‘I’m not a slaver.’ Staying well away from the opening under the wreckage Sina put as much sincerity as she could into her voice.

‘I’m not going to let myself be eaten either,’ the man called back.

‘If you’re thinking of the Red Moon Tribe, I’m not one of them either.’

Silence.

‘I want to help,’ Sina added.

‘You must be one of the Fins then.’

‘That’s right! How did you know?’

‘You are mentioned in my quest.’

‘A good mention I hope.’

Another long pause. Then the man spoke again in a quieter voice. ‘Invite me to prove what you are saying.’

‘How do I do that?’

‘You don’t know? It’s the Community menu, then Population, then you’ll see several options, including Invite. Assuming you have permission.’

Quickly called up the top level menu for the Fins, Sina cascaded Population and did indeed see Invite, as well as Assign Role, Assign Priority Tasks, and Expel. She choose invite and a grey circle appeared in front of her, about five metres away. It moved as she turned her head. Since this was similar to the Stockpile Zone, Sina tried placing it over the spot where she thought the man to be but it remained greyed out.

‘I have permission to invite you but the circle is grey.’

‘You have to be looking at me.’

‘Come out then.’

He laughed bitterly. ‘That’s pathetic. So you can’t invite me? Or don’t want to show yourself to be a slaver or a cannibal?’

‘Wait. I’m not lying. I’ll come in as far as it takes to invite you. But promise you won’t shoot me.’

‘Come unarmed. And slowly. And keep talking.’

That last request was odd. Even so, Sina dropped her spear and ducked under the roof of planks. ‘My name is Sina. I am not actually from this planet. My home planet is called Earth. I don’t know why I’m here but I believe it is for a reason. There was a time when I was a child when I met my guardian angel and I think he wants me here. I think he’s looking after me…’

She was babbling, but it seemed to be what the man wanted for he made no move and once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she could see a figure lying right up against the sodden planks, as far as he could get from the light. Now the circle turned green and she received a message asking her was she sure. The moment she signalled yes, the man gave out a deep sigh.

‘I don’t know about angels but I’m bloody relieved you got here first. I’ve just completed the Don’t get Eaten quest, the Don’t become a Slave quest and the Find the Fins quest.’

‘What rewards did you get?’ wondered Sina aloud.

The man laughed bitterly. ‘I didn’t get eaten; I didn’t become a slave and have a chance to start again in a new tribe.’

‘Welcome.’

‘What’s this though? The Fins only have two members, you and me.’

‘There’s another. His name is Marcus. But he’s been captured by the Ark Andulan.’

Groaning the man began to crawl towards her, and as he moved from his dark corner, Sina saw that his face was horribly damaged, a deep, dark-red line crossed his eyes as though he had been struck across the bridge of his nose by a sword.

Looking away, Sina forced herself to keep her voice to remain steady. ‘I’m Sina. I’m delighted to meet you. I was getting lonely out there. What’s your name?’

‘Check my character sheet.’ The man was terse and was feeling ahead with his right hand, while his left held a revolver.

Stepping out of the cave formed by the ruined deck, Sina did as he suggested, finding a new entry under Population.

Moon Jackal

Human

Str 12

Con 12

Dex 15

Int 9

Wis 15

Cha 4

Moon Jackal suffered a permanent injury during the wreck of the Pekelon. Almost blind, he suffers from shocking headaches.

Top Skills

Listen 11

Move Silently 9

Dagger 6

Hide 5

Construction 5

Crafting 5

Research 4

Mining 4

Sailing 4

Foraging 3

Weaponsmithing 3

Revolver 2

Pathfinding 1

‘I’m sorry about your injury. Your loss of vision and your headaches.’ Helping Moon Jackal stand, Sina found it made her stomach clench to see his wound close up and turned her head away.

Her new companion ignored her attempt at sympathy. ‘Charisma twenty! Unbelievable. You should be able to charm a ravenous Quillion.’

‘You can still see the menus? And what’s a quillion?’

‘I can. Everything behind them is pretty much a grey blur, but the menus themselves are still clear enough.’

‘And the quillion?’ Sina was thinking about the predators that the AI in the spacecraft had warned them against.

‘A monstrous hunting bird, capable of lifting a human in its claws.’

She looked up to a sky that was low and grey. ‘Where are you from? What happened to your tribe?’

‘My tribe was the Jaranisians, we had a pretty good settlement on a peninsula and thought we were getting somewhere, with more advanced technologies than our neighbours. Then the Ravagers came and we weren’t enough. We were overrun and the last twenty of us got aboard the Pekelon and sailed, even though the weather looked rough.’

‘Where was your settlement and who are the Ravagers?’

‘I’ll tell you more later; now though, let’s hurry away from here before the Ark Andulan or the Red Moon tribes arrive. Which they will. We were a lot more advanced than these savages and they will want to salvage what technology they can.’

