SciFi Short Stories

Stranded (Classics Reloaded)

adultfiction ... Classics Reloaded ... Inspired by Tarzan of the Apes (1912) but not exactly a re-telling.

The last thing the Sigma Research Team (SRT) expected to find on this small, and relatively unknown bio-engineered planet in the Naj system was a humanoid life-form. But there he was, standing in front of Dr. Nazra, in some sort of lizard hide he'd fashioned into something like body armour. His body language did not appear hostile. However, Sigma Team had their pulse cannons aimed and set to fire at the humanoid if he should, at any moment, become violent.

Dr. Nazra, who headed the team, was quietly and cautiously scanning him with her bio-meter. It was attached to one of her six wrists and could be used easily without bringing attention to her. Her four front facing and two peripheral eyes were lighting up with amazement. She hit the group function command so that everyone on the team, and those monitoring the team from the Class II Research Vessel, could read the same data she was.

According to the bio-meter, he was a healthy 30-year-old male from the Yerg system, which was a long way from the Naj system. Also, it appeared that he was missing several essential vaccinations, which would have typically been administered during his adolescence. This implied that he had been stranded on this planet since he was just a boy. The thought was startling.

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Someone on Sigma Team had the good sense to contact Enna, who worked in the Reactor Room of the ship. She was not part of the research team but part of the crew that was hired to bring the SRT to this part of the quadrant. What was significant about Enna was that she was actually from the Yerg system.

The SRT was hoping that the Yergonian male might warm up to the Engine Reaction Specialist (Enna's job title on the ship) and this might allow them to study him more closely. Whatever other discoveries were waiting to be found on the planet, they all paled in comparison with this humanoid. He was the entire team's top priority and they were hoping the engine specialist could help with their new research.

While Enna did not look exactly like the Yergonian male, the two of them shared more similarities than differences. They certainly resembled each other physically more than anyone else on the eclectic research ship, which drew on talent from all over the neighbouring galaxies. No two faces on the ship, whether part of the research team or the ship's crew, looked alike. The whole of Sigma Team were really hoping that Enna would be able to connect with the Yergonian in a way the researchers gathered around him now could not.

Enna, for her part, was a somewhat reluctant participant. She initially turned the request for assistance down. The trouble was, she had a sixth-sense about danger and she felt that meeting the Yergonian, face-to-face, posed some risks she was not willing to volunteer for.

Luckily, The Institute, which had hired her to help keep the research vessel operational, was quick to enlist her services for research purposes. It did so by offering her 4 times the pay she was already receiving just to participate in this new research agenda. It was an offer she could not refuse.