I had been expecting a very loud smashing sound to accompany our 'landing', but the noisy metal beast landed very gracefully at our destination.
"Alright Queen Blue Sun, just a head's up: The officer in charge of the humans in this area is named Colonel Terra Bunker. Yes, I know; a Colonel named Bunker in charge of a big nuclear bunker. She's heard it a hundred times, so don't call her on it." Agent K explained with hints of annoyance towards the 'Colonel' they had mentioned. "She's none to friendly to new human transfers, so I don't expect you'll receive the best welcome either. I feel obligated to inform you that any negative reaction she might have towards you is not in standing with the rest of humanity."
I nodded in acknowledgement before looking down at all the restraints on me. "Would you mind helping me with these?" I asked, attempting to wiggle my way free.
The large mouth of the beast opened with a loud alarm and flashing red lights before the olive human with the funny helmet pressed a few spots on the beast, causing the noises and lights to go away. A gush of air greeted us as well, causing Timid and Soft's hair to flow around and get in their eyes. The noise of the beast also seemed to be dying down as well, the blades slowing to a dull whine. Agent K and... 'Olive' helped Soft, Rough and Timid from their seats before moving to help me.
"Hey Blue, if you can use magic, why don't you just unbuckle yourself?" Rough asked, releasing a restraint with a click and letting it fall downward.
I blinked and looked at Rough with the dawn of realization on my face. "You're brilliant!" I cheered, lighting my horn with magic.
All of the humans, including Olive, backed away from me very quickly. I had only grabbed a hold of the restraints in my magic for a moment before I heard shouting.
"No, wait! That's normal! Don't use the-!"
Then a very noisy, airy, and cold foam washed over me entirely, covering me head to hooves in a chalky frozen uncomfortable-ness that made it hard to breathe. My horn was doused not from the temperature, but from the sudden shock of freezing. I looked from the faces of Soft, Timid, Rough and Agent K as they stared at me in horror, frozen in a position of rushing to my help and blinking in shock. Turning my head, I noticed that Olive was holding something cylindrical, red, and with a black tube pointing towards me.
Their helmet had covered their face, but their emotions could portray only the deep dread of what they believed to be the last mistake they'd ever make. My head having slowly turned towards them had also made them back away from me in a stumble.
"U-uh... I t-thought you were on fire!" Olive blabbered, holding the red thing in front of them like a shield. "Don't hurt me!"
A few more blinks of confusion removed more of the foam from my eyes. "Why am I covered in... cold foam?" I asked, lifting a hoof to my face to study the strangeness of my situation.
I heard the steady march of footsteps in boots coming from the mouth of the beast and I turned to see whom it would be. It was at that point when the new arriving human, flanked by other humans with helmets and some kind of strange armor, that they burst into laughter.
"You're kidding me!" One blurted with a grin, "First contact with aliens and it's a glowing ball of foam? For real!?""
Olive looked from myself towards the newcomer, a sense of unease and discomfort coming from them. "Um, Colonel?" they asked hesitantly. "She's not made of foam..."
This stopped the human whom was apparent Colonel Bunker in mid laugh, their face becoming stony and serious. "She's what?"
"S-she's... not foam?" Olive repeated hesitantly. Agent K was sitting down, enjoying the awkward exchange between the Colonel and Olive. Timid, Rough and Soft were busy standing in a mixture of confusion at the events taking place as well as the indecision of what to do in the moment.
"C-can s-somehuman please get this f-foam off of m-me? It's very c-cold!" I asked in a shivering chitter, my frigid wings making my voice echo unusually.
That plea caused Soft, Timid and Rough to spring into action, using their hands to both uncover my body from the foam and to undo the remaining straps on me. From the reaction that Olive had given me, I decided it was best to not use my magic for the time being.
"Why is Queen Blue Sun covered in fire extinguisher, Specialist?" Colonel Bunker asked in a hostile tone towards Olive. "I'm absolutely certain that your orders included the phrase 'absolutely no hostility towards an alien', didn't they?"
A few more humans in similar clothing walked onto the beast, one of them with a large camera on their shoulder pointed towards me. The others set about inspecting the inside of the 'Chinook', doing their very best to avoid the attention of Colonel Bunker. Soft and Rough had just about finished removing as much foam from me as they could, my height while sitting allowing them to reach most of me with ease. Timid was having a few difficulties with a strap, but for the most part I was free to move. I could sense the feeling of doom beginning to crush Olive, judging from their position of standing very stiffly upright. They may have worn a helmet, but their body shook.
"I'm gonna bust you down to PFC after this, 'Specialist' Mayweather." Colonel Bunker threatened. This caused Olive to become even more upset, and I felt a pressing need to interrupt; both for the growing discomfort the situation was causing me and to bring all of this hostility to an end.
