Crusoe – Part 4, Neighbors

I exited my cave with utmost care. As I peeked outside I was initially worried a native would be waiting outside with an axe, or some other sharp implement, but when there was no attack, I made my way outside.

Crusoe followed me, just overjoyed to actually get to be outside again.

He sprung around through the low vegetation, happily bouncing around, barking slightly.

“Ssh! Damn it, Crusoe. Quiet!”

I scanned the surroundings, frightened by the shadows of the trees.

I wasn’t a brave man. After all, I had flunked the ODST trials because I nearly fainted during the drop, and my current predicament did nothing to help my nerves.

When there was no sight of hostiles, I started to move towards the brook.

I took slow and quiet steps, and finally Crusoe got in the spirit of things.

We snuck carefully through the woods.

When we reached the shore of the brook, Crusoe shot forwards, barking as loudly as he could.

At first I nearly jumped out of my skin, not being able to see what triggered him.

Then I saw them.

There were natives! Sleeping in the tree!

Oh god they’re waking up

They’re throwing spears at us

They’re attacking us

In my panic I throw my spear with all my might. It cuts through the air, the tip flashing in the sunlight.

One of the natives is hit squarely in the chest, and is pinned towards the tree.

The rest flee.

Crusoe chases them for a bit before returning, wagging his tail.

I’m panting, sweating from the sheer fright of the event.

And isn’t this great, Dead native on a stick.

Bloody brilliant.


Seeing as I was alone by the water now, I started off by tearing loose the dead native, freeing my spear.

The creature is probably a male, though I can’t really be certain. I’m a geologist, not a biologist, and he was lithe, thin and short. Though he also seemed rather muscular, though I didn’t prod around his body to make sure. He was also quite short, and I’d estimate he was just above 4’4” tall, though a general lack of measuring tape made it hard to tell.

After I had retrieved my spear, I gently placed him down on the ground, and leaned him towards the tree.

I carved out the word “Sorry” next to his body, as I had only really wanted to scare them away, not kill something.

The fact that this creature was so similar to a human made it so much worse.

I gathered my water and returned to my cave. I then spent most of my day gathering up bushes and branches to mask my palisade to hide myself from the retaliation of the natives.


I awoke in the middle of the night to the rustling of leaves outside my home, and Crusoe’s growling.

I grabbed my spear, and added some more fuel to my fire.

If they got in here, I was at least going to see my assailants.

But then I heard the rustles quickly leave the area around my entrance.

I didn’t move a muscle for several minutes.

Then I peeked outside.

There were hand-woven baskets filled with fruit outside, and it was still dark.

What the bloody hell was going on here?

What were they doing?

I hadn’t the faintest what was currently happening, but at least they hadn’t attacked me.


This pattern repeated itself every few days. I would awake in the middle of the night from Crusoe growling about strangers on our doorstep, and when I went outside to look they fled like scared animals, leaving behind baskets of fruit, river fish and raw meat.

As this kept going on, I grew bolder. They seemed far more afraid of me than I ever had been of them, and every time I moved my rock-door they fled.

I was starting to get the nagging suspicion that the fruit was some sort of bribe to keep me appeased, and after a couple of weeks I returned to my previous routine of spending large parts of my day lazing around in my hammock.

After all, I had something of an abundance of food now.


I had just started experimenting with letting the juices of a fruit pretty similar to grapes ferment when my routine was interrupted.

I awoke in the middle of the night from the usual rustle and growl combination, but this time something was different.

I could hear hushed voices speaking outside.

This is it. They finally decided to attack.

I grabbed my spear and waited for them to try and push my rock away.

It didn’t happen.

Instead, the sound of feet escaping the area was heard.

Okay, so something was different, but if it isn’t that they want to attack me, what is it then?

I wait a while before finding out myself.

I saw the usual bribe of fish and fruit, but there was more.

I saw a tightly bound native on the ground as well.

What the actual fuck.

For a while I just stare at her, and she stares back at me.

I think I’ve never seen a creature quite as scared as the native tied on the ground before me.

I take out my pocket knife, flipping out the blade and slowly approach her.

As I draw closer, she panics, squirming on the ground. She desperately tries to get away, but fails at doing so.

I gently grab the rope keeping her tied, and she freezes up. Not even moving a muscle. I slowly cut the rope, and then step back as she bursts free.

As she gets up and runs away, I expect her to disappear into the jungle, but she doesn’t.

Instead she hides behind some trees, staring at me.

After spending some time staring back at her, I decide I’d rather just leave her be, and I return to the cave. I shut the door firmly.

“Crusoe, guard.”

Crusoe barks once, and I scratch him behind the ear.

“Good boy.”

