First Encounter

In a semi-conscious state, Faith felt the water's embrace, slowly drifting him under the lightest of currents. The muffled sounds of rustling water were rougher, and it was colder than he remembered.

He failed to notice the subtle change in his surroundings until water droplets suddenly crashed onto his face, and then trickled down his entire body. It was light, but the feeling jolted him right out of his sleep.

"Hm? What the..."

Faith slowly opened his eyes, his pupils drifting left and right, fully aware of his surroundings as he sought to find the source of the droplets. He was still calm, calm enough to maintain his reclined position. Apart from the water droplets, the surroundings seemed familiar, yet peculiar. While the environment matched the setting he had programmed within the chamber before his sleep, it also somehow felt different. It wasn't until he drew a breath that he discerned the cool air.

'Is this wind?'. Faith's entire exposed body felt the wind caressing his skin. By now he realized that the water droplets were from up there, the forest canopy.

'Is this the Chamber's doing?' He marveled at the seamless technology of this chamber, randomly projecting lingering droplets falling from the rainforest canopy presumably after a rain. Drip-drop-drip-drop. As more erratic droplets repeatedly struck his face, he felt increasingly unsettled.

Remaining inclined, floating, and drifting, his neck twisted left and right to get a better view of his surroundings. Towering trees surrounded him on all sides, their thick canopies obscuring the sky. The water flowed gently and was so clear that the rocky floor was visible beneath. Lush vegetation dotted the riverbanks, with tall grasses and vibrant plants cascading down towards the water.

Initially, there was nothing out of place, but then Faith saw it. A figure was spying at him from the banks. Caught off guard, Faith stared back, frozen in place as he tried to process the unexpected sight. Perhaps the AI had introduced a 'local inhabitant' for an ultra-realism experience? Still, it was unsettling, as he hadn't requested anything of the sort.

The figure was wrapped in a thick mantle of massive leaves, layered and interwoven to create a protective cover that resembled some sort of coat. This garment seamlessly merged with the surrounding foliage, making the figure nearly invisible against the backdrop of the forest. 

It is undoubtedly humanoid, as Faith could see one of its arms extending out, holding to a massive tree trunk. Gradually, he became aware that the figure was shouting at him. The voice was unmistakably feminine, but the language was alien to him. The figure's shouts grew increasingly louder and more desperate, repeating the same words over and over.

Faith meanwhile kept staring at her, still inclined, floating, drifting, confused, and most of all, conflicted. 

'What was this?' Part of him felt that this was a simulation brought by the Chamber's AI, and it would be shameful for him to react strongly for something trivial. But another part felt it was real, urging him to act.

Seeing that Faith did not heed the figure's call, it quickly unveiled its face, revealing a young lady with light brown skin and raven-black hair. With a sheen of sweat, she appeared extremely desperate, she continued to shout at Faith, gesturing him to 'come here.'

And so Faith did, curious of this figure. As he was about to stand up on the water and approach the lady, the water felt deeper than the waist-height pool inside the Chamber.

Faith's soles finally touched the mossy rocks beneath instead of the smooth Chamber floor he remembered. The water was also chest-deep.

'Rocks?' Panic grew on him as he struggled to understand the situation.

Intrigued, Faith decided to approach the figure. As he attempted to rise from the water and move towards her, he realized the depth of the water was much greater than the waist-height pool he had remembered in the Chamber.

'What the...?' Faith muttered, feeling the water now reaching up to his chest. As his soles finally made contact with the jagged rocky floors beneath, he was struck by the contrast to the smooth Chamber floor he remembered. Panic began to set in as he grappled with the reality of the situation, struggling to comprehend the sudden shift from the simulation to what now felt like a real environment.

"Chamber! How did you change the floor to rocks? Why did you add features without my knowledge? I want everything off now! Turn it off!" Faith shouted, his voice growing increasingly frantic as he repeatedly commanded the Chamber to stop, but nothing changed.

Hoping that to crash into the edge of the Chamber's walls, he ran around in circles around the water, finding no sort of door or invisible barrier. It wasn't until he registered the lady's shout that brought back his senses. This time, she was 'shooing' him away from her, occasionally casting glances behind.

Desperately searching for a way out, Faith ran in circles around the water, trying to slam into the edges of the Chamber's walls. He looked for any signs of a solid boundary but found nothing, as if he were no longer inside the Chamber. It wasn't until he refocused on the lady's shouts that he began to regain his composure.

As Faith approached her, the lady urgently gestured for him to get away from her, her movements sharp and frantic. She kept glancing nervously behind her.

"Excuse me, lady! Excuse me! Where is this? Where are we?" Faith called out as he struggled through the chest-deep water. He climbed up the bank, gripping the vegetation for support, but before he could reach her, she quickly waved him off and dashed away, vanishing from sight and leaving him even more bewildered.

"Hey, lady! Wait! Lady! I'm not going to hurt you!" Before he could chase the young lady, however, he could hear several sounds getting closer and closer to him.

"Excuse me, Excuse me! Over here!" He decided to wait to be approached, Faith took a moment to survey his surroundings. The dense, unfamiliar rainforest stretched around him, with towering mountains in the backdrop.

"Where the fuck is this? This isn't Theliane!" Faith's exclamation echoes as he realizes there are two suns above him. Theliane, however, wasn't located in a binary star system. 

'No... no... no... That's impossible. Is this an assassination plot? A prank? Is this really a different planet?' Faith thought of several possibilities.

His disbelief was abruptly shattered as seven figures dashed towards Faith. 

"Excuse me, sirs, where-"

To his dismay, unlike the fleeing lady, these were not humans. They were remarkably similar but with distinct orange skin, long ears, and a unique facial complexion.

Without hesitation, one of them closed in on Faith, lunging at his lower half, attempting to tackle him down.

