John looked down at his phone.
John had been searching for hours. And he still hadn't found where he was on the map.
He was running out of time.
John had no survival skills. He didn't know how to hunt, and he had no idea how to even get water in the desert. John was a man of society, and when he wasn't part of it.
He died.
There were approximately six hundred deserts on this planet. Most of them were caused by old wars. Like most deserts, none of them had landmarks. Any landmarks that could exist were quickly covered by the ever-shifting sands.
So John couldn't use landmarks to figure out where he was, and John couldn't conceptualize any other way to navigate with the map.
John sucked his lip.
I guess the first thing I should do is look for some high ground.
John stood up and started walking.
The area of the battlefield was mostly flat. The bodies of the trolls and mechs had fallen atop the dunes and flattened them. But off into the distance, John could see many, many rolling dunes.
John walked through the battlefield and towards a dune. There were dunes in every direction that John looked. The battlefield that John was in seemed to be the only place without dunes in the whole desert.
John put his foot on the dune. His foot sunk into the sand. Despite this, John took another step into the dune. His other foot sunk even deeper. Still, John took another step.
And then he slid.
John's face was battered and stuffed full of sand. The sand didn't wound him at all. But a considerable amount was shoved up his nose.
After a few seconds, John's slide stopped. He was now lying face down in the sand. He was right back where he started.
SHIT!
If John couldn't climb the dunes, then he wouldn't even be able to move through the desert at all. He would be stuck here in the dunes.
I'm going to starve, aren't I?
John's stomach was already starting to grumble a little. He had just eaten a seven hundread thousand calorie meal a few minutes ago.
John grits his teeth.
He wouldn't. He just wouldn't.
He was going to———
Murderer
John sat there in the sand. There was a shadow cast over his face.
What point was there?
He could just stay. He could stay and let it...…
John thought back to the dragon's frantic yipping when he.....
They would grieve. They would grieve when he was gone.
Beings that he had hurt. Beings that had every right to hate him for what he did. Those beings.
Would grieve. For him. For John.
I can't let that happen.
John stood up. He would do it. He would do it.
"HEY!"
John practically jumped to the moon.
Standing in front of John was a woman with a single robotic eye and a wide grin on her face.
John knew her. She was Mechna.
Mechna looked around.
"You sure haven't gone far from where I left you," Mechna said.
"I couldn't make it up the dunes. I just slide." John said
Mechna nodded.
"Hmmmm. That makes sense. You are a fatass."
John gave Mechna a slightly hurt look.
Mechna just grinned.
"Well. Do you want to get back to Homebase? I had to tell Maria about my obsession with dogs that have human faces to get here. So if you don't let me escort you back, I'll be very mad." Mechna said
John just nodded.
"Okay."
Mechna grabbed John. She hefted him onto her back.
"Damn, you are a blubbery bird." Mechna said
John just continued to glare.
And then they were gone.
Space warped around John as he was battered by a thousand different sensations.
The stabbing claws of air. The salty spray of the sea. The cutting of sharp branches. The cold at the top of a mountain. The sweltering heat of a desert. The smell of smog in the air. The scent of blood and piss and the taste of toxic gas.
John experienced all of these sensations at once.
He had heard of this before. Some of the fastest runners in the world will move faster than their minds can grasp. So, the sensory signals will get delayed and mixed, and you will experience the sensations of multiple locations at once.
Skilled runners are supposed to be able to interpret all the sensory cues at once and send prerecorded orders to the body based on that.
It's quite a difficult thing to achieve.
And luckily, John doesn't have to achieve it. It was all Mechna's work.
For a few minutes, John was here and there. Up and down. His signals were so crossed that reality had lost all shape.
And then finally. He was there.
The hum of electricity. The dazzling shine of light. The constant stuttering of unstable automatons.
John was back.
The Mechanoid Empire.
John looked up at Mechna. From the ground that Mechna had thrown John onto.
She looked down at John.
"I'll get one of the robots to lead you to your new apartment. Provided for you by the empire, of course." Mechna said
John smiled and nodded at her.
"Okay. Thank you." John said
Mechna walked over to one of the robots. She tapped its body a few times. It turned and started to shuffle over to John.
"HELL HELL HELL HELL! HELLO!"
The robot bowed and stuck its hand out to shake. John smiled at it.
He shook the robots hand.
"I am led to thehtehthehtehthetjewjrjajksehfkjas"
The robot paused.
It turned around and started walking. John walked after it.
John spent about half an hour following the robot until it stopped.
It pointed to a large Beverly hills mansion. The mansion was massive, and it had a large garden on the outside that was filled with hedges and statues. The mansion was filled with windows, and It looked to have about three floors.
"Rent is seven million per year." The robot said
That was barely a fraction of John's income.
John smiled.
"Thank you."
The robot bowed so low that it actually fell to the ground.
It quickly pushed its hands into the ground and lifted itself back up.
"GO INSIDE! ENJOY SIGHT!"