Stranded by D.A. Sanford - HTML preview

Someone to talk to

“Please don’t kill me.”

I am startled. In the months that I have been here, those are the first words, other than my talking to myself, I have heard. I see lying on the ground a very overgrown mouse. I would say around two feet tall, covered in light gray fur with the tail the only feature not covered in fur. Clothed in a haggard dress so I assume that it is a female.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You seem to be injured. May I pick you up. I live not to far from here. I will fix your wound up when we get there.”

She tells me, “That is okay but we need to hurry. The hunter is right behind me.”

I pick her up and as I am starting to leave, a cat emerges from the brush. It is twice the height of the mouse but a foot shorter than me. A not so slim male in what must be a hunting outfit.

“Put that down” he orders me. “This is my hunt. That is my prey and you are interfering.”

I’m stunned. He sounds like an entitled prick.

“There is absolutely no way in hell that I am going to let you hurt this one.”

As I am saying that, the cat is pulling out a weapon and is snarling at me while he waves his knife at me. “My prey!” then starts coming at me.

Two light bullets later, on the ground is a dead cat.

I look at the mouse and jokingly tell her, “Self defense. He did pull a knife on me. Now let’s go just in case he has others.”

I take off running. She is looking at me with disbelief.

“No one does that for any mouse folk. We have no means of defending against them.

They delight in chasing us for hours. Wounding us, toying with us. The lucky ones are the ones that die from the wound. Cooked alive to hear our screams, made servants in a grotesque manner only to be maimed. Other horrors that cannot be mentioned. He was telling me that I was going to be eaten alive.”

“That is not going to happen. You can stay with me if you would like. In the mean time, I’ll get you fixed up.”

She has fainted. I don’t think she could handle what has happened to her. She only wakes after I have treated her wound. The spray healed it. She looked at my surroundings.

“Where am I?”

She is seeing my now completed cabin. To her is must seem huge. From my prospective, it must be what a young child perceives adult furniture as giants things. It is at this point, she feels her leg. She is on her knees and bowing to me.

“Please don’t do that.” I pick her up, look in her eyes and smile. “I am not to be seen as a deity. I am just a regular being.”

“I have never seen any being like you’re here. You are so tall and confident. That weapon you have is so superior. Where do you come from.?”

Now, this is the touchy part. “Do you know that some of the stars have worlds around them?”

“I have always wondered what is out there. Occasionally there are small objects moving in the night sky.”

“My crew wanted to go after slaves and I did not. They threw me out in what is called an escape pod. I landed here months ago. This cabin is in a hidden secure area. Those felids will not get you in here. I will not let them. Now would you please tell me what is going on here? But first, what is your name?”

“Serena”

“Well, Serena my name is Rubin King, it is very nice to meet you.”

She again is very nervous. “You are a king?”

“That is just my last name. I am not royalty. Now, is that cat typical of their species or are there only a few?”

Serena tells me that she has never run into a friendly felid. “We have always been hunted. Most of my family has just disappeared.” She is breaking down. I have to help her and her people.

“I need to ask you if there is any way to get word out to your people that it is time to change. Time for them to come here and learn new ways to fight. Where I am from, we have a saying that big things come in small packages. I see a big person in front of me.”

My father always taught me the ins and outs of how to repair or modify things. He always liked to tell me that there may come a time that you really need something out in space that could be the difference between being safe or being dead.

Since I had food, I needed things to help me live here. I was able to modify the replicator to produce other things. I walk over to it, then tell Serena to come over and watch me.

“I will tell you before I show you what I am going to do. This is just a machine, a tool like a hammer or a club. It will make things that I want. I tell it what it is to make. When it has made it, the door will open so I can get that object. There is no magic or god related workings. It is only a tool.”

I input for a cold glass of water and the door opens. I take a sip to show her that it is not harmful then hand it to her. She takes it and feels that it is cold. With a little doubt and

caution, she sniffs the glass, dips a finger in to taste it. She smiles and drinks the cold water and she shivers.

“To me this is magic but I will trust your explanation. Cool water is a luxury but this is the cold of a winter stream.”

I realize that her casual talk has informed me that there is a winter here and it gets cold.

“Before I show you what I want to get for you, do you eat meat?”

Serena says that she does so I make her a simple sandwich of meat that I caught on a small roll. She again sniffed it, it must be just a reflex action, then ate it. Her smiles are music to my heart. On board my ship was nothing but scowls. This is very pleasant.

As she is eating, I input what I want. I knew that it would take a minute or so for it to be finished because is had the size modified smaller by half.

It took her a little while to finish. She was thanking me for the wonderful meal when the door opened. I stood in front of the door with my back to her. I asked her if she liked the weapon I used on the felid. She said that it was a wonder.

“All I saw was a streak of light and the felid was dead. It was amazing.”

I turn around. This is the final test of trust. I hand her a smaller version of the light pistol.

“That will deliver the same size light bullet that mine does but it is smaller to fit your hand. Two things. Don’t put your finger on the trigger until you are ready to fire it and don’t point it at any one that you don’t intend to kill.”

Serena is cradling it in her hands like it is the most important thing she has ever received. She is staring at it so I take mine out and show her how to hold it and where the trigger is.

At first she is hesitant, but then she copies me. There is no intention or hostility in her appearance. She never pointed it at me. We go outside only to discover that the felid’s companion was tracking our trail. It has not seen us.

Crouching behind a rock, I ask her.

“Want to try out your new toy?”

