Returning to the ship

The next morning, Zhang Han found a large leather bag in the cave that he could use for collecting parts. He slept pretty well since Vaien didn't force him to have sex to the point of exhaustion again, and his head was feeling a lot better, too. And he'd gotten up about an hour before Vaien, so he had a bit of time to relax.

Relaxing involved staring out into the open fields below, at the pinkish sunrise, and wondering if his Mother would ever find peace again. If she missed him, or cried for him.

Zhang Han lifted up his old wrist watch. The screen had broken from his crash landing, gray and with dotted pixels, so he couldn't even look at her photo anymore.

It wasn't much longer until Vaien woke up.

Zhang Han saw that that man's red hair had a unique and gravity-defying style after it had been shaped by the bed for the past hours. It stuck up everywhere on his head, making him look like a playful, sloppy leopard with those tapered eyes.

Vaien proceeded to scratch his head regally until stretching out and putting on some clothes.

Yes, he had been entirely naked before then.

The sight of his body was truly feast for the eyes, but Zhang Han didn't have it in him to stare. He'd never been the lecherous sort and feared that anything slightly suggestive would lead to another bout of hot sex. Sure, sex was good and all, but he wanted to go to his spaceship today!

Vaien yawned again and tried to shake the laziness off him. He ate a pile of jerky and plodded toward the path outside once he was ready.

"...let's go."

Zhang Han couldn't match Vaien's leisurely behavior at all. He was on edge as they went out, keeping a hand on the knife in his belt. Nerves slowly wound in his stomach.

The grass was covered with sparkling dew from the touch of night, and the temperature hadn't reached its peak of blazing oppressiveness yet. A number of smaller creatures could be seen scuttling and waddling through the grass like dark shadows.

Zhang Han took in a deep breath.

Right, just breath. Don't panic. The situation is entirely under control.

If something pops out, Vaien will probably prevent it from killing him.

Zhang Han suddenly saw one animal with close-cut brownish fur, a long pink tail, and two bulging black eyes patter onto the path in front of them. It was sort of cute with a twitching nose.

Vaien kicked a leg towards it ruthlessly and he stepped forwards.

The creature made a chittering noise before fleeing into the haven of the grass once more.

"Keep away from those," said Vaien curtly. "They like to eat faces."

"..." An image of the creature jumping up onto someone's face and chewing it off popped into Zhang Han's head, and his stomach turned with nausea. "...I will."

They had gone through about half the plains when they came upon another creature.

It was sitting in a hole that had been freshly dug in the ground, bits of sand and debris excavated from below. This time it was plump and green like the color of grass, big front feet for digging, and an extremely long snout that stuck out of its dug hole and into the air. It seemed to be sniffing or sensing around for something with its nose.

Zhang Han squinted at weird thing and didn't know what to think.

Vaien said, "Yeah, keep away from those, too. They lie in ambush, then skewer prey with their tongue and suck out its blood until it becomes a dried husk."

Zhang Han swallowed hard. "...I understand."

A few steps later.

"That one eats intestines out of live prey."

Another five feet.

"Hm, this one'll stick you with a poison barb that makes your insides melt."

"Fuck! Even I hate this one. They gather other animal's shit and fling it at you if you get too close."

...

Zhang Han kept trudging along behind Vaien as he listed off these animals like were like those out of nightmares, but his eyes were drooping even more than usual, those hints of purple under each eyes making him look like a man who was hopeless and dead inside.

They finally made it to the forest edge.

The trees were layer with rough bark like pine cones and had big umbrella leaves, but Zhang Han didn't really appreciate it when he currently felt like any place could be his grave. Literally nothing was safe. Everything wanted to have one or all of his body parts for dinner!

Still, there was nothing that could be done about that.

And Zhang Han was not the whiny sort. Whatever frenzied thoughts crept into his mind were kept to himself, all of his fears and anxieties. It was all about the appearance of calm, not allowing anyone else to see his weaknesses.

He just frowned and asked, "Aren't there any creatures that don't want to maul me?"

