“You were up all night watching Void Viewer videos again haven’t you?” A song of questioning was sung directly into her ear as she perked her ear and antenna in the separate direction and avoided direct eye contact before her interrogator’s snout booped against her and he grew more aggressive when poking.

“Okay yes, this one was doing all that sort of stuff” She admitted wholeheartedly in her song and tone which was distinctly sleepy accent “Well, try not to do that again okay? We may have nothing to do but it’s best to be awake for possible problems” Rasnessk reminded her as she preened her acceptance.

He let out a soft trill exhaling as he sang quietly “You’ve been thinking about ‘it’ again haven’t you?” He quietly asked as her crest feathers fell in strength and brightness told him everything he needed “Sorry, this one should’ve never mentioned that” He quickly sang as she looked at him, everything drooping.

“It’s fine, this one is fine and will make sure to not to fall short of expectations anymore” She sang her promises as she looked at him with those sad eyes “You should go seek help if you need it, this one will not force you to but you should if you keep having those thoughts” He sang as his tail wrapped around her own and she let out a soft trill “This one knows that… it’s just… hard to” She sang back.

Silence followed for a noticeable amount of time as they sat together in an empty helm “You should accept the promotion to a 1st class now, it’s been long enough and you can’t stay a Junior for too long, it gets suspicious and I’m running out of lessons” He sang to her breaking the silence.

“This one never deserves to be a Helm Rider in the first place, much less work on a Void Craft for what this one has done. Promotion can wait until it is certain that this one won’t make any more mistakes” She sang back, the claws on her legs digging through her footwear as she clenched tightly.

Rasnessk let out a soft trill as he patted her head with a wing “This one thinks this is enough sadness for a day, let’s get back to being productive and stop composing about the pass” Sang Rasnessk as Sylksskra perked up a bit “R-Right, that is probably best for everyone” She agreed letting out a low trilling.

“Good, can you still man your station for the day? We’re exiting back to real space in an estimated half a day” Her brother asked her as he brightened his crown feathers “Suppose so, wouldn’t ever miss the sensation of slowly coming to a halt from the jump” She sang her reply as her feathers brightened.

“Let’s not speak about the accident again, just try to let it go and recover okay? This one would be distraught with losing you as well” She was reminded in song as she stared at him “Okay, this one will heed your words and let it go until it eventually comes back” She sang as her brother simply preened his acceptance of the matter before turning tail leaving the room for her alone with all the instruments.

She looked around as she turned on the sensors again before turning it off after confirming that yes they were still jumping and yes it was trippy as heck ‘Now then, how should this one spend her time to burn away half a day?’ She composed as she shuffled through the pockets of her jumpsuit.

It might not look professional and it is not the normal wear of a Helm Rider but this far from Kassian space… who fucking cares ‘Wonder what’s up for today’ She composed as she opened up her holo device scrolling sideways to the various software applications that she installed for work and play.

It was going to be a grueling period to watch the various instruments and make sure the computer doesn’t make an error but that was impossible and it was mainly just a traditional job anyways ‘Now then, let’s see if they fixed that fucking ‘surprise’ mechanic’ She composed as she let out a hiss.

“Look this one is worried for her, just can’t help it” Rasnessk sang as he slammed his cup on the table, the bulky object which resembles a bottle with a straw sticking out of it but with no way to open shook as it rolled a bit before straightening “She never takes care of herself, staying up late, blaming herself for the accident and even unwilling to seek help for her problems” He added with an additional verse.

The other 2 at the table let out a low continuous nervous trilling as they looked at him “Well for one, Sylksskra may be a late hatcher, she is still an adult like us and can take care of herself though she really should get help” Lorrisskr sang as she took a sip from her cup as well and not slamming it at the table.

“This one agree with that as well but… again, we can’t force anything upon her” Fallskchrimm sang as he splayed his antenna out for a bit “Obviously but this one’s still worried, it’s hard being the pack leader and to just let a member hurt herself like that!” Rasnessk sang as he slammed his head on the table.

