BREATHE IN THE AIR I

A storm raged on at the surface of the planet. As the rain threw itself down, the escape pod ironically managed to be the most peaceful thing to come from the sky in comparison. Through marvels in engineering, the craft landed calmly enough for Haleth to sleep entirely through. The seats inside, while not most comfortable to lay on, were still not the worst he had throughout his adventurous career. It wasn’t until a strike of lighting and growl of thunder that he finally awoke. He slowly opened his eyes and was in shock at his current situation, forgetting about what had happened just a few hours prior.

“Huh?? What the-” He jolted out of his seat. “Oh yeah… the ship.”

He took a pause to briefly recall exactly what had happened. On a mission, crashed into something, took escape pod.

He took a moment to compose himself, he’s been in similarly dire situations before. Then he remembered the rest.

My bag.

The tools of his trade were left in that bag. Panic started to return to him. He was adept at combat without his weapons, but he knew he would still be at a disadvantage without them if the need came to defend himself. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath, normalizing his mental state.

Fortunately, there was one item that he always kept directly on him. He opened up his suit jacket and dug into one of the inner pockets, pulling out a dagger. It was an average sized blade, pitch black with a gold quillon. Etched in gold on the grip was some sort of phrase in an alien text, the meaning of which eluded him. Examining it, it was still as good as ever, despite its age. Just holding it gave him faith. He returned it to his pocket so as not to lose it.

Feeling much better now, he began deciding his course of action. He decided the best first step would be to determine his location. Any knowledge of starcharts or transportation routes were immediately disregarded due to the odd circumstances. Adding to that, the dark skies from the rain made it impossible to see anything out the windows. He loosened his tie and looked to the screen next to the hatch. Right on the home page in big, bold letters it read “UNABLE TO OBTAIN SIGNAL. LOCATION UNKNOWN.”

Well that doesn’t help at all. Is that company hack to blame for the interference?

Still, he kept to his breathing and remained calm. A few clicks later and he activated the environmental scanning protocol. As it ran, he sat back down and contemplated the rest of his plan. He knew that his lone dagger would not be nearly enough to get him through whatever awaited him; he only ever considered it his backup. Luckily, he knew these escape pods contained supplies for dire situations like this. He reached underneath the seat and pulled out a dusty brown case. Inside was a cache of different resources, ranging from medical supplies, survival tools, and luckily for him, a new bag. Remembering the lack of extraplanetary structures, and now the lack of signal, worry began to creep onto him and he took as much as he could - much more than he normally would.

He saw a flash on the screen out of the corner of his eye and returned to it. The analysis was complete, which it relayed to him in a monotone, synthetic voice.

CURRENT LOCATION: ERROR. INTERFERENCE WITH SIGNAL.

OXYGEN LEVELS: NORMAL.

GRAVITATIONAL PULL: APPROXIMATELY 93.6% OF AVERAGE RATES.

PLANETARY RESONANCE: 7.83HZ

WARNING: PRECIPITATION DETECTED. 99.9% CHANCE OF HARMLESS. EXERCISE CAUTION.

WARNING: YOU ARE NOT CONNECTED TO ANY WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS. FAILURE TO RECONNECT WITHIN THE ALLOTTED TIMEFRAME MAY CAUSE YOU TO LOSE ACCESS TO CERTAIN FEATURES.

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK OUR WONDERFUL SPONSORS…

It continued on with more irrelevant information. Once again, he was perplexed by the lack of a location, but at least he knew it was safe to exit. He checked his comms device just in case, but it couldn’t find any signal either. The battery was close to dead anyway, so he put it away to conserve power.

He stood in front of the door, readying himself for whatever awaited him on the other side. As his hand hovered over the release button, he went through the possible plans in his head once more.

Obviously, I need to survive. Besides that, should I find civilization first? Should I find the rest of the ship? Should I seek out other survivors? Maybe I could just stay in here and wait for someone - these pods are made to withstand anything.

He mulled over what his priorities should be, but in the end, given who he is, he knew what he must do.

I will find Vhinox and I will kill him.

As if he was filled with anger for thinking that, he slammed down on the button with his fist, opening the door. The landscape outside was hard to make out; the dark clouds above stretched out like a cloak and the heavy rain was like a curtain in front of him.

The exterior lights of the pod could only reach so far, so he grabbed the flashlight he took from the supply case. Shining it around himself, it was brighter than any flashlight he had used before - too bright even. Holding his hand out in front of it, he could feel the heat it emitted. He lowered the the setting to a more manageable level and searched for a label on it. There was no name, no manufacturer, no lumen level - nothing was left after years of handling.

