#jpitha

During first contact, one of the humans who was working with us was staring at us oddly. At first, I wasn't sure what they meant by it; their body language was unfamiliar to me. When the other human with them said something in their harsh, chattery language, they jumped like they had been shocked, cast their eyes down and a red flush climbed from their neck to their face. Clearly something had happened. As they did not say anything to me, and everyone seemed to be working very hard to ignore what just happened, I put it aside and continued to work on the translation model with them.

To be honest, they were fascinating. We had apelike creatures on our home world, but they were forest dwelling animals, who - while clever - didn't exhibit any signs of civilization. When we mentioned this, the humans replied that they had animals from their world that looked somewhat like us. They were called cats, and were a popular pet, as well as a subject for much visual art."

As time went on and our communication levels improved, I was able to notice that more humans were staring at us very intently as we toured their ship. When they did, sometimes - though not always - another human with them reacted strongly and they always immediately turned away, and their skin reddened like that human before.

Finally, I felt that our communication levels had progressed enough that I could broach the subject. We were back aboard their ship and getting a tour of their food production facilities when I asked.

"Cel? I have noticed that some of the humans will stare at us as we walk by, and then usually someone with them will say something, and they will look away, and their skin around their neck and face reddens. Do you know what is happening?"

Cel was the human assigned to us while we were aboard their ship. She was a member of some kind of logistics team and when they weren't in combat, she did not have many tasks or obligations, and had expressed an interest in helping out. She took to her role vigorously and worked very hard to make sure our needs were met and that we had a pleasant experience aboard.

"Their skin redd-oh." Cel's skin exhibited the same behavior, though less strongly than the others. "That's called a blush. It's an involuntary response to being embarrassed or other emotional stress."

"Why?"

"We think it is part of our nonverbal communication suite." Cel said making that motion with her shoulders moving them up and then down quickly - a shrug. "Perhaps it is meant to signal remorse or guilt."

"Thank you for the explanation, but I had meant more why were they feeling embarrassed after looking at us? Do they not like us? I can understand fearing the unknown, but we are all working hard to move past that and learn more about each other."

"Oh, it's not fear." Cel said, looking straight ahead. "It's a different feeling." She took in a larger than normal breath of air and exhaled more loudly. She said it was called a sigh. "They're attracted to you, physically."

"Physically? As in, they wish to... mate with us?" I didn't know what else to say. We were told to do our utmost to be accommodating and to present a friendly, cooperative facade. The space that the humans occupied was rich with mineral wealth, and we were in dire need of some of those minerals. We must have positive relations with them.

"Er, yes. That is what many of them desire." Cel continued looking ahead as we walked. "I know you've seen our art, and how you look somewhat like our cats."

"That's right, and you look a bit like our Greminar."

Cel's head tilted up and down once - a nod. There was a moment where I felt a well of pride at being able to read their body language so well. They all did it so much, and hardly knew about it. "You've shown me images of cats, they are much too small. Why would humans wish to mate with us because we look like cats?"

"It's..." She sighed again. "This is one of those things that is probably better to show, rather than explain." We entered a wardroom and she brought up some images on her pad. "Furry art" she called it. Sure enough, it was colorful images of...

"These look like us!" I said, shocked. I turned the image to get a better view. "Though, I don't think our mammary glands tend to be that lar-"

"Yes, I know what you mean." Cel said, the blush not leaving her face. "These are stylized images, more meant for titillation than an accurate representation."

"I should say so." I said, pointed at one of them. "That outfit is entirely unfeasible, it would bunch and I know I would be cold wearing it, fur or not."

"Yes, well." Cell closed her pad quickly. "That's why some of the humans were staring, and why they blushed when called out on it."

"But, that doesn't explain why you're blushing right-" Oh. "Cel, how were you able to procure those images to show me so quickly?" I hope Cel was getting as good at reading my body language as I was at hers. I couldn't help myself, we tend to tease our potential partners, and I wanted to see how she'd react. I was told to do what I could to build a positive relationship after all.

Cel tucked her arms in her side, hands in her lap as her head tilted down, her blush vibrant.

