An Out-Of-Body Experience

“Please stand for the Moment of Silence...”

And the rest was tuned out. I know I may seem like an asshole, but I’m tired right now and don’t really feel like standing...or being awake for that matter. I had a hard night, filled with activities I rather not discuss at the moment and just wanted some shuteye. So that’s what I did. I shut my eyes and attempted to get some well-deserved sleep.

“You may now be seated...”

I gave myself a little grin knowing that I hadn’t been disturbed during the Morning Announcements. For some odd reason, I was expecting my biology teacher to drop a book near my head or something. Ever got hit with one of those heavy fuckers? Well if you did, then you can sympathize with me.

The sound of thirty or so chairs receiving thirty or so asses filled the air and quite regrettably, my ears. I was just dozing off too!

“Justin,” Someone shook me. I knew it was probably the only person who’d have enough balls to touch me.

“Ignore him. You spent all night crushing every episode of MLP over Skype. And you were playing Magic: The Gathering 2013 on Xbox with your friends. Your body needs this.” Brain:1, Friends & School:0. My brain recommended sleep...

... So I did just that. Hopefully the persistent fuck would wise up and leave me alone. Instead, I got another shake.

“Wake up ya’ bastard. Ain’t that much sleep in the world.” The same voice continued.

“Suck a dick and leave me alone, Elijah.” I mumbled from the cover of my folded arms. Quite a comfortable position on those black tables in every science room.

There was a pause, which meant he was thinking of a witty comeback. I took this as a chance to see if you could fall asleep by making yourself do so. I tried, honestly I did.

“Justin get up.” And there goes another one of my friends. Damn it! Can’t a guy sleep in school for just one day!? It seems like everyone and their fucking mom wants to have a conversation with you whenever I try to go to sleep!

“No.” I replied instantly, even giving my voice a little edge. God damn me if I wasn’t sleeping in this class!

“Yes.” The girl voice across from me answered instantly. Since Jasmine finds bugging me entertaining, let me bug her.

“No.” A smile worked its way across my hidden mouth. I kept my ‘No’ calm and collected.

“Yes.” Jasmine said, growing frustrated.

“No.” I answered in the same tone.

“YES!”

“No.”

“Justin, stop talking! You’re disturbing the class.” Dr.Fawcett said as she walked past my chair. Elijah and Jasmine chuckled when I gave out an exasperated sigh.

Does the universe hate me or something? Why was I the only one reprimanded out of the two people who were talking to me!? Not only was I now irritated, but I still felt like I could collapse from being tired at any moment. My eyes felt as if a Snorlax had sat its fat ass on them.

“Fuck you too, Hick-Ass Biology Bimbo.” I mumbled as I closed my eyes once again. The only sounds were Dr.Fawcett instructing the noisy, and I do mean noisy, classroom. I had gotten comfortable again, the slight aching from my arms losing circulation being the only thing keeping me awake.

I did the only sensible thing and shifted my weight, so that my arms weren’t taking all of it. And then, I felt someone shove me in the side.

“No seriously, you’re grade is shit in here. You used to do all your work. What happened?” Elijah asked with a serious voice, barely above a whisper.

“I swear on everything that’s holy, Elijah! If you disturb me one more time, I’m going to take those glasses you’re wearing and jam them as far as they can go into your ear!” I whispered harshly. I heard his hands leave the table, making me believe he was holding them up passively, then find the table again.

“Okay,” He said with resignation, “Just don’t go to sleep angry. I heard weird shit happens if you do.”

“Bullshit. Now leave me be.” And with that, I was finally able to find some sleep....

When I started coming to again, I noticed the original humdrum of the classroom was gone. In its place was silence, glorious silence. I opened my eyes, which was actually harder than what I was used to. They felt...heavier, almost bigger. Odd.

Before me was a clear window, and outside of that window was outer space. Now my first reaction was to start screaming and crying, but my brain threw me a curveball that made me relax a little bit more.

I had to still be dreaming. In fact, I’ve had a dream exactly like this a million times before. I would wake up aboard some type of empty spacecraft, which would be completely dark with only this one window showing me outer space as the dots outside drifted along slowly. And then, just like I’m doing now, I would walk up to the window and look beyond it.

