One  Last Time

“Are you sure he won’t mind.”

“No, but we won’t find out unless we try, besides there is no law of the Drev that I know which says I can’t.”

Standing at the base of the mountain the three of them looked upwards watching as blue flames flickered on the edge of the distant slopes. Kanan shifted uncomfortably. “This seems wrong, I mean the only ones who should be going up the mountain are saints, and I’m no saint.”

“Fine then you can wait outside while I go talk to him.” Sunny said taking her first step up onto the stone.

Adam followed after her quickly outstripping her pace with his superior climbing abilities. A climb that Sunny herself had thought difficult was a climb that the human was willing to make without the assistance of rock climbing equipment. Sunny shook her head at the thought, humans could scale what seemed to be sheer cliff faces by using their hands and feet alone. Even with an extra pair of hands she was not comfortable or good at climbing.

He vanished overhead for some time, and was waiting for them at the top when they made it to the top during mid day.

The shadow of the mountain cast them into cool shade and Kanan dropped to his heels huffing and puffing as Adam lifted his hat looking up at them from what  looked to be a rather restful nap. He grinned at them and Kanan flipped him off as he sagged to the ground.

Sunny raised a hand to the two of them trying not to let them see how hard she was breathing.

“I’ll head in first, wait for me here.”

The two of them nodded and she turned stepping through the open canyon, passing familiar lines of rocks and small runnels of water which trickled down around her feet. White moss began to appear around her in patches and then in clumps until it began to take over the entire canyon. She squeezed herself through some tight spaces and out the other side where a beam of orange gold light fell down from above and onto the surface of a small turquoise pool.

Sunny took a deep breath inhaling the familiar scent of months spent training, months spent training and revising Drev doctrine on the top of the sacred mountain.

“Naktan?” she called cupping her hands around her mouth.

She could have gone further into the small thicket of trees at the far end where she knew he slept, but she did not wish to bother him like that. She waited, and waited, and for a moment she thought that something might be wrong, when a soft sound came from behind her. She turned flicking her spear up just in time to catch the haft of Nakta’s spear as it was swung towards her head. She caught him in place holding her arms steady and keeping his gaze as they stood locked together.

Naktan held on for a moment his fiery eyes boring into her before he dropped the spear, “Chalan, I did not expect to see you return…… no one has ever returned to my mountain.”

“There is no rule that says I cannot.

He lifted his head, “That is true….. but you also brought visitors.”

“I did. Since there was no rule against that either.”

He walked around her I n a tight circle, “And a human no less. One who is neither of our creed nor our species..”

She kept straight, “He is sentinel of a clan, AND my battle partner.”

She watched Naktan carefully as he rested his spear over his right shoulder. He didn’t even look surprised at that revelation, “And the other/”

“My brother.”

He nodded slowly.

“I suppose I am glad to see you come. I had expected to grow old without ever speaking again though your appearance has stopped that fear.” She watched as he relaxed his guard, and she did as well knowing that he had accepted their visit.

“I cannot allow them to enter the inner sanctum unless they are willing to observe one of the rights, but at the head of the valley there is a small cave that was once made for those who cared for me in my youth. You and your friends may use it. I will be with you shortly.”

Sunny nodded bowing to Naktan before turning and heading her way out of the cavern.

She found Adam and Kanan playfully flicking pebbles at each other when she showed back up.

They looked up at her and she motioned them to follow, leading them into the small opening which Naktan had spoken of. Inside they found a cave whose walls were glittering in diamond formed as some sort of old lava chamber. There was an indentation I the floor for a fire, and other rocks sitting about for stools. The stone was already black but even more so blackened by smoke.

They sat there for a long few minutes before an echoing from the inside of the cave alerted them to a presence.

Kanan and Adam stood as Naktan appeared from the darkness holding his spear. Light glittered off his black carapace glittering in little sparks like the diamonds imbedded in the ceiling. Both Kanan and Adam raised their spears and bowed. Neither of them spoke as Naktan took his seat. Together they waited, and waited, and waited for what must have been an hour or more before naktan lifted his head.

“Either you both understand the meaning of patience, or Chalan has told you of my little test.

“She may have mentioned it at one point.” Adam admitted.

“Honesty, a good quality.”

He lifted his head to look between the two of them, “I can accept your presence here though I am not one for idle conversation. Tell me, what do you seek in visiting me.”

Sunny paused and shook her head, “Nothing, we just thought you might be…. Lonely?”

“Loneliness is a truth universal which I accepted long ago. Company is nice but not required.” He looked between the group of them, “Though there is something that I sense in you.” He paused and then scooted to sit on the floor crossing his legs.

“Sit with me and follow as I do for I believe I can show you something.”

Adam, Sunny and Kanan did as requested sitting on the obsidian floor.

Naktan pulled a bundle of sticks from somewhere in the cave, set them in the floor and lit them with he strike of a flint. When he had a good fire going around them, the room began to heat up. Sunny could see little beads of sweat appearing on Adam’s forehead.

Naktan raised his hands and withdrew something else from another unknown location turning and throwing it down upon the fire.

There was a burst of sparks and the smoke  hued purple, “Breathe deeply, and listen to my voice. Keep your hands on your knees and close your eyes. Breathe only and listen only to my voice.”

Sunny did as told as did the other two, though kanan seemed mildly hesitant.

Then Naktan began to chant. It was slow and melodic and deep like the booming of distant war drums, and as sunny sat that sound pulsed with images. Images of her childhood, of distant wars, of moments glimpsed into the past of memories half forgotten. She saw faces and heard voices and spun in spiraling circles down and out of her own consciousness until it felt like she was floating in nothingness.

“Open your eyes.” Naktan whispered.

Sunny did as told, but when she opened her eyes she found before her a grey landscape.

It was almost perfectly grey accept for the distant hills and the sky overhead was white.

There was no wind and there was no visible sun. There was just silence, and the vast white grey landscape before them.

Sitting in a circle around her she could see Cannon sitting to her left and Adam sitting to her right, though he looked to be almost in pain.

Naktan was standing at the center turning an eye on Adam, “Your theater is still strong, you must let go.”

Adam grimaced, “He doesn’t want me to.”

“Who doesn’t want you to?”

“The spirit…. Deus.”

There was a pause as Naktan nodded almost as if he had known what was coming, “I will not dabble against the great sun, you may stay as you are. Relax  and breathe.” The human did as ordered and eventually opened his eyes.

“Where are we.”

“Thousands of years ago, our ancestors communed with the spirits upon the astral plain, seeing guidance and hope from those of the past. This ability and the techniques to impose it have been lost over time, and even I do not have a firm hold of the power. Communion with the spirits is difficult more for some than for others.” He looked over at Adam <”it would be impossible to commune with the creatures of your species. They are too old, too powerful, and they are discouraged from such interactions.”

He turned then to look at Sunny and kanan, “As for the Drev I may be able to request their presence.”

Sunny’s eyes widened, “You mean….. someone who is dead/”

He nodded once turning to Kanan, “I sense you have someone in mind.”

He nodded slowly.

“She waits for you on the other side of the veil, go quick and be swift, I will bring you back when you need returning.” And with a nod Kanan vanished leaving the three of them sitting on the open plane, “I leave you here now as I sense a visitor on the other side. I will bring you back before the danger.”

“Danger/”

“Do not worry, you are in safe hands.”

And then Naktan vanished as well leaving the two of them sitting in the white.

They sat across from each other staring.

A gentle breeze rippled Adam’s shirt, though the way it moaned felt distinctly cold and hollow.

There was nothing here, no life, no spirit, it was a place in between.

And that is when they heard the crunching of footsteps, turning their heads in surprise and looking up as a figure approached over the distant cracked earth. He was tall and simply a silhouette at first, until he drew closer and the shining gold of his armor plate reflected off the ambient light. Whoever he was he seemed to glow with an inner light of his own, like a star descended from the heavens to walk the earth. Sunny took to her feet in shock mouth open as she watched the figure approach.

He was wearing gleaming golden armor against his gleaming golden carapace, and in one hand he carried a spear made of crystal. A cape billowed at his back seeming to be woven from sunlight and threads of fire.

“Father.”

Adam’s eyes widened as Sunny took to her feet, unable to contain her joy as she raced across the open ground. Her chest tightened with congestion and she tried not to cry as she raced towards the figure and he opened his arms for her, catching her in an embrace that could have brushed her if he wanted, but she couldn’t hold back her emotions and began to weep openly as Lanus held her to his chest. He smelled familiar, felt familiar.

He rubbed a hand gently against her back, “Daughter.” He said   quietly, “how I have missed you.”

She hugged him tight sobbing into his armor.

For many moments they did not speak, standing o the open ground with their arms around each other before he pulled away, resting a hand against her cheek. The expression in his eyes was one of such tender joy that sunny KNEW it could e no one other than him.

“I am so proud of you Sunny.”

“You’ve been watching me/’ she said, wiping at her neck

“Not so much watching  as listening. I hear about you commonly. You are returning the old doctrine to its proper place, and soon one day they may be ready for the full doctrine.”

She was curious but didn’t press him further.

“So you know I-“

“Became a saint.” He smiled, “I was hardly surprised. If it was going to be anyone, it was going to be you.”

She smiled and said a few more things before pausing, “Father…. There is someone I would like you to meet.”

He tilted his head at her curiously letting her know that he probably didn’t know about this one.

She took him by the hand and led him back to where Adam was still sitting o the ground politely looking away so as not to intrude on their reunion moment.

Lanus stopped a few feet away from Adam, and Adam slowly lifted his head.

The two of them locked eyes.

As soon as gold met green, Lanus took a step back in shock, “You!”

Adam stood quickly and sunny rested a hand on her father’s arms.

Lanus looked confused, but she sensed no anger in his face as he stared at Adam. She felt a sudden pang of worry in her chest, wondering how her father would feel about her being battle partners with the man who had killed him.

“I know you.” He said quietly, “One of the aliens, one of the humans.”

Adam looked down.

“The one that killed me.”

Adam lifted his head and in his eyes Sunny could see the remorse building there, a look of pain on his face that made her want to go and comfort him. Adam was no killer, and though they had talked about the death of her father it was not a subject he liked to bring up. If there was one thing in this world that Adam regretted, it was taking the life of her father.

The pain on his face was so poignant and so obvious that Lanus could surely see it.

“I am….  Truly sorry.” He said softly, “For what I did, for taking you away from your daughter.”

Sunny felt the sudden urge to defend him, “Father wait, the humans they were drugged and-“

Adam held up a hand, “No sunny, there are no excuses. It was war and I take full responsibility for what I did.” He looked at lanus, “We came to your planet as members of the GA, and  left your planet a monster and a broken man.”

Sunny watched her father’s eyes as they softened slightly, “I have never blamed you for my death. War is impersonal between warriors =. At least I died with honor on the battlefield  though I am surprised to see that you two know  each other.”

Adam and sunny looked away simultaneously and thought lnus surely suspected soemthing, he didn’t say anything.

“Tell me, what has happened since I was gone, what happened to your mother.”

That made Sunny wilt even further.

“Perhaps we should sit.”

He did as told and with sadness she told him how, after he had died her mother had fully snapped. How kanan had to run away for his own safety and how she had been forced to seek help with the humans searching out Adam to learn how she might defeat her own mother before she could make anything worse. When describing her final fight with kazna, the look on his face was one of pain and sadness. Though they had not gotten along in the past, it was clear that he still loved her.

Soemthing that would never change.

“Your mother was not always like that.’ He said when she finished.

“When I met her on the battlefield….. she was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.” His eyes went glassy, “She was a mighty warrior fighting with two short axes in either hand throwing bodies from left to right like the goddess of war……” He paused, “I was a young Drev then, and I was ready to show my strength. I met her in open battle on those bloodied fells as fire roared around us.”

Sunny stared at him in surprise, “You were from different clans.”

He nodded his head once, “We were. What remains of my clan was assimilated into hers.” We fought on that noll for what must have been hours, and it seemed that the very heavens would shatter around us. He smiled, I have never been so in love or more scared in my entire life. In the end neither of us won, and we collapsed together under the stars.”

He shook his head beaming with admiration as he remembered, “My clan was all but gone but she ordered the sparing of my life. I think by then she had already determined that she wanted me for herself….. and I broached no argument. She was brave, and courageous and driven and beautiful. I had never met a better warrior or a better leader. She took care of those under her charge, and though her fist was of iron, her soul was one of sunlight.”

Sunny wilted, “And then I came along.”

He shrugged, “I would say that her spiral began a few years after kanan.  He shivered, “I will not recount the first day I saw true cruelty in her, but….. it broke my heart.”

Adam was looking down at his feet feeling like he had intruded on some sort of private conversation he shouldn’t have seen.

“But tell me more of what has happened.”

“She told her father of kanan, and the Omen and their adventures through space, which he looked on in astonishment and delight.”

Adam remained mostly quiet.

When the words petered out, Lanus paused and looked at her contemplatively, “I hope that one day this story will be continued when you find someone worthy to be your match.” Sunny and Adan looked between each other.

“I have found someone father.”

He looked curious, “Oh, go on.”

“He is a mighty warrior.” She said with a smile, “The best of his clan.”

Lanus was nodding, “he commands legions under the stars and in his youth he tamed the sky.”

Lanus laughed, “Those are big claims to make of a man.”

“We met some years ago, and there was little love lost between us, but as the days grew on we began to fight by each other’s side. He saved my life and I saved his a time or two. He was there when I stood up to kazna, and he was there when I visited her years later I have never experienced a companion with so much appreciation for who I am rather than what I am.”

There was a pause.

Silence.

Lanus was no idiot.

In fact, he was one of the smartest people that Sunny had ever met, both of her parents had been very intelligent, so she wasn’t surprised when he turned his head towards Adam, looking almost surprised, but looking him over with a critical eye.

Adam lifted his head.

“Father…. This is my….. battle partner, Adam Vir.”

Lanus paused staring at him and Adam stared back.

Adam cleared his throat, “A…. uh pleasure to meet you officially…. Uh…. Sir.”

“I promise he’s more articulate when he’s not nervous.”

Lanus continued to stare, than walked around him in a circle looking him up and down very critically.

“The best of his clan/”

“The best of his species maybe.”

He looked up at her.

“And how does he treat you.”

“Like a favorite memory lost in time.” Adam said softly cutting off her answer.

Lanus raised an eyebrow curious to see where this was going.

“A cherished memory you go back to often where once forgotten bur returned returns sweeter than before when it was gone never to be forgotten again.” He sighed, “I have made mistakes, sir as a human we are prone to them, but I could and would move worlds if I had to.”

Lanus stared down at him, an almost 12 foot height up against Adam’s mere six.

They looked at each other for a long drawn moment.

Then Lanus nodded.

“Perhaps not what I expected, but, a welcome occurrence.” He raised his spear to Adam and Adam raised his spear back.

“Father!” it was Kanan’s voice now raised over the dust and ash, and they turned to see Kanan sprinting towards them dragging another Drev after him in enthusiasm. Nehchal was laughing as he did pulling to a stop and letting go of his hand so he could greet his father. Sunny greeted Nehchal who picked her up in a crushing hug and spun her around, “I missed you.” She set sunny down.

Sunny beamed

Nehchal was one of the happiest people she had ever known aside from Adam and her smile and laughter were contagious. She had no issue introducing her to Adam.

“He’s so little and cute!” She exclaimed, patting his head like you might some kind of dog.

Adam grinned.

It was too soon when they had to return as Naktan’s voice echoed through the valley.

Nehchal and Lanus stood back standing with each other and lifted their hands to wave as the world began to fade.

But sunny was at least glad she got to see her father one last time.

Reverse

Wrote this while I was at work. I hope you all enjoy

Eve woke to the feeling of something wet and slimy on her face. It wasn’t exactly the most pleasant way to wake up, and she jolted upright in a near panic for a moment only to be accosted by another round of slobbery slime and a paw to her stomach.

She grunted and spat out a protest arms flailing.

“Waffles! Waffles Stop!” Her sputtering turned to laughter, and the laughter made the dog even more excited, as his tial began to wag, and he stepped forward, planting a paw right on her boob. The party stopped right then as she turfed the dog to the side frowning at him though she didn’t mean it, “Ouch.”

Waffles wagged his tail and rested his chin on her bed.

“Thanks for that.” she grumbled, rubbing her chest with the flat of her right arm, “Not like I needed that or anything.”

He licked her hand and he couldn’t help but grin as she ran a hand over his ears and through his fur. 

She closed her eyes waiting for the best part of her morning: the realization that she captained a spaceship. The grin that split her face probably should have torn it in half joker style as she leaped from bed ready to live out another day of the best job ever!

And what did her enthusiasm get her, the sudden and jarring realization that she was missing a leg.

The realization as she tumble dof ballance and went plowing into the floor with a loud crash. She lay there for a second, staring up at the ceiling and contemplating her stupidity before a large nose appeared in her vision, and she got licked from forehead to chin by a big pink tongue.

She sighed, and sat up.

“Ouch.”

That was probably going to leave a bruise. Not that she didn’t already have enough of those.

SHe turned to find waffles rolling her prosthetic access the floor, using his snout to roll it. She grinned and thanked him, rubbing his ears as she locked the leg into place, running her fingers across the cool blue carapace that made up the sleeve. There was a whirr as the Stee-eye leg connected, and she flexed  the two human toes.

From there she was finally able to climb to her feet and limp over to her closet and the mirror.

She threw the closet open and inspected her clothes. She could either look professional today….. Or like a complete idiot.

She thought about it for about .25 second before deciding.

Complete idiot it was!

Nonchalantly,she pushed aside the hanger than held her pristine grey uniform, and its single star on the shoulder and rummaged in the back for something fun to wear. She had plenty of star-wars t shirts, and other sci fi paraphernalia, but today felt special. She didn’t know why but it just did.

Ah! perfect !

She reached in and pulled it out.

It was a dress, just above knee height and slimming, but the best part about it was that it was made to have a pattern like R2-D2 on it, and AND.

IT HAD POCKETS.

She tossed it back on the bed and went rummaging for some shoes. She got bored five seconds in and just grabbed her heelies. They wouldn't match for dam but she loved them and anyone could fight her if they disagreed. She paused, then again, if she were to fall, she might just flash everyone her underwear.

She sat there thinking for a moment before deciding.

Compression shorts, perfect.

She pulled the clothes on, gave herself a cursory look in the mirror, smoothed down her short blond hair, adjusted her eyepatch and then walked towards the door throwing it open and…. Having an immediate heart attack.

After a moment of panic she leaned against the doorframe, “Simon! What did I tell you about waiting a few feet AWAY from my door.”

Simon stepped back,his head tilted one dark eyebrow raised , “Sorr, Admiral.”

“You don't have to call me that when I’m not in uniform you know.”

“I feel more comfortable this way.” He said, his light british accent dusting the words 

She shrugged, “Whatever makes you comfortable I guess.” And then she rolled off down the hallway.

Simon jogged after her, “Ma’am i…. Well not to …. Tell you how to do your job.”

Sh rolled her single eye upward, “You always tell me how to do my job Simon. So lets not make pretences.”

He paused and ten sighed, “Maybe formal wear would be more….. Appropriate for a working environment.”

“It's casual friday simon, besides, it wouldn’t kill you to break one regulation every once in a while.”

“It might get me fired.”

She tilted her head to look at him, “Your commanding officer would have to report you simon…. Now Remind me who your direct commanding officer is?”

He sighed, “You.”

“Damn straight it is.”

She turned the corner and nearly rolled into a pipe, dodging out of the way just in time to plow into Angel who was making her way up the hall. The two of them toppled over and plowed into the floor.

Angel looked up at her with an expression that was neither shocked nor surprised, but grinned, “Well I didn’t expect this, this morning, but I’ll take it.”

Eve quickly sat back blushing so hard she could eel her entire body tingling, “I um…. I don’t think so.”

Angel shrugged, brushing her long dark hair away from unusually perfect skin, “Your loss.” 

Eve rolled her eyes but then grinned.

“Nice dress.”

“You know the best part.”

“What?”

“IT HAS POCKETS!”

Angel laughed at her, and together they moved up the hallway talking quietly. Angel had been one of her best friends for a very long time. The marine had once been an olympic figure  skater before joining the marine, and even now Eve liked to joke that she was far too pretty to be a marine mostly in front of the other marines who took the teasing in good grace.

“Where you headed.”

“Had to take to krill this morning.”

Angel snorted, “Watch out, she is on one today.”

“Why?”

“She just recently learned about spontaneous human combustion, and now she is worried that we are all going to explode into flames.”

Eve frowned, “She does realize that has only happened like…. Maybe fifty times in all of human recorded history if not less.”

“Trey telling her that.”

“She shrugged, I guess.”

Together they walked their way into the infirmary, and even from here they could hear the high shrill voice, “SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION. Because apparently humans can just BURST INTO FLAMES. Oue of all the things i have to deal with, your insides getting inflamed and exploding, your immune systems attacking itself, random cells growing in clumps but NO. NOW i have to worry about EXPLODING INTO FLAMES.”

They came around the door just in time to see a scene of carnage. Krill was standing on one of the beds brandishing a scalpel, and Dr. Kade was standing just below her his dark hair rumpled and his glasses askew over his handsome face. He looked so done.

“Morning krill.” Eve said walking up to the bed, “Bit early for a mental breakdown.”

“NO IT IS-”

“Should I mention that we aren't exactly sure if that can happen or not. Mostly likely is they accidentally set themselves on fire and no one could find evidence otherwise.” She wasn’t sure if she was lying or not, but anything to get Krill to calm down when she was in one of her moods.

She stopped, “Really.”

Eve glanced over at Dr. Kade and winked forgetting for a moment the wink was mostly negated by the fact her other eye was covered, “yeah,totally.” Dr Kade added, ‘Forgot to mention that/”

Eve patted the little alien on the shoulder, “Alright everyone can just calm down. I came to bring you this, mysurvey.” Krill took it an Eve patted her hand, “hopefully the morning goes better eh.”

She turned and wheeled fro mth room, nearly crashing into the doorframe, hearing a loud sigh from Dr. krill as she went.

Angel and Simon followed her down the hall and into the mess hall.

Maverick was already there his trey piled high with a small mountain of food, but that shouldn’t have been surprising. A mountain of food for a mountain of a man. He was over six feet tall, and had muscles for days. He probably needed like 3000 calories just to fuel all that.

“Slow down, Mav.” Or you might hurt yourself 

Mav turned to look at her, his one blond eyebrow raised, “Look who's talking. I saw you put down two pizzas by yourself just the other day.” 

“Brain food.” She announced walking over to the waffle maker and grittle.

Naozumi was there too this morning, looking like the god of the sun as usual. Everyone said he should have been a model and not an engineer, but he settled for making the gre engineering jumpsuit look like a runway accessory.

“Morning Naozumi.” She said, upturning a bottle of syrup over her pancakes.

“Morning, Admiral.” he said his voice a booming base that echoed around the room 

“How my girl doing this morning.”

“She’s alright, the left compression filter will need to be changed on our next go round, but other than that, she seems happy.”

Eve grinned, “Excellent, just what I like to hear.” 

She turned and took her seat at the table with the marines Angel, Maverick, Jackson soon to be joined by Naozumi and, eventually Kanan came to join them, her highly polished red carapace glowing slightly under the overhead lights.

She turned to look at Eve, “You seen my brother doay.”

Eve shifted in her seat, “Sunny…. No I haven’t Seen him.”

Kanan grunte shrugging her large shoulders, “Guess I’ll find him later.”

“Probably down in his little workshop, did you check there?” 

Kanan shook her head, “No, I didn’t. It isn’t urgent, so it can wait.”

Eve was the first to finish eating, inhaling her pancakes like it was a last email before jumping up and wiping her mouth clean. Gotta run guys. They nodded to let her go and she jogged out the door and down towards engineering nearly slipping down the stairs when one of her wheels caught But she caught herself on the railing and hurried downward.

“In for a surprise this morning.”

She paused and looked up to where Conn was lurking, her tendrils billowing and undulating in the darkness.

“You are freaky, you know that. Like really freaking creepy.”

The starborn smiled, her lips parting to show a spiral of circular teeth, “I know.”

Eve shivered and continued her way downwards hurrying through a maze of small passages before she finally made it into the little room at the very base of the ship. She paused in the doorway watching him as he wrecked shoulders hunched, the blue of his carapace glowing bright in the light above.

She shuffled her feet a bit nervously before knocking quietly on the metal, “Knock knock.”

Sunny turned his bright gold eyes brightening when he saw her, “Eve… I have something for you.”

