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When I first heard about this mission I didn't really care, growing up in a post-Putin Russia does that to a person. The only reason I applied was because my mother said to. I arrived at the audition with maybe ten other people. They were all scientists of different disciplines, and all of them thought that no one there would go on the mission. The one that was selected by the Russian government would still need to be selected by the United Countries of North America, and since Russia stopped funding many of its colleges to fund farming and mining projects, the few scientists in Russia were behind the rest of the world. The only reason most of them were there was because being acknowledged as the best in the country would look good on a resumé.

I sat in an office, in a padded chair in front of a man wearing a charcoal suit and red tie. His name is Danil, and he is the one carrying out my interview. After looking at my application for five minutes he finally looked up at me.

“Mr. Ivanov, I see that under 'area of specialty' you selected 'guard'." His voice rose in pitch as he said the sentence, like was asking a question. I resisted rolling my eyes and responded.

“Yes, sir. As a teenager, I worked at many clubs acting as a bouncer. Once I finished school, I joined a private security company, where I was trained on how to use firearms, hand-to-hand combat, and basic first aid." He looked back down at the paper for a few minutes and then looked back at me.

“Why do you think you should be selected instead of anyone else?" I expected this question and as much as I wanted to say I was only doing this to get my mother off my back I replied with the answer he wanted to hear.

“Because this will give us the best chance of Russia to be selected to go on this mission." His eyebrows raised, and his eyes almost popped out of his head.

“How so?"

“Every other country will be selecting scientists to go on this mission, but they will still need security. So, if Russia chooses me, then they won't be competing for that slot." I didn't believe a single word I said, it was just what I thought they wanted to hear. It must have been more convincing than I thought, because Danil looked away for thirty seconds. He finally turned to face me while standing up and I did the same. We both raised our hands and shook as he finally started to talk again.

“You've given us a lot to think about Mr. Ivanov, we'll let you know what the higher ups think." With that I went home and forgot it even happened. Two weeks later, I was more than surprised when I opened my door to two men in black suits. They told me that I was selected to be Russia's nominee for the mission and that I needed to prepare. I got to say goodbye to everyone I needed to and then was taken to a new living quarter. More like a prison really.

I was told that if I was going to be selected to be a guard, then I needed to be the best in the world. I was placed on a diet specifically made for me, I was trained by the best trainer Russia could afford, doctors would perform checkups on me every night before bed. I remind you that I wasn't selected to go on the mission yet, I was just a candidate.

Many countries already made their pick, and as expected they were all scientists. I was told that my idea was genius and Russia actually had a chance at being selected. I did tours of the country, met important people and made my name known. I remember being told that there was actual hope that I would actually be selected, and a Russian would be the one of the first people to step on a different planet.

The day of reckoning, as my future colleges would call it, came. The official announcement would happen later that week. The plan was to call each country individually and tell them if their candidate was selected or not. Everyone that was chosen would then be flown to the UCNA, where they will show the world the space team. I remember sitting in the president's office with a bunch of people I vaguely remember meeting. The president gave a speech about Russia and how great it was. I tuned it out before the first sentence ended and just waited to go home. I really thought that I wouldn't be selected, but again, imagine how shocked I was when the president put the phone down and told me I won. I never actually wanted this, but I was happy I was selected, but everything after that is so much of a blur.

The next solid memory I have is a week before going through the portal, I was so confused and disoriented. I've recently begun to suspect that someone was drugging me to calm me down, but I don't know. Before going in, we were given one final choice to stay behind, no one did. I wonder if they knew what was waiting for them if any of us would have changed our minds.

–78 seconds after first contact–

It was morning and everyone was off doing their own thing, I was setting up the chess board with Musa when our walkie-talkies sparked to life.

“Come in, anyone" It was a whisper that came through. I thought maybe Li needed help carrying something. I picked up the walkie-talkie with a sigh and responded.

