"Uh, sir?" One of the researchers looked up from his computer and raised his hand.

"What is it?" The man pointed the commanding officer to his computer.

"The Aurora sent out a distress signal, and now it's off our radar."

"It's probably in Sector D now," the officer replied crisply. "Those are uncharted waters."

"I know, but the Aurora never made it to the mark on the edge of Sector C. They were suppose to check in with us, but they never did." The researcher changed the screen and pulled up footage. "And you need to listen to this sir." He pushed play.

"Somewhere along Section C Dimension 6 our ship was interfered by... well, I don't know... the captain mentioned something about a gravitational pull. Maybe he was talking about this planet. We were after all going into Section D Dimension 1, and nothing in Sector D has been explored yet." The screen was shaking, and the speaker sounded out of breath. When the man continued, he turned the camera to third person, and the commander could see why the young man was so shaken. "I'm initiating Protocol 37, Section 15, number 4 of the Galactic Guidebook," he continued.

"A distress call?" The commander sat back as he watched. "Protocol 37 says to activate a rescue fleet."

"Please, if anyone gets this feed in time, please come help us," the man begged. "I don't know if my friends are alive or not yet, or if the captain survived. Hell, I don't even know where the Aurora crashed, but I'm sending Earth my last known coordinates, so whatever scientist is going to analyze my data, please... help us." The man was about to say more when something rustled, and he tensed. The third person perspective turned off, and the researcher paused the recording.

"... is he still alive?" The commander looked at the scientist. He nodded.

"Yes, yes sir. He got attacked by what his escape ship tagged similar to a komodo dragon. He survived it, and the most recent feedback showed that he was hiding in the ship, waiting for us to send help." As he said that, the screen suddenly beeped and opened another video file. The commander looked over the scientist's shoulder again.

"And what's that?" He asked. The researcher's eyes widened.

"It just updated. Mark Fischbach is still alive."

When Mark woke up, he was more tired than when he fell asleep. How the hell is that possible? He wondered as he sat up. He glanced at his LifeBit, and he groaned when he saw that he had slept past lunchtime and through most of the night. Since this world and system proportionate to Earth, the time cycles were oddly enough somehow synced. But at the moment, it was three in the morning, and all the lights were off.

Mark shivered. When he was directly in the sun, it was hot, but when he was indoors and in the shade it was nice. But now that the sun was gone, he was freezing!

Goldilocks here, at your service, his mind mocked. Mark grumbled to himself as he shivered and grabbed his equipment. He left the spare room and resumed trekking across the carpet, wondering where he could find a good place to keep warm. The first room he passed was filled with Felix's loud snoring, so the engineer decided wholeheartedly to not go in there. The second room he walked by was the bathroom, which he didn't need. Not that he could operate anything in there anyway.

Mark stopped and looked in the third room. The snoring in there was much quieter than Felix, and it was only loud enough to where Mark could tell that Jack was sound asleep. He hesitated at the doorway, then looked down the hall. The living room was still a ways away.

Mark sighed and walked into the giant's room, and the first thing he noticed was Jack's messy green hair. The giant had fallen asleep with his feet propped on the pillows, and his head was laying on the far side. All Mark could see from his place on the floor was the back of Jack's head, which was fine by him. It meant that Jack couldn't see him, and the light snoring told the stranded explorer all he needed to know.

Mark stopped at the foot of the bed and craned his neck, and then he looked under the bed. There was a shirt that had been discarded under the frame. Mark's curiosity peaked, and he walked closer to take a look.

It nerved Mark when he saw how small he was compared to the simple article of clothing. He circled it once, twice, and then a third time before he set his stuff down and cautiously approached it. While he knew it was just a plain old red shirt, Mark hoped that nothing else had gotten cold and used his idea of sheltering in the folds of the shirt.

But after he did some poking and prodding, Mark determined that the coast was clear. He brought his stuff with him as he looked at the shirt, trying to think of the best way to utilize it. If I just sleep on top of it, then anything could find me. Mark explored a few ideas, but when he found the shirt's chest pocket, he knew that was his best shot.

He pulled up the top of the pocket and ducked in, and he set his stuff down at the bottom of the pocket and sat down. Mark looked out at the large world beyond the bed, and he quietly let the thick fabric drop and conceal him in the shirt pocket.

The engineer grabbed a flashlight from the emergency kit and turned it on. He set it down and started going through his stuff, checking what provisions he had and making sure it was all organized. Once that was done, Mark took a look at his leg and arm. They didn't look pretty. It looked infected, in fact. I should do a self scan, see how much longer my body needs to heal. Mark let his pant leg drop and pulled the scanner out of its holster, and he scanned himself.

"Performing self scan. Detecting foreign bacteria." Mark's eyes widened.

"What!?" He whispered. He scanned again.

"Bacterial infection has spread to the skin and pulmonary system. It is imperative you find a way to neutralize the infection." Mark rolled his sleeve up and pulled the bandaging off his forearm. To his horror, he realized that there were small green pimples growing around the bite.

"No," the mechanic whispered, horrified. He had an infection! The skin around the bite was bruised and dimpled with the weird green dots, and Mark winced as he made the connection.

The lizard thing that bit me... that was the tarascota Jack found! Mark wondered if there was a cure. If there was, then the giants had to have it. I can't just walk up to Jack and ask for it though. Mark shook his head and let his sleeve drop. The engineer sighed and laid down. Who knew that surviving on an alien planet was so hard? Mark closed his eyes and sighed quietly.

