The first thing Jekyll notices is the feeling of hay beneath him. The next sensation he feels is the overwhelming pain in his body. Jekyll sits up slowly and carefully and looks down to his stomach to see that it has been covered in a primitive bandage, not unlike the usual glitter world bandages he's used to. He carefully lifts the bandage to see that his wound has been covered in some sort of herbal paste that reeks of medicinal herbs. He puts back the bandage and looks to his surroundings.

Jekyll finds himself in what could be best described as a tribal hut. His bed is located next to the wooden wall of the hut. A small fireplace lies in the middle of the hut, which from Jekyll's assumption, is the heating of this dwelling. On the walls are a multitude of herbs and other medicinal tools such as primitive knives and hammers. There's a shoddily constructed door that lies directly opposite of his bed, meaning that whoever enters instantly sees him. Jekyll looks to his bed, which features what feels like an animal fur cover and a hay comforter.

"Haven, you there?" Jekyll asks weakly laying back on the bed and placing a hand behind his head.

"Yes, I am here, Jekyll."

"What happened to me?"

"You crash-landed on the planet and were severely injured in the process. The 'locals' took you in and stabilized you while you were passed out. Now we are within their village in what I have designated as a healing hut of some sort."

"I see. What's my current damage?"

"Your ribcage has been cracked. Your left leg is currently broken. Your index and pinky on your right hand are broken. Your right lung has been removed. You have a multitude of bruises all over your body."

"So that's why I feel like shit." Jekyll jokes. "How long till full recovery?"

"With the current medical capabilities…..Three months."

"That's a long time."

"However, being of mechanical nature such as yourself, you can still walk normally and can still operate machinery just fine. The only problem being your lung capacity has been halved."

Jekyll thinks to himself, hearing this news. Just as he opens his mouth, the door to the hut is tried and opened. Jekyll looks to the door and sees a little girl enter the room. She is young, maybe in her teens. She has long blonde hair that has neither seen a wash nor a comb ever. She wears a simple tribal wrap as clothing and carries what looks to be an oversized meatball. Her most outstanding feature is her long ears, which point at the tips.

She gives Jekyll one look and instantly drops the oversized meatball on the dirt floor and runs outside the room.

"Not much for first impressions," Jekyll says sarcastically. He sits up in the bed and clutches his stomach.

Jekyll can feel eyes on him as he sits up. He looks to the door to see the girl peeking into the room while hiding behind the door. Jekyll ears twitch as he hears a distant shout in an unfamiliar language directed at the girl. The girl looks behind her and lets out a responsive yell back.

"Can you translate, Haven?"

"Yes, but I require more data to translate. It would be wise to get this girl to talk to you so that I can collect the required data."

"Understood."

The girl cautiously renters the room and picks the meatball from off the ground. She slowly walks towards Jekyll, her eyes focused on the ground. She stops just before she hits the bed and hands Jekyll the meatball. Jekyll outstretches his hand, and she plops the meatball into his hand.

Jekyll brings the meatball in front of him and looks at it, inspecting it.

"Haven, what is this?"

"This is what the locals call pemmican. Its a mixture of both plant matter and meat. It can last for about 2 years in storage and is a nutritious meal."

"How does it taste?"

Haven goes quiet, causing Jekyll to hesitate to put the meatball in his mouth. He looks to the girl who has an expecting look on her face. Jekyll lets out a sigh and opens his mouth, slowly putting the meatball in his mouth. He chews on it. The flavors of what could be rice and some sort of mystery meat explode in Jekyll's mouth. The texture is smooth and pasty, and Jekyll quickly swallows it down in an attempt to get rid of the flavor.

Jekyll takes a quick glance at the girl who has a big smile on her face. Jekyll cracks a smile with his LEDs. Unexpectantly the girl gets into the bed with him and puts a hand on his head. She gently pets Jekyll as she hands him another meatball from her wrapping pocket.

Jekyll takes it and puts it in his mouth. This time he avoids chewing it and simply holds it in his mouth, waiting for the nanites in his mouth to do their work, breaking the pemmican down.

"Gud boi." The girl says with glee as she continues petting the confused Jekyll. "Waht fja ahe pe ait ajr tr?"

Jekyll looks at her, confused. "Haven?"

"Keep her talking Jekyll. I'm at 25% translation."

"Kat aht ajs adgeva roakf lakcuak ajsd." The girl says with slight fear.

"75%."

"Wdsta and ahea-"

"Translation complete."

"And then we saw you fall from the sky. Are you able to fly?" The girl says, looking for Jekyll 's wings.

"No, I do not fly," Jekyll responds.

"You understand my language!" The girl says gleefully. "You must be from around here? What tribe are you from?"

"I'm not from a tribe. I'm a mercenary."

"Mer-ce-canary? What's that?"

"It means I kill for money."

