As I awoke from my slumber, I was briefly surprised as I saw the under part of a mattress but immediately reminded myself that I was not back home and that this was not a dream. I stayed on the bed, lying down and kept staring, wondering if this was actually real or a very convincing dream. Moving my right arm to pinch my right cheek, it was confirmed that this was my new reality...again.
Finally having the energy to move and not mope around I slowly sat on the bed to get my phone. Currently, it was 6:38am on a Tuesday morning. I could hear some footsteps and some shuffling outside the room. It was always during these times where some of the volunteers and staff members either enter the refuge and help the staff or wake up and prepare meals and such.
The sanctuary was around a bit smaller than the nearby gym on its left side and was the same height as the building on its right, it being a bakery. The structure and building placements were a bit questionable for me but what do I know about current societal trends and practices? Not this guy I tell you.
Anyways, the shelter has around 2 floors: The first one being the reception area and all the essentials of a homeless shelter agency. It holds rooms for staff, the homeless, the kitchen and the circuit breaker. And the second floor housing the excess baggage of both the homeless and the workers, it being separated into two different large rooms with lockers, drawers, and safes.
Unfortunately for me, the beds are in an open area so that means I still have to wear my disguise, even when I don't want to. Finally standing up to stretch, I was greeted by my bunkmate Joh. "Mornin' Jacob!" Joh greeted me while sitting on his bunk bed, "Morning Joh" I replied back out of habit and courtesy. "How's your progress on job hunting?" I asked while kneeling down to my small modest desk provided by the staff to fix my trinkets.
"Not much luck considering today's standards are so high. I even heard from an angry graduate that I talked a while ago that she must have 10 years of job experience for an accountancy job? That's preposterous!" he replied, "Outrageous even." I replied back while finally getting my phone on the top desk and began to walk out of the room
Hopping down from the top bunk to the white tiled ground, Joh followed Jacob to help the staff. Considering that they are both quite young in the refuge of the unhoused, they figured that they would help around and be useful. Both 17 and 20 year old lads were yet again greeted by the friendly staff. Both got to work for today. They both did miscellaneous tasks like helping the staff move the new supplies of produce and medicines outside, cooking, checking, monitoring, and fixing all sorts of machinery that is ever present in today's society (which confused Jacob when he observed this for the first time), cleaning and such.
After helping the staff, Jacob decided that it was time to bathe. Taking the complementary toiletries near the shower area, he closed the door behind him and took off his clothes. He still had no idea how he managed to remain disguised for the past week or so but he wouldn't complain. What he did complain was his smell and body paint. The smell, he eventually got used to it but the paint? Hard to get a hold a hold on.
The body paint in question was a specific orange paint distributed by the Kamdo Corp in which glows and is quite similar to the 'skin' color of the Invaders. He did not know what the actual name of the species that the Invaders refer to themselves as and refused to refer to themselves as 'Invaders'. While he struggled to find a way to get the paint, he used the lavender scented shampoo and anti bacterial soap. Despite being a race that is above humans, some parts of them still remain human like the hospitality and caring of others, empathy and blah blah blah.
When Jacob tried to use the shampoo n' soap for the first time, it stung him and injured him for some time, clearly not safe for his hair and skin. Despite that, he found a way to still use the toiletries and not stink with the use of distillation. By lowering the concentration of the shampoo, he could lessen the effectiveness and roughness of the shampoo to the point that he could safely use it. The soap on the other hand was a whole other can of worms with him needing to endure the process of getting the soap suds and diluting it. He was definitely going to buy the body wash variant when got some spare cash on his hands.
.
.
.
After 30 minutes of bathing, he walked out of the bathroom with washed clothes that covered his skin for the most part to reduce body paint usage. After placing his clothes to the right places and returning the toiletries, he then headed to the cafeteria to eat. It was around 11:42am when he finished his meal. Consisting of both meat and vegetables that were both recognizable to him, he ate in delight when consuming the meat but had an ok reaction for the veggies. Not that it was bad per se but in comparison of the fried chicken that was on par with restaurants on his world, it was understandable.
Deciding it was finally time to thrive, he headed out of the shelter in search for a good stable job. He then spent the whole afternoon exploring and trying to find a job. In that amount of time he got to experience the reason why physical jobs were not needed as much as he had thought. It was all thanks to competent ai and robots. He observed that their behavior and personality was on par of that of humankind, and of Invaderkind as well.
Doing odd jobs and requests granted him few cash, coins and credit. The former being quite understandable but not with credit. Deciding that it was probably important, he kept the credits and continued forth. Nothing eventful happened and he returned back to the shelter. He helped the staff, did various tasks, ate, maintained dental hygiene, and slept.
This routine continued for around 2 weeks after that. Around this time frame, Jacob was able to observe and come to multiple conclusions for his questions that he typed down on his phone in cases such as these:
Where does additional come from?
Suck up ice and/or water from nearby asteroids and planets
Where are they going?
To a dimensional rift opened by the 'Savior' 5 lightyears away in advance
What is the current era and date as of now?
25th Century; August 15, 2469
How bad is the inflation?
Very 😐
Who are the leaders?
Each ship has a mayor, a fleet having a commander as its head and the 'Savior' as the indefinite leader
Are there any other alien life?
No
Has technology progression stagnated?
50/50, there are still room of improvement while at the same time not
What are credits?
Digital currency in physical form. Can be used in a wide array of online items.
Why am I here?
n/a
Have they identified me as a human or Invader?
n/a
...
n/a
...
And the list goes on and on. Jacob eventually grew accustomed to the new ways of this society and to be frank, security being tight is always nice and crime rates being low to medium was a surprise to be sure. He even made some friends and acquaintances with both robot/android and Invader. Most were nice while some are not, that is to be expected everywhere I guess.
He...is quite obviously keeping himself busy to avoid the eventual emotional breakdown that was bound to happen at some point but ignored it anyways. It was only after the 15th of August. where he finally got some hope.
YOU ARE READING
Invader Jacob
FanfictionWatch Jacob as he suddenly gets whisked away to the world of Guardian Tales. Will he survive in this new unfamiliar environment, away from the world he once called home and embrace this new way of life? Will he adapt and thrive or will he wither and...
