ã€ŠThe Humans are Hereã€‹


 The Humans are Here

    "The Humans are here."

    We had said that laughing behind our cupped hands, with pity and second-hand embarrassment. The humans had literally stumbled their way onto the galactic scene, a simple one-planet species and barely civilized. Their lifespans were little longer than those of their ancestor apes and outside the backwater planet (that they insisted on calling ''Earth'', even if most of its surface area was covered in water) they had only the tiniest of settlements. Into citadel space they had come with simple iron ships that brute-forced their way through the dimensions to achieve faster-than-light speeds. When they had made first contact, they actually had to send a ship back to inform their people because they didn''t have any way of communicating instantaneously over even tiny distances in space. Grudgingly their civilisation was acknowledged by the council, our vote was not behind that.

    It only made them become the most annoying peddlers of the galaxy. The galactic council was based on contracts between the many species in citadel space. Contracts that were debated, evaluated, negotiated, rewritten and refined usually over a hundred cycles before there was any hope of approval from both sides. How could these simple beings with a lifespan not even half that understand these proceedings? They didn''t, the humans rudely ignored all that and just sent envoys out to offer pacts and agreements no one cared about. "The humans are here", we said with annoyance, tired of their many times they stood on our doorstep to attempt feeble diplomatic discourse. More out of pity than anything else we gave them some scraps and FTL communication technology (in the hopes they would at least stop visiting in person) and signed off on their seemingly worthless offerings.

    One thing that was noticeable about them was their hardiness. Coming from a world with a vast range of climates, they could adapt to practically any living conditions encountered on other citadel species worlds. And for some reason they enjoyed moving across half the galaxy to live in a jarringly different culture (gleefully adopting whatever outlandish social rules these had). Within not even one of their lifetimes, they had people living on the many thousands of planets of whatever species foolishly allowed them to come. We saw these places marred by the presence of these over-enthusiastic apes and whenever one of the popular destinations of our people was overrun with them, we turned away with disgust and said "The humans are here." Our own planets were kept clean of them and we did not allow them to settle anywhere in our space.

    More cycles passed as we noticed a new trend. The younger ones of our people began seeking the fortune in the stars, away from the stability and security of our civilized systems. We found the cause of that to be the humans. They foolishly jumped headlong into colonizing barely habitable planets, surviving only because of their hardiness. Surprisingly, they then set the groundwork to terraform them, working on creating conditions other council species could survive in as well. These colonies were flocked to by many, promising a honest life for hard work and offering cheap living space even for the largest of families. "The humans are here", became a call for willing settlers, assuring every being of a safe haven that could be shared by all.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    As the humans went forth to tame the most dangerous regions of the galaxy, they brought back a wealth of resources. Bypassing the galactic council again, they began trading with anyone willing. Within another one of their short lifetimes they had built a network of exchange that rivalled the official citadel platforms. We could not avoid joining into trade with them, as they offered the most coveted wares from many different cultures that had previously been hidden behind unfinished agreements, some for thousands of cycles. As one of our planets after the other established trade routes with the humans, with hidden joy we said "The humans are here" when their ships turned up on our ports, promising a new influx of goods and wealth and leading to new prosperity for all our people.

    That upswing ended abruptly when in a political move (that had not thought to even be possible) we were exiled from the galactic council. An opponent pushed us into disgrace in front of all the citadel species, instantly severing the many millennia old pacts and cutting our access to the FTL travel network. In less than a cycle our civilisation was practically shattered to pieces, each planet on its own and powerless to defend itself against the planned invasion from our opponent. With travel blockages set up in all our systems it was clear that utter annihilation was their set goal. As we stood before our ruin, a representative of the humans contacted us to offer their aid and protection, pointing at the treaties we had long since forgotten about. We thanked them for their honour and refused as we were staring at death and there was no need for them to pointlessly die with us. They did not listen and sent their iron battleships that circumvented the blockages through their brute-force FTL travel method. Their considerable military might was hitherto unknown. And as they jumped in by the ten-thousands in all our inhabited systems, we cried out "The humans are here!", with tears in our eyes and rekindled hope. They stood with us steadfast, weathering countless strikes before our opponent gave up the direct approach in frustration.

    It took many cycles before we were able to re-establish formal communication with the galactic council and many more to clear our species from the false allegations before we could finally reinstate the old contracts. Back in power, we pinned the blame on our opponent and from that we gained leverage that we immediately used to incite the greatest assembly of political leaders in the history of the galactic council. Now we stand before all of them to invite the humans into the citadel and onto the podium. Our trade partners, our allies, our friends. And through rising cheers - with pride, conviction and deepest admiration - we say: "The humans are here."

 Sightseeing Fire

    "Okay, no. I absolutely do not understand why we are making a detour. I thought you wanted to show me L¨®rian, of which you spoke so highly?"

    Herkyne the Thirty-third was wagging all four of her well articulated pointy ear cups in confusion. This ''cultural exchange'' had been a strange exercise so far, with the humans apparently trying their best to impress her. She had seen videos of their home world Earth, visited the grand exchange station that dwarfed even the citadel, was shown around four different of their iron ships and now she was supposed to be brought to a colony that she was told was a garden world of lush vegetation and breathtaking landscape. These humans were just so strange, big and loud. She did not understand their mannerisms that were subtle sometimes and freakishly exaggerated on others. She did not understand their strange architecture where open spaces, brightness and absence of decoration were the ''nice areas''. And she did not understand why they were now taking a detour of tens of lightyears just to look at a dying star.

    But the human captain, Mister Myoung, had gladly changed course for ''something special''. Human ambassador Rieckardson was meanwhile trying to explain why they were now traveling towards a sector without any life-giving planets, utilising the maximum speed that the exotic faster-than-light engine of their species'' own design could output. As always, he was waving his big hands all over the place when he talked.

    "The star Tiamoranis was closely watched for several cycles after it was first visited, shortly after we joined the galactic council. Back then we only knew the end of a stars lifecycle by observation from hundreds or thousands of lightyears away and purely theoretical simulations. And Tiamoranis'' size and age made it a perfect candidate to go supernova soon. I think it is fairly well known how much resources were spent to create an outpost with an extensive sensory network in that system. Now the research station Tiamoranis Nazar reported the first indicators of a core collapse. There are massive amounts of data being collected as we speak. And we can make it there in time to actually see the flash happening."

    She leaned further in the thick upholstery of the chair. It still did not make sense. Why was there be a need to actually be present? Before she could voice her thoughts, the ambassador had already noticed her confusion and frustration - reinforcing the stereotype of humans being exceptionally good at interpreting the body language of other sentients once again.

    "Dear ambassador Herkyne, this is a special event. As far as I am aware, the Cantonezar have not observed a supernova this close either and we will gladly share anything we will learn from it. Let us see scientific advancement-"

    The captain had put a hand on the shoulder of Rieckardson and looked at him in one of these ways that she could tell was telling books of unspoken words, but for her was meaningless. The latter quieted down after the interaction and went to sit down his bulky frame in one of the round chairs with the high back. Herkyne the thirty-third watched him curiously, but her attention was then taken by the captain when he used the room controls near the door to dim the overhead lights. How strange, they were probably not able to see as well anymore. Though it was a very pleasant half-darkness now in the windowless room.

    "Dear ambassador", Myoung began, "Forgive me for taking the word. I want to tell you why we are traveling to a dying star. Why we want to be there to look at it with our own eyes. For that, I will tell you something about tradition and human nature. Do you want to hear it?"

    He moved so slowly and spoke quietly, it was a nice change of pace to the busy ambassador. When he sat down opposite of her, he leaned heavily into the cushions as well, seemingly making himself comfortable.

    "Please. Captain Myoung, I will listen."

    "Many hundreds of thousands of cycles back in our history, before our ancestors had even become the species that you now see as humans, we feared the darkness greatly. The darkness was where we could not rely on our sight to warn us of predators. From the stealth of darkness these beasts struck, to kill and devour us and our families.

    ¡°Night-time was dangerous, a time to hide and cower in holes underground or fearfully clutching to branches in trees up high. A time we could not accomplish anything, because our eyes were unable to distinguish many details of the world in the absence of light. There was but one thing that could dispel darkness, and that was fire. A dangerous thing it was, unpredictably it popped up here and there, burning flesh with its heat if one came too close. Animals feared it and so did we. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    ¡°One day that changed. One day, some pre-human grasped a burning tree-branch and saw in it our salvation from the darkness, instead of chaotic danger. They fed the fire more branches, creating a glowing pit of light and warmth for their tribe to huddle around. And suddenly the nights had changed.

    ¡°They could see the glowing eyes of the predators hiding in the bushes, who still feared the fire and did not dare to get close. They could venture forth to hunt themselves. They could sit besides the warm light and socialize while crafting clothes and tools. Fire didn''t mean danger anymore. It meant safety, protection and home."

    She could visualize the scenes so clearly. The proto-humans she had seen pictures of - those small hairy bipedal beings, apparently blind as children - sitting besides the orange flames of a wood fire that warded off the darkness and the cold of the night.

    Her own ancestors had no reason to hide in the dark, it was actually time of safety. She had eyes for the day and eyes for the night, and her ears would tell her of any movement in her surroundings. Adding to that, the fast predators that would hunt them during the brightness of day could not use their speed in the night. How strange it was to see the opposite view.

    "Over many more cycles we had tamed the fire. Ancient humans would set alight dried plant fibre with the heat of friction, able to create fire anytime they wanted. And we used the heat to process previously inedible plants and roots or to preserve other foodstuffs for stockpiling. It also made water safe by boiling out lethal bacterial pathogens and parasites.

    ¡°So ingrained into our species it became, we would not go where we could not find fuel for it. We developed our culture around it and derived the basis of our modern technology from it. Early metal-working and steam power directly stemmed from the same wood fires our early ancestors had used to light up the night.

    ¡°Time went on and our technology improved, but the fire never left our homes. Wood burning heaters and even open fire pits you will find in a number of planetary habitats. You will hear many humans say how they prefer the heat of open fire to radiators powered by other means. I would say it is the dancing flame that actually captures our liking.

    ¡°You see, it is still tradition to light fires outside to just watch them burn. Fire pits in the wilderness, torches at festivities and bonfires of such ridiculous size, they take weeks and heavy machinery to be set up. They all speak to our most primitive instincts, to a part of us that developed after that pre-human had grasped the burning branch.

