Lucas's EX-5 log entry.

  I'm adding onto Avera's last entry from yesterday… we haven't had the time to make one for today. Yesterday, Kyle Raymond, a close friend and colleague of mine, found the crashed EX-5 and subsequently found his way to Winter's house. With him and Conrad Carlin now safely with us, we've now gotten a better understanding of how they got here.

  After we vanished from our failed warp jump, they both commandeered a decommissioned test craft, the Adastra, to find us. They were successful and made it into orbit of Earth.

  Upon making contact with one of earth's orbital structures, they were forced out of orbit. The Adastra broke up during reentry and Kyle and Conrad miraculously survived.

  This brings the official headcount of surviving protogens to 7. Avera, myself, Michael, Garrett, Vita, and now Kyle and Conrad. This leaves Scott as the only casualty.

  And until 2 days ago, our presence here has been subtle. But with most of the Adastra’s wreckage crashing only a couple miles south of the house, into an angry fireball no less, it has stirred the local community.

  The rainstorm must have put out most of the fire, but it still didn't stop people from finding its wreckage. By the morning of the crash yesterday, it was already being displayed on the TV. Unsurprisingly nobody actually knows what the wreckage is from. Some broadcasters debated for over an hour on what it was. What fools these people were.

  With the threat of the EX-5 being found at its current height, we were forced to partially bury it so it couldn't be seen from the air.

  Burying it is a bit of an exaggeration, but we did cover it in a lot of shrubs and branches. And unless repairing the EX-5 is viable, we might be stuck on this planet.

  When we do formulate a plan, I or somebody else will put down an entry with it.

  End of log entry.

  LUCAS’S P.O.V

  I sat the little tablet on the living room coffee table while Garrett and I watched the TV. For the last week or so everyone has been mostly outside exploring winter's property. But with the Adastra's crash, Avera forbade any of us from leaving the house to avoid us being found out.

  Since we were a bunch of glorified scientists meant for outdoor exploration, being cooped up inside all day gave us shockingly little to do. Any information we would have been gathering, as it turns out, was available through a large network system called the internet. Through audio, we can gather a lot of useful information. Until we can figure out written language, spoken language and such will have to do.

  Garrett found an interesting documentary on the TV which I joined in on, since I didn't have much to do.

  The documentary was about ‘The Americas’ , the continent which we had landed on. It featured many animals that lived here, which Garrett found captivating. The weirdest bit of all was that it was centered around wild animals. It went over species such as wolves, but they were quadrupedal. The only difference between them and Winter was that Winter was bipedal and sentient.

  This applied to many other species. There were wild ones and their bipedal counterparts. From an evolutionary perspective it made zero sense. When I asked Winter and Oscar about it, they couldn't explain it either.

  Garrett was so hung up on the concept that he eventually gave up trying to find an explanation as to why it was. I couldn't blame him, I found it just as confusing.

  Besides the evolutionary questions, we also found ourselves watching some history documentaries. One documentary talked about this crazy guy named Hitler, while another talked about Antarctic expeditions. The things that we could learn through these shows and documentaries were astounding and scary.

  Winter occasionally came by and asked if we needed anything, to which I didn't need much. Garrett on the other hand asked for some water.

  Winter went back to the kitchen and came back with some water and grapes. She handed the glass to Garrett and then took a seat beside me.

  “You know, I've been wanting to see this documentary,” she said, “it's narrated by one of my favorite actors.”

  “Huh?” Asked Garrett. “An actor, Tom Shmanks. Been in a whole bunch of movies. He was in this one movie called Apollo-13, you guys might like tha- actually wait you probably wouldn't.” Winter said before popping a grape in her mouth.

  “Uhm, alright.” I said, “Any good movies you'd still recommend?”

  “Oh!” said Winter, “Codename Alpha!” It's a movie about this spaceship that accidentally goes through a wormhole and then it's crew meets the people of earth- wait a second-”

  “That is suspiciously similar to what has happened to us…” said Garrett, squinting at Winter.

  “You guys get weirder and weirder,” I added before I took a handful of grapes from winter.

  “You guys eat so much food, good god” she said, staring at me. “You all have the combined metabolism of a jet engine.”

  Garrett chuckled, “Under certain conditions our metabolism can slow down a lot, allowing us to go large periods without eating. But in most cases we still require a lot of energy to function, which means eating a lot.”

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  “That explains a lot, thanks.” winter said.

  While we all talked, Garrett and I began counting to see who could steal the most grapes. I managed 6 before winter swatted me away, and Garrett got 4 before the grapes ran out.

  Interrupting the fun, Vita walked into the room while holding her own tablet. “Where is Michael? I need to check his leg.” she asked.

