บท 4: The Ends

My stomach began to churn as I came to, intense nausea overwhelming my senses as my eyes adjusted to the dimness of the pod.

Quickly, my hand pounded on the release button, and the pod opened with a soft whir. My body immediately moved on its own, and before I realized it, I was down on my knees on the grass-covered ground.

With my head down, mouth open, and one hand grasping my stomach, I yelped and started vomiting, expelling whatever food or water was left in my stomach. I didn't stop until all that remained was stomach acid.

Panting heavily, my body weaker than before, I fell on my side loosely and wiped my lips with my sleeve, ignoring the putrid stench of my stomach contents behind me as horrid memories flashed across my mind, making me grab the sides of my head.

I could still see them clearly in my mind—all the things the Goa'uld had done, everything. I had almost no words to describe the magnitude of the evil I could see.

The things playing in my mind were so horrifying and utterly evil that they made the Holocaust and whatever atrocities mankind had committed over the years seem like poor jokes.

Worst of all, I could feel them just as clearly. I could feel the utmost joy and pleasure of torturing a Jaffa or any slave, enjoying their shrieks and screams like it was the sweetest melody I'd ever heard.

I could feel the amusement of seeing millions upon millions of innocent lives being burned alive and destroyed by fleets of motherships bombarding the cities and civilizations from above.

I could feel, almost taste, the immense pride and arrogance when millions, sometimes billions, of humans and Jaffa bowed down before me in worship and adoration, willing to sacrifice their lives for me in a heartbeat.

I could feel these and so much more, and it made me sick, sicker than I'd ever thought was possible.

Just lying there, I felt so nauseated that I was grateful I had nothing left in my stomach. Otherwise, I'd just puke and puke until I ended up puking my guts out, literally.

As my mind raced with all these evil thoughts, memories, and emotions, their sheer quantity threatening to drown me, I closed my eyes in an attempt to block it all away and started focusing my mind on other things.

My mind latched onto the wealth of advanced scientific knowledge stored in my mind—everything from botany and bioengineering to architecture and quantum physics or mechanics—and thankfully, it helped.

I poured all of my focus and mind power into these thoughts. My mind and nausea began to clear as the quantity of scientific information and the feelings of curiosity, amazement, and joy outweighed the negative memories and buried them.

Adding on the nearly overwhelming hunger and thirst I was experiencing, my mind finally cleared, and I took a large deep breath of the earthy-scented air around me, calming myself down.

I forced my torso up weakly until I was seated on the hard ground, hissing in pain as aches and stinging sensations spread all over my body.

Shifting my head, my body unconsciously tensed up, and my slightly hazy eyes immediately started scouring my surroundings as my alertness and senses heightened.

I was in the forest, surrounded by tall green trees on every side, whose dense canopies blocked a majority of the sunlight, their thick trunks crawling with vines.

Green grasses and moss carpeted the floor, with overgrown weeds as tall as my ankles. Fallen logs covered in moss and rocks were scattered haphazardly all over the place.

A cacophony of insect cries and buzzes, the squeaks of squirrels, and the chirps of birds filled the place, making the forest feel more alive.

I sighed in relief and relaxed when I found no immediate signs of danger, cracking a weak smile as I saw a lizard climbing one of the trees.

I had no idea where I was in particular. All I knew was that I was on Earth, and that was enough for me. The algorithm worked just as planned.

It calculated the exact time it'd take the ship to reach Earth, forced it to stop right above it, and then lastly, ejected the pod just before it exploded.

I didn't have the time or chance to choose the exact place the pod would've ejected towards, so for all I knew, I could be in any continent or country right now. Luckily, I didn't fall in water. That would've been a disaster if it happened.

Now that I was relatively safe, it was time to find civilization. Then, hopefully, I'd find something to eat and drink before I could sort out all these memories and think about what to do next or how to proceed in this new reality or world.

Gritting my teeth, I ignored my pain and carefully rose to my feet, nearly stumbling as my tired legs wobbled. I glanced behind me at the escape pod and frowned lightly, thinking about what to do about it.

I didn't want any attention just as I had come here, but the pod was bound to give me away. If I had any strength, I'd bury it, but unfortunately, it was taking me almost all I had just to continue standing. I had no energy to spare.

I also didn't have any explosive charges on me or weapons that I could use to destroy it, so the only thing I could do was leave it here and hope no one would stumble upon it.

I didn't know how long I was unconscious for, but I knew it was fairly long, possibly hours. Judging by the fact that there were no search parties around, hoping to find a meteorite or a UFO, I had to assume no one saw or noticed me when I crash-landed, so it'd be hidden for a while.

At least until I'd established myself here or had the resources to take care of it. I'd deal with it later when I got the chance, but for now, it was time to move. There was no reason to stay here any longer.

Nodding, I brought my attention back to what was in front of me, and choosing a random direction, I slowly started walking. Before I realized it, an hour had gone by as my feet took me through the peaceful slightly dim forest.

