Human Weaponry

Chapter 9: Nuclear

Much had happened since the events that took place hours ago. I was still on the human ship, now given a vacant quarters to rest until I was able to return home.

The human squad had waited until they were reinforced. Those Floriacians that were able-bodied of the group were restrained and brought aboard to the ship's brig. The rest were carried to the medbay, though still under armed supervision.

Any alive individuals found were dressed in combat gear, not the formal dress we had seen on the command crew. So many suicides. Other groups of them in combat gear were found, most in worse conditions than the first. One group was found to have been lined up against a wall and gunned down by two Floriacians in formal wear, who then killed themselves.

Those of the combat class made no attempt to resist the humans. Though, I wouldn't be so resistant too if I had horrid human weapons aimed at my face. Not to mention the fact that the alternative was apparently being killed by my leadership.

I was supposed to be here for a weapons demonstration. Although, I suppose that is what I got, just not in a conventional way. I had expected to see human small arms shoot some synthetic targets, not a slaver's chest exploding after it was hit with a shotgun blast.

That's what Gerrick had told me, it was called a shotgun. The larger one that Carson was carrying. Designed for close-quarters engagement. A whole other class of small arms I hadn't been introduced to yet. A new one at that, Carson's shotgun was experimental. Apparently designed after the first engagement between the Floriacians and humans. He said it was an "eight-gauge, dual-mode, dual tubular shotgun," with the most advanced recoil dampener tech they could come up with.

They decided that after facing the large foes in the first contact they needed a larger shotgun shell than the traditional twelve-gauge they had used before. I can't imagine why, the weapons I have seen have been more than effective. Why would I question it though? They clearly had a tendency for overkill.

They had put me in some sort of room for their leadership. There was a bed, a waste disposal, a desk with a chair, and a storage cabinet. I had a window next to the bed that looked out into space.

That's where I was now, on the bed. It was a bit too short for me, but compared to the average human I am very long and thin, I managed to sort of curl up on it. They had even given me some rest clothing. It was incredibly baggy, as a human my height would be very wide as well. It was comfortable though, and I certainly didn't want to lay down in a uniform. They at least kept my modesty. Even with the larger size, there was still a gap between the end of the shirt and the waist of the pants, or "sweats" as the human who delivered them called them. The only thing they couldn't substitute was "shoes" when they found out I don't wear any.

I couldn't sleep though. I was still too excited from today's events. There was a screen on the wall adjacent to the bed, which I suspected could provide entertainment, but I had yet to figure out how it works. In fact, there were many forms of human technology in this room I didn't know how to use. One was sitting on the desk, it was a sleek, small screen connected to a flat part with individual buttons. Each button had a letter, number, or symbol from the English alphabet. My translator was an implant, which also allowed me to read other languages, compared to the human translator which only worked with speech.

There was a knock at the door. I rose, I didn't really want to be seen like this. I grabbed one of the large pieces of fabric on the bed and wrapped myself in it, then went to the door and opened it.

It was Sergeant Gerrick. Now not in his combat gear but still military dress, only his abdomen was bandaged.

"Sergeant Gerrick? Isn't it your time to sleep?"

"Just Gerrick is fine, Ozis. Yes, it is, but I can't. Too much adrenaline from earlier."

"Adrenaline? Why would you have adr-," you know what, I'll ask later. "Nevermind, did you need something from me?"

"Just wanted to let you know that we'll be interrogating some of the Floriacians in the morning. Given that you're our main messenger to your species right now, I'd like you to be there."

"I'll sit in."

Gerrick looked at me and chuckled, "you look comfortable."

It must have been quite the sight, and I am guessing that this wasn't the intended use for these fabrics, "Well... the clothes provided don't entirely cover me up."

"Don't worry at all, only joking with you. I'm going to return to my quarters. I'll have someone come get you when it's time." He turned to walk out, then stopped, "Oh, and if you're bored, there's a laptop on the desk. It's a guest login so there's no password. It has internet access, there's a pamphlet on how to use it in the desk drawer. Hit any button and it'll startup. Goodnight, Ozis."

He walked away down the hallway. I closed the door. I was about to get back in the bed but then looked at the "laptop" he was talking about. I suppose I had a few hours, might as well try it. He didn't give me a chance to ask any questions, the main one being what the "internet" is. I suppose it's hard to remember that everything needs to be explained to me, especially when most of these things are probably trivial to Gerrick and every other human.

I sat down at the desk. The chair, like most things, was a bit too small. I had to sit a little sideways to stretch my legs out. The pamphlet was where he said it was, along with some thin white sheets and what looked to be tools, small and cylindrical with a point at the end. Some were plastic and some looked to be a softer, yellow material.

The pamphlet said that another object, called a "mouse", was connected to the laptop, and this was how I would control what I'm doing. This is going to take a while to learn.

Turns out I was right. It did take a while. Took me about two hours to learn simply how to control the thing. I had learned what the internet was though, a massive, public database. Endless text entries, videos, pictures, about seemingly any topic. This was only useful if you knew what to look for though.

I opted to search "weapons" in the search bar. I was met with over a billion results. The first that came up were very old, melee weapons from pre-space age humanity. It made sense, modern human weapons were generally referred to as names like "firearms". It was incredibly fascinating to see how different parts of Earth had created different melee weapons, and so many types too. "Swords, axes, spears, lances, knives, maces." Seems as though they were always adept at killing each other

However, I soon found a different article. An extremely concerning one. I read the title multiple times to make sure I had seen it correctly. It read, "200-Year-Old UN Treaty Banning the Testing of Nuclear Weapons Abandoned in the Wake of the Floriacian Conflict." Nuclear weapons, of course, they had them. I searched next for "nuclear weapons." So many entries... there was no way I could sleep now, I had reading to do.