Chapter Text
The rickety shuttle clattered as I yanked on the controls, but the ship continued its downward spiral. The white puffs of smoke that swirled around the planet enveloped the ship as red lights blinked in and out with the screams of the control panel. The jets where out, the wings got lopped off light years ago as the planet got closer with the green fields making themselves known.
“Pull up you rat bastard!” I screamed as the air buzzed around me in anger. This ship had to survive.
Jets sputtered as it somehow heard my pleas as I finally righted the ship but I was thrown head over tail as the ship rolled a few times and finally laid to rest. Right on the door.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said to no one in particular. The lights on the control board kept blinking, but the alarms were finally silenced.
“You appear to have crashed. Should I send out a distress signal?” the blasted mechanical voice echoed around the pod once again.
“Oh so now you speak!” I cried out. “the entire time I'm telling you to pull up you don’t listen?”
“I was keeping your life support functioning,”
Rolling my eyes, “I knew I named you Mortus for a reason,” I snarled as I looked around the crashed pod. The grey inside was a far cry from the vibrant colors of the B.S. Air Kingdom that had been painted in coordination with the colors of its crew members.
“Yet, I keep you alive,” I replied.
“Well, if you wanna keep me alive you need to get me out of here, so I don’t starve!”
“You have no clue if the air is breathable,”
“There’s plants! If there wasn't breathable air the would be no plants!” I yelled. The ship spin once more as the door pushed us over. “Thank you,” I sighed.
“You don’t even know where you are,” the dull voice chanted. Looking to the land in front of me, green plants reached out for miles as I banged my head against the chair bolted to the floor.
“Mortus, Planet report,” I ordered. Listening to Mortus drone on about the air quality and soil make up, I looked to an empty sky. The lack of ships and any aircraft was new as the white puffs of smoke drifted aimlessly.
“What planet are we on specifically?” I interrupted.
“As I was getting to, we are on Earth, population 8 billion and home to the human species-” once again tuning it out, I realized the problems I would have. While most species had established contact with humans it was still dangerous to go to their home planet unless invited. The protective species that was humans where known to travel in packs and rarely liked outsiders even of their own kind.
“Ohhh Mortus we are fucked,”
“is there something I should know, Director Void?”
Ignoring the fact that despite my wishes Mortus still called me Director, “Humans are not to be taken lightly,”
“Oh. Shall I start rescue protocol?”
“No, can you do a search for me?” I asked.
“This ship does not have the hardware to do a search,” It informed me. Digging for my communicator, I winced as I took in sight of the broken screen. Looking around the small pod I noticed a cabinet that should be stocked with survival gear.
Rooting around the cabinet, I found rations, a shortwave communicator, and a few blankets. The blankets where an obnoxious bright yellow as I recognized them as the weave of the blankets in the common area.
“Well, that explains the color,” I grumbled as I opened the bottom cabinet. It was taller and wider than others as it was used to store survival packs. The breathing system took up most of the bag with the rest of it being left for supplies. This was the same grating yellow color of the blankets as I shoved those in there too.
Digging in my pockets I silently cheered as my talons met the hard plastic of the in ear transmitter Aris had shoved in my hand before I was rudely pushed into the pod.
“I need to take your black box out, alright Mortus?” I asked into empty air. “if you could move your voice into the in ear transmitter that would be great,”
“At your wish Director Void,” it replied as a quick screech echoed through my head. Shaking the noise away, my hair slapped my back as the chain held it in place.
“Can you hear me?” Mortus’s voice echoed around my skull as I pulled myself out the door and was struck with how warm this planet was. Looping back around the ship I found the hatch for the black box and pried it open. The small black box held all of the coding for Mortus and possibly my way home.
“Hear you loud and clear,” I reassured it as I fumbled with the shortwave communicator. The small device was built to connect with ships and other signals within a few miles which rendered it useless on vacant planets but with a population of 8 billion, it shouldn’t be too hard to find someone right?