Exhausted, panting heavily as sweat dripped down my body, my legs aching so much they almost buckled under my weight, I took a seat on one of the moss-covered logs lying on the ground.

"Just a little more," I huffed to myself, my chest rising and falling, as I ran my dirty right hand through my messy blond hair. "Just a little more, and you'll be out of here." I encouraged myself, nodded, and stood up after taking a couple moments of rest and promptly continued my journey.

It didn't take long until I reached a small clearing where beyond it, a few meters ahead after a thick bush, a concrete road stood, stretching into the distance.

The corners of my lips curled up at this, and hurriedly, I increased my pace and moved towards it. Walking through the bush, I arrived on the sidewalk and paused, examining the road.

Just then, I heard the faint hum of a car's engine coming from my left. Turning my head in that direction, I saw a blue car driving towards me, an old model Honda Accord.

Elated, I stretched out my right hand and raised the thumb of my right hand, curling the rest of the fingers into my palm, doing the American hitchhiking sign, hoping to get a lift.

The car smoothly drove by with a gust of wind, leaving me in the dust, as if I wasn't even there.

Unperturbed, I kept my thumb up and waited for the next car. A few minutes later, another car came, this time a Mustang. But just like the one before, the driver ignored me, driving away.

This happened three more times, and they all did basically the same thing. The drivers simply passed right by me and drove away.

The last one slowed down as it reached me, but the moment the driver, a young woman, had a good look at me, she sped away in fear, leaving me alone once again.

I facepalmed and sighed helplessly. I should've expected this. There was no chance anyone in their right minds would pick up anyone who looked like I did right now.

I hadn't gotten a good look at myself, but with all the dirt, grime, and dried blood plastered all over my medieval-looking clothes, I probably looked like some deranged serial killer or something.

To be completely honest, if I was in their shoes, I would do the same thing. It was understandable, their behavior.

But still, just because I understood their reluctance didn't mean I was okay with it. In fact, I was getting pissed. Between the hunger, thirst, exhaustion, I was slowly going crazy, and in time, it'd turn into desperation.

A whole brigade of negative thoughts was marching all over my mind now, making it harder to block the evil parts of the memories I was keeping buried away. But I calmed myself down with a deep breath and continued doing the sign.

I didn't know what would happen if I lost my patience, so I hoped, prayed, that someone would find it in their hearts to give me a lift. Otherwise, with the things going on in my mind, I was afraid I'd do something, something bad.

After a while, a Volkswagen came along, but it did the same thing as the rest of them. The next after it did the same, and my blood ran cold as my face fell into a heavy frown, my hands balled into fists in anger, and my heart froze.

The next minute, a Dodge truck came along. I forced myself to do the sign, but when I realized it was going to skip right by me, just like the rest before it, something suddenly snapped in me, and I lost all my patience.

I stepped into the road. The truck driver's eyes widened in shock seeing this, and quickly he stepped on the brakes, making the tires screech loudly as the vehicle skidded forcefully to a stop a few steps away from me, white smoke billowing everywhere.

"You crazy bastard!" The plump middle-aged driver with balding brown hair, wearing casual clothing, craned his neck out of his window and cursed furiously at me, with a southern drawl, as I walked up to the driver's door.

"Got a death wish or something!? You wanna die is that it!?" He yelled as I reached the door, his face twisted, and his brown eyes widened in anger.

I ignored him and calmly stretched my left hand towards his face, instinctively priming the Harakesh with my mind.

It hummed ominously as it activated, three small beams of silver light spewing out and extending from its three sides to coalesce into a tiny orb of light, the three beams acting as its pillars.

"What are you do—" Surprising filling his face, he didn't have a chance to complete his sentence before he froze, his eyes glazed, as I pointed the orb to the space between his eyebrows.

After a couple of seconds, the orb of light and its pillars dissipated as I deactivated the device and moved away from there to the other side of the truck, opening the passenger door and climbing into the car.

As I closed the car door and relaxed into the seat, the dazed driver snapped out of it and turned his head to look at me with a wide smile on his bearded face.

"Where are you headed, boss?" He asked me politely as I wore my seat belt, clicking as it locked into its holder.

"Just drive." I didn't spare him a glance as I answered softly, gazing at the woods I came out of through the window on my right after rolling the glass down.

"Alright." I saw him nod with the corner of my eye, and immediately, he stepped on the pedal, and the car started moving.

As the car drove away, the scenery flashing by as the cold breeze licked my face and blew strands of my hair back, the realization of what I'd just done settled in, and I couldn't help but sigh, my face scrunching up in disgust.

I kept telling myself that I had to do it. That it was a necessary action. That it was my only option. But that wasn't the problem; that wasn't what made me disgusted at myself.

The problem was I had just brainwashed someone, manipulated his mind in order to get what I wanted, and I didn't even feel sorry about it.

Hell, I didn't even feel anything...