Packing a few final things into the backpacks all three checked everything was secure. ? Ella picked up her crossbow and extra bolts .
Lex checked his oversized backpack and made sure he had his pots and travel cups, he packed a couple of bags of tea and sugar. He could drink black tea, but no sugar I think not.
All things packed and stowed away the three of them returned to the kitchen to say goodbye to mom. They knew she wouldn’t be happy, but Lex is an adult and Ella is pretty close to it and probably more mature than him anyway.
“mom, we can come back whenever we want. Think of it as we’re going away for a few weeks. You’ll be busy at work and dad’s due back this week so you won’t be alone. I’ve explained it’s something we can’t get out of.”
“ I know . but El doesn’t need to go with you does she. She was unaffected by the drone .”
“ do you think I’m going to miss out on helping my brother on something that we will never experience in a million years.”
“ you’re both your fathers children more than mine. I’m having words with him when he gets back.”
“ don’t be too harsh or he’ll go back to work for another 4 months and you’ll be alone.”
Kissing her on the cheek the siblings said their goodbyes and Tatty shook her hand but she pulled her in for a hug.
They left the house and headed towards the woods and the tree with the door.
At the door in the tree Lex. Ella and Tatty took a breath and walked through into the room beyond.
An orange box appeared in Lexes view. He opened it.
Fragment of of drone body found 2 nano included unidentified metal absorbed by alloy fragment.
“you will have to touch the puddle to absorb the remainder of my body . with the two nano I may be able to give Ella some sort of system so she can level like the rest of you.”
Lex reached down and touched the metal and it sucked into his body like he vacuumed it into his body . Alloy separated the 2 nano and encased it in a percentage of her body.” I am able to enhance your sister if she wishes it”
“El if you want I can give you a system . it will be something like what Tatty has. Is that something you would want?”
“yes of course, you don’t even have to ask.”
“ Ally, you’re gonna have to explain what I need to do”.
“ nothing at all. Well, you have to hold her hands like with Tatty. It will be more painful than Tatty. Also can we change Tattys' name?”
“ Oh ok. Ally just told me this will hurt a bit. Do you still want to go through it?”
She nodded and Lex held her hands tight. He looked her in the eyes “ you ready?”
As she was about to answer a sudden burning shot through her hands and up to her shoulders. She screamed out , Lex kept hold of her hands. The pain subsided.
“ is that what it was like for you?” Ella said. “ you had half your body covered”
“ it was worse for me. The metal was still liquid hot. Luckily I did pass out for a couple of days or it would have been unbearable.”
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Tatty looked over.” my hands burned really bad too. It would have been worse if Lex didn’t cover us.”
“ ok then El do you see or feel anything yet?” he pulled a chair over for her to sit on.
“you didn’t have your system a day or two. Mind you, you were unconscious for most of that.”
“ it may take a day or two. Ally just told me it took me a couple of days, but as you know I slept that away.” He looked out of the window. “ shall we go look around outside ? I think you’ll like it, it’s , different .”
The trio picked up their packs and head out of the door.
A cool breeze brushed her cheek, there was a sweet almost honeysuckle smell on the air. She found they were in some kind of meadow. It looked like any meadow back home , except it also wasn’t.
“ it looks like someone has turned the colour wheel back 2 spaces”
Sure enough the grass was almost a light blue, as where the leaves on the trees. The trunks were a red orange mix. The sky was even off . it was a violet colour and the sun was a cool blue white. The whole colour pallet was ever so slightly off. But beautiful. They themselves looked as if they were a shade of tan.
“ I told you. Different.”
“you’re not wrong . it will take some getting used to. I can’t wait to see what the night sky looks like , and the moon.”
“ I’ve only been around this part, I didn’t want to go too far in-case I got lost. Now we can explore properly.”
A black box appeared in Lexs’ vision
upgrade ready. Map and compas ready for installation. Install y/n
Lex assented . after a moment of dizziness a side scrolling bar appeared at the top of his vision with compas points on it. Apparently he was facing south west. He brought up his map it showed a quarter mile radius.
“ wow that’s useful. At least I can see where I am and where I’m going.” he told his sister he had a map and compas built into his head
“cool. You’re a sat nav” she said chuckling “ how does that work? I asume there are no satellites here,”
“that would be me “ said alloy. “ I have circled and mapped this world thoroughly.”
“apparently Ally has mapped it all out before she crashed. Well I say she that’s just the voice I hear.”
“ I do not have a gender. Although I do like this voice, I chose it myself from twenty thousand samples I had.”
“ I like it.. hey, is there a way to mark the cottage on the map so we don’t lose it. At least for the next day for so until we get a lay of the land?”
A green dot appears on the map with the number 1 next to it.
“ location saved. Numbered for convenience.”
Local system . 2 new races detected. Vex. Unique. amount . 1. sex female.
Human drone hybrid. Unique. Amount. 1 . sex male.
Planet of origin unkown. Present planet location 194531. name limarrah.
Report sent.
Report received and acknowledged. Continue servailance.
Setting out towards the tree line the trio walked carefully unsure of footing . it was a little soft but easy enough to walk on.there seemed to be birds of some kind and rodent type animals in the under brush. Tatty stopped sniffing the air. As it turned a little too quiet.
“ I smell something. It sounds heavy so it must be quite big.”
A large badger the size of a bear rushed out at them. Tatty grew her claws . red boxes came up.
Lex. You are under attack create weapon. Bladed. Bludgeoning.
Tatty. You are under attack. Umbue claws with alloy y/n.
Tatty assented and a shiny hard metal covered her claws growing to 8 inches.
Lex brought up his menu. Long or short blade.
Mace. War hammer. Metal rod.
He chose war hammer and a medium shield.
Taking a defensive pose he stood between the badger and his sister. Tatty off to the right. Ella remembering she had a crossbow unpacked it and a quiver of bolts, loading one in.
The badger slammed into the shield knocking Lex back over meter, winding him. Ella loosed her bolt at the badgers eyes missing but hitting the shoulder only penetrating just past the head. Tatty leaped slashing at the soft belly slicing in causing the badger to trip. Recovering Lex swung at the head with the spiked side of the war hammer sinking it in to its temple cracking the skull.
Tatty swiped again at the neck causing blood to gush out of the wound. Lex took three more swings at the head finishing the badger off.
Lex retracted the shield and hammer back into his hand. It felt and looked strange to him. Tatty withdrew her claws. The three of them standing over the body looking down.
“what do we do now?” Ella said
“i suggest taking the core “ said Alloy.” you can find it next to the heart. You can also butcher the beast and take its meat to eat.”
“ how do I do that?” Lex said looking at the huge badger.
“ create a sharp blade and cut into the chest. You will find a round stone. I suggest the meat from the hind legs and the ribs are also quite good too.”
Lex created a 15 cm blade and cut into the badgers chest. Sinking his hands in to the still warm body, feeling around until he felt a hard round stone. He decided not to cut the meat as he had nowhere to put it. He left the badger for the other animals to eat. He retrieved the bolt shot by Ella and handed it back.