The double heir first book

Before I came into this body, my name was Rix, and I didn't believe in soul rebirth. In fact, I didn't believe in anything, because my existence was all about getting food, water, and whatever else I needed just to live to see another day.

But let me begin at the beginning. I was born on the planet Bernt of the Out system. Although that's not exact. It would be more accurate to say that I first realized myself there, in the midst of sand, metal, and rocks. This planet is just a shell left over from a once complete world. Humans have completely "drunk" it, taken away all possible resources, and emptied the core, as the resin from the core is the most valuable fuel for intergalactic fighters, turning the planet into a piece of outright garbage.

All in all, it was very hard to survive among the debris of trash, sand and rocks. I was alone. I had no memories of my parents, as if I had appeared out of thin air. How I managed to live to the age of four is a mystery. Someone must have helped me, or I must have just been cool from the time I was a baby.

The people on Bernt were angry, aggressive and violent. But luckily for me, I met someone whose heart wasn't completely petrified. I don't know what motivated this man to take me in - maybe he felt sorry for me, maybe he wanted to raise a helper, or for some other reason, but it doesn't matter. The crippled captain took me in and accepted me as his own son.

By the way, that name, Rix, was invented by my father. His life wasn't easy either. Ex-military, who, after retirement, worked at a space debris recycling facility. Retired due to the loss of both arms at the elbow. The Captain, that's what I called my named father, never talked about his past, but I knew for a fact that he had served, and in a challenging military. How did I know that? Very simple. The captain had very specific knowledge and skills. Plus, only the military wore prosthetics like his.

The captain began preparing me for adulthood almost immediately. Every day, after his shift at the factory, he came back to our apartment, sat down to rest for fifteen minutes and then went to train with me. I could see how tired my named father was, but he would still come with me to an abandoned building nearby to train me. And so it was every day.

First it was endurance and strength training, then he started teaching me knife fighting. While practicing techniques, when I had to repeat the same thing several hundred times, the Captain told me a lot of useful information: how to behave in different situations, what could be used instead of weapons, how to collect weapons, store and clean them, how to distract the enemy or provoke him to the actions I wanted. I listened attentively, because I knew that I needed it all to survive on this planet.

When my weapon proficiency was deemed satisfactory, the Captain began taking me hunting once a week. We lived in the small town of Perth and the hunts had to go outside the town limits. At first it was small animals like sandworms or mice, then we moved on to desert dogs and beetles until gradually we started hunting sand lizards. And this, no less than five meters of living flesh in length, sharp spikes all over the body and a mouth that can easily bite a grown man. Going after a lizard alone would be suicide. The fact that the two of us went at it together says a lot about us.

Yeah, I was cool. After, like, my sixth lizard. It was sad at first. I remember our first lizard particularly vividly. The Captain and I spent two days just waiting for that thing. I was twelve years old at the time. I was just a kid, but I was determined to be a hero. Until I saw it.

The sand lizards had something in common with the alligators of Earth in body structure, but they were many times heavier, stronger, and, importantly, able to stand on their hind legs. We were lying motionless on a vacant lot a few kilometers from our town, hidden behind a stone boulder. The bait was the rotting meat of a sand dog.

As I said, it was a long wait. And then, finally, she appeared. The captain nudged me imperceptibly with his elbow in my side. Just as the man had taught me, I very slowly lifted my head. And what I saw made my sphincter clench so tight it felt like it could bite through a wire. What was that Captain saying "don't be afraid, boy, I've cut so many of them in my youth". That's the thing, when you were young, and now you're well into your sixties. We're fucked.

Now I'm ashamed of my own cowardice, but back then I was sure I'd never see a poster of a half-naked girl in my room again. I'd die young.

When the creature came too close, the Captain beckoned. I froze. He began to slowly approach the lizard from the back. The most important thing in hunting a lizard is to lock its jaws. That's what the Captain was supposed to do. But this hunt didn't go well from the start. . .

The creature froze next to a piece of meat. Probably it just decided to savor the ineffable odor before the meal. The captain kept moving. We had it all worked out in advance. The old man gets up to the creature, jumps on its head and fixes its jaws with the force of his prosthetics, while I use my knives to cut open its belly from the side. Everything went according to plan until a certain point.

I prepared myself, for the Captain was very close to the creature's head. But it still didn't move. It seemed strange to me at the time, but I trusted the Captain to know what he was doing. So, the moment of truth. My heart leaps out of my chest from fear and adrenaline, my hands gripping the knives tightly. And then the Captain jumps, arms outstretched, and-- He misses.

I went cold. The thing jerked its head at the last second. It didn't eat the meat because it was waiting for a fresher appetizer that was coming its way.

The captain was very quick, and immediately rolled to the side to escape the creature's teeth, jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could, yelling "run, asshole".

Damn, an old man's an old man, but he kicked up his heels so hard it kicked up dust. I tried to keep up. And the five-meter lizard running behind me encouraged me to run even faster.

We ran for a long time, all the way to the city, only there the lizard lagged behind us. I was exhausted and dehydrated, the old man could barely move his legs. We got to the very gates of the city. It was only then that I asked him what that was all about. And you know what he told me?

- I don't know, Rix.

He fucking doesn't know. The man who, according to him, puts these monsters down in packs, doesn't know why the thing acted the way it did. Old pussy.

The next hunt went like clockwork. And you know whose credit that is? Me. The same day, when we returned home, I found the right book on local fauna and read everything there was about lizards. Turns out it was a female. And she was immobile because she was getting ready to lay her eggs. And she was saving the meat for later to eat after giving birth. And at this time, lizards are very alert and aggressive. She probably spotted us almost immediately.

After learning all the necessary information, we came up with a plan and executed it brilliantly on the next hunt. That's when I saw the power of military prosthetics. He simply crushed the lizard's elongated jaw with the power of the prosthetics. What can I say, it wasn't hard to finish it off after that. And I decided to get those prosthetics fitted at the earliest opportunity.

I grew up with the idea, and I gathered information. The prosthetics are a simulation of an old-style hand that was designed specifically for infantry. They run on an intra-liquid reactor. This model jams and breaks very often, but if you use it only for everyday life, it is quite a workable machine. The captain, without straining, left impressive dents on a piece of thick metal, easily crumbled rocks into crumbs or threw them a considerable distance. And there's nothing to say about human bones. I, with my little hands, couldn't even make a third of it.