Heavily borrowed elements from various scifi franchises Enjoy!
Chapter 1…Crash Landing and Meeting the Locals
“Personal log. Solar date April 24, 2409. Lt. Gary Robbins of P309 reporting. It is my fifth day on patrol of sector 1101. So far no sightings of any Dreadnok craft. With the war between the Sol Federation and the Dreadnok at its peak, I don’t blame command for sending me out into barely charted space to make sure they’re not setting up a jumping point from which they could launch an attack. The attack on Arcanis was as quick as it was devastating and even pushing them back only bought us time before they restock, regroup, and attack again. Out here in the fringes where nobody can see them would be ideal for their needs. So far nothing other than the occasional gravitational disturbance. The Dreadnok, an enemy we’ve been fighting for over 50 years and yet we have never seen one in person. Some say they’re a reptile species, others a race of machines. They do seem to be able to resupply personnel at a strange accelerated pace so maybe they are machines. All I know is that this war has cost the lives of billions of people with no end in sight”
BEEP BEEP
“Computer pause recording. Status report” Gary said. “Long range sensors have detected an ion trail on heading 026 mark 032” it replied. Gary looked at the screen. “That ion pattern isn’t from any Federation ship. Computer, run pattern through warmind database” he ordered. “Pattern match to Dreadnok light frigate” it replied. “Well, I guess command’s worries were valid after all. Set course to intercept and take us to warp 3” he commanded. The exterior stars seemed to stretch as the space time around the ship warped sending the ship to faster than light speeds. Gary checked his weapon systems as his ship closed the distance. His ship, a Paladin class tactical escort was the state of the art attack craft and used mostly for recon and surgical strikes deep behind enemy lines. Armed with two pulse positron cannons, two positron arrays, 12 Titan class antiship missiles, a Class 3 shield array, and a powerful ECM (electronic countermeasures) system, it was formidable in combat. Normally it carried two officers, a pilot and weapons officer. However this time, Gary flew alone as a recent skirmish caused personnel issues. In a head to head, a Paladin could very much win against a Dreadnok light frigate…as long as there was only one. Frigates usually accompanied a battle ground so finding evidence of only one seemed strange to Gary. “Weapons are fully armed. Shields at 100%. Computer, are there any more ion trails?” he asked as they closed the distance. “Negative” it replied. “Something is off here. Maybe they’re scouting like I am. Maybe they’re lost” he muttered. A few minutes later, the ship violently rocked.
Gary watched as his ship fell out of warp. “Report! Why have we fell out of warp!” Gary yelled. “Gravitational sheer has caused the spacetime bubble to collapse. Primary engines offline. Warning. Gravitational sheer has caused a singularity in our flight path. Recommend alter course” it said. “No shit!” Gary yelled as he frantically tried to restart his engines. The stars warped in front of him, and an eerie energy field began to form as a disc in space. The blue glowing disc of energy appeared to collapse in on itself as he neared it. “Bring thrusters to 125%! Emergency burn!” he said. The ship groaned as the gravity field tugged on its hull. “Fuck! I can’t pull away. Thrusters at normal. Emergency power to shields!” he yelled. His Paladin was pulled through the tunnel in space. Gary held on for dear life as the warping of space and time threatened to tear his ship to pieces. Warnings blared as system after system went to emergency backups. His shields rapidly dropping. Just as it seemed the trip would obliterate the ship, it stopped. The tunnel opened spitting him back into normal space. “Computer status” he said. Nothing. Gary manually checked the systems one by one. “Shields down to 20%. Hull is intact. Comm and navigation is down. Long range sensors are down. Short range is still operational. Weapons offline. Main engines are totally offline. That leaves me with just thrusters. No way I’m getting back to base on those. That assuming I’m even still in this sector. No doubt that was a wormhole. Nobody has seen one in decades and with my luck I get sucked into one. I could be thousands of light years off my patrol” he muttered.
