Hey you all...
I feel like I'm repeating myself over and over again but I'm so sorry it took this long for me to update the story again... I'm just having so little time to write nowadays but luckily all you awesome writers out there are giving me the energy to fight the time...I wish I could be able to write more and update more frequently...
But! A big thank you to all the readers, the reviewers, and everyone who is still part of this great BMFM fanbase out there! I salute you!
Now, I'm hoping everyone has had a great summer so far, and let's hope you'll enjoy this next little chapter.
Stay safe and ride free!
-SpaceFlora
The Story of Rebellion and Hope
9.
Hearing their Captain telling them that there was life on Mars had come as a shock to the crew, to say the least. And maybe shock wasn't the best way to describe the situation and what went on in everyone's heads as soon as Noah had spoken the words: "We're not alone." Maybe instead of shock, it was bafflement they had all experienced. "We're not alone." Heck, that could've meant anything. They first had even thought that their Captain had hit his head or broken his helmet and gotten poisonous carbon dioxide into his lungs, making him lose the sense of the true world around him while suffocating.
But to see the live footage from outside as Noah's spacesuit cam had panned the red desert before finally stopping and showing them the true meaning behind those said words: "We're not alone." Since there, on the red sand, had laid completely still two...beings. Two big human-sized creatures. Aliens. Fucking hell.
It was surreal. It was incomprehensible. It was just absurd.
As it turned out, nothing could prepare you to learn the fact that you're not alone in this Universe. That there's life out there. That there's life in here, on Mars. Holy shit.
And when Noah had told them to get their spacesuits on and come and witness this monumental breakthrough in science, life, and everything with their own eyes, as it possibly would be safe enough to do so as apparently the creatures lied there showing no signs on waking or getting up anytime soon...the seven crew members had their heads spinning. Everyone silent, they pulled their spacesuits on, checking their life support systems with robotic movements since they've gone through this task hundreds of times before, their hands and fingers moving on the gears with certain automation, getting the tasks done even if their brains were in a hazy state...And it was just when they stepped outside their tent that every one of the seven crew members turned to face each other, still silent but they could see it through their visors, they could read it from their faces. The utter perplexity, and utter fear. And maybe now they were experiencing a certain level of shock.
They were not alone. They. Were. Not. Alone.
They started their small journey up the dune where Noah was waiting for them. Their legs shaky, and the only thing they heard was their own uneven shallow breathing inside their helmets while they with staggering steps got higher and higher, closer and closer to the top.
Charley was climbing the dune like the rest of them and it felt like her every step had a deeper purpose, a deeper meaning than before. She could feel the gravity of this situation with every sinking step as the red soil was making it that much harder for anyone to climb up like nature was trying to purposely delay them to see what was waiting for them at the top.
But even if ascending the dune felt like taking forever, as the time for the ones who wait and are eager to get to the finish line is much more intolerable, they finally reached the top and with the few last steps they already saw their Captain standing there in his deep blue spacesuit, waiting for them, and they could also spot Lucas who was now sitting up on the red sand, slightly swaying but he wasn't looking at them. No, he was looking at whatever it was now lying next to him, well, a little further away from him but still so close that he could nearly touch them if he wanted, which he didn't. And the seven crew members that had just now entered the scene turned their eyes on whatever it was they were looking at. They really didn't have a clue at this point.
These two creatures resembled humans in a way that they had two legs and two arms, meaning that they presumably walked on two legs. And they were fully clothed and wore helmets that had reflecting visors so they couldn't see their heads, nor their faces. They didn't know what was there behind that shiny glass: Tusks? Three eyes? A gaping hole? It was anyone's guess.
But the one thing that finally caught their eyes was the long snaking appendages next to the creatures that were moving ever so slightly with the harsh winds still plaguing this part of the land. A tail. A long tail, coated with fine fur. And when they realized the tail was covered with fur they quickly noticed that actually, these creatures had fur all over their bodies. Well, all over the body parts that they could see at least, the parts that weren't covered with fabric. Yeah, whatever these creatures were, they wore clothes, and not any kind of clothes but camos, combat uniforms, with gun holsters on their thighs and ammo belts around their torsos and dark boots on their feet.
