CHAPTER 4

Imperia was… chatty. I suppose being asleep for ten thousand years would cause anyone to want to hear about the world. The problem? I had no idea about this world. Her information was, well, out of date.

“So. You’re telling me these hu-mans had ships that carried millions of people from one planet to another?” Imperia asked with clear disbelief in her tone.

“Yep. With trillions of people living between thousands of planets.”

“I wish I could see that.”

“Well depending on how developed this planet is, we might at least be able to see space. Ten thousand years is more than enough time to develop the technology to reach the stars.”

Imperia sighed and shook her head. “For some reason, I doubt it.”

“On what basis?”

“The fact I still exist,” she answered with a shrug. I tried to get more out of her, but she decided it was time to be quiet.

I decided to leave her alone and moved into the rubble of the tower. My plasma rifle would only work for about twenty shots or so. The nanites could make more of the material used as the ammunition, but it was the power that was the real issue. The battery would die eventually, and I didn’t have a fusion reactor to charge it.

I would have to go old school, and what better way to do that than with a material that apparently survived ten thousand years then a demon queen explosion. My nanites could turn the door into a few weapons with how much material was there. The question was what would be best.

“Echo. What weapons do you have in your database? I want to turn this metal into something that will be useful.”

“There are thousands of weapons. Please name some parameters for me to narrow the search.”

I bite my lip. I had used a photon saber in the academy, but I was one hundred percent a better marksman. I had played with guns from every era of human existence and was a good shot with most of them. The biggest issue would be ammo. “What level of ammunition can the nanites make with basic matter?”

“Without expending too much energy, they can make up the twenty-third century…” Echo started to ramble off a bunch of chemicals that I had little idea of their purpose.

I waved in the air in front of me. “I swear you do that on purpose. If the nanites can make it without too much stress, then will go with that. If you can use the proton pistol as components to make a saber or sword as well. Depending on the technology level of the locals, one or the other will fit in.”

“Understood. According to my calculations, there will be some left over metal. What would you like to do with it?”

I thought about then noticed my clothing. “Make something fashionable that will serve as a good armor. You know what I like, just take my current… situation into account.”

“Affirmative. Please wait… five hours and twenty-two minutes.”

I nodded as the slot on my arm opened allowing the nanites to flood into the air around the door. I was grateful that my change had affected that little upgrade from my days as a human. The door started to shrink though I could tell it would take a while before it would be completely gone.

Walking back over to Imperia, I sat on the ground next to her. “We’re going to be here until morning. I know you’ve slept for ten thousand years, but it might do you good to get some rest. I hope to reach some form of civilization tomorrow.”

“Then!” she said before she grabbed my arm and leaned against me. “Let me use you as a pillow.”

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I could only sigh as I looked up to watch the stars. I had asked Echo the first night, but didn’t match a single one of his star charts. A single large red moon graced the sky tonight. It looked bear, which added a strike against my space-faring civilization hopes. Of course, the angle of the moon might just be hiding in on the dark side.

I couldn’t believe that it had only been three days since I came to this planet. It felt longer, though I was unable to move for most of it. I closed my eye, and just tried to empty my thoughts. I needed to take my own advice and get some sleep.

~~

An explosion jerked me awake. I glanced around trying to find the cause and found Imperia pointing at something outside the clearing. A large swath of trees had been demolished and some were even on fire.

“What is going on?!” I shouted.

“We had a visitor. I was warning them off.”

“What’d you use a ballistic missile?” I demanded, standing up.

“Ballistic missile? Is that a spell?” Imperia asked more excited than I thought she should be.

I facepalmed then shook my head. “Sort of. I might show you it someday. For now, is the person still alive?”

“Person? No. It was a monster. A DireCreg. It is still over there. I think my attack caused it to faint.”

“Shouldn’t wild animals flee when threatened like that?” I mumbled. I moved over to the spot with my rifle leveled in front of me. Using the road sized clearing that Imperia had made, I moved into the forest looking for our guest. I found it a moment later, curled up behind a tree trembling. It was the wolf-like creature from yesterday.

“You again? I thought I warned you good enough the first time,” I said shouldering my rifle with a sigh. Taking a closer look at the beast, it appeared severely malnourished. Now that I thought about it, Echo and I hadn’t seen any living creatures other than this guy our entire trek through the forest.

“Imperia. Did this tower have some sort of signal to dissuade living creatures from getting close to it?”

“Signal?” she gave me a curious look then glanced at the tower. “AH! You mean a ward. Yes. The sages that imprisoned me here didn’t want anything getting close.” She moved over to a spot that would have been at the center of the complex and gestured with her hand. One of the stone tablets that we dug up earlier burst from the ground and floated in the air next to her. “Wow. This thing is barely hanging on. Another few years, and the ward would have covered just this clearing.”

“Understood.” I could fathom a guess that this direcreg or whatever Imperia had called it had either been driven or separated from its pack only to wander further and further into the forest looking for food. Then it ran into me, the only flesh and blood thing in a few dozen kilometers. “Echo. I want to make some protein bars, can you use the trees?”

“Sure, Lex.”

A few seconds later, a few bars that were a hand width long dropped from the air into my hands. I moved closer to the wolf and waved it in front of him. I did similar to calling a dog. He pulled his face from under his tail and growled at me. His missing eye swollen and red.

“Sorry, but you started it.” I took a bite out of the protein bar then tossed it to the wolf, as I chewed it I realized this was the first thing I’d eaten in three almost four days, minus the wolf’s eye. I should be a lot hungrier than I was.

The wolf sniffed it carefully before he lapped it up in one bite. The bar was gone after a second in the beast’s mouth. I tossed him two more which met the same fate. I had one more but I turned to Imperia who had moved up next to me during the feeding and offered it to her. “You must be hungry after ten thousand years.”

She scoffed at the colorless bar but broke the corner off. She nibbled on it before swallowing it. “I think I will wait until we find civilization. Let the beast have it all.”

I laughed, though I couldn’t criticize her. Other than its ability to make you feel full and the fact it was mostly healthy, the bar was like eating dirt, or in this case, bark. I tossed the last bar to the wolf. “Alright. That’s all of it. Now you should be good for a day or two. You need to leave the forest to find some real prey.”

The beast just looked at me. Of course, it couldn’t understand me. That made me pause. “Imperia. What language are you speaking?”

“Demonic. That’s why I thought you were one of mine,” she replied with a shrug.

“Echo?”

“You both have been speaking Galactic Standard according to my sensors.”

“Strange.” I shook my head then turned back to the wolf. “Anyway. Shoo!” I said with a gesture.

He just looked at me like I was crazy. Sighing, I moved back to the stonewall I had been leaning against earlier. I had gotten some sleep, but there was still close to two hours until Echo would be done making the weapons. Dropping down, I leaned back. Imperia joined me a second later, retaking my arm as her pillow. It would have been fine except her horns would poke me every now and then when she moved.

I was staring into the sky listening to Imperia’s lite breathing when I felt a heavy weight drop on my lap. Looking down, I found the wolf curled up next to me with his head on my lap. “You’ve got to be kidding?” A few seconds later, the wolf’s snoring joined Imperia’s.