Vulnerable

The device that the ship's entity occupied allowed it to perform much like my PDA except it could produce sound and an interactive screen projection, at least it hadn't left the entity without a way of interacting with me, though I have a feeling it was one of the last things the ship did before the knowledge was stripped from it. At least my language hadn't been stripped from it, so I'd be spared the teaching sessions again. My first task was going to be to create a safe place for us. Most of the creatures may avoid us and the entity could produce sights and sounds to scare off a lot of them, but after awhile they will adjust and the more violent ones would attack like the one did before. I had no tools to work with and so I started constructing some from some branches and rocks, I used my clothing to tie them together to make a crude axe and hammer. Using these simple tools I started creating a wall around my sanctuary, at least it still had the hammock for me to sleep in and I knew the area around it very well. I knew the wall wouldn't suffice forever, but at least it provided a little extra protection until I could construct something else. I felt lucky that the creature had been unable to pull all my knowledge from me, I still had human technologies in my mind and had been able to learn quite a bit about them during my studies when I knew the alien technology. It was going to be hard, but I would have to start reconstructing various tools crudely and teach my companion about them again, hopefully we'd find a way to restore some of its abilities and be able to use these crude versions of the tools to construct the actual ones we would need.

A knife, that was my first somewhat less crude tool. I crafted it with a stone blade and a wooden handle. I knew it wouldn't protect me because it wasn't the sharpest or strongest blade, but I could use it to carve wood which would allow me to create moulds. The next tool I was able to construct was a pickaxe, again it was fairly crude with its stone head and wooden handle, but it should allow me to start digging up some better materials. I knew I wouldn't be able to find much due to the habitat being a representation of a planet and not a planet itself, but even a little would go a long way.

I made sure to keep the entity with me at all times, I couldn't afford to lose it if I wanted to gain control of the ship again if I could ever catch up, not that it was a very likely idea, but I also liked having someone to talk to. I hadn't been digging long when one of the creatures, most likely the one I fought before started coming closer. I could sense it but not see it. I quickly gathered up any small amount of resource I had found and began moving back to my shelter. I had made it about half way when I sensed the creature moving in fast, I dropped what I had and turned to meet it, knife drawn. As I turned toward it the creature ducked into some bushes, but I could hear it still moving closer. My knife wasn't going to do much good for me, but I was still having trouble drawing enough energy to be effective. As the creature finally lept at me from its hiding spot I was able to throw a very small shock at it, the creature yelped slightly and then cowered in front of me, it remembered well our last encounter. Realizing it wasn't going to attack me again I reached down and touched its head, it seemed to recoil a bit and then calmed. I pulled forth the small amount of healing energy I could and pushed it into the creature as I continued to pet it, the creature seemed pleased and ran off into the surrounding foliage. I gathered up my things and continued on towards the camp.

As I lay in the hammock pondering the situation it dawned on me that the beast that had stolen the ship and our knowledge had probably been around when I had been learning to use ice. It seemed very adept at learning and had probably crafted its ship shortly after we left, there had been plenty of technology in the piece we ejected so it would not have required much. Knowing this I felt that could explain the surge of power when I was learning to harness ice, it could have contributed to the influx of energy in hopes that I would destroy myself but probably realized there was more to learn by taking everything from me after I had started the destruction of the star. This was in a way a comfort to me, it should help me have more confidence in my abilities and learn to use my energies again. This thought, true or not, would help me get through this trial.