Alien at Home

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"I don't care what the hell it is just tell me how..." He stopped. Something had caught his ear. A faroff sound of an opening door that, somehow, he knew he shouldn't have been able to hear. A few thumps and scrapes later and a whimper sounded. Erik didn't know what it was, or why he heard it, but it was definately there.

"Uh. I'll be right back." He followed his gut on this one. Probably stupid, he realized, since following his gut was what got him in trouble in the first place, but he couldn't seem to put it off. He made his way to the first of the three doors that sealed the room. It almost felt like he was no longer present in his own mind. What would pass for instinct drove him now, and nothing more. In truth, this and many other surprises that would lay in store for him were the fault of the ever psichotic Dr. Roe. Experiments he'd been wanting to try had been conducted on all the voluntary subjects of his cryogenic process. Erik, being the lucky first volunteer, had been the guinea pig of more than just a few of these tests, ultimately resulting in a number of subtle mutations.

As Erik placed his hand on the door, a buzzing sound could be heard from within, and the locking mechanisms turned slowly and eventually released, though nowhere as quickly as it would have with the actual key. He looked at his hand for only a moment before proceeding through to the next door.
 
Ghost watched Erik warily as the man went to the door, but then his attention was caught by movement on the screen in his peripheral vision and he started to answer the questions put to him. "The Inkers are about as dangerous as most these days. None of the bunch that came here last time had guns so I was able to send them running. Not sure if they've managed to find one now. You should be alright, its rough out there but no-where near as bad as I've heard some places to be."
 
January turned her head to watch Erik move out the door, a look of slight confusion crossed over her features. She felt something before Erik had gotten up and left, like a brush of energy against her skin, but wrote it off as nerves.
She was slightly worried that Ghost would react unhappily at Erik’s actions, after all this was Ghosts home and guests, if they where guests, really shouldn’t wander with out permission. But as soon as Ghost spoke she returned her attentions to him with out worry about Erik.

“Have you been out there lately Ghost?”
 
Daniel continued to lie upon the bottom of the cryo-tube huddled within the tiny ball, his whimpers remaining soft. Slowly the weakness within his body was slowly decreasing, but the chill of the cold air upon his naked body brought tiny shivers through his small childish form. He heard the faint opening of two of the doors and the turning gears and lock of the third door. Fear grew within his young mind for he did not know who or what was coming, adding to the fear of not knowing what was happening. The sounds of his whimpers increase slightly louder, and the slight shivers now turning to frightened trembles along his body. His eyes squeeze tighter closed waiting for what was coming. The veil of darkness within his mind still shrouding all that he knew and remembered keeping its dark grip upon his memories.
 
Something in the back of Erik's mind told him that he shouldn't be able to operate the mechanisms in the doors without the assistance of the actual key. Something in the forefront, however, told him otherwise. Each of the three doors unlocked and opened in the same manner. When the third was finally opened, and Erik proceeded through it, the haze in his mind departed, and he was left standing back in the room he'd awakened in, without being completely certain how he'd gotten there.

The whimpering caused the curiosity for how he'd arrived to depart, and Erik was left standing before the form of a small frightened child. Still something within him told him that this was not an oridinary little boy, but at the moment it didn't matter. Erik had a child once, and a fatherly instinct was stirred. He knelt to the boy and spoke in as comforting a tone as he could manage.

"Easy now. You're okay. I'm Erik. Do you want to get out of this scary place?"
 
"I went out three days ago." Ghost replied. "I found a stockpile of food in an old emergency shelter from the war. Its about half a mile from here, and I didn't run into any trouble. There is a slow a few feet wide but its easy to spot so not hard to avoid."
 
You must be a strong and brave man Ghost”

She drew her eyes away from the screen and faced ghost, thinking his life up tell now must have been hard enough, Living here all this time and thinking those in the cryo tubes where zombies just waiting to break out, must have made him feel unsafe in the one place you should feel safe…Home.

