Zack woke early the next day to the smell of fresh food. For the first time since he arrived here, he could smell the distinct smell of cooked meat. Its rich spicy aroma lured him out of bed and into the next room where Lea was sitting at a table that wasn’t there before. He looked around the room carefully. The low table in the center of the room was replaced with a higher dining table. All but two of the chairs were gone. The “door” leading outside was open, and a traveler’s pack leaned up against the wall by the door, next to a pair of boots.
“Mmm. That smells delicious. But don’t you ever sleep? It’s still so early, and you did all of this?” Zack sleepily said as he walked over and took the seat opposite Lea.
Lea responded with her short, broken, English. “Sometimes. Please. Eat.” She had seemed to be more comfortable speaking around him since they spent so much time sharing a mental collection yesterday.
“I think I will. I can’t remember the last time I ate meat. You know, with all those mushrooms and greens and such, I was beginning to think you didn’t eat meat.” He commented while eyeing the thick slab of roasted meat before him. It was some sort of red meat, though he couldn’t tell exactly what based off the shape. It was well cooked but not overdone, glistening with some sort of light brown sauce that smelled of pepper and onion.
“Meat for Zack. Lea no thank you.” She replied.
Zack was slightly taken aback. “You really shouldn’t have then. I do, truly, appreciate it. However, I am fine with what you are used to. You didn’t need to go even more out of the way to accommodate me.”
Lea simply smiled and stated, “Eat first. Talk later.”
And with that, Zack finished the rest of his meal in silence. It wasn’t all that difficult, considering the meal tasted so good that he didn’t really want to stop to talk anyway. It wasn’t until he completely finished all the food on the simple wooden plate in front of him that Lea stretched out her hand.
The connection formed instantly once Zack reached out and held Lea’s hand in his. “Today is a day to remember, it’s the end of our stay here. I wanted to celebrate with something special. It’s been a long time since I’ve had meat, but I know how much some people enjoy it. I thought maybe you would too?” Lea’s thoughts filled his mind.
“Oh, absolutely. Thank you very much!” Zack exclaimed, while thinking to himself. She really is just too kind. I’m lucky to have met her here. I can’t even imagine what it’d be like if I woke up in this forest all alone.
Lea blushed slightly, almost as if she could read his thoughts. He needed to remember that his emotions were clear as day to her. Zack straightened up his posture a bit and continued, nodding his head towards the door. “I see you have some gear with you after all. I was wondering how you live so minimally over here. That’s the most equipment I’ve seen outside of the bed you let me use. I don’t even know where your stove, or cooking fire, is.”
“It’s for you. I don’t really need that much. But, listen. Today, after we reach the area where we found you, I think we should continue on out of the forest. My home should be pretty close, and we should get you to meet some of my family.” Lea sent to Zack. For some reason, he could feel a slight hint of nervousness in her message.
“Ah, meeting the family? I should probably…” he trailed off as he reached up to scratch the dark brown beard that had been growing since he first awoke. “I don’t even know how long I’ve been here, but, this happened, I guess. I hope I don’t look too bad.”
Lea immediately cut in. “You are fine. But, it’s going to be hard for you to understand them. You probably won’t be able to communicate like this all the time. There’s an easier method, but, um, that’d involve something a bit more permanent… I wouldn’t mind, if it was you.” She averted her eyes as the next part of her message came through. “That’s not really something to take lightly. We would be bound to each other permanently. It is not something that can be severed. And, once done, it cannot be done with someone else.”
Zack unconsciously tightened his grip. “You’re right. That’s certainly not something to take lightly. You’re the only person I know on this world. You’ve been nothing but kind to me, and I do trust you. But would it really be alright for the two of us to do that? We’re not even the same race.”
“I trust you as well. Terin tells me what kind of person you are. If Terin tells me that it is alright to place my trust in you, then the minor details don’t matter.” Lea sent while looking back up and into Zack’s eyes with resolution and determination on her face.
“Well, I’m actually a little happy about the idea myself. If you’re okay with a guy like me then, sure, let’s do it.” Zack said sheepishly.
“There are some things I need to prepare. How about we go visit the place where we found you first. If you’re still fine with it after that, then there is a spot nearby that we can perform the ritual.” Lea sent before pulling her hand back slightly, prompting Zack to ease up his grip and let her go.
With that, Zack got up and examined the pack and boots by the exit. The pack was rather simple and light with a few basic tools inside. Though, most of them looked rather worn. The boots were surprisingly a perfect fit, just as his clothes had been. He slid his feet into them and adjusted the pack over his back.
“You have a really good eye for size. Everything you’ve given me has fit perfectly. Where did you get all this from anyway?” Zack called out while Lea was doing something with the chairs and table. As he turned around to speak with her, he saw a flash of blue light and the table, chairs, and even the plate he was eating from disappeared. “Wow, that’s pretty handy.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Lea turned around and laughed softly before joining him. The two took a couple steps out of the tree before Lea stopped and turned back to the tree. She rested her hands on its trunk and whispered gently as the entrance started to close up with a bright blue light. As it was fully sealed, the trunk seemed to shift slightly. A slight wind blew through the area, which was soon filled with the sound of rustling leaves. As she released the trunk and stepped back a couple places, a single fallen leaf drifted down from the towering tree before her and fell gently in her opened hand. Lea clasped the leaf carefully with both her hands before tucking it inside her clothing, whispering something softly.
