A little bit earlier.
Amethyst spreads her wings and waits for the purple substance to cover its gaps and harden.
Once the wings are dry, she gives them a mighty flap, immediately, a sharp pain shoots through her right wing.
Aghh... What is this…?
She nearly crashes back on the floor.
My wing... But I still gotta get out of here.
She starts flying towards the ceiling, slowly with large flaps, unable to start up her wings properly due to the pain of the fracture.
Slowly rising, toward the hanging lamps and then past them, approaching the dark ceiling, however, she sees the approaching surface well enough with her irises' night vision.
Perfect, doesn't look too sturdy.
She starts channeling her purple flow to her blades, as the pressure drops in her wings, the purple starts leaking out rapidly through the fracture in her right wing's bone.
A purple ball covered by the flight film had been building at the tip of her broken wing bone that now drops, the film breaking mid-fall exposing the purple substance to the outside air, bursting into flames.
It whooshes down and hits somewhere below.
The last remains of the purple liquid in her wing's canals leak out, igniting, the fire starts dripping down her wing’s frame.
Oh shit.
A voice not of her own, faintly echoes inside her head as they notice the glow of flame.
She flaps as quickly as she can, the flaming trail going further down the wing and approaching her exposed back skin.
She haphazardly cuts a triangle on the ceiling and flies out, feeling the heat of the fire approaching her unprotected back.
Outside, a sun is shining. A single sun.
She’s in a different solar system.
Who knows how far from home?
Fields of green grass, flowery meadows, rolling hills, and thick forests of overly green trees spread all around the large fenced compound.
The nature would look totally untouched if it wasn’t for this great facility in the middle of it all.
She doesn’t have time to think of her destination, anywhere other than here is fine.
A hill about the same height as the compound catches her eye.
It’s not too far, hopefully far enough away from this place to not be pursued, but close enough to not burn alive either.
As she flies across the compound towards it, she sees a lot of people scrambling around in the yard with guns and other gear.
Animals run around on the fenced grounds fighting them.
The humans fire their laser guns as well as some other rifles Amethyst does not recognize.
Some throw nets on the smaller animals to recapture them, while trying to steer the large ones directly into cages situated on the outside.
A large dark gray animal breaks through the border fence and other animals follow behind its trail.
The humans don’t chase after them but instead run to block the hole in the wall, standing in the way of any further escapees.
“Hey? You see that?” Somebody shouts from below.
Laser fire zips past her, but she is quickly out of range and on the other side of the fence.
The fire starts feeling uncomfortable.
Amethyst contemplates using her head wings to get there faster, but she'd rather not use any more of her blood if she could help it.
She's feeling faint enough already.
“AaaaaaAAAH!” She buzzes aloud in pain, her antennae frantic and mandibles wild.
The flame has reached her back, it burns, smolders on her skin, ever burning like napalm.
She's almost at the hill, with her final enduring strength she launches herself forward and upward with a large flap.
She can no longer take the pain and starts folding her wings, the purple glass shatters and sparkles in the sunlight as she contracts her wings and closes her back’s shell.
She flies through the air with her remaining momentum, just about making it over the hill’s steep cliff edge, narrowly avoiding a head-on collision.
Crashing uncontrollably down the hill, she plows into the green grass and dirt.
...
Wake up.
...
Come on, get up.
You can’t stay here.
Who are you?
Amethyst asks the unknown feminine voice in her head.
I... don’t know...
Are you the strange voice I keep hearing?
Yes, I believe so.
I am my own voice, as well as yours.
I am also your knowledge.
I-
She wakes up, delightfully not burned to a crisp in the meantime, her closed back armor had extinguished the fire ravaging her bare skin.
What was that?
Can you hear me, Voice?
...
She gets no answer to her thoughts.
Amethyst is lying on her stomach on the green mound, a gentle slope leads downward into the verdant forest, its thick tree trunks, blooming flowers, and flourishing leaves are inviting and calming.
