Chapter 66: Chapter Sixty-Five

Galactic Calendar 259872/ 2000 [ Sol Year 4387/ Day 154 of 365. Sol standard year]

Days after of Crash landing/ 3

Uninhabited Island / Rock Pillar Near River

Galactic Standard Time / 0735

Burt looked down at the river, taking in the scene. It was over thirty feet wide, and some stones made bridges across if one could jump a few feet. Each one was only a few feet wide, but one at the center was ten feet long and wide. Looking at the river he saw that it was perfect, the perfect killing zone. On the other side were a lot of places to set up sniper nests and guard posts. Looking towards the ocean, he frowned. The river looked like it was deep there, that meant that anything from the Depths could come into the river’s mouth. And he knew that places where Land and Sea meat were border regions where both could prey on the other. That meant that this place might be the hunting ground of something from the ocean’s Depths. “This is bad.”

“What now?” Jinn asked with a resigned tone.

“Yeah, what terror have you heard about in a story now?” Sara asked and Burt laughed.

“No story, just experience. With everything you’ve seen on this island so far….. What makes you think they don’t live in the deep waters too?” Burt asked dryly. At their silence, he knew that he had scored a point as it were.

“How bad?” Al asked in a dead voice.

All Burt could do was shrug. “Could be something, could be nothing.”

“What do you mean……. The stones. Thing whatever’s there won’t be able to jump the rocks or should we see if we can cross upstream?” Sara asked in a defeated tone.

Burt knew that tone, he had sounded like that once upon a time. When he had been kidnapped all those years ago, he had almost not tried to get home. He first thought about using a Random Gateway until he found a way back to the Sea, but then everything happened. He had barely gotten back on his feet with help. And he owed it to them to help her now, like they helped him.

“We still don’t know if that thing is still even there. And there’s the threat behind us. We closed the door to the tunnels, but that made that place a fort with one way out. Logically we have a place to set up a camp here. If nothing flying attacks us, like the worms. But we could all get the others and then make a push for the river. If our guide can figure out a way back,” Al said softly.

Burt looked down, his map Ability already calling up possible routes to the cavern. They were thankfully not that far off from it. And if he and Jinn made the rush, they might be able to get them back here.

He was thinking about how to propose that when Jinn spoke up. “I think the best thing for us to do would be to scout out the river first. This way we know everything before deciding what to do next. But we need to make sure that we have someone watching the scouts back. Sara, you’re on overwatch with that rifle of yours. You’ve got a great view here so use this as a nest. Al, hang back and watch her. That leaves you with me Burt,” Jinn said softly.

Burt felt his heart freeze. Going with a man that he had spied on into danger, wonderful.

“Got it Jinn. I’ll keep an eye on where we came from. With luck nothing will come after us,” Al said with a smirk.

Jinn just chuckled a little. “And if it does, you’ll do what?”

“Get to you and Burt with Sara. Make a circle and defend ourselves,” Al said completely straight-faced.

“Smart. I’ll lead the way okay? Falling Leaf!” Burt called out before a green energy field enveloped him. He jumped off the rock and fell, the ground coming up fast. But he hit the ground with no more force than a falling leaf landing. The old skill that he had been taught once again helped him out. He looked up and saw the others looking at him shocked and he just waved at them. “Well, come on then!”

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Jinn looked down at Burt and shook his head. Something about Burt made him want to trust the man. The fact that he had fessed up about spying on them, was something that he could forgive. He was sure that Racha would have a lot to yell at him about it, but he was almost in Jinn’s good book.

“Good luck Jinn,” Al said softly.

Jinn only looked at his friend and shook his head. “I’ll be fine, Aether Comet!”

As the energy engulfed him, he took a running leap and went over twenty feet up. As he reached the top of his jump, he saw beyond the river. He could see another escape capsule a good hundred feet away from the river. And by the looks of things, they had a bad time since they had all crashed. He was able to see a stone fence a good twenty feet high all around the crash site. It had to be at least twenty feet out from the capsule. As he fell he saw blaster marks on the ground, they had been fighting something.

As he landed he looked at Burt and scowled. As Burt took a step back, Jinn sighed. “Found our target, but they’ve had some trouble. Trouble that they needed to make a wall to keep out.”

“Bad, very bad. If they’re on the beach itself then yeah, I can see it. But that might make it easier for us to use. The river might not have a predator there after all. they are territorial after all,” Burt said with a sigh. “But they also might have a large hunting ground. River could be part of it, but it might not be there.”

“So we still need to be careful, this might be nothing. Or it could,” Jinn said before releasing a sigh.

