After a couple of minutes, Gary had finished reconnecting the cables to the solar battery and began tiredly walking over to the ship. After stepping inside he flipped a switch near the right side, signaling to the automated systems within the ship that his job was complete.
He walked over to the man sitting on the cold floor and lightly kicked his foot, stirring him awake.
"Arthur, follow me."
Arthur opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself up, looking down at Gary tiredly. He followed the small alien over to a corner of the room when Gary reached down and grabbed a small hose. Gary handed it to him and pointed at a drain in the floor, presumably telling Arthur to stand there. Arthur moved over and squatted, holding the hose above his head.
"I have a few questions for you but that can wait, try and make sure none of the water runs off, it's a closed system and I will get fined if too much of it gets lost."
Arthur nodded his head drowsily, and watched the alien walk over to the wall, a panel slid out towards him and he looked back at Arthur.
"This'll last thirty seconds, so don't spend all of it drinking the water or you won't be getting all the sand off of you."
Gary pushed the lowest button on the panel, unleashing a torrent of the most supremely cold water upon Arthur's head he's ever felt. No amount of words could ever hope to describe the feeling, it was as if God had descended upon him to gift him something truly beyond comprehension. He opened his mouth after ten seconds and felt the cold nectar drip down his throat, reinvigorating him completely. He was more awake and aware than he had been in days, crossing the desert was nothing more than a haze during and after the hellish event. The only feeling left was yearning for more, for day's long since past and erased by the inescapable march of time.
After what felt like blissful minutes, the water cut from the source and he looked down and watched it swirl into the drain, he dipped his left hand down and felt its cool embrace one last time as it escape into the ships reservoir, knowing full well he'd have to pay to feel it again.
He looked up and took in the ship in its full glory for the first time since he'd arrived in its bowels. The cargo area where he'd been squatting was massive, far too big for one three foot alien of unknown origin. He took into account the shelves of batteries that were situated along the left... quadrant we will call them, of the ship closest to the bay door. The right side had small tables filled with all assortments of tools and a few rather small vehicles he could only assume were for travelling the endless dunes of the planet he'd been trapped on. The back right quadrant of the ship had some small chairs and presumably recreational activities, some were even old enough for Arthur to recognize, such as an old arcade game. Finally the back left quadrant of the ship was filled with old refrigeration units, holding military-style rations of all sorts, more than likely for long journeys. The walls were decorated with old, wilting propaganda posters for a government that had long since fallen, destroyed and consumed for its materials and abundance of natural resources. Occasionally there was a newer poster or two, written in a language he didn't recognize, which was strange as he had spent a lot of time in his ship learning various languages and cultures so he didn't stick out on his occasional visits to settlements.
He walked over to one of the posters and looked at it, it showed a ship floating over the surface of a planet, with its bay door open, a massive red X hovering over it. There had to have been an accident where someone had fallen from the massive ship because of someone's mistake of leaving the large door open.
'That was pointless.'
Arthur thought maybe he could gleam a bit of information as to his location from the poster, realizing it was just the companies policies.
"Are you done?"
Arthur turned and looked at Gary, who was watching him, he was leaning against the wall where the panel had appeared.
"Yeah, still have those questions Gare-Bear?"
Gary's one eye narrowed, and then he closed it letting out a sigh. He walked over to the bay door and inputted a code on what looked like a hastily made, or at least adjusted, keypad. The hydraulic pistons that reached from the top of the door to the ceiling began to collapse, slowly pulling the hunk of metal closed. He than walked over to one of the tables, rummaging around inside a box.
"Is it just you on this ship Gary? It seems to be far too large for someone of your stature."
Gary stopped his rummaging for a second to peel off the helmet he'd been wearing, revealing a bald head, except for a large brand on the back of his skull. The brand resembled a hoe over circle. He looked over at Arthur, a somewhat annoyed expression resting on his face.
"Stop antagonizing me."
"I wasn't trying to, merely making an observation."
Gary's metallic hand reached up and scratched the underside of his chin as he turned back to the box, pulling out a towel and a pair of pants. He threw them at Arthur, who caught them in his arms.
"Get cleaned up and then we will talk, you oversized hunk of moron."
