Well not sure I would be saying this twice in a day, but damn I hate swapping from body to body.

C’s mind wandered around in the vast field of emptiness, it’s an odd feeling really, being inside a body yet nothing really clicks, no sound, light, smell or touch, limbs don’t really work, just a single mind, trapped in the empty body.

Crap, how long did they say till I can at least see? C chuckled nervously after a few attempts of getting the eyelids to move, knowing fully that there is an extremely small chance that the whole process goes wrong and he’ll be stuck in the body till B builds something that allows interaction with the brain directly.

That is going to take something like… let’s see, 300 years... Stellar, 5 minutes in and I am regretting this.

Yep… I could really use at least a timer here… He mumbled on in the vass void where not even echos exist.

In an attempt to turn his attention away from the possible isolation for 300 years, C started going through the contents of the given data set, sort of like when he read the ingredients of a shampoo bottle while taking a dump, before smart devices were a thing.

Ah, fine arts, yes, interesting, I do like fine arts, let’s hope the procedure sent me into a human instead of a eel so I can actually make fucking art at all.

For a while it was working as intended, he was able to keep the thoughts at bay, while also attempting to move his eyelids from time to time.

It took a while but finally worked, a blurred sight with dark background, some glowing dots scattered in between

Is that a night sky? Shouldn’t we at least be in a house or a tent? And what on earth is that? That is one huge nose. Though this still doesn't mean I’m in the clear, I could still get trapped in here with zero ability to move my limbs…. Fuck it let’s see what’s around

He rotated his eyeballs around, trying to get a better view of the surrounding, yet all he got was some weird, bald trees standing around him, and no signs of 100B next to him.

The wild? C closed up his eyes. Though he said we should be at least in a village of some sort, am I going to get eaten up by some random bear before this thing can finish being repaired?

Hell, was this body killed by a bear? What happened to the ‘we are going to be using the body of someone who died by disease.’ thing?

There were a few more attempts from him trying to squeeze out as much information as possible with limited vision and a stiff neck, none leading to answers, only more questions.

Naturally, back to the dataset index it was for him, this time diving straight into more relevant topics such as geology of current planets, some world history, as well as some current events.

Some war going on around the north, the latest invention is something like a crossbow, and I might stay stuck in this body for another…. Son of a…

Fine, stargazing, let’s find out where we are.

After digging through the datasets, armed with what was essentially the most advanced knowledge and techniques on the subject, a complete map of stars in the whole universe, a starmap that would make any astronomer drool, he started the long process of finding his place on this planet.

Clear skies, big nose, surrounded by weird bald trees, besides a less blurry vision, C relaxed a bit seeing nothing really changed from the last time, now, stargazing.

It started off fairly smoothly, with little to no light pollution all he had to do was check which image of the sky from the dataset looked exactly like what he was seeing, maybe a shift to the left or right, but nothing complicated. He soon got a match of the night sky he was looking for, northern hemisphere, autumn, all that’s left is pinpointing…

At first it was just a dim violet light hovering on the edge of his eyesight, it’s weird, but he didn’t thought much about it, he himself today experienced death, had a robot body, was sent on a spaceship, and tossed onto this planet, some purple light wouldn’t hurt.

But with a blink of an eye the lightsource came blazing through the terrain, ignoring whatever was between, and coming to a full stop right next to him.

What on earth is that? Was that planned? He took a detailed look at the object, a few inner locked rings rotating about a glowing core, spamming at least 3 meters wide

Right… Angles? At least that’s how some books said they look like, big balls of rotating rings filled with eyes, no wonder they had to send something human-like to establish a religion.

Just imagine being a priest, going about your day preaching your god, and when they asked what it look like your first words have to be ‘Ok, but promise me you won’t freak out’

Oi! He called out in his mind, hoping that somehow that glowing thing is telepathic, can pick up on his language, and is willing to communicate with him. Getting no feedback, he then suddenly yelled as loud as he could imagine in his mind, testing the theory once again.

Though blurry, he could still visibly see a slight pause in the rotation.

Oh so you can read my mind! Want to talk?

.

..

…

No? Ok, um... Fine, come closer, fix my hand, and I’ll call Willson, how’s that? He jokingly threw suggestion after suggestion at the orb, hoping to get some reaction, yet it didn’t even budge.

Fine, you’ll have to wait till this body is fixed then, he closed off with the thought and slipped into sleep.

