Stay with me...

Something pulled at his consciousness. A blue light started to dimly glow in front of him. But who was he? Where was this?

Is he…

...in There?

There was something he was meant to be doing. But he was just so tired. The light hurt. He pulled away from it. He’d hurt for so long, he just wanted to sleep. Be free of the pain. The light started to grow dim again.

I love you...

...My Captain

That voice. That voice sounded familiar though. It was very far away and when the voice faded his soul ached to hear it again. He struggled through the heavy blanket of lethargy. The need to find that voice overcame the fear of the pain and the comfort of the dark. Mentally he reached out for it. He turned toward the light and tried to follow it, the blue glow illuminating the edges of his vision.

Orion...

Wake up!

Orion’s eyes shot open. The blue light was all around him, blinding and disorienting. He shielded his eyes and saw that he was free-falling in what looked like a tunnel of illuminated rings, being pulled inexorably towards some unknown destination. Beyond the thin wall of light seemed to be space, but instead of being filled with stars it was filled with junk. Furniture, spaceships, entire houses, chunks of land attached to nothing. And people. Millions of people, gray and unmoving. All of them appeared broken, floating among chunks of debris like broken toys.

Still tumbling, Orion cast his gaze about but couldn’t see anything that could help him. Random objects floated alongside him, none of which looked the least bit useful. There were no ledges to grab onto, just a smooth tunnel of light pulling him towards some unknown destination. It seemed like he was helpless to change his trajectory.

He looked towards the direction he was being sucked toward and saw the distant glow changing from soothing blue to an angry red. Orion narrowed his eyes, focusing on the encroaching gleam of red in the distance. As he watched, random bits of garbage flew into the light and were immediately vaporized with a bright flash! Cold sweat beaded on Orion’s forehead as he realized his trajectory was pulling him towards some kind of celestial incinerator!

Orion started to panic, looking around some something, anything that could redirect him away from the red light. He glanced around frantically and caught sight of a damaged doorway up ahead. It was stationary, and was oddly similar to the sarcophagus he entered back in Star-Lynx. It looked like an unused asset, having two yellow warning messages across the entrance like police tape. Just beyond the entrance Orion spotted a neon purple tunnel branching away from the main pathway. He had no way of knowing where it went, only that it wasn't heading towards the angry red glow growing increasingly closer by the second.

Desperately Orion patted himself down, looking for something that could help him. Player characters had starter gear right? Maybe he had a rope, or rocket shoes, or even a jetpack. He touched a pocket and an inventory window, pixilated at the edges, appeared in front of him. It only contained ten rations of food, water, a [Portable Portal], and fifty credits. Nothing useful here. His hand brushed a holster attached to the silver space suit he still wore and a similarly buggy Weapon Wheel appeared in front of him. It only contained a [Rusty Pistol] and-

“The Pocket Nuke? How-” Orion gaped. “Nevermind. Let’s just hope it works!”

As he barreled towards the abandoned Gate, Orion scrolled to the Pocket Nuke and selected the image. A massive two-handed canon appeared in his hands, the holographic wheel closing simultaneously. The gun had a large cylindrical barrel with green flames painted on the muzzle. The body of the gun had steel gray metal casing with a round cylinder underneath, inlaid with dark glass panels on either side. One top of the barrel was a handle to aim, and a second handle near the stock featured a hand grip with a button on top and a trigger on the handle. With It was meant to be held like a leaf blower.

Once Orion figured out how to hold it, he fiddled with the buttons until his thumb depressed the button on the grip. The gun hummed to life and the side panels started to light up like a charging battery. Orion cursed as he realized the cannon needed to warm up first! Orion was sweating as he glanced up at the rapidly approaching gate and back down to the Pocket Nuke as it warmed up. The red lights were getting closer and his escape was approaching too fast.

Orion shook the gun, “Come on! Come on!”

