The Barbarians
TesCraft©55625 lands at night and reanimates me. I open a ValueNutriBreak©, eat, depilate, then run a system diagnostic. The planet should sustain life but TesCraft©55625 cannot access further data. It is nine months since TesCraft©55625 showed an ERROR message and mapped an unfamiliar star system.
I can only hope TesCorp4© 's colony has reported my non-appearance. My supplies will not last and I do not have the codes to access the cargo. It is against TesCorp© policy.
Dawn emerges and I stare at the plethora of green which fills the screen.
*
The cold hits first. Then the wet. But the air—I take in huge gulps, inhale until I’m giddy. So much green. And the trees—all trees on TesCorp7© are in TesRec© domes. None are as resplendent as these. The wet passes, and as unguarded radiation heats the day an eerie polyphonic resonance penetrates my ears. I activate TesCraft©55625’s cloaking device from my wristband then head downhill, towards a dark green mass.
The mass is thousands of trees. The sound intensifies, becomes a cacophony. Multitudes of peculiar creatures dart about in the air around me. Insects, perhaps? I have read about them.
I enter the trees.
*
In a clearing stands a long, low house built from trees. Nearby, prowls a gruff-voiced quadruped. Cackling creatures, similar in appearance to the insects but larger, amble around the ground instead of flying. A small, naked humanoid hurtles into the yard, squats and urinates onto the ground. Then two, tall, dirty, long-haired female humanoids appear. One cradles a tiny, squawking thing to an exposed breast.
Animals! Only animals breed! Foul, stinking, livestock! Luxury produce for TesCorpPrime© subscribers!
*
I scream. The females look towards me. They smile, wave, and gesture. I turn, run back, into the trees. My foot gets caught. I fall. Pain. As everything begins to fade I feel strong arms pick me up from behind.
I come round inside the house. The breeder stands, its back to me, clattering metal things. It seems unperturbed by events. Happy, even. Soon, a male enters. They converse in a tongue I do not understand. Both turn to look at me. The breeder rolls up her eyes and points upwards. The male sits by my side and applies wet material to the skin of my arm. I flinch as the cold makes contact with a wound. The breeder pours something out of a large metal container into a smaller container. She hands it to the man who holds it near my lips.
Poison! Unclean! Unsterilized! Poison! Unclean…
The words hammer around my throbbing head. I push the vessel away. It falls, shatters into pieces: hot, pungent, liquid splashes onto the floorboards. The man sighs. As he stoops to pick up the fragments, I spring from the bed and sprint through the open door, through the settlement. The man calls after me, but I keep running, back through the trees, back…
My wristband! It must be in the house.
The savages will never work it out.
*
Back at the craft I feel around for the emergency access pad, enter, seal the door, go back into stasis.
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