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  Felix lay on the ground, covered in sweat. He must have bit his lip during his struggles, but it was already scabbed over. He reluctantly reached back to where more large scabs led up his spine. With hesitation, he traced his fingers over where the bug had dug in. It was still there, now flush with his own skin. And it wasn't a bug- it was metallic.

  He thought his vision was blurred, but as he sat there, the blur resolved into a dozen small, hollow blue boxes at the bottom of his eyesight. When he turned his head, they stayed in the same position in his perspective. He reached out to touch them, but his hand passed right through where they appeared.

  The alien groaned and sat up. "Shit, that hurt," he said.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The shock and pain from the attack vanished as did the confusion about the boxes. Incredulity and not a small amount of anger welled up within Felix.

  All the pantomiming and gestures, all the general lack of coordination, and this guy could have spoken Terran at any time? Really? He didn't even have an accent. Felix couldn't begin to fathom why the Lisnoir would feign ignorance in the face of death.

  "So," Felix said, drawing out the 'o'. "Finally decided that I might be acceptable to speak to? Or did the bug-thing startle you out of your silence?"

  The Lisnoir started at Felix's voice. "What?" The alien's jaw hung slack for a moment, and then shut with a snap. His brow ridge furrowed. "You speak Lisnori? Since when?"

  Felix was about to spit out a retort when something tickled the back of his mind. The Lisnoir didn't look quite right when speaking. The pause robbed him of his momentum and heat.

  "Well, I speak some, but terribly. Don't change the subject! We could have died before now because we couldn't communicate. Why wouldn't you just speak up?"

  The Lisnoir narrowed his eyes and looked at him closely. Slowly, he said, "What language am I speaking?"

  "Terran," sad Felix.

  "No," said the Lisnoir. "I am speaking Lisnori. And so, to my ears, are you. I am fairly certain human mouths can't even make some of the sounds you are making."

  Felix watched carefully as he listened to the Lisnoir. Sure enough, the movements on the alien's mouth and the words he heard did not sync up. It was like watching a badly dubbed movie play out in real time.

  His anger melted away. He struggled for words. "Huh, well. That is frighteningly convenient. Emphasis on the frightening. For now though,"Felix stuck out his hand, "I am Felix."

  The Lisnoir shook his hand. "And my name is Koale."

  He hadn't realized how much it had bothered him not having a name for his companion and now, something finally broke their way. They were shipwrecked on an alien planet, covered in dirt and blood, huddled in a cave with some sort of robotic implants dug into their necks that were clearly having some effect over their mental functions.

  None of that had changed, but now they could talk to each other. There was some tiny bit of progress; something was just better now that was insurmountable moments ago. He was downright optimistic.

  Koale moved so he could look at Felix’s implant. He prodded it gently. "I'd like to examine these things in our necks, but they are obviously hooked into our nervous systems."

  "Just to make sure we're on the same page here- do you see the little blue boxes as well?" asked Felix.

  "Indeed," said Koale with a nod. "It is concerning to say the least."

  The more Felix thought about that thing in his neck- changing what he heard, what he saw- well, he didn't like any of it. He reached back and picked at the edge of the hard, metal implant. "Let's pull the damn things out. I'm sure between us we can manage and the medkit can patch us back up."

  Koale reached back and touched his own implant. "I agree with the sentiment, but," he trailed off.

  A small shock of electricity arced to Felix’s fingers. He yelped and snatched his hand away from his neck. He stuck his finger in his mouth before waving it in the cool air. It still stung, but less so.

  Koale was looking at him, crest raised in amusement. With the dignity that he could salvage, Felix carefully inspected his hand. No sign of damage aside from a faint red mark.

  With the faintest whisper of a smile, Koale continued, "The way these things are wired in, it would be dangerous. I don't think they'll do any harm as is, however."

  "How do you figure that? Certainly did me some harm when it dug itself in."

  "Granted. But then it translates for us. Someone took the time and expense to make the thing, and then it is actively helpful. It wouldn't surprise me if the boxes were some sort of assistance as well."

