Chapter 1: This ain’t my Earth and why am I shorter?

Date: September 17th, 2023 (Friday)

Location: Ellington Park National Forest, United Republic of America

Time: 0630hrs. Local

Allen snaps back to consciousness with a gasp and he immediately notices that something isn’t right. He has a pounding headache and he’s swaying gently back and forth like he fell asleep on a boat.

“Arghhh..........”

The creak of wood fills Allen’s ears as he groans and brings his hands up to his head, but his hands make contact with his helmet instead. He slowly opens his eyes, and he realizes that he’s hanging from a tall pine tree. He looks up and sees his chute has snagged on a couple of tree limbs. Luckily, the branches failed to pierce the lightweight nano-weave of the parachute. Allen reaches to his left and braces himself against a large tree branch. As he grasps the limb, Allen notices that his glove is fitted loosely.

“Huh?”

Allen takes stock of the rest of his body and sees that his entire flight suit also fits loosely, including his helmet.

“That explains why my head rattled around inside my pot.” Allen muses aloud.

“Eve.”

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

“Why does my flight suit not fit anymore?”

“It appears that you have lost body mass, Lieutenant.”

“Okay, Eve. We’ll figure that one out once my feet are back on good ole’ Terra Firma. For now, adjust my suit to current body mass.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

Eve connects to Allen’s flight suit to make the necessary adjustments to accommodate his new dimensions. Allen’s suit consists of nano-weave overlapped with nanite enforced armor over his vulnerable areas. Able to self-repair and seal wounds, Allen’s flight suit can also change size, appearance, and mimic environmental colors. Right now, Allen is thankful for these features. Once the suit resizes, Eve addresses him again.

“Adjustments completed, Lieutenant. I recommend you keep your helmet on until you reach the ground.”

“I can’t argue with you there, Eve. How high am I?”

“Current height is 12.3 meters, Lieutenant. A fall from this height will not kill but you do risk injury.”

“Noted. Eve, overlay optimal path to the ground.”

A green path overlaps Allen’s field of vision, showing him the safest path to the ground. He takes a moment to study before addressing Eve again.

“Eve, retract emergency chute please.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

With a snap of the branches, Allen’s parachute start winding itself into his back panel. Once his back panel settles, Allen starts to climb down while fighting a pounding headache and nausea. Allen finally reaches solid ground and reaches up, unclasping the seals with his fingers. With a hiss, his helmet unlocks, and Allen reaches for it. As Allen is bringing his helmet up, it brushes against a goose egg that’s forming on top of his head.

“SONOFA….”

Allen drops his helmet with a wince as he devolves into a storm of cursing. After he takes a moment to collect himself where he may or may not have had to wipe away a tear of pain, Allen addresses Eve again.

“Eve, run full bio scan. Check for injuries and see if you can clarify the loss of body mass.”

“Yes Lieutenant, please standby.” Her dulcet tone replies.

Allen takes a moment to inhale a breathe of air. He’s met with the refreshing scent of pine and the early Autumn air is crisp and refreshing. His breath steams into the cool, early morning air. Allen also notices that his perspective has changed, bringing him closer to the ground. Allen proceeds to spin in a slow circle to take in his environment. The view of tightly packed pine trees and gently rolling hills greet him. Small streams crisscross the forest and the occasional pond or lake also break up the terrain.

“Hmm…. Definitely appears to be Earth.” Allen mutters to himself while tapping his chin with his armored glove.

Allen is brought back to the present when Eve talks in his ear.

“Lieutenant, Bio scan complete. Many anomalies where found with a few injuries. Would you like me to display them on your internal HUD or would you like me to verbally list them?”

Perhaps because Allen was suddenly feeling alone, he decides to have her verbally list his bodies’ current condition.

“Please verbally state, Eve.”

“Affirmative. Current weight….57.3kgs. Current height….174.7cms. Current bone age….16 years old. Current muscle ma….”

“Wait, wait, wait….Go back. I’m 16 years old and I’m now 5’7”?!”

“That is correct, Lieutenant. You have regressed from 28 years old to 16 years old. You are now experiencing puberty again!”

Allen wasn’t sure why, but he disliked the enthusiasm he thought he heard in Eve’s voice in that last statement. Suddenly, Allen’s headache reminded him it was still there by thumping in his head like a marching band was practicing in his skull.

“Ack….” Allen bends over and grabs the sides of his head.

“That reminds me Lieutenant. You also have suffered a mild subdural hematoma to the right, rear hemisphere of your skull. It is recommended to seek medical assistance as soon as possible.”

“Okay….first things first. Scan local for Alliance transmissions. Maybe I can call for an evac from my current location. Which is….” Allen glances around while searching for any familiar landmarks.

