My name is John, or at least was.
The last thing that I remember was what would be the last normal conversation I would have for a long while. We were sitting in the window seat of a corner cafe that often pandered to broke college kids like us. And there we were, like sitting ducks, a couple of college kids talking about upcoming midterms, which had unfortunately been overshadowed by more pressing matters like my anime watchlist, pile of unread mangas encroaching onto my nightstand, and video games left partially completed.
Needless to say, I was boned…
A while later after it had gotten dark, we said our goodbyes, and went our separate ways. On the walk back to the dorms I was too encompassed in an anime I had been watching on my phone to notice all of the sudden movement that had been going on around me.
My attention had suddenly shifted after I had gotten knocked on my ass by a man trying to run past. "Hey, out of the way asshole!"
Looking around I noticed that everything had been bathed in a bright red hue that only got brighter and the temperature had started to rise. I looked up and could only sit back on the ground in bewilderment.
An asteroid, one that could potentially mean the extinction of the entire planet, was already just about to break the atmosphere. The only things running through my mind were all of my unfinished anime, mangas, and video games.
Closing my eyes I accepted my fate....
When I next opened my eyes everything I knew was gone, my simple quaint college life, my friends and most importantly…. MY ANIME, MANGA, AND GAMES!!!
Going into hysterics I stomped around where I was, blatantly ignoring my surroundings yelling, cursing everything and anything I could. The gods, the asteroid, the metallic grass, flowers, and trees around me.
At that moment it occurred to me. Everything had a metallic sheen.
As I stood there I caught a glimpse of my clothes. I wasn't wearing my usual casual hoodie and blue jeans, and my backpack was gone. The clothes I wore now were very fine, like an officer's uniform about to receive a commendation, though all of the clothes were burnt and in tatters. One black dress shoe, torn white pants, and a blue and gold button up uniform jacket that was in shreds.
Then it happened, my first encounter with the unknown in this world. A low growl came from the tree line. Listening closer it wasn't a normal growl, it had a slight under tone of metal on metal grinding in the tone.
Getting anxious in my body I slowly stepped backwards. I quickly surveyed my surroundings looking for anything that could help my current situation.
Large footsteps with the dull subtle sound of something metal clanging against metal quaked the ground beneath my feet. With each step it was drawing near, the quaking beneath my feet felt harder.
Then I saw it, a massive metallic tiger crept out of the tree line, its eyes fixed on mine. Keeping its posture low ready to pounce at its prey. In this case I was the prey.
The tiger was huge compared to any other tiger I have seen in any zoos before, it's size was that of an elephant! The eyes of the tiger were robotic looking and contained an unnatural glow of red. It's fur had a metallic look just as the environment did.
With a panic stricken body I couldn't move as it stepped closer. I didn't dare break eye contact with it, I knew the moment I did that was it. I could only make small steps backwards away from it with no progress in distance compared to the tiger's steps.
Out of the corner of my eye a faint outline of a structure caught my attention, drawing my eyes away from the tiger's. At that moment the tiger took its opportunity, lunging from a good distance away.
Coming back to the current situation, I screamed out in panic at the lunging tiger as I jolted to turn and run to the structure. I tripped as I turned narrowly missing the beast, but his claws dragged across my back. Gouging deep marks.
I yelled in agony. The tiger walked up still growling lowly, the closer it got the more I could hear a subtle metal-like grinding mixed in. It lowered it's head ready to deal the final blow and end my life.
All I could do was lay on my stomach as I bled out from my back looking at the tiger. I began to notice how this creature looked more and more mechanical like. Metal creaking in its joints, moving lines across its body underneath the fur. The more I looked at the tiger, the more I began to realize that this was no mere creature, but a blend of technology and biology.
Suddenly quakes shook the ground and a roar that grated at my ears came out of nowhere. The tiger who had leaned in just close enough for me to feel its breath pulled away and roared in the direction of where the other roar had come from.
Woosh*
With a grinding sound and a loud snap, jaws came down on the tigers mid section. I turned over to my side quickly, and what I saw horrified me.
A giant bio-mechanical tyrannosaurus rex had caught the tiger in its jaws. Clamping down on the tiger further the t-rex lifted it into the air. The tiger cried out as its body was stuck in a tightening vice. With a final growl and tensed neck muscles the t-rex bit the tiger in half. The tiger's body fell from both sides of the t-rex's mouth, the torn open end of the front half of the tiger fell open beside me, coating me in the metallic blood of the tiger.
With so little energy I couldn't move, all I could do was lay there waiting for what could potentially happen next.
The t-rex lowered its head, sniffing around the mutilated tiger. It brought it's nose next to me and sniffed me for a few moments. Slowly opening it's mouth I could only think, 'This is it, this is how I die! Eaten by a damn t-rex of all things!'
Suddenly it jerked over and snapped up the carcass of the tiger, and wandered off into the treeline. My heart was thumping hard, eyes wide, and breathing deep I couldn't even process what just happened.
"I need to move…" I struggled to get to my feet and headed to the structure that I had glimpsed while being preyed upon by the tiger.
Needless to say I walked very slowly the entire way, after struggling to walk for around 20 minutes I made it to the wreckage of a spaceship. Looking it over it was fairly large, the door to the ship was on the rear end of the ship. The door opened automatically as I neared it, slowly dropping down.
Once the door fully opened, I walked in while gasping for air, as soon as my foot landed inside the ship a chime rang out.
*Ding!*
"Good evening Master Denik! How may I assist you today?"
I collapsed to my knees, exasperated and losing focus in my eyes, all I could say was, "Close the door…" Before I landed face first on the metal floor and passed out.
When I opened my eyes again, taking a deep breath in, I stood. Instantly remembering what had happened with the tiger and t-rex, I realized I felt no pain at all. "No pain?.." Stretching my arms out I felt great!
*Ding!*
"Good afternoon Master Denik! You slept for 6 days! Were you in a state of self induced hibernation?"
The sudden chime and voice of the ship brought me back from my thoughts, "Uhh, no… Also is that my name? Denik?" I asked as I looked around the ship. From what I could gather it was meant to be a temporary home at least for a good while, the entirety of the ship was setup just like a studio apartment, a bed, small cooking area, a personal bathroom with a tube like shower, and even a data terminal you could sit down at.
A small slit in the floor opened up and a card floated up, in a brief moment the card broke into very small fragments and formed what looked like a little fairy with streams of light connecting the small pieces. It flew over to me with a smile on its face, "Why of course, Denik is Denik! Who is my current operating master!"
Feeling kind of spooked by the sudden appearance of this little fairy I leaned away from it as I walked past to inspect the rest of the ship. "Okay… And you are?"
Silence passed for a few moments from the little floating fairy-like thing. The lights of the ship dimmed out as a wash of green light shone over my body.
*Whirring gears*
"Physical scan initiated!"
"I am the latest model of personal space exploration vessels known as 0Zxjs-6374, Custom AI Model created for you by your personal friend Naomi Gratford also known as Nagrat. Master Denik refers to me as Naggy." As it spoke that last sentence I could hear a subtle dejected tone.
I raised an eyebrow as I turned back to the mechanical fairy. "Well Naggy, can you fill me in on where we are and why we are here. As well as any other information you may have in your database?" I couldn't help but chuckle when I said her name.
In the following days I took my time to get to know my current situation.