I show her the safety and the sights.

“Press this button and when the sight is on the cat, pull the trigger. The light bullet will seek that target that is in it’s sights. I’ll be behind you to back you up. We will stand and call to it. This is your time to reclaim your right to live. You ready?”

She pushes the safety off and now has her finger on the trigger. We both come out from behind the rock and I yell.

“Hey, asshole, looking for something?”

It sees Serena and hisses. “Was it you who killed my hunt mate?” then starts towards her.

I see her tense up. This may be the first time she has faced a felid on equal terms. She yells,

“Yes, just like I am going to kill you.”

She fires twice and both find their target. The felid falls dead. She looked from the dead felid to the pistol and then me.

“Would you please make five more of these. My family’s hide is near here. There are only six of us left, not counting me. Can we go and get them. They will be safe here, if you will let them.”

“Your family is welcome to live here. We will train them with the pistols but I think that you and I need to go get them now. These two may be missed.”

She agrees. I take the dead felid and bring it into the cavern, skin it and start to dry the meat. Serena is now looking at me strangely. I now have an ear to ear grin as I tell her that I want to make her a winter coat.

“How would you like a nice coat to keep you warm, courtesy of the cats? I am also interested in the taste, aren’t you? After all you killed it. When we come back, we’ll cook some for your family and you can tell them of the heroic stand you took against the horrible foe.”

She is now giggling hysterically. “I’m the first mouse folk in our history to have killed a felid. All in the past have been eaten. Yes, I want that coat and I want to feast on that one. I will tell them our story.”

She puts her pistol in her pocket and then we set off after I lock down the base.

Her families hide was not a great distance from the base but it was in the woods. The entrance was carefully concealed. I know that I have had to pass it quite a few times.

Because of my size, I had to wait outside while Serena goes in. I see an elder stick his head out.

“Are you going to hurt us? My daughter tells us that she killed a felid. She tells some tales most often that are just flights of fancy. She showed us your gift to her and told us an impossible tale that she killed a felid and was going to make us winter coats out of its hide.”

“Your daughter told you the truth. She did kill that felid. It is now in my secure base. I invite all of you to come and live with me. I will make and teach you how to use the same weapon she showed you. I am offering you a chance to show your people that they do not need to be victims any longer. Want to make your first felid kill?”

He goes back in and a short while later they emerge laden with their possessions they could carry. It seems that they have both elation and sadness over leaving their hide.

Serena tells me that they could not carry the remainder of their possessions. Too heavy to carry.

“Bring them out.”

There were very small house hold items and furniture that the wife did not want to leave but resigned herself that she had to abandon her precious things. I put all of those things into my backpack with plenty of room to spare.

“This back pack will hold anything left in there and what you are carrying.”

Serena knows and smiles as I tell them that it is a magic bag that never gets full. I will explain afterwords. Her family goes back in and brings all the contents of the hide out. It all went into the bag along with what they were carrying. We start to return to my base.

As we are walking, I spot an animal that I have eaten before. I ask the father,

“Is that something that you have eaten before?”

He tells me that he has but it took more people than he had to take it down. I figure that it is time for Serena to show them that she is not telling them a story.

“Serena, why don’t you show your family just what a lone mouse folk can do.”

She pulls out her pistol and takes it down in one shot. Her families’ jaws were on the ground. Her brothers were looking at her with respectful envy. She is very proud when she reminds them that she was the one that killed that felid.

“Tonight we have a feast.” She tells them.

I sling the animal over my shoulder and we continue to my base.

Once inside, again they are amazed. They are looking at a furry hide that they know is a cat. The meat is drying. All just as she said. I put down their possessions. The family insists that they dress out the animal.

Serena takes her mother into the cabin. When I was building it, I needed something to occupy my time. There are six rooms off the main room. My kitchen is in the main room.

“I offer any rooms you want to have.” I show them my room, “this is mine. All the other rooms are for you.”

The men come back with a large portion of fresh meat. The mother has already picked out a room for her family. I take out each piece of their hide. As I am pulling each out, mother is telling her men where to put each item. I finally get to see what their hide

looked like. Very communal. Cooking area, eating area and sleeping area. You could halve the room and still have enough space. It gives me an idea.

I make a box with steps in my cooking area.

“This is going to get awkward. My name is Rubin. Mother what is your name but I still may call you mother, if you don’t mind.”

She introduces all of them.

“I am called Sera but mom is comfortable for me. I got a giant for a son now. My husband is Lile but you can call him father if you would like to. My sons are Lile jr., Ken, Robert and Bruce.”

“Mom, I would like you to use my kitchen for this meal and any other. The reason being is that I want to gather up all your people we can find and bring them here. I foresee a time that, with these pistols, mouse folk will rule over the felids. I will ask you all, can I be part of your family?”

They look at me strange. Father says that by taking them in, they are now part of my family. Now it is time to get serious.

“I was thrown out of my space ship and my escape pod landed here. As I said and you said, we are now family. I have a distress signal going out. There may come a day that it is answered. Out among the stars are many uninhabited worlds. Would you come with me? Would all those who gather here go to a place where you will no longer be afraid?”

Lile now says “We are your family. You saved our daughter who, by our tradition is now your mate, we will go where you go. Others will go to a world where they can live without always hiding. To live in the sun without being eaten, they will go.”

What, my mind stopped when he said that Serena was my mate. I can see her blushing.

Size differences alone caused me not to think of her but as a companion.