Still, with a light in his hand, he surveyed the land around him. It appeared that the pod had landed dead center in some sort of basin. Dirt and rubble brought up from the crash surrounded the landing site, with grass covering the ground farther back. Vegetation scattered the floor unorganized; clearly he didn’t find himself in some sort of garden. He noted that the grass had a teal hue to it, but he figured that could have been due to his limited visibility.

He took another step forward and turned around to examine the pod. Above the hatch, it read “Thank you for choosing CAS,” although it had partially burned away during the entry. Other than those few burns, it didn’t seem to have endured much damage from the crash. The metallic hull held up very well. The marketing saying it was bullet proof was undermining its actual capabilities.

This could still be used for shelter if I needed to.

Right beside one of the thrusters, he noticed a strange lump of rock with a few green crystals poking out of it, buried in the rubble. He shined his light at it, which caused it to sparkle a bit. For some reason, he felt like he had seen something like it elsewhere before. Its valiant shimmer intrigued him, so he stuffed it into his pocket and continued his damage analysis. He tended to collect souvenirs like these from his missions.

Finding nothing else of note, he turned back around and took another step. Suddenly, a small bug flew across him. Despite its tiny size, Haleth was still taken back by it, unknown if it possessed any sort of hostile qualities that would danger him. From what he could faintly tell, it had a small, round body with some sort of abdomen that lit up periodically. Trailing it was a long, thin tail that contained similar organs, resembling beads on a necklace. They illuminated one after another, sequentially, like a neon sign on the window of a shop. It didn’t seem to be aggressive from initial observations. He reached out his hand to the bug, but it flew away, leaving its trail of light wherever it flew. Like the lights of a spaceport tarmac, the bugs guided him further along the passage.

With each step, he grew more accustomed to the new gravity of the planet. Luckily, it was close enough to what he was used to back on Haskel that it would be a quick adjustment, and he was thankful that it was weaker rather than stronger. The majority of planets had similar gravitational pulls, with Haskel’s being considered average or standard. Even though this planet’s gravity was on the farther end of the standard deviation, it was still nowhere near as bad as some of the outlier planets he had experienced. To this day he claims that he never fully recovered from working on M’cian with its drastically stronger gravity. With the extra spring in his step he felt like he could find the ship in no time once he was fully accustomed to it.

Behind him, he heard a peculiar fluttering noise obfuscated by the rain. He turned around and looked around, but could not see anything in the rain.

Must have been the wind, he reasoned.

As he continued his walk, he gained a better understanding of his surroundings. He was not too well versed in the world of plants, but nothing he saw struck him as familiar. Looking down at himself, he could see grime building up on his once-nice suit from the mud and dirt. By this point, his clothing would have been completely soaked, but luckily the materials were very hydrophobic.

After roughly ten minutes of walking and observations, he reached a dip in the basin walls. From there, he would have to walk down a long, narrow gully. He flicked his light around, looking for an alternative, but could not find any. He briefly considered, with the lower gravity, if he could simply jump on top and continue from there, but disregarded the thought.

Once again, he heard the fluttering noise from earlier just as another one of those luminescent bugs flew past. He figured that the they were the ones making that noise, although he questioned how a bug that small could produce such a sound. He took a second to observe them flying past. Wonder what those are called? Do they even have a name?

As he pondered the bugs, his eyes drifted to the head of the ride. He could faintly make out a dark, ghostly figure standing menacingly. It made no movements - it just started at him. Quickly, he shined his light at the creature, but as soon as the beam reached it, it vanished, leaving behind nothing but illuminated sparks.

What was that?! Panic started setting in him.

Once more, the fluttering noise resonated through the gully, this time much louder - and also closer. Shivers shot down Haleth’s spine as he slowly turned around. Following him was a giant insect about a third of his size. It stood motionless, staring intently.

Was that what was watching me up there?

It was clear this was nothing like the bugs that had been flying around him. He shone the light towards it to get a better look at it. Doing so caused it to recoil, but he could sense rage building up. Calming himself down, he analyzed what he could from its appearance. Its body was a mix of grays and browns which stood on four spiked legs. It had four eyes, that while red, stared coldly at him. The bug reminded of those he found occasionally in his apartment, although much larger. It chomped at the air with its sizable mandibles as it shook its wings, making that heinous fluttering noise.

Haleth had fought many foes in his time working for Infin-7. Given the nature of the system, he had crossed paths with the unique species of the universe with all manner of sizes, body types, and special abilities. This bug, however, was a completely different beast, absolutely foreign to what he was used to. Unknown, untamed, and unrestrained. Even on the off chance that he accepted some sort of hunting request, he would always be provided extensive data on what he was expected to encounter. Not this time.

It fully set in that he was out of his element here, and not just because of the unknown creature. He instinctively reached for his photon saber, only to grab nothing but air. All he had to defend himself with was his dagger, a mere backup weapon for him. He had more experience using it as a tool than for combat and could not even remember the last time he had to use it seriously in a fight. None of his experience was of any use to him now.

