Somewhat longer chapter this time! Guess I've gotten into the groove of writing this now, which feels nice. Hopefully I can continue updating the story every week or so, we'll have to see. Anyway, without further ado, let's see what the new day has in store for Zyram in this foreign world...
I awoke the next day, the morning sun rising above the horizon and casting an orange glow upon the formerly darkened land. Getting out of my small shelter, I was honestly surprised that I had managed to wake up so early and refreshed, considering I fell asleep somewhere probably in the middle of the night. Maybe this planet has a slightly longer day/night cycle than what I'm used to... that could become annoying. I couldn't complain too much, though, as the morning sun was beautiful, and raised my spirits a little.
Unfortunately, the moment couldn't last forever; the pain in my injured foot served as a grim reminder of my situation and that I needed to survive. On a lighter note, the rest of my injuries looked to be doing okay. Most of them seemed to have stopped bleeding rather quickly. Taking a look around, I noticed that the fires from the crash had gone out, now only lightly smoldering. I should probably try to search amongst the wreckage a bit more, to see if I could find anything that could help me, which also reminds me... I should try to find a way to the top of this cliff, I thought, glancing up towards the clifftop looming over me. Not only was the second half of the wreckage up there, but it would also serve as a decent lookout point to scout out the surrounding area a bit more.
One thing at a time, though... First, take stock of what I have right now: I currently have canned food for a few days, a flashlight for light source, a pistol for defense and a few bandages left. Taking stock, I realized that I really did not have that many supplies, which worried me. I wasn't exactly a survivalist, so I probably couldn't survive very long with that, especially the food. Maybe I could try foraging or hunting for something, but with my lack of expertise, I don't think it would go very well. My best bet for now would probably be the wreckage-half on top of the cliff. It was the section with the ship's cold storage unit, so, with any luck, it might not have been destroyed in the crash and would still contain food. I could only hope.
Having made the decision, I began to search for a way to the top. It may have been a bad idea to walk around with a sprained ankle, but so was sitting around and doing nothing. The beginning of the search revealed that the cliff seemed to be part of a rather large, lonely plateau. Following the cliff-side, I continued slowly ahead, looking for a potential way up... until I found a cave. Judging by the smooth walls, it must have been created by streaming water a long, long time ago. That wasn't the most notable feature, though... Spikes, with the skulls of various animals impaled on them, littered the entrance to it. Though none were present at the moment, this was undoubtedly the work of Florans. I shuddered. I had, thankfully, never had any encounters with wild Florans before, but I had been told of them in my upbringing. Of their ferocity, viciousness, and lack of remorse. I never really cared, or believed, much about those tales, but... Seeing their work first-hand made my mind go immediately to those tales, and of the things I was told they did to those foreign to them...
I did not stick around for long. The knowledge of Florans inhabiting this planet, however, definitely stuck with me. It stayed as an uneasy thought, festering in the back of my mind for the remainder of the search. Surely I couldn't survive being attacked by Florans, considering the state I was in. I could barely survive as it was! How am I going to make it through this? No, no, keep it together, Zyram, right now you've gotta get to the top of this plateau. You'll find a way to deal with the Florans. Still though, it made me anxious. I really did hope I'd be able to steer cleer of the Florans, but they must surely have taken notice to my ship crash... Right?
It felt like I had walked around almost the entire plateau when I eventually found it: a narrow path that went up the side of the plateau, seeming to lead all the way up. Given that all of the other possible paths up I'd seen were... questionable, to say the least, I took it. It still wasn't exactly safe, being quite craggy and bumpy. In fact, I almost lost my footing a couple times thanks to my sprain. However, it seemed to be the safest out of the routes, and my choice hadn't been in vain: with a bit of painful effort, I managed to get up; I had finally reached the top! And the view was amazing. I could see for miles!
One thing at a time, though. Next step: find the wreckage. It probably wouldn't be too difficult to find, given that it would be the only unnatural thing amongst the very natural greenery, and I was right: sitting somewhat near the cliff edge relatively nearby was the back half of the ship I once knew. It pained me to see my ship in such a state, but it could still be useful to me, one last time. Much like the front half, it had a giant hole in it, exposing its innards to the outside and making it easy to get in and start rummaging. I started scrounging up what few things remained. Among the surviving items I found was my toolbox, filled with various tools for ship maintenance and repair. I wasn't sure how useful that would be now, but it would probably be best to grab, just in case. A canister of erchius fuel that was attached to the back wall had also managed to survive. I left it there since it wasn't going to be useful without a functioning ship, and was also rather heavy. The teleporter at the back of the ship was still mostly intact, but without any functioning power it couldn't take me anywhere. However, what I couldn't find any trace of was the wall-mounted cold storage unit. Tracing along the wall, recalling the ship's layout, it dawned on me: what remained of it was now merely part of the hole in the wreck, torn away from the wall during the crash, which meant...
I was still low on food: I was still going to start starving in a few days. This... Wasn't going to be as easy as I had first hoped. How would I survive if I couldn't get food? I don't think I had the means or skill to obtain any from the surrounding nature, but it seemed to be the only option available to me... Sitting down in disbelief, I stared out over the treetops, at a loss for ideas.
... Which was when I spotted a column of smoke coming out of the trees in the distance.
Many ups and downs for Zyram on his first day on this new planet. What could the smoke be? Will it be troublesome Florans or perhaps something else? Find out in the next chapter!