"Colonel B-bunker, I assume?" I interrupted, leaning my head in between the views of Bunker and Olive. I gave a very large smile to further distract the Colonel, though I was still shivering. "Very nice to m-meet you."
Colonel Bunker's eyes had a fit for a moment, attempting to both process my 'new' un-foamed form and avoid focusing on my fangs with accompanying sharp teeth. For some reason, humans didn't like the sight of sharp pointy teeth. I've always thought that was a sign of good health, though I suppose it's different for humans.
My distraction had worked, as the Colonel was now focused on myself and assuming the same stiff and upright position as Olive to address me, their hands at their sides. "Queen Blue Sun; I hope that no harm has come to you?" They asked officially, shooting a glare at Olive.
I looked down at my body as the last strap was undone by Timid. With a nod of thanks towards the three I began to slowly and carefully stand up. The constant shifting and uneven movement from the travel had made me a little unsteady, as well as the foam from the 'fire extinguisher' causing my wings to move a bit too slowly, making me unbalanced. Before I could slip and fall onto my face, I widened my stance so that all of my hooves were a square platform, steady with a sense of balance or not. "I'm f-fine!" I chittered, my wings slightly delayed with one another from the cold. I caught another spike of worry from Olive and interrupted Colonel Bunker before they could berate the human again. "I have a r-request, C-colonel Bunker." I asked officially, still freezing.
"You want to inspect the location of your... hive, I assume?" Bunker replied with slight irritation.
"A-actually, I would like... Specialist Mayweather, w-was it?" I asked Olive while looking at them. I was slowly regaining my sense of balance from my wings un-freezing, so my stance returned to normal. Apparently the cold didn't last as long as winter, which was a bonus.
"Yes, Queen Blue Sun!" They blurted out.
I turned back to Colonel Bunker. "I would like Specialist Mayweather to accompany us in our tour and to stay with me afterwards. I want to speak with them in private. I assume that you are the queen of this... hive, and that would make Specialist Mayweather your drone?"
The colonel raised an eyebrow of surprise at me. "You think I'm a queen?"
I tilted my head to the side in confusion. "You are the leader of the humans here and you live in the side of the mountain. I would also assume that you are female, from Agent K's description. That would make you the Queen."
A huff of amusement accompanied by a smile was my reply before Colonel Bunker changed subjects. "I'll allow your request, Queen Blue Sun. For now, however, let's get you all set up inside the 'hive'." They stepped aside and pointed a hand towards the outside of the beast, finally freeing me from the impossible metal thing. As I walked out onto a smooth black platform, I heard whispered warnings from Colonel Bunker to Olive.
"This place is massive!" Soft exclaimed in awe. I looked to Soft and followed their gaze, my eyes setting on a very large mountain.
My ears folded back from the enormity of it. "W-well..." I stammered unintentionally. "I guess there's plenty of room to improve?"
I felt a hand rest on my shell and found Rough at my side, smiling. "Hey, don't worry about it. You'll have us to help out."
"Where did Agent K go?" Timid asked. I turned around to look for them and instead and found that the Camera human from before had followed us, silently watching.
"Can I help you?" I asked, confronting the Camera-man.
"I'm just here to observe, Queen Blue Sun. I can stand further back if you wish." They replied professionally, though their emotions told of worry.
I stared at the human for a moment, considering options. It would only be slightly annoying to have them following me around, and I had nothing to hide from the humans in the first place. If they were curious and wanted to watch what happened, then it wouldn't hurt to let them. Besides, if they were going to post these videos of myself on the internet, then perhaps it would help against more angry mobs? It would also save Timid from being stuck behind their own camera as well, and they would be able to help myself as well as Rough and Soft with creating my hive... however I was going to go about doing that.
I realized that I had been staring daggers at the camera-man for a few minutes now, causing them to sweat nervously. "You are fine, Camera-man." I replied, blinking away the fog of my thoughts to focus on what was happening around me.
We were apparently on some separate platform made from dark stone, a circle with a large 'H' in the center of it where the beast rested after its long flight. A metal staircase led away from this place and towards a tunnel entrance into the side of the mountain. Looking away from there, I spotted the large camouflaged camp that Agent K had told us of earlier. It looked like a small town rather than a camp. Inside of that camp were many similar looking structures, like the humans had made pre-constructed buildings and simply stuck them together in odd patterns. There was another stone field to the side where the oddly arranged beasts rested, similar to the Wal-mart of before. These beasts were much larger however; some of them with heads and odd noses or mouths that pointed forward. Groups of humans in their helmets and armor were patrolling around the camp, some of them standing in towers looking somewhat bored.
