Lophyya had never been mindful of the many philosophy courses he and his brethren attended in the Russian camps where they were crafted, grown, and trained.

Lophyya had never been mindful of the many philosophy courses he and his brethren attended in the Russian camps where they were crafted, grown, and trained. Once he had come to the realization and acceptance of the fact that he was a manufactured being meant only to breed and eventually die, a damper was placed upon many of his existential quandaries. Yet, he had taken his training seriously, and philosophical studies were a part of that training. Still, he would have expected the afterlife to be somehow…drier.

Everything around him was wet. The sound of water filled his ears: tricking water, splashing water, dripping water, and waves.

Waves?

Lophyya forced his eyes open and quickly realized that he could only see out of his left eye. The other was matted closed. He hurt everywhere. Everything was extremely bright and shimmering and was covered with a reddish haze.

His blood.

He remembered his visor exploding and the cuts on his face. It was at that moment he realized that he was not yet dead, but alive. He cursed and slowly tried to push himself up out of his prone position. He was lying in a pool of water, but he was pretty sure he was still inside the Null.

“Null”, he croaked, “status.”

The vessel attempted a reply but seemed to be tongue-tied.

“So now you get quiet, eh?” Lophyya groused to himself, ripping his shattered and battered helmet off. Hoping to remove the blood and clear his vision, he splashed water on his face. At the needle stings across his face, he immediately sucked in a sharp breath. He glared at the water beneath him and on his hand like it was poison.

Perhaps it was.

Tentatively, his pink tongue snaked out of his black face.

Salt?

“What tricks are these?” Lophyya asked himself as he assessed his situation, starting with his person and moving outward from there. Minor injuries, at least that he could ascertain. There was no way to tell if he’d gained any internal injuries in the crash, if crash land was what had indeed happened to him. Lophyya knew well that he and his brethren healed quickly—at least quicker than the rate at which human’s healed—but that did not stop wounds from hurting, or even becoming infected. As such, he would need to figure out just how badly he was hurt, and soon.

From the looks of the Null, it had been pretty severely damaged in the crash. Yes, he was almost certain that it was a crash now, getting a better view of things. There was a massive gash in nearly every side of the Null…some larger than others, but for the most part, he was sure that the craft would never fly again. It would certainly never again achieve orbit. Power was still on in part of the vessel, but with all the water that was flooding the main compartment, he was not certain that having power was still a good thing.

Power!

He snapped his shaggy head towards the stasis pods and felt his blood turn to ice. One yellow and two red lights—he had to get to the Captain and the brides! Forgetting his own injuries, Lophyya leapt to his feet--

--Only to feel a massive tremor shake the foundations of the Earth beneath him. The entire structure of the Null quaked as if it were rattled in the hands of a mountain-sized monster. Metal groaned and squealed, instantly echoed by an inrush of more salt water. Sparks showered down from the Null’s ceiling and shot up like miniature rockets wherever the water touched.

“Out of frying pan into fire, eh?” the Officer grumbled to himself.

It was then that he heard the splashing from behind him…and the hissing.

Art Source: "MONO Ep05 pg03_Inks" (c)/by BenWolstenholme
Story and Characters: (c)/by Brannon Hollingsworth

#MMWW, #Makes, #Me, #Wanna, #Write, #BrannonHollingsworth, #Russian, #ApeMan, #Null, #outofthefryingpanintothefire, #Lophyya