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Literature Text
“Why? Why didn’t I stay on the ship? I could have just said to the Captain ‘Dammit, Jim, I’m an engineer, not a redshirt!’ But, no! He asked so of course I – “
“Your shirt seems to be more of an Earth-forest green in hue, and the Captain’s name is Crydrask, not Jim.”
“I know, Kel’Jar, it’s a human saying – sort of. Point is, I should be back on the ship, surrounded by my beautiful machines and gizmos but instead I’m on this cold, dark planet, walking into this cold, dark, fakakta cave where we’ll get eaten by the no doubt charming wildlife. All because they found some energy signature in said, cold, dark, fakakta cave that might maybe, perhaps, possibly be electronic. How is this my life?”
“Human-Keira, I would like to join you in acknowledging the difficulties of your life.”
“Wow, you are the worst at this comfort thing. But thanks for trying, I guess.”
“XTO-371 was labelled ‘safe’ before we were sent down. There are no signs of dangerous indigenous species, airborne toxins or other biological hazards. You are simply experiencing a nervous reaction due to the fact that this is your first exploring mission. You will be, as you say, fine.”
“Much better. See, you’re getting the hang of this human-interaction thing! Now, does your scanner say how much further we need to go before we reach this energy – Oh God! Something just brushed my leg!”
“That was most probably an Agnasi, they are similar to your Earth-spider.”
“Spiders don’t usually reach up to my knee, Kel’Jar!”
“True, I meant in the way that they have more limbs than most species. Ten in the case of the Agnasi, but –“
“Not really helping.”
“—they have a really friendly demeanour.”
“Oh God, the creepy alien spiders are going to eat us alive and we’re all gonna diiiieeeee. We should never have walked in here. I wanna go hoooome.”
“Why are you singing?”
“It’s a human fear response. It happens sometimes.”
“Studies on human behaviour denote three human responses to fear: fight, flight and freeze. Singing is not mentioned.”
“Well, no. It’s more like we’re trying not to give in to the fight-or-flight thing by singing. I guess.”
“Fascinating.”
“Yeah, we’re astonishing creatures. Oh, hey! I found the thingamabob. Could you give me some more light? Thanks. Cool, it seems to be giving off sound on a supersonic frequency. I wonder why?”
“Perhaps it is a distress signal.”
“Could be, but we haven’t found any other technology, or a spaceship. Ooh, I found the button that turns it off, let’s see what happens.”
“Are you certain that is wise?”
“Too late. Alright, nothing flashy happened, nothing exploded, no sudden death. Which is good. Blinking lights, which might be less good. Wait. Do you hear that, what is that?”
“It would appear we have angered the Agnasi by turning off the device. I would advise you to run!”
“I thought you said they have a ‘friendly demeanour’!”
“I was incorrect. Caelestis, this is Lieutenant Kel’Jar requesting immediate extraction from this location. We are being pursued, I repeat, we are being pursued.”
“Nothing will happen, he says, you’ll be fine, he says!”
“It was a statement made taking only the parameters currently available to me in consideration.”
“Hahaha! Did you see that one hit the rocks? I totally got it!”
“Is laughing another human not-fear response?”
“Yeah, but how about we run now and study human physiology later, okay?”
“They seem to be gaining on us.”
“I swear, Kel’Jar, if I get eaten I will haunt you for– Oof!”
“Welcome back aboard, Lieutenant, Keira. Were you able to figure out the energy signature?”
“It would seem, Captain, that the device emitted a high-frequency sound, which kept the local Agnasi population docile. When Human-Keira shut down the device, they turned hostile.”
“I see.”
“Yeah – I guess I’m not really cut out for the adventuring thing. Sorry, Captain, guess I shouldn’t have pushed the glowy button.”
“Human curiosity. Something we could use on our next mission. So, get some rest and wash up. We’ll arrive at EXO-31 in 23 standard hours.”
“When you say human curiosity?”
“Yes, Keira, that means you too.”
“But we almost got eaten by not-spiders and it was my fault!”
“And you survived, this time.”
“Oy Gevalt.”
“Who knows, you might start to like this adventuring thing.”
“Your shirt seems to be more of an Earth-forest green in hue, and the Captain’s name is Crydrask, not Jim.”
