Pain was the first thing Phenix registered as he groggily began to wake. Well... at least that's what should have happened after the ship crashed. Instead he simply woke up, his back against a tree in a rather dense forest. He was simply sitting there laying back onto the tree as if he had decided to sit down and nap on it. That was one of the first odd things he noticed after he woke and as he struggled to recall how he'd gotten there. Hadn't the ship crashed onto a planet? Surely, he thought, that was the most logical conclusion as to why he was asleep in a forest. Though, if that were the case why was he sitting so neatly against a tree? Wouldn't he have been thrown violently against it or crashed into it in an escape pod? That was another problem though wasn't it? If the ship had crashed why wasn't he in an escape pod? After all, getting into an escape pod and jettisoning yourself from the ship was proper procedure in the event of a planetary crash. His research station was one of the closest rooms to the escape pods so he would've been able to access one before the crash. Though assuming he wasn't able to safely get into one brought with it another set of problems. It didn't quite make sense that he would've simply been thrown from the ship after a crash. Especially not without any injuries. He felt strangely fine other than being just a bit disorientated. Thinking about this served to snap Phenix from his thoughts a bit. It was then that he realized he'd spent roughly ten minutes sitting there thinking about his predicament. So he decided to get up and actively look for answers instead of simply theorizing about them.
"Pepa, run health and wellness check. Focus your search on injuries that would inhibit my ability to feel pain." He'd say out loud to his internal AI system as he brought himself to his feet slowly. He didn't really need to say it out loud as his thoughts were usually enough. Though in a situation like this it helped to verbally announce his questions when his possibly injured brain might otherwise misrepresent his intentions. "Vital signs are optimal and no injuries are detected." Pepa would respond back in his head after only a few seconds delay. Lifting his right hand up and brushing it through his hair, Phenix would hum as he turned his head up towards the canopy of trees above him. His objective was to look for signs of a disruption of any kind in the branches and leaves of the tree. Anything that could point to him more or less falling from the sky to the ground. Interestingly enough there didn't seem to be any obvious signs of damage to the tree that would indicate he had fallen through them. A quick inspection of the tree trunk revealed similar results.
"This is certainly a curious situation we've found ourselves in Pepa. No signs of a crash landing yet here we are all alone in the middle of a forest when we should be on the ship. What's your analysis?" Phenix would say, once again speaking out loud. Though this time he did so more out of habit than concern. "It is likely that the anomaly you were investigating transported you to another location. Description of forested planet doesn't match known planets in sector 234. High likelihood you have been transported into another sector of the galaxy. More information is needed." The AI would speak to him, again after only a seconds delay. Though this time it had said something Phenix had not been expecting. He tilted his head instinctually as he thought about Pepa's analysis. Anomaly? He was researching an anomaly in sector 234? With a thought he would ask Pepa to initiate the memory recall program. A useful tool which could at times help recall a missing memory using data collected and stored by Pepa itself. A feeling of static electricity would build in his body as the memory came rushing back to him. All at once data rushed into his mind through the integrated system in his nervous system, filling in the holes in his memory. For a moment he wondered how he had ever forgotten something so important. The crew had been dispatched to investigate an unusual space anomaly which had shown up out of nowhere in sector 234 of the galaxy. Upon their arrival a series of unfortunate events occurred which Phenix could only theorize ended with everyone losing consciousness. With the memory restored, the pieces finally came back into place.
"I have to agree with you there Pepa it seems where not in sector 234 anymore. Its been a while since I've had the chance to solve a mystery like this." He'd say with a bit of a smirk. "Make locating the others a high priority objective and recommend a course of action." He'd tell Pepa looking at the area around him. Phenix found it a bit thrilling to have such an enormous mystery unfolding right in front of him. Perhaps it was even more thrilling that he wasn't simply observing the strange events, but living through them. What happened to the rest of his crew? What did the space anomaly do to them and where did it send them? So many questions to answer and no excuse not to wholly devote himself to solving it. As he waited for Pepa to finish plotting its recommended actions, he'd move back to the tree he'd woken up by. Wanting to investigate it one more time he'd crouch down, but as he did so something else caught his attention. A sound, like a branch snapping, coming from the canopy above and a bit behind his position. Taking a deep breath in Phenix would immediately begin to initiate his energy sensing mode. After all the best way to deal with the situation could only be decided upon if he knew what he were dealing with. Though for safe measure he would also make Pepa initiate the process to generate his experimental solid energy suit.
