You Guys Goin To The Game Tonight

The internal whirring of the robot suddenly stops, and the whole thing slumps forward, both sets of arms limp to the sides. There is some movement in the fingers of the upper arms, but it’s nearly impossible to hear. A second passed, then another, and then something began to crunch. 

It took every iota of strength in me not to scream as the robot's back split open. The largest part of its carapace cracked along a - seam? That’s a seam! 

Why would a robot have a seam? Oh no.  

A new, smaller thing climbs out. Crawls out, really. It’s like watching someone moult way too early.

Someone. Oh my gosh this is an alien space suit. A suit. For space. It’s not a robot at all! It might never have been! The aliens have been going outside of their ship this entire time! How!? How could it hear my ship, let alone hear and catch the containers that we passed back and forth? How did it do so without any external equipment? Was it all inside of the orb at the top? Other other machinery that I couldn’t identify? 

More importantly, why would you do that? Why would you even invent this sort of thing? 

The internal structu- the alien - was the same general shape as the robo- suit. I can barely think I’m so terrified. 

Its body is contained and is a solid shape with roughly the same body plan as the suit. The main body is full of cavities and wiring all around a weak endoskeleton. A small, pump-like organ loud enough for me to see without concentrating increased in output as the alien finally finished moulting. It steps into the tunnel with a huff. 

On either side of this pump sat two semi-transparent…. Organs? It could be a set of filters or digestive organs (maybe it was some kind of filter feeder? The calorie requirement would be insane). They’re sponge-like, and seem to expand and contract independently from the rest of the body. Everything was rhythmic, but not harmonious. 

The alien could almost be described as an animal, but it was wrong in too many ways. Its carapace was taller than it was wide, and was vertically symmetrical, at least on the ‘‘fore’ side that was facing me. It seemed to be flexible, at least on the joins and gaps between the rigid support structure. 

It used its two, slightly longer, lower arms to stand on the ground as best it could in the lack of gravity, the two arms on the top floating freely out on either side. If it stood properly on all four, it would still be taller than any Eridian. The ‘lower’ hands did, in fact, have fingers, but they seem to be too small to hold onto anything even if they weren't covered like they are now.

A fleshy protrusion sat on top of the carapace, right where the top orb of the suit was placed. It didn’t look like a fifth arm - no fingers - but it was hard to tell what else it could be for. The internal endoskeleton of this protrusion was again symmetrical, but full of holes of varying sizes. The largest of these holes was connected by an organic pipe (?) to the filter organs. As the filters expanded and contracted, so did the hole. 

Oh! It was a vent! At least I think it is. Atmosphere came in from the front vent and cycled through the filter sponges inside of the body with help of the pump. It was hard to tell what of the pumps were exclusively for ventilation, but that must have been part of the core function.

Already close to freezing and in a near-vacuum, the alien must have been exhausted if it needed to vent as much as it was. It made a few sounds as it vented, pushing the excess hot air out.