When both of them left the saucer, Crypto found himself in, what he only could assume to be the hangar of a mothership. He had always been hoping to see one of those one day, maybe even work aboard one – Despite every single tutor telling him that this was never going to happen... But... Here he was...
Quietly following Isospora, the boy curiously looked around, occasionally touched something, but eventually had to force himself to keep up and not get lost. After some minutes they reached, what looked like some sort of laboratory room to Crypto. The place was covered in dim purple light and almost even seemed as it it was designed to be relaxing.
Isospora slowly led Crypto towards a figure sitting behind a desk. While the stranger obviously must have heard both of them entering the room, he did neither look up nor greet them, but instead sedulously worked on a small jetpack. Crypto curiously watched the stranger tinker with it for a while, until he eventually examined the man himself.
He was not really looking too impressive to Crypto: Yet another adult ignoring his presence... From what he could see, he must have been relatively small and slender just like himself, and – with the exception of his amazingly large head – everything about him looked fragile to Crypto. Just like Isospora, he had spikey – although slightly different in shape - devices attached to his cranium, as well as two flexible links attached to the sides of his head which connected him to the hovering chair he sat in.
"Now that's one huge head!" Crypto exclaimed with a smug grin.
The stranger looked up from his work and frowned at Crypto, yet did not reply. Instead it was Isospora who spoke up, addressing the other man in a strict tone. "Remember your manners, Orthopox…"
"...Ugh…" Was the only response the other managed to force out while still trying to ignore the presence of Iso and his annoying little child companion. He did not enjoy any of this at all, and while Iso's orders had been clear, it did not mean that he had to like them. And he made sure to vividly demonstrate his dissatisfaction with the situation as it was... The last thing he needed was an a renegade reject jeopardizing each and any of his missions...
Crypto couldn't help it but chuckle. He understood exactly what the other one was trying here, and found it amusing that – just once – it was not him to act disrespectful and get on other people's nerves with it...
"I warn you…" Isospora spoke up again and looked at his colleague. "...You have your orders, do not try your luck with me."
Eventually Orthopox dropped his work material and focused on Iso and Crypto. "There... Happy now?! What do you expect me to do with your misbehaving child? Ground him?! We're about to prepare for departure; the fleet is heading for Tharsis Mons tonight. I already told you I hardly have the time to supervise a child…"
Iso sighed and casually signaled the – still amused – Crypto to let the two of them talk alone for a moment. A 'suggestion' Crypto followed – as slowly as possible to not miss any of this...
"...He's supposed to be a warrior. You're... Supposed to... Run a warship. Simple enough for you, junior? Or do I have to remind you of how the apprentice program actually works?"
Orthopox shuddered. He despised Iso talking to him like this as soon as he did not immediately follow... Even after all those years and both having reached respectable ranks within Furon society, Iso still treated him him like a teenager... "...Does crude your enjoyment for humiliating me never seize?"
"Apparently not…" Iso replied in a half joking manner and gently put a hand onto Orthopox's shoulder. "Look, I don't want to be the first principal who has to delete a child from the cloning banks due to insubordination. Not gonna lie. He's an aggressive little pest with a knack for blowing up fellow students... But I believe that if there's anyone who can get him to listen and make a productive non-criminal out of him, it's you… You know… Similar minds and all…"
Listening to Iso, Orthopox's anger seemed to vanish a little. While he was still unhappy with the situation, he seemingly began to understand… With a sigh he eventually slowly nodded. "Alright... I will have an eye on your little reject. But... Don't expect me to like it... I'm not a jolly uncle of some sort... I don't even like children…" He lied, then slowly left his desk and approached the two.
