The brilliant sun dipped down and painted the sky in those beautiful colors, and while we were only a few miles away from entering the hot-zone, we decided to establish camp here in relative safety for the night.

  We found a spot where the freeway went through a wide stretch of forest and pulled the buses off to the side of the road and parked them in an angled position to mostly block our camp from view for anyone on the road. Our camp now was similar to the one we established on our way to Wesseran after the crash, but much larger to accommodate the resistance soldiers. We established some extra barriers and pop-up watchtowers to cover the larger area, with Eve and myself along with the researchers getting sent to the back in the most defensible positions, still meant to stay out of any combat in the event our camp was attacked at night.

  The one interceptor vehicle that was acting as our escort continued driving along the road while our camp was all set up, scouting around the area for any nearby threats.

  It was obvious the resistance soldiers were totally intermingling with our team now. While our marines, power armor soldiers and agents were all paired off with an escort for themselves, all the extra resistance soldiers seemed to be grouping up with various pairs as well, turning the company into a collection of smaller teams. Since Kianna and the other researchers were always hanging around us, their escort soldiers accompanied us too, with another small collection of soldiers joining in to keep us company. It was like everyone had a little gang of short vyranes following them around, and yet everyone seemed quite comfortable with the new arrangement.

  Clearly no one still cared about getting tested at gunpoint yesterday, but beyond that the resistance soldiers seemed eager to stay right around with us, always ready to help in any way they could. It seemed like they really believed we were their only chance in ridding their world of the separatist threat, so they were doing everything they could to help now, to make sure our mission succeeded exactly as planned.

  Same as before, we got out our little sleep pods and placed them under the large popup canopy tents all centered around those heat cubes. I didn’t know anything about the seasons on Vyrane, but while it seemed like a mild summer day when the sun was out, at night it got quite a bit cooler like it was early spring compared to Earth. It wasn’t unpleasant, and since I was from the Midwest back on Earth I was used to even colder weather, but I never enjoyed the cold at all, so I parked up right next to the little heat cube and wanted it running all night.

  The resistance soldiers did have a little camp meal prepared together, dishing out rations of some simple, ready-made meal. It made me quite envious they had hot food at night while we were stuck eating the same crappy rations, but we couldn’t risk joining in with their little feast since we didn’t know who would be biologically compatible with the vyrane food and couldn’t risk anyone getting sick over the meal while on the mission.

  All gathered around the heat cube, Eve and I lounged in the little camp chairs beside the researchers, chewing away on our protein rations in relative silence while Almana and a few of her soldiers enjoyed their hot meal next to us, sharing stories about the nearby cities and what they were like before the separatists.

  Eve leaned her head on my shoulder and draped one leg in my lap, then handed me her protein ration, tired of even pretending to eat it; she didn’t need the nutrients at all—never needed to worry about calories or anything, so really she was given all those rations just to keep up appearances. But since she only ever really liked eating good food just to enjoy the taste of a nice meal, she usually passed off her rations to me to finish them up, and since I was always a big eater, even if the protein rations just tasted like old jerky, I was happy to finish it for her.

  ~What are you thinking?~ I asked Eve through the secret vibrations while I started in on her rations.

  Eve sighed and settled herself against me more, ~Nothing really, letting my mind wander I suppose. I hope to someday camp with you as a vacation like you used to back on Earth~

  ~Not having fun now?~

  Eve turned to face me and quirked up a thin eyebrow, ~Are you?~

  I shrugged, ~It’s not so bad, just wish we had some good camp meals instead~

  Eve leaned her head back against my shoulder, ~Well, I think we’d be having a lot more fun if we weren’t surrounded by all these soldiers. Of course we could have a nice meal if we were camping by ourselves, plus we could wear actual comfortable clothes. Not to mention what all we could do with a little more privacy~

  I nodded along to her words, ~You’ve got a couple of good points there~

  Eve chuckled quietly, ~I usually do~

  “So what about you Eve?” Almana said abruptly.

  I had to do a doubletake when we were suddenly involved in their conversation, and I realized I had no idea what they’d been saying up until that point, I’d been distracted with my secret conversation with Eve.

  Eve waved her hand out vaguely, “What do you wish to know?” She asked, having no problem keeping track of what everyone was saying and doing in the camp with that supercomputer brain of hers.

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  Almana shrugged, “Adam told us all about Earth, what about your home planet?”

  Eve shook her head, then leaned back against me, “I wasn’t born on the celicapoz home world, instead I was born and raised on an Imperial space station in the core systems. I enlisted in the military as soon as I was old enough just so I could get out and explore the rest of the Empire, but the joke’s on me since I spend most of my time on military space stations now when we’re not on a planet-side mission.” She said easily.

  I looked over to see the researchers all seemed quite impressed with the way Eve so easily told her fictional backstory, being dismissive over the facts in a believable way. I wondered if they would think she was just trained well like a clandestine agent, or would they think it was classic Predazoan manipulation?

  “Do you have any family back on your home station?” Demma asked, the vyrane soldier escorting Kianna and Gorgam. She was a little taller than Almana, though they looked about the same age, with dark grey skin, short, dark red hair, and surprisingly short horns that curled in on themselves at the sides of her head.

