Several minutes had passed since the hairless bastard had swept him up and took off. He hadn't been lying before, he couldn't damage this man for some reason, probably the metal cloud floating around him. He was shaking. He couldn't feel his fingers.
"Breathe son.", his father's words echoed in his head.
He couldn't do it; his breath had been short since he woke up here. Every deep breath made his chest feel like exploding. This Goon head shaking him as he ran through this roofed forest wasn't helping either.
"Oi, asshole! We're not being followed, so you can stop and let me down now.", he growled.
Finally, he listened to him and dug his heels into the dirt, with the rest of the freaks stopping with him. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he flew out of the man's grip and took a stance. The hairless man just stared at him, his face held high, squinting down at him. It pissed him off. He shot forward and punched him, only to feel a wave through his fist, like he had hit a brick wall.
"Ah!", he cried out, shaking his hand.
"Morcant what the hell? If your blades couldn't cut me…"
"Fuck you!", he yelled.
"Fuck me huh?"
"Yes! Fuck you!"
"Listen Morcant I understand what you're going through, but…"
"Stop it! Stop talking! You don't have a fucking clue what I'm going through!"
Justin sighed and checked behind them.
"I told you they didn't follow us!", he insisted.
"Well maybe they will if you don't stop screaming!", Justin shouted.
"Shut it! How dare you! How could you do that?", he asked.
"Huh?"
"Braun was my responsibility! I had to avenge him, and you dragged me away. Have you no honor?", he continued.
"Morcant he was dead! You freaked and would have killed yourself, so I grabbed you."
"I didn't ask for your help! If we hadn't listened to you…"
"You would have both been killed!", yelled Justin, squinting down at him.
"Who cares? I brought him with me, it was my job to protect him, even if I had to die. You've tarnished my honor!"
"That's right. If I hadn't brought Braun with me that day, then he would still be alive. He could have lived a happy life on his parent's farm, found a girl and had a family. It's all my fault, I'm responsible for his death. I've killed my only friend.", he thought.
"So, I just should have let you run into their gaping mouths and die?", Justin asked, tilting his head.
"Exactly!"
"That's ridiculous Morcant! I'm protecting everyone, I can't just let you throw your life away!"
"That's my decision! You don't control me Hairless! Nobody can control me anymore!"
Justin stared at him for a time, then dropped his head.
"Perhaps we should keep moving little ones.", the giant elongated mole said.
"Your right Morcant, I didn't stop to consider your morality. To be fair though, I didn't have any time.", said Justin. His eyes had completely changed, to a soft, open droop.
"A complete turnaround!", he thought.
"Yea, well… next time just stay out of my way!"
"Shit, if he isn't from my world then he might think completely differently than me! No, after seeing that giant bug I know they all must.", his thoughts weighed on him.
"I guess maybe you did what you thought was right at the time."
"Next time you want to charge in I'll try not to stop you.", said Justin.
"Eh, try?", he asked.
Justin rubbed his head, the only place he seemed to have hair. "Would you be able to stop yourself from doing what you thought was right?"
Morcant looked away. "I don't know, maybe."
"Yujark is right we should keep moving."
The group walked through the forest, the giant brown spider jumping at every cracking leaf on the forest floor. It was covered in them too, leaves of red and brown. That must mean winter was coming to this strange world. He wondered if any of these weirdos even knew that. Well the big mole, no, Yujark, seemed to know his stuff at least.
"Justin, perhaps the female should ride me instead.", said Yujark.
"Hm? What for?", he responded.
"You're the best fighter we have right now, and I don't think it would slow me down any. I'm used to carrying heavy weight over much longer distances.", Yujark explained.
"Doesn't this man know not to talk about a girl's weight?", he thought.
"Oh gee, your right.", said Justin, releasing the woman.
Morcant studied the tall creature. Just what kind of animal had six limbs? Certainly, none he knew of. It also had a thick tail, a big belly and small breasts all outlined through her gown. Just why would a giant lizard have breasts anyway? "Wait look away you idiot! Are you a freak? Are you attracted to giant animals now?"
