Chapter 3

When I wake up again, I find myself on an open plain. In my hand is a small egg-shaped device.
While I look it over, Inet's voice calls out from it:

"This is an Z-5-Communicator, it has no other functions and it was the largest device we could force into transit with you. Any larger and we'd risk embedding it into your body."

"Okay, sorry about earlier, I didn't mean to break down like that."

"No matter, it was not unexpected. Any questions?"

"Yes, where am I?"

"Not very bright, are you. You're on earth, the proto-earth in any case."

"I knew that, I meant where on earth am I?"

"Oh, wel according to the sensors, you are at 51°N and 5°E. Does that help?"

"Thank you and yes it helps. You mentioned earlier that you were trying to find a way to help me, any luck with that?"

"Sorry," said Inet, "other than supplying information, we haven't found a way around the blocks yet. I've got to go, bye!"

Then the light on the egg went blank.

Now what do I do? Well, first things first, I need shelter for the night. I think it's evening now.

Several hours and kilometres later, I've found an apparently abandoned cave. The mouth of the cave drops nearly straight down. I only found it because I nearly tripped into it.

The drop is about 1,5 metres down and levels off. From there on the floor slope slightly downward.

It won't be dry near the mouth if it rains, but deeper into the cave it should remain dry.

Now I've got shelter, lets find some food.

There are several bushes on the plain that bear fruit, but I'm not sure whether they are poisonous or not. I also found a tree with apple-like fruits. They are pretty bitter but they aren't poisonous since I saw an animal eat them.

I go to bed when the sun sets.

I suddenly wake up when the egg starts vibrating and beeping. When I pick it up Inet says:"We've found a way to circumvent the transit-protocols, so we could get you off the planet. But we've run into another problem. They implanted micro-charges in your brain and heart., which are set to detonate the moment you leave the planetary field or if someone without the proper codes tries to remove them."

Could you send items onto the planet without alerting them to it?"

"Theoretically, yes, we could do it. Why?"

"Suppose you brought a device on planet which disrupts their communications, would it detonate the charges?"

"No, but it would cut of their feeds, which gives us an opening of about five hours."