My head was pounding. I think I was awake, I should be, but everything was dark, and a nasty stink, like urine, was assaulting my nostrils. There was something clenched around my face, impeding my breathing, and it was bitterly cold, the feeling of something hard and unyielding under my back.

“It should be awake now.” The voice was shrill and unpleasant, breathy like an asthmatic smoker.

“Can it understand me?” asked a second voice, a bit richer, with almost a vibrato undertone, like they were speaking through a fan.

“Yes, I downloaded the galpub symbospeech module into that lump of fat it uses as a data center. The system told us it was sapient, and that it wasn’t a chaos construct, despite looking like a monster.”

Every muscle in my body was sore. It felt like I had gone to sleep in a tent in the snow, without a sleeping bag. I opened my mouth a little, and croaked, “Cold”.

“What was that word it said?”

“Hold on a moment. There’s still a lot of cryo backlog in its tissues. It seems to be using a symbolic term indicating an unpleasantly low temperature. I am going to increase it by twenty dacks.”

“Are you sure? It’s already sitting in a furnace… any warmer would be past the melting point of water, is that safe?”

I felt whatever it was I was lying on starting to warm up as the harsher voice replied, “Probably, the vast majority of its body is made up of liquid acids, including water. It seems to use the substance as a carrier instead of something sensible like boron, but then, it’s also designed for a nightmare world. Be grateful it doesn’t breathe sulfuric acid.”

The more melodic voice stated “Can you sense me? Do you comprehend this? Is this translator even turned on? I despise sonic vibration carriers, you never even know if someone is in range to receive them.”

“I am going to adjust the temperature even higher. The rift is at a temperature midway between the melting point of water and the creature’s core temperature.”

Finally, I started to feel like I was thawing. Ugh. I had been cold, although it was all over, not just my extremities. I finally started to open my eyes, and coughed, hacking up phlegm from my lungs. I was in a small round space, slightly bigger around than I was tall, which I could tell because it was only a few inches from the top of my head and the bottoms of my big bare feet. The roof was perhaps four feet tall, and the circular closet was a uniform dark blue tint, exacerbated by the twilight gloom that seemed to issue from a single old-looking light bulb that glowed like a neon light.

“You! Creature! Animal! Beast!” the melodic and sourceless voice stated. “Are you capable of comprehending Symbo? Doctor, is the signal strong enough? It seemed to respond for a second, but now it’s just twitching. Igniting this thing cost a fortune in essence. If we don’t get a return on it, if it is too damaged to be useful, your rating will be reduced.”

The rough voice returned, “Governor, this is the best we could do. The rifts around here can return a far greater fortune. According to the artifact, this creature is related both to the system founders, as well as the planetary monsters, and is capable of surviving the local rifts. It’s fascinatingly disgusting, but has huge genetic and performance potential, even if its brain is just a lump of fat. All we need to do is get it to accept simple instructions, and let it do what it does.”

“Hello?” I said, worriedly, sitting up.

“What was that it said?”

The doctor stated, “It said Hello, a greeting. It appears that it’s at least sentient, if not sapient. Hello monster! Can you comprehend our communications?”

“Yes. But I’m not a monster, I am a human.”

“What was that he said?” The melodic voice asked.

“It stated its species name, I think it took offense at the term monster.”

“Where am I? Who are you? Why am I in this room?”

“Advanced individuality-focused queries. Sapient, albeit low-level,” The doctor replied. “You are in a dynamically stabilized environmental pod built to produce living conditions for your particular species similar to those found within local rifts in this location. Apparently, we chose an example rift with a lower mean temperature than your species was comfortable with. Did you comprehend that?”

I nodded, looking down at myself. I was very, very naked, my pale skin still goosebumped from the chill. “Yes, I can. I take it you are aliens, with all the life forms and species and monster comments. If twenty dacks is the temperature in between freezing water and my body temperature, could you increase the temperature by another ten uhh… dacks? And could you cut down on the Ammonia a little? It’s disgusting.”

I should be panicking, but after ten years of Leukemia, looking down and seeing a healthy male body without all the telltales from chemotherapy, the slacked skin and stretch marks, the missing foot below my knee… I mean, I was elated more than terrified. Even if I was currently stuck in some kind of a cell talking to aliens.

I’d always believed in aliens, even though some friends said it was stupid, but I never actually expected to meet any. Or even meet them at a remove. Either that or I was having the most vivid coma nightmares I’d ever heard of. Or someone was messing with my mind.