Home…That thought brought back memories, her loved ones, parents, siblings, *She turned the promise ring on her finger* her beloved…All would be long dead now. Her home, her room everything she owned…These things also gone, in rubble or taken over by others in need. Unshed tears threatened to spill, she lowered her head , so that her long curls fell like a veil to hide the painful hurt etched now on her face. Her next words held the soft ache that her heart felt.

“The world goes on right Ghost? Has it gotten any better in the years since its near destruction?”

She supposed at this moment all she need was a spark of hope to nourish into a flame.
 
Daniel felt the presence of the other person entering the room, cautionary fear roaring through his mind now. All he knew right now that he was in a strange place with no knowledge or memory of who he was nor where he was, nor how he got there, and that it was very cold upon his body. He scrunches himself into a tighter ball upon the floor of the chamber, eyes squeezing together as tight as they could. He heard the soft voice speaking to him with a comforting tone, easing him only slightly. The whimpering within his throat stops as the trembling within his body lightening, but he remains upon the floor as the fear that his tiny mind has created still remains, not as strong as before but still present. Yes he did want to leave this scary room, but was unsure of anything else that lay out there. He opens his eyes slightly as he turns his head to barely see the man standing there, nodding his head softly as he makes a, “Uh Huh,” sound. The cold upon his body was feeling worse then what it truly was due to the fear that was coursing through his tiny mind and form. His body quivers from a cold shiver suddenly as Goosebumps reveal themselves upon his skin, releasing a chilled whimper from his throat.
 
Regardless of the happenings upon its surface, in the grand scheme of things the world of Ayenee remained a richly colored marble floating through the vastness of eternity, forever doomed or blessed in its place as simply another facet in the grand monument of creation. It didn't matter that its cities were decimated, crumbling, husks of former grandeur. It didn't matter that once lush forests, teeming with all forms of exotic life, were reduced to piles of gray ash to be tossed about by the carefree winds. Its oceans had once been fruitful turquoise pools where sea creatures frolicked beneath the waves, and normally land dwelling humans and their other humanoid compatriots engaged in both serious business and the exuberant play at the surface.

From the command deck of the Khudoman command flagship Ch'Toga none of this mattered. A planet once bountiful was now just another useless spinning chunk of rock and vapor. There were thousands of those in this galaxy. Millions, perhaps. Each one of them more useless than the last.

"Commander," the guttural, thick as oil, Khudomanian language pierced the formerly silent command deck. "What are your orders?"

Commander Luskyr wasn't ready to answer the question. Nor was he ready when it had been asked previously, just minutes ago. This was a quandary, one he hadn't foreseen. His journey had been long, and he had taken so many others along with him in what now appeared the be a fruitless quest. The Ch'Toga had viewports installed in nearly every section of its sleek interior, it was foolish to believe that the mournful vista spread before his own eyes had escaped the notice of the thousand others eagerly awaiting their opportunity to claim this world.

Luskyr breathed a native curse, the tips of his jagged teeth dragging against his bottom lip as he spoke. He could blame the vessel's sensors for not being functional during faster than light travel, but without knowing how long ago whatever disaster befell this world it wouldn't have done them much good. If this had happened just a year ago or less the Ch'Toga would have been nearly upon it, and the feeling of anger and despair at losing a conquest would have been made even more unbearable by having lost it by such a sliver of time.

Luskyr looked at the panel in front of him. Commander Uyg-khu Luskyr, it read. He had been given a title of great importance, and the task handed down by the Elder Council was of even greater importance. There was no way that he would let this mission become a wash. There had to be something of worth on the surface. Below the surface, maybe. Below the poisoned and polluted oceans. Anything.

"Lieutenant Ghosk, prepare landing teams." Luskyr stood from his station, grimly determined to make something of this endeavor. "Fifteen marines per unit. Prepare my equipment, I'll be personally leading one of these teams. You are in command, Lieutenant Ghosk."