"Money?"

Jekyll lets out a sigh. "Its like currency."

"Currency?"

"Ugh." Jekyll makes some motions with his hands. "We trade currency for goods."

"Oh, okay. Like when Turtle goes out and trades muffalo for meat?"

"Yeah, something like that."

The girl looks proudly at Jekyll as if she just unlocked something no else has. She stops petting Jekyll and takes out another meatball.

"How many of those do you have?" Jekyll asks, slightly annoyed.

"Uh." The girl pulls out all the meatballs in her pocket. "This many."

Jekyll realizes his mistake and looks at the meatballs, which number 15. He internally screams as he realizes that she wants to feed him that many meatballs.

"What are you?" The girl asks out of the blue, taking a bite out of one of the meatballs.

"I'm a protogen."

"Pro-toe-gen?"

"Yeah, half mechanical-" Jekyll knocks his legs, which makes a metallic noise. "And half flesh." He takes her hand and places it on his furry stomach.

"Very soft." The girl says, placing her face against his stomach. "Softer than muffalo."

"Uh yeah," Jekyll says, gently pushing her face off his stomach.

The girl sits up and looks at him with a confused face. "Are you also a ram?" She says, pointing to Jekyll's horns.

"No." Jekyll places his hand on his horns that curve like a ram's downwards towards his face. "I was created with these."

"What's your name?" The girl asks, taking a bite out of her meatball.

"Jekyll."

"Jek-ell." The girl says, trying to pronounce his name. She points to herself. "Orange."

She lifts her wrap, causing Jekyll to shield his eyes. She quickly takes hold of Jekyll's arm and brings it down. Jekyll gets an eyeful of her leg, which bears a birthmark that looks exactly like a freshly picked orange. She lowers her wrap.

She hugs Jekyll's furry stomach and presses her face into it. His dark grey fur parts to make way for her face. Jekyll raises his arms, unsure of what to do other than to let her ruffle his fur.

"So soft," Orange says, her voice muffled by the fur.

She squeezes Jekyll as tight as she can and buries her face further into his fur until he can feel her nose against his bare skin.

"Am I really this soft?" Jekyll thinks to himself.

After a couple of minutes of this uncomfortable snuggling, Jekyll places his arms around Orange in an attempt to peel her off him, but alas, she hugs even tighter. Just as he thinks he's had enough, the door to the hut opens.

4 people cautiously enter the room. From what Jekyll can tell its one middle-aged man, a middle-aged woman, an old woman, and a young man. They shuffle into the hut and spread out within the room. Each of them gives Jekyll a curious yet equally fearful look. They each wear a yellow-colored tribal wrap that covers their private parts, and they all have the same pointed ears as Orange does.

The first one to approach Jekyll is the middle-aged man.

"You must be wondering where you are?" The middle-aged man asks cautiously.

"Yes, I am," Jekyll responds sternly.

"You are in the village of Camxo." The man says, taking a seat by the foot of the bed. "I am chief Antelope, and these are my people."

"The names Jekyll. I'm a protogen mercenary."

"Pro-toe-gen? Mer-ce-nary? I'm having trouble understanding these words." Antelope says confusedly.

"It's fine; it doesn't matter," Jekyll says, finally putting his arms down so that they rest on Orange's back.

Jekyll quickly scans the other villagers. "What are their names?"

Antelope looks towards the middle-aged woman. "That is Lecerco, my wife." He looks to the older woman. "That is Ato, our elder and medicine woman." He looks to the young man. "And that is Turtle, my son."

"And Orange is….?" Jekyll starts.

"An orphan. Her family was killed by the great blood machines that descended on our tribe last summer." Antelope says sadly. "We are the only survivors of that raid."

"I see." Jekyll ponders the thought. He looks at Ato. "Thank you for healing me. I would have died if it weren't for you."

Ato gives a solemn smile and a gentle nod. She quickly hurries out of the room as if she remembered she forgot something.

"If you don't mind…." Antelope begins to say. "I would like to talk to you privately."

"Of course," Jekyll responds.

Antelope does a nod to Lecerco, who approaches Orange and peels her off of Jekyll. She leads her out of the room with Turtle following close behind. Turtle closes the door behind them, leaving Antelope and Jekyll alone in the room.

"What is it you want to talk about, Chief?"

Antelope gets up from the bed and paces the room as if he's trying to collect his thoughts. Jekyll watches as he paces. Antelope stops pacing and looks at Jekyll.

"I want to recruit you to protect us," Antelope says, almost begging.

"Why do you need protection? Your tribe doesn't give off the aura of a warlike one."

"Yes, I admit we are a peaceful tribe. However, our neighbors do not follow our peaceful ways. They constantly harass our borders and steal our food." Antelope says. "They recently stole burnt down our harvest of corn this spring."