Gary popped open a work panel near his console and began trying to reboot the computer. After a few shocks and sparks it came back online. “Warning. Life support damaged. Oxygen levels at 78%” it immediately said. “What?” Gary said. He had not noticed the screen for environmental controls was off. “Rookie mistake shit” he hissed. Gary estimated that he had enough air to last only another 12 hours. He began searching for a planet he could set down on to make repairs. “Computer. Scan for any planets with a breathable atmosphere” he said. “Planet detected at 112 mark 218. Class E. Distance 318,212 kilometers” it said. “Class E? Earth like subtropical” he muttered as he brought the ship on the heading. He punched the thrusters and sped towards it.
Gary was worried as he had to balance his speed and thruster fuel. He had to land before he ran out of air but not burn up all his fuel, especially if he wanted a safe landing. First thing they taught in him the academy was space flight wasn’t some turn and burn aerial maneuvering. The amount of energy used to increase speed must also be used to slow down. You accelerate to 10,000kps you’ll keep going at that for eternity unless some force acts against you. Basic Newtonian physics. There’s no drag force in a vacuum to slow you down. His warp drive used antimatter for propulsion, his sublight drive expelled helium ions at near light speed but his thrusters were chemical based solid fuel. Very finite. Gary was cutting it close as his ship neared the edge of the planet’s atmosphere. Gary pulled the ship’s nose to a positive 75 degrees exposing the belly. There was a boom as atmospheric gases turned to plasma around the ship’s shields. “Computer! Increase power to the structural integrity field! I don’t want us breaking up!” Gary yelled as his shields failed. He fell like a comet from the sky. Lower and lower he fell as he used his thrusters to even out and slow his fall. He streaked over an ocean an at Mach 10. Literally tore the cloud cover apart as he punched through the stratosphere. Lightning struck the ship. “Warning. Cargo pod fire” the computer said. Gary blew the door open on the pod to snuff out the fire. Slower, slower, lower, lower, “Just as good!” he yelled passing through a valley. His ship screeched as he hit full reverse burn on his thrusters and then belly landing. Gary was thrown forward hard enough his seat belt snapped. A soft force field stopped him from breaking his neck on the console. Dazed and concussed, last thing he saw was lightning in the far distance before he passed out.
Gary awoke to the sight of the sun beaming down on him through the cockpit window. At first he thought he was back home in Corpus Christi Texas…Earth. He then remembered what happened. He checked the system readout and was relieved nothing was torn off the ship during landing. “Computer. Send a distress call” he said. “Unable to comply. Electrical damage to long range comm array. Short range antenna still online” it said. “Shit. That won’t get me any help. That’s only good for a couple hundred thousand kilometers. Computer, what is our location?” he asked. “Navigation array offline. Star chart database corrupted by severe electrical shock. Recommend reinstall” it said. “And I would if I was back at base. Just great. No long-range comms and I don’t even know where I am” he muttered. “Dreadnok signal detected” the computer said. “Analyze” he ordered. “Signal match to distress call. Repeating on open Dreadnok frequency” it replied. “So whatever ship I was tracking must’ve got sucked through the same wormhole as me and crashed too. I might be able to fix my comm and navigational arrays using theirs. Distance to signal?” he asked. “312.26 kilometers” it replied. “That’s a hike. Better get prepared. Scan the area. Give me information on it” he said. “Temperature 27.8 Celsius. Comparable atmosphere to Class E. Sensors detect multiple fauna and flora life forms within 10 kilometer radius” it said. “Sentient life?” he asked. “Unknown due to readings not matching any database” it replied. Gary didn’t like how vague that sounded. “Better arm myself and grab the backpack” he muttered.
Gary slipped his laser pistol on his holster and popped open the cargo pods. “SHIT!” he yelled eyeing them wide open already to the outside. “The fire…the fucking fire” he sighed realizing he vented them himself to contain a fire. Gary rummaged through the ship and made an inventory of what he did have. “Laser pistol check. Med kit check. Combat suit check. Multi tool check. No food and no water. This is gonna be a great hike” he said putting his backpack on before opening the hatch.