It's one thing to read an entire story in installments on tumblr, and something else when you decide you need a physical copy. I didn't realize it was That Much Book!

(But now I can read this again while I am camping. Win.)

@jpitha writes fun scifi with great world-building. You should check out his stuff. (Gord is my favorite character. He's a maple syrup smuggling Canadian AI who gets into all kinds of trouble.)

(The e-book is only 99¢ on Amazon!)

So yaysun-

Actually it's Jason, but yes?

Jay-sun, don't you have to recalibrate the OMS pods today?

Well... yeah, but...

Are you injured? Has something happened?

No, no, I'm just... procrastinating.

What is procrastinating?

It's like... putting off something you need to do just because... you don't feel like it.

That seems counterproductive.

Yeah, that much is true.

So if you aren't recalibrating the pods, what ARE you doing? Usually when you aren't working you're playing Final Fantasy CDXX in your quarters.

Well, because I'm supposed to be recalibrating the pods it feels wrong to go play the game, so I'm just kinda sitting here doing random stuff and fidgeting.

What is fidg- never mind. Why don't you just recalibrate the pods then you can play your game?

I would love to just go and do it.

Then why don't you?

Because... something? I don't know honestly.

Is there anything I can do?

Ummm... I guess you could watch me get started?

How does that help?

Well, if someone is watching me then sometimes I feel more motivated to do it.

But a few days ago I was watching Alex write his log in the cafeteria and he said he couldn't get anything done?

Well, sometimes you want someone there and other times you don't. Honestly I don't understand why.

Humans...

Well, Humans with ADHD specifically.

I'm not even gonna ask.

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Finally, after centuries of membership, a human starship was selected to be added to the Museum of Galactic Interest.

Items of all types from sapients across the galaxy were collected here, preserved and displayed for all to see. Things from some of the earliest sapient races known all the way to the current day, items spanning tens of thousands of solar years. It was so large that the "museum" was actually a hollowed out asteroid, complete with artificial lighting, gravity and air.

Ever since they heard about it, the humans wanted some of their stuff added to the museum. They petitioned the Acquisitions Team yearly with a long list of things they were willing to donate to the museum only to be told that it would need to be something more "notable" something "more relevant to the galaxy at large."

Finally, after much soul searching the humans offered the one thing they felt was sure to be accepted: The starship that was used for First Contact.

It was known as The Extraterrestrial Authority Frigate Now You Don't. The polity that owned the ship has been gone nearly as long as the ship, and as far as anyone can tell, the name is part of an ancient idiom.

By the time it was accepted to the museum, the ship was already well over two millennia old, being displayed at a human museum, toured daily by thousands of people.

Curator Vzz'kin and Docent Senimar stood looking out at the empty space that would eventually hold Don't. Minister Victoria Orbitan was there representing humanity; today was delivery day. This section of the museum was closed today for their visit, much to to dismay of the three school trips who had planned on seeing the delivery.

"You have had this on display in your own museums for millennia by now. Surely you must be pleased that this relic will be moving elsewhere." Curator Vzz'kin said, their voice buzzy from their tympanum. Vicky was told you had to have a knack to understand the speech of the Caelifera, but she didn't have much problem with it after the first few minutes. It was like getting used to an accent.

"To be perfectly honest Curator, I hate it. This ship represents the greatest thing to have happened to humanity since we became human. It belongs with us." She turned towards Vzz'kin sharply and they flinched. Caelifera were skittish at the best of times, and large mammals frightened very old parts of their brain. "Also while it may be a relic, it's hardly obsolete."

"Very droll Minister, ha. ha. ha." Docent Senimar didn't... exactly laugh - their lungs and vocalizer weren't really capable of that - but the meaning was clear enough. "The ship had been hanging in a museum for the better part of two millennia. Even the bioships of The Swarm don't live that long." He gesured out to the empty slip where the Don't would reside. "It's symbolic. A statue."

