Red Sea

The midday sky was white. It was a strange sight to see the atmosphere appear white, even though there was no fog. Jake was being carried in Kashan’s arms. The speed at which the alien was racing was faster than he had anticipated, and he clung tightly to him, fearing that if he fell, it would be a disaster. Of course, he thought that as a precious breeding entity, there was no way he would be thrown away.

After a while, a spaceship that was upside down in the distance began to come into view, crossing the red earth. The ship, which had looked like a tower from afar, became clearer as they got closer. The massive structure, which appeared to be in ruins after being exposed to rain and covered in dust for a long time, did not fit the planet’s natural environment at all.

“Put me down… I need to take a closer look.”

From the moment he faced the spaceship, Jake’s heart began to pound uncomfortably. Once he was set down from Kashan’s arms, he climbed up to the cockpit to slowly assess the situation at the time. Most of the equipment was broken, items were damaged, and some were burned, but there were still many intact ones. In particular, the communication device, which was meant to send a distress signal in a crisis, was still functional.

Knowing it would be useless, Jake couldn’t let go of his attachment and set out with various useful items, including clothes and the communication terminal. The communication device was flooded with numerous messages due to the last distress signal sent, and Jake’s eyes quickly scanned through them to grasp their contents.

Seeing recognizable characters and readable messages made his nose tingle unexpectedly. Tears streamed down his face along the wrinkles around his eyes. He didn’t even know why he was crying. Just seeing the traces of the home planet made him feel an overwhelming nostalgia, and he stood there for a while, letting the tears flow freely. Messages from the home planet arrived at regular intervals.

From messages worrying about Jake’s well-being to inquiries about whether he was alive.

Kashan, who had been watching Jake blankly staring at the screen, casually threw out a comment, bringing Jake back to reality.

[The trade was successful, so a spaceship can be sent to load sulfur.]

“…I understand.”

He must have looked pathetic, Jake thought as he wiped his tears with his forearm and moved his hand to reply to the home planet’s messages.

How do I do this?

At first, he was confused about the controls and hesitated after momentarily moving his hands. Then, he couldn’t remember how to construct sentences, and he kept stopping while trying to write down letters.

It had already been a year and a half in the time of the home planet. He thought he had lived on this planet for quite a long time, but excluding the time spent flying, he had only endured about a year by the home planet’s standards.

Jake struggled to recall the clumsy writing system and finally managed to respond to the communication.

– Trader Jake alive. Successfully completed the trade. –

As the sadness that had surged when he faced the civilization of the home planet faded, a calm hatred began to rise. A planet that viewed people as expendable in a barren state with no food or resources. He would never return there, and his firm resolve strongly indicated his intention to live here from now on.

– A planet with a red sea, good for living. Very good. No plans to return. –

Even within the short phrase, there was an unmistakable broken language system. It was clumsy but understandable enough that Jake didn’t feel anything strange and was about to press the reply button without hesitation. However, thinking of his poor old colleagues who would be trapped on that disgusting planet made his head throb.

They were pitiful and unfortunate friends.

They were probably still being treated like expendables, trading from one planet to another. Compared to that, he was truly a happy being.

This was the only part related to the home planet that remained as a good memory. Friends who kindly bought him drinks and told him to share his worries. Those who had become so lost in pleasure that they had developed a strange sense of superiority.

Jake genuinely thought he had to save those poor souls. He didn’t care about the other planet’s inhabitants. They were unfortunate colleagues who had been pushed out of the military due to their poor backgrounds and were now working as traders. It was better for them to be in a place with verified stability than to be sent off to a remote area without a sound.

Jake believed that he was lucky to have come to this planet, but others could be sent to worse environments. So, he asked Kashan if there was a possibility of additional traders coming and began to write a message.

– Hope for additional traders. Preferably those with good stamina. –

Jake added specific details. It was about his colleagues. Of course, all of this was influenced by the alien’s encouragement. The Thermo tribe was a very intelligent species, as Jake had known since he first set foot on this planet. They were biologically inclined to control the minds of individuals that helped with reproduction through hormonal manipulation. Jake thought he was acting out of genuine concern for his colleagues, but in reality, he was more likely acting in a way that benefited their entire species due to being parasitically reproduced by the Thermo.

“Now, I can go.”

There was nothing more to say to the communication device. He had sent the details of when he arrived, how he had been, and that he hoped for additional traders, so his work was done. Jake, holding a bag containing the necessary items, including the communication device, opened his arms to Kashan. The giant silently watched before picking up his breeding entity again.

“Since we’re out, I’d like to see what you do. Is that alright?”

[As long as you don’t feel only the heat under the sun.]

“…I think I can endure it well enough. Then let’s go.”

Kashan trudged toward the workplace. The giant’s massive footprints stretched long across the desolate land. Behind them, only the lonely remains of the upside-down, desolate spaceship were left.

