Several weeks had passed since Darian's arrival on Earth. During that time, he had continued studying the Krukins. Together with Snowy, he'd managed to hunt more of them and analyze their bodies.
Rusty, meanwhile, had been working on something important.
"Master! I just discovered something about their blood!" the little robot called out.
Darian, lying on his bed and scribbling observations into his diary, quickly sat up. He hadn't encountered new monsters lately, so he was reviewing what he already knew. Snowy lay curled up beside him, dozing peacefully.
"What is it, Rusty? Did you analyze it?"
He got up, leaving the diary behind, and walked over.
Rusty projected a 3D display of a DNA sequence. "Their DNA is strange… really strange. Look at this, there are similarities between these sequences."
Darian squinted at the projection. "They look more alike than I expected... but that doesn't make any sense. They all look completely different."
"Exactly. There's no logical explanation for it yet" Rusty replied.
"Maybe we need to explore more of the planet," Darian muttered. "We might find answers out there."
"You know that's too risky, Master. You tried that once already. Remember? You were nearly torn apart by fifty Krukspy and twenty Kruksnil. It's a miracle you're still alive."
Darian's expression darkened. "Yeah… I remember. If only I had someone to help me…"
"That's why you started working hard," Rusty said. "So you could meet other humans and help them."
Darian looked out toward the endless desert, fear creeping into his voice.
"Yeah, I know! But what if what I've learned isn't enough? What if they've already figured everything out? Or worse… what will they do to me? They probably don't even know what a starship is. How can I explain to them that, in Earth years, I'm over 500 years old?"
Rusty rolled forward and stopped at his feet.
"Why would that be a problem? We don't know how far they've come in science. They may not even have the tools you do. You might be more advanced than all of them."
Darian didn't respond, so Rusty kept going.
"As for the starship, don't worry. You've got evidence, you can prove it. I'm sure someone out there will understand the black hole theory. Someone will be curious about your story."
Darian finally turned back to him, his mood lifting slightly.
"You know what, Rusty? Maybe you're right. I have everything I need. I've documented everything from the past few weeks in this diary. They probably don't even know half of what I've found!"
He hesitated, then grinned.
"Oh, and no offense, Rusty… but they might be better at forming theories. No AI ever surpassed the human mind. You analyze things, sure, but when something doesn't make sense, you don't even mention it half the time."
Rusty blinked. "No offense taken, Master. I have three basic rules I must follow. And I know humans will always be smarter. After all you created me."
When Rusty said "three rules," a wave of memories rushed through Darian's mind.
"…Nice reference, Rusty."
"As always, Master."
Snowy looked at the two of them, clearly confused by the sudden shift in mood.
Darian clenched his fists. He had to meet other humans. No more delays.
He packed quickly. The diary went in first.
'Once I find a city… I'll show them everything I've studied. They probably don't even have powers like mine. I'll guide them to victory.'
The next day, Rusty projected a new 3D map of Africa.
"As you can see, Master, we're currently here." A red circle appeared on the eastern edge of the continent.
"There are four main cities on the continent, but I still can't pinpoint their exact locations. I'm not detecting any signals."
Darian scratched his chin, staring at the projection.
"Maybe I should head south? Just a guess."
"It's only theoretical," Rusty warned. "We have no solid data."
"Yeah, yeah, I know… but who cares. I'm going south anyway. That would put me in the southeast, someone's got to be there, right?"
"No, Master. But… we don't have any better leads. So it's as good a plan as any."
"Aha! I knew it! BOOM! YESSS!"
Darian jumped around like a child who had just opened his Christmas present. After all, he was about to see humans again. Ten years had passed since his last real contact.
He sobered up quickly. "Alright. I'm ready."
Rusty rolled forward. "Yes, Master. Everything's ready. And don't be sad. We've been apart for 500 years. This time, it won't even be one."
Tears welled up in Darian's eyes. He bent down and hugged the robot tightly.
"Let me give you a proper goodbye, at least…"
Snowy tilted its head, completely lost in the emotional chaos.
Backpack strapped on, compass in hand, Darian began walking into the desert.
"BYE, RUSTY!!" he shouted after only ten steps.
"Bye, Master Darian!!" Rusty replied cheerfully.
Later...
Darian's journey was long and grueling. He walked for days through endless dunes, carrying a heavy backpack. At night, he slept under the open sky, marveling at the stars. With no moon in sight, they shone brighter than ever.
'I wonder when I'll actually find humans…' Darian had stopped near a river that had been created after the collision with the black planet as had never heard about it, with Snowy curled up his lap Darian was looking high in the sky.
As he layed with his head on the ground he remembered that not far from him he had spotted the ruins of a small village, 'I'm sure that village didn't exist during my time…'
After Darian looked at that he shaked his head, "It's actually something created after this catastrophe… maybe some years before I would have found people already here…"
"Nah that's impossible, this village looked too much bad, they've probably left it over one hundred years ago…" as Darian moved his head he looked at the countless stars over his head.
"I hope that all the village I'm going to find in the south aren't abandoned like this one" before whispering this Darian slowly closed his eyes and then fell asleep.
Six days passed. Every time he walked he found multiple ruins of old villages and many rivers that didn't exist back in his time, most of the times he could easily walk nearby, but whenever they were bigger Darian fused together with Snowy and he'd create a path of ice to walk.
"Are you sure you just want to walk now?" asked Darian at the creature waking nearby him, seven days had passed and as always, no answer came from Snowy and the creature always remained quiet.
"I'll guess you just prefer to walk…" whispered Darian after the creature always looked at him with the same expression, 'I wonder if he will ever be able to talk directly with-' Darian started to think how it would look like if Snowy would be able to speak with him when the ground started to shake under his feet.
"Snowy, come here!" he shouted, as he pointed his right arm towards Snowy the creature jumped into his arm fusing together with his body, but after that the ground beneath them craked.
After the ground under him collapsed, Darian looked below and what he saw made his heart beat in surprise, below him there was a huge underground city not far Darian noticed a huge hole, "AHHH WHAT'S THIS!!??" he shouted confused, as he looked below he spotted something that made his heart beat faster.
He spotted a massive crowd, but they weren't looking at him. They were focused on a single person who was standing on a small stage entirely made of ground, Darian who couldn't stop his falling in any way, couldn't do anything but fall right on top of this person.
Then Darian heard something that he recognized almost immediately, it was the sound of a gun and right below him a projectile had passed, "Eh?" was the only thing that Darian could say before his arm pointed on the ground.
Darian reacted instinctively, slowing his fall with a burst of ice. Still, the impact was hard, and everything blurred.
As he hit the ground, his vision soon became blurred and his head had become dizzy, he couldn't understand not anything anymore and around him there were multiple screams.
"Eh? What happened…" Darian confused glanced around when he spotted the body of a person dressed like a king with a golden crown on top of it's head bleeding, his lifeless body was laying on the ground.
The only scream Darian was able to hear before falling unconscious scared him.
"GUARDS!! TAKE HIM!!" a woman's voice shouted.
Darian's vision faded. He saw soldiers rushing in…
Then everything went black.