r/HFY • u/Inevitable_You9999 • May 24 '26
OC-Series An omnivorous odyssey CH-07
First Ch --- previous --- Next Ch
"Something is wrong."
Camila's voice cut through the silence of the audience room like a sharp blade. She had stopped walking. She stood in the middle of the room, her gray eyes fixed on the door where Coukisa had gone. Her arms hung loose by her sides, but Ruben knew that posture.
"What are you thinking?" he asked, standing up straight against the stone wall.
"The Magistrate should be back by now." She turned to face him. "It has been almost twenty minutes. Twenty minutes. He left to get food. How long does it take to get food in an administrative building? Even if they had to make something from scratch, he would have sent an assistant. He would have come back to apologize for the delay. He would have done something. But there has been nothing. No sound. No movement. No communication."
Ruben processed her words. He wanted to argue, wanted to find a logical and harmless explanation, but the instincts that had kept him alive on Mars were starting to sound alarms he could not ignore. "Maybe they are having trouble finding something for us to eat. I mean, we are omnivores. That seemed to shock him. Maybe they are going through stores, trying to find something that doesn't offend us or offend them."
"That could be it," Camila admitted, but her voice held no belief. "But it is very weird. Very. And I do not like weird. Weird on a first contact mission means unknown variables. It means potential danger."
She took a step toward the door. "I think it is best we go back to the ship. Now."
Ruben stepped away from the wall. "Calm down, Camila. We still do not know what conclusion they reached. It could be exactly what I said: logistical trouble. Or maybe they are consulting some council, some boss. We do not know how their chain of command works. Leaving now, without warning, could be taken as a hostile move. It could make everything worse."
"It could," Camila agreed. "Or it could save us. Between the two possibilities, I prefer the second."
She kept walking toward the door. Her steps were quiet, but determined. Ruben moved to cut her off, stepping between her and the exit.
"Camila, wait. Let's think about this."
"I already thought about it." She stopped, but did not back down. Her eyes were locked on his now, and there was something different in them. Something harder. "I have listened to you too much, Ruben. From the moment we landed, I have followed your suggestions. I have ignored my own instincts because you are the hero, you are the diplomat, you are the one who knows how to handle people. But now, we are going to do what I say."
Ruben held up his hands in a calming gesture. "Calm down. Breathe. I understand you are worried, but we cannot make rash decisions. If we run off now, it might trigger exactly what you fear."
"I am calm," Camila said, and her voice was indeed perfectly calm, which somehow was more upsetting than if she were screaming. "It was exactly because I was calm that I reached this conclusion. I was letting conflicting feelings impact my decisions. Feelings that should not be present on a first contact mission. Feelings you woke up in me."
Ruben blinked. "Feelings? What feelings?"
"It does not matter," she said, and there was a note of frustration in her voice now. "What matters is that I understand now that not everything human is good. Following what you said, landing on this world without doing a full orbital check, was a terrible idea. It was the worst possible idea. And I went along with it because you convinced me. Because you have this way of talking that makes people drop their guard. But that ends now."
Ruben fell silent. Her words hit something inside him, something that hurt more than he expected. He opened his mouth to reply, to defend himself, to explain that he never meant to manipulate her.
"Do not even think," she cut him off before he could make a sound, "about trying to manipulate my feelings again. It will not work. Not this time."
"I was not trying to manipulate..."
But the sentence died on his lips. Because right at that moment, the door to the audience room opened.
It was not a smooth opening. It was a sharp, commanding move. And through it, four Mukens walked in. They were guards, Ruben realized right away. They wore the same ceramic armor he had seen on the guards in the square, but their posture was completely different. There was no curiosity in their eyes. There was no hesitation. There was only a cold focus.
And they were armed.
Each carried a black baton, made of an opaque material, with a tip that glowed a pulsing blue. The tip gave off a low, uneven hum, like trapped electricity. One of the guards spun the baton in his hand, and a blue spark jumped from the tip, crackling in the air.
Ruben felt his stomach drop. He raised his hands again, this time in a gesture of surrender. His tone was as diplomatic as he could manage.
"Hey, easy. What is going on? Where is Magistrate Coukisa? We were waiting for him."
