ꎇ꒒ꌩꀤꈤꁅ ꅏꀤ꓄ꃅ ꓄ꃅꍟ ꂦꂵꍏ꓄ꀤꀘꍏꌩꍏ (ꍏꃴꍏ꓄ꍏꋪ ꊼ ꂦꉓꌗ)

\\ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙//

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

As the day continued, the corridors of the compound became lively with people moving in both directions, searching for rooms, lugging duffels and cases. Among these bustling newcomers were two young men: an eager Xenoanthropologist and an ex-SEAL Xenobiochemist, staggering under overpacked duffels.

"Is that him? I think that's him," Norm craned his neck, scanning the crowd to spot a significantly shorter male.

"Only one way to find out. Excuse me! Coming through!" Nate called, beginning to push past the throng of people.

"Jake! Excuse me, sorry, sorry. Hey Jake!" Norm shouted as he and Nate chased after the disabled man.

Jake paused, turning his head over his shoulder to face the approaching men.

"You're Jake, right? Tom's brother? Wow, you look just like him." Norm smiled as all three men halted in the corridor.

Jake eyed Norm warily, his marine instincts kicking in.

"Oh! Sorry, I'm Norm Spellman. I went through avatar training with him." Norm offered his hand, and Jake shook it.

"And I'm Nathanial Shaw, Nate for short. I also studied with your brother." Nate extended his hand.

The recently discharged vet scrutinized Nate before taking his hand, and giving it a firm shake. Jake looked down at their joined hands as Nate's fingers wrapped around his in an iron grip.

"Marine?" Jake questioned, releasing Nate's hand.

"Navy SEAL," Nate corrected.

"I'm going to be the resident alien doctor and signal intelligence specialist for all the science types here," Nate nodded, looking towards Norm and clapping him lightly on the back.

"I'm sorry about your brother," Nate added, stepping aside and gesturing for the group to keep moving while they spoke.

"Yeah, he was a great guy... funny. It was a big shock to all of us," Norm added.

"Yeah," Jake muttered disheartedly, pumping the wheels of his chair and rolling on.

Norm walked alongside him, with Nate following close behind.

"And, uh, obviously you look like him. If you weren't genetically identical, you wouldn't be taking over his avatar," Norm continued.

"That's why I'm here," Jake shrugged.

"So, you want to go check it out?" Norm gestured towards an empty corridor leading to a large steel door.

Entering the Bio-Lab, a large lab complex with many adjoining rooms, they found Doctor Max Cullimore supervising the uncrating of three shipping containers. The nearest had its sides removed, revealing a ceiling-height acrylic tank. Norm and Nate stopped to stare, while Jake rolled past them, drawn towards the amino tank. Inside, a figure floated languidly, resembling a man—a very large, very blue man.

Blood circulates through a synthetic umbilical in the abdomen. As the figures turned in the amniotic fluid, their long lemur-like tails and cyan-blue skin with tiger-like stripes became visible. Long black hair drifted gracefully like seaweed from their heads.

"Damn. They got big."

"Yeah, they fully mature on the flight out. So the proprioceptive sims worked pretty well," Norm exclaimed.

"And they've got great muscle tone," Nate observed, approaching the middle tank.

"Yeah. It'll take us a few hours to get them decanted, but you guys can take them out tomorrow," Max grinned.