Dorian slowly regained consciousness. He opened his eyes, his vision blurry. The attack had happened so quickly that he almost didn't remember it. The memory seemed far away, as if it had happened to someone else.
Groaning, he sat up. His entire body was sore, as if he had been thrashed around by a giant monster. Looking around, he realized that he had absolutely no idea where he was. The walls and floor were made out of wood that looked as if it had been cut by hand. He was in a bed, with a dresser next to it. A single light hung from the ceiling, with the power cable visibly attached at various points as it ran from a hole at the top of the wall.
The black jumpsuit that he always wore was pulled down to his waist, revealing several bandages on his chest and arms. He grabbed the sleeve with a communicator built into the wrist and began to speak, keeping his voice low.
"Hex? Are you there?" He asked, though he got no reply. "Hello? What happened?"
When he continued to receive nothing but silence he inspected the communicator closer, pulling it from the fabric material. He discovered that it had been damaged during the attack.
Swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, he got to his feet. The wooden floor creaked loudly beneath him.
He heard the sounds of people talking below him, the voices too muffled for him to understand what they were saying. The sound of someone climbing stairs began, and Dorian readied himself for a fight. He had no idea where he was or who had brought him there, but he wasn't going to be their prisoner, at least if that's what their intentions were.
The footsteps came closer and closer, making their way to his room. Dorian broke off one of the short wooden poles that held up the bed's backboard, wielding it like a stake.
The door cheeked open, and Dorian readied his makeshift weapon. He was completely caught off guard when, instead of some muscled guard like he had been expecting, a teen girl entered the room.
She was a blonde, with her hair pulled back into two pigtails. Her eyes were blue, matching her shorts which were cut so short that they nearly resembled panties. Her shirt was tied in a way that showed off her flat belly, allowing him to see her tan lines. She entered the room with a smile, but it disappeared when she saw him with the jagged stick. "What're you doing?"
"I..was just protecting myself." He said, relaxing his defensive stance. Being greeted by the presence of a girl, especially a very attractive one, had caused him to feel a little ridiculous for assuming that the owners of the house were going to hurt him.
"Protecting yourself from who?" The girl said, folding her arms. "Why would we bandage you up if we were going to hurt you?"
"You'd heal someone if you planned on keeping them as a slave." He said.
The girl rolled her eyes. "Then why would we leave you with your weapons? They're in the top drawer." She said, gesturing to the dresser next to the bed. "Did you even check there before you vandalized the bed?"
His checks turned slightly red, and he lowered the wooden stake completely. "Well...no, but I just woke up. Who are you, anyways?"
She chuckled, which Dorian found to be cute. "I'm Gracie, but you can just call me Grace."
"How did I get here then, Grace?" He asked.
"Your ship crashed on our farm yesterday. We found you and patched you up. You really don't remember the crash?"
"I only remember the first shot that hit my ship, the rest is...blurry." He explained. "Wait, we?"
"Yeah, me and my dad. We're the only people running the farm since mom died during childbirth."
A twinge of emotion hit Dorian, as his mother had also not survived his birth. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"You know, it might be good to stretch your legs a bit, you've been in bed for a while now. Why don't you come down stairs with me?" She said, changing the subject. "Your crew mate has been awake most of the day, she'll probably want to talk to you about what happened."
Suspicion crept into Dorian's voice. "What crew mate? I was alone when I crashed!"
"Well there was a girl on your ship when we found you, and she certainly seems to think that you two are together."
"Take me to her." Was all he said, a strange feeling faintly rising in his stomach. He knew that whoever the impostor was, it couldn't be good.
Grace led him out of the room and to the staircase at the end of the short hallway. Descending the steps, he listened to the voices below. There were two voices, one male and one female. He guessed that the male was Grace's father, though the female sounded...familiar.
They reached the bottom of the stairs, which opened into a living room. The walls were just as crude as the bedroom, made mostly of wood and decorated by faded paintings in damaged frames. All of the furniture looked as if it had been left outside for prolonged periods of time, weathered and ripped.
In one of the tall chairs sat a man who looked to be in his fifties, his blonde hair slightly lighter than Grace's. He had a muscular build, built up over years of working on his farm.
There was a girl on the couch facing the man in the chair. The two were talking, and Dorian's eyes went wide when he recognized who she was. "AYA?!?"
The girl turned, a huge smile forming on her face when he saw him. She jumped up off the couch and ran over to him, raping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Dad! You're awake!"
He looked down at his teenage daughter in surprise. She had begged to come along with him, but he never expected that she would deliberately sneak onto his ship. "What the hell are you doing here?!?"
