“When you said you’d show me the universe, I didn’t think the first place we’d visit is a forested world that’s half-made of flesh…”
Levik glanced at his co-pilot then rolled his eyes. They were looking for somewhere to land close to the edge of the flesh/forest boundary but so far there had been nothing but trees.
“So who lent you this ship?” Talok asked. The entire time, Talok had been asking weird questions. So many times Levik had wanted to tell him to shut up, but he knew that he needed Talok more than Talok needed him, so he’d kept quiet.
“No one lent me this ship. I own it.”
“So why do you barely fit in that seat?”
Again, Levik glanced at Talok. “It’s meant for Kronospasts.”
“Oh.”
Talok fell silent. Finally. Levik sighed, then spotted a place to land. There was a small, rocky outcrop that was perfect for their somewhat small ship.
With a lot less grace than Talok expected, they hastily landed and disembarked from the ship. Levik surveyed the landscape while Talok stared blankly at the sky, not really sure what he should look at.
“Don’t look into the sun.”
“I’m not that dumb…” Talok sighed. “What are you looking for anyway?”
“An entrance.”
“Shouldn’t we have flown over the fleshy bit then?”
“The entrances are on the…” Levik stopped mid-sentence. Talok stopped staring at the sky to see why Levik had stopped.
“Levik, what are you looking at… oh…”
Talok also stopped mid-sentence but he wasn’t sure why. A very large creature had appeared, one that hadn’t been there when they landed. They were big and furry, bright orange with black bits, as well as black leather armour padding their shoulders, thighs and neck. The creature also wore a shiny gold and leather helmet.
“Uh… hi?” Talok blinked. But before he could get an answer, Levik grabbed him and dragged him back inside the ship. This action clearly angered the creature as it leaped onto the ship’s bonnet.
“Oh fuck…” Levik repeated as he fumbled with the keys and failed to start the ship’s engine. “Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck…”
The creature ran a claw along the window, then delicately tapped it. This caused Levik to squeal a little bit. Despite the fact that he was a well-armoured Vahrga himself.
“Is that bad?”
“It’s a Banikan. The most terrifying sapient beings in the known universe! And it’s tapping on the window!”
“If it was that deadly, surely it would have attacked us already?
The Banikan outside grunted, steaming up the window.
“True…”
The Banikan tapped on the glass again, then walked round to the entrance. Talok got up from his seat to go and meet them.
“Hi!”
“Hello.”
“Do you want to hurt us?”
“No.”
Talok blinked. “Apparently Banikans are big, scary monsters that like to hurt vok.”
“That is true.” The Banikan seemed female in nature, but Talok wasn’t sure. They also didn’t seem like a monster that liked to hurt vok. Big and scary, sure, but not a monster.
“Why are you here?”
“I want to talk to you.”
“Why?”
“Because we might be of assistance to each other.”
Levik appeared, still looking worried. “You don’t want to hurt us?”
“No. I just want to talk.”
Levik glanced at Talok, then relented. “Fine. Come in. Just don’t break anything…”