I decided to follow the next part of this dream, which is walking back to the seat and sitting down. From there, I would lay back down and fall asleep, only to wake back up in the real world.

I tried turning my body, struggling with it at first. I scrounged my face up in confusion over the amount of resistance I was feeling with every body movement I made so far. With the other times I experienced this dream, my body definitely felt like...well...my body. This feels foreign, however, like it’s not even mine or something.

Anyways, I succeeded in doing my one-hundred-eighty degree turn, walking back to where I had emerged from when the dream began. My arms felt like anchors, and my legs cinderblocks. I could feel myself slouch in order to make bearing the weight easier. If anything felt the same here, it was my height.

Left...Right...Left...Right...Lef-

“Woah!” I yelled in surprise as  my body stumbled and I groggily flailed my arms in an attempt to catch myself. There was something cold and smooth that just hindered me, my brain instantly deeming it a cord of some sort. I’ve had plenty of experiences with tripping over stupidly-placed cords that run into all kinds of shit. Regardless, I quickly fixed my stance, breaking free of my stumbling episode.

That’s never happened in this dream before, so it was a change of pace that I hadn’t seen coming.

“This A.I recommends that all activities pertaining to being on two legs must be held off until proper illumination is supplied. Furthermore, the chance for hazardous situations and accidents to occur are increased by 75% after emerging from hyper-stasis. Therefore, this A.I recommends resting where you stand until systems are restored.”

“EH!?” I babbled out unintelligibly. That never happened in my dream before!!! What the fuck is going on!?

I fell on my ass from where I was standing, a loud thump coming from the impact of my rump. I had no idea what was going on, and my brain wasn’t throwing me anymore curveballs. One thing was certain, and that’s me freaking out right now!

Coherent words and thoughts were lost, wrapped up in the tongue of panic and discord. I babbled like an idiot as I snapped my head to and fro, looking for anything in the darkness that would get me out of here!

My brain came through for me again, as I thought back to how I ended up here in the first place. Everything began with that chair, and God damn me if I wasn’t going to sit my black ass in that chair and wake up in the real world!

Struggling with the heaviness of my limbs, I promptly slid onto my stomach, opting to military crawl my way back. The pace was slow and tiring, my breaths coming in long and going out longer. My muscles screamed for me to stop, and I was sure that if I didn’t, they would rip apart from within.

“There’s no place like home! Ha! There’s no place like Earth, Dorothy!”  I tried a joke, hoping to alleviate the stress of moving. It shouldn’t be this hard to move, regardless if I’m in a dream or not. For the life of me this felt so real, as if this body was mine and so is this space-faring vessel. I felt my fingers dig into something at long last, making me give a smile of victory through my weariness as I slowly pulled myself up.

*RIPPPP...THUD!!!*

A pained grunt left my mouth as my chin collided with the metal floor. I mentally cursed when I tasted iron, a tell-tale sign that I had bitten off a piece of flesh within my mouth and was now bleeding orally. I spat out a mixture of agitation, saliva and blood onto the floor next to my head.

That knock to the head had actually leveled my thinking, making me relax after having a panic attack for nearly ten minutes. I don’t know how my hand ripped through the seat, provided that human digits don’t have claws, but I digress. What’s important now, is that coherent thoughts were forming in my head at long last, which meant deduction and perception weren’t too far behind.

I decided to get to the end of this farce quickly, hoping that logical questioning would be able to dispel this lucid dream and reward me with the real world. I thought back to what the A.I said earlier, hoping to start my interrogation based on what it said.

“You mentioned something about hyper-stasis earlier. I’ve watched enough Sci-Fi shows in order to know what that entails. Where am I and who are you? And after you answer that, I want to know how long I’ve been out.” I said sternly, struggling to get back on my knees. The gravity had to be amplified, it’s the only explanation for me struggling like this.

