Chapter 151: The Scan

The first thing that I noticed about the world we had crashed into was the fact that I could breathe, which meant that the atmospheric mix was in the livable range for organics. 

A plus for our long term survival. 

If we'd landed on a world that had toxic air we would have been dead before we could have even begun our escape attempt, which obviously would have sucked quite a bit. 

The atmospheric composition was probably incredibly close to Earth because the sky was a deep blue just like my home world's sky was. For light to refract that way and come out looking blue by the time it had breached through the atmosphere and reached the ground the atmosphere would have to have been very close to what I was used to.

The second thing I noticed was the three stars hanging in the sky. 

One of the stars looked about as large as the sun did back on Earth, while the other two were much further away and were much paler. 

I silently hoped that the orbit of the planet was stable. 

I didn't know all that much about orbital mechanics, but I was pretty sure having three stars in a single system wasn't exactly conducive for a stable orbit. 

<We'll be fine,> BB reassured me from the back of my mind. <There's grass on the ground, as green as it was back on Earth, which means life has had enough time to evolve to a fairly complex state. Not to mention the trees you somehow failed to notice.>

He was right, there was green grass on the ground and there were tall fir-like trees off in the distance, seemingly starting a massive forest. 

"Think we should be safe here, at least from a short-term survival perspective," I said to Yr'Arl as he jogged to catch up to the spot my newly acquired super-speed had taken me to. 

"I concur with your findings, Squadron Leader Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl replied, coming to a stop a few steps away from me. "The gravity feels comparable to that of what we experienced on Prespian City, and there is plenty of vegetation which would suggest a thriving eco-system."

With that knowledge in mind there was still one big glaring gap in what we knew, and that was where we were. 

"So, have you got any clue about what planet we're actually on, Yr'Arl?" I asked, hoping that the feline alien would be able to explain all of our problem away in an instant. Who knew, maybe we were on his sacred temple world after all. 

"I have no idea, Squadron Leader Jacob Lyre," He replied bluntly. 

Well, there goes those theories. 

"Probably pretty difficult to figure out, too, considering we no longer have the nav com on the Sloop," I sighed. 

As if to prove my point another shower of sparks were thrown out of the sloop, alongside a colossal bang. 

"Yeah," I sighed again, "We definitely won't be getting any help from that hunk of junk. Not sure how I'll explain this one to the guys that we borrowed it from." 

"Working out explanations can wait until after we have worked out what world we are on, and how to return to our previous course," Yr'Arl said, and I had to agree with him. 

There was no use worrying about the things that might be if we had no idea how things were now. 

"Only way I can figure of finding out where we are is to find a settlement and to speak to the locals," I said. "The only hope, of course, is that the species we come across is friendly, space faring and able to help us." 

Okay, so there were quite a few hopes stacked up on top of one another there, but a guy had to dream big, especially when their life was on the line. 

"I believe I have a chant that may be able to help us find civilization if there is indeed civilization on this world," Yr'Arl said, "Do I have your permission to try it?" 

"Uh, Yr'Arl, if you think it could save our lives you really don't need to ask for my permission to do something," I replied, "Go on, do the spell." 

Yr'Arl nodded and began to chant almost immediately. 

A strange glow flickered across his normally bark brown eyes, growing outward from his pupil until both of his eyeballs were consumed by glowing golden orbs. 

Seeing strange magical occurrences like that would probably never get any less weird, no matter how long I lived in this universe. 

Before long the chant ended and Yr'Arl's eyes reverted back to their normal colour. 

As he came too, Yr'Arl stumbled as if he had been hurt. I didn't grab him, I didn't trust myself not to break his arm off like a twig after I had destroyed the control panel back in the ship, but I did throw out my arm for the alien to fall into. 

"That… took a little more energy than I was expecting," Yr'Arl said. "It's as if I have been blocked off front the majority of my energy from some exterior force." 

That was a concerning prospect. One that I hoped hadn't been caused by exposure to whatever I had done in the Sloop. 

"Did you manage to get any semblance of where we might find a civilization on this world at least?" I asked. If he hadn't, then things would start getting interesting and worrying quite quickly. 

"Fortunately I did, Squadron Leader Jacob Lyre," Yr'Arl said, straightening himself up slightly so that he could shoot me a toothy smile. "I have located a relatively large city not too far from here. Better yet, they appear to have some kind of a spaceport, which means we should be able to get off-world with ease. 

That sounded good, almost too good to be true. 

"So," I said, "What's the catch here?" 

Yr'Arl had the good grace to at least look a little bit sheepish. 

"We shall have to pass through that forest, which from my scans is filled with creatures that have the power to rival even you."