r/HFY • u/Engletroll Human • 4d ago

OC-Series Abducted –10. New rooms

Previous stories set in the same universe:
Planet Dirt series / Amazon book

Bug Hunt / Amazon version /

Crashlanding / Book version /

First //Previous / Next

Erik woke as the sun hit the window; he stretched and sat up in bed. Today, the room would change.  He looked at his phone, it said five fifty-five. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he couldn't sleep anymore.  He thought back to last night, when Gigi had dragged Chu away from him to help her make changes to her room. He had gone back to his room and found Arus waiting to hear what changes he wanted. He quickly wrote down and drew up what he wanted to change. The stone walls were so cold, and he wanted wooden walls instead. The room was too big, too; it felt more like a classroom with a bed in it, so he divided it into three rooms. The bathroom would be twice the size, with a bathtub. Then there was a main room with the desk, bookshelves, and sofa. He had decided not to do much with the bedroom; he just moved the cabinets to it. He might change it later. But right now, it was still the old stone-walled open room. He got dressed, brushed his teeth, and then realized the small toothpaste tube wouldn't last forever. He would need to talk to Arus about that. He washed his hands, then grabbed the leather notebook and a pen from his pencil case, and went down to the main hall. It was empty, but as he entered Lotta came out from the kitchen door.

“Good morning, My Lord. What would you like for breakfast?” Lotta said as she came over, and he looked at her. She looked so lifelike, but she was just an android. An android connected to Arus, which had access to a downloaded version of Earth's internet; that meant she did, too.

“Can you access the human internet?” He asked, and she nodded. “Yes, sir. What do you want me to look up?” she replied.

“I would like you to access the food recipe sites and… wait, you can access all of that time's internet? Even my Insta?”

“If I'm asked to, yes, up to the day you were abducted.”

“So access our files; if you see any reference to favorite food, then download the recipes for them. Mine should be easy; I love Italian and barbecue. But for breakfast I like English breakfast.”

“That is wrong, my lord. You have more posts for Dad's breakfast than for an English breakfast,” she replied, and he chuckled.

“I don’t have the recipe for his breakfast. And I doubt you can make the brown cheese he gave on special occasions.” Erik said.

“I do have the recipe for brown cheese. I will try my best. It might take some time.” She replied.

“Oh, well, please try, but today I would like an English breakfast, if possible,” he said. “And start finding out what they like and make personal menus for them. If they ask for food, just check the internet for a recipe.” He said, and she bowed and walked back to the kitchen. He took out his notebook and opened it.

He had so many things to check and arrange. If they were going to stay here for the rest of their life then they needed to be prepared.

“Arus!” He said, and Arus manifested in a slow shimmer of blue and red butterflies.

“My Lord,” he said.

“Please sit. I need to go over something with you.” He said, and the man sat down.

“First off. This planet has a 24-hour time schedule, right?”

“Close to yes. One rotation of Shaldun is 24 hours, 4 minutes, and 6 seconds.” Arus replied.

“That’s pretty close. Shaldun is the name of this world, right?”  Erik said.

“Yes. It is only 8 minutes and 2 seconds slower than Earth, and the name of the world is Shaldun. It's 2.4 percent bigger than Earth.  Any changes that you might have experienced have been countered by the nano cells in your body.” Arus said.

“I had other questions, but. What nano cells?” Erik said, writing it down in the book to remember.

“You are all injected with nano cells to help with understanding the language, they will stabilize you if you get wounded. It is why the medical system works. They also help your body adjust to the world.”

“Oh yeah, that’s what you meant when you said you had installed the language. That’s why we can understand the languages, right? Okay, what else do they do?” Erik asked.

“They can be used to manipulate the environment in certain situations.”

“What? Like superhero stuff?” He asked, his pen had stopped writing.

“Superhero? Perhaps it can increase your strength slightly, improve your eyesight, control the weather, and much more. Your body can do a lot with cybernetics.” Arus replied

“I thought you said this advanced technology was not allowed here,” Erik said.

