The rainfall had yet to show any signs of stopping, and the night continued. I only had my uniform pants on, and both my t shirt and boots were hung on the clothes hanger after I had washed them at the river right beside the bathing shed. I did not know about Billy or Jessica, but I somehow did not feel too cold from the continuous rain. Since she was still inside the bathing shed, I decided to take out the towel from my backpack.
I rustled in my backpack, and realized that the previous day Jessica had in fact quietly prepared pretty much everything. The bread loaf and water bottle was the only things at the very top of the pile of stuffs she put inside it. As it turned out, she also had put inside a couple more t-shirt as well as another pants and a pair of socks there, and as if that was not enough, she also had put inside a soap bar there. All that, and very neatly arranged that all of the things somehow could fit inside
"Huh… she really had them all prepared beforehand…" I muttered to myself.
The thing was, I had not noticed at all about the rest of the other things inside the backpack when she had given it to me. Sure, it looked like it had been filled by few other things back then but it was just came to be my least expectation that she had filled it with spare clothes and bathing equipment. I took out the towel and the soap bar before arranging the rest of the other things inside the backpack when Jessica finally went out from the bathing shed, with her towel wrapped her torso down completely.
She glanced at me briefly before she looked down and away as she headed back inside the house. I left my backpack and submachine gun near the clothes hanger before I got inside the bathing shed and closed the door as I began to clean my body with the cold but refreshing river water. As I continued to bath, I briefly recalled on unanswered matters regarding the flying aliens.
How did the aliens actually camouflage themselves? Why it would not work on them if their body got to contact with water? Was the black viscous liquid really their blood, like we had concluded from three years earlier or was it actually something else? Were the aliens actually herbivores who fed on plants such as sugarcanes, despite their appearances that made them looked like they were carnivores otherwise or was it actually a pure coincidence that we happened to witness them feasting on those plants which were coincidentally one of their primary sources of energy?
I could not shake those unanswered questions on my head as I washed away the dirt sticking on many spots on my body. I also recalled my hypothesis regarding the possible explanation to what we had seen and experienced directly with the other four Special Forces Command soldiers on the previous day. I had been thinking that the concept of difference in light refractions on different medium might be the right explanation for the phenomenon, yet somehow I felt like several things would still be missing.
It was then when I remembered that I had yet to discuss about it further with Billy, even though I had told about it to him on the previous day, and thus I decided that it would be best to bring it up right after I had finished my bath. I also had yet to contact Commodore Quentin again but I thought that I would discuss the matter with Billy first instead, before finally contacting him.
After that, I walked out of the bathing shed, completely clean, refreshed and with my mind ready to discuss the matters deeper with my partner. I changed my uniform pants with the spare pants that Jessica had provided which was a black slim fit jeans, as well as putting on one of the spare t-shirts, a v-necked green t-shirt. Since my boots were still wet, I decided to get back inside the house barefooted.
Back inside, I noticed right away that the room was already lighted with a couple of gas lanterns hanging on the walls of the house. It took me a short time before I realized that there was actually a fireplace on the first floor as well, and apparently Billy was preparing to light it up as I saw him lighting Jessica's lighter towards the wood logs on the fireplace. I asked him if the wood logs were damp since it was still raining heavily outside, to which he said that he saw them bounded together just beside the fireplace right after he came back inside after he had finished taken his bath.
I then turned to Jessica who was sitting down on the wooden floor, and noticed that she was currently having her meal, or rather dinner, but also with a fire poker right beside her, indicating that she would be the one to arrange the wood logs once the fire had been created. Looking at both her and Billy, everything was going smoothly and apparently there was nothing else left needed to do to help them.
I really wished that I could help them in any other way possible, but I just could not figure out how and with what. That was until I suddenly recalled that none of us seemed to have the opportunity to reload our weapons again after we had used it earlier against the aliens back at the old dam. I quickly asked both of them if they wanted me to reload their weapons, to which they gladly accepted it.
I first approached Jessica's shotgun, which was leaning against the wall right behind her before I opened up her backpack and took out one of her shotgun shell boxes. I lacked the experience on using lever action firearms on real battlefield, but I had no problem in loading several shells into her shotgun. When I had finished with her firearm, I asked Billy on where he had put his submachine gun before he pointed out that he had put it right behind me.
It turned out that it was resting against a small wooden bookcase right behind me all along. I just had not noticed it from the beginning since my shadow covered it from my sights. I quickly took it and went back outside to where Billy had hung his armor, as his ammunition was stored inside it. I first took his armor down, and continued by loading each rounds one by one to the magazine's full capacity of exactly thirty rounds.
When I had finished, I returned Billy's armor hanging again on the clothes hanger before I went back inside the house and returned his submachine gun to where it rested earlier. Just as I was about to sit down, I suddenly reminded that I had yet to reload my firearm. It made me a little annoyed to have to go outside again and to load my own firearm only because I had forgotten to do it earlier. Nevertheless, it was a consequence I had to take in order to ensure our own safety later on.