The panels slowly filled, revealing a radioactive symbol pattern in the center. The cannon started to vibrate in his sweaty palms, watching as the lenses lit up completely, a soft chime indicating the weapon was ready to fire. Orion looked at the gate, judged the direction, and pulled the trigger. Violent green energy belched from the muzzle with the sound of a thousand angry bees.

Orion was rocketed backwards, his body pinwheeling as he struggled to hold the bucking weapon steady. He almost dropped it when his back slammed against the tunnel wall, threatening to push him through the glowing membrane into the dark abyss beyond. By some miracle the wall held and he bounced back before hitting the opposite side.

Orion nearly lost his grip on the triggers, but reoriented himself enough to open his eyes. He spotted the doorway approaching on his left and aimed the muzzle right. He took off like a rocket, zipping past the yellow warning ‘tape’ just before he ricocheted off the ceiling. Startled, his thumb left the trigger as Orion spun away from the Gate, mere seconds before the crimson glare consumed the tunnel behind him.

The violet tunnel curved and spiraled away. Chunks of the walls seemed to be missing, getting larger and more frequent the further he fell. The path seemed to pull him along but he didn’t bump into any of the precarious walls. In the distance he saw a flickering, vaguely human shaped hole. The space just beyond the doorway was cast in shadow. Orion had no idea where he was headed, but it had to be better than the red tunnel of doom.

Orion hit the mystery Gate at full speed and flew vertically across the room, landing on what felt like a mini fridge covered in spikes. Pain flared up his shoulder as he tumbled and rolled to a stop, catching his breath. At least he tried to, the air was thin and had a tinny taste to it. He could breathe but it was like being at high altitude, something he experienced climbing mountains during a family vacation to Peru. Orion felt his helmet and noticed it was shattered on one side. He took the helmet off, thankful that wherever he landed it was at least habitable.

Orion groaned and rolled to his knees, “Apus, give me a status report or something. Is that something you can do? Where are we? What happened?”

Red and orange holograms tried to form in his line of vision, which did help illuminate the immediate area, but the image was choppy and mixed up. It tried to reform itself, and a voice said something but it sounded distant and garbled. The HUD implant sparked, and the image went dead and shot pain across Orion’s forehead.

“Fuck!” Orion took a knee and pushed himself to his feet, “That’s just great! I have a built in tutorial AI in my head, and he’s on the fritz. What else could go wrong?” Orion took a step, but his foot touched only air. He pitched forward and face-planted with another clattering pile of pointy metal. “Why did I say that?”

Giving his eyes time to adjust to the dark, he realized something was giving off a faint purple glow. He saw the edge of a countertop and crawled towards it, not trusting the ground, and used it to pull himself up. He tried to put his feet on the ground and he wobbled, almost falling over again. Orion grumbled and tapped his malfunctioning brain implant.

“Okay, let’s think about this. If I’m in a video game, I can just log out, right?” Orion banged on his implant till the window popped up again.

He scrolled through the fuzzy screen till he found a small gear icon and clicked it. He found settings for brightening the screen, volume, language settings, subtitles, colorblind mode. What he couldn’t find was an Exit, Quit or Log Off button. He searched a few more windows before the implant shorted out with a burning smell.

“That’s a bust,” he grumbled. “Does this thing at least have a flashlight?”

Another painful spark and a tiny LED flashlight emitted from the implant, allowing him to look around the room properly for the first time. It looked like a workshop. The room had ten workbenches, several shelves filled with tools and materials, stacks of mystery boxes, and on one wall there were three panels in the wall that looked like vending machines. The rest of it looked like a combination of storage unit and garbage dump, piles of random crap, broken machines, mining equipment and in one corner a broken mannequin wearing a wig, lipstick and corset.

“Yeesh!” Orion looked down to see what tripped him up, “Oh, what the hell?”

