Chapter XXXI
Chapter XXXI
“Seventy percent of the ship is inoperable. It’s a wonder that she’s moving under her own power at all!” Talian reported.
Yvtil grunted her acknowledgement, but did not otherwise show that she had even heard the lieutenant. She was too busy, her fingers dancing across the panel in front of her as she reviewed information, ordered a boarding party, and generally did her level best to figure out what had happened.
Deep down, though, she had a feeling that she already knew what had happened.
“Any word from The Purpose?” Yvtil asked, not even bothering to look up.
“They say they’ve finished their own scans. There’s plenty of biomass still on board, just… no life,” Lieutenant Talian reported.
“Which falls in line with the minimal heat readings we’re picking up,” Yvtil said, before collapsing into her chair. “Sergeant Casianon! Do you have a team ready yet?”
There was a pause, presumably as the sergeant struggled with his newly expanded duties. “Almost ready, Ma’am. The armory’s still a bit of a mess.”
“Please hurry. The sooner we find out what happened, the sooner we can send a message back to high command.”
“Ma’am, I don’t think that’s necessary. The Purpose is already boarding as we speak, and-”
“And I will not be letting a quzin crew head the investigation of one of our ships alone!” Commander Yvtil interrupted, while shooting her lieutenant a dirty look. “Now, if you have nothing else to add, return to your post, and inform me if the Captain calls!”
“Yes Ma’am,” Talian said, suitably chastised.
It took several more minutes for the boarding party to be ready, and in that time they had already received several reports from the quzin team. Yvtil would not be dissuaded, however, and sent the troops over the second they reported that they were prepared.
Yvtil was so preoccupied with her work, then, that she nearly jumped out of her carapace when Lieutenant Talian’s console started beeping, signifying that they were receiving a communication. “Ma’am, it’s Captain Hazalk.”
“Put him through,” Yvtil said, before straightening ever so slightly. She knew that the captain wouldn’t be able to see her, but she still felt nervous about reporting this latest catastrophe.
“Yvtil, we’re on board the shuttle, and headed back. ETA is around half an hour,” Hazalk said, his voice sounding grim.
That doesn’t sound good… Yvtil thought to herself. “Did something disastrous happen with the natives, sir?”
“No. In fact, we’ve had a huge breakthrough. They’ve offered an alliance, and we’re no longer being treated as monsters.”
While the news was both surprising and welcome, Yvtil couldn’t help but note the distinct lack of excitement in the captain’s voice. “I take it that’s not all there is to it.”
“No, no. Found out a few things, but the most troubling one is that it’s apparently a Void Knight power to be able to tell the future.”
There was a slight pause as everyone on the bridge froze. “Excuse me, sir?” Yvtil asked, not quite believing what she had heard.
“You heard me, Yvtil. On a guess, it’s probably why the quzin were expecting the offensive of Galthor Prime. But that’s not as important as the fact that the priestess had a vision. We’re apparently expecting company, and soon, so we’ll need to be prepared before the rebels show up,” Captain Hazalk deadpanned. “Hopefully The Aurora will get here before they do, but it’s entirely possible that she’ll be too late.”
Yvtil felt like her heart was currently trying to work its way out of her chest cavity. “Uh… sir? About that…”
“...What?”
“Sir, about half of the The Aurora arrived a few moments ago,” Commander Yvtil said, her one remaining antenna falling flat against the back of her head in dismay. “We have people investigating as we speak, but from the look of her, she was probably ambushed right before entering hyperspace.”
There was a pause at this, and Yvtil could feel Captain Hazalk’s anger over this news. “Were there any survivors?” Hazalk asked, his voice deadly calm.
“As far as we know, no. There may be a soul or two stuffed into a stasis pod in medical, but from the initial look of the thing, all hands were either killed in battle, or starved during the trip through hyperspace.”
“Well, shul…” Captain Hazalk swore. “Well, that pretty much confirms Akitesh’s vision, then.”
“Sir? What are we going to do?” Yvtil asked as she slumped dejectedly into her seat. “They’ll be bringing a whole fleet to bear, and we won’t be able to call in reinforcements in time!”
“...It does seem pretty hopeless, but we’re not quite done yet,” Hazalk said, his voice firm and unyielding. “We’re still alive, and don’t forget, we have allies able to control the sun. I don’t think our ship will be able to take a whole fleet, but I do think that our allies will be able to make up the difference.”
“Are you certain about that, sir? You know that a single quzin ship can’t take three of our best, much less an entire fleet.”
“I wasn’t talking about the quzin,” Hazalk said, his voice still remarkably calm.
“The natives? Sir, they might be able to control the sun, but if the fleet gets past its effective range, they’ll risk cooking themselves to use it!” Yvtil said as she rubbed the smooth chitin above her eyes. “We might not know how that particular power works, but from everything we know, that’s a stopgap measure at best!”
