At least I survived the crash.
I was lost, my ship was destroyed, I was on a strange planet – but I was still alive.
My name is Jason Altron, and at the time, I didn't quite know where I was.
It was meant to be a routine job, if anything in this business could be considered routine. Pick up a package – and deliver it. How was I to know that, the moment I got into orbit around the intended planet, I'd be shot out of the sky?
And by whom? For what purpose?
I'd only just made the escape pod. The ship took a direct hit moments later. Amazingly, the hull had stayed mostly intact, though I'm sure I wouldn't have survived inside it. She had flown off to the side, presumably to crash somewhere on the other side of the planet.
I gathered what possessions remained to me – there wasn't much. I had my sidearm, my jumpsuit, a few day's worth of rations, a knife, a lighter – the usual survival kit. But if I didn't find civilisation soon, or perhaps something to hunt, I'd surely be dead.
I left the crashed pod to look around. At least the atmosphere was breathable. I was in some sort of valley. There were clouds above, a warm sun. I was soon sweating in my suit. Whether I was near the equator or not, the weather seemed tropical.
I climbed the nearest hill. Its windy up top, rocky – there's scraggly bushes in places, but mostly barren. Around me the terrain was more of the same – rows of hills stretching off to the horizon. In one valley though I could make out a distant shimmer, a reflection of sunlight. It looked like a river.
I had nowhere else to go. I set off.
I walked for most of that day. The sun soon reached its zenith. Eventually I peeled off the jumpsuit – I had shorts and a shirt on underneath. I put my boots back on and kept going, slowly losing altitude.
By mid-afternoon the landscape was getting a bit more forgiving. Coarse bushes slowly gave way to copses of trees, then a whole forest. My hopes rose a little. Something edible must grow around here, surely?
With the sun nearly setting I passed through another valley. I heard running water. My canteen was not quite empty, but I knew I needed a refill at some point. A few hundred meters further on I came to a creek, no more than knee-deep, running through rocky rapids. I leant down for a refill. I took a deep drink – it was fresh.
I might survive here just yet, I thought.
At that point, I sensed something unexpected. I looked up. I sniffed the air. I could definitely smell it – woodsmoke. Was this a stroke of luck? Someone was cooking nearby?
The trees had grown quite thick. I could scarcely see more than forty or fifty feet. It would soon be dark as well. Should I dare risk exposing myself to this world's inhabitants?
Carefully, I moved through the trees. I slowly pulled out my sidearm, but held it close to my chest, out of sight a little. I walked gently, careful of crunching the leaves underfoot. The smell of smoke grew stronger, now mixed with what was definitely cooking meat. I moved a little closer, until up ahead I could see a dim glow lighting up the trees. Finally, I saw the campfire. Strung over it was an animal carcass of some kind – perhaps a deer? I expected to see figures around the fire, but there was no one.
After a short pause, I went to take another step, but at that moment there was a blood-curdling cry.
I whirled around. A figure was running towards me – no, more than one. They were huge, surely too big to be people. My first thought was of bears – but how did bears talk? I pulled out my sidearm, about to shout a warning, but at that moment something else grabbed me from behind.
I was yanked to the ground. My sidearm flew off into the semi-darkness. A thick arm was around my neck. Another figure leapt on top of me, knocking the wind out of me. As I lay there, panicking, struggling to breathe, I heard more voices. Someone was whooping in delight. The voice confused me.
It was a female voice - a bit deeper than normal, sure, but distinctively feminine.
I was sandwiched between two hard bodies. The one on top was breathing heavily. The one below let out a cry of what was recognisably triumph. Then it started to speak.
"Haha! Got one! Fresh meat tonight!"
Panic fought confusion. What did they mean by that? I tried to move, to escape somehow, but my captors seemed irresistibly strong. Strong hands grasped me around the arms. Another pair found my ankles. The figure on top of me finally lifted off, though she kept her arms wrapped firmly around my waist. Still struggling, gasping for breath, they started to carry me towards the campfire. By the glow of the firelight, I got my first look at the figure above me. I had to do a double take, my eyes widening.
She was the largest woman I had ever seen.
From my vantage point it was hard to judge her height. I was a little over six foot, but she must have towered over me by a foot or more. A long mane of red hair fell wildly to her waist. Her arms and legs were easily twice as thick as mine. Her face was chiselled, hard almost like it was made of marble, but still so beautiful I could scarcely look away. She wore very little – a thin strip of gold cloth around her waist and another equally insubstantial strip over her chest. Her breasts were huge, jutting out from her chests like a pair of party balloons, the outline of her nipples clearly visible. She was looking down on me with such a look of hunger in her eyes I almost froze in place, my struggles to get free ceasing at once.
"This one's well trained Lolla" another voice said, belonging to the figure holding my arms above my head.
"He knows not to run" another replied, laughing. "Wonder where he escaped from?"
We had arrived near the fire. For one terrifying moment I thought they were going to throw me in, but instead I was unceremoniously dumped on the ground by the nearest tree. Two pairs of hands held me down, while another wrapped a thick rope around my wrists. I was forced into a sitting position as they were tied to a low hanging branch. My view of my captors grew a little clearer.
