June 7th

Quentin

It was a long trip to base camp, but we arrived as the sun rose above the horizon. It stirred me from sleep as light filtered into the APC. As I woke up, I felt something warm on my shoulder. I turned to see that it was Scarlett’s head resting on it as she slept. She was cute as her tail wrapped around us and her ears twitched. I scratched the back of her head, making her slowly wake up. She looked at me with a big smile before she yawned loud enough to wake up a neighborhood.

“Woke up from your little catnap, honey?” I teasingly asked as I continued to stroke her hair and fur.

Scarlett stretched her arms and legs as she replied, “Shouldn’t the term be fox-nap?” She chuckled for a bit before stretching her neck.

I chuckled back before planting a kiss on the lips, or what would be the lips if she was normal. Her face was a perfect blend of human and fox traits that made her familiar yet exotic. Her features showed a human intelligence and that despite what happened to her, she was still Scarlett Rose Campbell, daughter of her parents and controller of most of the Campbell Estate. “Whatever,” I replied with a shrug. “Did you have any dreams, my foxy love?”

Scarlett got up and popped her back. “I had a nightmare first, but it got better,” she said as she looked into my eyes. “In my nightmare, I was human, yet in Qasan Station. I was sitting in the seats, watching as several aliens were sold into slavery. My stomach churned as they would befall a terrible fate. And then I saw the most horrifying sight. They brought in a creature that resembled an anthropomorphic red fox. When I looked into its eyes, I gasped because of who I saw.” She touched my cheeks with her hands as she explained, “It was you, my love.”

I frowned and asked, “Was it a nightmare because I was sold into slavery? Or was it because you lost my handsome face?”

She shook her head and explained, “I made sure to purchase you before freeing you. At first, I was horrified of what the Qarri did to you. My mind processed that in the dream, they did to you what they did to me in real-life. However, you weren’t the optimistic and pragmatic man that I know. You were cynical and hateful, despising the aliens for what they did to you. You vowed vengeance upon them, swearing to eradicate the Qarri from the galaxy.”

Her story was fascinating. It seemed that it wasn’t just a role reversal. My personality in her dream took a darker and more cynical turn.

“You explained that you were Quentin Alexander Smith once, but now your name was Remnant, as you were but a remnant of your past self,” she continued as some tears came to her eyes. “I tried to plead with you, making you ask how I knew you when I brought up your parents. I tried to convince you that it was suicidal to take on the Qarri alone, you told me to stay safe and that you’ll protect me because of how kind I was. You also said that I was proof that there was still hope for humanity.”

She continued, “Unlike me, you were actually glad that you weren’t human anymore. You said that you were trying to get rid of your humanity since it held you back and made you doubt yourself. However, over a period of a few months that passed by in a flash, I knew I made inroads. You were getting softer. Your features, once vicious and animalistic, became calm and human. The fur you had in the dream stopped bristling every few minutes as you started smiling.”

She looked out the back window of the APC before finishing with, “The dream ended when I kissed you. You were shocked that a monster like yourself could have someone that loves him. I then told you that no matter how you look, I know you’re a good man. You just have to believe in yourself.”

I smiled as I held her hands in mine. “It seems that one of us is always going to be into fur. Though I suppose it would be weirder if you didn’t exist.”

“Yeah. Now that I think about it, I suppose that dream was kind of like Beauty and the Beast, if the Beast couldn’t become human again,” she replied with a blush that I could see through her fur. She then extended her claws and pretended to threaten me with them. “Here, however, I’m the vicious Beast.” I faked terror as she pretended to slash at me, her claws harmlessly touching my skin.

Our goofing around ended when the back doors opened. We stepped out of the APC along with the rest of the squad along with the avian alien who decided to come with us. The alien pointed at Scarlett and asked, “What that?”

Before Scarlett could reply, Vixen mockingly answered, “Fox. It’s a fox.”

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Scarlett snarled at Vixen before replying, “I’m not a fox, I’m a human being! Jeez, this is coming from the woman whose codename is literally the term for a female fox!”

The alien paused for a bit before asking, “Woman?”

“Yes! Woman!” I quickly shouted before Vixen could lie again.

The alien paused. It stretched its wings before announcing, “Foxwoman! It a foxwoman!”

“Good bird,” Scarlett said as she walked over to the alien and patted it on the head. Once Vixen discovered that the alien liked it, we all started patting it on the head when it did something we liked.

