Quote from: Gblitzz on April 13, 2021, 08:25:26 PMGlad you liked it!
This is a great story. I really enjoyed this.
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Part 8. In the wilds of tranquility
I was returning to our hideout. Alone. I know I should have done otherwise, but... This is not a mission to save everyone. More precisely, I had to save myself. Perhaps even at the cost of other lives. Other lives... I completely forgot about Annie. I had to give up this job on Geyama. Annie discouraged me, but I didn't listen. She knew what I was doing - I just couldn't lie to her. And now we were separated not only by light years, but also by time itself.
On the way home, I collected some medicinal roots. As Link said, they can be used to make medicinal herbs for treating wounds. At the entrance to the shelter, I saw our boar - she was sitting not far from the fire and looking thoughtfully at the tongues of flame. After standing for a while at the door, I went inside, drank water and went to bed.
At about 3 am I woke up and decided to return to the place where the escape pod fell. I was sure that that girl had already died of blood loss. So I can take her weapon and supplies. After all, the dead don't need them.
On the way to the capsule, I noticed a human body lying on the ground near the stones. Coming closer, I saw that this was another woman. Her blue hair was scattered on the ground, and there was no clothing on her body. It seems that this planet attracts women like a magnet. The main thing is that there are no warlike Amazons here. Trying to walk as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the sleeping woman, I moved on. The capsule was very close.
The emergency light inside the escape pod was very dim. I tried not to look at the face of the already dead passenger and began to rummage through the backpack that was lying in the corner of the capsule. Some gold, electronic details and water - that's all the catch for today. After checking the rifle, Link and I were upset - it was unloaded. The jackpot turned out to be a dummy. Having collected all our things, we went back to the house. The dark sky gradually took on a rosy hue - dawn should have come any minute. After breakfast I went to cut trees. Materials for the wooden clubs were needed.
- You know, Link - I said, pulling away another felled tree - In our house there are two units of firearms. And both are empty. If God exists, then he has a peculiar sense of humor.
- Much funnier that we were attacked by two ducks that should not have attacked - said Link.
- Yes, but still - I stopped to take a breath - Don't you think this planet is somehow strange?
- Not yet - Link blinked a light bulb on the Sigma case - for a prison planet, where time is accelerated 6 times, quite acceptable events are taking place. Just never mind.
- I hope you're right, - I said.
Towards noon, I again moved to our shelter. In a couple of hours I made three more clubs and a short bow. It was very poor quality, but it performed its function of shooting arrows at the target. After a short training session with a tree as the target, I went on another berry hike. Now we had weapons and we could fight back anyone. Almost.
Dusk was slowly falling on the forest. Link advised me to fry the berries over a fire - the likelihood of poisoning in this case was less than if I ate the berries raw. Towards evening I decided to have some fun and made a peg for throwing horseshoes. The horseshoes themselves, like the peg, were made of wood, but this did not bother me - it was necessary to somehow distract myself from all these situations. Otherwise, you can go crazy.
In the evening, while lighting a fire, I noticed several bright lights in the sky. It seemed that they were flying at us, but at the last moment they changed their trajectory and fell somewhere in the forest. "Meteor shower," Link remarked. "Lucky they didn't fall on us." Later, falling asleep, I noted that this day was the calmest in our entire short journey. Whether it was the traditional calm before the storm or just coincidentally, no one knew for sure.
The next day began with further clearing of the eastern wall of the house for expansion. Having reduced the forest fund of Torkularis by a few more trees, I built a new wall. Now there was enough space inside. Link advised to build an agronomist's table and a table for cutting stone: the first was needed to create medicinal herbs and obtain seeds from plants, and on the second one could cut stone fragments into blocks and build stronger walls from them. True, it has not yet been possible to make medicinal herbs - we decided to stop at cutting granite fragments and creating an ax from the blocks obtained. The rain that started at lunchtime made me bored to death, so I decided to go to bed at about ten o'clock in the evening.
Several days passed in peace and quiet. The granite ax helped a lot in felling trees, and the new wooden shelves inside the house and outside housed various objects of our everyday life. I removed the second bed, because so far there was no need for it and even started laying marble tiles on the floor of our modest home - I was already tired of living in mud and wanted at least some comfort.
During another walk in the woods, we were again attacked - this time by two cats. The animals showed all the same signs of aggression as the two ducks that attacked us on the third day. I tried to get away from them by shooting on the run. And even got hit once. But the animals caught up with me, knocked the bow out of my hands, and I had to use my weighty argument in the form of a club. When all the aggressive animals were calmed down, I went home to heal the wounds - the cats left me a laceration in my left ear. And I almost lost my eye. Link put forward a theory that perhaps the aggression comes from some source. Or animals were exposed to this source, after which they became aggressive. Personally, I didn't care who or what made them so insane, as long as these test subjects didn't run around in our area.
After recovering from minor injuries, I continued to lay marble tiles under the various stories Link told. Time passed very quickly, and already more than half of the earthen area of our dwelling was hidden under beautiful and even blocks of marble. Sitting on a stool, I decided to take a break. At that moment there was a knock on the door.
- It seems we are not expecting guests, right? - I said to Link, grabbing the bow.
- Right - said Link - And we didn't order home delivery either.
There was another knock on the door, but much more insistently.
- Shall we pretend no one is home? - Link blinked a yellow light.
- I don't think it will work, - I replied, watching the door tensely.
- Then our guest will have to treat with a couple of arrows - summed up Link.
At that moment, the door slowly opened. I drew my bowstring and prepared to shoot an arrow at the slightest sign of danger. I was already pretty tired of the surprises of this planet and wanted to start playing by my own rules. The doorway slowly increased in size, and I could already make out the silhouette of a man who decided to disturb us. I thought over various options for who could come to visit us: from a lost traveler to the guys Agatha mentioned. But the planet once again chose the most incredible and unpredictable option for me.
Annie stood in the doorway. My wife.