However, she cannot get over the main color of nature here, this revolting green; simply unnatural.
She strains herself up and onto her feet, the searing pain in her back intensifies as she bends it, reminding just how badly she was burned.
So tired and hungry...
Practically running on fumes from how much effort she’s recently had to exert just to survive, she starts a weary march onward, down the hill.
Her arms feel strangely heavy, lifting them feels like too much effort to spare, so she opts to drag them along the ground, leaving two dirt lines as the blades plow through the green grass.
She smells strange new odors in the air, along with the delightful fresh air, which was sorely lacking in the spaceship and her cage.
The trembling of leaves sounds all around in the faint wind, and right ahead she hears the blissful sound of flowing water.
She reaches the bottom of the hill and lugs into the forest, vegetation covers the ground, flowers, and underbrush, all mostly in the color of disgusting green.
Is there anything else to eat but this… green stuff?
...since when have I cared about what I eat?
...
I’ll just get water first then eat… even if it’s green...
If I don’t find anything else…
She looks around at the bushes and trees as she walks towards the sound of water, searching for anything edible: fruits, berries...
Maybe some birds or other small animals...
Amethyst hears chirping and various caws from around, but cannot spot any, the thick foliage obscuring their location. Even if she did find them, somehow, even those things that she knows to be a part of her usual diet, seem disgusting.
It must be all this green all around her, making her nauseous, her empty stomach just might turn soon if she can't get away from it.
Amethyst wasn’t consciously aware of why green had that effect, and she wasn’t too keen on following that train of thought to remind herself of the reason.
The ripple of water gets louder as she breaks through a bush; behind it, a clearing and the river, gently flowing, some vines and more bushes grow along its low bank.
There’s no sign of anybody in the vicinity, so she lumbers to the riverside.
The shallow water sparkles and flows serenely with smooth colorful stones of different sizes covering its bottom.
She lowers herself and leans toward the water with her upper body. She smells the water with her antennae, it smells much of nothing.
Amethyst lowers herself further, her chin hitting the cool water first, a bit lower, and her mouth touches it too, her mandibles come out as she opens it.
The mandibles start paddling water into her mouth as her lips slurp it up as well.
She drinks deeply, so much so that once she finally stops she feels a bit unwell.
Now to eat... something...
She turns around and takes a step, her head begins to throb with sudden pain and all strength disappears from her legs.
She falls on her face.
What…? My legs...
Why does my head hurt so…
Why am I so hot all of a sudden?
Her vision starts fading.
...
Is this really what she longs to eat? What is this diet!
What? Amethyst thinks.
Why does she have to be so hungry, it’s even making me ravenous!
I wish we could get some normal food, and something sweet to drink with it, not just some random dirty alien river water!
What is going on? She asks the Voice.
Oh sorry, I didn’t know you could hear me…
Anyway, I should ask, what do you think you are doing?!
Why are you back here once more?
How in the world did you manage to pass out again?
What? I-
Hmm, I see, you probably passed out for drinking too much water...
Yes, that must be it.
You must not have great sodium levels in your body, I’d guess, and your ever-present anemia isn’t helping either!
What are you talking about?
Even with your self-awareness, you can’t control your animalistic instincts?
Don’t just gobble everything up like your life depended on it!
You might be hungry and thirsty but it’s not like you are gonna die if you pause for a minute!
In fact, if you don’t pace yourself you might just really die instead!
I… I’ll keep that in mind, Voice.
You better!
Amethyst wakes up.
Aagh my head...
The sun is setting, it’s turning to evening soon.
Amethyst shivers, it's as if her armor radiated cold down on her already cool skin. She attempts to stand but collapses back down again immediately, with no strength left in her body, freezing in her own armor, she lies on the grass.
She’s never felt this bad, this lethargic before, at least, as far as her short memory can recall.
The bushes rustle and her antennae stand to attention.
Something is coming.
