Back home

Bradley and I were on our way to earth for the week of our vacation, Swan, my new wife came with us. We circled the family home, we had skipped the whole ceremonies for Swan and I went right here. I didn't like that we rushed things, but what can you do when time moves so fast? We did the flyover to get my parents out of the house and it worked. They saw the spaceship hovering over and they stopped right in the middle of the yard. We landed in the being field near the yard and My Mom held my dad tight.

It had been years since I had been in this world, you could see the tears forming on my dad's face right before the ramp hit the ground. I had Swan standing behind me and Brad was on my left with a smile on his face. You could see it even though the helmet we had on. We walked down the ramp slowly with our helmets on and saw Mom start freaking out. We got within ten feet in front of them and I decided to take mine off when I saw dad clench up.

Swan was scared of my father's reaction, she tugged on my jacket when I was taking the helmet off. Why did we have them on, to begin with, this was to make sure we could see any Earth military personal coming. With me taking the helmet off I had the pilot keep tabs on the Military while he was hovering in orbit. The ship left us and Mother saw who it was when the helmet hit the ground.

She began to cry and both of them ran to us, Bradley at this point took his helmet off too. They grabbed us both hugging us and asking questions. "Why, where did you both go? We have been looking for you both for years. " Dad said gut checking us when he collected his feelings. I smiled after Dad held his hand from him hitting my rock-solid body. I looked at mom and she was waiting for my answers as to why I disappeared.

Before that, I felt Swan behind me with her helmet still on, " Mother before I tell you, there is someone I want you to meet." I pulled Swan from behind me and placed her short bird-like body in front of me. Swan hated to be picked up and she looked at me and I could tell she was upset. I took her helmet off and surprised my parents. "This is my Wife Swan, we got married while I was gone and without her, I would never have been able to survive out there," I said pointing up at the sky and then they realized what I meant.

Swan was scared of what my mother was thinking, My mother, looked at me and smiled, then hugged Swan like she has known her forever. This surprised me and Swan as Bradley laughed with our dad. We laughed for a moment and Swan began to get comfortable with what she was expecting from my family now.

We talked to my parents about what had happened and why we were gone so long. It was part Bradley's fault and that we wanted to stay and be involved with something bigger than us. Later that day, we spent some time cruising around town, in the old truck dad kept around for me when I returned. It ran nicely and brought back old memories of when I was a young kid. We went by, some of my favorite spots and then I took Swan to the mountain near the countryside and showed her earth has its good sides.

Bradley stayed back and told our dad why we couldn't stay home. It was because of the enhancements and all the time spent in space it would take us years to recover from the time difference. I was in the mood to find my old friend and see if he was at his parent's place.

I looked up his old address and went to Swan wondering where we were going? I pulled up to the house slowly and saw a familiar sight in the driveway. It was my Friend's Dad working on some kind of new toy he had bought. I got out of the car and walked up to him and he jumped, "Who?" He saw I smiled and I said " hello it's been a long time pops. " With everyone about that changed my voice was still the same. He shook my hand and greeted me as we walked into the house. I stopped us right in the middle of the door and motioned for Swan to come with me.

She was hesitant and Justin's dad was wondering who she was, She had her face hidden in a hood while she walked fast into the doorway. Justin was on the couch watching a couple of old videos of all our friends messing around. He looked up and saw me with his dad, even though my physique was different he still recognized me. He jumped up and much like my parents, he hugged me, and then he yelled at me. "What the hell dude, why did you leave, and where did you go for four years?"

Swan was next to me still hiding her face when I explained to him what had happened. Justin and his family were shocked and didn't really believe me till Justin's mother asked who the weird girl was. "Ah yes, this my second family is my Wife and the person who saved me from losing my mind. " Swan took off her hood and like my mother, Justin's mother liked her right away. They didn't believe me when I told them I was like a super-soldier either till later.

I went outside and lifted the car in the driveway and then they accepted everything for the most part. We talked for hours and I loved every moment of it since it wouldn't last. This made me sad for a moment, then Justin asked me something that I was expecting. "Can I go with you when you leave for the base?" Justin said to me when we were out in his backyard alone, I was drinking some beer his dad gave me. I spit it out and thought about it, I pressed my wrist communicator and put in a request while we talking. It went right to the Head captain herself, she looked at it and then asked her assistant if this was really me asking permissions for a human to be in the U-F. She smiled, "If it's him asking I can't really refuse can I?" She said as she accepted it and I saw it right away.

Justin was going on about how much his family was driving him crazy, I stood there and listened to him for a bit. I looked at him and asked, " are you sure you want to go with me, this job is very hard, but pays too much and the academy is a pain, but fun." I said selling on him still saying yes, he began to smile and went back to when we left.

We talked to his family and I showed Swan the HC already accepted my recommendation. "Wow, that was quick she must really trust your judgment. Swan said to me as Justin looked over at my wrist thing and saw what I was talking about. Then I told Justin that Bradley was back at the house and he was waiting for us to get back.

The rest of the week we spent on earth was just showing Swan everything I could and having a fun time with everyone I knew. For Swan, she was indeed having fun and learned most of the people around me. Well, they were more open-minded than the rest of the human race with them liking her as my wife. We laughed the night before we left for the U-F with Justin in tow for the fun he was about to have as a new cadet.