Iso seemed satisfied for now, as he gave Pox an approving nod. "All I expect you to provide is good work. I know you're capable if you want to…" He then hunkered down to Crypto. "Pox is a good guy. One of my favourite rebels. With a bit effort you can become one of his. Just… Try not to kill him please…" Getting back onto his feet, he then – once more – looked at Pox. "I'll expect regular updates on his progress. Don't be too cruel on him – You'll be good for one another…"
With that being said, and a last nod, Isospora eventually turned around and slowly left the room to return to his saucer.
Pox sighed and absent-mindedly nodded, although Iso was already gone. Eventually looking at Crypto again, he then leaned a little forward. "...What is your name?" He asked in a cool tone and examined the boy.
"Crypto."
"...Crypto What?"
"Crypto...Sporidium...Three?" He hesitantly answered with a shrug.
Orthopox gave him a (negatively) surprised look. "Three?! You got yourself killed two times already?! How old are you even? Five? Six?!"
"I'm eleven, and you don't look fresh either!" Crypto hissed in annoyance.
Narrowing his eyes, Orthopox slowly shook his head. "You certainly lack a brain to mouth filter. We need to fix that... Together with... Everything else I suppose…"
Crypto – once again – just shrugged. "Good luck trying. According to everyone I'm beyond fixing. You might as well just get your dose of disappointment and then kick me off your ship before it's too late…"
Pox remained silent for a second, processing Crypto's reply and trying to understand his fatalistic mindset... Eventually he reached out for the boy's wrist and hesitantly grabbed it to make him tag along. "...Unqualified nonsense. Nothing is beyond fixing! If that's the codswallop you kids learn at the academy nowadays, I'm not surprised Iso brought you here... Now get moving, As you already so lucidly pointed out, I'm not getting any younger."
When they reached what Crypto assumed to be a medical lab, Pox eventually let go of the boy's wrist and instead used his psychokinetic abilities to lift him up onto one of the beds while eagerly searching for something. Once he had found what he wanted, he turned around again, approached, and then directly faced Crypto. "Close your eyes and hold still." He just spoke, then held Cryptos head still with one hand, while using a tissue regenerator on his face with the other. Slowly his scars and bruises began to heal and eventually completely vanished.
Once the boy realized this, he curiously touched his cheeks and seemed almost even amused.
Noticing this, Pox leaned towards Crypto. "Don't let my equipment be an open invitation to get yourself into any danger, do you copy?!"
Crypto hesitantly nodded while Pox hovered around and checked the markings on the collar of Crypto's jumpsuit. "Huh... A size twelve... I'll replicate you a set of clean clothing... How can you even walk around all dirty like this? What are you? A savage? A homeless?..."
Crypto raised one of his (nonexistent) eyebrows and noticeably suppressed a chuckle.. "Well, I got kicked out of the academy, so technically…"
"...Technically you're part of my crew now, so you're expected to behave as such!" Pox immediately interjected. "...That includes you following basic security-, hygiene-, and behavioural standards, capiche?"
Crypto gave Pox a mostly unimpressed look, but eventually squeezed out a flap "Yes…"
Pox reacted with a grumpy look, but did not say anything. Instead he hovered over to a replicator device and produced three fresh jumpsuits for Crypto. When he was finally done, he returned to Crypto, and placed the clothes on a table next to him. "These ones are for you. Over there is a shower. You... Do know how to use a shower, do you?"
Tilting his head Crypto was close to openly making fun of Pox... "Of course I do... I'm not retarded…"
With a nod Pox helped Crypto down again and pointed at the shower. "Then keep proving so. Clean yourself, and don't waste any time. I'll be back to pick you up in ten minutes."
"...Whatever…" Crypto indifferently replied and began to pull the snack bags out of the pockets of his old jumpsuit.
Staring at the snack bags Pox just shook his head. "What is this, and why are you carrying it around with you?"
"...It's snacks, moron…"
Inhaling deeply to stop himself from raising his voice, Pox just whispered. "Don't call me that…" Then took one of the snack bags and examined it. "...I can see that these are snack bags, but why do you carry them around with you?"
