Non-erotic story. Any erotic activity occurs after this story ends. I leave it to the reader to draw their own conclusions and imagine that future. You have been warned.
As my consciousness returns, I'm aware of alarms and flashing lights. Something is wrong. I'd like to say I vaulted from the cryo pod, but that didn't happen. In reality, I faceplanted, my legs had not yet decided to listen to the instructions my brain was sending. I laid there for a precious few seconds until all systems were online then stood and slapped the intercom switch on the wall. I'm a med tech. If they thawed me, someone was hurt.
"MT313." I shouted. "Status."
"MT313, we're under attack." A disembodied voice answered. I wasn't sure if it was human or computer. "Decks 3-8 heavily damaged. Deck 9 and 10 have lost life support..." Static drown out any further information and the ship lurched heavily to port, tossing me into a bulkhead.
"Shit." I muttered, picking myself up off the deck. Then I remembered I'm on deck 8. This isn't good! I scrambled back towards my cryo pod to grab my gear when the compartment started to depressurize. Apparently thing are going to Hell much faster than I realized. My only hope of survival at that point was to jump back into the pod. It was fully self-contained. I could run for the hatch, but as badly as we were damaged, I had no reason to believe the next compartment was in any better shape.
The cryo pod closed and sealed as soon as it detected my presence. Once pressurized I was in my own little survival bubble.
"Computer, status." I barked, activating the emergency communication panel.
No answer.
"Computer, STATUS!!" I screamed, like shouting at an inanimate object would somehow cause it to respond. Oddly, it did.
"MT313, ship is without drive, gravity is failing. Life support at 35% and falling due to multiple hull breeches." It spat out info in its usual dispassionate voice.
"Crew status?" I asked. The answer chilled me to the bone.
"No life forms detected." It stated.
In actuality, there was at least one, me, but in its twisted logic, since I was conversing with it, my life was a given.
"Any other ships close?" I asked.
"All other vessels destroyed." It said.
"Enemy ships?" I probed.
"Error 566. Query redundant." It said.
So we'd finally done it, obliterated each other. Well fucking three cheers for us.
"Where are we?" I inquired.
"2381.56 lightyears from point of origin." It answered.
Point of origin, I remembered sadly. That was home. It was gone now along with everyone on it most likely. As I had no way to return, that question would remain forever unanswered.
We inhabited the fourth planet in our star system. We called it Eahdahn. As we progressed technologically, we became aware of the fifth planet also being inhabited. Much later, we learned it had a name, Saadaahym.
In time, our two civilizations met. It did not go well. We have been at war for over 3000 years.
I little over 15 years ago, we developed a technology that would destroy all life on any given planet, with firm conviction to use it on our adversaries. Little did we know, they had spies. It was now a race to see who could annihilate the other faster. We both lost.
Before our worlds were completely ruined, we flung what was left of ourselves into space in anything that would fly. We needed a new world in order to live. So did they. Survival of our races was far from assured, still we didn't learn. We could have gone different directions. Space is huge, there was room, but no, we had to hunt each other. How much more death would be required before we said enough?
The war continued. Over time both sides took severe losses. We were down to half a dozen ships and by our best guess, they were in no better shape. With this last skirmish, it seems, the war is finally over. All the ships had escape pods. Maybe a few made it out, but since the computer indicated it found no life forms, that is probably unlikely.
Before they froze me, we were heading for a star system. The third planet looked promising. It was slightly smaller than our world, but had abundant water and the temperature and atmosphere were within limits.
"Computer, how close are we to target?" I inquired. Maybe, just maybe, I might catch a break.
"In the gravity well of target." It stated. "Orbit decaying, impact with surface in 1 hour 14 minutes and 6.985 seconds."
So much for luck. FUCK!!
With the help of the computer and what few automated systems that were still functioning, I managed to regain at least some control of the ship. We were still going to crash, but with the help of the gravity dampeners in the cryo pod, I might yet walk on that new world.
With less than 30 minutes before landing, hey, I can dream right?, I keyed the pod and initiated stasis. The only way I'd know if it worked was if I ever woke up again.