Gary checked the scanner on his multi tool, and it pointed the way to the signal. He began walking. As he walked through what seemed like a valley, he thought about how he would get what he needed from the crashed enemy ship. The Sol Federation had been at war with the Dreadnok for over 50 years and not once had anyone seen what they looked like. Even the crew compliment on the ship Gary was looking for was just a guess. Any attempt at capturing a ship intact ended in failure as it self destructed…the same with their bodies. The most they knew was they were humanoid shaped with two arms and two legs with a head. If one died, their bodies just vaporized. Some believed it was done for psychological reasons. An unknown enemy was more feared than one that was known. Others think a security measure to prevent their enemy from doing autopsies and learning biological weaknesses. And then others think it a side effect of a broken power source giving cred the Dreadnok were machine life. Gary believed in the latter as no matter how many ships, bases and stations were destroyed, the Dreadnok just kept coming. They had to be manufactured to keep up. The war itself had turned into a stalemate. Humanity with its superior numbers and the Dreadnok with better logistics and weaponry. His Paladin was created by studying Dreadnok wreckage that could be salvaged.
Gary noticed a few things seemingly odd. No birds as he could see, no tall foliage, even the blades of grass seemed as fine and short as expensive carpet. The tallest things he saw so far was thickets of bush that came up to his shoulders. “This planet must have a very effective ocean ecosystem otherwise the vegetation wouldn’t be able to produce so much oxygen” he muttered walking. After two hours of walking, Gary came across a stream running through a thicket of tall bush. Carefully, he scanned the water and was shocked how clean it was. Gary quickly drank and as he did, he heard a sound, a very faint sound that resembled…laughing.
Gary followed the sound around a tall bush and was shocked by what he saw. Two seemingly human women frolicking naked on the bank of the stream…only a few inches in height. Gary took a step making a crunching sound of rock and gravel alerting them of his presence. Both of them screamed at the sight of a giant looking dead at them. They turned to run deeper into the water but stopped. Due to their size, a fast running stream to Gary was a raging river to them. Going any deeper they risked being swept away and drowning. Gary placed his backpack down and crept closer. They threw their hands up as his fingers wrapped around their small bodies. He lifted me out of the water and sat down. Their screams and struggles were amusing to him. Forming a circle with his legs, he placed one of them down to grab his scanner. The one in his hand was speaking a strange language that his universal translator implant didn’t know. Gary scanned the woman in his hand. “This can’t be right. It says you’re human” he said. He moved the scanner across her body starting with her bare feet all the way to the top of her head. Gary slowly read the detailed result. He was no doctor, but he knew enough human biology to understand there was no mistaking the being in his hand was human. Two arms and legs, ten fingers and toes. Two small yet supple breasts as one would find on a human female as well as a vagina cleanly shaved. Her skin was tan toned but showed signs of her natural Caucasian skin tone judging from the tan lines on her tiny feet and torso. Her hair was long and brown and her fear ridden eyes a slight amber color. Gary found her to be quite pretty. The one trapped between his legs was nearly identical possibly indicating she was her sister. Gary put their ages no more than 24 earth years. "This is astounding. Your skeletal structure, your brain, muscles, everything is proportional. The only thing strange other than your size is the scanner saying you’re 99.96% human. What’s the other 0.04%? "He asked.
He looked around and found their clothing. Setting the scanner down he picked up what appeared to be a toga and string used to tie and bind it. He set that down and picked up a sandal between his fingers. Gary had to squint to look but he could see it was a simple strapped sandal clearly worn judging by the insole and toe prints. “Your culture must not be too advanced. Almost like Ancient Greek” he said. They had long stopped trying to escape and simply stared at him. “Gary. Gaaaarrryyy” he said pointing to himself. He pointed it the woman in his hand. “Me…Meena” she said. “Meena. And her?” he asked pointing at the other. “Neena” she replied. Gary’s stomach growled. He placed the two women in a side pouch, stood up, put his backpack on and left. He had not gotten far, just a few minutes of walking, before he found himself in an open field. “The hell?!” Gary asked seeing a farm very close by. However, the farm was tiny…tiny like a miniature playset. He approached it. He stood there dumbfounded by what he saw. To the west was crops no taller than a blade of grass fed by irrigation channels. The north, fenced in creatures the size of large mice. Nearby a stable, and to the east a brick home designed like something from ages past. Gary got closer to the creatures and stable and sat down. The muffled sounds from his pouch caused him to remember the women he has found. He took them out and set them down. They looked around and quickly began taking with one another. He still couldn’t understand what they said. Out of curiosity, he reached over and picked up one of the creatures fenced in. “Holy shit it’s a cow. An actual terrestrial bovine. Why…how the hell is it so small and why the hell is it on this planet? Can you explain…shit you don’t understand my language” Gary sighed looking at the women.
