Chapter 7
The next day found no change in his implant. None of the engrams remained… and the level meter had entirely disappeared. He'd gotten very little sleep trying to rethink survival, and headed out his door to take on another day.
The Spino had made his way around the walls and onto the open shoreline in front of his house, and it was after a few moments of screaming that he remembered it was friendly. The spino shook its head to clear its ringing ears, snorting indignantly.
"Well I'm SORRY! The last few times we met you tried to eat me!" Liam protested, walking up to it and attempting to check it's stats. Nothing… his implant seemed to be unable to process data OR blueprints anymore.
"Better and better…" Liam muttered, glancing up at the spino's bored face. "I guess I'll figure out how to build by hand, but right now… I have another order of business to deal with…"
Liam sat down facing him. "You need a name."
The Spino perked up a bit, looking at him curiously. "Let's see… I've never been good at this…" he murmured, looking it over. "You're a perfect stone grey… Stone perhaps? Oh! How about Clay?"
The dino tilted its head a bit, then gave a light huff.
"I'll assume that is a yes. Now Clay… I have a problem that I need to solve. There is a huge structure that way, where your river is located. You were the biggest danger for my crossing, but there are still other threats. I also can't risk a swim… so I need a way across. Think you can help me place logs for a raft?"
Clay gave an indignant snort, and without warning reached out and gently grabbed Liam in his jaws. "WOAH HEY!" he called out in a panic, but Clay ignored him and flipped him up in the air. Liam landed neatly on his head, and Clay immediately turned and leapt into the water with Liam clinging on for dear life. He swam in a circle three times, then powered back to shore and dumped him on the sand without a single drop of water touching him. He laid down in front of Liam and gave him a sarcastic look.
"Ok….. master of the water…. Point taken." Liam whimpered, and Clay gave a snort in reply.
The Green tower was still a long journey, but with a walking and swimming killing machine as transportation….maybe he finally had a chance? "Alright, let's not delay then. I'll gather some provisions, and we'll be off."
He paused. "Let's just hope I can find answers of some kind there… at least some other people!"
Clay just chuffed, watching as he ran into his fortress to gear up. Thankfully the inventory still worked perfectly, and he loaded up tools and a pike in case of emergency. I need to be careful of my tools! He realized with a start. I can't make new ones anymore, at least not metal ones! He decided to only bring an axe, which allowed for both cutting firewood AND killing threats.
Once he had everything, he came out and let out a whistle, and Clay immediately bounded over. "OK, let's see if this building is worth all the pain and near-death experiences I've been through." he muttered, and started towards the river with Clay in tow. As he walked, he kept a close eye on his new companion out of both curiosity and fear.
The enormous predator's behavior was very different from the sporadic animalistic movements on the wild dinos nearby. It was as if taming the animals on this island gave them a completely new personality, adding to the growing feeling that everything here was intelligently designed. Though why it had been created at all was beyond him, and try as he might he couldn't rationalize any of it.
Upon reaching the river crossing, Clay immediately grabbed Liam in his jaws and repeated his ocean demonstration. The Spino's powerful webbed feet thrust them forward at the speed of a motorboat, and the once impossible crossing was over in mere seconds. Clay deposited Liam gently on the far shore, giving a satisfied stretch after his swim.
"We seriously need to figure out a new way to do that." Liam muttered, attempting to wipe the dino drool off his clothes. He glanced around at the dense forest before them, catching sight of the green light of the tower shining through the leaves. He quickly started towards it, with Clay keeping pace as Liam broke into a sprint.
With the tower now reachable, the draw he had felt before returned with a vengeance. It filled his mind with the desire to touch it, taking hold of every bit of sanity he possessed.
So much so, that he almost missed the scream coming from the woods to his left. He stopped so suddenly that Clay nearly ran over him, stopping with a surprised snort.
He listened carefully for about thirty seconds, and had just convinced himself he was going crazy when he heard another yelp. The realization of what it was came crashing down on him, and he charged towards the sound with all the speed he could manage.
It was a human scream.