She let go of him, stepping back and looking down in embarrassment. "I'm sorry...I couldn't risk you leaving without me. Do you know what it's like spending your whole life inside of a tower on a planet without an atmosphere? I needed to get out, experience the rest of the galaxy even for one day."
Dorian looked at her, not sure how to handle his daughter's disobedience. A mixed race girl, her skin was light brown and her hair was dark. Her outfit clung tightly to her, allowing him to see her athletic form. "I understand, but this was far too dangerous. I mean, we almost died! I could have lost you!"
"You'd still have seventy one other kids back at the tower..." she mumbled to herself.
His expression softened at her words. "I..come on Aya, it's not like that." he said, taking a step and pulling her into a hug. He knew that having so many children wouldn't allow him to have a relationship with every single one of them, though having the consequences of his lust right in front of him filled him with guilt. "All of you matter to me. Every. Single. One."
Aya hugged him back, resting her head on his chest. She had much more to say, but she noticed that the two other people in the room were looking around awkwardly, politely trying not to interfere with their family discussion. "Sorry, dad, this is Waylon. He owns this farm. You've already met his daughter Grace." she said, gesturing to the man in the chair.
He stood up, walking over to Dorian and shaking his hand. "We were pretty worried that you weren't going to make it when we pulled you from your ship."
"I'm glad you did, you saved my life. I'll repay the favor when I return to space." Dorian replied. "Speaking of which, where did my ship crash?"
"Oh she ploughed into our field to the west of the house. I can show you if you'd like." Waylon stated.
Dorian nodded, and the group of four people followed the farmer out the front door.
The sun shined bright in the sky, and Dorian had to let his eyes adjust before he saw the vast desert that surrounded the house. "I thought you said this was a farm. How could anything grow here?"
Grace was walking beside him. They left the front porch and she pointed to the west, showing him a large field that grew a strange blue plant out of the course sand. "Those are Culliver plants. They only grow in the desert, and my family has survived off of them even before civilization ended."
"What about water?" He asked, genuinely curious how the father daughter pair was able to survive in such a harsh environment. The sun was hot on his bare shoulders, as he had left the top half of his jumpsuit to hang around his waist.
She pointed to a completely white tree that was jutted up from the desert floor, one of many that were thinly spread throughout the landscape. "Those trees have roots that reach groundwater. Instead of getting sap out of them, they provide water." She explained, her tone sounding as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "The white bark is brittle, but the darker wood inside is great for building. That's how my great grandfather built our house."
He was impressed, though something occurred to him. "If your family has been out here that long, how have you guys...well..."
"Bred?" She said, giggling as she finished his question for him. "Don't worry, we've never had to deal with inbreeding. There are a few other farms nearby. Some of the other families came out here when the cities got too...dangerous."
He was going to ask what she meant by 'dangerous', but they had reached the edge of the sandy field. Waylon turned to him pointing to the lump of steel in the distance that Dorian knew was The Chimera. "There she is, only a little further!"
They continued walking, trying not to step on any of the blue plants. As they got closer Dorian could see that the ship was heavily damaged, with large blast marks ripped into the side of it. When they reached it, he called out to his AI. Luckily, the ship had landed upright, and the airlock was only a foot and a half off of the ground. The door slid open automatically, and they all stepped inside.
"Master! You're alive!" Hex said through the ship's intercom. "When I let those two inside the ship I was hoping that they'd take you somewhere safe and help you, instead of, well, just killing you and stealing everything."
"Hex, why the hell is Aya here?" Dorian asked, his voice serious. "You know when every door opens, and you can see everyone who enters. It's impossible for you not to know that she was onboard. So, why didn't you tell me?"
"I...I'm sorry master...she really wanted to come with us..." the AI explained, sounding remorseful. "I didn't think that we'd crash..."
Waylon decided to speak up. "I don't mean to interrupt, but does your...uh...robot lady know if this ship will fly?"
"Unfortunately no, The Chimera is too damaged to move." Hex replied, relieved at the change of subject.
"What do we need to fix? And where do we even get-" Dorian started before getting cut off by the beautiful blonde farm girl.
"Oh on, they're here!" Grace yelled, looking out of the open airlock.
"Who's here?" Aya asked, moving to join Grace. She looked outside and noticed six armed men walking through the field towards them.
Waylon pulled them away from the open door. "They're from the city. There's a gang of raiders there that we give food to so they'll stay away."
"Could they simply be here to collect payment?" Aya asked, a hint of hope in her voice.
The middle aged farmer shook his head. "Part of the agreement is that they get to take anything that crashes in the desert. They must have seen you fall out of the sky."