“This is Nikolai wh–"

“SHHHHHHHH, I'm whispering for a rea—" It sounded like it was grabbed out of her hands, and I could hear a little 'hey' in the background. When the voice came back on, it was not what I was expecting. At first it sounded like sniffing, I could hear what sounded like fighting in the background, so I put it right against my ear to listen. The sniffing stopped and the person on the other side screamed a single sound, loud enough of the walkie-talkies to become distorted. I grunted in pain as I pulled it away from my ear and gathered myself. I was livid that someone pulled such a childish prank on me and I was going to let them know. I turned it on and just let everything I had.

“YOU PIECE OF FUCKING SHIT, WHOEVER DID THAT IM GOING TO FIND YOU AND SH–"

“HOLY SHIT SHUT UP, MATE" That was definitely Michael who said that, before I could respond he continued.

“Just get everyone together and don't appear aggressive, they seem to be friendly" The walkie-talkies discounted after that.

“THE FUCK WAS THAT" I was angry and was sort of just talking to myself.

“Don't know, try getting them again."

“I am. I think they took the batteries out or something" I got up and started to walk away.

“Where are you going?" Musa caught up to me.

“We're going to get everyone together just like they asked, that way they can all watch me rip whoever did that head off."

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“What the hell was that? '' Leic asked in shock as Lop made his way back to the group. The four of us fell behind the two furless creatures as we made our way through the forest. We barely started to walk when the girl started to talk to something in her hand. She was talking in a low voice, but we all saw her do it, I mean she was walking in front of us. Lop walked up and just took it out of her hand. After a few seconds we heard voices coming from within it, but at that point the male walked up and snatched it out of his hand.

The four of us stopped walking and started to talk. I noticed that the furless creatures had stopped too and were waiting for us.

“I don't know, but something is definitely trapped in there and it can talk!" Lop was wide-eyed and practically shaking.

“Why would they trap something in there? What was the box made of?" Haoy asked.

“The box felt pretty sturdy, I think it was metal but i can't be sure, did you see all of the box?"

“No, why?"

“It had a long stick coming out of the top, and it even had bars so the person inside could talk."

“Bars?! Did you get to see inside?"

“No, it was too dark, and when I sniffed it I could only smell the girls, not whoever was inside."

“Maybe whoever is inside wants to be?"

“Why would anyone want to do that?"

“I don't know, safety, they are pretty small."

I was so confused. First these furless creatures and now they have small people trapped in boxes. I saw that the two furless ones were getting anxious and decided to cut our talk short.

“Alright, you three, we need to keep going. If we do this right we can ask them later, but right now we need to keep following them." I was still holding the basket and my arms were getting tired, but I strategically left that part out.

“But sir. What if they try to trap us in a tiny box?" The fear in Haoy voice was a little alarming and not for the reasons he is hoping for.

“Then we kill them." I said and turned to start walking. The creatures saw that and started to walk again, and I heard the other three following me.

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As I approached the fire pit I saw some of the others who looked irked to say the least. The only four that weren't here were Micheal, Rosie, Nikolai and Emily. I sat on the metal folding chair next to Li.

“You know why we're here?" She looked up from her notebook and responded.

“No." Fantastic. She went back to her notebook, and I resigned myself to looking off into space. It wasn't long before Nikolai and Emily showed up. Nikolai looked around and clapped his hands together.

“Good, that's all of us." He had on the fakest smile I have ever seen.

“Why did you call us here, Nikolai?" Carter asked with an edge in his voice.

“You see, someone thought it was a good idea to whisper into the walkie-talkie and as I put my ear into it they screamed, so now you get to watch me beat the shit out of them." Not what any of us were expecting, but ok.

“Do you know who it was?" Sara asked, sitting in a lawn chair. Nikolai responded with a voice laced in venom.

“Micheal was with them, and Micheal and Rosie walked off together, so putting two and two together I think you can figure it out."

“You really think Rosie would do that?" I asked.

“I didn't before, but I do now John." He looked at me like I was the crazy one.

“Well, I'm glad I woke up for this." Carter said, while he stood up and stretched before sitting back down.

