IUnknown/I
"Is he still alive?" came the curious voice of a female.
"I'll be surprised if he is," replied another female voice, this one just barely deeper, "his craft was a wreck. It's a wonder Ihe's/I still in one piece."
"I'd have to agree with her, Allie," answered a male's voice. "Though Seria could be a bit more positive about it all," he added with a chuckle in his voice.
"Look at him, though," began the voice called Seria, "he looks as if a freighter smacked him dead-on."
"Am I dead," asked Kevin wearily, barely audible.
"Whoa, guys, hold it," bellowed the male, "he's saying something."
"What is it," asked Allie, "what are you trying to say?"
"I can't be dead," said Kevin quietly, "too much pain…where am I?"
"I've never seen something like him before," said Seria.
"I've worked with his kind before, years ago," was the male's reply. "Humans. Incredibly adaptable, incredibly resilient. They are a lot like us, minus looks."
"You're on the IGreat Fox/I," said Allie.
"Never heard of it," Kevin barely managed to say. The pain in his body was growing with every word, so he tried to limit his speech. "I can't see a damn thing."
"I suppose the anomaly is to blame for that," said the male.
"Which reminds me, Falco," said Allie, "we've got problems."
"Such as?"
"Wonderful," uttered Kevin.
"That anomaly that spit him out is growing and moving," said Allie.
"Moving to where?"
"Heading towards us." Kevin sat up, which wasn't the best idea ever he later admitted, and felt for the sides of the bed he was in.
"Get us out of the Goddamned way of the thing!" Kevin was frantically trying to climb out of the bed but three sets of firm grips forced him back down. "Move the ship, move it now!"
"Good God," said Seria, "I doubt he's fanatical for nothing!"
"I need to see…" uttered Kevin as he felt to sit up again. "I need to see right now."
"Lie back down," said Allie, "your eyesight will return. You need rest."
"Peppy," yelled Falco, "turn us around! That thing is coming right at us, and I Ireally/I doubt it'd be a fun ride!"
"Roger that." The voice sounded static-filled, most likely coming from an intercom. Slowly the ship began moving away from the anomaly.
"What's going on, where's the damned thing?!" Kevin was once again forcing himself out of the bed, despite the fact that he could see nothing. "Are we pulling away?!"
"Jesus," cried Allie, "calm down! We're pulling away, just relax!"
"I can't relax! Whatever that thing is, it destroyed me!" Of course Kevin was speaking metaphorically. Either way, he had the attention of all three of his caretakers. "That goddamned thing took four of my close friends from me! It caused my blindness! You can NOT tell me to relax when that thing is getting closer!" Kevin was breathing heavily, whether from exasperation or sorrow no one could tell.
Outside, it seemed the anomaly was picking up speed to match the iGreat Fox's/i speed. Allie cursed under her breath. "C'mon, don't make a liar outta me…"
"I don't like the sound of that…" sighed Kevin.
"You aren't helping, man!" yelled Falco as he began pacing, his eyes transfixed on the anomaly which had now started picking up enough speed to overtake the iGreat Fox/i.
"How fast does this tub go," asked Kevin.
"Fast enough, now shut up!"
"That's not a real answer! If this thing can't go faster than five hundred meters a second, that thing will take us out!"
"I don't know the freakin' specs, man, you're asking the wrong guy! But we obviously aren't fast enough!"
"Wonderful! Just wonderful!" Kevin leapt out of the bed and nearly collapsed immediately. "Yep. Not a good idea, that one." He heard the two females laugh and the male—Falco—call him a vulgar name.
"Why can't you just follow orders," asked Falco, and to his surprise Kevin smiled.
"I was a Captain. That explain it for you?"
"Actually, it does."
"Look! Guys look!" Seria was yelling and pointing at the window. The anomaly was closing in on itself rapidly. They were safe.
"Dude?"
"Yes, Falco."
"It closed. We're safe now."
"I know. I…felt it close."
"I won't even ask. Would one of you two escort him to his room?" Seria nodded and lifted Kevin up to his feet and held him there.
"My room? What do you mean?"
"You have a room, pal. We've docked your fighter with us and moved your belongings into a room for you. It's obvious you aren't from around here, so we're gonna help you out."
"Why?"
"It's what we do. We take care of our team."
"So now I belong to your team?"
"It's your choice in the end, buddy. But you don't have a whole lot of options."
"Forced, then?"
"Look, I don't like it all that much either. We don't even know you. But you have nowhere to go, so we'll help you out until your eyesight returns or until you wanna go."
"I guess I'm stayin' for a while, then."
"Then welcome to the Starfox team," said Falco with an air of finalism. Kevin had, in a way, been dismissed. It wasn't a pleasant thought, but he really had no choice but to comply. He allowed Seria to escort him out. He had one arm around her neck while she held onto that arm and placed her other arm around his back to keep him up. After a couple minutes of walking Seria spoke up.
