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Despite her success in inter-species diplomacy, Talia had no intention of maintaining contact with the much bigger and stronger than her spider-friend for any longer than necessary. Keeping hold of the shield on her left arm and her multi-tool in her right hand, she carefully backed out of the alien artifact armory.

Relief filled her as the spider didn’t follow, and as soon as she had made it past the first intersection, she turned and bolted through the space. Neo helpfully projected arrows for her to follow, and she followed them diligently through the confusing twists and turns of the cavern.

Her heart jumped when the clittering sounds she had heard earlier returned, her suit HUD beeping manically as it reported nearby alien lifeforms all around her. She didn’t see any, though that was not any comfort.

Propelled by a frantic need to get out, she nearly tripped and fell several times in her mad rush for her ad hoc barricade. The attack she feared never materialized, and she passed through the rocky passage that she’d made earlier without incident.

A sigh of relief escaped from between her clenched teeth as she slumped against the cold metal skinned wall. “We made it…we actually made it, Neo!”

[Informative: User has now safely distanced themselves from a potentially hostile situation. However, caution is advised. Unknown threats could still breach the primitive security systems currently in place.]

Talia let out a deep breath and nodded. When she set up a more permanent survival base, she’d make sure it was Safe. With a capital S for security.

The bioluminescent rocks greeted her as she sat down beside the fabricator. She deactivated her headlamp, the natural light enough for her to see just fine with her suit’s standard amplification systems.

“That was hectic…” she muttered. There was no real time for her to consider all the ramifications of her meeting or the fact that the spiders were intelligent. She glanced down at the gold and silver shield lying discarded by her feet with mixed feelings.

The artifact was clearly special and had served as a sort of bridge between two vastly different species; maybe she was reading too much into it, but her next course of action felt like it would be oddly disrespectful.

But survival trumped sentimentality. She was stranded alone on an alien planet. If she wanted to survive, or even thrive well enough to reach her crashed ship and repair it enough to return to orbit, and then civilization, she needed to use every tool and resource available.

“Sorry shield…” She pointed her multi-tool at the shield and thumbed it into deconstruction mode and pulled the trigger.

A sudden electric zap cracked off the shield and struck the cave wall with enough force to send a spray of dirt into her face. A loud shriek from the sudden plasma discharge startled her enough to fall on her ass for the second time of the day.

“What?” Her heart pounded as she considered what had just happened. “Neo?”

[Warning: Unknown interference detected. Analysis suggests that the certain elemental configuration within this artifact is highly resistant and reflective to multi-tool deconstruction technology.]

Talia frowned at the new information. “Shit. This wasn’t made by some primitive civ. How do you even make an inert object reflect that?”

[Informative: Changing the orientation of the artifact may reduce the interference properties and allow recycling of the object. This unit suggests flipping it over and attempting again.]

She blinked at the suggestion, then eyed the shield again. Deconstructing it now seemed even worse. It wasn’t just some old relic; it was an actual piece of alien technology!

“Forget it. I’ll keep the shield. Let’s mine those rocks and see if we can get what we need?”

[Notice: User requires 16 units of Refined Silicates, 6 Advanced Alloys, and 4 High-Conductive Material. Each bioluminescent deposit in the local area contains 1-2 units of the desired material. User will need to mine approximately nine rocks containing silicates, and five each for Advanced Alloys and High-Conductives.]

“Alright Neo, time for some heavy lifting,” Talia murmured as she adjusted her grip on the multi-tool. Her arm was getting tired from waving around so much, but at least no one would accuse her of skipping arm day. She made her way upward and toward the cave’s exit.

She targeted the rocks emitting sapphire blue and emerald greens first. Those proved to contain the refined silicates she needed, and she quickly reached the amount of those. The yellow rocks contained the High-Conductives needed and were rarer. She was nearly to the exit when she finished that requirement from her list.

She looked out the cave mouth, taking in the pretty colors of the dark jungle outside. “Neo, you mentioned the trees are dense in material? Not many of the rocks had advanced alloys in them.”

[Correction: The materials User is acquiring are in their raw form. The refining mechanism in User’s multi-tool converts them to the needed elemental structure required for standardized utilization. Survival-Fabricator will further process them into compatible elemental form for schematic production.]

“Thanks for the clarification, but my question, please?” Talia asked.

[Informative: The local bioluminescent trees in the local biome contained a Silica-Xylan Composite structure, and traces of the elements required to fabricate advanced alloy. However, it is unlikely that User can refine and carry the entire amount available in one tree.]

“We’ll pick a small one, maybe.” Talia mused.

That proved much harder said than done, because there were no small ones. “Frack. Neo, if I just dig up the dirt, how much will it take to get the needed silicates?”

[Warning: While it is possible to acquire the needed material via earth refining, a large volume of processing would be required. User energy capacity is insufficient for such an undertaking.]

She strained her neck, looking up at the tree. Its massive trunk stretched far above, the bioluminescence glowing down at her quietly. There was no way she was going to search deeper in the cave.

“I wonder how old it is.” Talia murmured to herself. She fingered her multi-tool mode back and forth as she reaffirmed her determination to survive. For that, she needed the exo-suit. The tree possessed what she needed.

Each of the massive trees was spaced out considerably, having likely crowded out any smaller ones that might have grown around each of the giants. She consoled her conscience by telling herself that a new tree would eventually regrow in the spot to replace the one she was about to chop down.

A yellow overlay appeared on the tree, showcasing a visual tutorial of the cuts she would need to make to ensure the tree fell in a specific direction. As she walked around the trunk, it followed along with her, along with a ghost of where the tree would likely fall. It was all very helpful, but as soon as she pulled out her tool and began to aim, it disappeared.

