Warbaden

I was so shocked and surprised to see the six figures of more than four meters that I did not notice the moment when the ship took off until I lost my balance and fell face first crashing to the ground.

 What's going on I've already fallen more than three times today, I complained to myself remembering my stay in the laundry room where they gave me my uniform and also how that man who had appeared unannounced through the door had thrown me.

But come to think of it I hadn't questioned until this moment the reason why I hadn't been able to see outside through the open door and instead saw something resembling moving water, at first I was a bit dizzy from my sudden body wash so I had ignored it or just didn't give it much thought but if a melbore was involved then it was possible that it was-.

What are you waiting to let go of me, wasn't it enough for you to stare at me a while ago?!

Hearing that voice again I peeled my face off the dirty floor and looked for the first time at what I had tried to hold on to so I wouldn't fall, which clearly didn't work.

To my bad luck I had grabbed hold of the lower end of the bag of the one person I already knew I would have no trace of empathy with from our brief chat earlier when we were still lined up in the row separating sections.

Instantly releasing the red-haired woman's sack I stood up, I could tell she stared at me for what seemed like an eternity but I said nothing and pretended I didn't know she was looking at me.

This time I made sure to hold on to one of the handles hanging through the ceiling as I pretended to think of something to avoid the visible look of contempt from the woman who wouldn't take her eyes off me.

Of all the bags I could hold on to I had to grab onto hers, well she's the one to my right I didn't have many options to choose from either, I thought directing my gaze to my left side looking at the space of a meter and a half that separated my group from the other.

I quickly remembered what I was thinking about before I was interrupted by the woman of questionable age. True, if the time on the ship's clock did not match the time that had passed before I arrived here and if there was a melbore involved then it was possible.

If that's what it was, the melbore had created a dimension or they had used a dimension where time passed faster.

Although I'm not sure if that's what happened, I hadn't heard anything about the melbore being able to create a dimension and I suppose they wouldn't have permission to make use of an existing one either no matter how high their rank is.

Maybe I'm wrong but as far as I knew all melbore shared a dimension along with normal soldiers and civilians who were allowed to travel to a far away destination.

Well not that I know much, I've only had the opportunity to travel through that dimension once. But if that were the case, supposing they had used the same dimension they use to move around to speed up the aslv's mandatory recruitment progress then would they be dragging it to us or were we being dragged into it? Or just at some point when I entered the military base I entered that dimension. Wait if so I witnessed a unique event in history, it's incredible I didn't know it was possible to build inside a transport dimension!

Wait a minute it was true The nardel!, right there was a nardel he could create a dimension effortlessly like what he did when he hid his axe… or so I think, but I doubt that all the aslv were in the same area I was in, maybe he was much bigger than he looked but maybe he had created more than one at the same time, but of course those were already just assertions without proof.

He asked me how many dimensions I might be able to create and maintain at the same time and without realizing it for the first time since yesterday I managed to sketch a smile, small but genuine smile, remembering how before I longed with discovering more about how the universe worked.

This small moment of intrigue and excitement to know more vanished when the melbore standing in the middle of the other five spoke reminding me of my current position.

We have arrived, we will land in seven minutes so get ready.

Wait what, how did we get here, it hasn't even been ten minutes since we left Ronel, how did we get here so fast, and where exactly did we travel to, from how fast we traveled I don't think we went very far.

No, I don't think that's what it's about… but they said we would no longer be considered human beings… do they plan to make us kill each other until there are no aslv left?

Was that whole redemption story nothing more than a lie so we wouldn't try to escape?

Maybe if I had run away….

Damn no way we would have been able to get out of the domains of humanity, they could use the transport dimension they usually use but I highly doubt they would have gone to the trouble of letting people considered criminals into it.

If it is already difficult to let in a good citizen so they can move faster, I can't imagine that they would let in someone who is considered a criminal.

But my situation is not normal and if maybe they made an exception to move more easily a group of people as big as this one, it is true besides I am talking about a melbore, a mind so unpredictable that even if I tried eternally I could never understand any of his thoughts, maybe they have something to do with it, if so they could have used that dimension like when they prepared me for the trip.

No, don't be stupid I don't even know for sure what they did to speed up the process of the aslv's departure, up to this point I've only been thinking theories with nothing but ideas to back them up.

Even if they had used the transport dimension it is still very different that they are using it to speed up the loading process than they are using it to move us directly, as strict as they are I don't think they want to leave people who are no longer considered part of humanity.

It would be much quicker and easier to make us all kill each other to avoid wasting more resources on people who are no longer worth being integrated into society again, so they are going to make the groups they separated specifically by sections kill each other or other groups as they fight for survival until only one is left.

