As Mira and Vega jumped out of the train they dropped about 10 feet and crash landed onto what appeared to be a field of corn crops.
"Ouch," Mira said getting up to dust herself off, "What... what is this place?"
2 bright lights shone above as 2 suns illuminated the sky one in the west and one in the east. On the ground beneath, Mira's and Vega's visions were mostly blocked as just a short distance away were non-flattened tall standing corn crops in every direction aside from a small path that cut out a path. Faintly, they could see some mountains in the far distance. As the two looked up they noticed that any trace of the Galaxy Train they had been on had suddenly disappeared from their view in the sky.
"Welcome to Andromicus!" a voice suddenly said causing both Mira and Vega to jump. It came from the tablet that Vega was still holding. On it he found a variety of available menu options.
1. Map of surrounding area
2. Information of Planet and Current Region
3. Exit back to Galaxy Train
"Huh... how convenient," Vega said clicking on the "Information of Planet and Current Region button".
"The Planet Andromicus is the 3rd planet of the double star system Gamma 4 and Gamma 5 of the Andromeda Galaxy. Currently the human societies on this planet have evolved to roughly a level 3 Feudal age civilization of technology. The current region you are in is known as the Republic of Mudna with a capital with the same name. Here, they have developed worship of their god Dragna. In the city is a monarch who has claimed to have talked to Dragna in his dreams. Of course the monarch cannot actually talk to Dragna as in fact Fetnas are transmitting long distance brainwaves into his brain and giving him information on building the empire. When the monarch grows old and sickly, the Fetnas will choose another person usually the previous monarch's son, to transmit brainwaves to"
"Fetnas..." Mira repeated, "That must be what the aliens call themselves."
"Yeah that's true, it would be strange for them to call themselves aliens wouldn't it?" Vega replied, "But looks like we got lucky! It looks like we're on a human colony."
"Yeah, I wonder how many of those there are exactly?"
"Hundreds? Thousands perhaps even? Or maybe just the 4 who knows. Anyways, what do you think we should do? Should we go to Mudna?"
"Let's look at the map before deciding," Mira replied clicking the back button and then tapping "Map of Surrounding Area"
As the two examined the map, they saw that the closest city was in fact the capital Mudna, around 5 miles away from where they were currently.
"Well what do you think, should we check it out?" Vega asked
"Well let's see, we don't have food, we don't have water, and all we have at all are the cloths on our backs and that tablet of yours. So the real question is, do we really have a choice here?"
"Actually we do. We can choose to go back to the Galaxy Train and try another planet." Vega suggested, "You've played a lot of history games what do you know about the Feudal Age?"
"Hmm... if I recall that means that they have swords, archers, and cavalry in terms of military but no gunpowder yet. Other than that, I'm pretty sure Lunescape is a feudal age civilization."
"Ha damn I'm good," Vega responded smugly, "What I'd tell you, we just exited the tutorial level."
"Yeah, I do suppose that's one way to think about it," Mira chuckled, "Alright yeah you know what let's do it, let's head to Mudna."
And with that the two began heading west towards one of the suns to begin their adventure on their first planet away from Polaris.
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"I don't get it Earl..." Dale said as he began typing a few buttons on the control deck section of the Fetna spaceship they were both on. Besides him in a chair, sat the captain who was staring intensely at a tablet in his hand.
"If they're just 2 humans and there are billions of humans under our control, why do they matter so much that we have to hunt them down?"
"What the hell are they teaching you at the Fetna Academy these days..." Earl replied sighing, "Ever heard of the butterfly effect? The point of harvesting these planets, if you recall, is not just to harvest the humans once their civilization reaches a certain point, but also to ensure they reach a planetary point so that we Fetnas can inhabit the urban areas they left for us. The smallest change in the system with humans learning the truth about Fetnas especially to a major capital city of one of the planets could lead to them either self-destructing each other, or never building the necessary technologies to advance to the next age."
"I don't know Earl, you really think two humans can have that sort of effect? Won't they know the truth about us if we just show up too also?"
"That's why we're doing this first," Earl said pressing a few buttons on his tablet. In an instance both Earl and Dale's bodies transformed into two regular male humans with dark hair and average build. Their cloths along with them transformed into white linen shirts and brown wool pants.