His stomach growled again. “Haven’t eaten since yesterday. Good I’m starving” he muttered. “If this is really a cow…” he muttered raising it to his mouth. He tossed it in and began chewing. The women below saw the sight and could hear the screeching of the beast as it was chewed to a pulp. Bones snapping. Squelching of meat. Gary swallowed. A trickle of blood ran from his mouth which he wiped away. One of the women, Neena, fainted. Gary didn’t exactly enjoy eating the cow. He found the taste of its blood off putting. Fortunately, the smartbots in his bloodstream automatically screen out pathogens. A fairly common medical enhancement necessary for someone who goes from planet to planet. Without it you’d have an epidemic every other week. Gary picked up another cow and devoured it, then another. Meena began yelling at Gary apparently to stop. “Are these your cows?” he asked pointing to it and her. She nodded. “Look, my body requires a good deal of protein and calories to sustain my combat augmentations. That means food high in protein. The only other things here is…well you” he said pointing to his stomach and then her. Meena freaked and began pleading and crying. “Oh. You thought I said I was going to eat you” Gary said wiping his hands. He suddenly picked her up. She stared at his blood-stained lips and promptly peed herself. Gary shook her dry. “Cute little thing but I assure you I won’t eat you. You and your sister are the only beings I met and I need answers. Hopefully the translator will eventually kick in and we can talk” he said putting her down. Neena breathed a sigh of relief and checked on her sister. She shook her awake. They talked among themselves before running off to the house. Gary chuckled and activated his multitool.
“Personal log. Solar date April 25, 2409. The damage to my ship is extensive enough that I’m going nowhere without repairs. I detected a Dreadnok signal just under 300 kilometers from my present location. I’m hoping I can scavenge what I need but that in itself will be tricky. Not just the distance but any surviving crew I might find. On a curious note, there are humans on his uncharted planet, very small humans no taller than my index finger. Two so far so I don’t know if it’s just them or the entire population. I’m guessing the latter by their crops and animals. It’s as if the entire biosphere evolved this way somehow. What caused them to get so small? Hopefully my smartbots will keep me immune from whatever it is. Looking back, what I thought were bushes were trees, an entire forest no taller than my shoulder blades. This planet is full of mysteries. Water is clean but finding enough food looks to be problematic. I joked about eating a local girl but…what if I really can’t find enough food? Should I starve or complete my duty? The academy didn’t cover this kind of problem. End recording” he said. Gary scooted over to the house. A two-story dwelling no taller than his shins. Gary looked inside and found simple wooden furniture scaled to the two women. Speaking of them, he saw Meena putting on a toga with her sister nervously. “Guess they live alone” he thought seeing nobody else. Not wanting to leave just yet, his morbid curiosity caused him to reach through the open window and pluck Meena out of her bedroom. She was still terrified of him. Gary began trying to teach her words like house, sky, sun, and cow. It took a half hour or so, but he cobbled together a rudimentary understanding how their language worked. Gary found it odd as the structure sounded familiar. Meena had calmed slightly as Neena below was still very worried especially for her sister. Gary laid back on the ground still holding Meena. “So you live alone out here with your sister? That must be kinda lonely. Not even a man to fuck you” Gary sighed. His finger pulled open her toga letting it fall to the side of her body. Meena covered herself. “A waste if I must say so. You’re very attractive” he said pulling her arms away from her body. Meena blushed and looked away. She was shocked when Gary suddenly kissed her face. She flinched as his finger came for her face but opened her eyes feeling him pet her cheek. A sound not faraway interrupted him.