    ¡°And the height of our celebrations with watching the flames are fireworks. Even before humans had learned to use steam power, some had found that mixing certain combustibles and metal powders could produce flames of different and bright colours. Varying the ratios even produced compounds that burned so quickly, they exploded. These were the very first fireworks.

    ¡°Refining and improvements made them from small noisemakers into solid-state rockets that could be fired high into the air, where the explosive part then detonated into colorful light. They became a part of many types of festivities in modern times, though their use declined as other technologies took over that could produce a display of light in the skies without leaving debris or making an awful lot of noise. So, if we get the chance-"

    Tonelessly Herkyne finished his sentence: "You want to see the fireworks."

    The captain nodded, which she was told meant agreement. How curious to see fire as something actually worthwhile to observe. Though she had just learned quite a bit about human culture. Maybe she should tell them about the times of her ancestors and explain to them why she had preferred this smaller room to that big and open meeting room topside of the ship. Though Myoung seemed to have somehow understood a few things already.

    A voice coming from the room''s speakers interrupted the silence: "Captain, ambassadors, we are arriving at our destination."

    The only indication that they had left the traveling dimension was when the virtual windows switched back on, showing them what was outside. Far off was the still tiny point of light that was Tiamoranis, and close by was the human research station. For a moment she wondered why the sensor network was around here instead of near the dying star, but then she noticed that the thousands of vessels around the station were spaceships.

    The iron ships of more humans. All around the nearby space were more of them jumping in to see the supernova that was about to happen, apparently oblivious to the danger of the massive amounts of energy that would be released by it. She now understood how the other citadel species had called the humans everything from ''too adventurous'' to ''utterly insane regarding their own safety''. And she also understood that she was about to take part in festivities where they would watch the grandest firework possible.

 Do not try to to work harder than the Humans

    The Tanikki laughed heartily, the spines on his back shaking precariously. And they knew that it had been a bad idea to boast that they would work ''harder than a human''. Some of the other bar patrons seemed to take notice and the three huddled together in embarrassment. At least the Tanikki pilot had calmed down quick enough.

    "You have no idea what you are talking about. No one can keep up with the humans, never mind outpace them. I will tell you a few things about them, but first things first."

    He lifted his thick arms to get the attention of the auto-server and ordered himself something that the three had never heard of - probably a species-specific drink. But then he also pointed at them and ordered other things they had never heard of.

    The three gave each other a quick glance, sharing the thought that this undertaking had probably not been the best of ideas. Back before the unification ceremony they had made the plan of leaving their home world to live through a real adventure. To go somewhere outside the core worlds and experience things they could talk about for decades to come.

    It was the foundation of any pack, was it not? These types of things would weld the three together like nothing else. Curiosity - and frankly, naivet¨¦ - had driven them to the fringe worlds, where new colonies were founded in the outer sectors. Where there was always work to do. And where life was hard and rewarding.

    They had spent their savings to travel to this trading hub, where they planned to look for work. But nobody so far had been interested in hiring a young pack of Atun''gekai that didn''t offer any experience. They would need to replenish their funds to return back home though.

    Already they had seen and learned things that would make great stories. The Tanikki, for example, were a really interesting species. They had those spines running from the top of their head down to the middle of their backs. These were some leftover traits of a distant ancestor species, and would be shed in the early life of a Tanikki, actually dropping quite easily.

    But if they remained attached, they would continue growing. So they intricately weaved in colorful yarn, binding the spines together so any single one would be held by its neighbours. They had to be careful and renew the weave ever so often, but long spines would tell of age and wisdom, as well as a high status - so much even, that enemies would pluck them from the backs of the defeated to humble them. The three could not imagine these burly beings with their strong arms and thick fingers working the fine yarn into the tight spaces of those spines.

    So they were overjoyed when they found this Tanikki pilot - well actually captain - and he had been nice so far. Well, until they, in a bout of eagerness, had let slip the thing about working harder than a human. Now there was a pause of very uncomfortable silence, where the captain just looked at them with his wide apart eyes, drumming on the table with the four-fingered hands. And - was that a mischievous smile?

    The drinks arrived and the auto-server put down a heavy cup that looked like solid metal for the Tanikki drink and three glasses for them. Pouring into the first was a nearly black, steaming liquid. For their glasses, the auto-server poured three different lightly coloured drinks. The captain was quick to lift his cup and take the first taste of its contents that were seemingly very enjoyable.

    When he sat it back down, he began:

    ¡°You may have heard about the colonisation of virgin planets, but you have obviously never lived through it. It''s hard setting down on a surface that offers nothing. There might be a good atmosphere, or flora and fauna, but that''s it. No energy grid, no safe water, no satellite network, not one of the amenities of civilization.

    ¡°That''s why setting the foundation for a new settlement doesn''t happen often and colonisation efforts are slow and dragged out. You need very adventurous people to do that. People that accept hardships and that can tackle emergencies without hesitation. People that can withstand heat, cold, searing winds, droughts and whatever nastiness a planet''s biological evolution can throw at them.

    ¡°And you know where there is a whole species of exactly that kind of people? Yeah, those are the humans. You would think that after getting off their deathworld of a planet they would enjoy the peace and quiet of civilization. But no! They fling themselves willingly into the deepest and darkest corners of these sectors.

    ¡°You will find them not here on this cozy station, but down on all of these untamed lands - resisting weather, technological mishaps and whatever else nature may throw at them to then stand victorious on top of a self-sustaining and safe colony.

    ¡°Though it¡¯s them that say ¡®fighting¡¯ and call it ''being victorious''. I don''t understand how one can see these things as some nebulous entity that seeks your defeat and opposing them as actually fighting something.

    ¡°Anyway, all of that is not what sets them apart. We always had ongoing colonisation efforts and always found people amongst the citadel species. No, what sets them apart is how much drive they can put behind solving any problem. They tend to be good workers in any situation, but they show their true strength in emergencies.

    ¡°It''s why they say that the only thing working harder than a human with passion is a human with agency. And I can tell you that setting the groundwork for a fresh planetary settlement is one ongoing emergency situation.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°Those people setting down in the first ships have a mountain of things to do and unique problems to solve, you will find them to be often working to exhaustion. Humans can put in an insane amount of time with only short breaks, utilising even their food intake time to do mental work.

    ¡°I once saw a generator array fail catastrophically on a fresh settlement where I had just delivered to. That colony base had the bare minimum of emergency power for forty-six hours and I would have sworn that this failure foretold its abandonment. Those two-hundred-and-fifty occupants could not be able to fix this and I was already emptying my holds to carry those out that would not fit onto the other ships.

    ¡°But up stepped the humans. It was only thirty of them, but they rebuilt that generator array from the ground up with only short breaks in-between and got it up and running right before the backup failed. So thin was that margin, the colony had already been declared dead and it took weeks to change its status back to alive and active. That world now has millions living there.

    ¡°Most people are also quite happy with living out their days in the colony they helped found or returning to civilization after that adventure. Not so the humans.

    ¡°Among them you will find the only individuals that actually have experience in colonising worlds, because they have not only done the first drop once, but multiple times. Nowadays anyone knows that you have to hire one of them as a supervisor if you want to have the best chance of creating a solid foundation for a colony.

    ¡°Before the humans, word was always going about when a colony succeeded on the first try, because that was a rarity. Now the first question anyone asks when you tell them a world has been abandoned - ''Were there no humans there?''.

    ¡°There was that one time I got into a close call myself, when a settlement was in severe danger of being flooded in torrential rains. I was grounded in the nastiest storm you can imagine, believe me, I was a panicked mess.

    ¡°But through all of the chaos stood that human supervisor like a rock, putting anyone and everyone to work, assigning them to the positions their species would be most productive, allotting time, resources and equipment in the most efficient manner. She directly delegated more than five-hundred, keeping tabs on every single one.

    ¡°I saw supply holes being plugged before even becoming noticeable, equipment standing ready before it was anticipated and workload shifting constantly to give breathing room before exhaustion could knock us out. I had never before felt like part of a team so much as in these two days.

    ¡°And I swear, that woman did not sleep one minute in that time. When the first rays of sunshine came through those clouds, we knew that we all had just done a dance with death that we only survived because her experience and tenacity had given us the right steps to take.

    ¡°That woman is one of my closest friends now. I actually made a number of human friends, because I have made a job out of delivering supplies and equipment to the new colonies. A friendship with them goes a long way, you must know. It''s their network and contacts that keep me in business.

    ¡°I mean, there is always a new planet to make landfall, always a new challenge those humans throw themselves against. I got to know them in these last cycles, but - by all that is moving around the sun - I do not understand their thirst for danger. What I do understand, at least I think I do, is their compassion.

    ¡°You would not find people to respond to a call for aid quicker than the humans. Even I had seen them swoop in before getting anywhere close to an emergency transponder, and I have a ship of their design.

    ¡°I know it''s because they value safety over everything else. That may sound paradoxical because they do tend to jump headlong into the most dangerous regions. But one thing they can be very sure of - other humans have their back, and they graciously extend it to any other beings out there.

    ¡°I had one of those emergency calls in the early cycles of my business, when the humans were new to citadel space, long before they joined the galactic council. A colony ship - you know, those fat ones that are made to land once and turn into a base - saw its engines fail in an unstable orbit close to a planet.

    ¡°They were calling for help and I, of course, responded. I took aboard as many as my freighter would take, which was by far not all of them. After I disconnected from the colony ship, I feared I had to watch all those poor souls plummet to their deaths.

    ¡°Seeing that situation I had actually decided to already retire from captaining a ship.

    ¡°Then came the humans, plopping into space in their crazy iron contraptions that could FTL jump by themselves. There were three tiny ships and they immediately sped after that vessel that was already brushing the upper atmosphere of the planet. They rammed it from behind and literally pushed it.

    ¡°I mean, they pushed that ship that out-massed all three together by at least a factor of twenty all the way through that layer of air, glowing from the heat of atmospheric friction on one end and from the heat of the overworked thrusters on the other.

    ¡°And, believe me, they did it. They helped with bringing it back into a stable orbit with another push on the pass around. After that they had to stay for a while, mostly because their ships had taken quite some damage. I took back my decision to change professions and made the plan of acquiring one of their iron ships for myself.

    ¡°So while I see you bringing maybe some of their qualities and maybe also doing a good job, I cannot see you working harder than a human. I have seen their work.¡±

    The glasses of the three had remained untouched. Not because they were slightly frightened by the uncertainty of their contents, but because they had been listening intently. These stories, these could be the lifeblood of a whole planet''s worth of Atun''gekai. With only a fraction of what that captain had lived through, they could spend eons talking.

