Codename Alpha: Intervention

Chapter Four - Homosapien

Marine and I spent the next fifteen or so minutes playing one versus one deathmatches in About Face. Really, they weren't deathmatches, as much as they were 'Marine jumps around the corner from nowhere and instantly kills you with the rebar crossbow,' but it was still enjoyable in its own right. Me sucking wasn't much of a surprise, either - of the many games which were brought along on the Valiant, About Face was probably my least favorite. More than anything, it was me seeing how long I could run away from her.

I had managed to survive for about three minutes, my longest yet, when she somehow came from the ceiling and obliterated me with a tripmine. "You're scary, you know that?" I said.

"Congratulations on being the first iatrophobic on the Valiant, then," she answered, laughing. "Oh, man. I think..." she paused for a few seconds. "Yeah, I've got to change into formals real quick. Maybe you can find someone to back you up real quick, hm?"

"Sure thing," I said, as I opened up the message program. I sent a brief message to Falco asking him if he wanted to join, and sure enough, he did. After waiting a bit for Marine to finish changing, we were back at it - and I was still doing just as poorly.

After a bit, though, Lieutenant-Commander Kato, easily recognizable, came on over the ship's intercom. "Attention, all personnel. Report to C-Deck, port, immediately. Repeat, report to C-Deck, port, immediately."

"Alrighty, that's that," I said, as I left the server and closed my laptop, also after typing out a brief goodbye to Falco. I stood up, stretched, and faced Marine, who was doing the same. Since we were already on C-Deck, all we had to do was just walk across the ship to port.

"I'm curious," I began, as I opened the door to our quarters, stepping out into the corridor. "How do you think they'll react when they come aboard? Actually, no... how do you think the general Human public would react, if our existence is disclosed?"

Marine closed the door behind herself as she answered. "That's a fine question. The astronauts coming aboard are going to be very friendly, since... well, I think they've received numerous briefings about our appearance, situation, and whatnot. The public, though..." She was silent in thought as we walked, for a few seconds. "Well, there's five or so billion of them across the entire planet, and I've only spoken to a pawful. There's really no way to predict it."

"Hmm... have you been able to take note of any current trends in the media? Like... what are their current views on alien life, given popular movies?"

Marine slowly blew out some air, and laughed a bit. "Yeah, I've got no idea. Remember, even for me, direct contact with their culture has been fairly limited. That's the main reason we're doing this whole docking thing, you know."

I shook my head. "Right, right." I knew that the Humans, particularly the crew aboard the "space shuttle" which would soon dock with us were carrying a wide variety of media which they'd be able to show us to aid in cultural exchange - and for a split second, I thought that they'd be bringing up movies as well, for whatever reason. I also remembered that with their current level of technology, which included floppy disks, video cassettes, and god knows what else, a Human movie night aboard the Valiant wasn't exactly feasible. The movie night which would ordinarily take place tonight had also been cancelled in favor of the question and answer session the Humans would be holding after dinner, which I was especially looking forward to.

Nonetheless, we soon arrived at port alongside a group of several others, where Marine and I were greeted by some well-dressed officers. There were twenty or so other crewmen spread out across the corridor, with different groups gathered into the two docking ports. Marine broke off to go talk with Ensign Pearce and Lieutenant Kovalev, while I looked around to see if either Falco or Eric were already here. Sure enough, I saw Falco leaning against the bulkhead next to the leftmost docking port. I waved to him, and he waved back, as I walked towards him.