In the midst of war, a lone protogen sets out to survive rather than thrive, after his ship crashes on earth. Will he make it back to a home he never had?
Disclaimer: this is a fictional work. Correlation between real world events and this story's c...
There were only a few times in life where the protogen had truly felt what it meant to be small.
Memories of massive factories connecting world to world, ships as big as planets, and many of the most powerful primogenitor's weapons—they all gave him the feeling that he was a dot; a mere speck on the event horizon of a universe too big to comprehend. Everything was massive, and none of it never stopped moving.
Normally, this train of thought sent an anxious uncomfortable heave through his gut and caused his feet twitch, making him wish that he could just... run way.
but this time the injured protogen stood, calmly transfixed, as he gazed out the window.
The face of an unknown world stretched as far as he could see. According to the readings on his data pad, the world wasn't massive by any means. Perhaps it was the largest in its system, but it wasn't the size of the planet that had distracted him as he stood at peace for the first time in ages.
Large bodies of water and wisps of clouds suggested a damper (yet lighter) atmosphere than he was accustomed to, but this he considered a luxury. It was all a luxury. He could see green! Green was wonderful. Even from this distance it had been years since the protegen had seen natural plant life.
It was absolutely beautiful; not cracked and broken like the ravaged worlds he had labored on in years past. If he wasn't in dire straits he would've watched it spin for hours.
This was it! He snapped out of his sentimental trance as routine saw him dashing towards the controls, tipping the throttle gently to nudge the small craft into orbit.
Where was he? The protogen eased to the side of his flight seat, reached over to the navigators space, and absentmindedly attempted to sift through the displays with one hand on the controls. After the longest feeling second that ever was, he pinged all friendly signals.
/][ SYSTEM << NAV SEARCH>> ][\
/][ NAV SEARCH << RESULTS: EMPTY ][\
What? How??
He turned to face navigation, intrigued but worried, before desperately adjusting the range of the scanners.
/][ SYSTEM << NAV SEARCH_UNFRIENDLY >> ][\
Still, there was no response.
He sat back, puzzled. No unfriendly signals meant that the area was outside of primagen space, but the protogens hadn't been escaping towards the outter rim. The Protogen fussed in his chair, trying to get comfortable in a seat obviously made for a different species, when he suddenly sat up with a start.
This could mean only one thing: He was floating through the dead zone. Here was a place with no allies, no enemies, and no significant life whatsoever.
He inhaled sharply as the dark side of the planet came into view. Millions of lights dotted entire continents as the protogen took an instinctive step back from the controls.
Lights in a dead zone meant many dangerous things, including (but not limited to) pirates, rogue militias, and possibly the most threatening, the locals. Even if it wasn't the enemy (or the enemy's enemies) he wasn't looking to become anybody's test subject either. In any case, he was completely compromised. This was not looking good.
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As quick as he could, he scrambled to the back of the ship to disable the beacon. Though it was as encoded as it was, any signal that could be detected, and if stealth wasn't an option then he was trading one termination for another.
/][ENCODED BEACON <<FAILURE TO DISENGAGE>> ][\
Puzzled, he wondered why that would be. Normally it would shut off unless... the ship was a dangerous situation. His eyes went wide at the realization, but as he jumped up to run towards the flight deck, he could already see that it was too late.
The small ship lurched as the squealing of twisted metal pierced the air, reverberating through the cabin. A mechanical shriek echoed through the airlock as he catapulted through the cargo bay and landed hard on his front, frozen with shock. His heart pounded as the protogen braced for impact. All around him, utilities and weapons went flying across the ship and clattered against the storage webbing, tangling themselves into an awful mess. A moment later the bone chilling scrapes of whatever he had crashed into faded to a gentle pelt against the hull.
There the protegen stayed—lulled by the artificial gravity and a moment of silence—until he dared to shoot a glance up and bolted for the cockpit. Alarms and pressure indicators were blaring as he tried to see what he had hit through the clear aluminum of a torn up display.
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All he could see around him was sparks, splinters of blue glass, and reflective shards of metal. Just then, the brunt of what was once a space station hurdled it's way across his view. As the two bodies of space metal untangled, he felt a short second of relief—that was, until his ship lost momentum and began to stall. It was at this moment that his stomach jump to his throat as the pod began to drop.
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Hallo friends., so I just finished another chapter and I'm pretty pleased with this one. I finally spit out a chapter longer than previous writing!
If you enjoyed, please do consider following or recommending this little story. Feel free to let me know your favorite part or what you think comes next!