    Then, quietly, they said: "We will try our best to keep up with the humans."

    It caused another hearty laugh from the Tanikki captain. He downed the last of his drink and knocked down the cup on the table so hard it made them flinch. He extended his hand to shake each one.

    "You three are alright. While I can provide you with experience, I cannot provide you with the ability to work as a team. And that is what I need. So if you are as attached to each other as I have heard the packs of your people are, I welcome you aboard my Iron Beast."

 Hanging out with the Humans

    So you want to know why I have a contract with a human ship, do you? Well, there is only one reason actually. You might think it¡¯s because of their special ship tech, which is the thing I hear most from other non-human crewmates.

    But I don¡¯t really care about those special faster-than-light engines or their uniquely shaped iron ships - don¡¯t understand me wrong, I still find all that fascinating, but it¡¯s not the reason I¡¯m here. You are now probably thinking I have some deep bond to some human, but it¡¯s also not that.

    I did hear there are quite a number of species that have a penchant for falling for humans in reply to the latter¡¯s irrationally strong pack-bonding instinct. I befriended some of them and can definitely attest to how much value they put on loyalty, but I¡¯d be fine either way.

    No, the actual reason I am working on that human ship is the sheer entertainment value.

    I am serious.

    Look, you only read up on them. But I¡¯ve been on that ship for many cycles - I¡¯m actually one of the first ones to join throughout all citadel space. And I can tell you that living with them is special.

    Most jobs on human ships are done in teams, so there¡¯s always at least someone else to accompany you in performing whatever function you¡¯re contracted for. For the time during breaks and off-shift there are designated areas on the ship with a number of things to do to relax - most of those aren¡¯t done alone either.

    I¡¯ve never worked in a place that had that much social contact weaved into daily life before. I promise that you won¡¯t find yourself any other place where you will be able to listen to so many stories and observe so many interesting interactions.

    But the best of all are the times when you get to see the reaction of some unsuspecting individuals when encountering humans for the very first time. I¡¯ve seen my fair share of trade platforms, habitats, travel hubs and military stations and so far it happened nearly everywhere. And it¡¯s also been hilarious every single time.

    You know what, let me tell you about earlier today, you might have even noticed that commotion. We had only arrived this morning and I had left the ship together with Pen - her name actually is Penelope - and Julian to look for a place where my kind of food would be served. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    We found the food court in section F of ring 2 - do you know the place?

    Anyway, we had gotten something good and I was finally able to show off some delicacies from my homeworld. All was fine during the meal, even if we got some stares. When we were done though - that¡¯s when it happened.

    Julian had gotten up to take the trays away and I was chatting with Pen when I noticed that I had still been holding on to a smoothstone. That¡¯s an eating utensil you need to - nevermind, the important thing here is that it is small, round and heavy.

    So, Pen saw that I wanted to bring it away, but she took it from me instead. Then she got up and yelled Julian¡¯s name across the whole sitting area followed by the words ¡®heads up¡¯ - while simultaneously throwing the smoothstone at him.

    Now you might  not know this, but humans are very good at throwing things. And I mean not only accuracy, but also raw power. The kinetic energy they can produce with that complex motion they perform to throw something that can fit into their palm is actually dangerous. And I¡¯m not talking ¡®ouch¡¯ dangerous, I¡¯m talking ¡®lethal¡¯ dangerous.

    Ok, so Pen threw the smoothstone and directly afterwards all hell broke loose. Alarms went off across the whole section, lights flashed, barriers dropped and those robotic security things stormed out of their hideouts. It was insane.

    For about a minute there was total chaos, as all the exits were barred and a couple hundred panicky people had no idea what was going on. At the same time those robots were zig-zagging all over the place looking for something. Then, finally, the station security showed up - in numbers.

    It turned out that they were also just looking for something as they began to quickly split the crowd. At first I didn¡¯t understand why they then singled out Pen and me. But when they began interrogating her about a concealed firearm, I finally figured it out.

    You see, the smoothstone had broken a number of safety thresholds and was picked up by the station¡¯s internal sensors as the projectile of a weapon. This then caused an armed intruder alert which then caused the lockdown.

    I tried to calmly explain all that to the security forces, but they wouldn¡¯t believe me. I imagine they have their fair share of dangerous visitors. Talons here, horns there, maybe a tail whip or even some toxic excretions, but they couldn¡¯t wrap their heads around humans possessing a built-in long range weapon capable of turning ordinary items into deadly projectiles.

    After some back-and-forth they resorted to viewing the security footage. Oh, you cannot picture their faces. That human expression - ¡®seeing all colour leave their face¡¯ - is spot on sometimes. Another moment I will cherish for the rest of my life.

    But you know what then nearly made them crumple into blubbering heaps? When they saw where the smoothstone ended up.

    The projectile moving with enough kinetic force to be picked up by the sensors as a serious and deadly threat was smoothly caught by Julian - while balancing a tray on his other hand.

 Driving home for Christmas

    Driving home for Christmas

    ¡°Gaelic. Hey, Gaelic. Wake up.¡±

    In the darkened room a figure stirred. The blanket on the bed moved, uncovering a pale face from which came a reply - a drawn out ¡°What?¡±

    The relatively small being standing in the entrance to the cramped cabin hastily explained: ¡°We have a bad situation again with an exploration drone. It is urgent.¡±

    The one known as Gaelic groaned and threw back the cozy covers, revealing more pale skin. The inhabitant of this living quarters was a human woman - one that wasn¡¯t fond of how the other beings on this space station disregarded her need for undisturbed leisure periods. It was especially irritating on this night as it led into a highly regarded holiday for most humans.

    She got up from her bunk and put on the first random clothing items she got her hands on, finishing the task of preparation for work by pulling a tight-fitting sweater over her head. Her voluminous head of hair gave resistance to this particular piece of clothing, but that was a fight she won quickly. The red strands bounced happily upon being freed and Gaelic was ready for work.

    ¡°Good morning Neyhall¡±, she said to the smaller being that had woken her up as she followed them along a curved corridor.

    A little while later the duo had reached the communications room, which was the main hub for all activities regarding the exploration drones driving, floating and swimming on the planet below.

    Two more beings also of the species Atun¡¯gekai had been in obvious anticipation of Gaelic¡¯s arrival and immediately greeted her by waving with slightly too much emphasis to appear natural. She nonetheless waved back and then waited for Neyhall to explain the situation.

    ¡°Look here¡±, Neyhall pointed at the large central screen that showed a map of some mountainous terrain that they zoomed in on a nondescript place, ¡°Angua had a failure of the autonomous drive system and we were unable to resolve it. Her location in this sector puts her at high risk towards an extreme weather event we anticipate to develop within this day.¡±

    When the small alien had used the nickname for the exploration rover that Gaelic had given them in private to replace the original the alpha-numerical designation, she couldn¡¯t stop a smirk that then only grew wider as they also used proper pronouns for the machine.

    ¡°But Angua was among those with the production issue. We fixed her already, didn¡¯t we?¡±

    The other two aliens mirrored Neyhall¡¯s gestures of frustration. ¡°We think the secondary control unit had an unrelated failure. And because of your custom patch, we could not switch back to the primary.¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Gaelic scratched her head and then smoothed down some of her locks out of habit. ¡°Can we not spare the resources for a pickup in this situation? What is the urgency?¡±

    A short multi-tonal squeal came from one of the other Atun¡¯gekai - which Gaelic knew was actually the language of this particular pack.

    When these little guys remained together long enough to become unified, they commonly developed a very condensed way of speaking that was understandable by only the members of that pack.

    The central screen switched to a different view and displayed a schematic view of a yellow planet with a number of marked items in orbits of various heights and in various positions around it. There were several dots prominently marked with a crossed out satellite dish icon in orbits similar to the station but with an angular offset.

    Neyhall spoke and did not hold back the gestures, moving their six slim arms. ¡°We have exactly an hour before we lose communication to Angua and during the blackout the weather event will come upon her. It is already not possible to send a lifter as the winds make it unsafe. That is the urgency.¡±

    ¡°So you want me to roll back Angua¡¯s patch?¡±

    ¡°Yes, that is our decision.¡±

    For a moment Gaelic pondered the issue as her mind was still numbed by the cobwebs of her interrupted sleep. ¡°She won¡¯t survive the terrain if it¡¯s the primary control unit that¡¯s driving her. If it won¡¯t make her straight up tumble down the mountainside, it will most likely tear the wheels and suspension to shreds before she is anywhere close to safety.¡±

    The three gave each other a quick glance, their large fully amber eyes glinting with the weight of unspoken words.

    ¡°We have accepted the risk of this outcome to be lesser. There is a suitable place of shelter within manageable distance from Angua¡¯s current position; it is possible she will make it there mostly intact.¡±

    ¡°Hm¡±, was all she replied while she sat down at the nearest station to pull up a map of the sector Angua was exploring.

    The yellow planet with a name utterly unpronounceable by humans always reminded Gaelic of Venus. It was a pretty much inhabitable hellscape of heat and pressure that only had value because of the extreme surface conditions that enabled the formation of most exotic chemical compounds.

    She had originally come to this outpost because it was very much out of the way of the bureaucratic influence of most citadel species and offered a rather uncomplicated way for her to join in to a scientific endeavour that was yet out of league for humankind even though it was underfunded to the point of operating with a skeleton crew. This mission also aligned with her experience in mechanical engineering of ground vehicles and her programming skill had been a boon as well.

    As she looked at the terrain between the exploration drone and the shelter - which was the mouth to an extensive cave system they had found weeks ago - she slowly cracked her fingers one by one. Losing Angua would be a large setback as she already was doing double-pace to cover additional sectors and currently resided in the former mission area of Letice.

    Poor, unfortunate Letice - she had only been the first victim to the previously dormant production error with their autonomous control unit as she had taken a crash down a massive crevasse and become unrecoverable. Several other ground vehicles kept breaking down or were lost in similar fashion before Neyhall had found the underlying issue.