Amethyst struggles to turn her head in the direction of the sound.
A fearsome beast leaps from inside the bush, heading straight for her head, she is too apathetic to react in time.
The beast, a small yellow cat-like creature, starts relentlessly prodding her antennae on her head, it swats them around with its little front paws, playing with them eagerly.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“Oh, hello” Amethyst moves her head and the cat jumps back startled, its twin tails shooting up and fluffing up to look bigger as it hisses incredibly loudly, the cone behind its head greatly amplifying the sound.
The same cone starts glowing yellow, brighter and brighter, streaks of light running across it, building up on it.
“I don’t mean you any harm!” Amethyst attempts to calm the creature, anxious about what’s to come if she fails to do so.
The charge reaches a critical point and it releases a flash that illuminates the forest like it was the middle of the day.
Amethyst is blinded for a moment, she quickly blinks her eyes, sight soon returning to them.
The cat has disappeared, it scurried away after temporarily blinding her.
“No, please come back!” she reaches a bladed hand forward, it weakly drops down on the grassy ground.
The cat’s head appears from a bush as it surveys her suspiciously.
“Please… can you find… food?”
The cat’s squinted black eyes stare at her as it retreats behind the bush again and disappears.
Did I scare it away…?
I wonder if it understood me…
With her head lying there on the grassy ground, she grabs and cuts a few blades of grass with her mandibles.
I… I have to eat something…
Her mouth appendages push them to her mouth and she swallows them in whole pieces.
Some of the grass sticks to her throat and irritates it.
She coughs and a few blades of grass fly out.
I think I might just throw up if I eat any more…
It tastes… so bad…
So green…
It tastes like…
Death...
And the smell... the horrible smell of green, this taste brought it all back to her.
The scene of her mother being thrown around in the ship, the green blood splattering around and on top of her plays in her head.
She tastes the revolting flavor of her blood like it's still splattered on her lips, invading her mouth.
She can't see herself, couldn't be sure, but she is still probably covered with Mother's dried blood.
What had happened to her?
She doesn’t know.
First trapped in the ship and then trapped in a smaller box, with no memories of anything in between.
Despite the coldness that seeps down to her very bones, she can't help but feel sleepy. Maybe it's the exhaustion, or... something else.
The bushes rustle and shake again, something is approaching once more.
“Yellow… is that... you?” She buzzes with long strained pauses.
A man emerges, wielding a laser rifle.
“You!” Amethyst shouts appalled, her drowsiness clearing.
“Hey, been a while,” The photographer man steps into the clearing, wearing totally different clothes, an outdoorsy jacket in two shades of green and blueish trousers instead of a suit.
Amethyst tries to frantically stand but she cannot prop herself up with her weak arms and collapses back down.
“Say, you don’t look too good… What happened?” The man asks, looking downward at the prone Tyrchid, but keeping his distance.
“I’m… I’m just hungry that’s all…” Amethyst answers as convincingly as she can.
“So hungry you cannot stand, or barely even move? You're much more pale too...
I doubt that’s all of it.”
Hmm...
Her insect-like biology, but still having skin and humanoid features probably suggests either warm-blooded or semi-ectothermic circulation…
“No no, I’m fine, go away and leave me alone,” Amethyst looks at him sternly, especially eyeing his weapon.
“Oh, this? Sorry,” He puts the gun behind his back and hangs it across his chest from the rifle's leather strap.
“I can’t just leave you alone here, you are in bad shape.”
“Why not?”
“Say, can I feel your forehead?”
He takes a step forward.
“Why?”
“I mean to measure your temperature, you look like you have some severe fever,” He says clarifying his intentions.
“N-no!” Amethyst’s face is completely flushed red and hot, she hadn’t noticed it herself before, or it turning a deeper shade now due to his question.
“It’s okay, I won’t do you any harm. I just want to help you.” The man attempts to calm her by showing empty, open hands before her.