I return to sleep, and I sleep until daybreak.

Writer:
BattleSneeze
Series:
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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 3

Date Point: 16y2m AV The Thinghall, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Gabriel Arés Every civilization needed its icon of executive power. The UK had the black door of Number Ten Downing Street and, somewhere behind it, the Cabinet Room; the USA had the White House, and the Oval Office; Folctha had the Alien Palace. The

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Good Training – Survival Part 1

You may also want to read Pyrophytes in The Deathworlders series. Same story, different angles. Date point: 14y 7d AV Planet Akyawentuo, The Ten’Gewek Protectorate, Near 3Kpc Arm Professor Daniel Hurt “You want me to read it by next week?” Julian mopped the sweat from his face and bounced loosely in place. “What was it

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Rising Titans – Chapter 45

-7 Hours CHRONT THE CANADA “More contacts!” said Arik as she flashed every monitor on the bridge a bright red. Stagg glanced up at the monitor, “How many more?” “I’m counting!” “You’re counting!?” A grainy image of the approaching Empire patrol vessel was quickly displayed, a small box around it. Additional boxes quickly filled the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 2

Date Point: 16y2m AV Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Nofl Leemu had become unresponsive. Nofl’s quarantine facility had alerted him after the patient had been anomalously still for twenty minutes, and the reason why became obvious upon a quick inspection of the cell: Leemu was sprawled on his back, staring blissfully up at

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Good Training – April Fool’s

13y 3m 29d AV One-Fang workhouse, Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Sergeant Regaari (Dexter) of Clan SOR One of the best things about the humans was that they had a springtime holiday dedicated to mischief. Before them, only the Gao could claim to celebrate such a thing and it was one of the

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 52: Autoimmune Part 1

Date Point: 16y2m AV Alien Quarter, Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Nofl Nofl’s lab was spacious, but inevitably finite. When it contained an alarming number of alarmed Humans, not to mention one particularly sculpted canine and a Gaoian brownie who was doing his best not to loom at everyone… well, there were times when Nofl

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 5

Date Point: 16y2m AV Folctha, Cimbrean, the Far Reaches Allison Buehler After a lifetime of helicopter parenting, Tristan and Ramsey seemed addicted to every opportunity they could find to do something their mother would have scooted them away from. And who could blame them? Amanda had never managed to get her head around the idea

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Rising Titans – Chapter 44

9 Years, 6 Months, 28 Days After Eridani Landing Deep Space The Russia shuddered again as the engines slowly powered down and the ship slid out of the red blue haze that was the tachyon FTL corridor. James blinked several times trying to clear the haze from his eyes as the regular black background of

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 4

Date Point: 16y1m AV Dataspace adjacent to Mrwrki Station Entity The Entity understood the concept of boredom in an academic, abstract way. It could even vaguely summon up Ava’s memories of being bored. But understanding the idea and actually feeling the emotion were two different things. The closest it could get was the sensation of

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 3

Date Point: 16y2w AV Air Force One, somewhere over Asia, Earth President Arthur Sartori “…You want to give us a Farthrow generator.” Daar’s image was janky and low-resolution thanks to the vagaries of current wormhole comms, but the audio was a lot clearer now. Technology marched onwards. “It’s loaded up on a train and ready

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Good Training – Pecking Order

13y, 8m AV Operator’s Barracks, HMS Sharman, Folctha, Cimbrean Officer Regaari (Dexter) of Clan Whitecrest “I got an idea, Regaari.” Regaari flicked his ears forward in annoyance. “This again?” “Well, yeah. I gotta win that bet, Cousin!” Regaari duck-nodded wearily. Not long after Daar had received the SACRED STRANGER briefing, he’d sulked off to think

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Good Training – The Champions – Tidying Up

Messier 24 Mission day: 3 Sergeant Daar (Tigger) The third day was always when things settled into routine. Daar didn’t really know why, ‘cuz that was prol’ly some complicated psychology stuff (maybe he should read up?) but he did know how it worked, practically speaking. Daar always pondered morning thoughts like that when he was

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 2

Date Point: 16y2w AV Weaver dropship, Gaoian space Sergeant Ian “Hillfoot” Wilde “So in all the excitement, we clean forgot about these things. That’s what you’re telling me.” Champion Meereo made a sound that was half a sigh and half a chitter. “…That’s more-or-less exactly right, yes. We had… well, bigger priorities.” Wilde had to

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Rising Titans – Chapter 43

9 Years, 6 Months, 28 Days After Eridani Landing Bellona “Ready?” asked Alpha from where he sat on top of the Captain’s chair. “I’m good!” said Red from where he sat at the controls for the ship. It hadn’t taken much to convince him to pilot the vessel. James glanced down at his own console

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 51: Anticlimax Part 1

Date Point: 16y AV Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Zane Reid The cold didn’t hurt anymore. At first, it had been like forcing his way through a wall made of knives that cut through his clothes. Zane’s every breath had blinded him as it billowed and steamed in the air, and when he’d experimentally licked his

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 5

Date Point: 16y AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Hugh Johnson Snow. Of course, snow in January in Alaska was hardly surprising, and this one threatened to be heavy. At first, Hugh had thought it was probably just an seasonable dusting that’d add a couple of inches to the foot or

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Fight!