    Gaelic collected her thoughts. ¡°Have you considered all options? Maybe we can send Angua to bury herself into some loose ground beneath the rock spikes. That could offer enough protection.¡±

    Neyhall came over to her, the other two mirroring the movement until she was surrounded by the pack. ¡°This area is unstable. Rockslides will be likely and Angua will not be safe. Please roll back the patch.¡±

    ¡°How about we just set her to dumb-drive forwards and send her area scanner data up here to manually give her fixed waypoints?¡± After seeing the non-reaction of the Atun¡¯gekai, she felt the need to add: ¡°I saw the messed up interpretation of the sensor data that misled Letice; I really don¡¯t trust that control unit.¡±

    ¡°There is not enough time to follow this plan through and the risk would be substantial. Straight up taking manual control of the driving process would be a better prospect in this case.¡±

    ¡°Wait what?¡± Gaelic jolted into a straight sitting position in surprise. ¡°Can we manually drive the ground units?¡±

    There was a longer glance between the trio. Neyhall held up a small portable screen, holding on to it by using three of their flexible arms like fingers.  They showed a schematic of the exploration drone - a vehicle with four axles that were arranged in a pair at the front and back, a complex suspension and a raised base that carried the segmented hull.

    Appropriate for the dense atmosphere of the yellow planet, its shape was highly aerodynamic in all directions with instruments hidden under covers with flowing lines. This design made Gaelic think of the ground vehicles as sports cars with the terrain capabilities of an 8x8 trial truck.

    Neyhall extracted a view of the base without the added hull and explained: ¡°In theory. There is a diagnostic mode of the motor vehicle base that can be used to slave its basic movement controls to a compatible external device. It is primarily used for testing functionality and diagnosing hardware issues.¡±

    ¡°Why isn¡¯t that in the technical specifications I was given?¡±

    ¡°It does not interfere with and is not relevant to the workings of the environmental analysis equipment and the autonomous drive capabilities; it is an integrated part of the motor vehicle base and possesses a separate short-range latency-free communication method.¡±

    Now Gaelic shot up onto her feet, looking down at the smaller alien beings with wide eyes. ¡°This is absolutely relevant!¡± Pulling herself together, she asked more calmly: ¡°What is the range of that thing? Can we establish a link?¡±

    ¡°Yes, we are within 75 percent effectiveness.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible to send anything else through that diagnostics comm channel? Data from the terrain sensors and stuff?¡±

    Neyhall exchanged a few of their characteristic squeals with their packmates and it took a moment before they spoke to Gaelic. ¡°Indeed it is. It will only support little bandwidth though.¡±

    She tilted her head. ¡°If we take only the optical cameras - will sending a video stream work? I¡¯d just need visuals of the surroundings.¡±

    ¡°Their sensor output can be filtered and compressed at the source. This should be well within the capabilities of the communication system.¡± Neyhall fumbled with their fingerless limbs. ¡°What is your plan, Gaelic? We cannot follow.¡±

    ¡°Well, there is a very popular thing called FPV drone racing where I come from, which means taking remote control of a flying or ground based vehicle and steering it through a specially set up course to compete against others in doing it the quickest. All while limiting the pilot¡¯s view to the drones onboard cameras.¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Gaelic threw back her hair. ¡°I don¡¯t want to brag, but I¡¯ve been a multiple time local champion and even competed in some international tournaments. I even got the chance to fly a drone in space, which was absolutely ama-¡± She broke herself off. ¡°What I want to say is that I am used to controlling drones manually. I am confident that I can drive Angua to safety, even if she is a couple sizes larger than what I am used to competing with.¡±

    The three Atun¡¯gekai quickly discussed this proposition amongst themselves by speaking only two words. Then Neyhall addressed Gaelic: ¡°We have not heard of humans being able to do this, but you have previously shown extraordinary abilities and we conclude that your judgement has always been a well-founded one. We will proceed with your plan.¡±

    ¡°Aw thanks you guys.¡± Gaelic resisted the urge to give Neyhall a hug as this was the highest praise she had gotten so far out of this pragmatic trio. She instead quickly set out on setting her idea in motion. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s get the numbers on this trip and set up a control station for me. Can you bring me some portable screens so that I can have a wide field of view  and a suitable input device with continuously adjustable inputs for steering and acceleration? And get that connection to Angua going please.¡±

    Neyhall and their pack-mates buzzed off simultaneously, each of them handling a different part of the tasks without even having to organise it amongst themselves.

    Meanwhile, Gaelic sat back down at the too small control station and measured out a possible path to calculate the driving distance against the remaining time until communication blackout. It turned out the speed Angua would have to maintain in order to make it would be near her maximum possible travel speed.

    ¡°This will be a close one. We need to get Angua moving right away¡±, she exclaimed towards no-one in particular.

    A moment later one of the Atun¡¯gekai put down two screens. Gaelic arranged them herself, widening the possible field of view of the single screen of the console. Another two screens were put down and she squeezed them onto the available desk space to cover her peripheral vision.

    As they put down a small device in front of Gaelic, Neyhall explained: ¡°This is an input device with the capabilities you requested.¡±

    The device turned out to be a small board with various switches and buttons. But most prominent were a row of sliders with short knobbly red sticks. It obviously belonged to some other machines, as everything on it was labelled.

    ¡°What I would give for even a mediocre gamepad right now¡±, she sighed. Gaelic then pointed at the two leftmost sliders. ¡°Can you map this one to drive motor power from zero to one-hundred percent and this one to brake pressure the same way? Make this button switch between forwards and backwards acceleration.¡± She then switched over to the other side of the board and continued: ¡°I need this one to control the steering angle of the two front axles with the top position being the furthest towards the right and the bottom the furthest left. Please make sure it¡¯s a linear translation.¡±

    Neyhall nodded - a gesture that they had learned from Gaelic - and one of their pack-mates began inputting information at the adjacent console.

    ¡°Also, lock steering on the back axles and disable whatever makes the suspension react proactively, that won¡¯t be able to keep up and will only interfere.¡±

    The screens blinked into life at that moment and showed her the view of a desolate landscape covered in a light fog that made wisps of vapour blow past Angua¡¯s front. Tiny white dots were carried with the wind as well and they reminded Gaelic of snowflakes even though they most likely were some weird atmospheric condensation.

    The surroundings of the machines were compressed into the five screens, giving Gaelic a 360 degree view. On the lower edge she could even get a glimpse of the top of the eight wheels the drone was sitting on. The rough thread on their rounded profile was visibly chewed up.

    ¡°The controls are set up.¡± Neyhall pulled her out of her stare.

    ¡°Can you give me a pitch and roll indicator onto the front screen? If possible, add in the vehicles safe limits as well.¡±

    While they were working on that, Gaelic tried the sliders to see the movement translation. The two rows of front wheels turned side to side to her satisfaction. Though upon raising the engine power, Angua jolted forwards surprisingly quickly, which she was able to stop with the brake control slider, giving the drone another harsh jolt as it came to a rest again.

    ¡°Wow, these are not made for subtlety¡±, she murmured to herself.

    ¡°They are made for diagnostics¡±, Neyhall commented unprompted.

    Suddenly two small bars popped up on the side of the frontal screen. The filled in part indicated the angle the drone was standing off-center in the two respective axis for pitch and roll. It was unconventional, but Gaelic could work with that.

    She turned to the trio and said: ¡°We don¡¯t have much time for testing. Give me a safe path across the mountain side and be ready to make adjustments to the controls on the fly.

    Neyhall nodded, their flat head bobbing up and down in an exaggerated fashion.

    On the surface of the yellow planet, four tons of metal and plastics got moving with a sudden jerk that made the eight wheels momentarily spin on the flat rocks of the rough surface. The exploration drone named Angua slowly picked up speed, pushing through the dense atmosphere and sending rocks flying as she skipped over large cracks that made the suspension work strenuously.

    While she first evaded bumps and holes clumsily, slipping dangerously and steering erratically to get back on her previous course, Angua¡¯s driving continuously became smoother. All the while the visibility got worse as the incoming weather pushed more of that white compound to condense into lightweight flakes.

    Still, the large machine steadily gained speed, leaving the not-snow whirling in the turbulent air as it pushed along on an invisible path.

    Back in the control room, Gaelic had pearls of sweat on her forehead as she gave this task her full concentration. She had figured out the kinks of steering Angua and was now pushing her forward as fast as she could. The visibility on the yellow planet was notoriously poor and had only gotten worse - she had to watch out for any obstacles that popped up with barely an advanced warning.

    Being absorbed like that, she had not noticed the time passing during which all three of the Atun¡¯gekai were utterly transfixed on her.

    ¡°Gaelic, how are you doing that?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± She gave the pack a quick sideways glance. ¡°You mean evading in time?¡±

    ¡°No, just¡­¡±, Neyhall paused. And for the first time someone else of the pack addressed her, the surprise of it nearly making her look away from the screen for too long.

    The smallest of the three said in a soft voice: ¡°You are obviously controlling Angua. But what you are doing does not seem to translate into what we can see happening on the screen.¡±

    Gaelic swore soundlessly as she evaded a jagged edge that was half as high as Angua¡¯s wheels at that moment. ¡°I¡¯m just driving. The sliders are unconventional, sure - but it¡¯s fine since I¡¯m not going that fast.¡±

    ¡°You are moving Angua at the maximum safe speed.¡±

    ¡°But that isn¡¯t even 30 kph. Only Angua¡¯s size and the poor visibility makes it difficult. With the equipment I¡¯m used to and one of my racing buggies I could probably do more than double that right now.¡±

    Since there came no reply, Gaelic added: ¡°Talking of speed, what¡¯s our remaining time until blackout? Can we make it?¡±

    Neyhall took to speaking again. ¡°The remaining time will not suffice for you to reach the designated shelter. We have to use it to-¡±

    ¡°Can you make her go faster? Give me more power?¡±

    She noticed them glancing at each other. Neyhall offered: ¡°The drive motors can be overvolted with low risk of adverse effects. We will do the modifications to the motor vehicle base and disable the rotation limiters.¡±

    Gaelic exhaled slowly through pressed lips and then gave the Atun¡¯gekai a curt nod. As she noticed a sudden burst of acceleration, she whispered at the screen: ¡°Come on, Angua. Show me what you¡¯re truly capable of and I¡¯ll do my best to bring you home.¡±

    The weather had worsened considerably as dense groups of the white flakes dropped from the sky, covering the ground in a treacherously calm blanket. Angua blasted through it ferociously, blowing dense clouds into the air and leaving a trail of momentarily clean rocks.

    Though it was clear that the not-snow had a dangerous side-effect - Angua¡¯s wheels began slipping more and more when swerving around obstacles and it caused her to oversteer more than once.

