Bato continued to trudge through the foliage for some time, only stopping when the sound of the roaring fire and yelling intruders had mostly faded. He stood in the deep shade of a tree for several long moments, listening intently to his surroundings. He kept his eyes closed to heighten his other senses. A trick the other hunters had taught him. When he was sure his location was mostly secure, he began to lay his trophies out on the ground.

The two larger intruders were truly a goldmine. A number of small, gray cylinders with a strange metal wand hanging off the side; several wide, tall but thin metal boxes in pouches on their chests; a strange tube with a full bend at the top, complete with a hole that had the see-through barrier in it; a black box with a long stick jammed in one side. All three of the bodies had a most intriguing knife, one the likes of which Bato had never seen, complete with a perfect little hard cover for the blade. Lastly he found small black cases with a red cross adorning them on the thighs of each body.

Bato cut at the material of the chest wrapping. It was tough. Far tougher than any other cloth he had come across. His blade made slow progress through the shoulder straps of the smallest intruder. After they had been sheared through, he wriggled his blade under the softer material below the arm, and cut a small enough incision to simply rip the rest apart with his hand. As the wrapping came free, he was shocked to find what appeared to be breasts on the intruder. He had never noticed any form of gender on any of them.

He looked down at the body for only a moment, before setting about dissecting the wrapping. The internals he pulled out were intriguing, but he would need his tools to discover more about them. Next, he picked up the female’s body and began inspecting her head. It was solid black with large, reflective bug eyes. A strange lip ran around the whole of her head about brow height. Or perhaps that was a helmet of sorts? There did appear to be a strap under her chin.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

Fumbling about for several moments, he eventually found a strange clasp that came undone as he squeezed the sides. Sure enough, the top of her head came loose, wobbling oddly. As he pulled the helmet off, her bug eyes came free as well. She had a mass of dark hair rolled up and pinned to her head. He looked at the reverse of the eyes and found he could see through them from inside.

“Eye protection? Such a strange material.”

Turning his attention back to the body, he reached out to pull the cloth over her nose and mouth down. Her breath hit his finger, causing him to flinch. She was alive? Such a small frame had survived that fall, and the subsequent fire. A praiseworthy feat indeed.

To Bato, the girl before him was gorgeous. Her face was intriguingly round. A thin, small nose and petite lips with a short chin and wide jaw adorned it. He sat staring far longer than he needed to, struggling to rip his eyes away from her. When he did, it was only in response to a series of strange high pitch calls in the distance.

Whipping his head around to peer through the thick foliage in the direction of the noise, Bato felt the hair on his neck stand up. A sure sign that he was low on time. He picked up his prizes, stuffing them into two large sacks hanging from his waist. The small tubes he hung from loops on his back, and the one with the clear covering had a most amusing clip that allowed it to attach to his chestplate. He quickly confirmed the status of the other two intruders, finding them to have indeed moved on from this world.

With most everything accounted for, he finally looked at his main problem. What would he do with the little one that still drew breath? Could he take her back to the village? She would be a wealth of knowledge, of that he had no doubt. But he knew very little about the intruders. Did they have a method of contacting each other? The Kiichi were able to communicate without the hunters noticing. Perhaps her kind would be capable of it as well. Would his village…more calls within the sea of trees, this time too close for comfort, made the decision for him.

Picking her up, he gently slung her over his shoulder and glanced at the sun for bearing. He set off in the direction of home at a strong trot, nervous about the calls he had heard.