Clear skies as far as one can see, breeze gently gliding over his face, he felt as if he was back out in space again, floating around in zero gravity. All that’s missing is a nice glass of iced beverage, maybe the company of another person, and something that would help one forget that they are currently trapped in a body that is not guaranteed to function properly.

Just as he was about to kick back and relax for a while in the peaceful dream of his, seeing there is literally nothing he can do, a bright light pierced through his eyelids, smells of rotten meat came storming in from his nostrils, before he could fully wake up from his nap he could feel his internal organs being lit on fire, and his head bashed into the ground.

Jesus, I closed my eyes for a few minutes and this happened.

Opening his eyes once again, he was greeted once again by the big ‘nose’, the only difference now is that whatever that thing is besides him is glowing like a lighthouse, and his visions are fully restored.

Well shit was the only reasonable response he was able to squeeze out after taking a look outside.

Maybe whatever I saw was just an illusion, maybe it’s just… I don’t know, I’m pinocchio, my nose placement is down where my mouth should be, and it has the diameter of someone’s forearm, that would explain why there is a huge piece of wood sticking outside of my mouth.

The hypothesis was soon shot down with another peek of the outside world, dozens of similar poles stood in close proximity of each other, each claiming one body. The floor was covered with bodies with cracked armors, broken spears and swords scattered around.

Alright, alright, alright, we got this, we got this, options, I need options.

He rambled on, trying to assure him that he was still in control of the situation, clenching his fist as hard as he can as a means of distraction of whatever is going on inside his body.

After waiting through the initial shock, C started drafting his plan for escape.

A few feet of wood sticking out of my mouth, probably went in from somewhere behind, Sensories aren't fully restored just yet, some parts of the body are still numb, meaning we might have some time before the real pain kicks in.

I don’t know, climb out of it? Try to slide to the button and remove the whole pole from there? Ask that weird orb for help? He started pumping out plans after plans.

A few painful few minutes passed, he opened his eyes and reached out to the orb beside him. “Oi, some help?” He stretched out his hand as far as he could, waving, trying to get its attention “Dude you there?” He swung his hands around like someone trying to get the parking ticket from the comfort of their car. A few seconds pass, yet nothing seems to be happening

His actions didn’t go unnoticed however, just not by the orb, physics saw his body was barely hanging onto the stick and decided it was best that he slide down to the bottom. Cold, rough wood was forced into his body, splinters broke off wherever they saw fit, and soon he was looking at least another meter of wood ahead of him.

Well well well, if it ain't the consequences of my own action? Fine, next option.

C held onto the highest part of the pole he can get his hands on and started rocking back and forth, though this option still requires him to drag the remaining part of the pole through his body, but at least gravity won’t really come around and mess with the process again.

1,2, and 3! With all his might he pushed against the pole. The feeling of getting punched in the stomach combined with the burning sensation as well as the sensation of countless splinters being pushed deeper into whatever they were stuck on all got amplified and rushed into his mind at once.

This better fucking work… He pushed on the pole some more, hoping something would at least happen before he either dies or just passes out due to the pain that is getting more and more intense by the second.

After a few attempts he is drenched with sweat, the pole still standing, the orb still hovering around him, as if nothing has changed.

Right, one more time, just one more! He cheered himself on as he prepared to start another round of pushing, with all his sensories coming online soon, it's doubtful that he would be able to take another hit like such.

One… He gripped onto the pole as hard as he can, knowing well what it could feel like.

Two… He took a deep breath, something he always wondered, how is this possible when there is a piece of wood just shoved down his own throat.

Th… He hesitated for a second, looked at the orb for help once more. Come on, some help? Give me a hand? No?

Wlep, here goes, Three !

His body clashes with the wooden pole, he can already feel the pain expanding from the point of impact, working its way up towards his brain.

Just a little bit more, he kept the pressure on, pushing with all he got, his feet digging into the nearby mud, his teeth grinding against each other, he could have sworn at least some organs were punctured during that push.

First it was a faint crack heard somewhere inside his body, the whole thing started to tilt.

Man I really should've thought this through, he stared at the pole as it sent his face plummeting to the ground.

Yet before he could taste the cold embrace of the dirt, a numbing feeling started to fester from his hand. Soon blocking off all senses, sending him right back to where he once started some time ago.

Really? After all that, right before I can finally remove that thing from my body? He sighted.

Fucking hell how many plans do I need to make today? He quenched his anger, collected his thoughts and started all over.