“It's like, eleven. You shouldn't be sleeping in this late." Li informed Carter.

“Well, I did, so bite me." Li never got the chance to bite Carter before Sara stood up from her lawn chair.

“Um, I think I see something." She raised an arm to point, and we all turned to look at what she saw. Everyone that was sitting down before stood up to see.

In the front was definitely Michael and Rosie, however what was following them was definitely not human. It looked like four blobs were stalking them. Two purple blobs, a brown one and a deep blue purple.

“What the fuck is that?" Carter asked, like any of us had known the answer.

“Musa, get in the front and get your rifle ready." Nikolai and Musa walked forward and got their rifles from the back. As they began to raise their guns, Rosie started to jog towards us.

“Holy shit, put them down!" She swiped both of the guns down. This surprised everyone but Musa, who was more annoyed.

“What the hell are those? Why did you bring them here?" He wasn't yelling, but damn was he angry. Rosie stood up to him, looking him dead in the eyes.

“I don't know. They look like bears, and they are offering gifts to us, so don't shoot them." She was standing on her tippy toes, getting into Musas face as much as possible.

“What do you mean they have gifts?" Musa asked, but at this point Micheal and the blobs were standing at the edge of the group. I noticed Micheal was holding a spear as he walked to the center of the group. No one said anything, probably because they were scared shitless. Now that they were closer and I could get a better look at them, yeah, they are definitely bears.

We all stood and stared at each other for a couple of seconds until the bear wearing the blue shirt held out a wicker basket. He didn't go up to anyone, he just held the basket out. Rosie elbowed Musa, which snapped him out of his trance.

“Go and take it." I heard Rosie angrily whisper to him. Musa looked at the bear, then the basket, then Rosie, then back at the bear, before he finally walked forward and took the basket. Once the blue bear let go, the basket fell a bit and Musa had to make an effort to hold it up.

“Careful, it's heavy." Rosie said, which got a few nose-exhales from some of the others.

“Where do I put it?" Musa grunted.

“In the mess hall." Rosie replied, and Musa quickly made his way to the tent. Once he left, the blue bear said something to the bear in brown, who we only now noticed had some sort of animal carcass. The bear walked forward to Nikolai, who began to tense up. The bear stopped in front of Nikolai and offered the animal carcass to him. Nikolai looked at the offering for a few seconds and began to holster his rifle. He took the carcass out of the bear's hand and stood there for a few seconds, staring at the bear, until he finally turned around and followed Musa.

“Now what?" We were all just there awkwardly. Us, not knowing what to do and these bears waiting for us to do something.

“We should make them something to eat." We all turned towards Emily.

“What?" Carter replied.

“What else are we supposed to do?" She raised her arms in a half shrug. I agreed with Emily, what else could we do?

“That's not the worst idea. I think we should too." Everyone mumbled in agreement, we then all looked back at the bears who were standing there.

“Alright mates, come with me." Michael spoke while raising his free arm in a 'follow me' motion.

They understood and followed him to the mess tent. Everyone tensed up as they passed, and signed in relief when they disappeared behind the tent flaps.

“What should we cook for them?" Li squeaked out. We all got closer to each other and formed a loose circle to talk about our next plan.

“Maybe use what they brought us?" Emily suggested.

“But we don't know if we can eat it, and I think we should all eat the same things." I looked around the circle to gauge the thoughts of the others, but before I could really see anything Carter spoke up. “Why?"

“Because, they might take it as a slight or something, or maybe that we poisoned them."

“Right, in that case maybe we should cook it in front of them too."

“Holy shit, Carter had a good idea." Sara got a few chuckles out of the group.

“Focus. If we are making it in front of them then we should make a soup, that way it can all be in one pot." Rosie's suggestion made sense, it's hard to poison someone when you're eating the same stuff.

“Should we use any of the stuff they brought?" Sophie was looking at Sara when she asked.

“Probably not. We need to test all of that slowly to make sure it's not going to kill us." We all remember her losing her shit when Carter took a bite out of those orange fruits for the first time.