She brightened up, “Wait, really…. But it isn't like… a holiday or something?”

He stood a good foot taller than her, walking over his hand behind his back golden eyes shining bright, “Does it have to be a holiday for me to make something for you.”

She shifted her feet feeling guilty, “But I didn’t get you anything.”

He huffed, “Eve, I don’t want things, I just…. This is one of the only ways I know how to show you that I care.”

She pause, “I don’t know watching both the star wars trilogy and prequels with me was pretty long-suffering of you.”

He laughed and shook his head before reaching behind his back and pulling out.

A spear.

Her eyes widened a bit, and she took its warm metal in her cold hand. It was beautiful, “you made this.”

“He smiled, just for you…. Because you’re short.”

She rolled her eyes at him stepping bac and spinning it around in one hand before over hand swiping and snapping it back to the right.

“Do you like it.”

She spun it around again and pointed it at his throat, “You, me, dueling circle, after work.”

“It's a date.”

She blushed then stammered then swallowed hard and managed to squeak out, “I… ur, yeah.”

Sunny just did the Drev version of a grin at her.

It was just then that the alarms overhead began going off, red lights that blinked and roared.

“Shit!”

She turned and raced up the steps, Sunny hard on her heels. 

Her implants buzzed, “Admiral, Kree pirates spotted harassing a civilian transport vessel.

She changed her direction and raced towards the docking bay, “Get a darkfire prepared for me, I’m on my way.”

They acknowledged and then dropped off, but by the time she made it, a team was already waiting for her. Heedless of how very public the cargo bay was, she kicked off her shoes and stripped off her dress leaping into the flight suit and puling it on so familiar with the suit it might as well have been a second skin.

From there she ran over to the suit station and was fitted into a space flight suit helmet under her arm as she ran to the ladder leading up to the darkfire cockpit. Sunny stood just below the ladder, “Kick ass out there.” he said.

She grinned at him as she slid into the cockpit pulling on her helmet with a hiss as the canopy lowered over her.

“Prism, play Danger Zone.” She said into her mic, and the AI responded.

She left the music quiet and the line open so she could hear, but the beat of the music road inside her,and her hands clenched tight around the controls as the darkfire rolled into position in the airlock.

“Airlock depressurization in three.” 

She waited, her heart hammering in her chest, feeling the sudden prickling.

She sighed she always had to pee before things like this. Then again, it could have been worse, the last flight she was on, her ovaries had felt like Darth Sidious was using force choke on them. There is nothing worse than flying a fighter jet when your body can’t tell the difference between cramps and needing a toilet.

Sound was sucked from the world as the airlock opened, and she gunned the engine, roaring silently into space and out towards the distressed transport ship.

The kree never saw her coming. 

After all, she was the best pilot in the fleet, and she loved to fly.

None of them ever stood a chance

Temporal Anomaly

This story is NOT canonical, but it was fun and I wanted to write it. Using a time travel trope for this one. Hope you enjoy :)

“Approaching temporal anomaly.”

“Admiral, maybe it's best if we get someone more… scientific to do this?”

Amidral Vir slowly engaged the jetpack in spurts costing through the blackness of space seriously glad he didn’t get vertigo as stars plunged into infinity on all sides leaving him floating in a vacuum of nothingness.

He knew people who had been driven mad by this experience, they used to call it cosmic hysteria before someone actually put a real name to it. He engaged his com, “That would be a good idea if any of you nerds knew how to use a jetpack. Just tell me what I’m looking for.

There was a pause over the end of the line for a moment before a voice came over the line slightly nasal making him think of pocket protectors and those little rubber things you put on the end of your finger to help turn pages, “Ok Admiral, when you get the the anomaly, I want you to hold up the device and press these buttons in sequence.”

He rolled his eyes. Ah yes someone more scientific to press a few buttons.

He floated a bit more forward stopping just short of something very…. Strange. From where he was it looked like he was staring into a fractured pane of glass where the individual pieces only remained together because there was no force acting on them. He could see the light on the front of his space suit being reflected back at him, and behind that his own silhouette.

“Are you guys sure this things is an anomaly…. Looks like someone just chucked out their broken mirror.”

“That’s what our scans are saying, Admiral.”

“Alright so I just” He paused, and sighed, “Which buttons was I supposed to press again.”

There was chuckling from the other end of the line as he walked through the instructions. He did as ordered only half listening to the chatter of the nerds on the other end of the line. Instead he got a closer look at the…. Whatever it was. The lite from his suit was too bright and scattered off the glass so much he couldn’t see his reflection, but, rather continued to blind himself.

“Some kind of warp tunnel?”

“No, warp tunnels are more volatile and tend to draw things into them. This would have already pulled the Admiral in if-”

He tried to tune them out and tilted his head this way and that

He shouldn't have let his mind wander. As krill had once said his rain was  like a small child, and if left unsupervised it was prone to doing things it shouldn’t. He reached up a hand fingers parallel to the glass.

He slowly moved his hand forward his brain imagining the cool, slick surface of glass beneath his fingertips.

He felt as his glove impacted something.

“ADMIRAL N-”

And he was sucked violently forward, so violently it felt as if his body was going to rattle apart. He was spun this way and that pulled apart in all directions and then snapped back together like a rubber band. His feet flew over his head, he worked desperately to fight against the the blackness at the edge of his vision as he plunged downard into what must have been an infinite well of gravity, and then with a jolt, it stopped.

His head spun and his body hurt.

His hands and arms floated out to either side of his fingers trialing in the air beside him. His feet were kicked up before him and his head spun circles, far worse than they had during flight training.

And then he was 

Gone.

Fading away with the stars overhead, and a bright light passing over his body.

***

“The suit is certainly huma, though I can’t say I have seen this model in a while.”

“And it has a jetpack! Hell yeah! Our mystery visitor has class.”

“Now, the real question remains. Who could it be? We are the only ship in this sector.

“Don’t tell me we are going to open it up and see a gooey corpse…. Eww.”

“No, the suit is broadcasting vitals. WHoever is inside is just fine.

Adam struggled to open his eyes but when he did he was blinded and the world spun around him. He tried to lift his hands against the light, but his suit felt like led weight was boring down on him.

“He’s waking up” Someone announced 

He groaned.

“Get the helmet off him or… her I suppose.”

There was a sharp hiss and the world around him was flooded with light. He grimaced and turned his head to the side.

There was a gasp from around the room.

“Well glaze my ass and call me a doughnut.”

“This is it, I have OFFICIALLY seen everything.”

“Holy shit!”

He grimaced past the light and managed to hold up a hand before his eyes. He blinked a few more times.

Someone stepped in blocking the light assailing his eyes, and finally he was able to drop his hand, and nearly leaped back in his skin. A man stood over him grinning from ear to ear, tall, broad shouldered snow white hair and…. An eyepatch.

“Well you are once handsome devil if I do say so myself.”

He sat up scrambling back a little.

The man grabbed his arms, “Whoa there champ, hold on before you crawl out of that suit.”

“Who the fuck are you!” 

“Come on, son, ever looked in a mirror.”

His mouth opened and then closed and then opened again.  He turned his head wincing at the light nearly crawling off the bed when his eyes fell on another shape. Small, brown grey, with large prismatic orange eyes.

“Fascinating.” Krill said. There was a loud snap as he pulled on a latex glove, “I guess probing is in order

He leaped to his feet pointing, “Hell no you little gremlin, keep away from me.”

“Wow, I remember you having a much better sense of humor.”

“Oh you boys stop harassing him, look he’s scared.” He turned his head towards the new voice falling upon wide bespectacled eyes, and long dark hair pulled back from her face in a tight bun. The lines around her eyes had deepened and her skin wasn’t so tight but, he would know that face anywhere.

“Katie.” He said in confusion.

She smiled at him, “That’s right, now get down from there, we promise we won't hurt you.” She glowered at Krill, “And we CERTAINLY won’t PROBE him either.”

Krill huffed, “killjoy.”

Slowly Adam crawled down from where he stood on the bed stealing glances at the white haired man off to his right, who was grinning at him. As soon as he was down the other guy moved forward taking him by the shoulder and turning him this way and that, “Wow its like looking in a mirror, only, you know some twenty years younger.”

The other man tilted his head back, “Forgot how handsome I am.”

Adam pulled his face away, “W-what is going on.”

The other man grinned, “ well why don't’ you tell us your side of the story, and we will try to fill in the holes.”

He rubbed the back of his head, “Well I was…. I was investigating a temporal anomaly and I.”

“You touched it, you touched it didn't you.” The older man interrupted.

He felt himself go red, “I…. no..”

“He he, looks so cute when I lie.”

“How do you know he’s lying.”

“How can’t you know. Look, his ears are all red.”

Adam reached up to cover his ears, “who are you.”

The older man rolled his eyes, “man I am dumb sometimes.” he held up his hands, there is only one explanation for this my young friend. He reached up wiggling his fingers through the air, “Time travel”

“Time travel?

He nodded, “Time travel. You see you are me and I am you just, you know older…. How old are you right now?”

“Twenty uh…. Twenty six?”

“Don’t look at me. I am Forty six and fabulous.”

Adam frowned, “But your hair.”

The older Adam frowned at him, “I go grey early, can you blame me. Look, I think you have some white hairs yourself. But you won’t find a man my age with a body like mine this side of Andromeda.”

“Sure you do.”

“Haven’t heard Sunny complain.”

Adam opened his mouth closed it and then, felt his face flush red again, “You….” He trailed off cutting the question short.

“Oh look at him, he's going red.”

Older Adam waved a hand, “Well that isn’t hard to do. Watch this.” he turned to look adam in the eye, “Sex.”

He felt his face flush even worse, and he turned away.

“Adam!” Katie scolded, “Stop tormenting him.”

Older Adam grinned, “But it’s so fun, I can finally understand why my brothers did.”

“I still think we should study him, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.” Krill was sayin. He didn’t sound like he had aged a day.

“Don’t you think that would be a little much, Krill. This is a lot to take in.”

Older Adam through an arm around his shoulders, turning his head to look at him, “Yeah we don’t want to do ‘science’ he wants to look at the ship.”

He took  a deep breath, “I… I….”

“That would be a yes, don't worry he’s just getting his brain to boot up. Takes a minute when he’s nervous. Now get out of that smelly suit and let's take the grand tour.”

What other choice did he have, and he was given the privacy to pull off his suit and undersuit, at least that is until someone threw open the curtain and barged in. he nearly squealed and fell over, grabbing something to hold in front of him.

Older Adam just laughed, “nothing I haven’t seen, son…. Ha ha, son, thats funny.”

He did not lower the pillow he was holding in front of his private business, “Do you have any sense of personal boundaries.”

“Nope, those fled with age.” he doessed him a bundle and Adam ended up dropping the pillow on reflex just to catch the clothing sailing towards him.” His older self nodded in approval, and Adam felt himself go bright red again, “Those should fit, i mean we are the same size, haven't started shrinking yet.”

Adam awkwardly pulled on the proffered clothes finding it strange when he identified his own smell.

With one waved hand he was led from behind the curtain, and out to where the others were waiting. They stared at him, and he looked down at his feet.

“Come on, I’m excited for you to see this. Plus I have some serious advice for you.” older Adam grabbed him by the arm and walked him into the hall.

He looked around in awe almost immediately as a large spindly creature trudged past down the hall.

“What was that?”

“Just some new friends we have made in the last twenty or so years.” They walked up the hall and took the stairs down. The ship was darker than it used to be, much more lived in, but it was familiar.

“Here this way to the rec room.” 

They turned a corner and the floor opened up into a familiar space, though it had more TV’s and even a vintage arcade game now. He nodded in approval, “Hey everyone, c’mere.”

The entire room looked up, and he sudden felt himself the center of more than a dozen eyes.

“Holy shit, is that?”

“yeah , yeah it is.”

Another man moved out of the crowd, and Adam felt his eyes widen, “Ramirez!” he looked up at the other man shaking hismelf, “You aged…. Really well, holy shit.” Ramirez grin, straight white smile lighting up his face, “That’s a compliment coming from you.

Adam snorted, “In your wildest dreams Ramirez.”

“ I’ve had wilder.”

He held out a hand, “Uncanny.” Adam took and looking down saw something glittering on his hand, “You’re married!” 

Ramirez laughed and held up his hand, the wedding band glittering bright on his finger, “yep going on about ten years now.”

“Who? Tell me.”

Ramirez shook his head, “No, I don’t think I will.”

Other faces popped at him from out of the crowd, “Mav/” He asked wide eyed. The woman moved forward grinning wickedly. He hair was short on the sides and long on the top braided back into a viking-esque haircut, “Oh look it’s baby Adam’ how cute.”

Old Adam patted him on the back, “doesn’t it just remind you of the old days.”

“When you were still a raging idiot…. Oh wait, I was thinking of right ow.”

It was at the same time that the two of them frowned and responded with near identical “Hey.”s 

The entire room laughed at that.

Ramirez looked at older Adam very seriously, “You know what I would do if I were you.”

Older Adam sighed, “Do I want to hear this?”

“If i was you.” Ramirez continued, “I would kiss myself/”

Adam blanched and old Adam roared with laughter, “Kiss yourself, Ramirez isn't that like…. Incest somehow.”

“Selfcest and I don’t think it counts, but seriously, thinking about it. You could know exactly how good you are at kissing and be able to work out any bugs.”

Adam backed away as older Adam looked at him contemplatively.. Adam backed into a wall, and older Adam just laughed slapping him on the back, “Oh stop looking so worried, I wouldn’t do that to you unless you wanted a go, but you aren't as fun as Ramirez.”

“But I am you.”

“I know, I remember what I was like.”

“What you ‘were’ like?”

He shrugged, “Yeah you loosen up as you get older, don’t worry kid. You can thank Sunny for that.”

He put a hand on his shoulder and led him out into the hallway.

“Sunny! Is she here?”

Older Adam beame, ‘I know that look. Lets see your 26 right, so you two are dating/”

He nodded a bit nervously.

“Yeah shes here, we’ll go see her next. She will want to see you for sure.”

Together they stepped down the hall and Adam nearly keeped ovr as a sudden shape appeared before them white and billowing in the hallway.

“And then there were two.” Conn Said, his dark eyes glittering rather maliciously.i the darkness.

“Convict.” Old Adam said.

He turned his dark eyes to look at Adam, “Same dumb different age.”

“Charming Conn.”

“You didn’t change much.” Adam muttered  as the two of them pushed past Conn down the hall.

“Don’t let him fool you. He has gotten better as time  has gone on. A real asset to this ship. Saved me from an assassin a few times.”

“Assassins!” 

Old Adam shrugged, “Yeah Assassins, “People don’t like what I…. what you and I represent.”

“What do we represent?”

“The union between humanity and alien life of course, or the GA in general. We are the face of the galaxy my friend.”

Adam frowned, “When does that happen.”

“It already has you are just a bit dense, but soon enough you will see. Right now you are a household name for humans, and it only takes a few more years for your name to become intergalactic.”

He felt himself go a little weak as white- hair Adam smiled at him, “yeah, the Stress will turn you white early, but it's a good life, and so far I don’t regret anything I have done….. Tough there is one thing….”

He paused, and Adam leaned forward  little to hear him feeling that this was important.

However, they were silenced rather quickly by a sudden massive shape scuttling towards them from across  the ceiling, and then dropping onto the floor. Henearly leaped out of his kin.

But then the thing came into view, a massive adaptid, with blond fur on its face, “POS garbage system gonna need fixing.” The voice was strange, echoing unnaturally like it was coming from a static radio.

The adapted stopped and sniffed the air, its eyes fixing in on him with a hungry expression, one that turned to confused a moment later, its bright green eyes widening with confusion, “Father.”

“Glados!”

She turned her head to look at white hair Adam, “What is this, some kind of joke.”

He shook his head, “No glados. I younger me has come to visit from the past.” She sniffed at him.

“Holy shit.” he muttered, “Wh-what are yo undoing here.”

“What does it look like I’m doing! She snapped, trying to fix this POS ship is what I am trying to do, but the coil drivers are going bad and Narobi’s people forgot to order morem, so now I have to finagle the things back together. Do you know how hard it is to fit down those dark cramped hallways, and then every now and again some asshole runs into me and screams, practically defines me every time.” She snarled, showing great white glittering K-9 teeth.

Older Adam patted her on the shoulder, “Deep breaths Glados, everything will work out, I promise.

With a deep sigh, Glados did as told, taking two great heaving breaths before calming down.

“Better?”

She nodded her huge head, eyes softening a bit, “Anyway. I have to go fix this. It was interesting to see you again, father.” and then she turned around and scuttled into the darkness. As she departed Adam was surprised to find a shape clinging to her belly …. An adapted male.”

“She…. shes…. uh  married? Dating?”

“Yes, though she's been looking for a third.” He chuckled, “She’s been trying to convince Conn, believe it or not.”

Adam snorted and nearly fell over, “What!”

“Imagine a bunch of baby adaptids who could survive in the vacuum of space. It would be one of the greatest evolutions their species has ever seen.”

He rubbed his head almost dizzy, “And is he considering it?”

Old Adam shrugged, “I don’t know. I think if we told him no directly to his face he might actually consider it, but I want to see if Glados can convince him first. I’d rather he agree on his own than out of spite.”

Adam held his head behind his back and shook his head, “This is all, this is insane.”

Old Adam snorted, “Not so much kid. This is your life.”

They were lead down through the next few hallways in near silence, “So what were you going to tell me earlier?”

Old Adam tilted his head, “What was…. Oh yeah! I remember now” he turned to look at him with a very serious expression stopping in the hallway and then laying a hand on his shoulder, “The one thing I regret.”

He waited on tenterhooks.

“Go on.”

“I regret not advancing my  relationship with Sunny sooner. You love her, kid. You love her so much you don’t know what to do with yourself, but for some reason you are so worried and embarrassed about it that you can’t do it. I gey your nervous and awkward, but she doesnt care, and no one else that matters will care.”

He felt his face flush and his hands go warm, “I…. I don’t know about that I, I’m not.”

‘Not ready? Well lets be honest, you will never be ready,and the longer you wait to feel ready is the longer that beautiful warrior is going to go thinking that maybe….. Just maybe you are going to turn away and pick someone else. The longer you wait is the longer she is going to wonder if she is good enough, the longer she is going to think you are going to leave her for some human.”

He stood on the floor stunned, “She thinks that? But she’s never…”

“Never said anything. Of course she’s never said anything. She doesn’t want to drive you away, and she loves you enough that she wants you to be happy even if that means her being miserable” he grabbed Adam by the shoulders and nearly shook his brain out of his head, “You found her, I promise you found her ok, no need to look anymore, no need to worry. She isn’t going to leave you, no matter what you do, and possibly despite everything you do.”

His heart was hammering in his chest as the other man lead him up the hallway hand gripping around his wrist.

“So….so you two…. I’m … I mean you and Sunny are.”

Older Adam turned to look at him over his shoulder, “I challenged her to trial by unarmed combat seven years ago, and every day I regret that I hadn’t done it sooner.”

Adam sputtered, “Trial by unarmed combat but that!.”

Old Adam frowned at him, “I know what it is. I am leader of a drev clan too.”

hIs head was spinning, his heart was hammering and he felt ready to fall over as they turned the next corner and down into a little workshop that he recognized well. It was more cluttered than it had been before,and the walls were practically plastered with schematics and blueprints, but the smell of metal and adhesive were strong.

Old Adam left young Adam at the back of the room and walked forward to where a lone figure was sitting on a bench busy tinkering with  a few pieces of equipment.

“Hey, hot stuff.” He said, leaning in to kiss her cheek, making Adam’s face flare red as he looked away.

The head lifted, bright light running over blue carapace, “Mmmmm hey snow white.”

“Never gonna let me live that down, huh.”

“Nope.”

“There is someone here I want you to see.’ He said, and the way he reached out, touching her arm tenderly made his entire body erupt into tiny fizzing bubbles. He swallowed hard and looked up at the ceiling.

Sunny looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened, freezing in place as she stared at him. He raised an awkward hand to wave, “Er…. hi.”

“No way…. Is this serious.”

Old Adam grinned, “yeah.”

Sunny shook her head in awe before the expression adjusted into a frown, “Great, now I have two children to take care of.” She looked pointedly at old Adam who just grinned.

She turned and looked Adam back over one more time, “I forgot how hot you used to be.’

His grin fell and he glowered at her, “Used to be!”

She grinned at him and shrugged, “What your old, and decrepit now.”

“I’m not even fifty!” 

She stood and walked over looking down at him. Was it just him, or did she seem a little taller?

She brushed a hand through his hair, “You are adorable. What would you say to a fight.”

Old adam frowned again, “Hold on, why do you want to fight him”

She looked over her shoulder, “I don’t know he's younger…. More…. spry .”

“Spry!”

She grinned, “And probably a little more flexible too.”

“Now hold on, I don’t recall you complaining before.”

“Hard to complain when you are trying your best, but you know things get old…. Not so much stamina anymore.” She grinned again 

Adam wanted to sink through the floor, and felt that he might if he got any warmer. As if he might sink through the floor and melt into a puddle.

“I’ll give you stamina, woman.” 

Adam resisted the urge to cover his ears.

Sunny turned her head back to him looking almost hungry, “You always had a nice body.”

“You keep talking about this in the past tense, and I don’t appreciate it.” Old adam lifted his shirt and patted his abs, “See all six still there.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow, “Bet he's a little more….” She tilted her head to the side, “Firm.”

Older Adam looked scandalized by the comment and Adam himself just wanted to die, “Can we NOT talk about that please.”

Sunny sighed, “Still haven't gotten over that have you. She patted his shoulder. Took me FOREVER to convince you and lord was it difficult, but I swear if you just do it, than you won’t have a problem anymore.I swear it vanished overnight.”

“Please stop.”

She sighed, “Alright fine, but you better give younger me a chance sooner before this idiot did, I swear he regrets it with every fiber of his being.”

“I get it! I Get it! I am hearing what you are saying and now we can go ahead and stop right now.” 

The two of them just laughed at his expense, and Sunny put an Arm around him, gently brushing a stray hair from his cheek, “I’m sorry, I know that makes you uncomfortable, we’ll stop.” He relaxed a little and a smile twitched at the corner of his mouth.

Older Adam smiled a little, “Sorry, kid, guess I was having a little too much fun at my own expense.” He winked, though with the eyepatch it looked just like a blink.

Did he really do that that often?

“So…. aside form the other stuff, is there anything I should know? Any advice.”

Older Adam frowned and tapped his fingers, “IF you ever meet a cute little alien that looks like an eyeball with fuzzy hair, don’t touch it whatever you do.” he Shivered and grimaced.

“Um, turns out I am very very allergic to honey so any sort of scent or flavoring that involves it is not going to go well for me.” Sunny added, “So keep me away from it.”

He nodded.

“Also do not attempt any sort of inverted backspin with your jetpack. I was in traction for a month.”

Adam frowned, guess that sort of ruined his weekend plans .

Old Adam rubbed his chin, “Ad face it kid, you're going to get old, but that doesn't mean you should act old. I tried it once and it was miserable.” He prodded Adam in the chest, “Expect your left knee to give you shit  and the fucking heartburn is killer, but keep up your workout routine for your own happiness.”

Sunny paused and then went very quiet, “IF I insist on seeing my mother…. Let me go, but don’t let me do it again. NEVER let me go back again.”

WOrried he nodded again unsure of what to do.

There was another pause, “Also, my brother Kanan, give him some poetry books next christmas.”

Adam snorted in surprise, but from the look on her face he went quiet, “Yeah, I think I can remember all that.”

Older Adam put a hand on his shoulder, “looks like they found the temporal anomaly, and it’s time to send you home kid.”

Older Adam accompanied him into the docking ebay wearing a space suit. It was very strange to hear himself give orders, but partially exhilarating at the same time. He…. he didn’t hate how he sounded when he was giving orders. A group of others came t osee him off and he got to see other members of the crew.

Nairobi, with a colorful scarf tied up on her head, Jackie standing Next to Simon, who looked just as stiff as ever, but managed a smile at him. There was Katie and Krill, who wandered forward and leaned up. He leaned down to listen to his friend expecting another sarcastic comment, but instead, “Relax Admiral, relax and maybe you won’t go grey so early.”

Adam smiled a little and stepped back glancing over at his older counterpart, “All told…. It looks kind of good on me.”

Krill shrugged, “Stress doesn’t, now get back to your people before they freak out.”

“You mean before YOU freak out?”

“Oh I am already freaking out I assure you. That is a fact of life.”