"The hell is wrong with me Braun?", he said turning to his nonexistent friend.
He threw his head back to the others, eyes closed, holding back his tears. "Just how could I forget? Why hasn't it hit me harder yet? Don't I love my friend? And why can't I breathe? The air here is so thick!"
"You're having an adrenaline run son, and possibly a panic attack. You need to get your breathing under control.", his father's words echoed in his mind.
"Can it! It's hard to breathe here! I feel like I'm under water! I swear I'll get your voice out of my head someday old man, I don't care how hard you drilled me!"
Peeking back at the others, he realized she had never seen his gaze. Her eyes remained firmly on the ground.
"I am so sorry we couldn't save the others.", said Justin with his soft eyes, but they squinted again as he gripped his fist in between them. "But I'm sure they wanted you to keep going. I'm also sure that must be hard for you, and I'm not going to pretend it will get better, maybe ever, but we're here for you if you need us."
The woman never looked up and Justin eventually walked her over to Yujark and helped her onto his long back. She just laid there like a bound animal might after it was successfully hunted down. At least they could keep moving now.
"My queen, this is shameful to ask, but could I perhaps ride one of you as well?", the big bug asked as it flew by Justin.
"Of course, what's wrong?", he responded.
"I'm exhausted from the fight I had protecting my last queen."
"Well your welcome to try to latch onto my arm, or ride Yujark, but please avoid my back. You see, my people have a natural fear of insectoids like yourself. Of course, ours are all much smaller currently.", Justin explained.
"Well at least we have that in common. That bug is freaking terrifying!", he thought.
The bug latched onto his arm like a trained bird might. "That's a relief. My people fear large creatures like you all."
"Sorry that must be hard.", said Justin.
"Since we're all chatting. I was wondering just what we we're going to do once we got to the mountain.", asked Yujark.
"Oh shit.", Justin cursed.
"What is it?", asked Morcant.
"It seemed like you might know about this place, or these creatures based on what you said earlier. We've been heading toward this mountain so again I ask, just what are we going to do about shelter?", asked Yujark.
"I just thought it would be a good place to head towards. I honestly have no idea.", said Justin.
"What! What do you mean, "no idea"? You're the ideas guy! You know what's going on here, right?", he erupted.
"Well yes but I've never made a shelter before. I might have some ideas from videos I've watched online but I doubt I could think of something able to protect us from Dinosaurs of all things.", Justin explained.
"I swear everything I hear out of your whiskerless mouth is like a riddle. I know some bush craft, but it won't keep us safe from those things roaming around.", he ranted.
"Weren't we just going to dig out a place?", the giant spider asked.
"Just what was this one called again?", he wondered.
"Hm? Can your people dig quickly Churbet?", asked Justin, eyeing the creatures many legs.
"Yes of course. Most buildings are underground after all. My parents' house just happened to be in the side of a hill, so I'm sure a mountain home will be similar. And my name is Churburret.", it said, dancing about excitedly.
"Sorry I just like to shorten people's names.", said Justin with a sideways grin.
"Ah well that's fine then. Now, since I mentioned my parents, I would like to ask about their condition again.", said Churburret, his stalk fixating on Justin.
"We need to discuss your building skills too, but you go first.", said Justin.
"Well they're quite adequate as we worked in construction, but anyway, will it be okay to leave them there like that? How long can we wait to take them to the mind? I thought it was always done immediately.", Churburret explained as his stalk wandered.
"I see, and you said ya'll communicate primarily through telepathy?", asked Justin.
"Yes, I'm surprised you don't."
"And this "Mind", is something you all made by collecting your corpses?", Justin asked.
"No, no, no. The Mind arose naturally just as we did but favored our people due to us being the only other intelligent life on our world. When our dead are added to its biomass it taps into their nervous system and collects their memory.", Churburret explained.
"So, your people grew up along a friendly hive mind and are telepathic?", Justin asked.
"Hairless I don't know if I'm following, but I think I'm gunna be sick.", Morcant interrupted, fiddling with his radio.
