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faytelumos · 6 months ago

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Into the Black With a Matchstick, pt5

I have no idea what the word count here is but this feels kinda long. @_@

Also, I am so sorry for all of the exposition; I am trying to make it gentle but it feels like a lot! I think we're at/almost at the hump of this story, though! :0

@c00kieknight, @hypersomnia-insomniac, @jxm-1up, @midnight--architect, @robinparravel

@thepotatoofnopes, @those-damn-snippets

@mr-orion, @tildeathiwillwrite, @thelazywitchphotographer

cw: some peril, descriptions of vertigo and vomiting

first previous

---

Ten minutes.

That was no time at all.

The Skel. What in the name of Creation were the Skel doing in this sector? Paxie was here to monitor smuggling, to discourage unlicensed vessels from flying, to report unusual star activity.

The squad of five ships were not equipped for a skirmish with them.

"All ships!" Paxie ordered across the emergency channel. "Spool FTL drives and make heading for nearest fallback position! Defensive power allocations!" Ten minutes. Ten minutes! If the ships weren't all ready in time, if the Earthlings couldn't get ready in time—

They had no FTL travel—

"Ready automated fighters to scramble!" they added hurriedly.

The Earthlings. What were they going to do about the Earthlings.

Kime was scrambling, and she clamored in a rush through the narrow hallway. Paxie got out of her way as she bumped and clawed her way to the shuttle.

"Admiral!" Klte hissed. They looked back towards the med bay to see it looking at them, its helmet already back on its head. "The Earthlings!"

"I know," Paxie barked affirmatively. They couldn't leave this ship behind. But there was no way for it to possibly travel fast enough to keep up.

"Admiral," Harrison said, stepping into the hall. His eyes were wide, and his skin was pale. Paxie worried for a moment he might faint again. "How do your faster than light engines work?" Paxie blinked. They had no idea. And why was this a question to ask? Surely there was no way for the Earthlings to make an FTL drive in ten minutes with the technology available on this ancient ship. "Do they dematerialize?" he asked. "Do you use wormholes? Is it a space deforming drive?"

"It-it warps the shape of space," Klte hissed. Harrison turned sharply to look at them. Ramirez stepped into the hall.

"Does the space around the ship remain unchanged?" Harrison asked. "Is it distorted inside of the rings?"

What was the Earthling talking about? How did he know how FTL drives worked if Earth didn't have them?

"No," Klte said, their voice almost awed. "No, it's distorted in a bubble through the rings and projectors." Harrison turned sharply to Paxie.

"Admiral, we have to move this ship onto the belly of one of your vessels," Harrison said. "If your ships have ferrous hulls, we can clamp onto you to avoid falling off. But we have to begin maneuvers now."

"That's out of the question," Paxie breathed, blanching. The risk of the ship falling out of alignment and crossing the warp barrier.... "If you fall away, your ship will be smeared across open space."

"And what are the chances of the incoming vessel killing us?" Ramirez asked. She was stoic again. The look in her eyes was... haunting. She had the focus of any Xoixe. Of any apex.

Paxie looked again to Harrison. To Klte.

"Unless you have a ship large enough to dock our vessel, we don't have time to think of another solution," Ramirez said. And Paxie didn't. This mission had been routine, and the Earthling's ship was too large and awkwardly shaped to store on any of the Xoixe craft.

They opened a channel to Captain Eme.

"Captain, prepare The Water's Kiss to align and attach to the Earthling vessel, belly-to-belly."

"A-Admiral?!" Eme choked.

Ramirez and Harrison both sprinted to a different room in the ship.

"They know the risk, Captain, and it was their idea."

"This species is completely suicidal," Eme gasped. Paxie considered the conversation Ramirez and Kime had just had.

"I'm inclined to agree," they breathed. Then they looked up to Klte. "Into the shuttle, we have to get back."

"Aye, sir," it said, already getting down on all eight and running headlong for the airlock.

Adina could hear Paxie making their massive way back to the shuttle from the gear room. John swore again, yanking on the thermal regulation layer, and Adina finally managed to get her damned cryo suit off of her body.

"What a fuckin' day," John gasped, getting the tight-fitting undersuit on and zipped up. Adina just laughed bitterly. She'd barely gotten two minutes with the damn IV before she had to yank it out of her arm again.

John shrugged the top half of his spacesuit on just as Adina heard the low-pitched thump of the outer airlock door sealing. A moment later, there was a deep clang as the alien shuttle detached. "Solstice!" Adina barked, yanking her thermal layer into place. The computer chimed. "Override collision controls and roll ship 180 degrees!"

"Right away, Doctor Adina Ramirez," the computer said in its slow, melodic, feminine voice. The ship immediately began to tilt.

"Shit," John hissed, stumbling as he stood on one leg, stepping into the bottom half of his suit.