  Felix frowned. Sound reasoning to be sure, but he didn’t like it any better. He really hated this planet. He closed his eyes and breathed deep. When he opened them again, he simply said, "Fine. Then for now, we still need to start a campfire and butcher this thing," he said, waving a hand in the general direction of the corpse. "We can figure out more later."

  “Agreed. What materials do we need? Wood and stones for a fire? Some sort of kindling? I'll admit, this is the longest I've been outside in my life, and certainly the only time in the actual wilderness."

  "I'm not much better, myself. That does sound right though."

  Before he ventured out, Felix finished emptying the bag. Most of the contents were already strewn over the floor, tossed during the attack. Once empty, he slung on his back once more.

  Felix and Koale searched separately a short ways from the cave mouth. The cliff face continued to either side of the opening. There was a small open area between the cliff and the trees of the jungle.

  Felix carefully skirted the edge of the tree line. He saw a couple small, fallen branches about as long as his arm close together. He slunk over. He wasn't sure if the caution was necessary, but after the last day and a half, he wasn't going to chance it. He gathered up the sticks and crept back to the ridge-line.

  It was then he noticed that one of the blue boxes at the bottom of his vision was now white. It also had a stylized stick icon in it, and the number "3" written in white in the lower right of the box. That was nothing short of weird. He swept a hand at the square and it went through as before. Well, he'd mess with it later.

  Shortly he had accumulated a large variety of items: more sticks, some leaves, fist sized rocks. He even lucked out and found a jagged rock with a reasonably sharp edge. Every time he picked up a new kind of object, another box filled with an icon, and whatever he held in his hand would have the white highlight.

  His bag was strange as well. It felt appropriately heavy, but he was sure he had way more in there than should fit. It didn't bulge at all. Moreover, it seemed he could pull out whatever he wanted by simply reaching his hand in the bag for it. He was dying from curiosity. This was even better than the wearable tool-box Outfarer Concepts came out with a few years ago. Once they got set up for the night, he was going to figure this out.

  When he got back to the cave entrance, he paused. There were some vines on the trees at a easy height for him. Felix didn't know what they would be useful for, but he was sure they could use them for something. That and he was still annoyed he couldn't get them down when he thought he could use them yesterday. Call it petty, but he was taking some now.

  He took out the sharp rock and picked his target. The vine he chose hung just over his head. He grabbed it near the tree it draped from and used the stone like a makeshift saw.

  It was slow going; the vine was far more durable than he had guessed, and, shockingly enough, a rock was clearly not the ideal tool for this job. He had to really put some effort into the sawing motion to get the edge to bite. As he broke through the last shreds, he scraped his hand against the tree.

  He stumbled forward, and could have sworn his bag got heavier. He muttered to himself and sucked on his scraped knuckle as he walked to the other end of the vine. A few minutes sawing and he had that down as well. He tossed the vine into his pack.

  As he checked the boxes for his new acquisition, he found an irregularity. In additio
n to a coiled vine icon, there was an icon for a log. It was much thicker looking than the sticks he had picked up previously if the picture was anything to go by. That did explain the weight, though not how it got there.

  Felix tentatively reached back to pull out it out of the bag. Sure enough, there was a log in his hand. It was shorter than the sticks he picked up earlier, though not by much. It was about the size of a grapefruit in diameter and of the same dark wood of the nearby trees.

  Felix tossed it lightly in the hands, feeling the weight and wandered back into the cave. Koale had also returned and was crouched at the cave mouth. Felix paid him no attention; his mind was busy.

  He sat on the cave floor and unpacked this bag. He didn’t even take the bag off. He thought about grabbing the first item in the boxes, the sticks, and pulled out the eight he had collected and set them down.

  The icon grayed out and the number changed to "0". He repeated for the remainder of what he had in the bag: thirty of the broad, red and green leaves; fifteen small, rounded rocks; his one sharp rock, now stained green with vine goop; the mysterious log, and lastly, the coil of vine.