Twenty minutes passed, and from the belly of the lithe silver craft a swarm of smaller ships descended. Commander Luskyr stood at the bow of the lead ship, sternly eying the world displayed on the viewscreen in front of him as it grew closer, closer. What treasures remained on the scorched world? Soon, Luskyr and all of the Khudoman Empire would know.
 
"Well the electric storms happen a bit less often than at first. I heard that there are places where a few towns have sprung up an are really going strong."

The monitor started to flicker, but a strong tap on the side of its casing sorted that out.

"There weren't many living around here before so even fewer now."
 
She gave a soft sigh and ran her hands up and down her arms for a few minutes, as if she was cold. But it wasn’t that, there was an odd feeling of a light electrical current brushing over her flesh again, it was strong enough for the tiny hairs on her arms to rise. After rubbing them the feel subsided a bit and her attentions returned to the screen as Ghost hit it.

“Why do you stay here *She motioned around them to the falling apart building* Why not head for one of the towns?
 
"Good." Erik held out his hand to the child. He knew how long it took for himself and January to recover from the sleep, and their bodies were more time-worn than the child's. "Can you stand?"
 
Daniel slowly starts to uncurl himself from the chamber floor, the chill of the room bringing more shivers and goose bumps upon his tiny form. He moves his body to his knees, struggling to get up and stand. His little body not wanting to cooperate as it was still adjusting to a long period of immobility and freezing from a long sleep. A small grimace of pain flashes across his face as a tiny tear wells up within his eye. He did not like feeling like this and wanted it to go away. Daniel raises both his hands toward the man with a soft questioning whimper coming from his throat. He definitely wanted to leave this room now for he was associating this bad feeling in his body and a bad feeling about something high above with this room.
 
"Leave? No. I've made a home for myself here." He shrugged. The truth was alittle different but he wasn't about to tell everyone that just now.

"I wonder what is going on in there?" He commented
 
January felt that Ghosts answer wasn’t the complete truth just by the casual way he shrugged, answered, and then changed the subject, but she didn’t push the question. She also wondered what was taking Erik so long in returning.
She stood up from her seat, stretched a little, the not uncomfortable, but irritating electrical tingle still persistent as she walked towards the door.

“I was wondering that as well… “

Once she reached the door she stepped half way out and called out.

“Erik? Is everything alright?”

She turned back to face Ghost.

“Maybe we should give him a few more minutes and if he hasn’t returned, go looking for him?”*She gave a small shrug and a half smile* “He may have gotten himself lost in the building.”

Though she doubted Erik was lost, because she knew he must have spent at least half the amount of time she had here before going into the cryo sleep. She thought he might however have gotten himself locked into one of the “Treatment” rooms, these rooms only opened from the outside, they where inescapable from with in, she knew this for fact for she herself had tried many a times to flee this place. It seemed almost funny now that she could leave at any time she was nearly afraid to, when before the cryo sleep she would have done anything to simply walk out the doors.
 
Erik took the hands of the boy and slowly lead him from the room, making sure to allow the child to correct his own steps. It didn't take adults long to recover from the effects of the sleep, and honestly, it would take children even less, but kids had a way of making physical problems last longer simply because of a fear that they may still do so.

As they moved through the doors, he closed each one again. As they passed through the last one, he heard January's question, and simply allowed his presence to answer. "What's the story with the monitor?"
 
Daniel followed the man while keeping a tight grip upon his hands while walking on unsteady legs. What fear there was within Daniel’s mind was only remote for he was in a strange world and situation, and he wanted his tiny legs to move better and faster. He did not like this feeling going through his body. He heard the lady’s voice as they were going through the doors, but also as they passed through each door he felt a small increase within his own physical energies that helped him move better and faster with less help from this man. Once they passed the last door, Daniel felt physically fine and he let the man know though his grip by lessening it. Unknowing to any of them, the return of Daniel’s physical energies arrived with the charge of electrical energy in the air flowing through the boy’s tiny body.

