Patriots Chapter 6

Date – Two weeks later

Perdy’s teeth clicked down on the frisbee one more time as she caught Richard’s latest throw. She grinned at the human who was puffing a bit after playing for nearly an hour at the game.

“What is it you humans say? Oh yeah look on the bright side, your aim is getting better at least!”

“Yes well, I have a good partner to practice with.” Richard said as he walked over to a bench and sat down. Perdy chuffed another laugh as she soon joined him, the metal bench creaking under her weight as she got comfortable.

“These things aren’t built for someone of my stature!”

“I doubt many things on the planet are!” Richard said with smile as he fished a bottle out of a backpack he had set down earlier and took a swig of water. Something about the way he ribbed her was different than back on Dlamias, there was something…warm about it.

“Jokes aside, thanks for helping with the practice Perdy. You’ve been a help, I wouldn’t have gotten very far on my own and just aiming for random rocks.” He said as he handed another bottle to her.

“No problem, glad I could be of help! This may be my only visit to Earth and it’s been…enjoyable.”

Just as she cracked the bottle and took a swig the human popped a rather unexpected question!

"So where do you want to go for lunch?" The question made Perdy sputter and cough on the water. Her reaction made the human raise an eyebrow in curiosity as he looked up at his new behemoth of a friend.

"Come on Perdy, you didn't think I after hearing you may not be coming back that I wasn’t going to get a bite with you and talk?"

Another cough and the large alien finally found her voice once more. "Where did you say you found that name for me again?"

"A several centuries old, animated children’s movie."

"A what?"

"Nevermind, but you still didn't answer my question."

"You're annoyingly observant. But if you must know I brought my own." Reaching into a pocket she produced a foil pouch and opened it to show her human friend. "See...I packed a lot of food for the trip. Fresh travel rations from home!”

Richard, meanwhile, could only stare. "Um..." The bar that was exposed after the wrap was opened looked anything but appetizing. And the odor he caught smelled more like something from the pet food isle in the store. Which probably wasn’t totally unexpected given the context but still!

"What?"

"Well...I mean I suppose it must be decent but...um..."

"Okay out with it."

"Well if I didn't know better, I'd swear that's kibble!"

"It is not! It's a scientifically derived food stuff to provide us with all the nutrients and calories we need with the absolute minimum of inputs!" She said with a huff and a growl.

"Okay, so not kibble but instead it's Nutri-Loaf. That's really not selling it any better."

"I don't even know what that is either."

The human sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look okay, I get that's what you're used to but seriously you're on Earth for what may be the one and only time. You should try something local." He stood up and smiled, his hand beckoning her as well. "C'mon, I know this great place nearby that makes some of the best Ameri-Mexican cuisine that you can imagine. Their burritos are to die for!"

"I'm not sure I want to eat anything that'll kill me." Perdy responded, but even so she found herself standing up and wagging her tail at the human's enthusiasm.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it! C'mon, look if you don't like it you don't have to go back ever again, I promise."

"Okay okay, you've convinced me. I just hope the seating is outdoors."

That was how about half an hour later she found herself sitting opposite Richard at an outdoor table with a pair of drinks and foil-wrapped cylinders between them. The scents coming off the two were starting to make her drool. The rather doglike motions of her jaw made Richard chuckle.

“You know you can open yours and take a bite if you like. I did pay so it could be enjoyed.” The human unwrapped one end of his and took a bite as if for emphasis.

“I am being a little silly, aren’t I?” She asked as Richard nodded while chewing.

With that she unwrapped one end, took another deep sniff of the aromas and bit down. What she found was indescribable, so many wonderful flavors playing on her tongue and senses. A shiver went down her spine and her tail began to wag with such force it started to bang loudly against the leg of the table. The temptation of the flavors quickly overrode her composure, and she tore into it with renewed vigor, downing the whole thing in just two big bites more!

“Wow, you really wolfed that down! I take it the carne asada option was a hit?”

Perdy nodded vigorously in between licking her fingers of all traces of that flavor. “Y-yeah, t-that was the most amazing thing I’ve ever had!”

“Well I’m glad, but I’m a little ways behind you so if you don’t mind chatting while I catch up?” Richard chuckled as he indicated his still mostly intact burrito. He took another bite and after that one went down, he smiled. “So, tell me about yourself, you’re working private security?”

“Y-yeah commercial work. Oliver is my boss and he’s trying to work out some deals for Dlamisan interests.”

“Good luck with that, from what I see on the news that Bailey Walker seems to be inventing new opportunities on a regular basis.”

Perdy snorted a bit and nodded. “That’s an understatement. So how about you? What do you do for a living? You said information technology earlier?”

“Yeah, you know computer programming and networking. I work for a business that does a lot of work with drones and swarm behaviors. Mostly for building and infrastructure inspection work, with a little side-gig using them as roving security cameras. Nothing too fancy.” Richard shrugged as he took a drink.

“Still, that’s quite impressive. I’m not exactly suited for deskwork myself though.” She grinned a bit as she pondered her next question. “So..any mate or offspring?”

That got Richard laughing again leading to more confusion on Perdy’s part. “What? Isn’t that an important topic to humans?”

“Oh, it is important don’t get me wrong. It’s just the way you asked the question that was funny.” Richard wiped his eyes a bit as he regained his composure. “The proper word you’re looking for is “family”. The way you asked it was just…just a very fresh-off-the-spaceship way of saying it is all.”

“I see…” Perdy flicked her ears in embarrassment but somehow she didn’t stop smiling, seeing how much her little mistake had made the human laugh.