    It had become hectic in the control room. Neyhall kept reading out the numbers and it was clear that despite moving faster, Angua would not make it in time.

    Gaelic¡¯s was fixed on the screen, but she could stop looking for solutions. ¡°Is there any way to make her faster?¡±

    ¡°The energy output of the internal power plant is fully utilized and every non-essential system is disabled. There is nothing more available.¡±

    ¡°What about the drive path? Can we cut it short somehow? That wide bend maybe?¡±

    Neyhall gesticulated wildly, which Gaelic only saw in her peripheral vision. ¡°This path is already optimized for range. We consider it to be highly unsafe because it is only evading the largest of the impassable terrain formations.¡±

    ¡°What am I evading there then?¡±

    ¡°A fissure of which Angua¡¯s instruments were unable to measure the lowest point.¡±

    ¡°How wide is it?¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t understand how this is relevant, it cannot be traversed.¡±

    Gaelic locked her eyes with theirs for a split second before turning back to the screen.

    A moment later that soft-spoken pack member spoke up: ¡°There is a narrow part where the opposite plateau is sunken down. We will give you a new path across it.¡±

    There was no-one present on the surface of the yellow planet to observe the spectacle that was about to unfold. A massive eight-wheeled vehicle was racing down a soft slope towards a bottomless crevasse. It was nearly obscured in the cloud of white powder it forced high into the air by pushing the heavy atmosphere out of the way.

    Angua blew over rock edges and potholes like they were nothing in her effort to continuously break this planet''s land speed record. As she reached the edge of the fissure, even the mild change in the ground angle slammed her wheels upwards and compressed the suspension to its minimum.

    The tiny ramp gave Angua a skywards kick as she lost ground contact and blew over the total darkness below. For several breathless seconds, the four ton vehicle soared freely before it slammed into the ground on the other side of the crevasse at an angle.

    A yell escaped Gaelic¡¯s lips as she forced the exploration drone to straighten out again. There now was a relatively easy path ahead of her down into a valley that led directly into the safety of the cave.

    Behind her, the soft spoken Atun¡¯gekai said: ¡°There are two minutes remaining.¡±

    ¡°Come on, Angua!¡± Gaelic was leaning forward unconsciously, not even having to look at the controls anymore as she sped through what more and more looked like a heavy snowstorm. Only the forward screen gave her any visibility of the surroundings, the others obscured by the flurry of white flakes.

    Another voice quietly spoke from behind her, one that she also heard for the first time on this day. ¡°Come on, Angua.¡±

    Ignoring anything but the largest of boulders, Gaelic kept up the speed by just going as straight as possible. The video stream shook heavily from the rough goings.

    ¡°Less than one minute. We may lose the stream at any point.¡±

    There only was a digital representation of her destination, as the rock face was invisible behind a dense white curtain. Her gaze was fixed on the counter below, showing her the decreasing distance. Several times she had to force Angua back on course after some invisible obstacle pushed her this way or that.

    The soft voice had nearly turned into a whisper: ¡°There are only seconds left.¡±

    Gaelic was driving blind at that point and made the call to brake on pure feeling. She pushed the second slider up and kept countering the erratic movement caused by the unequal grip of the eight wheels as Angua skidded the remaining distance to the last waypoint.

    Just as she thought she was able to discern the mouth of the cave, the heavy snow gave way to darkness before the video stream cut out a split second later.

    Taken aback, Gaelic turned towards the pack with wide eyes. Neyhall quickly explained: ¡°The connection is lost. But we had locked in the brakes as Angua entered the cave. She is safe.¡±

    She jumped up with a yell that startled the Atun¡¯gekai. ¡°Hell yeah! Fuck you Yellow Planet for trying to take another one. Not this time!¡± Still beaming with excitement, she addressed the pack: ¡°I consider this my Christmas present for this year. If you¡¯re looking for something to give me for my birthday next month, just let me drive again.¡±

    Neyhall gave her a nod. ¡°That was very impressive, Gaelic.¡±

    This time she couldn¡¯t hold back hugging them.

 The Ticking Ghost

    It happened so quickly - one moment I was checking out an abandoned building, the next moment my HUD went dark, my power armor went stiff and I fell over like an uprooted tree. As I slammed into the ground still in the same awkward position I was in when standing, I sucked a last breath from inside the helmet - the air circulation had failed.

    I knew exactly what to do in a situation like this. My hands twitched in the way I had practiced thousands of times, but nothing happened. I tried again - no result. I repeated the motion with all the force I could muster, but I remained clamped tight in my power armor.

    I gasped for more air, but could only find my own stale breath. The broken suit had me cemented in by unmoving metal. Instinct made me twist my body and pull my extremities as hard as I could in an utterly fruitless attempt to avert certain death.

    But then something knocked against my helmet with enough force to shake me from my blind panic. Another knock and then the faceplate was torn away. So this wasn¡¯t a failure of my suit, this was an attack and now I was being finished off.

    I blinked upon being blinded by the outside light and reflexively drew breath as the fresh air hit my face. At least being killed by a cowardly attacker would be more dignified than suffocating in my own armor.

    ¡°Hey, you good? I hope I haven¡¯t dropped you too hard there.¡±

    A deep voice that definitely did not belong to a member of my species. I still couldn¡¯t see clearly.

    Immediately I commanded: ¡°I won¡¯t tell you anything! Release me before my backup arrives and I will recommend a lenient punishment for attacking me.¡±

    ¡°I will take that as a yes.¡± They were talking calmly.

    ¡°Release me at once!¡±

    I slowly became able to decipher my surroundings. A dark figure stood over me. It definitely was them that was speaking.

    ¡°I surely won¡¯t. Or else my effort to immobilize you would have been entirely pointless.¡±

    ¡°What did you do to me? Tell me at once!¡±

    ¡°Trade secret. But you know, your suit has a major design flaw - what with the internal release mechanism needing a working power supply to operate. Very unfortunate for you, my friend.¡±

    Their voice was dripping with ridicule, I laughed at the figure in an attempt to appear unmoved.

    ¡°Backup will be here any moment, you should run.¡±

    The figure turned and looked around, then back at me. ¡°Ah yes, you wouldn¡¯t have heard that. I leveled that crumbling storage hall behind this building just as I disabled your armor. But don¡¯t worry, I was careful not to damage this place and I only used small charges. Honestly, they were probably overkill on that wreck anyway.¡±

    My expression must have revealed my confusion about the information they had shared with me, because the figure continued a moment later.

    ¡°Your suit going offline after a building collapse at your location - do tell me how likely it is that anyone will be sent out to check up on you.¡±

    I remembered that this exact thing had happened to another patrol unit and the order I had received at that time was now ringing in my head - we were to send a reserve unit to take over the patrol area and mark the building for a future retrieval of the suit. I bit my tongue.

    ¡°Yeah, thought so. I know your lives aren¡¯t valued much.¡± Was there a twang of pity in their voice?

    In a desperate effort I tried again to free myself or at least move in any way, but I remained utterly stuck. I started to control my breathing and visualized my training to get a handle on my rising claustrophobia. It worked.

    Between breaths, I growled: ¡°I will never talk to you.¡±

    ¡°Fine by me.¡±

    The figure turned and walked away, leaving my field of view. I steeled myself and tried to visualize the worst that could happen. Though my attacker just left the room. From the sounds of it, they didn¡¯t go far and came back pulling something light with wheels over the dusty stone floor.

    That was when I first noticed the ticking. It was a rapid mechanical ticking sound and must¡¯ve been made by something very small as anything but total silence drowned it out. My attacker remained somewhere nearby. I couldn¡¯t decipher what they were doing from what I was hearing - they were breathing quietly and shuffled around occasionally.

    So it went on for a long time, the light changed with the setting sun and this room slowly sank into darkness. For the entire time I remained unmoving on the ground and I needed to keep doing breathing exercises to keep myself calm.

    I couldn¡¯t wrap my mind around the motives of my attacker. They had incapacitated me through some devious backstabbing attack and then faked my death. But to what end? What did they want from me? What would anyone want from me?

    Why did they just stay nearby, apparently barely moving more than me? And what surprisingly pressed me the most - what made that rapid ticking noise?

    My thoughts went in circles in coming up with answers to all of those questions and I knew I couldn¡¯t keep silent much longer. It did cross my mind that whatever was going on could be an elaborate interrogation tactic, so I opened with a question.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    They did not answer.

    ¡°I know you¡¯re there. Why have you captured me.¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± I heard the figure shuffle. ¡°Are you talking to me?¡±

    I clenched my teeth upon the mocking tone.

    ¡°There isn¡¯t anyone else in this ruin but you, is there?¡±

    A chuckle. ¡°Nah, there isn¡¯t. You were set on not talking to me and I thought you started to hallucinate or something.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not.¡± I said sharply.

    ¡°Good¡±, they paused, ¡°but I can¡¯t chat like this.¡±

    I heard them moving and then coming to me until they were standing over me again. I still couldn¡¯t see their face but in this light I could get a better picture of their coverings - the figure wasn¡¯t wearing armor. Or at least nothing that I would recognize as such. They were covered in a flexible material that moved easily with them. For what I assumed was the purpose of stealth, it had geometric patches of dark blue, grey and black all over.

    ¡°Relax¡±, they said before kneeling down and grabbing somewhere besides my head.

    I immediately tensed up as they started pulling me along the ground. The metal of my armor unpleasantly scraped over the stone floor and whatever debris was scattered on it. I breathed a sigh of relief that it was over in a short moment. Only then I had noticed that they had either propped me up somehow or pulled me against the slope of a pile of junk.

    When they came to my front, I could see nearly all of my attacker because of my new angle of view.

    ¡°Comfy?¡± They asked. I heard the strain of the previous effort in their voice, but they were clearly mocking me.

    Instead of replying, I looked around the room. I could see the entrance I had taken to the left and I could see an outside wall to my right. The broken windows gave me a good look at the sky, which had the cloud cover lit up with only the last few rays of light of the late evening.

    The dark figure spoke again: ¡°Oh, don¡¯t be like that. You wanted to chat, now we can.¡±

    While they were speaking, they walked to a piece of furniture that stood against the wall between two windows and sat down on it. I still had them in my view.

    ¡°Then tell me who you are and why you are here.¡±

    They pulled their head cover off. I recognized them as human despite the odd colouring of their face. They were missing the typical decoration of hair on top of their head, but instead had a dense and sharply defined growth around their mouth and down their chin with stubble showing across the lower part of their face. The white colour of that hair stood in stark contrast to the human¡¯s dark skin.

