“Here, this way,” hissed Ginke.

Joe crawled after the Scincian as he led Joe, Hoàng, and Beck deeper underground. They had been crawling for several minutes now, and Joe could no longer hear anything from the battle above. The tunnel was wide but low since Scincians spent most of their time crawling on their bellies.

“Up ahead,” said Ginke. “We can rest there.”

Joe looked around the Scincian’s blueish tail to see a light from the other end of the tunnel. Joe’s HUD struggled with the dense terrain, so he shut it off and activated his right eye. Joe saw through Ginke to see how far they had to go. He saw a small room ahead with equipment and furniture. Joe was glad to see they might be able to rest longer than a moment and hopefully get word out to the others. Joe wondered how Montes and the others were doing wherever they were now.

As Joe relaxed his eye, he saw something inside Ginke. It looked like an implant, so Joe knew Ginke had sacrificed in defense of his home against the Birnsteins.

“Ah, we’re here,” sighed Ginke when he reached the small room.

The room allowed everyone to stand, which let Joe stretch after crawling all that way. A few monitors sat on a table to the left with a couple chairs in front hiding a large computer underneath. A handful of small chairs circled a table in the center of the area, and all around were tunnels leading out of the room.

“Relax,” said Ginke as he looked back at Joe and the others still standing by the tunnel. “Take a seat, please.”

Hoàng and Beck moved toward the table when Joe started for the monitors. Beck sat down and let out a heavy sigh. Hoàng scanned the room and all of the other tunnels, and only once he was satisfied that no enemies hid down a tunnel did Hoàng sit down around the table. Joe was curious about the monitors, and he tried to make out anything on the screens as he approached. One showed Scincia with a grid overlay covering the surface, but the monitor didn’t show anything else.

“Confused?” asked Ginke as he joined Joe.

“Jammed?” said Joe.

“Yes. We were monitoring the attack. When the Birnstein reinforcements arrived, the Humans gave the order to retreat, and headquarters told us to aid you. The Birnsteins jammed everything soon after that. We’re as much in the dark as a hatchling in a nursery den. But don’t worry! I know my way around.”

“That explains our head-up displays,” said Hoàng.

“Damn, birds,” cursed Beck.

“Are you the only one here?” asked Joe.

“No. My partner took a different path to aid your retreat. He should be back with others soon, I hope,” said Ginke.

“What exactly do you do here?” said Joe as he started walking around the room.

“Watch,” said Ginke. “We track the Birnsteins’ movements over the surface. We were watching that outpost carefully.”

“What for?”

“To watch it,” said Ginke with a shrug. “We need to know what the birds are up to in the area.”

“So the Scincian government has places like this all over the planet,” said Joe. “Impressive.”

“Oh no, not the government,” said Ginke with a hissing laugh. “We’re part of the resistance. The government is compromised.”

Joe turned quickly back to Ginke, and Hoàng and Beck did the same from their seats.

“Compromised?” said Beck.

“Yes,” said Ginke. “When the first Birnstein ships arrived, our government made it clear they weren’t welcome here. The Birnsteins grew more threatening and attacked targets all around the planet. A few Scincians wanted to avoid war and urged everyone to listen to the Birnsteins. But our leader, Queen Ilza, shared many stories on how the Birnsteins treated others in the galaxy. I joined the masses in siding with our government, but those opposed started acting on behalf of the Birnsteins. Key defensive systems failed during the Birnsteins’ attacks, and hidden assets were raided and captured. Queen Ilza started playing everything closer to the chest and seeded false information to help us locate the spies. But the Birnsteins still got ahead of us, and we haven’t found them all yet, unfortunately.

“Queen Ilza created a special division to help us track the Birnsteins and locate the spies working for them after that. We’re a small group positioned all over the planet, and we work closely with Queen Ilza. It's a real honor.”

A sound came from a nearby tunnel, and Hoàng and Beck quickly were behind their chairs with their auto-rifles aimed at the tunnel entrance.

“Wait, wait, wait!” shouted Ginke as he hurried to the tunnel. “I can taste my friend returning.”

“Stand down,” said Joe.

Beck and Hoàng lowered their weapons, but they remained alert and ready for anything. Joe found his hand resting on his auto-rifle, too. Joe’s right eye showed him that a Scincian was approaching from down the tunnel, and a Human followed him. Joe recognized the Human and activated his HUD to confirm.

“It’s Mulloy,” said Joe, which got everyone to relax.