Orion lifted his left leg. The calf terminated about two inches from the knee. Not cut off, there was no blood, there was nothing there. Literally. It almost looked as if it didn’t load completely, or like a 3-D printed sculpture that ran out of filament before finishing. Where you would expect to see meat and bone was a pink and black checkerboard pattern, similar to a game character whose textures didn’t load. It wasn’t really a wound, the limb just wasn’t there. The leg of the suit was also cut off at the exact same length. It was a good thing Orion could survive this environment, this spacesuit wasn’t protecting anything.

Hopping on one foot and using the counter as a handrail, Orion made his way over to one of the random piles and rooted through it. After pulling several boxes away Orion managed to unearth a pickax that looked like it was made for someone twice his size. It fit under his armpit but it kept slipping away. He placed it on the crafting table and looked at the tools. After a few moments of scrounging he found a U-shaped pipe, a roll of leather scraps and some cables. Orion tied the pipe to the top of the pickax with the cable, then wrapped the leather around the makeshift armrest by cutting around the handle. He tested it and while a bit uncomfortable, he successfully cobbled together a working crutch. A blue popup window appeared in front of him.

[Crafting Successful! You have crafted Crude Crutch!]

[Learned new Trade: Machinist! You have successfully crafted an item using base materials. Access to crafting HUD. New Recipes: Crafting table, Workbench, and Forge available in the crafting menu. Craft items to gain experience and learn new recipes to refine your skills.]

Orion stared at the floating screen. Score one for game mechanics! While his personal HUD was on the fritz, the game world announcement system was working fine. Good to know. It meant he wasn’t totally locked out, he just needed to use the tools at hand.

Deciding to test out his theory he threw some more of the discarded junk on the crafting table. A crafting window appeared in the center of the table, listing all of the items on the table. A button was labeled ‘Craft’ to the left of the list. Orion selected the button and the panel vanished, starting up what looked like a rhythm game on the table.

“Ah, whoops!” Orion looked around, trying to figure out what to do.

Orion quickly scanned the rack of tools hanging on the back of the bench and saw that the edge of the hammer was highlighted. Fueled by instincts from dozens of rhythm games, he grabbed the hammer and a circle highlighted a random scrap of metal. He hit it and another appeared. He kept hitting each successive circle until they vanished. Looking up he saw a power drill was highlighted. Five glowing dots appeared on the scrap and he drilled those spots. Orion learned that each tool had a different function, so he tinkered and tweaked until the time was up.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

[Crafting Failed! You have created Useless Junk!]

Orion arched a brow at the misshaped metal lump he made and dropped it in a nearby trash bin. Clearly he needed to practice a bit more, but before anything he needed to learn more about his surroundings. He clumped over to the illuminated gate and examined it. It looked like a sarcophagus you might see at a museum, intricately carved and decorated with faded paint. It was just big enough for someone his size to fit in, but instead of a mummy it was filled with rippling purple light. The top of the inter-dimensional doorway had a similar indigo and gold pattern on it that the Org Sphinx had, and the sides were painted a neon blue with patterns of pyramids, palm trees and sunsets ornately displayed on the side. The whole thing was partly tipped over and leaning at an angle.

He caught sight of something dangling from the shoulder of the ornate casket. On a whim, Orion reached out and pulled it off. It was a yellow strip of paper that had writing on it that he didn’t immediately recognize. His implant sparked and for the briefest of seconds the word translated for him.

“Evidence? Evidence of what?” Orion looked around, “What is this place?”

Deciding he wasn’t going to find the answers here, Orion’s grip tightened on his crutch and he swung himself toward the door. The door looked like one of those futuristic sliding doors but stuck open at an angle. He wedged himself past and frowned at the hall beyond. It looked like every sci-fi horror game or movie ever. The few working lights flickered with a loud fluorescent buzzing noise, and the walls were mostly a sterile metallic white. Fog or dust rolled lazily across the floor. There were a few panels in the wall that suggested monitors could slide out, and this was further demonstrated as he turned the corner and saw one of the consoles ripped out of the wall. There were more doors along the walkway but every one he tried was locked.