"So, what would you have me do?" Jekyll asks, "You want me to kill them?"

Antelope looks at Jekyll with a grim expression. The same expression Jekyll has seen many a time. The look of someone who wants peace when peace is just a faraway dream.

"I understand," Jekyll says, taking off the sheets that cover his legs. He stands up and towers over the shorter Antelope. "What kind of weapons do you have?"

Antelope nods and leads Jekyll towards the exit of the hut. Both men walk outside and are greeted by the waning sun. Antelope heads towards a longhouse that lies directly in the middle of the tribal settlement. Jekyll barely has time to register the separate huts that all surround the longhouse.

They head inside the longhouse, which is lighted by a single torch in the center of the building. Antelope stops just as they enter the longhouse.

"Actually, it would be best if you wait outside," Antelope says. "We don't let outsiders inside the storage room."

"Understandable," Jekyll says, leaving the house.

Jekyll waits outside and catches a glimpse of Turtle playing a hoop stone game with Orange. Jekyll cracks a smile as he watches Orange hit a bullseye in the ring. Turtle frowns as she hits another bullseye while his stones go way off the mark.

Jekyll is tapped on the shoulder from behind. He turns around to see Antelope holding a spiked club in his hand. Antelope holds the club out for Jekyll to receive.

"Is this all you have?" Jekyll asks, taking the club.

"We are not a warlike people. We only have this for self-defense against animals."

Jekyll puts a hand to his face in disbelief. "Alright, alright, I can make this work." He says under his breath. "When do you think the next raid is going to happen?"

"I'm unsure. It could happen tomorrow or a week from now." Antelope says with disparity. "They attack randomly to keep us fearful."

"Do you have a watchtower or something of the like?"

"Yes, we do," Antelope responds. "Follow me."

Jekyll follows Antelope towards the edge of the village. From the walk, Jekyll spots that the whole village is surrounded by a natural wall of high rocks, leaving only one entrance to the east of the village.

"This is the perfect location for a military base." Jekyll thinks to himself.

Antelope stops and points to a tower located next to the mountain.

"That's our watchtower. You can signal the whole village by lighting the fire at the top."

Jekyll looks at the watchtower wholly baffled by it. What should be a well constructed and maintained watchtower is a shoddily crafted and hastily built tower. At the top is a fireplace with a stone surrounding used for sending signals. The woodwork that makes up the tower seems to have been reconstructed multiple times.

"If it's not too much trouble, chief." Jekyll starts. "I would like the village to build a hut out here so that I can operate the tower without having to go far away from it."

"That will take some time, but I can see to it."

"Thank you."

Both men watch the sun go down, and the moon rises. As the moon rises, Jekyll's ears twitch.

"Someone's coming," Jekyll says, lifting the club into a fighting position.

"How can you tell?" Antelope says quietly

"My ears can pick up sounds from a mile away," Jekyll says. "Especially humanoid footsteps. Are you expecting any friendlies?"

"No one is friends with us. Most likely, a raider. What are you going to do?" Antelope asks

"Obviously, I'm going to meet this raider."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? What if its more than one?"

"Then I'll kill both of them." Jekyll says bluntly, "You stay here I'll be back, momentarily."

"Wait-" Antelope starts, but before he can say anymore, Jekyll rushes into the night, his silhouette disappearing quickly in the darkness.

"Spirits be with you." Antelope prays.

Antelope stays in his position and listens carefully to the environment. He hears nothing but the sound of crickets in the night and a cool breeze wafting over the grassy ground. That's when he hears a scream in the night. He turns back towards the village, but the sound does not originate from there. A shout echoes through the night and is quickly silenced. The sound of footsteps rapidly approaches Antelope, who lights a torch and readies his fists. Antelope spots a silhouette than the form of Jekyll, then finally, the details of Jekyll stand out in the night. Jekyll carries something on his right shoulder.

"What is that?" Antelope asks curiously.

"One of the raiders. Still alive." Jekyll says as he continues his approach. As he approaches the blood caking, his armor and fur are more visible. "We got somewhere to store her?"

"Uh yes," Antelope says anxiously. "We can use where you were sleeping."

"Good." Jekyll wipes the blood from off his visor. He walks past Antelope and heads back towards the village.

Antelope follows close behind Jekyll. He peeks at the prisoner whose hair covers her face. Jekyll arrives at the hut and heads inside with Antelope in tow. Jekyll places the prisoner on the bed.

"We need Ato in here. Immediately." Jekyll bluntly says, breathing heavily.

"I'll go get her," Antelope says fearfully.

Jekyll turns to Antelope. "Don't fear me. I'm on your side."

"Of course."

Antelope leaves the hut hastily. As he leaves, Jekyll takes a seat on the bed. His LEDS burst into a big smile.

"This is going to be a fun job." He gleefully says.