Chapter 12
John Smith
The scientific base was a few miles away from the forest, in the middle of an otherwise completely empty piece of land. Okay, there was grass, so tall it covered Edie's knees, and a few rocks here and there, but that was it. After the exuberance of the forest, this place looked lonely. Seriously, who would choose that location to set up the base? Edain would never understand humans, to be honest. They made some weird choices sometimes.
At least the base wasn't one of those big, shiny metallic buildings with weird shapes Edie hated so much. It was made out of wood from the forest (good choice, he definitely agreed with that) and composed by a bunch of semi-spherical domes of different sizes "planted" next to each other. The windows were round and small, and there were two spaceships parked next to the base.
He left Ona hidden behind a rock, right before leaving the forest. According to his grandfather's notes, the people in the base were friendly, but he still couldn't be sure of what he was going to find.
After shutting down the ship, he marched towards the base. Mik occupied his usual spot on Edie's shoulder, but Yan decided to fly for a while.
Sure enough, Yan was the first to be spotted.
"Dragon!" someone yelled, and there was a blast two meters above Yan's head. Edain panicked.
"Yan! Come down!"
He pressed a button on the remote control he always wore on his wrist, and Yan dropped from the sky right into his arms, grunting furiously for not being able to fly.
The blasts continued, so Edie threw himself on the floor with both androids until there was silence again.
"Jeez, these people really hate dragons."
He got to his feet warily. There were two humans standing a hundred meters in front of him, holding guns. Edie sighed and put his arms up.
"I don't mean any harm!" he shouted. "Can I come closer?"
The humans didn't lower their guns, but one of them nodded, so Edain walked the distance in between them.
Both humans were women. The tallest had long ginger hair, tied up in a thick braid, and pale skin. Her outfit was completely black: jeans, boots, t-shirt and jacket, which made her round face look a bit like a moon.
The other woman had brown hair, and her eyes were two different colours: one brown, and one grey. Her hair was as short as Edie's, and her clothes were like her companion's, except for the t-shirt, which was red.
"Who are you?" asked the ginger one.
"John Smith."
The answer came out before he could even think of what he was saying. That was the name his dad used to give people when he went undercover. He struggled to swallow the knot that had suddenly formed in his throat.
"John Smith? What kind of answer is that?"
"That's my name" Ed said, trying to sound as confident as possible. "You almost killed my android."
"It's an android?" the short one intervened. "We thought it was a Green Death. Did you build it?"
"Green Death? What's a Green Death?"
"A species of dragon. Haven't you seen them? Or you don't come from the forest?"
"Oh, you mean the green and gold ones that live in the sycamores?" How somebody could call those dragons Green Death, he had no idea. They were more like Green Acrobats, Edie thought. Those things flew so well it was like a dream. Humans were definitely impossible to understand.
"Those, exactly. But wait, you come from the forest? How are you alive?" asked the ginger one.
"How am I…? Why wouldn't I be? It's not like the dragons are mass murderers or anything."
The two women looked at him as if he was crazy.
"Come with us" said the short one, and Edie noticed she was wearing a badge on her jacket. She was some sort of authority, but he couldn't remember what the symbol stood for. Brigadier? Maybe she was a sub officer. What was the army doing there? After the Time War, he'd had enough armies for a lifetime.
None of the women spoke on the way to the base. Edie kept Mik and Yan secure in his arms, trying to remember what he'd read about Endemira's scientists.
They finally arrived. The domes were much bigger than what he'd initially thought, and there was a sign above the doorway: "Welcome to Base 19AX of the Great and Bountiful Human Empire".
Edie whistled in appreciation. The first Human Empire was one of his favourite parts of history. It was the age when space travel merged with time travel, with the foundation of the Earth Space Council and the Time Agency, and the joint of the latter with the army. The second empire was a bit rubbish, with the discovery of the oods and their imprisonment, but the first one was great.
The two women took him into the biggest dome, obviously the most important one, and Edie discovered with relief that he hadn't been wrong about Base 19AX being occupied by scientists.
The room they got to was circular (it occupied the entire base of the dome), with stairs on the walls to get to the upper floors. There was a table in the middle, probably used for meetings, but there were scientific posters on the walls, and in the second half of the circle someone had left a bunch of telescopes right in front of a board full of articles on dragon anatomy and Endemira's gravity. Still, there were too many soldiers for his liking.
There were about a dozen people sitting at the middle table. The surface of the table was full of maps and graphs, and everyone seemed to be arguing.
"It's too dangerous!" said a man in the same black attire as the two women (minus a green t-shirt). He stood up, and slammed his hands on the table. "There's no way we're letting you do it!"
"Calm down, commandant" intervened the woman who was sitting in front of him. "We have reasons to believe the fauna isn't really that dangerous, and you already know them. The only thing we ask for is an expedition."
"There's no need to fight for this" said a woman in the blue jacket of the Time Agency. "We're all sensible people, and I'm sure we can come to an agreement."
It seemed as if the commandant wanted to reply, but the other time agent spotted Edie and the two soldiers, and smiled playfully.
"Partners, it looks like we have a visitor" he said standing up, and left the table to greet them. "Good afternoon, ladies. Care to come to the table and tell us about your discoveries?"
The other time agent sighed deeply.
"Captain, this is really not the moment…"
"I was just saying hello, Ellen. We have to be welcoming with our guests, don't we?"
The woman didn't answer, but she looked very tired. The captain went back to his seat, and the two women, suddenly very flustered, approached the table and explained what had happened.
As soon as they were done, everyone started asking questions. Had he lived in the forest for more than a day? How had he avoided the dragons? How many species had he seen? How did the live? And most importantly, what species was he?
There were so many adults looking at him that Edie took a step back, intimidated.
The captain rose from his seat again and put a hand on Edie's shoulder.
"We're scaring, him, people. Let's give him a little space." He didn't act flirty, which Edie liked. That kind of love wasn't something he understood. "What's your name?"
"Um, John Smith. But everybody calls me Jack", he corrected immediately. John was a name for grownups. Edie was anything but that.
The captain grinned. He bent down to be on the same level as Edain and winked, as if they shared a secret.
"Welcome to Base 19AX, Jack Smith" he said, and shook his hand. "Let me be the first to greet you. My name is Captain Jack Harkness."