Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 2.2

Day 26

An obsidian-colored dome waited for me. It lurked in a valley that was smoother than natural processes allowed. Luminous white lines intertwined to form a grid on the dome's surface which was reminiscent of a glowing soccer net. On a moon with black plants, that might have been a solar cell.

What was the purpose behind this construction? A bunker? The entrance to an underground city? Or maybe just a laboratory?

Ultimately, it didn't matter. All that mattered was I was at the right place.

I watched the construct from the cover of a nearby dune. A swarm of red alien ants whizzed over my boots. That explained why they were part of the video. Another landmark to identify when I reached the dome. Nice, albeit unnecessary.

Right now, my only weapon was my walking stick and I hoped I didn't need it. I had put all my eggs in a single basket. Either these aliens meant it when they said they were about to rescue me or they didn't. If they didn't, I'd have died no matter what I did.

The camera with the burning pyramid on it was still tied to my backpack. I had watched their film over and over again to reassure myself I hadn't been imagining anything.

From my vantage point, the dome had a semicircular indentation on its far right corner. The most obvious location for a door. I left the safety of the dune and made my way to the "door". No traps were set off and no bullet went through my brain.

The smallest of my worries had been proven wrong.

I stood before the gate. "Hey, guys, nice to meet ya! Long journey you've been putting me through, but now I'm here!" Admittedly, I had no good script prepared for this, so my words were random. All I wanted was a reaction.

The gate remained rigid, however.

Maybe the building was abandoned. Maybe the inmates died in the war the serpent robot was hinting at. Or maybe they changed their minds about me.

"HELLO!" I shouted. "Anyone there?"

Nothing. I went back to the dune with my walking stick. With all the loneliness, I had even picked up a companion stone that was waiting for me near the dune.

I pictured my stone as looking depressed, no, worried. It was a granite rock with two black minerals that I occasionally interpreted as eyes. Right now, it was fixating the gate.

"Is anything wrong?" I asked my stone.

The gate was open. It was so quiet, I couldn't tell if it had opened a second ago or earlier.

A robot rolled outside. At first glance, it looked like a table made of iron, but its track reminded me more of an elongated, unarmed tank. Ultimately, it was neither though. It was divided into six plate-shaped segments, presumably for the sake of mobility, each of which carried a pair of pincer-like arms which, strangely enough, added millipedes into the mix of objects it reminded me of. The gate closed behind the robot.

Sending a robot instead of coming out in person wasn't a good sign. A diplomatic robot wouldn't need that many pincers. It didn't resemble the black dots in the video either.

Like a watchdog, the robot turned in my direction.

My feet trembled.

As poor as my chances were in a fight, they were even poorer if I just waited. With my ankle, running was off the table, too. That was why I climbed at the top of the dune. Given how small the dune was, it didn't even take a second, but it was enough for the robot to close the distance. When it rolled up and reached for me, I had to jump down again.