I need medicine more than anything... but I hope the others are having better luck than me.

Mark was abruptly woken up by the sound of Jack's yelling. His heart skipped a beat when he thought the giants were fighting, or that he had been discovered, but then he realized he could only hear Jack's voice. What's going on? Sleepy, the little man climbed out of the shirt pocket and sluggishly walked out into the hallway. He yawned and rubbed his eyes as he wandered into the living room, keeping to the walls to avoid detection. The voice got louder and louder until Mark was in a short hallway opposite of the first one.

"There was a lady right there! Uh, motorbike helmet man, did you see- sir!?... nobody saw that, ok." Mark looked in the room to see Jack wearing the coolest thing he had ever seen. He had two wireless earbuds in, and they were projecting blue light all around the room. There was a holographic helmet on the giant alien's head, and the light around him was playing a screen that showed what Jack was playing.

Whoa. Mark's eyes widened. This must be their version of a VR headset, but its so high tech and three-sixty! Keeping out of sight of the camera he noticed was recording Jack, Mark sat down beside the shelf to watch. Maybe he's whatever the equivalent of a YouTuber is, Mark realized.

"Um, we're gonna get in and do this." Jack pressed his hand down in midair, pushing a big virtual button. Mark watched with awe as the digital world around Jack began to change. "Good fucking- that's loud!" Jack yelled, jumping at a noise. "Holy god!" He fidgeted with one of the earbuds. "Um, but I think I might have to jimmy this around a little bit because it starts off in the wrong orientation, it's like-" The alien cut off when the game finally loaded, and Jack scowled.

"This is loud as hell!" He remarked. "See, it starts me off looking out into the ocean.." Mark's awe turned to horror when Jack turned around; not only was it nerve racking to have the giant facing him and so close without knowing Mark was even there, but when he turned around the game was finally revealed. On the screen displayed a tiny city that was helpless to the player-- to the giant.

"And then I have to turn around to see the actual level! Which sucks, so I'm going to teleport all the way down here, and then face backwards." Jack looked down and pointed his hand to teleport in the game, and Mark couldn't help but flinch and wonder if it was a good idea to stay and watch. It felt like Jack was looking right at him! He waited until Jack turned around and faced the computer desk in front of him again, and then Mark slowly relaxed and continued to nervously watch.

"Yay!" Jack stepped forward and bent down. "Come here! Come here you little car!" Mark felt terror immediately rise up in him as Jack picked up a virtual car. The giant held it up to his eye level and grinned. "Look at this- hi!" Jack squealed. "How's it going!?" Jack peered at the digital character in the car, then his smile dropped as he looked up at a virtual spaceship. "Wait, does it tell me what time I have? Oh it does, that's awesome. I have a minute and a half left, great." The giant turned back to the digital car he held in his hand and beamed.

"Look at him, he's so tiny!" Mark felt his chest tighten when Jack pulled his arm back and carelessly threw the car away. "Awoosh! Yes!" Jack cheered as the car tumbled into a garage. The garage was smashed to bits, and behind the car Mark saw fake blood.

Oh my god. Mark was frozen with horror as Jack continued playing and destroying an office building. That could happen to me!

"Hello little people!" Jack sang, crouching down to reach for the tiny virtual citizens. He tried to pick one of them up, but the game wasn't fully coded for it. "Oh I can't grab the people." Jack's eyes widened as he suddenly found his hand holding a virtual trash can. "Oh god, I can grab the trash can though!" He threw it aside and kept going as Mark slowly put his hand over his mouth. The stranded human had suddenly come up with a horrifying thought. He was imagining a scenario where all his friends had found him, but instead of these digital people and whatever Jack was calling the g-men, his mind was fabricating a vision where he and all his friends were running away vainly from the green haired giant.

"Bang!" Jack laughed. He had just picked up a car and squished on of the little digital people like they were a bug. "Oh, bye!" He waved the car before smashing it into a another building. "Oh god. I feel like-" Jack paused the game and turned to the camera. "I feel like a child who has a toy, and like, a little toy village, and he gets to go around and mess it up, but I hate the orientation!" We're not toys! Mark's mind screeched as the giant resumed playing. Please tell me that's not what the giants would think if they ever discovered Earth!

"Oh no!" Jack yelped. "Sorry helicopter. Aw, awesome." He turned around and noticed a car cruising past his foot, and he stooped down to grab it. "Gimme yer car!" His grin grew wide as he held the car up to his face. "I like how I can see the little people inside!" Jack gushed. He held the car closer and smiled widely. "Hi!" He awed. Then he chuckled. "I'm just talking to nothing right now I'm talking to my own hand." The giant opened his mouth and pretended to dangle the car in as if to eat it, but then he laughed and tossed the car up in the air. "And wwhheeeeeeeeeeee up you go! Catch it- fuck!" Jack picked the car back up. "I didn't catch you dude, sorry. Oh, I killed him! Yes!" He used the car to destroy another building, and then threw the car.

"Fuck the buildings!" He shouted with glee. "Oh god." He bent over to pick up another car. "It really gives you a great sense of scale and how small everything really is!" But Jack thought little of this comment he made. He was too busy enjoying the really cool game.

Mark, on the other hand, felt faint.