"Now if they land on Nestbula or Doineberg, they won't really do anything so we actually just have to search Turbula and Andromicus."
"What are we going to do when we find them?"
"At this point Dale, they're too dangerous for just a memory wipe. So we'll just kill them and take them back for fuel."
"Earl are you sure this is worth it?"
"Dale if Rigel finds out about this, we're both getting fired. Do you want that scholarship for school or not?"
"Yes sir"
"Good" Earl said pressing a button on his spaceship, "We're starting with Turbula then."
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As Mira and Vega began walking along the flattened corn trail towards their destination, they arrived at a river with a bridge leading into the city. Stationed there in front of the bridge were two guards who Mira and Vega recognized as knights from the video games they had played from the time period due to the chainmail and helmets they had on. Before approaching the knights, Mira and Vega huddled up to discuss a strategy to talk to them.
"Those guys look pretty scary, what should we say when we approach?" Mira asked.
"Hmm... probably where we're from and what our purpose coming here is. Something like that right?"
"Alright, should we just tell them the truth?"
"No I don't think that's a good idea. Given what the tablet says about the technology era of this place, I doubt they'll believe we're from outer space let alone another planet."
"Well shit, what do we do then, just make up a location?"
"No perhaps..." Vega pressed on the map button of his tablet. He slid his fingers on the screen and sure enough the map display was movable. After a bit of scrolling through the region, the two were able to see that there was a town nearby named Kitavi.
"Alright, let's just say we're travelers from Kitavi, that should work right? We're travelers trying to find work."
"Yeah sounds good, let's do it."
With the plan devised the two went up to the guards.
"Hello, my name is Vega and..."
"Bwahahahahahaha."
Vega was interrupted however as one of the guards started to burst out in laughter.
"What... what's so funny."
"I'm sorry it's just you guys have the funniest paintings on your forehead hahahahahaha," the guards said.
Embarrassed that they had forgotten the permanent tattoos, Mira and Vega quickly put a hand each on their respective foreheads covering up the marks.
"And what's with that get up?" One of the other guards asked. Vega was wearing a white t-shirt with blue jeans and Mira was wearing a black t-shirt with brown khaki shorts. Those were very standard given attire in Polaris but quite odd for a feudal age civilization like Mudna.
"We're... we're adventures," Mira muttered flustered at the laughter.
"Bwhahahhaha no you're not," one of the guards said, "you're very clearly a maid and it seems very clear that he's a janitor."
"No no we're... nevermind," Vega said sighing, "Anyways we're from the neighboring town of Katavi and were wondering if we find a new home here in Mudna."
"I don't know, I don't think we have any janitor or maid jobs available, bwhahahahaha"
"For the last time we're not..." Vega exclaimed looking visibly frustrated, "look can we get in or not. My partner here and I have been traveling for days now so we could really use some rest."
"I don't know Mr. Janitor and Ms. Maid, are you two... "Clean" of any weapons hahahaha" one of the guards said causing both to burst out laughing.
"Yeah we have nothing on us." Mira replied awkwardly with a faint smile. On the inside however she was trying her best to resist the urge to punch one of the guards.
"Oh yeah? What's this then?" One of the guards said pointing at the tablet Vega was holding.
"Oh that? That's uhhhh... that's my hand mirror."
"Really? I've never seen a hand mirror like that before. What do you use it for? To remind yourself that you're a janitor hahahahahaha."
"Yeah... something like that," Vega groaned "We're getting headbands asap"
"Alright alright let's just do a quick search here then," one of the guards said. The two started feeling up the bodies of Mira and Vega to check for any possessions.
"Hey don't touch there!" Mira said as one of the guards started moving one of his hands a little too far down her back. She gave in to her anger and punched the guard knocking him to the ground.
"Mira Nooooo," Vega said grabbing Mira's wrist "Sor... Sorry about that! My uhhhh... maid partner here doesn't know how to hold back sometimes." On the inside however his only thoughts were. "Serves him right"
"That's quite alright," the knocked down guard said dizzily getting up, "I didn't know maids packed that much of a punch. Anyways you guys are good, just follow the bridge into the city. When you get in you'll need to register your info at the central building. How long are you guys planning on staying?"
