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The on base cafeteria was small considering the amount of people it had to feed. The room itself was larger than the average school cafeteria, though and had enough seating for about one hundred people at a time. Cole and I were moving down the line of food slowly, picking out what we wanted among the breakfast fare. I didn't think the food was particularly good, but I wanted to treat the polar bear to something for... what he had done for me. I only picked up a bowl of plain corn cereal for myself. Cole loaded his plates with eggs, bacon, and waffles. I couldn't believe he could actually eat that much food. Then again, he was a bear. I picked up some muffins as well and after I had paid for the food, we found a place to sit. A hare in a lab coat passed our table, carrying a bowl of brightly colored, round cereal. He noticed my glance and scowled.

"Hello Matt." I waved to him.

"Don't say it, Oliver," he said coldly.

"Say what?" I asked; my face a mask of innocence.

Matt turned his back to us and I muttered under my breath.

"Silly rabbit..."

Cole snorted in laughter next to me. It was nice to know that someone else knew about classic television. As the bear was distracted by wolfing down his food, I took an opportunity to gaze at him. He really was stunningly handsome. I noticed, for the first time, that he had amber eyes. I watched his chest muscles flex under the fabric of the base's civilian clothes as he ate. His huge biceps brought the food to his short muzzle with little effort, but they bunched up all the same. I remember thinking he had a very attractive jaw line. I didn't realize that he was aware of my stare until he stopped eating abruptly and chuckled. My face flushed.

"Tell me, Oliver, why is a guy like you still single?" He asked, looking down at his first empty plate.

The question took me by surprise. I flubbed the response. In my head I said something witty; something that I thought was profound, but all that came from my mouth was:

"I... uh... Who says I am?"

Cole turned to look at me with an appraising glance as if he was trying to decipher me.

"Yeah, you're still single," he said, grinning as he went back to stuffing his face.

I scowled briefly, upset that he had seen through me, before turning back to my own food.

"Why is that even important?" I asked.

"I was just curious. You're too good looking to have to go looking for ass."

I stared at my full plate. It wasn't that it was difficult for me to get laid; far from it. It was... I... was the problem. My sense of humor was difficult for people to deal with on a constant and regular basis. But that was hardly important at that moment. I ignored Cole's comment and started eating. It wasn't long after we had finished the food that Captain Williams found us. I had never seen the man's face so red in my life. He was furious.

"Oliver! There you are! Sergeant Brookes has been hospitalized, just like your missing civilian. I had better get some straight answers out of you, now!"

I stood up and held my hands in front of my defensively. It was time to do some damage control.

"Captain, there isn't anything I can tell you that you don't already know, sir. Brookes was in the crater, just like Marcus. Perhaps there was some residual radiation that affected them both."

"Are you telling me that Brookes is going to vanish just like Marcus did?"

"What? No, of course not, I'm just saying that their symptoms are similar. Besides that lion professor vanished with Marcus and he never touched the crater."

Cole cleared his throat.

"Maybe the Prof. took Marcus," he said sheepishly.

Williams and I both glanced at him like he was melting.

"I mean we are talking about an alien, right? We should be looking for that lion. He might be possessed or something..."

The polar bear trailed off and I could tell that Williams was about to insult him for being stupid.

"I think he has a point, Captain. We should at least be looking into the UEA campus."

Williams frowned, furrowing his white, bushy eyebrows.

"Fine. Oliver, take your squad and the civilians with you. They've all been cleared for release anyway."

I nodded.

"Yes, sir. Playing fetch sir!"

Cole and I hurried from the mess hall to find the others.

When we arrived at the Universal Exploration Academy, I was surprised at how many students were just milling about. Didn't they have classes or something? Many of them stared at us. I supposed that a group of uniformed personnel wasn't a normal occurrence on campus. Professor Hugh's office in Enterprise Hall was locked and, by looking through the window on the door, I could tell there was no one inside. A female rat and a male cheetah in the school's colors approached us.

"Excuse me..." the rat said. "Do you know where Professor Hugh is?"

"No, miss. We were actually looking for him as well," I replied, trying to keep myself from making any cat and mouse jokes.

"He wasn't there to teach our class this morning."

As if on cue, the lion in question stumbled into the doorway of the stairwell we had just exited from. He was in very bad shape. The red Hawaiian shirt he wore was torn in several places and the fur that could be seen under it was caked with dried blood. I could hear him panting as if he had been running. His feet were bare and the bottoms of them were cracked and bleeding. A long gash ran from his forehead down his right eye. His left eye was wide as if forced open and it contorted his face into a fearful expression. The rat cried out in alarm and started towards him.

"Wait!" I said. "He could be dangerous."

"But he's hurt!" The cheetah protested.

"Let us handle this. You two get out of here."

They hesitated. I didn't want to, but I growled at them.

"NOW!"

That got them to move. They started walking toward opposite end of the hallway as Gregor and Rolf slowly approached the disheveled feline.

"H-help..." Hugh sputtered before he fell forward onto the tile floor.

Rolf felt his neck.

"He's still alive, sir, but it looks like he passed out."

Dunham frowned next to me.

"What could have happened to him?" The bear asked.

"Who knows? Right now he needs medical attention. Let's get him to a hospital. When he wakes up, he can answer our questions."

"We can take you to the medical center on campus!" The cheetah blurted out behind us.

I sighed. It was probably the fastest way to get him conscious again.

"Fine. Lead the way, younger generation."

