Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5.4

Day 122

It was day again.

As I opened my eyes, the morning sun streamed through an open forest floor. Forest fires had trimmed the shrubs in this area.

My breathing was painless and my bones intact, even if my mind was not.

On a physical level, I knew I was fine. Crick and Helix were around me and, no matter how many times I broke, Helix fixed me again.

Mental wounds, however, couldn't heal. This was the day I had been anticipating for months. The day when I could talk to another human, do something only I was good at. Get out critical information and make up for my blunder back on Shadowmoon.

I didn't even get a dignified defeat.

This person, or this model of a person, easily knocked me out and took away my singularity stone.

Without this stone, I was a nobody. It connected me to Kira. It made Sye interested in me. It, most likely, was even why I was abducted in the first place!

What were they going to do now? Would we fly back to Shadowmoon? Would they execute me for my crimes? Give me the highest electrocuting of my life?

I stood up and walked. Even with the wounds healed, I remembered all the spots where nerves got cut. They hurt without hurting. Damn muscle memory.

Crick and Helix stood near a repaired car. Crick typed on their terminal while Helix observed the bushbot fixing cracks in the windscreen. We were near the river, but given the trimmed bushes, it wasn't quite where the harpoon had hit us.

Crick looked up from their terminal. "You are awake."

"Yeah, good morning everyone," I transmitted.

"Morning," Crick answered and returned to the terminal.

"What are you doing right now?"

"Detailed analysis of your attacker's physiology. Its bones incorporate diamondoid materials; its muscles a nanostructured motor material made of carbon, boron, and nitrogen whose tensile strength is near the upper theoretical limit of chemical bonds. The compound materials are ten times stronger than your skeleton and muscles."

"Interesting," I answered.

Don't waste my time with this crap. Just tell me what we're doing now!

"It is not clear yet how it supplies its muscles with energy yet, given its insufficient metabolism," Crick continued. Then, they put their terminal away for good. "The humanoid entity must be treated like any other enemy in war. Diplomacy is not an option. Unless anyone has reasonable objections, I suggest going after the channel."

The car had long been fixed and only now did Helix look back at us. In all fairness, avoiding eye contact was by no means impolite between us.

"It's still our order to go after the humanoid," Helix transmitted. "I mean, what did you expect it to do? Our enemies want it here. No way it'd just surrender."

Why the Starsnatchers had even dropped Kira here was a question we had pushed aside. There wasn't much to spy on here and she didn't seem to have a singularity stone before taking mine.

"Besides, wouldn't you wanna know what makes its metabolism work and all?" Helix asked. "You're an exobiologist and all!"

"I hold another vote then. I use one of my votes for going after the channel and you use one of yours for pursuing the humanoid. The Human's vote decides."

They waited for me to wake up. Crick probably knew that they and Helix couldn't agree, so it was all up to me again.

No way I was voting for this dumb straight river. I had to do what I was drafted for.