuffling from the strangers. I couldn¡¯t tell if my words had had any effect but I figured that continuing to not be being attacked was a good sign.


    One of them stepped forward. It was a tall, somewhat slender figure and their brown cloak obscured their features in shadow until they suddenly threw their hood back.


    It was a man, or at least a part man. He looked like a normal human, somewhat rugged with a trimmed beard and dark hair hanging loosely around his head. What stuck out as different though was the ears.


    He had dog ears like a beagle¡¯s that blended with his hair but which stood out clearly in the remaining light. I suspected somewhere under that cloak he probably had a tail too.


    ¡°Holy shit it¡¯s a furry planet,¡± I said before I could stop myself. Fortunately my words didn¡¯t seem to register in any way with the now revealed man.


    ¡°Step forwards,¡± the man ordered.


    Not wanting to disobey for fear of finding out what a pincushion felt like, I slowly stepped around until the fire was to my side, Rel being on the other side. The stranger looked me up and down, assessing me before looking towards Rel for a few seconds. I couldn¡¯t tell what he was thinking but the expression on his face only grew more serious.


    ¡°What are your names,¡± he demanded, looking over my shoulder at Starship Rex behind me.


    I glanced towards Rel who went to open her mouth but was jostled by her captor. She grimaced and went silent. The question was for me.


    ¡°I¡¯m Alex, that¡¯s Rel,¡± I said, discarding the confusion about how these guys could understand me for the moment. I decided to take a chance.


    ¡°Who¡¯re you?¡± I tried hopefully.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    The question seemed to surprise the man who hesitated for a few seconds, his face betraying confusion before turning to realisation and then settling on something I charitably decided to describe as grim constipation.


    ¡°We will not give you our names,¡± he said, looking around him and giving the impression that the words were just as much an order to what I figured were his subordinates as they were a statement to me.


    That didn¡¯t sound good, I thought. I looked to Rel to see if she had any idea what the hell was going on but she wasn¡¯t in much of a position to respond right now.


    Suddenly the sound of metal colliding rang out in the forest. I turned around to see one of the hooded figures had been approaching the entrance to Starship Rex and the entrance hatch had slammed in their face.


    ¡°Hold!¡± the leader shouted as his subordinates fidgeted with their bows, clearly moments from just firing at me.


    That caused a lot of our shadowy attackers to shift again with their weapons and I tensed up, ready to try and jump away but I was fortunate that no arrows were actually fired. At these distances I really didn¡¯t think I¡¯d have been able to dodge even one arrow if it were loosed, no matter how easy action heroes might make it seem to dodge deadly projectiles.


    The clearing became silent for several long moments as nothing happened and the tension bled away.


    ¡°You will both come with us,¡± the ranger, or hunter, or whatever he was, told me gruffly. Then one of the others, the one holding Rel hostage spoke.


    ¡°You sure we should be bringing them back to the village, Dar- I mean¡­ boss?¡± He asked, voice sounding harsh and gravelly.


    ¡°No I¡¯m not, but I think we can all agree that this is well beyond our understanding,¡± the man whose name began with ¡®Dar¡¯ replied. We will bring them to the church. They will be able to figure out if these are who we¡¯ve been waiting for.¡±


    ¡®Dar¡¯ gestured, and some of the other hunters came forward.


    ¡°Bind them. We need to get moving before the birds arrive,¡± he instructed.


    ¡°Gah!¡± Rel gasped as she was pulled to her feet, by her hair.


    ¡°Hey don¡¯t hurt her!¡± I shouted but suddenly someone grabbed my arms from behind me and I almost shrieked in surprise as my hands were pulled behind my back and tied together tightly. I hadn¡¯t heard them approaching at all and whoever it was was far stronger than me.


    Which wasn¡¯t saying much, to be fair. If we got out of this the next thing I¡¯d ask Starship Rex was if it had a gym.


    ¡°Do not hurt them,¡± the leader barked suddenly. He almost looked apologetic before shooting the larger man holding Rel a serious look. ¡°They aren¡¯t our enemies,¡± he said pointedly.


    I could practically taste the ¡®yet¡¯ in that statement. I certainly didn¡¯t feel like I was a friend.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± the other man said gruffly, not sounding very apologetic. The leader didn¡¯t respond, looking around at the other hunters.