“And it is. We’re not fighting to repel the invaders. We’re fighting to stall them. Don’t worry, the sun is just one of the tricks these people have up their sleeves. Don’t count them out just yet.”
Yvtil swallowed hard, before taking in a deep breath to calm her nerves. "Very well sir, but I hope for all our sakes they've got something miraculous up their sleeves..."
* * *
“You look absolutely fabulous darling!”
“Thank you, but I really don’t think-”
“We must put our best hoof forward! And I will not be returning you to our new allies looking like a beggar!”
“I appreciate the thought, but…”
“Ooh! Ooh! It’s your face, isn’t it! You’re afraid they’ll be scared just looking at your horrifying, disgusting visage!”
“Pinkie! You shouldn’t-”
“No… she’s pretty much spot on,” I said, bursting the white pony’s indignant anger on my behalf. “I mean, honestly, look at me! I mean, points for the revolutionary look, but that doesn’t stop the fact that I’m a freaking monster! Suit or not, I’m gonna cause somebody to scream!”
“You look fine darling!”
“You might think that, but…”
“Ooh! What if you wear this!” The Pink One said before slapping something onto my face.
I reached up with my still-working arm and pulled it off, before looking down at it, somewhat bemused. “A mask?”
“Ya-tha-li-na-la-sa!” The Pink One said, using a word that wasn’t in my lexicon. Based on her tone, though, it was probably some kind of agreement.
“Darling, you shouldn’t have to hide who you are! You are so much more than a monster!” Rarity said, taking the mask from me with her magic.
Before it could get too far away from me, though, I snatched it back, and cradled it to my chest. “...It might be worse… but I think I want to keep it. Thank you, Pinkie.” I then put it back on, then secured it awkwardly with my uninjured hand by the attached string.
As I did this, The Pink One could not keep still even slightly, and almost continually bounced around me until the mask was in place. "You’re welcome! Are we ready to go, then? I can’t wait to meet all those new friends waiting out there!”
“I know you’re excited, but it’ll just be me at first,” I said as I held out a calming hand. “We don't know where the mirror comes out, or even what will be waiting on the other side. For all we know, there could be a couple of cops on the other side, and I really don't want to find out how they'll react to alien ponies stepping out from an interplanetary gate."
Rainbow, who had been lazily lounging on my otherwise empty hospital bed, perked up at the unfamiliar word. "What's a khaap?"
"I… I don't know your word for it, but it's someone who… holds up law? Protects? Keeps people safe?" I tried a couple of times.
"A khal-na-mal?" Rainbow asked as she gestured towards one of the nearby soldiers.
"I thought those were 'soldiers'," I said, using the word I had been given earlier for the armored ponies.
"They are, but khal-na-mal is our word for someone who protects something or someone," Rarity quickly explained.
A guard, then, I thought as I shook my head, ignoring the krin text informing me that the new word had been added to my lexicon. "No… while a cop does do that, that's not their job. Their job is primarily to keep the peace, and to uphold the law."
"So a soldier, then?" Rainbow asked.
This caused me to shake my head again. "No, a soldier is expected to fight wars. A cop's only expected to enforce laws on the people."
This seemed to confuse all the assembled ponies. "You have separate people for that?" Rainbow asked.
I shrugged a little, scratched my head, then nodded. "Well, yeah. Our people are kind of fragmented, so we find it more useful to have those jobs separate. It's actually illegal in my country to use soldiers on normal people."
"Then who stops the bad gu- oh, it's the khaaps, isn't it?" Pinkie asked, her mouth running slightly faster than her brain, apparently.
"Yes. And if there are cops on the other side, it's entirely possible that they'll shoot before asking questions when several aliens step out of a seemingly random mirror. We need to be careful about this, and I'm by far the best choice to send. I know the language, and I can hopefully dodge bullets if needed."
Rarity did not like the sound of that, apparently. "You do not sound confident about your abilities, darling."
"That's because I'm not. I've dodged plasma fire, but I have no clue if that's faster or slower than bullets. My gut and the conventional wisdom I’ve learned says that bullets would be faster, but until I actually see them, I have no way of telling."
This seemed to worry the three ponies in front of me, but none nearly as much as Rarity, though not for the reason I first thought. "You must promise me not to ruin your suit, then, darling! It is one of a kind, and should you ruin it before your people see it, it shall be an absolute travesty!"
"...Yeah, Rarity, that's really what he should be worried about…" Rainbow muttered, laying the sarcasm so thick that I could cut it with my claws.
“It’ll be fine, I promise. Now, how do I look?”
The three ponies gave me a careful look, or, rather, Rarity gave me a careful look, while Rainbow looked bored, and The Pink One looked like she could hardly contain herself. Finally, the white, fussy dressmaker gave me a slow, approving nod. “I believe that just about does it. Wish we could do away with the sling, but there’s no helping it…”
“Yeah, me too. Nothing I can do about it though, so let’s go.”
