As John slowly awoke to fuzzy consciousness he could only hear a slight buzzing and a faint sound of far off rushing water. His ears rang with a high pitch calibration as his vision started to unblur. His head pulsed with massive amounts or sharp pain that moved with him as he slowly shifted his head from side to side. His eyes were open but only slowly coming into focus.
Green…he could start to make out the color green with a faint hint of blue and some white. The buzzing was becoming a bit more distinct and he could tell there was life around him. Different sounds of small creatures scurrying about and many bugs buzzing at different far away volumes almost undiscernible from silence.
His vision was in focus now…lush green took up most of his view. He was in a jungle. A very humid place rich with life and an extremely healthy ecosystem. John did his best to sit up slowly pushing his hands against the ground and lifting himself at an angle slowly. Every small movement pulsing to his throbbing head and reverberating to the rest of his body and back again.
His arms and legs didn't seem to be broken as far as he could tell, and his back seemed to be in tact. What was the last thing i remembered he thought…He found it hard to recall anything yet alone stress his brain to remember far back. I remember…bright lights…cold…so cold. I remember…being in a tight space.
He looked down at his hands that were scrapped up. Dried blood had formed in most of the deep scratches and his arms were badly bruised. On his left wrist was what appeared to be a hospital bracelet. It had a barcode horizontally and the number 3001 imprinted on it .He was wearing blue pants of a soft material that were now ripped in several places. "Ahhhh" John winced as he ran his right hand on the lower side of his right leg…There was a piece of sharp mettle bar sticking out of his leg about a half an inch deep. John slowly touched and wiggled it ever so slightly to asses the damage while berating in sharply when he moved it too much.
Clenching his teeth together hard with a deep inhale, he grabbed the exposed metal extruding from his leg and gave a swift pull, accompanied by a load painful mini scream. He used the sharp metal piece to cut a gash in his blue shirt sleeve and ripped off a good portion of cloth after a few surgical cuts. He bunched the cloth up and pressed it firmly to his steadily bleeding thigh. John sat like that for some time. Wondering were he was, how he got there, and what he was going to do to survive.
Luckily the sharp unmoving pain that seemed unmoving in his brain was slowly starting to subside, but not much. With his wound almost clotted he scooted himself towards a smooth rock sticking out of the ground and pressed the cloth against it to hold it in place while freeing his hand. He then used the metal shard to help cut a strip of his lover pant leg near the foot.
Getting a nice long even strip from the entire ankle circumference he used it to tie down the wad of cloth onto his leg. tying as firm as he could without causing too much pain. Using the closest tree for support john slowly did his best to stand shifting his wait carefully testing how bad his leg had been damaged. after many delicate pressure shifts he realized he could stand just with great pain throughout his right leg.
Slowly walking leaning against nearby trees for support to take pressure off his leg, John started to search his surroundings for any answers. Besides small bugs and dense lush forest john wasn't finding anything. Until he got towards the cliffside a few yards from ware he had gained consciousness. He gave an audible gasp in shock as he glanced a pawn a crumpled metal container…
Did I fall in that? John thought while still trying his best to remember even the slightest memory of who he was or his life before today. He investigated the crash site for any clues that might help him understand. But other than a padded seat a five point harness seatbelt and broken equipment there was nothing significant.
Wait what's this? John noticed a loop by the front end of the seat and gave it a pull. The bottom of the seat hinged back revealed a compartment and a small box with a strange symbol. The box was roughly the size of a very large lunch box but smaller then a briefcase. The box had a four digit number lock on the front. After fumbling with the turning number dials for a few minutes John decided to keep searching. Under were the box had been there was a folded brown backpack. After taking the backpack out and assessing it something caught the corner of John's eye…It was a cylinder shaped metal gadget with strange symbols. There were faint neon green lines etched into it that looked like they might line up in different ways if parts of the cylinder were turned.
There seemed to be four main sections to the cylinder each able to turn. Trying many different combinations and turning the cylinders sections had no affect. Even when the lines and symbols seemed to match up in a way that was cohesive.
John put the metal box and the strange cylinder into the backpack and put the backpack on.
it seemed to be early morning or mid day. John wasn't quite sure. If he was going to survive here he would need to find some food. Make a shelter, and find a way to protect himself from whatever might inhabit this planet. He wondered if there were other people like him out there…Just waking up. Confused, afraid, searching for answers.
