Elijah was leaning against the ice-cold cushions of his pod. His eyes snapped open. The freezing temperatures shocked him awake as his body started to shiver and adrenaline pumped through his veins. The layer of frost coating his body cracked and fell as he began to move. He moved his arm forward in a desperate attempt to open the pod. It opened with a hiss as the mist-like cold air escaped.

He moved his legs forward, eager to escape the frozen coffin and warm up, only to realize that he was still numb. His legs buckled under him, causing him to lose balance as he fell to the ground. Landing with a thud, the cold air in his lungs rushed out of him. A groan escaped his lips as he decided to lay on his back on the white-tiled floor, too tired to expend any more effort. It was warmer than the cryopod he just left, so that gave him more reason to lay where he was. 

Already he could feel the numbness fading away, but he took this moment to take in the rest of the room. 

It was worryingly darker than it should have been. The lights were completely off, which wasn’t supposed to happen, at least not right now. Only the natural light seeping in from under the door leading to the rest of the ship, allowed Elijah to see slightly. The room was a dull white with the lighting and completely bare with only his cryopod in front of him, completely absent of power.

The cryopod should have heated up, and done some other essential things, and then he would have woken up naturally. Instead, he woke up to temperatures that he had never experienced in his life and then fell face first. Lesson learned, never have the cryopod run out of power, and also set the cryopod horizontally instead of upright.

Aside from a slight pins and needles feeling, the majority of numbness was gone. Elijah tried once more to stand up. Rotating so that he’s facing the ground, he pushed off with his elbows bringing his legs under him. Wobbly standing on his two feet, he tried speaking once more only to cough out some clear slush, feeling his lungs clear up; he tried again.

“Edgar...” he said hoarsely.

There was no response.

Elijah felt slightly anxious. What could have caused the ship to lose all power? He should have had enough fuel rods to last the journey in addition to the solar panels lined on the hull of the ship. It was supposed to be a simple 3 Earth-month-long trip back home from the Torus system.  

Maybe Edgar messed up somewhere and caused the entire ship to lose power? Elijah couldn’t think of a possible way that could happen, as he didn’t even know the basics of how to fly a ship. All of that stuff was left in the safe AI-hands of Edgar.

It was possible that Edgar messed up somehow, given that he was only about… 4 months old. The AI was a gift from Torus University to all of the Engineering graduates. There were several options that they could choose from but Elijah chose the AI, mainly because he doesn’t know how to fly a ship safely. Of course, that’s not the only reason since the applications of AI are near limitless.

The AI that was given to them was advanced, with the intention of it becoming an assistant of sorts for the graduates. Or a pilot in this case.

Elijah shivered and rubbed his shoulders for some warmth. He moved to the side of his cryopod for a change of clothes and a towel. He took off his cryo suit and wore a long-sleeved shirt and some sweats. 

Already feeling warmer, he walked towards the door leading to the rest of the ship. Luckily there didn’t seem to be a breach within the hull or else he would have been gasping for air.

Elijah opened the door and took in the hallway, his eyes stung adjusting to the light. The ship was intact as far as he could tell, at least in this part. The walls and floor were glossy white and unadorned. Directly across from him was the closed door of the medbay.

He moved towards a nearby window wanting to warm up in the sun and to check if he was on Earth. Outside he saw a lush green forest at the aft, about ten meters away. The sky was the usual blue color though he couldn’t see the sun from where he was. And the ground was covered with regular green grass. Aside from those details, he would have to head to the cockpit to get a better idea of the surroundings and also to restart the ship. 

But the chances of him being on Earth weren’t entirely zero. Since they didn’t dock in a spaceport, the authorities should eventually come to him. Just thinking about it was already getting Elijah irritated, why did Edgar land here? 

On second thought, he shouldn’t have even been able to land or draw near the planet. A starship was a weapon in and of itself, a massive chunk of metal capable of entering hyperspace. He could have been disabled out of the sky and obliterated into flaming pieces if Edgar ignored certain procedures.