Adam smiled and stepped back as Sunny walked over. She put her hands on his shoulders and then leaned down gently resting her forehead against his before pulling away, “Be safe and try not to do anything overtly stupid, which i KNOW is a tall order.”

He grinned and pulled on his helmet. “No promises.”

She then turned her attention to older Adam, turning her head so he could kiss her on the cheek, reaching down to squeeze his hand, “Same goes for you, you hear me.”

He grinned, “Here you are to ruin all my fun.” She took the helmet from his hands gently placing it on for him with a tight snap before checking the seal and when smacking him about the head.

“Hey!”

“Yep, it works.” She announced laughing as she backed away, and the two of them turned.

They stood in the airock as it was depressurized, and their feet lifted off the ground as the door opened. Together they engaged their jetpacks and slowly coasted forward.

The universe unfurled around them.

It hit him now just as fresh as it had the first time, and he turned his head to look at the older Adam, who was already looking at him, and he was under the impression that his older self still felt the same way, which made him feel right.

At least that was something he’d never lose.

The temporal anomaly appeared before them as they reversed thrusters and came to a slow stop.

Older Adam turned to him, grabbing him by the front of the space suit as they looked, “You gotta promise to do one more thing for me kid, just one more.”

“Yeah, what”

“Waffles…. You, you tell her she’s a good girl, tell her she’s a good girl from me.” The man’s voice was partially choked up, “Can you do that?”

Adam nodded, “I’ll tell her.”

“Good,” And then he was shoved back into the temporal rift and vanished.

Scars

A thick cloud of soft purple dust rushed softly past the viewing window. The sound it made was almost like that of rain, or the gentle moaning of a winter storm. Beyond that, the thrumming of the fusion core added a sort of gentle cadence to the ambient atmosphere. The room was dim and warm, the only illumination emanating from soft bluish band lights circling around the top of the wall. There was nothing to do and nowhere to go. The dustfield was one of the rarest phenomena in the galaxy. Most nebulas, despite looking thick and impenetrable, only looked that way because of their great size, though it would be hard to perceive if you were actually inside one. This, on the other hand was a great dust belt clustered around an orbiting group of gas giants, whose combined gravity held the massive dust clouds in place, and spinning at a constant rate. Mammoth gravity fields and magnetic warping forced them to slow the ship as they traveled through the thick cloud, unable to use their navigation as usual forced to stick with short wave navigation instead. With nothing to see, and nothing to do but watch the swirling dust outside, the ship had been lulled into a peaceful silence. In a way it felt almost like christmas eve, in the stillness and the gentle glow of the ship lights, while dust blew against the windows like snow. Pillows, at least ten of them, lay in partial disarray on the bed circling in a sort of nest. Light glowed gently over the blue sleeve of the prosthetic leg, abandoned beside the bed in half shadow. Three feet rested on the bed, one human draped across a pillow with the toes pointed languidly towards the ceiling. The other two feet rested atop each other, two toed and covered in a thin layer of blue carapace. Adam Rested on his back in place, eyes partially closed somewhere halfway between awake and sleeping. The temperature of the room was perfectly matching body temperature so it was neither cold nor warm. His bare back was cushioned by a small mound of pillows, and it seemed to him as if he would never be this comfortable ever again. One hand rested behind his head while the other rested on his stomach. In a moment of light wakefulness, he glanced over to his right where Sunny lay half asleep, her head resting partially against his shoulder. Her skin was warm where it came in contact with his, and the carapace on her head was cool against his neck. He took one long, slow breath, stomach rising and then falling under her hand, the lower which rested on his stomach and the upper which rested on his chest. He took another breath, feeling the weight of her hands against his skin. He tilted his head to the side cheek resting against her head and the smooth surface of her carapace, and closing into his eyes he sunk into a sort of half sleep again. He didn’t rouse until a soft movement alerted him, and he opened his good eye to glance down. Sunny’s hand was lifted from his chest, one of the fingers tracing circles around a pale silver cast into sharp relief by the bluish light overhead. He lifted his head a little turning his head to look down at her. Her golden eyes were open but slightly glazed over, her expression was partially sad, and that made him frown in concern. “Sunny?” She hummed softly eyes coming into focus as a particularly strong gust of space particulate brushed against the viewing screen, “Hmm.” “Are you ok?” She nodded, head rushing against his jaw, “Fine, Just thinking.” Adam went silent, and she turned her attention back to her musings. Adam’s skin was soft and smooth below her hand, softer and smoother than Drev skin. WHere her hand rested, it gave and depressed a little, the skin so thin and delicate that she could feel his life rushing through his body just beneath the skin. Where her hand rested on his stomach, she could occasionally feel the flex of the digestive muscles as they worked from one side and then to the other, and where his hand rested against his chest, she could feel the powerful beating of his heart just behind the rib cage, all of that separated from her by taught fibers of muscle and sinew. The perfect amalgamation of soft and firm. His chest expanded as he took another, slow, even breath. She moved a bit closer to him, his body radiating heat in the way a star radiates warmth. The stripes over his skin were shimmering trails of blue green ribbon, twisting over his skin in patterns that were both convoluted and graceful. A couple of those striped lines rolled over his shoulders and onto his chest turning in counter clockwise spirals before breaking off and trickling down his chest and onto his upper rib cage. Aside from vibrant green, she found this color to be one of her favorites. In a half sleep state it seemed as if the ribbons of color pulsed and rolled over his skin. Fingers trailing down one of the stripes, she had been struck by a sudden blemish on his skin, a bright blue circle that didn’t match his otherwise flowing patterns. The sudden deviation made her lift her head and take notice. A closer inspection reminded her of what the scar was. She ran a finger over it feeling the raised ridge where scar tissue had healed the body imperfectly forever inscribing the memory of pain onto the skin. Where the steel-eye armor had forever left it’s calling card. It was then that the other scars came into greater focus. His shoulders, his chest, his stomach, his knees, his calves. Not even his remaining foot was spared from the aftermath of steel eye. Seeing it made her feel sad and angry all at once. “Sunny?” She turned her head to look at him again. His good eye, the one closest to her was wrinkled into an expression of worry, “Are you sure you’re ok?” Her eyes were drawn, again to his chest where three lines of raised skin marked where he had been clawed by an alien beast, alone and stranded on an unknown planet. Similar marks took shape before his eyes, his neck, the underside of his jaw, his shoulders, his knees. Her hand continued to trace from one spot of blemish to another, a biological record carved onto his skin by years etching in experiences that he might soon forget. “Tell me what you’re thinking?” “It doesn’t seem fair.” “What do you mean.” “The human body is a monument to pain where the skin keeps record of agony.” He tilted his head allowing her finger to trace along the underside of his jaw. Her hand continued to trace, until his hand reached out and caught it wrapping firmly around her fingers to press them back against his skin, unmoving. “Perhaps my scars are a record of pain, a reminder of things better forgotten, but I prefer to look at them as an index of everything I survived. The human body isn’t a monument to pain, it is a celebration of survival.” He moved her hand down to his chest over the steel-eye scar, “I survived steel eye.” He moved her hand again, “I survived that alien predator, I survived the Drev war.” He then moved her hand to his left arm, where a long thin scar, almost invisible sat from wrist almost to elbow, “And I survived jumping off the shed with a trash bag after Thomas told me it would work like a parachute.” She smiled a little, easily able to imagine that. “Besides.” He said softly, “You act like I’m the only one with scars.” Though her carapace had no feeling, she could sense the distant pressure of his hand as it ran down her shoulder, where slits had been cut to accommodate her ceremonial armor. “Those are different.” “Are they?” He dropped his hand, and lightly touched the front of her leg, where the carapace was far thinner than it should have been, “Besides you have up pieces of yourself to fix me, that’s not something I have ever done.” She shook her head, “You didn’t need to be fixed.” He snorted, and outside the dust cloud broke just long enough to reveal the dark silhouettes of the interior gas giants before they were swallowed by another cloud of dust a hazy blue this time, “There are plenty of things about me that need to be fixed, that is the nature of humanity.” Sunny frowned, “Why are you humans like that. You are always so…. Critical of humanity.” He didn’t answer for a long moment. “The phrase I am only human exists to explain shortcomings, though most of the galaxy would see that as a positive phrase.” “Because humanity never just settles. Why be what we are when we could be better. Why not be critical when we could always be more kind, more sympathetic, more generous, and less hateful, less greedy and less corrupt.” “Isn’t that shooting for impossible standards.” “I think you just described humanity in a single sentence, congratulations.” He sighed, reaching up to pull the eyepatch from his mechanical eye as they lapsed into silence. He toggled on the UV filter and turned to glance at her seeing the patterns of blue on his own skin before coming upon her, the color of her carapace like the blue of Earth’s atmosphere in his first flight into space… a color he had never forgotten, the honey gold of her eyes sticking out like amber jewels against the sea of blue. Shimmering waves of blue ran through her carapace like the strokes of a paintbrush, a masterpiece created by an artist. He moved himself a bit closer, his chest partially pressed against her chest armor, his hip resting against her side. Shifting onto his side he wrapped one arm around her pressing his cheek to the cold carapace on her back. “Stop worrying about me so much, I don’t regret anything”