Concentrating deeply on the energy within his body, Phenix would begin to radiate small pulses of energy. The energy would quickly cascade out and fill a large spherical area around him. With Pepa's help the energy would begin to vibrate. This would allow Pepa to collect data on the environment based on the collisions of the energy particles with surrounding objects. The data could then be converted by Pepa into an image and mentally displayed to Phenix. Functionally the process was quite similar to the echolocation used by deep sea bats on the planet he came from. Though his energy sensing provided much more detailed information. The image it painted was clear and concise and allowed Phenix to see even things which would normally be hidden from him. In this specific instance it showed a very large creature moving through the densely packed leaves above him. Something with a strange shape that took him a second to recognize. The creature appeared to be a snake, something he had little experience with. Snakes couldn't normally be found anywhere in the sector of the galaxy he called him, but he had seen them before on a far away planet called Asheon. Even with his very limited knowledge he could tell this particular snake was abnormally large. Luckily it seemed not to have noticed him as its movements suggested it was moving past him and not towards him.
By this time his suit formed fully around him providing him with a good amount of armor but more importantly cloaking him. All at once after its creation his whole body would seem to flicker before turning into shimmering light and then visibly fading from existence. If one were looking hard enough they could likely see the space he occupied seemed to appear strangely and even occasionally the light around him would seem to vibrate. One could even see marking in the forest floor where his now invisible feet still stood and pressed down upon the foliage with the full weight of his body. Though the imperfections of his cloaking mattered little when dealing with most non intelligent animals. This was especially true when dealing with animals which hadn't even managed to see him without his cloaking engaged. Still, even though he appeared safe for now, Phenix stayed still and kept his sensing active. He planned to wait for the snake to pass by and travel out of range of his sensing before he would begin to move away from it.
Watching the snake carefully, Phenix noticed something strange happen with the creature. As it moved a sudden and quick flickering movement could be seen coming from the area that appeared to be its mouth. Immediately after this happened the snake came to a stop. It was then that the beast slyly twisted its body so that its head faced him. Chills moved down Phenix's spine as the snake seemed to stare straight at him. Once again there was movement as, what Phenix figured to be a tongue, flared quickly out of and then back into the creatures mouth. Then all at once the creatures entire body twitched and a sudden feeling of danger overtook Phenix. He'd lift his left arm up towards the creature and fill the air in front of him with energy to quickly put a barrier between them as he simultaneously threw himself behind a tree. The barrier would form just in time for the large snake to crash into it. Somehow the creature had managed to launch itself quickly from the tree tops straight at Phenix. Upon collision with his energy barrier, the snake's large fangs would pierce into, but not through, the barrier. Several fractures would spread out from the two holes and Phenix could see some sort of venom coming out of the beast's fangs. He knew instantly that had he not acted when he did then he would've been greatly injured by the creature.
Not wasting anytime, Phenix sprang into action as his barrier disintegrated from not being maintained. Once again he'd raise his left arm, this time creating a small spherical bot just to the left of him. The snake would once again turn to face him as the bot opened its mouth and began firing solid energy rounds. It began to slither quickly towards Phenix as the bullets rained down upon it. The onslaught seemingly did nothing to slow its approach as its scaly skin seemed to tough to be damaged by small arms fire. Upon seeing the bots inability to harm the snake Phenix would let it fade out of existence and instead fire his inhibitor beam at the creature with his right hand. Normally the beam was a tool to suspend items which needed to be prevented from moving such as a falling piece of equipment. Though it also worked quite well against living things. It couldn't completely stop the snake's approach but it did slow it down quite a bit. Certainly enough so that Phenix could react and begin moving away to put some distance between him and the creature. In a sudden show of intelligence the snake began to coil upon itself before once again launching itself at Phenix. It had somehow managed to recognize it was being slowed down and that it needed more force to move faster. Thanks to his beam Phenix had slightly more time to respond to the beast's attack this time and once again managed to put up a barrier in time even though he was caught off guard.
With the snake once again temporarily stopped by his barrier, Phenix quickly tried to this of a way to kill the creature. Clearly its skin was too strong for the gun bot to damage which meant it wouldn't take much damage from his energy based attacks either. That only left his laser bot which boasted the highest offensive power of them all to potentially be able to damage the creature. However, it would take two seconds for the bot to fire its laser and it would easily miss the snake if it were moving. That meant he needed to get the snake to stop moving completely for two whole seconds in order for his attack to have the best chance at hitting. Though he also needed to maximize the amount of damage the laser could do to the surprisingly well armored snake. Looking at the snake as it tried desperately to destroy his barrier, Phenix got an idea. Each time the snake collides with his barrier it does so in a way that its two large fangs would get stuck lodged into the barrier. While the snake was in this position the unscaled inner parts of its mouth were in plain sight. This meant that potentially an attack could be aimed into the snakes mouth where it could bypass its armored scales entirely to do as much damage as possible. Though the snake would only be stuck in the barrier for a few seconds each time. During that short time Phenix would have to create his laser bot and have it aimed just right to fire into the creature's mouth. It seemed to be his best and possibly even only shot and killing the creature before it managed to tire him out and devour him. Though his timing would have to be just right as if the laser fired too soon it would hit the barrier and if it was too late it'd likely miss entirely.