“Well, can the same be said for the bears, we don't know if our stuff can kill them?" Carter was on a hot streak with these questions.

“True, maybe we can base their diets off of the bears back on Earth?" Everyone thought about what I just said. Eventually we all looked at the resident zoologist. After a minute Emily finally responded.

“I think we can do that." I don't know about the others, but I felt like a boulder was just taken off my shoulders when she said that.

“What about after dinner, I imagine they're gonna want to stay the night at least." Li's question took us all off guard. We all thought about it for a second before I had an idea.

“Uhh, we can set up the tents, you know, the two we slept in the first couple nights." That was the best we had to offer. Everyone seemed to like that idea and Rosie already had a plan.

“Yeah, that works. So Emily and Sara can make the soup, while they do that everyone can set up the two tents." Emily and Sara looked panicked and quickly interjected.

“Why are we making the soup?"

“Because the zoologist and nutritionist are the best equipped for the catering of the bi-pedal space bears." They couldn't argue with that logic. Rosie looked satisfied and continued.

“Good, any more questions?" Carter raised his hand half-assedly.

“Yeah, is the soup going to be dinner?"

“That's what I was thinking." Rosie looked around and everyone nodded in agreement. “Why?"

“Because we all woke up an hour ago, a little early for dinner" In the excitement we forgot how early it was, some of us woke up ten minutes ago.

“Shit"

“Let's make them sandwiches." I have no idea why I said that, and everyone turned to look at me.

“Sandwiches." I don't know who said it, but it pissed me off for some reason.

“You got a better idea?" I started to walk away from that, my face red from embarrassment.

“Where are you going?"

“To get the tents."

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Their mess hall was definitely better than ours. While ours was just a table, this one was a proper dining spot. It was a huge green tent, with a single stake in the middle and four smaller ones holding the corners up. There were four tables, each able to hold twenty bears on both sides. In the far corner sat their kitchen. They had a table for cutting, storage containers and pots and pans. We were currently watching them flounder around with the gifts we gave them. The two men we gave the gifts to were standing around while some of the others were examining the contents of the basket. The Ihoo was laying on the table, with none of them wanting to go near it. The smallest of them was currently cutting vegetables and stacking them with what looked like bread.

The four of us were sitting on the table closest to the entrance, Haoy and I were sitting with our backs to the entrance with Lop and Leic sitting across from us.

“Should you be sitting there, sir? They might attack you" Leic asked.

“I could ask you the same question, I can see them holding knives" I responded. I could tell she restrained herself from rolling her eyes.

“I mean you have your back to the entrance, they could be hiding behind the tent"

“This is a sign of trust, and if they do then you two will have to stop them". Quickly wanting to put an end to this I continued.

“They are preparing us a meal and the very least we could do is sit here and eat it, so stop complaining and sit quietly". She looked down at the table and didn't say anything. I looked over to Hoay who was looking at me, but he quickly turned away.

“What is it Haoy?"

“Well, sir. I was thinking about my punishment for talking back" He was looking everywhere except at me while he spoke.

“Yes, and look at me when you speak". His head quickly turned towards me and he continued.

“Well, wouldn't it look suspicious if I don't eat, like we think it's poisoned and I'm not eating so I can get reinforcements or something". He tried to look away near the end, like that would stop me from seeing what he was trying to do. He did have a point, not eating would make it look like we didn't trust them.

“Very well, we'll postpone the punishment for a later date, for now you can eat any meal you are served" Haoys shoulders dropped and he looked much more relaxed after that. The four of us sat in silence while we waited.

After about five minutes, the creatures were done. The smallest one, who did most of the work, picked up a tray that was filled with the food. As she got closer I could get a good look at her. I could not stress how tiny she was compared to the others. Barely five feet, her fur was short in the front and the back was long enough to go past her shoulders. Her eyes were different from the others, they squinted with brown irises. She got to the side of Leic and placed the tray in the center of us. She then bowed a little and walked away.

