Codename Alpha

Chapter 17

Additionally, just for the sake of getting there with less of a risk of being heard or spotted, we kept talk to a minimum until we reached the truck. It likely didn't make much of a difference, though, seeing as we didn't once run into someone driving past or out for a walk of their own.

"Say what you will about this whole mess, I'm getting more cardio than I probably ever have," I said, in between breaths, as I stepped up to the truck, leaning on it.

"Come on, man! Your ancestors were built for endurance!" Max said, in an exaggerated tone.

Marine and I both laughed. "Give him a break. A lot can happen in eight hundred thousand years, you know," she joked.

"Besides, how well can you see at night?" I prodded, while getting back up to pull the truck's rear hatch down. Once it was, I hopped up and sat down, putting the license plates on the ground below me.

"Admittedly, not very well. Below average, as a matter of fact. And that's without mentioning my night vision."

"What's wrong with it?" I asked.

"Someone in my family was exposed to Red Sunrise," he began. I quickly realized what he meant. "Most of the problems there were when I was born were corrected through gene therapy, but there's lasting tissue damage on the, uh..." he pointed at his eyes, lost for words.

"Tapetum lucidum?" Marine pitched in.

"Yeah, that. It's no small miracle that I'm actually allowed to even fly shuttles," he finished.

Nobody spoke in the following seconds, so I thought of a way to change the subject. "Aside from shuttlecraft and starships, what else are you qualified to fly?" I asked. Marine came and sat down on the truck bed as well.

"Oh, uh... helicopters, and both jet and propeller planes."

"So, potentially, if need be, you could steal one of the alien helicopters and fly it?" I asked.

"Possibly," he laughed. "I get the feeling that it'd be harder to learn than driving one of their cars, though. I think the coolest thing I've ever flown, with the exception of the Valiant, would be this Katyusha-Jonelle stealth helicopter, called the SRAH-4, if I remember correctly. Crazy fast, very maneuverable, and apparently completely invisible to radar."

"That's awesome. If things do turn out alright here, I suspect you'll enjoy toying around with all their aircraft. I mean, if we're allowed to. Can't be too certain how they'd view us overall." He nodded in agreement.

"Well, now would probably be a good time to get some rest before we get on the road later. Can't say for certain that I've been sleeping all too well recently, you know?" he said.

"You guys want me to keep watch?" Marine asked.

"Really? I mean, if you want to, go right ahead. I'm kinda tired as well," I added.

"Oh, sure. It's no issue. I'll be in the cab if either of you need me." She hopped off the truck bed and walked to the cab.

"Thanks!" Max yelled. "We'll switch in a couple hours. Could you grab the thermal blanket from my pack?"

"Yeah, one second," she said in return. "Oh, Jack, the truck is locked. I hope you have the keys?"

"I do indeed." I got off the truck and walked to the driver's side, patting the keys in the zipper-secured chest pocket under the vest I had stored them in. I reached in and pulled them out, and inserted it into the door lock, twisting until it actually unlocked the door. Once it was, I pulled it open, and climbed inside, then reached over and pulled up the little knob thing on the passenger side door, afterwards opening the door for her convenience.

"Thanks," she said, while I set the keys down in the cupholder.

"It's what I do." I closed the door behind myself and walked back around to the bed of the truck, and got to work installing the new license plates. The screws thankfully hadn't been blown away or anything, and were still in place under the rear left tire where I had put them all for safekeeping. While working on the rear one, Marine came back out after a few seconds and tossed Max the blanket.

"Thanks again," he said.

"It's no problem. If either of you hear me talking, disregard. I might record some additional logs about what happened on the ship, just for the sake of having them. Maybe."

"Alright." He began unfolding the blanket, laying it out on the bed of the truck, presumably so we had something comfortable to lay on. I quickly finished with the rear plate, and moved onto the front one, which also didn't take too long. Before heading to the bed of the truck to rest, I put the screwdriver in the cab of the truck, in the same cupholder as the car keys, warning Marine to be careful if she ever suddenly needs them.

I climbed up onto the bed of the truck, where Max was already lying down on the blanket, looking at the stars. I slipped off my stab vest and set it down, like he already did, and laid down next to him, looking at the sky as well.

"This is alot to take in all at once," he muttered. I wasn't quite sure if he was talking to himself or to me. "First there's the disaster, then we find out aliens exist, and then we find out that devolved foxes apparently just live here..."