Vicky looked at both of them for a long time, her feet shoulder length apart, her head tilted downward slightly, her mouth thin, pressed tight with... politics. Senimar stopped his staccato laughing and his vocalizer squealed softly. "I apologize. I did not realize you were serious."

"This is simply human bravado, Senimar. It is quite impossible that their ship is even tight to atmosphere, let alone able to traverse the stars."Vzz'kin buzzed and their forelegs clicked once for emphasis. "No, we have sent the-" His eyestalks flicked to Vicky and back "-small transport to go and collect it. Once it arrives later today, we will begin our own preservation and restoration efforts and it will be displayed here among the other minor species."

Here being near the back of the Outer Ring Civilization section. The other races that were galactic neighbors of humanity had a few items on display here. The whole section was rather sparse and what few plaques on display were... terse.

A small comm behind Vicky's ear buzzed and, as she touched it, her eyes lost focus as she concentrated on the message. Nodding once, she opened her bag and took out three noise cancelers. Placing one over her ears, she handed the others to Vzz'kin and Senimar.

"What is this?" Vzz'kin said, taking the canceler as if it would sting him. "This technology is useless for my tympanum. Why would I need a noise canceler anyway?"

"It uses a suppression field Curator, they only go over my ears because of tradition." Vicky said, and showed them how to activate it. "As for why you need it, you shall find out shortly."

Senimar did not need to be shown how to activate his, and after a moment they were both wearing them and looking curiously at Vicky. Checking a timepiece on her wrist - mechanical Senimar noted to himself - she was mouthing something.

"aaaand, 3, 2, 1." She raised her hand palm flat straight up.

Even with the suppression field on full, the noise was impressive. There was a flash that was purple white, ringed in black. Accompanying the flash was a sound like a thunderclap that continued on much longer than one expected. The blinding light went out and Now You Don't hovered a few kilometers away from the slip, running lights blazing.

"What have you done, human." Vzz'kin shouted, their tympanum buzzing loudly enough that Vicky was thankful she still had her sound suppression field on.

"We decided to not wait for your insulting transport, and brought Now You Don't here ourselves." She said, and crossed her arms. "Museum piece or not, our ships are always ready."

Just as she said that, two guard drones approached Don't and immediately fired upon it. They drones contained minimal less-than-lethal weaponry, meant to disable rogue transit pods, or other things rowdy sapients brought to the museum, but the drones weren't very smart. Before they could get a second volley, Don't's forward batteries vaporized them, the energy blasts like whip-cracks in the atmosphere.

"It's armed??" Vzz'kin wailed. "Why is it armed? It's from a museum, it shouldn't even be flying. How did it even get in here?"

"I was transmitting my coordinates while we were talking." Vicky admitted. "We could have done it without that, but we decided that pinpoint accuracy was necessary."

While Vzz'kin was sputtering and trying to come to terms with what the human ship just did, Senimar's pad jingled insistently. He opened it and Vicky could have sworn his chrome dulled. "Curator." He said while Vzz'kin fumed.

"Unacceptable! I will personally see that you will ne-"

"Curator."

"What? Yes, Docent Senimar? What is it now?"

"Several million starships have transited and are station-keeping around the museum." He turned his pad to show them.

"Preposterous, how would several mill-" They were interrupted by a blast of static heard throughout the entire museum.

"Hello?" Another crackle of static. "Blast, is this thing on?" The voice reverberated across the museum, just this side of painfully loud. "We need to come up with a way to show the audio override is working. Yes, I see it now, thank you Lieutenant. Good Day, This is Commandant Fitzroy of the Human Expeditionary Force. We have decided to offer a small escort of Now You Don't to her new home here at the Museum of Galactic Interest. We trust that you will take excellent care of her, and treat her as we would. As such, we will be stationing a small fleet here for a few weeks while the training is underway."

"A fleet?" Senimar said.

"Training?" Vzz'kin said weakly. A microphone somewhere must have heard them, because the Commandant answered.

"Yes. It would be... uncouth of us to give you one of our most important ships and not tell you how to maintain it! Why, who knows what would happen. After a few centuries the seals might start leaking. No, that will not do. They will be coming aboard immediately, please make sure appropriate lodging has been secured for them. Fitzroy out."