As his barrier began to quickly fade from taking so much damage Phenix would quickly begin to move backward. He'd keep his right hand trained on the snake to continue inhibiting its movement with his beam and he once again began to put distance in-between them. With the barrier having now faded the snake once again began to move towards him, baring its fangs and hissing loudly. It continued moving towards him fighting in a losing race for only a few more seconds before it once again began to coil in of itself. This time Phenix was prepared and created his barrier before the snake even launched itself. He stood his ground as the creature once again collided with his floating shield with a loud thud. Once again the snake's fangs lodged themselves into the barrier and it would begin clamping its jaw down in an attempt to apply as much pressure as possible to it. With the creature's mouth clearly in his sight, Phenix would release his inhibitor beam and use his right hand to create his laser bot. The bot would form almost instantly and begin charging as the cracks in the barrier began to spread. One second would pass and the barrier would begin to fade slightly as the snake managed to start pushing deeper into it. Then all at once it would shatter like glass allowing the beast to begin moving forward. One more second passed and his laser bot was ready to fire, though it seemed the attack would miss as the snake was now free to move away from its attack. However by some twist of fate the beast seemed to move not out of the way, but directly towards his laser bot. Perhaps it recognized it as the bot before and intended to destroy it, perhaps it had to do with the positioning of the bot, or perhaps the snake just decided to attack Phenix's bot instead of him. Whatever the reason, Phenix was grateful as it meant his laser bot fired off its shot just as the snake began unhinge its jaw to attack it. The laser would fire straight into the creature's widely opened mouth and continue firing as it recoiled from the pain. The snake's entire head would seem to glow from the bright blue energy radiating off the laser being fired into it. Then it would fall limp to the ground dead just like that.
Breathing heavily Phenix would let his laser bot fade out of existence alongside his energy suit. He had only been awake on the planet for what felt like less than twenty minutes and had already had a close encounter with a dangerous creature. As a matter of fact towards the end he hadn't been entirely sure that he was going to make it out of the situation alive. He wasn't quite convinced he had managed to survive the encounter based on his own merit either. It was much more likely that by pure stroke of luck he had managed to fire that shot and kill the snake. He had never received much combat training for his position as a researcher, but it seemed he'd need to brush up on the few skills he had if he wished to survive on the planet. There were still a lot of mysteries on hand that he needed to solve as well. Though there was one thing that he definitely knew as he stood in front of the corpse of the snake... he was off to a rough start.
"Pepa, run health and wellness check. Focus your search on injuries that would inhibit my ability to feel pain." He'd say out loud to his internal AI system as he brought himself to his feet slowly. He didn't really need to say it out loud as his thoughts were usually enough. Though in a situation like this it helped to verbally announce his questions when his possibly injured brain might otherwise misrepresent his intentions. "Vital signs are optimal and no injuries are detected." Pepa would respond back in his head after only a few seconds delay. Lifting his right hand up and brushing it through his hair, Phenix would hum as he turned his head up towards the canopy of trees above him. His objective was to look for signs of a disruption of any kind in the branches and leaves of the tree. Anything that could point to him more or less falling from the sky to the ground. Interestingly enough there didn't seem to be any obvious signs of damage to the tree that would indicate he had fallen through them. A quick inspection of the tree trunk revealed similar results.
"This is certainly a curious situation we've found ourselves in Pepa. No signs of a crash landing yet here we are all alone in the middle of a forest when we should be on the ship. What's your analysis?" Phenix would say, once again speaking out loud. Though this time he did so more out of habit than concern. "It is likely that the anomaly you were investigating transported you to another location. Description of forested planet doesn't match known planets in sector 234. High likelihood you have been transported into another sector of the galaxy. More information is needed." The AI would speak to him, again after only a seconds delay. Though this time it had said something Phenix had not been expecting. He tilted his head instinctually as he thought about Pepa's analysis. Anomaly? He was researching an anomaly in sector 234? With a thought he would ask Pepa to initiate the memory recall program. A useful tool which could at times help recall a missing memory using data collected and stored by Pepa itself. A feeling of static electricity would build in his body as the memory came rushing back to him. All at once data rushed into his mind through the integrated system in his nervous system, filling in the holes in his memory. For a moment he wondered how he had ever forgotten something so important. The crew had been dispatched to investigate an unusual space anomaly which had shown up out of nowhere in sector 234 of the galaxy. Upon their arrival a series of unfortunate events occurred which Phenix could only theorize ended with everyone losing consciousness. With the memory restored, the pieces finally came back into place.