"Let's take you into the mountain, Queen Blue Sun." Colonel Bunker suddenly stated next to me, catching me off-guard and startling me. Agent K was still missing, having gone off somewhere without any of us noticing. Timid, Rough and Soft were following behind me while taking in the sights and Olive kept a wary distance from me, forced to follow by my request. It was my hope that with Olive being near me at all times, that they might escape the attention of Colonel Bunker for what was basically a well intentioned mistake. Bunker didn't seem to be the forgiving type of human. They didn't know that, however, and being near me was causing them to be nervous.
"That right there," Colonel Bunker pointed out proudly, "Is the door to Cheyenne Mountain. Nothing short of a nuke is gonna make a dent in that thing."
I realized that while I had been spacing out, we had walked through not only the overhanging metal tunnel entrance but a very large metal door as well. Colonel Bunker was now pointing towards a different door made of a combination of stone and metal with the design of a bank door and a secret entrance. There were a great many locks and bolts on the side of it that matched to the wall it had come out of as well. I placed a hoof on the flat of the door, giving it a small shove.
My hoof charged, and only gave a small black scorch mark on the door. I didn't want to actually damage the thing or test its limits, but if the humans trusted in its design so faithfully then I could hold off on stress testing it later.
Colonel Bunker seemed to be annoyed, but they kept it hidden from their tone. "If you'll follow me, then I can show you to where we've already cleared out some space for you, Queen Blue Sun." They then looked to Olive. "Specialist Mayweather, escort these three... guests of the Queen to their rooms."
"Yes, Colonel!" Olive replied dutifully. Timid, Soft and Rough looked at me with concern.
"I'll be fine." I said reassuringly. "It's only for a short time, anyway."
"Stay safe, Blue." Rough gave in farewell.
I nodded, and Olive lead the three around a corner to disappear from sight.
"Queen Blue Sun, could I have a word; off the record?" Colonel Bunker asked.
I looked down at them with a slightly raised brow. "Yes?"
"I'm under orders to be as polite and accommodating as possible for you, and I intend to do that. What I can't help do is keep track of those three that you've brought along with you. They follow the same rules as any other human, and if they go snooping around this place and getting themselves into trouble, I will have to deal with that as the law demands. This entire operation is to ensure your safety, so please keep them wrangled close to you." The Colonel warned seriously. "We humans might not know a lot about you, but we know ourselves pretty well. Keep an eye on them, or they'll start to wander around. The only reason they're here is because of your say so; otherwise, they'd be at home watching Scooby Doo and eating Mac n' Cheese on their couch."
I had no idea who Scooby Doo was, or why anyhuman would watch them, but the implication was clear enough. "I will do that, Colonel Bunker."
They gave a curt nod and continued on their tour. They explained that the complex had been built originally to protect the President and other important personnel during an all out nuclear war, but it was now being stripped down of everything that wasn't structural or important to 'scientific study' in order to accommodate myself and my future hive. Colonel Bunker didn't seem too enthused about the idea of a Hive, but they kept their feelings to themself. Well, as much as they were able to with myself around.
I was lead into a very large room with a high ceiling that curved like a dome all around. The floors of this place had all been smooth stone, so it was no surprise that this design had continued into here as well. What was immediately interesting to myself however, was the sudden rush of inspiration and ideas as to what I would do with such a room!
The large open space in the center could be carved out, giving room for eggs to be laid and nurtured by Caretakers... as soon as they hatched first, that is. The walls themselves could be arranged into smaller sleeping zones that would allow my drones a place to rest, the resin of the hive itself providing cushioning for them. Oh, that would be another thing I would have to do. I suppose all of the dust from excavating out the hatchery as well as the sleeping areas in the walls would provide all the material I would use, though I would need Soft, Rough and Timid here in order to fuel the process. Looking at the domed roof I could imagine ropes of resin and what was known as 'Dirsime' (Dirt Slime) to stretch across and provide a walkway. I could knock out more of the roof's siding in order to create more rooms as well, and this was only with the large open space in front of me! When I had my own tunnelers, I would be able to do all of this so much faster than on my own.
I then noticed a hand waving in front of my face. Looking down, there was a concerned Colonel Bunker staring at me. "Are you alright, Queen Blue Sun? You zoned out the moment we came in here."
I shook my head free of the designs and plans that had blocked my vision. "I'm fine, Colonel Bunker, thank you for asking." I looked around the room once more, a small grin spreading across my face. "Could I get started?" I asked, charging my horn.
Colonel Bunker greeted me with confusion and worry about my magic. "Get started?" they inquired cautiously while backing away a few steps.
My grin broke into a smile, and I turned to the Camera-man that had never stopped following us. "You're both going to help me build my hive!"