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Location: Edkoope Cefluit | Condition: Damaged, Awake

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I came back to myself at dawn.

The sky was orange and thick, my eyes heavy. I was safe here, and warm. Still half-curled in the cockpit, I was reluctant to leave the ship. My ship. My home. Me. Us.

Gazing out the cockpit I tried to remember, only for a spike of pain to stab into my head. I quickly let go of the attempt at thought and looked around.

After what... happened, this, now, was home. The… trauma, if that's what it was, of why I was here was already softening, fading.

I rested my hands on the cockpit.

This was still it didn't feel… new. The familiar seat creaked as I shifted my weight and let my mind drift.

…

The sky was a different color when crackle of burning electronics behind me reminded me: my ship - my home, now - was still broken. Wounded. Still on fire.

It was in pain. Was I?

I looked down at what my hands were now. Large, gloved. Sealed in this… suit? This body?

I looked through the cockpit to outside, eyes focusing and finally taking in the world with the clarity of rest.

Debris were scattered across the blasted soil where I'd - had I?

Where this ship, my home, me, us - we had impacted, torn into the ground.

The ship, at least, hadn't been torn completely apart. Despite the debris.

To the left of me the flag I'd seen earlier, green with a now-familiar symbol I'd never seen before - white circle and a symbol clipped from its edge - flapped gently in the breeze.

Was the symbol mine?

Part of a family, an organization… something I'd once belonged to?

My memories only stretched dimly past last night before they hit a wall of pain I didn't feel like hurting myself to break through.

Leaving the ship I started walking around. The orange sky was oppressive. I wondered if it felt as heavy to the powdered irradiated dirt underneath my boots as it did to my back as I examined the area.

If it had been me here - before - then at least I'd had the foresight to make camp. Supplies were laid out haphazardly. Crates. Boxes hurriedly laid out. A canister, one broken, holding the flag. A light aimed directly at the flag and its symbol.

Was I announcing my presence?

Or was it a warning?

…

The symbol on the green flag matched the symbol on the wings of my red ship.

…

The early sky had the color of thick blood-rust. My body, this suit - the projected display flickering in my vision - told me about the local environment I found myself in.

Temperature: 20.7°C

Radiation: 5.6 Rad

Toxicity: 13.6 Tx

I sat on the wing of the ship and stared at the horizon.

My thoughts were still slow, heavy like my body. I hoped that would pass. I felt weak, damaged, like an important part of me was damaged, or missing. My thoughts wandered as the sky changed colors.

Something moved past the corner of my vision and I turned my head to follow it. Something was moving, not flying but in the air. Bright, in the sun. Metal? Robotic, floating, slowly.

Alive? Automated?

My mind held both the words together and I forgot how they were different.

The floating machine chittered softly, scanned the surroundings, a stone, the small creatures underneath it - before trundling off, ignoring me completely.

…

If this was the wasteland my Father had warmed me about - were there survivors?

The thought made me uneasy. My hand tightened around the device I'd woken up clutching, words taking hold in my head as I glanced at it.

Iselovke-risho v0.27

Multi-Tool.

Experiment C6/4

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A small drone buzzed around nearby. The same one from last night. Occasionally it paused to scan some small plant or stone.

Did it have a set route?

Could it be aware of its own existence?

Much like my own, I muttered silently, hopping off the ship - my home. Me. Us.

It was still on fire, the sparks still casting the familiar scent of ozone.

Was that why I hadn't tried to fix it yet? A part of me wondered why I wasn't more concerned.

The ground crackled underfoot. Dry. Brittle. I stood carefully, still unsure in this suit, this body I wasn't used to wearing, and glanced down at the device in my hand.

Multi-Tool.

Experiment C6/4

…

I took a breath.

If no one had come for me overnight… was anyone looking for me?

Did I want there to be? I stepped towards the light illuminating the flag and its symbol, and turned it off.

Was my ctgq8u35e8 even looking for -

I put that thought aside. For now, I was alone.

I had to take stock of what I had. Fix what I could. Find out where I was.

And why.

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