Noah had been waiting for them and even if he had had a good thirty minutes to think, he was a little too flabbergasted at this point, like everyone else, to really know what to say here. And anyway, this moment felt like it should have a meaningful speech, like the first time a human stepped on the Moon's surface, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" now echoing in Noah's mind and probably others' minds as well. It just felt that this moment required them to invent unforgettable lines to be quoted later. But Noah was a practical man, he wasn't a poet. So, after a few long minutes of silence, he finally cleared his throat and made everyone nearly jump as the radios crackled on again.
"You brought the guns?" Noah asked turning to Zack.
Zack cleared his throat as well and he proceeded to take cautious steps towards his Captain and that way towards these motionless creatures while the others still stayed put, staring at the two aliens with long tails.
As Zack handed Noah the other gun the Captain checked that it was loaded and Zack after studying Noah did the same with his own gun, his hands slightly trembling, this whole scenario was absurd. They had had two guns on board. Space missions usually did, but they were mostly there for the purpose if the shuttle would ever fail to get into space and if they would fall back to Earth and by some miracle survive and if the landing area would be remote with wildlife...the guns were to protect them against bears and such. There were a lot of "ifs" in the whole business considering guns and space but not one of those "ifs" were about protecting yourself against aliens while being on a strange planet. But here they were.
Eve was the next one to get over her stupor and she turned her eyes, even if a little reluctantly, as if the two strange beings were to vanish the moment she looked away, to turn her attention on Lucas who still sat on the ground, his eyes still on these two figures and apparently not really bothered by the fact that his orange-hued visor had been dyed with bloodstains. The taller woman hurried to him and knelt down beside him.
"You okay?" She asked but only got some kind of mumble back as an answer.
"You're bleeding..." She continued, carefully examining him with her look, her words filled with care and worry.
Lucas turned his head to meet her worried eyes like just now realizing he wasn't alone anymore but surrounded by his crewmates.
"What?" He asked. Eve sighed and the caring voice was already a far-distant memory.
"I said, you're bleeding." She blurted.
"I am...?" Lucas still had difficulties sitting still as he was swaying from side to side.
"Yes, Lucas was attacked..." Noah replied but left the perpetrators unnamed, partly because he didn't really know what to call these creatures still lying there at his feet.
Lucas concentrated his two eyes behind his round glasses now on the bloodstain on his visor.
"Oh...That's my blood?" He asked still in some kind of hazy state of mind.
"Well, who's would it be if not your's...?!" Eve started her voice already edging irritability, not because she wanted to shout at the poor man who clearly had suffered from a concussion but because...there were god damn aliens lying next to them and she didn't know was she suffering from a concussion herself at this point. She turned to give their doctor a quick look who was at the moment still staring at the aliens and not really paying attention to the injured crew member.
"Jeremiah! Would you mind...?!"
The robust and silent doctor flinched but quickly gathered his thoughts and hurried to help Lucas, too.
Charley took a step forward also, her eyes examining the human-sized extraterrestrials.
"What happened?" She asked with a faint whisper, like her muffled voice behind the heavy-duty glass could wake up the aliens.
Noah felt every crew members' eyes on him, waiting for an answer and he only shook his head.
"I didn't get to see what happened here. I came up here to help Lucas with the seismic monitor and that's when I saw he was already lying on the ground, knocked out...And that's when I saw these...things communicating with each other in some sort of agitated state..." Noah pointed vaguely towards the two aliens, remembering the strange voices and sounds he had heard.
"And how did you...?" Sophia asked her question trailing off as Noah quickly pointed at the taser that was now dangling from his belt. Again, the taser was there just for the ultimate protection while being this far away from their home planet and far away from any kind of security or police. One could never be sure whether or not one of the crew members would lose their minds and had to be...made undangerous.
"...but if they're only tased then they could wake up anytime and...!" Sophia hurried already alerted.
