As they walked side by side, Karl explained. "On this island, all paths lead right back to the GDF main building. The lighthouse and the station, the dorms and the beaches on the east, the speed boat docks on the north… everything is connected to the main building by these solar glow paths. With the nature of our missions, there's really no set timetable once you get past training. So the lit paths ensure everyone can move around the premises with ease. I guess it's like how that saying goes, 'All roads lead to Rome'."
"What's Rome?" asked Rywa
"It's the capital of Italy. In ancient times, thanks to their engineering prowess, the Romans built their empire in such a way that many important places and structures were connected to Rome. The saying also means that there are many paths to achieving a goal."
"That's beautiful. As for me, it would be 'All roads lead back to the one I love.'" He took both of Karl's hands and said, "And I have a feeling that since the day we met, all roads I take will lead me right back to you. Karl," he finished with a wink.
Karl was speechless. For a moment the only sound that could be heard were the crickets until his watch beeped. "It's from Captain. We'll be having a meeting in the Pterodactyl conference room in 15 minutes."
They got back into the main building just in time to bump into his teammates and Rywa's companions. They made their way to the designated venue where Chris, the Head Instructors, and Mrs. Lyle were waiting. Once everyone was gathered, the Headmaster spoke.
"We have consulted with the International Space Council and we are pleased to let you know that they have agreed to welcome Rywa and his companions to Earth. However, there are a few conditions.
First, you will be the responsibility of the Galaxy Defense Force, which means that for the entire duration of your stay, your main base of operations will be our headquarters.
Second, for both your and Earth's safety, you must cooperate with GDF on your mission to find the documents which you seek.
And lastly, you must be transparent and disclose all your findings to GDF, as well as to the International Space Council upon their request."
Rywa exchanged looks with Sahd and Viernn, who took a moment to process what they had just been told, then nodded.
"Sounds fair enough," Sahd nodded.
"No objections from me," Viernn added.
"We accept," Rywa sealed the deal.
"I'm glad to hear that," Mrs. Lyle nodded. "In return, you have all of GDF's resources at your disposal and Team Alpha will be assisting you in your mission."
She turned towards Team Alpha, who stood in formation.
"Team Alpha, you have a new mission. You will be assisting Rywa and Generals Sahd and Viernn in their quest to find and retrieve the Zirkan documents. Should any parties, alien or not, try to get in their way, your topmost priority will be to protect them and aid in their success."
"Yes, ma'am!" They saluted.
"At ease. That is all. Meeting adjourned."
The lead instructors were first to leave the conference room.
"I'll take Rywa and his companions to their accommodations so they can get settled in," said Chris. "Team Alpha, we'll meet first thing tomorrow morning to discuss our mission."
"Yes, sir!" The four saluted, and Chris returned the gesture before leaving with their Zirkan guests. Everyone else then left the conference room as well, except for Karl who stayed behind with his mother.
"I'm glad we'll be able to help Rywa. He seems like a good person. Also…" With downcast eyes, he added, "If Dad were here, he'd be ecstatic and would've loved to have met them. He was always passionate about learning more about the universe and everyone in it."
Ruffling his hair, Mrs. Lyle spoke, "Yes. I'm sure your father would have been glad to meet Rywa and the others. But for now, it would be a good opportunity to learn what Zirka's most brilliant scholar came to Earth for in the past."
"Yeah..." Karl smiled softly at her.
Their mother removed all his father's pictures from their house as soon as the man left. And yet, despite that, she never showed any resentment towards him, especially in front of their children. And Karl loved that about her.
He made his way towards the door, but stopped halfway and turned around to face her again.
"Oh, what are we having for dinner tonight?"
Mrs. Lyle stepped closer and affectionately tapped her son's nose. "Your favorite: tofu katsu curry."
"Yes!" Karl beamed, then looked at her expectantly.
"And Zephyr made your beloved soy milk purin when I told him you're coming home for dinner."
"Even though he's always so busy..." Karl smiled ruefully.
"Since you joined GDF, the times we have been able to eat together have become rare and precious. So let him spoil you every now and then," Mrs. Lyle chuckled.
They walked side by side under the full moon and the stars towards the underground bullet train station.
"Mom, Rywa said I look like someone he knows. Do you think it's possible that I... that we might be related to that person? If the Zirkan man who wrote the documents Rywa's looking for really came to Earth in the past, what if there were others, too? What if we're part aliens?" Karl flashed a naughty grin, eyes sparkling.
