Codename Alpha: Intervention

Chapter Seven - Lost Again

"Ah, formally it's Valko, but I just typically go by Falco. And don't worry, I understand." Falco and I were both quiet for a bit, watching as he tried out the food. He seemed to enjoy it. "So, what do you think of the Valiant so far?" Falco asked, after taking a few bites from his own food. "I think it's a shame that you haven't been able to see it at full operating capacity. Before the disaster, it was a sight to behold."

"If it's any consolation, it still is. For me, and all the other Humans aboard, we've never seen anything like this," he answered, after swallowing. "Every second here is amazing, even if it has undergone a major disaster. Though... what I find the craziest is still the fact that you all are like... Earth animals. I know you're not literally, of course, but the many resemblances I've seen are just uncanny."

"Yeah," I laughed. "After everything's said and done, the one thing I'm looking forward to the most is learning what the hell is going on in that regard." I thought back once more to the whole thing with their hyaenidae family, or whatever equivalent, having a lineage dating back twenty-two million years, a number obviously far greater than our own earliest genetic records. I simply couldn't wrap my head around it, no matter how hard I tried - there was certainly not going to be an easy explanation for it.

In any case, David and I kinda sped through dinner, finishing pretty quickly. We still stayed at the table so we could chat with Falco, though. Really, it was more of David talking about pop culture on his planet, which was pretty interesting in its own right. He spoke at length about somebody named "Mikail Jackson," and seemed pretty adamant in his defense of a movie called "The Thing," which he deemed an underrated horror movie about aliens from this year. It also served as a confirmation of the fact that he watched horror movies, something which wasn't all too surprising. I couldn't say I was all too eager to see this aforementioned Thing or any of it's exploits.

After a bit, we were once more notified of our break period ending, and we both quickly stood up, said our goodbyes, and walked out of the mess hall.

"Man, I'm excited," he said, to which I nodded in agreement. "I can't say I've seen your quarters yet, actually," he added, as we both stepped into the stairwell. "I'm assuming they're not going to be too different from mine, though."

"Ah, you never know. Who are you sharing yours with?" I asked.

"Algernon, uh... Brian, the French doctor. Well, you don't know what 'France' is, but... yeah. He's a very organized person, from what I've seen. You?"

"A fox named Marine. Also a doctor, funny enough. She was actually..." David cut me off before I could continue.

"One of the people who got shot down in Germany, right?" He said, excitedly, and I nodded to confirm his suspicions. "That's so cool. You know she's somewhat of a minor celebrity on Earth right now, right? Kovalev and Pearce, too."

"Wait, celebrity?" I asked, stopping in my tracks. "I thought that whole incident was being kept under wraps." I wondered for a second what, exactly, the full extent of their apparent celebrity was. I knew that Humans didn't have an internet or any sort of communications analog yet, so it seemed especially strange. Indeed, the extent to which we had even been communicating with humanity, up to this point, had been fairly limited, due to language barriers, disease transmission concerns, and so much else. As far as I knew, we had never really gotten any follow-up on their whole manhunt and everything that surrounded it.

"Oh, yeah. You guys... or, the three stranded on the surface, rather, became the subject of international news." All things considered, I was now wondering why I didn't expect that explanation. I wasn't too worried about it, either - if Humanity got used to the concept of our existence now, our public reveal later down the line may not be so rocky. However, they were also apparently deemed terrorists for the sake of the manhunt. "The West German military getting involved was really the moment things kicked off. I remember waking up just a month ago, putting on the tv, and seeing some guy on CNN talk about it."

"Well..." I mumbled, not sure of what to say.

"I think it was around the 23rd when they started giving out detailed information on what the, uh... suspects," he laughed lightly, "looked like. A coworker and I both figured it wasn't ornate prosthetic animal costumes or whatever, and he bet that they were aliens, and I bet that they were genetic experiments." His brow suddenly furrowed. "Huh, I owe him five dollars. Anyways, though... I don't remember how this relates to Marine," he laughed, and I joined him. "To your quarters?"

"Sounds like a plan."

My quarters were less than a minute away, thankfully enough. This time, I knocked on the door, and upon not getting an answer, opened it up and walked in, keeping it open for David as well. I flipped on the wall lamp and motioned around, to try and introduce him. "My bunk's on the right. Not much different than yours, I hope. I try my best not to be too much of a wreck."

"Well, if you ask me, your best seems to do the trick." He walked over to my loft desk, and bent down to look at my computer, which currently had my laptop hooked in to it. "Interesting, you're able to get your desktop to interface? Your computers become more and more impressive every second. You mind if I set up here?" He asked, as he unslung the laptop bag from around his shoulder.

"Sure, take my chair," I said, as I walked to Marine's desk and pulled one over. "You know how to play computer games, right?" I asked, as I booted up my desktop. "For that matter, do you even have computer games?"

"To some extent, yes, but I'm absolutely sure that yours are going to be leagues more impressive." I smiled, thinking about how, exactly, I was going to teach him how to play games. Not just any specific one - games as a whole, seeing as how he lacked any common knowledge as to how they worked. It'd certainly be interesting.