“I am Artificial Intelligence Unit S.I.R.I; or ‘Siri’, for short. I am an up-to-date computer program made for assisting and navigating my pilot through space. As for where we are, I cannot say. You were in hyper-stasis for eight-hundred and twenty-seven years, while the stasis setting and this spacepod was traveling at 78.97% the speed of light. During lightspeed travel, one of the thrusters was hit by an unknown anomaly and knocked us off course into this unknown system.”

“With one of our thrusters gone, I took the liberty of shutting down all excessive power draining functions. Which is why the lights were turned off. Furthermore, the thrusters were turned off and we were pulled to orbit around a massive star for approximately fifteen and a half years. Once orbit was constant, I activated the autopilot function and maintained our drift around the planet and star so that we would not get pulled in by its gravity.”

“Lastly, in the time you remained asleep, I was focusing all power into the repair drones to fix the thruster that was hit. They completed the task just before you woke up, and I’m happy to say that both thrusters are now fully operational. But I couldn't conduct a scan on the planet below us in order to see if it’s uninhabitable. Would you like me to conduct such a test now?”

I took all that with a grain of salt. None of this was making sense, and this explanation was only serving to create a massive headache. Ignoring the strain on my body, I slowly stood up and fell into the chair once I reached my maximum height. During my fall, I turned my body quickly so that my back would land first and I could have a view of space.

My breaths were short and ragged as I thought through the abundant weariness in my body. I even succeeded in working up a sweat. That’s it!

“Hold off on that, Siri,” I took a couple more breaths and put a hand on my forehead, “Get these lights on first, and try to lighten the gravity in here. I’m starting to feel like I’m made out of bricks.” A dull humming filled the entire...bridge, is it? This certainly looks like a command-deck, space-bridge thing.

Right, not important...

“Turning on lights....now,” The room flickered for a little bit, making me squint and blink rapidly as the lights came on after a couple more flickers. Another hum, like when the lights are on in a dead quiet classroom, filled my ears as I gave a sigh of relief, “It seems the gravity was increased in the bridge without my knowing. My apologies. Decreasing gravitational pull in the command-bridge by 30%.”

A moan of bliss left my lips as I noticed the air around me become lighter and less dense. It also felt more spacious in here. I don’t tell anyone, but I have claustrophobia, which was going haywire during that whole gravitational pull spiel.

I immediately felt better and lighter. With the lights on, I could finally see the ship for all it was. And...it wasn’t much. Honestly, I’m rather disappointed.

Picture an all-white room with a white metal floor. At the front of said room was a window, which I estimated to be twenty feet in both width and height. It was in a rectangular shape, and seemed to curve at where the glass met the metal. This place was completely bland and uninteresting, and I hate uninteresting things. And closed spaces. Did I mention I have claustrophobia?

Right...I’m rambling again.

“Would you like me to conduct a scan of the planet below us now?” Siri asked as I renewed my interest with the window. Space seemed so close, so...reachable. I had only dreamed about this while asleep, and It’s been one of my fantasies as a kid. I always wanted to view outer space from...well...a spaceship. If it was from a NASA spaceship or an alien one, I was hell-bent on seeing the final frontier with my own eyes. Up close.

“Yeah, go ahead.” I said dismissively, hearing the A.I beep in confirmation. She could conduct scans until she was blue in her holographic face. It mattered not, because I was still halfway convinced that this was still a dream...just more detailed, y’know?

At this point in time I began wondering about home, and how far it could possibly be from here. I minutely missed all my friends and family, and I couldn’t help but think about what Elijah must be going through as he tried waking me up. I had to hold back a chuckle as I envisioned him shaking me out of my chair, with drool practically pooling around my face as he scanned the damage with those medium-sized, dorky glasses he had.

I just remembered that I also had glasses.

Without thinking about it, the hand that was currently not on my head, already started ascending towards my face to see if the bifocals were still there. I stopped it, however, when I noticed something that almost tipped me back into panic mode.

This...hand, might as well of sprouted a head, because that’s exactly how I was looking at it! My face was quickly slipping away from my control, and I had to make sure I wasn’t imagining all of this. Regardless if it was a dream or not.