A dark brown Scincian with a short tail entered the room first followed by Mulloy. Mulloy’s eyes grew wide when he recognized Joe and the others. Hoàng and Beck were happy to see their squad mate and stood up to greet him.

“You’re alright!” said Mulloy.

“You, too!” said Beck. “Where are the others?”

“I got knocked down by a blast and was separated from the major and the others. I was pinned down and thought I would die until Terri here pulled me out.”

“Help you,” said the dark brown Scincian. “Those were our orders.”

Ginke made his way over to Terri, but Terri ignored him and made his way to the monitors.

“Still down?” asked Terri.

“Yes,” said Ginke, “but we’re safe here. All of you, sit down and relax. I think we should stay put until communications are back.”

“I agree,” added Terri.

Joe joined the others at the table, but he kept an eye on Ginke. He wasn’t sure what, but Joe kept getting a weird vibe from Ginke. The way Terri ignored Ginke also seemed odd. Ginke, though, just smiled and then returned to watching the monitors.


***


Everyone rested in the small room for the next few hours. The monitors remained dark for the Scincians, and the Humans’ HUDs still weren’t picking up anything.

“Maybe we’re too far underground,” said Mulloy after removing his helmet.

“No,” said Terri. “We can’t get anything either. We’re still being jammed.”

“Damn,” mumbled Beck.

The hours ticked by and still nothing. Eventually, Joe and the others were about to break out some emergency rations, but Ginke stopped them.

“No,” he said. “You all save those. We have plenty here. Terri? Let’s go get some rations.”

Terri grunted in protest, but the two Scincians went off together to grab some rations they had stored away. The Scincians weren’t gone long, and they returned carrying a handful of bags each. Joe took one and looked at it. He couldn’t read anything on the package.

“Um…,” said Beck as she looked at her bag.

“Good,” said Ginke, who grabbed one of the bags and started to open it as he returned to the monitors. “They’re perfectly safe for both Scincians and Humans.”

Hoàng opened his bag and grabbed a package inside. After opening the package, Hoàng bit into it and chewed a couple times before freezing. He didn’t say anything, but Joe could tell Hoàng didn’t find it too appealing.

“Ugh,” said Mulloy before he started coughing.

“You alright, Mulloy?” asked Beck as she patted him on the back.

“What?” said Terri. “Do you not like it?”

“It’s good,” said Hoàng. “Thank you.”

Joe looked away to hide a smile.

One of the monitors flickered for a moment, and the flash caught Joe’s eye. It caught Ginke’s attention, too. The Scincian rolled up his coat sleeves slightly to make it easier for his white and brown striped arms to type several commands. When Joe got to his side, Ginke slouched and let out a heavy sigh.

“What’s wrong?” asked Joe. “I thought I saw something.”

“Yes,” said Ginke as he licked the air a couple times and turned in his seat. “For a moment, we picked up something, but it disappeared just as fast. Probably a hiccup in the Birnstein’s jammer.”

Joe sighed and looked down at the Scincian ration bag in his hands.

“Hungry?” asked Ginke with a flick of his tongue.

“Huh? No, I’m fine right now. I’ll save it for later,” said Joe.

“Ah, I see.”

Ginke looked down, and something looked wrong to Joe. Joe looked over at Terri, who was happily talking to Hoàng, Beck, and Mulloy as the latter three tried to finish off their Scincian rations.

“Do you get along with Terri?” asked Joe.

“Oh, yes,” said Ginke as he looked between Joe and Terri. “We get along fine. We both want the Birnsteins out of here. The Birnsteins have caused a lot of damage on the surface that has impacted even our subterranean homes. Also how they’re dividing our species.”

“Right. I just thought there was something else.”

“No,” chuckled Ginke as he flicked his tongue again. “I’ve always been an outsider among my people. It just looks awkward at times.”

“An outsider?”

“Right,” said Ginke as he flicked his tongue again. “I was born without a tongue, which is very important for a Scinician’s survival. I couldn’t do most things like everyone else, so I was frequently teased. When I graduated into adulthood, I tried harder to fit in. I didn’t have much luck, but I eventually met a doctor who could give me a tongue. They changed my life. When the war started and my species became divided, I enlisted to help keep everyone united against the Birnsteins. That’s why I’m here.”

Joe and Ginke looked at each other for a few seconds, Joe squinting his right eye, and Ginke flicking his tongue. Joe became curious about one particular thing.

“A doctor?” asked Joe eventually.

“Yes,” said Ginke. “Their name was Doctor Cajo Tehinjhm.”


Chapter 17: Changing Lives

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