"The taser doesn't normally knock out a man..." Jeremiah joined in on the conversation but stopped while giving the aliens a brief glance.
"...in Earth I mean..." He mumbled before continuing to examine Lucas's wound through the visor.
"So...are they dead?" Eve asked carefully dusting her knees while standing up, taking a small hesitant step closer to the creatures.
"They're still breathing." Charley pointed out as her green eyes were still on these motionless beings. And to answer why she could tell that the aliens were still breathing: it was because, unlike the humans who had heavy-duty pressure suits on, these two beings weren't wearing any protective gear against the very harsh climate the red planet had to offer, the strong wind tugging their clothes and fur while they were helplessly lying on the ground. The only protective gear they wore was the helmet and it didn't look like a kind of helmet that would be there to protect them against the climate or enable them to breath but it resembled a helmet used by... and that's when Charley's eyes grew bigger and she quickly darted her eyes away from the creatures and scanned the area, in search for something. And she didn't need to search for long since there was something glimmering partly covered by the red sand, something apparently none of the later arrived astronauts had yet spotted which was maybe fair because their brain receptors were still trying to figure out the whole alien dilemma.
She knew she would've needed to proceed more cautiously but her eagerness was blurring her judgment as she walked over the two machines and knelt down next to them.
"Charley! Better be careful...!" Noah started as he saw what the young engineer was about to do but too late as Charley already wiped the fine layer of red dust and debris off the two machines and her eyes grew even bigger as she could conclude what she already had figured out to be true. Lying beneath a fine layer of red sand there was something that looked a lot like something she was very familiar with. Two machines. A red one and a golden one. And not any kind of machines but...
"Motorcycles." She whispered but in this very much silent scene it was heard loud and clear by everyone through their radios and all the others now turned their attention on her. She let her eyes wander on the shiny metal surface of these two bikes. She opened her mouth but closed it again, shaking her head slowly, her brains already overloaded. She licked her lips and then with careful words she stated what she had concluded and maybe what every one of them had concluded by now.
"So...There's life on Mars, that...rides a motorcycle?" Her voice got higher as the whole sentence sounded like a bad joke. This was absolutely ludicrous. She turned to the others like wanting or waiting for someone to jump up and shout "gotcha!" as the hidden cameras would roll to the scene and reveal this as one big Candid Camera bit. But unfortunately, the scene stayed the same and the others stayed quiet.
Noah was the first to actually realize that whatever this all would mean, it would most certainly mean one thing particularly. That they might not have time to waste here. So, he knelt down beside the white-furred creature, which was taller than the ginger one and had more muscle mass. He let his eyes scan these still bodies, examining the aliens first time at close range, from their helmets to the tip of their tails, the red camos the creatures wore, the ammo bandoliers, the holsters, the guns...
"You left the part out where the said life is also heavily armed..." He stated with a low rumble.
"I'm sorry I have to sit down..." Sophia sighed, finally opening her mouth as well, and like she already told the rest of them, the small redhead physicist nearly slumped on the sand, shaking her head. The world was again slightly spinning or maybe the spinning had never stopped since the revelation that there was life on Mars.
Charley glanced at her fellow scientists, before she gave a look around, turning around in her place, letting her clear green eyes observe the scenery around them, the wind was still howling but other than that, there wasn't other creatures, no aliens, not even plants anywhere to be seen. It was like these two furry creatures had just fallen from the sky.
After a brief hesitation, Noah started to collect all the guns and ammo he could confiscate from the white-furred alien and he nodded at Zack to do the same for the ginger-furred one as well and after a few minutes, there was a nice pile of guns and ammo and something that looked like hand grenades in front of them. They all stared at the pile, feeling a chill go through their bodies.
"So..." Isaac started restlessness in his voice and Dylan continued.
"What's the plan here...?"
Noah felt all eyes on him again while he still had his own pair on the aliens. He was the Captain, everyone relied on his opinion and commands still and for a brief second, he wished he wasn't the Captain as he really didn't have a ready answer. But who could really blame him, after all, no one could've prepared him for this. Noah was silent for a while before he then got up and faced the eight other crew members.