*

On the Akbart side, there was a flurry of excitement upon receiving Jake’s communication. Everyone had thought Jake was dead due to the lack of response, and they were discussing whether they needed to select new traders since they couldn’t give up on the trade. In the midst of this, the reply that he was alive and that the trade had been successful was truly hopeful news.

The high-ranking officials who received the report realized that Jake had completely become a breeding entity of the Thermo. They were busy selecting additional traders to send to the planet while preparing a truck to load sulfur. Only Jake’s old colleagues, who did not know much about the Thermo species, were left to speculate about how he had finally awakened from the aftermath of the crash.

“Really, you’ve had a hard time.”

“Right? I wonder if it’s a blessing or a curse that he didn’t die. If you get sick on a strange planet, there’s no answer.”

“Speaking of which, they’re recruiting new traders to go to that planet. Are you going?”

“Well, I’m thinking about it.”

The amount was quite substantial. It was an unprecedented condition to receive a lump sum that was enough to make two trips to another planet. Moreover, everyone was curious about Jake’s well-being, and decisively, because Jake had sent a message mentioning his colleagues, opinions were divided on whether to go or not.

“They say there’s a red sea.”

“Are we going to see a sea we’ve never seen on our own planet on someone else’s planet? That’s something.”

“More than that, the colonel mentioned us in the report message… He must have had a really tough time in that strange place. He’s not someone who usually says such things.”

“That’s true. He was my peer, and he never showed any signs of struggle no matter what happened.”

“Still, they say it takes six months to sail. Isn’t that too far?”

“Then are they just going to give us the money? Of course, they’re paying that much because it’s hard. There’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world.”

“That’s true.”

The men, who had gathered in their jump suits and were chatting, waved their hands, saying they would think about it a little more, and dispersed to do their respective tasks. Two of them were Jake’s peers, while the others were from the same unit but had joined later than Jake. They were Jake’s trading seniors who had realized the barriers of status early on and had left the military to work as traders. However, due to their habits from their military days, some still called Jake “Colonel.”

After several days of deliberation, they solidified their decision to head to planet TA457 for various reasons, including the incentives offered by the higher-ups or their connection to Jake. Although the sailing period was long, they thought it would be more bearable since they would not be navigating the vastness of space alone like Jake had.

They all brainstormed about what kind of gift they could give Jake that he would like, considering he had been alone on an outer planet for a long time.

Thus, the trading team was formed with a total of five members. Five traders and one pilot to safely operate the large spaceship, making a total of six men heading into space.

None of them questioned why additional traders were needed when Jake had already succeeded in trading. Just like Jake had done, they simply accepted the mission assigned by the higher-ups, which involved a large sum of money, and set off into the distant universe without suspicion.

The massive spaceship gliding through space carried five men who were unaware of their fate as it quietly moved forward.

*

This time, the spaceship landed properly without crashing. The midday ground was very hot, so the humans could not come out of the spaceship in their bare skin. Therefore, the passengers stepped onto the ground without removing their spacesuits. Opposite the spot where the spaceship landed, they saw the vessel that had arrived on the planet first, piloted by a colleague. It looked terribly broken and appeared to have been abandoned for a long time. The debris scattered here and there was covered in fine, dusty yellow soil, and some patches of grass were growing in the gaps. Some grimaced at the thought of the horrific accident scene at that time.

“…That’s.”

Welcoming the humans in spacesuits were five giants. Each one was large and boasted imposing strides as they stood in front of the humans one by one. Unlike the humans, they wore nothing, yet they proudly displayed their natural forms under the intense sun without showing any signs of fatigue. The humans, facing these terrifying forms they had never seen before, whispered in a language only they could understand.

“Is that the Thermo…?”

“I’ve heard of them, but seeing them in person is truly overwhelming.”

One of the giants gestured for the group of humans to follow. Since they were all former traders, they knew that in a strange land, actions were always a more appropriate means of communication than words. The spacesuits felt very heavy as they trudged along. The Thermo, looking back at the humans who were gradually falling behind with disappointment, seemed to grumble something before each picked one human up and began to run across the plains.

“Hey…!”

Even when the human shouted from beneath the spacesuit, they ignored him and ran to their destination. The ground shook significantly as the large beings ran simultaneously. They climbed up a sloped rocky cliff and reached a cave. It was Kashan’s den.

“You’ve come.”

Jake, dressed properly for the first time in a while, muttered as he heard the commotion outside the cave. The humans and the Thermo were still in a state of not being able to communicate. Therefore, translation was essential. The humans, who had been abducted by aliens without understanding what was happening, brightened up upon seeing Jake.

“Colonel!”

“Shh, it’s been a while since I was discharged. Why are you still calling me that?”

At someone’s shout, Jake shook his head, telling them not to call him that. The loosely fitted jumpsuit felt awkward. After spending more than a year by the home planet’s time, suddenly trying to maintain decorum felt a bit uncomfortable.

“We were really worried about you… How did you end up out of contact?”

“I’m fine, so don’t worry. Now, sit down.”