Felix got to his feet and looked around as well, uncertain if he had missed something. "Why would it not? We need to get to the stream we found before. We don't know of any other sources of water."
"Even supposing we could find the previse exit point, I have to admit I don't recall the exact angle we traveled, do you?"
"No, I suppose not," Felix said.
Koale nodded and continued, almost before Felix finished speaking. "The best I can figure, we are close to the right spot, perhaps a bit beyond. It is a stream though, and we have no need to find the exact same stretch of bank. Once we are close enough, we should be able to hear it, same as you did to find the stream in the first place."
It seemed reasonable enough. Felix motioned towards the trees. "Okay," he said, "Lead on."
Koale took a few deep breaths and adjusted his grip on the spear. Before he used it as if it were a walking stick. Now he held it as the weapon it was. Koale hunched over and crept into the tree line.
Felix mimicked his companion's actions and followed a few paces behind. He kept his eyes roving as they crept. Partially he did so because it was his first time in the jungle when it was both light, and nothing was actively trying to eat him. The other reason was if the latter changed, he wanted to know about it.
The jungle was dim, despite it being midday. Humidity still caused his sweat soaked clothing to cling, but it was much cooler under the canopy. Plus, the lack of direct sunlight was a welcome relief to the burgeoning sunburn emerging under his torn uniform.
On the ferns he had seen during the long retreat of the first day, he noticed a thick yellow liquid pooled. He took a few fronds and stuffed them in his inventory to look at later. He also stashed a few clusters of small, red berries he found on certain bushes along their path. If they were edible, it would be nice to add more variety to their menu. Even if it weren't edible, it would still be an improvement over the meat snafu.
What he did not see was any sign of animal life. Felix's shoulders bunched as he searched the shadows. The further they went, the more intent his scrutiny. The lack of vicious predator stalking them could not be attributed to stealth. Each twig broken underfoot sounded like a thunderclap in Felix's ears.
A flash of movement.
Felix froze and scanned the lowest boughs of the tree ahead of him. He adjusted his sweaty grip on his spear. Koale walked under the branch, apparently unaware of the threat. Felix dared not call out. What if his attempt to alert his companion caused whatever it was to attack, instead? He hoped if he reacted quickly enough, he could save his friend from the coming ambush.
The leaves rustled.
Felix stood up straight, holding the spear up as if it were a javelin. A hint of fur emerged from the leaves, and he let the spear fly. He threw his whole body behind the throw. The spear left his hand.
It wobbled in the air, and the sharpened rock pulled the spear into an end over end tumble. The haft slammed into the branch. A small, reddish-brown creature leapt from the foliage with a squeak.
The spear flipped over the branch. It fell to the ground, narrowly avoiding both bashing the creature and impaling Koale.
Koale stumbled back with a yelp. He landed flat on his back, eyes locked on the spear so very close to where he had been. Or what was left of the spear. It was cracked in the middle, and the rock had bust loose from the vine binding.
Felix had the decency to look sheepish when Koale looked over. "I saw a thing,” Felix explained. “And, on the bright side, after that, I don't think we need to be quiet. Whatever is out there knows we are here."
Trying to look somewhat less than mortified at his wild attack on an alien rodent, Felix drew his remaining spear and stalked off in the presumed correct direction.
It didn't take much longer to show that Koale's plan was on the mark. Soon they heard water, and angled their path towards it. It was not the same stretch as they had found before. Felix wouldn't swear that it was even the same stream, though he would assume so until he had a good reason to think otherwise.
Remembering their run in with the pounce gator last time, they waited in cover and watched the bank for some time. They didn't see any movement.
Felix did spot one mound in the mud which he thought was suspicious. It was much shallower than the one they had seen previously, but he didn't think he'd get a second chance if he made a mistake.
Felix and Koale crept as quietly as they could with the mud threatening to grab feet and slurping as they went. Felix detoured widely around the mound to get to the far side.
When he was in position, they both raised their spears, point down at the mound. In tandem the weapons fell. After the first thrust they struck again and again.
At nothing.
There was no sound, no blood, no hidden monster. They had murdered mud. Again, acute embarrassment welled up in Felix.
Savage hunter, was he.
Clear of danger, or at least as clear as they were going to be, they filled their containers. Felix was about to drink his fill when Koale stopped him. "It isn't clean, we'll have to find some way to purify it."
"And we're going to manage that, how? We haven't exactly got a filtration system tucked away. Will the medkit have something?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe, if we are lucky. We can boil it at least, though the thought of what will remain makes me a bit queasy. We'll work on that. And everything else." Koale sighed. "I haven't had so many urgent problems to solve at the same time with so few resources since I was an intern on Tualara."
"Of course. Why shouldn't there be more to it? Let's head back. We can make it to that nook by dark if we hurry."
***
Daviron grinned at the screen, "Welcome back to QBK, your premier station for the latest and greatest in Survival World footage.
“As always, I am Daviron, your host for this evening. And what an evening it has been so far, huh? I tell you, I am not sure what to make of those two. On the one hand, they haven't had a grizzly death like some of the others yet, but on the other, well. Let's just say after their show of prowess today, I don't think we are in the presence of legends to be.