Orion’s nose wrinkled. The stagnant air smelled faintly acrid, but something stronger cut through. It was an earthy scent, the kind of smell you got from abandoned buildings. It brought to mind images of wood rot and long dead animals in the walls. Orion tore off a scrap of space suit and pressed it to his mouth. Who knows what kind of space viruses or fungus he might encounter?

The hall terminated in a staircase leading to the first floor. Orion placed the crutches on his lap and slide down the stairs on his butt like a child. As he hobbled along the hallway the beam of his flashlight fell across something that gave him pause. It was a body, but unlike any he’d ever seen. It wasn’t like any of the alien races he saw in the game intro. It had a passing resemblance to a humanoid, but one that was made completely of shiny black metal. The shape was all wrong: there were large spiky growths along its back, one leg was bloated and split, and he could swear there was an extra arm growing out of the thick bull neck. There were a few camera lenses along it’s face and body, composed of a thick orange glass-like material.

Unwilling to examine the corpse in the dimly lit space, Orion just squeezed past the heap of metal and continued exploring. But the further he went the more bodies he found, each one uniquely grotesque. Some were tall and thin, others short and squat, none of them having a uniform shape. All of them were heavily damaged, and there were severed limbs and heads were scattered about the floor. Experimentally, Orion leaned over to one of the larger piles of twisted black figures and sniffed them. It smelled like old pennies, but clearly wasn’t the source of the rotten odor. So then were these robots, and why was every one of them different?

He continued to navigate the building, avoiding the piles of robotic corpses. He found a set of double doors that had been blocked by a fallen robot. His implant translated the sign above the doors, indicating this was the Mess Hall. There was a broken control panel to the side, but it didn’t look badly damaged. Orion was able to use machinist skill to repair the controls after a few tries, leveling the skill up in the process. The panel beeped and the doors slid open.

The rank stench of decay hit him like a punch to the face. Orion retched and barely stopped himself from vomiting, sucking in deep breaths through his mouth to calm his roiling stomach. The cafeteria was spacious, with a long serving line filled with rotting food behind the sneeze guard and vending machines on the opposite wall. Long tables with attached stools were flung about, many of them shattered. The robots were piled high in here, but as Orion tiptoed through the space he found the first body he recognized.

It had once been a Terran, the skull structure recognizable enough. They were wearing a red guard uniform with black pants. The suit consisted of a cracked breathing helmet and oxygen pack, armored by a kind of Kevlar vest. The vest hadn’t protected their legs, which were crushed under a fallen bot.

The Terran had a two-handed weapon clutched in their skeletal fingers, looking like a futuristic shotgun, all smooth lines with a white metallic casing. Orion grabbed the gun and tried to pull it away. The dead soldier protested, the bony hands grasping the weapon. But Orion was strong and the arms eventually tore free from the sockets with a puff of bone dust. It was grisly work, but if these robotic creatures were still around, he’d need better weapons. One that wasn’t at risk of blowing a hole in the side of the facility.

With his free arm, Orion aimed the barrel of the shotgun at one of the dead robots and fired. There was a loud ‘Phwamph!’ sound and some kickback, but a short burst of plasma blew a tiny chunk off the metallic corpse. Orion frowned and wondered if he could increase the gun’s power with his machinist skill. It was still probably better than his Rusty Pistol, so he tapped his holster. Sure enough, the Weapon Wheel appeared and Orion stored the shotgun for the time being.

Reaching the end of the cafeteria Orion pushed through another corpse-laden doorway, which slid open to reveal a large hallway. More recognizable skeletons were scattered about. Some of them wore similar uniforms, while others were clad in orange and white striped tops and orange pants. Orion stepped over a broken log, shuddering as he realized it had a face. One of the bodies wearing stripes was a mossy green and brown Hiver, exoskeleton still completely intact save for a dented puncture wound in its abdomen.

“Looks like the set of a horror movie,” Orion mused.