***
This seems familiar. I thought as I slowly opened my eyes. Once again, alarms and flashing lights. Something was different this time. I smelled something I hadn't smelled in a long time. Since I was a teenager back on my home world. Outside. I had hoped to analyze the atmosphere before being subjected to it. I guess I'm not really surprised, the hull was breached before we crashed.
This time, I waited before moving. There was no hurry now. I was here for the rest of my life. However long that might be. I was the last of my kind. My world and my people would die here. Fitting epitaph for a bunch of self-righteous zealots.
A quick search of the ship carried good news. It was largely intact. Lots of holes and beaten to Hell, but intact. It would never fly again, but it would serve as a shelter and base of operations as I familiarized myself with my new home. There was plenty of supplies and the power was holding, but I wasn't sure how long that would last. Best get self-sufficient quickly.
Sadly, I found remains of some of the crew. After decompression and the hard landing, most were unidentifiable. The med database was still active, I could have done a DNA analysis, but there wasn't really any point. I buried them, muttered a few words and wished them well on their journey. I still wasn't sure I wouldn't be joining them shortly.
Over the next several days, I scouted around the area. Life of all kinds was abundant. Plants, animals and flying things. Flying things? We had nothing like them on my world. They were definitely some kind of animal. Some were rather drab, others covered in bright colors and nearly all of them made noises. It seemed to be some form of communication. Then I discovered the smaller flying things. They were most annoying. Some bit me, others just buzzed around my face or crawled all over me. I caught a few and examined them. They seemed to be armored. Some kind of exoskeleton. They certainly weren't very intelligent. I definitely did not like them.
I should have been more careful. I didn't realize how large some of the animals were. Working in the ship one day, I heard a loud noise come from the galley. Noises weren't terribly uncommon, the ship was still settling after the crash and things still occasionally fell off, but this was different.
Moving to investigate, I hear grunting and scratching and the sounds of something eating. Peeking around the bulkhead I see a large animal. Easily larger than me, probably at least twice my mass. Dark hair covered it completely. Large paws with long claws. It reminded my of an animal from my home world, a baehrr. If it was anywhere near as bad tempered, I was in trouble. It was devouring my food stores.
I was pissed! I stepped into the compartment and yelled at the creature. Its head swung around and beady black eyes stared at me. There was no fear. I think if it could have laughed at me it would have. I grabbed a piece of nearby wreckage and moved to engage the intruder. For the most part, it ignored me as it continued its feast, at least until I struck it on the nose. MISTAKE!
I just managed to slam the compartment hatch closed before its formidable bulk crashed into it. It bellowed and clawed at the door wanting nothing more than to inflict bodily harm on me.
We had large animals on my world, but all the dangerous ones had been removed or relocated to areas where they would be no threat. It was stupid of me to underestimate the dangers of this new place. I wouldn't make it again, but I still had to get rid of my unwanted guest without getting dead in the process.
Several attempts at removing the creature were unsuccessful. I tried using noise and noxious smells. Nope. Frighten it, OK, I didn't think that one through. Defeated and out of ideas, I dug a stunner out of the stores in the armory. Even at the strongest setting, one that would put me down for several days, all it did was piss off the shambling hulk. It was becoming increasingly clear I would have to use deadly force. At the rate it was consuming my supplies, it needed to be soon.
I took no joy in this task. My people held all life on our planet as nearly sacred. (The other planet, not so much. Yeah, we were hypocrites too.)
A quick shot from one of the few still functional plasma rifles did the deed. I scanned the lifeless body and determined it would be safely edible. That was a welcome surprise. At least it didn't die for nothing.
I had been living off my stores, but after the revelation with the creature, I scanned the surrounding plants and animals. At least the ones I could get close to. Nearly everything I scanned was, or could be made to be, edible. At least I wouldn't starve.
I had spent most of the day scouting, looking for things like water sources and anything else that was useful. I would eventually need to build a shelter. Living on the ship would not last forever. Already, several systems had failed and I had no way to repair them.
The large plants seemed sturdy and some experimentation with them yielded the knowledge that, once dried out, they were solid, fairly easily workable building material. Stacking them would make a sturdy structure. Just what the doctor ordered!
