A world with no giants

by TheSexyMenhir

Live, die, get back up again...

In a world with no giants
Ch.03 “Live, die, get back up again...”

The sound of ragged, raspy breathing was the first thing to greet Angelo as he fought back of the black fog of unconsciousness. The horrendous stench of cold sweat, stale air, and of other bodily fluids made him realize that it was his own coughing that had awoken him.

His whole body felt sluggish, and the thought of just closing his eyes and going back to sleep become more tempting by the second. He tried to shake his head, to clear his mind, but he only managed to lazily sway it from side to side.
Focusing every fiber of his will on his arms, he managed to slowly grasp for the clamps of his helmet. The gloved hands slipped of the smooth metal clasps a few times, while each passing second brought him closer to the sweet oblivion of unconsciousness. Just when he thought he couldn’t take it anymore, his lungs screaming for fresh air, the visor finally gave way.

Greedily he soaked in the clear, fresh air, that streamed through his little viewport into the world. In his half choked state even toxic fumes would have smelled like roses to him, but even his befuddled brain noticed the deep earthy smell and the almost sweet texture of the air, that was so unlike anything he had ever smelled. Images of his first camping trip rushed past his inner eye.

As his gasping finally subsided and his mind found freed up faculties for anything aside from the imminent need not to suffocate, Angelo began to take in the world around him. He was lying flat on his back, the thick layer of the suit making it hard to feel what he was resting on, but the small viewport that his helmet provided gave him more than ample clues to the nature of his surroundings. Above him he could make out the silhouettes of broadleaf trees against the backdrop of a clear blue sky.

At first he thought he had landed back on earth again, that was until he saw his first cloud. Angelo was no meteorologist, but even to the untrained eye the small lump of white cotton candy, that was floating under the baby blue firmament, was an odd sight.
It was white, yes, and it was vaguely cloud shaped, or at least what a grade schooler might call cloud shaped, but there was no way that this thing could fly unnoticed through earth's sky.
Odd meteorological sights aside, he didn’t want to believe that he had braved those dangers only to end up back on earth.

Angelo tried to get up, but found himself pinned to the floor by the weight of the suit. A quick glance at the helmets lining confirmed his worst fears: The electronics were dead. Apparently slipping through two rips in space-time had turned “The Suit” from state of the art environmental protective unit, to three hundred kilogram of deadweight.
Angelo had to fight down an panicked fit of laughter. He wasn’t even sure if he could get out of the suit without the servos to support his movements.

Apprehensively he tried to move his arms around inside the suit, trying to reach for the latch that would allow himself to break free of his confines. He cursed his own lack of foresight, Ramirez probably would have had enough room to wiggle free, but he was nearly a head taller than his colleague, and even after several minutes he had made no headway in dislodging his body from the heavy yellow straightjacket.
Once again he tried to lift his gloved hands, but with the adrenaline not pulsing through his body anymore, his exhausted body was unable to move the heavy sleeves.

He contemplated if he should call for help, but he knew nothing about this world, what if he attracted some kind of predator? After having just escaped the clutches of planet sized, serpentine, eldritch beings, he really didn’t want to get eaten by space wolves, or whatever crazy creature this world had in stock for him.

The thought of getting eaten alive however brought with it an unpleasant realisation: He wouldn’t get out of this suit if he didn’t do something. His manly broad shoulders, which he normally was so proud of, now prevented him from moving his arms, and without moving his arms he was trapped. Alone. Without any chance of help finding him.

He tried to clear his head. This was not the time to be panicking, no matter how much his frenzied heart insisted, that it indeed the the time to do exactly that.
“Okay Angelo, think! What options do you have?” he muttered to himself, wracking his brain as he tried to apply his scientifically schooled mind to the problem, but no matter how long he thought about it he always came back to one conclusion. Desperately he tried to come up with an different approach, but his sense of logic told him that he would only grow weaker the longer he lay here. A small sip from the inbuilt water tank, helped him clear his mind.

He took a few deep breaths trying to steel himself for the task that was to come. He applied all the force he could muster, only to lose his nerve and back out again.
Counting the leafs on the tree nearest to him, he tried to distract himself. His second attempt was fast, too fast to back out, and with a wet plop he could feel his shoulder popping out of it’s socket.

His screams echoed through the forest. After dislocating his kneecap once, he had thought he knew what he was in for, but the pain was so intense that he feared (or maybe even hoped) that he would pass out again. By the time he regained his senses, and felt strong enough to move his arm again the sky had already turned a warm shade of orange.

The peaceful scene of a forest in the evening sun, was a sharp contrast to the pain in his shoulder and his forlorn situation.

Grasping for breath and again and again screaming in pain, he moved his arm through the insides of his suit, tryíng to undo the latches.

---

Angelo didn’t remember how he made it out of the suit, but here he was lying, naked, freezing, and hungry, the yellow husk of the hazmat suit lying besides him like a discarded snake skin. The pain in his shoulder was agonizing, and briefly he contemplated chewing off his arm entirely.

Ignoring the pain he scrambled to his feet. The sun was only a short way from disappearing behind the horizon, and he still had no clear idea of his surroundings. He might not have been a survival specialist, but even he could tell that staying outside during the night was just asking for trouble.