Once John finished suiting up, he helped Adina get clamped down. They both waddled to the bridge.

"Which chair do I sit in?" Adina cried.

"How many sim hours did you log?" John asked. Adina stuttered, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to remember.

"Um, uh, uh, th-three hundred and f-forty!"

"You're on comms," John said, pointing to the first chair on the left. He took the one mounted facing forward, and she thanked whatever the fuck was left of God that it wasn't up to her to fly this thing.

There was already a hail request open, and when Adina answered it, she got video of the purpley-green Xoixe.

"Earthlings, you have six minutes before the Skel arrive!" the thing boomed. John swore.

"Adina, are you buckled in?"

"N-no!"

"Get buckled, we have to move!"

Adina stumbled and grasped, her breathing coming loud and hard. The buckle was large, made to be used even with the massive spacesuit gloves, and she was able to get strapped in even as the ship kept spinning.

"I'm in!"

The ship lurched downwards, and Adina squeezed her eyes shut against the vertigo.

"Collision shield disabled!" someone in the room on the alien ship cried.

"Away vessel successfully docked!" another announced.

"FTL fully spooled! Bubble zone partially obstructed!"

"Lieutenant Harrison, you have to move faster!" the alien captain cried. Adina could barely hear them over the sound of her breathing. She kept her eyes closed, trying not to remember how close the helmet was to her face, trying not to think about what would happen if they got stuck here or sliced apart in the warp bubble, trying not to think about how it felt like she was going to throw up again.

"If I hit you too hard, I'll bounce off and lose my alignment!" John yelled back over his shoulder.

"Harrison, we don't have time, I promise you will not bounce off of our hull!" the captain yelled back. "Clear the bubble zone, now!"

John swore loudly and Adina cried out when he punched the maneuvering thrusters. It felt like they were free-falling, the entire ship rushing down faster and faster, flinging her stomach into her lungs, and then they slammed to a stop so fast that Adina's teeth cracked shut.

"Bubble zone clear!"

"Engage drive!"

The entire ship seemed to yank to the right, like some kind of twisted roller coaster and rubber band hybrid. Then everything shuddered all at once, and then there was aching, deafening stillness.

Adina could hear her panicked breathing like it was blasting through an amp right next to her face. Her head was spinning like a top but she knew in her body the cabin was unnaturally still. Her breathing picked up — she heard it more than felt it — and suddenly she was scrambling at the latch of her helmet, her gloved fingers clawing at the bottom of her visor.

She got the helmet off in time, but forgot about the seat buckle. The channel was still open in front of her as she coughed up bile. Her ears were ringing. She didn't feel any better at all.

"Adina?" John said. He held her face in his gloved hands, suddenly standing next to her. "Hey, can you stand?" Adina closed her eyes. She would have shaken her head, but even the thought made her want to wretch again.

"N, hh, n, nn-nn...."

"Stay right here, then," John uttered, letting go of her. "We seem stable, so I'm gonna grab the IV again." Adina couldn't speak, and she couldn't move her head, so she just kept trying to breathe.

---

By the time Paxie got out of their suit, The Water's Kiss was well away from where it had come across the Earth vessel. Once again in open hallways, free of the environment suit, Paxie had abandoned propriety and sprinted for the command room.

They ran full-out, their claws scraping against the decks, their blood rushing. Everything was sharp. Their scales buzzed, and they were keenly aware of how hard their muscles were pumping to move them like this. Their body was alight, electrified. Their mind was focused, the Earthling pair their only thought.

They burst into the command room and slowed, their scales itching. They scraped their claws against the deck, panting hard, eyes snapping to the front of the bridge. There was an open channel, and Captain Ramirez was slumped in the display, breathing hard as Lieutenant Harrison worked around them.

Paxie relaxed, and the weight of fatigue settled over them. They padded heavily to the captain's chair. Eme flinched when they came into view and hurriedly vacated the seat. Paxie laid down in it, their chest heaving, and laid their claws down flat.

The Earthlings survived the initial jump. Good.

"Status report," Paxie huffed.

"The Earthling vessel is secured to the bottom hull, sir," Eme explained. "Our Ghost volunteered to engineer the dampener settings to keep them stable. We've evacuated the bottom two decks to keep our personnel from getting sick, but…." Eme glanced at the screen. Ramirez was trembling, and Harrison was wiping their face with the same thing they had given him earlier.

"She'll be okay," Lieutenant Harrison said. It felt all too familiar, to have Ramirez looking close to death and Harrison dismissing the matter. Perhaps it was another quirk of the species. Another avenue of their… self-destructive attitude. "We didn't suffer any damage during the maneuvers, thankfully," Harrison added. He stooped down to look into the feed from over Ramirez's shoulder. "We didn't hurt anything, did we?"