First Contact extended Pt. 3

“I’ve been abducted by aliens…. I have been abducted by aliens!” “Yeah, Lieutenant, you have, and you know what comes after abduction don’t you?” “Er.” “Probing! That’s what.” ‘Oh…. Right, forgot about that part.” Captain Kelly remained silent through this conversation too busy in her examination of the alien ship, and its strange interior. The bright silver metal that characterized the exterior also characterized the interior, which, unlike human architecture was abundant with graceful organic lines and tall arching ceilings. The light inside the ship was of the natural kind, though it was tinted just a hint towards green. Apart from that, none of them had exactly received a good look at the rest of the ship, as they were unceremoniously bundled onto one of the little globe-like shuttles and whisked away to the giant alien ship lording overhead. Upon entering, their weapons had been confiscated, and they had been led away to the room where they now stood. It was large enough, probably the size of a basketball’s half court, with ceilings so tall it seemed like an egregious waste of space. Aside from the door, which was not really a door at all, but some kind of circular aperture that opened and closed like in the same way a camera aperture did, there was nothing else. There were no benches, and the light, which permeated the room, didn’t seem to emanate from any particular place. All in all there was just a general…. Ambience about the room, which made the scene all the more alien. “Any contact with the ship?” Someone asked Captain Kelly shook her head, “Coms went dead about the time we came on board. I think I managed to get a transmission out before then, but who knows if they managed to catch it. The group shuffled a bit closer to each other heavy breathing bursting through the coms at odd intervals, the only testament to simmering panic which lay under the surface. Everyone that is, accept for the Lieutenant. While the rest of them were busy huddling together for safety, the young man was busy wandering about the room his sense of curiosity piqued. The entire group watched him as he began a methodical examination of the room beginning at the door and tracing around the outer perimeter. He trailed his gloved fingers along the wall filling the air with the soft scraping of metal on metal. “Cool.” He muttered to himself lifting his hand from the wall. He paused for a moment turning so that his back was to them, “Smile everyone.” There was a quick snap of light and they shook their heads in anger and confusion. “The hell was that lieutenant.” The young man shrugged continuing his way down the wall, “Oh, nothing. I was just thinking that if we ever get out of here, we are going to need proof that we got abducted. I mean, that’s the first issue with people who claim to have seen aliens, right? They never have good proof.” One of the scientists stepped forward hands balling into fists face unreadable behind the helmet, though his body was cut into sharp jagged lines of aggression, “Lieutenant, can you just take this seriously for five minutes.” One of the marines joined in spurred on by the outburst, “Shut the hell up, both of you. Let’s face it, we aren’t getting out of here.” An uproar followed, one that suddenly had the men pushing each other and staggering around all balled fists and squared shoulders. “Shut up! All of you!” The group of marines and scientists fell silent as the Captain marched in to break them up. What she lacked in stature, she made up for in sheer force of will, shoving two of the marines apart so hard that one of them had to stagger to keep his balance, “Shut up, and get ahold of yourselves. We have no idea what these creatures want form us. Yes, there is a possibility they want us dead, but there is also the possibility they want to communicate with us, or even enslave us. So let’s not go jumping to conclusions.” Across the room, the lieutenant was still busy prodding at their enclosure, “That’s the spirit, captain.” The group turned to look at him, and, still angry, one of the marines jammed a finger in his direction, “If it wasn’t for him, none of us would be in this situation.” There was a general rumble of agreement around the group. “So what if it is his fault.” Surprised, they all turned to find Cprl. Ramirez standing off to the side, “We are here now and there’s no changing it. Besides, I would wager to say that the little aliens called the big ones as soon as they saw us, and either way we were going to end up here.” The lieutenant was only half paying attention to their conversation busily prodding at another section of wall. “Yeah, but he might have pissed them off.” “Would you shut up and stop pointing fingers. There are plenty of things we could have done to stop this. As the captain, I should have made precautions for something like this. If it is anyone’s fault we are here, it’s me.” Across the room, the light tapping sound made by the Lt.’s space suit suddenly went silent. “Ah-ha” The group of them turned to face the young man, “What are you doing?” The captain wondered, in confusion. The lieutenant turned to look at them while pointing backwards towards the nondescript part of the wall, “You see here, the wall is not made out of wall.” They stared at him incredulous, “What do you mean?” He stepped aside turning to face them even as he pressed his hand against the spot. What had one appeared to be silvered metal just like the rest of the ship, suddenly deflected against his hand pressing inward somewhat, “Some kind of membranous material.” He turned to examine the wall again and the others followed. The Lt. pressed his hand, and then his face against it as if he was trying to peer through the wall. “What are you doing?” The captain sounded exhausted but also exasperated. “Twenty bucks says it’s like a one way mirror and they are watching us from the other side. “That just means you are going to look like a dumbass form either side of the wall, now stop screwing off!” Tensions were running high, higher than the Lt. though the captain was going to be able to control in the next few minutes. He stepped back from the wall glancing over his shoulder at the other men and women still mostly clumped together at the back of the room. His breath was loud inside his suit, and the coolant systems kicked on and off systematically in time with his nervousness and excitement. To be 100 percent honest, he was just as scared as they were. Sure he had dreamed about this day since he was a little kid, but this isn’t exactly how he had planned it all. Not that one can really plan their first meeting with an alien race, but still. Everything that could go wrong had gone wrong, and now most of the crew was blaming him for it. Before he could say anything to defuse the situation, there was a sharp hiss, and another wall aperture opened on the other side of the room. A strange low hanging mist spilled from the opening causing the group of humans to back away nervously. Captain Palmer placed a hand on the Lt.’s shoulder and pulled him away from the widening gap his shoulders and head hunched protectively, his other hand held out ready to fight. The mist dissipated quickly leaving the opening as a dark, gaping hole in their side of the room. None of them dared to move towards it. They stood there in long silence, which seemed to drag on for minutes but probably only lasted a few seconds, staring in one cohesive group at the waiting hole, the orifice of some strange alien creature waiting to gobble them up. It was after this eternity of waiting when they finally heard the sound of shuffling. The group of them backed against the far wall crouching slowly into defensive postures knees bent hands slightly up and ready for whatever might be to come. The lieutenant was a bit slower to react, his eyes having been completely focused on the doorway ahead of him wide and staring to shocked-scared-excited to do anything else. It was then that a face, and a leg appeared from the blackness. The humans pulled back cowering against each other in a tight defensive group as one of the strange creatures stepped into the room. They weren’t as big without their suits on, maybe just a little taller than your average human, around as tall as the Lt. As it walked, it balanced itself against the ground with one knuckle, while the other hand was clutched to its chest holding some strange and unknown objects. As it stepped into the room, another one of its friends stepped in behind followed by another, and another, and another, until there was a line of them all clustered in a sort of half circle towards the other wall. The aliens stared at the humans, and the humans stared back. Lt. Vir leaned forward a little, his eyes focused on the suits the aliens were wearing. The ones on the outer edge of the ring, were carrying weapons, and seemed, also, to be adorned by the original space suits, which they had worn during their first encounter. The group in the middle carried no weapons, and their suits were much thinner. He wondered what the difference was. One of the center aliens raised a hand just then gesturing towards them with the item it had clasped in its oversized fists. The humans stepped back hands rising towards their faces, and the object flashed. A bright beam of green light ran up the length of their bodies before vanishing with a sudden snap. The creature glanced down at the object, and turned to say something to one of its companions. The way it spoke was a warbling mess of chattering and guttural churning, like the sound that would be made at the back of the mouth or upper throat. If dinosaurs could talk, this is what they would sound like. The humans pressed further back against each other crouching lower and lower to the ground, a few of the marines at the front were practically crouched ready to spring at any provocation. It was a wonder that, in all this commotion, Lt. Vir heard it. It began as a light ping in his helmet accompanied by a flashing indicator inside his visor just out of his left periphery. He almost ignored it, but something made him toggle the notifications switch triggering the display inside his helmet. The left side of his vision lit up leaving his dominant eye a clear view of the room. He glanced at the indication: a color coded chart with lines to indicate the saturation of different elements in the current atmosphere. However, the chart was of no real use to him. He wouldn’t have known what it meant anyway. What he did understand were the massive green letters over the chart that read. Stable atmosphere detected. He checked, and then double checked the reading, keeping an eye on their alien counterparts out of the corner of his eye. They were just standing there grunting at each other, none of them seemed willing to move forward. He wouldn’t have called himself an expert on alien body language, but he definitely read these signs as. Hell naw, they don’t pay me enough to go over there. Of course, he was probably reading way too much into that. After all, he couldn’t even read human body language accurately ninety percent of the time. His second test came back, and he toggled to see the results. Short story was that the atmosphere appeared to be breathable, no detectable hint of things that were likely to kill him, or make him fall to the ground choking on his own lungs, which was always a plus when aboard an alien ship. At least he assumed so anyway. He looked around at the others wondering if they had noticed to alert, but of course, all of them seemed pretty focused on the stiff group of aliens standing before them, silent and unmoving. This was getting tense. Again. While Lt. Vir really liked the marines, like honestly thought they were great guys and fun to hang out with, they were pretty hot headed. Marines were hammers, and you now the rest. Marines were especially prone to violence when scared, confused or nervous, made exponentially worse, when cornered, disarmed, and surrounded by aliens. All in all that was a great indicator of what time it was: Time to do something stupid. He took a deep breath With one eye still on the aliens before him, he toggled the switch over to the equipment menu and scrolled down to the release command on his helmet. He paused, with the glowing selection bar positioned just over the release control blinking repeatedly as it waited for him to make his choice. He gritted his teeth, and went for it. Something clicked on the inside of his helmet. He continued the action by reaching his hands up, and hooking his fingers around the manual release just under his chin. It took him a moment to get through all the redundant systems blocking him from just whipping off the helmet without having more than five second thoughts as he did so. Then finally, there was a sharp hiss as alien air pulsed up through his helmet. Tucking his thumbs under the jaw of the helmet, he pulled upwards, the foam interior brushing over his cheeks and chin as he plucked the helmet from his head. Light blinded him. He tried to squint past the pain in his eyes as he threw a hand up before his face. It didn’t occur to him until his lungs began to burn that, he had been holding his breath. With a gasp he took a deep breath, sucking in a big lungful of alien air, and a massive nose-full of alien smells. He made a face as little particles of alien invaded his nose. It was such a strange smell that he could hardly describe what he was smelling, or even what he felt about the smell he was feeling, weather it was good, or bad, pleasant, unpleasant, pungent or subtle. All he knew is that it was strange. He coughed, dragging his hand down from his face and out towards the aliens. Aliens that were now staring at him. One of them even began to back away. The other humans, sensing the change, turned to look at him. “Mother fuck! Lieutenant!” He took another deep breath, ignoring the expletives of his companions as he stepped forward one hand extended, “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt anyone.” The aliens stepped away. He was barely aware of the sound as his helmet clattered to the ground. “It’s ok.” The aliens stepped back even more, the ones on the side brandishing their weapons towards him. He stopped holding his hands up, “It’s ok.” They turned to look at each other chattering a million miles an hour in their strange warbling language. He tilted his head, listening to them. “Lieutenant, I swear if we get out of this I will court martial your ass.” He held up a finger to silence the captain, who, even behind her helmet looked both baffled and insulted, “Shh, sorry, just so sorry… just let me hear this.” He could almost imagine her jaw working behind the visor. He turned his head back to the aliens, and with a voice that was halting and sort of strangled, he tried to replicate the alien speech. What came out was a butchered mockery of the actual language, but the sudden silence that followed told him that it might have been similar enough to catch their attention. “Lieutenant, shut up!” Someone hissed, “You have no idea what you could be saying.” That was true, he could be potentially be repeated a request to skin them alive and turn their pelts into shoes, but it’s not like he had a whole lot to go on. So he ignored his companions and watched the aliens. They were staring at him. One took a step forward. He held his ground, though on the inside he was about ready to start pissing himself, no shame. The alien made another noise, this one was slow, slower than it had been before, almost annunciated, like the creature was trying to make him understand, or at least trying to get him to do it again. He repeated like before, though, he felt as if his accent was a little better. The aliens chittered at each other, looking back and forth, in either agitation or excitement, he couldn’t tell. The lead alien stepped forward. “Lieutenant.” Chief Palmer hissed Vir ignored him. The alien was right before him now. It clicked. Vir clicked back. It chattered. Vir repeated the sound. The creature turned back to the others again, chirping and chattering at such spends that he could hardly tell one sound form the next. It turned back to look at him; they were standing almost nose to nose now. It was about as tall as him, so they were practically eye to eye standing at the center of the room: a midway point between humanity and extraterrestrials. Behind it, the others were still conversing, making strange and unknown gestures with their bodies, articulating mostly with micro movements of their heads, while their hands remained mostly inanimate. Lt. Vir lifted a hand, and the creature remained surprisingly calm, allowing him to reach up and touch it its mask. “Lieutenant, stop! You have no idea where that thing has been. What kind of diseases it may have.” “It’s a hazmat suit.” Visible confusion. He glanced over his shoulder, ‘It’s wearing a hazmat suit. And the steam we saw earlier was from a DECOM chamber. They don’t want to get sick just as much as us, and I bet if they can travel through space, they know microbiology. They probably don’t want us to get sick either.” The others glanced nervously between each other. It made enough sense not to disagree, though none of them were willing to join the younger man on his risky endeavor. He was alright with that though, and reached up his other hand to prod at the alien’s mask. He couldn’t feel anything. Grumbling in annoyance, he released the lock on his glove and let it clatter to the floor before whipping off the thin cotton glove now clinging to his skin. The air around his hand was cool in comparison to the inside of the glove. Little trails of moisture had built up within the creases of his hand, leaving a print of his fingers on the alien’s mask. The creature pulled back minutely. Its companion’s chattering grew louder. He moved his hands to the creature’s suit pinching the fabric between his fingers, finding the texture to be somewhere between rubber and cotton. All the while he continued to repeat the alien phrases. He wasn’t sure if it was helping, or how it would help, but he sure hoped that the creature would see that he was curious rather than aggressive. It seemed to be working, and behind him the others had gone quiet. There was no more criticism, and a few of them even moved closer to get a better look. Captain Kelly and Chief Palmer stepped up to look over his shoulder, while the others arranged themselves about in various postures of defense, clearly uneasy, but much less tense than before. Following his example, the alien had begun prodding of its own, though the way it moved was indicative of someone who actually knew what they were doing. It started with his hand, taking the uncovered limb in two of its own, running all eight digits over his palms, the back of his hand, and his fingers. It took his index finger between two of its own and manipulated the joint repeatedly He found himself smiling somewhere between excitement and disbelief. This was so insane. By this point the other aliens had moved forward, and were now gathered around their friend, looking over its shoulder, chatting to each other in what, he thought, might be a measure of excitement. One of the creatures reached out tapping one of his finger nails with the tip of its glove. The room was filled with a light clicking noise. For a moment they were silent, and then they were off again speaking at 100 miles an hour. It was fascinating to watch, and almost fun to be a part of. If this was the true meaning of being probed by aliens, he would have to say that it wasn’t actually so bad. He flexed his hand, and wiggled his fingers letting them watch as the tendons on the back of his hand stretched and wriggled. He would have called their reaction delight, or even fascination, though He supposed he might have been biased. They were occupied with his hands for almost thirty minutes before one of them turned its attention to his face. he tried not to flinch or pull away as the alien hands descended downward. Chills ran up his spine as alien fingers brushed over his skin. It prodded his cheek, manipulated the skin, and even gently flexed the cartilage of his ear this way and that. The other two had moved even closer, one of them running its hand through the short cropped hair on top of his head. He remained very still. Behind him, he could hear a quiet snickering coming from the group of marines. “You should really get them to buy you dinner first.”  One of the marines muttered The snickering only grew louder, “Don’t get too excited lieutenant.” He was very glad the aliens couldn’t understand English, but despite that, he could feel blood rushing into his face. His sudden change in color seemed to startle the aliens, and they stepped back the volume of their conversation growing louder with the shock and surprise they must have been feeling. “Isn’t this what you always hoped and dreamed it would be?” “This goes any further and he’s gonna lose his V-card to an alien.” “Shut up.” Vir muttered from the corner of his mouth. Staying very still as one of them grabbed him gently by the face and slowly began rotating his head this way, and then that, forward and then back. When it was done with that, it tilted his head back, and began running it’s hands down either side of the jaw prodding at the hinge of his jaw like you would expect of your dentist to do during an exam. The hair on the back of his neck was standing straight on end. If the hair had been serving its original evolutionary purpose, he would have looked three times his real size. He barred his teeth. They stepped back the chattering growing up in intensity again. He took the moment to take a deep breath running his tongue over his dry lips unaided by the arid atmosphere around him, devoid of any hint of moisture. Back at the front of the room, the aliens had clustered into a loose circle, their faces very close together, hunched over one of their many strange devices. “What are they doing?” The captain muttered, heard by vir only through the implant on the side of his neck. “They don’t seem hostile.” Ramirez ventured uncertainly. The marines seemed a little more skeptical, “Either that or they are looking over the Lt. to see if they can eat him.” One of the scientists threw out a hand and motioned to the alien, “I don’t think so. Just look at its head with the eye openings to the side. I would wager to say it’s a prey animal.” “Yeah sure, let’s guess the entire origins of an alien based on the position of its eyes. It could see out of its ass for all we know.” The marine was getting quite belligerent, which tended to happen when tensions ran high. “The only seeing ass in this room is you!”  He realized he probably shouldn’t have said that as soon as it came out. He didn’t really mean to say that, but he was getting kind of annoyed at the marine for being so negative. Yeah, maybe they were going to die, but they didn’t have to die afraid and angry. The marine glowered at him, hands balling into fists at his sides. Looking into the mask, unable to see the marine’s eyes, Vir still knew that he should probably keep his mouth shut, or at least shut in the way of making rude comments to more senior people. He sheepishly mouthed that he was sorry before turning back to look at the aliens, who had finished their conversation and were now moving closer. “Captain…. What now?” Captain Kelly turned her helmet towards him, and he could almost imagine the frown behind the mask, “Oh, so now you’re letting me be in charge.” He grimaced, “Sorry…. I just didn’t want us to start fighting.” She sighed n exasperation, “Well, we’ve gone this far, and they seem more curious than anything else…” She paused, tapping the fingers of her right hand against the arm of her left, “Take off the rest of your suit Lieutenant.” He blinked in surprise suddenly more nervous than before, “I’m sorry…. Wh-“ “Take off the rest of your suit.” The aliens had come to gather around him again peering at him from behind their strange masks. He held up his hands in front of his chest, “Why… me.” “Because you’re already most of the way there.” He hardly thought that having his helmet and glove off constituted as being most of the way there, but this was the captain, and he had already screwed up enough tonight meaning that this might be his only plausible option in regards to redeeming himself and not getting court martialed, so with all eyes watching, he reached down and began unhooking pieces of his suit dropping them to the ground with one loud thunk after another. “Strip, strip, strip.” It was one of the marines again and he let the soft chanting pass knowing that at least humor was better than panic. He hooked his thumbs under the chest plate of his suit and let that fall to the ground at his feet. His upper half was mostly exposed now, offering him protection only from the light cotton weave body suit. He bent down, unlocking the suit all the way down to the feet, so he could more easily step out, dropping the suit to the floor and stepping onto the cold metal of the deck, or at least a deck he assumed would be cold, but actually found to be rather hot. His feet began to sweat immediately upon contact leaving wet footprints in his wake as he went. A soft muttering came up from the group of aliens who stepped back from his wet footprints. “Sorry guys, it’s kind of hot in here.” Obviously, he knew they weren’t going to understand him, but talking eased his nerves. He knew it was a weakness of his: that he tended to talk too much. Their small group of aliens stepped forward and he closed his eyes surrendering himself to their examination. They started systematically from his arms up and his head down. He did his best trying to help them articulating his head and neck at first, bending his elbows and rotating his hands and wrists. They seemed quite fascinated at the movements. From what he saw, they didn’t tend to have such mobility. For instance, with their palms facing the ground, they couldn’t rotate their hand to be palm up. They could only rotate it to be ninety digress, and they seemed both fascinated and excited when he demonstrated. One of them took his arm in its hands and moved his elbow back and forth watching it bend with some interest. It was all quite entertaining when they made it to his shoulders watching their reaction as he brought them up lowered them down, pinched them forward pulled them back, and then, in what turned out to be a supposedly “Freaky” demonstration, rotated his arms in its socket like a windmill. Upon doing that he received a rather aggressive retreat as they squalled in either surprise, disgust or fear. He held out his hands to them as if to show it was ok then rotated both his arms forward and then back to show them that it was alright, and he was supposed to be able to do that. Again, he wasn’t sure if he was reading these creatures right. He could only make inferences based on their behavior and thought processes, and it seemed to be working so far. They returned, using their own arms to lift his, though it appeared they were incapable of lifting their hands above their heads. They systematically examined the muscles of his chest, the vertebra that went down his back and his ribcage. The touch of their four fingered hands sent tingling eruptions all throughout his body like little bubbles rising to the surface of his skin. Off to the side, the saw the others watching at a discrete distance using their cameras to take even more discrete pictures or video. He was glad they at least had the foresight to do so, as he would have hated to go through this without proof. Not that he exactly hated it. Their fascination, the curiosity that can sometimes be seen with aquatic sea life, was endearing at the same time it was a bit strange. Fingers prodded at his ribs as if attempting to count them making his shiver, his brain telling his body how strange this was, his brain telling his body that those weren’t human hands. Then again, even if they had been human, he wagered that he would be feeling  quite similarly in this situation. In fact, he had army physicals that had been more invasive than this. They moved down below his ribs reaching his stomach and abdomen. It was at that time that his stomach chose to growl. He had definitely not intended for that to happen, but it had, and it was long and loud. Louds enough to scare the aliens back across the room as the strange squealing of his innards died away to a low gurgling and then petered off into silence. He grimaced. The captain crossed her arms. “Do you mind controlling your bodily functions, please lieutenant. I don’t fancy getting shot out of the airlock because you can’t keep your innards quiet.” “Sorry, sorry. I haven’t eaten sine dinner yesterday.” The justification didn’t seem to help him, though he wasn’t entirely sure how he was supposed to silence his insides. It’s not like he had any real control over those. Of course there wasn’t much he could do about it, and eventually coaxed the aliens back to him from across the room. They came, and he gently steered them to more appropriate avenues of study. Sure he was ok with being mostly groped by an alien, but he wasn’t particularly interested in getting fondled by one. Some might argue that there wasn’t a difference, but to him there was definitely a difference, and keeping his unmentionables to himself was a big part of that deal. They seemed pretty excited to learn that feet were pretty much the same thing as hands pulling back to talk with each other again as he dragged himself from the floor and back into a standing position. The other humans in his party had come around to watch and add in their two cents onto what he should be doing, so very helpfully, though none of them seemed interested in offering themselves up for study. At least a few of them had daned to pull off their helmets, Chief Palmer, The captain, and Cprl. Ramirez being the first few to do so. Ramirez -- relatively laid back and calm for a marine -- offered the best moral support he could, though he pulled away from any alien who seemed interested in examining him, so different from the Lieutenant with spiky black hair and dark tan skin. Crpl. Ramirez sat next to him as the aliens convened on the other side of the room watching the LT. as, discretely, plucked his glove from the ground, turning around and snapping a few pictures of himself with the aliens in the background. “Hey, let me in on that.” He whispered, standing next to the Lt, and together the two of them made a thumbs up to the camera. “Would you two stop screwing off? Lt. get your suit back on. I think something is happening.” He was just turning to do that, when another one of the scientists approached. It was carrying a couple of small tools in its hands, and moved very slowly as it did eyes never leaving the Lt. for a single moment. He nervously stood hands out a little bit, not entirely sure what the thing had planned. It reached out gently, and grabbed one of his hands. He watched as it ran a strange device over the skin of his palms, coming away with some dead skin cells. It seemed pretty pleased about that. Then it handed him something else, a small black stick with a little bulb at one end. He stared at it. The alien stepped forward and gently prodded his cheek. He lifted the objet in confusion, and the alien continued to guide his hand, till it was just in front of his mouth. The lieutenant stared at it glancing over his shoulder at Ramirez, then at the captain. “Does he want you to…. Lick it?” Ramirez ventured. One of the scientist tip toed a bit closer, ‘Maybe…. Maybe they want bacteria cultures…. They just did a skin scraping…. So…. It’s not out of the realm of plausibility.” “You want me to put this alien stick… in my mouth?” He stared at it even more skeptically. “You wanted this?” “I never said I wanted this. The rest of you were just too scared to do it.” “To scared? How about not stupid enough.” The captain raised a hand cutting off their augment, “You said it yourself earlier, Lieutenant. They probably don’t want us getting sick either, so just put the stick in your mouth.” He glanced nervously at Chief Palmer, who just shook his head. Lt. vir sighed, but slowly lifted the stick closer opening his mouth. He glanced at the alien past his hand, but the creature didn’t stop him. He slowly moved the stick closer, closer, closer. It did nothing. He passed the stick between his teeth. It waited. He closed his mouth over the stick. It chittered. He thought it seemed pleased. He gummed at the thing for a second trying to get as much of his germs on it as he could before opening his mouth and passing it back smacking his lips against the sort of….burnt flavor? It took the object happily storing it away in a closed container before turning around to leave them. Ramirez returned to his side, arms filled with pieces of space suit staring after the alien, “Dude, you are one ballsy MOFO. I’d rather lick my abuela’s toes.” “That’s really gross, man.” “Better than putting unknown alien objects in my mouth.” The Captain did not seem pleased with their banter, “Get your suit on lieutenant.” Together, the two of them jumped at the captain’s words, and Cprl. Ramirez helped him to put the suit back on locking the legs and chest into place, and then helping him to secure on the forearms and gloves finally handing his helmet back once the final gauntlet was clicked into place. During this time, the group of unarmed aliens had stepped back through the aperture, leaving their armed fiends behind to watch the humans. Though much of the tension had been broken form earlier, the concern on the air was still thick. The humans huddled back into their little pack, like humans tend to do when in dangerous situations, and the aliens shifted in place shifting their weapons minutely between their fingers. Silence permeated the room. Lt. Vir licked his lips trying not to think about what horrible kind of diseases he could have been given. He didn’t want space Ebola. Or maybe something that would cause his skin to start sluffing off in sheets. Or maybe cause his eyeballs to rupture inside his head. He was getting sick just thinking about it. They must have been in that room for over an hour before the aliens returned, finding the humans crouched near the far wall staring down the aliens on the other side of the room, who were clearly disconcerted by the eye contact being made by the humans. They seemed very relieved with their companions appeared, and broke from their tense line walking around to either side of the humans’ little group herding them across the room and towards the aperture. The humans went with only slight resistance knowing there was nothing they could really do. The captain urged them to put their helmets back on, and the Lt. did so hearing it lock into place. He heard the air filters start up recycling the stale alien air inside his suit. The coolant system kicked on evaporating the sweat that had pooled up at his feet and between his fingers. The aliens stepped through the aperture, and the humans were pushed along with them. Lt. Vir nearly tripped over the bottom edge, caught only by Chief Palmer who walked at his back. He muttered an apology. The light around them had dimmed, and he had to squint into the darkness to make out what was going on as his eyes adjusted. The aperture behind them shut and the subtle white ambience grew up around them. Looking around, he found them to be in another small chamber crammed together with the aliens. There was a sharp hiss all around as little jets of steam burst into being, coating them from top to bottom. Form inside his helmet, his vision was almost obscured by the mist, and he heard rather than saw when the jets turned off. He reached up to wipe at his mask with one hand, and was still trying to clear his vision when they were herded out of the room and into another massive atrium. His eyes widened and he turned his head to stare at the massive space before them, silver metal on the rising up on either side in graceful arcs to blend into the silver ceiling creating the illusion that they were standing inside the maw of some massive creature. At that moment he was feeling much less like Adam and a little bit more like Jonah as he lifted his head upwards towards the distant ceiling. There was no way that the ship could be that big, but it was, and he was coming to terms with the fact that he had greatly misjudged the size, which was shocking since he had thought the entire thing was fricking enormous. That same strange ambience permeated the air with light that came from everywhere and nowhere causing some strange issues with his vision, and playing hell with his depth perception. Size clues were based on context, which was shit considering he had no context to go by. The entire thing was disconcerting, and greatly unsettled him like he was sure it did to the others, who bunched closed together, two marines nearly walking backwards, eyeing the room behind them as they went further. Before them, the hall was quiet and rather empty though it felt like it should have held much more. It was the kind of room that made him expect the muttered echoes of voices, and the soft clatter of feet across the floor, but there was none of that. It was only them in the vast space walking for five or more minutes to get to the far end of the room where they were pulled to a stop. A grinding sound rose up around them, and Lt. Vir turned to find a massive door sliding down from above. There were no warning lights, no announcements over unseen loudspeakers. There was only the slow lowering of the doors. He turned in confusion nearly leaping out of his skin as one of the aliens stopped before him. It was one of the armored ones carrying a weapon. It stared at him, and he stared back. Looking around he could see that the rest of the team were experiencing the same strange behavior. Chief Palmer stepped back, and the alien followed him. “Captain, what are they doing?” “I’m not entirely sure.” She responded her voice calm. Lt. Vir was frozen stiff and in place as the alien reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. He was facing towards the massive door now, which had locked closed. With a sudden thud that rose up through his feet followed by a resounding hiss, all the noise fled from the world. He turned his head and saw the marines trying to run back, but even more suddenly than that, gravity vanished. As the marines tried to push away, they were pushed into the air, grabbed by their alien counterparts, who, somehow managed to remain on the floor, their feet locked into place. Since Adam had been standing still, he didn’t move from the ground, though he could feel the weightlessness about him. The alien before him rested a hand on the side of his helmet. Through the floor, he felt a massive vibration, and the light around them dimmed. He turned his head eyes widening, watching as the massive airlock doors began to slide open. Red light spilled in form outside, cutting jarringly through the previously white ambience. He clutched to the alien’s arm looking over his shoulder at the vast blackness of space, and the two red binary stars which appeared close by, but may as well have been an eternity away. The alien lifted him off the floor with one hand more than aided by his new found weightlessness. Off to the side, some of the marines were attempting to struggle, but as soon as they did, they were pushed backward. Adam watched in wide-eyed horror as the marines flailed kicked, and plunged backward out of the airlock. He began to struggle trying to pull at the creature’s hand which held him fast. It seemed so calm as it stared him in the face, condemning him to death. Just to the side Chief Palmer cartwheeled over backwards having accidently kicked the floor as he struggled to get away. Captain Kelly had her alien by the arm refusing to let go reaching her other hand around to grab it by the space suit, but she lost her grip and was pushed backward. His panicked breathing filled his helmet. His heart was hammering through his ribcage like a tiny man with a pickaxe. He grabbed onto the Alien’s hand. It tilted its head at him, though it didn’t look malicious. Could it be that it didn’t understand what it was doing to them? Surely it had to know that they couldn’t last in space forever. And then it pushed. He let go watching as the alien grew smaller and smaller in his vision. Silver metal rolled past him on either side, and then the ship loomed above him, an incomprehensible silver monolith seeming to stretch out towards infinity. The airlock became a small black dot in the side of the ship and then it was barely distinguishable as a feature on the vast silver face. He spun twisting his body in the air and ended up slowly flipping end over end. Alien ship, stars, and then the universe arrayed out before him in a vast never-ending expansion. His heart raced, his body went cold, his hands grasped at nothingness. There was nothing to tether him, no line or cable. He was floating. Alone. Inside he felt lightheaded, and cold. His ears screamed with the silence, the universe seemed ready to swallow him up, its mouth opening wide. And then. “Is everyone alright.” The crackle of the coms brought him back to reality, “Can everyone hear me.” Many voices spilled over the line a wave of confusion and anger. He was just coming out of his confusion, and It was only then he remembered there was a CO2 canister on the back of his suit. He called in that he was fine, toggling the manual switch on his glove for the canister, and used it to right himself, slowing his spin and allowing him to control his slow float through space. The massive alien ship still loomed behind them. He looked around before him, blinded by the binary system and confused by the thousands upon thousands of stars looming to infinity behind that. He squeezed his eyes shut, the view making it hurt to think. “Enterprise, this is…. Captain Kelly. Do you read?” He opened his eyes again, and thought he saw a figure against the vast blackness of sky, but he just couldn’t tell. “Lieutenant, can you hear me. Lieutenant come in!” He tried to shake himself out of his confusion, “I’m here, Captain.” “Thank g-“ Static crackled and warped through his helmet and into his ears, “Captain, Kelly, this is enterprise, do you read! Come in!” “Enterprise! We’re here, we read you.” “Just hold tight, captain, we’re coming to get you.” He heard cheering over the line, but was too relieved to make much sound himself. He simply spun there feeling the tightness In his chest as it was washed away to be replaced by a relief so profound it made him want to cry, though he kept it together. Eventually, he calmed down enough to open his eyes. Staring back at the strange alien ship, now a dot in the distance. What the hell was that all about? Now the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if they had actually intended to hurt them at all. I mean, they had to have known they were wearing space suits, and they had to have guessed that they had communications sophisticated enough to operate in space…. Perhaps that was their way of setting them free without having to run risk of a bunch of angry humans with ship sized firepower. And then there was all that work they had gone through to examine him. If they hadn’t been looking for slaves, or food, than what were they looking for? And why weren’t they leaving? “Captain Kelly, we have eyes on you. Standby.” He turned his head looking in all directions as he tried to find the ship or shuttle that was coming to rescue them, though the endeavor proved fruitless against such a confused background. After captain Kelly was picked up he was forced to wait another fifteen minutes until he finally spotted a shuttle cruising out of the darkness, its massive high beams cutting through the intervening space and blinding him. He threw up his hands to block the light and ended up spinning over backwards feet kicking up in the air before him. He floated there in the beam of the spotlight for only a few second before- “I see him, Opening airlock doors…. Lt. I’m going to need you to steer towards us gently, try not to push it too hard.” He acknowledged the command and turned to orient himself in the correct directions giving the CO2 canister a quick burst that sent him floating gently through the intervening space. The ship grew bigger in his vision, and he only had to adjust once more before he passed through the airlock and bumped gently against the far wall. An impact waring beeped on inside his helmet just as the doors closed, and the cabin was pressurized. Heart still pounding, breath coming in fast he leaned back against the door head tilted up to stare at the ceiling, heart beating out of his chest. The door behind him opened, and he nearly fell into the cabin, but someone caught him by the shoulders, and instead of falling he was dragged backwards, floating into the crew compartment where all the other team members were sitting in various stages of shock and decompression. One of the crew helped to strap him into a seat patting the side of his helmet. He had a little red cross on the sleeve of his flight suit, “Feeling alright there lieutenant. Lightheaded, nauseous, racing heart, hyperventilation, feeling too hot, too cold?” He shook his head and shrugged, “Racing heart, I guess, but I…. think I’m ok.” “Are you experiencing any panic, dissociation, loses in time , fear of large spaces, confusion, difficulty thinking, difficulty speaking.” He shook his head, “I don’t…. think so.” The man patted the side of his helmet again and then turned back to the pilot, “Call back to the landing bay and get psych on the line. I want all of them evaluated for Cosmic Hysteria.” Lt. Vir felt his hands go cold. The group looked between each other, though their faces were hidden behind helmets. “The ship still there?” The Captain wondered. She wasn’t strapped in, but moved up to float behind the pilot. “Um, no- Holy shit, I think it’s following us.” His hands were white knuckled on the seat and he could see the tension in the bodies of the rest of the crew as they too gripped on to their seats. “Call in to the bridge, and tell them to start the warp sequence back to Earth, immediately.” No one argued, and Lt. Vir closed his eyes resting his head against the harness trying to take long deep breaths. His mind was a well of confusion making his stomach churn like his innards were tangling themselves into knots. A hand had clenched itself around his esophagus, and butterflies were taking the real estate in his stomach. His hands shook/ He was so confused. A part of him was on cloud nine. He had gotten his dream, everything he had always wanted, but at the same time this was different. This was reality, and reality was far more confusing with far more implications. He didn’t even know if that first meeting had gone well. He didn’t even know if the aliens had intended on leaving them alive. “Enterprise this is sparrow coming in for dock.” “Proceed to the forward airlock bay on the starboard side.” He was having difficulty hearing what was going on, his mind racing to fast for him to thin properly. It was like he was spinning in slow circles. A fleeting thought crossed his mind, so distant that he almost missed reaching out and plucking it from the air. What if he was getting sick? Could it be biological warfare? Was he a vector for some unknown alien disease? “Captain?” His voice was hoarse, and he had to clear his throat. He needed to calm down, or he might just get himself and everyone on the ship into a state of mass panic and hysteria. All of his symptoms could be explained by panic, and their unplanned trip into outer space. “Captain.” She turned to look at him, “Yes, Lieutenant.” “You should have a DECOM team waiting, just in case…. Quarantine those of us who had our gear off.” She paused only for a second before, “Good thinking lieutenant.” She leaned over to the pilot who sent in their request. The copilot leaned forward, “Captain, they are still following us.” “What the hell do they want?” She muttered turning her head towards the rear-facing cameras. The silver speck had grown in the past few minutes now a silver dot. “Fly faster.” She ordered. “Already there, captain.” The copilot said through clenched teeth. “Shit “Don’t worry we’re almost there.” Outside the viewing shield, the ship was coming up on their left. The pilot took the turn pretty sharply cutting the entrance entirely to close for comfort as their right wing nearly clipped the docking bay door. Red lights flashed around them, and the door were shut behind them. Silence. And then the air lock was flooded with both sound and atmosphere. The forward doors slid open as they were unbuckling themselves, and a full medical and DECOM team were stepping out onto the deck dressed in full hazmat. The group of them were led down the ramp, and they were separated into two groups. Those who were exposed and those who were not ordered not to take off their helmets. “Initiate warp sequence.” “But ma’am, we need to get all the equipment tied down.” The captain jammed a finger at the officer causing him to step back away from her. Light flashed over her helmet visor, “And we will deal with the aftermath. But right now and unknown alien species is chasing after us so initiate the goddamn sequence!” The man stammered but hurried to do her bidding keying his mic. Lt. Vir could feel the rumble of the warp core engaging as the DECOM team escorted him across deck. Together they took a knee against the floor bracing themselves for a violent warp sequence. And waited. And waited. Lt. Vir raised his head. “What the hell is going on?” The officers rung their hands taking to their feet and pacing wildly as they tried to get a status update yelling over the coms to the bridge. “Ma’am the warp core is not engaging.” “What do you mean the warp core isn’t engaging? I can feel it.” The man turned his attention back to his radio for a moment, “No…. the core is engaged, but the warp….” His voice trailed away jaw working furiously as he tried to find the words, “Ma’am the warp core is engaged, but the sequence won’t engage…. Space isn’t responding?” Captain Kelly took to her feet, “The-“ The ship rattled suddenly, and all who were on their feet wobbled only barely able to keep their balance. “What was that?” Lt. Vir looked up eyes fixed on the ceiling above as if he could see what was beyond. “Aliens.”

First Contact Extended pt 2

“Lieutenant! Lieutenant! Come back!”

