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Cold. The sudden feeling of impact. Water rushing over my body.

My eyes open to find myself deep underwater. It seems endless in all directions. My ears ache and my eyes burn. My body feels bound. I try to hold my breath, but I can't. Sudden light filtering through the darkness; far above me the sun shines. I feel my lungs rejecting the water, I try to cough, but only come closer to drowning myself. I swim as hard and fast as I can to try to reach the light. I notice debris in the water as I begin to awaken. Was I asleep? Was I knocked out? What happened to me? Bubbles rise from sinking parts; follow the bubbles, follow the bubbles. I need to go up! I can see the surface! It's just above me; it's nearly within my reach!

I breach the surface to find a dreadful storm above me. But where did the light go? The sun isn't shining through the storm at all. I look around me, coughing and gagging, trying to find out what is happening. Debris litters the water. Bits and pieces of a craft I can't seem to remember. Was it a boat? No, the pieces look almost like a plane. Somewhere for off I hear a strange, almost mechanical sound. I look around, but can't find the source through the waves and the storm. The rain blinds me every few seconds, when I'm not being thrust back under the water. I can barely keep myself floating. I need to find something to carry me. I spot a piece of debris floating nearby. I begin swimming to it as best I can, but the waves push it too and fro, making it quite hard to reach. My arms ache and feel like they may fall off at any moment and my legs are too tired to keep kicking. I feel my head dipping below the water every so often, but I need to keep going. I gasp every chance I get, but I'm just not getting enough air. I claw at the water trying to reach safety. Just as I am about to give up and succumb to the ocean; a massive wave sends the debris crashing into the water next to me, but also sends me back under the waves. I force myself to swim back up and grab hold of the debris. I cough and gasp as I pull myself up on top of it, but I'm here... I've made it to some form of safety. I take a moment to see what I've climbed atop of. It's a wing. The wing of some sort of aircraft, perhaps. I had pulled myself up right next to the flaps. The smell of gas fills my nostrils with each gasp, but hey, I'm safer now. I don't care if this thing is leaking gas everywhere... I'm safe.

The mechanical sound is getting louder. It's only now that I can see where it's coming from. There's a light far off, but it's getting ever closer. Perhaps it's a rescue ship, or fishing trawler. I wonder how long I was out for. It would generally take a lot longer to find a crashed plane, unless I just got lucky and crashed near a ship. That must be it. I just got very, very lucky. But where is this? I don't remember being over an ocean, but neither do I remember being on a plane. I try to remember what might have happened. I remember... nothing seems to come to mind no matter how hard I try to think. I decide that I may as well wait until the boat, or whatever it is, picks me up to think about what's happening.

As the spotlight sweeps over me it stops and focuses on me. Good, I've been spotted; I'll be rescued in no time. I can still only just barely breathe, but it's better than nothing. As the light gets closer I finally spot my rescuers. It's an odd looking boat. I've never seen one quite like it before, but I"m not good on sea craft, so that could be it... but it looks so odd. It seems to be made of scrap metal and wood, like it was made in a junkyard. It bares a flag, but I can't seem to make it out in the storm. I call out "Hey!" figuring that's the most internationally acceptable thing to shout with out giving myself away as a foreigner. The boat nears me and comes to a half decent stop, as much as one can in a storm like this. I receive a "Hey!" In return, though the voice sounds a bit off, but frankly, I'm in no position to be judging anyone. A net is thrown into the water nearby me and a voice says something... odd... it's not in a language I recognize. It's deep and throaty, almost like a growl. It doesn't even sound human to be honest. Just as I'm about to reply a wave crashes over the wing and knocks me off. I tumble a bit under the water, but quickly find the light and swim towards it. As I approach the light I find the net and grab hold; I feel it being tugged up onto the ship as if by many strong hands, instead of a winch like most trawlers. Must be some third world country that I 'landed' in, or just someone who prefers the old ways of doing things. I manage to wrap myself into the net such that even though I'm exhausted, I can still hold on. As the net reaches the side of the boat I feel hands reach down and grab my arms. I feel like a fish as I flop over the side. I take a moment to cough and gasp before looking up to my rescuers. As I stare at the nearest one... I grow very confused.

The body of the 'man' before me is fairly normal, but it's the rest that confuses me. The legs are shaped in a weird fashion, digitigrade, like that of an animal. The arms are normal enough, though a bit... furry, but the 'hands' are shaped almost like paws, but with elongated digits to make pseudo-fingers and a thumb. The head, however, is what brings my mind the most unease; as it's the head of a canine peering down at me. The longer I stare, the more unusual the form becomes in my mind as I try to wrap my head around the situation. I look to the other pseudo-men and find that they all look similar, but in slightly more varied shapes. One has orange-ish fur and looks almost like a fox, another is clearly a wolf, like the one I first bore witness to, and yet another is some form of dog, almost like a husky/lab mix. I just lay there staring up at my unusual rescuers and try to fathom what is happening. Finally one steps forwards and emits a growling sort of sound, but it almost seems like words. I try to scurry back, but only end up slipping on the deck of the boat. I feel two damp hands grab hold of my arms, near the shoulder, and pull up. I take the opportunity to stand, assuming that's the point of the action and look behind me. I nearly scream is I stare into the eyes of the pseudo-man lifting me up. His snout is nearly touching my face, but that's not what makes me nervous. It's that he is bearing his teeth at me. I wish I could say that my life flashed before my eyes, as at least then I would remember what happened to me, but instead I just freeze up and look into the mouth of the 'man' behind me. He stops bearing his teeth and gives me a somewhat concerned look, or so I assume that's what the face is meant to imply, as I am no expert in understanding the emotions of animals, or whatever these 'men' are. I hear a growling voice say something like: "You, nasa?" To which I reply: "What?"

