{April 2st, 2015, United States of America, 7:19pm}
Bens sat down in front of the door to catch his breath, and decided to ask Salanda a few questions.
“So, how did you get here to herd the thing into this office, and did you have to fire at the ground in front of it? That could have hit us”
“I was just here looking for whatever caused the alarms to go crazy, when I saw that hisan running at me. Oh, and just be glad I didn’t have a grenade this time, or you really wouldn’t have liked my help” She said with a smile.
“... um-”
“That was a joke. Anyway, what the hell are we calling that thing anyway?” She asked as she looked in the office, and saw it stare back at her, before ducking to try to hide itself.
“Hmm, Horse racer? No, Excuse for Ketimen?” Jerry said with a smile as the others groaned. “No, WAIT! “Gigapossum”.”
“Jerry, we are not calling it Gigapossum. Just… just no.” Was all Lawrence could say.
“So… what now? We don’t have any Arc Throwers that aren’t empty, and the thing isn’t doing anything yet” Bens asked, as he caught the creature looking at him too, before hiding again.
“Well, how about me and you stay here and guard the door while the others grab a new Arc Thrower?” Jerry suggested as he sat on the ground with Bens.
“Well, the commander will at least wanna hear about this. We have to decide what to do from here, either trying to stun her again or tossing grenades to blow her up, or something like that… And I just realized I didn't grab my radio…” all of them got griminced after hearing that, “And it looks like you all did as well. Salanda and I will let them know about the situation. And before you ask why Salanda, you were the one to catch the thing, so you might get some leeway. I’ll just take whatever punishment they give me. ” Lawrence said, with a bit of annoyance in his voice.
“Alright then.” Bens said as Lawrence and Salanda left to let the Commander know about this. After a minute or two, Jerry pulled out his apple slices bag, and opened it up. They both of them heard a loud stomach growl, and Bens took a look at Jerry.
“Wasn’t me. I think it was that thing in there.” Jerry responded, as Bens then turned to see the creature staring again, this time at the bag. Bens looks at the bag, and swipes it from Jerry.
“HEY! What are you doing?”
“It’s hungry, and this is the only food around right now.” He replied as he turned around and looked at the creature, and raised the bag of apple slices as it started to duck away. It stops and stares at him. He then opened the door a crack and tossed in the bag, and shut the door right after. He then watched as it’s horn began to glow and the bag began to float, then a single apple slice rose from the bag, both items covered in the same energy as he was before. It then ate the apple slice in one bite, and then looked at the bag, specifically the logo, and suddenly seemed, sad?
“Dang it, and I liked Jack’s apples.” Jerry said mockingly as the creature ate another slice, then looked back at Bens with a human-like smile. As he looked at it better, he saw that the eyes were unnecessarily large, larger even then a sectoids, and looked like a human’s as well.
“What was this one made for…”
“I don’t know, maybe as a pet for the aliens?”
“Maybe, but then why would it be so powerful?”
The creature continued eating as it seemed to think. It then picked up a marker from a desk in the office, and drew a smiley face on the door window. It then smiled again, as Bens snickered lightly. Lawrence, Salanda, Vahlen, and the others finally got there, slightly out of breath.
“Alright, what is the situation?” The commander asked, looking at the door with confusion, seeing the drawing and the creature eating, “And where did it get those apples?”
“... I have no idea sir” Lawrence said, ready with more Arc Throwers, and ready to use all of them.
“Ahem, the creature is currently contained and seems to not be attempting to flee any longer.” Bens said with a small salute.
“This thing also seems to be good at acting friendly.” Jerry said with a light laugh as Lawrence looked at him, pissed.
“You cannot possibly be falling for this Jerry. Just like a Thin man it is designed for deception. Don't forget what it nearly did to us.” Lawrence said, with an honest disdain in his voice.
“Um, what does a “Thin Man” look like anyway? I haven’t gotten a chance to see one anyway.”
“Let's just say they look like a human but are too tall and thin. They have reptile features on their bodies. It is a bit of an uncanny Valley. I think this is their horse version of that.”
“... and the tactical advantage to that?” Jerry asked, which stumped Lawrence for a moment before ignoring that.