"Yes, yes, I'm surprised your people didn't."
"Churbet I'm going to be blunt, are you sure that this Mind is friendly?"
"Why of course, it has helped my people for tens of thousands of years. We are all connected to it, and much of the life on our world, through this telepathy as you say. The Mind tries to create as much happiness and safety as possible. We are it's children after all."
"Well that's good to hear. You said most of the life on your world?", Justin asked.
"Yes, most life is fungoid and easily modified into our network."
"Fascinating, your people seem advanced considering your verbiage, but I guess it could be the radios. I guess you went down the bioscience tree early, how interesting.", Justin rambled.
"So, my parents?", Churburret's stalk entered Justin's face.
"Churbet I am so sorry. If another mind doesn't exist in this area, then they'll decay and be gone forever. Unless you can absorb their consciousness in the same way."
"So blunt! But his eyes did go soft again there for a second.", he thought.
"I see.", Churburret's stalk drooped over his massive body as his legs stiffened. "No, I don't have that ability, only the mind can do such a thing. Losing one person like this is such a rare tragedy and I've lost two, both my parents. I can't believe this is happening to me."
"Calm down big guy. Our people deal with this all the time without a mind to connect to. We'll help you get through it. The important thing to think about is the fact that your parents surely want you to keep going on and to do that we'll need shelter.", Justin said whilst placing his hand on him.
"I'm stumped. Is he consoling him or just using him? Did he use me earlier? No, a crazy person wouldn't have such soft eyes. Wait, he isn't Kettan, maybe he is crazy. Maybe this is normal for his kind? I'm so confused!", his mind wondered.
"Of course, you saved me and seem like such a kind little thing. The idea that your people loose everyone forever is such a tragedy. I can't even imagine. Here I am breaking down over just two lives. I have a large extended family after all.", Churburret explained.
"Well losing your parents is hard. You should take time to grieve once we're safe-"
"Not at all! Now it's my turn to save all of you! It's Churburret to the rescue!", he cried as his stalk and legs danced like drying clothes in the wind.
"A complete turnaround!"
"Well, I don't know if you're people are all like this or if your just in denial, but we really do need to discuss shelter.", said Justin.
"Of course, that's what I meant! I will dig out a room, maybe some panic tunnels for everyone, and then we'll need to make a large arch over the door in case of a mudslide, and that'll do it! One house as ordered coming up!", Churburret hummed.
"And just how will he do that before nightfall?"
"And you can do all that by nightfall? Are you sure?", Justin asked.
"Oi! I thought only the spider read minds!"
"Depends on the rock, but I would be surprised if I couldn't finish a room by nightfall, especially if I get some help. Now the arch and the tunnels will have to wait.", Churburret explained.
"By nightfall, without wearing yourself out?", Justin asked again.
"Of course! You can count on Churburret, the eldest child of… oh well never mind that.", he said prancing about.
"What is nightfall?", asked Tacktay.
"Right, ya'll should expect there to by many differences between our worlds and cultures. I'm surprised we're all so similar to be honest. Nightfall is when a planet turns away from its sun due to rotating during its orbit around it. If your planet it close enough to its star, then it may not rotate or appear not to. Basically, everything gets dark for a while, despite star or moonlight. It differs on every world.", Justin explained.
"I understand. This "night" never falls onto my world.", said Tacktay.
"Will night even happen here? Isn't this world a sphere surrounding the sun?", asked Yujark.
"Good point, but if ya'll look at the black sphere orbiting close to the star you'll see that the slit in it has moved. Therefore, once it rotates far enough, we'll have nightfall, although it shouldn't be very dark as the starlight will reflect off the rest of the sphere.", Justin explained.
"These weirdos sure are clueless sometimes, but I guess Justin is right, we all must be very different." Fiddling with his "radio" as Justin called it, Morcant accidentally made a discovery. "Hey hairless, the button I use to speak with on this box can be turned and left in. It's letting me talk without pressing it."