“Speaking of legends, up next is a collection of some of the greatest feats and most dazzling shots. And don't forget, if you need help making your own life more dazzling, look no further than Diamond Shine.
“Diamond Shine, for when nothing less than crystal clear will cut it."
CHAPTER EIGHT
The sun hung high in the sky by the time they returned to the cave the following day. The air was muggy and the heat oppressive. Even in their haste to return to the, relative, comforts of their cave, Felix and Koale entered the cave warily. A quick search showed nothing had moved in while they were gone.
Caution satisfied, Felix set down his spear, the water, and all his findings. He could keep them in his inventory. There they would be handy, and out of the way. The weight stayed with him though, pressing on his shoulders even when the items were...wherever they went.
It was too early to turn in for the day, but it felt good to sit in the cool and relax, even if just for a few minutes. He rolled his shoulders back, working out the knots.
Felix looked over to the pile of meat, trying to decide if he was hungry enough to palate it. It was then he noticed the meat was not undisturbed.
There were several bites missing on most chunks, and there were definitely fewer than had been there before. Felix slowly reached for his spear while his eyes hunted for any threat they may have missed upon entering.
Once he found the interloper, he relaxed, though his hand did not stray far from the spear.
Lying sprawled across a half-eaten hunk of questionably cooked meat was a little black lizard. It was about the size of Felix's palm from the tip of its nose to the base of its tail. Its stomach was extended from its obvious feast. It snored softly.
On impulse, Felix carefully picked the thing up and set it on his lap. At the movement, the lizard opened an eye and stared at Felix. After a mome
nt, it chirped, curled up and went back to sleep.
The noise drew Koale's attention. He looked at the small creature to the grin spreading across Felix’s face. He shook his head. "Absolutely not.”
Felix said nothing, maintaining eye contact with Koale and gently pet the sleeping lizard.
"No," Koale said, "Just no. We have enough food and water for now, but no reliable, safe sources. Plus we don't know what that thing eats, or if it is dangerous."
Felix smiled and said, "Her name is Elizabeth." There was a long pause. "We can call her Liz for short."
With the pun, Koale knew he had lost, but tried one more time. "How do you know it's a girl? What if it's a boy?"
"Lizanial."
Koale sighed and held up his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, I surrender. We eat first, however, and if needed, we eat it.” He turned away, but before he could take a step, he looked back over his shoulder. “Also, if it bites me, I'm going to eat it."
Felix grinned. "Glad you see it that way. And now, we've got water, some food, and a fierce guard lizard," Felix stopped to scritch the lizard. "I assume you'll be wanting that desk next?"
Without waiting for an answer, Felix opened his build menu and selected the research desk.
Research Desk
Building Requirements:
Structural, variable
Binding, variable
Inscribable, variable, (optional)
That requirement list was somewhat less than helpful. There was, however, a large red button reading "Build" below the requirements. Felix mentally pushed it.
The blue "build" screen closed. In its place, the pale green outline of a desk hung in the center of his vision. As he moved his head, the image moved with him. "Huh, this is neat. Where do you want it?"
Koale pointed towards the back of the cave. "There, not too close to the fire, but close enough for decent lighting. Are you building it now?"
Felix considered the green, floating desk. "Well, I'd give it a firm maybe? I'm doing something, for certain."
He tried to mentally position the desk where Koale indicated. The desk popped to the location, and judging by the gasp from the Lisnoir, was now visible to others.
Felix got up slowly after transferring Liz to the crook of his arm. He walked over and inspected the desk.
It didn't look like anything special, color aside. When he tried to touch it, his arm went straight through, but otherwise it was a basic, wooden work desk.
It was not unlike ones on nearly any new colony planet. The type they might build after they ran out of prefabs but before they got a competent workshop running.
Above the desk was more interesting. Words floated reading "Structural", "Binding" and "Inscribable". Beside each word was a box, near twins to those on the quick bar.
Felix turned to his companion. "Thoughts?"
Koale stared at the tags. "'Structural' seems like it would compose the body of the desk. Perhaps that log you acquired the other day might suffice? 'Binding' is trickier, but if we are lucky, the vine may do. We used it to bind our spears, after all." Koale hefted his spear for emphasis.
"Okay, those seem like reasonable guesses. And 'Inscribable'?
"I would guess a few sheaves off the paper tree we passed yesterday would do nicely."
"What-," Felix trailed off as he saw a smile form on Koale's face. "Touché, good sir, touché."
"On a more serious note, I don't know. Perhaps it will become apparent at a later time. Until then, at least it is optional."
Koale grabbed the vines and log. They had gathered more vines while preparing for the water run, but they still had only the one log.
Koale took the vine and tried to place it in the 'Binding' box. It seemed futile given the intangibility of the box, but the intent served well enough. The vine disappeared out of Koale's hand, and the box now contained the icon of the vine.
It no longer read 'Binding', however. It now read 'Vine 1/1'.