I pear around to figure out where the voice came from and settle on the husky/lab mix. "Arrre you nasa?" To which I reply, somewhat incredulously: "No... Yes. What?" The dog... thing says again: "Arrre you nasa? Sua?" I'm not really sure how to react, so I simply remain silent as I stare into the pseudo-man's face. I hear more growled words, though this time it seems that two of them are speaking. One voice comes from the being behind me and the other is from the wolf. Another voice joins the 'conversation'. It's almost like a gekkering sort of sound and it is, predictably, coming from the fox. I just watch the three talk, switching between them as they 'speak', and try to understand any words they say. Unfortunately I get nothing out of it aside from some emotions. The fox seems concerned about something that the wolf is fairly confident about. The one behind me, whom has now stepped to my side, though still keeping a paw/hand on my arm, such that I don't fall, is also mildly concerned and has slight howls intermittent through his 'words'. The wolf barks something and makes a sort of 'enough!' motion and steps forwards. He looks me up and down for a moment before pointing at me and barking: "You! You nasa! You (growling)! Danger? I will only tell you my name, rank, and service number?!" " I just sort of watch him half growl the words, while I try to figure out what on earth he's trying to say. 'Name, rank, and service number'? They must have captured a soldier! I reply: "Name: Sorley Orlov, rank: Senior Airman, service number: 132-44-2136. I work for NASA and the Confederation of United Americas." The wolf growls something followed by NASA to the others. He seems oddly pleased with himself and my response. He then motions for me to follow him. I look to the pseudo-man to my side and he nods and helps me across the deck as we follow the wolf. I only slip a few times and feel somewhat proud of myself for this and for managing to communicate with the pseudo-men, even if our communication was brief and didn't seem to go anywhere. The wolf enters the ship and holds open the door for me.

As I enter, I note that the interior is mostly metal with some wooden bits here and there. The sound of the rain on the thin, metal roof is oddly soothing, even in this unusual situation. I finally notice the mechanical sounds origin as the dull hum of the engine of the boat. As the door closes behind me the sound of the waves and thunder subsides. The wolf takes a moment to secure the door and begins walking and motioning towards a room just ahead. The layout of the inside of the ship seems to be in a E sort of shape with a door at the end of each corner. I try to read the signs on the doors, but it's no use, as it's in a language I've never seen. It's all angular scribbles like a combination of Arabic and Chinese, with a hint of Cyrillic. As the door the wolf is leading me to is opened I spot an oddly familiar face. Another human whom I can't shake the feeling that I know. He's sitting somewhat crumpled up in the corner with his head in his hands. As I enter I just barely spot the shape of another human to the left of the door. With a reaction faster than I knew I was capable of, I throw my hands up in front of my face as a large metal object is swung at me. It seems the human to my left was trying to escape and mistook me for one of 'them'. Thanks to my speedy reaction I manage to catch the piece of metal and angle it downwards. The object, which I now notice is apparently a damaged flight recorder, slams into the ground just below my feet, which would have been crushed, had I not dodged back at the last moment, nearly knocking over the wolf. I feel two hands on my shoulders quickly yank me back into the hall. The wolf barges into the room past me. There's the tell-tale sounds of a scuffle as the wolf presumably kicks the crap out of the man in the doorway. After a matter of seconds the human goes flying across the room and slams into the wall. His face is bloodied, but not badly. The wolf growls: "Neek!" and walks back to me. He points a claw at my face and growls again: "Neeeeek." and points over to the man in the corner and motions for me to move. With this I step into the room and the door is slammed behind me. I decide to sit down next to the guy in the corner and ask him what's going on.