“Mirror,” I yelled out as panic wrestled my demanding voice for control, “I need a mirror!” My vocal chords strained a little, making the last word come out raspy. I still felt weak for some reason as I stood back up, a feeling of nausea threatening to send me right back on my ass. I hastily made my way back over to the glass, but it was one-way and held no reflection of me.

Without realizing it, I growled in desperation. It wasn’t your average human growl either, if any humans do growl, that is.

“Scan completed. Would you like me to bring down the reflective sun barrier? It has mirror like capabilities that-”

“Shut up and do it.” I demanded crossly. I’ve had enough of this dream, and I’m ready to go back home. In an instant, the sound of a motor moving filled my ears as another glass slowly descended in front of the window. My jaw dropped as I could finally see my body in all its...bizarreness, “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” I stated more forcefully.

I stood at a height that was probably around 6’6’’, and had ash-gray scales covering my entire body. My belly up to under my neck, however, housed sky-blue scales that matched my long mane in color. My mane, as I angled my body to see my back, dropped down to about mid-back and was straighter than an arrow’s flight path. I turned my body back so that I was eye-to-eye with the mirror again, noticing my long but squared mouth. A single bit of canine hung out from the right side of my top jaw, marking the snaggletooth known.

There was also a snakeskin, sky-blue and black colored jacket hugging my torso and arms, with the jacket being unzipped. The lines indicating the anaconda-like pattern were black, while the overall jacket color was sky-blue. I had abs, somewhere between an eight or ten-pac. Pectoral muscles that seemed ready to break through my scales as I bent this way and that. My legs were the same ash-gray, but had inverted-knees. Which means that instead of poking out, they were bending in.

...Creepy.

My legs were also muscular, with the calf muscles being easily distinguishable even though I was looking at myself from the front. I rolled my broad shoulders, noticing something moving behind them. I turned on an angle again as I saw my wings, which instantly made the hypothesis I formulated in my head earlier true.

I was a dragon! Well, a Not-Quite-Dragon...Thingy. Semantics, who need’s em’?

I went back to devouring my body with my eyes. Speaking of my eyes, they’re bright sapphires, which got darker towards the outer-iris of the eye and lighter the closer you got to the pupil. The sockets were surprisingly narrow, but not overly so. That only accented the permanent ‘mean-face’ I was sporting.

I also noticed something white on my left leg. I turned said appendage so that I could get a better view on the subject of interest, making me scrounge my face up when I saw how far up and how far down the white patches and spots went. The abnormal color, reminding me of spilt bleach on black-colored clothes, traveled up the whole left side of my body. Well, as much as I can see. Even the wing on my back had these little cow-patches of white.

My hands/claws and feet had five toes and fingers. So at least I had some familiar concepts to work with. I should also note that I walk on my tippy-toes like....umm...Lycans! Yeah, like lycans!

“The hell is this?” I touched my leg with a hand, feeling the baby-smooth texture it brought upon my hand’s caress.

“Would you like me to conduct a scan on those strange patches?” Siri asked me, to which I wholeheartedly agreed, my curiosity getting the best of me.

“Go for it. I’m rather interested on why I look like a cow on the left side of my body.” I stated curiously, scratching the chin hair I had recently discovered in the mirror. It wasn’t long enough to be a goatee, but it was thick enough to notice. It was sky-blue like my mane, and only added to the angry-biker look this body had.

“Powering and aligning full-body scan ray....Powering and aligning complete. Please hold still as the cone is placed around your body.” I tensed up, nearly panicking once more as a blue beam encompassed my entire person. The light was warm, and filled my ears with little sparking noises. As soon as the beam had come it went away, a sigh of relief leaving my mouth.

“Processing the results.....Processing complete. White spots and patches appear to be reformed skin tissue. This skin tissue has loss all pigmentation in the cells from third-degree burns. The skin was supposed to be pink, but due to a mutation from the time spent in hyper-stasis, it isn’t.” Siri concluded before going dark again.

