Story Three
Mission Leaders
~Strangers can become best friends
Just as easy as best friends can
Become strangers.~
~Unknown
~Sometimes strangers
Become the best friends
We never know we needed.~
~Unknown
Planet Shlorp
He stared at the file he held carelessly in his hands with conflicted feelings swirling in his mind. In front of the file read "Mission Information" in big, bold, red letters with his Shlorpian number below it written in green. He was at a loss, once he opens this file, reality will reveal its ugly face. He will have all the information about his Team Leader, their replicant and his, the ship they are going to call home soon and the exact time they'll need to board and leave before the Asteroid hits. While he swallowed the urge to vomit, he looked over at his Lifemate, who was reading the papers in her file with a small smile on her face.
With five days left on the clock (Five days, eight hours, fifty-five minutes and twenty-three seconds to be exact according to the giant clock) it was time to start packing up their belongings and meet their Teammates. Hence why they were at the park, sitting on a bench, so they could meet Terri's Mission Leader. He didn't have to be there, Shlorp knows the last thing he wanted to see is another Shlorpian getting all chummy with Terri, but she was nervous and wanted him near her for support. So here they were. Waiting.
"Number 77898 or Zion…interesting name." Terri said, before showing him a paper with a picture of orange colored Shlorpian clipped to it.
He was compelled to look and held back his disgusted reaction. This heavy set, goofy-looking, Shlorpain was going to be Terri's Team Leader? He looked up at Terri, who was waiting for his reaction, so he blinked, "Tell me again why they didn't pick you as a Mission Leader?"
Terri rolled her eyes and playfully hit him in the arm. "Terry, we're Pupa Specialists, we're just as important as anyone on the Team." She said, while he grabbed the rest of the papers from her.
"Yeah, I know Terri, but fuck, look at this guy. How can he lead if he can't even fit through the Ship's door? Plus, did you see the list of all his achievements? It's almost a paper long…"
"Yes, and…it shows how dedicated he is to the Mission."
"It shows what a dull, boring slob he is…probably hasn't done anything fun in his entire life. I bet you a Hundred credits, he's still a Virgin."
Terri snorted in laughter and gave him a big hug to settle him down. "Terry, stop, you're going to make me lose my breakfast." She said as he flipped to the next page to see the picture and information of Zion's replicant. A goofy, pudgy thing as well. Poor little Bastard, his Genes were not kind to him.
"Keep it down for my sake, Boo. I have a feeling these two are going to eat your entire food supplies before leaving our galaxy." He said, flipping over to the next page to see the last member of Terri's team only to freeze when he realized it was his Lifemate's replicant. A miniature clone in every single way. The replicant even had the same friendly smile.
"A Bounty Hunter. I wasn't expecting that. From what I've read, she's in the top ten in her class, number five in fact."
"She's cute." He said, feeling a bit better knowing Terri will have her Replicant with her at all times. Even better since the little Pink Clone was their bodyguard.
"I can't wait to meet her. What a moment since it's rare to meet your Replicant at a young age." She said, smiling at the picture one more time before putting it back in her file. She then looked at her watch. "He should be here any minute now."
He used his own file to fan his warm face. "I don't know how you're nervous when I'm the one sweating over here like I just committed murder."
Terri smiled, "I am nervous. I mean, I'm about to meet a complete stranger who's going to be my main priority for the next couple of years…what can I say?"
"How about Hello, for starters." Terry said, trying to make her laugh while placing his file down on the bench. Unfortunately, Terri noticed.
"You're not going to look at your file? Your team?" She asked.
"What for, there's no point reading it. The guy didn't waste time contacting me though. Already giving me orders to meet him by the Stairs near the Farmer's Markets at 12 o'clock sharp." He groaned and slouched a bit. "I have a bad feeling…"
Terri grabbed his file and opened it, "I'm sure your Team Leader is not that bad." She said, while reading something. Her eyes bulged for a quick second before giggling uncontrollably. As if she just discovered a dirty little secret.
"What's so funny?" He asked before sitting up straight again.
