Chapter Five: Death Is Always On the Heels
They woke up on some sort of bed that was hard. Their head felt stuffy and their limbs felt heavy. A Korvax was peering down at them, trying to look through their visor. Whatever it was saying was lost to them. They recalled the sentinel ambush and getting hit. They ran their hand down to where they were hurt. It felt…bruised but not a sharp pain anymore. 'The Korvax must have tended to their wound.' They thought passingly. They had helped the Korvax quite a bit; it didn't even occur to them that the Korvax would be willing to help them with much. They were quite thankful. The Korvax waved its hand in front of their visor. After they refocused on the alien it made a range of hand…signals? After a couple of tries they caught its meaning. It was essentially saying that they should not walk much and they needed time to recover.
This could be problematic but since this planet had hostile sentinels they supposed they could just fly to a couple of waypoints to collect that data. Then they could leave; their element stores were full and there is no fauna on this rock. Thinking about the elements they recalled the orb they had found. They sat up slowly so they could judge the extent of their wound but besides a bit of an ache it was bearable. They pulled out the orb which started to glow as soon as they touched it again. Their scanner said it was a gravitino orb.
After checking their found recipes for new upgrades they saw that these rare orbs were used to make better weather condition shields on the higher end of the quality scale. The only two they had in their data log was for cold and heat. They decided that the improved shielding for colder temperatures would be made first. The other components was easy enough to make. Electron vapor was made from suspension fluid and plutonium. Both of which was easy to get. The next items was a couple of microdensity fabric portions which were crafted from iron and platinum. They had to venture briefly out to obtain enough platinum but rushed back inside after harvesting a couple of plants.
Using those components they installed the new shielding tech and it seemed to be in working order. This was a planet that did not cool enough to warrant a testing of the shielding but hopefully it was in working order. Since the heat shielding also required another one of those spheres…they needed a plan to ensure they don't get hurt again. After a couple of sols of rest in a nearby shelter close to the outpost they found a field that had those spheres everywhere. They landed right by a few of them and after a moment of calming their nerves they went to the farthest one and braced themselves. They plucked the first orb of the ground and their sensors went off, informing them sentinels were on the way. They plucked the other two orbs off the ground and before a sentinel could fire a shot they were in their ship and taking off.
This was a rather good plan all considered because after going out of range the sentinels reset. They went back to this field and collected a few more orbs in the same manner as before. If it was this hard to get these in most of the galaxy they would place a gamble that they sold for a decent price. They were right. They kept one of the orbs to craft the heat shield and after that was done there was no reason to stay. There was only one planet left in this star system and after they checked that planet out to see what was present they could finally move on. This gave them some excitement. Their wound was healing and thankfully if something did shoot at them it hit their shields but they heeded the Korvax's precaution. Retrieving the orbs was the only thing that could have stressed it, mostly they were in their ship.
Breaking Reskokortiskau's atmosphere was simple and going to the last planet Agodstovenis was an uneventful affair. There was some freighters that warped in the system but they were headed toward the space station and paid them no mind.
This planet, at least in color scheme reminded them of Ermoti Jeongl. It had a yellow sky near the horizon that went to bright red as one looked up. A cool thing to note was the remaining trio of planets and Uttondi were easily seen in this sky and it looked very beautiful. The clouds were yellow in tone and did seem to carry some sort of precipitation. The ground was mostly a chalky tan color, mixed in with a rust colored stone. The terrain was kind of hilly but the only odd thing was rather large mesas that appeared as if someone had cut perfect blocks of the red stone and placed them about randomly.
This planet was also the coldest they had encountered. It stayed at a frigid -79.9 C and would drop to -90 C during frequent storms that kicked up the dirt and made visibility very low. Their new shield was clearly working, and constantly in need to be re charged. There were animals on this planet and after a couple of encounters they were sure there was nothing but predators on this planet. At least there were no large predators…yet. Also their log was messing up with the scanning of the fauna and flora so they decided that after a couple of monoliths and outposts they might continue on.
The monoliths were the same as before and they continued to learn more about how the Korvax's technology had been abused by the first Gek when the Gek had enslaved them. They went to a couple of factories to collect a couple more product blueprints and tried to collect what aluminum they could. That seemed to be the only profitable material on this planet besides the common elements.
After a couple of sols just gathering material to sell and then getting the profits they came across another building that was abandoned. It also had the green masses around the walls. The entry found there baffled them "what are the Sentinels? They appear on countless worlds without summons or warning, they traverse the galaxy unopposed and enforce their will upon every sentient being they encounter. Who made them? Who gave them the will to police the stars and demand that we bow to their silent rules? The goal of the experiment was to learn the answers to these questions. It began on an uncharted world beneath a blue-white sun, far from the axis of civilization. The first drone screamed when it was cut open."
'What…in the galaxy's name…' The sentinel screamed? How, or why? They seemed robotic, without any organic parts. Reskokortiskau taught them that much. They were made mostly of titanium. They would prefer to leave them alone unless they attacked first. If there was a sentience that can feel with those sentinels they should not be so trigger happy.
A couple of sols later with their bestiary still having some sort of issue with not counting appropriately they decided to sell their goods at the space station, rest up and warp to the next system. The star system did not have much in the way of traffic at this specific point of time. They would admit they weaved through the asteroid fields to help get them used to aerial maneuvers. Without the gravitational pull of a planet or its atmosphere it was a completely different experience.
The space station, no doubt due to the little traffic was a bit more empty than usual. There were still plenty of ships coming in, and ships taking off but the actual wandering residents were in lower numbers. They paid for a room, but did not wish to retire yet. They went back to the commons area and made sure to sell all their extra wares. The next system might be sparse in resources and they should probably sequester all the Units they could till they made sure they could earn more back.
They sat down with some food and there were a couple of Korvax talking. While they tried hard to not overhear while ingesting their food the subject matter caught their attention. Course this is where a language gap doesn't help. Something about space thieves…their numbers increasing? They caught themselves making a disgusted noise. They did not want to deal with any of that. Their weapons were alright but they were concerned about their shield failing. They did not want to crash land again. They might not live if that happened again. Speaking of things that could or would have killed them, Their side was mostly healed. It did not ache but they still though there was a bruise present. They did not know because they still couldn't look at themselves.
They wondered if they will encounter another 'Traveler?' What would they be like? Would they be like them? Or different entirely? More questions in the never ending pile of questions. After their meal they meandered for a while. Admiring the stars on the observation deck. There was a few other beings around but it was relatively quiet. They were walking along the railing, their arms folded behind them, which they supposed was strange but it felt comforting to them. They actually remembered their beings terms for their form. Like arms, legs, blood, organs. That was a process that took a lot of sols, but now they recalled it. They found themselves running through the terms to make sure they didn't forget again.
It gave them hope though. If they remembered that…however basic the info was, then given enough time, maybe they will remember all. Hopefully, those memories aren't harmful to their health. Feeling tired after walking for a long portion of time they went to their room and fell fitfully asleep.