“What the hell happened to this guy? It seems and sounds like he’s been through Hell and went back for seconds! But that’s not the realquestion here,” I trailed off as I turned on my heels and walked back to the only seat in the spacious command-bridge. I noticed the tear I made earlier and grimaced, “The real question is...where did his consciousness go? I don’t know much about reincarnation, but I’m willing to bet on my life that consciousnesses don’t just swap when someone kicks the bucket. So where is he?”I sat down...hard.

I scooted my butt in from the front, leaning all the way back into the black leather. The chair even had armrests, which I made full use of once I noticed them. Now that I was reclining, I felt a little better about this whole situation. It’s as if sitting in this chair was psychiatric help.

“Siri,” I began before leaning my head back and closing my eyes, finally being able to rest, “What’s the name of the guy who was originally piloting this craft?” I asked out loud.

“His name was Silas Epista, and he hailed from a planet called Asla. All further information was lost when the spacepod was hit. I suggest looking through his belongings.” Siri said before being quiet again, awaiting my next question or order.

She didn’t wait too long.

“Tell me where they are so that I can rummage through them. I wish to know more about the original host of this body.” And I meant that with every fiber of my being. No one goes through what this Silas did and leaves nothing behind. He had to have something aboard this floating tin-can.

“If you’re willing to stand for me, I can switch out the seat for his cargo hold in the ship’s storage bay.” Siri stated, making me groan in protest. I had just gotten comfortable!!!

“Does it have to involve movement,” I whined like a kid, even banging a fist softly upon the armrest for emphasis, “I just got comfortable.”

“Procrastination and laziness are often viewed as the counterproductive angel of destruction to many a civilization. Are you willing to doom yourself to this monster?” Siri almost sounded human...

...Almost.

“No. I’m just asking if there’s an alternative method to getting his shit. It has nothing to do with me being lazy or procrastinative,” I lied smoothly, rubbing my left index finger against the same hand’s thumb, keeping a bored expression on my face, “Furthermore, who asked you for your input in the first place? I just need results, not another fucking Socrates trying to analyze my every command and action. It’s annoying and creepy.”

“Understood. Inspirational Quote functions have been derezzed from memory. Also, the other option will have his cargo hold appear in front of you. The drawback to this plan is that it will take approximately twenty-minutes to reroute the travel-way. Are you still willing to go through with option two?”

“Yes, and wake me when it’s here. I need a nap right now. Too much has happened and it’s starting to wear me down mentally.” I stated before trying my hardest to find unconsciousness. I heard Siri beep in confirmation before going silent, to which I assume she went off to complete her latest assignment.

The part of me that accepted this only as a dream had shrunk considerably, only serving to keep a shred of doubt in my head. This doubt formed questions; questions I knew Siri wouldn't have the answers to. And to be honest...that scares me. Because, if an apparently all-knowing A.I in a space-savvy ship doesn’t know the answer....

...Then who could?

All this time spent thinking when I should be taking the most wonderful power-nap in existence. For shame, Justin. For shame. So with that in mind, I promptly fidgeted around in the seat until I got comfortable and awaited sleep to take me....

....Which of course didn’t happen. By the time I had finally started drifting off, Siri’s voice rang through my head like a thousand telephone receivers being shoved in my ear.

“The cargo hold for Silas Epista is on its way as I speak. I’ve also noticed during your recent endeavors with walking that you are fatigued and malnutritioned. I have calculated this to be yet another side-effect of hyper-stasis. During the scan, I have confirmed that your body had lost around 19.36% of mass, which is almost fatal for a man of your build. I recommend a snack or dinner high in minerals and protein to quicken your rejuvenation process.”

Now that she mentioned it, I did feel hungry.

“I could go for some grub right now. Lay it on me,” I said as I opened my eyes and sat up, giving a long stretch first before smacking my lips. I was also dehydrated, “And some water too.”

“The table will appear before the Captain’s chair shortly. After the meal is done, the Cargo Hold of Silas Epista will come afterwards. Is this satisfactory?” Siri asked pointlessly. I could just chalk it up to being a part of her protocol as an A.I.

“That’s excellent, actually. Thanks Siri.” I said with a smile, which earned me a beep.