Rocks clattered and thundered against the ground, like they definitely shouldn’t have, but still did. His hands scrabbled against the rocks skidding and sliding backwards with the pull of gravity, like there definitely shouldn’t have been but still was. He was up the incline in seconds following a shiver of movement that couldn’t be real, but just had to be. Rocks impacted the ground behind him, voices sputtered through the coms, and running footsteps echoed through the cavern. He dived forward on all fours scrambling into the dark opening, now lit by beams form his suit. One beam of light cut across the smooth interior wall, and caught the tail end of movement as it vanished around a corner. “I see it! I see it!” He shouted, words echoing in his head, heart hammering in his chest, as he scrambled on all fours through the small cavern, lights breaking through the darkness reflecting off the walls and bouncing back into his retina where this miraculous and insane scene was unfolding. The gloves of his hands scraped and clattered against stone and metal leaving white gouges in his wake as he scrambled down the pathway. The top of his helmet clattered against the roof of the tunnel, and he was forced to duck forward scrambling like an animal on his hands and toes through the confined space. It didn’t even occur to him what he was doing or where he was going, the only thing he saw, the only thing he cared about was that fleeting movement. An alien! That was the only explanation, the only logical conclusion that he could have possibly made. If it was moving and it wasn’t human than it had to be something else. He threw himself forward even harder,  adrenaline firing through his body, making his legs go faster not bothering to heed the pain in his shoulders, back, and hips from the unnatural movement he had been forced into. “Come…. Back.” He panted, “We… come in… Peace.” He rounded another corner nearly slamming into the wall with the force of his momentum, turning at just the right time to catch a flash of green whipping around the next bend. No way No way No way! The tunnel had grown taller now allowing him to lurch into a running crouch, half sprinting half galloping down the hallways body slamming into stones, jutting rocks and metallic protrusions as he raced past. Inside his helmet, his suit blipped constantly with impact warnings crying out about an elevated heartrate, and a heightened consumption of oxygen. Putting extra strain on the filters. He ignored the warnings and pushed himself harder, diving through a low opening in the in the tunnel, landing on his chest before pushing himself up and worming through another narrow space. He could hear the rocks scraping against his suit, could hear the thundering of his own breath, glad that the inside of the mask could not be fogged. All he could hear was the hammering mantra inside his head. It can’t be. It can’t be

Detecting an increase in body heat, drawing power for the coolant system.

He felt a cold chill over his skin as a fine cooling mist was run through the tubes in his under suit. The sudden chill brought him an increase in energy, and the lights around him dimmed towards the edges of his vision, as excitement flooded his arms and legs with blood. He sped up as they broke into another tunnel, this one tall enough that he could run at a crouch sprinting awkwardly after the shadow up ahead. He gritted his teeth and sprinted faster, clenching his hands together. Inside his head he felt as if he were merely a spectator watching form outside. A mere observer on a third person chase as his body raced through the caverns because this just couldn’t be real. Increasing oxygen flow. Lt. Vir ran faster eyes wide, focused on nothing but that fleeing shape in front of him. This was it, this was the moment he had been waiting for his entire life, and with a jolt, a thrill of excitement, he realized what he was. He was the first person to see extra-terrestrial life, he was the first person to witness the most important discovery in the history of ever…. Humanity was not alone. If he had the ability to pee himself, he probably would have, based on sheer excitement, and he wouldn’t have even cared. Hell, let the history books know, it wasn’t important. The truth of the matter was evident for everyone to see. He had discovered alien life. He, Adam Vir, a small down kid from Mid Mericanda, bullied, teased and ridiculed all his life for his unorthodox beliefs; what some even said was an obsession, was right. He was right! A bark of laughter escaped his lips. And now he had proved them wrong. Like his mother had always said he would. With every thought, and every clatter of his feet on stone, he only grew faster, spurred on by the realization of what he had done, of what he was seeing. “Suit..! Turn on..! Camera.” He shouted panting as little flecks of saliva burst form his lips, spattering across the inside of his visor, like it would never have done if this were a real asteroid, with the kind of gravity a real asteroid was supposed to have. All around him shadows and rocks past by in a hurricane of motion, spinning past on either side only to vanish into the darkness. With his feet and hands he pushed off the rock, throwing himself forward. Cool, damp oxygen filled his mask feeding his muscles as he roared down the passageway leaping over little inclines and slipping through narrow openings. Up ahead, by way of echoes, he could a distant scuttling, and the occasional clatter as rocks spilled onto the ground, rolling across the cavern bottom and thudding against his boots as he ran only to be flipped back into the air, ricocheting off the rock walls and spilling back onto the ground. He was gaining. A grin spreading across his face, he rocketed around a second corner skidding into the wall with a loud bang before turning and sprinting down the hall. It was a long, even tunnel now, and for the first time in as many minutes, he saw the creature for what it was. And it wasn’t like anything he had ever seen before! His eyes widened even more with the sheer raging glee that flowed through his blood. It was as if he had stumbled into a dream, accept for, instead of waking up right before the good part, deity had allowed him his moment. The mid-sized creature raced ahead familiar whipping tail raging back and forth almost like that of a dragon or dinosaur, with a leaf bladed tip at the end which snapped and fluttered back and forth. The body attached to the tail was long and sinewy, like the body of a lizard or an alligator. This could not be happening. As they raced up another small incline, six legs worked to furiously spur it onwards, two pairs in the front and one pair in the back, built in such a way that its belly practically scraped the ground as it ran. It was clearly not built for running. And that was fine by the Lieutenant. He charged forward gaining on the creature with every step, footsteps impacting the ground with a rattling thud that made the tunnel quake and rock. Small pebbles and shards of stone vibrated and leaped into the air in time with his heavy footfalls. At one point, the creature turned its head to look at him, eyes on the side of the head like those of a lizard, though there were at least three of them instead of the usual one, and they weren’t dark, but big milky white expanses that glowed and flashed in the light of his headlamp. A set of bony protrusions stuck out from behind it’s skull like you might see on a dragon. It was so cool! It opened its mouth, and form as close a distance as he was he could see that it did not have any teeth, A noise reached his ears, still faded and muffled from behind the barrier of his suit. He had never heard a noise like it before. If he were to give it a name, he would have said this is what happens when you mix the sound a zebra makes with that of an angry cat. It was certainly alien, and that made it all the better. He leaped forward hands outstretch as a lion leaps for its prey, but at the last moment it dodged to the side, and he hit the ground hard on his hands and knees scrambling to his feet as fast as was humanly possible, worried the creature would use the opportunity to get away. More impact warning lights popped up inside the visor of his suit, though he still continued to ignore them as he ran. He had lost a lot of headway in the time that it had taken him to get back up to speed after his fall, so he only caught the tail end of the alien as it darted upwards into a vertical shaft. Didn’t matter to him, though, and he didn’t break stride as he thundered up the passageway poking his head up through the vertical shaft to watch the creature scrambling to scale the interior. He glanced downward, the light form his helmet fading into blackness as she shaft grew deeper, It didn’t matter though, the shaft was small, and making his way up would be no issue, at least not if he did it right. So he stepped inside, bracing his feet against either wall and began bounding upwards through the darkness using alternating movement of the feet and hands to push him upwards chasing after the alien, who scrabbled frantically at the walls more hindered than it was helped by its small size. He was almost there. With one outstretched hand, he reached upwards narrowly missing the tail as the creature squealed, warbled and scampered the last few feet out of the shaft. He cursed, though it was more a response based on excitement than it was in anger, and then heaved himself up through the next hole onto his belly, inching forward the next few meters until the narrow space widened enough for him to retain his feet. The alien had made great headway in that time, and it was, again, only a shadow on the distant edges of his vision. He raced after it, panting now muscles burning despite the extra boost of oxygen. But he wasn’t the only one lagging, ahead of him the creature was beginning to slow, noticeably stumbling against the ground as it staggered this way and that. It only occurred to the young lieutenant at that moment that he might have exhausted the creature…. What would he even do if he had capture it? Worse, maybe he would run it to death on accident. He didn’t know how aliens worked; he didn’t know what they could or could not withstand, so he pulled back a little in concern, watching as the creature slowed to an uneven trot sensing that its pursuer was no longer gaining. Its body heaved, implying that it had some form of lung, or a related analogous structure. Up ahead, the lieutenant was surprised to sense light. It was hard to make out, in comparison with his own beams, so he dimmed them, until the lights inside his mask were all that was left, and continued to walk after the limping form, trailing in its wake down the last hallway and out…. Into another massive room. Up until now, everything had been a dream. He had been an observer in his own body as he ran, a simple passenger in a thrilling ride. But now he was coming back to himself regaining his sense of awareness and logic, beginning to understand the sheer weight of what was happening. His breath came in shallow gaps as he stepped a few ore feet into the massive cavern. His body quivered, and despite the coolant system in the suit, he could feel a trickle of sweat running down the back of his neck. Gasping and exhausted, he paused just beyond the opening eyes wide as he lifted his eyes towards the ceiling, spinning in a slow circle. The room around him was massive, perhaps larger even than the one before it. Immense glittering pillars lined the sides of the room, three in total on either side, with an additional three, thinner than their counterparts, running down the middle of the room giving nine of the pillars in total. And all around them there was light. It was a strange aqua blue glow, hinting at green, and cast by a strange, unknown substance growing in patches on the walls, and in big puddles on the floor. It even hung from high in the ceiling in great glowing drapes strung like curtains or streamers around the massive cathedral-sized room. He stepped forward his feet soft on the cold stone below, and the profusion of deep blue light gave the distinct impression of walking under water. He almost expected a school of fish to swim by, or even to witness the return of the aforementioned battle squid from earlier, though somewhat more ethereal and less likely to rip his head from his shoulders with its powerful, angry tentacles. Still mesmerized, He wandered forward a few steps hand reaching out towards the strange glowing material. As he drew closer, the outer edges of his suit were lit up with the soft blue bio luminance. Blue ran over his hand in little rivulets, trickling into the cracks and folds at his arms, and dusting his face with a soft caress. Inside, he was awash with awe, as if the blue light and trickled inward and invaded his chest, spilling through his veins, and nerves until every part of his body was cold with suspended excitement. It was a feeling he could feel crystalizing in his lungs and pumping with every beat of his heart. It was like that first moment that first moment he had broken from earth’s atmosphere and watched as the blue haze faded into the distant glowing curvature. It was like stepping onto Proxima b for the first time and being awash with the light of a red dwarf star. But it was also warm with the echoes of his mother and father’s voice, telling him he was right. Even though he didn’t believe it. After a moment, his gloved hand came to rest on the strange, fibrous material, and, in response, he watched as the deep blue faded to white and then darkened to an electrifying pink, sending branching tendrils of bubble gum light upwards changing the aqua shade towards a deep purple glow. He stepped back in concern, the fibrous material flopping from his fingers and dangling back towards the ground in response to, what had to be, artificial gravity. The, honestly, rather concerning pink light faded back to shades of aqua, and he turned his head in a wide circle searching for the object of his pursuit. The real reason he was here. He found it by way of aqua glow, pooled in light cast in great beams downwards upon his form and that of the staggering creature, which took a few more labored steps before collapsing at the edge of one of the glowing blue pools of light Oh no! He hadn’t killed it, had he? He felt suddenly sick, overcome with a horrendous nausea and a sense of impeding dread. The calming blue glow inside his chest morphed in a second to that warning pink color from before turning his insides to mush and bringing with it an overwhelming sense of nausea. Little vines of blackness, covered in thrones and mired in brackish water wormed their way up into his chest. Oh no, oh no, he didn’t mean to kill it. Inside his chest squeezed tight, and his heart hammered. No, no, no, it had to be, ok. What had he done? Would he inadvertently start a war with a superior galactic race by way of misunderstanding? Had he just gone and committed an act of war, or worse was he a… a murderer? No, no no, that couldn’t be it. He stepped forward, reaching a hand out to the creature, looking for any signs of life as he cut across the intervening distance. “Please don’t be dead.” It was then that movement alerted him to their presence. It began as a distinct flitting on the edge of his vision, like catching sight of a butterfly while walking through a meadow, or being harassed by a shadow while on your way home in the dark. He stopped in his place turning his head to the side. The aqua blue light reflected from their milky white eyes, turning them into great glowing blue bulbs hunkered deep in the darkness. He could hear them now skittering back and forth in agitation their mouths open with that same warbling growl form earlier. And they continued to appear, one after another. Spaces which had been devoid of light before, were now populated with a thousand glowing orbs hissing and warbling in the darkness. He caught one of the creatures out of the corner of his eye, only to note that the strange protrusions on the back of its head had risen up and fanned outward like the frill you’d find on a bearded dragon. He took a step back holding out his hands, “Woah now hold on guys, I didn’t mean to hurt anyone I…. I was just excited. We… we come in peace?” Of course, they didn’t understand him, or likely even hear him. Idiot, what was he thinking? He turned his head again, glancing down at the still, seemingly lifeless, form on the ground before the glowing pool. “Please wake up.” He muttered A sudden sharp sound loud enough to be heard through his helmet, nearly made him jump, and he looked down to find an arrangement of tiny holes opened up in the floor just before his feet. He stepped back in mild concern. As he watched little spouts of clear liquid shot upwards to about waist height glimmering in the aqua light like a trail of leaping sapphires  before falling to the ground only to go leaking back into the floor from whence they came. “What the hell.” He muttered Looking up, he saw that the creatures had pulled back further into their shadows the warbling growing louder and more agitated as the minutes went on. “Suit, what is this?’ He asked, nervously staring down at the trickling streams.

Initiating chemical scan…. Processing…. Processing….. Detection dihydrogen monoxide.