A vine coil appeared beneath the desk. It wasn't green, or at least not the same green as the desk, but a quick check showed the new coil was as incorporial as the rest. Koale repeated the procedure, with the log.
The log disappeared, its icon appearing in the box. 'Structural' was replaced with 'Log 1/3'. Next to the vine coil, a stack of four short planks appeared.
"Looks like we need two more," Koale said, looking over at Felix. "Where did you find that last one? I haven't seen any lying around, and I can't imagine you chopped it with a rock."
Felix ran fingers through his hair with his lizard-free hand. "Well, I'm not sure. I didn't find it, really. It popped into my inventory when I was cutting down the first vine. The sudden weight almost made me face plant." Felix shrugged, "We've cut down plenty of vines since. No logs."
Koale drummed his claws on his leg in thought. "Show me where," he said. "Maybe we can figure it out."
Decided, they gathered their spears and headed out.
When they emerged into the light, Liz buried her head down into the crook of Felix's elbow. Once they got under the trees, Felix did his best to keep the little lizard in the shade. Liz relaxed, but declined to reemerge.
Eating herself into a stupor must have tuckered her out. Felix smiled down at his new little buddy. Keeping her was probably not the brightest idea, but he needed a small bit of innocence in the middle of all the violence and fear.
The spot they were headed to was straight out from the cave a mere handful of yards. "Show me exactly what you did, please."
Felix stood near the tree trunk. "The vine was right here," he said, pointing to where he had made the cut. "I was cutting with the rock, but the last bit snapped before I thought it would. I lost my balance, and then a weight, the log, popped into my inventory and I almost hit the ground."
"Anything else?"
"No," Felix started, but realization dawned. He groaned. "Yeah. I accidentally slammed my hand into the tree when I slipped."
Koale sighed, "But of course. Maybe the spear might work instead?"
Felix shrugged. "I don't see why it would, but I don't see why knocking my knuckles worked either."
Koale readied his weapon at the tree and lunged. The spear struck with a solid thunk.
On impact, the vines holding the jury-rigged weapon together snapped. The rock serving as a spearhead clattered to the ground and the stick haft rebounded off the tree. Down a spear, and no log.
Koale took a deep breath. "Of course not."
He squared up to the tree and raised his fist. He paused and turned to Felix. “You know, given the technology evident in the implants, this desk is likely to make the difference between our surviving or not.”
Felix nodded and waited. Koale readied himself once again. “In fact, this could even allow us to make a life worth living.”
Felix petted his new lizard. “I’m not going to hit it for you.”
Koale pointedly ignored the comment and threw a jab at the tree. Felix noticed Koale dip with the sudden weight.
Koale shook his hand and sucked on his knuckles. One log left.
Koale threw another punch with his offhand. He began to shake out that hand as well when realization must have hit him. He promptly forgot about his pain as he hurried off to complete the desk.
Felix strolled back, bemused by the uncharacteristic exuberance. By the time Felix returned to the cave, Koale had completed the desk, and was bent over, inspecting it.
The desk looked, quite frankly, terrible. The planks were evenly cut, but they were completely unfinished. The natural wood had a few holes in it, and there was even bark along the sides of the planks still. Vines were wrapped in thick bundles connecting the legs to the work surface. The tabletop itself was held together by interwoven vines.
It was, technically, a desk, and Felix was willing to concede it was almost certainly better than he could do, but that was about all the praise he could muster.
Apparently the system agreed, because as Felix focused on the desk, words f
loated up.
Primitive Rudimentary Wooden Research Desk
Primitive: Allows Tier 1 research
Rudimentary: -80% research speed
Incompatibility: -20% structural integrity
Researching:
Beside 'Researching:' was another item box, and below was a hollow bar.
"You see this?" asked Koale.
"Yeah," said Felix. He paused, searching for words to console his friend. He needn't have bothered.
"This is amazing," said Koale. "This," he gestured at the table, "Is progress."
Felix examined the crude desk and tried to apply the word ‘amazing’ to any of it. He gave up with a shrug. "If you say so. The question now though- what do we research first?"
"A better desk, of course. This one is hardly functional."
"You just said it was amazing."
"It is! We threw a few logs and a length of vine into a hologram projected from nothing, and now we have a table. That is down-right astounding. That doesn't mean that the table isn't haphazard."
Felix nodded at that. "I'm not saying you are wrong there, but maybe something more immediately useful should go first? We've lost two spears, and I'm not entirely sure they are doing much more than making us feel better carrying them. Maybe we can use research to make them actually usable."
Unable to compete with the logic, Koale pulled out his remaining spear and tried to stow it in the blue inventory box next to ‘researching’. The icon of the spear flashed in the item box, and then promptly disappeared. When it did, the spear itself appeared on the table. Red text floated over the spear.
Research failed
Incompatible item
Koale grunted. "Desk it is." He caught sight of Felix's face and held up a placating hand. "If the spear itself didn't work, I don't know anything else that will produce immediate results. I’m reasonably sure that will work. The desk clearly wants an item, and so what better than an unadulterated, native one?”
Fresh Blood Page 7