Johns head was starting to feel a bit better, he started to get flashes of memories in bits and pieces. Flashes of bright lights and inaudible sounds that seemed like people talking. He honestly couldn't remember his life before today. Who his parents were, what year it was, or even his own name.
John decided that he should try to make a shelter for himself before exploring any further. It was early to mid day but John didn't want to be caught off guard at night without a plan. He was on a cliff side that he would fall a mile or so drop if he lost his footing. But at least he was protected on that side were nothing could sneak up on him.
While the pod he crashed in was safe he wouldn't be able to sleep in it comfortably. John then heard a far off high pitched rhythmic yelp of screams, followed by a different pitch of something being torn to shreds in a brutal fashion while screaming out in pain. Maybe it was an animal call? Whatever it was chilled him to the bone. The only solace John had was that the sound came from the bottom side of the cliff. Far below him but load enough to put terror in his soul. Whatever made that first sound was big and john could barely walk without pain. John could only imagine what strange apex predators might rule this jungle planet.
John returned to ware he had left the metal shard he pulled out of his leg on the ground and picked it up. Sharp on one side it would make due as a very small makeshift knife John could use to sharpen a stick.
John searched around to find the best fallen branch to protect himself but he couldn't find anything significant. He would have to search deeper into the jungle away from the crash site.
Making his way slowly he started to notice all the bugs and smaller creatures scurrying about. He saw many extremely small lizards as he walked that would scurry away at his presence. He then began to notice some birds flying in the distance every so often. It made him think just how many creatures call this planet home and what he could do to protect himself.
John had nothing if he got poisoned or hurt. No medical supply's, No one to call for help. He was utterly alone at the mercy of the forest.
Even though John couldn't remember his life before this he knew he had never seen a bird like this before. So colorful, seeming to have feathers and scales. The bird was about the size of his hand and luckily flew away after he got within several feet of it. John was happy it wasn't hostile and aggressive. John thought about this as he continued to look for a good size stick hopefully bigger then a baseball bat. He did come across some about half the size he might want but wouldn't do much good for protection.
John still had the metal shard as his makeshift knife in his pocket just incase something were to happen. he came to a small clearing where he found a small pool of water. John didn't know what planet he might be on or if the water was safe to drink. The way john saw it he was stranded on this planet. So even if his immune system wasn't acclimated to handle the water without making him sick…He would either have to test it out or would end up dying from thirst or starvation eventually.
It wasn't the most positive outlook but it was realistic. He knelt down and cupped the water in one hand observing it for a minute. Looking for any signs of parasites or abnormality's it appeared to be fine. John had a deep sigh then cupped the water with both hands and started drinking until he was quenched. It was the most refreshed John had felt since he had awaken and his head was starting to clear up.
Being able to think without pain in his head John suddenly noticed the bracelet on his left wrist and then thought about the box in his backpack. "3001" John said out load as he looked at the bracelet. He walked over to a decent size tree near by the pound and took his backpack off and sat down with his back against the tree. Opening the backpack by his side he took out the box and observed the strange symbols in closer detail. Everything seemed to have even smaller symbols built into them the closer he looked. Hmmm John thought. Each symbol bringing more and more wounder to his current predicament.
Setting the box on his legs he tilted the box to get to the number dial lock system. He slowly turned the first dial on the left from 9 until it got to 3. He heard an audible click and a terrible feeling of something sinister happening to him started to overwhelm his mind. If the number on his bracelet is the combination to this lock then what would that mean? Who would have had the planning and forethought to have this work? John felt uneasy the more he pondered the thought.
John heard a faint hiss in front of him and the sound of leaves moving. John's adrenalin suddenly shot up to 100 he reached in his pocket to get the metal shard when the hiss recurred again this time accompanied with a horrifying sight.
The small creature jumped at Johns neck with a high pitched hiss. John was able to lean to the side just in time for the creature to bite deep into the tree trunk behind him. The Box slid off of Johns lap as he rolled over onto his side scrambling to get up as fast as he could. Wiggling violently the creature unhinged from the tree and fell to the ground. Doing a push up and getting his legs under him john was able to stand, but there was one problem. He lost the metal shard he had a hold of before dodging. Was it in his pocket? No. Focusing on the creature regaining its equilibrium to get right side up John saw the faint shine of the metal shard next to the box.