“First rule of survival, always look around my friend,” Burt said.

As Jinn nodded, his mind was trying to figure out how this might affect them. If they could make contact with the other capsule, even if it was under attack, they could help each other out. Besides letting Roy stay with them and if the group could get some help. But that wall, it screamed ‘Power User’, and that meant that they had trouble since the landing. And that meant that they had to meet the others if only to warn them about what happened in Roy’s capsule. “So lead the way, and let me know if you hear anything.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Sure,” Burt said as he started to walk forward along the trail. After a few moments, he spoke a tone of embarrassment in his voice. “Sorry about spying. But well, it’s saved my life a few times.”

“I can imagine,” Jinn said. He looked up at the sky as his past flashed through his eyes. The way that he had been raised, the truth and the lies. The ability to overhear anyone in the same area, that might have helped him. “Don’t blame ya really, so don’t think about it. After all, we gotta trust each other to survive.”

“Thanks. It’s not that much really. I need to focus on what I want to hear for it to work. And it needs to be in a place that the winds can reach, so locked rooms are out. But it is handy,” Burt admitted. He ducked under a branch and stopped gazing down at the forest floor.

“So it’s from your….. Template?” Jinn asked.

Burt shook his head. “No, not really. You can sometimes find what we call Skill Crystal in markets. They teach skills if you destroy them. And if someone has the right skill they can teach others skills. I learned this in the Forest Realm. This school of warriors defended one of the Gateways and I gave a good impression of them. The leader taught me that one before I left them with a trade convoy. Nice people.”

“Ahh. And you don’t have that Skill then?” Jinn asked and Burt nodded.

“Would have made my life a lot easier, but that skill is rarer than anything! I heard maybe three Templates have that one naturally. Each Template is protected, they’re considered strategic resources by well, everyone. I’ve never even been told the name of the Template,” Burt said softly. Burt stopped for a moment and looked at something he found.

Jinn saw him stop and dropped down into a crouch. He quickly found what Burt found and whistled. “Tracks, a lot of them.”

“Yeah,” Burt said as he looked up at Jinn for a second. He looked back at the tracks and moved his hand along them. “Small, like some of the lesser hunters I’ve seen. A lot of them went one way, and unless some walked exactly in a row, less returned. More credit to there being a predator nearby. And that sound? That’s the river.”

“Yeah, but we have to know for sure. So I’ll go in, you try and hear anything moving under the water. Would that even work?” Jinn asked.

Burt only looked at him and shrugged, a thoughtful look on his face. “Never tried it, might work. But I’ll only be able to give you a moment’s warning. If you use that movement Skill then maybe. But that’s a big maybe.”

“Best chance we have. And with our eyes we might survive,” Jinn said as he got up and pushed aside a branch. On the other side was the river, a mass of dead flying worms on the shoreline. He could see the stones in the river much clearer now, and they would be perfect. It would take little effort to make a basic wood bridge, but with the False Plants nearby did they dare?

Jinn looked at the river, the sounds it made were very soothing. This place was much like a few he’d seen before but looks could be false. He saw a few marks that showed that whatever body had hit the stones in the water, had been moving fast. Seeing the blood stains and the way the water splashed around it, he frowned. That coupled with the way the corpses of the flying worms were still there, told him everything he needed.

Jinn moved towards the closest part of the ‘rock bridge’, and looked down at the water. No matter what he did, all he saw was nothing but darkness. But somehow he was slowly getting one of his bad feelings again. He couldn’t know how or why, but he was getting a sense of true danger here.

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Back on the rock pillar, Al sighed as he looked back towards the clearing of the False Plants. He looked away from where the others had gone, and he tried to keep calm. The idea that the others were going into danger he had his back to them all! He knew it was the best play, but still!

Okay, maybe he was overreacting. But with what he had been through, he had earned it. He had lost friends he had known since he could think, and he didn’t know if they were even still alive. And now he had to trust that someone he didn’t trust to keep one of the few friends he had alive.

“Jinn’s moving towards the river, no sign of Burt,” Sara said softly.

“He’s what….. wait. He’s looking for the predator. That idiot!” Al snarled.

“Oh Stars,” Sara whispered.

Al felt his blood freeze as he began to turn. However much he wanted what he saw to be wrong, it wasn’t. More of those humanoid False Plants were coming towards them.

“Sara, don’t turn but more of those plant things are coming. Now keep an eye on Jinn while I handle this!” Al said as he aimed and fired. As the first headshot hit the other False Plants all screeched and he kept firing. As the False Plants kept moving closer he gritted his teeth and fired again. But no matter where he hit, they just kept coming. He couldn’t see anything that he could do to keep them back. If there was a way around the rocks, then the things could get at the others. He had to stop them, there was nothing else to do. So how could he?

