Once everybody has stepped onto the spaceship, the landing platform closes behind us with a metallic whirr. My skin starts tingling in that oxygen-way I’ve come to recognize. With that done, Typhin and his similarly-dressed buddies remove their helmets and things, revealing the lieutenant to be wearing an extremely similar outfit to the one Typhin wears, apart from the little red-and-blue plate on his chest, which only has four squares in red and blue, compared to Typhin’s six.

That probably means he has a lower rank? Maybe.

Huh. These trooper guys aren’t removing their suits? That’s kind of wei-,

“Troopers, ensure that Mort is shown his accommodations. Furthermore, make sure to dress him in some… proper articles of clothing,” Typhin says, once again speaking about me like I’m not even in the room. The troopers all give an affirmative by clicking their boots together.

And then I’m shuffled away, only barely able to turn around to catch a glimpse of my friend.

He waves his hand gently. I wave back with a smile.

If we don’t meet or talk again I’ll be real upset.

Okay, that all aside, this ship is just, well. See, I’ve heard about the apollos, right? But I think this is a bit different. Right now, we’re walking through some fully metallic hallway, like all the walls are covered in dull metal. But there are sharp edges everywhere, too! We move through hallways and things and I’m starting to think there’s some space-magic about cuz the inside feels much bigger than it looked from the outside.

And then the ground starts shaking. Oh-, shit-, what is-, what-

Wait. Is this-,

Are we lifting off??

Shit, fuck, I need to get to a window!! I can’t be shooting off into space without so much as getting to see how it looks like! That’d be totally unfair!!

Fuck, what does this even look like from the ground? How far up have we gotten??

I abruptly switch my consciousness into my large body, which gives me an excellent view of all the dozen ships shooting off into space. Goddamnit.

Switching back to my small body, it seems I successfully fell over once the ship actually got moving, and all the troopers are standing around me, unsure what to do. “Sorry for falling, one second,” I mumble hastily, trying to get back onto two feet even while the ship is moving, but I keep falling over, my legs eventually starting to shake like overcooked linguini. Okay. Okay. This might be impossible. Jesus. I can barely stand. Why is the ground moving so mu-,

A hand is stretched out before me. “Need some help?” Atte asks.

Why, yes, I would need some help, thank you. I grab his hand and he pulls me up. My legs are still wobbling with the same viscosity and speed as a fruit jelly on a starting aeroplane, but by holding onto Atte’s hand, I’m able to keep standing. Ah, wait, I’ve got a tail! Cats use their tails to keep balance all the time, so why not me? I let my tail stretch out a little to keep balance, but, damn, this is hard. How can these guys just stand around like it’s Tuesday??

And then, after a few seconds of more shaking and moving, the ship just… Stops. Evens out.

I regain my balance. “Thank you, Atte. You have much helped me.” I release my hold on his hand, stumbling only a little as I start walking. Still wobbly on my feet, but better now!

Silence befalls our little group. We’re just kind of walking, huh? I wonder where we’re going.

And then one of the guys up front starts talking. “So, uh, any idea where we’re headed?” Guess my thoughts weren’t as unusual as I thought.

“I figured we’re going to the storage unit. That’s where we’ve got what little items we’ve claimed from those ships. Might have some child-sized clothing for that thing among the blasters and explosives. Plus, there’s the matter of showing it to our dorms.” A pause passes between the troopers as his words sink in. “Dibs on not having it in my dorm.”

The calm before the storm. “Dibs!”

“Dibs!”

“”Dibs!””

In a fraction of a second, every trooper around has shouted dibs, with the last one, the most hesitant one who needed the longest time to think, standing right at my side. Oh! I get to sleep in Atte’s room! Nice!

The guy walking next to Atte elbows him in the side. “Great going, 1409. Why don’t you put it on a leash too?”

“Shut up, 2433,” Atte responds in a mumble.

Man. everybody’s really just talking like I’m not here, huh? Calling me an it… It’s mean, really, and I don’t think I like hearing much of it anymore. “My name is Mort. I’m not an it, I am a man.”

The troopers share a few glances. “Yeah, sure.”

And that was the end of the conversation, because, by this point, we’ve apparently gotten to the dorms, I think. Seems like it’ll come before the storage unit, then?

It’s really just a hallway lined with smaller square door-things in them, each with a little plate above them signifying which room it is. I can’t really tell one apart from the other though since they’re all in a language I can’t recognize. Atte stops in front of one, which the rest of the lot do as well. While everyone stares at him, he shoves a little silver tube into a small hole beside the door, which makes it slide to the side and into the wall, kind of like an elevator door.

“You’ll be staying with me, AT-2433 over here as well as AT-6599, AT-1211 and CT-990. Luckily, we’ve got two empty places for you to occupy, should you decide to multiply,” Atte says, waving to the inside of the room.

There are two bunk beds lining the sides of the thin, small room, both able to hold three people on top of each other. There’s also a cupboard and a wardrobe, but even then, it feels like a very sparse, military kind of room, holding no object of sentimentality or entertainment.

Whoa. I’ll be sleeping in this kind of room??

That is-, man, I hope I can get an upper bunk, I love sleeping high up.

“I’ll remember not to become many, Atte!” I say in return, trying to fight the urge to speed inside. Atte doesn’t respond at all, just locking the door in my face instead.

“Let’s continue. If CT-990 sees you in that robe he might go bonkers.”

-Uhuh? Uhhh, sure! I’ll keep an eye out for another guy in white!

We continue walking. It feels really weird. I mean, I’m currently surrounded by like a dozen of these guys with guns, like if I didn’t know anything, I might feel a little important.

“How come we always get stuck with these kinds of missions? First, it’s being sent out to the edges of the unknown region, and then you’d think we’d get some excitement by going to rescue the second captain, only to then immediately get stuck with babysitting some pet vermin.”

“Shush. It might tell the Commander if you keep blabbering like that.”

“What, like it can understand us? Even if it does, take a look at it,” both troopers turn to look me in the eye and I can barely keep a straight face. “That thing’s just a runt. All ears, no brain.” Well, uh, all things considered, I’m pretty sure that would be considered an insult. I should probably say something, but, really, I don’t want to stir up anything.

As we continue to walk, subdued chatter begins growing among the troopers, just at a hush at first, but once they realize that nobody’s around to hear or police them, they really get talking.

And for a while, we’re able to walk like this without meeting anyone or being interrupted.

Until two troopers start heading our way.