"The fuck?!" Faith exclaimed, his instincts kicking in. In the blink of an eye, he unleashed his titanium-bone knee with inhuman speed, delivering a direct head-on strike to the individual's face. With a resounding crack, the individual lost its momentum, its head crushed, and its body deformed from the immense force.

The second individual, immediately behind the first, attempted to lunge at Faith's upper body, but before it could comprehend its companion's demise, it met a forceful hook right to the side of its head. With superhuman speed and titanium-bone knuckles, it too resulted in a loud crack as its head turned into paste.

"Shit!" Faith exclaimed, not expecting to be assaulted. Why were these creatures trying to take him down? These figures... they were unlike any species he was familiar with. They seemed weak for a take-down assassination plot. Or perhaps this is just a diversion, and someone or something more potent is waiting for him? He quickly glanced at his surroundings but found no one else there except the remaining five.

Did he overdo it then? Is this a prank? Or perhaps he was a trespasser in their territory? Did he just kill them indiscriminately? He immediately regretted his rash decision.

In the meantime, the remaining five had just barely processed the events in front of them. 

"Wait! I'm sorry! Listen to me first! I didn't mean to kill them. It's a mis-"

Before Faith could finish his sentence, one of them, closest to Faith, drew a sword from its waist and slashes it towards him.

"Fucker." Faith dodged the slash, but the attacker continued to swing relentlessly, forcing Faith to keep evading. Finally, he countered with a decisive jab to the sword wielder's chest, his fist piercing cleanly through.

"Too much force."

"Khoek." Blood spilled from the individuals orifices as it lifelessly slumped to the ground. 

'No aura on that swing. No traces of special elements are on the sword either. These are mundane people.'

Faith turned his attention to the remaining four, whose faces now covered in fear. 

"Don't do anything stupid and answer my ques.."

It was then Faith realized that all of them held some sort of long rifle. He only noticed because one was already aiming at him with it.

"Shit."

In a split second, Faith weighed his options. He could gamble that these rifles were as mundane as they appeared and that his enhanced body was strong enough to withstand their low-kinetic bullets, allowing him to take them down and question them. Alternatively, he could eliminate them without risking unnecessary harm.

He immediately dashed forward with incredible speed towards the rifleman aiming at him. Simultaneously, the rifleman pulled the trigger, creating a flash and smoke on the pan. Before the primary charge could ignite, Faith reached the rifleman, grabbing the rifle nozzle and yanking it away from his face. The rifleman barely had time to react.

"BANG"

"CRACK"

As the bullet discharged with a deafening bang, shards of bone erupted from the rifleman's head, which had just been struck by Faith's powerful punch.

Immersed in the high-speed, life-or-death encounter, Faith did not process the nature of the gunfire or the rifle's mechanism. The remaining three barely had time to react to the rifleman's demise as Faith, moving with inhuman speed, grabbed the dead rifleman's weapon. He placed his finger on the trigger and aimed it at the remaining three.

'Click.'

Expecting a bang, Faith was startled when nothing happened. It was a dud.

'Shit! It's not cocked.' Faith quickly pulled back the flint and tried again.

'Click.'

The flint sparked, but still no discharge. He cocked it one last time.

'Click.'

The rifle still didn't fire. An awkward silence fell as Faith and the remaining three stared at each other. As Faith realized the type of rifle he was holding, his opponents quickly regained their composure and seized the opportunity to aim their rifles at him.

Left with few options, Faith swiftly snapped the rifle in two, the broken wooden stock and the section of the gun comprising mostly the barrel. He then hurled each piece with incredible force. The stock smashed into the head of the second nearest individual with such impact that it sent the person sprawling. Simultaneously, the barrel pierced through the chest of the furthest individual, causing a torrent of blood to spill out. With two of his opponents presumably out of action, Faith lunged toward the nearest one.

He easily tackled the last individual with brute force, wrestled away its rifle, and broke its hands as it cried out in excruciating pain.

"Now now... If your boys had played nice earlier, it wouldn't have to be this way. So tell me, where is this? What planet? What star system? What galaxy? What year? What species are you?" Faith interrogated, frustration evident in his voice.

Bombarded by questions, the last remaining individual continued to cry and shout unfamiliar words at Faith.

"Sshh, be fucking quiet or I'll break your neck. I don't want you attracting attention," Faith warned, pressing his finger against the individual's lips while gripping his neck.

"Good... Now, do you speak the Hng'lsh? No. Of course you don't, you don't understand me, how about Zhengven? Ni Yao! Ni Yao! No? La'atok? Pan Afriq? New Solarian? Anything, for fuck's sake?" The creature only stared at Faith in fear, not understanding any major regional language nor a single word Faith said.

"Star, what star?" Faith pointed upwards towards the suns, his frustration mounting. But the creature continued to stare at Faith, unsure of how to respond.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU FROM GODDAMNIT?!" Enraged, Faith pounded the ground beside the creature's head until a deep depression formed.

"Okay then, fuckface, do you have any communication devices on you?" Faith asked as he searched the individual's body to found only nothing.

He then realized the clothing and weaponry of the dead creatures that surround him wore laced shirts, loose-fitting trousers, bandoliers, leather hats, and boots, all of which appeared handmade. He couldn't shake the realization that this was a remarkably primitive civilization. Even their guns were flintlock muskets. Questions swirled in his mind. Had he been abducted or teleported to some uncontacted civilization outside the Federation? Or perhaps Faith was transported to a pre-FTL alien civilization zoo, as this is also plausible and these zoos were uncommon within the Federation.

But the young lady he encountered before, she was undoubtedly human, or was his judgement wrong? If this was really a zoo, was she part a of the planet's administrator? Or perhaps a local species? Either way, he had no clue where he was.