Gary looked over around the side of the house at a small narrow dirt path to find three women dressed in blue togas riding horses no bigger than the cows he had eaten before. A glint of light from their sides revealed swords. “Soldiers?” Gary wondered. The woman in front yelled and Neena darted towards her. Gary silently watched. The woman pointed to the sky and then the direction of Gary’s crashed ship. “Apparently someone reported seeing my ship streak through the sky before I crashed. She must be asking her if she saw something” he thought. Neena then pointed to the direction of Gary. “And she then told them a giant was on their farm” he sighed. The woman slapped Neena and drew her sword. “Uh oh. She probably thinks she’s lying” he muttered. Neena was on her knees begging. Gary sat Meena down and stood to his full height. The woman dangerously pointed her sword at Neena. Gary stomped over and flicked the woman hard in the chest with his finger. Sending her flying off her horse. The other two soldiers fell off theirs as the horses were startled. The lead got off her back and joined the others with swords drawn. “Put those away before you get hurt” Gary said grinning. His grin must’ve frightened one of them as she grabbed Neena. By the shouting it was clear she threatened to kill Neena if he did not surrender. Gary got on his knees. He waited for the woman to lower her guard and when she did he moved quickly.
Gary swatted her right in the face so hard her neck broke as she went flying backwards. Neena was too stunned to immediately run. However, the second soldier raised her sword and Neena now ran. She only got a few steps before the solder slashed her in the thigh. Gary grabbed her wrist with his fingers and easily crushed it making the small woman scream. She dropped her sword which Gary picked up. As if skewering an olive, Gary rammed her own sword through her. He turned his attention to the last one, the leader. She held her sword tightly scared out of her wits. Gary glanced at Neena who was bleeding badly. Meena tried to comfort her. “I don’t have time for you. Fuck off!” Gary yelled pointing to the horizon. The soldier ran to her horse, mounted it, and galloped full speed away. He kneeled before Neena. “Lacerated femoral artery. She’ll bleed to death in minutes if she doesn’t get treatment” he muttered walking to his backpack. He pulled out a medkit and returned to them. Neena was growing pale as her blood seeped into the dirt and grass. “Get back” Gary ordered gently pushing Meena back. Meena wanted to object but saw the strange giant being open a metal box and took something out of it. Gary gently picked up Neena who whimpered being moved. He activated the device. “Dermal regenerator will reconnect the artery and close the wound” he muttered tiring to explain to her what he was doing. Meena watched in awe as the large tool made a red beam of light that seemingly closed her sister’s thigh flesh. He put down the tool and grabbed another. He adjusted the settings and rolled up her toga to expose her stomach. He pressed it to her skin and pressed a button. “Cordrazine to oxygenate the blood. That will help with the blood loss. And now a simple tiny dose of painkiller. Let me adjust the hypospray” he muttered before doing it. Neena looked at the giant confused, and very high. Gary carried her to their home and placed her on her bed through the window. Meena raced into her room and hugged her sister crying. “She will be fine now, but she needs rest and good food” he told Meena. Meena cried talking to him. “Guess you’re saying thanks?” he asked. Neena quickly passed out and Gary moved from the window. Beyond shocked, Meena went back outside as she began have her own idea what Gary was. When she saw him she stopped dead in her tracks.
“I did not sign up for this. See the Galaxy Gary. Fight the bad guys Gary. Become a cannibal of small humans Gary” he sighed. Cannibal indeed because as he spoke, he was tearing off the toga of one of the dead soldiers, the one whose neck he broke. He flicked off her sandals and placed the soldier into his mouth. Gary worked the corpse of the woman deeper into his mouth, gather saliva, and swallowed. He felt her slip down his throat and land in his stomach. He reached for the other one dead on her own sword. He yanked it out and proceeded to do the same thing from the other. Gary flinched as this one he could taste her blood. “That actually helped” he muttered patting his stomach. Meena fainted at the sight. “Well shit” he muttered picking her up and carrying her to be with her sister. Gary should’ve just continued with his trek but didn’t. Truthfully he was worried about them. He killed soldiers and even let one escape to tell the tale. No doubt more would come. These two were in deep shit because of him and he knew it. Meena awoke with a start as the sun got low in the sky. She touched herself as if to confirm he had not eaten her as well. Gary was not at the window. She muttered something in her own language and went outside to see if he was truly gone. What she saw was something nobody had seen on her world for a very long time. A penis.