"Are you responsible for this?" Vzz'kin said, gesturing angrily at Vicky. "You yourself said you didn't like the idea."

"No Curator, I said I hated the idea. I still do." Vicky said, and carefully took off her suppressor, folding it delicately and placing it back in her bag. "But since the decision was not mine, I simply championed the idea that Now You Don't should get a proper sendoff and to make sure that your skilled team of preservers know how to properly handle a human starship."

"How to properly-" Vzz'kin sputtered again "The unmitigated gall to- aaargh." Their tympanum buzzed angrily again and they stomped off.

"Who?" The bored human at the window barely looked up from her pad, only now acknowledging the person in front her.

"Her name was - is - Lauren Meltin."

She sighed, clearly annoyed. "Missing persons cases are to be sent to the local station authorities."

"No, you don't understand, she's not missing, she's gone."

Throughout all this, Shimmer had gotten much better at reading Human facial expressions. This civil servant was bored and annoyed. They had to be careful; one more snarky answer from her and she was going to close the window, and they would not be able to tell the embassy what happened to her. Shimmer tried another tack.

"I'm terribly sorry. There must be an error with my translator, you know how they are with complex languages full of nuance, like yours. Lauren Meltin was a human I hired onto my ship - the Star Leaf - as an engineer second class. She was... tinkering with the FlashWarp engines. When she was finished and we warped, not only did we move through space nearly five thousand times faster than we expect but... she disappeared." Shimmer breathed in shakily. This part was always the hardest to admit. "And I'm seemingly the only one who remembers her."

The woman behind the counter looked out at Shimmer more closely and narrowed her eyes. Shimmer saw her reach under her desk - to close the window no doubt, they thought with despair - when instead a scanner popped out of a little door above the ed open.

The woman gestured, "This way please, sapient."

The room Shimmer was seated in was white. The walls were white, the ceiling was uniformly lit in white light. The floor was a slightly different shade of white. They sat upon a white chair that to Shimmer's surprise was actually built to their bodyplan so it was actually comfortable. After a moment, a human entered the room, dressed almost entirely in black. The contrast to the human and the room made them look like they had no color. Sitting in a chair opposite Shimmer they looked at them for a moment and then took out a thick pad.

"From now on, this conversation is being recorded in full sensorium. All known and recordable senses are being recorded in this conversation so that in the future it can be replayed as completely as possible. State your consent."

"I consent."

The human relaxed slightly. "State your legal name."

"I am-" Shimmer made a sound with a trilling rising melody "-but my name in Belanic is Shimmering Heat."

"Please describe what happened to Lauren as best as you can."

Shimmer took the next demi cycle and explained to the human what they saw and what happened. The human had them stop multiple times for more detail, or to explain a part again. Eventually, they reached the end story as far as Shimmer knew it.

"So you hired Lauren?"

"Yes, I was the one who signed her on."

"Do you remember her HIND number?" Her Human IdentificatioN Designation. All humans who left the systems they controlled were issued one.

"Um," Shimmer had not been asked this before. "7757890 I think."

The human made an entry into his pad. It chirruped at him, and he narrowed his eyes and swiped a few times, reading. He sighed and looked up at Shimmer. "Sapient known in Belanic as Shimmering Heat, what you are about to learn is designated as 'Secret, Not To Be Shared'. This means that if we learn that someone else knows it, we will assume you spoke it - even if you didn't - and you will suffer consequences for this data breach. At this point, you may refuse consent, this conversation will end, and you are free to leave without learning what I am about to say. What say you?"

Shimmer's eye membranes flicked. Unconsciously they turned their head slightly - an old instinct to try and get a better look at something in front of them. "I can't sleep at night. I keep seeing her. I know she was real, I know she existed. Nobody else does. I feel like I am losing my grip on reality." Their feathers ruffled and then settled down. "I consent. I will keep your secret."