“I know, Kel’Jar, it’s a human saying – sort of. Point is, I should be back on the ship, surrounded by my beautiful machines and gizmos but instead I’m on this cold, dark planet, walking into this cold, dark, fakakta cave where we’ll get eaten by the no doubt charming wildlife. All because they found some energy signature in said, cold, dark, fakakta cave that might maybe, perhaps, possibly be electronic. How is this my life?”
“Human-Keira, I would like to join you in acknowledging the difficulties of your life.”
“Wow, you are the worst at this comfort thing. But thanks for trying, I guess.”
“XTO-371 was labelled ‘safe’ before we were sent down. There are no signs of dangerous indigenous species, airborne toxins or other biological hazards. You are simply experiencing a nervous reaction due to the fact that this is your first exploring mission. You will be, as you say, fine.”
“Much better. See, you’re getting the hang of this human-interaction thing! Now, does your scanner say how much further we need to go before we reach this energy – Oh God! Something just brushed my leg!”
“That was most probably an Agnasi, they are similar to your Earth-spider.”
“Spiders don’t usually reach up to my knee, Kel’Jar!”
“True, I meant in the way that they have more limbs than most species. Ten in the case of the Agnasi, but –“
“Not really helping.”
“—they have a really friendly demeanour.”
“Oh God, the creepy alien spiders are going to eat us alive and we’re all gonna diiiieeeee. We should never have walked in here. I wanna go hoooome.”
“Why are you singing?”
“It’s a human fear response. It happens sometimes.”
“Studies on human behaviour denote three human responses to fear: fight, flight and freeze. Singing is not mentioned.”
“Well, no. It’s more like we’re trying not to give in to the fight-or-flight thing by singing. I guess.”
“Fascinating.”
“Yeah, we’re astonishing creatures. Oh, hey! I found the thingamabob. Could you give me some more light? Thanks. Cool, it seems to be giving off sound on a supersonic frequency. I wonder why?”
“Perhaps it is a distress signal.”
“Could be, but we haven’t found any other technology, or a spaceship. Ooh, I found the button that turns it off, let’s see what happens.”
“Are you certain that is wise?”
“Too late. Alright, nothing flashy happened, nothing exploded, no sudden death. Which is good. Blinking lights, which might be less good. Wait. Do you hear that, what is that?”
“It would appear we have angered the Agnasi by turning off the device. I would advise you to run!”
“I thought you said they have a ‘friendly demeanour’!”
“I was incorrect. Caelestis, this is Lieutenant Kel’Jar requesting immediate extraction from this location. We are being pursued, I repeat, we are being pursued.”
“Nothing will happen, he says, you’ll be fine, he says!”
“It was a statement made taking only the parameters currently available to me in consideration.”
“Hahaha! Did you see that one hit the rocks? I totally got it!”
“Is laughing another human not-fear response?”
“Yeah, but how about we run now and study human physiology later, okay?”
“They seem to be gaining on us.”
“I swear, Kel’Jar, if I get eaten I will haunt you for– Oof!”
“Welcome back aboard, Lieutenant, Keira. Were you able to figure out the energy signature?”
“It would seem, Captain, that the device emitted a high-frequency sound, which kept the local Agnasi population docile. When Human-Keira shut down the device, they turned hostile.”
“I see.”
“Yeah – I guess I’m not really cut out for the adventuring thing. Sorry, Captain, guess I shouldn’t have pushed the glowy button.”
“Human curiosity. Something we could use on our next mission. So, get some rest and wash up. We’ll arrive at EXO-31 in 23 standard hours.”
“When you say human curiosity?”
“Yes, Keira, that means you too.”
“But we almost got eaten by not-spiders and it was my fault!”
“And you survived, this time.”
“Oy Gevalt.”
“Who knows, you might start to like this adventuring thing.”
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I wrote a short, dialogue only, story. It’s a continuation of Human Care, although you don’t necessarily need to read that one first. I saw this prompt on Pinterest and could immediately picture Kel’Jar and Keira having this conversation. As my husband said: That universe only exists to make Keira’s life difficult, doesn’t it? Why yes, yes it does. So enjoy and hopefully next week I’ll have something big for you!
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