“What you are doing now fawning over it rather than doing your job. Giving it an opportunity to finish you like that Thin Man tried to do to you Jerry.”
“No, I’m trying to understand why they would make this thing look like a horse. What tactical advantage does it give them?” Jerry tried to explain as the Commander spoke calmly.
“Lawrence, given its capabilities, I fear if it wanted to kill us, it has had plenty of time to do so, as well as the power to do so even now.”
“Didn't I just stop it from killing us Ben?” Lawrence asked, getting worked up.
“... When?”
“The cantina with that strange energy it has. I scared it into letting you go!”
“Those events happened at separate times, and the time you fired at it it was far ahead of us and still running. And when it had the energy on us, it just ran past us, and you didn’t get to fire then” Bens reminded a now quite angry Lawrence, most likely for messing up the events.
“Considering what it did to the containment chamber and that Thin Man, how do you think your unarmoured human body would fare against that. It still has to be dealt with.” Lawrence said as he calmed down, leaving Bens with a new set of questions.
“Agreed Rookie, but we have no good form of containment, and we can't risk it acting in self defense in our base and causing more damage. I suggest we try to keep it away from everyone and everything until the interrogation chamber is repaired, at least. Until then, we need a security detail to take it out if it tries to escape.” The Commander said, though Lawrence wanted to argue, the Commander's word was law in this base.
“Yes sir. But how will we transfer it? Shock collar or drugging it senseless?”
“Hmm, I suggest a form of shock collar, so it doesn’t dodge the effect, or die because of its alien biology,” Vahlen said as she typed on her tablet, “so, does anyone have a shock collar, or shall I need to make a special one?”
“Special. Use an arc thrower. Maybe explosive if necessary.” Lawrence said as Vahlen mumbled under her breath.
“Fine. Give me a few hours to Jerry-rig something.” Vahlen sighed, though Jerry giggled. “Oh, and be careful, it seems to be able to teleport, so stay on your guard” she said as she walked away.
“Wait, WHAT?” Lawrence said in confusion as the Commander and Vahlen walked away to figure out how to handle the thing.
---
Twilight watched as the creatures went in different directions, some remaining on the other side of the door, seeming to argue about something. Better figure out how to start to communicate with them soon, she thought, eating another slice of apple as she did. She looked back at the bag, and frowned upon seeing it. It has three apples on it, in the same pattern as Applejack’s cutie mark. She worried she might never understand those creatures, let alone get home, when she got an idea. She looked under the picture of apples on the bag for anything that they might be called here, and found a set of 5 that appeared quite often. That is hopefully their word for apples, she said as she grabbed an empty piece of paper and a pen from the desk in the room. She copied the symbols as best as she could, and then drew some apples next to it, and put it up to the door.
“Please be right” she said to herself as she waited to see what they would do.
---
Lawrence wanted to strangle Bens and Jerry. “What were you two thinking! That thing is a hostile alien, and you both are convinced it didn’t mean to harm us? It paralyzed us with unknown energy! What if it was controlling you! I shouldn’t have even brought it back alive!.”
"Look, I get what you're saying but that thing doesn’t seem to be trying to harm us, and for all we know, it is some alien’s pet. I think we should just go with the commander’s plan here.” Bens said, as Jerry looked shocked at the door.
“Guys-”
“Bens, give me an actual argument! You don’t know for certain it wasn’t trying to kill us there!”
“Guys-”
“Hey, I have as much of an argument as you do about this Lawrence! If it was trying to kill us then, why isn’t it trying now!”
“Guys!” Jerry yelled a bit, startling Salanda, and angering Lawrence more
“What is it Jerry!” He yelled, as Jerry pointed at the door.
They all then noticed the sign with a picture of three apples, and the word “Apple” on it, though the word looked like a kindergartener drew it.
“...Well we can cross off just acting off instinct. Score one for an infiltration alien.” Lawrence said with a smile, though the others just stared at him.
“... an infiltration alien… that looks like a toy horse… that has only written the word… Apple?... Are you sure about that theory Lawrence?” Salanda asked, still feeling that this creature is dangerous, but couldn’t subscribe to that crazy theory.
