Sensing incoming danger, the boy jolted away from the pod with Duke and the drone following close behind. He ran beyond the small dirt clearing and onto the uneven bumpy plants lining the ground that made mushy squishing sounds with each stomp. The slippery flora made walking on them difficult, despite that the survivor reached a silver tree and hid behind it, his back to the rambling iron maiden.
*BOOM*
In the blink of an eye, the pod exploded in a cloud of dark orange, ejecting blazing debris all over.
"*Huff* *Huff*" he peeked behind.
'What the?! It exploded?! Why?! How?! I'm alive?' he patted himself.
'What about the bots?' he looked at Duke, who was standing in front of him.
'He's fine... What about the drone?' the survivor's head frantically twisted and turned until he spotted the drone overhead.
'Okay, okay, we're good.' momentary relief washed over the boy.
'Now how in the world did that thing explode?!' he turned around towards the flaming wreckage.
The pod could no longer be seen, it was replaced with a thick black column of smoke rising from a jagged flat chunk of metal on the earth. The surrounding terrain was covered with smoking and burning tubes and wires. Large chunks of hot steel crushed and sizzled the mossy plants oozing water.
'... Well, it was as good as scrap metal anyway- what are they doing?!' the survivor noticed some of the cyan plants squirming.
Bumps grazed by the explosion and their close neighbors shook wildly, uprooted themselves, moss and all, and took off zooming into every corner of the horizon, only leaving behind the dark dry dirt they rested on.
'What in the?! They're... animals?' the boy looked down towards the bumpy plant he stood on.
'Ha, ha... Hi...?" he said to the ground.
[Please confirm your sanity.] Duke said coldly.
"Oh, shut up! Dumb dog..." the boy focused back on the plants.
[I refuse. Dumb human.] the robot replied, but was ignored.
'They... aren't dangerous or anything? I mean they're running away, so...' he poked at one with his foot.
'It's like jelly? Mud?' the bump made a soft moist noise.
'It doesn't seem to be reacting to me...'
'I'm probably safe, but am I safe from that?' the boy looked over to the fiery mess spewing embers.
'The fire doesn't seem to be spreading, but that huge smoke cloud is definitely gonna attract attention... But my scrap metal... Ugh, it's not worth it, let's get out of this area first, I can always come back. But where do I go...? I know!' the boy gestured over to the drone, compelling it to fall into his hands.
A couple of screen presses later he threw it back into the air.
'I'll make the drone go all the way up, that way I'll have a bird eye's view of the surroundings!' he watched the machine ascend into the sky.
'In the meantime...' he crouched, examining the plants.
'Hm, their lumps are pretty big, there's enough space for like two or three people to stand on one. Kinda shaped like a pie.' he poked and scratched the creature with his finger.
'Bendy, feels like rubber, reminds me of a water balloon?' he stood up and lightly stepped on the dark green mossy outline around the bump.
'This part's way harder, it's easy to step on, but there's only enough room for one of my feet.' he looked further along the distance.
'They're tiled like cells...' from above the sheet of vegetation looked like a smooth Voronoi diagram.
The boy's attention was caught by a low buzz coming from above.
'Drone's back!' he took the contraption and flipped it over, examining the screen.
'What do we have here?' he began to scroll.
A 360 degree video was shown on the screen, depicting the drone's rise. From above many other alien landscapes could be seen. In one direction there was a thick forest of gray trees towering up into the clouds, in another a blanket of dark green. Adjacent to both was a bright plains with rolling hills between which a river flowed. Wedged between the plains and dark green blanket was a small bluish green blob. In the opposite direction colorful woodlands filled the remaining scene.
'I can't really make out that many details... But that place over there has running water! That's really useful...! I think...? And that's like the only normal part here! How are those trees so tall?! Are they even trees? They look more like skyscrapers or something. And what is that dark green stuff? Maybe it's a canopy? All in all, plains biome it is!' the survivor looked over to the silver trees. 'I haven't really checked these out, guess I'll do it once I'm far away enough.' after twirling around trying to figure out which direction he is supposed to go, he configured the drone and let go.
'I'll have the drone record everything, it might be useful if I miss anything, and for finding my way back in case I need this scrap metal. Also I get to document history, heh.' the boy boldly headed in the direction of the rolling hills and plains.
***
'Actually, while I'm glad that there are no people around to get in my way, I can't stop thinking what happened to them.' the boy marched along the dark green moss, making sure not to step on the rubbery bumps.
'I mean, it's not like I care about 'em, but you know, I'll probably be up for the same treatment! It's best I know how they disappeared so I don't too.' he looked from side to side as he walked.
'But honestly, I have a pretty bad feeling... I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I think my pod exploded because it was too damaged. What could've damaged it that much though? Simple wear and tear over the last thousand years is my best guess. Or maybe it was something else?' the survivor stopped.
'This place is so eerie... Pretty much nothing is making a sound except for us and a breeze here and there... It's giving me the creeps.' the boy looked behind him out of anxiety.
He saw Duke staring at him with its main camera, having trouble keeping its balance on the plant's protrusions.
'Man prevails above machine!'
***
'And, while I've sorta been ignoring it... What in the world are those clouds?! Am I loosing it or are some of them green??' he looked up towards the sky.
'Like I can only see a few, there are far more normal clouds, but still, what are they? I just hope they won't be a problem...' he returned to glancing around the forest.
The surroundings were much the same as when the boy first woke up, silver trees spaced out by swollen moss covering the forest floor.
'Mmm, well it does have that fresh air smell, guess I'll be spending a lot of time outside now. No more being a shut-in! I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty exciting!' the survivor stretched out his arms.
'Hm, it's actually pretty temperate. I remember being way too heavily dressed when I got here for the suspension, I was so hot... But I don't fell hot now? Even though it's pretty much the same month and I'm wearing the same clothes...?'
***
'I'm not all that concerned with the whole "being self-sufficient" stuff, I have plenty of food to last me maybe... two to three weeks?' he looked at his robots. 'And these guys will be fine too, they can work off my blood.'
'Hm, what's that?' in the distance the boy noticed a shiny object lying down.
'Is that what I think it is...?' he sped up his slow relaxed march, growing concerned.
Getting closer he could clearly see another iron maiden, much like his own, except this one was lying face down on the ground.
'Uhhhh...' he cautiously looked around, staying on his toes.
'There's no one around...?' he got closer to the pod.
It's outer shiny shell was full of deep scratches and missing chunks.
'Darn, this thing is even more beat up than mine pre-explosion.'
The boy noticed a gaping pit on the machine's back that extended into the empty interior and down to the bare forest floor.
'This hole... It should be right around where the person inside's head would be...' he felt uneasy.
'This thing has clearly never been opened before, the doors are sealed shut...' he looked inside the pod through the hole.
'... And it's completely empty... there isn't even a single wire left... Is this hole... intentional...? a cold chill ran down the survivor's spine.
