Crashed Bandit Cute
Posted on Tue Jun 27, 2023 @ 12:00am by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot
1,208 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
We Will Take Care of You
Location: Hawaii, Earth
Neither Penelope 121 nor any of her associates found out for sure what it was that shorted out her pod before it entered the Sol system. It could have been a brush with a highly charged dark matter nebula, a random ion storm, or stray weapons fire from a war game. But, regardless of its origin, it was more than the tiny pod could handle. The energy coursed through the pod’s systems, shorting out guidance, navigation, and, unfortunately, breaching the pod’s interior. It flashed through Penelope 121’s systems, shorting out much of her active memory. Her brain raced to protect her core systems, but the damage was done, and as the pod now raced blindly to its destination, a blank slate was inside, completely devoid of all the careful planning and preparation her designers had installed.
The only saving grace was that her pod hadn’t been thrown off course and into the void. Against all odds, it reached the atmosphere of its intended planet, survived entry, and plunged towards the surface. Unfortunately, with its systems failing, it wasn’t able to steer and collided with the surface of an ocean, skipping like a stone until it finally slowed and eventually sank.
The girl didn’t know how she got to be standing there. It was dark, almost pitch black, but she could just make out her surroundings. She shook her head slowly and tried to take stock of her situation. She realized she was walking, but she didn’t know where to, or where from. She felt pressed in from all sides by the darkness, and she didn’t know why, but she felt scared. Her fear wasn’t just from not knowing where she was, but somehow knowing she shouldn’t be there.
Shapes darted in front of her and she tried to move faster, the pressure around her preventing her from moving as fast as she would have liked. A few times, the ground suddenly dropped beneath her feet and she was afraid she’d never find her way out of her predicament.
She didn’t know how long she’d been walking and she wasn’t sure why she was still walking, but stopping would have meant staying in the darkness forever, she was sure, and she didn’t know why, but she knew she didn’t want that. She suspected she was not aware of the passage of time because she would suddenly look around as if she’d just become aware all over again, but those instances were becoming less and less. When the ground began to slope upward sharply, she welcomed the change from the monotony, counting steps up to see if they matched the steps back down--the closest she’d come to finding a fun way to pass the time.
As she kept climbing and climbing, seemingly forever, she noted that the oppressive feeling around her was lessening, and she was able to discern more around her. The ground suddenly leveled off and she could see far more than before. Above her was a light source in a dark, dark sky, and around her the world was a shimmering savannah.
She blinked as a creature fluttered past her face. It was multicolored, shining, and swam with a grace that--wait, her mind interrupted, swam?
She blinked and looked around, her hair hanging in front of her, suspended in the salt water. I’m not breathing, she realized. Should I be? I feel like I should be… She started walking faster, hoping to reach shore, but the world went dark again.
The girl was standing on a beach; she knew that much. Everything else was hazy. She turned and faced the water and gasped. Before her was a sunrise stretching out across the horizon, dozens of colors bleeding together, a golden orb in the distance, and splotches of green and blue in the water. She sat down, her torn tunic hanging in tatters from her body as she stared into the distance. She thought it was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen, although part of her mind noted she couldn’t remember having seen anything else, so there wasn’t much to compare to. Still…
She sat and stared as the sun rose, soaking in every detail. She drew deep breaths, feeling like she’d been forgetting to breathe all this time, and her mind was going a mile a minute with sensory overload.
The girl was only just realizing someone was speaking to her when a hand touched her shoulder, jolting her from her contemplation.
“Are you alright?” the voice said.
Human...female…. her mind said. “I….think...so….” she said slowly. Her own voice confused her. She hadn’t spoken before...had she?
“What’s your name, sweetheart?” the woman stepped in front of her, kneeling down. Everything about her was shades of brown: her skin, her eyes, her hair, her lips. Her only other colors came from the tight-fitting suit she was wearing, and the long oval-shaped board she was carrying.
“Daniyal! Come here!” the brown woman called to the side. The girl turned her head and saw a man with similar coloring walking towards her, quickly. He knelt down next to her, looking at the girl with a concerned expression.
“Bismal, call the aid station. Get some help,” he said, checking the girl’s pulse and looking her over. “Do you feel alright? Are you in any pain?”
“No?” the girl said, confused.
“What’s your name,” Daniyal said.
“Pen-el-o-pe?” she said, slowly, sounding unsure for a moment.
“How did you get here, Penelope?” Daniyal said.
“I….I don’t know,” Penelope said, her eyes darting around. As if she was just starting to realize her situation, she looked around frantically. “I don’t remember.”
“Where are you from? Were you on vacation?” Daniyal said, looking more and more concerned. He gently ran his fingers through the girl’s hair, both trying to calm her and check for any head injuries.
“I don’t remember,” Penelope said again, sounding more upset by the second. Panic, her mind identified. This is called panic.
“What about your parents? Can you tell me their names?” he said calmly, trying to soothe her.
“No!” Penelope said, now almost hysterical. “I...I don’t know who they are! I don’t know what’s going on! I don’t know who I am! What am I doing here? Where is this? What’s happening? Why can’t I remember?” Tears started dropping out of her eyes as she came to realize her situation.
“Aid station is sending peace officers to pick her up,” Bismal said, coming back to kneel beside them. “They’ll take her to the hospital.”
“Take me?” she said, her voice going up an octave. “Please...don’t leave me!”
“It’s alright, sweetheart,” Bismal said, pulling Penelope into her arms and holding the hysterical girl tight. “You’ll be okay. They’re going to bring you to people who can help you, and find someone who can take care of you.”
Penelope clung onto Bismal tightly, terrified of being alone.
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