"I have to agree with you there Pepa it seems where not in sector 234 anymore. Its been a while since I've had the chance to solve a mystery like this." He'd say with a bit of a smirk. "Make locating the others a high priority objective and recommend a course of action." He'd tell Pepa looking at the area around him. Phenix found it a bit thrilling to have such an enormous mystery unfolding right in front of him. Perhaps it was even more thrilling that he wasn't simply observing the strange events, but living through them. What happened to the rest of his crew? What did the space anomaly do to them and where did it send them? So many questions to answer and no excuse not to wholly devote himself to solving it. As he waited for Pepa to finish plotting its recommended actions, he'd move back to the tree he'd woken up by. Wanting to investigate it one more time he'd crouch down, but as he did so something else caught his attention. A sound, like a branch snapping, coming from the canopy above and a bit behind his position. Taking a deep breath in Phenix would immediately begin to initiate his energy sensing mode. After all the best way to deal with the situation could only be decided upon if he knew what he were dealing with. Though for safe measure he would also make Pepa initiate the process to generate his experimental solid energy suit.
Concentrating deeply on the energy within his body, Phenix would begin to radiate small pulses of energy. The energy would quickly cascade out and fill a large spherical area around him. With Pepa's help the energy would begin to vibrate. This would allow Pepa to collect data on the environment based on the collisions of the energy particles with surrounding objects. The data could then be converted by Pepa into an image and mentally displayed to Phenix. Functionally the process was quite similar to the echolocation used by deep sea bats on the planet he came from. Though his energy sensing provided much more detailed information. The image it painted was clear and concise and allowed Phenix to see even things which would normally be hidden from him. In this specific instance it showed a very large creature moving through the densely packed leaves above him. Something with a strange shape that took him a second to recognize. The creature appeared to be a snake, something he had little experience with. Snakes couldn't normally be found anywhere in the sector of the galaxy he called him, but he had seen them before on a far away planet called Asheon. Even with his very limited knowledge he could tell this particular snake was abnormally large. Luckily it seemed not to have noticed him as its movements suggested it was moving past him and not towards him.
By this time his suit formed fully around him providing him with a good amount of armor but more importantly cloaking him. All at once after its creation his whole body would seem to flicker before turning into shimmering light and then visibly fading from existence. If one were looking hard enough they could likely see the space he occupied seemed to appear strangely and even occasionally the light around him would seem to vibrate. One could even see marking in the forest floor where his now invisible feet still stood and pressed down upon the foliage with the full weight of his body. Though the imperfections of his cloaking mattered little when dealing with most non intelligent animals. This was especially true when dealing with animals which hadn't even managed to see him without his cloaking engaged. Still, even though he appeared safe for now, Phenix stayed still and kept his sensing active. He planned to wait for the snake to pass by and travel out of range of his sensing before he would begin to move away from it.
Watching the snake carefully, Phenix noticed something strange happen with the creature. As it moved a sudden and quick flickering movement could be seen coming from the area that appeared to be its mouth. Immediately after this happened the snake came to a stop. It was then that the beast slyly twisted its body so that its head faced him. Chills moved down Phenix's spine as the snake seemed to stare straight at him. Once again there was movement as, what Phenix figured to be a tongue, flared quickly out of and then back into the creatures mouth. Then all at once the creatures entire body twitched and a sudden feeling of danger overtook Phenix. He'd lift his left arm up towards the creature and fill the air in front of him with energy to quickly put a barrier between them as he simultaneously threw himself behind a tree. The barrier would form just in time for the large snake to crash into it. Somehow the creature had managed to launch itself quickly from the tree tops straight at Phenix. Upon collision with his energy barrier, the snake's large fangs would pierce into, but not through, the barrier. Several fractures would spread out from the two holes and Phenix could see some sort of venom coming out of the beast's fangs. He knew instantly that had he not acted when he did then he would've been greatly injured by the creature.