    ¡°You¡¯re on point,¡± the man said to one of the others as he started kicking dust and dirt at the campfire. ¡°We¡¯ll need your eyes to navigate through this darkness.¡±


    ¡°Right,¡± agreed the hooded figure, their voice sounding feminine. She pulled back her hood.


    I¡¯d expected something like the man, but it appeared this planet showed a range on the furry scale because this one was fully decked out in fur and more feline features, including a small muzzle and whiskers.


    ¡°You and you, make sure they stay with us,¡± the leader said. I could barely make out him pointing at some of the hunters through the darkness, my eyes still adjusting to the loss of the fire.


    The campfire was snuffed out with dirt, the embers dying down and bathing us in mostly darkness.


    ¡°Let¡¯s move,¡± the man with dog ears commanded.


    Whoever was behind me pushed me forward slightly, keeping a hand on my shoulder and that was enough of a message to tell me to start moving.


    Well, at least I didn¡¯t have to ask them to take me to their leader.

 Chapter 11: A Walk Through the Forest

    ¡°Y¡¯know you could just leave us back there,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll be gone in a few days.¡±


    ¡°Quiet,¡± hissed the hunter following behind me.


    ¡°No really, we won¡¯t hurt a fly. It¡¯ll be like we were never even here,¡± I said.


    ¡°What part of quiet do you not understand?¡± The hunter demanded.


    ¡°The third syllable,¡± I replied.


    I got shoved forward for my snark and had to stop myself from falling. It seemed like this was a tough crowd.


    We continued through the dark forest, heading to wherever these animal people wanted to take us.


    It was eerily quiet. For the most part I could only hear the sound of our footsteps and rustling leaves of the forest around us. That was interspersed with the occasional sound of what might have been other things moving about. I had no bushcraft skills whatsoever. So I had no idea what I was hearing and that just led to the tension steadily building as I anticipated whatever terrible thing was going to happen to us next.


    A bear maybe? That seemed par for the course given what had happened to me already. For all I knew I was about to get jumped by a dragon or something.


    The uneven floor, little rocks that stuck out and roots too meant I had to be extra careful. The shoes I was wearing weren¡¯t built for this kind of environment and I was having to carefully place my feet to avoid stubbing my toe or landing on something awkwardly.


    Our captors didn¡¯t make it easy on us, but they weren¡¯t mean about it. If anything the hiss of annoyance from one of them as I almost fell over made them seem more anxious than anything else.


    Whatever was going on with these guys it couldn¡¯t be good. ¡°The ones we have been waiting for¡± didn¡¯t sound like something I wanted to be involved in.


    And to avoid getting involved with whatever shenanigans were going on here I was going to have to get myself and Rel off this planet and that meant we¡¯d have to get back to Starship rex.


    ¡°Are you guys going to be able to take us back to our ship?¡± I asked. ¡°I dunno if we¡¯ll be able to find our way back on our own.¡±


    A hand on my shoulder stopped me.


    ¡°In the name of all that is holy, can you not be quiet!¡± hissed one of the people behind me, again.


    To be fair I didn¡¯t expect much of a response. But these guys probably knew their way around this forest so I could only hope they¡¯d be able to bring us back here. It was going to be convincing them to do so that would be the trick¡­


    Hearing the commotion, the leader came back and approached us.


    ¡°We can,¡± he said. ¡°If everything goes well then I will be more than happy to bring you back to your sky ship. But please, we cannot risk being caught now. There are dangerous people no doubt heading this way right now and if they catch us with you then all our lives will be forfeit.¡±


    ¡°What do these other people want with us?¡± Rel asked.


    ¡°It would be better you put your questions to the elders,¡± he said. ¡°What I do know is that if recent history proves anything then it will be nothing good. I promise you that. So please, we need to be as stealthy as we reasonably can while we get out of here. Just coming here and finding you both was a big risk on our parts and we have no idea if we could be being hunted right this second.¡±


    The way the dogman spoke sounded sincere. He was truly afraid for the lives of himself and everyone else here.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll be good,¡± I said for both myself and my companion who didn¡¯t refute me. Whatever we had found ourselves in it screamed of danger.