We all looked at what was brought to us for a bit, unsure what to do. I looked up and saw some of them eating the same thing, so I thought to imitate them. I reached out and grabbed one of the food items and got a better look.

It had plants put in between two pieces of bread. I saw green, red, white and yellow, all plants I didn't recognize. I thought of opening it up to get a better look, but then I thought it would look suspicious so I decided not to. It was small, easily able to fit in one of my paws, but I guess that's to be expected. I finally took a bite and chewed on it.

It was so much better than I expected. The plants were juicy and sweet, it felt like my whole maw was filled with it. There was also a satisfying crunch that came with each bite and the bread. It was the softest bread I've ever had. Whatever it's called, I finished it in two bites and quickly went to grab another. The other three saw this and grabbed one for themselves and soon they were doing the same. In less than three minutes the whole tray was empty.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“These are good, Li." Sara said between bites. She and Michael were looking through the basket the bears gave us. It was huge. There were piles for every unique item in it. They were able to identify twenty-one unique species most of which were not found in the fenced area. Most of the boxes we were using to separate the piles were more than half-way full. The fullest box contained some kind of nut. The nuts looked like a 'D' and were brown like oak wood. The basket the bears gave us still had some items in it, but it was just more of the stuff that was already identified. Sara and Micheal were most interested in the fruits, since they would spoil the fastest.

Sare turned back to Micheal and asked “Do you think they're all edible?"

“Probably, if they can eat them then most likely we can too". Michael handed Sara his notebook and pulled out a marker from one of his pockets and began to draw parallel lines on his arms and numbering the space between them.

“What are you doing?" I asked.

“Having to test all of these in a lab would take too long, so I'm going to do it the old fashioned way. Sara, make sure you write down which fruit went on which section". He then cut one of the fruits, it looked like white plum, then had juice drip onto his arm, between the lines. He did this for eight of the fruits, only stopping because he ran out of space. Each time Sara wrote down the column and described the fruit that was used.

“Now, we wait a day and see if my skin reacts".

“What about the rest?" I asked.

“That depends if Sara is up to the task". He had a shit-eating grin on his face when he said it. Sara rolled her eyes and tried to find something to avoid answering. She quickly found it and smirked. “Well, it looks like I'm not the only one who liked your sandwiches Li". I turned to look at what she was talking about and kind of just froze.

The tray that I had prepared the sandwiches on was now empty, and the four bears were licking their hands… paws. They did that for a bit then started to talk amongst themselves for a minute. I swear all of their heads turned towards me at the same time. I quickly looked away and heard Sara chuckle. “Calm down Li, they loved them".

“Yeah, now what?"

“Maybe you should make some more?" I tensed up at that.

“I– you–, why don't you make some" I looked her in the eyes as I stood my ground.

“Calm down, why so agitated?".

“What if they didn't like it? What would they have done then?" My voice was rising, Sara clearly understood the danger and was acting like it didn't exist.

Sara's eyes became more relaxed and she put her hands on my shoulders. “Li, take a deep breath and calm down. If they didn't like it, they would have just not eaten it. If they were going to attack us they would have done so already". I did as she instructed and took a deep breath and thought about her reasoning. She was right, they could have attacked us, instead they brought us food and were doing what we told them without question.

After a few more deep breaths I was calm and knew what I had to do. I shook off Saras hands and turned around. The bears were talking to each other, completely ignoring me. I walked over to their table, they noticed this and all looked at me. I steeled my nerves and continued. I got the table and stood there, I looked at the closest bear in the eyes. This was the first time I really looked at one of them. This bear had a larger chest than the others, it also had a narrower face. Their eyes were brown and were wide, probably out of shock that I was staring right at her.

I pointed towards the tray and asked, “Can you hand me that". It took a while, but she finally grabbed the tray and handed it to me. I let out a little 'thanks' and walked away.

I walked back to the kitchenette. Micheal was sniffing some sort of mushroom while Sara was watching. “What was that?"