“Why? Why are you here? Just so that you can drag me back there?” Amethyst accuses him with an angry tone.
“No, I-”
The bushes rustle once more and the cat jumps into the river bank’s clearing and right in front of the man. It has returned, holding a green fruit in its mouth.
It notices the man, instantly dropping the fruit and quickly scooting away.
“Oh! The Solarophone! Don’t worry it’s just me, come back out Pineapple.”
What a good smart cat he is, brought his starving friend a snack too.
The photographer leans forward and taps on his trousers.
“Here kitty kitty...”
Pineapple pops its little head from the bush, followed by its large cone struggling to come with it, and runs up to the man.
It nuzzles against the man’s trousers with the side of its cone and its body.
The man scratches Pineapple on the head and it starts to purr, as loud as a car engine without a muffler.
Amethyst observes this strange interaction unveiling before her eyes.
The rumbling stops as the man stops petting Pineapple, it sits a little way away and starts licking its paws, using them to clean its cone.
The photographer, missing his signature camera, picks up the light green fruit dropped by Pineapple.
He notices Amethyst’s serious eyes intently following after it.
“Do you want this?” He asks the Tyrchid presenting the fruit on his hand.
“…Yes” She responds with a low echoed buzz.
“You can have it, but can you tell me your name? Do you have one?”
“Amethyst,” She spits out.
“Nice to meet you Amethyst, I’m Frank Sinett.”
“Okay, Frank… can you give me that… fruit thing now?” Amethyst asks condescendingly.
“Alright, here, it's an Applenut, it is covered by a hard shell.” He lays it down on the ground in front of Amethyst’s face.
“Can you-” Frank interrupts his own words and jumps back as Amethyst swings a blade at the fruit, it’s a sloppy blow, but the blade still presses through the shell and slices it in half.
That was a stupid question huh?
The fruit’s very faintly green innards pop out of the shell, it’s slippery and glistening with fresh juices.
She nudges the edible part of the fruit closer to her mouth with a blade and her mandibles grab it, shoving it in her mouth in one piece.
It is nice and moist, sliding down her throat easily, much better than grass.
The juices of the fresh fruit taste heavenly, a little bitter but mostly sweet, its freshness is rejuvenating.
It doesn’t taste green at all despite its light green color.
She gulps down the other half with gusto too, feeling a little better after this meal.
Frank turns to the cat in the meantime.
“Pineapple, can you find us some more fruit?”
The cat licks its paw like it doesn’t even notice Frank.
Solarophones… stubborn like normal galactic cats I see…
“Oh well, I guess I better make a fire, it’ll get awfully cold here at night.”
He looks up at the perpetually growing dark of the sky.
“I’ll gather some wood for us right away.”
For us?
“Don’t go anywhere okay?” He says and smiles in jest at Amethyst.
“I’ll be right back.”
Frank disappears into the forest through the bushes, and as he does, Pineapple quickly gets up and runs after him.
Amethyst attempts to stand up again, feeling hot and cold at the same time, her face sweating.
The overall discomfort worsens as she gets off the ground, managing to sit up at least, her four legs spread on her right side.
She rests a moment after the straining task.
Now to just get away while he’s gone.
Her legs feel like noodles, whatever those are, that’s the first thought that came to her.
She attempts to get herself up using her blades, but they just sink into the ground instead of helping her.
Guess I’m not going anywhere…
I’m so tired...
She lays back on the ground, this time on her side, amongst the soft grass, tickling her face a little. She tries to not think of its green color, the dark making it easier, as her night vision doesn’t see color very well.
I’ll just rest a bit…
***
“Oh Pineapple, thanks for joining me. Do you wanna show me where you found those fruits?”
The Solarophone cat walks on his side, it looks up at him, and a fleeting streak of light shoots across its head cone.
“I’ll take that as a yes.”
The cat trots slightly faster and gets ahead of Frank, he picks up some sticks and dry leaves along the way.
