Humility
Humility resisted the urge to hurl. Being shot across the universe was rough on the stomach. She looked at the back of her hands, and then to her palms, counting fingers and wiggling toes, just to make sure she’d made it in one piece. From all appearances, she had.
Once she was fairly certain she wasn’t going to throw up that apple pie she’d eaten for breakfast, Hue took a look around her.
The platform on this end was identical to the one on the other, except it was built in a little shelter, and not actually in any kind of building. She stepped off the platform and to the edge of the shelter.
“Definitely not in Canada, Toto,” she said to herself.
She laughed at her own joke and then peered out at the dense jungle that stretched as far as she could see. The humidity hit her, too, warm wet air that had her peeling off her jacket in no time. Hue circled the structure and found an overgrown path. Hoping it would lead somewhere, she took it, and after a minute, it opened to a clearing. It was maybe fifty feet in diameter, but there was no sign of a place to sit and wait, and no sign of this alien husband she was supposed to hook up with.
If he wanted her that much, where was he?
“Hello!” Her own voice echoed back at her, followed by the loud screech of jungle life warning its occupants of an interloper. “Great. Just great.”
Hue walked back to the platform to where her suitcase sat large and alone. It would do for a bit. She perched herself on the edge and swung her backpack down in front of her. At least she’d come prepared. She had a water bottle and an energy bar that she’d been too nervous to touch earlier. Her stomach still wasn’t settled so she saved the energy bar and took a swig of water.
Despite having the basics for survival, she was not prepared to wait long. There was nothing to do. Nothing to read, nothing to watch, no one to call. She’d left her phone behind, knowing that it would be a useless brick once she left Earth. The thought put a chill through her. She was in an alien jungle on an alien planet, and no one could hear her scream.
Not that she intended to scream. Someone would be along eventually. There must have just been some mix up about her arrival time. Females were too valuable a commodity to just leave alone in the jungle.
Perhaps the entire Mahdfel population had been invaded by those space lizards and no one was coming. Hue stood and looked for some sort of button or screen or something that controlled the transporter. Maybe it had a return to sender function. It was fruitless, though, as it looked like there was no way to input information at all.
She sang to herself and helped herself to an energy bar. Hue eyed her water and decided to start rationing it. She pondered what it would take to survive this jungle. She had packed a utility knife and a lighter. She had nearly her entire wardrobe in her suitcase. The main problem she’d have is deciding if things were poisonous or not. Some of the vegetation looked the same. Apparently, ferns were ubiquitous. They came in all shapes and sizes, but were pretty much the same as Earth’s foliage.
As darkness fell, she began to think more seriously about how to keep herself alive if no one came. Thankfully, the temperature hadn’t dropped much, and she was pretty sure a sweatshirt would do for a blanket. But the sounds of the animals made her nervous.
Hue eyed the platform. It was the clearest place to sleep, but she had no idea what happened to things already on the pad when new stuff ported in. She could end up with someone’s feet materialized inside her for all she knew. No, it was best to sleep away from the platform.
Staying near it was probably the best idea, considering anyone coming to look for her would obviously start there first, but if morning didn’t bring anyone, she’d have to go in search of water. Hue bunked down in a huddle against one of the supports. Hopefully the scent of alien warrior would make the bigger animals think twice about trying to locate a tasty morsel too near the shelter.
Hue wrapped her sweatshirt around herself and closed her eyes. The sound of the jungle was so foreign to her Canadian ears. She drifted in and out of sleep for hours, not sure how long the night lasted, or even if it would end soon. With the amount of plant life, this planet must get a lot of sun, so she figured it was comparable to Earth. When the light filled the sky, she sighed with a sense of relief.
“One night down.”
Hue would not be a victim. She would not be the girl that people whispered about when their birthday neared. She wouldn’t be the one that died on an alien planet far, far away because her dumb alien husband with his horns and spiky tail and polka dotted skin forgot to pick her up from the airport. He could go suck an egg for all she cared.
“Husbands. Who needs’em? Water, food, shelter, that’s all I need.”
The jungle did not seem too impressed with her declaration. It was definitely alive, and where there were jungle sounds, there’d be jungle meat. Her father had forced Humility and her brothers to live in the wilds of Northern British Columbia, Canada after the invasion with nothing but their wits, a lighter and a knife. She had all that and more. After pulling a few more items of clothing out of it, she left her suitcase front and center in the path to the transporter pad. That way, if someone did finally come looking for her, they’d know she made it in one piece.
Humility looked at her water bottle. Half full. Right. Time for a nature hike. She grabbed a sturdy looking branch as a walking stick, or in the right instance, a useful weapon to bash some creature over the head with. Gathering some rocks, she formed a little arrow pointing in her intended direction and took off through the jungle.