Child of Hades

22. New experiences

The flight to earth felt adventurous. It felt like the beginning of the tale of a hero, flying right by hundreds of Lex's warships undetected. Even in my wildest dreams, I had never imagined I would see this. I supposed I did not have a lot of wild dreams. 

Earth's atmosphere was a lot more pleasant than Chaus's. We had landed in a place full of trees, all of which seemed well-nourished. I could hear many animals nearby. Some of them made noises I had never heard. The air was rich in oxygen, but there was some contamination. The smell reminded me of cars. Whatever lived here was probably using old-fashioned means of transportation. There were some clouds in the sky, but I could see far into the atmosphere. Lex's ships were hidden to the bare eye using state-of-the-art technology. 

"I never thought earth would be beautiful.", I said.

KM-13 was using a flamethrower to burn down some nearby trees. He stopped for a moment to reply to me. "Yes, it actually is very beautiful. And so flammable." He laughed.

Next, he began dropping small explosive devices and watching them explode. I enjoyed the spectacle for a while before I interrupted him. "Let's not attract attention. Do you have a plan on how we are going to blow this place up?"

He looked puzzled. "Don't you want to enjoy some time together first?"

I shook my head. "I want to see this place destroyed and the Lex humiliated."

He looked disappointed again. "Fine. Let me find some suitable explosives"

Then he teleported away.

I sat down and waited. After a few minutes I realized that he might not be coming back so soon. I got up and started walking through the forest, searching for a time-pass. After a short walk I heard people singing in the distance. With nothing else to do, I started walking towards them. Whatever they were, I knew I would see them way before they saw me.

They were singing from inside a small cabin. Smoke was leaving from the cabin through a chimney. It was not cold outside and I could not imagine any possible reason for starting a fire inside such a small house.

Three male humans left the cabin, naked and unarmed. They were each holding one tin can in their hand. From the way they walked and talked, I could tell they were intoxicated. Getting intoxicated together like that suggested a level of trust, maybe even unity, between them. I supposed they were drunk. If I had been less keen on my survival, I supposed I would have enjoyed getting drunk too.

They left their tin cans on a shelf and jumped into a nearby lake together. Did they not feel cold? Maybe they enjoyed it? Maybe Lex was somehow forcing them to do this as a form of punishment? Maybe they were unknowingly part of a social experiment? 

While they were distracted I went to the shelf where they had left their tin cans to smell whatever substance they were consuming. It smelled like alcohol, confirming my suspicion.

Maybe they were not human like the humans I had known. I had never heard of a human behaving so strangely after consuming alcohol. Who knows what the Lex had done to these poor creatures? 

I let them see me when they returned to the cabin. One of them, perhaps their leader, started talking to me in what must have been the strangest language I had ever heard. I had a tool for translation with me, but it did not recognize his language. The man started talking to each other when I did not reply.

Their leader looked at me in a friendly and curious manner. I decided not to pull out my gun for now.

"Maybe you speak English?", he finally asked.

I nodded. "English is fine."