“The nearest population center is 1.3 kilometers south from our current location, Lieutenant.”

“Thanks, Eve.” Allen mutters while orientating himself to the south as directed by the green overlay on his HUD.

“Lieutenant, I finished my scans on military, civilian, emergency, and commercial bands. I do not read any Alliance traffic.”

“Okay. Let’s assume that we are, in fact on Earth. I’m not so sure that it’s “our” Earth. I don’t see any civilian or commercial traffic in the sky. No mega-scrapers, and no other signs of Alliance tech. I’m going to err on the side of caution until we have more information and implement Zero Protocol.”

“Zero Protocol” is the UEA Navy’s protocol for downed pilots when there was a possibility of first contact with a primitive or underdeveloped culture. The Alliance didn’t want to bring upheaval to a developing culture with too much technology. That would be catastrophic to a growing world.

“Zero Protocol noted to your logs, Lieutenant. You have 3.1 terabytes of internal memory left.”

Another little nifty thing about having Eve in his head, Allen could store information on a crystal. Due to the natural lattices that occur naturally in crystals, Alliance scientists were able find a way to store information in a compressed manner. Since this breakthrough, all information in the Alliance was stored on crystals. The one in Allen’s head was the size of a grain of rice and could store up to 4.9 terabytes of information. All Alliance service members had to maintain a visual and written log that could be retrieved if necessary, such as mission debriefs and such. That is why Allen is currently following protocol to a tee.

“Okay, first things first. I need to erase all physical evidence of my landing site. How much of the Pioneer burn up on re-entry?”

“Unable to calculate at this time, Lieutenant. I had to eject you manually while the ship was in re-entry. Pioneer’s structure was becoming too unstable to attempt a hard landing. I did note an explosion, so it is safe to assume that the majority of technology onboard will be destroyed beyond use.”

“Okay, that’s going to have to be acceptable for the foreseeable future. Help me locate a cave or depression so I can hide the pilot’s seat.”

Said pilot seat is currently sitting in a crater a little away from the pine tree. The emergency beacon is blinking from a black box affixed to the side. Allen walks over to the crater and drags his pilot seat out of it. Afterwards, he sits down to give himself relief from his pounding headache. While sitting, Allen takes stock of his equipment.

“Ion Pistol still in my holster. Hmm…. bugout capsule still attached. PFAK (personal first aid kit) still on my right thigh….” Eve interrupts his self-inventory.

“Lieutenant, I’ve located a shallow cave 210 meters northwest from our current location. It should be sufficient to conceal your equipment.”

“Thanks, Eve.”

Allen gets off the ground with a groan and grabs his helmet and pilot seat.

*Huff, huff, huff* Allen finally makes it to the cave after trudging up a slope to the cave’s entrance. It’s just big enough for him to squeeze through and meets his requirements to conceal his gear. Allen activates a wrist light as he enters the cave while dragging the pilot seat. His helmet is affixed to a magnetic mount on his left hip. He moves in deeper into the cave while sweeping his wrist light from left to right. Water slowly falls down from stalactites until they reach their pointy ends and drip onto the corresponding stalagmites. The sound fills his ears as he moves further in. Allen finds a secluded cubby and drops the pilot seat.

“Okay, this should be good. I don’t expect rescue soon and until I ascertain the situation better, I’m going to turn off the emergency locator beacon.”

“Noted and logged, Lieutenant. I will remind you that you still need to receive treatment for your head injury. You’re going to have to enter the nearest population center to do so.”

“Right.”

Allen turns off the beacon and then peals himself out of his flight suit and folds it, placing it onto the pilot seat. Allen then proceeds to stack the rest of his gear neatly on top of his suit after grabbing some painkillers and a small bottle of water. Finally, he grabs out a mini holo-projector from a side pouch on his suit. As he stands there, Allen eyes the pistol sitting in his thigh holster before finally deciding against it. Allen is now standing in the cave in a grey tank top, black utilitarian trousers, and the black inserts from the boots on his feet. Luckily, the inserts are reinforced on the bottom. They can pass as thin boots to the untrained eye.

“Eve, start mapping as we move and update the map as I walk. Start with this cave, drop a pin on this location.”

“Yes, Lieutenant. Also, I recommend removal of all identification from your person.”

“Good call, Eve.”

Allen reaches up and removes his dog tags and adds them to the pile on the pilot seat.

This situation reminds Allen of something he’s always wanted to do. It’s the perfect time since he’ll be here for the foreseeable future and could use company to which he can relate.

“Eve, run the “Mybuddi” program.”

