CHAPTER 3
I felt the crash.
Of course I did.
And yet, it wasn’t as catastrophic as I expected.
I was still alive, for one thing. The compartment door dropped open with a heavy clang, and blue gel sluiced down through the floor grate beneath me.
I barely noticed. The second the restraints released, I collapsed onto my hands and knees, hacking like my lungs were trying to crawl out of my throat.
I gasped and choked on my knees as I coughed up a gallon or two of blue slime.
Then threw up the contents of my stomach.
Then coughed up some more gel. By the end of it, I was covered in the stuff and oddly exhausted for someone who hadn’t moved for days.
Eventually, I slumped and rested my forehead against the edge of the compartment’s doorway and just… breathed.
Everything hurt. But I was alive. I kept reminding myself that I was alive as darkness dragged me under again.
Some time later, I awoke to an icy spray of water coming from the vent above me.
The stream hammered against my skin, washing the slime away as the pale blue runoff disappeared down the grate below.
The gel dissolved upon contact with the water, turning slick and surprisingly soapy before swirling down the drain.
I pushed myself upright on shaky limbs and peed directly on the grate. Not my proudest moment, but the water rinsed everything away, and my bladder thanked me. My dignity was the least of my worries at this point. I was alive, and I could move my muscles again. One thing at a time.
Looking across the wreckage, I saw the alien pilot hadn’t made it.
Its body was pretty unrecognizable, and if I hadn’t already emptied the contents of my stomach, I would have thrown up again.
My throat was raw. Every muscle felt sore.
And I was trapped on a wrecked ship on an unknown planet.
But that was a problem too big to think about at the moment.
I trembled as I picked my way down the hallway, dodging crumpled and torn bits of metal and wires.
I opened all the doors to see if there was anything useful.
I found some cloth in a closet and dried myself off.
Although physically shaken and still sore, I sighed in relief.
Now to hunt for some food and dry clothes.
I moved slowly through the cabin and opened every cabinet, drawer, panel, and bin I could find.
Everything was labeled with pictograms or symbols I didn’t understand, and I was hesitant to open anything unfamiliar.
I did manage to find some sort of space suit, although it had two additional sleeves for extra limbs.
It was too large, but I rolled it up around my arms and legs, and tied the extra sleeves around my waist so they stopped flopping around.
It was dry and clean, so that would do for now.
Outside the window, the planet looked almost like Earth.
The sky overhead was a muted, dusty blue, which probably meant there was an atmosphere.
Whether it was breathable was a question I’d been too terrified to consider, but then I saw the jagged holes in the hull of the ship and figured it must be, because I hadn’t died.
Tentatively, I drew in a deeper breath. The air seemed warm and smelled slightly metallic.
It was strange, but breathable enough that my lungs didn’t immediately revolt.
Beyond the wreckage, the landscape spread out in swaths of purple and green ground cover that looked somewhere between grass and moss.
Clusters of unfamiliar plants dotted the terrain, and farther off, towering tree-like shapes rose against the horizon.
I scanned the landscape for movement, but saw no animals, no birds, no signs of civilization.
Nothing except endless stretches of strange vegetation beneath a dull blue sky.
I wasn’t desperate enough yet to open the ship’s door, but I wasn’t naive enough to think rescue was coming.
Either way, I needed to find water soon.
I spotted something moving in the distance.
I pressed closer to the broken glass of the front window as the shape grew larger, rumbling over the uneven terrain toward the crashed ship.
My pulse spiked. A ground vehicle came into view first, followed by the hulking figure I made out riding it. Four arms. Humanoid. Massive. Shit.