Crypto just shook his head, almost as if he was questioning Pox's sanity... "To eat of course!"
Taking the bag out of Crypto's hand Pox gave the boy a serious face. "On my ship you're not feeding off this garbage. These snacks have zero nutritional value. No wonder you're a walking little stick, Cryptosporidium... I'll have Gastro get you some real food when you're done here. Now hurry up, we're already behind schedule!" With that, Pox took the remaining snack bags, then turned around and left Crypto alone to have a shower.
Crypto just stood there, with his eyes angrily following Pox. 15 minutes aboard, and this squeaky voiced egghead was already bossing him around?! Not to mention taking away his snacks!... He felt like smashing something; yelling at Pox for being an annoyance already... But in actuality, all he did was standing next to the door and staring into the corridor. He didn't particularly like Pox, but remembered Iso's warning... He did not want to mess up again. This place here – after all - was still better than the academy, his 'home' and especially better than wherever he would end up if he just ran away...
Once he was done showering and got himself into one of the clean jumpsuits he already felt a tad less out of place. It wasn't really a uniform, but rather some sort of standardized blue utility suit. It was simple, but comfortable. He enjoyed it.
Walking through the room he examined the various pieces of equipment. Most were something awfully specific and thus entirely alien to him. Only ever when he saw a little terminal on a desk in the corner, he felt like he knew what to do. Steered by curiosity and the fact that he still had some minutes left until Pox would return, he took a seat and started the terminal. A noise behind him however suddenly ripped him out of his thoughts.
Startled he turned around, only to spot yet another stranger. This time a tall and brawny female in a reflective red suit with armour pieces on her chest and shoulders. Her face appeared somewhat young-ish, almost even innocent, but her overall statue also indicated that she might be able to rip off someone's head without using any PK abilities...
As she noticed Cryptos reaction she gave him a little smirk and entered the room. "Hi little guy! Didn't mean to scare ya. Orthopox sent me to pick you up."
Hesitantly Crypto nodded and slowly approached the stranger. Well... So far she at least appeared more friendly than Pox (not that this was particularly difficult), so there was that. "...Hi." He stammered cluelessly and waved at her. "...What am I even supposed to do here now? Guess Pox is not letting me run around exterminating enemies, right?"
Still smiling she shook her head, then pointed down the hallway to have him follow her. "Nah, I don't think so. You'll probably have to learn how to handle your plungers first... But I'm sure you'll learn a lot from observing. Your name's Crypto, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. And you are?"
"Shigellosis 377, or Shi. Orthopox's recon specialist. Y'know... Flying the saucer, exploring strange new worlds, setting things on fire, the usual…"
Crypto's eyes seemed to widen with joy, his face slowly displaying a mischievous grin. Maybe his assignment here was about to get interesting after all... "Cool!" He exclaimed in a joyfully naive tone and looked up to her.
Snickering in amusement she patted his shoulder and then lead the way to the others. "So, Crypto… Heard you're here from the academy. You must be quite the high-flyer if Orthopox had you transferred here…"
Sarcastically snorting Crypto looked up to her. "I was kicked out. My principal made him take me. And 'Pox' wasn't happy about it… He probably owes him something or so…"
Shi slowed down for a moment and gave Crypto a surprised look. "You mean Isospora? I remember him from my time in the academy… I was never much of a popular recruit either. But Isospora never does anything without reason, and if he takes care of getting you transferred, he believes you're worth it."
Crypto absent-mindedly nodded and shoved his hands into the pockets of his new jumpsuit. "Just… What does it help if the Commander doesn't want me here?"
"He will..." Shi replied encouragingly and hunkered down to Crypto. "...He's not very good at getting to know people or trusting them quickly. But if you give him some time, I promise he'll like you every bit as much as I already do." With a warm smile Shi half-jokingly booped his cheek and then got back to her feet. "...And now let's see how fast you can run. The last one to arrive at the mess hall has to do the dishes!"