Chapter 1: Ejecti-sooned

[Body core temperature dropping below 35 C, experiencing hypothermia]

[Warning: Imminent death detected. Sending distress signal]

[Warni-]

Suddenly, everything stood still.

*****

Boom, boom, boom, boom... That was the pain in my head as I slowly sat up. Looking out into the distance, all I could see was flat, grassy plains as far as the land stretched, with small rocky hills that dotted the landscape. A warm breeze blew through the air, and it sent shivers down my spine. I looked down, only to see my exosuit shattered around me, and my synthweave clothing that could protect me from the vacuum in space crumbling every time I moved. What the hell happened here?

I slowly got to my feet, and took a closer inspection of my surroundings. A herd of small animals scurried past me, and one stopped on a small dirt mount and stood up on its hind legs to look at me.

'A meerkat?' I mused, 'Does that mean I'm somewhere in Africa?'

Looking past them, a herd of grey elephants slowly trudged through the thickets around a kilometer from me, followed by... a massive white, hairy giraffe-like thing with two massive horns like a rhino? What the hell?

*zzzttt*

"Fuck!" I screamt out loud, jumping from the static in my head.

[System rebooted. Charging via bioelectricity. Greetings Zenith, A.I. Tyrnos is now operational]

Bloody hell, it was just my implant starting up. If I don't have an exosuit around, it's just going to charge itself using the bioelectricity in my body. Great, now I'm gonna get hungry faster.

"Tyrnos, where am I?"

[Probability of this planet being Earth, low. Unknown lifeforms detected via the visual periphery. Constituents of the air differ slightly from Earth. Conclusion, probably not Earth.]

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock. I meant check the databases and locate my current position with the SatNav."

[Signal detected. Attempting to connect to the database and SatNav system... Error, login failed. Version out of date, fetching update now... Error, unable to update. Hardware requires upgrade.]

I frowned. Version out of date? Hell, hardware out of date? I just got the newest implants installed less than a week ago!

"Compare the latest version to my current installed version, and hardware requirements.'

[Current version: v2.01. Latest version: v32b1. Hardware requirements unknown. Technology not in stored database.]

"... v32? Are you sure it's not v3.2?"

[Affirmative.]

"Bloody hell, how long was I out for?"

[Judging from the fact that it took 5 months for the version to be updated from v1 to v2, and calculating this rate, roughly 150 months have passed, or approximately 12.5 years.]

My jaw dropped.

[I have theorized a solution. The exoarmor and synthweave you are wearing are almost indestructible by normal means, however they lie in pieces now. This may be caused by an hard impact when exposed to extremely low temperatures. However, the temperature required for it to happen is-]

"Absolute Zero."

Absolute Zero, or 0 Kelvin, is when all energy is frozen. No motion and no heat will exist, making it the lowest temperature possible. However, it is only theoretical as no one has ever been able to reach such temperatures. It is the dream of any scientist working in cryogenics, as time is truly stopped. The current cryogenics only slow your metabolism down to the absolute minimum, but only for a maximum of 10 years due to the body running out of fuel to survive. However, I've gone past that point and I'm still in top condition.

[Zenith. Extended exposure to the elements is not advised. Temperatures are at 32C and are slowly rising. Finding shelter should be your first priority. There is a piece of your exosuit to your left that may serve as a shovel, axe or weapon. Taking it would increase your chance of survival.]

The part Tyrnos referred to was the spinal column that attached to the scapulas, however only the left scapula remained intact. The edges around the scapula were sharp, however there were slight twists and dents in the edge, probably from the trauma of the scapula being detached from the rest of the exosuit. Crafted from oraculite alloy, this thing is almost indestructible once casted into a shape and cannot be reforged. A true nightmare for all blacksmiths around.

"I'll name you Wilson," I said as I grabbed the ax. "Alright Tyrnos, where to now?"

[A location with fresh water would be for the best. You will only be able to survive 3 days without water, and as I am running on your bioelectricity, you may not even last that long then.]

"Glad to hear that you know how much of a leech that you are."

[A truly unfortunate thing. If you were in a more fitter state, you could have accessed more of my functions such as the map. However, being the lazy ineffeminate person that you are, your body is unable to handle it.]

"Tsk."

I stood up, and the rest of my clothing crumbled off, and the breeze whistled through my legs.

"... Great."

*****

After walking for a while, I finally decided that I was lost. There's vegetation everywhere, but not a single sign of a waterhole! I've even stalked these buffalo-like things for nearly four hours, and yet they still aren't going to take a rest. To make things worse, the sun was beginning to set, making it hard to see. I gave up and decided to set up camp for the night.

I wasn't too thirsty or hungry as I managed to snag some berries that weren't poisonous - or so Tyrnos tells me. No bad symptoms yet, so they should be okay? I'll name them bellberries, as the little gold berries are covered by a petal in a shape of a bell. Kinda tasteless though, but very juicy. I've collected a bunch of them in preparation for another trek tomorrow. I dug a small hole in a dirt hill and covered it with leafy branches that I chopped off and covered the entrance. I hope that there aren't any unwelcome visitors, however I've yet to see any predators. Either there isn't any, or they're doing a pretty good job of staying concealed.

Either way, it's going to be a long night.