“Considering how much Jerry is fawning over it I would say yes. Why else would it be that strong and look like that?” Lawrence replied, as Jerry walked without responding.
“Look, Lawrence, we have it contained for now and that's all that matters. We’ll figure out what is up with it later. Can we please stop arguing now?” Bens asked.
"Hardly. It's just hanging out in an office, and it can teleport!"
“Look, we are only keeping the thing here until the collar is done and we can move it to a separate location” Salanda replied as Jerry returned with a full apple.
“Fine. For now let's make sure it doesn't get out.” He said, just before Jerry opened the door to the office, and placed the apple he had in it. “Oh great, Jerry is a freaking idiot who would hug a tiger or let a thin man go because he looks like he is in the middle of his crossword puzzle!”
“Hey, might as well. Maybe if we feed it, it will cooperate with us.” Jerry responded as the creature picked up the apple and seemingly squealed with excitement, surprising everyone.
“... One of these days Jerry is going to get himself killed.” Lawrence said as Jerry closed the door.
---
Twilight waited for a while, but eventually, the door opened and another apple, this time a whole one, was placed in the room.
“YES!” She screamed before realizing how loud that was. “Ok, so I can use writing to communicate with them… but how in Celestia’s name am I going to figure out all the right words…”
She began to look through everything in the office for anything with pictures and words on it, and unfortunately she didn’t find much she could understand. Though something she did find was a repeating series of 4 symbols on almost everything. “Hmm, I wonder what this one means? Maybe it is a brand or something?” She then looked at the creatures outside the room, and noticed they all had the symbols on a patch on their clothes. “This is definitely important to them.”
She then drew them out with as much care as she could, and showed it to the creatures who seemed confused, though their attention was pulled away by another creature. They opened up the door, and placed a large screen on the ground with a card memory game on it into the room.
“Odd, but alright… hmm, I better draw the cards so I can remember what they are and where they are.” She said to herself as she grabbed some more paper, and hoping whoever this room belonged to didn’t mind. What followed was a simple memory game with the cards flipping over as she tapped them with her hoof and after choosing 2 they flipped back over on their own. “Simple, but might be something to try to recreate at home.”
It took Twilight a while, but she eventually beat the game, and the door opened a bit. She waited, then realised they wouldn’t open it more with her watching it. More odd things, she thought as she walked to the other end of the room, and sat on her hind legs. One of the creatures then opened the door more and removed the screen, all the while staring at her as if she was utterly alien, which she could guess would happen a lot more in the future. They then closed the door. Twilight yawned a bit and curled up like a cat to get some rest, though a small thought entered her mind as she dozed off, Why am I here…
---
Bens stared at the creature’s replication of “Xcom”, trying to understand why it did that, when he got tapped on his shoulder.
“Mr. Bens, you mind if I do something?” Shen asked, as Bens saw the older man was carrying what looked like a table the size of a small Tv screen.
“Um, depends on what it is you are trying to do.”
“Well, given Valhen is handling the engineering for this next project, I thought I might as well do a simple test to figure out how intelligent this creature is. It is only a simple memory card game, and entirely digital so I can be a safe distance from it as it is tested.” Shen said in response, with a slight smile on his face.
“Oh boy. This is going to be a long day.” Lawrence mumbled, his hand hovered over his arc thrower, “Shouldn’t we wait for it to get it’s collar?”
“It is already in the room, so might as well take the opportunity.”
“Well, if you insist on doing this I will cover you just in case.” Lawrence said as he opened the door for him, and Shen placed the device into the room. They all watched as it looked at it, and then grabbed paper? Shen nearly lost his mind when it drew out the cards on the paper as it flipped them in order to know where they were.
“It understood the game, and made a simple tactic to play it… as soon as we gave it the test… Incredible.” Shen said, already lost in thought about what this could mean, when he saw the writing, “Wait a minute, did it manage to write down apple AND XCOM?”
“Hey, that's a job for scientists. I just do security.” Lawrence said as the creature completed the game. Lawrence then slowly opened the door, and watched it. It then backed away from the door and sat on its hind legs like a cat. He picked up the device and closed the door. Why did it sit like a cat, was the thought in his head as he gave the Device back to Shen.