Ch.133Born for the First Time! (2)

#133

The Mojave Spaceport is disguised as a regular airport, but it’s also used to launch private spacecraft from space industry companies, which is why even ordinary people call it a “spaceport.”

The distance from the North Las Vegas City Hall, where Himena was, to the Mojave Spaceport in California is quite far.

Since she had to cross from Nevada into California, Himena spent overwhelmingly more time with her foot on the accelerator than off it.

When a somewhat tired-looking Himena arrived at the passenger waiting room of Mojave Spaceport’s Terminal 2 underground, two figures were grumbling at each other.

“When did I ever…!”

“You clearly did earlier!”

A cephalopod alien wearing an Earth-style black suit and a small child with pink skin and completely black eyes were shouting at each other.

Himena slowly approached the two, and when they noticed her coming, they stopped arguing and stared at her intently.

“Welcome to Earth. I’m Himena Rivero, an agent with the United States Space Security Agency.”

Feeling their gaze, Himena spoke first, and the cephalopod alien waved its right tentacle and said:

“I’m Id-Ya from Tenpenny Corporation’s First Security Team.”

“…United States? Space Security Agency?”

Himena slightly bent her waist toward the pink-skinned girl who seemed confused by what she had just heard and explained slowly:

“The United States is the country where Miss Gabi is currently located, and the Space Security Agency is an alien intelligence agency for American security.”

Aisha tilted her head, understanding the first part but not knowing what an intelligence agency was. Himena smiled lightly and said:

“I’ll explain as we go. Oh, did you receive the disguise kits?”

“The spaceport staff told us not to touch them until the OSA agent arrived, so we left them over there.”

Id-Ya pointed toward the chairs in the waiting room.

Two metal briefcases were placed on the chairs, each with a name tag to avoid confusion.

“Let’s see… Mr. Id-Ya needs to wear an epidermal disguise kit, and Miss Gabi needs to use a device-type disguise kit.”

After checking the instructions on her mobile phone, Himena picked up the metal briefcases and led the two to a private waiting room near the main waiting area.

“I think I’ll need to help Mr. Id-Ya with his, and Miss Gabi, you’ll need to wear the bracelets and anklets from the case on both your wrists and ankles.”

Himena opened Aisha’s metal briefcase and took out thick black rubber bracelets and anklets, handing them to her.

“The design is ugly.”

“It’s much more comfortable and better than the epidermal one.”

Since young aliens like Aisha rarely came to Earth, they had no choice but to issue adult-sized disguise kits in dull colors.

“Once you put them on, you’ll look like an Earth person, so don’t worry. I’ll go help Mr. Id-Ya for a moment.”

“Okay…”

With Himena’s kind explanation, Aisha found it difficult to throw a tantrum about not wanting to wear them, so she just pouted while putting the disguise kit on her arms and legs.

The moment she finished, a flash of light emanated from her body, causing Aisha to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, she saw something different.

“Wow.”

Aisha’s skin, which had been deep pink with only black eyes distinguishing her from humans, had turned pale white.

She examined her hands and legs closely, then looked at her reflection in the mirror inside the waiting room.

‘It really is similar to Brother Dexter’s skin color.’

Searching through the briefcase further, she found a t-shirt and jeans suitable for Earth children her age, and while Aisha was changing clothes,

Himena entered another waiting room where Id-Ya was, who was in the process of removing his suit jacket.

“Have you opened the epidermal disguise kit yet?”

“No, not yet. I was just about to take off my clothes…”

Himena nodded and opened the briefcase containing the epidermal disguise kit, saying:

“You know that for the epidermal disguise kit, you need to take off all your clothes, right?”

“It’s a bit embarrassing.”

After saying this, Id-Ya removed his suit layer by layer until he was completely naked, but to Himena’s eyes, it didn’t look sexual or sensual at all.

‘It’s more like an octopus character from an underwater animated film…’

It did look like what you might get if you mixed a human and an octopus together.

But she couldn’t say that to Id-Ya’s face, so she just kept it to herself.

Himena took the epidermal disguise kit out of the case and laid it out in front of Id-Ya.

Looking at the epidermal disguise kit, which resembled human skin with all the contents removed, Id-Ya stared at it with an uncomfortable expression and said:

“I’m supposed to wear this?”

“It looks like this, but it’ll be comfortable once you put it on. Trust me.”

The disguise kits provided by the OSA are somewhat outdated technology in the context of the universe as a whole.

Since Id-Ya had only used high-end products with cutting-edge technology while working at Tenpenny Corporation, he was a bit skeptical about this standard-issue disguise kit. Approaching Id-Ya, Himena pointed at his tentacles as if she were trying to dress a child, saying:

“Raise your tentacles. I’ll help you put it on.”

“I’m not a child!”

“It’s difficult to put on by yourself. Come on, lift your tentacles up.”

At Himena’s persistent request, Id-Ya reluctantly put on the disguise kit, but since it was sized more generously than Id-Ya’s original form, the disguise kit was sagging.