If Elijah wasn’t on Earth then he wasn’t too concerned, he has a starship, albeit currently unpowered. He never considered if he could be on an alien-populated planet either. 3 months of travel time with his ship wouldn’t get him out of Federation-controlled space. And from the scenery outside, the planet seemed to have an atmosphere suitable for life so there was probably a nearby colony or spaceport. He just had to figure out where he was.

Feeling warm enough, Elijah started heading to the cockpit. Just past the cryo room and further into the ship were the combined living room and kitchen. He had no idea if this part of the ship could be classified as the living room but the ship was essentially a house that was capable of space travel. 

He opened the sliding door and was greeted by a room circular in shape with 3 doors leading to more rooms of the ship. The room was dim and windowless with the only light coming from behind him and the openings under the other doors. The doors on the left and right led to sleeping quarters, bathrooms, and some storage rooms. The furthest and final door had all of the ship's essentials and his destination, the cockpit. 

Elijah, however, hadn’t eaten anything during his cryosleep so he made his way toward the emergency rations. He spent his entire higher education in a whole other solar system, unable to visit his brother due to distance. So when he finally had the time and opportunity to head back home, he took it immediately. 

The emergency rations were located under the curved couches at the center of the room. He walked toward the closest one and lifted the cushions off revealing sealed orange boxes underneath.

Opening one of the boxes, he grabbed and opened a sealed container of water to help quench his thirst and slightly sore throat. After having a few mouthfuls, he grabbed a snack that he could eat while walking.

Off to the side of the emergency rations was an extra silver box that had a distress beacon, a handgun, and a box of ammunition. Ignoring the weapon, Elijah took the distress beacon. 

It wasn’t unheard of for ships in the outer sectors to be hijacked, robbed, or captured. With the expansion of humanity and the vastness of space, it was very difficult to control everything. And human pirates weren’t the only cause, even the other species sometimes attacked. Though with the invention of the hyperdrive, attacks usually occur at the beginning or end of the journey. But since he was near the core of humanity, he didn’t have to worry.

Elijah inspected the distress beacon. It was a cube, a handheld device with a crank and handle attached to the side. Spinning the crank a few times, the beacon started to light up with a hum. On the screen, it displayed the word “Transmitting…”. 

The signal strength should be enough to cover the solar system, assuming the sticker was correct, so assistance should arrive either within the hour or day. After fully charging the distress beacon, he put it in his pocket and lifted an emergency box. Putting the silver box and cushions back in their place he walked towards the dining table and placed the emergency box on it.

Refreshed but still hungry, Elijah walked towards the furthest door while munching on his snack. The hallway leading to the cockpit was the same unchanged glossy white, unadorned floors and walls.

However, it also had the most interesting rooms and most of the ship's main systems could be physically accessed here. The room that Elijah would eventually spend most of his time in was the fabricator room. It was mainly used to replace parts of the ship that were either faulty or damaged, but it could also be repurposed as long as one knew how to. He was familiar with working on small-scale fabricators, but it would be his first time messing with one meant for a ship.

Elijah walked into the cockpit and saw an array of buttons and knobs in front of the seat where the pilot would sit. The walls and ceiling were rounded and made of several layers of tempered glass. 

He gazed outside and saw a purple ocean a distance away in front of the ship. Light reflected off the surface of the water as waves crashed against the rocky shore leaving behind some sea foam.. 

Most importantly, in the sky, he saw the sun as well as an additional green and blue planet. The planet definitely wasn’t Earth, the landmasses that were on this planet were different from his home. And it was also much bigger…or closer? 

One thing was for sure. He was in the wrong solar system and he was also on a moon. Elijah knew of some solar systems with habitable moons. But none of the solar systems he heard of had a purple ocean moon.

Elijah sighed, even if he didn’t know where he was, Edgar most likely had the answer. He turned his attention to the various controls of the ship, specifically to the power display. Which was at a whopping 0%. Time to head to the reactor room and see if he could get it working.

***

A couple of hours later. Elijah was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling. Long story short, he couldn’t get the reactor working. After he read the manual and fiddled with the controls, it turned out that ‘jumpstarting’ was the only way for the reactor to start working. And for that to happen he needs power which he doesn’t have yet. The ship’s hull was lined with solar panels, so he should have enough power in less than a month.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

It was truly strange to think about, did they get hit by an EMP or something? Edgar probably knew what caused this, if not there were always the ship logs, the only thing Elijah could do was wait.