    ¡°Name¡¯s Tiro. I¡¯m here to deliver a message.¡±

    The questions that popped up in my mind upon this reveal tumbled over each other. This situation made even less sense now and I couldn¡¯t think of what to ask first.

    After ordering my thoughts I told the human: ¡°You aren¡¯t from this world.¡±

    They chuckled as they told me in turn: ¡°You aren¡¯t from this world either. Yet here we both are, sitting in a house that belongs to neither of us.¡±

    As I was attempting to further question them, they continued: ¡°And you haven¡¯t told me your name.¡±

    ¡°What is the message?¡± I asked defiantly.

    ¡°Oh, no. That message isn¡¯t for you.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    The human held out and moved their hands in what I could only assume had to be a condescending gesture because they were also speaking deliberately slowly. ¡°The. Message. Is. Not. For. You.¡±

    I clenched my teeth and tried to brush off their provocation.

    ¡°So, no name then; it¡¯s okay. I did tell you why I¡¯m here though, it¡¯s your turn now.¡±

    So it was an interrogation, albeit a very convoluted one. I was about to tell the operative that I wouldn¡¯t give up information, but they interrupted me the moment I opened my mouth.

    ¡°Just kidding, my friend. I know that you are here to invade the place and suppress the population. Leveling the city center was kind of a giveaway.¡±

    I stumbled over what to say. While it was true what had happened, I hadn¡¯t had anything to do with the initial ground attack. I nearly blurted out that I was only doing patrols to find hidden enemy forces and capture them for imprisonment, but I stopped myself in time.

    The human had guessed my momentary temper, or my expression had betrayed me, because they then said: ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I know your whole species are just lackeys in this invasion.¡±

    ¡°We are allies!¡±

    My angry outburst seemed to slide right off the human as their calm demeanor didn¡¯t change in the slightest. ¡°Really? I wouldn¡¯t have thought that. What with all the fighting and dying being done exclusively by your people.¡±

    I wanted to snap back, but I swallowed my anger. I opted to ignore the human and concentrated on my breathing technique. Apparently they sensed my resolve as they didn¡¯t say anything else and continued with whatever they were doing before.

    Even to myself I could barely admit that the human had been right. We weren¡¯t true allies to the Vaughan-Trug. That much was obvious to anyone that only mildly looked past the propaganda. They had massive control over the governments of our continents and practically dictated our military actions and made us fight out their territorial disputes.

    This had been the first large-scale attack on a neighbouring civilization though - labelled as retaliation strike. It made sense from what I knew, but I secretly doubted the reasons given for our retaliation.

    Then it struck me. The human not only weren''t supposed to be here either, but they literally couldn¡¯t.

    I blurted out the question before I could stop myself: ¡°How did you even get on this planet?¡±

    ¡°Hm?¡± The human operative looked up at me from a piece of paper they had been writing on. Then picked up a small disc-shaped item from the piece of furniture they had been using as a desk and twisted something on it between their fingers before putting the item away into their vest.

    ¡°I want to say ¡®trade secret¡¯ again, but I kind of want to brag about it.¡±

    I tried to force them by saying: ¡°We have total orbital control, you can¡¯t hide from our surveillance.¡±

    ¡°Look at me then, I¡¯m totally hiding right now. Your people have no idea I even exist. Well, anyone but you, I guess.¡±

    ¡°But, your equipment-¡±, I broke off - I had been close to giving away a crucial piece of information.

    The human laughed. ¡°I think you nearly spilled a secret there. But I will tell you something in return even if you didn¡¯t.¡± They stood up, held out their hands and turned around full circle. ¡°I don¡¯t carry any electric power source with me, none at all.¡±

    I tried to turn my head further to see more of them, but only fought uselessly against the immovable suit. What the human was saying was preposterous. There couldn¡¯t be any fighting force capable of interstellar travel that had soldiers without any sort of powered tech.

    But it had to be true. If it weren¡¯t, I wouldn¡¯t be talking to them because they would have been caught weeks ago when the detection network went fully operational. But that meant they couldn¡¯t have weapons, communication and navigation equipment or even any computational device at all. There was no way a soldier or especially a secret operative could execute any complex mission like that.

    ¡°Don¡¯t think about the minutiae too much, my friend. Stay in the here and now. You are here, I am here, and right now it¡¯s time for dinner.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°Dinner. I¡¯m sure you have that too in your culture, yes?¡±

    If I weren¡¯t stuck in my suit I probably would have physically felt the whiplash of the sudden change of topic. I couldn¡¯t think straight and just stared as the human came up to me and started fumbling around on the armor somewhere at my lower torso. From the sounds of it, they were rummaging through the equipment pouches on my hip.

    ¡°Is that¡­¡±, they held up a bottle of a standard liquid field ration into my view, ¡°is that supposed to be your food?¡±

    ¡°Why-¡± was all I could say before the human spoke over me.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to eat. And it would be very rude to do that in front of you while you had nothing, wouldn¡¯t it?¡±

    I opened my mouth to reply but swallowed my words. Getting some food and strengthening myself was better than getting no food and trying to stay alert through the night hungry.

    ¡°It¡¯s a liquid field ration.¡±

    ¡°Oh boy, you really make it sound like good stuff.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ fine¡±, I feebly tried to lie.

    The human put down the bottled ration onto my chest and went towards the back of the room where I couldn¡¯t see them. They came back quickly, holding a square package and a bulbous metal bottle.

    Surprisingly they sat down at my side but in a way that let me still see most of them. After they set down their stuff, they picked up my bottle and inspected it.

    ¡°How do you open that thing?¡±

    ¡°Tear off the top cover and turn the ring.¡±

    I only noticed then that they had taken off some of their armor because of their missing gloves. I got a glimpse of the underside of their hands which were a lighter shade than the rest of their skin.

    As the human followed my instructions, a long straw popped out of the top of the bottle. That would go into a port of my suit so I could feed myself while still in my armor, but that wouldn¡¯t be necessary at this point.

    ¡°Ah, there you go.¡± They bent the flexible straw and held the bottle towards me but then stopped to look around. While still holding it within my view, the human leaned away and pulled something moderately heavy over the floor for a short distance before apparently picking it up.

    They then set down that object beside my head and put the ration bottle on top of it, carefully adjusting the assembly several times until the straw was right at my mouth.

    I couldn¡¯t decipher their facial expression but they made a gesture for me to go ahead and drink. I questioned my earlier decision to eat as this was still technically an enemy combatant offering me food. My food. My sealed food that they opened in front of me.

    My train of thought was interrupted when the human smacked the square package against my torso. Not that I could feel it, but it had been a very audible hit.

    They grinned at me while holding up that package and shaking it. ¡°Sorry, my friend. Just cooking.¡±

    I watched as that package bloated up slightly until a corner popped open and a bit of steam escaped.

    ¡°See, already done.¡± The human peeled open their ration which held a rectangular and featureless beige mass. ¡°Honestly, it tastes better than it looks. That doesn¡¯t mean much, but I would hate for it to be the other way round because it then would be utterly disgusting.¡±

    For a very short moment I had to suppress a smile. So instead I took a sip from my own ration. It tasted as weird as ever, so at least I could assume it was fine.

    It had become night in the meantime and the sky outside had turned black. My position surprisingly felt less and less uncomfortable, and I could nearly forget that I was unable to move because I was cemented into my armor.

    ¡°So what do you do when you¡¯re not patrolling around on some foreign planet?¡± The human asked me between bites.

    I debated if I shouldn¡¯t answer the question or just lie. I decided to be courteous. ¡°I assist my family.¡±

    ¡°Like, your parents?¡±

    ¡°Not only them.¡±

    ¡°Siblings?¡±

    ¡°I have a number of them, yes.¡±

    ¡°Are you close?¡±

    ¡°We live together in our ancestral home.¡± I said while pushing aside my thoughts on why I was continuing to answer their questions.

    ¡°Sounds awesome. You have a big house for all of you? Will you stay there or move out eventually?¡±

    ¡°I stay.¡±

    The human swirled their bottle, as if to mix its contents, before drinking from it. ¡°I don¡¯t know anything about your culture. Do you have multi-generational homesteads? These aren¡¯t uncommon where I come from either.¡±

    ¡°We do. Most stay with their family. My home sees six generations currently.¡± I decided to add the last part as it was a point of pride.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    I heard them stopping mid-chew and then swallowing hard. ¡°That¡¯s amazing. How many family members do you have?¡±

    Because I had done this hundreds of times before, I quickly recounted: ¡°One third-great-parent, one second-great-parent, three great-parents, five parents, six siblings and three children.¡± Having had this conversation often, I automatically asked: ¡°How many do you have?¡±

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just old me in my home. I have a young sister, but she lives somewhere else with her husband. They have a daughter and I heard about another kid, but I¡¯m not sure.¡±

    Two things hit me right then - humans were a bi-gendered species, which was something I had learned at some point but apparently forgotten, and a strong wave of pity washed over me.

    Though there was barely a moment for me to ponder this, as the human asked: ¡°Are any of those children yours?¡±

    I understood what this question meant only because I knew about the weird fixation on biological birth in connection to the status within families of the Vaughan-Trug. I disliked making a mental connection between them and this human - which surprised me.

    Replying to the question, I said: ¡°I haven¡¯t given birth to any of them, if that is what you want to know.¡±

    ¡°Oh. I didn¡¯t know I was being insensitive. Sorry, my friend.¡±

    I wondered how they had picked up on my emotions and took some sips of my ration to pause the conversation. In that quiet moment, the ticking noise became more prevalent again and I noticed that I had been hearing it better since the human had been sitting so close.

    ¡°With such a great family and all the work you undoubtedly do for them, how come you are out here playing soldier?¡±

    They were apparently back to mocking me. ¡°I am protecting them.¡±

    ¡°Protecting them?¡± They stuffed the fairly large last piece of their ration into their mouth but kept talking. ¡°What are you protecting them from, here in this destroyed city?¡±

    My burst of anger quickly dissipated. I could tell them the reasons I had heard from politicians, but these sounded like hollow excuses at the moment.

    So I kept silent and instead took another sip. The human got to his feet while balling up the packaging of their ration and left my sight to go to the back of the room where I suspected they kept the rest of their equipment.

    This left me alone with my thoughts. My training had not prepared me for this kind of enemy interaction. Was it even that? The human had attacked me to disable my suit - somehow - but they hadn¡¯t hurt or even threatened me. The only thing they did was not being particularly nice to me.