‘Me too! There are a lot of items strewn around. We should take as much as we can. I was thinking even of hiding the big metal items like that anchor over there and coming back much later when it is safe.’

Now that he was standing clear of the wreckage in which he had been hiding, Sina could see that Moon Jackal was a tall man with a short, black beard. He rubbed it now, thoughtfully, then shook his head. ‘Not a bad idea but we lose everything, including our lives, if we get caught here. The risk isn’t worth the reward. Just load up with small tools. Also lanterns and oil if you can see any. And then let’s get away from here.’

‘Here.’ Sina took Moon Jackal’s right arm and put it against her spear, which he grasped. ‘Keep going; I’ll gather what I can.’

First, Sina ran to the bucket she had seen and tipped out the mud that was inside it. Then she filled it with pieces of metal: bolts, screws, nails, a chisel, a knife, a pair of pliers, a clamp and several objects whose function she didn’t recognise. Arm aching with the weight of the bucket, Sina hurried to catch up with Moon Jackal, and to swap her load for the much lighter burden of her spear. He had a strength of 12, hers was only 7. Hopefully, that would mean he would have no bother bringing the full bucket back to the base.

There was still a huge swathe of wreckage to explore and it was a real shame that they didn’t have time to salvage all the metal and cordage. ‘I haven’t found a lantern yet. You keep going while I search the shore.’ Gently she took his arm and steered him a little more to his left, then let go. The sailor only grunted and strode onwards with a slightly unsteady gait.

Jogging back along the beach, scanning the debris, Sina noticed that one of the bodies of the drowned sailors was still wearing boots. Could she? She could. The legs of the corpse when she touched them were unpleasantly cold, but the leather boots were in good condition and she was glad to have them. Soon afterwards, she saw a lantern, half covered in mud. All the glass was gone from it but perhaps it would still work? The wick was there at least and some oil. Laying out a section of her parachute Sina placed the lantern on it, then quickly added anything that looked useful in the vicinity, of which the best items were a leather belt, a metal file, and a beautifully decorated comb that was probably made of ivory or some similar material.

This new bundle of items Sina tied to the haft of her spear so that she could then carry it over her shoulder. Looking inland, she saw that Moon Jackal had made good progress and was nearly at the dunes. But there was something else moving near the dunes. Her heart leapt in panic and Sina started running. Should she shout a warning? What was it?

The Otaxel.

‘Moon Jackal, wait there! There’s an Otaxel near you.’

Her new companion put the bucket down and held his revolver in both hands, head slightly to one side, listening intently.

‘Don’t shoot! I have a quest to make it a pet.’

It took her about three minutes to reach Moon Jackal, three very long minutes where at any moment she expected the large creature to bound away, or worse, to savage Moon Jackal.

Panting, Sina reached the bearded sailor and stood beside him. Putting down the burden of her spear and bundle, Sina drew out a piece of jerky and since there was nowhere clean to leave it, threw it towards the Otaxel. The creature didn’t seem to mind a coating of mud and snapped up the meat. Then it turned its large, dark eyes expectantly towards her.

‘Good boy, Otso, here you are.’ Sina threw another strip, which was eaten instantly. Then the creature snorted, and lay down, still looking at her.

‘Come on Moon Jackal, let’s see if he will follow us.’

‘That’s a rare quest. I’ve never heard of someone with a Otaxel pet.’ The sailor felt around him with his right hand until he caught the handle of the bucket, Sina had watched him, wondering should she help but seeing as he had it, picked up her spear again and balanced her own bundle over her shoulder. Steering around the Otaxel they were soon ten metres away from the creature, then twenty.

‘Come on Otso; come on!’ Sina displayed another piece of jerky high about her head and the Otaxel got up, then walked patiently towards her. ‘He’s coming!’ she said with delight.

Two hours later when Sina and Moon Jackal arrived back at the base, the Otaxel was still with them and Sina felt a glow of pure happiness when it took another piece of jerky and then lay down among the bushes near the stockpile and the two lean-tos, causing a new quest menu to open.

Quest Complete: Otaxel Pet

You have tamed an Otaxel.

Quest: Train Your Pet

Requirements: Animal Handling 2; meat.

Reward: A pet that will respond to basic commands, such as ‘stay’ and ‘attack’.

‘Are we here? My head hurts, I need to lie down.’

‘Yes, this is home,’ Sina laughed, looking at the flimsy tents and the rough stockpile. ‘Home sweet home. Here,’ she guided the sailor to Marcus’s lean-to.

‘Thanks.’ The sailor put down the bucket; he did not, however, let go of his revolver. Then he crawled inside. ‘I consider myself lucky to be alive. But this is the most miserable settlement and the most god-forsaken tribe on Grimworld.’

Sina just laughed. ‘You have no idea how much things are looking up.’