“This… This one just wants her to be happy and safe like you two” He admitted as he cried out with his head splayed out on the table “Rasnessk, you are now the one to be destroying yourself from your worries, it’s good that you care but this is a bit much” Lorrisskr advised as she sang.

Rasnessk let a low hiss as he sang “Suppose you’re right, this one should probably eased down a bit, mayhaps that’s the reason she’s even having a resurgence of self-doubt in the first place” He started overreacting “A bit much but a good start, probably turn down all of… that” Lorrisskr advised.

“R-Right, this one would give his best attempt to it” He promised as he threw a twice-baked Garrosk seed into his mouth and chewing before swallowing with the tongue “Yeah and remember not to accept the wooing of any females you don’t know” She sang to remind him as he just splayed his ears in response “Sure, will keep that in mind” He chirped as he chewed.

“This one says we have a fun game of Tindlemm” Fallskchrimm sang his composition out as the other 2 tilted their heads at him “Well, that is a fun board game… sure let’s go do it” Rasnessk agreed and Lorriskkr also agreed soon after as the pack mates had a fun pack game night, worries residing for now.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Phil frowned as he looked through the window as he pulled over the sheets “Still snowing as usual, at least weather’s not getting worse” He said out loud as he proceeded to close the sheets and sighed as he went over to the couch with the hot chocolate ready on the table.

‘Nothing like being stuck in your Antarctic research station for a few days to one of its rare blizzards’ He mused as he took a sip of the hot cocoa, relishing in its warmth and flavor ‘Nothing like a cup of hot chocolate to get through the freezing blizzard… fantastic’ He thought as he took another sip.

Being a biological researcher, Phil was supposed to do more studies on the native penguins of the continent though because of the so called blizzard he was forced within his research station shared with his fellow coworkers whom are thankfully tucked away in their own rooms doing stuff.

This however means that he has full access to the television himself and he is certainly not going to misuse that opportunity as he turned the tv on through the remote. The channel was showing news about a recent renewed offensive somewhere in the middle east.

The footage was choppy and the lag was apparent but the fact that he even had the ability to watch stuff in a fucking blizzard is a miracle by itself ‘Wish god saw fit to bless me with a good physique though that may be too much to ask’ He chuckled as he took another sip.

He frowned as he realized he ran out of cocoa in his cup so he went to the kitchen to get some more because he literally cannot operate without the stuff here in the Antarctic as he bumped into oe of his coworkers “Hi Ellie” He simply greeted as he poured himself more cocoa.

“Hi Phil, anything new on TV?” She asked as she brewed herself some coffee “Nope, same ole US of A going with a renewed offensive on some middle eastern nation for that sweet sweet oil” He remarked as he poured in more sugar than should be safe to consume.

“Hmm… well tell me if anything new happens like the discovery of aliens or something, that would be nice” She reminded him as she yawned “Sure thing, you’ll definitely be the first person I’ll notify about an alien invasion” He promised as he took a sip of his newly created cup of hot toasty chocolate.

‘Smores would be nice… I should make some’ He thought but put it aside for now “Well you should really put a bit more care into that sort of information” She advised him as she waited for her coffee to be brewed “Why’s so, it’s not like we know of their existence” He asked as he decided ‘Nah, not Smores’

She smirked as he asked “Well for your information, in the last decade scientists have discovered many signals originating from space thought to be the work of aliens themselves” She answered with an air of smugness “You mean the same signals we’ve been receiving for decades on end believing them to be aliens when they are in fact just weird spacial anomalies?” He quipped as he thinks about the popcorn.

“Yeah but the scientific community have a good feeling about these signals, some of them seem odd at first but might be prove of alien life though not unequivocal prove” She explained as she finally received her cup of Latte “Sure… We’ll see when a ship pops up in the great red spot on Jupiter” Phil mused.

Ellie turned towards him as she sipped her coffee “I know right? It would be insane if aliens were no longer in the realm of science-fiction! Think of what their biology would look like! Their wholly un earth like form!” She said as she got enthusiastic about the topic as usual.