Still, he knew if there was one thing he knew he was good at, it was quick thinking and making the most of an awful circumstance.

As if the bug grew impatient with Haleth’s thoughts, it let out a distorted growl and lunged at him. Without much time to react, he brandished his dagger from his jacket. Unfortunately, the moisture from the rain caused him to lose grip of it. As he pulled it out, it went flying, landing somewhere in the mud. He was now completely defenseless. As he stared where he thought it landed, he was genuinely speechless - no obscenity he could think of properly matched his reaction to what he just did.

With a split-second reaction, he jumped out of the way of its attack, landing in a small bush nearby. The bug was now guarding his weapon as it stared at him in the foliage. Its beaming red eyes had a primordial menace to them, never losing sight of where he was hiding. It hopped back and forth, almost like it was taunting him as it awaited his next action.

Searching for some sort of entry point for a counterattack, Haleth gazed around the valley, but all he could make out were more pairs of eyes. He was enveloped in the piercing red gaze of an audience of bugs, like he was the main attraction to a cage match - and he was stuck in it until one of them was dead. With no hopes of escape, he scoured his bag, hoping to find some sort of tool that could help him out. Unfortunately, there was nothing of use, unless he wanted to risk potentially losing a can of food by chucking it at the thing.

Realizing he had no other options, he took a deep breath and prepared himself for his attack. He loosened his tie and stood up, ready to face the creature. It faced back at him.

I have no idea if this will work. Might as well put on a show for this audience, he uneasily thought.

The rain beat down on him like a war drum as he stared right back at the belligerent insect. He let out a primal scream and barreled right towards his foe. On cue, it made that fluttering noise as it prepared itself for a fight.

However, it was too late. Haleth decked the bug square across its head, sending it flying across the gully, smashing it against the rocky side. A cloud of dust and dirt erupted from the collision. He picked up his dagger with labored breathing as he tried to calm himself from his outrage, not letting the bug leave his sight. Even he was surprised at how forceful that attack was. The wind blew through his hair and tie as he stared down the bug. To his surprise, it survived his punch and the collision.

Durable little thing, aren’t you?.

It picked itself up, enraged even further. One of its mandibles had broken off from the impact, a small yet still significant sign of progress. The fluttering returned one last time as it began to hover for a retaliation, hoping to go in for the kill. It jetted right towards Haleth, but once again, it was no match for him. Right as they were face to face, a mere arm’s length away from each other, Haleth pierced its thorax and slid it across the body, slicing it open. Guts of green and blue protruded as it fell to the ground. With its final breath it let out one last distorted shriek. Its body slumped over as its functions shut down.

It was over.

Haleth continued his breathing to calm himself as he stood victoriously above the carcass. The rain washed away the innards that had spilled onto himself and his dagger. From the cliffs above him, he could see the red eyes that once watched him slowly retreat.

Must’ve scared off his buddies, he smugly thought. Hope they thought it was a good show.

Finally filled with relief, he put his weapon back in his jacket and continued his trek forward, hoping that he wouldn’t encounter another one of those bugs. Even though he was able to take down one, it could’ve just been a fluke, so the thought of going up against another one of them irked him, especially with the knowledge that there were plenty more watching him just minutes before. Anything he could come across would be a major unknown to him, with absolutely no possibility of foreknowledge. At least he knew now that punching one was a viable strategy.

By this point, he was fully used to the lighter gravity of the planet. As he thought, it was a quick adjustment - no need to stay in a readjustment facility like he used to need when traveling. He finally felt like he could move as adeptly as he normally would while working.

The latter half of his journey through the gully wasn’t much different from how it was before his fight, although there was now a slight incline to the path. More of the similar plants made their homes along the grassy passage. Slowly, he began to feel the rain thinning out and the sky lightening up. Through the beam of his flashlight, he noticed the walls that surrounded him starting to spread apart up ahead. Excited by the anticipated change in scenery, he dashed ahead to scope out some information.

Haleth found himself at the edge of a wide cliff. He slowed his pace down and approached the edge, making sure not to slip on the still wet grass. As he overlooked the scenery, he stood triumphantly at the top of the palisade. Against all odds, he had not died yet.

By this point, the rain had completely dissipated, leaving him alone on the rocks, overlooking a sea of fog. It stretched for what seemed like forever. The peaks of mountains, jagged rock formations, and the tallest of trees poked their way through the haze. Prior, he had been used to only skyscrapers and other man-made structures piercing through the clouds.

He looked up, finally learning what the sky in this world looked like. The planet had one sun, just like his. A few leftover clouds from the storm dotted the light blue sky, which was noticeably brighter than what he was used to. He looked far and wide, but the soup of clouds beneath him obstructed his chances of getting a clear observation of the landscape that awaited him. He desperately looked around for some sort of way to see through the fog.