"Well actually we were thinking of moving here at least temporarily," Vega exclaimed
"Do you have money?"
"No?"
"Then you'll probably sleep on the streets the first few days," one of the guards replied.
"Right, sounds good let's get going then," Mira said grabbing Vega by the arm. She had wanted to leave the guard's sight as soon as possible as to not hear another stupid maid or janitor joke.
As they were crossing the bridge one of the guards shouted at them.
"Hope you two don't get too dirty sleeping on the streets or you'll have to "clean" yourselves off"
Sticking up a middle finger back at them Mira angrily entered the city gates with Vega
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Unlike his friend Vega, Spica did not have many aspirations growing up and instead felt extremely content in the city of Polaris. He had his video games, his movies, and his books. He didn't need to worry about abstract human concepts like wealth, nor where his next meal would come from. In the eyes of Spica and many of the citizens surprisingly enough in Polaris, there weren't many real complaints about the living conditions.
Still, despite his laid back attitude towards life, Spica had always been a good friend to Vega and was at least willing to listen to him whenever Vega went on his persistent rants about such things like uncovering the truth of the world and the human condition. Despite their personalities being so different, the two were genuine friends who cared about each other after all which is why when Irena arrived back to find Spica at the arcade, he immediately paused the shooting game he was playing to ask her some questions.
"Any news on Mira and Vega?" He asked.
At the question Irena had to think carefully about how she wanted to answer. In the back of her mind it would probably have been prudent to simply knock Spica and wipe his memory with the tablet back in the interrogation room but something stopped her. Perhaps it was the shocking truth that Vega and Mira had actually managed to escape onto the Galaxy Train. Perhaps it was the resolve in Vega's voice and the unyielding courage he displayed in the face of the unknown. Perhaps Irena felt a genuine bit of lose when Vega and Mira left. She and the two along with Spica had actually become pretty good friends the past month or so. Even though the gap in knowledge of the truth meant Irena had a hard time really connecting with any of them. Still, whatever the reason, she felt she needed to at least talk to Spica a little bit first before wiping his memory clean of Mira and Vega's presence.
"No, I haven't" She replied.
"Ahhhh that's too bad, it's been pretty fun the last month hasn't it? Hope they show up soon."
"Yeah..." Irena muttered, "Say Spica, you've known Vega for a while now right? You guys were friends even at school, what was he like when he was younger?"
Irena had of course already seen Vega's mind wiped 3 times previously but still felt the need to ask the question if nothing else but to have a small memory of a man she likely would never see again in her life.
"What was he like when he was younger?" Spica replied, "Odd question but to tell you the truth, not much different than how he's acted the last month. He's always been you know... a bit of a skeptic."
"Skeptic? In what way?"
"Well you know, you heard him recently talk all about those conspiracy theories about who runs the world and what humans are meant to do and such right? He's always been like that frankly, coming up with different theories and what not about what was really going on with anything. He's a bit of a forgetful person though. There were a few times where he would tell me the exact theory he had come up with just a year before on what GIA was but insist it was his first time coming up with that theory."
"I... I see..." Irena replied, "Those times when he forgot must have been when his memories were wiped"
"Can I ask you another question Spica?"
"Uhhh... sure go ahead." Spica thought raising an eyebrow. Irena had normally been a very reserved and quiet person towards him so it was quite interesting in his mind that she suddenly started asking questions out of nowhere.
"What do you think happens after death?"
At the question, Spica's suspicion once again heightened. It was even more out of character to him for Irena to ask something philosophical.
"You sure you haven't seen Vega recently?"
"No... no of course not what makes you think that?" Irena asked.
"That's the exact type of question Vega would ask me at times," Spica replied.
"Really? How did you respond when he did?"
"Well if you're talking about the exact question you just posed, I suppose my answer was something along the lines of "I don't really think about it"" Spica answered, "I know I know boring non-answer, but it's one of those things I actually don't really think about you know?"
He scrolled through the screen of his controller until he got to the game "Dokemon Coliseum"
"It's kind of too scary and too depressing for me to think about you know? For all I know when we die we get reincarnated into another land with colorful creatures like Dokemon."