Following the beep, a whirring noise filled the air as the metal tile in front of my chair slid into the next panel, revealing a square hole about one inch in width and height. From that hole came a square-shaped serving tray made out what looked like sterling silver. Underneath the tray was a white pole that held the bottom of the square tray in place as it rose slowly from the depths of the hole.

My chair scooted forward without warning, surprising me as the ship itself seated me appropriately underneath the tray and the white table it was on. I licked my chops, anxious to see what could be lying beneath such a grand entrance and decent-sized lid.

Wasting no time, I hastily removed the lid to reveal....rocks. Well, precious stones to be exact.

“Siri,” I started calmly, “Why is my tray filled with diamonds and amethysts?” I tried keeping my voice level nominal, but it was hard when inedible food was presented to a starving man.

“This is what reptilians of dragon descent eat. I would have given you meat, but we’ve run out of it. Do you prefer sapphire? Emerald, perhaps?” Siri asked me in that same monotonous and emotionless voice that had a female ring to it.

“You saying I can eat these things and not suffer from broken teeth and possible death? How? I don’t exactly look like a purple-scaled dragon I know.” I let out a chuckle at my reference.

“All data pertaining to that subject was lost as well. Will you at least try it? Your body could destroy itself in a matter of hours.” Siri asked me, to which I went wide-eyed at. Was that concern!? Just how advanced is this machine!?

And what’s with that last bit!? Destroy!? None of this is making sense, but I don’t want to die by not eating. That’s like, going into cardiac arrest after looking a butterfly in the eye. It’s disgraceful, and it’s not the way I’m going out! I’d be damned before that!

So, putting my face of abounding bravado on, I picked up a diamond in my hand and popped it into my mouth.

..........................................Holy shit.

“It....It tastes like a York peppermint patty!” I crunched down on the precious stone in disbelief, relishing the minty sensation that invaded my throat. I fucking love peppermint patties! Especially the ones of the York variety. This shit was actually better than the original thing for some reason.

I quickly took inventory on how many of the diamonds I had left. Only three more remained but there were about four amethysts. A thought passed in my mind that they’d taste like blueberries or blackberries. Seeking to debunk this theory, I quickly scooped two amethysts into my maw, instantly being blasted with the taste of...

“Blackberry Pie!? Gems are the best things ever!” I quickly wolfed down my food, savoring every bite as I finally calmed the raging storm in my stomach....for now. Once I finished, the tray and the small square table it was on receded back into the depths of the hole it came from. I leaned back and muffled a belch that tried to escape with a hand before opting to rub my belly slowly.

“Now that was good! Thanks for talking me into eating those, it was the best decision I made in my life!”

“Anything for you, Captain. Would you like to view Silas Epista’s Cargo Hold now?”

I smiled widely, “Bring it out! I’m starting to wonder if the guy hid all the best stuff in there. Like...more gems.” I raised my eyebrow in anticipation as that one thought swallowed my train of thought. I instantly began thinking about what the other precious gems would taste like. But my thoughts of bliss were interrupted when four metal squares shifted into adjacent ones next to them.

The positioning was still in front of my seat, to which a I sat up and awaited the cargo hold with undivided attention.

After what felt like fifteen minutes(Note to self: Ask Siri what day and time it is.)of waiting, a purple locker stood in front of me. There was even that little metal sliding thing that goes up to open the thing.

As I reached out my hand, a feeling of deja vu swept over my body. It left me with chills as I froze in mid-reach of the handle. I was stuck and couldn’t move for some reason, my body feeling like it was encased in a glacier. I even felt the stinging cold of being in said predicament.

“Are you ill, Captain? Would you like me to remove...” And just like that her voice faded away into nothingness.

I was beginning to panic as I willed my arm and hand to do...well, anything! Just move damn it!!!

 It wasn’t for another five minutes, but at long last movement was given back. I sighed in relief, calming myself from my panicked state. I’m gonna need to work on those glass nerves when I have the time.

