Welcome, readers, to the first chapter of the revised Only Human. It's the same story, yes, just being entirely re-written because I actually lost my original. I still have the archives here on SoFurry, but honestly whenever I looked at the story to try and write it, all I saw were all the old glaring errors of my early writing.

The rewrite lets me correct continuity errors, and become re-acquainted with my characters, due to how long it's been since I've written. Some things are changing, others are remaining remarkably the same.. If you REALLY want to see what happens in the future, you can go look at Only Human- Archived, but bear in mind that's kind of like the Alpha phase of a game, incomplete and not neccisarily consistent with the final.

On that note.. Enjoy!

Chapter 1:

Cold... no surprise. The first conscious thoughts broke the dreamless silence of Cryosleep, further he did a mental check of his body making sure nothing was amiss. The real fun came next, moving. Opening his eyes he glanced around his surroundings, everything was perfectly white and sterile. Medical facilities? Did something go wrong.. where is everyone else?

He slowly sat up ignoring the protest of his joints as he took a better look around him, wondering if he was in a medical facility or a holding cell. The room was pure white and devoid of any features beyond the bed which he sat on, and a toilet.. at least he was fairly certain it was a toilet, a lot could change in 50 years. At least there's no seashells.

50 years, his thoughts wandered to the changes that could have happened in the world as his body went on autopilot, certain exercises and stretched needed to be done post Cryosleep as there were theories of muscles not waking up on their own and atrophying. The only thing he didn't let himself dwell on was his family. Instead he pondered technology, wondering if by the 22^nd century they had finally gotten flying cars. If the time scale was right it would be July 2112, plus/minus 10 years.

Finishing with his routine, he paced the small room he was contained in, running his hand along the wall, listening to the hum of machines around him. Nearly invisible to the naked eye, he found the door and determined it to be sealed from the outside. As he concluded his inspection of his cell, which he had now concluded it was, something set him on edge.. something just felt wrong, though he couldn't put a finger on it.

“Hello?” He called to the empty room, assuming he was being watched, “Can anybody hear me? Where the hell am I, and why am I locked in this cell? .. and can I have some pants maybe? And a meal, I'm bloody well starving. … Is this thing even on?”

He waited a moment, but silence was the only reply, leaving him with only his thoughts for company. With nothing better to do, he started in to his workout regime, at least that which he could do in a vacant ten by ten room.. and in the interests of annoying whoever had to listen to him, he talked to himself the entire time, about whatever random thought crossed his mind.

* * *

Bay 3 was a bustle of activity, at least a dozen people were crawling over and through the derelict vessel. Every so-called expert the station had to offer, all trying to figure out where this ship had come from and why it was here.

A young gray wolf leaned against the wall, watching the activity with an amused look on her face. She was just a Corporal and not authorized to actually investigate the ship, never mind the fact that she had already told them where it came from, and when. Granted, no one wanted to believe her, so she studied the information she had found, waiting.

“It's starting to look like you might be right, Tiera.” Marv chuckled walking up, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder opposite his cane. The old panther had seen a few too many scrapes in his day, which had landed him a bad leg, a promotion and, being in charge of Bay 3. He was also the station's foremost expert on space craft. “Command thinks it might be an elaborate hoax, but I'm not so sure. Everyone agrees this thing is old. It's taking effort just to figure out how to use the archaic tech on the vessel.”

“Told you so,” Tiera smirked, “you just didn't want to believe that it was pre-War.”

“This is more than just pre-War... this is...”

“It's the first deep-space craft, Marv.” She replied, “It was launched in 2061, so it predates everything we know.”

“I can see that now.” Marv nodded, passing her the duffel he carried. “I'm going to try and get Command to let me bring you in on this, you know more about the world pre-War than anyone else aboard. In the mean time, I think it's safe to give you the human's possessions, seeing as you're the one assigned to break the news to him.”

“That's going to be fun.” She shouldered the bag. “.. speaking of which, I should see if he's awake yet.”

“Yeah, and I need to get back to that ship.” He turned to head back to the derelict, but paused. “By the way kiddo, don't get too attached. He's not going to be on the station long.”

“Yeah Marv, I know... I haven't even met him yet though.” Technically true but she did know a lot about him, having spent the past two days researching the ship and it's crew.

“Tiera, report to Medbay 17.” Her com chirped, the speaker on the other end doing nothing to hide his distaste. “It's awake.”

“Roger, en route.” Tiera replied, jogging through the halls of station. Medbay 17 being about 10 minutes away on foot, she used that time to once again go over the information she had.

“About time you showed up..” the Medbay attendant snapped as Tiera walked through the door, she wasn't sure of his name, but she knew he was a low ranked grunt, probably given the job no one else wanted. Her focus though was on the monitor, which showed the human doing doing pushups in the middle of his room, although it was muted. “It has been talking non-stop since it woke up, about utter nonsense no less. I think the extended Cryosleep broke it's brain.. assuming it ever had one.”