“But anyway, to answer your question, I don’t have a family. I uh…well let’s just say I missed that boat.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to ask something painful.”

“Nah, it’s okay. If you’d asked me that ten years ago I might have been a bit put out, but I’m at peace with it now.” Richard took another bite and swig of his drink. “So how about you? Any family of your own?”

Perdy coughed and flicked her ears again. “Oh no no…I don’t have a quota.”

“Quota?”

“Oh? You don’t know? Well on Dlamias the central management AIs control resource allocation…that includes assigning all females a quota for the number of pups they must have to contribute to our population. Usually there’s also a short list of approved mates for each pairing too.”

The casual tone of voice was probably what horrified Richard the most. Like it was just a fact of life that wasn’t questioned.

“Wow, I had heard a rumor that your world was pretty dystopian but that’s dire!” He coughed and took another sip of his drink. “So, uh…why don’t you have a quota?”

“Oh…well I’m a genetic outlier. My people constantly research new and potentially beneficial genetic mutations to improve our race with. Eventually a team of geneticists thought they had found some mutations that would build a bigger and better soldier. Which meant they had to test it, and I was that test.” She paused to finish off the last of her drink.

“When I was born as soon as I was old enough I was taken into service in the military and began my training. As I grew, I was evaluated to see if the genetic modifications had their desired result.” Her tail stilled as she thought back to her upbringing.

“A lot of the mods took, I am bigger and stronger than even our best examples of our regular military phenotypes.” She grinned a bit. “In one exercise they found out that given equal training and equipment I could win a fight against four of our soldiers. And in one with robotic training doubles, five if I was allowed to go lethal straight from the go.”

Richard swallowed. “That sounds pretty successful to me! Why aren’t you in the military now?”

“Oh…well for one my fur color was completely unexpected.” She waved a hand at her exposed arm, indicating her white fur and black spots. “The military usually wants solid color pelts in darker tones, easier to camouflage. Still, that could have been worked around if not for the fact the metabolic efficiency mods didn’t take in my case. My muscle tissue, weight for weight, burns almost as many calories as an unmodified Dlamisan’s would. I was bounced out of the military not long after I was done with my growth spurts by the logistics department. They said it didn’t matter if I fought like five of our soldiers if they had to feed me like seven. They’d rather have the seven regular soldiers instead of one of me.” She let out a sigh and investigated her empty cup. “And when you’re deemed a genetic outlier…”

“No breeding quota gets assigned.” Richard finished glumly.

“Yeah.” Perdy sighed a bit and just kept staring into her empty cup as if the answers to her life were there.

Seeing his friend so morose Richard came to a decision and he finished the last of his burrito and drink and stood up. “Well, I suppose we should be going.”

“Hum? Oh yeah, I suppose so. Can I get one more burrito before we leave?”

“Actually, I think not.” Seeing Perdy’s ears droop Richard only smiled. “Because I have a better idea!” Perdy cocked her head to the side, completely confused as the human pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and then tapped on the screen a few times.

“There…I just set myself to be out of office for the rest of the day. My employer is at least flexible and I don’t have any more meetings so…” He grinned up at the now thoroughly confused Dlamisan and chuckled. “How about a walking tour of the city? I can show you a few more tasty foods and you can get a good look around if you’re trying to find opportunities.”

Perdy’s tail began to wag once more as she nodded. “I-I think I’d like that!”

It was nearly 2am when Perdy finally opened the door to the hotel room and proceeded to flop onto the bed and wag her tail, completely heedless of her partner who was sitting at the desk seething.

<”Where the hell have you been? Out with your human all this time? We have to gather the data to plan our operation. Or did you forget about that?”>

<”Oh be quiet would you? Here…”> Perdy pulled out her tablet and with a little fiddling Oliver’s eyes went wide as data began to upload. Block after block of the city began appearing on the 3D map as the entire time Perdy’s implant had been scanning the surroundings.

<”What? How much walking did you do?”> Oliver asked with utter shock at seeing all the data flow in.

Perdy just groaned as she stretched her sore legs and paws as she lay on the bed. <”Too much!”> She said in Enkanti, but soon she smiled. “And nowhere near enough.” She whispered in English as she stared up at the ceiling with a grin on her muzzle.

<”What were you and the human doing all this time?”> The smaller male completely flummoxed at his partner’s behavior.

Perdy chuffed a laugh and smiled at the ceiling. <”Well first it started with frisbee in the park like every Tuesday. From there he took me to a place to try something called a ‘burrito’ and you have got to try one of those before you go! They’re to die for!”>

<”I don’t think I want to eat anything that might kill me.”> Oliver responded with trepidation as Perdy continued.

<”After that we just walked and talked. After a while he stopped and bought me a bowl of a noodle soup called ‘Pho’. Then there was more walking and talking for hours, a stop for a couple slices of ‘pizza’ for me to try, then as the sun was setting, we stopped for what he called ‘burgers’ and he actually joined me eating there. Then it was more walking, more talking, a stop at a ‘pub’ for some drinks, and we finished off with some ‘ice cream’ by the river.”>

She let out another happy sigh and her tail wagged harder as she replayed the memories of the night. <”I think for the first time in my life, I’m full…it’s a warm feeling.”>

Oliver snorted and shook his head. <”Anyone that feeds you is automatically your friend. You’re too easy, remember we’re here to make sure that humans stay properly below us Dlamisans.”>

Perdy growled a bit at her partner’s dismissive tone, but she rolled over and sighed. It wasn’t worth spoiling the good night with an argument.