The temperature obligingly warmed up to about 75 degrees, and the smell started to disperse. I was feeling a little giddy, so I said, “I am not sure what you know about humans, but our environment is about 78 percent nitrogen, 22 percent oxygen, and something like two percent vaporized water, There are some other components like one percent argon, but those are not necessary.”

“What is percent?” The rough voice asked.

“Parts out of one hundred?” I said, my voice a little hoarse, but clearing up. I was proud of having remembered the base parts of common air. Then again, it wasn’t like I hadn’t had plenty of free time to memorize Britannica during the last decade. “The trace elements are less important, though. Nitrogen can fill in the extras. Certain substances can be toxic, though, if their concentration is too high, like carbon monoxide or dioxide.”

“Surprisingly high intelligence. Your species varies from its base stock slightly in environmental preferences, it is good that you can recall those differences. Based on protein patterns, it appears that standard rations for humanoids and aquatic acid should be acceptable for maintaining your nutritional needs.” The doctor with the rough voice stated.

“We are gods!” The second voice stated. “We have raised you from death itself to serve as our hands in this solar system!” I was starting to realize that the vibrato in his voice was synthetic. Probably a very GOOD synthetic voice, it seems to catch emotional vagaries pretty well, but I realized that whatever language they were speaking was not English.

Stolen story; please report.

The fact that I could understand it was certainly odd, but they had mentioned some kind of download amid insults about my appearance, environment, and heritage. I knew the words they were speaking, they seemed to translate into something I could understand. Not English, Not Russian, not Spanish, Swedish, or Japanese… but the structure FELT more like English. Perhaps because that was my first language?

I started to pull myself up. I still had a headache, but the rest of my body was feeling much better, with only remnants of soreness as I carefully levered my back up to rest against the curved wall, my legs splayed out in front of me in a vestige of flexibility I hadn’t had in a long time.

Around my wrist was a weird sort of white plastic wristband that went from the base of my wrist halfway up my forearm. The underside had ribbed straps, and the top was flat, sort of like a PDA screen. It was not uncomfortable, but as my only piece of clothing, it attracted my attention.

“We are not gods. Governor, please stop trying to help. Clearly, he is not as primitive as you assume. Yes, we are technically alien, but here, so are you. I am doctor-professor Kuledge, and this is Governor Stabos.”

I nodded, “Right. So is there a reason I cannot see you?”

The rough voice returned. “Yes. If by seeing you mean the visible wavelengths of your eyes. Neither of us are lifeforms that use those wavelengths. We are communicating via a system-provided translation unit. My own species uses vibrational impulses to navigate and communicate, and the governor uses mass detection and cellular pheromones. Visible light in your wavelengths would actually be quite toxic to me, disrupting my crystalline patterns, and as a mass unicellular organism, you might find the governor’s form difficult to understand. Do you comprehend?”

I nodded, “I assume that means you are some kind of crystal intelligence, and the governor is some kind of protoplasm? Meaning what, a liquid environment? You said Boron, so I figure that whatever liquid the Governor is suspended in would probably not be translucent, all I would see would be a big blob, yes?”

“Indeed. Are you some sort of scientist of your people?”

“No. Umm… I was badly damaged and had no opportunity to interact normally, so I was forced to spend most of my life on the internet… In our electronic information networks. I’m pretty normal, but I always loved the idea of aliens and space travel. I am surprised to MEET non-human intelligences, though. So, how did I get here?”

“Governor Stabos’ people are having economic difficulties, and we traced a set of nodes to this star system. However, the local rifts are fantastically hostile to our races… to almost all species. They are designed to be tread by the local species, which is incapable of reaching them. We were searching for a solution, and discovered you.”

“Discovered me?”

“Yes, you and several other… humans were in orbit around a gas giant, in a badly-damaged, extremely primitive space station. It appears your creatures originated from the third world in this system, but the current inhabitants of that world seem to have regressed technologically beyond their ability to defeat that gravity well. There are some powerful essence signatures and a node on that planet, but no working satellites or radio transmissions were being broadcast.”

“Me and others? In orbit around Jupiter?”

“Yes, The largest gas giant in your system. Your station had no working gravitics, drives, or even atmosphere creation mechanisms. You and one hundred and thirty other creatures were encased in liquid nitrogen. Unfortunately, your brain was the only one that was frozen quickly enough to avoid creating ice crystals in your brain and destroying it.”