“That's part of what I need to find out,” Tiera replied, keeping her tone even. “you are dismissed, Private.”

“Good,” the attendant gathered his things quickly to leave the room. “I have better things to do than watch this hairless ape.”

Once the attendant was gone, Tiera settled in to the chair and un-muted the monitor, taking a moment to just watch and listening to the human, who was presently rambling about cheeseburgers of all things. He was a decent specimen of human, a little short at only around 170 cm, but well built. She briefly wondered how long he would last on his own, and quickly decided it would be very long, or pretty.

“Good morning,” Tiera said, flicking the microphone on, “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

“A friendly voice!” The human replied, rising from the floor and looking up, “For a moment I thought I had been abducted by aliens who didn't speak a word of English. Where is everyone else? Are they OK?”

“No aliens here..” Tiera paused a moment, trying to decide how to approach all the questions he was going to have, then decided to buy herself some time. “I will answer all of your questions in a moment, however first I need to ask you a few simple questions to make sure you came out of the Cryosleep fine.”

“.. Sure, OK.”

“First, can you tell me your name, rank and date of birth?”

“Ericson, Nathaniel T.” He replied, “Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force, born March 4^th, 2035.”

“Thank you, Mr. Ericson.” The information checked out. “Next can you tell me what date you left Earth?”

“April 12^th, 2061.” He said, then added. “And call me Nathan”

“Very well Nathan,” Tiera smiled to herself. “Just a couple more questions.. How old were you on launch?”

“26.” He seemed to realize that the questions were meant to make sure his brain was still wired right. Each successive question after was answered correctly, except one math problem.

“A more thorough examination will probably be done at some point soon,” Tiera said once Nathan had answered all the questions. “but for now, it seems you are mentally all there. So.. your turn.”

“.. Where's the rest of the crew?”

“... You were the only survivor Nathan.”

“I .. what..?” he collapsed backwards on to the bed. “.. Only survivor? What happened?!”

“The pods failed over time.” Tiera replied. “I'm sorry, they just weren't designed to last that long.”

“.. 'that long'?” Nathan echoed, taking that in for a moment, “what year is it?”

“2537.” Tiera sighed. “And I'm afraid that's not the worst news I have for you.”

“Twenty-five..?” Nathan said quietly. “.. 400 years late, one survivor.. I'm not sure what you could possibly tell me that's worse.”

“I'm sorry Nathan..” Tiera pondered not telling him more right now, unsure of how much more he could take. He needed to know what had happened though, well part of it at least. “You're not on Earth, we are presently on a space station which orbits between Earth and the Lunar Colony. Earth was rendered uninhabitable by nuclear war.”

“So.. not only is everyone I ever knew dead, but everything and every place is also long gone?” He sighed. “Well, this day has gone from bad to fucking terrible.. how long am I going to be in this holding chamber?”

“Another couple days.” Tiera replied “After the plague of 2135, quarantines were required for those returning from deep space.”

“.. better and better.” he sighed “Can I at least have some pants then? Maybe a blanket, because it is fucking freezing in here.”

“I will send your personal effects from the ship in.” She replied. “And I'll see about getting them to bring you a blanket with your meal.”

“Thank you.” He sighed, laying back and covering his eyes with an arm. “.. if it's all the same to you.. I'd like to be alone.”

“Very well Nathan. I will come back tomorrow.” She placed his duffel in the receptacle and started the decontamination process to send it across. Killing the mic, she leaned against the wall, watching him a moment longer as he dressed and went though the contents of his bag.

* * *

Kilin's office was dark, the tigers face only lit by the subtle glow from his desk. This whole business with the human had caused far more trouble than he had wanted. The Admiral was hounding him to find out where it had come from, while the crew of his station were either hounding him to kill it or let them see it. It made sense, few (if any) of them had ever seen a human.

His thoughts were interrupted by a screen lighting up on his desk indicating a call, hoping for some form of good news he hit accept.

“Corporal,” his greeting was as polite as an admiral could be expected to greet a corporal, “I take it the specimen has finally awoken?”

“Yes, sir.” Tiera replied.

“Good. What does your preliminary report show?”

“So far, everything points towards my initial conclusion.” She said, tapping a pad on her end to send him the full report. “His answers are clear and correct for who he is said to be. The speed at which he answered is not indicative of rehearsed or fabricated responses, his knowledge is proper for one born in the 21^st century. As well, his possessions are befitting my knowledge of the 21^st century.”

“Hmm.” Kilin listened to the wolf, and the skimmed over her report. “.. This is good news, however Admiral Darkmoon is insisting that we be absolutely certain this is not a very well planned ruse. If there is an unknown human colony within the system, we need to know.. and if they're sending a ruse like this at us, they can be assumed to be hostile.”

“Very well, sir. What would you have me do?”

“Observe him and talk to him more.” Kilin replied. “See if he does anything that betrays him as being more advanced than the 21^st century.”

“Yes, sir.”