“Water? Why? No, never mind.” He turned back towards the group of aliens holding his hands in the air palms outward, “it’s alright, I-I don’t want to hurt anyone.” He took one step forward, his leg passing through the water. Obviously, he didn’t feel anything. But it was as if they did. As soon as he passed through the water, the room practically erupted. The creatures screamed, a sound that he hadn’t heard before. He tried to cover his ears it was so loud, even though the suit, only to find that there was an entire helmet in the way of that particular process. He stepped out of the puddle of water sapphire droplets cascading form his legs and torso. He could still see the strange little creature lying off to the side, unmoving. “Come on, be ok.” He breathed approaching closer across the ground as the room around them grew still louder. Blue light flooded up from the pool as he crouched down finally noticing the slow, rhythmic breathing of the creature. Thank whatever deity was inclined to listen. He reached out a hand to-“ “Lieutenant! Don’t you dare touch that!” The voice startled him so badly that he tripped over backwards, landing on his ass on unforgiving stone jarring his spine all the way up into his teeth. Another warning light flashed in his suit. He turned on the spot just in time to see the Captain, flanked by a group of marines standing in the opening. All of them were crouched in a defensive stance, their weapons pointed towards the chittering masses. “Holy shit.” “What the actual fuck are those things.” “Am I the only one seeing this?” Lieutenant Vir held up his hands, “No, no don’t hurt them.” “Shut your trash mouth, Lieutenant, and get-your-ass-back-here-now.” The lieutenant Froze in his place, he had never heard the Captain speak like that before. Sure he had heard her angry, but this…. This was beyond angry, this was. Livid. And it was all directed at him. Shit “Right, Now!” He jumped to do as told as quickly as humanly possible, tracing his way back across the stone, through the pillar of water, and towards where his companions were standing. As he reached them, he was grabbed violently by the shoulder and thrust towards the back of the group where the captain waited. “Captain I-“ He was cut off helmet ringing from the absolutely vicious backhand. He staggered, his suit pinging another impact warning, “Stupid irresponsible idiot! You could have gotten yourself killed! What kind of ass backward dumbass idiot-“ “Captain…. I think maybe we can continue this later.” One of the marines muttered nervously. She cut off her tirade long enough to glance downward at the ground, to where those holes were opening up again. The chittering and roaring form the strange creatures was only growing louder and louder causing the blue-lit moss, or whatever it was to shake and quiver with the power of their voices. Looking back, the group could see the strange unknown creatures racing alone ledges carved into the stone chittering with their agitated back and forth movements. “Alright, we have to move quickly. First we need to set up at a safe location, and second we need to get a transmission back to the ship ASAP.” No one seemed remotely interested in arguing with her orders, and in their haste, he was forced again, back down the hall as the marines began backing away from the agitated aliens still screeching and hissing. A wall of water leaped up before them like the Bellagio on the Las Vegas strip accept framed in a glowing blue light and the angry hissing of a thousand aliens, so maybe not really like Las Vegas at all. Even as they looked on, more and more of them began to appear, marked by glittering blue orbs that just seemed to appear out of the blackness, until suddenly the entire cavern seemed to be a wash with them. Lt. Vir peered over the shoulders of his comrades trying to get a better look at the very first alien. He just wanted to know if it was ok. And to his delight, he saw it weakly raise its head before he was ushered backwards out of sight, and back down the tunnel head turned back towards that eerie blue glow even as the marines pushed them on. In the intervening five minutes that characterized their retreat from the alien room, backtracking down tight hallways and crawling through minuscule openings, he received the reaming of his life. The captain was livid, and she let him know in no uncertain terms “You better be glad I don’t demote you, you better be glad I don’t just go right ahead and kick your ass, you better be glad that I don’t kick you right the hell off my ship and decommission you from the army.” He remained silent. “I told you to stay with the group, I told everyone to stay with the group, and you go running off after an unknown entity potentially pissing them off! When we get back to the ship I am going to have to have a serious talk about your future on the ship, if there is one at all.” That made his heart skip. No, no, that wasn’t ok at all. He had to stay here, he had to be close to the aliens. He couldn’t just be bumped off the ship, “But, Captain I-“ “Your speaking privileges have been revoked.” She snapped, “From here on you stay silent.” She turned to the young marine, “If it wasn’t thanks to Corporal Ramirez, we wouldn’t have been able to find you after your little stunt, and instead of rewarding him for his quick thinking, I am going to have to task him with watching your dumb ass.” Lt. Vir could not help but feeling they were missing the big picture here. Sue, he had done a dumb thing, but also there were aliens, and that seemed just a little bit more important than him being an idiot, though he kept his mouth shut, hoping that her anger would eventually cool off to be replaced by shock, which would in turn lead her to forget what he had done. Ahead of them, the cramped light of their high beams suddenly dispersed outwards, and the first marine squeezed into that first, wide cavern opening the way for others to crawl into place behind him. Chief Palmer was the last to follow inadvertently knocking Vir in the helmet as he passed, or….. was it inadvertent? The look on the man’s face as he turned around was made it clear that, that had been no accident. He looked disappointed. Vir felt his stomach sink down into his boots puddling and squishing between his toes in a way that was uncomfortable for both his feet and his stomach. Captain Kelly took a few steps away from their party as she attempted to hail the ship “Chief, I really, am sorry-“ He held up a hand cutting the young man off mid pela, “I know you’re sorry, but that doesn’t change the fact that what you did was stupid and reckless, and we are all very disappointed. Especially me.” That really, really hurt. “I went up to bat for you lieutenant. I thought you could handle this, but I am seriously beginning to doubt my first impressions of you.” Lieutenant Vir held his hands out pleadingly, “I know, ok, I know what I did was way stupid but, but are we seriously focusing on my screw up when….. Aliens. Guys, seriously aliens. And judging by the artificial gravity and atmosphere, I would say sentient aliens. The best we could have hoped for a week ago was some sort of alien ameba, and now there are real life aliens, thinking, communicating aliens as we are going to focus on how much of a dumbass I am? Have I said the word aliens enough for it to finally sink in?” All around, the gathered group of marines, and the occasional scientist glanced between each other as his words had some sort of impact, though, then again it could have been a look like. Get a load of this guy. I know crazy right? “Damn it.” Captain Kelly stepped back toward the group her hands balled into angry fists, “I can’t get through.” “What do you mean you can’t get through?” “I mean exactly what I said. I don’t know if…. For some reason, they aren’t picking up or if our signal is being jammed. Either way, we have to get out of here immediately.” “I can’t believe this.” One of the marines was muttering, “What was that marine?” “Aliens, effing aliens. Real life actual…. Mother f-“ “Pull yourself together.” The captain snapped, “We will have our moment when we are safe back on the ship, but for now, form up, and let’s get back to the shuttle.” And that was the end of the matter; when the captain wanted something, she got it, and from that moment forward a team of marines and one cowed pilot formed up into positions Chief palmer bringing up the rear. Something nudged Vir in the shoulder, and he turned around to find Cprl. Ramirez holding out a rifle, “You dropped this earlier.” He felt a blush rushing into his face as he took it, “Oh, er, thanks.” Lights flashed and rolled about the cavern as the small group of humans made their way, through what they were now recognizing as an unnatural structure. What had once advertised itself as a simple cave formation on an undescriptive rock in the middle of space, had turned itself into the grand atrium of a strange alien species, stumbled upon by a small and lightly armed group of humans out of their element, and running out of time. The unnatural smoothness of the cave floors and the towering pillars reaching upwards towards the sky in a great sweeping arcs made all of them wonder why they hadn’t seen this before, and despite their unwillingness to admit it, they were all scared and terrified. Captain Kelly kept herself calm and collected, as much as she could be, already feeling somewhat guilty about her anger towards the young Lieutenant. His actions had been rash and stupid, that part she hadn’t been wrong about, but who among them was actually thinking straight at the moment. No one could have guessed his reaction, and she doubted even he had through it through in much detail, at least in the way that it had truly happened. In fact, she was sure he had not originally intended to directly disobey her orders, and had likely completely forgotten about her instructions by the time he was chasing the creature. None of them could have prepared for what was coming. They had ventured out from their ship expecting to find a dull lifeless rock with, perhaps, something shiny on it, and instead they had found another sentient race. This would change everything they thought they knew, this would change scientific discourse, and the idea that humanity was alone, and it would likely spawn a plethora of conspiracy theories about how the UN had made up fictitious accounts of aliens in order to close off potentially metal-rich asteroid fields, thus condemning the poor minorities of earth and mars to continuous poorness, while government aided companies sold the secret metals on mark-up for their own personal gain. Either way, no matter what the public believed, things were about to change. It was these thoughts that she shared with the rest of the crew, stepping outside the, once large, confines of ta cave, which suddenly seemed very small in comparison to the vast field of stars that stretched outwards into infinity. In the time they had been inside, the entire rock had rotated almost ninety degrees, opening up before the binary star system, blocked only on occasion as other asteroids slowly revolved before them, darkening their step with immense whirling shadows. Form this distance, the two stars were nothing more than dim pinpricks of celestial light, like two great eyes staring out from the darkness, not so different form the eyes in the cave. Waves of red washed over them, like the waves that wash over sand at high tide, waves of cosmic light Stars winked and blinked from above, an accompanying vast field of eyes to the first rising up from the darkness to examine the intruders, who had fallen prey to this grand new knowledge. The entire universe was watching. The entire universe was waiting to see what they would do. Because for the first time, in the vast eons, the great stretch of history, humanity knew. No longer did they have to look up at the stars in wonder, no longer did they have to argue, fight, or theorize, because the evidence was right there before their eyes. Not just a photosynthetic ameba, not a mite or a single sell, but an actual complex organism. The greatest question ever asked had been answered. Are we alone? And it had been answered by an idiot kid, a couple of jar heads the captain of the Earth’s first interstellar space craft, and a couple more humans scared out of their minds and currently jogging for their lives across the open plane of an asteroid that wasn’t really an asteroid, and that they shouldn’t have been able to jog on. In fact, generally jogging on an asteroid usually resulted in jogging oneself straight upwards into the void, so the fact that wasn’t happening, while a plus, was also kind of not a plus based primarily on what it meant. “Any signal yet?” “No, Damn it, nothing.” “But there was no interference earlier.” “I know that, but I am saying there is still no signal.” The captain pointed to the scientist who had been asking the question, “If you think you can get it to work, be my guest.” The scientist didn’t argue, and tried it growing more desperate by the minute. Inside his helmet, Lt. Vir was hearing their conversation as a warped chatter of static, a fact which concerned him. When they had originally left the safe confines of the shuttle, their voices had been clear as crystal, but now it wasn’t much better than a pair of children’s walk-talkies at a distance of seven and a half miles, not great if that wasn’t already clear.” The cooling system in his suit was still going, but even despite that, he felt another droplet of sweat trickle from his hairline, before meeting the cotton suit at his shoulder blades. “Mother effing thing!” Up ahead of them, he could just make out their shuttle hunched in the darkness at the far end of the landscape hull glittering with a metallic red light that allowed it to stand out against the surrounding stone. Behind it, thousands of stars stretched out like great black arms reading to embrace. Perhaps it had been a mistake to take all their man power along on the mission, not that the Captain could have foreseen meeting extraterrestrial life and then losing all their coms access. Even if they had left someone with the shuttle, the pilot would have no way of knowing what kind of predicament they were in. If their interpersonal comms were so bad, he could only imagine what communication with the shuttle would have been like. Then again maybe they should have foreseen something like this, either way, there was nothing to do about it now. Though that didn’t seem to stop the aggressive cursing he heard in snippets over the line. Boots silently impacted stone sending vibrations up through his boots and into his suit. His eyes were fixed on the red lit plateau before him. …. And that was when he felt it. To this day he couldn’t have described the feeling, or wat it meant to him at the time. All he remembered was a vibration, a thrumming in the voided nothingness, a sensation that rolled deep inside and made the very marrow of his bones tingle. All the air on his arms, legs, and the back of his neck stood straight on end as if the air around him had been electrified. Inside his chest his heart hammered, and a rolling pulse of adrenaline spiked through his veins as a trillions stars had turned to eyes, and now gazed down upon him with malevolent intent. And in that moment, he could feel it. He could feel the weight of the cosmos bearing down on them. And great shadows rising up at their backs. The feeling was so powerful that he stumbled in his spot nearly tripping onto the red-lit silicon of the disguised asteroid, spinning to stare behind them and halting dead in his tracks as the others ran ahead. A shadow moved now, crawling across the high-lit expanse of rock and metal chasing after the now feeling humans, who, despite seeing nothing, could feel it coming. Lt. Vir staggered back, catching the heel of his foot on a rock and pitching backwards eyes wide mouth agape heart stopped breathing paralyzed, looking out towards the not so distant-horizon as the colossal, celestial Alien ship rose slowly before him, sterling hull so massive that it dwarfed the surrounding asteroids, pulverizing mile—wide bits of rock on impact and spitting chunks of chewed silicone and iron out into the void. Flashes of blue light erupted over the massive silver hull as the monolithic beast continued to rise slowly upwards, blocking out the stars and plunging him violently into its reaching shadow. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, and couldn’t even block his eyes against the blinding light shot down by a thousand searchlights. His gloved hands slipped against the rock beneath him as he craned his neck back, held up by one elbow against the dirt. And still it continued to rise in a never ending torrent upwards into the sky until it dwarfed absolutely everything around it casting out the stars and dominating his vision with its great and terrible presence. All in perfect silence. As it came into full view the sheer scale of the thing became clear. He couldn’t have guessed how large it was; depending on the distance, it could have been more than ten miles wide. And, the longer he stared, the more he came to appreciate that, this, this was a proper UFO, a blinding silver in color, shaped like a sort of oblong oval. In a funny sort of way, it almost reminded him of crab, a large silver shell with two long silver sort of pincers curving out from the sides and then back around front as if ready to lean in and spear him, a think of elegance compared to their ship, which was no better than a couple rockets strapped to a brick. Mouth open eyes wide Vir crane his neck so hard it would have been easier to simply lie flat on his back. A lot of things went through his head at that moment, granted some of it was incoherent screaming, some of it in fear and some of it in awe, but all him could manage to squeak out was, “Wow…. I gotta get me one of those.” Something grabbed his arm, and he startled so hard that his spirit nearly fled from his body. There was another tug on his arm, and he was dragged to his feet, turning to see a wide eyed marine with a hand on his arm pulling backwards towards the shuttle. Together they turned and sprinted over the stone and rock breathing hard, glancing over their shoulders on reflex as the massive silver monolith rose higher against the stars, rimmed in red. His feet pounded the floor, his breath came in ragged gasps, and despite moving as fast as he could, he couldn’t help but feel he was plowing through quicksand. This was a dream. It had to be. Though he had never experienced a dream that felt so real, the hammering of his heart, the throbbing of his legs, the beeping of his suit as if flashed warnings across his visor. Devoid was his experience of the usual emotional detachment, which characterized his sleeping life. He turned his head for a quick glance back at the looming silver god eyes widening in even greater shock as he watched at least ten small spheres erupt from the UFO’s undercarriage and start towards them like a swarm of bees spinning twisting and maneuvering about in the air in a mass conflagration of silver rimmed in red fire. He grabbed the marine by the arm forcing him to look back at the approaching swarm. He didn’t see the expression on the marine’s face, but he felt him begin to speed up, and together they charged ahead finally catching up with the rest of the party, who, seemed rather surprised by their sudden appearance, as well as a little concerned. The captain turned her head following those instincts, and though she still ran, the rest of her body language made clear what she was thinking and she began running faster. Their comms were completely out by now, marked by only the buzzing of static heralding the rising of that silver beast which dominated the sky behind them a looming eldritch abomination, a great eye of skulking intent. Lt. Vir glanced over his shoulder again as he sprinted across the ground legs and arms pumping frantically, breath coming in ragged absolute ragged gasps pumping fire into his lungs and spilling molten blood through his veins, but that one look over his shoulder told him everything he needed to know. They weren’t going to make it. His mouth watered with the effort of sprinting even in such a high tech suit, his body screamed out in pain, and behind them, that small swarm of ships was growing closer, swirling and careening in a tight vortex like dust moats in a beam of sunlight. They were almost to the shuttle now. And that’s when the first alien ship landed, darting forward to cut off their escape, hovering a few feet from the surface of the asteroid. The marine and Lt. Vir skidded to a stop nearly finding themselves plowed into the ground as the group behind them skidded to a halt. As they watched, the circular orb, that was the alien shuttle, unfolded itself, detaching three, pointed legs from its undercarriage, hovering for a moment before ramming them violently into the fake asteroid’s rocky surface. Though there was no sound, they could feel the power of those rods as they plowed into the ground sending jolting vibrations up through the soles of their feet, to be absorbed by their knees Points placed, the ball settled downwards, like a spider hunkering down in wait for prey. The crew skidded backwards hurriedly trying to backtrack and go wide around the hunching thing. But before they could take two or more steps, another ship cut them off making like the first to bar their escape forcing them into another careening turn as they tried to avoid impending doom and make in the opposite direction. However, by that time, it was already too late. The rest of the alien’s ships had detached from the swarm, and landed one by one in a great circle around them. Vibration, after Vibration, after vibration, rising up through the ground and into their bodies as the spidery bulbs fixed themselves to the ground and settled into place. Instinctively, the humans huddled towards the center of the circle posting up back to back weapons held at the ready, some kneeling some standing, and all panicking. It was just then that their coms erupted back to life. The quality wasn’t great but at least it was there. “Shit, shit, shit, shit.” Someone was whispering “Sweet mother Jupiter.” Behind all that one of the marines was praying under his breath. Lt. Vir Turned to the marine next to him, Ramirez, “Ok…. Look, I know I said I wanted aliens to be real and that I wanted to meet them, but this is not what I meant.” “I’m blaming you.” A choked laugh escaped his lips, “Is this…. Really the time to be funny?” “If it isn’t than why are you laughing?” “Because it’s either that or soil myself?” “All of you shut up, shut up!” The captain ordered, “If the coms are open we can a message out to the ship.” Just ahead of her, one of the balls had cracked open spilling warm yellow light out onto the ground around them. Shapes moved silhouetted against the light.” “Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is Captain Kelly of the UNSC Enterprise, we have made contact, and We are surrounded, I repeat we are surround-“ “Impetus th-s i- t-e UNSC –ter-prise re-urn I-mm-di-tly. App-roah-ing unidentified f-ing ob-ct.” “We know!” She shouted in frustration Lt. Vir had stopped listening by that point, staring with wide eyes as the silhouetted shapes coalescing form light the interior light of their ships, splitting apart and becoming forms, which spilled out of the open doors, scurried down the ramps and pooled to surround them in one wide circle. There must have been more than thirty of them, if not forty of the strange creatures. Lt. Vir squinted trying to figure out where one alien stopped and another began. It was only with his hurried analysis that he realized…. They came in different sizes, and those sizes were in different shapes, and those in different shapes wore differing space suits. And none of these looked like the ones they had seen inside. Which had to mean only one thing. There was more than one species of alien. “No friggin way.” He muttered staring out at the aliens who, even now had some sort of strange unknown weapons leveled at their small party with the humans obliging in return. As per space, all of this happened in complete silence. There was no muttering, now quiet his of questioning voices that should have risen upwards like a cloud from the gathered alien shapes, not even the clattering of weapons or armor. A group of humans stranded on the center of a vast not-asteroid cradled in the shadow of that hulking overhead shape silver and gleaming as it loaded over the sky beaming down upon them with its right searing lights, as it’s minute children surrounded them opening up their doors to release a mass of bodies, which now ringed them. Even if they had been able to call for proper help, their measly human ship was likely nothing in comparison to that behemoth. Then of course there were the aliens themselves, which, despite his fear and trepidation, Lt. Vir could not help but fawn over. They were so strange and thrilling, coming in two major shapes of which he could tell. One was very tall and walked on two legs for the most part, legs that were built long like that of an ostrich, though unlike an ostrich it also had tremendously long arms capable of touching the ground. A few of these creatures did so now, leaning their bodies forward, supporting their back legs with the fingers of their forward arms. The back legs themselves came down just in front of a rear abdomen, sort of like that of an ant, though his descriptions were hardly doing the thing justice. Upon leaning into their body-forward posture the back legs ended up taller than its font legs raising the abdomen in back to remind him of dinosaurs he had seen in books as a child, though they were lacking the tails often associated with large theropods. Adding to its rather dinosaur like appearance was a curving mid-size neck trailing upwards to terminate with a rather small head, whose details were difficult to see behind its suit, or what he assumed was a suit. The next creature was a little more believable and a little less alien. It had five limbs all together, two legs, two arms, in roughly the same position that a human might have them, though it did support a very long, thick tail not dissimilar to that of a kangaroo, which, in similar fashion, it used to hold itself upright as it stood on two feet. As with the others details were difficult to distinguish as hidden behind a suit as it was. And so they stood facing off against each other, human’s crouched low and defensive, aliens lurking about them in a wide circle. Overhead the massive silver ship drifted closer taking up a vast swath of the sky. “What are they doing?” “I don’t know, they don’t seem to be doing anything.” The agitated scientist shuffled in their place, and one of the marines shifted his hand position on his weapon. As he did Lt. Vir noticed the aliens stir. Shifting on their legs adjusting their weapons. Hands, or what he assumed to be hands, tightening around their weapons. It made sense, he supposed. There were a couple options he could think of, though he doubted the Captain was going to like either of his ideas Off to his side one of the marines fidgeted, “Well, shouldn’t we do something?” He snarled an edge of fear creeping into his voice. His hands were tightening around his weapon, his body language growing more and more unpredictable as a slow burning panic began to set in. The other marines, feeling their fellows agitation, began to move as well, shifting and churning in place as the standoff grew longer, stretching like a rubber band, threatening towards snapping. Vir knew that if he didn’t make a move soon, someone else was bound to, and he doubted he would like the outcome. So he went for it, knowing full well that this might get him and everyone else killed, but knowing that might was better than most definitely, and the way they were currently going seemed to be leading them down that road. He let go of his weapon, with one hand, slowly as slow could be dropping the muzzle towards the asteroid and raising one hand into the air. As soon as he began his movement, all extraterrestrial eyes turned to him, and with eyes came their weapons. In a moment he was at the center of fire of every weapon within a twenty foot radius, aside from those of the other humans. His ears were ringing, his hands were shaking, and sweat dripped in profusion down his face turned into glittering yellow and orange diamonds by the light cast from their friends. Sensing a change in dynamic the humans turned to face him. “Lieutenant.” The captain hissed, ‘What are you doing!” He lowered the weapon further, raising his hand even higher into the air before, with one last effort of will, dropping the rifle onto the ground. It didn’t make a sound as it hit the rocky surface, but bounced twice before coming to rest. “Lieutenant!” Vir ignored the captain for a moment, slowly raising his other hand to join the other. He was in the open now, completely and utterly defenseless, his chest exposed, his interior organs just begging to be dealt with. His hands were shaking, but he knew what he had to do. And took a tentative step forward… As soon as he did, there was an eruption of movement, as more than a dozen aliens shrunk backwards gripping their weapons harder. What weapons hadn’t been pointed at him, were now aimed directly at his head and chest. He didn’t see it, but he could feel the movement of the other humans behind him, rushing in to help though their panic only made it worse. “Dammit, Lieutenant! Get back here.” Teeth gritted he took another slow step forward, “Just give me a second, and maybe if you stopped pointing your guns at them, they would be less likely to shoot us.” He wasn’t entirely sure how confident he felt about that statement, but what was said was said, and he had to stick to it. He took another step forward, a small plum of rock dust erupting upwards to cover the boots in a fine layer of blue-black dust. He was getting closer now, so close that he was beginning to make out detail. The seams of their suits, the glare reflecting back from their facemasks, the barrels of their weapons held together by interlocking pieces of silver metal run through with lines of power glowing a delicate blue. Overhead the stars beamed down, the great silver ship continued to hover, and inside he was a mass of roiling panic. Was he about to get vaporized? Seemed pretty likely. The closer he got the more agitated the creatures became, stepping backwards in their circle shuffling from side to side, brandishing their weapons. “Is there a plan to all this?’ The tone was accusatory in nature, and interrupted his quiet contemplation on death, “Because If you planned on doing something, I suggest doing it now.” “I don’t see anyone else coming up with a brilliant idea. Frick! How do you tell an alien species that you don’t want to hurt them?” “Who says anything about hurting them, what about telling them not to hurt us?” He had stopped now, caught in limbo between the two groups, a tight walker dancing on a string over the crowd “Some ideas might seriously be nice right about now.” Ramirez was the next one to cut in, voice shaky and unsure “I don’t fucking know, lay on your back or something, like dogs do.” “That’s a stupid idea!” “They’re going to shoot!” “Stay calm, all of you! The group went silent. Lieutenant Vir hissed through is teeth in fear and anger, punctuating the conversation with an exclamation of, ���Screw it!” Before slowly, hands still in the air, lowering himself to his knees. The aliens still whirled in agitation. Behind him, human panic was growing to a crescendo. He dropped to the side, shoulder and elbow hitting the rough stone lighting up his interior helmet with a warning red glow, before rolling onto his back, suit grinding against the rock, exposing his belly and chest, placing himself in the optimal situation to get immediately executed. As he did so, he also felt immediately stupid, like a dog who had pissed on the rug, or a puppy who had gotten caught eating the couch cushions. He was going to die here lying on his back belly up for the entire universe to see. He raised his hands over his face squeezing his eyes tight shut, at least he didn’t have to watch. And he sat there, waiting. When nothing happened, he slowly lowered his hands to find, to his surprise, that the aliens had gone still, even stepped back in a few cases, the barrels of their weapons slightly lowering. “I’ll be a son of a-“ He didn’t hear the rest as his ears were too busy ringing. Tilting his head back, and looking up at the creature towering almost six feet over top of him, he tried to glean any hint of emotion from its body language, with its long legs, and massive arms, but he couldn’t see anything behind the mask, where he assumed his face might be. Guess he was just going to have to go on faith. And in the stillness that followed, he did the only thing he could think of. Slowly lowering his hand from his face and reaching upwards fingers stretched forward hand held palm open, reaching. Yellow light danced a waltz down his arm and hand, twinkling at the ends of his fingertips, while the stars above joined in. in the background, that massive alien ship still loomed high into the sky lording over them as a, hopefully, merciful god. His hand paused, and the very end of its reach quivering not at all against the black expanse, and the alien silhouetted by it. He waited for what seemed like forever, hand held out. And then in slow response, the alien raised a massive arm, and just like a curious and tentative sea creature, reaching out to a diver for the first time, it lifted its hand. And the very ends of their gloved fingers touched, melding them together as one in a silhouette against the stars.

First Contact extended PT 1.

The communications specialist was bored. Almost three months aboard the ship, and all she had had to do was intercept incoming radio calls from earth by way of warp transmission. Maybe the first few moments had been exciting, but after two days of the exact same procedure performed over and over again, and anything was bound to get old. Technically, she was also in charge of intercepting any unknown communication from celestial bodies, not earth, but while that had been unlikely to begin with, it was becoming less and less likely now. They were the only ones out here. And even if they aren’t, the likelihood of finding anyone in the vastness of the universe was more than astronomical Now, after their first mission to Proxima b, followed by a dozen others, multiple rock samples, and the confirmation that there was not, and never had been any life on the surface of the planet, they were preparing to head back to Earth. This would by no means be the last mission ever preformed in the vast universe, but it was the first and most important. She leased back in her chair with a sigh wondering if she shouldn’t just request a transfer. Space was great and exciting and all of that, sure, but what wasn’t exciting was sitting in a chair all day staring and screens that never showed anything but the occasional waver or static. It was worse than watching pain try Anything to beat back the monotony would do at this point, and she turned to look back at her console. May as well do another transvers scan while she was at it. She learned over her console, typing a few quick commands for the hologram before selecting the transvers deep penetration scan. During some of their observation of the wider universe around them, they had noted a small asteroid belt encircling the binary star system, and, based on density calculations it seemed as if the field was very heavy in precious metals that included, gold, rhodium, ruthenium, palladium and a few others. In all it was a very rich site for asteroid mining, and as far away as it was from earth, there was no chance of damaging the natural enviornment of their solar system. With their sudden jump into being a space-faring species, humanity was requiring more and more of these precious metals in order to build the advanced electronics and hardware that characterized their space ships. After natural mining had been banned on earth’s surface, due in large part to the absolute lack of natural metals from years and years of exploitation, large cooperation had to turn to space to find their precious metals. It was likely if they could find more areas like this, rich in metals, and open in up to public use, it could topple the monopolies held by electronics companies, create more jobs, and move space travel from the private sector to the public sector. Thus decreasing the cost of space travel all together, and in many cases create more jobs for both the citizens of earth and mars. As for people in the army like her, not only would it build funding for the space missions, but it would certainly expand their influence as interstellar travel grew, and the need for policing of those space travelers became prudent. She did a few vector scans, with no real luck, before moving onto another patch of the asteroid field. This area was particularly rich in metals that were important for the creation of electronics, so it was as good a lace as any to start. And apparently. To find something?! She stood slowly from her seat staring in incredulity at the little blip on her screen, whatever it was, it was weak, and would never have been spotted by their equipment back on earth. Even here it was only a minute thing, but it was still there. Some kind of radio wave? She turned in her chair, “Someone call the captain down here, now!” The others looked on at her with confusion, but the look she gave spurred them into sudden action. The lieutenant, who had taken the captain’s chair for the time being, leaned over in his seat and pressed the coms button.

Captain Kelly, report to the bridge immediately. Captain Kelly report to the bridge immediately.

The com shut off, and half the bridge crew huddled together behind her leading over her chair and whispering to each other. She did her best to ignore their speculations as she got to work, trying to isolate the source of the radio signal and determine where it was coming from. There was always the possibility that it was just some sort of particle interference, a poor reading, or even a glitch in the system, but she had to be sure. She tried boosting their output to capture more of the signal, though that was only of marginal help. She decided to do a system reboot, just in case this was a glitch, and by the time she had pulled up the reading again, it was still the same. Next she tried triangulating its location. She was given a thousand mile radius. And in space, that was small. “Holly shit.” She muttered. The door at the back of the room hissed open, and Captain Kelly came marching onto the bridge, her boots clattering against the cold steel floor, “What is it?” She demanded walking across the floor, allowing the group of curious bridge officers to part before her like Moses and the Red Sea. The communications officer looked up at her, “Captain, a few minutes ago. I was doing a deep field transverse penetrating search when…. Well I think I found a signal.” Captain Kelly placed a hand on the back of her chair and leaned over to squint and the projection, “Is this it?” She asked jamming her finger towards the projection. The technician nodded. “Yes, sir.” “Send your data to mission control, we will have them look over and then decide what to do from there. See if you can’t get a better read on the signal. If that doesn’t work, I will see if we can’t convince ground control to let us go take a look.” Perhaps it would turn out to be nothing.

***

“What’s going on?” “I’m not entirely sure, but the captain wanted to see us immediately.” “Did something happen?” “Not as far as I know, and as the Chief Weapons Officer, I think I would.” Chief Palmer and Lieutenant Vir hurried down the command deck towards the bridge boots clattering in a frantic dancing rhythm over the floor. Both of them had been awoken from a sound sleep, forced to stumble out of bed and report to the bridge as immediately as was possible. Lt. Vir, in an attempt not to disturb any of his bunkmates, had tripped violently over a pair of boots and awoken practically the entire room on his way out, in an opposite and embarrassing turn of events as compared to what he had originally planned. Chief Palmer, on the other hand, was almost thankful for his wakefulness as he had been having a horrible dream about watching their ship fly straight into the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and knowing that he would be stuck in an infinite loop of dying due to time dilation. The door beeped and then hissed open for them as they got closer ushering them onto the bridge. The overhead lights were dimmed for a nighttime setting, though the holograms and consoles glowed brightly in accompaniment with the frantic murmuring about the room. Captain Kelly sat at her seat, a projection pulled up before her speaking animatedly with mission control back on earth. “You ship is too far away to make out the details of the transmission. We have no idea what it could be. It could be a radio artifact from our current communications, it could be particle disruption, it could be any number of things, but the fact remains is that you must go and find out what it is. That is what these missions were for, and now that we are here something has to be done.” “What if it is...?” She trailed off a look of apprehension crossing her face. “What if it is alien life?” The scientist finished. Lieutenant Vir felt heart stop in his chest as all the air in the room seemed to have been sucked out leaving him in the perfect silence of a vacuum. His ears popped, the air in his lungs stolen moments after. Fire erupted over his skin replaced with a manic tingling sensation through his body which stood the hair on his back and arms on end. He turned his head in slowest of motions as he looked over to glance at Chief Palmer, who stood stuck to the bridge deck eyes wide, mouth open. A moment later the air came rushing back to him filling his head with sound again, and he turned in desperation towards the Captain trying desperately to hear the end of the conversation. As he stepped forward to grab onto the railing, he realized his hands were shaking. His knees had gone weak and he felt as if he was about to pass out, head echoing with those words. Alien Life. “Well, Captain, if it is extraterrestrials, than we implement our plans, peaceful first contact, now, I don’t want to alarm anyone with the idea that we might be facing sentient life. This radio reading is very rudimentary, small, and is taking place in the middle of an asteroid field. There is likely to be some other explanation, but we want to make sure we run through all our possibilities. Right now the reading is too far away for us to make out anything specific, and is extremely weak, so we propose, that you take a little bit of a detour before departing. Take the ship close to the object, but not so close were, if something were to go wrong, the ship would be in danger. Then fly in a team to take a look, I would advise you to send someone other than yourself to command the mission, but I know you aren’t likely to heed my advice.” “Yes sir, I have already sent for a team.” “Send their roster up to us and we will…” “You already have it. The forerunner team will suffice for this mission, they have trained for just such situations, and we can switch out one or two of the scientists with a better protection detail. That way we won’t have to waste more time training a team for the mission and wasting valuable time. We have no idea when the signal might be gone, so we do this as soon as we can within reason. The scientist was silent for a minute, a thoughtful look pulling the corners of his mouth down into a shallow frown, “Well, It makes sense. Make sure to send us your flight plan when it’s decided, and above all else, keep coms open with us at all times.” “Yes, sir, it will be done” The feed cut out a second later, and Captain Kelly stood form her seat, turning to stare down a room that was already staring at her, “Well I am assuming none of you bothered to try not eavesdropping, so I suppose you understand the situation when I tell you that one of our communications officers has intercepted some sort of short distance radio transmission. It is far enough away that we can’t be certain what it is or where it is coming from, but there is a slim possibility that it could be a result of alien life. I say that with all due skepticism and want you to understand that is the least likely out of all of the options that we have here.” She turned her eyes to the crew of the forerunner, who stood clustered together near the door, “Get officers down from DECOM, hanger maintenance, and shuttle prep into their positions now-“ “Captain!” In response to her title, Captain Kelly turned to face the communications officer hunching over her desk and typing frantic calculations into her console, “Captain, the object is moving.” “What do you mean?” “I mean that the signal is fading. And based on sign wave functions, it is moving away from us.” She turned in her seat to look at up at them grey eyes wide with concern, “Captain, if we don’t move on this now, I could lose the signal.” Captain Kelly stood straighter for a moment before turning to look back at the forerunner crew, “My orders remain the same; we will have to move on this quickly before the signal disappears. All of you get down to your positions as soon as possible.” She jabbed a finger at Chief Palmer, “Get a defense team ready, preferably a couple of the marines form the security detail, anyone who knows how to use the suit and the weapons properly.” She then turned her eyes on Vir, “I was impressed with your flying last time. Because of that, I am trusting this mission to you, which means that by the time I get down to DECOM, you better have used that time to come up with a good approach plan. Our Communications officer will send down the information as soon as she can triangulate a signal.” He snapped to a sharp salute along with the others receiving their orders, and quickly hurried to execute, filing out the doors and into the hallway with a rush of voices and chatter. He was hardly paying attention by this point, so stunned and surprised by the turn of events that he was finding it difficult to comprehend just what was happening. The forerunner crew washed around him like great streams of water, bringing him on a tide of voices towards one of the lifts down to the cargo deck. The elevator ride down seemed like an eternity before the doors opened, and the crew spilled out onto the deck, fanning this way and that as they ran to get their jobs done. All around them, the ship had been roused into action bringing with it a rising tide of sleepless soldiers and scientists ushered into their positions yawning and grumbling by the rolling alarm system. Inside his heart hammered and raced unable to get what the Captain had insinuated out of his head. He nearly crashed into seven different people on his way down the hall yelling apologies as he did, though he didn’t bother to look back. The last person he nearly plastered to the floor turned out to be one of the DECOM officers still looking groggy and confused as he opened the door into the room, ushering Adam, and a few waiting others, inside. He prepared them single handedly, despite his sleep addled state, and they were all inside one of the DECOM rooms, personal items neatly tucked away in lockers before the rest of the DECOM team appeared scrambling through sterilization in order to get to work. Vir glanced down at his wrist implant nervously waiting for the promised information. When he didn’t find a notification, his stomach churned and he sent a message to Chief Palmer.

