Alex [unpronounceable], Unknown, Protectorate Agent

Struggling to sleep, Alex awoke several minutes early and, dressing quickly, reentered the command room. Replaying the human broadcast, Alex knew he would need to report this to Protectorate command. This news was a clear violation of the treaty signed by the Gods when they left the planet. The council would need to be informed that someone or something was causing chaos on Earth and it was likely the work of one or more of the few rogue gods who had not been located and rounded up. Alex knew High Command would not be happy about this turn of events. He turned to his computer panel and began to write a report about the incident that would frame it in the best way to keep him out of trouble with the higher ups in command. He didn't need to ruin his own reputation while reporting on the problem. He was very careful to mention that this had happened overnight during someone else's watch.

Alex checked to see who was the watch commander last night.

"Figures," he thought.

The only person in his entire crew who could possibly be on watch when something this big happened would have to be an admiral's son. At least Alex would not get blamed. Too bad the idiot who was in charge at the time would not be punished for failing to report the incident at the time. Sighing to himself, Alex transmitted the report with all the relevant information. He could only wait for the reply as he was still only authorized to observe. Since the Protectorate had set up shop in orbit around this small green-blue planet in an outer arm of what the locals called the Milky Way galaxy, the standing order for all Protectorate Commanders was to observe and protect. Of course, since he could not interfere in the progress of the humans, Alex found protecting them rather challenging, to say the least. But orders were orders. So here he sat day in and day out. The only way to keep from going crazy was to watch human audio-visual broadcasts.

To say the humans were a most disturbing species was beyond an understatement. The history of the species alone often keep Alex entertained in so much as it was fascinating to learn about. The details were horrible, but the overall picture was intriguing to say the least. Alex had personally enjoyed watching the progress of the land mass known as North America. "Europe" had an interesting history as well. Even a place as culturally diverse as "Africa" could pique Alex's interest. One of the land masses, though, seemed to lack any sort of serious human presence at all. The humans certainly spent an inordinate amount of time on it, but only in small groups and only for very brief periods of time. "Antarctica" must contain some unknown resources as it garnered only passing interest to most humans. Alex still did not understand why the humans did not have living structures on this land mass.

They lived in other seemingly harsh climates, even places that resembled Antarctica. Yet, they had not established any sorts of settlements on it. It was just another of humanity's strange quarks. Alex was brought out of his thoughts by the beeping of the computer indicating that Protectorate legal had authorized a limited expedition to the planet's surface. Only one agent for each reported incident of the virus would be permitted. Alex noted that, as reporting agent, he would be required to take care of one of the humans personally. The brass expected the situation to be taken care of with the minimum of disruption to the humans. Any damage to the human's natural development would be intolerable and result in that agent being severely punished. Alex gulped audibly as he knew the Protectorate were notorious for very creative punishments.

Alex Noted that, aside from himself, there were a number of agents assigned to the humans. Each agent was given a choice of who to follow based on the agents skills. Since Alex had the most varied skill set, he was given the choice of any of the reported humans to monitor and, if necessary, "fix".