After a while of trying to stand up and get used to the pain in my leg, I walk out of the medical room. My first time exploring the Akunara, despite being here for at least a full day. Time here feels different. I take a break to contemplate how time might work in this world; I mean, there's a chance it's like back home. Right?

I wander around the halls of the Akunara. I took mental notes of where everything is. Medical rooms are at the back of the Akunara on both sides of the ship. The on-ship barracks is located towards the front of the Akunara, just outside of the control room. Luna's gun is on top of the ship; Seems like it'd be rough having to deal with the ship constantly rotating while you're trying to shoot a target. Numi's room is in front of the left-side medical room; Meanwhile, Ari's room is the on the opposite side of the ship from Numi. Finally, my room. Well, I should've expected that I wouldn't have a room for myself.

I have to share a room with Numi. Ari won't even attempt to look an inch in my direction. Luna lives in a turret. There's only enough space for her and her endless food supply. I also can't just live in the medical rooms as they're not made to accommodate someone's entire life; They're simply for medical use only. There's just one problem with Numi. Well, she only has one bed. A bed that was made for one person, so of course I opt to sleep on the floor tonight and for the foreseeable future. Numi didn't seem happy about my decision, though.

Numi followed me throughout the ship as I got used to what they store in each room. Food seems like it may be a problem in the future. I still have had nothing to eat since being here. I'm kind of scared to know how food will taste here compared to the food at home.

I sit on the floor in Numi's room while I think about how this world may work. Could they teleport me back home? Is this world somehow connected to mine? Is this the same world but a different universe? How will I go home? Numi took notice of me, probably because I was deep in thought. "Hey, you okay, sir?" she asked as I ended my thought. I respond after laying on my back, "Yeah." After responding, my stomach had decided that it was time to eat something. The growl my stomach made was so loud that I swear I would've heard it outside of Numi's room.

"Oh sir, I'm sorry. I should've made some food for you. I just wanted to make sure your leg would heal after that short firefight. I'll go make some food. Stay here sir," Numi said in response to my stomach rudely interrupting what would've been silence. Numi ran out of the room. She can't know that I'm from a different world. No one should know, nothing good could come from it. At least I'm finally getting some food, I guess.

Numi brought the food she made. It smelled good, looked similar to ramen back home. Though the noodles weren't the usual ramen color. I'm pretty sure back home, green noodles would mean something had caused them to mold, but I had no choice. I took one bite, which then turned into two bites, then three bites, then the bowl was empty a few minutes later. It was better than back at home. The flavor of the noodles was somehow way better than ramen, there's a chance it's lacking all the harmful ingredients of ramen. Maybe being here wouldn't be too bad, but I definitely can't be here forever, I thought.

I ask Numi, "What was that food? It was fantastic." She jumps in response to my question. Her face quickly becomes flushed. "It's my specialty dish. Made with a Xeroph broth and Zenith noodles. It's really all I can make. I'm glad you like it, sir." Xeroph? Zenith? I really hope those are just the names of common ingredients. I thought to myself before responding, "What is a Xeroph and Zenith exactly?"

"Sir. Where were you raised? These are extremely common creatures here. The Zenith roam through space in this region. The noodles are made using Zenith flesh. The Xeroph are found on the planet Kiruna K2. They're harder to find, but they travel in packs, making it easy to get enough for months' worth of meals in one hunt. Have you received any form of education, sir?" I look around, trying to think of some way to make sense of my situation. I respond, trying to seem completely knowledgeable about this world. "I'm from very far away. Where I'm from, we don't have these creatures and ships. They're not behind technology. We're just not as smart as you are here." Numi looks at me in confusion, then her face slowly changes; It almost looked as if she was going to ask a question before speaking. "I guess it would make sense, the world is a large place. It is possible that you're from far away, but how could you have ended up here? Were you part of a crew that dropped you out in space? If so why did you not have a spacesuit? You could've died, let alone the fact that you could've been consumed alive by a Zenith."

"I don't know what happened. I just remember sleeping." The only truthful sentence I've uttered since arriving in this world.

"Well, I'd like to know what happened. Hopefully, once this war is over, we can find your home planet and have a chat with the Alliance responsible for this. I'd like to give them a piece of my mind, and I'm sure Ari would be happy to end some humans if it goes south."

Shit. I knew I should've just lied and figured some way out of this. I thought.