Vaien paused at the forest edge. A few blue and pink birds flitted down from the trees with long tail feathers, and he pointed towards a place in the forest only lit by dappled sunlight.

"Obviously. But why would I waste my time talking about those? I'm only mentioning the dangerous ones."

Zhang Han carefully stared off into the distance where Vaien had gestured, he saw a number of towering animals with white fur, the shape of giant deer with long necks. They were reaching upwards to browse off the lower branches of trees.

"Those are harmless plant-eaters," explained Vaien. "If you see something eating leaves then it's fine. If you see something sitting around doing nothing or staring at you, nine-times out of ten they're a predator. Look at their teeth, if they're for grinding plants or tearing meat. It's easy."

Vaien always had a tone of superiority, as though he were the best teacher ever. Zhang Han often had to hold his tongue back from commenting on it. He gave a light sigh.

"Thanks. That's good to know."

The forest had lush and soft ferns growing throughout it, and a dazzling number of flowers.

All in all, the fear and tension Zhang Han felt earlier began to diminish as they kept going. He tried his best to memorize what he could, but wanted a computer to start coding the taxonomy of these animals.

Eventually they came to a slight gap in the lush greenery.

The surrounding ferns were blackened like charcoal.

Zhang Han's ship had left a long trail of burnt plants and disheveled dirt in its wake like a plow on untouched earth. The hull was partially caved in, the once cylindrical shape and sleek frame unrecognizable. He tilted his head up and saw that the left blaster had exploded, causing even more damage to the left side of the ship.

It would have been hard to pry open the hatch to get inside, but the steel enforced door had been torn from its hinges at some point and tossed a few meters away from the ship.

That was clearly Vaien's doing.

When he first arrived, he must have pried open the hatch without even knowing what was inside...and it the ship certainly would have been on fire at the time, too. Heh. Bravery is a word for that. But this arrogant man's curiosity was the only reason Zhang Han was still alive.

Zhang Han gave a faint smile at the thought.

"Well?" said Vaien impatiently. He was facing the ship, inspecting it closely. "Here we are. Get your stuff."

Zhang Han glanced at him. "Yeah."

...but there wouldn't be anything inside, right? He hoped so. And some of the parts better still be in tact, too, otherwise...what was he going to do?

Zhang Han suddenly felt an arm wrap around his lower back. It was gripping him a bit too snugly for comfort, and he twisted his hips slightly in disapproval.

Vaien had a patronizing tone. "Are you scared?"

"No."

"Huuuh? Really?"

"I am not." Zhang Han was not going to admit to Vaien that he was, in fact, slightly worried. He just lowered his gaze stoically, hiding all semblance of inner turbulence as he quietly pried off Vaien's hand. "Let go of me."

Vaien made a 'tch' sound, but Zhang Han could care less. As he put his boot inside the lip of the his ship's door, he noticed slight movement from within.

A patch of what seemed to be scales reflected a bit of light from the outside world.

But in the next moment everything inside appeared dark again, that image disappearing save a rectangle area of sunlight from the opened hatch.

Zhang Han hesitated. Was it his imagination?

Then he heard a tiny noise between a whistle and hiss.

No, not his imagination. Something was in there. Zhang Han's hands clenched the sides of the door frame and he went taunt as a rod, his chest tightening up.

The mass inside made another slithering noise as it moved over the metal floor. Zhang Han gasped in a small breath, motionless. Only seconds passed, but he was certain that if he made another movement it would set the creature off. What...what should he do? Think. Anything, logical. His brain was telling him to run, hide, fight, and scream all at once, like a jumbled mess.

Breath...just take a deep breath…

The dark mass inside lunged towards him.

A the same time a hand yanked on Zhang Han's left shoulder, pulling him back.

"What the heck's wrong with you?!" Vaien shouted at him.

He yanked Zhang Han behind himself while he hand flew out and clutched onto the creature inside.

There was a loud hissing noise.

The thing that was pulled out had a long and thin body with plated scales, unblinking eyes and hooked fangs protruding from its jaw. It had an ugly and terrifying appearance.