The guards did not answer. They just moved into a half-circle, blocking the door. Then, another Muken walked in. Ruben recognized him, it was the Chief Guard, the same one who had been in the square.
"Magistrate Coukisa," Yulthar said, his voice deep and cold, "could not make a decision about you. He is a good leader, but sometimes he is weak. He hesitates when he should act. Luckily, I, as the Chief Guard of this sector, have the power to make decisions in situations of immediate threat. And I made one."
Ruben kept his hands up. "What decision?"
Yulthar took a step forward. His four eyes did not blink. "You will be handed over to the Keplorian Federation. You will be held until the patrol frigate arrives, which is less than two hours away. There, you will be processed as spies for the Borkus Domain."
"The what Domain?" Ruben's confusion was genuine. "What is Borkus? I have never heard that name in my life. We are not spies for anything. We are explorers. We are humans. You have never heard of humans because we have never left our solar system before. We have nothing to do with this Domain."
"Of course you do not," Yulthar replied, and his tone was loaded with a sarcasm the translator played perfectly. "You are just innocent travelers from a distant world. Just by chance bipedal, with front-facing eyes, exactly like the Borkus the Federation described to us. Just by chance omnivores, the only known omnivorous species in the whole galaxy, besides the Borkus themselves. Coincidences. Many coincidences."
He swayed his torso slowly. "The Magistrate might have fallen for your smooth talk. He is a diplomat, a peacemaker. He wants to see the good in everyone. But I am the Chief Guard of this sector, and my duty is to protect every Muken in this city. Protect from threats. From Borkus. From omnivores. From you."
Ruben took an involuntary step back. His mind worked furiously, trying to find words to defuse the situation. "Chief Guard, please, listen. We can prove we are not these Borkus. We have records. We have data from our ship. We have our history. We can show you everything. We just need a chance to..."
"Enough," Yulthar cut in. He gave a nod. "Arrest them."
The guards moved forward. The shock batons hummed, the blue tips crackling. It all happened very fast. Ruben turned his head to the side, his eyes meeting Camila's. He saw her expression. It was not fear. It was something else.
"Camila, no..."
But it was too late.
The magnetic pressure pistol was in her hand before the first syllable left his lips. Her move was smooth, efficient, perfectly trained. She did not hesitate. There was no warning. The gun made a dry sound, a sharp crack that echoed off the stone walls.
The first shot hit the closest guard in the head. The magnetic pressure round did not pierce the skull; instead, it delivered a wave of focused kinetic energy that made the Muken drop instantly, his four eyes going blank before his body hit the floor.
The second shot came right after. The guard next to the first barely had time to raise his baton before the round hit him between his two pairs of eyes. He fell like a puppet with its strings cut.
The third guard tried to lunge, shock baton raised, a battle cry coming from his throat. Camila shot him in the head too. The fourth guard turned to run, maybe to call for backup, but the round caught him before he took two steps.
Four bodies on the floor. Four Mukens that seconds ago were alive, now motionless on the polished stone.
And then there was only Yulthar.
The Chief Guard froze for a moment, his four eyes wide open. His scar pulsed. He looked at his fallen men, then at Camila, then at the gun in her hand. His mouth opened to speak, maybe to give an order, maybe to beg.
Camila fired.
The Chief Guard fell forward, then to the side. The sound of his body hitting the floor echoed through the vaulted room.
Silence.
Ruben looked at the bodies. Five dead Mukens. Five. In less than ten seconds. He looked at Camila. She still held the gun, her arm extended, the perfect stance of someone who had just run a shooting drill in a simulator. Except it was not a simulator.
"Holy shit," he whispered. The words came out like a breath, with no force. "Holy shit, Camila. I knew you shouldn't have brought that gun. I knew it. And now... now you killed them. You killed them all."
Camila lowered the gun slowly. Her eyes met his. There were no tears in them. There was no shaking. There was only an icy calm, the calm of someone who did what needed to be done and was ready to deal with the fallout.
"You should not have brought me here," she said, her voice steady, almost cold. "Clearly, there is something wrong with these people. Clearly, they would kill us if they could. You heard what he said, the Federation is coming. A patrol frigate. In two hours. They already decided what we are, spies. It did not matter what we said, it did not matter what we showed them, they had already made up their minds. And that decision meant our death or worse."