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I watched Numi pace around her room for a while. She's spent at least an hour trying to determine where I'm from and who could've left me out in the middle of space in this far-off region. According to her, this region is home to the Ouro race; People with animal characteristics, ears, tails, fur, etc. Humans haven't ventured out here in many years after the Ouro Human war. A war between humans and ouro that lasted over thirty years. Millions of lives were lost on both sides, human and ouro. A truly tragic time period for both humans and ouros alike. They see the occasional human out here once in a blue-moon. They're most commonly a miner trying to find a material that's only in this region. Majority of them are harmless as they're just doing their job.

I decided to pay Luna a visit after learning some more about this world. Maybe she could be my saving grace since she's a heavy introvert. Though she has amazing aim with a gun; A terrible thought, but that could come in handy in a pinch. I climb up to the door of the gun. Do I knock? Do I say something? What do I do? I thought, as I clearly didn't plan this out beforehand. Suddenly, her voice plays through a speaker next to my ear. "What do you want? Go away."

"I just want to talk. Everything is wearing me out here."

"Well, it makes sense. You're either an idiot or you're lying about everything you've told us so far. That doesn't bother me as I couldn't care less about what happens to someone that just appears randomly in space. People die every day. It isn't the end of the world for another to join them."

"Okay listen, I know you're a recluse that just wants peace and quiet until the next gunfight. Listen to me, I am not normal, as you already know. I have no clue how I got here. Just help me out so I can leave. I don't want to be stuck here forever."

"What about your little girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend?"

"Numi, you dumbass. Have you seriously not noticed her acting so close to you? It's strange. She used to hate humans, just like Ari. Though I wouldn't be surprised if you two were working together to bring the ouros race to extinction. Disgusting."

"Extinction? What? I don't know what you're on about. Just help me and you won't see or hear me ever again."

"Hmph, fine. Just never come back up here."

She opens the door slightly and passes a small device through the door. "If you lose this holo device, then I really will have to kill you. It's my only backup and I'm not paying for another one. Do you understand?"

"Loud and clear." I drop back down into the main body of the ship. How does thing work? I ask myself as I fiddle with it. A small holographic screen comes out of the device. It's a call from Luna. I press the answer button and she immediately begins screaming at me. "Can you stop messing with the device?!! You're sending a bunch of weird signals to my main device. Ugh, do you seriously not know what you're doing? Dumbass." Luna hangs up the call and I put the device in my pocket. It automatically disables the screen when you put it in your pocket. Some high-tech detection maybe? Unless they've developed extremely small gyro technology. Which, of course, I wouldn't be surprised at that development. I thought to myself as I walked towards the control room.

I enter the control room and see Ari leaning over what looks like a control panel. "Damn it, why can't we find a mission that doesn't have to do with the damn war? I don't want to fight one of us. This is worthless. We'll die of starvation at this rate. Fuck. Why can't we just be close to a planet or a station with cheap prices?" Ari slams her hand on the panel, the panel glitching as she hits it. Ari turns around and sees me. Her frustration growing. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm in a dire situation here? Not like you'd understand, anyway. Filthy human scum." She's rightfully angry, just like Luna, but all of this is getting on my nerves. I retort, frustration rising within me. "Listen here captain, I don't want to be here. If I could've been killed in space, then maybe that would've been better. Nonetheless, I'm here right now, so are you going to continue squabbling about useless this, useless that? Back at my home, we killed each other endlessly, just for a little sliver of land. Take a damn mission or I'll do it for you! Numi and Luna are suffering here because of this entire situation. You're not alone, just stubborn."

Ari slams her hand on another panel. The panel shattering upon impact. "What did you just say to me? A human helping an ouro? Not only are you uneducated, but you're asking for me to murder you right here. A human would never help an ouro, especially in their own territory. The last human to help an ouro did unspeakable things to them before stranding them in space, just like how we found you."

"I'm not like them! Can't you just fucking listen? No wonder Numi gets tired of your shit. You're stuck in your ways like some old monk. I may seem uneducated, but I can still do way more than you right now!"

Ari clenches her fist. It looked like the sheer force alone would break her hand in two. "You should leave, human. You're nothing and you'll never be anything. So leave!"

Numi comes running from her room to the control room, barely reaching the door before Ari walks towards me. Her fist was ready to slam into my skull. "Captain. Calm down, he's trying to help!" Numi exclaims before pulling me aside and holding me tight. Ari backs up and takes a deep breath. "Numi, step aside. Let me hit him. Maybe that'll help his brain." Numi's grip tightens. "You're not gonna touch him. Let him help us. He could help us get into human territory if the need arises. I don't care if you want to make him work. I'm sure he'd want to work, but I will not let you hurt him!"

Ari makes a face of pure evil and takes a step forward. "So, you want to work, human?"