"I can honestly say that at this point, we're going to have to improvise... The most important thing is that we stay safe. And that means we should head back to our base, that way we could have at least some cover..."
"Cover from what?" Sophia asked but already sort of knowing the answer, although she really wished she didn't.
They all heard Noah sighing as he gave a look at the two creatures.
"One thing I'm certain of at this moment is that...if there's two...there gotta be more of them."
"So, if we return back to our base...What do we do with them...?" Charley asked carefully nodding towards the aliens. Noah gave Zack a look.
"Zack, you go get some rope, as quickly as you can... Since we can't really know whether they'll wake up again...We'll tie them up and... bring them with, I guess."
"We bring them with us...into our tent?!" Sophia raised her voice and it had panic written all over it.
Noah swallowed. Did he really mean that they would bring two aliens back to their basecamp? Unfortunately, yes he did. It probably wasn't the safest or the sanest thing to do but it was the only thing they could do.
"Yeah. If there's something I'm quite positive about is that now that we've found life on Mars...I'll be more comfortable if we have these lifeforms inside our tent, tied up and not running around freely...when we don't know what they're capable of..." The Captain then told the others.
"And what if the others come looking for them?" Charley asked, her eyes searching for Noah's through the orange-hued visor.
Everyone fell silent.
"Well..." Noah let out a deep sigh.
"We just gotta hope that the others don't know where these two are..."
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"Luckily we know exactly where those two are!" Modo stated as he and Throttle were cruising along the red desert, their bikes roaring and leaving a long trail of dust clouds behind.
"Yeah, I hear ya, bro... Luckily these humans weren't really afraid to leave tracks as they thought they were alone on this planet..." The tan-furred male nodded while glancing at the sandtrac's tire tracks they were now following. Even if the winds had wiped out some of the tracks, some of them were still visible and with their helmet's visors, they could alter the view to make the tracks even clearer. Modo let his two red eyes examine the semi-easy-to-follow trail, pondering before glancing at his bro riding next to him.
"What do these humans even want?" He asked, slightly frowning, and slightly annoyed by this whole situation. Both of them weren't exactly delighted to leave their brothers to fight by themselves. Of course, they wanted to make sure Harley and Vinnie were okay but it didn't really ease the worry about their comrades and what was happening at the moment at the frontiers when they would not be able to help them in any way. This was just very inconvenient.
"Well...I guess they want what all the races want in this vast Universe..." Throttle thought out loud.
"Which is?" Modo raised his eyebrow, clueless. Throttle sighed and smacked his lips.
"I guess everything comes down to the meaning of life, bro."
Modo snorted at this, a little disapprovingly.
"Kinda odd to go looking for that all the way from another planet..."
Throttle chuckled.
"Sounds like you already have figured out the whole meaning of life..."
"Sure, that's love." Modo fired without even blinking.
"Whatta surprise..."
"Hey, love's always the right answer!"
"Yeah, maybe in the perfect fairytale world it is..."
"You're only cynical."
"I take cynicism anytime over delusional."
Modo shook his head.
"Fine...Be like that..."
They rode in silence a little while before Throttle let out a sigh.
"...Let's hope Harley and the rookie are just somewhere where there's no radio signal and that they've not run into trouble..."
Modo let his eyes rest on the scenery but felt a pang of worry go through him. Well, the worry had not really left him ever since he had found out with the rest of them that the two Fighters were missing.
"Maybe it's only Vinnie's big head that's blocking the radio signals..." The big grey male mumbled, trying to ease his own nerves with lighthearted joking, not really succeeding in it though.
"Yeah... Radio signals or not, I don't remember us never having difficulties tracking the bikes though..." Throttle wondered out loud, knocking the glass of the bike's radar. Modo studied the tan-furred male riding next to him before he turned his look back on the desert again and Throttle could hear his heavy sigh through the radio waves.
"Something's wrong..."
Throttle nodded.
"Yup. Something's wrong..."
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