  “He's in his room with Kyle, I wouldn't bother them though.” I said. “Why?” Asked Vita.

  “Because they both could use some alone time together… they would probably enjoy being left undisturbed.”

  Vita didn't seem to get the hint and still turned to go to Michael's room. “I'm sorry, what?” Said Winter, dead panning at me.

  “Uhhhh…” I looked at Garrett for any advice, but he just shrugged. Vita's voice broke out from the hallway, “OOOH THAT'S WHAT THEY MEANT- ..ew.”

  Garrett and I burst out laughing as Vita came walking back into the living room. “...Told ya.” I said, still laughing.

  “The hell are they doing?” Winter asked demandingly, “I don't need you guys doing some weird shit in my house!”

  “They are kissing rather personally, nothing too bad.” Vita said, “Just uhm, let me know when they are done with… that.”

  “They ain't gonna be screwing each other in there, are they?” Winter asked, now concerned.

  “Probably not.” I said

  Winter opened her mouth, “What do you mean probably-”

  “NEW CONVERSATION!” Garrett yelled out, “How about we all go do something?” “Like what?” Asked Winter.

  “I don't know, didn't think that far.” Said Garrett, “We could go bother the commander?”

  “Bother Avera? Are you all childish? Do they send children to space in your culture?” Asked Winter. “I'm not childish, nor a child. I'm a respectable 27 years old. And Garrett here is only a week older than I am.” I said back to her.

  “That didn't fully answer my question.” she said.

  “OK to answer that, we aren't children. We simply joke around a lot. We are highly experienced individuals, and some of the most capable that Aureon could muster. We've lost one of our comrades, we're stuck in this house, and can't leave it or this planet. We've no use for moping around. Some humor really helps.”

  “Oh- I see then. I'm sorry for being rude about it, I just kind of expected you guys to be overly professional.” She said, “But the fact you guys do joke around so much is kind of refreshing, I don't think I'd put up very long with a bunch of up-tight aliens..” said Winter, cracking a smile towards me.

  “Oh don't worry, we are still up-tight. We got Avera and Conrad to thank for that!” Garrett said, chuckling to himself.

  Conrad came out of nowhere, “What about Avera and I?” He asked, giving a toxic stare to Garrett.

  “Nothing…” he replied quietly.

  “I'd hope so,” Conrad said, “I need you and Lucas to Come to the dining room. I'd prefer that you come as well, Winter.”

  I lifted myself up off the sofa, “Alright, you going to join us, winter?” I asked.

  “Something tells me I'll have to be joining.” She replied.

  I reached my hand out and helped her up, and we made our way to the dining room.

  Here, Oscar was sitting at the table while furiously tapping away at his little phone. He looked up to see us, “Well I hate to say this but I have to leave. Nasa needs me at JPL. They will probably send me to Nevada afterwards.”

  Michael and Kyle both stepped into the dining room, followed by Vita. They were both visibly embarrassed, and Vita meanwhile was paying more attention to everyone else in the room.

  “Oscar, I don't think they know what any of that stuff is.” winter pointed out, which she was right, I didn't know what he was talking about.

  “Oh, right,” he said, “What I meant is that Nasa, our equivalent of your Carlin Space Agency, needs me to go to an aerospace laboratory. Chances are they have recovered most of the Adastra’s wreckage by now, and our government would really like to know what it is. Since I design the thermal protection systems for solar probes, and if the wreckage is covered in heat tiles, guess who will be forced to study the wreckage?”

  “Yikes…” Winter said, “Could you slow down their investigation by any bit?”

  “I can't. Every major governmental agency is going to be involved sooner or later. It is inevitable that they find out that the adastra is from alien origins.” He said, standing up. “ALL of you are in danger.”

  He continued, “I must be leaving now. Unless you guys can disguise yourself with holograms- you have to hide. They will be looking for Adastra’s pilots. Good luck to you all.”

  He finished what he had to say and left the dining room. “Good seeing you, Oscar.” Winter said, waving her hand goodbye to him. Everyone joined and wished him goodbye, and soon he was out the door.

  We all took a seat at the table to figure out what to do. We could continue hiding. But I didn't know how much longer we could do that.

  “Hologram…” Michael whispered to himself, “Can't we do that?” He asked, “couldn't we take one of the holographic displays from the sampling kits and repurpose them to project, say, a wolf's head over our own?”

  “Yes, that might work.” Avers commented.

  “What about the rest of the body?” I asked.

  “That shouldn't be an issue,” Garrett said, “Our heads do look different to most mammals on this planet. Every other part of our bodies look visually similar to many mammals.”