Narrative law would have dictated that the trip to where the mirror was being kept was quick and quiet, but that was actually the opposite of the walk through the halls. It felt like it took forever to reach our destination, and Rainbow and Pinkie’s constant speculation on how my world, and my people, would look meant that I couldn’t even try to think of other things to keep my mind off of what was about to happen. It honestly made me dread what was to come, and each step seemed to announce my impending doom to any that might be listening. Minutes seemed to stretch on for hours as I subconsciously activated my implants, trying desperately to stretch this moment into eternity to keep me from having to face those that I had left behind.
As much as I would have liked to say that I managed to stop time, though, I was unsuccessful in that endeavor, and far earlier than I would have liked it to be, I found myself on the opposite side of a rather unassuming, yet at the same time ominous, door. A quick handle turn was all that was needed to reveal the other side, and I found myself somewhat shocked by just how few people were there. Twilight was there, looking over a mirror that was identical to the one that Titania had shown me, as was the changeling queen herself. The three princesses were also there, as was that one white soldier pony that I’d never gotten the name of, but other than that, that was it. No other soldiers, no other scientists, just this small group eagerly awaiting a connection to a world of potential allies.
And it was all up to me not to royally screw this up.
As soon as the door opened, everyone present turned to look at me, a variety of expressions on their faces. Mostly I saw a mixture of worry and anticipation, but one face seemed to be filled with nothing but pure joy as she bounded towards me. “Alex! I’m so glad you’re finally here! I’ve been looking over the portal, and you’re speculations are spot on! It’s drawing power from the other side, not here! What’s more, is that it’s still drawing power! I don’t know how your ancestors managed it, but for a spellform to remain this perfect after all this time is just-”
“Twilight, calm yourself,” Celestia gently reprimand the excited bundle of magic and science. “There will be plenty of time for speculation later. At the moment, however, we have work to do.”
“Right, sorry…” Twilight said sheepishly, before backing up somewhat. “It’s just that… It’s so exciting! A new world, completely free of magic, right on the other side of this mirror! How this works could easily fill twenty volumes, and unlock so many fields of study! And that’s not even touching on what the humanans could teach us!”
“It’s ‘humans’ actually,” I corrected her, before looking towards the mirror. “Is it ready, then? Can we power it from this side?”
“Well, yes! The spellform powering the artifact is actually pretty simple, and can easily be augmented to accept power from this side. We can establish contact at any time!” Twilight said, before rushing over to the mirror.
“All that remains is you, then,” Princess Luna said, before fixing me with a knowing stare. “Are you ready?”
“No, but I don’t think waiting is going to be doing us any favors. We’re out of time as it is,” I said as I squared my shoulders.
“After you, then,” Luna said, before gesturing towards the mirror.
“Hold up. Before we do this, there’s something you need to do first,” I said, as a thought suddenly occurred to me. “It may be entirely possible that my reception will be… unpleasant. Could we… I don’t really know the word for it, but put up some kind of barrier on this side?”
This immediately caught the attention of the soldier pony. “Why would you need that? You’re not suggesting that they’d attack us, are you?”
“No, but they might attack me,” I said, before taking up a stance with myself between the soldier and the mirror. “Now, it’s a pretty small chance, but if you, say, fired something at me, and it missed, where would it go?”
The soldier immediately caught on to what I was getting at, and gave me a pretty serious look. “I know your people have some powerful weapons, but what kind of fire are we expecting from there? Something like a crossbow?”
“Smaller,” I said. He seemed relieved, up until the point where I completely shattered his little bubble of security. “Guns fire these tiny pellets at incredible speeds. I don’t know how sturdy your magic makes your armor, but with non-enchanted armor, even the smallest firearm could punch through plate like yours without too much difficulty.” I might have been exaggerating a little, but not by much. Besides, I really needed to impress onto these people how dangerous our weapons could be.
The soldier, as well as just about every pony present, were both aghast and confused at the destructive power I was describing. “But… how? An object of that size couldn’t possibly have the mass to do what you're describing!” Twilight said, clearly disturbed.
“It doesn’t need the mass when it’s moving faster than the speed of sound,” I said, causing their eyes to widen in fear and understanding. “I know it’s pretty scary to think about, but trust me when I say we need that kind of killing power, and more. Especially when we consider what we’re fighting.”
“You are, of course, right. But I must wonder, what will your people do once both our worlds are safe?” Princess Celestia asked, her voice calm as a summer’s morning. “You said yourself that your history is nothing more than one nation conquering another. Can you promise me that your people will not turn on us once this is finished? That we will not become your slaves, once this is over?”
I shook my head sadly. “I’m afraid I can only speak for myself. However, there are a few things I can promise, depending on which nation the mirror is in right now. If it is in my nation, and I have a pretty good hunch it is, I can confidently guarantee your safety.”