Mrs. Lyle gasped theatrically. "Ah, then that would explain why you put mayonnaise and shichimi on your rice. Who does that?"
Karl's grin was wiped off his face as he earnestly explained, "It's actually good, Mom. You should try it sometimes, just like how Dad used to make it. I bet you'll never eat rice any other way again."
She looked up at the sky. "You know, Honey. Sometimes, I forget our son shares your weird taste."
And they both laughed.
-
The sound of the rain batting against the walls filled the empty conference room. Karl, who was the first one there, stood by the window humming as he was looking at the sea. His view was somewhat distorted by the rivulets running down the glass.
"A song about the rhythm of the falling rain to match the weather, I see," Tala chuckled as she entered the room.
"'Morning, Karl! Morning Tala!" Bianca trotted towards them, her twin tailing behind her, giving a little wave as he stifled a yawn.
"'Morning, guys!" Karl greeted them, grinning back.
"I see someone's been playing games all night again," Tala chuckled.
"Wrong. I was making one," Hogan stretched, then pulled out a small retro gaming console. He turned it on and passed it to Karl. "Here ya go!"
"Oh… Lemme see!" Karl's face lit up as he played.
"He still makes mini games, I see," Tala said to Bianca, fondly watching the two men.
"Yeah. He used to be ashamed of telling anyone about it because people were being mean and calling him 'otaku'. But Karl was different. He was the first one who ever showed genuine interest in Hogan's hobbies, and that meant a lot to my brother," said Bianca.
"Good morning!" Rywa came in.
"Good morning!" Karl looked up from his game and greeted back. As he was putting Hogan's game away, he noticed Viernn staring at him, looking as if she was frozen in place. "Is there something on my face?" He tilted his head to one side.
"Ah, no. Not at all" Viernn put on a lopsided grin. "It's nothing. Don't mind me."
Karl followed her gaze and looked down on his outfit, a Hawaiian-style Godzilla shirt and polka dot pants. Rywa put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. You just have a very…creative taste in clothing and she finds it impressive every time."
"Oh. Okay," Karl shrugged, then turned to Tala. "Where's Captain?"
"He's in the cafeteria kitchen making breakfast. He'll be here soon," Tala replied as she set up the projector, while Bianca and Hogan were chatting by the window.
"Your commanding officer makes your meals?!" Sahd looked stunned.
Karl thought back on Team Alpha's earlier days with a fond smile as he answered, "When we were just starting out as a team, we were… pretty disconnected. So the captain ordered that we share at least one meal a day, and even personally cooked for us. We didn't understand what the point of it was. But later on, we came to realize that it was one of his ways to bring the team closer together. And even now, years later, he still does it sometimes."
"Breakfast is ready," Chris announced as he came in with a food trolley.
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filled the room. Karl excitedly trotted over as Chris handed everyone plates filled with fluffy pancakes with melting butter and maple syrup and a colourful assortment of fruit slices.
"Rywa, come!" Karl beckoned. "You should try Captain's cooking. He's the best! Next to my mom, anyway."
"What are these?" asked Rywa.
"Fluffy pancakes," said Bianca, catching Sahd's attention.
"Pancakes? But the ones I saw in the cafeteria yesterday were flat. Did you use magic to make these ones jiggle like this?" asked the general, eyeing the thick pancake with intrigue.
"Not magic, just a different cooking technique," Chris explained, adding "I'd be happy to show you how to make it sometime, if it's to your liking"
"I'll be looking forward to that!" Sahd looked ecstatic.
While everyone else made their own drinks— milk tea for Tala, black coffee for Hogan, and rooibos tea for Bianca— Chris set down a steaming mug of milk in front of Karl, who was making a cup of coffee.
"Warm soymilk, just as you like it."
"Thank you, Captain. And here's your favourite blend, with two cubes of sugar and enough cream that turns it light brown."
Their three Zirkan guests, seeing Chris' pleased face, requested Karl to make the 'curious morning concoction' for them as well.
After breakfast, they dove right into brainstorming what their strategy was going to be in finding the Zirkan documents.
"Perhaps the most sensible place to start would be the alien ship that landed on Earth twenty years ago?" Chris suggested. "Access to the site as well as the ship is restricted by the Japanese government and international bodies, but I'm confident GDF will be able to gain access. Our founder, Dr. Lyle, was the one who conducted the most extensive study on it, after all."
