ROLECDays had crept by. In that time, I'd discovered a few things.

  For one, my body still felt leaden. Every movement took more effort. It hadn't dawned on me when I first crashed, but rather than exhaustion, I was starting to suspect that the feeling had everything to do with the pnet itself.

  The gravity here was greater than Earth's.

  By how much, I couldn't remember and, with the computer down, I had no way to check. Still, all I really needed to know was that I was under more pull, and it made me heavier. I wasn't accustomed to moving this much weight. Gravity was also to bme for my constant lightheadedness. I had to get up slowly every time, allowing my body time to adjust and keep the blood-flow to my brain.

  Not only that, but I was starting to feel the effects of my food deprivation.

  While I had thoroughly explored the immediate area surrounding my shuttle, I hadn't found anything that looked remotely edible. Maybe there were bounties awaiting me deeper in the jungle, but I never ventured far enough to find them. I feared losing sight of my pod and getting lost.

  I knew that was a useless concern.

  The pod was beyond my repair, and any hope of using the distress beacon had gone up in smoke. So what did it matter if I abandoned ship? I'd either starve to death inside my pod or die in the jungle. Either way, I was dead. It just became a matter of when, where, and how.

  The thought of my looming demise was made worse by the things I found outside my pod some mornings.

  There were snaking tracks through the mud, as if some creature had dragged itself along the ground. The trenches it left behind were as thick as my torso.

  Then came the weather.

  The days were hot and muggy. Every breath felt damp, and the same feeling clung to my skin. I found myself in the pod often, spying across the metal floor to try to cool down. But it didn't help. Like the rest of the jungle, my pod was hot during the day and cold at night.

  I wasn't used to the shifts. Even a swing of ten degrees left me sweating buckets or shivering beneath my sheets. And it was made worse when I got wet. I'd taken to sleeping in my underwear, ying my clothing out each night in the hopes that they'd be dry again come morning, but they never were.

  I had also given up on purifying my water by the second day. I'd taken to simply drinking it as it was. Nothing awful had happened yet; if I was riddled with parasites, they remained quiet guests.

  Amidst all my roiling concerns, I breathed a defeated sigh.

  Squatting outside my pod, I hunched over a second storage container that I'd thrown out the door. I'd decided to keep one for drinking and another for washing. The novelty of taking showers in the rain had worn off. I wanted something more reliable and readily accessible. With a bucket, I didn't have to wait on the whims of nature.

  I went through my morning routine, washing up and brushing my teeth. Not that there was any food getting stuck in them.

  As I finished up, my attention moved toward the canopy of trees. The sky was growing gray, a sign that it was going to rain again. Probably within an hour or two, if my useless guesses were worth anything.

  I returned my focus to the water collectors, tipping them one by one. Water spshed across the ground. Once drained, I stood them upright. They'd be filled again with fresh water by the time I got back.

  Slipping inside the pod, I grabbed the medkit and fastened it to my belt. There was no reason to bring anything else. I had no use for the sheets. Although, with how wet and muddy it was outside, I wished I had a way to wash them. Despite my best efforts, they were getting dirty. As were my clothes. Unfortunately, the tubs were too small to effectively wash more than my socks and underwear.

  If I could find a stream, I'd be over the moon.

  Or moons, rather. The pnet had two tiny satellites orbiting it.

  Back outside, I weighed my options.

  There was nowhere left to search within sight of my pod. I could either stay here, or I could push a little farther. I'd avoided the tter, but I knew it was time.

  Before leaving, I picked through the strewn branches behind my shuttle. The one I selected was roughly three-quarters the length of my body. It made for a good walking stick, but that wasn't my intention. I swept one end against the ground, leaving a track in the mud, just as the slithering alien had been doing each night.

  The thought of it made me pause, wondering if the creature was still out there somewhere. Thankfully, I had never seen it during the day. I hoped very much it would stay that way.

  Turning toward one of the few gaps in the underbrush, I picked it as my path. I marched, holding the stick between both my hands, carving a track in the mud behind me. This way, I would have a clear path to follow if I got turned around.

  It only took a matter of a minute to reach the edge of my explored zone. I faltered, gncing back at the pod and my trial. Then I swallowed, pushing myself into motion.

