July 4th

Quentin

“He’s dead? What did you do to him?” I screamed as I stared at Captain Desiree. She had her arms crossed as she looked away. The room, much improved from its original state, had computers filing the walls along with several scientists working there. Glowing green lights emanated from consoles as people typed away. The lighting was so bright that it was blinding.

Captain Desiree leaned against a wall and asked, “What does it matter to you? All that matters is that we have the linguistic data to speak with his people. Perhaps you can make his death not be in vain.”

“I care because he was a person with a family! If this was because of something you did, then I’m gonna…” I shouted before the sound of a clearing throat interrupted me. I turned to face the source, only to see Scarlett talking with a doctor.

The doctor sighed as he held up his clipboard. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Campbell-Smith, but it seems that the alien died of something we couldn’t have foreseen. For some reason, influenza seems to be fatal to the aliens even when the strain is merely a nuisance for most humans. Combined with the fact that it’s the flu, I think the damage has already been done. The alien made multiple trips to and from his village before dying here.”

“No. No! Damn it!” Scarlett screamed as she punched a wall. “We just arrived on this planet and we’re being the alien’s demise! Will they go extinct?”

The doctor shook his head. “Probably not. There will be those who survive. Not much, but enough that they’ll survive. I’d put the flu mortality rate at about eighty or ninety percent. Enough to destroy any emerging state structures, but not enough to kill them.”

“Is there anything we can do? This is a crisis of our own making, so we should fix it however we can. How long will it take to make a vaccine for the aliens?” Scarlett pleaded with guilt in her eyes. She didn’t cry, but I could tell that it was tugging at her heart.

The doctor pondered for a while as he thought aloud. “It should be possible to concoct a vaccine to all the influenza strains that might’ve traveled here from Earth. However, we’ll need some of the aliens as test subjects. Our medical facilities are quickly being converted to be able to house some of these aliens. With proper medical intervention, the mortality of the disease lowers to thirty percent. It becomes about as deadly as smallpox, but it’s better than nothing.”

Scarlett grimly nodded. “Please do that. Earth’s history has been filled with too many pandemics that killed hundreds of millions. We cannot afford to let the flu kill most of the aliens.”

As the weight of the situation pressed down on us, all I could think about was how this would affect us. The death of millions of natives was horrifying to think about, but so was the thought that the aliens would think we killed them on purpose. Considering that the one that we learned their language off of died in our care, they'd probably think we’re trying to kill them on purpose. It was going to make our diplomacy attempts harder.

It was not that I didn’t care about millions dying, because I absolutely cared! Millions would die of a disease they didn’t even know existed due to it being alien! However, my concern extended beyond that. If they attacked us, we’d have to fend them off to preserve our species. That’s the part I was worried about as well! We could extend the hand of diplomacy, but there was no guarantee that they’d listen.

I walked up to my foxy lady and placed a hand on her shoulder. She closed her eyes as she looked at me before opening them up. I turned to face the doctor and asked, “Could we get some medical supplies and a medic for our colonization effort? My wife and I were thinking about starting a new settlement near the lake that’s two hundred miles away. It’ll be a close enough that convoys can travel easily while far enough that both cities will have room to expand.”

The doctor thought about it for a second before dialing someone on his phone. “Hey, are you willing to go on a colonization mission? You are? Great! I’ll make some more calls then!” He called more people with the same conversation. Once he was done, he looked at us and explained, “You’ll need some experts among the first residents of your settlement. So while I sent the call out for some more volunteers, I made sure you’ll have enough professionals to get things running.”

I nodded before walking to one of the consoles. I plugged my SAD in and downloaded the English-to-Alien dictionary off the computer. Once it was complete, I decided to rename the species. They shouldn’t be called aliens, but rather corvians, because they looked like ravens and I’m uncreative.

As I updated that information, Scarlett walked up next to me and downloaded the English to Corvianish dictionary off the computer as well. She messed around for a bit before walking up to me. She showed her screen and joked, “Look! I still have two hundred credits in the Qasan Galactic Bank!”

“Nice!” I replied before opening up my balance. “Dang, I only have one hundred credits left! I guess you’re richer than me.” We chuckled for a bit to relieve some stress. Even in the midst of this moment, some humor could lighten the mood.

Before long, several people entered the room. The first one was a middle-aged woman wearing a lab coat while carrying a first-aid kit. She bowed and said, “I am Doctor Hua, at your service.”

I nodded back. “Good. I must ask you what to do in case someone is severely injured or ill.”

She frowned. “While I am a doctor, I’m going to be the only one there. If there’s anything too serious, we’ll need to arrange an ambulance to take the patient to this city. Otherwise, I should be able to help with anything that doesn’t require surgery.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“That’ll suffice,” I replied as I paced. “With any hope, we’ll secure a large enough area to act as a secondary capital. For a while, we’ll have a low population density with farms to feed us. With any luck, perhaps the low population density would lead to a higher birth rate. There’s only ten million of us on the planet, and we need to reach Earthlike population levels eventually.”

Scarlett smirked as she leaned against the wall. She held her palms up as she teased, “Are you sure you want ten little Quentins or Scarletts? Because that’s where that conversation is going.”

“I want to at least have two children with you in the future. At least to replace ourselves for when we die,” I replied before returning to thought.

“Whatever you say, Captain,” she teasingly replied before crossing her arms and looking at the ground. She seemed to be deep in thought as I was.

My thoughts were interrupted by two newcomers to the room. The newcomers saluted us. They were a pair of identical twins with short black hair and matching goatees. One of them dropped the saluted and announced, “My name is Peter, sir.”

