“Why didn’t you let me die?” I heard a deep female voice ask. I slowly opened my eyes to see Gruma standing by the door to my bedroom. Once my vision cleared, I could see that she looked disappointed. “To lose to a scrawny weakling like you. It’s embarrassing,” she continued. Tears came to her eyes as she looked down. To be honest, I felt mixed. On the one hand, she didn't seem to hold a grudge. On the other hand, she wasn't taking it well, to put it lightly.
“Why should I let someone die when I could prevent it? Unlike the bug I fought on that planet, I was able to talk with you. You showed the ability to reason, even if that reasoning was weak,” I replied as I sat up and crossed my arms.
“But I’m a failure! A failure only deserves death!” Gruma snapped as she looked at the ground.
“Don’t say that! You are not a failure! Losing a fight doesn’t determine your life! Take it as an opportunity to grow,” I shouted as I got up from the bed. I quickly got dressed before walking up to her. “If it makes you feel better, I kind of cheated by using weapons.”
“Doesn’t matter! Weapons are merely extensions of the warrior! A true warrior is able to win even against the most heavily armed opponent!" she shouted before sighing. "I’m a weakling and should be punished like one,” Gruma sorrowfully commented as she walked into the main hallway with me.
“Suicide should never be an option! Don’t kill yourself because you lost a match!” I shouted, hoping to get the point across to her. I wasn't not a therapist and it showed. I just hoped I didn’t do any damage.
“I wasn’t considering such a dishonorable fate! To take one’s own life destroys any chance of reincarnation! No, I have to regain my honor! Until my ancestors find it worthy, I must fight!” Gruma shouted as she walked towards the door to the kitchen. She shoved her hands between where the two sides of the door met. She pushed the door open and walked in. I quickly followed afterwards and pressed a button to close the door.
“Just for your information, this button over here opens the door,” I said as she searched the cabinets. She didn’t listen, so I walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed something that looked edible.
“What is that strange drawer?” Gruma asked as she looked at the fridge. She walked in front of it and gasped as she felt cool air blow out of it.
“It’s a refrigerator. You don’t have those where you’re from?” I replied as I sat down in an oversized chair and bit into the red and spiky fruit I grabbed. The smell was putrid, but it tasted much worse. I gagged as I tried to get the taste of it off my tongue. “What horrible planet did this fruit come from? Whoever lives there, I’m sorry,” I said as I forced myself to take another bite. It tasted extremely bitter and salty at the same time. If this was what alien food tasted like, then I was going to starve myself. Maybe not that severe, but I wasn't going to be overweight any time soon.
“No, we don’t have those. We had doors that were opened by hand and iceboxes that weren’t powered by magic,” Gruma explained as she grabbed the same fruit from the fridge and ate it. She smiled as she said, “I love xaiv fruit. It’s just the right taste.”
“You like this? Remind me to never go to your planet,” I replied as I finished the last portion of the fruit. “Why do you like bitter stuff?”
“Who doesn’t? High Taraxian cuisine is all about making the most bitter dish possible. What? Are Humans obsessed with sweet tastes?” Gruma replied with a question of her own.
“Yes. We are,” I answered as I got up. I looked at her and decided to ask a question that was nagging me for a while. “How are you speaking English?”
“English? We’re speaking High Taraxian,” she replied with confusion. I took off my SAD and looked at her.
“Still speaking High Taraxian?” I asked. She tilted her head in confusion before speaking gibberish. I put my SAD back on and noticed that the gibberish changed to English.
“…but that’s your problem,” Gruma finished whatever sentence she started in High Taraxian.
“Fascinating. It seems that this SAD device acts as a universal translator, but only translates it to the person who's wearing the device. What did you do with yours?” I pondered aloud as more pieces were added to the puzzle.
“That metal ring? I thought they were interesting, so I stored them in my clothes,” Gruma said as she reached into the back of her leotard and pulled out two SADs.
“Put one on your wrist and press the button on the side of it. It’ll take you from there,” I said before I left for the cockpit.
“Hello Captain Smith, the journey is proceeding smoothly,” the ship said as I sat down in the captain’s chair. I was lucky Gruma wasn’t here to see me. Because of how tall the Qarri were, I looked like a child with my legs hanging in the air.