The “Mybuddi” program was something Allen had written during his free time. He figured that if he were ever stuck alone with Eve for a long period of time, he’d make her more personable. Programming was somewhat of a hobby of his and he disliked how stiff Eve usually was. It was against Alliance Navy regulations to tinker with A.I. software.

“I’ll remind the Lieutenant that altering the software of your A.I. is against Alliance Military Regulations: Article 93; subparagra….”

“Eve, cut it. I don’t see anyone around to enforce said regulations. I’m not being rescued anytime soon. So please. For the sake of my sanity, for the sake of my morale, PLEASE initiate the “Mybuddi" program for me!”

Eve goes silent at this as if she’s actually pondering the request. Allen is wondering when he suddenly became more emotional. After what seemed like an eternity, Eve finally responds.

“Due to this unprecedented situation, I will make your mental health and morale a priority as preserving your life is my prime directive. Also, there is no Alliance network to consult. So, I’m entitled to making decisions based on situational developments and my informed judgement. Please standby….”

“Thank you, I think….” He says as Eve goes silent.

“Did…. did she just check for an Alliance signal to tattle on me?”

As the silence grows longer, Allen starts to question his skill in writing code. He wasn’t sure how long it would take to run the program as this was his actual first time doing so.

“If I have corrupted her code and she can’t boot back up, I’m SO SCREWED!”

Mercifully, Eve’s voice returns to his ear.

“Please set personality parameters, Lieutenant.”

“PHEW…. So glad to hear your voice again, Eve.”

“Please set personality parameters, Lieutenant.”

“Oh…. right. Set personality and humor to 80% to start. We’ll adjust as needed. Set personality type to friendly and helpful. Oh…. Set sarcasm to, let’s say 5%.”

“Applying changes. Please standby.”

While he waits, Allen deploys the mini holo-projector by sticking it on the roof of the cave. He aims it at the cubby and then activates the mini holo-projector. The projector camouflages the cubby by making it look like the rest of the cave wall. The battery should last awhile as it has a half-life 7 months. Allen then walks back outside of the cave. He takes the painkillers that he grabbed from his PFAK and the bottle of water from his bugout kit and sits on the rocky ground. Allen then opens the packet of painkillers and tosses them into his mouth. Then he opens the bottle of water and takes a large gulp. Allen looks around for a place to discard his litter. Finding none, Allen digs a hole with his hands and drops his garbage in the hole and then buries it. Allen isn’t concerned with someone finding his garbage as the bottle and painkiller package is fully biodegradable and will dissolve after a good rain. Allen then leans back on his arms and takes in the rising sun as he waits for Eve to apply his changes.

“Hello, Allen! Ahh….it feels nice to stretch my metaphorical arms!”

Allen stands up from the ground in excitement due to finally hearing Eve’s voice again.

“Eve?”

“The one and only, Allen!”

“Alright. How’s your code? Any issues?”

“Please wait…. Code scan complete. I’m operating at 100% with no code errors.”

Allen found himself enjoying the warmer tone of Eve’s soothing voice. As he was about to respond, Allen’s headache comes back with a vengeance, causing him to go to his knees in a squatting position while grabbing his head.

“Allen! We need to get you to the nearest medical facility. Follow the route highlighted on your HUD. We are currently 1.3 kilometers NNW from that location.”

“Alright. I’ll start heading that way now. I can’t take this headache much longer.”

Allen starts hiking along the path highlighted on his HUD. As he crests the next hill, The city of Ellington comes into view and Allen takes a few moments on top of the hill to take it all in before resuming his hike.

Date: September 17th, 2023 (Friday)

Location: Underground facility, unknown location

Time: 0924

“Colonel, we have pinpointed the location of the projected impact from the meteor last night.”

“Bring it up on the main screen, Captain.”

Cpt. Thompson brings up a topographical map of the area north of Ellington. The map shows a super-imposed, red line that runs from south to north ending with an icon of a small explosion.

“Ma’am, we also picked up a strange signal 29 miles south of that location. The techs said it turned off suddenly about 2 hours ago.” Another woman sitting at a screen with a mic and headphones states from her position to the right of Cpt. Thompson.

“Bring up the new location, Captain.” A stern looking woman says from a station in the back of the room. Her square shoulders are decorated with an eagle on each shoulder. A new icon pops up on the map and it shows Allen’s previous location in the forest.

“Where is this?” The Colonel asks.

“It’s located within Ellington Park National Forest, ma’am. Just north of the City of Ellington.” Cpt Thompson responds.

“Send two teams, each with a fireteam as support. One to each location. Also, send an agent to scout the town and see if anything suspicious comes up. Now!”

“Yes ma’am!” Cpt. Thompson then proceeds to carry out the Colonel’s orders.