Just as I was about to go outside again, I heard a faint fiery sound right from behind me. I turned for a brief moment and saw that Jessica seemed to be poking the logs while Billy was waving his hand in front of his face, indicating that both of them had succeeded in creating the fire. I headed out, and quickly grabbed my submachine gun as I approached my body armor and took out several rounds out from it before loading them inside the magazine to its full capacity.
I gave out a loud sigh as I had reloaded my submachine gun and closed the bolt cover, giving myself a bit of a lax as there were no more things to do left before discussing other important matters with Billy. By then, I felt like the rainfall had lightened down although I would also still consider it as heavy. I then took out the bread and water bottle from my backpack and carried them on my left hand before I went back inside the house, with a more relaxed pace and steps.
Both Billy and Jessica had then sat down on the wooden floor, probably about four feet away from the fireplace. Jessica was holding her shotgun on her arms, while Billy was still eating his dinner and sitting on Jessica's right side. I proceeded to sit down on Jessica's left side before I began to chew down on the bread.
The warmth that the fire provided, accompanied by the sound of rain outside the house somehow put my tense body more relaxed. It really had been awhile since I got to eat in a rather peace situation for the day, and thankfully I managed to enjoy that moment although only for a brief time. I decided that I had enough once I finished my third loaf of bread, and chugged on my water bottle twice, ending my dinner session.
Shortly after, I found myself only staring at the fireplace, still burning the logs and giving me enough warmth for the night. I briefly glanced at both Billy and Jessica, seeing that they were both also doing the same thing. I fully realized that it was the right time to start mentioning the questions I had thought about earlier, however I had yet to come across on how to ask it to him.
"Well…" Jessica suddenly spoke up with a soft voice and still staring towards the fireplace. "What a day we had today… but I guess I should not be surprised if tomorrow will be more exhausting…"
"Somehow I kind of wish that the rainfall would last until at least at dawn tomorrow…" I responded to her. "That way, there will be less possibility for the aliens to wander around, at least supposedly…"
The short conversation ended, and there seemed to be no other words to use for to continue. That was, until Billy apparently decided to jump into the main topic right away.
"Travis…" Billy said as he turned to me.
"Yes?" I responded to him.
"The alien's stealth camouflage yesterday that we witnessed together with the other four men…" he continued.
"About time you brought that up. Okay, what about it?" I asked him back as I smiled a little, glad that he actually remembered that we had promised to discuss about it.
Billy at first seemed to be like he was at loss for the next words, or rather still processing what he was going to say in his mind. Jessica turned to both of us for a short moment, probably confused as to why he stopped saying any words all of a sudden, or rather just had no idea what we were talking about. After a few moments, he did finally speak up what was concerning him.
"Do you have any thoughts on the method behind their stealth method? Anything at all? He finally finished his question.
I immediately had the thoughts earlier came right up to my mind. As I was just about to speak it out, I also recalled every single other questions that had yet to be answered or at least hypothesized together. It was at that moment when I realized that we might possibly in fact have a rather long discussion time.
"Where do you want me to start?" I asked him back, as I positioned my body facing him.
"Wherever you feel like you are most comfortable with." He replied as he shook his head twice.
I nodded three times as I decided to begin my suppositions on the flying aliens from my point of view. I first asked him if he was familiar with the concept of light refraction in different medium, to which he responded that he had completely forgotten the scientific formula but he did remember that light travelled differently on air, on water, and on solid objects.
I confirmed that he remembered the concept correctly, and I was kind of relieved inside that I would be able to explain more easily to him about my hypothesis. I told him that conceptually, the difference was caused by the light wave experiencing a change when it passes through a different medium, in which in our case was from air to water or vice versa.
I continued by saying that we were able to see the aliens when we were submerged underwater back then could be because of whatever optical manipulation effect from the device they were using as their stealth camouflage equipment had the same effect. We would not be able to see through them when we were on land with the air as the medium, but once we were looking from underwater that would be a whole different case.
The aliens probably were not aware of the flaw of their own technology because of how light travelled on their home planet as well as the mediums might be different than ours. I also told him about the possibility of the ambush on the dam during the afternoon when it was not raining, and later when we saw them feasting on the sugarcanes during the late afternoon when the rainfall was heavy.
The aliens could have simply just turned off their camouflage device back on the dam, probably thinking that they had absolutely no point in using them since they believed they had us cornered and would be able to wipe us out easily together with the rest of their others. On the case of the later afternoon however, I stated that there could be a possibility where they actually were activating their devices but the heavy rainfall stained their stealth ability or it was exactly the same just like what they did on the dam. The probability for either of the possibility was exactly 50:50.