The other dropped his salute and added, “My name is James, sir.” Those seemed like easy names to remember.

I walked over to Scarlett and pointed to myself. “I am Quentin, and this—”

“I’m Scarlett,” my wife said before extending her hand out. When they hesitated, she added, “Don’t worry, my claws won’t hurt you.” Peter stared for a minute, prompting Scarlett to wave her hand in front of his face. “Hello! Earth to Peter! Come back to us!”

Peter shook his head and shouted, “What are you? How are you talking to me? Why is there a five-foot-nine-inch-tall fox here that looks like a woman?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just a figment of your imagination,” Scarlett joked as she walked up to him. She messed with his hair and asked, “Did you feel that? If so, you have a strong imagination.”

“You’re not an animal, are you?” he asked as he smoothed his hair down.

Scarlett snickered as he was still in shock. Taking advantage of the moment, she shouted, “Boo!” Peter and James flinched as they were still confused. Scarlett smirked before explaining, “As much as I love playing with you, I must tell you the truth. I was born human, and to some extent still am. However, the Qarri experimented on me, turning me into this vulpine mutation you see before you. While it changed my physical appearance, I’m still a human, if a different subspecies.”

The twins snapped out their shock before analyzing her. Once they were done, James pointed at her and said flirtatiously, “You know, I have a soft spot for unique women.”

Scarlett gasped and backed away. “James, I’m a married woman!” she shouted before showing off her wedding ring. His eyes widened as he backed up to his brother. My wife shook her head before extending her hand for a shake again. “This time, let’s shake our hands as friends.” They accepted, shaking her hand.

I walked up next to my wife and looked at the twins. “Soldiers, I presume?” I asked.

“Sir, yes sir!” they replied in unison as they went back to salute. I nodded at their respect, though I knew I was no commanding officer. I was just a nerd with some spacefaring experience.

“Have a commanding officer?” I asked as it didn’t seem proper to have only two soldiers with us.

“We are the commanding officers, sir!” the twins replied in unison.

“Each of us is commanding twenty soldiers each,” Peter explained. I was pretty sure the military didn’t work that way, but at this stage, the military hierarchy wasn’t too important. Granted, I also wasn’t an expert on city-building, but I played enough games about it, so it’d be fine. All you had to do was put commercial buildings between your residential and industrial districts.

I nodded. “Good to know.” After a short pause, I continued, “And since you’re in charge of the soldiers, can you prepare the convoy? We’re going to take two hundred civilians with us. Remember, you’re responsible for our protection, so make sure you have what it takes.”

“Yes, sir!” the twins shouted in unison before walking back out of the room. Even if there were no aliens, every settlement needed a force to guard it while it was vulnerable in case of bandits or raiders. A local police force would have to wait until our position was secure enough to start hiring one.

I used one of the consoles at the command center to place in a request for the prefabs of the settlement. We needed a barracks to house the soldiers, a few dormitories to house the residents until we could get them houses, a communications tower, a water purification plant, and a power plant. As for tools, there were several we needed, but those were easier to pack. We also needed food transferred over until we could get some farms started.

As for the first residents, once the experts and soldiers are accounted for, there were about one hundred and forty other residents remaining. Among this group, we needed them to be willing to form a militia if all else failed along with them being willing to work. White-collar jobs would need to wait until we were firmly established. Robots could be used for simple tasks, but the fact stands that most of our robots were seized from the Qarri before we got here. Some reverse engineering resulted in minimal gains. It meant that manually assembling structures and hauling things were now done with robots, but the labor behind it still needed human hands.

After a few minutes, Peter walked back in and saluted us. “The convoy is ready, sir!” He turned to face Scarlett and added, “Ma’am!”

Scarlett saluted back before dropping the salute. “At ease!” she shouted, making him drop the salute. “Quentin and I will board the convoy. Just let us pack up our stuff first.”

Before we left, Captain Desiree asked, “Aren’t you going to stay behind for the Independence Day celebrations? We don’t have much, but I have a fine speech prepared.”

I looked at her and replied, “We’d love to, but our duty to humanity trumps any parties.”

With that, Scarlett and I returned to our apartment and packed up our stuff. For our personal items, we had to leave behind our books, comic books, DVDs, and video games, but those could arrive on a subsequent trip. This journey was already packed as it was.

When we left our room, Carl and Sam walked up to us. “I know it’s a bit much to ask, but can we join you?” Carl asked as he carried his bag and Sam’s.

“The more the merrier. That is, unless you’re deadweight,” I replied as I scrutinized them. They were my brothers and I loved them, but I didn’t want them taking advantage of our familial relation. This was a new land and nepotism was not a tradition I wanted to bring over from Earth. “It’ll be hard work. You’ll need to accept a role, none of which are cozy desk jobs.”

Sam shot a thumbs up and explained, “Fine by me. I was a mechanic back on Earth, so I’m eager to resume my role. Perhaps I’ll get paid well once the economy starts up again.”

Carl sat back down and sighed. “You’ll have to go without me. I’m just an accountant, so I’m not of much use.”

Scarlett replied for me, “Nonsense! Accountants are essential for things to run vitally! Tell you what, even if you have no use in the settlement, I have a task for you. We can start a business venture. While I’ll be the owner and CEO, I can hire you as an accountant. Just make sure you have good credentials first. I will not hire an incompetent man just because he’s my brother-in-law.”

“Yes, ma’am!” he shouted back before picking up his bag again.

With everything in order, I looked at everyone and announced, “Let’s get going! The future waits for no one!”