"Yeah... haha or maybe something like Lunescape," Irena chuckled. She couldn't help but smile a little at the optimism Spica held.
"But you know Vega always had a different answer to that whenever he posed the question."
"Really? And what would that be?"
"He always said it didn't matter because he plans to be immortal."
"Immortal?"
"Well... immortal isn't quite right. Obviously Vega knew the limitations of humans and that inevitably one day he, like everyone else, would pass from the world. It was more like he would always trick his brain into thinking he was immortal saying things like how he's going to see everything in the entire universe, and uncover all the truths outside of Polaris one day, and to do that he can't be afraid of death. And to not be afraid of death, he just made it easier on himself by thinking he was immortal..."
"Huh, so like being in denial of things?"
"Haha yeah something like that. I mean while everyone else was pretty content just being grateful for everything in Polaris, Vega was never truly satisfied with it all. He's someone that believed anything is possible if you tried hard enough no matter how stupid it sounded."
"Anything is possible, " Irena whispered to herself. It honestly sounded nice in her head.
"Anyways... hopefully he turns up in a couple days so you can ask him some of these questions yourself. You trying to do a battle with me in Dokemon today though?"
Despite knowing she had to wipe Spica's memory before the Fetnas came back, something about the conversation Irena had with Spica just now and witnessing Vega not care one bit and simply take off running made her not want to carry out her orders however. She had a few days anyway before Earl said he'd return.
"Sure," She said, "Might as well practice for the next world after death."
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When Mira and Vega crossed the bridge and walked inside the tall grey walls of the city of Mudna, they were greeted at the entrance of a red brick rectangular building with the words "Central Building" imprinted on top of the door.
"Greetings! Mr. and Mrs...Bwhahahahaha,"
As the two entered the building, much to the dismay of both of them, a bald middle aged man wearing a white linen shirt and grey wool pants greeted them not too differently from the characters in Lunescape Mira and Vega had seen. Behind him were various people who seemed to be in lines of various lengths that lead to tables with people writing down paperwork for them. Of course, being distinct in both cloths and forehead marking, the people inside the Central Building turned around and laughed at Mira and Vega mercilessly.
"Sorry... sorry I'll control myself," The man that greeted them said composing himself as Mira and Vega quickly covered their foreheads up with their hands, "Welcome to Mudna Mrs and Mr..."
"Star! Vega Star!" Vega said before putting his hand out to introduce Mira, "And this is my partner here Mira Star."
"Right..." The man replied, "Must be from the countryside, everything from their cloths to names are ridiculous".
"Welcome to Mudna Mr. and Mrs. Star, what exactly are your plans for coming to Mudna? Here to visit? Move in?"
"We're here to..."
"Move in!" Mira declared.
"Yeah, move in I suppose" Vega said although in reality he was not sure if this was the real long term plan for the two.
"Okay not a problem, currently our usual monthly rent for housing units in the city go for 100 copper pieces a month. If you want to stay at an Inn temporarily, there are various ones around the city as well that vary in price. Which of the options do you prefer?"
At the questions Mira and Vega simply looked sideways at each other blankly. The two of course did not have a single thing on them outside of the tablet and the clothes they had on much less anything resembling currency. After about a minute of being unsure how to respond to the inquiry Vega finally spoke up.
"Yeah... about that."
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"This spot should do!" Vega said lying down under a giant oak tree he and Mira had found in the middle of town. The two Polaris runaways had spent the majority of the day wandering the city lookin for work to do. Unfortunately, not having any real skills so to speak up that would acquire them a decent job in Mudna, Mira and Vega's quest for a job that day came up mostly fruitless. Most of the places they had been searching in fact had the same reactions as the guards did when they first entered the city. That is that most just laughed in Mira's and Vega's face at the tattoos on their foreheads and foreign cloths they had on. It was nearly nightfall before finally they found a general store named Nova General that agreed to hire them for 5 copper coins a day each to do shop maintenance and store clerk work. Unfortunately due to the late arrival, the shop was already set to close for the day leaving Vega and Mira currencyless for the day and forcing them to sleep outdoors for the night.
"This sucks!" Mira cried lying down on her stomach on the grass exhausted from walking around all day, "I want to go back to Polaris! I want to play Age of Milita, why are we even here."