Just then, Billy admitted that even though he was positive that it was the aliens eating the sugarcanes near the swamp, he somehow saw them as rather little bit blurry silhouettes instead of confirmed living and breathing creatures. He did not really take them into his concern that much, up until I brought it out within the very conversation we were currently having.
"Wow. Your hypothesis does make sense���" He said to me as he nodded twice with a serious expression.
"Frankly speaking, I may not come to this hypothesis if you had not mentioned about the aliens having a harder time in concealing themselves whenever it rains…" I responded to him, recalling what he said before I came across on my thoughts.
"Oh that…" He replied to me, as he stopped for a moment. "I actually meant to say that they would not be able to fly if their wings were wet and therefore they would have more difficulties in moving and hiding…"
With my hypothesis had then been explained to him, it was then his turn to explain what was on his mind about it, which he did shortly after.
He first asked me if I was familiar with how sea creatures like octopuses and squids camouflaged themselves against their surroundings to catch preys and to avoid predators. I responded with the word 'bioluminescence', and was replied positively by him. I continued by saying that aside from having their own bodies creating light called bioluminescence, they also had the ability to create color patterns similar to the ocean floor, which also gained a positive reply from him.
Then, he mentioned that those sea creatures were not able to do so if they were put on land. Similarly, he felt like he could do a parallel similarity to how the alien's camouflaging device works, only in their case it was reversed – they would not be able to do so in aquatic environment as opposed to land or air environments. They would have no problem in creating color patterns for their own body through the device when they were walking on land or when they were flying, but get themselves wet or let alone submerged underwater and they would not be able to create the camouflage anymore.
"It is kind of hard for me to say, but I find your explanation to be more logical…" I said to Billy.
"Well, your explanation is not baseless either, actually…" Billy responded to me. "We will have to capture some to know for sure, and even then we do not know how to investigate about it yet."
"Exactly…" I replied to him as I sighed.
We both fell silent for a while, but we quickly changed to the next topic, which was about the possibilities on why they ate sugarcanes like we had directly witnessed during the late afternoon. I was the one who tried to figure it out first.
I began by recalling that they had what seemed to be their blood in the form of black viscous liquid with a sweet aroma coming out of it, and although we concluded that it was their blood ever since three years prior, we had still yet to be sure about it. If we were to suppose that it was indeed their blood, then there would be also a possibility that it contained a similar chemical compound like sugar. I also told him that somehow the black viscous liquid reminded me of molasses, although the former was thicker.
Then, I continued further by using the word 'sugar' as the keyword. I stated that if it was true that there would be a lot of sugar-like chemical compounds inside their blood, then the sugarcanes could possibly be one of their primary food sources. However, I could yet take a guess on whether or not the aliens had sugarcanes and other similar plants as their only food sources since we were not even sure yet if the liquid was indeed their blood.
Billy did not respond anything at all about the black viscous liquid, but instead he said that we should not rule out the possibility that the aliens were omnivores. He did not know what would it be like for creatures coming from outer spaces, but from a biological standpoint, herbivores usually have one distinctive characteristic – blunt teeth without sharp fangs. He recalled that the aliens back on the late afternoon had an entire row of sharp fangs although they were surprisingly very effective in cutting the sugarcanes before extracting the juices inside the plants.
"So… you are saying that we have to wait and see until we witness them eating wild animals, like the monkeys inhabiting this mountain?" I asked Billy.
"Well, I mean sure that is one certain way to find out about it. But I was thinking more like, if we can see them fishing around the river or small lakes." He responded to me as he shrugged.
"Oh, right. Yes, that is… less cruel to think about I suppose…" I replied to him as I nodded.
There was one more thing that Billy mentioned to me about the flying aliens. He noticed that so far he had not yet found any forms of webbings on the hands of the aliens, suggesting that their bodies were not adjusted to be primarily active around aquatic environments. I responded right away if that could also mean that their wings were susceptible to water, to which he said that he believed so. As for their diets, Billy stated that only when we got to cut open their body organs would we know for sure.
"I guess that there are no other ways to be fully certain now, are there?" I muttered.
"No. At least, not for now…" Billy responded to me as he shook his head and looked away.
With all of the matters had been discussed, I decided that it was finally the right time to contact Nest. It took me some while to get the respond from Nest, and when I finally did and sent every matter that I had discussed with Billy it did not feel like Nest had much to respond or give me some more updated information. They did however, told me that they would consult about the dietary and all herbivore characteristic details to several biologists.
I ended the transmission, and within a short moment Billy decided that he would go to sleep for the rest of the day. It was then when I realized I had yet to look at my watch again, and when I did the time was already 08.41 p.m. Time indeed flew past us quickly on that day. I sighed once as I leaned against a wall on the right side of the fireplace and wondered if I would be able to get a good rest sooner…