The human smiled a small, cryptic smile, folded their pad and put it away. He made a complex gesture into the air and the room changed. The even white light was replaced with the sharp and directed light of an office, the white walls become tan, and even art appeared on the walls. He stood and held out his hand. "My name is Agent Victor Henrik, Human InterDimensional Authority. I'm with HIDA"

Shimmer took his hand. Agent Victor squeezed it gently, and they stood. All of the sapients within the Coalition had their own forms of government and agencies and ministries within, but few had as many and as... granular as the humans. Shimmer didn't know HIDA, but had no problem believing they were a real human authority. "Nice to meet you Agent Henrik."

"Let's go to my office, we can talk there."

Victor led Shimmer further into the offices, until they reached a door at the end of a long hall. When Victor opened the door for Shimmer, they gasped and their feathers puffed automatically.

Agent Henrik had a window.

"You have a window!" Shimmer didn't even try to hide their surprise.

Victor beamed. "I do. It was completely by luck; this was just the office I was assigned." The pride in his voice was clear, even to Shimmer. "I have the only window in the whole embassy. Even the human ambassador doesn't have one."

Once Shimmer entered the office, they could see why the ambassador didn't take the room from Victor. It was cramped. Shimmer shuffled past boxes and sat on the only chair opposite Victor's desk. He also shuffled in sideways and sat down. "Sorry about the tight quarters."

"It's all right. My quarters on Star Leaf aren't much larger," Shimmer lied.

"Okay. So, Lauren." Victor said, taking his pad out again. This time he clicked it into a spot on his desk, and a semi-transparent screen sprang into existence between them, he gestured with his hand and it moved conveniently to the side.

"Agent Henrik. Am I going insane? Did Lauren exist?"

"Yes. She was real." He tapped at his pad, and Lauren's face appeared with some text written in the human's angular script. Shimmer gasped in recognition. "She died 12 years ago in a groundcar accident, according to a local police report."

"She what?" Shimmer's voice was an unbelieving whisper.

Victor holds up his hands. "That's how she died now. You are also correct that she was an engineer second class on Star Leaf."

"I don't understand."

Victor sighed and dismissed the screen. "Shimmer, Lauren accidentally edited herself out of reality."

Shimmer's eye membranes flicked.

Victor raised his eyebrow but continued. "It's not... the first time we came across this. She was messing with your FlashWarp engine right?"

Shimmer nodded.

"And you were the last one to speak to her before you warped?"

Shimmer nodded again.

"That's why you remember her and nobody else does. We're not sure about the science behind it - everyone who is experimenting with it gets edited out of reality - but there's something... unusual about FlashWarp technology. We don't use it, but since humans sign on with Coalition ships all the time and humans are... well, human about things, humans have tinkered with it." He moved his shoulders in a shrug. "I have to say though, Lauren's work was the first successful mod to a FlashWarp field I've seen. Most of the others either did nothing, or destroyed the drive taking the ship with it. No matter the success of failure of the work, every human that tinkered with the drive disappeared after the drive was activated. And every time the last person to talk to them before the activation is the only one who remembers them."

"Why?"

Victor snorted a laugh. "If I knew that, I wouldn't be sitting here. Shimmer, we have no idea."

Shimmer looked out of the window. It showed a crescent of the planet below, and while they were looking, they saw the prismatic flash of a FlashWarp drive activating far in the distance. "How often has this happened?"

"That's Classified."

"Even though, right now we're discussing something 'Secret, Not To Be Shared'?"

"Classified is two levels higher."

Shimmer leaned forward. "Please. Give me a hint? Is it 10, 100, 1000?"

"This is all I will say. You explained to Polly - the girl at the front desk - what happened, and she immediately pushed a button summoning me. She wasn't disbelieving and she didn't think you were making something up. What does that tell you?"

Shimmer reeled at the realization that if they reacted this quickly and not once accused Shimmer of making things up or misremembering that it must have happened quite a lot.

Victor looked at Shimmer's expression and nodded. "You understand then."

"What are you doing about it?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

Shimmer, what can we do? We can't tell all humans to stop messing with FlashWarp drives, it wouldn't do anything. What if we said, "If you mess with a FlashWarp drive you might get edited out of reality"? Do you think that wouldn't cause some kind of economic crash at least? Everyone would then dump their FlashWarp drives and buy our Flip drives. What would the media feeds say about that?"