    They had even been forthcoming with information about their mission. Maybe that was what I was supposed to do in this situation - find out more?

    ¡°My name¡±, I said with a raised voice, ¡°is May.¡±

    ¡°May¡±, they instantly yelled back which startled me. ¡°A wonderful name!¡±

    The human came back to their place at the window. ¡°So, May, I hope you haven''t forgotten that I¡¯m Tiro.¡±

    ¡°I hadn¡¯t¡±, I lied.

    ¡°Is your name common? Because, coincidentally, May is a well-known female name and it¡¯s relatively prevalent in some of our cultures.¡±

    ¡°You have gendered names?¡±

    ¡°Most human names are.¡± Tiro had momentarily lifted his shoulders and arms in a gesture I didn¡¯t recognize.

    ¡°Is that the way you identify each other?¡±

    For a short moment I imagined how they had to carry reader pads containing massive lists of names as they went out to search for a partner for procreation and check each name they learned against the list.

    The human chuckled. ¡°No, we normally do that by sight. There are common biological differences between appearances.¡±

    ¡°And what are you?¡±

    ¡°I am male. But don¡¯t think you can create a baseline off of me to recognize other males.¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I haven¡¯t learned much about other species in school.¡±

    Tiro waved his hand in a downward motion. And I noticed how the conversation had taken a very different path from where I wanted it to go.

    I followed up with a question: ¡°So, are you here to protect your family?¡±

    He did not lose a beat from the change of topic and replied quickly: ¡°No, I¡¯m not. We aren¡¯t at war with you or your so-called allies.¡±

    Before I could say more, he gestured around himself with one hand and added: ¡°I¡¯m here to protect these families.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s your message? You want to tell the Vaughan-Trug to stop this conflict?¡±

    If the matter weren¡¯t so serious, I would have laughed out loud at the ridiculous image I got from the human going up to the drop base and trying to broker peace by handing the soldiers there a display pad with the words ¡®pretty please¡¯.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    I stared at Tiro. He made the gesture again where he lifted and dropped his shoulders in a quick motion.

    The mental picture did not leave me and I began to feel ashamed that I let myself be overtaken by an either insane or stupidly idealistic war zone curier. I was very aware that he could have more information, but I knew about the time leading up to the declaration of war - if other citadel members couldn¡¯t bring the Vaughan-Trug to stop the escalation, how would one single message do it?

    Of course, there weren¡¯t too many species in the citadel that actually cared about any of this since the people of this planet weren¡¯t members. Though neither were humans, as far as I was aware.

    ¡°You can get some sleep if you want. That is, if you even need any¡±, he said as he apparently disregarded the previous topic.

    ¡°You know that there aren¡¯t any here, do you? The Vaughan-Trug don¡¯t send their own into battle.¡±

    ¡°I know. The city is considered secured though. And tonight a command outfit will come in.¡±

    I passed on asking how he could possibly know all that. At least I had learned that there was a time limit to his company. I leaned back into my suit, which didn¡¯t mean more than relaxing my neck and staring at the ceiling.

    How could anyone think of sending secret operatives into a conflict on some distant planet and between other species, and make them try to broker peace? It was an insane plan, even before it meant sending an operative without equipment.

    ¡°Are you done with that?¡± His voice tore me from my thoughts some time later.

    I looked at Tiro and saw that he was pointing at me with his hand. After a moment I realized what he meant, so I closed my lips around the straw of my ration and quickly gulped down the rest of the thick liquid inside.

    ¡°I am.¡±

    He came up to me to take the empty bottle away and then went over to the back wall. I heard him shuffling about with some items - I suspected he was setting up his camp.

    Some time later his heavy footsteps told me that he was walking across the room. A moment later he appeared back at the piece of furniture he had used as a desk before. Onto it, he put down a long and heavy metal object I couldn¡¯t identify and a textile bag that was obviously also rather weighty.

    Without turning to me, Tiro said: ¡°If you don¡¯t sleep, would you be so kind as to stay quiet?¡±

    My temper flared.

    ¡°What if I¡¯m not?¡±

    ¡°Then I would have to make sure you are.¡±

    I became very aware of the power imbalance again - I was completely at his mercy. So I once again went back to my breathing exercises to relax myself and induce a meditative state. Though the quietness of the room was continuously disturbed by the irritating metallic ticking. Tiro was also doing something that produced a soft scratching noise as well as an occasional metallic clink.

    I kept drifting between being awake and resting my mind, losing my connection to reality in the process.

    There was no telling how much time had passed when I snapped back. Quickly, I scanned the room and saw that Tiro was kneeling against the open window behind the desk. He held the long metallic object from before between his shoulder and a stand that rested on the windowsill while pressing one of his eyes against a cylindrical device that was mounted on top of the object.

    I now recognized what had to be some sort of weapon, even though it was ridiculously oversized, and the thing he was looking into presumably was a targeting device.

    I held my breath - so the human was indeed armed. But that would mean someone would eventually notice his presence. And without visible friendlies in the vicinity, there would unquestionably follow a missile strike to his position shortly after that.

    ¡°You awake?¡± Tiro asked with low voice - it still startled me.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m preparing to deliver the message.¡±

    He raised his head to look at me and relaxed the grip on his weapon. My expression must have told him that I didn¡¯t follow his explanation in the slightest.

    Tiro grinned and then opened a slider on the side of the weapon that was facing me. I barely saw the internal workings in the low light, but I saw that there were two compartments inside. From the front one, he pulled out and held up a metallic cylinder that took half the space of his palm and had both ends poking out further. One end came to a soft tip that appeared to be discoloured from the rest of the body.

    The size and diameter of the projectile reminded me of the ammunition I had seen for fixed defense cannons. There was no way a power source capable of launching that with a noticeable amount of force could go undetected.

    ¡°You are planning on shooting someone?¡±

    He was shaking his head side-to-side as he put it into the weapon and moved the slider back in a fluid motion that spoke of a well-trained act.

    ¡°I am planning on shooting some thing.¡±

    ¡°The wall of the next building perhaps?¡± I said mockingly.

    ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry May; there is nothing in the way. From here I¡¯ve got a perfectly good line of sight to your ground base.¡±

    I reflexively tried to turn my head to look out the windows, but was instantly reminded of my predicament. Still, even if he spoke the truth, the area we were in was outside the second reserve zone around the base.

    ¡°It¡¯s too far¡±, was all I could stammer.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine. Distance just complicates things, but it won¡¯t be a hindrance.¡±

    My eyes followed his motions as I watched him pick up a piece of printed paper from the desk. It took me a moment to understand that I was looking at a map because of the compressed scale. There were several hand drawn additions to it in the form of lines and numbers.

    That was what he had been doing during the beginning night - he had apparently measured and calculated his attack entirely by hand. Once again, my expression must have told Tiro what I was thinking as I could definitely tell that he looked smug.

    ¡°I told you, no tech. I¡¯m a ghost.¡±

    ¡°No¡±, I replied while twisting in my armor, ¡°your plan can¡¯t work. Where will you get the power from to make the shot? And if you truly have a strong enough power source in that thing, we will be killed any moment now.¡±

    Tiro shook his head again in the same way. ¡°It works with chemical propellant.¡±

    ¡°What? Gunpowder? Like the stuff we stopped using three centuries ago? You poured this into the barrel?¡± I couldn¡¯t keep my voice straight even if I was certain at this point that there had to be more to this.

    ¡°Not quite. While it basically works the same, it¡¯s different stuff. Some of it is in here,¡± he patted the side of the gun, ¡°some of it is in the projectile itself.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t understand. Modern kinetic weaponry can¡¯t even make a hole in my armor. What are you hoping to achieve by shooting at the base?¡±

    In reply he gave me a slight chuckle. ¡°If I was to fire this at your armor, it wouldn¡¯t make one hole, alright.¡± He seemed to pause for dramatic effect. ¡°It¡¯d make two because the bullet will go through and come out the backside.¡±

    Words failed me. I was caught between thinking he spoke nonsense and the undeniable fact that he did indeed make it this far - which I would¡¯ve thought was impossible as well if I weren¡¯t experiencing it myself.

    ¡°But-¡±, was all I said.

    While putting his eye back onto the targeting device, he explained further: ¡°The projectile moves faster than sound when it leaves the barrel. The rocket acceleration will kick in a bit later and at this distance it will be around twice the initial speed once it impacts. Seriously, you¡¯d need more than one of these suits in front of you to stop it.¡±

    With forces of that magnitude in my mind, I saw only one way this unfolded - the human weapon would violently blow apart the moment Tiro triggered the shot. My ancestors had quickly stopped using weapons like that because they had the tendency to maim their user instead of shooting at a target.

    While going through these thoughts, I became more irritated by the moment. The ticking was once again the prominent noise in the silence and I felt myself twitching to its fast rhythm.

    ¡°What even is that?¡± I asked entirely too loudly.

    ¡°What is what?¡±

    ¡°The damn ticking!¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s my clock.¡±

    ¡°Why does it do that?¡±

    This time, Tiro actually turned to look at me. ¡°May. You¡¯re kidding, right?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I would.¡±

    ¡°You must have mechanical clocks. Surely.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t have one. And I wouldn¡¯t know anyone who does. Why would they?¡± I moved to make a gesture of exasperation but my armor stopped me. ¡°I did once see pendulum clocks in a museum, but these things are leftovers from the past.¡±

    ¡°They did tick though, yeah?¡±

    ¡°Not like that.¡±

    Tiro leaned back to look into the targeting device, but kept talking: ¡°Well, my watch ticks because it has a balance wheel that rotates back and forth. And that moves faster than a pendulum.¡±

    I imagined a metal wheel rolling back and forth and hitting some levers on each end point to the same beat of the ticking clock. It helped to make it less irritating.

    ¡°Only three minutes left. Prepare yourself.¡±

    ¡°Three what?¡±

    ¡°Oh, sorry. Nevermind that, it¡¯s a time measurement unit. Just keep in mind that things will happen very soon.¡±

    ¡°Things?¡± I stared at him hoping he would notice. ¡°You mean you blasting this room to dust when you fire that weapon of yours?¡±

    ¡°Two minutes, forty seconds.¡±

    ¡°Why is the time even important?¡±

    ¡°For you? So you won¡¯t be surprised by the gunshot.¡±

    ¡°No, for you I mean. Why don¡¯t you just shoot right now and leave?¡±

    He didn¡¯t reply.