Did they lose the signal? He dropped his arm sitting and waiting, leg bouncing nervously as he watched the DECOM officer scramble through drawers and closets at the side of the room, doing their best to prepare the suits before any more of the team could arrive. The door at the far end of the room opened, and a group of men and women appeared stepping shivering through the doors, a fine mist of droplets clung to their faces. He could immediately tell by the cut of their hair, and the hardness of their bodies that they were the marines down from the protection detail. Still shivering, they took their rightful places over the heating vents and began quiet conversations between each other about what was going on, and what reason the brass would have for waking them up at the butt crack of dawn. One of them pointed out that it was less like a butt crack and more like the colon because they hadn’t even made it to dawn yet. Just to his other side, one of the marines had opted not to sit with his group, instead standing, nervously, by one of the seats shivering and glancing back towards the doors with apprehension. Adam glanced down at his arm. “Hey, do you know what’s going on?” He lifted his head, looking up, surprised, to find the young marine, probably around his age, looking at him wide, Amber eyes creased with concern. He glanced around wondering if he should say anything before deciding he was bound to find out eventually, “One of the comms officers intercepted some kind of transmission, and they want us to go check it out…. They think it might be… Aliens.” The young man’s face remained blank, “You’re joking.’ He shook his head, “Not joking.” The expression plastered across his deeply tanned face began to more from one of grim amusement to one of absolute shock, his wide eyes grew even bigger against his baby face dropping open in slack jawed disbelief, “You aren’t kidding.” Vir shook his head, “I know, it’s insane.” The marine took a seat eyes still wide with shock, one hand resting on the side of his head, “I uh… wow.” They sat in silence for a moment. “So, you uh, one of the protection detail?” Adam ventured, still feverously glancing down at his arm trying to break the tense anticipation with small talk. The marine nodded dumbly, “Yeah, you?” “The pilot.” Another moment of awkward silence, and then the marine stuck out a hand, “I’m Angel Ramirez by the way.” Adam took it, “Cool name.” He motioned to himself, “Adam Vir.” “Not so cool during boot camp, but thanks.” He was about to ask another dumb question when, the doors opened again, and Chief Palmer stepped into the room, coming over to sit on Adam’s other side, “Got your text, thought I’d just show up and tell you. The ship has triangulated the signal, it’s moving, but it’s moving with the rotation of the asteroid belt which is why we haven’t seen it until now. You should be getting the notification in just a few seconds.” As if on cue, his implants buzzed, and he looked down to his wrist where the information was, indeed, waiting for him. He opened it up with a growing sense of excitement, though that excitement was somewhat dampened when he realized the signal was coming from an… asteroid. He didn’t really know what he had been hoping for, but it had definitely been something cooler than an asteroid, you know like a UFO or something, but he supposed that would have been way too easy. The asteroid the transmission seemed to be coming from was estimated to be about five miles long and two miles wide, giving them plenty of landing space. However, it was a very irregular shaped object, more than many of the other asteroids in the area, so in order to make it to the source of the transmission he was probably going to have to land them half a mile to a mile out, just outside where the rocky protrusions began. As it appeared the transmission was not particularly directional, and knowing that, he determined to take a low approach under the object and then curve up one of the sides just in case there was someone there to see them approaching. He mapped his trajectory as quickly as he could before sending the plans off to the bridge where they would then be sent to mission control. If they saw anything wrong which his determined approach pattern, than they would be sure to point it out as quickly as possible before launch. There would be at least five or six nerds going over his rout and arguing amongst themselves. Between them, he had full confidence they would make it to their destination safe because if a pilot and five rocket scientists couldn’t figure it out, than they probably didn’t deserve to make it in once piece. Next, It was Captain Kelly’s turn to step through the DECOM chamber, and her appearance was enough to spur the room into full motion. Finally familiarized with the suit after a few months, and half a dozen or so missions. He was ready in under thirty minutes standing next to the young marine from earlier as he waited for the others to get Dressed. Captain Kelly stood with her silver helmet tucked under one arm, looking them over with a critical eye as the rest of their party finally finished scrambling into their suits. The last helmet of the last man was barely on before she turned on her heel and marched towards the door inciting a mad scramble at her heels, “I don’t think I need to remind you all about how potentially dangerous this could be. All of us stay together at all times, no man gets left alone or behind. When we reach the asteroid, we follow the triangulation to the source of the radio signal, and we determine what is making it. If at any time you see anything, stop and let someone know, so that we may take the appropriate action. Now we are still set to head back to earth on schedule, so we make this quick, we get in and get out as fast as possible. I trust that you have all been properly trained and know what you are doing, so I cannot stress enough the safety protocols that we need to be taking during this flight. The ship will remain here, out of sight and range using the asteroid field as cover but remotely supporting us as we go in…. are there any questions?” Even if there were any, there wasn’t really the time, as they had reached the hanger, and the outgoing shuttle, which was in the very last stages of prep. Adam wriggled himself to the front of the cue, slipping into the shuttle ahead of Captain Kelly, and into the pilot’s seat joined a moment later by Chief Palmer, who assisted in tightening his harness as he began work on the controls, so familiar with the shuttle at this point that he would wager, he could pilot the thing with this eyes closed. Though of course he would never try such a thing. The rest of the crew flooded in behind them taking their seats and strapping themselves in faces marked with grim masks of nervous determination. None of them knew what to expect. Of course, they all knew that alien life wasn’t likely to be an option, and any conjecture about the matter was sure to be wishful, or perhaps, panicked, thinking. But that didn’t stop it from being a possibility, however minute. Lieutenant Vir was just reaching out to engage the Commas to mission control when he stopped, instead hailing the captain. “Yes, Lieutenant?” “Do we have a name for our mission? If we do find aliens, we want the mission to have a name, don’t we?” There was a pause over the Comm, as she posed the question to the rest of the crew. He waited for the response, using the time to move the preflight along, unwilling to waste any time. He received his answer a moment later, and with a nod of approval opened the Commas, “Mission control this is Impetus 1 ready for launch.” “Copy that… Impetus please advise mild course correction mirrored right.” “Acknowledged, Mission control. Firing main engines.” Red light washed across his face in waves, as the alarm bulbs pulsed and throbbed in tie with the alarms, which he could no longer hear. This time, there was no light spilling inwards form the slowly opening airlock, but light spilling outwards, a minuscule mote of inconsequential humanity upon the face of eternity. “Preparing for launch in Three….two… one.” The floor jolted below him, and he was hurled back against his seat as they accelerated forward, shooting through the opening and out into the night. The light behind them faded, as the airlock doors were shut swiftly behind them. The inner lights of the cabin dimmed to almost nothing, leaving him with only the distant red light of the dwarf star at their back, and a thousand small pinpricks of light dotting the great vastness of space. Of course, the console below him also glowed in an eerie shade of blue green, dials and gages lit up for his viewing convenience as they traveled stealthily though the darkness, having cut their engines after the first stage of acceleration. “Ground control, this is Impetus, going Comms dark.” “Roger that, Impetus, awaiting follow-up.” The com light clicked off, and he was left staring into gloom. He couldn’t see the asteroid belt as it was, not in the half darkness and the eerie red glow of the distant dwarf star, so he relied mostly on his radar, and trajectory maps to pilot them silently through the darkness. Back in the cabin, the crew was mostly silent nestled into the inky shadow at the back cabin with their eyes watching warily outwards between the bodies of the pilot and the Chief as the distant night withdrew form their approaching forms. The protection detail shifted nervously in their positions towards the rear of the shuttle. Adjusting the weight of their familiar weapons, and staring towards the back airlock, ready to respond to anything should they find their landing to be less than monotonous. Lieutenant Vir adjusted his heading slight eyes squinting into the blackness. A few stars blinked in and out of existence, confusing him momentarily before he realized he was seeing the shadow of the asteroids passing in front of the stars. Once his brain puzzled out what he was seeing, the picture grew clearer, and the dim illuminating red slowly grew into presence as a bloody wash over the asteroids’ surface. The great wing of rocks spread out to either side of them like a pair of incomprehensible wings owned by a beast, or god a thousand years dormant.   He glanced down at his vector gages, blue light reflecting softly off the visor of his helmet and out into the void.   He tried not to worry about the bit of glowing light, knowing that in a vastness like this, it was hardly likely to be noticed. “Press heading 1 degree left.” Chief Palmer whispered, as if somewhere out there in the darkness, something could hear him. The lieutenant made the course correction gliding silently behind one of the massive asteroids. “These are…. A little close together.” Vir grunted adding a little forward thrust to slow their speed as he was forced to avoid another asteroid. “Shit, you’re right.” “Aren’t these supposed to be an average of 600,000 miles away from each other? Or something?” He cut the shuttle right, skimming them along the great pockmarked surface of a massive monolith of dark stone. It was so big in fact, it had a horizon, breaking into slow shadow and out of illumination from the star at their backs. “That’s only our asteroid belt, no telling what could have gone on here.” He curved them left quickly, rotating them upside down before cutting under the reverse side of the asteroid, dipping into a great craggy valley on its surface. Walls of darkness rose up on either side of them, and with a flick of his wrist, the toggled their field lights, illuminating the space and allowing him to see where he was going without alerting anyone to their impending presence. Assuming there was someone to be alerted. Behind him in the hold, he could hear muttered voices of awe. Towards the end of the valley, he cut off his lights and pulled quickly upwards, flying parallel to the wall and spiraling inwards ducking under a great arch of stone which reached miles into the darkness above them, unfettered by gravity or erosion. It was a wonder it had survived this long without being pulverized into oblivion by some incoming collision. Regardless, it was a magnificent sight, cast up on side in the hellish red light of a distant star, and plunged on the reverse side into great swathes of waiting blackness touched only by the stars. They pulled away from arches skimming slowly through a field of smaller boulders likely no bigger than your average house before coming along side another wide, dark cosmic edifice soaring upwards into the night. They were getting close. He was getting nervous. He would have to remain pleased with the fact that there was no possible way for him to piss his pants at any point during this mission, so that had to be some kind of plus. “Just beyond that next one there, you’ll want to slow us down.” Lt. Vir did as suggested, pulling back with another slow burst bringing them to a speed that was almost laughable when traveling through the reaches of space. It was hard to forget how fast things were going when there was nothing of familiar size to compare it to. He could see the red blip on his tracing screen growing stronger. “Chief, Palmer, can you intercept the signal?” A moment of silence, “I have… intercepted the signal, but as far as I can tell, there is nothing to it. No sound as far as I can see, and no discernable pattern. I’ll keep trying.” Lieutenant Vir remained stoic and silent, brows pulled into a hard line as they were coming up on their last approach. Inside his chest, the beating of his heart grew calm and even, a dull thundering thud that pulsed against his ribcage and set a rush of noise up through his ears upon every moment. He rotated them again as they cut out from under the last asteroid, finally giving himself a full view of their destination. The thing was large to be sure, but not particularly spectacular as far as space rocks went, though it did seem to be a bit less even than the other asteroids, adorned by many spiky protrusions, and a landscape that was almost mountainous if it wasn’t for its relatively minute diameter. “Do you see anything?” “No, sir. Just an asteroid as far as I can tell. I’d run a scan on it, but….” He trailed off not willing to voice the concern that plagued the back of his mind. But I don’t want anyone to know we are here. No one pushed him further, though he had a feeling they were thinking the same thing. He finished their rotation, dropping them low over the Asteroids rocky surface keeping close to the stone, which, at this range, seemed less and less like an asteroid and more like the alien face of a strange other-world. With the stark contrast between red and black, the scene before him was almost stylistically cartoonish. The only thing it needed now was a snarky little alien wearing a broomstick on his head, and a plot to destroy the earth to make the setup complete. However, as they went on no Martian, or his big green dog, daned to show themselves. The rock face seemed pretty desolate as far as he could tell. With one last burst, he slowed their forward momentum even more bringing them to a gentle coasting glide over the red-lit landscape. Pillars of towering rock, jagged like the teeth of a predator rose up on their left side, reaching nearly quarter of a mile into the air, dwarfing their tiny shuttle, which he coaxed to a gentle landing on the star kissed surface. There was an audible jolt through the hull as the landing struts shot great tungsten bolts into the comparably soft Iron.” Chief Palmer glanced down at the computer readings sent up to him from the struts, “Mostly metallic it seems. Iron being a large quantity, though, I am detecting a hint of some trace elements as well, nothing too interesting, at least nothing that explains the radio signal.” Harnesses clicked open, and the group of marines formed up at the airlock door. Lieutenant Vir undid his belt, and climbed back into the cabin ducking his head under the low hanging frame so as not to brain himself through his helmet like so many times before. Just behind the marines, the captain and what remained of the exploration crew, were readying themselves for departure. With some difficulty, including a light hop and a wriggle, Lieutenant Vir slid past them, coming to a halt in the little weapons locker where a rack of rifles, ammunition, and pistols were securely locked into the wall. He released one of the rifles from its hold with a sharp snap returning to the cabin a moment later with his prize. A few of the suited figures jumped, or stepped back in shock as he returned. “Whoa there lieutenant, do you even know how to use that thing?” One of the marines was saying, proffering a nervous hand while his other arm was busy keeping his rifle pointed towards the ceiling. “Yeah, it’s not exactly like flying a shuttle.” Lieutenant Vir felt the soft click of the magazine followed by the sharp snap of the charging handle as he loaded a round into the chamber, “Ur, seriously guys. This is the army isn’t it? Even pilots know how to shoot.” Even through their masks, he could see that they didn’t look so convinced. The silver, suited captain gave what he assumed to be a stern look from behind her helmet, “You stay behind the marines, lieutenant, you hear.” He nodded. And stacked up behind the last marine on the right. He couldn’t tell who it was, but based on the height, he might have guessed it was the young marine Angel Ramirez, who, nervously glanced over his shoulder responding to the agitation in the others, and looking over at Vir with a skeptical tilt of his head. He didn’t bother pointing out that no one seemed nervous when Chief Palmer grabbed a weapon, despite him being a long time pilot in and of himself. Now that he thought about it, even Captain Kelly was carrying, and as far as he knew, she had never fought in ground combat either For the first time in weeks Lieutenant Vir frowned. Why wouldn’t they trust him with a weapon? Hardly made any sense. His broodings were cut off a moment later when the airlock door slid open, and the group of them squeezed forward together into the decompression chamber. Chief Palmer turned to secure the door behind them, and with a sudden pop, all sound was gone from the world. No matter how many times he experienced the vacuum of space, he just couldn’t seem to get over how quiet it was, nothing but the sound of his breathing and his own racing heart hammering away at his ribcage. If he were to compare it to anything, he would say that it wasn’t so dissimilar to subediting in a cave, or being underwater at night. In both cases there was nothing but you, and the sound of your own breathing. Not to mention the darkness, and the impending threat of death if you were to do something wrong. Even the weightlessness was similar. All in all, It was the sort of quiet, that despite all your worries and the danger, it brought with it a calming stillness clearing the mind like dust is cleared away by a heavy stream of cool trickling water. There were no thoughts here in the quiet, only the feeling of moving forward, putting one foot after another as they made their way, silently down the ladder one by one and into an open fan shape at the base of the shuttle. What sat before them was a strange and obviously alien landscape of black lit red. The distant binary star system was just that, a distant glowing pair of stars that rotated about each other in a strange longing waltz across the stage of the universe destined to dance forever though they would never touched. It gave a whole new meaning to the term star-crossed lovers. As tiny pinpricks of light in the fading distance, it was almost hard to appreciate how far away the stars were, especially when it was so easy to forget how fast the ship could move. In small spaces like this, where the distance was still far, but a full warp wasn’t worth warming up the core for, the ship was capable of soemthing called a micro warp, which could move them the journey of a few days in a matter of second without so much as alerting the crew to their movement. As output power went, it was almost nonexistent when speaking of a piece of technology as powerful as the warp core, though in comparison with past technologies, the ability to micro warp might as well have been a power exclusive to the gods. “Should we leave someone behind?” Chief Palmer asked, pausing on the stairway One hand still gripping onto the door latch. Captain Kelly thought about it for a moment before shaking her head, “I don’t want to leave anyone alone. If we have to use long distance radio commas, than we are already in trouble. Might as well take all our manpower. Besides, I gave some instructions to a second crew to follow behind us if we didn’t report back in the next three hours.” Chief Palmer didn’t make a sound as he dropped from the top stair impacting the ground with bent knees, rifle cradled in his arms, “Very well, captain.” He took up position just to the side of the Lieutenant, who, while still keeping focus on weapon, couldn’t help but being mesmerized by the strange eeriness which surrounded them. In space, five miles really didn’t seem like a lot, but when it came right down to it, and you were standing on the surface, you realized just how large five miles could appear. Because right now, they were absolutely dwarfed, small, tiny inconsequential specks casting long ribbons of shadow into the ruddy haze behind them as they began their solitary trek across the bloody surface. With the uneven ground stained red, and the towering jagged peaks off to their left dyed with the same gory light, It was hard to believe they were in a real place and not experiencing some kind of lucid fever dream. Vir felt the uneven terrain beneath his feet, heard his breath and watched the stars spin in the heaven above him, but still that strange hellish landscape stretching out to miles on either side of him, didn’t seem real. He glanced to either side of him, looking for quick reassurance that the others were still there. He couldn’t hear them, and in the distant light of the star, it was also rather difficult to see them, especially the marines, who blended into the black and red landscape with great ease. Only based on their movement was he able to see them at all, dim shadows creeping over the face of a dying ember. At the back, Chief Palmer held up the rear, blending almost as well into the background as did the marines giving the Lt. some form of comfort, as both of them had been wearing dark blue. The only one he could see for certain was Captain Kelly, who was probably regretting the use of her command colors, though she didn’t demonstrate any of that concern outwardly. And so their journey continued onwards in barren silence, slowly approaching the small chain of mountainous protrusions which characterized this particular rock. Despite his description of them as being small, the jutting spires of stone dwarfed them with great contempt lurching towards the sky and casting great swaths of shadow down upon them. The fiery plane of before faded behind them, and he found their pace slowing as it was becoming harder and harder to see. Their original light source, the pair of binary stars in the distant blackness, had been cut off by one jutting root of the mountain plunging them into the waiting abyss. He quickly checked his beacon. Unfortunately, they seemed to be going in the right direction. At one point the world around them grew so dark that, they were practically feeling at the ground with their feet, a blind man robbed of his cane, accept worse because at least a blind man knows how to properly deal with total darkness whereas the group of them could only toddle around in the darkness like a group of bumbling fools. Captain Kelly called them to a stop after maybe a minute of this, and ordered, somewhat grudgingly, for them to turn on their lights. Not the bright LED ones, mind you, but infrared beams which pared well with the masks, turned the hellish red landscape towards an eerie green. And so they continued onwards, over the dark expanse, steadily encroaching on the base of the jutting spires. The climb grew harder the longer they walked, their infared beamed headlamps lighting craggy incline upwards, Lt. Vir turned to glance over his shoulder once or twice dazzled by stars, and the ominous silhouettes of space debris left untouched, for what must have been millions if not trillions of years. That thought, pared with the stretching vastness of space made his insides churn, his body grow light. He lifted his head upwards and the stars continued to expand outward.  His head began to spin giving a sudden sense of vertigo as if he was about to go spinning off into space, falling forever into a sea of stars. “Well, this is interesting.” The voice broke him, thankfully from his musings, and he shook himself of the vertigo, a sensation he had not felt in many years since becoming a pilot. It was an unnerving sensation, and he did his best from then on not to look back to intently on the field of stars, instead turning his attention towards the front of the group, where one of the marines had come upon an opening in the craggy rock face. I was a large opening perhaps twenty feet wide and twice the height. In the emerald light of their infrared vision, the metal, or rock, for they couldn’t be entirely sure, seemed smooth untouched by trauma despite years in the vast chaotic reaches of the void. One of the marines reached out a hand running his fingers along the metal, as if he was trying to feel the cold surface, though the gloves hindered his attempts. “That is quite strange, do you see anything inside?” “No, I only got a glimpse.” The marine made a hand signal, and his men stacked up on either side of the opening making sure not to silhouette themselves against the stars. Lt. Vir followed, keeping close to the younger marine who brought them to the far right side of the opening, stacking up last in line with Chief Palmer and Captain Kelly following suit on the other side. “Night vision?” Off at the back of the group, she knelt on the ground adjusting her weapon to a more comfortable position, “Yes, as long as we can manage.” No one questioned her directive, and one hand signal later, the front two marines pivoted on the spot cutting through the opening and bracing themselves against the interior wall blending into the darkness as their infrared beams lit up the space around them There was no sound, though that was expected in the vacuum of space, but neither were there cries of destress over the commas. So, unless their marines had fallen as soon as they had stepped through the doors, they had not found anything of great interest.   Vir forced himself to relax his shoulders and take a deep breath as the group of them moved to follow the first two marines, passing around the corner and fanning out before the entrance. As it was, he was last in line, and that left him with a central line down the center of the room. And what a strange sight it was, staring into the eerie green haze of his night vision, he was confronted by a large cavernous space reaching high into the air and spanning wide at either side. The ceiling was so high, that he saw nothing but the glowing dark green fog which characterized his night vision. The floor, ground, or whatever other word you might have used for it, stretched out relatively smoothly before them bare aside from three massive pillars running down the center of the room and stretching up from the ground to vanish high into the cavernous darkness. It was such a strange, and eerie sight that he almost expected boss fight music to start playing as some sort of many tentacle space squid crawled its way from the walls and slithered across the floor to make combat with them. He wasn’t entirely sure if he was disappointed or relieved when, after a few minutes, it became clear that this cave had one overwhelming characteristic, and that was its lack of combative space squid. Frowning, he dropped his weapon back into a low ready position, The other marines did the same, straightening themselves from the low tactical crouch, though they didn’t drop their guard entirely. “Amazing.” Someone muttered “Does anyone else find this…. Structure to be rather…. Off for an asteroid?” “What do you mean?” Lt. Vir spun in a slow circle, only half listening to the conversation as he ran his infrared beam over the uneven walls. It was strangely cave like, if that is what the scientist meant: the walls were smooth but uneven. The very sides of the room had a habit of sloping upwards flattening out every now and again into small ledges and steps, which seemed to lead higher towards the center of the wall, where he found large dark holes, perhaps leading back into pockets or side caverns, where his light could not reach. Someone’s foot clattered against a stone, barely audible through the protection of his helmet. He had wandered now, a bit further into the cavern than the rest of the crew sidling past the first pillar before stopping parallel to the second, though he was closer to the wall than he was to the pillar. “Don’t wander to far Lieutenant.” He recognized the voice as the young marine from earlier, Ramirez, and turned to see him jogging up from behind his boots crunching heavily against the stone. “Don’t worry, I can still see them.” The rest of the group had taken that time and wandered up to the first pillar. “Everyone, night vision off, switching to bright beams.” He quickly did as told not practically eager to be blinded, or have his equipment overloaded. For a moment, he found himself suspended in total darkness, emerged in an immense pool of blackness from where there was no escape, that was until a beam of radiant light burst from somewhere in the room, illuminating the interior of the cavern with a dim white  glow. As other lights were flicked on, the room grew exponentially brighter pulling contrast from the dark shadows, lightening them towards a powdery shadow grey. Interior visor lamps were flicked on giving luminance to the faces behind the masks, eerie and inhuman in the way strange shadows fell over the face, pooling under the eyes and over the lips. Lt. Vir flicked on his own bright beams, turning to look at the young Marine Ramirez, who had chosen to do the same. His deep tan face was marred with the ruddy orange of his tinted visor, and great shadows pooled around his eyes. Together they turned to examine the cavern again throwing their lights up high into the ceiling and onto the walls. He had been correct earlier in his assumption about off-shooting tunnels, which still remained pools of inky blackness a quarter of the way up the towering walls. It wouldn’t have been hard to get to them if he had wanted, though he doubted the captain would be particularly pleased if he decided to go gallivanting off to explore the interior of an asteroid. He turned his light onto the floor listening over the comms as the team continued to speak. “I don’t know, I just find the cavern structure, and the use of pillars to be highly unlikely in the formation of an asteroid.” “What about the arches we saw earlier, I wouldn’t think those are natural either.” “No, no, not the way they had fallen together. I would wager to say that two pillars ended up falling together and the metal flash welded during some time of extreme heat.” “Kind of unbelievable.” “Yes, but it makes more sense than the erosion of wind and water, which does not exist on an asteroid at all, caves are generally made out of the movement of earth and elements whether it be water, or earthquakes or lava tubes.” The argument continued, as Lt. Vir moved his way further into the cavern. The nervous marine trailed behind him, clearly uncomfortable with Vir wandering off, but too nervous to try and tell him otherwise. “Well even if that WAS possible asteroids don’t have gravity, at least not enough too….” Lt. Vir stopped in his tracks, freezing in response to the sudden eruption of tingling up his spine causing the palms of his hands to grow cold. He spun in a circle eyes scanning over the cavern, but found nothing more than, Ramirez, staring at him with some confusion, “Is everything ok, Lieutenant.” He didn’t answer, unwilling, and unable to articulate the sudden feeling of being watched as he was cut off abruptly by, “Did everyone turn on their gravity fields?” There was a pause around the group, Lt. Vir glanced down at his wrist controls and found that…. No, they weren’t.” “What does that matter?” One of the marines asked, a sense of nervous tension causing his voice to strain. “Because... Because asteroids don’t have noticeable gravity.” “You’ve gotta be shitting me.” Someone muttered “You know what else asteroids aren’t supposed to have.” Lt. Vir and the marine turned towards where the captain, and the rest of the group were standing.  Watching as she held out her hands, silver command armor glittering in the hard white light, and slapped her hands together. The noise echoed and reverberated about the chamber vibrating up through his feet and into his helmet. Though the sound was muffled and distant, but still there. The realization was chilling, coming on the wings of a sound that shouldn’t have been there, like listening to the cry of a baby alone in your apartment at night…. And you don’t have a baby. “How the hell!” It was at that moment, that another noise, faint but resonant, made its way through the outer layer of his suit. He snapped his head to the side eyeing the rocky slope above his head. Off to his right, the marine was still staring at the rest of the team partially in shock and partially in confusion trying to understand what it all meant. A small rock trembled and shuttered at the bottom of the incline rocking slowly back and forth against the ground. He stared at it for a moment eyes wide in disbelief assuming, that this had to be a dream. Then out of the corner of his eyes, he saw it. A sudden flash of movement.

