Aliens & Humans: Unexpected Visitors
Like clockwork, each half hour of his waking time, Nik came to check on me. I wasnât sure if it was due to trust issues or just to make sure I wasnât dead yet. Except when I was asleep: then, he came every hour. Of course, had I been sleeping I wouldnât have known, but apparently they werenât the only ones that had trust issues and each time the door opened so did my eyes, only it was too dark for him to tell either I was actually asleep or not.
Thought his instructions were clear to keep me as uninformed as possible until after we had left Earth, how deductive I was impressed him a lot. For instance, it seemed that Zenks were horrible at keeping their emotions off their faces. It was pretty simple: the more obvious they were the emotion was strong. It was even easier that their facial and physical expressions were very similar to humans. The very creepy part was that they most of the time didnât seem to have an emotion at all. Nik said it was their way to explain satisfaction. Other than that, I was the one creating the most emotion waves there were. For instance when I made a scene against their nutrition system and how I was having horrible sleep on their hard mats. Everyone present or passing by was shocked and/or terrified by me. Clearly, they werenât as close to humans as they claimed: rare were the humans that would tolerate they gray tasteless goo or drink water with so much chlorine in it and that was when you didnât count a so uncomfortable mat. They were more ordered than we were, more disciplined. It had its advantages, of course. But where was all the fun, the thrill, the challenge? If there was such a thing as outcasts Zenks, thatâs where I end up for sure unless they accepted my cultural differences. Which consisted in most of who I was considering the distance between us in the universe until a few days ago and the lack of contact even now.
But I had to admit their emettor thingy in the ear was kind of cool. I for myself could only use it for two things: translation and giving information about the human species. Luckily for me, I was one of a kind in getting what I wanted and I had convinced their artificial intelligence of letting have a ânotepadâ. The principle was very simple: it used the impulses of my brain to communicate with me, talked in my ear and there was even an hologram/screen sort of projector that went before my right eye to give me other kind of information, maps, etc.
I took a deep breath. Then another. Where was he? It was three hours since the sun had risen â thatâs how they calculated the time in their 28 hours long days â meaning he had been up since at least two. Still, not one visit yet.
After a bit more procrastination, I painfully got up. If I opened the door, all my sweet heat would be done for. Thought we didnât keep our temperatures at so different levels â me 23°, while they kept the whole ship around 17° â I was not mentally ready to walk barefoot on the frozen floor just yet. I opened the blind of my room, excepting too bright light, but it was blue and adjusted to my level of ânormalâ. I didnât even have time to formulate a question in my head that the answer came to me: these lights were the equivalent to red light lighting up halfway through the ship. Emergency lights.
Though having all the knowledge right away was practical, it also made me absolutely awkward to have no privacy of thought. Yet, it was practical to know exactly what I had dreamed about. For instance, this time I was the Swan Lake Princess, at some details close. But that wasnât the point.
âWhat is going on?â I couldnât but wonder aloud.
You are not cleared for these informations.
They had quite the trust issues these aliens.
âIf it were a mechanical break, failure or whatsoever, would you tell me?â There was a moment of silence before once again I had an answer:
Then as exciting as this sounded, the only alternative I could see was space pirates?
âAre deliberately ignoring me or did you take me up on waiting for me to ask direct questions?â I asked, facing more silence.
âNice. But direct silent questions count. So if itâs nothing mechanical, yet nothing worth of my knowledge, does it mean something happened to ââ
I didnât even notice I stopped talking at the second I saw them it seemed just natural. This time, I was very grateful that the AI gave me all the information. It had to be her, otherwise how I would have I known that these creatures had an unpronounceable name and that I might as well call them goblins, which with their small height, green skin and unappealing features seemed totally fit, that was if you didnât count their bad attitude and horrible reputation. Apparently, they had a terrible sight, meaning they probably wouldnât see me with so few light giving in my room. Only, they didnât need to see me to know I was there: they relied on smell. Especially fear, whatever that smelled like, and as courageous as I tried to be the way they stopped to stare at me through the window made me realize I was probably wreaking of fear. I had to think of something, fast.
I am so sorry I never meant to be so late on something I promised and I feel so horrible right now! But itâs ok because itâs here now right? Itâs sketchy, I know, and it doesnât seem to be going anywhere but next episode some basic psychology (ish, more like me showing how easy you can manipulate one if you know enough). Anyways, this is it! And now, weâll see :)