"Hm? Nice find Morcant but turn it back unless we like, get into battle or something. It could run out of power for all we know. Oh, but we can try testing another one once we find more.", said Justin.
"Power?", asked Morcant.
"Uh if your people don't have electricity that would take me quite a while to explain. You'll just have to trust me on this one.", said Justin.
"You've asked me to trust you an awful lot since we met. How about you explain to us what's going on here and why only you know so much, now that everything's calmed down.", Morcant aggressively suggested.
"Fair enough, but everyone keep your head on a swivel. Morcant you watch our rear, Churbet watch the sides, Yujark the front, and Tacktay watch the canopy.", Justin instructed.
"He's the only one with a metal bubble around him and seems to recognize the animal life. There are plenty of little critters scurrying about, hairy ones, feathered ones, even large bugs, including in the canopy, but unlike the others he hasn't showed interest in any of them.", he thought as he saw a flash of silver. He blinked his eyes and tried looking again but was only met with more leaves.
"Alright where to begin?", Justin began telling his tale.
. . .
Justin grimaced as his dried, bloodied clothes hanged on his body. He had managed to finish explaining his encounter with Tute and Emma and what little information he had gathered from them without being interrupted. He thought Morcant might ask him something a few times, but each time he closed his mouth and looked away. He wanted to ask them for input, and especially about their cultures and technology, but seeing as they had all just lost someone, perhaps that could wait. Then again, he never did ask Yujark if he had come alone.
Thinking of him, Yujark was carrying large pouches on his sides. They didn't sway much and looked weighty, he hoped there was some food in them. Thinking of food, the party would need a water source too. Hell, there was a lot to do, tools, farming, exploration, defenses, and with it being fall food might become scarce. Just why were there seasons here anyway? Did the atmosphere simulate them or did the star move about to change the temperature?
Did the predators here survive all year on the drop site? How would that effect the ecosystem? Would it exist as a separate one? There were microraptors in the canopy, squirrels on the trees, big bugs in the air, even a batch of baby brachiosaurs scuttled about, and the trees were all modern looking. In fact, aside from the ferns at the forest edge and the dinosaurs, the environment felt very familiar. Was Tute letting everything compete here all at once? If Tute had gone mad like Emma suggested, would he be stuck here?
"Will this Tute keep his end of the deal?", asked Morcant.
"He seemed rather devoted to completing the experiments here, but I don't know what he's testing. Like, what is the test I'm doing? I've got this shroud, so the environment isn't a problem, and a scavenger hunt for a spaceport seems too simple.", Justin explained.
"He sounds nuts.", said Morcant.
"Let's hope not or we might never get out of here.", said Justin.
"When you go, I'm coming with you.", declared Morcant.
"Hm? Why? That would be dangerous.", said Justin.
"Cause after I kill those raptors that bastard Tute is next. He's responsible right? You said so yourself.", Morcant fumed.
"Right, I guess we'll see. I don't know how or if we can scavenge for food here.", he said changing topics.
"Oh, I've got plenty of fruit and a little water with me. It's what my bags are full of. We will surely need more soon though.", Yujark interjected.
"Noice.", he thought.
"I agree, I saw a river when we looked at the mountain earlier and it seemed close by.", explained Morcant.
"Well there's plenty of meat to hunt here, if it doesn't kill us first. The bird population does seem rather low though, I've only seen a couple so far.", said Justin.
"Glad you noticed.", said Morcant.
"Why do these birds matter my queen?", asked Tacktay.
"If they exist then there should be a lot of them due to their flight advantage. Which means they might have migrated for the fall and winter. This implies other animals might have or will do so, meaning our food supply could shrink rapidly.", Justin explained.
"And it means the predators will get bolder. If we make a permanent shelter, they might siege us often in the worst-case scenario.", added Morcant.
"Why don't we just follow the food? I know you people seem to like the idea of shelter being fixed, but my people live with the land and travel with the animals.", said Yujark.
"I guess we could take the river to a warmer place.", Justin thought aloud.
"We could farm crops and animals inside and around the mountain.", said Tacktay.
