Solacium

Ch 9: Vorian

I groaned, shifting uncomfortably on the hard surface I was laid across. Memories of the Galdreer, the crash, and the fiery female Terran came back to me in a rush making my head pound. The pain was a dull reminder that this was the second time I had fallen unconscious recently. It was becoming a pattern, one that – for my sanity and well-being – I had no intention of continuing.

Forcing my eyes open, the first thing I noticed was how dark it was. Memories of this planet's environment slowly came back to me as I recalled that this planet seemed to always be shrouded in some sort of cloud. I vaguely remembered being taken aback when I first stepped out of my ship by how gloomy, wet, and overall unpleasant this planet was.

Without the bioluminescent organisms to light up the night like on my home planet, even though my eyes were open, it was like they had remained closed. The striking difference served as a grim reminder that I was far away from home, stranded on a planet I knew nothing about.

Squinting my eyes against the darkness, my vision slowly began to adjust, and my surroundings became more clear. I blinked, taking in the new environment I had awoken in. Upon first glance, my eyes darted around in confusion and frustration at my new surroundings.

As I tried to process where I was, one fact became abundantly clear. I was no longer anywhere near my ship. Somehow I had been moved to what looked to be a kind of small dwelling. The more my eyes searched the area, the more my brain began putting the pieces together and making sense of my new location.

Observing the floral-painted walls and the dark light that hung above me, I surmised that I had been brought to some kind of Terran settlement. Cutlery and plates also lined one part of the room's walls leading me to conclude that I was sitting on some kind of raised surface in the middle of a Terran dining room.

The room was eerily quiet, and amidst the silence, I could still hear the cadenced pounding of water pouring from the sky from outside. Curiously, I glanced toward the noise, seeing a viewing panel along the far wall of the room. To my dismay, it was just as dark outside as it was inside.

I hoped that this darkness signaled that I was currently in this planet's star-fallen hours. If the sun never rose on this dark planet, I would not be able to sustain myself here for very long.

Shifting into an upright position, I felt something soft slide down my body. The cloth had been draped over my body, and bunched in my lap as I sat up. Carefully, I picked up the edge of the grey material and examined it between my fingers.

It was soft, like the silk made from Zefir worms. Admiring the softness of the material, I laid it back down on my lap. It was obviously not some kind of binding as I had originally suspected, but rather some kind of fabric.

With the absence of the cloth covering my body, the temperature of the room seemed to drop. Clutching myself in an attempt to warm up, I was surprised when my hands touched bare skin. Looking down, I realized that the upper half of my suit was missing. Judging by the jagged edges and tears, it looked like it was done by force.

I furrowed my brow as I examined the damage. Why would someone want to take my suit? It was impossible to steal, the organism would die as soon as it was separated from my body.

I ran my fingers along the jagged line of ripped suit that hung around my hips, touching the now blackened edge with a frown. The clothes worn back on Zur were living, crafted from small organisms that attached themselves to living things to feed off of their energy.

These organisms were survivalists and would do anything to protect their host, providing their wearers with extraordinary resistance to damage. It was a symbiotic relationship between host and organism. Thus, only the wearer could communicate to the suit to remove itself from their body. Taking it by force would simply rip apart the carefully nurtured bond and kill the organism.