“Why is that?” Princess Luna asked curiously.
“Because in my country, it is illegal for us to keep slaves. America has been one of, if not the most, powerful nation in the world for some time. I’d be lying if I said we’ve never abused that power, but more often than not we’ve been afraid of the power we possess. After all, we’ve stayed the same size for the past hundred years or so, so…”
The assembled ponies looked even more worried at that, with the sole exception of The Pink One. “It’s okay! I’m sure everything will turn out alright!”
“How can you be so certain, Pinkie? For all we know, we’re trading one enemy for another!” Rainbow yelled, clearly not happy with how the conversation was going.
“Because I trust him,” Pinkie said, pointing up at me. “Plus if we don’t get help soon, the real bad guys are gonna come get us!”
“She’s right,” Princess Luna said, with a nod. “We may very well be opening the door to our own destruction, but it is a possible destruction. The one coming from the stars is, by far, more certain, and far more imminent.”
There was a smattering of agreement after that, and I felt a lump form in my throat when all three princesses turned towards me. “Alex, we are ready. If you would, please go, and establish contact with your people. Our fate is in your hands,” Celestia said, before bowing her head ever so slightly towards me.
I nodded at that, not really trusting myself to say anything to her. Instead, I concentrated on the task at hand, as well as the suddenly ominous mirror directly in front of me.. “Okay, open the mirror, and put up the shield, then. Let’s see where we’ll end up, and how everyone is going to react to this…”
* * *
Jeffrey Stevens yawned as he kept his post. The museum was practically dead, the only patrons at this time being a mother and her rowdy boy. At the moment the small family was looking through the Medieval Europe section, and looked like they were going to be moving on soon.
The museum had been quite dead for the past several days, in fact. The appearance of aliens tended to have that effect on places like this, despite the wide range of responses from the general public. Many people were raiding shopping centers, stocking up on food, weapons and essentials as much as possible. Others were busy protesting, while still others were out partying, either celebrating the fact that humanity wasn't alone in the universe, or having one last bananza before the death rays started raining from the skies.
Everyone else just… continued as they were. The world hadn't ended yet, aliens weren't dropping from the skies and scooping people from their homes, and the police still kept the peace, so for these people, life continued as if nothing had happened, though you could bet that their eyes were glued to their television or computer screens the moment they got home.
Jeffrey fell into this camp, as he felt it was too much effort to freak out when he had no real information. He kept his ear to the ground, though, and if worse came to worse, he could always pile into his pal Benny's place. Benny always had been a bit of a nutter, though his need to set up a bunker looked increasingly sane when one considered that his claims of attacking extraterrestrial life had actually come true.
With everyone preoccupied with the looming alien menace, it came as no surprise then that the museums and libraries were basically empty. No one wanted to learn about ancient history when there were honest to God aliens hovering in the skies above.
"Excuse me, which way is the dinosaur exhibit?" a female voice piped up, pulling Jeffrey from his thoughts.
Well, almost no one, Jeffrey thought to himself. "Right this way, Ma'am."
"Oh, no, you don't have to take us there," the lady said with an awkward smile.
Jeffrey just brushed off her comment. "It's no trouble at all. The place isn't exactly busy, and it beats just standing here."
"Well, if you're sure that we won't be a bother…"
"Honestly, it's no trouble at all!" he said again, before he started leading the small family through the museum.
They barely made two steps before something odd caught the security guard’s eye, causing him to automatically put his hand on his pistol. The weirdness in question was in the exhibit right next to the one on medieval europe, where rows of ancient Roman armor and weapons could be seen, all surrounding a statue of a rearing horse. As he stared, he couldn’t help but feel like something was off, even though absolutely nothing was out of place.
“Is there something wrong, sir?” the mother asked behind him, her voice filled with worry as she noticed the guard’s readied stance.
The security guard looked back, his expression breaking into a reassuring, if somewhat nervous, grin. “Dunno, just got a hinky feeling… Used to be a Ranger, after all, and the… the training never really goes away…”
The woman opened her mouth, presumably to ask another question, but was interrupted by the small five-year-old tugging at her skirt. “Mommy? Why is the side of the statue made of water?”
“What?” she asked, somewhat confused.
Jeffrey, on the other hand, immediately turned around, only to see something that he refused to believe. The statue in the center of the exhibit stood on a rather large, squarish stone base, and the side of that base that was currently facing the small group was currently rippling, as if it were the surface of a river, or a pool of water. “What the devil?” Jeffrey asked, before taking a few cautious steps forward.
Before he could get close enough to examine the statue, however, the rippling grew in intensity, and seemingly without any ceremony, fuss or preamble, a figure fell out of the side of the statue.
It was so sudden, so completely without warning, that everyone present jumped back in surprise. The child screamed a little, and Jeffrey unholstered and leveled his pistol without a second thought. Whatever this thing was, it was clearly alien, and he wasn’t about to let anyone nearby become another Portland disappearing act.