"Oh Shlorp, and you thought my Team Leader is bad, get a look at this guy." She said, showing him a small stack of papers, stapled together with a picture of a blue Shlorpian clipped at the corner of the first page. No smile, eyes half-lidded, and clearly Brainwashed to please the Higher Ups like most of the "Working Class'' population. "Korvotron, number one student in every class and consider one of the most intelligent Shlorpian by our Professors."
He grabbed the papers to look closely at the picture. "Please, he can't be all That and beside intelligent just mean most obedient to this so-called Perfect Utopia"
"Look at all his achievements, literally ten pages long. In fact, I think one of my friends had him in her class once and no one could compete with him."
He let out a loud, long groan this time and didn't bother to read the rest of the files. There was no point. He was going to meet his Mission Leader today and the Replicants tomorrow so why read their files. No doubt all of them had more achievements and were well-respected than he was, and he could only imagine what his file said about him. Just one picture and one single achievement on it. Pupa Specialist and that was because he cheated his way in order to survive. "Great, out of a hundred team leaders, I get the overachieving dork. I mean look at him, would it kill him to smile a bit. Shit. How is this going to work?"
"Just do what you always do, my Love. Just smile and agree to everything he says. Chances are, he loves validation." Terri said, while rubbing the top of his head.
He sighed, "Terri…" He swallowed, not sure how to bring up the subject that's been burning in the back of his mind for weeks now. "...I don't know if I can do this?"
She blinked, "Do what? Meet your Mission Partner? It shouldn't be that hard, Terry. Just walk up to him and say hello and make sure you shake his hand. It would be rude if you didn't."
He shook his head, "No, that's not what I'm talking-" Only to get interupted by the large, orange Shlorpain he was joking about not too long ago.
"Terrence?" The orange Shlorpain asked while looking at the pair.
Terri quickly got up and held out her hand. "Terri with an I for short and you must be Zion." She said with a smile.
As they shook their hands and began to talk about their upcoming Mission, he felt like he was completely forgotten. Yet at the same time, it gave him a chance to really see the interaction between them. They talked like they've been life-long friends, complimenting each other's specialties and even going as far as setting up a time to get together and map out their plan where to go after they evacuate. There was no flirting on Zion's part, making it clear that the Mission meant more to the orange Shlorpian than trying to outshine him in front of Terri. Still, it bugged him. They were too comfortable with each other. Like a tiny spark that needed time and love to grow into something pure and intimate like they have.
"This is my Lifemate, Terrence."
The orange one laughed, "You both have the same name, how funny."
"Terry, are you okay?"
When he realized Terri and her partner were staring at him, he quickly got up from the bench. "Yes, of course, sorry, I just lost track of time. Listening to boring Mission stuff tends to do that to me." He laughed nervously while straightening out his robe.
Zion raised a brow, "Boring Mission stuff?"
Terri smiled uneasily, "He's kidding. You know "End of the World" jitters."
"Correct as always my Boo and-" He quickly looked at his watch. "Well fuck me hard, look at the time. I need to get to the Farmer's Market and meet my dorky, fat team leader too…I mean, Mission Leader…yes, and I don't want to be late."
Terri looked at him strangely. "Ok, well, let me exchange numbers with Zion then we can go-"
He held up his hands in defense. "No need, you two keep chatting. It seems like Zim-Za here has a lot to say and again, I don't want to be late. So I'll meet you later in class. Alright Boo?"
Terri frowned, clearly not buying it, "Are you sure-"
He quickly kissed her on the cheek, "Sounds great, I love you, bye!" He shouted while running off in no particular direction. Leaving his Lifemate and her confused Team Leader in the dust.
Ten minutes later, he was by the stairs waiting for Korvotron's arrival. Giving him time to shake off the embarrassment he felt for leaving so suddenly and leaving his file behind with Terri. No doubt she will hold on to it till they get home before giving him a stern talking to for acting so jittery in front of her fellow teammate. He couldn't help it, with his days on this planet dwindling down, it's becoming harder and harder to accept the inevitable. Soon everything will be gone and if he was single, he wouldn't care, in fact, he would be out celebrating and fucking around till the last second and go out with a bang, but that wasn't the case. Commitment Terry will live on with three strangers and some slug to look after and all it will cost him is his Sanity and Lifemate.