    ¡°Tiro?¡±

    There was no reaction at all from the human. I was sure he was in the process of lining up a target. I began devising a plan to distract him so he would mess up his shot. But I didn¡¯t even know what he expected to accomplish. The base was well protected, there wasn¡¯t anything critical that he could disable with a single hit, even if he spoke the truth about how powerful the weapon was.

    Was he trying to assassinate someone maybe? I remembered him telling me about the Vaughan-Trug command outfit that was due to arrive this night. But they would come by shuttle and land inside a fortified building. There was no chance for him to target a single individual. What was his plan?

    And another question popped up in my mind - why was he letting me watch? Would he kill me after?

    A sudden thunderous bang stopped all my thoughts. I felt its shockwave snapping through my whole body and if I weren¡¯t imprisoned, I would have jumped up high in reflex. I blinked my eyes as the room became hazy with kicked-up dust.

    The ticking clock was the only noise that broke the deafening silence after that. It made me notice that I perceived time slowed down and I was breathing too quickly. Tiro didn¡¯t change from his position for what felt much longer than it probably was.

    ¡°Multiple target impacts visible¡±, he said mechanically. ¡°It¡¯s going down.¡±

    My voice failed when I tried to speak up.

    He continued: ¡°Ground impact, no secondary explosions.¡±

    In a quick and fluid motion that would have startled me had I not been in a daze, he then got up onto his feet, lifted the gun from its position and folded away the stand while turning to go to the back of the room.

    From there I heard the rustling of textiles, some metallic snaps and the crunching of his shoes moving and being repositioned quickly on the stone floor. Tiro was obviously working quickly and I assumed he was packing up.

    I tried calling him, but instead my dry throat threw me into a coughing fit. I then didn¡¯t hear his footsteps coming closer and was surprised when he suddenly stood before me, covered completely in his dark apparel. A cold flash of fear hit me as I imagined he had come to finish me when he lowered down and put his hands onto my armored chest.

    ¡°Please don¡¯t¡±, I said in a voice that not only broke because of my dry throat.

    ¡°What? I asked if you were okay.¡±

    I stumbled over words and only made some incomprehensible sounds.

    ¡°May? Are you hurt?¡± To my surprise he sounded genuinely worried.

    After swallowing a few times, I managed to audibly reply: ¡°I¡¯m okay.¡±

    ¡°Great.¡± While he said that, he pulled out a knife from somewhere on his vest. The matte black blade was longer than his hand. I immediately felt the cold fear paralyze me again.

    His next words sounded distorted and far away as I was entirely fixated on the knife and I took another breath before I could comprehend them. ¡°I need your help with the external release.¡±

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°The external mechanical release¡±, he repeated. And after a few seconds he added: ¡°Are you really okay?¡±

    ¡°I am. But I don¡¯t understand - you want to get me out of this?¡±

    ¡°Well I can¡¯t leave you here. So, after I crack open the latches, you need to give me a gap by opening it from the inside since I can¡¯t run the mechanism.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    I watched him raising his knife-hand and then swinging it against the side of my torso forcefully. As the blade hit the armor with a crunching noise, I half-expected to feel it impaling my side. He immediately went for another swing that equally made me flinch.

    ¡°Final one, I think¡±, Tiro said between breaths and rammed the knife into my armor once more after which he moved it back and forth in there with visible effort. ¡°Now push.¡±

    I bent my back and pushed out my chest as hard as I could - the suit actually gave way. The frontal upper body piece then swung up accompanied by the sound of breaking plastics, ripping textiles and crunching metal as Tiro opened it further.

    It was now possible for me to move my body enough to free my arms which I immediately did. With some more wiggling, I quickly pulled my head down out of the helmet. I could finally look around naturally, though it felt unreal after being stuck like that for hours.

    Tiro offered me his hand. To my surprise, it was an easy decision to grab it and let him help me crawl out of my disabled power armor the rest of the way to get onto my feet.

    The first thing I noticed was the size difference between me and the human. Before, I had a warped view of the building due to the armor making me much taller and it had been my only frame of reference. Standing before him now, I saw that I barely reached his chest.

    I had to think about the first moments of our encounter - even if I had managed to free myself, he would have had no reason to fear me. I was certain he could easily flatten me in hand-to-hand combat.

    Tiro said with a smile: ¡°There you go, May.¡±

    He then left me standing and went to where he was keeping his equipment. It appeared all of it was mounted to a narrow metal frame with large wheels on each end. From some pack he procured a grey cylindrical object which he brought to the middle of the room.

    There went a mix of emotions through me I could not properly sort. I was happy about being finally free, but also confused, still shaken, angry, stiff from not moving so long and also mildly cold. The last one would get worse as I only had a thin bodysuit and my military cut left my fur too short to help.

    I tried to pull myself together and took a deep breath. My voice was louder than anticipated as I asked: ¡°Who was your target? Who did you kill?¡±

    He looked up. ¡°I¡¯m fairly certain I didn¡¯t kill anyone.¡±

    ¡°But-¡±

    ¡°Look, May - I just delivered a message. These important visitors to your base, they had a landing they won¡¯t forget.¡±

    I was in disbelief. ¡°You shot them down?¡±

    ¡°No. Shooting down a military aircraft would require a different approach. We only made a few holes into its landing engines as it was in the process of touching down. Engines fail, shuttle goes splat.¡±

    As Tiro said the last phrase, he used one of his hands to first mime a slow approach to the ground and then quickly slapped the floor.

    Too many questions went through my mind at once. My voice became tonless. ¡°We?¡±

    ¡°You surely realized that I couldn¡¯t do that alone - what with all that defense stuff on your military vehicles.¡±

    I hadn¡¯t even thought about that, but he was right. Basically every vehicle larger than the power armor had multiple anti-missile systems. Some of which also worked on kinetic projectiles.

    ¡°So what-¡±

    ¡°We shot it from multiple directions simultaneously.¡± He answered my question before I had finished asking it.

    I glanced between him, the window and his equipment carrier which had his weapon mounted to it. He had no communication device. How did he coordinate with other operatives if there truly were any? I first speculated that they could have used a visual signal, either from the target or from one of the operatives - but then I dismissed that. They didn¡¯t have to shoot at the same time, they instead needed to hit at the same time.

    My thoughts hadn¡¯t stopped circling around that, when he broke me out of them. ¡°Any more questions? Because I really want to clear out and leave this place.¡±

    ¡°How did you do it?¡±

    ¡°You watched me.¡± He mimed holding the gun and experiencing recoil.

    ¡°I mean how did you make sure you all would hit the shuttle at the same time?¡±

    ¡°Oh.¡± Tiro pulled a small disc-shaped object from his vest and held it up. ¡°Because we all have one of these.¡±

    Instead of coming closer, I squinted to discern what it was. All I could see was that something was moving on the white front and that there were some symbols marked on it. Then I became aware of the ticking noise and immediately understood that this had to be his mechanical clock - though it was ridiculously small, especially in comparison to his hands.

    ¡°Did you-¡±, I paused mid-question because I already thought of a slew of complications with using the clock as a timer after some visual signal. Instead I asked: ¡°How did you know when you had to shoot?¡±

    ¡°My shot needed to land at the full minute mark following the minute during which the shuttle started to extend its landing gear. I pulled the trigger 6.25 seconds before that.¡± He made the shoulder motion again, lifting and dropping them in quick succession.

    I barely had any time to make sense of that information when he hastily added: ¡°One second is four ticks, by the way. And a minute is sixty seconds.¡±

    But that plan couldn¡¯t work either. It would require impossible accuracy from the clocks. At this point I gave up thinking about it and decided that whatever outlandish thing the human told me was true. For a short moment I imagined humans crawling through numerous buildings all around the city and their clocks were ticking in perfect unison to this one.

    ¡°What now?¡± I asked Tiro.

    ¡°I¡¯ll dispose of the evidence and get out of here, you will go back to your people and pretend you were stuck alone in a collapsed building all night.¡±

    ¡°You want to hide your involvement?¡±

    ¡°I think the idea is to leave you guys guessing, but I was told that causing some rumours was fine.¡± He moved his hand as if he was throwing something back over his shoulder. ¡°Eh, politics.¡±

    I blinked in surprise. ¡°Was that why you captured me?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± he chuckled, ¡°you were just unlucky to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Luckily for me though, you were excellent company.¡±

    Before I opened my mouth to ask why he hadn¡¯t just waited for me to pass, he cut me off. ¡°That¡¯s all the questions you get, May. We leave now.¡±

    He did something to the cylinder he had set down and it started ticking. It was slower and louder, but it clearly was the metallic ticking of another mechanical clock.

    ¡°What-?¡±

    ¡°I thought it was obvious that it¡¯s a timed explosive.¡± Tiro jumped to his feet and got to his equipment carrier. He then rolled it towards the exit and motioned for me to follow.

    Tearing out of my numbness, I ran after him and together we descended the stairways to the ground floor. He wordlessly led me to one of the exits and down a path between buildings that brought us to a narrow street behind the block. I needed to jog to keep up with him which at least mitigated the cool night air.

    Tiro came to a stop after a while, probably a safe distance away from the explosive he planted. He turned towards me, but all I had to look at were his full body coverings. He told me: ¡°That¡¯s it, you¡¯ll be fine now. Take it easy, May. Make sure you get home soon and give your big family lots of love.¡±

    For a moment it felt like a goodbye from someone I had randomly met while travelling instead of the wartime encounter that it had been.

    ¡°Thanks. Stay safe, Tiro.¡±

    I didn¡¯t even entertain the thought to tell him that I thought it impossible for him to get away from the search patrols that were most likely already combing the city in numbers, but I knew better by that point.

    And I was proven right immediately as he hopped onto the equipment carrier he had been pushing by his side before and started to pedal away on it. I watched him quickly disappear in the half-darkness and soon enough I was left in utter silence.

    At least until I was startled by the commotion somewhere behind me that came from a collapsing building.

    I did find my way back eventually and was sent home soon after as the military campaign had come to a sudden end. There were some politics involved, I guess. More things happened later and my people are independent now. The Vaughan-Trug are just stellar neighbours we have some trade with.

    I made sure to keep the secret from my superiors and through the subsequent investigations. And I¡¯m only talking about it now because it¡¯s so far in the past that it has become irrelevant. After all, I absolutely have no desire to hear that ticking ever again.