Their organs tightened in sympathetic fear. They understood what Victor was saying. If anyone came forward with this information, everyone would call it fake. A cheap ploy to sell more Flip drives.

"All we can do is record the incidents as they happen, and reassure those afflicted that they're not losing your mind. With every incident we collect, we hope to gain more insight and - ideally - prevent more disappearances from happening. You're not mentally ill, you just have a... unique memory. You remember someone who doesn't exist."

Victor stood, bending his head with practiced ease to avoid a low hanging beam. "Shimmering Heat, I wish you the best. Do take care of your FlashWarp drive. It's unique. I recommend taking it back to Flash Incorporated and have them examine it. I imagine you'll get a bonus if it's determined to be safe enough to upgrade everyone's drive."

Shimmer stood and sputtered. "B-But, who will I say did the upgrade?"

What if it turns out that humans are actually really good at lateral thinking. That is, they're good at coming up with solutions that aren't normally arrived at by logical or deductive means. A Classic Example: "A man is wearing black. Black shoes, socks, trousers, jacket, gloves and hat. He is walking down a black street with all the street lamps off. A black car is coming towards him with its light off but somehow manages to stop in time. How did the driver see the man?" It's daytime Lateral thinking could be seen by aliens as bewildering when we apply it to solve problems.

****

It was the third day without engines.

There was enough food to last 4 more days, but after that things were going to get...dicey. Captain Yemhar came down to the engine room and looked around. His small, furry frame belied the sound of his voice when he was upset. "It's been three days! Why aren't the engines fixed yet?" His voice was loud in the cramped room.

Surrusus looked up from a pad. They were sitting on the floor, surrounded by tools and pads. They were deep into the engineering manual for the engines trying to find a solution. "I'm sorry captain, but the outer compensator has cracked. We don't have a spare onboard because they're... not supposed to break."

"Well then, what do we do?"

"Surrusus's features exhibited resigned indifference, a shrug if their limbs could move that way. "I don't know. I'm reading the engineering manual right now, I'm trying to see if there's a way that we can repair it, but... it's not looking good. If we don't get rescued soon, we'll have to go into hibernation."

Captain Yemhar's small laquered claws slid in and out of his hands in worry. It was almost time to order Surrusus to get the printers ready to make some hibernation cabinets.

Just then, Ishtar ran in. She was the newest member of the crew, a human. They hired her on to tend the gardens and make sure there was fresh fruit and vegetables for everyone onboard. It sounded simple but with at least 6 different species from 8 different planets (long story), keeping everything alive and healthy was difficult.

"Surr! You said it was the outer compensator, right?" Ishtar's long dark hair danced in the lower gravity and her eyes shone with an intensity that worried Surrusus.

"Yes Ishtar, the outer compensator, why?"

"And they're made of Vremnian Ship-metal, right?"

"Ye-sss, they are."

"So are my water filters!"

"What? What does that have to do with anything?"

Ishtar had to stop and take a breath. "Okay, so I was thinking about our issue, and just because we're stranded doesn't mean the work stops, right? So I was down in the greenhouse-" she was the only one who called it that. There was very little that she grew that was actually green "-And I got an alert that the spinward water filter needed to be replaced. As I was replacing it, I noticed that it was of a similar shape to the compensator. I looked into it on my pad and it turns out they are made by the same shipyard!"

This time it was Captain Yemhar's turn to be confused." So? What does that have to do with anything?"

Ishtar's hands made fists and released them repeatedly. She explained to the worried crew the first time they noticed it that it's just something she does when she's excited. 'Stimming' she called it. "It means that it's likely the parts are very similar, if not the same! Corps love to cut corners and save credits. If one shape can do the work of two parts then they only have to design one thing!" She reached into her waist pack and brought out the small, oblong disk with a complicated curve made into it. "Here, see if it'll work."

