It turns out it wasn’t a dream. I really wished it was. While becoming a supersoldier was amazing, it wasn’t worth competing in a stupid gameshow across the galaxy. I got off my hammock and packed it up. Last night’s sleep wasn’t pleasant, but I could bear through it. With any luck, I’d survive and be headed home. But if I was going to win, I needed a weapon. While I had a pocketknife and rope in my pack, neither was a good weapon. However, I remembered something about how ancient weapons were made. I pulled out my pocketknife and grabbed a nearby branch. By whitling it down until it resembled a short spear shaft, I had something to work with. I did the same to four other branches before whitling a normal spear shaft. I then picked up six pointy rocks and sharpened them. Once they were sharp enough to pierce skin, I tied a sharp rock to each shaft. I now had five javelins and a spear.
I tied the javelins to my back before walking towards the ship with the spear in my hand. The walk was rather dull. There weren’t any animals, which was certainly suspicious. It was as if this planet was uninhabited by any animal life, with only scant plant life. It certainly fits the insanity of this scenario. Maybe they thought primitives like me were nothing more than animals. A disgusting and disturbing thought, but certainly fitting for a group willing to send me to a blood game. Thinking about this game, all I could think was that they sent me into the Hunger Games. Only this time there’ll be no rebellion. I was booking it as soon as I got the ship. I didn’t know how I was going to pilot it, but that was a problem for future Quentin.
After two hours of walking, I spotted the spaceship in a clearing. I started to run, only to ram into an invisible wall. I fell on my butt hard. Looking up, I could see now that the wall wasn’t invisible but translucent. It was a forcefield, possibly of psionic origin, which was an insane thought to think about. I looked back and could see something that terrified me. And also intrigued me. She looked very human.
Across from me was a green-skinned woman. She stood at six feet and three inches tall, wearing nothing but a red leather leotard. She was extremely muscular, unnerving me. Long black hair and bright red eyes just to add to her menace. I felt my hope of winning sink. However, maybe I could resolve this peacefully?
“Miss Gruma, I presume. Let’s end this pointless bloodshed together. What do you say?” I asked as I extended my left hand. Gruma grabbed my hand and looked like she was going to shake it. My hope was shattered when a sickening crunch was heard followed by an avalanche of pain.
“Puny Human! You thought I was willing to give up my chance of glory? As if! Let us fight like Taraxians!” Gruma shouted as she cracked her muscles. By the fact that she spoke to me, it confirmed two things. One, she was sapient meaning I could reason with her. Two, the universal translator worked and was on automatically. But that was enough of my thinking because she lowered herself into a sprinter’s stance before charging at me. If she hit me, I would be dead. So I made the only decision I could. I jumped out of the way right before she could hit me. It turned out that she couldn’t stop herself as she slammed into the forcefield, knocking her back. I made sure to get some distance before pulling out a javelin.
“I’m sorry,” I said before hurling the javelin at Gruma. The javelin grazed her torso, making her flinch slightly before refocusing her gaze on me. I pulled out another javelin and threw it towards her. She tried to dodge, but I aimed for her center of mass. As a result, the javelin embedded itself in her right arm. Fitting that I disable one arm like she did to me. I pulled out my spear and said, “Trust me. I don’t wish to kill you, but I will if I must.” I braced the spear against the ground and crouched, making sure that any charge would impact the spear and not me.
“Prepare to be crushed, weakling!” Gruma screamed as she sent a vengeful glare my way. She kicked at the ground before charging at me again. I wasn't not going to lie, I was absolutely terrified. Shivers coursed through my body as my blood ran cold. Keeping the brace was mentally challenging, but my survival instincts kicked in to help out. I knew that she was more at risk than me, but it didn’t alter the fact that a tall and hypermuscular figure was charging at me. As she got close, I could see that she was preparing to slam her fists into my head. Seeing her move, I decided to ditch my brace and thrusted the spear with as much force as I could. The spear pierced her stomach, causing her to falter. I quickly drew out another javelin and stabbed it into her left leg, making her lose balance as she stumbled. I quickly stabbed her with another javelin in the other leg, making her fall to the ground. She tried to get back up, but I stabbed her left arm with my last javelin. Each wound painted the weapons and ground with crimson red blood. My body was covered in it as guilt overwhelmed me. This wasn't right, but I had to do it.
Impaled in every limb and her stomach, Gruma couldn’t recover from her injuries and was stuck on the ground.
“Finish her!” the announcer’s voice shouted. It was obvious that the hosts wanted me to kill her. However, with her defenseless, it made it harder to justify. I walked over to her head and picked it up with my only usable hand.
“I’m sorry,” I said before I picked up her head and slammed it into the ground. She was still conscious, so I kept slamming her head into the ground until she was knocked out. Once she was unconscious, I put my ear over her mouth. I heard breathing, so she was still alive. However, the potential brain damage and stomach wound meant that there was the question of if she would survive. However, it seemed that the hosts didn't realize that she was still alive. Granted, the pool of blood beneath probably made the fight look like a vicious murder.
“Congratulations Quentin the Human! You have Dragged yourself to victory! You may now access the spaceship. Leave behind the incapacitated contestant,” the announcer said. I didn’t know what they would do to her, but even the best-case scenario seemed grim. I grabbed Gruma with my usable hand while using my left arm as support. I ignored the pain in my left hand as I dragged her. Not to sound rude, but she was heavy! She wasn’t fat, just very muscular. Her species must’ve been really strong because it was a struggle.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Quentin, drop the Taraxian! Your trip home will be canceled if you kidnap her!” the announcer shouted, though with a mostly bored voice. I ignored his demand. While I wished to go home, it wasn’t worth letting someone else die. My future could wait.
