//------------------------------// // Skin Deep // Story: First Contact // by Cmdr Brohoof //------------------------------// Hendricks knelt next to the sleeping doctor. He reached down and shook her shoulder. “Hey your turn.” “Already” she mumbled as she rubbed her eyes. “I just feel asleep.” The fire was down to a few embers that gave off an orange glow. Hendricks sat up against a large rock, folded his arms and hung his head. Dr. Hood watched as he quickly nodded off. On her wrist a small screen was counting down the seconds. “Great one hour and fifty-nine minutes to go.” As she began to poke the fire a rustling sound nearby caught her attention. She stood looking in the direction where the noise had come from. “Hendricks!” she hissed slightly turning her head in his direction “Hendricks!” she said slightly louder “What?” he answered angrily. “Something’s coming” she said straining to listen for the noise again. Hendricks jumped to his feet and stood by her. He listened carefully “I don’t hear…” the rustling started again this time closer. “Get back” he guided Dr. Hood behind him as he braced himself. Something came bolting through the brush as Hendricks kicked the campfire sending ashes and embers at the intruder. “Ow...ow...ow…ow” the intruder whined “Wait a minute that voice” Hendricks said as he pressed a button on his chest. A beam of light shone through the cloud of ashes. A sea-foam green pony was brushing ashes out of her mane. “Hello Lyra” Hendricks turned off his light and walked toward her “Please… I need your help…they took her...and I don’t know where else to go...”Lyra began to tear up as she looked up at Hendricks He knelt to her eye level “Whoa...slow down who got taken by whom and didn’t I say to forget about us.” Lyra sniffed “I...I don’t know who they were. They asked some questions and then took Bon-Bon.” Dr. Hood placed a hand gently on Lyra's back “Bob-Bon, that’s your friend right?” Lyra nodded “Come here” Dr. Hood sat down with Lyra resting in her lap “It’s alright we’ll help you find her. Right?” She looked at Hendricks. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed “let’s get some rest and well talk about it in the morning.” Lyra was fast asleep in Dr. Hoods lap when Hendricks awoke for his shift. “Poor thing looks like she ran all the way here” she looked up at Hendricks “You know we can’t help her” “Why not? She obviously has nowhere else to go. What should I have done told her to go away?” “Yes” “You’re horrible” Dr. Hood said “What do you want me to do?” “Well...” Dr. Hood began “Save her friend, find and fix the ship, get us home. We don’t have time for this” he pointed at Lyra “But…” Dr. Hood started to protest Hendricks continued “How long do you think our food will last? If the food in the ship didn't survive we have maybe a week. What if we can’t eat or drink the stuff here what do we do then? What if whatever took her friend follwed her and gets us?" “I just…” “You think I’m the bad guy here fine I’ll be the bad guy, but I’m the bad guy that’s trying to get us home alive.” Dr. Hood looked sadly at the sleeping Lyra “We can’t just leave her” “I know it’s hard trust me it doesn’t get any easier.” He took a breath “We’ll take her to the ship and when we get it running I’ll drop her off near a town or something” Dr. Hood ran a hand through Lyra’s mane the pony slightly kicked. “What did you mean “it doesn’t get easier”?” “I’ve made plenty of decisions in the past. None of them left me…feeling good.” Hendricks sounded bitter “What happened?” Hendricks was silent then looked at her “Doc in case something comes up and I don’t make it.” “Hendricks you’ll…” “Just in case.” He emphasized “If you make it to the ship and I’m not with you. The ship's computer is password protected. It’s a security measure in case of a crash to keep an enemy from taking it. If you get the computer working it should have recorded our flight. Set it to return and it should take you back to the ring and home. The password is Hendricks-Theta-Nine-Seven don’t forget it.” “Hendricks I won’t leave you behind” “Things don’t always work how you plan” He looked into the camp fire “Get some sleep” “Sir the others are wondering if we can…you know since she left?” Agent Cloak asked the professor Prof. Star Watcher smiled “Let me guess they want to stretch their wings?” “Yes sir” The professor looked at his reflection in the metal of the alien object then turned back to the agent. “Yes go ahead and tell them so long as they are inside its ok. Oh and bring me that new one you brought in.” The agent nodded and left the professor alone inside the large tent. Cloak made his way to where Bon-Bon and the others were kept. Bon-Bon shivered from sleeping on the cold ground and her hooves were begining to ache from being tied so long. She noticed some pony talking to Dagger before he entered. He made his way toward her; she refused to look at him. He loosened the rope holding her then stepped back. “Come with me don’t try anything funny or you'll regret it.” She followed him out of the tent into the bright light. Her eyes took a while to adjust to the light reflecting off the snow. “Move!” Cloak nudged her flank. They escorted her to the largest tent. Bon-Bon stayed silent as she entered the tent she stopped immediately at the sight of the large metal object that took up over half of the tent. “Hello there” Professor Star Watcher greeted her “I’ve been told you may have some connection to this object here.