As they passed through the last door, Daniel now only held the man’s hand with one hand as he walked normally now, looking around with his eyes to see and learn everything he can visually as they continued to travel to where the man was leading.
 
The ground coughed up clouds of silt and dust as the Khudomanian skiff's engines roared into overcharge, slowing the craft's descent just a few feet from the surface. It settled onto the ashen surface, the landing struts groaning from the sudden weight upon them. Swirling particles passed in front of the searing exhaust, fusing together, creating micro marbles that pinged against the ship's hull before dropping back down to the earth that bore them.

With a terrible hydraulic hiss the skiff's egress ramp lowered, making the ship appear as a dragon opening its maw in expectation of a meal. Four Khudomanian guards exited, moving swiftly, their weapons shouldered and ready to fell any creature - hostile or otherwise - that made the mistake of wandering into their sight lines. Behind them, four more exited, splitting into a group of two at the bottom of the ramp to take a flanking position behind the first unit.

When all units had exited the skiff and taken ready positions Commander Luskyr moved to join them. Wrapped in a dark green cloak, covered in small diamond-shaped scales, Luskyr travelled down the egress ramp with a regal aire, as though expecting a procession of heralds and trumpeters to genuflect before him. He snorted, and then inhaled deeply, smelling the air. It was putrid, stagnant, just another bit of evidence that this world was one that had become a shell of its former self.

Luskyr urged his guardsmen forward, but he remained in position momentarily. He clicked the communications switch at the side of his neck. "All exploratory squads, proceed to create a perimeter; Clear a five-hundred yard circle around your skiffs, and report any findings to me." One by one the subordinate commanders reported in, sending acknowledgement.

Next, he addressed the main command craft, still orbiting the planet high above. A lower orbit would be taken - low enough to give the 50cm ballistic cannons the ability to fire without having their projectiles burn up as they entered the atmosphere.

As the other teams, each some ten miles distant from the next, began to engage in their given missions Luskyr moved to rejoin his own detachment. Before them stood the remnants of a city. Behind them, a dead forest. The view was desolate, but Luskyr wouldn't allow this to deter him. There was something of value to be found here. There had to be.

Suddenly, a cry pierced the thin air - shrill, bloodcurdling, and very, very loud. It seemed to emanate from the from the interior of the city itself. Another soon followed, this one somewhat quieter but no less painful against Luskyr's sensitive ears. The guardsmen, however well trained and battle hardened, paused in their march at the sounds, but Luskyr urged them forward. If there were life forms in the city then they were there for a reason. Perhaps they were searching for the same unknown valuables that he so desired. Even better, perhaps they already knew what was there, they knew that they held a glorious bounty, and were mobilizing to protect it from the strange invaders that had suddenly landed on the outskirts of their home.

"I will personally skin the next one of you who shows a hint of fear," Luskyr said, grinning a toothy, malefic grin. "Whatever is ahead of us has far more to fear from us than we could possibly have from them."

And so, the platoon continued forward, guns at the ready, nervous but forced to inspiration by the words of their feared leader. It would only be a matter of time before they met their foe in battle, for better or for worse.
 
"I can only see one of them out there still.." Ghost replied and then another face appeared on the screen. "... make that two then. Better go and have a word. Are you any use in a fight?" He asked Erik and went to pick up the baseball bat from beside the main door.
 
January’s eyes widened at the sight of the child! She knew the doctor had become a monster with his experiments upon human and animal subjects alike, but a child? The man had reached new levels of low after freezing her.

She took a few slow steps towards Erik and the child; the tingling upon her skin increased but was still not at an unpleasant or intolerable feeling, her footsteps halted as Ghost spoke. Her head turning to glance first at the images upon the screen, then at Ghost, before returning her quizzical gaze back to the child.
 
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