Not wasting anytime, Phenix sprang into action as his barrier disintegrated from not being maintained. Once again he'd raise his left arm, this time creating a small spherical bot just to the left of him. The snake would once again turn to face him as the bot opened its mouth and began firing solid energy rounds. It began to slither quickly towards Phenix as the bullets rained down upon it. The onslaught seemingly did nothing to slow its approach as its scaly skin seemed to tough to be damaged by small arms fire. Upon seeing the bots inability to harm the snake Phenix would let it fade out of existence and instead fire his inhibitor beam at the creature with his right hand. Normally the beam was a tool to suspend items which needed to be prevented from moving such as a falling piece of equipment. Though it also worked quite well against living things. It couldn't completely stop the snake's approach but it did slow it down quite a bit. Certainly enough so that Phenix could react and begin moving away to put some distance between him and the creature. In a sudden show of intelligence the snake began to coil upon itself before once again launching itself at Phenix. It had somehow managed to recognize it was being slowed down and that it needed more force to move faster. Thanks to his beam Phenix had slightly more time to respond to the beast's attack this time and once again managed to put up a barrier in time even though he was caught off guard.
With the snake once again temporarily stopped by his barrier, Phenix quickly tried to this of a way to kill the creature. Clearly its skin was too strong for the gun bot to damage which meant it wouldn't take much damage from his energy based attacks either. That only left his laser bot which boasted the highest offensive power of them all to potentially be able to damage the creature. However, it would take two seconds for the bot to fire its laser and it would easily miss the snake if it were moving. That meant he needed to get the snake to stop moving completely for two whole seconds in order for his attack to have the best chance at hitting. Though he also needed to maximize the amount of damage the laser could do to the surprisingly well armored snake. Looking at the snake as it tried desperately to destroy his barrier, Phenix got an idea. Each time the snake collides with his barrier it does so in a way that its two large fangs would get stuck lodged into the barrier. While the snake was in this position the unscaled inner parts of its mouth were in plain sight. This meant that potentially an attack could be aimed into the snakes mouth where it could bypass its armored scales entirely to do as much damage as possible. Though the snake would only be stuck in the barrier for a few seconds each time. During that short time Phenix would have to create his laser bot and have it aimed just right to fire into the creature's mouth. It seemed to be his best and possibly even only shot and killing the creature before it managed to tire him out and devour him. Though his timing would have to be just right as if the laser fired too soon it would hit the barrier and if it was too late it'd likely miss entirely.
As his barrier began to quickly fade from taking so much damage Phenix would quickly begin to move backward. He'd keep his right hand trained on the snake to continue inhibiting its movement with his beam and he once again began to put distance in-between them. With the barrier having now faded the snake once again began to move towards him, baring its fangs and hissing loudly. It continued moving towards him fighting in a losing race for only a few more seconds before it once again began to coil in of itself. This time Phenix was prepared and created his barrier before the snake even launched itself. He stood his ground as the creature once again collided with his floating shield with a loud thud. Once again the snake's fangs lodged themselves into the barrier and it would begin clamping its jaw down in an attempt to apply as much pressure as possible to it. With the creature's mouth clearly in his sight, Phenix would release his inhibitor beam and use his right hand to create his laser bot. The bot would form almost instantly and begin charging as the cracks in the barrier began to spread. One second would pass and the barrier would begin to fade slightly as the snake managed to start pushing deeper into it. Then all at once it would shatter like glass allowing the beast to begin moving forward. One more second passed and his laser bot was ready to fire, though it seemed the attack would miss as the snake was now free to move away from its attack. However by some twist of fate the beast seemed to move not out of the way, but directly towards his laser bot. Perhaps it recognized it as the bot before and intended to destroy it, perhaps it had to do with the positioning of the bot, or perhaps the snake just decided to attack Phenix's bot instead of him. Whatever the reason, Phenix was grateful as it meant his laser bot fired off its shot just as the snake began unhinge its jaw to attack it. The laser would fire straight into the creature's widely opened mouth and continue firing as it recoiled from the pain. The snake's entire head would seem to glow from the bright blue energy radiating off the laser being fired into it. Then it would fall limp to the ground dead just like that.
Breathing heavily Phenix would let his laser bot fade out of existence alongside his energy suit. He had only been awake on the planet for what felt like less than twenty minutes and had already had a close encounter with a dangerous creature. As a matter of fact towards the end he hadn't been entirely sure that he was going to make it out of the situation alive. He wasn't quite convinced he had managed to survive the encounter based on his own merit either. It was much more likely that by pure stroke of luck he had managed to fire that shot and kill the snake. He had never received much combat training for his position as a researcher, but it seemed he'd need to brush up on the few skills he had if he wished to survive on the planet. There were still a lot of mysteries on hand that he needed to solve as well. Though there was one thing that he definitely knew as he stood in front of the corpse of the snake... he was off to a rough start.