"N-no," Eme said. He was keeping his voice very proper. "No damage was sustained during maneuvers, and we did not have to scramble any automated fighters to escape." He looked again to Paxie. "All four vessels reported clean spool and initiation. We'll arrive at the fallback position five minutes behind them."

"It's going to be a long five minutes for them," Paxie mused. Maybe it felt closer than it was, but Paxie had been terrified the new aliens were going to get The Water's Kiss killed, or die in the retreat, themselves. If it was them waiting at the fallback position for a ship to arrive, they were sure they'd be inconsolably worried.

"Captain Ramirez, Lieutenant Harrison," Paxie said. Harrison looked up, but Ramirez only grunted. She was clearly in bad shape. And she wasn't getting better the way Harrison had. Paxie swallowed thickly and straightened up taller. "On behalf of the Interstellar Federation of Alliance, I, Admiral Uten Paxie, offer you and your species sanctuary. Under Article six of the Orphaned Body protocol, you all will be afforded medical care, nutrition, and housing without the need to prove citizenship of the Federation."

Harrison was staring at Paxie now. He curled one side of his lips upward, and chuffed softly. Ramirez seemed to be barely lucid. Paxie flattened their ears.

"As the commanding officer of this squadron, and your current head of authority, I'm authorizing an extended rest for the two of you," they went on. Harrison's expression went back to something more neutral. "You are both excused from any further duties for the day, and are not required to check in at a specific time."

Harrison nodded his head. He looked more serious now, more focused, the way Ramirez had earlier. He kept his hand on Ramirez's shoulder the entire time.

"Will do, Admiral," he said. He then gently patted Ramirez's shoulder. "We'll… hail you when we're feeling better."

"See that you do," Paxie said. "Rest well."

Harrison nodded again. Paxie nodded to the communications officer, who cut the feed. Then they took a long, deep breath.

"Announce ship-wide rest," they exhaled. "Keep half again extra medical staff on standby."

"Yes, sir," Eme said, opening the ship-wide channel.

---

Paxie roused with a start when their door chimed. They checked the time. It had been almost seven hours since rest had been announced. They still had another hour left.

They clambered up and out of their low bed, then padded over and hit the floor control for the door. It slid open, revealing a Qomo officer.

"The Earthlings have roused," it announced in the Xoixe language. "They've requested council with you and a highly skilled xenomedic at your convenience." Paxie quirked their jaw.

"Has something gone wrong? Are they injured?"

"No, sir," it said, "Captain Ramirez seems to be fairing better, already. But they wish to discuss the lives of their crew."

That was right. Ramirez and Harrison were the only crew members who had been thawed from their cryonic sleep, but there were more Earthlings than them on board. They would all need to be awoken as soon as possible. Keeping any creature in such a state, let alone for so terribly long, was absurdly inhumane.

"Very well. Rouse Ensign Kime and Lieutenant Tapide."

"Aye, sir."

Once Paxie was refreshed and the two xenomedics were gathered, the three entered the bridge. There was an open channel, already, and the second captain stood and relinquished the chair to Paxie. Paxie nodded their head and padded over, but they watched the feed distractedly.

Nobody was in frame. They could tell they were looking at a part of the ship near the helm station, but all there was to see was metal and wiring.

"Captain Ramirez?" Paxie said. They switched on the translation protocol when their words weren't repeated. "Lieutenant Harrison?"

There was a metal clatter. One of the Earthlings said something too quiet for the translation protocol to pick up. Then Harrison came into view. He looked pinker in the face now, and his eyes seemed clearer. He bore his teeth widely.

"Admiral, hi," he said. He was very close to the screen, and the untranslated version of his voice was loud. "How did you sleep?"

Paxie huffed a laugh.

"I think I should be asking you that," they said. "Is Captain Ramirez okay?"

"She's much better now," Harrison said, looking off-screen in the direction he'd come. Then he looked back to them. "She slept like a rock and got some water in her, so now she actually looks like a scientist."

"I can hear you!" Ramirez's voice shouted from off-screen. She sounded agressive, but Harrison was laughing, baring his teeth. Paxie quirked their ears. He didn't seem to be worried about confrontation or repercussions.

"Anyway, Admiral, we have a few questions," Harrison said, hiding his teeth again. He moved, and seemed to lower himself before the screen. Perhaps resting in that odd chair design. He was serious now. "We have around two hundred people on this vessel, six of which are presumed dead."

Paxie jolted, eyes wide. "What happened?" they demanded. "How long have they been dead?"

"They failed to wake from cryo sleep."

Paxie stared. Eight creatures had been awoken from cryo sleep? And only two of them had survived? They knew cryogenic stasis was cruel, but to be so dangerous?

"What is the state of the six individuals?" Lieutenant Tapide asked. She wasn't Xoixe, but a species with long, bright green and blue feathers across her body, small, delicate hands, and a smaller, more delicate voice.

