Cerulean Planet (Blue Dust Trilogy #1)

Chapter 5

Soon, Jiayun was able to exert complete control over this new body. He ran and hopped on the ice, and let himself roll forward once, feeling absolutely delighted. He even managed to break a small iceberg with his fist. This body was strong beyond belief. But unfortunately, the forces exerted on the monster's fist and arm were fed directly back to him through the tentacles. They squeezed around his own fist, enough to make it hurt. The monster was even more cunning the second time and zapped him with electricity the moment he brought his fists together to smash against the icy surface, more closely mimicking the pain that would come from the impact.

Jiayun felt the need to voice his displeasure. "You could curtail the tactile feedback a bit."

The monster's voice rang near his ear. "Do humans not perceive through touch?"

"You're not wrong...but the human body experiences pain if it's exposed to excessive impact. It's not exactly a pleasant experience."

"I know," the monster said.

Jiayun clenched his jaws. This monster was deliberately poking fun at him, he thought. But when he banged his fist on the ice surface the next time, his hand had only felt a gentle squeeze. It was no longer painful.

The corner of Jiayun's lips arched up ever so slightly. He decided to leave the tenacious ice surface alone.

When they returned to land, Jiayun put his arm up, glancing at the wrist watch that hadn't been fully covered by the tentacles. He reoriented himself, appointing the direction of the setting sun as west, and headed north.

The monster's body was tall and large, its every step spanning two meters. Within an hour, they had travelled about 20 kilometers. But he was met with flat land wherever he went; the hardened blue-grey soil beneath his feet remained constant and unchanging, interleaving with puddles that had frozen over. After walking for a few more kilometers, they came to the edge of this piece of land. To their west was a body of water. Jiayun turned eastward and reached the edge of the land once more after two more hours of walking. He marched around the shore once and was surprised to find that this patch of land was not very big at all. It was somewhat of a miracle that his fighter ship managed to crash into a landmass of this size.

He discovered a fumarole on the southern side. The opening was about half a meter wide with hot steam coming out of it. Jiayun stretched his hand out and the monster transmitted some of the heat signal to his hand. It felt lukewarm.

"Can you get hurt?" Jiayun asked.

"No," the monster replied.

"Do you experience hunger?"

"No."

"Pain? Yearning? Loneliness? Confusion?" Jiayun asked a bunch of questions all at once, having expected the monster to reply with the same answer.

"No."

"Do you do any thinking?"

"I think differently from humans."

"Haha!" Jiayun laughed. "How do you think humans think then?"

"Primitively. Chaotically. Searching for order among disorder."

"That's why it's fun. I think about all kinds of stuff. Feel sad or happy. Favour some things over others. My body can feel pain or pleasure...hey!"

The monster gave him a zap.

"It would seem that you are proud of the fact that your body is able to experience pain," said the monster.

They zapped him again.

This time, the current was a bit too strong. Jiayun folded his body in pain and the monster's body bent along with his.

Jiayun was not amused. His anger made him silent. He continued to explore the other areas and the monster continued to follow his movements. They really didn't understand anything, Jiayun thought.