"Inside?", asked Morcant.
"Oh yes, if I could find some mushroom spores, I could make a garden for us inside our new home.", sang Churburret.
"My people have animals we tend to inside our hives.", said Tacktay.
"If we could get more survivors from the next eh, drop, we could turn the tide in numbers and find more weapons.", suggested Morcant.
"And collect more mouths to feed? Just how would we all get along, much less live?", Justin pointed out.
Morcant looked stunned, "You surprise me. After trying to help all of us earlier."
"I still am.", Justin looked away.
"Well we can't just let "that" continue!", Morcant said pointing to where they came from, "Even if I have to go alone."
"I guess I could try. Since I'm invulnerable I could go alone during drops and kill raptors until I get their population under control and I could kill full grown brachiosaurs for tons of food. We could farm along the river as well. To be fair I don't know how sustainable it would be for several reasons, which is why I need to find the spaceport and leave. Once I convince Tute to stop the experiments everyone here can have infinite food, but I don't know if I should leave before this place it's secure for you guys.", Justin explained.
"I guess, but we should go together so I can hunt down the one that killed Braun. Also, do you know how fast they breed?", asked Morcant.
"They should take half an Earth year at least and two at most to raise young up to a fighting size, probably. And just how will you find that specific one?", asked Justin.
"Urth years, very descriptive, and I remember it's smell, don't you?", Morcant asked.
"I guess that doesn't translate properly, we'll have to discuss time later. And no, my people aren't known for our sense of smell.", said Justin.
"We should focus on what comes next little ones. If we're staying here for just today or for a while, we'll need to start making tools and gathering food and water.", said Yujark.
"Right, we can start that while Churbet makes the cave.", said Justin.
"Of course, leave it to me!", said Churburret.
"We should also scavenge the resources left at the drop site. You found weapons there so there could be more, along with other supplies.", said Morcant.
"You know, they may live there. It could be too dangerous.", suggested Justin.
"Eh, I doubt it.", Morcant brushed off his comment.
"You just want to find that raptor.", Justin smirked.
"You're damn straight.", smiled Morcant.
Justin let the smile fall from his face as they reached the end of the forest. Rays of light danced at the edge of the trees and swam across the floor of moss and leaves coating the ground. The trees were much taller and wider than those he was used to, and he couldn't place their name. Perhaps they had once been oak, due to their long interwinding branches, and adapted to the high oxygen content in the atmosphere. He hoped his party members weren't being hurt or slowed down by it.
At the edge of the forest the ferns reclaimed the land, followed by a growing sea of grass. His eyes adjusted as they exited the trees and the enormity of the plateau dawned on him. It seemed unnatural at first, spooky even, the lone, tall rock in the middle of the forest. Surrounded by grass radially for maybe a hundred feet before the trees continued. Just what prevented them from growing right up to it?
The grass was unseemly as well. Although starting short at the tree line it quickly rose to maybe reaching three feet tall and remained so up to the plateau, where is shortened once more before meeting dirt. It swayed from the wind like the moon making ocean waves. Just what waited below them? Even Yujark stopped as the grass reached such a height, but Churburret just blindly pranced forward with his many legs.
"Hey Churbet, slow down. There could be snakes or something.", said Justin.
"Oh, I can see down here just fine. I have eyes below my mouth much like yours.", he responded casually as he sifted through the grass.
"Hm, maybe his stalk houses his brain and it has two major connection ports. Like our spine and face, his spine has his face, or maybe his spine has his stalk eye? Maybe his whole body has neurons, he's a fungaloid so there's really no telling.", Justin thought as he entered the grass sea.
The rest of the party didn't seem too keen on entering either, huddling close to him as the waded to the plateau. Luckily, they didn't step on anything other than a few rocks, although the fear of stepping into a giant ant bed was now firmly on his mind. The party spaced out and he breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the dirt leading up to the rock face. It was a steep face, reaching out to the alien sky.