Rywa shook his head.
"Lord Vlint, the man whose papers we're searching for, died twenty years ago in a fire. So it's impossible that he had made the journey to Earth. Besides, the records we found indicate that he visited Earth much earlier, around thirty to thirty-five years ago, long before his first child was born…" Rywa frowned.
"What's wrong?" Karl asked him, concerned.
"That boy was my childhood friend. My best friend... My light." He smiled bitterly. "He was so small, but he was strong and brave. I had vowed to protect him and yet..." He clenched his fists. "He was still so young. He had a bright future ahead of him. But he died in that detestable fire."
Karl reached out and put his hand over Rywa's balled fist.
"Fire is like any other power. In its pure form, it's neither good nor bad. It all depends on how it is used. On the coldest of winter nights, fire offers warmth to people and save them from freezing to death," Karl smiled gently at Rywa.
Rywa looked astonished. His face relaxing into a sad grin, he turned his palm around and held the ace pilot's hand. He drew Karl's hand close to his lips when a tablet cut into the space between them and broke their contact. They looked up at Chris, who spoke to Rywa.
"I've compiled together reported sightings, clippings, as well as high-level security documents and classified files that Mrs. Lyle was given access to in here. I was wondering if you could go through the things written in an unidentified— and presumably alien— language. If you recognize any of them, that would be our clue."
Rywa took the tablet. "Certainly."
Fingers swiftly running over the keyboard, Bianca added "With the information Rywa gave, I've been able to at least set a partial criteria for the timeframe. We're looking for any records of an alien visit that occurred 30 to 35 years ago."
"Karl, Hogan, go through the link to the archives I sent you. I've already gained access to the restricted sections."
"Got it," the two replied.
"Tala, you handle the web— news, social media posts, photos, even forum discussions that come up on your search. Create log-ins if you must."
"Leave it to me," Tala affirmed.
After almost three hours of browsing, Hogan closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose under his glasses, and then got up to stretch.
"I'm going to rest my eyes for a bit," he said, tapping Karl's shoulder before making his way to the window. "The rain hasn't let up at all..."
As Karl was scrolling through more scanned clippings, he found one of an article from a Canadian newspaper. It read 'Graduate Students Unearth Evidence of an Advanced Ancient Civilization'.
'The students unearthed ruins older than pyramids, discovered with the help of a man who declined to give his name...' He quietly read to himself. The photograph attached to it was that of three women and two men. Behind them was a man, whose unruly curly hair and face behind thick, round glasses Karl recognized.
He squinted his eyes, "...Dad?"
"Captain, I think there's something flying out there," Hogan said, halting everyone's search.
"What do you see?" Chris asked.
Karl got up and looked out the window as well but could not see anything through the rain's relentless pouring.
"On your nine," Hogan softly uttered to Karl, before elaborating to their captain. "It's about the size of a model plane, too small to be a ship; I'm guessing it's some kind of a drone?"
Chris spoke to his watch.
"Alpha 1 to Surveillance. We have a visual northwest of the base. Are you picking this up?"
"Negative. There's nothing in our radar, Captain Norland," came the reply.
Just then, lightning flashed, and it briefly illuminated a small metal pyramid-shaped object hovering in the air.
"There! I saw it, too!" Karl confirmed.
"The object is small, possibly a drone. Nevertheless, it should still come up on our radar," Chris said as he took a picture with his watch then sent it.
"Maybe the weather is interfering with the signal?" Bianca suggested.
"That's impossible," Tala replied firmly, shaking her head. "The radars Dr. Lyle designed are pretty advanced, they pick up almost anything unless..."
"Unless it doesn't want to be picked up," Rywa finished her sentence. "It could be a scout guide. Unmanned drones that scout teams send ahead of time to spy on where they're headed next, picking up information and transmitting it to them. Zirkan scouts use those, too."
"Is it from Zirka?" Karl asked.
Rywa shook his head, "No, it's not. And our allies would have informed me if Zirkan scouts were coming."
"Since we don't know who they are and what their intentions are, they'll just have to come here themselves, if they wish," said Chris. "Bianca, is there a way you can find out if it has transmitted anything yet?"
"On it!" Bianca typed away, then announced, "I'm in! Negative. It doesn't look like anything has been downloaded from its drive yet. And confirmed, no life force detected. Just as Rywa said, it's unmanned."
"Perfect," Chris smirked. "Karl, Hogan, stand back."