“What do you want to know?” asked the prince with large eyes.

“What exactly is meant by drones watch everything? I haven’t seen any drones!”

“They are camouflaged in the upper atmosphere. You couldn’t see them, unless you really tried.”

“What the hell! Look, just…” he rubbed his face in frustration. “You said that your people, the Josagn, watch these, what, reality shows? Why would they… how do they save and reuse people?? I sure as hell don’t remember being on this godforsaken planet before!”

“That’s easy, they wiped your mind and reloaded your previous memories. If you really are one of the favorites, they would have a genetic sample of you before you came, along with a mind tape. That way, when they went to save you, they could return you back to the original base you started as. I told you we used the memory technology different.”

“Those were dreams. Not entire personalities!” He stood up, unable to be still. This was insane. How could this be true? He knew that all of this could theoretically be true, but still.

“How many times…no what happens if I died? Do they have some kind of clone thing going on too?”

“No, the ones who can survive the longest become the favorites, but if they are too successful, it is decided to finish them off, or send the best hunters after them. It would not be good for our people to watch a non-Josagn be such a good survivor as that.”

“At least I’m still me. That’s a relief.” He turned to the stick Olivia. “The Josagn are hunters of intelligent races. Why is it that your kind haven’t been hunted?”

“We are not aggressive. We do not hunt, or fight, if possible. The bird ones you call Josagn, may not know we are intelligent. We do not build structures as your people do, nor do we build weapons.”

The prince shook his head. “You would not be worthy of noticing.”

“Does that mean, you could walk right into the shuttle station if you wanted?” asked Dustin, suddenly getting an idea.

“I suppose. I have been very close to the structure where these shuttles go and return from the sky, without any problems.”

“Prince, why can’t I use plant genetic material? My PED said it couldn’t turn me back into full human if I ever used the plants material.”

“It has to do with the cell walls that plants have. I don’t know that much behind the science part, as that wasn’t my specialties, but I remember some talk about the cell wall could not be removed once initiated. It was always sad to see a favorite from one of the shows accept plant material during evolutions. They couldn’t be saved, no matter how much the audience wanted.”

Dustin was hit with a problem. He was given an opportunity to get off this planet, but it meant he could no longer return to human. He glanced at his PED.

It was a simple device really, the programming was complex, but he found that part fun. He had worked on countless alien pieces that were incredibly more difficult than this. At least he thought he had…no! Even if what they said were true, he had to believe something about his past was true. Otherwise, he might lose it.

Ignoring the possibility of his entire existence worth of memories being made up, or not true, he focused on the problems at hand. He was on a planet that specialized in trying to kill him as quickly as possible. The longer he stayed, the harder the obstacles. He could try to hide from the drones, but he wasn’t sure what would happen the longer he stayed.

If the dream technology wore off, the longer he stayed alive, then would the false memories they had planted in his mind also fade? What exactly would they be willing to do to ensure he were dead?

Focus, Dustin. The facts! Just think about the facts.

Ok, he wanted to get off the planet, because the Josagn wanted him dead. Apparently, he had outlived his entertainment value. They had a sample of his original genetics, if this wasn’t his first time. So, if he could find that, he could return to human, without having to sneak back for some damn baby teeth.

Also, there was a girl, he kind of had the hots for, at least she was a great lay, and he wanted to try and save her too, if the opportunity presented itself. This alien twig thing, could get him close to the shuttle port where he needed to be, but he couldn’t go plant, or all bets were off on ever being human again.

Could he use his PED to make himself look like one of the stick people, without actually going plant? He just had to look like one. Then he just had to wait twenty-four hours for the sentry gun to not register his PED as he snuck close.

Nodding to himself, he looked up to see that the prince and the twig Olivia were watching him. Had he been pacing? Why were they staring at him?

“What?” he asked, reaching up to touch his face.

“You have not listened to our request,” said twig Olivia,

“And what is that?” he asked, annoyed that they wanted to add to his list of to do things.

“We want you to destroy the shuttle structure, so that the bird people do not return.”

“That would never work,” jumped in the prince, obviously insulted that she even mention such a thing.

“We do not want this hunting or viewing shows to continue on our planet. We would like to request that your bird people leave us in peace.”

“And this is probably why they don’t see your people as worth noticing. You have a planet here, that while blood-thirsty, is kind of pretty, if you like that sort of thing, and instead of trying to protect it, you ask others to do it for you.”

The twig Olivia turned her head, thinking about his words.

“Then we would have you teach us to do war.”