"Once they fail to wake, the system re-suspends the body," Harrison explained. "The hope there is that they'll be preserved enough to resuscitate, if it's an option."

"Then they haven't been dead long enough to degrade?" Tapide asked. She was already going through information on her tablet beside Kime.

"That's the hope," Harrison said. He lowered his voice now, looking away. "We haven't exactly… checked on them. In person. But the computer says they're still viable."

Paxie felt a pang in their gut. Harrison wasn't looking at the feed now, and he had dropped his voice. Nobody knew the body language of these creatures yet, but this was not what they had observed as Harrison's normal demeanor.

Two hundred Earthlings. And six of them were possibly dead. What may have been a small wound to the Xoixe was a great blow to the Earthlings. No planet, no bearings, no familiar species, hunted in open space, and with barely enough of them left to survive.

Paxie rested their weight further back, dizzied with the idea. They could have very possibly witnessed an extinction event had the Earth ship not made it away with The Water's Kiss, had they not made such a risky and unsound exit plan. Not just the death of intelligent life, but the death of an intelligent species.

It was a difficult prospect to swallow.

"We're unable to dispatch a medpod to you during our jump," Tapide said. Paxie looked to her. She was especially unflappable among her people, they knew this, but it always took Paxie off-guard. "How accessible are your cryogenic compatriots?"

"Uh, well," Harrison said, glancing between Paxie, Kime, and Tapide. Paxie already knew Tapide would fit in the Earthling ship better than they did, but still not as well as the Earthlings. And since their spaces seemed to be made compact on purpose, they could only imagine what the stasis array looked like. "We would probably want to remove the pods from our stasis chamber. We can take them wherever you need to work on them once we've… landed?" Harrison raised his shoulders and twisted his hands to be downside-up, then relaxed again. "I don't know how it works."

"Once our jump is concluded, we can dock properly and shuttle your pods aboard," Paxie explained. "The Water's Kiss should have plenty of resources to evaluate your kin, and determine their revivability."

Harrison nodded, looking down. "Okay," he said. "How long until the jump is over?" Paxie turned and looked to the engineering station, manned by the off-rotation crew member. Eme knew their name, but Paxie didn't.

"We have another six hours," the engineer announced. Paxie didn't let it show how disappointed they were to hear that. They couldn't send or receive any messages while jumping, which meant they weren't going to get any further answers, and couldn't even consult command.

This was probably the worst First Contact in recorded history.

"Alright," Harrison said. He got to his feet again. "I guess we'll see you in six hours, then."

"Very well," Paxie said. "If you have further needs, do not hesitate to hail us again."

"Thanks," Harrison said, and he bore his teeth. He reached for the screen, but then stopped suddenly. "Oh, and before I forget," he said. "Thank you for sending the-the Ghost over."

Paxie tilted their head.

"The Ghost is there?"

Harrison raised the fur patches over his eyes.

"Oh," he said, turning to where he had come onscreen from. "Uh…." He glanced to the screen again.

Paxie heaved a long sigh. They hadn't cleared the Ghost to go aboard the Earthling vessel, but they supposed they hadn't specifically barred it, either. This Ghost wriggled through regulations like water through a leash.

The video feed blurred briefly, and then Harrison moved aside. A transparent, blue-gray mass waved into frame, seeming briefly to obscur the video with a sparse star field.

"Greetings, Admiral," the translation protocol said. Paxie withheld a laugh.

"Hello, Weak Force. You were supposed to wait to be introduced." Paxie couldn't help but notice their words weren't translated to the Earthling language, despite the translation protocol still being active.

"These creatures took my appearance with great grace," the automated voice said. "They understand better than we expected, and did not require coaching to comprehend me."

"Oh, that's good," Paxie said. When Harrison had… fainted, well…. Paxie wasn't worried now, because he seemed fine. But he would have been if Ramirez had been the one on screen, and Harrison remained hidden.

"Admiral," the voice said again. The blur on the video solidified somewhat, obscuring much of the background in a faint haze. "I have been searching through the data on this vessel, and I have discovered two important things." Paxie nodded for it to continue. "Number One: The Earthling vessel, The Solstice, had its course artificially altered, beyond the influence of celestial bodies or the intention of the crew." Paxie blinked, but before they could ask about it— "Number Two: These Earthlings are the species self-designated as Human, currently known as the Five-Fingered Ones, from the planet Areterra."

Areterra? Paxie knew that planet.

"They're from the same planet as the Mauilen," Kime gasped.

Paxie's eyes widened.

"That's excellent news," Paxie said. They looked to Tapide and Kime. "We'll need to adjust for environmental shift, but this should mean we know their chemical biology already."

"Correct, sir," Kime said, typing eagerly on her tablet. "We'll want to run tests first, but we should know then what medicines and foods will work for them."

"Admiral," the voice said. Paxie looked to the screen again. "It would be prudent for the Federation to treat the route alteration of this vessel as sabotage."