  Every item had just happened to be in easy, ready reach when he wanted it. He looked at the neat pile of foraged goods beside him. He took off the bag and laid it over top the heap. It was smaller.

  Felix stared at it for a long moment. He glanced over to Koale. His companion was arranging rocks in a circle right outside the cave mouth, and he had a small stack of sticks next to him. Felix called out to Koale, "Hey, come here a second, would you?"

  When Koale ambled over, Felix, still squatting, gestured at the mound of goods he'd gathered. "All of this fit into that bag," he said.

  Koale looked between Felix and the pile. “Congratulations on a creative packing job?"

  Felix shook his head. He opened the bag on the ground and started to restow the goods. "No, see? They all fit into the bag."

  Before long, the duffle was bulging and ready to burst. A small pile of the haul still lay beside the bag. “I don’t understand,” said Felix, “I swear it all fit neatly before.”

  Felix watched the boxes as he tried it again. When he picked up the bundle of sticks, the icon colored, and the box turned white, as he expected. As he put them in the bag, they grayed out once more. On a hunch, Felix slung the bag over his shoulders.

  There was a strange feeling as the duffle violently shifted. A moment later, the icons had regained their color and numbers had returned. The bag looked full, but no more. After he was sure that Koale had seen the change, he unpacked once more.

  Koale smiled and his eyes twinkled. "Well now, that is interesting. I wonder how..." he trailed off and shook his head. "No, later. First we need to build a fire and cook."

  "Probably right," Felix said as he unloaded the last of the haul once more and set the bag aside. "Besides, fresh meat might draw more of those snuffle lizards from yesterday."

  "Snuffle lizard?"

  Felix snorted as best he could like the creature that had chased them the previous day. "Snuffle lizard. That's the sound they make, and there's at least one too many other lizards to call them 'lizard'."

  Koale opened his mouth and closed it again. "That is a terrible name," he said finally.

  "Well, do you have anything better?"

  Koale turned away. "I'll build the fire. I saw you had a rock with an edge; perhaps you can use that to cut the carcass into a manageable size." With that, Koale stiffly walked to the half-completed rock circle and placed stones once more.

  Felix decided to see just how far he could push his luck. “I have an idea for the other critter too.” He paused drawing out the suspense. After a long moment of enjoying Koale pretending, poorly, to ignore him, Felix continued. “Pounce gators.”

  Koale hissed. “That one is both worse and less sensical. I thought you said it looked like a frog, not a gator?”

  “It did,” confirmed Felix with a nod.

  “Then why?

  Felix gave an exaggerated shrug. “Pounce frog would have been redundant.”

  Koale groaned loudly and returned to his work, refusing to acknowledge Felix any further.

  Felix grinned. He knew they were going to stay 'snuffle lizards'. He’d even give good odds to keeping ‘pounce gator’ as well. That one wasn’t terrible for being made up on the fly. His smile faded as he turned to face the bloody remains on the cave floor.

  He took the rock out of the pack and hefted it in his hand while he thought. He hadn't done anything like this before and wasn't exactly sure what he was supposed to be doing. Take the guts out, right? He was sure there was more to it than that, but he'd figure it out as he went.

  With a grunt, he pushed the corpse over until it was belly up. He knelt beside it and held the rock next to the skin at the base of the throat. It was still covered in vine residue, but they didn't have the water to spare to clean it. He hoped it wasn't toxic.

  His stomach was already churning. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The stench of blood clinging to the area nearly made him sick before he even began. He opened his eyes and dug the rock in before he could lose his nerve.

  The rock sunk in. Rather easily. In fact, it was an order of magnitude less difficult than he had anticipated. As he pulled the rock down, instead of the sawing motion he'd expected to have to use, the rough stone edge parted the hide with the barest of effort. Felix squinted. In fact, it looked like the cut was actually preceding the stone.