The trek to the site where Zack was found was rather uneventful. There was a solemness in the air for some reason. Zack couldn’t quite place it, but he could feel the tension and thought it best to give Lea some time to reflect rather than pester her with questions about her family or where they were going after. Lea seemed to agree, as she quietly walked through the forest with her head held slightly downwards and one hand clasped to where she had tucked the leaf away.
It was hard to discern the exact time of day with the thick canopy overhead. But eventually they came to a wide clearing and got a peak at the sun. It appeared to be just before midday. Lea finally spoke for the first time since they left her home. “Here.” She changed direction slightly and walked up to a giant mossy boulder in the center of the clearing.
As Zack followed Lea behind the boulder, he realized it was not a boulder at all but a large metal canister. Its features were worn with age and nature seemed to have claimed much of it, but a large hatch was open on one side, showing the inside. The interior was relatively featureless other than a couple dangling hoses and tubes. The sleek metal panels were more recognizable for what they were on the inside. The ground in front of the hatch opening was slightly discolored and there were some drag marks leading back off towards where they came from.
“Ah, so this is it. Yeah. My memory has been pretty hazy, but I thought it might have been one of these. Seems I’m a colonist after all.” Zack said while gripping the edge of the hatch and leaning in to look around. “Still, there’s not all that much to look at or discover here. This pretty much just confirms what I already thought. This is where I’ve been sleeping. I don’t know how long, but it must have been quite some time based on that weathering. Not sure what made it suddenly wake me up.”
“Well, we must be getting some power from the ship. Otherwise I’d probably be dead. Doesn’t look like there’s a console in here though. Must have been all remote managed. Hmm, I wonder..” He continued as he slung his pack around to his front and peered inside. “There is just one thing I’d like to confirm.”
Zack pulled his P.E.D. out from the pack and fidgeted with it a bit. Eventually, the dull black screen lit up and came to life. Text started appearing on the screen.
< RE-AUTHENTICATION REQUIRED - LAST LOGIN 327378 DAYS AGO> “Yikes, over three hundred thousand days?! That’s got to be close to 900 years! What the heck happened?” Zack continued to fidget with the machine in his hands. WELCOME, ZACHARY ESHURA. ID NUMBER xxxxx2082. DESIGNATION OVRS-02. THERE IS A PRIORITY SYSTEM NOTIFICATION, DISPLAY?> Lea had walked up behind Zack and was looking over his shoulder at the device in his hands. Zack looked up and answered the unspoken question, “Oh, this is my full name.” He pointed to the text on the screen calling him Zachary Eshura. “Though, can you even read this?” He asked, leaning to the side and looking at Lea. She simply shook her head and answers with a plain “No.” “Well, this is text from my world. Normally there’d be a video message, but it looks like the signal is too weak. These things receive power from the transmitter array on our ship. Um, up there.” He pointed to the sky. “Looks like it’s not getting through fully though. So, all we have is this archaic text interface. Though, I’m not sure what this whole ‘designation’ thing is. Strange.” He tapped at the screen on his hand-held device. //BEGIN SYSTEM LOG ARCHIVE A HABITABLE PLANET HAS BEEN FOUND. COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN LIFE IS A 98.3% MATCH. DETAILED SURFACE SCAN INDICATES AN ADVANCED INTELLIGENT SPECIES. DESIGNATING QUALIFIED PERSONNEL TO ESTABLISH RELATIONS AND ASCERTAIN SUITABILITY FOR PLANET COLONIZATION. < < < < < < DETERMINING CANDIDATE FOR DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS AT RANDOM. QUEUING DISPATCH. < OVRS-01 DISPATCHED. < OVRS-02 DISPATCHED. //END SYSTEM LOG ARCHIVE < CAPSULE RELEASE AND DEACTIVATION DETECTED. AUTOMATIC DISCONNECT INITIATED DUE TO POWER SAVING POLICY. PLEASE ONLY RECONNECT ONCE A SUITABLE HABITAT IS FOUND AND FAVORABLE RELATIONS ARE FORMED WITH EXISTING SPECIES.> Zack slumped to the ground, nearly dropping his device, his hands shaking nervously. “No way. You can’t seriously be asking me to… to… I really need to do all that?! I’m not anyone special. You can’t just thrust that kind of responsibility on someone at random!” he screamed into the now-dead P.E.D. in his hands. Lea knelt down beside him and put a comforting hand on top of his, establishing a mental connection. “I can tell you’re very upset at something. I’m sorry. I thought maybe taking you here would help you remember more about where you came from.” “Oh, sure, it helped alright. I remember. It was over eight hundred years ago, but I remember. I just thought that, maybe there wasn’t anything for me on Earth. The opportunity to start over in a whole new world was so enticing. But, being woken up alone? Being responsible for thousands of others? And I only have a decade to do it!” He snapped back. After taking a deep breath, he continued. “I’m not angry. I’m just… shaken. Sorry to raise my voice, this is just all so unsettling.” Lea rested her other hand on his head and gently pulled him closer, resting her forehead against his. “It’s alright. I’ll be here to help you. We can do this together.” She spoke. She actually spoke those words, in perfect, unbroken, English with barely a hint of an accent. “You should rest now. We’ve done a lot of walking. Close your eyes and rest. It’s alright. We’ll get you through this.” She continued. He listened to her soothing voice as he closed his eyes and drifted to unconsciousness.