Paxie felt almost cold to hear those words. Sabotage. But it seemed as likely as anything else. But if these Humans were from Areterra, then there was more to know here.

Areterra's biological lexicon had no example of a species like the Humans. So there was less hope that their twenty-six million year mission clock was a malfunction. And it would cause some unprecedented administrative strife, assuming it was accurate. Did it mean they were truly an orphaned species then? Perhaps it was up to if they could survive the current climate of their planet? If it truly had been so long as that? Would the Mauilen have any responsibility over them, or would these two species be treated as entirely independent? Did the Maulien have any responsibility to home the remaining Humans and the method by which they rehabilitated their numbers, or was that weight solely on the Federation?

Paxie shook their head subtly. These were not questions for a patrol admiral.

"Thank you, Weak Force," Paxie said.

"Signing off," the voice said. The feed cut, then, leaving the bridge in silence.

"This is exciting," Kime uttered. Paxie wasn't so sure. And they couldn't help but wonder how old the Skel were, and if they were or had ever been capable of sabotage like this.

"Notify Gunnery Sergeant Appi," Paxie said. "When rest is concluded, she will be to meet me in my office."

#humans are space orcs #sci fi #writeblr #writing #Fayte writes #barely edited #and I mean it I am kinda impatient to post this #I think I'm almost done giving you guys information @_@#I am so sorry this feels like so much info dumping #I hope it's not getting lost in the long pauses

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faytelumos · 4 months ago

Text

Into the Black With a Matchstick, pt 6

Did I go back to Part 5 and ruthlessly change a pronoun to fit my last-last second change-of-mind on a new character?

Yes. Yes I did.

@c00kieknight, @hypersomnia-insomniac, @infuryborn, @jxm-1up, @kittilumpo

@midnight--architect, @robinparravel, @theo-in-the-toaster, @thepotatoofnopes, @those-damn-snippets

@mr-orion, @rfallfish, @tildeathiwillwrite, @thelazywitchphotographer

first previous

---

When Adina had first woken up after the jump away from the Skel, she had been too confused as to where she was to even stand. She had expected to see the bunkbeds from the training facility, to look around and see blue, concrete walls, to see Patricia in the bed to her left.

Instead, she was in a claustrophobic, cold medbay, with John seemingly dumped over the gurney next to her, facing her, his hand slipped off from the drip control of her IV. It had taken her twenty minutes to climb out of bed, and she'd let John sleep.

She ran ship-wide diagnostics, checked the status and population of the stasis chamber, and was halfway through double-checking inventory when there had been an unsettling, crackling sound over the PA system. For a horrible moment, she expected to see a Xenomorph slowly creeping around the corner towards her.

"Doctor Adina Ramirez," the computer had said. But then it didn't elaborate. Which just creeped her out even more.

"Y-yes?" she'd uttered, looking around, the vacuum-sealed peanut butter and jelly meal in her hand the only weapon she had to defend herself with.

"This is the Ghost from the Arkinu vessel speaking," the computer had said. Adina blinked, looking to the hallways, then behind herself, then at the speaker above the door. "It is nice to meet you."

"Uh," she uttered. "You… too. I didn't realize you could transmit into our PA system."

"I am actually tapped directly into your computer," it said. "I am aboard."

Adina froze. That was the creepiest thing yet.

"Can I show myself to you?" it asked. It spoke in the familiar voice of the computer control, but it didn't match the cadence or word choice. She briefly considered how unwise it was to say yes. But then she was more scared of what would happen if she said no.

"Okay," she uttered, her voice trembling.

She waited. It took her a long moment to notice the hallway was glowing slowly brighter with a faint, blueish light. And then a floating, sheer… blob filled the hallway.

It looked like water with some milk splashed in, just enough to fog it up. But her brain told her that if she touched it, it would feel like chiffon or fine lace. There were tiny sparkles of light suspended in it, like fruit chunks in jello, or like glitter in plastic, and they faded in and out gradually as it moved closer.

"Wow," she breathed, taking a step back. Whatever it was, it was big. It had come into the room now, but it still filled the hallway, too.

"I hope my countenance does not distress you," the computer said. Adina huffed a laugh, smirking, looking up and down and through the thing.

"Be not afraid," she muttered to herself. She leaned forward, trying to peer into it as curiosity started to win out. She couldn't see any organs, or any solid internal structures at all, for that matter. Was this thing like a jellyfish? It seemed a bit more like a huge amoeba. But there was no way something so big — and so intelligent — was single-celled. Or was there? Who was she to say what limits there were on life? She was in outer space traveling faster than the speed of light, and this was the third intelligent species of alien she'd met today, and it was talking to her through her ship's computer in perfect English. "Wow," she breathed.

"Are you well?" it asked. Adina nodded, putting a hand on her cheek.