  Felix lifted the rock. The line stopped progressing. Felix continued the butchery, and the cut outraced the actual edge. He went faster, and so did the cut. He stopped, and it did too.

  He was so fascinated with whatever was going on, he nearly forgot that he was slicing into a body that used to be living not too long ago. The gash went from collarbone to the base of the tail, rock trailing shortly behind. From there it turned and went down one of the legs. Felix shrugged and followed the cut with the rock. Whatever was going on was more sure about its plan of action than he was.

  As he "cut" down the leg, three other lines had appeared on the remaining legs and were progressing together. He got to the wrist and the hide fell onto the floor. It was neat and clean as if Felix had cut off a pair of pajamas rather than the creature's skin.

  Felix blinked and stared at it. He was fairly certain that is not how any of this was supposed to work. That said, it was a whole lot neater and cleaner than he was expecting and so he didn't say a word. He didn't want to disrupt whatever mojo was helping him.

  A few moments later, he had the stomach open. With gritted teeth, he reached in to pull the guts out. He was sure they'd be connected somewhere, right? Apparently not.

  Felix had been expecting resistance and nearly hit himself in the face with the offal when there was none. The innards came out with hardly a mess and no trouble.

  Now Felix hesitated. He was not sure where to go from here. They had to cook the meat, so cut that up, he supposed. Felix looked over and saw Koale had a small tower of sticks built up, and a pile of leaves inside the rock circle. He was bent over the atmospheric sensor for some reason.

  They didn't have anything to cook on, so he figured maybe they could put chunks of meat on a stick and then hold them in the fire. He sighed. As with everything in the last few days, he was sure it was not the brightest idea. He was also sure he didn't have another one.

  Why couldn't they have been stranded somewhere that needed a load of doodads sold? He'd be set.

  He kept determinedly focused on that scenario, and he moved the rock around. As he did, gobs of meat dropped to the ground. Soon enough he was staring at a heap of mysteriously clean bones, a skin, a neat pile of meat and offal.

  It wasn’t until Felix was tossing the offal into the woods that Felix realized how short-sighted he had been. The cave already contained an unfortunate amount of rank smelling gore. How much worse would it have been if he had butchered the creature anywhere but this strange place? How much more ichor would h
e have added to their new home?

  Felix pushed the thought aside. It didn’t happen and he had more pressing concerns that could actually occur. He returned to the cave and then piled the meat chunks near the fire. He grabbed some of the sticks and skewered the meat.

  Koale yelled triumphantly. He had pulled some wiring out of the sensor's chassis and frayed off the insulation. He fiddled with it and a spark leapt out towards the leaves he had piled. Nothing happened. He made it spark again, and a third time. A bit of smoke rose and wafted gently in the breeze. Koale leaned over and gently blew on the fledgling fire. Felix grinned as the fire crackled to life. Finally that damn sensor was useful.

  By the time he had skewered as much meat as the remaining sticks could hold, the fire was crackling merrily. It was smoking something fierce as well, but they'd make do. Felix held a couple sticks to the flames for a moment, but he started fidgeting. There had to be something to do this for him. “Hey Koale,” he said, “would you mind holding these for me? I have an idea.”

  Once Koale had a hold of the skewers, Felix grabbed some of the extra round stones. Felix arranged the rocks into a series of braces to hold up the stones.

  “Brilliant,” said Koale, “I think tomorrow we can do even better.” Relieved of his duty, Koale squatted next to the fire and began to roughly measure the sticks and fire-pit by eye. “See? With a few branches and a bit more of that vine for binding, we could make an impromptu spit. We’d even be able to rotate the meat with minimal effort.”

  “That would be great. I’ll admit, I’ve been missing-”

  “No, that won't do. Forget one rotating stick, with a bit more time and resources, we can brace it into a triangle like this,” Koale waved his hands wildly, “And have three racks going at once. Far more efficient in the long run.”

  Felix hesitated. “That sounds like a bit much. We don’t even know when we’ll get meat again. Our time is probably best spent on the simpler option. At least at first.”