“Tell me about the nearby refueling station. I would like to know what it’s about,” I said as I looked out the windshield. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The view of space from the surface of a planet couldn’t compare to what I saw. Stars were bright beacons in the distance, signaling other planets that may contain life. Planets went by in a flash as the ship zoomed by, giving an interesting look. However, it did make me wonder how fast the ship was going. Because if there was no faster-than-light travel, I knew I would never reach Earth.
“We are going to enter Station Dorok. The station is owned by the Regency of Bassun. The ruler of Bassun is a high priest called a Regent because of their peculiar religion. According to their religion, their god will one day be reborn as a Bassun and reign as monarch for eternity. Their species is insectoid, seeing all other species as lower life forms. Lowest on their list is mammals. You would do well to stay in the ship to avoid confrontation,” the ship answered, filling me with dread. I knew I was extremely unlucky to be kidnapped and sent to an alien planet, but couldn’t reality give me a break? I just hoped that the aliens didn’t see us as we refueled our ship.
Stolen novel; please report.
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We reached the station right as we were about to run out of fuel. I looked at the map ahead of time. Apparently, the Regency only controlled this station and two planets, so this would be our only stop on the way. Everything hitched on this refuel. If we got into a fight, makeshift spears stood no chance against blasters or whatever these aliens used.
Our ship landed safely. “One-way window activated. You can see them, but they can’t see you,” the ship announced. Quentin looked out the windows and was shocked by what he saw. Unlike the Chitakarn, these insectoids were only about three feet tall. They were eight feet long, standing on six legs with a head containing a proboscis and two antennas. They had six legs, with the front two doubling as arms. One Bassun held a whip in one of its arm-legs and looked back at a hooded figure walking into the room.
“So this is the Sorlok mechanic? Pathetic yet expected. Reptiles are only one step above mammals. Refuel the ship and we may let you live!” the Bassun with the whip shouted as they cracked it in the air.
“Yes, master,” the Sorlok replied as he crawled under the ship. I could see that Sorloks were short creatures considering he was as tall as a Bassun. I’m now a bit jealous of Gruma considering that she got to fight one instead of a giant bug. Not that I like fighting for my life.
“Ship refueling. Do not disconnect,” the ship said as I heard the sound of fuel entering the tank. The windshield changed to show a display of how much fuel was in the tank. Everything was quiet for a few minutes before I heard a screech coming from the interior of the station.
The doors to the spaceport section slid upon to reveal a screeching Bassun. It looked at the Sorlok and screeched, “This is the last straw, reptile! First it was the accelerators. Then it was the galactic locator. Now you stole the motherboard of the last ship! You’ll be a fine snack for the God in Waiting!” It ran towards the Sorlok and grabbed him with its proboscis. Before the Bassun could leave, I heard the spaceship’s hatch open. I jumped out of my seat and ran into the hallway, only to see that it was too late. Gruma was not in the ship.
“Let go of the Sorlok, bug! I’ll crush you like a southern beetle!” Gruma shouted as she cracked her knuckles. She walked up to the Bassun and grabbed its proboscis. With a loud snap, blood spurted onto the floor of the station. I looked and saw that Gruma was helping the Sorlok up. “Let’s go!” she shouted as she ran back into the spaceship. The Sorlok quickly ran underneath the ship and pulled the pump out before jumping into the spaceship. The Sorlok slammed the button to close the door as several Bassuns charged into the spaceport with blasters. Blaster shots hit the walls, making me run into the cockpit.
“Let’s get out of here!” I shouted as I sat in the captain’s seat. Almost immediately, the ship shot forward, sending me against the chair. I buckled my seat belt so I wouldn’t be flung across the room. As the ship zipped away, several ships started chasing ours. “Could you try sending us to a friendly system or our next refuel?” I asked as I watched the approaching squadron.
“Affirmative,” the ship said. The ship shook as a bang was heard outside of the ship. “Initiating evasion maneuvers!” the ship announced as it quickly turned sideways, causing several thuds to be heard in the rooms behind me. But as the ship turned, I started feeling dizzy. I wasn’t part of the Air Force back on Earth, obviously, and because of that I started having issues with the G-Force. I had to fight to keep myself awake.