As he tried to think he drew on everything he knew, trying to think of anything. Finally, he stumbled on an idea to change his weapon and make the blast stronger. But as he tried to and failed to think of how to do this, he felt something. it was a spark within him, that slowly started to become stronger. His internal nanite protection sent him a report on a new viral nanite that had activated. As he felt the flame grow until a message appeared in the corner of his right vision.

Aether Template activating/ Techno Adapt Template online. First Skill, Blast Enhance/ Freeze. Second Skill, Program Control

Al grinned as he read the text. “Well then! This is just what I needed! Blast Enhance/ Freeze!”

As soon as he said the words, a blue energy field formed around his rifle. He fired a single shot and it hit one of the insectoid False Plants. Instead of flames, ice went up the body. As soon as the ice completely covered the False Plant, the ice gained a crack before it and the body fell apart.

All Al could do was stare before grinning and firing again. As he took out the False Plants closest to the stone pillar, he felt the power flow through him. He had never felt anything like it before. As he fought on, he never noticed one set of data in the archive he carried activate.

“You know, this isn’t that bad!” Al said with a laugh. As he fired at the last one, laughed again and blew off imaginary smoke from his blaster. As he looked at the blue glow, he wondered what he could learn from it. If there was a way to understand this Power, then that might be enough. If he could figure this out, they could live. A screech from behind caused him to turn, but all he could do was stare.

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Two beings moved away from the stone walls around the escape capsule towards hills to the south. The one leading the way was a humanoid lizard with two arms, legs, and a tail the size of a full-grown man. He had a muzzle and two pure black eyes above white teeth. The lizard was dressed in a deckhand jumpsuit with the coloring of the security section. He had a rifle in his hands and he carried it like he knew how to use it.

The being next to him was larger by a foot. The best way to describe it was if someone took a bear and made it a biped. Then it gave the bear another pair of arms six inches below the top pair. The being had red fur and its short muzzle had two small fangs sticking out of the top. This being was male and wearing the jumpsuit of an apprentice engineer. He had a black belt with small gray pouches around his waist and a vambrace around his lower right arm. He had two pistols on the belt and he was carrying a heavy-looking backpack.

“So,” The bear spoke up. “A few days after crashing here. We’ve still got no signal back to civilization, and we’ve been attacked by honest Stars monsters. Aaaaaand you volunteer us for a patrol around the perimeter. Thanks Sal’go, real pleasure to know you."

Sal’go looked up and sighed. “Still a nice day brother Xordig!”

Xordig only laughed as he held up one of his right hands. “Yeah, pretty good day even with everything! And with the kid’s power, we’ve got better protection. We might survive after all. especially if we can find the others.”

“Yeah. I wonder if Jinn is even here? Now he’d be able to make a plan,” Sal’go said with a sigh. He heard Xordig snort and scowled. “He’s a friend Xor, and he hates those types!”

“More like I think he’s seen that such ways are slime. The way he reacts, he was raised wrong. I think it’s great he’s fighting back but he never talks about his world. He’s hiding a lot!” Xordig said.

Sal’go looked at Xordig and then away, letting the point stand. He knew that his friend Jinn was a private person, and that was okay. The fact that Jinn always tried to be peaceful and was full of wonder about ordinary things......... Sal’go had to admit that it didn’t paint a good picture. Add in that he was strong, and had to have military training of some kind….. even Sal’go had to admit that the picture wasn’t good. “Yeah, he is. But so are you man.”

Xordig looked at the smaller being who only grinned back at him.

“What do you mean……. What do you know?” Xordig demanded as his lower arms went to his pistols.

All Sal’go did was grin as a forked tongue shot out of his mouth. “Seen ya talk to people from all shifts brother. You’re not trying to hide well from one like me. And that some of them looked at you in respect. Followed ya and saw ya talk to someone else with that same respect from you this time. So I gotta think about all that. And it hit me a few days before all this happened. You were in an old gang back when ya all were younger. Had to have been for survival, right? You’re world wasn’t the best for ya all. You all had things happened and now you were all on the Spirit. So you’ve got a bad past, a lot of people do. So leave Jinn’s alone! He’s trying to break habits man,” Sa’go said.

All Xordig did was let go of his weapons and stared at his friend dumbly. Before he could say anything they heard the screech of a large creature ahead of them. Without a word they ran up the hill, their weapons ready to protect their own. As they crested the hill, they could only stare in shock at what they saw.