Churburret leaped onto the face with half his legs and began sniffing the rock. Justin was able to confirm that he had book lungs by watching this. Churburret was literally rubbing his belly flabs on the rock, as if sampling it with the many hairs on them. He then looked around the ground and picked up a few loose rocks, even sampling the soil at one point.
"The hell have I stumbled into?", whispered Morcant.
Churburret waddled back to the group and shoved his massive stalk eye into their faces. "Yep this is good rock. I'm sure I can make a single room today. I don't think I'll have time to make a moving door though, so maybe you guys can make one out of something else."
"Really, so we're good to go here?", asked Justin.
"Well based on the dirt and rocks here I'd say rock or mudslides happen several times a year here. So, we may need to prioritize an archway and a second entrance, but that would take me several days.", Churburret explained.
"I see, well shelter is our top priority for now so go ahead with the room. As for us-", Justin began.
"We need to assess our supplies and gather more before nightfall.", interrupted Morcant.
"You took the words right out of my mouth.", Justin squinted at him.
"I have one pouch full of fruits and vegetables, and one full of water jars. There's also my quiver and water pouch.", said Yujark.
"I've just got my spear now. My bags are empty.", said Tacktay.
"Well I woke up with just my blades and this radio, what about you hairless?", asked Morcant.
"Oh, I can talk now?", grumled Logic.
"Don't be mean. They're all trying their best.", said Emotion.
Justin sighed, "I've got an empty rifle, 2 pistols, one mag for each, and my shroud. If we can all eat Yujark's food, then we just need meat and more water."
"Eh? Does anyone here need meat tonight?", asked Morcant.
The group remained silent until Justin spoke.
"Yujark how much water do you have?", he asked.
"Eight jars about the size of your head.", he said.
"That should last us through the night, right?", asked Morcant.
"Far as I know. Which means we can wait until tomorrow to go to the river.", answered Justin.
Steam bellowed from the cliff face under Churburret as he shot liquid from his mouth at the rock. The party stepped back as the rocks literally melted beneath him. Justin was stunned for a moment as Churburret casually dug out the smoldering sludge of molten rock.
"Churbet what the hell? We didn't discuss this!", Justin said as he waved at the group to step back.
"Hm? What's the issue?", Churburret stopped spraying to ask.
"What the hell is that stuff?", he asked.
"Acid of course. You didn't think I could tear through this bear rock, did you?", Churburret asked.
"Well yea I had. For me that's more believable than this. Are you immune to the acids corrosion?", he asked.
"Sure, my sweat is basic, and my body is very resistant anyway, especially my feet.", Churburret replied.
"Well listen, that steam and acid will be toxic to us, we'll all have to keep our distance from you until the cave is dry.", Justin explained.
"I see, how unfortunate. I should have thought of that, my apologies everyone. If someone could just watch my back as I dig that would be fine.", Churburret requested.
"We can work nearby and keep an eye on you.", said Yujark.
"Okay guys just be sure we keep an eye on the steam. I wouldn't want anyone to get injured you killed by it.", said Justin.
"I for one don't want to be anywhere near it. It's hard enough to breath here already! I'm going to go and collect wood and stuff in the forest.", declared Morcant.
"Wait!", Justin said. Morcant had already started walking, but he turned to listen for a moment. "It could be dangerous to go alone.", he continued.
"We were safe earlier, but if your scared you can come and help me.", Morcant laughed.
"I'm saying maybe we shouldn't split up at all.", said Justin.
"Little ones don't be unreasonable. While we should take measures to stay safe, Morcant is right. We will need to separate eventually if we want to survive here. We can't follow Justin around forever. Since there is four of us here without you two, I suggest you go together.", suggested Yujark.
Justin and Morcant locked eyes for a moment. Morcant seemed annoyed by this prospect as he squinted, and his whiskers flared with his nose.
"Fine, but keep up hairless.", Morcant said, turning and walking away.
Justin looked back to Yujark, who simply smiled and threw his head Morcant's direction. He sighed and followed him back threw the grass. Yujark was right after all, this was the most efficient way to divvy up the duties, and they would have to learn how to survive without him. He had doubts though, as a shine of silver came and disappeared in the grass.