"This is your only warning! Turn around, and go back to whatever cesspit of a planet that spawned you!" Jeffrey shouted as he took a bead on the thing's head.
Then the thing stood up, and panic set into Jeffrey's brain as he registered several things that were just wrong about the creature. It had the same general anatomy of a human, but everything about it was off. The arms and legs were far too long and spindly, and its fingers looked more like the legs of a spider than anything that belonged on a human.
Anything else about the creature’s form was hidden by the clothing it wore. It was dressed in a nice, fancy, black suit, though the make somehow screamed 'old-fashioned' and 'alien' at the same time. The jacket looked like it could be buttoned up in the front, but currently wasn’t, revealing a vest that almost went to the creature’s throat, but stopped short of a series of ruffles found there. The whole thing looked like it could almost pass for something that might have been made on Earth, albeit from the 17th century, if it weren’t for the other things about it that just screamed alien. The buttons, for example, were some kind of gemstone cut into the shape of buttons, and sewn on to serve that purpose. The fabric had a smooth-looking texture that seemed to almost change color slightly depending on how one looked at it, and the general cut and fit of the suit made the thing seem… off. Like the maker had only just recently started making clothes for someone with the general shape of a human.
One of its arms was in a sling, but this did nothing to hamper the aura of menace and alien cruelty that the thing exuded, and as it straightened to its full, frightening seven foot height, Jeffrey finally got a look at the thing's face, or rather, the mask it wore. It appeared to be wood, with a smiling, cheerful face painted on its front in a manner consistent with a child’s handpainting. Combined with the monster's dress and physique, this only further served to intensify the thing's terrifying appearance.
What happened next passed so quickly, that a less prepared individual would have completely missed it, especially with the young mother and her child screaming and running away somewhere behind the former Army Ranger. Fortunately for Jeffrey, he kept his wits about him and his focus on the monster, and was thus able to follow it when it started to move. Jeffrey unloaded his weapon on the monster the second the thing so much as twitched, but as fast as Jeffrey’s reaction was, the thing was much, much faster. It moved like freaking lightning, and though Jeffrey could keep his eyes on the thing at this distance, he still had trouble guessing at just how fast it could move at first. Because of this, he failed to properly anticipate where it was going to end up as it dodged left, which allowed the monster to barely avoid the first volley as it disappeared behind the wall.
Still, Jeffrey’s training wasn’t wasted, and though he might not have hit anything vital, he was still pretty sure he had winged the demon, though he honestly couldn’t be certain. What he was certain of, was the fact that he was woefully under-armed to be dealing with something as fast as the creepypasta reject that had materialized inside his museum.
The security guard quickly keyed his walkie, intent on getting backup, but stopped when the sound of someone yelling up ahead caught his attention. Whomever it was clearly wasn’t happy, but instead of some unknown alien tongue, the voice spoke freaking English! It even had an accent that he recognized, the voice sounding like it came from Maine of all places! Despite the accent, though, the voice was clearly not human; it sounded rough and gravelly, with a slight hint of something that Jeffrey couldn’t quite place, possibly metallic, though at the same time there was a hint of another, higher pitched voice mimicking the deeper one at the same time. Whatever it was, though, it was clearly trying to communicate, despite, or maybe because of, the fact that Jeffrey had just tried to blow its head off. ”Freaking trigger-happy piece of crap rent-a-cop… Don't shoot! I'm on your side! Friendly alien monster, I swear!”
At this point, Jeffrey felt confused, somewhat out of his depth, relieved and suspicious all rolled into one. "...I’m sorry, but what?”
“If you’re having trouble believing me, please, call the cops, get the army over here, and drag me off to your secret government labs. I’ll seriously just sit here while you do all that! Just don’t shoot at me anymore! Seriously, I got enough of that from the krin…”
“Jeffrey? What happened? I heard gunshots and I got a hysterical woman here,” Jeffrey heard from his radio.
“...Call the police, Bill, we’ve got a situation,” Jeffrey said, before slowly creeping towards where he saw the alien disappear. “Some kind of alien showed up here, but it says it’s friendly.”
“Might want to get an ambulance over here while you’re at it,” the voice chipped in. “You winged me with your hand cannon, and now I’m having trouble not bleeding all over Ra-sa-fo’s nice, new clothes.”
Jeffrey turned the corner, his pistol aimed downward, as the alien finally came into view. It was every bit as terrifying as he initially saw, though at the moment it was curled up, attempting to make itself as small-looking as possible. It’s left arm was no longer in its sling, as it was currently busy trying to stem the red blood oozing from the creature’s upper arm. “Please, really, I don’t want to die. I didn’t come here to fight or kill, I came here to warn. Don’t shoot me again, please…”
After a few seconds of deliberation, Jeffrey finally holstered his gun, before kneeling down, and reaching out for the creature’s sleeve. With a quick pull, the guard ripped off the sleeve, and quickly began tying a tourniquet over the creature’s wound. The guard nearly jumped out of his skin then, having sworn that he could hear a distant scream of horror and rage in the distance.