I must prepare myself and stop thinking stupid things, if they prepared what I think they did to eliminate us then I have to be ready to fight, was that why they didn't give me any weapons for the over conquest of territory?

What can I do then I have no means to defend myself, I have to find something fast.

Maybe someone managed to bring something with them, a sharp object, anything that can harm a living being. I have this bucket but I don't even know what it's for or what it's supposed to do, hell if I hadn't been thrown by that gentleman I would have managed to hear its function.

Maybe I can use it as a rock and-.

 The planet has been classified as a terrindrilf, you have one week to get a material or resource that is considered useful to our society if you have not been able to do so in that period of time you will be abandoned in this inhospitable part unknown to mankind, you can organize or not do so but you all must individually get a weight amount exceeding two tons of the material of your choice.

What the hell did he just say, how am I supposed to carry two tons of a material that I don't even know if it exists much less know that it is useful to mankind.

Or maybe he's just saying that so that I'm unprepared and can't defend myself properly, not that I have anything to do so, it doesn't matter if he's telling the truth or not I'll be prepared.

The ship will make contact with the Earth's surface in three minutes, the moment the ship's doors open your time will be counted down.

Shit, think! How do I carry two tons of a material without losing any of it on the way back to the ship, let alone find it on a planet with no resources. If I can find it I could carry it that might work if it doesn't get in the way when I walk but I won't know until I have the material in my possession and know what properties it has, well if I can find anything.

Maybe I could …. No of course not how am I supposed to do that anyway.

Correct me if I'm wrong but you didn't hear what the soldier who was handing out these cubes said earlier did you?

What?!, and now what does that crazy redhead want.

Let's make a deal, I'll tell you the purpose of the cube and you tell me what a terrindrilf planet is, don't you think it's a good exchange of information?

You're serious, you really don't know what it means?

Well if you don't like this arrangement you can go and ask these nice people to answer your question, but didn't you trample on them when you walked through that door?

Ah… well I-

If you are going to accept or not, if you do then stop asking questions that were not asked of you. And then?

W-well I accept but before I give you my answer I want you to tell me first what this thing is for.

And why would I have to give you my answer first, how do I know you won't keep quiet with the information I need when I'm done telling you what the cube is for?

You don't know but if you don't I won't tell you what terrindrilf is, you can tell me or not but anyway you will be risking to be left without the information you seem to need so much, so you can trust me or not but I won't be the first one to tell you because I don't trust you despite what I already told you.

So you can tell me and take the risk of me fulfilling or not telling me anything and still be left without any information, oh but of course you can ask these kind people to solve your question, but wait, didn't you also step on them when we went out that door, that last one seemed like a mockery but the truth is that I didn't know if I did it or not.

Looking at me with some anger the redhead started talking about the bucket.

Well, while you were busy savoring the taste of dirt on the floor, the manager said that the cubes are structures that store in some way that I do not know a firearm, a knife and a mask that can provide oxygen to the wearer while protecting it from a toxic gas or something like that, and finally they can identify materials with a possible use.

And,how is the cube supposed to be activated to make use of the tools you said?

If you want to know then start telling me what that terrindrilf thing is.

That was not the agreement.

No, it wasn't but if you want to know how to activate the cube then start talking.

But…

I've said enough, so until you prove to me that you will honor the agreement I won't tell you more, after all I don't trust you.

All right, let's get it over with, you damn witch.

What did you just call me an asshole?

The term terrindrilf is used when there is a desolate planet or celestial body, one that has already been stripped of all its resources or most of them and is likely to have life forms with sufficient intelligence to be considered dangerous, dangerous at least for a civilian.

Oh yes and something else the planet classified with that term may have natural formations that can threaten the health of human beings.

But that's something you should already know, isn't it, it's one of the first things they explain to you when you join the aslv organization after all.

So are you satisfied now, I may have left out some important details to make sure you told me what I need to know.

So how do you activate this stupid cube, so I can get the weapons out.

You didn't have to leave anything out anyway I was going to tell you.

And even if I didn't tell you soon you'd figure it out….

What did you say, I couldn't hear you.

I said that to activate the cube you just have to wait to land once outside the ship the cube will activate and when it returns to the ship you won't be able to use it while it's inside the ship, that's all.

That's it, damn you literally just made a fool out of me, I didn't need you to explain if I was going to figure it out on my own anyway.

A deal is a deal, so what did you leave out? In the information you gave me idiot boy.

Nothing, just like you I lied you old fool.

Well it looks like we're more alike than I thought, a son of a –

We've landed, they're waiting to come down. The doors opening giving way to the natural light of the star that surrounded the planet.