“Shit, now you’re making me a bit enthused by the prospect, it would be great just to discover life that is extraterrestrial in nature” Phil said holding back a smirk as he decided on popcorn “Well that all comes down to whether they’re benevolent or not” Matt, a fellow co-worker interjects himself in the banter.

Ellie and Phil blinked as they realized the African American just somehow slipped into the kitchen without them noticing “Oh hi Matt, we’re discussing a topic about aliens” Phil told him as Matt sighed “Yes, I heard over in my room, you 2 are loud” He told them as they both looked at each other for a bit.

“But the topic is a bit fascinating, I wonder about the environment they would survive in, perhaps it can be amenable to human life or perhaps it can’t” Matt mused as he joined the conversation “I know right? They’re discovery will be THE turning point of the century!” Ellie agreed as she smiled.

“But still, who knows what could happen, they’ll probably come and kill us all most likely” Matt pessimistically suggested “That’s a bit of bull, you don’t know that, nobody does” Ellie reminded him as Matt shrugged “Nobody except the lord I suppose” He added as the 2 continues to banter and argue.

Phil sighed as he grabbed a bag of instant popcorn, put it in the microwave, played a mobile game, poured himself another mug of hot chocolate and then collect the popcorn and the 2 were still talking “I’m going to watch the news in the common room if you need me” He announced before leaving.

‘Why do they always talk about alien crap all the time’ He wondered as he plopped everything on the table as the news continued. It was now reporting on some new invention that would fix climate change forever like those devices have never been made with the same promises before.

Phil sighed as he plopped a kernel in his mouth ‘Why do I even bother watching these… hmm the storm seems to be getting quieter and the footage less choppy’ He realized as he stood up and went over to the window and as he opened up the curtains he could see a dying storm as snow falls a bit slower.

“Finally, we can go study more about penguins and such” He said out loud as he watched for a while before closing the curtains and sitting back down ‘We can do those things tomorrow, there’s no need to rush, not like there will be an alien invasion or some shit’ He thought as he went for another sip.

Suddenly, the repetitive news that never seem to differ from one another cut away as the title “BREAKING NEWS” can be seen hogging half of the screen “What the hell?” He wondered as he watched everything shift as the people behind the screen started talking over each other and fixing things.

“What’s happening?” Elle entered the room with her coffee “Well the reporters are panicking setting things up so I’d say really urgent news” He answered as he plopped another kernel in his mouth “I wonder what got them so riled up, it can’t be that WW3 started” Matt came in with his own thoughts.

Phil sighed as he watched the reporters entered screen and started to hastily reading over something as the technicians tried to get the video footage working “I don’t know, they probably discovered an alien spaceship that just ‘Hyper Jumped’ into our solar system or something” Phil answered as he took a sip.

He then proceeded to spit it all out as he heard the actual news “Breaking news everyone, across the world telescopes and observatories have spotted an unidentified flying object that is not natural, I repeat not natural that suddenly appeared in the orbit of Jupiter” The news anchored announced.

He stared slack jawed on the screen as the anchor showed pictures that seem hastily taken on an object that looked very distinct from any type of meteorite or comet or anything else as it almost looked like a sort of spaceship given away by the 4 massive what looks to be engines on its aft.

He turned towards Ellie as he ignored the burning cocoa on his body and she looked at him, blinked and give the biggest shit eating grin he ever saw from her “I TOLD YOU, ALIENS!” She screamed in excitement as she nearly hugged him “It’s aliens!” She repeated as she went back to her room hurriedly.

“Dude, you should buy a lottery ticket though we should see if our visitors are friendly and not the genocidal kind” Matt advised as Phil just stared blankly into space “Well if you need me I’ll be in my room preparing to defend our good Earth in the name of God against the potential extraterrestrial devils so call me if you need me” Matt assured him as he too went to his room as Phil himself still stared blankly into space itself…