I open my eyes slowly as I regain consciousness. I was still in the pod. The attendant was typing away at her wrist pad with her back facing me.
She seemed frustrated and worried about something.
Maybe something went wrong. Am I going to die or what??
Malek turns to my pod and starts fumbling with it. For some reason, I am still immobile. She had tears in her eyes and she mumbles something.
The pod opened and she starts to pull out the tubes in my body. All I can hear her say is..." Kara Mayon Sekurai Nekat.....Find the place that does not exist." She looks back at the door I remember coming here through and then back at me. "You will know what this means when the time comes. For now, I pray you live, Muad Drall and save us all." With that, she pushes me into another pod and then everything goes blank.
I wake up to the burning sensation on my skin. My eyelids slowly parted and gave way to sight. I realize I'm in the pod and sunlight penetrates through the large window of glass in front of me.
I open the hatch to meet a vast desert of red sand. I look up, with my hand shielding my eyes, and see not even a single cloud in the sky.
I look around and see another pod lying a large distance away from mine.
I instinctively check my pod for survival gear and supplies. With that secured in a portable carrier, I make my way in the red sand towards the other pod.
It takes me a while to get to it. It shows signs of recent re-entry. It must have fallen from the outer atmosphere just like mine. It still hasn't been opened. I pull off my jacket and hold the latch on the outside and force it open.
There was a female human in it. Upon a closer look I realise, it is having Fjan body parts as well. I check her pulse to see if she is alive. And she is.
What do I do now?? How do I handle this??
She moves and I take a step back. She lifts her head and looks at me.
"Where am I??"
Did she just speak Fjanai?? Who is she??
"Who are you, Mister??" She asks innocently without any fear. The curiosity in her eyes makes them sparkle in the heat of the gleaming sun.
"My name is Muad Drall. You can call me Muad." I stretch my hands towards her to help her out of the pod. She hesitantly takes my hand and allows me to pull her out after releasing her straps.
"My name is Elina. Nice to meet you." Her smile is so innocent that I just start to wonder.
"Are you one of them?? The aliens?? Are you one of the humans??" I ask with my guard up expecting something to happen.
She tilts her head sideways and look at me like I'm crazy. "Do I look like a human to you!!?" She chuckles and tilts her head to the other side. She takes two steps closer and looks me in the eye. "I'm both." The smile on her face after saying that confirms my thought. She's a psycho. But I can't ditch her out here. She might be useful.
"How did you end up in the pod??" I ask her as I begin to search her pod for more supplies and survival gear.
"The pretty lady said if I got into the pod I wouldn't die. So I jumped in." She hops around as she says this. "I'm her daughter, I think. She gave me nice food too." She says with her hand behind her as she stops in front of me.
She seems safe enough. I guess killing her is not an option. Now to find a way out of thus desert.
Just at that moment, a holo-screen pops up from the one of the gears I gathered. It shows the layout of the desert and a way out. Whoever sent us to this exact place had it all planned. There was a beeping message pop.
I tap and it shows the face of the General.
"If you are seeing this Muad, Leader of the Maru Eaters, then our base has been attacked from the inside and I am probably dead. You are required to meet the other members of the Maru Eaters at the pinpointed village at the far east end of the Red Sea desert on the surface of the planet Soj. There is a minor base at your final destination. It will take you at least three reons to get there. If I am not dead, you'll find me there... And the female I sent along with you.....protect her, she might be the key to the end this war. Safe journey. Stay alive my, friend." He says as the video fades out.
I turn to look at the girl and back at the holo-gear. I pick it up and put it on my wrist. Automatically, it adjusts and expands to form a band on my hand.
I pass my hand on it and the map pops up again. The red meandering line, which is supposed to be our way to safety gives me a bit of confidence to go on in this desert.
The map is detailed and that made it easy to follow. We make our way painfully through the scorching desert.
Elina keeps talking tirelessly all the way, despite her almost dry throat. I find out from her that she also underwent the same thing I and the Maru Eaters went through in the pods, back in the base. I wonder why a kid would be made to go through that process. Come to think of it, what happened to my body after that??
I look at my body, checking for any changes. Elina turns to me,"Don't worry, the effect of the pods don't have much of a physical effect unless you use your ability."
"What ability??" I ask a bit surprised.
"You didn't know?? Poor you. They pumped us with a lotta weird juices and.....Wala!! Powers!! For me, I can basically do a buncha things like flying, super strength, hyper speed, electricity control,sonar detection and transmission, night vision and finally plasma-nuclear energy discharge. But I die if I use the last one, so mother told me to use it if I only had no choice........oohhh yesss I can also read minds."
"Wow..just wow. You're some kinda of super weapon mutation, huh." I reply with feigning a little interest. In reality, she just blew my mind.
"What ability or abilities do you have? I wanna know. Show me. Show me." She shrieks happily as skips ahead of me.
"I don't know what abilities I have neither do I know of its use." I say as I check if we were still on the correct course.
"Well.....I can teach you to use it." She stops right in front of me and says.
"So long as it does not impair our journey's plans." I reply sternly.
She makes a funny sound while blowing air out of her mouth and smiles sinisterly.
" But before that.....I'm going to fight you here. Right now. If you win, you live and I teach you. If not, you die."
I put the stuff I'm carrying down and start to wind my wrist.
"Give me your best shot, kid." .....and I smile. This is gonna be fun.
Author's note
Thank you for reading this book🙏.
Hope this chapter wasn't too long🤗.
Sorry........ for the late update though🙌.
Please don't forget to vote and comment on this chapter🔥👌.