His thoughts went back to Terri's interaction with her Mission Leader. While he was there for support, he was really hoping the meet and greet wouldn't go as well as it did. It was pretty much adding more fuel to the fire in Terri's eyes about the whole Evacuation plan. Giving her more reason to leave him without any remorse. Did she not see how disturbing and uncomfortable this was getting him or did she really think that one day many years from now they will meet again on a new planet?
When he checked his watch for the time again it was noon, and sure enough right on the dot, he saw the blue Shlorpian at the top of the stairs looking around. When they made eye contact, his future teammate made his way down the stairs. He touched his pink teardrop gem and took a deep breath before putting on his bright, Terry-Style smile. The same smile that would make even the Stiffest Shlorpian loosen up.
(Stay cool, smile and remember what Terri said) His thoughts echo in his mind as he makes his way over to the one named Korvotron.
"Terrance, I assume?" Korvotron questioned while holding out his hand. Even going as far as curving his mouth up for a dull smile.
Time to put on the Terry-charm. "What's up Korvotron. You can call me Terry for short." He said, giving his hand a good shake.
Korvo's face didn't falter, probably thinking his excitement was the result of their upcoming mission instead of his just acting like a buffoon. "I am pleased to embark on this mission with you." Nailed it, he thought as Korvo continued. "I assume you love science and worship at the altar of logic?"
Oh man, what a total nerd, he mentally giggled while pulling back his hand. "Hell yeah, science rules." He said, and just to prove a point and sound smart, he added, "I love that stuff and I'm a Pupa Expert. I know everything about the Pupa."
Any Shlopian with social skills would've caught that sarcastic lie, but instead Korvo just nodded. "Excellence, I have a great feeling with my planning and your expertise about the Pupa, we will have a planet terraform in a matter of months. I even went as far as filling the ship with books and my lab equipment to make sure we pick the perfect planet for this mission and-"
Blah, blah, blah, blah. He tuned him out the second he heard the word Books. Great. He wasn't aware there was going to be studying and homework on this trip. Korvo actually expected him to work while they were out there, deep in space? Damn, if he was like that, he can only imagine the annoyance he's going to suffer with the guy's replicant. He'll find that out soon enough tomorrow when they meet them.
For the rest of their meeting, Korvo did all the talking, not giving him a chance to speak or even ask about him personally. He was going to be on a ship with the guy for a long time, so it would only make sense to ask some things about each other instead of just plans, numbers, or manuals. Fuck, the guy loves to hear himself talk.
The greeting lasted longer than he thought thus making him late for his class. Not that he cared, they were just going over the same stuff about the Pupa to make sure it was permanently planted in their mind, so he didn't bother to sneak in. He walked right into the dark room with his head held up high and head over to his seat next to Terri.
"What up, Terri? I missed you, babe." He said, giving her a side hug which she rewarded him with a big smile. "Missed you, little Boo-Boo. You're my Boo-Boo girl."
She giggled quietly, knowing he was trying to butter her up for leaving so suddenly. "You left your file, I have it with me." She whispered.
"You're the best." He whispered back, looking a bit irritated.
"Is everything Ok?"
"Oh man, I just met my Evacuation Partner. Total Derf." He said, trying to make it sound more of a joke than what he was really feeling. "Sucks that I can't take you instead of his boring, flat ass."
Now there's an idea he wouldn't mind planning out. He means, it shouldn't be that hard to steal a ship and get out of here with just Terri while everyone else follows on with their mission. It would just be the two of them exploring space and finding a new place to call hom-
"Number 31827, be quiet! Also, button your top button!" His Professor shouted.
Terri froze from being caught so he gave her a small squeeze to reassure her. "But I look way cooler this way."
"Conformity is cool!"
"Conformity is cool, conformity is cool, conformity is cool…"