“Just getting the tray back, it's hard to make more food when you have nowhere to put them". I put the tray pack down, washed my hands and began to prepare more sandwiches. Sara looked back at Mike, who was now licking the mushroom and turned back to me. “Need some help?"

“I would like that". She smiled and washed her hands.

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

“Looks good John". Carter said between gulps of water. It was just us setting up the tent for the bears. It only took ten minutes, but with how much Carter complained it felt like an hour.

“Didn't it take longer last time?" I asked.

“Yeah, because everyone was arguing over what the next step was, remember?". He took another drink and stared off for a bit.

“Right! And Musa broke one of the poles and we had to tape it back together". I got my own water bottle and started drinking. After a few more minutes of back-and-forth we finally made our way back to the fire pit and sat down and continued our conversation. Eventually I finished my water bottle. I got up, made my way to the cooler, and as I went to grab the last cold water bottle Carter stopped me. “Wait, why do you get the water bottle?" He looked like an angry toddler. “Because I got up to get it". I said as I grabbed the bottle. “If you want another one go to the kitchen, there's plenty". I made my way back to my chair and sat down. “Yeah, but none of them are cold". He looked back at me, like he was expecting me to give it to him. “Wait, rock-paper-scissors" He held up his right hand in anticipation. I removed that water bottle and took a sip. “If you ask for another rock-paper-scissors I'm going to give you a black eye".

We talked for another five minutes when Sophia came out of the woods and approached us with her usual giddiness. She came up to me and bounced up and down while holding onto the arm of my chair.

“Josh, it's time" I looked at her for a second until it hit me. “Oh, the weather balloon". Carter looked confused. “Didn't you send that up, like, a week ago?". She stopped her jumping and turned to Carter. “Originally, that was the plan, but the internal tracker was acting up, so we had to postpone it. And now we get to show it to our new friends!".

Her mentioning it to the bears made me sit up straight. “Oh, shit. Is that a good idea?". “Why wouldn't it be?", “They might think it's a weapon or something". She thought about it for a bit and came to a conclusion. “Nope". … “You gonna explain?"

“Well, we can show them everything, and by having them watch we can show them exactly what's happening. That sounds better than them finding out later when it crashes into one of their homes, doesn't it?" I thought for a bit and couldn't really find any holes in her logic. I turned to Carter. “I mean, yeah. That does sound like good reasoning". With that I conceded “Yeah, that does sound like the best course of action." She smiles at that.

“Great, now you two can get the bears while I get everyone else". Carter and I got up to protest but she quickly walked away to find the others.

We looked at each other, both unable to ask the other to go get the bears. That's when Cater raised his right hand. “Rock-paper-scissors?"

Everyone was standing in front of the weather balloon while Sophia made some final adjustments. Eventually Li, Mike, Sara and Carter got here. The four bears were behind them, with the blue shirt bear in front. I noticed that Li was carrying a tray of sandwiches. I thought she brought everyone a snack, but once she led the bears to a comfortable viewing distance, she had the bears stop and held the tray in front of them. Almost immediately the tray was emptied. Watching that scene I almost missed Carter giving me a dirty look as he passed me. I quickly let him know how unimpressed I was with the dirty look. “One, I told you I was going to give you a black eye. Two, go put some ice on it". He just ignored me and stared at the balloon.

We didn't wait long for Sara to finish. She tied everything to the balloon and inserted a helium canister. I looked back at the bears, who were watching intensely, like at any moment the balloon could pop. The balloon was eventually filled, Sophia removed the canister, sealed the balloon and removed the weights. We all watched as the balloon drifted into the troposphere. I looked back at the bears. They were astonished. I wondered if they have ever seen anything like this before. What level of technology they were at. They did hand us a spear and what were they even doing out here? Was there a town nearby and this was the mayor and his advisors? Or was this just a dad and his adult kids checking on the freaks in his backyard?

I stared at them for too long, because eventually the big bear, the one in the blue shirt, looked at me. I didn't know how to respond, so I just gave him a smile.