The metal bodies formed a hill of chitinous cadavers halfway down the short hallway. He could see a big archway with a thick metal door at the other end. The top of a sign could be seen under the crest of the metal hill. Orion had to crawl over the misshapen, uneven bodies to try and get to the door. The slope dropped off sharply near the peak of the mound. As his head crested the top, the words above the doors finished translating. The sign said simply, ‘Stasis Chamber’.

There was a faint humming sound, and three red laser pointers aimed at him. Orion barely had the chance to see three insect-like turrets in front of the door before they opened fire on him, slicing open his left cheek and taking out a chunk of his ear. He let go of the ledge and tumbled down the bumpy hill. Panting, Orion swiped at his bleeding cheek and winced at the shock of pain that shot up the side of his face. He might be in a video game, but it certainly felt real enough! Orion pulled his fingers away and was surprised to see his blood was turquoise, the same color as his bioluminescent freckles.

“Okay…Note to self:” Orion muttered, “Wrong way.”

Having finally found the exit to the facility, Orion sneered with disdain at the surrounding land. It was a desert. Of course it was a desert. Cracked red clay stretched out in front of him for miles, a thin layer of sand over most of the land. The air was hot and stagnant, and the chemical smell was even worse out here. It was much better than the malodorous stench of cadavers, but the desert air stung his eyes. It felt like getting chlorine in your eyes after swimming in a public pool. Orion wheezed, the atmosphere even thinner on the surface. It explained why some of the corpses had breathing helmets on, they must have been outside when the attack happened.

More bodies, both organic and synthetic, were scattered about the yard. The alien corpses were mostly skeletons, except for the Zylvaan and Rokaos who were not meat based creatures. With difficulty, Orion set the crutch down and crouched to examine what looked like a Jrassk body. His eyes narrowed as he saw teeth marks on the bones. Some of them small, almost rodent-like. Orion picked up a gnawed femur marred by thin, uneven grooves.

“So I’m not alone,” Orion murmured. “I don’t know if that’s a comfort, or not.”

There were uprooted trees scattered on the ground, half buried rocks and boulders, weapons and vehicles that looked like they were built for mining littered the land. To the left of him were several half circular hangars that looked like storage garages for the mining trucks. Quite some distance away directly in front of him was a collection of dark boulders with sparkling crystal embedded in the craggy rock. And to the right of him the land turned into a gradual incline that seemed to even off at the top. Squinting, Orion could just barely make out what looked like the entrance to what looked like a bridge.

With a frustrated sigh, Orion ran his fingers through his hair and looked skyward. His mouth fell open with amazement. The sky was a deep marigold color, and there were a few brightly lit stars to be seen in the waning light of sunset. But as the horizon started to burst with shades of orange and pink, Orion could clearly see that there was a ring around the planet instead of a moon. It was a mix of earthy colors, the ring having streaks of lighter and darker colors in it.

Despite everything that had happened today, the otherworldly beauty of a sunset on an alien world centered Orion. He felt a kind of calm wash over him he hadn’t felt in what felt like forever. Mere hours ago he was caught in the throes of a heart attack. He’d survived a great ordeal to get here, and he would not squander this opportunity.

His body protested at the break. Hopping around on one leg was starting to take a toll on his body. The armpit he was using the guide the crutch was getting sore. On top of that, pain was starting to shoot down his hip, butt and lower back from putting all his weight on one foot. Orion hobbled over to a large rock and sunk down to rest.

Orion was impressed with how accurate the game felt. He’d played game with full body rigs before, ones that would rumble you when you took damage. Cosmic Horizons took it to a whole other level! He felt like he was really here, on an alien world. He felt the hot breeze in his face, got nauseous from bad smells, and his body reacted to pain and discomfort just like in the real world. Digital or not, everything felt completely real.

Orion fluffed his hair again and took a deep breath, “Alright, let’s think about this for a second. Cons: I’m trapped on an alien world with no idea how I got here. There are robot monsters and possibly wild animals. I didn’t get a tutorial so I don’t know how to do anything. I’m all alone, no people, no AI assistant, no Devs…wait, can I message the Devs?”