"I'm good," she said. "I, I actually have a lot of questions."

"Please, ask."

Adina nodded, fidgeting with the meal pack, deciding where to start.

"You're a Ghost?" she asked.

"Yes."

"As in the spirit of a living thing?"

"No," it said. "That is… a translation inconsistency." It shimmered, the little lights suspended in its body rippling in waves. Adina took a slight step away, eyes wide with awe. "You do not have a good word for my kind," it said. "But for your sake, perhaps a better word to use would be, 'robot'."

"A robot?" Adina muttered, touching her fingertips to her lip. Then her eyes blew wide. "So you're not organic?"

"Partially correct," it said. "Technically speaking, my kind are silicate-based lifeforms."

"Woah," Adina breathed. This blew everything she knew out of the water. Theoretically speaking, complex silicon-based molecules like DNA would be more stable at high temperatures, far too high to be standing in the room with the thing right now. Was that part of why it seemed so ephemeral? But then wouldn't that make it even less stable? But clearly, it was fine at this temperature, so maybe her understanding of chemistry was wrong? Or just ignorant. And were they robots because they used silicon instead of carbon like a microchip, or was there more to it? And what was the line it was crossing between robot and lifeform? Did they eat? Reproduce? Were they more like nanite colonies? Was that an ignorant conclusion to draw? What did it mean anyway by robo—

A sliver of shape slipped towards her, like a tiny tentacle pushing out of a thin membrane to reach for her.

"Would you like to touch me?" the computer asked.

Adina looked down at the offered… appendage. It wasn't very dense with the lights, or even very opaque. She rubbed her fingers on her palm, the vacuum-packed meal heavy in her other hand, gauging how clean her skin was.

"I have oils, on my skin," she said. She looked up, but with no eyes, it was difficult for her to find a point to look at it. "Some species, even on our planet, find human touch to be caustic…."

"You will not hurt me," it said, reaching slightly further out. "And I will not hurt you." Adina nodded, then looked again to the appendage, which was easier to focus on than the mass of tiny lights suspended in the hallway and most of the room.

She set the food down, and then slowly reached out with both hands, cupping them together. The Ghost reached down in a smooth arc, and it laid a length of the little tentacle across her palms. It was light as air, almost too light to feel. She carefully held it with one hand, and then caressed the length of the tentacle with her other pointer finger. It was dry and smooth, and she pet it again, trying to figure out its texture. It was difficult to tell. She gently ran the back of her finger over it, but the hairs on her skin didn't help.

"Do you, ah," she uttered, and then she looked up at no part of it in particular, "do you mind if I touch you with my lip? I won't bite you, but there's a chance that I have germs—"

"I cannot contract organic diseases," it assured her. Then it moved, sliding the appendage up along its surface smoothly, until it was level with her mouth. She blinked, then leaned forward and grasped it gently. She rubbed it slowly against her bottom lip.

It was completely and utterly smooth. Moreso than hairless skin, than polished stone, than glass. It almost didn't make sense. She blinked, marveling, and carefully let go.

"Wow," she said again.

"I have questions of you, as well," it said.

---

Rest had concluded, and Paxie considered Gunnery Sergeant Appi's words carefully.

"Popular opinion on my planet would dictate that you do not trust these people," she said in her rasping voice. Her environment suit was thin for casual wear around the ship, and the translation protocol speaker was as crisp and clear as any. "The end of their legacy is nothing but war machines and poisons in the land itself."

"You think these Humans are from that time?" Paxie asked. Appi lowered her nose, her large eyes sharp.

"Based on what I could see of their ship, yes. The construction resembles one of their more formidable weapon-vehicles."

"Do you have any record of an ideological shift?" Paxie asked. They didn't want to believe Ramirez and Harrison were war-like. They seemed nice, despite their self-abuse.

"Their archeological record is full of weapons for thousands of years," Appi rasped. She flexed her claws subtly, but Paxie could see the agitation she was trying to hide. "Admittedly, it is difficult to decompress their legacy. But, Admiral…" Appi looked directly into Paxie's eyes. "This species was the sixth major extinction event of our planet."

Paxie resisted the strong desire to pin their ears. It was their job to know and accept the facts. But this was an ugly revelation. They had hoped the Human people were a miracle, a sample of the past so distant it could only be extraordinary. But according to Appi… they were destruction.

Perhaps Paxie should have expected as much, with the way they treat their own bodies.

"Thank you, Gunnery Sergeant," Paxie uttered with a nod. "Your insight is deeply informative."

"I'm sorry it's so morose," Appi said, nodding back. "I know this is an awkward situation."

And it was. If Humans were going to be harmful to the Federation or any planet they were hosted on, then it would be better not to offer them citizenship. But if they were legally an orphaned species, then the Federation had no choice but to home them.

This was exactly Uten's luck. They were never going to get a second chance at First Contact.