“As well,” Kilin continued, “it was brought to my attention that your knowledge of the 21^st century could be useful in authenticating the derelict. You are assigned to the investigation crew. No trying to take souvenirs though.”

“Yes, sir!” She replied, clearly fighting a smile. “Wouldn't dream of it, sir.”

“Dismissed.” He closed the call, taking a moment to fully read over Tiera's report then file it with the preliminary report on the derelict and forward both to High Command. All signs pointed to this being a fluke, but he knew they couldn't risk a human colony still existing within the system, let alone one prepared to make some form of attack.

“Alyssa, hold my calls.” Kilin called to his assistant, smiling to himself. It was time to relieve some stress. “And come in here.”

“.. yes, sir.” His receptionist replied, walking in a moment later. He could smell the fear and arousal on the young wolf, she clearly knew what he planned but knew better than to argue. She was just how he liked them, attractive but durable.. she would always put up a nice fight before succumbing to him.

* * *

Not long after her conversation with Kilin, Tiera found herself at the desk in her apartment, staring at the vacuum sealed box that stored one of her books, '200 years of space travel' from 2162. With a sigh she opened the seal, there was still concern the derelict was a hoax and there was a hostile human colony somewhere, and this book could quell or confirm those.

The book lacked as much information as she would have liked on the Freedom 7 and her crew, but there was still enough that she quickly found herself completely lost in going between the book, several history sources on the Net and the information gathered from the derelict and Nathan. So lost in fact, she failed to notice the chirp that announced a guest at her door, and almost miss her door opening.

“Rr? Hi Aerix.” She knew who it was before even turning to look at him, both by his scent and the tell-tale sound of minotaur hooves on her floor. Technically, she was his immediate superior but when off duty he was a friend and someone she looked up to. “What bring you by?”

“Well, I heard the human woke up today.” Aerix chuckled, seating himself on Tiera's bed, which groaned in protest of his weight, “Decided I'd see how he took everything.. and how you handled it.”

“Well, I haven't told him everything.” She sighed. “Being the only survivor and not having a planet seemed enough bad news for one day.”

“For him or for you?”

“.. Both?” she shook her head. “It's hard to tell him all this, it's hard to see him try and deal with it. Imagine losing the entire team but yourself, and then being something that you might have been able to stop.”

“Everything he know and loves is gone.” Aerix nodded. “I rather doubt finding out his race is gone is going to hit much harder. Though I think you're more concerned with how he's going to take finding out that the extinction of his species was accelerated.”

“Accelerated by us, Aerix.” She sighed, “Also, that the dominant species now are creatures that look like they belong in the cartoons he grew up watching.”

“Look like.. what?”

“Never mind, it's not important.” Tiera shook her head and chuckled slightly, forgetting for a moment that Aerix didn't share her knowledge of pre-war history. “How he's going to handle everything aside though.. what's going to happen to him when the quarantine expires?”

“I don't know kiddo.” He replied, shaking his head. “I don't expect it's going to be too terribly good whatever it is. He has no family, no friends, no money, no home.. a good eighty percent of the population either wants him dead or on display. That's not even considering the rumor that's floating around that he's from an unknown human colony that's planning an attack.”

“Well, that at least isn't true.” She indicated to the book in front of her, and then her computer, “Or if it is, it's an exceptionally elaborate hoax. The ship is identical to the image in this book, the pictures of the entire crew match up, as does all the information he gave me. The technology level and work required to pull off a hoax like this would be.. well, let's just say they wouldn't have bothered with this as a precursor.”

“Unless their objective was something else.”

“Like what?”

“Reconnaissance. If we assume that there is a hidden human colony out there, it's erroneous to instantly assume them hostile as well. They likely assume we will be initially hostile to any humans in hiding after the purge, and with good reason, so instead they create a rather elaborate ruse to convince us that this particular human predates the purge.. predates the entire existence of our species for that matter.”

“But why?” Tiera asked.

“To gauge our acceptance, as a species, of the existence of a human.” He replied, “It's been how long since the last reported human was killed?”

“Nintey-seven years.” She replied, without even checking. “Although she wasn't killed, she died of old age on Europa.”

“Well yes, but the only reason she wasn't killed in the purge was Ion-Tech's security force being fiercely loyal.” Aerix chuckled, “Still, nearly a hundred years since there's been a living human.. they want to see if we have calmed down to accept them, or if we still want to see total genocide.”

“Unfortunately I think genocide is still on the table.” Tiera sighed. “Which does not bode well for Nathan.”

“It does not.” Aerix nodded, resting a massive hand on her shoulder. “He's going to need friends if he's to last more than a day.”

“And I expect those will be few and far between.”

“If nothing else kiddo, you know that I have your back.. no matter what.”

“Thank you Aerix.” Tiera smiled. “I hope it doesn't come to that.. but somehow I expect it will.”

So concludes the first chapter of the revision.. 2 will be coming "soon". Unfortunately my life doesn't allow near as much time to write as I would like.