Gary was outside pissing when Meena found him. “YOU’RE A MAN?!” she screamed. Gary jumped and turned around. “Of course I’m a man. What did you think I was? Wait…I understood what you said! Do you understand me?” he asked. Meena nodded. “Finally! The damn universal translator finally learned your language. You see brand new languages take time as it has to listen to various words and syntax. It builds off that and programs my frontal cortex to understand and speak it back…and you don’t have a fucking clue what I’m talking about” he said zipping his pants up. She immediately knelt before him. “Please forgive our ignorance! We did not know you were of the gods” she said. “Gods?” he asked. “It is said the only men on our world were gods. The same gods that gave us life and teachings. It is my fault for not understanding sooner. Old tales spoke of the gods taller than trees…” she said. None of what she said meant sense to Gary. “Only men were gods? You’re saying there are no other men at all in your society? None?!” he asked. “None. Nobody has seen a man for countless generations. Not since the age of the gods over a thousand years ago” she replied. “A thousand years? Wait a sec. If there’s no men then how do you have children?” he asked. “Children? We know what this is but we do not have children” she replied. “Then how does your population not go extinct? Are you immortal?” he asked. “No were not immortal. We die just like anything else. You yourself killed two of my kind” she replied. “Oh yeah. So, you grow old?” he asked. “Yes. We die usually in our 50s. I myself is around 10 years old” she said. “10?! But…but how?” he asked. “I emerged from the valley of the gods 10 years ago like all the others” she replied. She looked at him confused. “You do not know this?” she asked. “Hell no. What do you mean emerged?” he asked. I walked with no memory, a blank slate like all the others since long ago. Every year new women emerge from the valley" she said. “I need to sit down” he sighed.
Into the night, Meena explained and answered his questions. Gary learned that every year a random number of women, apparently in their mid teens biologically emerge from a valley naked with the minds of infants. This number was always greater than those that died the previous year. They’re taken in and educated for the next five years before setting off on their own. Not a single male among them in the entire population which he learned was around 58,000 people. The planet was called Gaea and the region he was currently in was called Arcadia, a farming region not far from the major capital called Athenis. Gary found the names eerily similar to names from Earth’s Greece. However, the question of why humans were on an uncharted planet at their current size eluded him. “A thousand years? Did some aliens capture humans long ago, bring them here, shrink them, and abandon them? For what purpose? Are they the gods she’s talking about?” he wondered.
“Does the name Dreadnok mean anything?” he asked. Meena shook her head. “Those soldiers from before. What did they want?” he asked. “They were told of a star falling form the sky to the south. They wished to know if we saw it. My sister told them of you, and they thought she was mad and wasted their time” Meena replied. “I knew it. Someone saw my crash and told them” he said. “Crash? Was it you that made a star fall from the sky?” she asked. “It wasn’t a star. It was my ship. Speaking of ships, did anyone say they saw another ship crash northwest of here very far away?” he asked. She shook her head. Meena yawned. “Maybe you should turn in” he said. “Do you wish pleasure or…sacrifice? I am sure I can please you in sex and…food” she said slipping her toga off her shoulders. “No! I mean no. Look, about before I was…curious and the thing about me eating those soldiers was desperation. I won’t eat you. But I do need to find food” he sighed. “I see. Then shall I see you in the morning?” she asked. “Yeah I’m camping here tonight” he sighed. Meena nodded and entered her home.
“I said all that but goddamn she’s cute…and they did taste good. This planet is fucking weird” he muttered as he laid on the ground and focused on sleep.