Looking at himself in the shabby disguise kit that seemed like it belonged in a cheap sci-fi movie, Id-Ya looked at Himena and said:

“Please tell me that’s not the end of it.”

“Of course not. We need to fill it with gas.”

“Gas?”

Himena took out a fist-sized gas cartridge from the briefcase that had contained the disguise kit and said:

“Once we fill this, we’re done.”

Himena approached Id-Ya from behind, gently parted the blonde hair to find the metal hole in the back of the head, and inserted the gas cartridge into it.

With the sound of gas escaping, the disguise kit Id-Ya was wearing gradually inflated.

From a shabby and unattractive appearance, it transformed into a beautiful blonde woman with the aura of a tall female model.

“…Looking at it now, I think it’s prettier than me?”

Usually, they provide disguise kits with ordinary appearances to avoid suspicion or excessive attention, but Id-Ya’s disguise kit was pretty enough to make Himena slightly jealous.

“I don’t know if it’s pretty or not.”

From Id-Ya’s perspective, who had no sense of human aesthetics, it was just ordinary.

“I heard that adult Earth humans feed milk to infant Earth humans, but are such large supply units necessary for feeding? It seems rather inconvenient.”

As Id-Ya lifted and dropped her chest from underneath, Himena waved her hands and said:

“You absolutely must not do that behavior when we’re outside. Understand?”

“The body looks weak too… I’m worried if I can protect Miss Aisha.”

While Id-Ya was worrying unnecessarily, Himena brought clothes suitable for the epidermal disguise and helped Id-Ya put them on, saying:

“The OSA will handle most threats, so you don’t need to worry too much, and the epidermal disguise is quite durable, so it should be fine unless it’s a life-or-death fight.”

Himena reassured Id-Ya and then left the Mojave Spaceport with Aisha, who had been waiting alone in the waiting room.

Both Id-Ya and Aisha hadn’t ridden in a wheeled vehicle for quite some time, so they were curiously looking at the Earth landscape unfolding outside the car window.

On the way from the Mojave Spaceport to the OSA headquarters, Aisha, who was at the most curious age, spoke first.

“Do you know Brother Dexter well?”

“Huh? Dexter? Oh, yes. I know him well.”

Himena looked at Aisha, who was staring at her from the passenger seat, and Aisha crossed her arms and said:

“Then, do you know why he hasn’t contacted me until now?”

“Um… I’m not sure? Maybe Dexter has been too busy with his work on Earth?”

Himena smiled awkwardly as she looked at Aisha’s pouty face.

This was the first time Himena had heard anything about Aisha from Dexter, and even then, he had only briefly mentioned that she was a child and should be treated well.

Not understanding why Dexter, whom she thought was quite affectionate, would behave that way, Himena was trying to defend his actions.

“Dexter is working today, so you’ll probably be able to see him around evening. So we’ll wait at the OSA for a while, and then move together when Dexter gets off work. Maybe you can talk to him then and find out?”

“You seem to know a lot about Dexter.”

As Aisha stared intently at Himena, Himena replied with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“We formed a new team because of Dexter.”

“Team?”

“It’s called the Special Investigation Team, and we’re in charge of handling strange incidents that have been happening recently.”

“But what does that have to do with Brother Dexter?”

“I told you. Team Leader Dexter was an amazing person at Tenpenny Corporation.”

Id-Ya, who had been quietly listening to the conversation from the back, spoke up.

“Him? What’s so amazing about him?”

“Miss Aisha might not know this, but he was the one who changed Tenpenny Corporation’s haphazard security approach that relied on outsourcing and temporary measures. Especially when CEO Eliya expanded the company tenfold, Team Leader Dexter faced so many threats and hardships…”

With those words, Id-Ya looked at the two in the front seats with sparkling eyes and continued:

“If CEO Eliya was the light, Team Leader Dexter was the darkness. Just as light needs darkness to exist, Team Leader Dexter played a crucial role in physically defeating those who tried to harm the CEO.”

As Id-Ya continued praising Dexter, Aisha, who had been listening, burst out in anger:

“Then why did someone like him work for my dad’s company?!”

“I heard from a senior security team member that he said ‘it’s time to rest now’ and left the security team after discussions with CEO Eliya. How much energy must he have expended…”

As Id-Ya was about to tear up, Aisha pouted.

“All he ever did was drink and eat with my dad.”

“I heard that Team Leader Dexter has quite down-to-earth tastes. Indeed, he’s an unpretentious person.”

Himena was also hearing these stories for the first time, so she nodded as she listened.

“I only heard about that briefly… I wonder why he only told me he was a space delivery person when he first came to Earth.”

“What? He hid his identity from you too?”

“I know a lot about Eliya because I’ve heard a lot. Especially recently, thanks to the weapons sent to Dexter from the security team, he even saved me when I was in danger.”

As Himena proudly said this, Aisha once again crossed her arms with a pouty face and looked out the window.

“He was always so stingy with me.”

“But knowing Dexter’s personality, I don’t think he would have pushed Aisha away if she approached him, right?”

Himena said with a smile.

“…I don’t know! I’m going to kick him when I see him later!”

Aisha said, still fuming.