There was one major problem. This creature was fast and erratic. John made the split second decision to try to run even though his leg wouldn't let him run normal. He knew that even reaching for the metal shard he might be bitten by the creature that may be poisonous. He couldn't take that chance and his flight response kicked in. While he couldn't run full speed he did his best to run as fast as he could biting threw the pain. He knew that running back to the crash site wasn't an option because of the cliff so he decided to break to the left of the pound.
Suddenly he was face to face with another creature about twice as big as the poisonous looking slithering creature. He kicked a small rock towards it and went back to the side circling towards the crash site.
He heard a hissing screech behind him but he didn't want to turn and look and kept making as much distance as he could between the two creatures. Getting near the crash site ne found a very big tree that had some low hanging branches. He decided to start climbing the best he could. Once he got to towards the top he didn't see either creature thankfully. After some time when he felt the coast was clear he went back down the tree and headed back to the crash site were it was at least semi safe.
The Box! He thought as he got back to the crash site. It clicked when i guessed the first number as three from my hospital bracelet. That means that the combination should work to open it! It also meant there was something larger at play here. Something he knew he wanted to get to the bottom of no matter how far he had to go. He needed answers, he needed to survive, but most of all he needed a way off this planet, as he felt deep in his soul that this was not the place that he called home.
The sun was starting to go down and the noises from the jungle were becoming more frequent and even louder at some points as creatures chased each other down in this hostile environment. Johns curiosity was stronger then his fear and he decided to go retrieve the box. Walking back to the pound this time on high alert, John was moving steady with purpose listening for any sign of nearby trouble. The cost was clear and the box was in sight! Holding steady he stood by the tree that he had his back against earlier and scanned all his senses for any sign of something nearby.
It was eerily quiet in an almost creepy stillness. John went for the box. He grabbed it and the backpack and headed straight for the crash site. Listening intently for anything following him…
He seemed to make it back ok without being followed by anything and almost felt relaxed. John decided his best bet to keep creatures away in the night was to start a fire. He started to gather the driest materials he could. Searching for bigger rocks to put in i circle to help keep the fire contained.
He had gathered up many tiny sticks and used the metal shard to help break apart the driest ones and started shaving the dry middle parts to help him start a fire. He dug out a little pit the best he could with his bruised and scrapped hands, Setting the medium sized rocks in a circle making a nice little fire pit.
He then made a base layer of tiny sticks then took the shavings he had made onto the base. He then then shaved off anything he could on top of that to give him the best chance at starting a fire. Placing a few choice sticks in a teepee fashion above the shavings John was ready to try to light the fire.
Using a good sized rock and his metal shard John crouched close to the tinder and started to strike the metal against the rock. He was able to make sparks but the humid environment was making it difficult to light. After what seemed like 35–50 tries John was finally able to get the tinder to catch fire. He placed the remaining sticks onto the fire one by one and it was burning nicely. John then searched the rest of the crash site gathering all the material he could that he could use in the fire. It was almost dark now and John knew adventuring too far could be fatal.
Now that he had gathered enough wood to last him through the night his curiosity now turned back to the box. He would have to try to build a shelter tomorrow since the wood he had gathered would be used for the fire. He would sleep on the ground as close to the fire as possible, hoping it would keep the night creatures away.
John wondered what might be in the box as it was fairly large. Hopefully it even had food or medical supply's he could use. Anything that would help him survive or escape this hostile jungle would be a godsend. The first number was still on 3. John was almost surprised it was after the box had been sent flying off his lap in a panic. He then set the second number to 0. Another audible click and this time an almost electric buzzing sound almost like a hum started to occur.
John's mind raced with curiosity wondering what might be in the box that could even do that. He set the second 0 for the third number and along with an audible click the box started to glow on the symbol and small neon lines began to form. The same patterns that were on the Cylinder after it was lined up with its patterns fitting together. John dropped the box on surprise as he stood up in shock!
This wasn't some normal box but some kind of advanced technology…
John was both intrigued and a bit scared to find out what might be in the box. He didn't think it was going to explode when he opened it but he was worried about his future and what would lay ahead of him on his journey after opening this box. John gathered himself and took a deep breath as he picked up the box and sat back down. His hand was almost shaking as he went to set the fourth dial.
He clicked the dial from 7 all the way to 1…
The box lid sprang open and a cold fogy mist rolled out of the box. John gave an audible gasp as he looked on with wounder and excitement…