Captain Desiree walked up to us and saluted. Everyone in the squad saluted, including me and Scarlett who weren’t really part of the military. Captain Desiree dropped her saluted and asked, “Report from the expedition. Why are you all back so soon?”

Vixen dropped her salute first and replied, “We found a local, ma’am! It gives us a chance to communicate with the natives!”

Captain Desiree looked over everyone before shouting, “At ease!” We all dropped our salutes. She looked at the avian alien and said, “This is promising. I expect Vixen in my office tomorrow to learn their language. As for the alien, we’ll give it good lodging and make it feel at home. It’s obviously intelligent, so it should know what we’re doing.” With those words said, Captain Desiree, Vixen, and the avian were all led into a cheaply constructed building.

Scarlett and I decided to enter into the base camp and take a look around. As we walked towards the coast, we noticed that we were on dirt roads that passed by several apartments made from ship components. It made everyone look homeless, which we were. However, it was a depressing necessity considering we were all in one location.

We took a seat by the remaining portion of the ship, which was a makeshift city hall. I looked at the alien sky and said, “It’s hard to imagine that this is our home now. I mean, everything looks somewhat like Earth, but there are things that are off. And I’m not just talking about giant sapient ravens running around. There’s the fact that the lack of preparations means that we don’t have the infrastructure to house one hundred thousand residents yet. We don’t have paved roads, cars, or public transit.”

Scarlett looked at the ground and replied, “Indeed. This place, while suitable for a large population, just doesn’t have the infrastructure yet. It makes sense since we landed in an undeveloped wilderness, but it still stinks. I haven’t been able to take a warm bath in a few days now and I think I’m starting to smell like a fox.”

I chuckled and asked, “Do you know what a fox smells like? Trust me, once you smell it you’d think they’re skunks.”

Scarlett’s ears pinned back against her head as she stared at me with her mouth open. “Thanks, Quentin! That gives me a lot to look forward to!” she sarcastically replied.

I shook my head in response. “The reason foxes smell like that is a unique aspect of their biology. You are biologically human, so you don’t need to worry about that. Besides, I think you smell good.”

“You like the smell of dog? Well, to each their own,” she replied sarcastically as she crossed her arms and hid her face in them. “I’m just upset that most of my family is dead. The only one I know for sure left with us is Arthur. I may be upset with Amanda, because someone trying to murder you does that, but I don’t want her dead. I hope she’s alive somewhere. I also hope that Earth didn’t blow itself up, but that seems like too much to ask nowadays.”

I placed my hand on her shoulder before pulling her in for a hug. Once I embraced her, she started crying heavily. “If there’s any solace, it’s that your family made it out fine,” Scarlett cried. She pulled out a tissue and blew her nose. “I saw their names on the directory, so they did land here with us.”

As her crying calmed down, I thought of a new plan. “Scarlett, my love, I think I know my purpose being here. And while it may sound arrogant, I think I know the reason I was born.” I stood up and looked into the horizon. “This planet is our second chance as a species! One that, by God, I’m taking! First, however, I need to set up a secondary base. That’s where my family comes in. We’ll start work on a second major settlement nearby, which will be another major city to claim the wilderness from. However, the one downside I see is that we may need to fight the natives to complete our goals.”

Scarlett stood up as well and tapped her chin. “To be honest, that would’ve been inevitable. Besides, we can worry about their well-being after we make sure humans are never being driven from this planet. Perhaps then we can give concessions,” she replied, seemingly not caring about the avian aliens that much. Though to be fair, they did stand in the way. However, no one should suffer unnecessarily.

With a newfound purpose, I needed to become a leader. I needed to be able to inspire others and give a future to all those who live here. Settling a new world was a daunting task, but it was one that needed to be done.

I walked back into the ship and looked at the directory. Before I could do any expedition, I needed to get the right crew and be prepared for anything. While this first one was a success in some ways, it was cut short. Once Vixen has decoded enough of the alien’s language, I could connect my SAD to a computer database so I could have it translated. While it was likely that each tribe spoke a different language, I was pretty sure that related languages could be translated. And honestly, my settlement was going to be close enough that it wouldn’t matter.

When looking through the names, I found where my family was living. With it written down, I walked back to Scarlett and announced, “I found where my family lives.”

“We should see them,” she replied. I led the way as we walked down the streets. We held each other’s hand as we passed by several apartments, earning the looks of several confused people. They were probably confused about who Scarlett was. And to be honest, I didn’t blame them.

When I reached the door belonging to my family, I knocked on it and waited. It was time to reconnect.