Orion struggled to open his personal HUD to try and send a message. All he got was a shock and a few flashes of random images. He tried to open the world chat window and send a message over the World Chat Channel. All he got was an [No Signal] error and the window shut itself down.

“No Devs. Right.” Orion leaned back with a sigh.

“Pros: I’m alive.” Orion closed his eyes, “After everything, I’m alive. I have a strong, healthy new body, minus one leg. I can breathe without a spacesuit. I have the start of a base, with materials, and a means of crafting new gear. I have weapons, including a truly overpowered nuclear hand cannon. I have access to tools.”

Orion closed his eyes and let all that information wash over him. It seemed hopeless at first, but he had a lot going for him. It was all pretty overwhelming. Exhaustion suddenly washed over Orion. He’d only been awake for a few hours, but it felt like days. It was all physically and mentally draining. Had it really been worth the effort to escape to this planet if he was just going to suffer all over again? His eyelids felt heavy and he leaned back against the wall of the base. As unconsciousness began to overtake him, the Voice flashed in his mind clear as day.

Wake Up!

Orion’s eyelids drifted open, yellow eyes sharp. That voice again. He heard it when he got teleported away from Sanctuary. It felt intimately familiar but there was a gap in his mind where their face should be. Even without knowing the source of the Voice, Orion needed to hear it again. Gritting his tusks he grabbed the crutch and started to right himself again. Orion hadn't fought this long just to give up in the third round! Orion snatched up a rock as he righted himself.

“Bell hasn’t rung yet, baby!” Orion shouted to the encroaching night sky, “Orion’s back!”

Orion hurled the rock in defiance, using all his newfound strength to hurl it as hard as he could. As he nearly lost his balance and struggled to right himself, Orion heard the rock smacking against a boulder in the dark. Blue light flashed in the distance, then streaked through the air and vanished into Orion’s chest.

[+1 Stone added to Inventory.]

Orion went still. He reread the message that appeared in his vision. Swiping the window away with a thought he turned on his flashlight and started scanning the ground to find the rock he threw. After a minute of searching he found it a few feet away from a boulder the size of a couch.

Walking over to the boulder he scooped the stone up and tapped it on the surface. No reaction. Orion hit harder with the same result. Hope still stirring in his heart he balanced himself with the crutch, wheeled back and smashed the rock against the stony surface. A chunk fell away from the slab before turning into a blue rock-shaped grid of light. The light zipped through the air and was absorbed by Orion.

[+1 Stone added to inventory]

“That’s right! This is a survival game!” Orion exclaimed. “I remember-”

Orion paused. Someone had told him a bit about the gameplay. He struggled to recall who, but the image of their face faded into smoke in his mind. Orion tried to recall how exactly he’d gotten here, desperate for any kind of clue about how he was expected to survive on this strange planet. Try as he might, the memories fell away like sand in a sieve.

Orion took a deep breath, “Okay, I can work with this. Survival games are straightforward. Gather materials, build shelter, fend off threats. Should be able to figure it out as I go.”

Grinning like a maniac, Orion bashed the side of the boulder with the rock, more slivers of stone flashing into light before teleporting to him. He figured out how hard he had to hit to get a result. After a few minutes of straining Orion had twenty stones in his inventory.

[Learned new Trade: Mining!

Mining for materials becomes 5% easier. Continue to raise your skill level for a chance to gather additional materials.]

Orion read the popup before the screen glitched out. He could work with this, survival games were all basically the same at their core. Sure, those kinds of games usually had a high skill cap and could be extremely difficult to survive before you got a comfortable setup. But it was a start.

With renewed determination Orion looked at his surroundings. He had a goal! If he was stuck here, then he was going to make the best of it. He just had to build a base, figure out where he was and maybe, just maybe, find a way back to Sanctuary.