Another strange thing was this…

Species: Human

Rank: F

Profession: [Student]* - Slightly increased learning speed

Attributes:

Body [F] - I

Mind [F] - I

Masteries:

Computer Science [Intermediate] - I

Computer Engineering [Basic] - I

Robotics [Basic] - I

When the screen first popped up in his mind’s eye he nearly jumped out of his bed. Although Elijah was familiar with stat sheets popping up like this in his VR games, they didn’t appear on the verge of a nap. Neither were they directly transmitted to the player’s heads.

The format was a bit different from what he was used to but it didn’t seem too complicated. Species was obvious, rank he had no clue about but profession was his class, and masteries were the things he was good at. Although he had the option of changing his profession, he refrained from messing with the thing in his head.

His VR capsule was in the corner of his room so until proven otherwise, he’s probably not in VR. Then what was sending this stat sheet into his mind? Maybe George was messing with him again.

Not this time George. You hear me! Where are you! It won’t work twice!

He waited several moments for a reply but none came. Still not convinced he tried again.

I’ll start calling you Frank instead of George if you don’t respond! You wouldn’t want me to do that, would you?

He waited once more and again there was no reply. He hoped that it was George even if he knew the chances were slim to none. The only other option to consider was that there was some kind of chip in his head. Or he just so happened to encounter another alien species capable of telepathy. And neither of those was good in his opinion.

The only thing that he could think of that could give him an answer, was the medical pod in the medbay… which was currently offline. 

Elijah sighed, more waiting. There was nothing else being transmitted to his head and there was nothing he could do about it so he got back to what he was doing. 

Yet, just as he was starting to position himself for a nap, he heard a thudding noise originating from the aft of the ship. 

He stood up from his bed and started to walk towards where he heard the noise. Finally, the rescue team was here, maybe they had answers and a medical pod for what he was experiencing. 

But first, he thought about what he should say about his predicament. Which was simply that he had no idea where he was and that his AI malfunctioned, probably. He exited his bedroom and entered the living room, nervous energy building up within him as he got closer to his destination.  Hopefully, he wasn’t in too much trouble for unknowingly landing here.

He walked past the cryo room he left a couple of hours earlier, this time heading in the opposite direction. He slid the door open and stepped into the cargo bay. Elijah didn’t have any large belongings so the cargo bay was mostly empty except for some hanging Environmental Suits. 

The thudding was coming from the ramp, which was angled and took up an entire wall. With there being no power, he would have to use one of the doors on the side. Just as he was about to walk towards one, he remembered that he didn’t know if the atmosphere was breathable for humans despite the trees he saw. 

Better safe than sorry, he quickly put on the standard issue ES over his clothes, making sure that everything was strapped correctly. When he was done, smart glass extended from the collar of his suit and encapsulated his head in an airtight seal. He thanked the designers and engineers for making it self-sufficient, the battery icon on his hud was at 60% which was more than enough.

The thudding stopped recently, and Elijah wondered if they might barge in. They haven’t even bothered to look in through the windows on the side, at least during the time he was in the cargo bay. 

Elijah took another deep breath, unlocked then opened the airlock to the outside. There was a slight rush of air as Elijah stepped onto the grass, he surveyed his surroundings. Nothing has changed in the last couple of hours aside from the position of the sun. The forest was still there at the aft of the ship. Towards the front, he could see where the grass turned into the rocky shore that met the sea.

He turned towards his ship and crouched down, examining the ground. They didn’t land correctly since the landing gears weren’t out. He also just now noticed that he felt a bit lighter than usual, this moon was probably smaller than Earth, though by how much he wasn’t sure.

He walked to the ramp of the ship as he readied himself for the coming ‘interrogation’ with the rescue team. He turned the corner and froze. Where he expected to see humans he instead saw an upright, almost 3 meters tall, light green giant tortoise man. 