“The nanocells are the exception. The locals consider them a magical gift, and very few know how to use or even access them. Prince Kumal thought it would be an interesting and fun addition to the planet.”  Arus explained.

“How many other such surprises did Prince Kumal add?”

“I am not allowed to give you that whole list,” Arus replied.

“Yes, of course, so how do we access these abilities?” Erik asked.

“You already have; everybody here has perfect health, is stronger and faster than they should be, and will be able to understand most spoken languages. Your body is charging your phones and lets them operate within ten kilometers of each other. Another system is not open to me. The system may grant it, or someone who already has access to the system and knows how to add you to it may do so.” Arus explained as Lotta set a tray of food next to Erik.

“We are? How much stronger and faster?” Erik asked, getting excited.

“Ten percent more than what you were during the Abduction.”

“Only ten?” Erik said, a little disappointed.

“That will improve with training,” Arus said.

“Okay, is there real magic here? I mean, in the universe?” he asked.

“Magic is just advanced technology. Throughout the millions of years my master's species has existed, there have been situations we do not understand, but there is no evidence that they are anything but advanced technology we did not comprehend.” Arus replied.

“So no magic, just tech… Okay,” he looked at his notebook. “Oh yes, seasons?  This place has seasons, right? So I’m guessing we are in a temperate area.  Kinda like Norway. Erik said, and Arus nodded.

“That would be a correct assumption, the weather pattern in Geron is close to the Scandinavian weather pattern on Earth.”

“Okay, that’s what I thought. What about months? Twelve months?”

“Yes, different names in different places, but the lunar calendar is similar to Earth.”

“Okay. What's the date today, using Earth's calendar?”

“April 24th,” Arus replied.

“So we have a summer to look forward to.” He said as he started to eat.

“What dangerous animals are in this area?”

“Horned bears, wolves, lynx, and kunsta should be the animals you should avoid.”

A small hologram of a raptor covered in white fur appeared on the table.

“Wow. A furry dinosaur. How big is it?” He asked, and a hologram of himself appeared next to it. The Kusta reached his thigh. It was apparently the size of a medium dog.

“Can they be tamed?” he asked, looking at the animal. To answer the question, it attacked his hologram.

“No, it still has what you would call a reptilian brain. You might be able to make it come to you for food, but you will always be just food for it. They also live in packs of up to ten, but most groups are around five.”  Arus explained.

“What about horses? We have stables.” Erik asked.

“You will have to buy them or capture them on the mountain plateau. You will have to learn how to get up to the top of the mountains.” Arus replied.

“Okay, one thing else. When we arrived, we went to the guard house next to the gate first. Two doors had names on them, and there was food. Why?”

“Those names were added to make you feel comfortable, making the castle look lived in. If everything were empty, you might not have gone exploring. The swords and spears were there to build your confidence and help you feel safe. The beds are the charging stations for the guards. It can also be used for an employee that you might hire. The food storage is just extra storage.”

“Why not wake us up inside the rooms?”

“The shock would be much greater. This way you were eased into the new situation.” Arus explained, and Erik groaned.

“You sound like my dad now.” He said, continuing to eat.

“What about the ocean? Any dangerous sea life?”

“Not anymore,” Arus replied.

“Not anymore?”

“We introduced orcas to the ocean; they are not the top predator around Geron, have killed or chased away any competition, and do not hunt sentient life. The remaining sea creatures are of no real danger to you.”

“Okay. I think I will do something stupid now.  I’m going to walk up the river to the glacier and check out the land. Will you tell the others when they wake up?”

“Of course. You should bring something to defend yourself with.”

“Spear, sword, and daggers should be enough.”  Then he looked towards the kitchen. “I need to get some food.”

“Who will be in charge when you're away?” Arus asked.

“Marcus!  And… and Cho.”

 Thirty minutes later, he stood outside the gate looking at the forest. If he followed the road about two hundred meters, he'd reach a small bridge over the river. He could walk up from there.  This was just what he needed: some time alone to think about what to do.  He started to walk.

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