At the forest edge Morcant started making a pile out of sticks, branches, grass, and all the kinds of leaves he could get his hands on. Justin mimicked this, hoping they could find use of this stuff.
"Hey, can't we get grass at base?", he asked.
"Oh, right. I guess we can skip that.", said Morcant while investigating a mushroom.
"You know not to eat random plants, right?", he asked hesitantly.
"Yes, hairless I know how to live off the land. I've been doing it with Braun for weeks now.", he mumbled.
"Right, sorry.", he said.
"Gods I wish I hadn't brought him with me. It's completely my fault.", Morcant sighed.
"You wanna talk about it?", Justin asked.
Morcant grunted. "I guess telling you wouldn't hurt. It all seems so silly now, and it's not like you could turn me in here or something. I skipped out on my conscription and instead of blowing Braun off to protect him I stupidly let him come along just so I wouldn't be alone."
"I see. So, you guys were on the run from like the police or something?", he asked.
"Yea I'm sure they sent a few law men after us, although we never saw them. I had no right getting Braun involved, he hadn't even been conscripted."
"Well, why did you decide to run?", he asked, dumping more sticks onto the pile.
"Cause the war is shit! The king's got no reason sending men to die just so he can line his coffers!"
"Well damn that sounds like a good reason to me. You sure Braun didn't have his own reasons for coming?", he asked.
"What really? Wait, what do you mean?"
"I mean I get that your friend might drop everything to help you, but maybe he had his own reasons and you're being too hard on yourself."
"I hadn't thought of that. Braun had always said he wanted to leave the farm life and get a sense of the world. Explore, I guess. His family didn't have a big library like ours after all.", Morcant shook his head, "But that doesn't excuse my failure today! I knew I would have to protect him, cause he wasn't trained to fight like me, and instead I let him run into that pit!"
"Morcant I don't know much about you, but I have learned to trust my first impression over the years. You seem like a steady friend and strong man. You've never fought raptors before, hell, I had no idea they could do that and I know the most about them out of our little group.", Justin explained.
"I'll never live this down. Maybe it's best that I'm trapped here, cause I don't think I'll ever have the strength to face his parents, much less mine, after running off with these.", said Morcant, eyeing his blades.
"Morcant I get letting yourself feel down for a while but let me give you a piece of advice I've always been too stubborn to embrace. Our shadows should be kept behind us. We can't change the past and we sure as hell can't fix all our mistakes. Moving forward is the only option, even if we don't deserve to."
Morcant stopped working and asked, "Who told you that?"
"My father."
"Well that sounds nice and all Justin, but what would your father say if you dodged conscription after arguing with the recruiter, a former friend of his. Or if you then decided to take his Syther Claids, the only things connecting the family to our noble heritage. Then maybe you convinced the neighbor boy to come with you. Maybe you pretended to have a plan, that you would find gold elsewhere in the colonies and come home someday but really you had no idea what you were doing. Maybe you set up camp in the desert because you were too tired to go on that day because you hadn't eaten in two days and you fucking died to some god forsaken scorpions just to find that it gets even worse. You wake up in a hell hole and can't keep the friend you dragged along safe a second time!", Morcant collapsed and wheezed as he finished ranting.
"Whoa, whoa take it easy man!", Justin rushed to his side, "The oxygen content may be different here. You may need to change your breathing."
"Now you tell me!", he wheezed, "I've been struggling all damn day to breathe. Thought it was my nerves."
"Does your world have smaller bugs and trees?", Justin asked.
"You bet, never seen a bug bigger than my hand. Now I've seen several kinds bigger than my torso in the forest alone, not to mention we've got one that talks!"
"Then you need to take smaller breaths. The oxygen is lower on your world, meaning you need to exhale more here.", Justin explained.
"Smaller breaths? I feel like my chest collapsing! I need more air!", he wheezed.
