"Sir, there's been an unknown disturbance in the forest."
"Of what sort?"
"We don't know, but reports say that a building spontaneously appeared in the forest. It stinks of Renawn tech, but the building appears to be in disrepair, and they wouldn't come so close without declaring whether their intentions are hostile or diplomatic first."
"Diplomatic?" Laughter came over the transmitter. "When's the last time that Renawn have sent us a diplomatic envoy?" More laughter was heard. "No, I think that it's more likely that they're either defectors or something stole from them, but we can't ignore it either way."
"Understood. What do you suggest we do?"
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My discovery shocked everybody else, but I was able to prove it after injuring myself in front of them again. I'll have to figure out exactly what this means and its capabilities, but for now, our first priority is orienting ourselves, finding out what exactly happened, and .
Most people are, and we pulled out anybody still in the room that are both unconscious and alive. Of the 4 members of my segment, everybody survived, but Thompson's assistant, Natalie, did not. It seems that there was a hole the size of a pinprick in her suit right above her heart, and whatever happened tried to pull out her lungs, heart, and other things through it.
The good news, though, is that there seem to be no casualties from my segment. I took a quick headcount and counted Thompson, Hansson, Akeem, Smith, Nuñez, and myself. Thompson and Smith are still asleep, but everybody else is awake and sitting on rocks that we found at the edge of the clearing that we landed in.
I'm nervous, though, because it seems like it's almost sunset, and I don't want to spend the night without shelter or light. "It looks like night might come soon, and I don't want to spend it outside."
"And where exactly do you suggest that we go?", says Hansson.
"I don't know, but I don't want to spend it out here."
"The only shelter nearby is the building, but I'm not going in there.", says Nuñez.
"I guess that we have to camp outside the building and use what little of the walls are left as shelter.", Hansson suggested.
So, we followed his suggestion and decided to sleep next to the wall and to use one another for warmth. These suits aren't designed to keep people warm. I slept not too long ago, but I'm still exhausted. Akeem offered to keep watch, saying that he couldn't sleep anyway.
When early morning came, I woke up, and I found everybody else awake too. "And now we can go." I'm still exhausted, so I don't know what's happening.
"Where?", I ask groggily.
Akeem and Nuñez both answer, saying "That's my point!" and "Anywhere!" at the same time, with Akeem arguing for the latter. Thompson is sitting a few feet away from everybody else in a fetal position.
"You don't know what I saw!", yells Akeem.
"And neither do you! You've been shocked so hard by this that you're imagining things!", Nuñez yells back.
"One day, my eyes may fail me, but the stars will not! I have sailed with my father since before I could walk! I know the map of the heavens better than a map of my own country! I spent the night watching eyes in the dark, hearing the snuffling of unknown things a foot away, and watching the skies to find out where we are!"
"You may not believe me, but perhaps you will believe your own eyes! Look up! Do you see that purple planet! It is a different color than anything in our solar system! I do not know where we are, but we are no longer on Earth!", he rants angrily.
Thompson starts whimpering and looks like he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown. "Ok, ok, maybe you're right. I don't recognize it either.", I interrupt. "But what do you mean by eyes in the dark?"
"I do not know if this planet has no moon or what, but there was no light while you all were asleep, but I could still see the gleam of eyes in the dark and hear something rooting around not 20 feet off."
"Ok, but that that doesn't mean that we're on another planet."
"The animals don't, but the skies do!", he argues.
I can practically feel everyone's hearts sink as we accept that he's right.
"Fine!", Nuñez acquiesces. "But the fact that we're here means that there is a way back through the D.E.M.E.T.E.R."
My heart soars, but then Smith speaks for the first time since we got here, "Haven't you seen it? It's been destroyed." Everybody other than Thompson starts yelling, but Smith insists that what he said is the truth until I decide that I have to go check on it or we'll never get anything done.
I nearly lost consciousness again, but I confirmed what he said. "It was split into two pieces and then mangled beyond recognition. The only reason that I was able to identify it is because I found this name plate by the door." I hold up a plate that say "D.E.M.E.T.E.R.", and I can see everybody die inside.
I sigh and continue: "So, to make sure that everybody understands our situation, I'll list what has happened: the D.E.M.E.T.E.R. has malfunctioned and caused... the mess in there; something has caused us to develop the ability to heal far faster than we ought to be able to (or at least I can)..." I pause for breath.
"...we might be on a different planet; Thompson appears to be having a mental breakdown; there are animals nearby; and the trees around us are of an unknown species. I think that that's all."
Then, Smith jumped in. "No, you forgot the fact that we're stranded, have no food or water, our only shelter is a wall, we have no way of finding out where the hell we are, and we have no clothing or supplies other than a few pieces of scrap metal and our suits."
Akeem interrupted him. "You also forgot the fact that there are animals nearby and we need to move so that we can both escape them, find things, and solve all of these problems."
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We continued to argue back and forth like this for nearly an hour when we heard something behind us. Everybody other than Thompson jumped 10 feet in the air, but Akeem must have jumped 20.
Unfortunately, Akeem's suspicions were confirmed as soon as we turned around. We found ourselves facing what can only be described as a dragon or other flying reptilian. Aside from an occasional speck of black, its scales were a very deep red and its teeth could lead any Viking to flee in terror.
Its claws were extremely thin, but you could tell that they were as hard and sharp as an obsidian scalpel, but that was not the most impressive about this encounter. The most impressive and terrifying thing about it is what was on its back.
None of us had ever seen a Goun suit before, so we were all scared out of out minds. Turning to face that metallic suit with the lights coming out from the ridges and an electric shield surrounding it made us think that we were being confronted by a god, and that was before we saw what it could really do.
And when he spoke, we jumped yet again, because it was a language that we didn't understand at the time, and you know how the suit garbles your speech. This only made him seem more terrifying in our eyes.
You know, at the time, I was terrified of him, but now that I can look back on the past, I'm glad that he brought us in, even if we had to sacrifice Thompson to get in.