As Jeffrey quickly surveyed the area, unable to find the source of the scream, the creature piped up again, its voice sounding tired and strained. “Hey, what’s your name?”
Jeffrey looked back down at the creature, its masked face cocked at an inquisitive angle, though Jeffrey couldn’t help but detect a note of sadness in the way the creature carried itself. “I’m Jeffrey Stevens. Sorry for… for shooting you, I-”
“It’s okay. Believe me, if I were in your spot, I would have done the same,” the creature said.
Before either of them could say anything else, the radio suddenly came back on. “Jeffrey, you still there?” Bill asked, clearly afraid that he might not receive an answer.
“I’m here, Bill. What’s the ETA on those police?” Jeffrey asked.
“They’re already here, and they want to know the situation. Your gunfire tripped the silent alarm, and there were already a few cars in the vicinity,” Bill said, clearly relieved.
Jeffrey looked down at the alien, a question in his eye, only to receive a wave. “Yeah, bring ‘em on in. Might as well get this over with, we really don’t have time to waste…”
“Tell them to come on down, they’ll want to talk with our visitor themselves.” Jeffrey said through the radio, before looking down at the monster inquisitively. “Hey… what’s your name?”
The alien almost seemed shocked at the question. He quickly recovered, though, and let out an awkward cough. “I’m sorry, my name is Alex.”
“Alex? That’s not an alien name, sonny,” Jeffrey said, both surprised and somewhat suspicious.
Alex looked up at Jeffrey, and though the mask covered his face, Jeffrey could still sense a sort of self-mocking look in the creature’s cold, black eyes. “That’s because it isn’t. I’d like to tell you more, but I really need to see someone in charge. A general, or even the president. This is gonna be hard to believe.”
“I hate to burst your bubble, Alex, but I kinda think that’ll be hard to do.”
Alex seemed confused at that, but before he could elaborate, the police finally arrived. They were cautious of the alien at first, but once he started talking, it immediately became clear that it was far above their pay grade.
* * *
“High Priest! We have a bit of a situation!”
Yovakior looked towards Colonel Conners, and murmured an apology, before he activated the intercom with but a thought. “What is it, Lilith?”
“A krin signature just appeared in one of the human’s places of knowledge. It’s a museum of some kind, but that’s not important. What is important is that the humans have apparently noticed as well, as there are several law enforcement vehicles enroute to that location,” the lieutenant reported, her voice sounding almost out of breath.
“Understood, Lieutenant. Have a strike team ready to move at a moment’s notice. If this turns bloody, I want to be able to contain this in an instant.” Yovakior then turned to Colonel Conners, before bowing slightly to the confused-looking human. “I’m sorry, but there seems to be a bit of a problem. A krin signal has appeared on your planet, and we must hurry to contain it.”
It took a few seconds for Yavaar to translate the High Priest’s message, but once he was finished, the colonel was already on his feet, his expression grave. “The colonel says that: Is there something he and his men can do to help?”
Yovakior opened his mouth to respond, but stopped when the lieutenant chimed in again. “Uh… sir? The problem might be larger than we first thought.”
“Why is that, Lieutenant?” Yovakior asked, not liking the trouble in his lieutenant’s voice.
“We just decoded the signal. I’m not sure how it happened, or how he got here-”
“Get to the point, Lieutenant,” Yovakior cut her off, not at all liking how Lilith was chasing the corvos by the tail.
“The information matches exactly to that of the recovered krin experiment,” Lilith said, clearly not believing what was coming out of her own mouth.
“...Excuse me, but what did you just say?”
“Sir, somehow, some way, Alexander Cunningham managed to return home all on his own.”
Those words seemed to echo throughout the High Priest’s chamber. Questions chased themselves around in the quzin leader’s head, until finally they were all brought to a stop as Colonel Conners cleared his throat again.
“Sir, the colonel still wishes to be of help,” Yavaar stated dutifully.
Yovakior studied the colonel intently before he leaned forward, one of his hands on his chin. “Yes, sorry for the delay, Colonel, but I do think there is something you can help us with…”
Well, here you go! Far earlier than I was intending, but there is a reason for that.
I was laid off last week.
Not fired, laid off. The company I worked for made refrigeration units, and frankly the orders weren't there. So, as a cost cutting measure, they began trimming employees, starting with the ones that had recently been hired. They're still willing to employ me, and if work picks up, I'll have a job again. In the mean time, I'm out of work.
It's fine, though. It's a worker's market where I live, and it won't be too long before I can get another job. Especially with the lamination plant opening nearby.
OBLIGATORY BOOK PLUG!!