"I appreciate your candor," Paxie uttered. Appi flicked one ear.

"Speaking of…" she said. Paxie perked their ears. "This species, though long extinct, does represent a significant keystone in our planet's behavioral sciences," she said. "If it isn't too bold or unorthadox, I would like to meet them."

Paxie nodded. "I'm sure we can arrange that," they said. "They may be curious of you, as well."

"I'm sure," Appi rasped.

---

There was nothing special to do to prepare for jump to end, apparently. Adina was expecting to have to buckle in, but it seemed all she and John had to do was brace a little bit. After a moment, everything seemed to tug to the left and keep moving, as if they were set down on some slow-moving track. And then it was over. The deafening, unnerving stillness was gone now. It had been so long that Adina had convinced herself it was part of space travel.

John delicately maneuvered the ship to dock properly with The Water's Kiss as Adina went down to decouple the resuspended pods. She… wasn't looking forward to it. But it had to be her. Because John was close friends with one of the unresponsive engineers.

She stepped into the stasis chamber and stopped. She had seen this place before, of course, when she climbed out of her pod earlier. But she wasn't exactly properly aware of her surroundings at that point. And before that, everyone had climbed into their pods in the big research building on Earth. So she'd never gotten the chance to truly familiarize herself with the real thing.

The pods were arranged in a honeycomb pattern, and several motorized platforms could move side-to-side and up or down to handle each pod as they were carefully ejected. Either during wakeup, or during… removal. Adina climbed onto one of the platforms and looked up and across, spotting the six lights that winked a slow, desolate red.

The two xenobiologists happened to be nearer the door. Everyone was arranged alphabetically, but these two both had D names. Adina got the platform in place and locked it with the stiff lever before turning to the first pod.

"RESUSPENDED" it said across the screen at the feet of the pod. It was a polite way of saying, "Died on wakeup, but at least they're frozen again now." Adina really hoped these aliens had tech like Star Trek, and could just revive people with a couple pleasant clicks and beeps. She used the screen to shift the power from ship-side to battery-side, keeping an eye on the switch that would do so manually if the computer had trouble. But there was no issue. A low-pitched beep signaled the change, and another beep declared the systems were running properly off of the new power source.

Adina grabbed the big release lever for the pod and forced it down with a grunt. The pod trembled, but was otherwise fine. She took up the grab bar around the bottom of the control panel and slid the pod out, mindful of the wheels that automatically folded out as it got closer to the end. She locked the wheels once it was in a good position on the platform, then moved on to the next pod.

By the time she had locked the fourth pod in place, John had docked with the Xoixe ship and the xenomedics were on board. She had paused for this pod, reading the name again. This one was John's friend.

Thinking about it… they didn't want to try to revive him first. The first attempt was the most likely to fail. But that also meant they couldn't risk the two xenobiologists. They should probably both go last, in fact. Then there was another engineer, and another biologist. Both of them were better trained and qualified in their fields than Adina and John, which was why the computer had tried to wake them up, first. Adina let out a shaking sigh, bracing her hands on the grab bar.

Raj Joshi. She'd read earlier that his GPA in university had been .2 higher than John's. It was probably why he had been picked first. She didn't want to think about how John could be mentally punishing himself right now, especially if the aliens couldn't revive him….

"Captain Ramirez?"

Adina looked behind herself suddenly. Paxie was in the room with her, standing upright on two thick legs. They looked a bit like a bear, or maybe a tiger, the way they held their arms. Adina hadn't realized their hips could make the adjustment to standing upright. Paxie blinked their four eyes at her, which were currently about level with her shins. She blinked back, marveling at just how big the Xoixe was.

"Yes?" she managed, unimpressively.

"Do you require assistance with this task?" Paxie asked. Their voice was… soft. Still deep and throaty, but gentle. They weren't looking at any of the pods.

She looked to the pod array again. Once she loaded Raj, she'd just have the one left.

"N-no," she said. She turned and met Paxie's eyes. "Thank you."

"Do you require company?" they asked.

She watched them, surprised by their gentle tone and how steadily they held themself on two legs. Faintly, she wondered why the Xoixe bothered walking on all fours if bipedalism was an option.

"That might be nice," she finally said.

---

It took multiple trips to get the pods onto the Water's Kiss. Once they were gathered in a small atrium, Paxie asked John to come out, too. Adina watched him closely as he stood away from the pods. He wasn't looking at any of them, which was probably for the best. He had him arms crossed tightly beside her as he watched Paxie.

"As you know, we were able to locate your planet in our current star maps, accounting for celestial drift," they said. Adina and John nodded. The Ghost had said that much, at least. But they were a bit more tight-lipped about the rest of it. "The planet that you lived on is now known by the name Areterra." Adina felt a swell of relief in her chest. Earth was still okay? Maybe they could get back to it. "However," Paxie said, and Adina almost shied away. It sounded like a very heavily loaded "however." "Areterra was able to produce a second space-fairing species after your kind went extinct."

