Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 4.4

A wormhole as portrayed in the movie of Interstellar. All rights for the picture belong to the moviemakers, used here for illustrative purposes only.

Day 73

Helix floated in the bridge, each segment torn open. Crick and Tesla weren't as badly injured, but even they had several tentacles missing.

Their transmissions told me that they were still alive. All of them. And it was up to me to save them.

I knew they were here somewhere. Enemy drones resembling mechanical spiders did this and they'd get into the bridge at any moment. I had my gun with me, but I wasn't experienced enough to defeat a dozen of them myself.

Instead, I hurried back into the centrifuge. Ladder steps on the ground helped me do so even in microgravity.

My reliance on the ladder even continued when I got back in the centrifuge, as the damage to our ship had destroyed its ability to spin.

Otherwise, the centrifuge was fine though. There were no holes in its white tube walls that exposed us to the vacuum of space or anything.

Of course, this could change at any moment.

"Robot, anywhere?" I transmitted.

This was something I had remembered. When you needed help with fixing anything, even another sapient being, the robots were at your service. I wasn't a medic like Helix and not as adept at controlling them, but with everyone else injured, the duty rested on my shoulders.

A section of the wall dissolved to form a hole. At first, I thought it was one of our robots arriving, but no, life never chose to be good to me.

It was one of the mechanical spiders!

I was shot in the chest and died.

Then, I re-appeared in the grey void with Helix.

"Not bad," Helix transmitted. "You're not suited for a real fight yet, but you survived longer than before."

"Thanks!"

"Remember that this was easy mode though where all the bad guys are bad shots and take time to act. You let the enemy drone stare at you. Had you ran away immediately, it most likely wouldn't have hit you. It can only hit still targets."

"I'll remember that, thanks again."

As slow as it was, it was nice for my mentor to confirm my progress. Day after day, my life consisted of nothing but training and sleeping in nanostasis.

I wasn't making progress in the most important area though.

"Do you want to go into nanostasis again?" Helix asked.

"No!" I replied.

For one, we were too close to the wormhole for me to miss it. Secondly, I hadn't trained in the aforementioned most important area yet today.

"I'd like to do social skills training first."

"As you wish."

I opened my eyes in my bed. Helix removed the lid from it so that I stood up.

The centrifuge was spinning now, meaning I had to deal with a gravity pull equal to Shadowmoon's rather than the half-gee of before.

Before my bed lay the nanofactory. The object I always imagined to be a conversation partner in my training.

"You know what to do," Helix transmitted.

My mind waves affirmed theirs.

I took a deep breath. Helix had once explained the three essentials of charisma.