by A.L. Svartz
Kaj awoke in a strange cave on a bed. He was in a poorly lit room with just a candle burning on the small stand next to the bed. Kaj leaned forward and noticed that his empty backpack and his sac, which contained his dagger, were on the floor near his feet. He reached down and put both of them on before heading out the same doorway to another room.
"Where am I?" Kaj questioned as he walked into a larger cave room. There was a long desk with a mess of papers over by the corner of the room. Another bed was opposite of that. The room was brighter than the room he was just in. Kaj looked to the right of him to see a cloth covering another doorway. He walked over to the desk of papers and started looking around. He picked up one of the papers. "Nosidda?"
"Hey!" A voice yelled out. Kaj jumped, dropping the paper, and looked over to see an older human enter from the doorway that was covered, which led to outside. The man had a long gray beard and was absent from hair on top of his head. He wore a dirty white t-shirt with a gray vest over it. The man was also extremely skinny. His hands and face had dirt on them. What really shocked Kaj was that his legs were not organic but mechanical. His legs were rusted and squeaked when he made his way over to Kaj. The knees bent backwards with big circular platforms instead of feet. "These are my private research papers."
"Sorry," Kaj said, backing away from the man as he shuffled around the papers. "Uh, not to be rude but, where exactly am I and who are you?"
The man turned and saluted to Kaj. "My name is Phos," the man said. "Former Captain of the Galactic Soldiers." He brought his arm down. "I found you out in the desert, collapsed. When I brought you here I thought you wouldn't make it."
"Uh, thanks," Kaj said.
"No thanks needed," Phos said as he went back to shuffling around the papers. "Ah, here it is!" He turned and faced Kaj again. "Come with me. I want to ask you a few questions." The man led Kaj back into the room he just came from. "Take a seat on the bed." Kaj sat back down on the bed as Phos pulled over a chair. "So, you know my name. What's yours?"
"My name is Kaj, sir," Kaj said. Phos placed the piece of paper on a wooden board and started to write down what Kaj said.
"Ok, where did you come from?"
"I came from a small village that was located underground. You know, to hide from the Oce." Again Phos frantically wrote that down.
"And you are a Daj, right?"
"Yeah."
"Fascinating! You see, with the studies I have made while being out here, I can conclude that your species is a sub-species of human. While being out here, I have found several dead Daj out in the wasteland. I took in their bodies and began to study them. Everything about them is similar to that of a human. I'm not going to lie, I have dissected a few. And from learning about the human body when I was in school, they are very similar in the way their bodies operate to that of a human. Of course, there are some differences. The height of your species, not to mention the bigger hands and longer fingers. But other than that, I can say that our two species are somewhat related."
Kaj was somewhat intrigued about what Phos was saying. He was also fascinated to see what an actual human looked like as the Galactic Soldiers were covered in armor from head to toe.
"Just one more question," Phos said. "Where are you headed?"
Kaj hesitated for a second, but then thought that the human might actual help him reach United City. "Well, a few hours ago my uncle and I were listening to the radio. One similar to that one over there. We heard the Galactic President announce the withdrawal of all Galactic Soldiers from this planet. And every time he makes a decision like that, the very same planet is eventually destroyed by the Oce."
"The Galactic President said this!" Phos said, now in a serious tone. "My radio has been broken for some time now. Ever since then, I was cut from the outside world. I'm sorry little one, go on."
"The announcer on the radio said that all Galactic Soldiers need to head to United City. I was shocked by the news. My uncle told me to go pack my things and head down to the Galactic Soldiers' base in my village and beg them to take me … which they did. They chose a small group of us to take with them so that my species wouldn't be wiped out. On our way there, my shuttle was attacked by the Oce. Everyone on board was killed, except for me of course. After leaving the crash site, I was chased by some wild animal into a forest."
"The Ancient Forest," Phos whispered under his breath. Kaj heard him but didn't bother to ask how he was aware of the location.
"After that I met ... uhh." Kaj decided not to tell the human who he met and what was given to him in the forest. He decided it was best to keep it a secret.
"Who'd you meet?" Phos asked. He sat there, pen in hand, ready to write down the next few words that would escape Kaj's mouth. His hand trembled.
"Uhh ... it was nothing," Kaj said, scratching the top of his head.
"What was it!" Phos said, his voice beginning to get annoyed and furious.
"It was nothing. Just a hallucination. I was dehydrated. It was nothing," Kaj struggled to say.
"And then that's where I found you," Phos said, writing down something on the piece of paper again. "Well, that seems to wrap up your story." Phos got up and stretched his arms. "We should be heading out soon."
"You mean," Kaj said as he hopped off the bed.
"Yes, I'll be joining you on your trip to United City. Together, we can both escape this planet. Come, we should get going."
Kaj followed Phos back out to the main cave room. Phos pulled open a drawer from the desk and pulled out a piece of bread, handing it over to Kaj.
"Thanks," Kaj said, taking the bread from him. He quickly devoured the piece of bread.
"You just eat as I get packing," Phos said, pulling out a small sac from underneath the desk. He unzipped it and put the remaining bread in there, followed by a few shirts and an assault rifle.
"Um, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I just wanted to ask you," Kaj said. "What happened to your ..."
"My legs," Phos whispered. "I knew you'd be curious to know what happened." He continued to pack stuff away as he told Kaj his story. "It was a few years ago. My squad and I were stationed at a small village, not far from where we are now. We've managed to stay out of the way from the Oce for a while. Then, out of the blue one day, they attacked. My squad and I tried everything to stop them and to make sure the Daj would escape, but they didn't. They took out everyone there, including my squad. One of them took a swipe at my legs, slicing them off. I laid there thinking that only time would soon take me. I decided to crawl away from the attack site, hopefully trying to find another squad that could help me, but I didn't. I found this cave here. It seemed to have been abandoned. All around the cave were loose pieces of metal, which I used to construct my legs. Every since then, I've been here." As he finished up the story, he tightly secured his sac closed. He turned and faced Kaj. Phos held something in his hand. "The reason I declare myself former Captain is because I don't deserve it, not after what had happened."
Kaj looked at his hand and saw that it was a badge. Phos turned around again, placing the badge in a pocket that was on his vest.
Phos slipped on his sac. He placed a worn fedora on his head. "Well, shall we get going? We don't have much time left."
They both headed out to the desert that surrounded them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE CAVE