  “There is an exception to that. You, Lucas and Avera. You guys look like you came out of a pack of skittles.” Winter said, trying not to grin.

  What a great day to be the same color as a pair of jeans. Just great!

  And she was right, Garrett looked like a carrot and Avera was a weird mix of pinkish purple. Everyone else was a shade of white and black.

  “We can figure that out later,” Michael said, “If we can get a holographic mask to work that will help us a monumental amount.”

  Avera got up from her chair, “That would also require us to scan your head.” she said, “I'll be right back.”

  She left the room for a couple minutes and came back with a small tricorder, a scientific scanning device.

  She tossed it to Garrett, “Scan Winter's face.” She said, “While you guys do that I'll help Michael get one of the projectors. We can then use the scans of winter as a base for the projection.”

  Garrett and I turned to winter. “Uhm, That won't hurt me will it?” She asked. “It won't.” He said.

  Winter shrugged and bowed her head forward so it was easier to scan. Garrett tried repeatedly to scan her head, but it didn't work.

  Kyle came over, “Mess around with the scanning frequency,” he said, “That should make it work.”

  “Oh, right.” He said, and dialed the scanning settings accordingly. “Aha!” He said, “Now it's working.” He moved around winter waving the tricorder around her head. Once he made a full circle, he stopped in front of her.

  “Okay, uh, I hate to ask you this, but please open your mouth.” Garrett eagerly said.

  “I know for a fact you aren't sorry.” She said, “But I know there aren't any other options for now.” Reluctantly, she did open her mouth for Garrett to scan.

  We were both mesmerized by the many, awfully sharp looking teeth. It weirded me out a bit, but not for Garrett.

  “Could you kill somebody with those?” Kyle asked, peering over. “I could if I wanted to.” she replied.

  Garrett finished the scans, leaving winter free to go. “Who is going to be the test pig?” Winter asked, looking at us.

  Garrett, Kyle and I all turned to Vita. She looked at us confused, “What?” she asked. “You have unanimously been chosen as the person to test the holographic mask on.

  “Okeh,” she said. “That could be fun.”

  Aver, Michael and Conrad came into the dining room, and Michael set a large thick band on the table. “We just have to upload the scans to this, and it will in theory project the head of anything you want.” Avera said.

  “Wait, how is Vita going to wear that?” Kyle asked.

  Michael grit his teeth, “Around the neck… like a collar.” He said, “Not many other ways to wear it.” Vita shrugged, “Oh I won't mind that.” she said, "If it means I can leave this house.”

  “Okay then, let's get this set up.” Garrett said.

  2 HOURS LATER.

  Vita sat perfectly still in one of the dining room chairs as Conrad wrapped the black projection “collar” around her neck. “This better work.” She said as the device snapped in place.

  “Alright, try turning it on,” Kyle said as he held one of the laptops. Conrad pressed a small makeshift button on the collar, turning it on.

  Nothing happened at first. Kyle tweaked a couple things through the computer, and slowly, things began to happen.

  Winter's face slowly fizzled into the place of Vita's visor. As it slowly rendered itself, it became clearer after a couple seconds. Vita’s large ears were now replaced by Winter's smaller ears.

  “Good god… that is uncanny.” Winter said as she watched her own head appear on Vita. “Is it working?” Vita asked.

  “Yes!” Michael beamed, “It's working! You look like a wolf!”

  Garrett handed Vita a mirror. She took it and glanced at the reflection, “Hey, I don't look bad with this.” she said in amazement.

  “With the hologram or the collar?” I asked. “Both.” Vita replied, much to everyone's amusement.

  “We'll have enough projectors for everyone, but we'll need some more head models.” Michael said, “I can find some images online you can reference for some.” Replied winter, “Just don't use my face again, it's creepy.”

  “It's not like you guys will be mixed up at least,” Kyle said, “Vita is a good foot taller than you, winter.”

  “Yeah you're like what, 7 feet tall?” Winter said. “Around that height.” Replied Vita. “Once we get the head holograms figured out, you should be prepared to get asked if you play basketball.” Winter chuckled.

  Over the next few hours, we all got the rest of the Hologram projectors. It took even longer to have heads modeled for everyone, but eventually everyone had a holographic collar ready.

  END OF CHAPTER 18.

  Author's note: shout out to fellow Wattpad author SergeantSiler and his book Codename Alpha. It's a great book. Its plot shares so many parallels to TPG that I just had to reference it, with permission of course. You should definitely go check out the book.

  Have ideas, recommendations or questions about the protogen generation? Leave a comment. I love hearing feedback. See you all in the next chapter.