Codename Alpha

Chapter 22

I was reaching into my pack to pull out one of the water containers when Marine stopped me.

"Oh, hold up, there's a tap upstairs we can use."

"Like, with cold water?" Max asked, excitedly. "I'm not sure how much longer I can take room-temperature water for."

"Presumably with cold water. No guarantees, but I strongly think so. Follow me."

With that, we all made our way up the stairs, which led into the dining room. I saw that the child from earlier was sitting at their dinner table, drawing something. I also took note of the fact that they owned a microwave and toaster, meaning that if we were truly going to be stranded on this planet for the foreseeable future, we hadn't been thrown all the way back in time.

Otherwise, the kitchen and dining room were both fairly ordinary, which I appreciated. Blinds on windows facing the front had been closed, for obvious reasons. It seemed to be raining pretty hard outside, and I could still hear distant police sirens.

"I think it's in... this one," Marine said, reaching up to a cupboard next to their fridge. She pulled it open, and sure enough, there were glasses. She got one for each of us, and we took turns filling our glasses with thankfully cold water and drinking.

"So, if my memory serves me, correctly, I drove through this town yesterday. I remember seeing some kind of building at the top of the hill, further that way," I said, pointing to the right. "I think that'd make a good place to call for help from. It's got high ground, so snipers will have trouble picking us off, and it's surrounded by fields- so they can't sneak up on us, either."

Max sighed. "I really hope it doesn't get to the point that they deploy snipers, but... that sounds good. Marine, do you know if we're free to leave at any time?"

"Probably. I mean, it's not like they can stop us. Weird as it may sound, Julian showed me his teeth earlier and... well, not to sound rude to the people who can't even understand us, but I didn't see any seizing or cutting teeth. He also showed me his paws, which are... very strange, as well."

"Right. Well, hopefully, we don't have to bite any of these people in the neck. I'm thinking we should stay here for a bit, at least until the police stop searching in this area, and then head out. The later the better, since we arrived here late afternoon for us, but early in the morning for them."

"Sounds good," I said. "You think they're gonna cook us dinner?"

"I'm actually tempted to check out their fridge and pantry, but I feel like that would be rude. We can save that for when we visit next time, no?" she said.

We headed back downstairs, to where Julian was telling the rest of his family about things Marine had told him. I was able to pick up a few recognizable words like Vitova and Posad, but otherwise I failed to understand entirely.

"Julian?" Marine began. They stood up and turned to face us. "Of course, you still don't understand me, so..." she simply pointed at the door.

Julian turned to Alexa and said something quietly, which I could still pick up on. "Ich glaube wirklich nicht, dass sie Terroristen sind. Außerirdische, klar, aber sonst sind es nur Leute, die versuchen, nach Hause zu kommen."

"Ja, und alles, was sie bisher hier getan haben, ist auf dem Atari zu spielen und dieses seltsame rosa Ding zu essen," Amelie added.

"Richtig. Ich bin nur nervös, dass die Polizei unsere Tür einreißt, wenn sie herausfindet, dass wir sie beherbergen. Selbst wenn sie keinen Kraftstofftank oder was auch immer in die Luft gesprengt haben, werden sie immer noch von der Regierung gejagt." Alexa then sighed. "Wenn sie gehen wollen, gibt es keinen Grund, sie aufzuhalten."

Julian turned to us and nodded. I assumed this meant that we were free to go whenever, and said "Thanks... mensch," definitely struggling to pronounce the word. It got a smile out of Julian, though.