Surrusus cautiously took the water filter part. It did look a lot like the outer compensator. Mentally moving his tentacles in supplication to the All Creator, they held it up to the broken compensator in the engines.

It was identical.

Captain Yemhar's fur bristled when he noticed. "How in the name of my Ancestors who wait for me to join them did you know that would work!"

Ishtar grins. "I didn't. But I had a hunch. A little prior knowledge - I was an engine apprentice before I switched to gardening - and a little bit of lateral thinking, and I was able to make a leap to a solution." She shrugged. "Also, I wasn't looking forward to spending the next ten years in hibernation cabinets."

It is not unusual to have Gods.

Most - if not all - of the sapient races did at one time or another.

What was unusual however, was how completely the humans kept their gods.

Don’t get it confused. There was not one human religion, there were millions.

There were atheists who worship no gods at all, and thought the whole thing was rather silly, monotheists who worshiped one and only one god, and get sniffy about all the others, and people who worshiped a whole pantheon of gods of all different shapes, sizes and colors.

People who worshiped nature.

People who worshiped their ancestors.

People who worshiped their system’s star.

Humans were unique in their belief though. They brought their gods with them. I meant that figuratively of course. But... also literally. Humans would talk about how their gods followed them, coming along - sometimes to help, sometimes not. They spoke of them as if they were right there with them.

And friends, I swear I saw them too.

One time, we were between the stars and our FlashWarp drive failed. I don't know the details behind the why of it, I was onboard as a passenger. We were two days without our drive and thoroughly stuck.

On this trip, quite a few of the passengers were human. I had seen them before in passing, but never up close before. Short and stout, their bodies announced their originating planet. A dangerous, difficult, high gravity world. They were strong and clever and built to survive.

Some carried little trinkets and charms too. Little pieces of metal, or plastic in small shapes. During the evening meal, I had asked one of them about it, and they had mentioned that it was a sign of their religion.

"Religion? As in worshiping the supernatural?"

"Well, technically, I suppose. It's much more personal for me than something academic sounding like that." They smiled and used their delicate digits to manipulate the little charm while they spoke. "Humanity has had religion a long, long time. I understand that many Confederation races had it also at one point, but most decided to put it away as they ventured out into space, correct?"

I nodded. It was fascinating to hear the conversation. I had never spoken with a human this much before. Her accent was impeccable and her voice was musical. Did all humans sound like this?

She continued. "Humans - those who Believe - bring that with them in what they do, who they are. That's not to say that Atheists are bad or wrong, or people who follow different gods are bad or wrong either. The galaxy is large enough for everyone, right?" I nodded, trying to follow her logic. "But in a galaxy as large as this, I believe that there is more to existence than meets the eye." Her eyes twinkled as she spoke.

While we were speaking, another human walked by. Tall for them, with broad shoulders, and quite a lot of facial hair - beards was what they called them. His facial hair was neatly trimmed and oiled. As he walked by I could smell it, but I couldn't place the scent. Resinous, natural. It was pleasant.

As he walked by, he glanced down at the human I was speaking with, and saw her fingering her little charm - it was two straight pieces of metal crossed near the top, one smaller than the other - and smiled.

I looked up at him. We met eyes - my conversation partner didn't notice him - and he closed one eye quickly and then opened it again. I think it was called... a wink? It's one of those gestures humans do that's full of nuance. It's hard for most translators to understand it.

Just as quickly as it began, the interaction was over. He continued on with long purposeful strides towards the rear of the ship, towards Engineering.

Later that day, there was an announcement from the Captain that the drive was repaired and we could continue on to our destination. They would work hard to make up for lost time, but we would probably be a demi-cycle behind. Apologies were offered, discounts on future travel given out, but mostly everyone was happy we weren't stranded anymore.

A rumor started on the ship. While the engineers had the drive apart and were struggling to determine the failure, a human had walked into Engineering, looking around as if they belonged there, and approached the FlashWarp module, staring at it for a moment.

When confronted and asked what he was doing, he replied in perfect Maligran - the language of the engineers working that time - "Have you checked the outer compensator? It looks cracked to me." and then did that motion with one of his eyes - closing and opening the lid quickly - and left.