“Neo? What happened?”

[Notice: Cortex Inc. tree felling assistance software is available as a demo only. A fifty credit purchase is necessary to unlock the software for full usage in real-life applications.]

Talia groaned. “Fraaack.”

For a second she considered the purchase, then declined. It wasn’t like she was going to make a habit of chopping down the ancient trees. Plus, her memory was pretty good. She aimed and began to eat away at the trunk where she remembered the overlay being.

She had disintegrated several feet into the tree when a shrill, high-pitched cry punctuated the jungle. The noise was high-pitched and seemed to come from everywhere at once, causing her to pause. The glow-bugs that had been floating around had vanished along with the other glowing insects. Bioluminescent plants nearby seemed to dim visibly as well.

“What the frick was that?”

[Warning: Unknown high-frequency energy sources of alien origin resembling transmission systems have been detected in every direction. Exposure is unlikely to cause harm to user, however caution is advised.]

Talia grunted and hurried. She set her tool to overdrive and began eating away at the tree, heedless of the extra drain it was going to have on her batteries.

She was three quarters of the way through her cut when there was a telltale creak from the tree. When it turned into a crack, she turned and ran for the cave, hiding inside its threshold as the behemoth crashed to the jungle floor.

Dust rose to form a persistent cloud as the tree bounced twice upon impact. Tree limbs exploded, sending splinters through the air as large as her arms. The entire world seemed to shake.

A singular ray of light pierced down to the jungle floor. The branches of the other massive trees seemed to strain and stretch, as if to block out the intrusive sunlight.

A prickling feeling of anxiety attacked her for no reason that she could determine. Wanting to hurry, she stepped out of the cave and began to gnaw away at the base of the fallen trunk.

She’d already acquired most of what she needed by just cutting it down, and she realized that she’d made a stupid mistake. She could have just shaved part of the tree’s skin, and it probably would have been fine.

There was no dwelling on it. If she needed more refined silicates, and that was not out of the question, she knew where to go to get them at least.

Her multi-tool let out an upset beep and the green light turned red as the extraction beam shut off.

[Multi-Tool]

| Power Level: [27% (Batteries x2)] |

| Durability: [96%] |

| Tool Level: Basic |

| Total Capacity: 100/100 |

[Contains]

| Refined Silicates: x20 |

| Durasteel: x48 |

| Advanced Alloys: x14 |

| High-Conductive Material: x8 |

“It definitely feels full,” Talia commented, hefting-up her tool awkwardly due to the increased weight. It was time to fix that.

The electronic buzzing hum Neo had reported began to increase in volume.

[Notice: Suit passive EM protection is approaching maximum threshold. Active Hazard protection systems will drain suit energy stores if required. This will reduce the lifespan of suit batteries considerably.]

The anxiety she felt seemed to be warranted. Had cutting down the tree caused the EM spike? It seemed clear that her interaction with the environment was having ramifications she wasn’t equipped to understand.

Talia fled into the cave, deciding it was time to finish the long process that fabricating the exo-skeleton had become. The crate was as she left it and she sat down on her makeshift seat, sliding her multi-tool into the fabricator’s resource slot.

A few seconds navigating the machine’s touchscreen menu, and she had the schematic selected.

“Neo, initiate exo-skeleton fabrication.”

[Affirmative: Fabrication action initiated. Estimated time for the completion is 90 minutes.]

Talia let out a sigh of relief. Finally, some progress.

[Notice: User exertion and stress levels have been heightened due to recent activities. Please consider nutrition requirements.]

Her HUD lit up, her suit’s Nutri-paste percentage showing 100% as if Neo was trying to get her to swallow some. Nutri-paste was healthy. There was no denying that, but she also knew how disgusting it was.

“Neo, we’ll try one of the survival rations.” Talia said.

[Affirmative: Please insert survival ration into suit to proceed.]

She fished inside her suit’s main pocket and pulled out one of the bars she’d snatched during her escape from the ship. A compartment on her right forearm bracer opened obediently on command, and she slid the packaged bar into the slot. It closed and then began to hum.

A straw appeared inside her helmet and she sucked on it. The liquid was lukewarm, which made it easy to gulp down, but it was the chocolate goodness that brought a smile to her lips. “Who said survival food has to be terrible?”

The drink would provide enough calories and nutrients for an entire day’s worth of hard exertion. She had a friend in school who had got addicted to the things, and if you weren’t careful, they’d lead to weight gain.

Talia didn’t think that’d be a problem, considering how much hiking she had done. Checking her HUD clock, she realized that she’d been running around for over eighteen hours since she had woken up inside her crashed pod.

She’d need to make a safe shelter and rest, eventually. Her suit could provide stimulants, but she didn’t need Neo to tell her that was a losing proposition in the long term.

“Neo. I am going to take a nap. Please scan for any noises or movement and wake me up when the suit is done.” Talia ordered.

[Affirmative: Sentry mode engaged.]

| Name: Talia |

| Suit AI, NEO: Level 1 |

| Health: [89% (Minor Exhaustion)] |

| Oxygen Level: [0% (Switched to atmospheric filtration)] |

| Suit Power Level: [87%, [Batteries (x2)]] |

| Hazard Protection: [100%] |

| Nutri-Paste Reserve: [100%] |

| Suit Upgrades: [Survival Tool, Overheated] |

| Inventory: [Survival Ration Bar (x2)], [Flare Gun], [Medi-Gel Cylinder], [Datapad], [Batteries (x6)], [Alien Shield] |

| Located Equipment: [Battpack Array (37%)], [Folding Solar Panel Array], [Fabricator] |

| Control-Link: [Survival Fabricator (in-progress Exoskeleton Upgrade)], [Cortex Scan Affiliate] |