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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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I walked, and walked,
And walked some more.
Having exhausted all my energy, my steps were unsteady.
“Doctor, there is a small cave 500 meters ahead with no detectable life signs.”
I trusted Amy’s sensors. My mind was too exhausted to think.
If I collapsed now, I could be unconscious for days. I needed to find shelter…
“Doctor, not this cave. Doctor, my calculations are still incomplete-”
I couldn’t walk any further.
My ankle throbbed, and my head pounded.
“Doctor? My processing capacity is limited due to physical separation-”
So, I stumbled into the nearest cave. I had no energy left.
“Ugh- retch…”
Dizziness and nausea overwhelmed me. I vomited until my stomach was empty, nothing but bile remaining.
“Cough- gasp-”
I crawled further into the cave,
Seeking a place to hide…
“Doctor, something is-”
But my eyes were fixed on a faint light within the cave.
Like a moth drawn to a flame.
My exhausted body craved warmth and water.
“…”
I could no longer hear Amy’s voice.
I simply,
Crawled towards the light, deeper into the cave.
A large silhouette flickered in my vision.
Amy mumbled something,
But I ignored her,
My eyes fixed on the blurry figure, wary of this unknown presence.
“Gasp… pant…”
I averted my gaze and crawled further into the cave.
Then,
I grabbed a nearby rock and glared at the figure.
“Come at me… if you dare…”
Weak, defenseless animals were always more aggressive.
Especially small, injured creatures like me,
Who could only bare their teeth and snarl at everything around them.
“Pant… groan…”
And so,
Clutching the rock,
“Moan… mmm…”
I lost consciousness.
I had finally reached my limit.
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Drip- drop.
The sound of rain.
Chirp- tweet-
Birdsong from outside the cave.
Amidst these sounds, pain slowly returned.
Even before I regained consciousness, my body screamed in protest. I awoke with a strangled cry, my throat parched.
“Aaaaagh! Groan…!”
Click-
The soft sounds that had filled the cave abruptly ceased.
Now, only my screams echoed within.
My body trembled,
And the pain I had suppressed came crashing down on me.
I longed to lose consciousness again,
But my mind, refusing to surrender, urged me to assess my surroundings.
Tears streamed down my face, blurring my vision, but my eyes darted around, compensating for my sluggish mind.
I remembered bits and pieces.
I had fled the mermaids, searching for shelter,
And, exhausted, I had stumbled into this cave…
“Doctor.”
Oh, god.
That voice was so beautiful.
“Please calm down. I’m concerned about your health.”
The familiar voice eased my tension slightly.
“Amy…? Where are you?”
“To your left, Doctor. However, your neck is currently immobilized, so you cannot see me.”
As she said, my body was restrained, as if in a splint.
I managed to lift my head slightly and saw that my limbs were stretched out and bound tightly to flat pieces of wood.
“What is all this…?”
“You have been treated.”
“By who…?”
Amy hesitated.
Instead of answering directly, she relayed the information she had gathered.
“An alien lifeform, 189cm tall. It treated your injuries. It has temporarily left the cave.”
“What?”
My body still felt weak, but
I pushed myself up,
Removing the splints and the strange…
Syringes…?
Something felt off. They had been inserted into my body, like IV lines. The containers were half-empty.
I had no idea how syringe-like objects existed on this planet.
But it was clear that they had been used to inject something into my body.
“Damn it… what is this? Amy, what did this thing put inside me…!”
“I cannot identify the components, but it appears to have aided in your recovery.”
And that wasn’t all.
Various objects, seemingly prepared for my use, were arranged within the cave.
Among them was a wooden bowl filled with a green liquid.
“Alright, fine. At least I’m alive… Amy, can I drink this?”
“It appears to be juice extracted from the fruit of a local tree. Excessive consumption may cause abdominal pain-”
Abdominal pain was the least of my worries. I needed to drink something.
Gulp- gulp-
Anything that would go down my parched throat.
“Sigh… haah…”
I felt life returning to my body. Energy slowly flowed through my exhausted limbs.
The pain was still present, but my body ignored it.
I felt surprisingly good.
After the initial wave of excruciating pain subsided,
My mind and body began to clear.
“Okay, good… so what is all this?”
The objects within the cave were both strange and familiar.
One, in particular, caught my eye.
A small rod, placed in the center of the cave, emitted a soft, steady light, like a torch.
“This is…”
But it was different. A strange material, unlikely to be found on a pre-industrial planet.
“What is this…?”
Metal. Definitely metal.
Carefully crafted, with a glowing gem at the tip.
“An alloy primarily composed of tellurium. The luminescent material at the tip is not currently in my database. Analysis is required.”
“…Really?”
I picked up the incomprehensible object and used it like a cane to help me stand.
Then, I secured Amy’s head to my waist,
And looked around the cave for anything else useful.
“Doctor, you are still in a weakened state. I recommend further rest.”
“No. I can’t stay here. I might end up like the mermaids.”
Having escaped them, I was wary of being confined anywhere that wasn’t my own territory.
Even if I had been treated with kindness here,
I needed to leave before something happened.
“Was it alone?”
“Yes.”
“When did it leave the cave?”
“30 minutes ago.”
Each step sent a jolt of pain through my body, and fatigue weighed me down,
But I could manage.
The green juice had been surprisingly nutritious.
“Okay, let’s go…”
I stumbled out of the cave, looking like a beggar.
My torso was bare,
My underwear and pants were torn,
And my unkempt hair swayed in the wind.
“How do we get back? Back to the cave where we were staying…”
“I have memorized the coordinates.”
“Perfect. Thank you.”
The sun was high in the sky.
It was still daytime.
“Those creatures… the ones that hunt in packs… let’s avoid them. Warn me if you detect anything unusual.”
“Doctor, my detection capabilities are limited without a physical body.”
“Fine. I’ll just have to be careful.”
Day or night, the danger was the same, so there was no reason to stop.
My priority was to find food and shelter, avoiding any other creatures.
But,
We didn’t get far.
A figure emerged, draped in the hide of an unknown animal.
Wearing the hide like a hood, the creature,
“!”
Stared at Amy and me.
Or perhaps that wasn’t the right word.
It wore a mask. A strange mask with two narrow slits for eyes.
Its overall appearance was unbalanced, clearly non-human.
But most importantly,
I felt a strange sense of kinship with this being.
I saw its thick legs and lavender claws protruding from beneath the hide.
Based on appearance alone, we were aliens to each other, from different species, with vastly different physiologies.
But we had one thing in common.
We were both male.
I, and it,
We simply stared at each other, saying nothing.
After a few minutes,
Having silently established that neither of us posed a threat,
“…”
It raised its right claw and pointed upwards.
I looked up and saw the bright sky.
Something was falling rapidly towards us. At first, I thought it was a meteor, but…
“Haha, what the…”
I realized,
It was a spaceship, unlike any I had ever seen. A spaceship from an unknown civilization.
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Chapter 2 – Encounter with the Unknown
End.
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Male meets male colorized 1994