But then, as if on cue, the fog below him faded away, creating the painting of a new world before him. He now saw that the cliff he stood on was situated high above a beach. The sandy shores below stretched out a good distance before transitioning into a deep blue ocean. In fact, most of his right peripheral was covered by that water. Offshore, there were a couple of small islands scattered about. Each one had a small bit of vegetation consisting of bushes and some sort of palm trees. Along each of the island shores were giant crustaceans digging at the sand, accompanied by even larger crustaceans. From this distance, he could estimate that the largest ones were roughly four feet tall.

Is everything on this planet going to be giant? The thought worried him. Fighting that single bug was more than enough for one day.

He recentered his vision and focused on what was in front of him. Most of the landscape consisted of grassy plains adorned with mountains of strange shapes. Perhaps it was because of the lighter gravity, but many of the mountains had massive, long stretching cliffs that back on Haskel would surely have collapsed. Some of them just hovered in the air, suspended by nothing. Their outward appearance was no different than the mountains close by. The vegetation was fairly uniform throughout, bearing many similarities to what he had seen while trekking through the gully, although he remarked that many sections were more forested. Off in the distance he could vaguely make out forest with red foliage, but it likely would take weeks just to reach it. One of the largest mountains in his view had a tremendous waterfall that created a lengthy liquid wall, dividing the landmass. He could only imagine how loud the crashing cascade would be up close.

Within the clearer sections of the terrain, he saw a multitude of different alien creatures. A pack of large canine-looking beasts prowled a section of grassy plains, looking for their next meal. They were about the size of a car and had mostly sandy brown fur, with the exception of a gray stripe of fur that ran down their entire back, from head to long, spiked tail. They eventually did find something to eat, in the form of some long-horned creatures, covered with pale wool. They made an attempt to escape, but to no avail, and were quickly devoured, leaving nothing behind but their golden horns.

Could those be worth something back home? No, now’s not the time to think about money.

In contrast to that gruesome encounter, a field of flowers of a large array of colors was right beside. Haleth could just barely discern tiny insects jovially fluttering between them, but they were too far away to make out any major details.

There were plenty of creatures playing in the sand and water on the beach beneath as the short waves crashed onto the shore. A pack of large, brown rodents sat peacefully on the sand, observing the waves. A pack of a different species, some sort of quadruped with short lavender fur but look drooping ears, joyously splashed along in the water. Neither of the creatures minded the giant crabs wandering about the beach.

Are they hunting something, or are they just playing?

Haleth walked closer to the edge of the cliff to hopefully get a better look at the fauna. However, as his head peered over the side, some sort of giant floating creature sailed right beside where he was standing, and he was knocked back a bit. It almost resembled a large, gray whale, except, of course, it was somehow floating. On its body, there were many fins that had a similar color to that of the stone he found. Effortlessly, they steered him across the air like oars on a boat.

He watched the majestic beast fly forward, towards the mountains beyond. The formations captivated him. He was not used to this sort of varying landscape at all. All he had ever known back on Haskel was just flat land as far as he could see, if he even could see the natural ground at all.

He was in awe.

Crazy how all of this just formed, naturally.

However, the sight that caught his attention the most was just beyond the mountain range. Behind it, he could see fumes of black smoke trailing upwards. He almost missed it on his first look around. The sight of it filled him with a brief sense of relief. Smoke could mean fire, and he had a good idea of what might have caused it.

The ship.

It had to have landed somewhere here. If he could manage to navigate the planet ahead, he just might be able to return home. The thought of that kept him going.

Of course, smoke could also be from another survivor. He reasoned this outcome would still suffice. Having a companion would greatly increase the chances of both of them surviving. Plus, each of them could fill in the gaps of the other’s skills. Although, thinking back to who he saw on the ship, he was unsure if any of them would actually be any help.

There was also the possible awkward interaction of having to briefly work together with Vhinox.

Still, seeing the smoke gave him hope that he could eventually leave this planet. Soon he could return home, back to his normal life.

Away from the beautiful landscape he just found.

He shaked off the thought, and decided to admire the view just a little bit more before setting out. Just as he was admiring the scene before him, a strong gust of wind knocked him back. Regaining his composure, he opened his eyes to see what had interrupted him.

Right in front of him, midair, was the bird girl from the ship.

Her black-tipped white wings flapped to keep herself above the edge of the cliff. She stared directly at him with her vibrant yellow eyes as she landed on the rocks between them with the gracefulness of a ballerina, scattering a few white feathers beneath. The wind had accidentally caused him to drop his supply bag in the dirt. Neither of them said a word, unsure of themselves, creating an awkward tension.

Finally, she opened her mouth to break the silence.

“Hey.”