  My steps were slow and careful. More than once, I had to duck beneath a low-hanging branch or climb over another that had fallen across the path. All this while the thick tangle of bushes and grasping vines pressed in around me.

  Making my way through the alien world was a workout, especially now that I had to exert myself twice as hard just to do the most basic of things. That thought, and the fear that I might bck out from a sudden drop in blood pressure, were always at the back of my mind. The tter was a persistent concern. I might faint on the trail; an easy meal served up for whatever beasts called the jungle home.

  I came to a split in the trail. My feet stilled and I judged the paths. They were equally awful. I chose to remain on the one I already walked rather than diverging from it. But the trail was hardly straight. It meandered, winding through the underbrush endlessly, where it followed the path of least resistance.

  After what felt like hours, the tangled underbrush began to draw away and retreat. I should have found it a relief, finally given some room to breathe. Yet I drew upon a steep slope. The jungle plunged deeper and darker along the right side of the trail.

  My pod must have crashed near the edge of the jungle, where sunlight still dappled, and the forest floor was thick with undergrowth. What stretched beneath me now looked foreboding. Unlike the jungle's fringe, no sunlight made it to the ground, leaving the forest floor much more clear.

  Still, I found little of actual interest below.

  There were no babbling brooks or trees heavy with fruit.

  When the rain started, as if on cue, I finally turned on my heels and retraced my stick-trail. Using this method, I could venture out farther tomorrow. Earlier. I would give myself plenty of time to explore.

  My head was down, eyes focused on the gash I'd made in the dirt. But somewhere far ahead of me, a branch bent and snapped.

  Whipping my face up, I expected to see something, but the path remained as empty as it had the first time I'd walked it. I froze all the same. Only my eyes moved as I tried picking through the various shades of green and brown. But everything was mottled by the rain. Even the sounds grew muffled, drowned beneath the rising beat of raindrops that hammered the leaves overhead.

  Did I imagine it?

  For a long moment, nothing happened. I twitched, taking a few tentative steps before something shifted between the trees and broke onto the trail.

  A rge shape loomed, followed by a second. It took a beat for me to piece together the anatomy.

  They were rge, bulky. Their skin was a pearl-gray color, making them stand out in the jungle with arming ease, as if they didn't belong. It served to further accentuate their impossible size.

  Even from a distance, I noted that their heads were vaguely humanoid. The features were all there; two eyes, a nose, and a mouth. But they had fangs that pushed past their lips, hanging long like a saber-tooth's. From the end of their spines, a thin tail jutted and brushed past their knees.

  I realized they were bipedal, though the one leading had been hunched forward, looking at the ground.

  My blood ran cold as ice.

  They were eyeing my trail.

  Breath hitching, there was no conscious thought. I moved. My feet carried me off the path and behind the nearest tangle of roots. I gently lifted my stick to keep it from rasping the mud further.

  Those giants were between me and my pod. If they decided to follow the trail in either direction, I'd be in trouble. One led right to the shuttle, and the other straight to me.

  In that moment, I was thankful for the rain. It masked the sound of my unsteady breathing. I moved to another cluster of trees, trying desperately to keep each step as light as humanly possible. Then I stopped to listen.

  They were speaking to one another, but I couldn't understand. Their words came across as little more than gruff rumbles and muffled groans.

  My transtor was useless on this pnet. It could process all nguages known to the Federation. Unfortunately, this pnet was undeveloped and its nguages were uncatalogued. While the device could build its own transtions from the ground up, it took time and a constant stream of input. If I wanted to understand the giants, I'd have to spend time with them.

  That was entirely out of the question.

  They spoke again, and I slipped deeper still, even further from where they stood huddled over my tracks. I stole another gnce in their direction, my stomach giving a dramatic flip. The pair rose and moved in the direction of my pod. They were following my trail back.

  I pressed a hand to my chest, my heart beating a frantic pace against my ribs. Slowly, carefully, I managed a few calming breaths.

  What was I supposed to do now? Follow them at a distance? Hope that they'd take one look at my pod and leave? But what if they came back with reinforcements? What if they got inside and decided to kill me on the spot?