From the looks of it, he was in a forest. The tree’s were similar to normal broadleaf trees, but overall a bit more stocky in appearance. The same could be said about much of the environment, really. If it weren’t for the strange clouds and the almost abnormally clear air, he would have had no way to tell that he wasn’t just lying in the park of his hometown. Even the birds, the only animals that he had seen as of now, were eerily similar to the species native to earth.

His inner scientist wanted to investigate this strange coincidence, but another part of him insisted that they could take care of that after they had found shelter for himself. At least the similarities provided him with some idea of his surroundings. The tree’s didn’t look like they would belong into a tropical climate, and after mentally reviewing his own planets tropical fauna, he was quite glad for that.

What he didn’t see was any sign of a portal. No black floating rectangles, no machinerie, nothing that provided any explanation as to where he came from, aside from the empty husk of “The Suit”.
Angelo felt like he should panic, but his body and mind both were utterly exhausted, pain and discomfort saturated any form of sense for his environment and so he just stood there despondently staring at the yellow wrack.

He broke himself loose from the sight, if there was no way to escape this place he would have to find shelter. The growling of his stomach reminded him that food was also a high priority. Looking at the suit for a last time he began to explore his surroundings.

Dead branches and sharp stones tortured the soles of his feet as he made his way through the forest. If the colour of the leaves was anything to go by, it was summer; at least he wouldn’t have to worry about freezing to death.

He had walked for nearly ten minutes, when a thought occurred to him and he made his way back to the hazmat suit. He chided himself for not thinking of salvaging what he could from the suit earlier. It took some work, but after a few minutes he held the water tank, and a good length of thick cables in his hand. Once again he left the suit behind.
He would have to adjust his thinking if he wanted to stand a chance of surviving. Like a mantra he repeated to himself, “You’re alone, there is nobody that can help you if something happens to you.”

---

Angelo’s shivering form lay in a hollow beneath some tree roots, the rests of the hazmat suit half heartedly drawn over himself.

His exploration of the forrest hadn't revealed anything new so far; The tree’s and the few animals he had come across all were reminiscent of earth creatures, although most of them seemed to posses more exaggerated proportions compared to their earthly cousins. Especially the heads had been far bigger than those of the animals he knew. It gave them an almost cartoonish appearance, something that was more disturbing than endearing when you stumbled upon it in real life.

The other thing he had found out was, that apparently naturally formed caves and thick canopies were far more seldom than fiction would have you believe. Wild growing berries also joined the list of things that you had to know how to look for.

Hunger, cold, and worries about his future fought for his attention until finally he succumb to Morpheus’ call.

---

When he awoke the next morning, his body was drenched in sweat. His dislocated shoulder was glowing red and waves of pain pulsed through his veins. He knew that those symptoms were most likely only a side effect from the pain, but this only made for cold comfort.

Using some of the salvaged cables he made a makeshift sling for his arm. Once the arm rested firmly in it’s sling and most of the weight was taken of the mistreated joint, some of the pain subsided, at least up to the point where he thought he would be able to resume his exploration.

He sat up in his small makeshift shelter and thought about his situation. Headlessly running around had, unsurprisingly, yielded no results whatsoever, meaning he had to carefully think of a new approach. The growling in his stomach and the sight of a half empty water tank, only encouraged him to do so.

In his head he compiled a list of things he would need for survival:
First and foremost he would need to find food and clean water, the clear azure skies above showed no sign that it would rain anytime soon; a mixed blessing, on the one hand it would mean that he would stay dry and warm, on the other hand it cut of one possible source of water.
Second came finding some sort of shelter. His fear of wild animals still hadn’t subsided, and the yellow suit might have made for a decent makeshift tent, but it’s bright colour was sure to attract attention.
Thirdly he would need to find a way to take care of his shoulder. The pain was already distracting enough as it was, and it would only get worse. Not to mention that it prevented him from using one of his arms.
And lastly he would need to find something to cover himself, not so much out of decency but the last night had shown him how cold “fresh morning air” could really be.

He gathered up a sharp stone, and carved away at the bark of a nearby tree. After a few moments he looked proudly at his work; a small circle, once around the whole trunk, clearly visible even from afar, made for a good orientation point.

He made for one direction which, based on the direction the sun had risen, in he had dubbed east, carefully counting his steps. Two hundred steps away from his campsite he left another mark, before turning to the northwest and walked another four hundred steps before marking another tree. All the while he surveyed his surroundings looking for anything useful.

He continued in this fashion until he had circled, or squared to be more precise, his camp once, only to then widen his search radius and repeating the actions of before.
While this wasn’t the fastest way to explore, it was thorough and gave him a good sense of his surroundings, and sure enough after a while his systematic search paid off.

He stared at the little pond, that was fed by a winding creek, barely big enough to even be called that. It wouldn’t still his hunger, but a source of fresh water was nearly invaluable to his continued survival. Apprehensively he approached the body of water.
The water was muddied but otherwise clean, as a small school of tadpoles proved. At first he was hesitant to fill his makeshift canteen, with water that other things were swimming in, but logic and need soon overtook his unfounded concerns.

He could feel his spirits rise as he took a small sip from the clean water. This was his first step to surviving in this strange new land.