Nick brooded for a while, then forced himself to get back on track.

“Closest stars with population greater than zero.”

1,473.55 light-years.

Nick rolled his eyes. That just means Earth. I don't want how far to the nearest humans, I want how far to the nearest friendly aliens... and won't that be fun to explain. There weren't any aliens Nick could point to.

Unless...

Nick got an idea for searching Petra's time stamps and history, and see whether he could rewind to when the green girl alien was holding Petra. But the thoughts refused to form. Nick blinked a few times, then sniffed. Is the air going bad again?

As quickly as he could, Nick got to his feet and staggered over to the stairs, working his way up and out of the dungeon, or at least to the entrance tunnel. Apparently, it was daytime at the moment. Nick took a few deep breaths and waited for his thoughts to clear. They didn't.

Nick felt more and more sick to his stomach, dizzy, and exhausted. Bad food again? He wondered. He tried to go back to his bedroom, but barely reached the top of the stairs before he had to sit on the first step. He made himself lie back on the stone floor of Level 1. Otherwise, he might fall down a flight of stone stairs, which could easily kill him.

I should have put some carpets down was his last thought before closing his eyes.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

* *

Nick opened his eyes, regretted it, and closed them again.

* *

When he opened his eyes next, he felt as if he had been dragged across the countryside, face down. Everything hurt. It felt as if he had bruises everywhere. He was also sweating and shivering. I must have a fever, he realized. Wait, where am I?

Nick squinted against the lights above him and peered around. He didn't recognize the room he was in. How did I get here? Did Petra have the guys carry me?

An odd whistling sound made him turn his head, slowly, to the side. There was a bot of unfamiliar design, about three feet tall. It was shaped like an upright cylinder, with several spider-like legs partially unfolded. Various objects were at the ends of the legs. It also carried a display board in the middle.

“Hello, Nick,” said the bot.

“Hi, Petra,” he croaked back. “Water?”

The bot rotated and extended one leg towards him. At the end was a small metal cylinder. Nick forced himself to sit up partway, and took the thing. It was a metal cup, full of cold water. Nick gratefully drank half of it, then winced.

“Nick, do you want to drop inventory?”

Petra came up with “drop inventory” for “use the bathroom” one day early on. Nick had taught her “take a piss” and “take a dump” when she needed to be more specific. Now, he considered the question.

“I need to take a piss.”

The bot rotated again and offered a metal pan. Not bad, Petra, Nick thought, as he made use of the bedpan. Once relieved, he tried to focus his thoughts. “You're that Heal bot Petra asked to make, right when she started the tutorial mode.”

“Nick loses health. Petra casts heal. Nick gains 20% health. Petra attempts to cast heal.”

“Status,” Nick called.

Name: Nick

Level: 1

Class: Boss Monster

Gender: Male

Health: 60%

Debuff: temperature + 3 deg F.

Inventory:

Mouth: 0%

Lungs: 90%

Stomach: 1%

Bladder: 4%

Ass: 45%

There was more, but Nick got tired of reading and closed his eyes again.

Good work, Petra.