"No, you idiot your having to exhale more and more carbon dioxide the more you inhale. Would you just trust me for once? Exhale more, inhale less!", Justin instructed.
The little pink idiot finally listened to him and quickly got his breathing under control. Justin offered him a hand, but he brushed it off and wobbled up on his own.
"How the hell do you know so much? Are you a librarian or something?", Morcant asked.
"Morcant let me ask you something. Have your people invented electricity?"
"Electrawhaty?"
"How about steam power?"
Morcant shook his head.
"Iron ships? Skyscrapers? Microscopes? Space travel?"
"Microscopes! I've heard of those.", Morcant said with a proud smile.
"I see, that's a start."
"Listen my dad did get a fortune when he left our noble house, along with the blades I stole, but he's only used it on our library so far. Said he wanted us to be educated. Other than that, our farm, house, and training ground is small, but I learned a lot from those books and I've never heard of any of those weird things. Like, what's this radio? How does it work?", Morcant asked.
"Well I don't know exactly how this one works, but radio in general used electricity, or power, to transmit invisible signals across space. Power can be generated in many ways, our bodies for instance produce power and nutrients from our food, water, and air intake.", Justin explained.
"Good gods, invisible waves? Are you high?", Morcant questioned.
"Morcant, what would you say is the is the peak of you peoples technology?"
"Well, I heard they've started using a lot of iron on ship hulls, but I've never heard of ones made of it like you suggested."
"I see. Listen Morcant, my people are quite advanced compared to yours. I'm sure it's just time and luck though so don't get all jelly, but anyway, we've basically answered all the questions about the world that our ancestors thought to ask. So, if you have any questions while were together, feel free to ask.", Justin said, hoping to take Morcant's mind off of his dead friend.
"Eh? Alright then wise guy how did the world begin?", Morcant smirked.
"Your world or the whole universe?", he asked.
"Um, the bigger one."
"Well the universe either began from another one, two other ones crashing together, ours crashing into another one, or from nothing. It started out as small hot particles, but those eventually coalesced into more complicated forms, becoming atoms. These eventually formed large clouds which, due to gravity, coalesced into stars or suns. You see, after slowly growing and condensing the gases became large spheres and the centers got so hot, they started a long reaction of atoms colliding and condensing into bigger forms. These suns burned bright and hot and eventually exploded after they used up all the smaller atoms. This blew the larger ones around and next time stars formed the larger particles stayed outside the stars, having already formed their own spheres, and began orbiting the new suns. These are planets, like the ones we live on-", Justin explained.
"Good gods you actually are a librarian! I didn't expect you to have an answer! I thought no one could know that! So, wait, are you telling me that all the stars at night are other suns with their own worlds around them?", Morcant asked.
"Yep, most are small red stars, then you have a lot of yellow, white, and blue. Most planets are gas balls or too inhospitable for life, but rarely life will form or take root in the right conditions."
"So, like, the moons for example. Wait does your world even have moons?"
"Yes, we do have one, it's rather large compared to our world. Most of the moons in our system are much smaller."
"It's an actual place, right? Not just some… thing?", Morcant asked excitedly.
Justin smiled, "My people have been to our moon."
"No freaking way! I don't believe you! How did you even?"
"You know how bullets are propelled by an explosion, and how coal burns?", Justin asked.
"Don't tell me…"
"Well using exploding fuel, we propelled an airtight vessel out of the atmosphere and into orbit around the moon. A smaller ship went down, and our men left it in airtight suits. They then came home with their remaining fuel. Our moon is an empty rock with no air though, so we haven't returned."
"Wow, unbelievable. So, are worlds like this common too? Reverse worlds?", Morcant asked.
"No, this place was built. Probably by using living metal, nanomachines, like the ones making up my shroud. By providing them resources they bred and formed this place around a star. Now Tute performs experiments on everyone here."
"Right that asshole. Well I can help you take him down; I've got nothing better to do after all.", suggested Morcant.
Justin looked away. "Hey, we've collected a few loads of shit, maybe we should start taking it back."
"Oh right, lets.", said Morcant, smiling now.