The tortoise man was dressed for combat, it wielded a shield, much like its own green shell, in one hand and had a spear made of bone in the other. It also had some armor, thick metal sleeves covered both of its arms as well as its legs, leaving its undershell uncovered. It already had its weapons up toward him when he turned the corner.

Altogether, it was an intimidating sight, even more so with Elijah being a couple of meters away. He didn’t know how to act in this situation. He was defenseless, the tortoise man was intelligent, given its weaponry and armor, but intelligent didn’t mean friendly. As much as he wanted to run and collect himself, running could be seen as an act of aggression for all he knew.

Elijah didn’t move, couldn’t move. The tortoise man wasn’t any of the documented species that humanity encountered. First contact could make or break future relations and he didn’t want to mess this up, despite its primitive technology. 

He heard another shout coming from the forest. Turning his head, he saw more green tortoise men hiding along the treeline. He couldn’t get an exact headcount but there were more than 10. 

He refocused on the tortoise man in front of him and did the only sensible thing in this situation. 

“I surrender,” he said while raising his arms slowly. He tried to stay as outwardly calm as possible, while internally he was extremely anxious.

The tortoise man tensed for a moment then relaxed when Elijah made no more moves. There was a tense couple of seconds with both sides staring at each other.

“Ete…re ro de…re,” the tortoise man said, pausing over its own words.

“Begin translation. Temporary name, tortoise men,” Elijah whispered to his suit. Hopefully, alien languages as well as all of the languages of humanity were enough to figure this one out. 

“I don't understand what you’re saying, but let’s keep on talking and my suit can figure it out…” he said, still trying not to make any aggressive moves. His opinion of these tortoise men shot through the roof, even if he was in a very precarious situation, they didn’t immediately attack. 

However, if they did decide to attack, his only shot of living was getting into the ship and waiting for enough solar energy to restart the reactor. Despite how menacing the tortoise man looked, Elijah doubted it could damage any part of the ship. And with the equipment it was wearing, he was partially confident in outrunning it. But the thought of giant tortoise men surrounding his ship was worrying.

The tortoise man shouted something again, turning his head to those at the tree line. A couple of seconds later, 2 unarmed yet armored tortoise men left the treeline and began to make their way toward them. One was dark green and walking with a noticeable hunch, while the other was light green and was inspecting Elijah.

He took a couple of steps back, even though they were unarmed they were still bigger than humans and thus intimidating. The spearman tortoise saw him move but did nothing, although it was still poised for action.

Once the tortoise men from the treeline were close, the spearman tortoise said a few words while waving his spear in Elijah’s direction. Which didn’t help his emotions at all. 

The light green tortoise men nodded to the spearman and then began to… dance? It went through the dance quickly, not lasting more than a second or two. Then Elijah felt a slight pressure against his head, which from his experience is a telltale sign of telepathy.

The tortoise dancer spoke out loud and a second later he heard a voice in his head.

“Can you understand me?”

“Yes,” Elijah replied, trying to stay as calm as possible. He could hear the tortoise man speak in its language and at the same time hear it in his head, it was strange. Are these tortoises somehow related to the Potherytes? They look nothing alike at all.

“Apologies for the discomfort, I still lack practice with the translation spell,” the tortoise dancer said. 

“Right, the translation spell, don’t worry about it,” he responded doubtfully. Elijah couldn’t determine what kind of tech or organ it used to connect to his mind, but ‘spells’ were a bit nonsensical.

“Since we can now understand each other, let us discuss why you are here.”

“I don’t want any trouble. My ship malfunctioned and I’ll be stuck here for another half a month.” Elijah said quickly and as non-threateningly as possible. He was ready to dash away if he had to.

“Half a month because your ship malfunctioned…” The tortoise dancer paused and then began to speak to the older-looking tortoise man that he walked with and nodded. 

“We can help you leave earlier, assistance should arrive within a couple of days. And worry not, you will find no trouble here. We have enough problems already.”

Elijah had no idea what kind of assistance would arrive given the lack of advanced technology. Although there was the translation ‘spell’, which was suspiciously very effective in replicating telepathy.

“Ah, maybe not half a month. I forgot to mention that I’ve sent a distress call to my people. They should come within a day or so, depending on how far away they are,“ he replied, thinking that it should deter them from taking drastic actions.