"Where are you from," she asked, a touch of agitation still in her voice. She clearly wasn't happy with much of anything.
"I was born in the Upsilon System," said Kevin with his own touch of annoyance, "planet Upsilon-Delta. Things went haywire somewhere near the Gamma System."
"Never heard of any place by that name."
"Gamma System stations one of the biggest starports in our control-zone, everyone knows about it!"
"Well I don't, so either I'm uninformed or you're lying to me." Kevin suddenly stopped, forcing her to stop as well.
"You can say such places don't exist," he began, "and you can mention that the UNS doesn't exist, you can even go so far as to not believe me, but you will Inever/I call me a liar, is that understood?"
"I do what—"
"My question was whether you understood, not what your mentality is! I am NOT to be called a liar, not now not ever! I don't lie, it's something I grew up with, I will NOT be called a liar!" Seria was quiet for several seconds.
"I'm sorry, then." Her voice was slightly softer, but the irritated edge remained. "I didn't know."
"Now you do," replied Kevin, much quieter.
"You say you aren't a liar, but you name systems that don't exist, at least none that I've ever heard of."
"I'm sure something will explain that in due time." She began leading him around again. "I thought soldiers were to keep their hair short, though." She almost laughed, which Kevin hadn't noticed.
"Not on this ship."
"The name of which I have never heard, actually. So we have one thing in common: confusion." She allowed a smile that he couldn't see anyway.
"You'll come to see it's not bad here."
"I'll judge that on my own."
"That's fine by me, honestly." She stopped and slid his door open for him. "We're here." She led him in and lied him down on his bed.
"Thanks."
"I'd say no problem, but I'd be lying."
"Not much of a liar yourself, are you?"
"I lie, just not often."
"It's a bad habit, you know," said Kevin with a smile. To his surprise, she agreed.
"I do have to stop it. Old habits die hard, or something like that."
"Not if you really want it to stop." She was silent again.
"I guess you may be right."
"Try it. You'll see."
"Alright. You rest, it'll do good for your eyesight."
"Thanks again."
"Thank Falco, he ordered it to be done."
"I'll keep it in mind."
"Good." With that, she left him to his thoughts. Shortly after, he was asleep on what he found to be a very comfortable bed.
IGamma System – Orbit outside Gamma Prime/I
"Where is he?!" Davis was screaming as loud as he could, which was certainly very loud, shortly after docking with the station outside Gamma Prime. "Where the hell is my son?!"
"Sir, what are you talking about?" A poor orderly quickly ran up to the distraught man and tried to calm him.
"I need to know who sent my son to Alpha Omega so I can rip his throat out!!" The orderly swiftly turned face and bolted down the hall. Shortly after, the Station Master arrived.
"What's the pro—"
"Who is the sorry piece of shit that sent my son to Alpha Omega without any backup?!"
"What? What are you talking about?"
"You know damn well what I'm talking about!"
"Captain Davis? You should be on the battlefront!"
"I made an exception, now tell me who sent my son to that deathtrap!"
"Why," asked the Master defensively, but defiantly.
"Because I'm going to kill the sonofabitch and I'll grind your bones if you don't tell me, goddammit!"
"Death threats are most unbecoming of a Captain." It was clear that this man enjoyed uprooting authority. Of course, his mood changed quickly when his throat was suddenly under the pressure of a very strong man's hands.
"Tell me where Captain Peale went before I tear your throat out of your friggin' mouth," he said dangerously and quietly.
"I-I don't know!" the Master choked out. "I received no word of any orders to the system!" Davis let go and the Master fell, gasping for breath.
"Take me to your mainframe, Inow/I."
"Alright, alright! Come with me." The Master took him to the station center, making sure to keep a good distance in front at all times. It took about four minutes to reach the core where Davis immediately set to work scanning the library of documents.
"You can either tell me why my son was sent to a deathtrap system, who sent him, or why you authorized it in the first place. Tell me before I find the proof or I'll have you hanged," said the Captain as the computer ran its search.
"Hanged," asked the Master with a touch of defiance once again. That quickly changed with the glare Davis gave.
"Yes, hanged. I'll make sure I'm the one to throw you out of the window with the rope around your neck too."
"You're crazy…"
"No, I'm a man trying to find out what the hell has happened to my son!" The computer beeped and Davis looked at the screen to find nothing but a message reading 'no such message found'. "God, no…"
"What?" Now the Master was concerned.
"There's no such record of his message at all…"
"But all messages are logged as they flow through cyberspace, there are no exceptions."
"Then explain this!"
"I can't!" Davis through his keypad at the screen and took off. "Where are you going?!"
"I'm going to Alpha-Omega to figure out where my son is," screamed Davis as he ran down the hall. Within seconds he was ordering an immediate departure-logged or unlogged, he didn't care-to find his son, Kevin Peale.