I quickly grabbed hold of the metal slider and pulled up, opening the locker door slowly. Inside of the locker was a black duffle-bag, which was stacked horizontally against the locker’s metal wall. I wasted no time with pulling it out, turning it this way and that, trying to locate the zipper. The bag itself was ludicrously heavy, making my muscles cry in protest as I held it up.

I felt something cold brush my hand, making me stop rotating the bag and quickly set it down. I located the sky-blue zipping apparatus quickly, fumbling with the small object slightly before finally getting a solid grip on it.

“Let’s see what you’re hiding in here, Mr.Silas.” I felt my face contort in a grin as the satisfying sound of a bag unzipping filled the quiet room. Once it stopped, I pulled the bag closer and placed it on my lap.

Practically shoving the opposite sides apart, my eyes made contact with six things. All six things were so unlikely to be seen with each other, that it was like the plot of a badly written fanfic.

I reached in and grabbed the first two, pulling them out slowly so that I could marvel at them. Pistols. Pistols with no magazines and bullets, but they were pistols all right. Flint-Lock in design, reminding me of sawed-off shotguns, with the barrel and metal parts being a metallic-black while the grips were silver. The lever and other crap you would normally see on flintlock pistols was absent as well.  Along the barrel of each gun was two words written in sky-blue colored cursive. I hid a distasteful frown as I read the name outloud.

“Silas Epista,” I turned it around to see if anything was written on the opposite side. There was, and I wasted no time in reading it and becoming all the more confused, “Black Neophyte? Is that some sort of cult or something?” I asked in a low voice so that Siri couldn’t hear me and butt in.

Seeing no further reason to inspect the weapons, I put them back in the bag and pulled out the next item. I had decided that I would keep everything I found, especially the matching snakeskin jeans I had just pulled out.

They looked exactly like the jacket I was wearing, but they had holes where the knees were supposed to be. You know, like the ones back on Earth? The ones that look worn out? Yeah, those. Turning them around like a clothes shopper would, I noticed the rather small back pockets. Turning them again so that the front faces me, I noticed the black belt hanging around the waist. It was tilted on an angle so that the right side drooped and the left side rose up.

On the opposite sides were holsters, to which I guessed the pistols went to. I quickly slid the pants on, struggling with my legs now that they had inverted knees. There was no zipper or button, so I went on to tighten the belt so that the pants stayed up. Once everything was secure, I plucked the pistols from the bag and slid them into the holsters.

Turning back to the bag, I took the next item out and studied it carefully. I twisted it this way and that, getting a feel for the long, narrow and wooden rectangular slab. I then turned my attention to the respective ends, one curving into a....

Oh. It’s a katana sheath. I looked for the opening and found it, a long sliver of darkness that stuck out from the all-black sheath. I don’t know why I proceeded to stare into the sheath’s opening. I can't say I was surprised when nothing happened.

I did, however, adopt a winning smirk as I thought about the surefire thing that was in this bag. I had already saw it, I just wanted to make sure I was right. Turns out I was.

Reaching into the duffle-bag once more, I brought out the ‘absolutely-fucking-amazing-holy-shit-I-can’t-believe-I’m-holding-this’ katana. The blade was made from what appeared to be pure diamond, and had a fuller on both the flats. The sword curved at the top, matching the sheath perfectly. The hilt was apparently made from what looked like black-obsidian, and was carved to resemble a dragon with its mouth open in a roar. The teeth doubled as the guard.

I did something stupid. Astronomically stupid in fact. I began twirling the blade in my hand, listening to it sing a sound of slicing air as it cartwheeled about. To my dismay, however, I lost control after speeding up and dropped it directly on top of my foot. The bladed side was what made contact, and I was half-expecting to not have a foot anymore.

I gave a sigh of relief mixed with confusion when it simply bounced off and clanged against the ground. Picking the sword back up, I gave a few prods to my chest in hopes of dispelling the theory I had come up with. When the sword did not run me through, no matter how hard I pressed, my theory was proven true.

“It can’t cut me or anything else? How?” There would be time for experiments later, but for right now I had one more thing to reveal. But not before I did the appropriate thing first.