=> What I've Become! <=
Seriously, though, every sale and comment on my book really helps me out. Especially now, since at the moment, it's my only source of income. Still looking for another job, but every tiny bit helps.
Edit: Due to a few of you asking, both in the comments and in pms, I've reactivated my Patreon. It's on a monthly basis now, and I really don't have all the kinks worked out at this point, but it's there in case you wanted to support me in more ways than just purchasing my book.
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First!
So glad this is still going! Yay!
I have been reading What I've Become and what I've Done as well as What I am for awhile now, I really want Alex and his girlfriend to meet, to the point I am losing my mind!
THEY ARE LITERALLY IN THE SAME WORLD RIGHT NOW!!
P.S. These stories are really good and I eagerly await more
I’ve been waiting three book installments for him to finally get home. I can’t believe it’s actually happening
oh my gosh. Alex is so close now.
when you write the next books of the humanity within series and put them up for publishing, will you also be putting up a non-pony version of the nautilus protocol as well?
9712715 That's the eventual plan, but The Nautilus Protocol will take some time, like the rest of my books.
Great to see another addition to this great story. I really like to see how it plays out with Alex and the governments. It will be really interesting to say the least of what will happen next.
Hopefully no one got shot when those bullets went through the portal.
I hope alex gets to make out with his gf
9712749
i just hope she doesn't run away at first sight.
9712716
awesome, looking forward to them.
phew!!! I was metaphorically holding my breath on that one. Alex survived "first contact" with his own kind. Somewhere in space, there was a prompt: Achievement Unlocked!
bonanza
Inquiring readers want to know!
(I still laugh over "Who builds semi-automatic projectile weapons?")
2 books and 30 chapters later, Alex is home. Hallelujah.
9713011 For the record, it is possible for plasma fire to be faster. It takes a lot more power, however, and is usually not worth the expenditure of energy and money. Comparing all guns against most plasma weapons, firearms are both faster, and more cost effective. However, there is a reason to use plasma, and it has to do with how magical shields work.
Sweet! Contact!
Defender has quite a bit to transfer back and forth. Question is, can direct comms be established through the portal? And can it be enlarged?
Sorry about that job, we know how that happens. Good luck on the hunt!
Keep going! ;)
Can't wait for your 2nd book to come out. The 1st was a great read.
You made slenderman! Ha! Oh that's great.
Another amazing chapter, as usual. And stinks to hear about your job.:(
What city/town in Maine?
A few quickies I noticed on my first read:
Too many shes.
you're
Hey, send me your patreon or even Venmo. I'll toss you some cash.
9713255 As much as I appreciate it, I'm not currently accepting Patreon donations. Not until I figure out proper rewards for various levels, and basically remake the entire page. Thank you for the thought, though, and if you really want to help me out, I'd recommend you head over to amazon and check out my book!
9713265
But the ebook is like 3$ and I don't want a hardcopy(my library is literally full now). Can't I just sling you 20$/month or something?
Awwww man, is gettin good! Can’t wait for the next chapter. Good luck with the job though
9713275 Again, I would love that. If you really want, you can head here: My patreon At the moment, it's set up on a by chapter basis, but I haven't charged anyone for a while, simply because I cannot fulfill my old promises. I promised a refund (which is still in effect, btw) for anyone who pledged for the rewards listed, though no one's taken me up on the offer yet. Thank you for your support, though, I'll be switching it to a monthly basis soon, though the updates to the rewards may still take some time.
I don't think that I've said this before, but thank you for writing this story. This is, without a doubt, one of the best pieces of literature on this website. It's clear that you put the care and effort into this to create a good story, and you know what you're doing when it comes to actual writing and grammar. I can't tell you how many stories on here suffer simply from poor editing, as unfortunate as that is. I find myself excited enough to drop everything whenever I see a new chapter out. I wanted to make my approval of this as clear as I can make it, so again; thank you for all the hard work
(And I'm going to have to pick up that book at some point
)
Wasn't there a prophecy of doom if he leaves the planet? I can see how that might not be in effect still, but I remember it from somewhere.
9713472. That was from the published version, and the prophecy was only in effect until the traitor of peace lies dead... aka Ilisk.
That's one of most exotic first contact phrases
9713334 You're welcome, mate! I really enjoy doing this, and hearing feedback really keeps me going (both the positive and the negative). Hearing that people enjoy it makes me happy, so thank you for enjoying it, and for following me!
9714264
I originally dismissed that idea because it didn't affect Alex when he was brought to Titania's hive, also deep underground. Chrysalis must be ridiculously far down, then.
9714274 Eyup.
9713749
Ah, thanks. I'm going to have to reread this whole thing over again one day, so my brain's RAM doesn't get confused.
Damn! As much as I enjoyed this chapter, I would have rather waited. I'm sorry you just lost your job. Hopefully you will have good luck in the search for another job and it's good that you can still keep that job on the back-burner.
good luck out there man. good chapter by the way
still i got to say missed opertunity to use the whole "i come in peace" line. still cant wait to see where you go with it from here
Looking forward to more of this.