"Oh come on this isn't that bad" Vega replied, "It's uhhh... like I said! Basically real life Lunescape."
"I'm pretty sure you get starting items in Lunescape," Mira groaned, "And so much for switching up the lifestyle, we're going to be doing the same thing we did in Polaris but now without a roof over our heads."
"True but... do you always need a roof over your head to enjoy life?" Vega responded staring up at the sky. The planet Andromicus had 3 visible moons of various sizes that were all gleaming in view above the horizon. As well, a number of stars twinkled throughout various parts of the sky in different formations. For Vega, it was even more beautiful than he had imagined them to be in the books that he had read.
"Yes obviously it's cold out here!" Mira said huddling her arms into her shirt
Vega scotched himself closer to Mira and turned her over before putting an arm around her shoulder.
"What... what are you..." Mira exclaimed blushing.
"What? You said you were cold, this should warm us up" Vega chuckled. He pointed a finger towards the sky.
"Where do you think Polaris is at in the universe?"
"Hell if I know... but I wish we were there right now." Mira pouted. Her stomach was growling as well as the two had also not eaten a bite the whole day.
"Oh come on, don't be like that" Vega sighed, "I mean it's too late to go back now anyway, might as well enjoy where we are you know?"
The two lay motionless there for a few moments just looking up at the lights of the sky. For all the trouble that befell them for the day, the first night seeing something like the stars and moons above their heads certainly did awestrike the both of them. The two sat there for a bit to simply take in the atmosphere of their location.
"Yeah... I suppose it's not so bad," Mira finally said breaking the silence. "You think there's meaning to it?"
"Huh?" Vega responded surprised at the question. It was the sort of question that Vega thought about a lot himself but not the type of question he expected to come out of Mira's mouth.
"What? You're the one talking about the human condition and stuff like that all the on Polaris you know. Surely you have an answer."
"Yeah... that's why I'm surprised you're the one asking it."
"And why's that?" Mira said slightly annoyed, "you think I'm incapable of thinking about deep things or something?"
"No no it's just..." Vega said trying to select his next words carefully. In all honesty Mira had actually read Vega's mind perfectly as Vega did in fact not have a high opinion of Mira's philosophical thinking abilities. Of course not wanting to offend Mira, Vega did not voice these thoughts out loud.
"Fine, forget I asked, let's just go to sleep then." Mira said turning over to face away from Vega.
"No no it's a good question," Vega stammered, "I feel like I'm rubbing off on you."
"Yeah probably, I mean we've spent the last 30 days together, only natural."
"Meaning to what exactly?"
"I don't know you're the expert when it comes to rambling philosophical nonsense."
Mira paused for a moment before speaking again.
"I guess just like meaning to anything really... to life, to humans, to the universe or whatever. One day we're happily playing video games, and the next we're in some unknown land and find out our previous lives were controlled by aliens. Why do you think it's like that?"
Vega thought for a moment on his answer. In all honesty, aside from the last part, the meaning of things was a question he had thought to himself for as long as he was alive. For some reason however, he was not able to find the words for the question now that it was posed to him by someone else. After about a minute of thinking, he finally spoke.
"In all honesty I don't know, I guess that's not something I think about too hard."
He looked at Mira who just stared at him puzzled. After a brief moment of silence Mira couldn't help but giggle a little bit.
"Now it sounds like I'm rubbing off on you." Mira responded, "Maybe you're right, maybe we should just pretend it's Lunescape and have fun."
"Yeah true" Vega said with a smile on his face, "True just pretend it's Lunescpe and just make shit up as we go."
"By the way, did you feel like..." Mira started to say turning her head back and forth to look at her surroundings.
"Feel like what?"
"Feel like we were being followed today"
Vega looked at her with a bit of concern.
"No but that can't be impossible. You think there are Fetnas here?"
"I don't know, but I definitely felt like someone was watching us today when we went around the city for reason." Mira said, "Call it intuition or whatever, I just have a strange feeling.
"It's probably nothing, I mean even if it was, what are we going to do at this point?"
"Yeah I suppose that's true..." Mira said yawning, "Whatever let's just get some rest, start work tomorrow fresh!"