LF Friends, Will Travel

There were a very many things Baithe should have been worried about.

The fact that at all times she stood over enough nuclear and antimatter warheads to instantly obliterate herself, the research facility and the entire moon they were situated on.

The fact that in every single room, including her personal sleeping quarters, contained a high intensity cleansing device. A Terran made speciality which would instantly consume the area in super heated plasma, destroying everything down to a cellular level.

The fact that what she was working on was considered potentially dangerous enough for Terran paranoia to deem all these safety measures a minimum.

Or maybe it was the fact that she had gotten used to such things, had mentally placed them in a box labelled “Things that just were”. Terran insanity was seemingly contagious.

No, the thing the Hatil was worried about was the new Terran boarding the facility. Unannounced, unverified, and even worse the ship's initial docking had triggered several alerts. The kind of alerts you got if a criminal or someone of interest to the government attempted to dock with your station.

Alerts that Spot had overridden, explaining that everything was fine and he’d explain later. Baithe trusted the doctor, but still… It was all highly worrying. The ship had docked, dropped off a Terran and Zorthian, then left just as quickly, leaving the research team of three confused.

So now she was standing in the lobby, waiting impatiently for the decontamination procedures to finish so they could meet whoever these mystery people were. Baithe stood at a full 4ft tall, covered from head to toe in cream coloured fur, face punctuated with two deep black eyes and a set of floppy ears; as if some crazed scientist had smushed together a baby seal and a teddy bear. The standard gold and blue uniform of the Terran Alliance Scientific Progress Initiative made her look unintentionally adorable.

“What do you think about this Steve? I trust Spot, but it’s all a bit weird right?”

“Answering query: Placing two Terrans on any vessel is worrying regardless of reason, as they exponentially increase the insanity.”

The second member of the research team was a Scythen: A ball of tentacles fluctuating in various colours, sat atop a small hovering disk to allow easy locomotion, speaking in a robotic voice: A necessity to allow communication with more standard species. They were well known for being one of the older and more technologically advanced species with a religious devotion to pacifism.

Technically their name wasn’t Steve, but their actual name wasn’t able to be understood by anyone who didn’t have multiple tentacles and the ability to change colour, so Steve it was.

“Does that really apply here? Spot isn’t exactly a normal Terran.”

“Disagreeing statement: The children of Terrans are still Terrans, and share their chaos and insanity.”

This discussion was cut short as the door finally opened, the lengthy decontamination process ending with a flurry of noise and the scent of disinfectant and burnt ozone. After over an hour the members of the research facility would get to see just who had caused all this trouble: Amander and Fluur.

Immediately the worry regarding the mystery Terran evaporated from the two researchers, replaced by a concern for the heavily injured Zorthian who was desperately gripping onto Amander’s arm to keep himself upright.

It took a moment for what they saw to actually sink in, before Baithe rushed to provide the injured Fluur something to sit down on, the Zorthian gratefully sinking into the hastily grabbed chair.

“Howdy y’all, I don’t do suppose any of ya have seen Spot?” The Terran gleefully called out.

“Amander. Blake!” A new voice shouted from across the room.

Amander didn’t have a middle name, but the energy was the same as a mother calling out her child's full name.

The third and last member of the research team stood in the doorway, a bipedal Canine covered in short black fur, also dressed in the blue and gold uniform, standing at a full 3ft tall. It was as if someone had taken a Labrador, forced it upright on two legs, then given it a voice box and opposable thumbs.

Of course the reason it seemed that way was because this was exactly what had happened to the canine uplift.

Spot was currently glaring at Amander, only the slow thumping of a wagging tail hitting the wall behind him betraying just how happy he was to see his friend, regardless of the circumstances.

"Hey! How's my favoritest person in the galaxy doing?" Amander gave a large grin as she spoke, deliberately ignoring the tone of voice.

"What. Did. You. Do." Spot spoke the words sternly, through gritted teeth and one at a time.

"I was mindin my own business when-"

"You're always minding your own business!" Spot interrupted Amander "Why is there an alliance wide alert in your name!"