  Eve waved it off, “Just my mother, but we aren’t very close; she had me on her own with a donor’s assistance, a career woman who was hoping a child would be an asset more than anything else.”

  Almana’s face scrunched up with clear distaste, “Well that’s just horrible; that’s no reason to have a child.”

  Eve shrugged, “That’s my mother. Like I said, we aren’t close.”

  I gestured to Almana, “What about you, do you have any other family?”

  Almana shook her head, “No, just me and Melna now. My father left the planet to be some interplanetary salesmen, haven’t seen him in 20 Vyrane years now. And then my mother died just a few years ago due to overgrowth.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. What’s overgrowth?” I asked.

  Almana gestured to her horns, “A rare genetic condition where the roots of your horns press into your skull and that eventually puts dangerous pressure on the brain. It’s preventable if it’s caught in time, otherwise it’s often fatal.”

  I nodded over to Almana, “You’ve probably got the nicest set of horns I’ve seen so far, but I’ve noticed they’re larger than most, so is overgrowth something you’ll have to worry about too?”

  Demma beside Almana stifled a quick laugh, and even in the dim light I could see Almana blushing bright pink.

  “My, you are quite bold, Adam, but thank you very much for the compliment.” She said, sounding like she was about to laugh herself.

  I looked over at Eve and the researchers, but everyone appeared just as confused as I felt.

  “I…did I say something weird?”

  Almana reached up to her horns and rubbed them slowly, “Not weird, really, although it was quite forward. I suppose it would be like…” She paused and turned to Demma and the two of them whispered to each other quickly, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying, until finally Demma laughed again and Almana turned back to me, “It would be the same as if I complimented your…genitals when I saw them in the shower yesterday.”

  “Your horns are your genitals?” I couldn’t stop myself from blurting out.

  Then all the vyranes around us laughed, and it was quite a hearty laugh too, like I’d just said something totally ridiculous and outrageous.

  “No, no Adam not at all. But our horns are somewhat symbolic as to what kind of mate we’d be—passion housed in the horns as the saying goes. There’s some pseudo-science for dating that all involves our horns, and there’s lots of ways we use them to attract potential partners. You could think of it like how a lot of Imperial races use their breasts or cleavage to attract a mate—and vyranes do that too, but our horns are more intimate than that.” Almana shook her head and sighed, seeming like she was about to give up, “It would be really hard to explain to someone who wasn’t raised on Vyrane.”

  “And when Adam said you had a nice set of horns and they were larger than most, would that be taken as a compliment?” Kianna asked, a smirk clear on her face—barely holding back from laughing at my expense.

  Almana chuckled then, “Oh absolutely. Plus, it was the way he said it; if a random man went up and bluntly told you he liked your large breasts, that would certainly be seen as inappropriate. But our horns are a little different, they aren’t covered after all, and his comment was completely innocuous—like if a man accidentally and innocently mentioned how you had a perfect figure when talking about something unrelated.”

  Eve glared at me and swatted my shoulder, “What are you going around complimenting other women for?”

  I held my hands up in surrender, “I obviously had no idea what I was talking about, my bad.”

  The vyranes all laughed at my expense, even the researchers seemed plenty entertained. Eve, however, I couldn’t tell if she was joking or not with as jealous as she could get sometimes.

  Almana’s laughs died down and she just sighed, “No, really it’s okay Adam, I think we all needed the laugh now.”

  I sighed too, “Glad I could help I guess.”

  From there things seemed to become much more casual, as though I’d broken down some barrier thanks to my significant faux paus. The vyranes all got along with us quite well, but it seemed like there’d been a little distance between us, as though the vyranes revered us and our mission. But now they probably realized how we were all just people same as them, capable of mistakes and stupidity like anyone.

  Or maybe it was just me.

  As the conversation died down we all turned in for the night into our sleep pods around the heat cube. Talk continued well into the night, even if it was scattered and sparce, as though no one really wanted to fully commit to sleep yet, as though worried about being vulnerable at night. But now was probably the last chance we’d get at a peaceful night’s sleep, for starting tomorrow onward we’d been sleeping in the middle of a warzone, trying to set up our camps in any small corner we could to survive the night.

  I had a feeling the vyranes knew that, and maybe they even dreaded it. They had firsthand experience on the horrors of the assimilated soldiers; they were the ones with friends and family that had been killed, only to stand back up and turn against their loved ones. It was a war unlike anything we’d ever had to deal with on Earth, a war I knew we’d never be able to survive with our technology. And yet here we were and there I was, pretending to be one of their saviors who had any idea what the hell we were doing.

  Well, it wasn’t like it really mattered—wasn’t like I mattered, it was all up to Eve and her abilities; it would be up to her to kill and consume Beta-09 to put an end to the war. We were all just tagging along to make sure she made it to the capital.

  Same as always, I found comfort with my Evie, and as I fell asleep with our pods pressed together, I pushed all my doubts away, relying on her for strength and comfort, sure she would get us through this madness somehow. I just hoped I wouldn’t be a burden for her along the way.