21: Proper Introductions
As time passed the five prisoners began to take stock of their situation. Basil did his best to better clean and treat his injuries, greatly regretting that his painkillers were forgotten on another planet. The being, which Basil had been referring to as ‘Grey’ - which did not seem to object to the name - elaborated further on how they had gotten into their predicament. From what she had been told, the person that could best be described as their captain or admiral had an Orbital’s genetics without possessing an Orbital’s device or title and had been aligned with the fight against the tyrannical Elthrice. The fight was won by reverse engineering the Orbital’s access to crafts and other Elthrice devices and destroying all of them with that signal.
Their captain retained a small fleet by acquiring older obsolete crafts that could not be communicated with remotely and required a physical presence by an Orbital to access with real or faked signals. Sometime later, however, there was no food to be acquired by any means so a decision was made to travel by ship to the outer reaches of Elthrice space. Taking such a trip without a wormhole device, however, caused a considerable amount of time dilation resulting in them arriving in an entirely dead system. They had, apparently, raided a location on Domum for food where her mother was ‘brought along,’ which is why she understood both languages.
They had recently run low on supplies again and decided to raid the Lizard King’s grain silos, but that had gone wrong leading to the prisoners’ current status. However, between Gray’s seeming mixed emotions about her ‘crew’ and some careful prodding questions, Basil questioned the accuracy of the history lesson albeit beginning to trust Grey herself.
Grey was also very interested in exactly where Basil was from, and how his people managed to get their hands on Elthrice technology. Basil recounted his story of waking up with his head injury, how he had made it to Domum, and how he wound up fighting the Lizard King. Recounting it - despite hours ago it feeling like a traumatic affair - he realized he felt almost numb as if he was recounting a dream. He was unsure of whether that was a newfound perspective, the liquor, some sort of survival instinct, or shock. Spiro and Cicero also shared who they were. Spiro, as Basil had known, was working for the Amigoso’s Ministery of Information - although he left out the part of him looking for a metaphorical life raft. Cicero gave a very brief life story, speaking about meeting the now potentially deceased Redcap King who had secretly joined the Redcap army, then later became King and sought out Cicero as an advisor.
Once personal stories were discussed Basil’s curiosity about the planet they were on took hold. Grey explained that they were somewhere in the habitable zone, on the border between the light and dark side of the planet. Sterilized apparently meant very literally what the term meant, as not a single living microbe was likely to be alive, and most structures were likely destroyed or buried in a layer of dust and debris - although the portion of the planet they were on likely had none to begin with. Some machine, a
The machine most likely broke, was sabotaged, or the (object) was taken leaving everything destroyed with - after much discussion to find the scientific words Basil would understand - was determined to be a very large dose of radiation. Further, with ACE’s math and Grey’s information it was determined that it was likely a minimum of 500 years since that had occurred; although Grey made sure to clarify that she had not fully been educated on Elthrice technology or history and her information might not be correct. As time went on, however, the adrenaline and clouded minds didn’t negate the need for rest, and the four recent arrivals spent the night - if one could call it that on a planet without a day-night cycle - on the floor of the crashed ship.
Basil woke up after a very short night’s rest and walked quietly out of the crashed ship to avoid waking anybody else. He lit a cigarette and stared up at the hazy sky, hoping the planet’s atmosphere was still adequate protection from solar radiation. He had asked Grey if her gray skin offered some form of protection from such things, but she did not even know if it was a natural or artificial part of her genetics, much less if it had some form of protection or detriment. Eventually, Cicero made his way out and sat next to Basil, and for a while he sat in silence as well. “I believe I owe you an apology for the way I have treated you” he finally said, breaking the silence.
Basil shrugged his shoulders. “We’ve all been through some crazy shit, a short shouting match that I started is not something to worry about” Basil replied, forcing a melancholy smile. “Not only that” Cicero replied. “The Redcap King personally believed the reports, but I did not, and I believe I turned many of my fellow Redcaps against you.” Basil laughed, surprising Cicero, “Dude, you guys are literally the only major power who didn’t try to kill me in the last 24 hours. I’ll take a few angry words and a brandished weapon from people who didn’t believe a story about wormholes and unknown alien technology any day of the week.” Basil heard Casio give a quiet chuckle, exiting the door of the craft and apparently hearing and understanding the tail end of the conversation.
A few moments passed before Basil broke the momentary silence. “Lifeboat food?” Basil asked. Cicero gave a confused look to Basil as he pulled out three slightly crushed food bars and offered one to Cicero and Casio. “They’re just bits of food for emergencies, pretty flavorless and dry, but our genetics are pretty much identical so I can assure you that it’s safe.” Cicero seemed to hesitate for a moment, which Basil read as either etiquette or hesitancy at eating an alien food, before taking two from Basil and giving one to Casio. “You’re afraid that Grey’s food is unsafe for us? She said it was safe.”
“Well,” Basil said “She said it was safe, but she doesn’t even know about her biology and I only know half of hers. I did a ton of tests before I started eating or sharing food on Domum, but I don’t want to risk anything.” Cicero asked, “What about water?” right before biting into the bar he was handed and Basil shook a water bottle that appeared to have only a tiny bit of water sloshing around in the bottom. “Well, I’m close to out and left my filter at the inn, so I guess I’ll risk it unless we get a ride out of here in the next 12-24 hours.” By the time Basil finished speaking Casio had already finished his bar and Cicero was close to finishing as well, both apparently finding the mildly citrus bars of fat and carbs more appealing than Basil did. That, or perhaps they were just much hungrier. Casio glanced at Cicero, and Cicero spoke almost sheepishly. “Could I trouble you for another one of those?” Basil shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve got the one in my hand and one more I thought I’d offer to Spiro, but then I’m all out.” He paused for a moment, then spoke again with a sense of irony in his voice.
“I thought I was stocked for anything, but now that I’ve about used up all my food, water, ammo, and medical supplies I’m beginning to think I was overconfident.” Basil began to redress his wound, substituting his needed but missing gauze for a bandanna, and by the time he had finished Spiro made his way out. After some minor sparse bits of conversation Grey made her way out as well, seemingly either awoken by the commotion or perhaps having not slept at all.