Good chapter. Did he pop into the Smithaonian Museum Of World History?
9715265 Eyup.
Missed a perfect opportunity here:
9716090 I thought about it, but I decided it wouldn't be in Alex's character to say that, especially since he has other things on his mind. It still would have been super funny, though.
Ooh, so we're going, then? I'm so excited for this!
Twilight, you're a scientist, don't forget speed.
While I can't exactly blame him, trigger happiness isn't a good thing.
Still, diplomacy is now on, and now we can see the chaos unfold as the truth of the horrors wrought upon Alex are revealed!
Is it too weird to say I want this on hard copy to hold in my sleep?
Excellent work as always, and I had a point I wanted to bring to your attention to help you avoid a serious mistake.
If you bring the US military through the portal, their operating range from the emergence point will be extremely limited. If they can figure out a way to bring all their heavy equipment (e.g. tanks, fuel trucks, and aircraft) through they'll have a useful radius of action of a couple hundred miles from the portal, and if not light infantry will be limited to maybe 50 miles of marching (although the ponies might be able to help out a bit by providing food and transportation).
The US military's ability to perform near-instant global action is dependent on a massive network of forward bases, prepositioned supplies, and logistics forces to get everything they need deployed on short order, but they won't have that in Equestria so they'll be limited by how far they can haul things from the choke point of the portal.
9716847 I know. That's one of the reasons why Titania and her changelings are going to be so important. An excerpt from, the previous chapter:
9717216
Ah, right. I forgot about that detail. Drawbacks of incremental release.
9717216
Also, if you have questions about military stuff, let me know. I'm more familiar than most with the subject so I can probably help.
One tactical point I want to make up front is that those dropships are going to be priority targets. Assuming they're armored enough that Stinger missiles can't bring them down and we're limited to man-portable weapons, the ideal situation is going to be getting Javelin teams within a mile or two of their intended landing point. Javelin is primarily an anti-tank missile, but it is capable of knocking out helicopters as well and has proven accurate enough to reliably fly through windows in the middle east so it should be more than up to the task of bringing down those transports and with everyone inside for a quick win (with a followup infantry attack to make sure the job is done). Barring that, mortars will be able to trash them on the ground to leave the troops stranded, so odds are they'll have to retreat to space to refuel (loitering in the air burns a fair amount of fuel and reaching orbit takes a ton of fuel) which will wreck their reaction time if they have to get troops out of an ambush in a hurry.
Keep this coming man. It's good.
9721079
Actually I've never heard of an FGM-148 Javelin taking out a helicopter, or any aircraft for that matter. I’m pretty sure those are just tank killers. A Stinger would be a more logical choice since it’s a dedicated MANPADS. Though if a Stinger weren’t enough, a Sidewinder or AMRAAM fired from a fighter or any air defense missile launched from the ground such as a Patriot or Rapier would probably suffice.
9728494
While I do not know of any instances of Javelin taking out a helicopter in combat, that was an explicit design requirement to increase the flexibility and lethality of Javelin teams and I believe was demonstrated in acceptance testing (although I unfortunately can't find video of it) so it is absolutely capable of doing so. Since Javelin has an imaging seeker it doesn't really care what the target is which has allowed it to do things like fly through windows and pick off machine gun or mortar nests in its extensive service in the middle east (more than 5,000 rounds fired in combat).
You are right that SAMs would have a much easier time hitting due to their longer range, but it's also unfortunately likely that hit would be ineffective. SAMs are generally equipped with either a blast fragmentation or continuous rod warhead to shred lightly built aircraft, so any real armor on that dropship would render them ineffective (we see this to an extent with the A-10). I don't know for certain what direction the author's taking with the dropships because it is possible they are as lightly built as modern aircraft, but the way the setting is put together suggests they are at least moderately armored so Javelin's HEAT warhead is required to defeat them.
Also, I'm assuming the nature of the portal means only man-portable systems are available since it would be hard to get a fighter jet through.
I just got the mental image of FiM existing in this 'verse, and having to explain that to Alex.
Though it occurs to me that that would help convince people that the Quzin aren't New Age animist nutjobs. And add lots of interesting drama, when everyone tries to talk to each other. And copyright confusion.
I haven't said so before, but I also really like how the chengelings you've described could help explain a lot of the fairy myths- namely, they're hurt by sunlight, have access to glamour, would be strengthened by stealing and raising children, would have very flexible magic, and could easily be driven insane by isolation (think Rumplestiltskin, and the unseelie). Your nightmares could also explain many of the other myths, plus modern-day alien abductions (which are practically identical to many older fae myths).
ok i am now up to date with all three story's.
i can say the first two are vary good but this third story is by in fare the best.
i will be watching for up dates.