Despite the evasive maneuvers, I could still feel the ship being hit. I heard more thuds, this time mostly from the bedroom. When the ship turned upside down, I felt like I was going to fall out of my seat. It righted itself, allowing me to fall back into my seat.
After ten tense minutes of evasion, the ship announced, “System damage critical! Warp-jumping to a safe planet!” I heard a buzzing sound before everything faded to black, but not before an explosion rocked the ship.
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“Ugh! My head!” I groaned as I got up. It seemed that warp-jumping knocked me out of the seat and onto the floor. I patted myself over to check for any broken bones. I sighed in relief as all I felt were bruises. I slowly got up and limped towards the door to the hall. When I opened it, I could see Gruma leaving the bedroom. “Hey Gruma, where’s the Sorlok?” I asked as I sat down on a chair in the hall.
“The lizard walked out of the ship with some kind of tool, but I don’t know what it was,” she said as she popped her back. “What happened? What did the disembodied voice do to this thing?” she asked. I thought about the question for a while until I realized what she meant by disembodied voice and thing.
“The voice came from this spaceship. In order to avoid getting shot down, it swerved autonomously. That swerving is what sent you flying into the bedroom. At least I think you were flung into the bedroom. It’s hard to tell when you’re stuck in another room,” I explained as I hoped she would understand.
“I don’t know what you said, but thank you for trying,” Gruma said as she leaned against the wall. I opened the hatch to the outside and walked out. I know it was reckless to walk onto a foreign planet with no protection, but in my defense, the Sorlok already went outside. And considering that he was still a carbon-based lifeform, I assumed that he needed Earthlike conditions to survive. And I was almost correct. Because while the atmosphere was breathable, there wasn’t enough oxygen for breathing to be comfortable. I had to be careful not to exert myself too much.
Barren. That’s the one word that came to my mind when I saw the surface of the planet. The ground was rocky and red, resembling Mars. However, there had to be some plant life of microorganisms whose photosynthesis gave oxygen. I supposed there could be no plants and all the oxygen was provided by some equivalent of plankton. I walked out of the ship and immediately felt the distant star’s rays. I hurried under the ship to avoid the UV radiation. I quickly noticed the Sorlok carrying a blowtorch and a tablet. “What are you doing?” I asked, hoping that my SAD had a translation for the Sorlok.
“I’m just fixing the ship, furless ape,” the Sorlok replied as he removed a panel and used the blowtorch on it. I looked away to avoid being blinded. Before long, I could hear the panel replaced. I stopped hearing the blowtorch, so I chanced a look to see that the Sorlok was drilling the screws back in. “Good as new,” he said as he walked back to the hatch. I walked back into the ship ahead of him.
Once he was inside, I closed the hatch. “Now that the ship’s fixed, we need to know who the stowaway who came aboard is,” I said as I looked at the Sorlok.
“My name is Zalex. The Bassuns bought me from the slave market and used me to fix their ships. Of course, one should never underestimate a Sorlok. We are rather cunning and resourceful people,” he said as he pulled out a brilliant yellow gem. It was the size of his torso and gleamed with seemingly supernatural light. “I took a few of these gems when I worked for them. Stupid insects didn’t know what hit them.” He put the gem back into his cloak.
“Give me a few good reasons to keep a thief onboard. How do I know you won’t steal from us?” I asked as I glared at him. I had a feeling that he was going to pull something on me.
“You two are primitives who don’t have a clue about technology greater than a rock. I, meanwhile, lived my entire life on the galactic scene. I know how these ships work,” Zalex replied with what I assumed to be a smirk. I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure due to alien psychology.
“And how do I know you won’t steal from me?” I reiterated.
“Because I need to get back home too. Daraxes isn’t too far from here. But we need to refuel first. Qasan Station will be a good stop,” Zalex said. It didn’t answer my question, but I was stuck with him now.
“Charting course for Qasan Station. Estimated arrival, three days,” the ship announced as it blasted off, sending all of us against the back wall of the main hall. It hurt, but nothing more than a few bruises.
“It should really warn us before it does that!” I complained as we took off towards the stars.