We lifted the witless lion easily between the three of us and carried him out of the building. Thankfully the crowds had thinned outside. Classes had probably started. The students that did see us carrying Hugh whispered among themselves, but didn't try to stop us. The medical Center building looked like the oldest building on the campus. I supposed that figured. The walls were grey, made of stone, and crumbling on the outside. The interior of the building looked like a typical hospital. It was painted white on the walls with a tile floor and a drop ceiling. The secretary called the doctors to take Hugh away almost as soon as we entered. Then the rapid fire questions began. The nurse asking them was cute I guess. It was the usual where, who, how line of questioning and I told her honestly all I knew. I left out some things, like why we were there in the first place. I could tell she didn't like my answers because she started the questions over again. I interrupted her.

"Miss, that lion is a suspect in an ongoing investigation. We, or at least I, need to get in there to ask him some questions." I flashed my military badge.

I was hoping it had been quick enough for her to mistake it for another, more appropriate ID.

"Well... I guess that would be fine..." She mumbled. "He's in room 201."

"Thank you." I said as I pushed open the metal door to the stairwell. I still didn't think she believed me, but I didn't care.

The medical center was quiet as I climbed the stairs. It felt like it was understaffed for such a large campus. The brown, wooden door to room 201 was unlocked and I opened it with an air of importance. Hugh was mumbling to himself on the bed. There was a doctor looking him over and trying to close his more serious wounds.

"I'm with the military," I said as the doctor stood with a questioning look on his face. "I just need to ask him some questions."

"Good luck. He's delirious," the doctor replied.

The doc shrugged and went back to stitching up the lion as I approached his bedside. I took note of the odd tattoo on Hugh's chest. He also now had a bandage over his damaged eye. He turned to me, the other eye scanning my identity frantically, trying to assess if I was a threat. I noticed he had an ocular implant.

"Please..." he said. "Don't let it win..."

"Try to calm down, Professor. Let what win? What are you saying?"

"The... the thing... in my head. It wants to destroy... that's all it cares about. It wants revenge for... for..."

It was as if he couldn't find the correct words or as if there was something preventing him from remembering them.

"Let's start with something more concrete," I suggested. "Marcus Dunham. Where did you take him?"

I watched the lion think, seeing a pained expression cross his face. The doctor glared at me as he stood.

"Please try not to upset him further, sir," the doc advised. I ignored him.

"A club!" The lion blurted. "I took Mark to a club in the city... I was trying to get him to loosen up... the kid seemed so serious about everything. I... I just wanted to help him... That's all I wanted. It told me it would help me... help him... I-"

"And when was this?" I asked interrupting him.

"Before... before the crash... before the thing got into my mind... It's so hard to remember."

I began to realize that the Hugh I had quarantined may have been the alien all along.

"How did it get into your mind?"

The doctor rolled his eyes. "Please, don't encourage his delusions-"

I held up a hand to shut him up. Hugh's face looked to be in agony as he tried to remember. I didn't want to intentionally cause him pain, but there was little choice. I needed to know what kind of thing we were dealing with.

"I... I can't..."

I nodded, placing a hand on the lion's shoulder.

"It's alright, James. You'll be alright. Forget about it. It was probably just a bad dream."

"A... dream...?"

"That's right. Just a dream. You'll be fine-"

His good eye snapped open.

"The disc!" He exclaimed. "It came from the disc! It needs it! You mustn't let it get the disc!"

"Slow down, James. What disc?"

"Marcus found it... in the crash site... small, metal, strange designs on it..."

I nodded.

"Hey, doc, can we see what's recorded on his ocular implant?"

The doctor frowned.

"That is technically a breach of privacy. We would need his consent."

"He asked us to help him. That information could lead us to his attacker. Besides, he's in no condition to give conscious consent. Just look at him. Consent is implied."

We stared at each other. I could feel his unhappiness at the situation in his gaze. I firmly looked back, mentally standing my ground. The doctor sighed.

"Very well. I can have the recording ready for you in two hours."

I grimaced, but nodded. Two hours was a long time to wait.

"That's fine. I'll be waiting in the lobby."

I left the room as the doctor called in two nurses to help him with the extraction. My team and the civilians were seated in the waiting room when I arrived back down stairs. They looked up expectantly at me, but I shook my head.

"Richards, go get the Portable Recon Device from the truck. We'll need it in two hours."

The tabby feline nodded and rushed out the door. I took a seat next to Dunham.

"How was he?" the female rat asked.

"Not good," I said. "He has an eye implant, though so I think we can get more info out of whatever is recorded on it."

"Is he in trouble?" The cheetah said, frowning.

"What are you kids still doing here?" I countered.

"They're worried about their professor..." Gregor mumbled.

"Can we stay, please? We promise we won't get in the way."

They looked at me hopefully with pleading eyes. I sighed and rubbed my forehead in aggravation. Being serious was so taxing. I hated it. But if those students were going to stay there, I would have to keep up the façade.

"Fine," I said.

I didn't think anything I told them would get them to leave anyway. We sat in silence and waited for the doctor to finish his work. After only an hour, he came down the stairs and beckoned to me from the doorway. I followed him into the stairwell.

"What's up, doc?" I asked.

"There is... uh... I think his implant is faulty." The man looked shaken, as if he had seen something he really hadn't wanted to see.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well... there are extra hours on it that shouldn't exist."

"Extract all of the footage from now until yesterday at six pm. We'll investigate after we take a look at it."

The doctor nodded and slowly went back up stairs to finish the task. I don't think anything would have prepared me for the information that Hugh's implant held.