As I sit I hear a voice cry out in frustration. It's the other guy, whom is now shouting and pounding his fist on the wall. I hear from the other side of the door: "NEEK!" It sounds like the wolf is getting a bit bothered by all the noise... "So, uh... do you guys speak English?" I say somewhat in general hoping someone would say something in return. Both men look at me incredulously and say yes. The man in the corner continues with: "Who are you? Do you know where we are?" To which I reply: "Not really... but my name is Sorley. How long have you been here?" The man looks down and rubs his face with his hand. "I don't really know. My watch doesn't work here and I lost my PDA. I think I... we have been here for about twenty minutes. By-the-by... if you're hungry; they left food over there." He points to a small food tray over to the left of the door. "I haven't eaten anything because... well... just look at it." I crawl to a stand and walk over to the food. It does indeed look rather weird. There's some kind of fruit and two pieces of some odd looking meat. I haven't seen anything like it before, but I am hungry... I pick up the meat and take a bite. I spit it out immediately and shout: "Raw!" The man on the wall chuckles a bit before saying: "Perhaps you should have paid more attention. Try the fruit instead, heh." Just as I'm about to give it a try to the guy in the corner says: "Hey, Sorley... my name is Johnny. By the way, did you work for NASA? I think I remember you." "Yeah, a NASA test pilot... holy crap, I was a test pilot! I was flying something when..." The guy by the wall speaks up with:"When you blacked out and woke up in the ocean surrounded by the debris of a spacecraft? Yeah, same with us." So it was a spacecraft... but "What where we doing in space and how does that land us here?" I ask trying once more to remember anything I can. "Dunno'. Space is weird and it seems we found the weirdest part of it. We both lost our memories and I assume you have too, but I remember the most it seems. The three of us, and more, if I remember correctly, where piloting an experimental spacecraft with some sort of hyper-advanced tech... and now we're here, stuck in the belly of a ship on an unknown ocean doing nothing while some kind of beasts are out there are deciding which of us to eat first! Aaaand if it wasn't for you, Sorley, I'd have taken out that wolf and gotten us out of here!" I'm somewhat taken aback by his sudden verbal attack. " Listen Comr-friend., there were four or five of them in that hall, they would have beaten you down and ripped you to pieces. Besides, I doubt they're going to eat us. They would have killed me on the deck instead of dragging me in here, or rather, gently walking me in here." "They walked you in? Huh, aren't you lucky, they threw me in by my ankles!" Johnny speaks up: "Tim, you haven't introduced yourself."

Tim pauses for a moment and says: "Yeah, First Sergeant Timothy Riktor and he's Tech Sergeant Johnny Hinders." I nod in recognition of their positions and say: "I am Senior Airman Sorley Orlov. I'm guessing you guys are all CUA, right?" Tim laughs: "As opposed to what? The Commies up north? I'm sure as Hell not a Communist!" Johnny chuckles and says: "Yep, same here. I'm a real red blooded American from the Confederates. Those North American Unionists make me sick! I can't believe they agreed to work with the Soviets." "Yeah, me neither. I had to run the border in 2004, just to get away from 'em!" Tim shouts. I think for a moment, trying to recollect my thoughts on the whole CUA-NAU situation. I ask: "Hey guys, my memory is still shot, mind giving me some exposition? Like, wasn't there civil war or something?" Tim looks me up and down and says:" Wow, you must have hit your head pretty hard or something. Johnny, mind giving the history lesson?" Johnny sighs and begins: "In 1981 there was a massive war that split North America apart. The North joined up with the Soviet Union and those Reds in Canada and us in the South joined Nazi Europe, South America and North Africa. The war went on for a while before our buddies in Europe decided to give the Soviets a black eye for splitting us up. Well, the Soviets ended up taking that little black eye a little too seriously and invaded. Europe became a nuke fest after a year or so and us up in America decided we didn't want that to happen to us, so we signed a piece treaty to keep the nukes from flying. Hey Tim, remember when the Commies claimed South Asia? That was crazy. Revolts left and right, not that you'd ever hear about it from the Reds." Tim shakes his head in disdain and says: "What pretty boy is getting around to, is the Reds claimed all of North America, but South America let us move in, with a little convincing from the Nazis. After 20 years the Reds agreed to give us back parts of America. That's when I made my run on the border to get down south. The Reds couldn't lock down the whole entirety of America, so all kinds of people headed south. Fast forward five years and you got the Confederates launching their space program out of good ol' Florida. That's where we came into the picture I'd imagine. Can't remember for the life of me what the specific space mission was, but I do remember it was very secretive so the Commies wouldn't find out about it."

I now notice that Johnny has been giving me a weird look. I ask: "What's on your mind John?" "Orlov right? Sounds like the name of a Red... you know, I think I'm starting to remember something... I think you were a Commie!" I raise my hands defensively and say: "Just wait a minute, yeah? I don't remember much of anything; even if I was a NAU or Soviet, that doesn't mean I am now. We're all humans here." Tim glares at me and mutters: "That sounds exactly like a NAU. You sure you ain't one of them?" I pause for a moment as I try to remember and just shrug at him. "I don't remember anything. I could be anyone for all I know, I just remember the name Sorley Orlov being my name... I think." "Hey Tim, you know what that means, right? The Commies probably know about the mission." "What if they sent a spy to try to sabotage it?" "Yeah, what if?" Johnny says glaring at me. I back up a few paces and trip over something. It's the black box. "Wait! Guys, the black box! If we can get the data off it, we can figure out what happened! So how about we do that instead of beating me to a pulp. The two look at each other and seem to be trying to read one another's minds. The wait seem to take forever when Johnny finally speaks up: "Fine, we'll see what's on the recorder and find out if you are a Red." Tim seems almost taken aback. "That's not what I was thinking at all!" Johnny gives Tim a stupid look and says: "Listen Tim, we aren't going to beat the crap out of some guy just on suspicions alone; after all, that's a NAU thing, right Sorley?"