“Why was I on a space… Mom!”

“I do not understand.”

I sighed, “My mother was a bit of a ditz...uhh… she was a wealthy eccentric. I had a major incurable illness, and I have to assume she bought into one of those cryogenic suspension plans and had me frozen after I died… and put into space?”

“I don’t understand. Is freezing a viable way of storing your species? It did not seem particularly effective. Restoring you was very, very expensive, as your biological processes had completely stopped and you had to be almost completely regenerated, as well as having many genetic and MRNA problems repaired, but yours was the only pod that seemed to still contain spirit essence.”

I shook my head again, “Some people believed that if you were badly hurt, you could be frozen until technology developed enough to fix both the freezing process damage and whatever harmed you in the first place.”

The crusty voice spoke again, “That, perhaps, might have worked in your case. Not technology, of course, but the system was able to regenerate you. For the rest of the… frozen humans, the freezing process damaged them enough that their spirit fled their bodies. No life force means no cure.”

“However, that is an aside. The cost of your revivification has been paid by the Spindafor Unification, as has my own price to assist in their efforts and the environmental vehicle that is supporting your life currently.”

I looked around, “It is awfully small.”

“Is your species claustrophobic? Unfortunately, the Unification’s resources are extremely limited, it is what they could afford. It seems to be the right size to contain your body.”

I shrugged, “It can contain me, but I don’t have any clothing or anything. What is it you want me to do? Can I get back to Earth?”

“No!” came the Governor’s voice. “No, you can’t! The cost of coming out here, the vehicle, the rebuild… The ship was scrap! The bio-material and resources didn’t come close to recovering the restoration fees! Earth is a closed hub. We are already hundreds of energy credits in debt to the Sintar. A re-entry vehicle capable of supporting its weight and diving into that gravity well would cost us THOUSANDS! No, it needs to start delving and bringing us the resources from one of the rifts!”

The Doctor’s voice returned. “It is entirely possible that at some point you could return to the third planet, but the Unification cannot afford to do so. They wish a return on their investment. I am not sure that you would choose to do so since the world that I assume was your origin seems to be undergoing some kind of regression.”

I sighed, “Could I at least get some pants? I mean, There’s no breeze here, but my… species, is used to wearing certain protective garments.”

“Your world appeared to have a protected status, which means you had no access to the system, Are you capable of perceiving the transtator wrapped around one of your digits?

“The wrist thing?” I asked curiously, looking at the plastic bracer again.

“Yes, it is a system transtator. A limited-function personal node. If your species has had limited interaction with the system, it should be capable of introducing itself. The non-convex portion should respond to contact with your manipulators. Once it has done so, you should be tested, to learn about your abilities. The Unification cannot afford any more materials that are durable enough to deal with your environment.”

Deal with my environment? What the hell? It wasn’t like I was some dragon living on Mercury. “Okay, then, what do I do?”

“The Transtator should be capable of being activated by contact.”

I held up the bracer. My arm was… well… in far better shape than it had ever been before in my life. Almost no fat, and decent, if slender, musculature without the blotching that repeated Chemo caused. I touched my fingertip to the flat part, and it lit up like a tablet screen.

Welcome to the Game! Your species is considered a reserved species. You are outside of your protected habitat, and thus able to serve!

As a newcomer, You are entitled to an introductory tutorial. Would you prefer to activate this tutorial, or immediately begin the game?

█ Yes, I would like to enter the tutorial.

█ No, I would like to immediately activate the application and skip the tutorial.

I looked at the wall. It didn’t look like I had much of a choice, crawlwaycrawl-way masquerading as a medical bay was feeling a little too small for me. It looked like I needed to touch one of the black marks to proceed. The writing on the screen looked a lot like old-school system text green screens from the 80s. I wondered if it would ask me questions, or show some kind of. Picture? It was pretty low-tech.

So far, technologically, nothing I had seen or experienced brought home the idea of high-tech aliens. So far, everything they told me could have been a complete lie, and I had no way of knowing. My miraculously restored body was awesome, but was I in some sort of facility on earth? The gravity felt right, although I hadn’t been able to sit up like this and actually use my muscles in some time, so for all I knew I could be on Mars.

Still, it was progress. I fingered the mark next to “Yes”.