“Oh, then all is well.” The dancer said as it turned to his ship. Its eyes narrowed and then widened.

“When did you send the call and how far does it reach!” It said with urgency, turning its gaze back towards Elijah, analyzing him more intently. 

Did it want to know how long it had to kill him and take his ship? 

The 2 other tortoise men glanced at the dancer’s outburst. The dancer noticed the stares and began to speak, pointing towards his ship. There was an exchange of words between all 3 of the tortoise men as each one spoke for a fair amount of time. A hint of tension was in the air that even Elijah could pick up on despite the language barrier.

“About 4 hours ago and the entire solar system,” Elijah replied. His body tensed as he turned slightly, ready to make a run for it.

The dancer opened their mouth to speak but was interrupted by the spearman. The spearman spoke a few words with a shake of its head, pointing with its spear at Elijah. The dancer nodded.

“You are not a warrior. Nor are you a mage. When you said ‘my people’, you were not referring to your team but to your species,” the dancer said matter-of-factly. “Even the dumbest of mercenaries know not to bring non-mana-based technology to the soulless.” 

“Yea, I was uh, referring to my species, humans. And I’m a recent graduate, a scholar I guess,” he replied, unsure how to answer the last part. Mana and mages, is the translation working correctly?

“I will be honest, scholar. I have noticed your ship has no mana flowing through it and thus we believe that the soulless have noticed your call. Once they realize the technology you possess, they will stop at nothing to acquire it,” It paused, giving Elijah some time to process.

“You are in danger. You must stop your call as soon as you can.” it continued, taking a step forward.

“I don-,” Elijah stopped himself from continuing. If he said that he wouldn’t stop the distress call, what was stopping them from doing it forcefully? He toyed with the thought of lying to them, but he was in unknown territory. And who knew what else the translation ‘spell’ that was in his head could do?

Elijah looked at the giant tortoise men in front of him. Each one towered over him and was presumably stronger, even the older, more hunched one. As much as he didn’t want to listen and abide by their commands, this was the first contact between their species. But he still needed some reassurance.

“I– Will I still be receiving that assistance you mentioned.” Elijah finally said. 

“Of course, dear scholar. We want you out of here as much as you do,” it said with a nod.

“Thanks, I’m just trying to get home.” He said with a sigh. All Elijah could do was believe in its words.

“I would love to go home as well, scholar,” it said after a pause. “But we must move quickly, the soulless could already be on their way. Head into your ship and stop your call, we will wait out here.”

“Be right back,” Elijah said to the dancer. He brought down his arms, turned around, and tried to walk away as normally as possible. Which turned into more of a sprint by the time he got to the side airlock and entered his ship.

He glanced at the windows for several seconds to check if they were following. They weren’t. He breathed out a sigh.

The talk was as calm as could be, and they were nice enough to offer assistance. Up until the part where they told him he was in danger due to his distress call and ship. There was a lot to think about after that conversation though and Elijah finally had the momentary chance to do so. 

Perhaps the most notable thing that they said was that they wanted Elijah off of their planet as soon as possible. Because of the soulless. An enemy strong enough that they would give up technology that could catapult their civilization by centuries. 

And the tortoise men’s reactions were not what Elijah expected. As far as he could tell, there was no awe, fear, or curiosity in their eyes, only caution. They were not curiously gazing at the designs of the ship or the strange appearance that he had. No, they did none of those things. Have they already contacted humanity or other species? Or maybe they already inspected his ship beforehand when he was in cryo.

Elijah started moving to get rid of the stray thoughts, heading to the living room. The distress beacon was in his bedroom but he first wanted some protection.

He entered the living room and went towards the couches. He took off the cushions in search of the silver box with the handgun. Once he found it, he tucked the gun in a slot on his ES, on the side of his leg and just below the hip.

Feeling safer already, he walked to the starboard door where his bedroom was. Inside his bedroom, he grabbed the distress beacon and simply pressed the off switch. Even with the beacon off, help should still come to his last known location and he wasn’t moving anytime soon. Though he guessed that applied to the soulless as well, whatever they were.

Time to head back outside.