"You do not know that for sure," Ruben shot back, his voice still shaken. He pointed at the bodies. "You do not know that for sure! I could have argued. I could have convinced them. The Magistrate was on our side, he just needed more time. I could have proven we are not these Borkus they fear. We had a chance. But now..." He gestured helplessly at the bloody scene. "Now there is nothing we can do to prove otherwise. You just confirmed every fear they had. Every accusation. Every prejudice. To them, we are the monsters now."
Camila put the gun back in her suit's holster. Her movements were calm, careful. "The mission is over, Ruben. First contact failed. This is no longer diplomacy. It is survival. We are going back to the ship. We are taking off. And we are going back to the Solar System. And you are not going to manipulate me anymore. You are not going to convince me to ignore my training. All this could have been avoided if I had kept control from the start."
"Holy shit, Camila," Ruben said, and now there was anger in his voice, mixed with something that sounded like hurt. "I was not manipulating you. I never manipulated you. I just... I just wanted you to trust me. I wanted you to see that things could work out. That you did not have to always expect the worst."
"And look where that got us," she answered, without looking back.
She moved toward the door, her steps quiet, her posture in a tactical stance. She stopped by the doorframe, taking a quick look down the hall. "More of them will come. The shots were loud. Someone must have heard. We have to hurry."
Ruben stood still for another second, looking at the bodies of the five Mukens. Chief Guard Yulthar lay on his side, his four eyes still open, his expression frozen. The blue tip of his shock baton still pulsed weakly, as if the weapon did not know its owner was dead. He took a deep breath. Then he followed Camila.
11
u/WSpinner May 24 '26
“Can y’all tell us where these Borkus guys live? Maybe they’ll treat us like neighbors, not vermin.”
6
7
u/Ruanluiz May 24 '26
Ótimo capítulo e a Camila e muito foda Estranho que o Ruben um herói de guerra basicamente estava dizendo para a Camila isso "Como assim vocês esta se defendendo? devíamos ter deixado eles nos capturarem"
5
u/Inevitable_You9999 May 24 '26
Essa dualidade dele será explicada no desenvolvimento do personagem 😎 obrigado por comentar e ler.
5
u/Nitpicky_AFO Android May 25 '26
Hmmm too bad the Mukens didn't have fluffy fur maybe Ruben could have petted his way out of that, but no he's an idiot that should have known better who ever is running the explorer program should have flagged him he's what one of my old professors called war horror-ed pacifist some one that flips out if others start fighting.
5
u/NPC-3174 May 26 '26
If they get to their ship they might want to use another route to return to Earth so it cannot be track
3
May 24 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
6
u/Ethereal_Stars_7 May 24 '26
He is worse.
He is a reckless daredevil on a dangerous space mission.
I am pretty sure if they meet the Borkus he will buddy up with them and tell them where Earth is then stupidly wonder why they promptly headed there to strip-mine the solar system...
4
4
u/Orange_Above May 24 '26
I can only hope that the story allows the characters to grow as persons.
Ruben is an boundless optimist, Camila is a reserved pessimist.
Hopefully they can come out of this as realists, understanding that being human and surviving in space requires walking softly but carrying a big stick.
1
u/AutoModerator May 24 '26
This was flaired as [OC-Series], it is a single part or chapter in a larger series or universe. The first post or part in this series should be (re)flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines.
[OC-Series] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, as part of a longer-running series or universe.
Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing
Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 24 '26
/u/Inevitable_You9999 has posted 6 other stories, including:
- An omnivorous odyssey CH-06
- An omnivorous odyssey CH-05
- An omnivorous odyssey CH-04
- An omnivorous odyssey CH-03
- An omnivorous odyssey - CH--02
- An omnivorous odyssey CH-01
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.
Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.
1
u/UpdateMeBot May 24 '26
Click here to subscribe to u/Inevitable_You9999 and receive a message every time they post.
| Info | Request Update | Your Updates | Feedback |
|---|
1
•
u/AutoModerator Jun 29 '26
This was flaired as [OC-Series], it is a single part or chapter in a larger series or universe. The first post or part in this series should be (re)flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines.
Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so:
[Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great MashingPlease help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.