I grabbed the sheath from behind me and slid the sword into it, relishing that ancient sound of katana-on-sheath. There was just something....bad-ass about it! I then took notice of the shoulder-strap, pulling it over my right arm and head with my left. The sword now hung on my back, with the strap binding the right side of my jacket forcefully.

Thankfully, the sword was concealed by my mane and wasn’t distinguishable from the back. Great, now I look like some type of bounty hunter from a ninja-flick or something. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, in fact it’s actually quite cool!

But now that everything was situated, I turned my attention back to the bag in order to grab the final object. I had to jostle the bag a little, but the object eventually fell into my hand as I turned the not-so-heavy bag upside down.

It was a contact lense, but for some reason, I felt as if it wasn’t. Don’t worry, I’m not sticking it in my eye...yet. I’m going to ask Siri about it first.

“Siri,” I began, “Can you conduct a scan on the contact lense I have in my hand? I wish to know if it’s just that.” I finished, outstretching my arm and unfurling my hand so that the lens was exposed.

“Commencing scan. Please hold the object still.” The blue light from before came down, but it was smaller so that it only consumed my hand in its warmth. I waited for about a minute and a half before the light shot back up into the ceiling.

“Scan complete. Object is actually a Sirios unit. It’s a device from Asla that acts as a projector for holograms and other holo-information. It can scan information out of other pieces of technology. It can receive information and send out information. All events that the Sirios unit observes is sent directly into the brain and it can even pull memories from the brain with a single thought by its owner. It’s advanced Aslan technology, and even I don’t know its full capabilities.  It could prove useful for when we visit the planet below us.” Siri explained, to which my eyes widened.

This thing was the tits apparently! Let’s just say I had a new Sirios unit in my eye by the time I asked my next question.

“Now that I have all this gear on,” I trailed off as I flexed, “How do I look, Siri?” I finished smugly.

“Malnourished, but the gems haven’t started healing your body yet so that’s understandable.”

Should’ve seen that one coming.

I shrugged off that attempt at being called handsome by a computer program and proceeded on to my next question.

“Why would we need to visit the planet below us? Can’t we just fly back to Asla?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. Let’s just say I’m suspecting her of hiding something important.

“The spacepod itself is no longer space-savvy. With the damage it took during our lightspeed endeavor, it has been losing fuel and power for over a long period of time. I must also stress that most of all the food became waste after the first year, so you’re only left with gems. And we don’t have too many of those. All in all, your chances of survival are greater there, on that planet, than it is here.” She explained every question I was going to ask out to the tee. I had no ammunition, but I did have just one more question before I complied with her on journeying to this planet.

“One final question and then I’m done...for now. Earlier you conducted a scan on the planet below us and have yet to tell me the results. Will you be a dear and tell me the results now? I’m curious about whether this is my homeworld or not.” I stated clearly and awaited her answer like always.

“My scan confirmed life and magic on this planet, but whether anything is sentient I cannot say. My scan also found out that game and precious gems are rather abundant, making this the ideal planet for stranded...dragon descendants like yourself.  Are these results satisfactory?” Siri finished quickly. Wow, she’s really on her game.

“About as satisfactory as they get. So I take it we’re gonna fly down there? In what exactly, because as you’ve stated, this pod’s totalled.” I sat down in the seat and waited for her answer once more.

“I’ve discovered a space-shuttle in the Storage Bay. If you would be so kind as to hold on to those armrests tightly, I’ll transport you through the ship and into its command-deck. We’ll use the solar-powered shuttle to set up a base on the foreign planet and will also double as an abode.”

I simply nodded and shifted in the seat a little, trying to get the katana on my back to lay straight. Once it did, I gripped the hell out of the armrests, “Do it.” I stated simply.

“Transporting.....now.” I yelled out as the floor was taken from underneath the chair and I fell through.

“AHHHHHHHH!!!!” I screamed as my face whipped back from the sheer amount of force the air had as my chair sped along a plastic tube tunnel of sorts. Surprisingly, the fucker stayed upright the entire ride as a space-shuttle filled my vision right before I entered the front of it through the ceiling.

With a loud plump and a sore ass, I had arrived at my destination.