In the dark

Warning: Drev culture is more aggressive than human culture, so keep that in mind. 

The ship was dark, dark and quiet as even the engines were no longer running. Most of the crew was gone, out for a night of mandated debauchery while a full systems diagnostic was being run on the ship. The less people aboard, the better. 

In order to preserve power, most of the lights had been turned off leaving only a dim illumination and pools of blackness throughout the ship. Sunny was left alone to wander the halls and think. She would have gone down to the planet with the rest of the crew, but it was advised that at least two to three members of the crew remain aboard in case something went wrong with the diagnostics. Generally most of the work would be done by a crew on the outside of the ship, so even in the event of an issue, she wasn’t likely to be needed. That left her restless and alone wandering the halls of the Omen, a ship which was much larger than the harbinger had been, and so left her what must have been miles of hallway, if you counted the service tunnels from maintenance, and the full length of some of the docking bays. She was just walking through a hallway between one of the docking bays and one of the cargo bays in near total darkness when… something caused her to stop in her tracks. It wasn’t something she saw or heard, but something she felt. She stood confused for a moment, not sure what to think. She knew that some humans claimed to be able to feel when someone was watching them, but as far as she knew it was not a feeling she had ever experienced. Perhaps, having heard a story from Adam earlier in the day had made her mind ripe for some sort of paranoia, but as she tried to move on down the hall, she just couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched. She turned her head slightly from one direction to the other not sure how to feel. She wasn’t scared. Any threat that might be out there was something she could easily handle , but she did worry for the rest of the crew and what this could mean for the people she cared about. They had gone through enough lately not to need something else to suddenly appear in their lives. She paused again as a soft sound in the distance made her tilt her head to the side. The darkness was penetrating. Drev had very good color distinction, and more cones than humans when it came to visual acuity, but in comparison with night vision, they weren’t as great. She squinted into the dark. And had no time to react as something rushed at her from the darkness. She gasped in surprise as she was slammed back into the wall with a sharp clatter nearly losing her balance. She was ready to kick whatever it was off her, when her eyes finally focused on the shape. Surprise made her eyes widen, but she stilled. Adam looked up at her one green eye and one mechanical eye focused intently on her face. His expression was one of calm and focused determination, lips pressed into a thin line. Soft waves of light ran over the stripes on his skin and face. Two strong hands gripped her by the sides of her chest armor, pinning her in place. Below his fingers, her carapace was cool and smooth, the color of blue lightning in the dark. He locked eyes with her golden orbs seeming to glow slightly in the dim ambiance though that was only an illusion. “Fight me.” He hissed, and she could feel his warm breath on her neck. She tilted her head a wry smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, “So aggressive.” Hands still gripping her armor he slammed her back into the wall, “You haven't seen anything yet.” To her surprise, he didn’t look away from her, and his hands only grew tighter against her armor. When she looked down at him the cool expression in her glowing eyes sent a shiver down his spine, “Is that a promise.” He felt her gearing up to move almost as soon as the thought entered her head, muscle churning below carapace and up into his hands. He dodged out of the way, letting go and rolling across the floor just in time to come up in a low crouch, one hand resting on the floor as she came to square off against him. He cracked his neck, reaching down and pulling a metal spear from where it had been laid against the wall. She stood one foot forward one foot back in a ready position. He stood straight tossing the spear to her, which she caught in her upper right hand spinning it a few times with practiced ease before sinking into a low crouch. Every line of her body was set and ready for battle against him, not one muscle flinched and not one limb trembled. Soft light brushed over the grey skin at the side of her face. He mirrored her stance and she looked him over with a critical eye. Delicate human skin rolled softly over hard muscle visible through the shirt over his shoulders and chest. His bare forearms glowed with ambient UV light nearly managing to mesmerize her with swirling stripes before she pulled her focus back to her opponent. His center of gravity with his chest, low now as he was grounded, his spear held at a low ready in both hands. She could see him sizing her up as well, his green eyes passing over her slowly moving from her planted feet to her knees and up to the balance point of her hips, slow and lingering like a caress though the intent was made more clear by the soft shifting of his feet against the ground. For a long moment neither of them moved, both poised on the edge of a precipice, the wind of battle urging them both forward. She was gearing up for an attack, when, to her shock, Adam made the first move sprinting across the open space spear snapping up towards her head. Off balance from his sudden and unpredictable move she was only just able to catch him before he caught her. They exchanged a quick flurry of attacks before he disengaged, backing away spear held just to the side, panting. She spun her spear in one hand, “Not like you to initiate.” “Not like you to be caught off guard.” She rumbled with pleasure, “You’re pretty good with that you know.” “Do you surrender.” She circled left, he mirrored her, “Hardly.” WIth one of her empty hands she waved him in, “Drev don’t surrender.” He smirked, “Oh really.” and then her charged again, but this time she was ready for him, catching him and batting him off to the left. Steel rang as he skidded backwards across the floor, feet skidding over rough metal -- a testament to her power. It was her turn to charge this time, and his turn to desperately parry her attacks as she backed him into the wall. At one moment their weapon were locked together and his back was pressed against the wall. He could feel the cool metal seeping up through his shirt as he strained to hold her back. His heels were touching the back wall, and the entire flat of his back was leached of heat by the cold metal. Slowly she applied more and more pressure taking minute steps forward until they were chest to chest, separated only by two bars of metal, and quivering muscles as they both strained against each other. Her forward leg was pressed against his, warmer than the cold metal, and shaking as she strained against him. Breath heaved in his lungs as his body scrambled for oxygen. He looked up face passed over by her shadow. He gritted his teeth as she pressed even harder, she leaned her head down, towering over him as he braced himself back against the wall for leverage. More of her body came in contact with his upper legs, chest, the occasional brush of his stomach against hers as he took deep gasping breaths. “Just give up, in a contest of strength, you are no match for me.” Her voice was low, her breath hot on his face. She was right, He was no match for her in a contest of strength, but…. She watched his face carefully as his eyes suddenly widened from their narrowed position, his gritted teeth turned into a grimace of pain, “Sunny…” She loosened up, “Adam, are you.” And was clocked violently on the side of the head as he slipped their locked spears apart. Sunny staggered back as he rolled to the side coming up in a crouch grinning wolfishly as she took her hand from her head, “You little bastard.” “Not stronger than you, but maybe just a little more imaginative.” She moved her spear back to a ready position, “Wouldn’t you humans consider that manipulation?” “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” His bright green eye twinkled in merry amusement. “Don’t be so pleased with yourself, you won’t win this.” she said stalking forward. “I won last time, or was the part where you were on your back just my imagination.” Ah she saw her opening, “Do you imagine me on my back a lot?” And there it was, the sudden flush, the stammer, and the faltering of his spear hand, “I… thats not what I-” She lunged catching him high on the chest. He staggered back, hand being knocked loose. WIth a sharp flick of her spear she batted his from his hand to go clattering across the floor. Sparks shed in every direction as it bounced across the floor, and she roared as she charged forward. His eyes went wide for real this time as he tried to dodge out of the way. But instead of dodging back like she expected, he leapt forward, trying to duck under her guard where her spear could not reach. She had to make a quick decision, letting her spear drop to the floor with a clatter, while catching him by the arm with the same hand. She spun him in a tight circle, sweeping one foot out from under him so he pitched violently to the floor. Without her spear, she was forced to follow, using her weight to pin him down, lower arms around his lower torso, upper arms pinning his hands to the metal. He squirmed and wriggled below her weight desperately trying to get a foot up to kick her off. But she weighed nearly eighty pounds more than he did, with carapace and and her extra foot in height. There was nothing he could do. She could feel him gasping beneath her grip lungs expanding against her lower arms, and his hands and upper arms flexing against hers, almost strong enough to break her grip, but not quite. She had no doubt if this weren’t a friendly fight he could have tossed her off with a burst of adrenaline. That human super power did not come to his aid this time as his struggling grew sporadic and more half hearted until, breathing heavily his head thudded back against the metal chest heaving. From where she came in contact with him, arms, chest, stomach, hips and legs she could feel the blood rushing through his body at double quick time as his heart desperately brought oxygen to his limbs. His arms were shaking with effort as he tried to push her off, but he knew a lost cause when he saw one and sank back against the floor. She had full control of him, and he mildly regretted allowing her to take Jiu Jitsu or Judo for that matter. She had him out of his guard and in forward mount pinning his hips to the ground. WIth her hands locked around his lower torso, his ability to move his upper body was limited, and with his hands pinned at ninety degrees beside his head, he was in a weak position against her. He stopped trying to fight muscles relaxing back into the cold steel. His hands, which had been gripping hers, nails digging into her skin, relaxed. Their fingers were still locked together from the struggle. The back of his hands rested against the floor, the warmth of her palms pressed against his. Overhead, not inches from his face she looked down at him. The holes at the base of her neck expanded and contracted with her increased breathing, but her honey yellow eyes were locked on his face narrowed in suspicion, “You won't trick me again.” He chuckled, straining to breath slightly against her weight, “I uh…. I don’t think I’m going anywhere.” She looked down at him, head tilted. Heat washed over her skin, radiating from him like a blast furnace. He was always warm, shedding heat like a dying star. She looked him over very critically. She did have him pinned, that was true, but she needed to be sure he wasn’t planning something else, turning to look him in the face. He was a terrible liar after all. His one green eye was wide, lips parted slightly as his ragged breathing began to slow. There was no wily twinkle that suggested he was planning something. “You going to let me up…. You won after all?’ She tilted her head to the other side, “Who said anything about letting you up.” She tightened her lower arms hands brushing up against the cold of the metal floor and the small of his back slightly damp with perspiration. He took a deep breath as she tightened her grip, tilting back just slightly. She added a bit more pressure, “I mean you did attack me, and I feel like that means you should be punished.” He groaned a bit at the increased pressure, “You hit me in the chest, I feel liket that should definitely be punishment enough.” “You hit me in the head, so it cancels out.” Besides.” She loosened her lower arms propping herself up on his ribcage. He huffed abdominal muscles straining against the added weight, “Besides I have you in my power, it's not every day you get that with a human.” She flexed her hands around his adding to the point that she had him almost completely immobilized. “IS your punishment going to be not letting me breathe?” he huffed. She looked down at him thoughtfully, and with some relief for him, slowly moved her lower hands from his ribcage, “I guess.” She sighed He took  a deep breath. Her hands were still pressed against his torso, but not in a way to restrict him from breathing. “Hmm, how should I punish you, since suffocation seems to be out of the question.” He breathed in sharply as her lower hands moved up from his ribcage and onto his chest. The skin below her hands erupted into fizzing like little bubbles of carbon were crawling up through his skin. He could feel blood rushing straight into his head face and neck, which he tried to fight down with little success. It was as if he physically felt the speech center of his brain shut off and he knew he was mumbling and stuttering like an idiot even though he couldn’t even comprehend what he was trying to stay. He continued to stammer and Sunny tapped her fingers against his chest rather smuggly. WIth her enhanced color perception and UV vision, so easily saw the tonal change of the skin about his face and neck It was one of her favorite things about humans. Where the palms of their hands met, she felt the clamminess that took over his skin. The reaction amused her. “So, as for your punishment, what should it be. I’ll let you choose.” He continued to stammer like a repeating record. The chang did really amuse her, one second he could be commanding, even demanding, and the next moment he could barely string two words together. It was always a fun game to play to decide which one he was going to be. Personally his thought processes weren’t really functioning enough at that moment to make a coherent thought, though a small, and often neglected voice on the back of his head seemed to be wiggling its way forward taking advantage of his normal brain functions. Sunny saw the change as soon as it came, the stuttering stopped and his eyes brightened up again rather than clouded over. A wry smile played over his mouth, “Thats a lot of empty threats and not a lot of action.” “Adam?” The expression passed again and the redness in his face had returned, “I uh…. Um… I….” “Wow, I leave you crazy kids alone for two minutes…” Sunny bolted upright and Adam rolled to the side into a low crouch. Even in the half darkness, Sunny could sense the five shade change on the man’s face. Both of them glanced up down the hallway, where a silhouette was approaching from the docking bay. Ramirez appeared from down the hall holding an ice pack over one eye and limping, though his bright white smile was still visible in the darkness, “Well don’t let me interrupt. Just stopping by to grab some painkillers and then ill be on my way.” Adam was on his feet now back ramrod straight arms crossed over his chest, “I um… you weren’t interrupting…. anything . I we….we were.” “No need to explain to me.” Ramirez said walking past, “Just training, right? Gotta get that practice in case you run into another stunning, tall glass of water.” He winked his uncovered eye at sunny, though she only understood it as a wink because he said the word at the same time he was making the gesture.” “Ramirez!” The human barked with laughter as he faded into the blackness leaving nothing but the echoes of his mirth bouncing down the hallway.

Trust Me

Warning: this story has caused some people to be uncomfortable. Just a reminder before reading that Drev culture is more aggressive than human culture and Adam and Sunny trust each other.

They were sitting in the recreation room. Most of the lights were off except for the dimmed yellow bulb over the pool table, and the soft blue light of the television screen. The cool blue light caressed gently as Adam Vir’s face and Sunny’s already blue carapace as they sat watching. On screen twin suns rose over Tatooine’s dusty surface. The couch was rather small so Adam rested against Sunny’s right side, her lower arm wrapped around his waist, her upper arm wrapped around his shoulder while his head rested against her chest. He was only half paying attention, though he could recite this movie scene by scene at this point in his life, so had no real need to pay attention. Sunny had seen it a few times, though she knew the comforting quality it had for Adam, which is why she didn’t care how many times they had to watch it. The rec room was quiet and empty aside from them, the night was late. “Looks miserable.” Sunny commented remembering the sandstorms on Irus and shuttering at the thought of a blue wall of dust bearing down towards her. “That’s kind of the point.” Adam yawned before resting his head back down on her chest, “My question is how the hell did Anakin not figure out Kenobi was there the entire time.” “Because he’s afraid of sand.” “Because he’s a dumbass more like.” Sunny muttered and they fell into half silence again. Technically both of them should have gone to bed hours ago, but it was only about this time that everyone else had vacated, and Adam had finally grown a pair enough to scoot over to sit with her. Sunny was a little bit frustrated about all that. She knew it wasn’t about the fact she wasn’t human, but had everything to do with the fact that he was nervous, but still a part of her would always have gnawing suspicions in the back of her head. Those gnawing thoughts were making it very difficult to pay attention or enjoy the movie. Adam was half asleep, so he didn’t seem to care much. She sat there brooding. The dim light went on for a while. Sunny didn’t know how long. Eventually it became too annoying and she sat up, jolting Adam awake to look around with confusion. “Sunny.” “Just hold on.” She muttered, turning herself sideways, and grabbing him around the middle. He Yelped in confusion, but before he knew what was up, she had stretched herself out along the length of the couch. He now lay, half resting on her stomach and chest, his feet between hers. He looked up at her, and even in the dim light she could tell he was beat red. She wrapped two of her arms around him before he could get too awkward and run away. One of his hands rested flat against one of her armored chest plates. “Uh… I-” “Shhh.” He grew very quiet but rested his head back down. She could feel him breathing, his stomach pressed up against hers on occasion. Despite being a relatively large human, he wasn’t all that heavy to her, and having him resting like this didn’t bother her at all. When it became clear that he wasn’t going anywhere, she loosened her grip, one hand dropping to rest on his back, the other coming up to rest in his hair. The little short hair swerve spiky against her palm and scratched over her palm as she ran a hand across them. His breath was warm against her upper chest. Based on how still he was, she could still sense his nerves. Likely he was worried someone was going to walk in, or maybe he still wasn’t entirely comfortable with all of this, but either way he didn’t move, and she didn’t move to make him. He was warm, his human skin hot and pouring off heat that kept her rather warm on a ship that remained rather chilly on most occasions. She traced circles against his back, her head turned towards the TV, by the time he managed to relax the darkness had grown. The light above the pool table had shut off, and the end credits were rolling down the scree. n leaving them in near darkness. Sunny had to shift because her back was hurting but that gave him the opportunity to sit up and she frowned. He tried to get away again but she had already pulled him back sitting now leaning back against her as they both stared into the darkness. He sighed, “Trying to give me a heart attack from stress?” “A little heart attack is good for you.” “No, no it really isn't.” “You wouldn't be almost having a heart attack if you would just relax.” “I can’t relax.” She pulled him a bit closer, “Yes, you can.” HE sighed deeply in exasperation probably but went still. His breathing grew deeper, though that was clearly a product of him trying to relax and not the fact he was actually feeling relaxed. She ran a hand over his arm, and after a while of doing that, she moved her hand to his chest, and the core where the muscles were tightest. He rested his head back against her shoulder shedding heat like a dying star. The night was only growing later, and later. He was curled up against her chest, knees drawn up slightly. Together they barely fit. She rested her head on top of his. He snorted slightly but didn’t make her move. He moved his head back slightly head leaning back. She rested her cheek against his. She had managed to manuver her upper arms around his chest without him arguing with her, so she considered that a win. In the faded light, she still managed to see the delicate patterns of blue green running over his skin. She traced one of those lines up from his cheek, down the side of his face, and then down his neck onto his shoulder before it vanished below the neck of his shirt. When he turned his head, the stripes glittered and then faded as the light passed over them. She knew the patterns well enough, having seen them enough times to be more than familiar with his specific patterns. The ones on his face were sharp, cutting down the side of his cheekbones to make his face look sharper and more predatory than he actually was, through the patterns on his back and chest swirled and curved without those same sharp lines that were on his face. His chest expanded with his breathing, pushing her arms up and down. Through his shrit, she could feel the distant beating of his ery human heart, which was powerful enough to make itself known through a cage of bone. She moved her hand up specifically to feel it better counting the beats as they sped up and then slowed down in cycles. A hand slid up over hers curling down to wind through her fingers. She hummed,  either he had been psyching himself up for that, or he was finally comfortable enough to allow her to do it. She wondered. He grew still again, and his heartbeat slowed. He yawned making a small squeaking sound towards the end which managed to make her hum again. She liked that sound, it was sort of adorable and no matter how hard he tried to avoid making it, he claimed that he had to in order for the yawn to be satisfying. He rolled slightly to the side shifting uncomfortably. She wondered what the problem was, and figured it out relatively quickly He yawned again. She reached a lower hand down, the fingertips brushing over the side of his leg in the dark. He stiffened again. “Sunny.” His voice was warning, ranging towards nervousness again. “Trust me.” She muttered softly. His back was stiff against her chest as she adjusted her arm feeling the change in pressure and give as his real leg turned into his prosthetic. Familiarity with the piece of equipment allowed her to find the release pretty quick, a hand clamped down over hers. His palms were sweaty and cold. “I… need that, to walk.” He muttered stuttering “Adam….do you trust me.” He paused and let his hand slip away nodding with some conviction, “You know I do.” She gently pulled her hand away and pressed the release. The mechanical leg thudded to the floor with a muted noise that did not echo through the empty room. The Steel eye armored, and movified prosthetic leg lay on the ground glittering in the darkness. She moved a hand up brushing over his hair to make sure the eyepatch strap was still there. Adam was no longer augmented. He was simply a vulnerable human, unable to walk on his own and with one less eye to see what was going on. She was and could be in complete control of him had she wanted. Even when he shifted to sit up, she could sense the trouble he was having with the missing limb. The arms she still had wrapped around him tightened gently moving him into a more comfortable position. WIthout his leg, he would have to rely on her to move. He would have to trust her. She could crush him like a bug, do whatever she wanted. At that moment there was no human more vulnerable than he was. Had she planned this? Well no, not really, but she wanted him to know that he could trust her. She wanted to see if he already trusted her. Would he be willing to give up his ability to stand and trust her to do it for him. What was more trusting than allowing someone to see you vulnerable, to pick up in the places that you couldn’t He lay back against her, and somehow, he seemed smaller, the fact that he couldn’t get up and walk on his own shrunk him in size a little. A powerful predator, a powerful warrior who would have to rely on her to move. In no way did the loss of his leg take that from him, but it did give her something that she didn’t have, and hadn’t had before. Control and trust. They lay there for a while, his hand resting on top of hers in the darkness. The TV had shut off now as ambient light filtered in from the hallway. He yawned again, and sunny sighed, sliding out from behind him and into a kneeling position on the floor. She was surprised how much more difficult it was for him to sit up with only one leg his back and arms forced to work more as he sat up. She knelt in front of him in the half light staring sadly at the stump where she had taken a piece of him, and discarded it. She rested a hand on her leg looking up at him. He turned his head away, “Don’t look at me like that.” “Like what.” He was silent for a moment, “All…. sad.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.” He was silent for a moment.” “I know.” She reached up, hands to either side of his face turning him slightly to look at her. He leaned his head down resting his forehead against hers in the near darkness. The ship’s engines thrummed in the distant background his warm skin against the cold of her carapace. She paused, “Will, you…. Let me?” she glanced towards the hallway and back at him, and when she did she could see the struggle on his face. Could he give up control like that to her. It took him a while. “Alright, Chalan.” He said that in Drev this time his voice low. In one of her lower hands, she picked up the discarded prosthetic, and in her upper hands she picked him up. He was heavy, sure but not more than she could handle. He rested his head against her shoulder as she carried him quietly through the ship and up to the captain’s quarters. The door hissed open softly for them as they approached, and she stepped into the darkness. It clicked shut behind them, and a soft whimper greeted their arrival as Waffles’s tail thumped against the ground from inside her bed. Sunny gently Set Adam on the edge of the bed and deposited the leg by the side where he slept. He looked up at her, face streaked in blue light, bright green eye reflecting the viewing platform behind her. She rested her hand on his cheek again. “Thank you, for letting me do that.” She said softly. He looked up at her head tilted slightly. “You’re the only one who I would.” She hummed deep in her throat, “Get some sleep. You only have two hours after all before Simon hunts you down.” He groaned slightly, but smiled slightly, “I’ll see you tomorrow.” “Tomorrow.” She turned, patted waffles on the head, and stepped from the room allowing the door to hiss shut behind her.