  Of course, there was also the possibility that they were accepting, friendly, and approachable.

  Within the Federation, there were nearly six-hundred pnetary members, hailing from all corners of the gaxy. As I understood it, first contact tended to go one of three ways. Some were welcoming from the start, many were understandably wary, and others were outright hostile. That was why there were specialists. As a job, it was dangerous and unpredictable. People died, but that was an accepted hazard of the job.

  Since I had none of that training, I was the least qualified person to judge how the interaction would go. It was safest to assume the worst and keep my distance.

  I remained huddled amongst the trees, my walking stick clenched tightly in my hands, as if it were a lifeline. In a pinch, I could use it as a weapon. Yet I made no move to wield it as one. I listened and waited as the saber-tooths stalked away.

  One more peek, and I was back in motion. My steps were no longer careful. I sped away from the trail, my pod, and the saber-tooths.

  I struggled through the rain and the mud, my pace agonizing in its sluggishness. More than once, I had to stop to pull my boots free of the mire after sinking past my ankles or tripping over knotted roots. The longer I stumbled along, the harder it became to move.

  The rain had lost the st of its magic. It was no longer a soothing caress. It was a relentless thing, hounding my back. Despite the heavy canopy, I was quickly soaked through my clothes.

  What light remained soon waned as the day grew long. The night rushed in and, along with it, the cold began its familiar creep. The only guard against it was the burning heat in my heavy limbs.

  The darker the jungle grew around me, the more urgent my search became. It didn't matter where, I just needed somepce dry to hide away until morning. The hollow of a tree, a cave, anything; staying in the open was too risky. I already knew the jungle was home to more than just saber-tooths.

  I foundered like a ship in the waves, my feet dragged down by mud and exhaustion.

  My eyes passed over a distant formation; stone amongst the trees. Hope had my heart leaping, yet I saw nothing. Only shadows amongst the crags.

  The longer I stared, focused, one spot in particur seemed different. It was somehow darker. The mouth of a cave? I changed directions, dragging myself toward what I hoped would be a temporary refuge.

  As I neared, it became obvious that it wasn't a cave, though still serviceable. There was an overhang of stone above my head, and the ground beneath sloped up, out of the rain and mud. My gaze swept upward, noting the discoloration of the stone. It was soot-bck, as if someone had lit countless fires, and the rising smoke had left its mark.

  I crawled my way toward the back wall, putting myself furthest from the bitter rain. It helped, but I was already soaked to the bone. The moment I stopped moving, the cold seeped in beneath. I needed to get dry.

  If only I had a fire.

  Not that lighting one would be smart; I wanted to avoid the saber-toothed giants, not lead them right to me. A fire would be a beacon in the night. Which left me few options.

  The obvious first step was to remove my sopping clothes. As the night pressed in, they would wick away any body heat I could generate myself. I didn't like the thought, though. It was one thing lounging around naked in my pod. It was another to do it deep in the jungle while some aliens skulked around. I felt no security here. If I needed to make a break for it, I had to be ready to move. I couldn't waste time pulling my shoes back on.

  I was left to suffer the cold, even as my teeth began to chatter. The only concession I allowed myself was removing my shirt and the medkit from my belt, setting the tter a few inches from my walking stick. It was close enough to be snatched up in a hurry, but far enough that the cold metal was no longer pressing against my side.

  As undressed as I was willing to get, I clenched my jaw to keep my teeth from rattling any further. But soon, my mouth began to ache. I curled into myself, pulling my knees to my chest and folding my arms against my sides. My hands I held csped over my heart while I crossed my feet, trying to use one to warm the other.

  It didn't work, considering my toes felt like ice inside my boots, but it was all I had.

  Idly, I wondered how pathetic I must have looked. How cold was it, really? I somehow doubted that it was even close to freezing. I couldn't see my breath misting the air; something I knew from film but never experienced. My comfortable life in hermetically sealed spaces was coming back to bite me in the ass.

  I flopped over, my back towards the wall. I had no clue what I'd actually do if something showed up. But I felt better with my head pointed toward the jungle. At least then I could see the monsters if they came for me.