The engineers, with nothing else left to try checked the outer compensator. It was impossible to see with an unaided eye, but they scanned it and sure enough, it was cracked. Just enough to prevent the FlashWarp seed field from forming. They had a spare on hand, replaced it, and were up and running almost immediately.

The next morning, I sought out the human I had been speaking to yesterday at the morning meal. I asked her if she knew the human that had walked in, pointed out the error and left.

"What did he look like?"

I described him as best as I could, as well as the scent I noticed.

She nodded sagely. "That sounded like Saint Eligius, patron saint of mechanical engineers."

My fur puffed out involuntarily. "A religious figure?"

She nodded and took a sip of coffee. "A minor one, but one nonetheless."

"And you're not surprised by this?"

"On the contrary, I'm pleased to hear that my prayers were answered."

"You... prayed for him?"

"Not him specifically, but I did ask for help."

I sat down at the table heavily. It seemed impossible that a human saint had walked by - had winked at me - and yet...

Every time the drink machine finished, it played a little song.

It was pretty simple, less than 10 notes, but it was the same song, every time.

It wasn't even that it played the same song every time. It wasn't even that everyone on the ship - except the humans - got a drink from the machine.

The song was catchy.

Peg started it. She just found her self whistling the "drink finished" song one day. "beep beepita beep beep beep beepita beeeeeeep." She couldn't help it.

Then, Kelly picked it up. The song worked its way into her head too. She'd be working at her station and suddenly she'd be struck by an intense need to sing the song.

After about three cycles, every single human on the ship was singing it. Normally, this would be chalked up by the rest of the crew as "just another strange Human thing" but the problem was that it was the 'drink finished' song. Everyone onboard was conditioned to want to go get their drink when the song was done.

The humans could mimic is perfectly.

"beep beepita beep beep beep beepita beeeeeeep."

Captain Flowing River Rapid's feathers fluffed in irritation. Two people on the Command Deck got three quarters of the way out of their seats before they realized what they were doing and sat back down, sheepish. "Desmond! What have I said about mimicing the drink finished melody?"

Desmond ducked his head at the reproach. "Sorry Captain River, I couldn't help it. It's just so catchy."

Captain River clacked his beak. "It wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that you can all mimic the sound so well."

Desmond turned and looked at the Captain. "What? We are? We're singing it, but it doesn't sound exactly like the drink machine."

The Captain pointed at Desmond accusingly. "Don't deny it! You're all singing the song at all times of the cycle! You know that everyone thinks a drink is ready when you do it. You sound exactly like the machine!"

One of the Sefigans who got partially up from their station nods quickly, their antenna bobbing. "Captain River is correct, Des. You all really sound a lot like the drink machine. How are you doing it?"

Desmond shrugged. "I mean, we heard the song, and it gets like, stuck in our heads. Singing it feels like one way to get it out. Plus, it's fun to sing Kel. Fun to make sounds."

Kel's wing covers clack. "Can you mimic other things?"

"I don't know Kel, I don't really think of myself as a mimic. There are others who can do it much better than me. Some humans made a whole career out of it."

"That sounds like a thing I human would do, yes. But what about your Des? Let's see...." Kel looks down at their station. "What about this?"

Kes runs a test for the collision alarm. It's a warbling rising and falling tone."

Des thinks for a second and sings - for him - a pretty close approximation.

Captain River gasps and leans back in his chair. "How do you do that?"

Desmond wails. "It wasn't even that good! I just heard the tones and repeated them."

Kelly entered the Command Deck just then. She was carrying a pad and her overalls looked stained. "Captain River, I've just come to report tha-"

"Kelly! Mimic the collision alarm"

"What? Um.." Kelly makes the same noise."

Now, everyone on the Command Desk gasps. Kelly is taken aback and looks at Desmond. "What's going on Des?"

Desmond sighs. "They say we're all mimics. It started with the drink machine."

"Oh that. I still can't get it out of my head! 'beep beepita beep beep beep beepita beeeeeeep.'"