A Long Way From Home

A Long Way From Home

"You appear to have survived your encounter with the mammal," the walls of the ship intoned as Mara left the bewildered Brady poking around the windows of the adjacent house.

"Yeah, no thanks to your lazy ass. Why couldn't you just zap him?"

"I informed you I was in extreme power saver mode. Now that I have integrated myself into the local electrical system, I have enough power to get crucial systems online. Please come to the control room."

"You call holographic manifestation 'crucial systems'?" Mara spluttered. "C'mon Fugi, I need engines; I need navigation; I need photo-voltaic-nutrient sol packs."

"Engines are non functional. Navigation is non functional. Solar nutrition packs non functional. Power generation non functional. Hull integrity non functional. Water purification systems non functional. Matter replication functioning at 14.2%. Holographic communication system fully operational."

"Thanks. You're busted to hell but at least I have a friendly face to talk to. What happened?

"Those logs are classified."

"Fugi, I'm the captain."

"Sixam protocol calls for all logs regarding the malfuntion of ships to be encrypted until the AI core can be uploaded at Central. This is to prevent tampering and operational security."

"Fine. What do I need to get you flying again?"

"You would require 14 Jonquilyst crystals, 8 samples of Firaxium, 2 samples of Crytocoo, 20 each of Literalium and Ironyum."

"That doesn't seem too bad. Yeah, they're rare, but this is a rocky planet. I'm sure the local geology will turn up something. Maybe even the locals have found some stuff that I can trade for."

"Removing any resources from me will only increase the amount of material you need to find to get home."

 "Well then I'll find something else to barter with then! They pretty obviously had some sort of industrial society going on here before you fell on their heads!"

"You will also need a Zarinne core. Which can only be found on Sixam. I'm sorry Mara. I am permanently grounded on a pre-hyperflight planet."

"Then I am calling home to get one," Mara growled through gritted teeth as she stomped out of the room.

Not So Abandoned

Not So Abandoned

Ship's Log - 6102.9020

Looks like Fugi knew what it was talking about. Just a few hours after it activated my disguise, a native showed up at the hatch. Portal. Door. Thing.

I was waiting for the ship's automated security system to blast the mammal away after it scratched to get in, but the zot didn't come. Fugi says it barely has enough power to keep the lights on as-is and refused to take defensive action. Which left me.

"Greetings!" Mara waved exuberantly at the newcomer. The man jumped back as if startled to have his knock acknowledged.

"H-h-hey there. I was just, y'know, going door-to-door, seeing if anyone was left."

"Of course there is someone here! I am here! I live here, as I have for a quantity of time!"

"Okaaay... Nice to meet you then. I'm... um... Brady. Sure."

"It is good to see a human! Of which I am one! Are there many other humans here?"

"No?" Brady squinted at Mara. "The asteroid impact killed a lot of them, and the ones who survived are either keeping their heads down or trying to leave. That's why I'm casing the.. um... checking for survivors. Yeah. Can't have dead bodies lying around, y'know?"

"That is a good thing! Dead mammals start to putrefy in hours, unless buried by sediment or incinerated!"

"I'll just... be on my way then." Brady pulled a piece of chalk from his pocket and marked an X on the door. "That's to let um, people, know you're here. I'm sure they'll be looking in on you soon enough." Brady slouched off behind a building without looking back.

"All right, Fugi, what's it gonna take to get me home?"

Abandoned

Abandoned

 

Ship's log - 6102.0919

Well, something went wrong, to say the least. And now I'm here. Wherever here is. I was drafted into duty as just a technical assistant on a routine pollination excursion, and now my ship is nose-down in the dirt.

It looks like a lot of damage was done when I crashed. Though if you ask the computer we 'landed with a minimum of damage'. Minimum damage to me, sure. Minimum damage to the local ecosystem... not so much. The ground around here is blasted and I can see heaps of rubble off in the distance. Looks like re-entry created a hell of a shockwave that leveled the indigenous peoples' habitations.

First thing I ran was diagnostics. Gotta give credit to the Sixam shipyards, the Ummaga Fugi is still operational. Not spaceworthy, for sure. Not by a long shot. But the chameo circuit is working... ok-ish... and it seems to have mimicked the local architecture. Maybe the locals will be too preoccupied with the whole apocalypse thing they have going on here to notice the alien.

Fugi tells me that's a horrible idea. It's scanned the local denizens and they appear to be (ugh) mammalian. All that pink skin and hair and sweat and ugh. It's uploaded an appropriate disguise into my suit too, apparently.

According to the logs, Fugi landed pretty trashed while I was waking up from cryo. It managed to clean up the interior and synthesize new accommodations, which, to be honest, are horrible. It says that the tech is consistent with the level of the planet, which means I'm stuck on a primitive, abandoned wasteland. Yay me.

Introduction

This is my attempt at an apocalypse challenge legacy thingy. Starring Mara Bravo, the brave survivor of a spaceship crash. Mara is cast into a filthy mire of low-tech primitives - specifically, the denizens of Oasis Springs. Unfortunately, the crash of her ship has destroyed all the infrastructure of the area. People are clinging to life in a world recently crushed by a hurtling chunk of metal. No one knows what's going on - least of all the newest arrival.