I had made my way through the tournament, but most of my matches had been won by the skin of my teeth, and I had only the advantage of being evolved from a pursuit predator to thank for it. Our great endurance had been the one boon that had kept me going, and I was

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 4

Date Point: 15y 10m 1w AV HMS Violent, Rvzrk System, Domain Space The ground battle churned on for days. That was the problem with Hunters. There was no surrender involved, it was a kill-or-be-killed fight where smashing their will to engage in war simply didn’t achieve enough. Any Hunter left alive would just keep murdering

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 4

He awoke to a pleasant smell. “…Eggs?” Hoeff detangled himself from Natalie and the sheets and stumbled towards the kitchen. Daar was busy in front of the comparatively little stove and fridge, humming some terrible Gaoian tune to himself. Seriously, their music was like Chinese opera with extra pain. Some Humans liked it, though…but “atonal”

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Rising Titans – Chapter 42

9 Years, 6 Months, 15 Days After Eridani Landing The [Singer] The explosion hit and [Vann] watched at the lights on the main hologram and different panels flashed a blinding white light, before dying and plunging the entire bridge of the [Singer] into darkness. “What were we supposed to do?” asked someone near the weapons

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Infestation

Day 1. I’ve made it on board the human trading vessel! They didn’t detect my presence, and I’ve managed to smuggle myself into their engineering bay, and disguised myself within a cluster of cables! My small, serpentine body makes me indistinguishable from a thin, grayish cable, and the Humans won’t notice my existence until it

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Trigger Part 1

Date Point: 15y 10m AV Camp Tebbutt Biodrone Internment Facility, Yukon–Koyukuk, Alaska, USA, Earth Hugh Johnson Camp Tebbutt wasn’t actually a bad place to live, if you didn’t count the fact that it was essentially a prison for innocent victims. Hugh understood why he was there, and why he couldn’t leave… but after eleven years,

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 3

Firth Regaari chittered, “It is difficult to imagine you ‘humbled,’ Righteous.” “Heh,” Firth chuckled. “You do know most of my attitude is straight fuckin’ bullshit, right? Adam and John know why.” Regaari looked over at John, who shrugged massively. “He’s a scary dude. Being ridiculous kinda takes the edge off, y’know?” Regaari duck-nodded. He was

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Rising Titans – Chapter 41

9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Moving down the hallway Diana paused at the double doors, carefully she moved forwards into it’s threshold and they slid open. A woman in an orange smock looked up from her Comm for a moment, and then going back to look at it did a

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The Good Samaritan

I felt a white-hot pain in my back as I was stabbed. Once, twice and then three times. I fell to the ground clutching my new openings, and for a moment I couldn’t grasp what had just happened. I had walked through an alley as a shortcut back home, and then suddenly someone had grabbed

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The Deathworlders – Chapter 50: Counterattack – Homefront Part 6

Date Point: 15y9m3w AV Mrwrki Station, Erebor System, Unexplored Space Darcy “Does it seem… different to you lately?” “What?” “The Entity. It’s actin’ different, dude, I swear it is.” Darcy sighed and set aside her work as Lewis sat down. She was sitting drinking a Moroccan Mint tea in the station’s rec lounge, with its

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Rising Titans – Chapter 40

9 Years, 6 Months, 13 Days After Eridani Landing Jikse Popping the restraints off of her legs Diana swung herself off of the table, the two class A’s still in their isolation suits were pounding at the door of the room the three of them were in. “It’s out! Open the door!” shouted the man

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Good Training – The Champions – Doom and Gloom Part 2

Master Sergeant Christian (Righteous) Firth The end of the movie came and the ladies were fast asleep and prolly too tired to head home with any comfort. The other bros were asleep, too, and Firth was tangled up with them pretty good. Oh well, both ‘Base and ‘Horse were heavy-ass sleepers and only danger or

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Hell

Hell. It’s a completely Human concept. The concept of a realm of eternal torture, to which you are sent depending on the whims of one deity or another, is something only found in Human fiction. And it’s not an isolated occurrence. Almost every human culture since the dawn of humanity itself has had it in

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