After thirty minutes of struggling, I reached the spaceship with Gruma in tow. Her breathing became more labored. The spaceship opened and allowed me to enter. As soon as I entered, I dropped Gruma. I slammed the close door button with my usable hand, causing the door to shut. I ran through the ship, scouting out everything. The spaceship was small, but it would do. The medical bay was off to the side. There was only one hospital bed, but it would suffice. I walked back to Gruma and managed to find the strength to drag her to the medical bay. I dragged her onto the table and strapped her in.
Once she was secured, I tried to look for bandages, only for the ship to turn on. “Hello Human,” a robotic voice announced with a voice different from SAD. “What is your name?”
“My name is Quentin Alexander Smith,” I replied as I paced through the room.
“Name and voice recorded. I detect a second presence in this ship. What would their status be?”
“Patient”
“Would you like the Robotic Nurse Unit, RNU, activated?” the ship asked. “The RNU cannot handle cases of Illness or Injury exceeding Level 3.”
“Yes,” I answered. I didn’t know what an Illness or Injury Level was, but I knew all of the wounds that Gruma had were treatable by most hospital staff. It was the infection risk I was concerned about. Stomach wounds were notorious for having high infection rates. While not near instantly fatal like chest wounds, it was just as hard to treat.
“RNU activated. It seems you are injured as well. RNU will fix your hand once it’s done with the critically wounded,” the ship said. I sat down in one of the chairs and tapped my foot against the floor. The wall opened up to reveal a robot that was probably four feet tall. It wasn’t human-like at all, looking more like a normal machine. The RNU injected a needle filled with green fluid into Gruma. It then quickly pulled out the javelins and stitched up the wounds. When it came to the spear in her stomach, the RNU pulled it out before spraying a foamy solution over the opening. After a few seconds, the RNU stitched up the stomach wound. It then moved to Gruma’s head and scanned it. When it got its results, it placed braces to keep her head in place before injecting a red fluid into her head.
After the RNU was finished with Gruma, it turned to me and said in the same robotic voice as the ship, “Place your crushed hand on the table.” It moved a table up to me. I placed my hand on the table and grimaced as I looked at the robot. That single maneuver sent a wave of pain through it, making me wince. The robot then injected the green fluid into my arm. Once injected, all the pain in my left hand disappeared. I still couldn’t move it, but at least it didn’t cause me pain like it did before. The RNU then moved my hand so that it was flat on the table. It then placed a cast on it far quicker than any human doctor could. “Your hand should be back to normal in three days,” it said.
“Three days? This medical technology is incredible!” I shouted as it was honestly amazing. “I thought it would take somewhere around eight weeks, and even then, it would have a chance to never recover. How advanced are you?”
“Your civilization is in the equivalent of my creators’ Late Industrial Era. It took my creators’ civilization one thousand years to reach this medical technology. However, Human civilization is very dynamic and entered the Industrial Age far quicker than my creators’. I can’t give an estimate, but probably a few centuries,” the RNU answered before going to watch over Gruma.
I decided to walk out of the med bay and instead headed to the cockpit. I sat down in the captain’s chair and watched as a galactic map appeared across the windshield. There was a blacked-out section, which was interesting. “Ship, do you have an autopilot feature?” I asked.
“Affirmative. Where would you like to go?” the ship asked back.
“Take me to Earth, please. I just want to go home.”
“I’m sorry, but Earth is not registered in my system. It seems that it was once there, but that data is no longer available,” the ship replied. “Would you like to travel to the closest refueling station instead?”
“Yes, please,” I replied as I slumped in my chair. They were telling the truth. They knew this ship had an autopilot feature and made sure to erase Earth from their maps. If I was going home, I had to reconstruct the map or manually fly home. I knew Earth was in the blacked-out section, but not where within it. I was soon snapped out of my thoughts as an animation of seat belt fastening was displayed on screen. I quickly strapped myself in as the ship began to violently shake. Once I was secure, the spaceship started moving forward. The windshield switched to an exterior view where I could see that it looked like an airplane going down a runway. As it began to ascend, I could hear the engine getting louder before the sound was suddenly blocked out. I could see the screen display Hearing Protection Activated, which explained why the sound stopped.
As the ship reached the upper atmosphere, I briefly felt weightless. It was a strange feeling. The ship then announced, “Gravity generator activated.” Earth-like gravity kicked in, sending me back into the chair before releasing the seat belt. “It will take five days to reach the nearest station. You can do whatever you wish. You will not need to be buckled in unless instructed to,” the ship announced.
I decided it was time to hit the sack and I entered the bedroom. It was uncanny to see all the furniture look normal with only one major difference. It was way too big! Sure, while a bed made for someone twice my height and four times my width would be comfortable, I had to literally climb to get on it. “Why is everything so big?” I asked.
"This ship was designed with Qarri in mind. If you wish for Human-sized furniture, you need to replace it yourself,” the ship replied. I sighed as I knew it was going to be a long trip. “Would you like your bath preheated?” the ship asked.
“Yes please. These past two days have been miserable. I would like to relax a bit. Just make sure the tub isn't the same size of the furniture. I don't want to drown in it,” I replied before looking at the ceiling. “I hope it only takes a few months to return home. Of course, knowing my luck, it’ll probably be a journey to rival Odysseus,” I said to myself. I then thought about it and said, “Perhaps I should write an autobiography about this journey. A Space Odyssey. Think about it.”