    The rest of the journey was taken in silence, and I had to distract myself with something. So I decided to try thinking of how we were going to have to approach this delicate situation.


    We were effectively stranded on an alien planet with what I would tentatively describe as aliens and now we were going to be taken to someone in charge who could hopefully explain things.


    What were you supposed to do when engaging in first contact? I wasn¡¯t going to try to Captain Picard my way through a diplomatic mess and trying the Captain Kirk approach only worked if you were dealing with princesses, and if you had game. Unfortunately based on my previous successes with the female persuasion, I knew I certainly had none of that.


    We had to have been walking for at least a few hours because the sun started to rise on the horizon, providing enough light to just about see by as we reached the edge of the forest. My legs were aching at this point. I was tired, exhausted really.


    This was basically the most exercise I¡¯d gotten in ages and without having really eaten anything I was about ready to collapse.


    Hopefully it wouldn¡¯t be much longer. There was a dirt path that led over some hills in front of it and I couldn''t see beyond that.


    ¡°Too late. People will already be moving about when we arrive,¡± the hunter¡¯s leader observed.


    ¡°We can¡¯t let anyone see them,¡± another of the hunters piped.


    ¡°Agreed,¡± the leader said gruffly. He gestured to two of his companions.


    ¡°Give them your cloaks. We can¡¯t advertise we¡¯ve brought back more people than we left with,¡± he said.


    The two people he¡¯d spoken to quickly took off their cloaks and handed them to myself and Rel, revealing that one of them was a full on furry person with a canine head. The other was a guy with goat horns curling up either side of his forehead.


    This was a lot of secrecy these guys were engaging with. Just who were these other people they were so scared of.


    ¡°I¡¯ll send someone with some food. Are you both going to be okay camping out for another day?¡±


    ¡°Of course,¡± the goatman replied. His companion nodded in agreement.


    ¡°Thank you,¡± the dogman replied sincerely. ¡°Be safe.¡±


    ¡°We will.¡±


    Myself and Rel put on our new cloaks and they more or less fit us. I had to be careful about where I put my feet though as mine was probably a bit too long for me.


    Good, let¡¯s go,¡± the dogman said, seeing us with our heads covered.


    We continued walking for only a bit longer before the signs of civilization appeared.


    They were stone houses with thatched roofs, a lot of houses really and there were a load of people already out about their days and I had to stop my head from craning around as I took in the sights.


    Men, women and children of all sorts of animal races were going about their business. There were dog people, cat people, goat people, mouse people and even one little boy or girl that was full on lizard-person.


    Our escort led us through the settlement quickly.


    ¡°Ho, Darren!¡± Shouted a woman with pointed canine ears. ¡°Back so soon?¡± The man waved at her.


    ¡°Afraid so!¡± We hightailed it back out once whatever that fell down landed. We figured the Tyrant would be sending someone to investigate and didn¡¯t want to run the risk of encountering them.¡±


    ¡°We saw it too and I¡¯m glad to see you hightailed out of there pronto. I wouldn¡¯t want to hear you¡¯d had anything to do with the Dark Tyrant.¡±


    The now named Darren nodded his head in agreement.


    ¡°I¡¯m going to go and speak to the elders now. I¡¯ll come and see you later,¡± he promised, receiving an appreciated nod from the woman and ending the conversation. Meanwhile the rest of us had just stood around awkwardly.


    A Dark Tyrant?


    What kind of second rate fantasy setting had I now found myself in?


    As we continued walking my vision was suddenly dampened as a shadow passed overhead. It was accompanied by a rush of noise from above us too.


    I looked up and wasn¡¯t alone in doing so. I heard a few people gasp and there was murmuring as the people around us looked up.


    A giant bird was gliding over the village, heading right the way we¡¯d just come from.


    That was far too big to be an ordinary bird, I thought to myself.


    ¡°Come on, let''s move,¡± Darren said.


    ¡°It looks like the Tyrant¡¯s soldiers are already here.¡±


    Suddenly feeling a lot more trepidation about the situation, I followed after the hunter towards whoever it was he wanted us to meet. But all the while I couldn¡¯t help but feel a new worry.


    That bird had been heading straight for Starship Rex.