They arrive at a tall and thick tree, only a few branches lead the way upwards.
“How in the world did you get up there? Can you even climb with a head like yours?”
The cat sits down and ignores him, looking off in another direction.
“Well excuse me for asking.”
I didn’t plan on camping out tonight... if I had my usual gear I could climb that...
He tries to think of alternative methods of getting to the fruit:
I’ve never tried shooting down fruit from a tree, but I don’t think it would work. I’ll just be burning the whole forest down with laser fire instead...
He surveys the surrounding area: grass, tall flowers, and bushes surround the Applenut tree.
“Hey Pineapple, can you show me some light here?” He walks up to a bush nearby and hails to the cat.
The cat just licks its paws and cleans its lush tails with them.
I’ll just try and see for myself...
He lays down the sticks and leaves and takes out his communications device.
Why in the world does this thing not have a flashlight?
Frank turns the screen’s brightness to max and squints at the berries of the bush.
The blue light of the screen barely illuminates the berries, but they are definitely cyan and oval-shaped.
Nice, Cyan buckthorn berries, they’re full of nutrients.
He carefully proceeds to pick up berries, gathering them on his left palm while avoiding the poisonous spikes of the bush’s branches.
Just a couple more and we should probably have enough to give Amethyst a pick-me-up.
“Ack,” He pulls her right hand back quickly and almost spills some berries.
A thorn pierced a small round hole below his thumb’s knuckle.
Blood starts to gather at the puncture wound’s location, a little bit oozing out of it.
Oh great, this’ll sting for a while.
He places the berries in his left jacket’s pocket, brushes the blood to his sleeve, and presses on the wound for a short while, it mostly stops bleeding, though it stings like hell.
He picks up the wood and leaves again, “Pineapple, let’s go back.”
The cat lazily stands up and trails after him as they start walking back to the nearby riverbank.
“Amethyst we’re-”
She’s lying there on the ground on her side, motionless.
Oh, she’s sleeping already, I better let her rest.
He lays down the sticks and leaves into a pile, and fetches some wet stones from the shallow river to surround them with.
Once he’s done setting it up he takes out a lighter.
At least I never leave home without a way to make a fire.
The lighter, more of a small pistol-shaped device, that upon press of a button, shoots out a continuous stream of fire.
He points it at the firewood and the hot flame ignites the leaves as well as the sticks.
The fire starts crackling and he warms himself in its glow.
He is dressed in a rather thick jacket and otherwise in warm enough gear, but his hands are still a bit cold from the dip in the river.
He sits down and Pineapple immediately forces its way to his lap and curls there to sleep.
Aww, you do like me, don’t you?
He lays a hand on top of its soft fur and strokes it gently, but not too hard to make the cat rumble, to not wake up Amethyst.
He enjoys this moment of camping out in the wilderness, in the fresh and chilly air, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath holding it in before serenely letting it out.
Opening his eyes, they fall on the slumbering Amethyst.
Should I measure her temperature now? It's unlikely she'd wake up from that.
No... I better not…
She told me not to.
Besides, if she did wake up I’d probably get gutted instantly.
The thought sends a single shiver down his spine.
He looks upon Amethyst’s face, finding it surprisingly beautiful, in a strange, dangerous way.
Suddenly Frank realizes something about her face.
Wait, she doesn’t have a nose, how do I know she’s not dead?
I can’t see her breath, and her mouth is closed too, not even her chest heaves up and down, it's all armor!
How does a Tyrchid even breathe!?
Amethyst just continues to lay, completely still.
...
I’m probably worried for nothing…
She’s quite insect-like so she probably has some special made gaps or openings in her carapace built specifically for breathing.
Right?
...
I’ll just trust all you have is a fever and you'll live despite outward appearances...
Like to set Frank’s mind at ease, Amethyst’s mouth contorts as do her eyebrows, like she's in pain.
Well, that’s good, I’m sure you’ll get better by morning.