Arthur rolled his eyes and watched the alien walk over to the recreational area, which he then got a running start and jumped into a lounger. He looked funny sitting in that thing that was clearly for someone much larger than even Arthur. Arthur wiped the water from his body and set the towel on the ground by the drain, and then pulled the pants up. They were a bit too large for him around the waist, but at least they were a good length.
"There's a belt over on the table."
"Thanks, Gary."
Arthur pushed the belt through the loops and tightened it around his waist. He then walked over to Gary and sat opposite of him in an identical lounger, making note of how the lounger didn't even fit himself, as two people his size could've comfortably sat on the lounger.
"So... Arthur. I have a couple of questions for you, mainly around the how and why you were walking around ass naked on government property."
"I didn't exactly have a choice, the transport cruiser I was on was struck by something just before it could wrap itself in space. I was shot out into space for God knows how long before I either directly hit this planet, or was pulled in by the gravity. Either way, my suit burned up in orbit, when I woke up I looked around and saw some moving lights around the stars and began walking this way. I don't know when that was as the sun never seems to fall here. Eventually though I found the fields of batteries and disassembled one in the hopes that whoever placed it here would come looking into it."
"Wait, so you fell into orbit and survived?"
"Yes sir."
Gary leaned back in the chair and let out a very loud puff of air.
"Y'know, if you didn't want to tell me why you were here you could've just said so, and lose the sir, I am no sir, I was once a slave."
Arthur felt a pang in his heart after hearing that, but kept a cool face.
"I'm sorry to hear that, but that was the honest truth, Gary."
"Even if that was true, how were you breathing without an Oxygenerator? We aren't on a planet, you were sitting on the sand dunes between a molten planet and a star, perpetually held in place by gravity."
"Can we just agree my circumstances are a bit strange, you could also ask how I didn't die of dehydration, heat-stroke, and starvation. Although this not being a planet does explain the severe lack of natural fauna, it was completely silent, constantly, I thought I was going insane."
"I'm sure you already are."
A smile appeared on Arthur's face.
"Fuck you, Gary."
Gary laughed for a moment before breaking out into a coughing fit. Upon closer inspection Gary was clearly up there in age, with visible wrinkles along his singular eye. His lips were dry and cracked and his hand were covered in burns and callouses. Something felt very strange about his appearance. Vaguely human, as the cogs began to turn in turn in Arthurs mind, Gary answered the question before he could even ask.
"I was once human too, Arthur. I could see that look of horror growing on your face."
Arthur felt a terrible pit well in his stomach, pushing against his heart, there was a look a sadness, on Gary's face that didn't deserve to be there.
"I'm so sorry."
"Don't be, I've long since given up on being sad about it."
"Well... I'm going to be. I should've recognized your fate sooner."
Gary scratched his face then looked down at his hands.
"My parents were poor, and sold me off to the Valahi's when I was young, which I consider to be to my luck, if I were older or larger the genetic modifications would've hurt a lot more. My growth was forcibly halted to make it difficult to run away, they removed and centered an eye in my skull to cut my field of vision, making it more difficult to fight back, even if I did manage to run the metallic arm the grafted into my ribs would both strangle me and squish my lungs, killing me painfully. My life span is about fifty years if I am lucky due to the surgeries and genetic altering. They even branded the back of my head so even if I managed to get away I'd be recognized for the monster I am. Honestly I am just thankful the Valahi's fell to both time and the Front."
The Valahi's were an oversized species too dim to travel the universe themselves, so they trapped and warped anyone and anything they could get their hands on to suit their needs. They conquered, raped, and pillaged a dark path in history until the subjugated stood up and wiped them from time itself.
Gary gestured around the ship, his eye growing wide.
"This damned ship used to be theirs, but I bought it from the government that wiped that scum from the face of existence. I might not even be able to have kids but I won in the end, don't you think?"
Arthur took a moment and looked at his hands, he understood some of what he went though all too well. He stood up and asked.
"Would you like to travel with me Gary?"
"What?"
"This isn't victory, this is rotting underneath your captors corpse. I'm asking if you'd like to spend your days travelling with me. Please, you've lived long enough as a slave to those vile beings, and you are still a slave to their memory. I want you to die far away from them, please allow me to repay the kindness you have shown me."