This next chapter is a bit boring, but it sets the scene for another chapter so it is a bit important.
Maxxor walked to the arsenal to pick up some Battle Gear. He was expecting to see Tom there, since the boy helped Bodal from time to time. He was not expecting to hear another excited voice when he entered the arsenal.
"Did it come?" Maxxor heard Kaz say eagerly.
"Yes," Tom answered.
"Let me see!" Kaz said.
Maxxor walked back an aisle of gear and saw Tom hand something to Kaz. It looked to be an envelope.
"You didn't open it yet?" Kaz asked, ripping open the envelope.
"Not that one," said Tom.
Kaz paused and looked at his friend. "'Not that one'? There are more?"
Tom nodded and took several more envelopes from his pocket. Some of them were open already.
Kaz squealed in excitement and snatched the envelopes.
"Just put the letters back in the right envelopes," said Tom as he went about his business.
"What is this?" asked Maxxor, making his presence known.
Tom turned and smiled at his favorite Creature. "Hi, Maxxor. Some of my cousins sent me letters. Kaz has been trying to keep up with what goes on with my family."
"Anything new?" asked Maxxor, curious about Tom's family. He never spoke about it much. From what Maxxor knew, Tom was an only child.
Kaz was sitting on a crate and had the letters on his lap. He was reading one intently, his eyes flicking across the page behind his pink-lensed glasses. "A few things," he said shortly and continued to read.
"I received letters from three of my cousins and two of their friends," said Tom. "I never thought I would be talking to their friends."
"Why is that?" asked Maxxor.
"They're older than me," said Tom.
"Cory's not that much older than us," said Kaz.
"She's still older," said Tom. "Kaz, I need Jess' letter for a minute."
Kaz put down the letter he was reading and handed an envelope to him. This envelope seemed a bit thicker than the others. Tom took out a small stack of paper and handed the envelope back to Kaz.
"Jess sent pictures?" asked Kaz.
Maxxor looked at the photographs with interest. He had only seen pictures like this once. Tom had shown him a photograph of Tom's mother. The people in these photos slightly resembled Tom, but they were older than Tom and Kaz.
"My mom is the youngest of six kids," said Tom. "They all have black hair and dark blue eyes."
Maxxor looked at Tom. "Your eyes are light blue," he pointed out.
"I get the color from my father," said Tom.
Maxxor turned back to the photos. There were three people who kept showing up in the photos. One was a small girl a little older than Tom with black hair feathered around her face. Her eyes were such a dark shade of blue they looked almost black. She was wearing a white shirt with a black vest and black shorts, a brilliant smile spread across her face.
"This is Cory?" asked Maxxor.
"Yep," said Tom. "Don't let the woman standing beside her fool you. Cory's only a head shorter than I am."
Maxxor looked at the woman Tom pointed out. She was a rough looking human. Her nose looked to have been broken several times in the past, her lips were thin, her face was long and sharply angled. She wore rough jeans, a black top with a bright pink and orange design, and wrapped around her left wrist was a bandage. She had the same dark blue eyes as Cory and her black hair was cut just below her shoulders. Her figure was like that of a warrior's. The muscles in her arms were clearly defined.
"That's Jess," said Tom. "This wasn't taken too long ago. She sprained her wrist at work."
"What she calls work," Kaz put in.
"Hey, call it whatever you want," said Tom. "Just remember she can throw both of us clear across the yard."
Kaz shuddered.
"This much of a height difference between Cory and Jess, Jess must be far taller than you," said Maxxor.
Tom nodded. "Six feet," he said. "She's always been built like an Amazon."
Maxxor turned his attention back to the photograph and to a young man in a heavy black coat. He had the same eyes and his black hair was spiked up. He was as tall as Jess, maybe a little shorter.
"Who is this?" asked Maxxor.
"That's Dimitri," said Tom. "He's a bit of a jerk. He loves playing pranks."
"You should tell him what he did to you that one Christmas," said Kaz.
"The jerk," spat Tom at the memory. "It was last year, too."
"What happened?" asked Maxxor.
"I fell asleep in the living room and the next morning I wake up to the sound of an air horn," said Tom. "Scared the living daylights out of me."
"And Tom couldn't hear out of his right ear for the better part of the day," added Kaz.
"Usually it's Jess and Dimitri pranking each other," said Tom. "They tend to leave us younger kids out of it."
"Ah, they don't want to be teaching you their bad habits," said Maxxor.
Tom snorted. "No. They just don't want us to get any broken bones."
"When it gets too bad and Jess has had enough, she'll beat the snot of Dimitri," said Kaz.
Tom laughed. "I still remember him begging for mercy after he put the itching powder in her clothes. She really let him have it that time."
Kaz looked back at the letter he was reading and started laughing. "Apparently he was at it again and Jess had enough."
"She beat him to a pulp?" asked Tom.
"Yes and no," said Kaz. "Depends on what you mean by 'pulp'."
"Really?" asked Tom. "What did she do?"
"Cory says Jess strung him up a tree and used him for a pinata," said Kaz.
"Please tell me she didn't use a baseball bat," said Tom, horrified.
"No, a wet pool noodle," replied Kaz.
"Ouch," said Tom, wincing. "That'll leave welts."
"So who else wrote to you?" asked Maxxor.
"Jess' fiancé, Chad," said Tom. "And Chad's friend, Rooney."
"I don't think I ever met Rooney," said Kaz. "I think I remember Chad."
"You met Chad," said Tom. "You weren't home when Rooney visited."
Tom went through the stack of photos and found the one he was looking for. It showed a man in his twenties in a camouflage jacket standing next to Jess. His brown hair was crewcut and his brown eyes had a hopeful light in them. He was built like a warrior and stood three inches taller than Jess.
"That's Chad," said Tom. "He's a soldier."
Maxxor took the photo from Tom. While Maxxor looked the photo over, Tom found another picture, this one of a much shorter young man with black hair and dark eyes. He, too, wore a camouflage jacket.
"And that's Rooney," said Tom.
Kaz and Maxxor looked at the other photo.
"Nice to have a face to a name," said Kaz. He looked up at Tom. "Cory mentioned something in her letter about what happened to them."
Tom nodded. "Yeah, things have been very rough for them."
"What happened?" asked Maxxor.
"Chad and Rooney are part of the same squad," said Tom. "They were over in Afghanistan not too long ago. Their Humvee hit a road side bomb and they were ambushed. The explosion did the most damage. Two of their squad were killed instantly and another died when they were trying to get him out of there. Rooney lost most of his right leg.
"There was a lot of gunfire. Chad managed to get to Rooney and he carried him to safety. Chad then went back to help the others. He was shot twice in the chest. They made it out, but they're still healing. I know that Rooney is on some serious painkillers. I was reading his letter and you can tell he can't think straight."
Maxxor had some respect for these two humans. "I would very much like to meet them someday."
"You may get that chance," said Tom. "Chad's in the hospital still. Jess told him about Chaotic and he is really getting into it. He may be able to come to Perim sometime."
"Tom!" a nasally voice called.
Tom groaned. "All right, Bodal, I'm coming," he said.
Kaz snickered and went back to reading.
Maxxor watched Tom go and then turned back to the photographs. He would very much like to meet these humans. They sounded like good men, good influences for future generations. And like Tom said, there was the chance that Maxxor would meet one of them eventually.