Amander gave a charismatic smile in response to this. She had figured that the Terran government would eventually find out what had happened. She had also figured that Spot was “cool” enough to disregard such things

"An alert I’m sure you ignored.”

Spot stopped for a moment, an annoyed pause filling the air as the rest of the room's inhabitants awkwardly watched this back and forth from the sidelines, before the canine eventually responded

“... Yes.”

“And that’s why you’re a good boy.” Amander teased.

This last statement from Amander caused the general thumping of the wagging tail hitting the doorframe to turn into a rapid snare drum as Spot struggled to contain his joy.

“That is not the question." Spot said, returning to a strained voice through gritted teeth "What did you do, and why shouldn’t I call the government and get them to deal with your mess?”

“That’s probably a discussion to be havin in private, since-”

“No." The response from the uplift was simple, interrupting the human's attempt at secrecy "Whatever it is my team deserves to know as well, since they’ll also be in whatever mess you created this time.”

Baithe and Steve both desperately did not want to be involved in this, the Scythen a vibrant purple that signified discomfort, and the Hatil looked like she wanted to melt through the floor. This was the feeling of going to a friends house, and watching them have an argument with their parents.

Amander gave a sigh, taking a moment’s delay to finally speak up.

“I may have… shot a Raha prince. While being recorded.”

The reaction was immediate, an outpouring of shock and worry with regards to the exact mess the Terran was in, Baithe, Steve and Spot all crying out at the same time.

“You did what!”

“Shocked Statement: That is not good”

“You came here after doing that?!”

This continued for another twenty seconds, the researchers verbally laying into Amander with statements of concern, until another voice joined the mass of noise.

"Hey"

Nobody reacted to the soft voice, forcing Fluur to speak louder the second time.

"Hey!"

The noise quietened down, everyone in the room turning to look at the injured Zorthian with expressions of panic and anger turning to a more empathetic look.

"It's not Amander's fault. Without her I’d still be on the ship, without her they’d still be… I’d still be… they deserved to die.”

Fluurs voice was quiet, shaky, eyes fixated to the ground as he spoke not daring to look up from the floor as the entire room stared at him as he continued to speak.

“If you don’t want us around that’s fine, but Amander has done nothing but speak highly of you Spot, she said you would be able to help.”

The tension had left the room, replaced with a more solemn feeling as Spot gave a deep sigh and looked at Fluur.

“I’m not saying we won’t help, but it’s a lot to throw at us so suddenly." Spot said "What is your plan Amander, you always have one.”

“It ain’t much. Drake is gonna fly around with the ship, makin sure no one with ill intent was followin us, then contact the useless folks known as the government for a longer term solution. Maybe drop this story to every media outlet if they try to be sneaky about it.”

The disdain for the Terran government was clear in Amander’s voice as she continued explaining her plan.

“This facility isn’t on any map, and in addition I reckon outside of his home planet you’re the only facility that could help little Fluur here; due to your special project and all. We just need a place to stay for a week, and some medical expertise.”

Spot gave another sigh, clearly beaten down by the sad state of Fluur.

“If Steve and Baithe are fine taking the risk, we’ll help you.”

There was a moment as both of them signalled their acceptance, before Baithe gave a frown as something occurred to her.

“Wait" The Hatil asked "how do you know what we’re doing here, this is secret stuff?”

“Questioning Query: Has Spot been telling the other Terran about our work?” Steve turned to 'face' Spot as he added to the question.

The uplift gave a defensive stance, raising his paws in innocence as he looked just as surprised as the other two research members.

“No I haven’t! But this is Amander we’re talking about, so as soon as I refused to tell her, she probably went and did something ethically dubious to get the information.”

The grin on Amanders face said it all, causing Spot to physically facepalm in response, giving a sigh as he decided to ignore her and get to business.

“Come on, let's get you both settled in and a treatment plan for the Zorthian. Also, Amander?”

The uplift gave a warm smile, tail wagging once again and he looked at his friend.

“It’s good to see you again.”