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Bon-Bon said nervously “She knows the one that we believe found whatever escaped” Cloak spoke up “I see” Star Watcher circled Bon-Bon “So where is your friend?” “I don’t know and if I did I wouldn’t tell you” “We’ll get what we want one way or another” he looked at one of the agents. A green flash lit up the room and Bon-Bon turned to see what caused it “No…it can’t be” she started to back up “I’ve heard about your kind” “Careful…”Hendricks was walking in front of the group navigating the mountain path. “Thank you again for agreeing to help me find Bon-Bon” Lyra said as she trotted next to Dr. Hood. “Please Lyra don’t thank me” “What are you? If you don’t mind me asking I’ve never seen anything like you two before.” “I’m a human” Dr. Hood answered gladly changing the subject. “Can you fly, do magic, or anything like that” “No” Dr. Hood laughed “Weeeird” Lyra said “So how did you fly here?” “Technically I don’t fly Hendricks does.” she pointed ahead. “Where’s his wings?” “HE doesn’t fly but he can control something that does.” “Okay I think I understand.” Up ahead Hendricks stopped and sat on a rock. “We’ll take a break here” he retrieved some water from his pack and took a drink. Lyra sat next to him and mimicked the way he was sitting. “Why do you sit like that its uncomfortable?” “The reason you walk on four legs because, we’re different” “I’ll say you have a weird-looking mane and skin like a dragon” she tapped her hoof on Hendricks’ shoulder. “This is my suit watch” Hendricks pulled his left glove off exposing his hand and forearm “see” “Woah! That’s so cool” Lyra placed her hoof in his hand “Still weird though” Hendricks put his glove back on and continued up the trail. Dr. Hood walked next to him then made sure Lyra was out of earshot. “I still think we should help her” “No end of discussion” Hendricks kept looking forward. The group continued on the path up the mountain all day. The air began to get colder and colder the higher they went. It was after noon by the time they reached the peak. Hendricks pressed a few buttons on his wrist. “You think we’re close” “Worth a shot” he looked at the read out on his wrist. It gave off a very low ding. Hendricks looked surprised “I got something! Its faint but it’s a start that way” he pointed toward a snowy mound. He ran as fast as he could to the top and stopped once he got there looking disappointed. “What is it?” “Things just got a lot more complicated.” He headed back down the slope Dr. Hood and Lyra looked down on a campsite where ponies were walking around. “You think they found it?” “Did you see that large tent what else could be in there?” The group was peering over the edge of the snow keeping a low profile as Hendricks watched the camp with binoculars. “I count maybe twenty to twenty-five of them. They have two guards on the large tent with four walking the perimeter. Lyra you take a look maybe you’ll spot something I didn’t see.” He held the binoculars for the pony as she looked through them . “I don’t recognize anypony…wait that’s” she saw one of the agents from Ponyville “HE’S THE ONE THAT TOOK BON-BON” she started to stand up. “Easy there” Hendricks pulled her back down and looked back at the camp. “Which one?” he took the binoculars back. “The one with the sunglasses” she said angrily “We’ll wait till night to get a closer.” “But what if Bon-Bon is in there and in trouble.” Lyra protested “If we get caught we can’t help her. I also want better understanding of what we’re up against, before we decided anything. I’m going to sneak into the camp tonight get a look at the ship see how bad it is. I want you two to wait here. In case I get spotted I can run out of there without worrying about you two.” When night came the camp activity ceased no pony was moving between the tents. Only a few guards were walking the area. Hendricks slowly approached the camp as Dr. Hood and Lyra watched from the snow bank. “How is he doing?” Lyra asked “He reached the edge of the camp.” Dr. Hood was looking through Hendricks’ binoculars. “Shouldn’t we help?” Lyra was anxious to get going “He told us to wait” She looked at Lyra then went back to watching Hendricks “He made it to the big tent.” She watched as he slid under the tent wall. An hour passed with no sign of Hendricks. Several ponies left one of the medium-sized tents and headed toward the large tent. “Uh-oh” Dr Hood said “What is it did they spot him?” “No but they are heading his way” The group briefly chatted with the guard and entered the tent. “Come on Hendricks” Dr. Hood said nervously as she watched the tent. Another hour passed still no Hendricks. The ponies left the tent; one of them was dragging a crate behind them. “We’ve got to go it’s been too long” Dr Hood and Lyra followed the path Hendricks took. They both peaked under the tent. Hendricks was propped up next to the ship. “Hendricks are you okay!” Dr Hood ran over to him “Yeah they left me for dead” he said weakly Lyra was staring at the ship “Wow” she managed to say “Is this your flying machine?” “Yes it is. Hendricks is it able to fly? ” “I don’t know I didn’t get to go in. Can you get everything started for me?” “Sure Lyra can you…” Dr. Hood looked around “Lyra where did she go?” “She ran back out I think let’s just get going.” He said as he hobbled into the ship “But..” “Hurry before they come back.” Hendricks insisted. Dr. Hood helped Hendricks inside then sat in the pilot’s seat while Hendricks looked for a first aid kit. The computer voice crackled on “U..U..User not recognized please input password.” “Hendricks-Theta-Nine-Seven” Dr. Hood said looking at the pilots console. “Stand by…System unlocked commencing reboot...scanning for damage.” “Looks like it works” Dr. Hood turned to see Hendricks standing over her “That’s great” he beamed “how did you do it?” “What do you mean I just put your password in” “Oh right I mean uh…” “Are you feeling alight?” Dr. Hood looked him over “Yeah” “Let’s get the computer scan you. “Computer scan Hendricks.” She continued to look him over. The computer crackled “Senior Flight Officer Hendricks is not aboard” Dr. Hood looked puzzled “What? Computer scan again.” “Senior Flight Officer Hendricks is not aboard” the computer repeated “Hendricks what does that…” she turned to see Hendricks glaring at her his eyes glowing green.