Oh.

Humans had gone extinct, then.

They were truly the last of their kind?

And she was in charge of them.

26 million years…. It had really been 26 million years.

She felt light-headed. John looked down to her, concerned.

"This complicates the matter," Paxie explained. They were using that soft voice again. "There will need to be a meeting and case to decide which jurisdiction your people fall into, and how any future repopulation will be handled." Adina nodded, trying to take deep breaths. She was tired of fighting against her stomach. "For now," Paxie said, their tone kind as ever, "I wanted to introduce you to Gunnery Sergeant Appi, a Mauilen. I hope you will all find kinship in a shared planet."

Adina took another long breath and looked up to Paxie. Then she looked down, following their gaze to a small alien she hadn't noticed earlier—

Adina gasped, grabbing John's arm suddenly, eliciting a hiss from him. Adina didn't know exactly what sound was trying to escape from her throat right now, but she was sure it was a squeal.

Standing in front of them, at no taller than a two year old, was a big-eyed, wide-pawed, thick-furred cat in an environment suit.

"Oh my God," Adina whispered.

"No way," John breathed.

What kind of cat was it? How did it evolve to still be so recognizable over such a long stretch of time? Its coloring was whitish-gray with heavy black peppering around the eyes and speckled up the forehead - snowmelt camouflage? Its paws were broad like a lynx or a Pallas' cat, or a snow leopard. But with the suit on, Adina couldn't see any details of its morphology.

She realized she was staring. She let go of John and crouched down slowly.

"Sorry," she said, keeping her voice soft. "I just… our people, we.… we called you cats in our day."

Appi moved slightly. Maybe their ears moved under their helmet.

"We existed in your time?" they asked. Adina blinked, thrown off by the rasping, direct tone of voice. It was still high-pitched to her, still clearly from a small throat. But the authority in that voice was unmistakable.

"Uh, er, not you, exactly," she explained. She cleared her throat, aware that she was using a voice she might employ in a conversation with a child. No, she should treat this creature like any other scientist. "We had many species of feline - that is, a Family of carnivores with similar traits." John got down, too, squatting and resting both of his elbows on his knees. Appi looked between the two of them, and Adina caught sight of their pupils contracting and expanding. "The ones most, uh, humans were familiar with were… companions."

"What were they like?" Appi asked. They looked Adina in the eye. It stole her breath a little. Those eyes, they were huge. And there was something deeply, hauntingly intelligent about them. There was something she badly wanted to label as "human" to them.

"They were wonderful," Adina muttered. She blinked slowly. "For a lot of us, their company was more of a comfort than another human's."

Appi considered this with a twitch of their lip. They looked away from Adina, to John.

"You have a different opinion?"

Adina looked at John. He had his lips pursed behind the helmet. Adina widened her eyes, bracing for something awful.

"I… never met a cat I got along with."

Adina scowled. Appi nodded their head, lowering their chin and evaluating John. Their look was decidedly shrewd.

"We'll see if I break your streak, then," they rumbled quietly.

Adina got a chill down her back. She mentally shook herself. It had been millions and millions of years. The fact that this creature even looked like a cat was an anomaly. She should know, as a biologist, that she had no way to predict this animal's — this person's — behavior or thought patterns.

She half-listened as Paxie explained how things would go from this point. To say she was reeling was a gross understatement. Maybe she shouldn't have been. It hadn't been confirmed, but she'd known this was possible. That they were all that was left. That humanity had gone extinct and were every bit as history now as the dinosaurs had been.

They got the resuspended pods into the ship's medbay with the help of several more aliens. Nobody had asked John to help, which Adina was glad for. He stood in the hall as Kime and another alien stood together, likely gathering personal data from the pods.

"How are you doing?" Adina asked softly. John just shook his head.

"I'm not worried about me right now," he sighed, rubbing his forehead. Adina nodded, looking down. She was. But she had to be. She was… wow, she was the matron to all of humanity right now.

"I'll see what I can do to help," she whispered, putting a hand on his arm. He nodded and patted her gloved fingers weakly. She stepped away, reluctant. But he didn't meet her eye, so she turned and went back into the alien medbay.

"Captain Ramirez," Kime asked.

"Yes?"

"Is it possible for us to have some yet-living subjects to study?" Adina blinked. The medbay was already a little crowded with this many. "Seeing their parameters may increase the odds of survival for these six."

"Oh, yes," Adina said, nodding. She blinked harder, frowning, looking down. "Yes, of course. That makes perfect sense." She should have thought of that when she was already in the stasis chamber.

"May I go with you?" a small, raspy voice said. Adina turned and looked down to see Appi standing close behind her. She smiled, and she fought back the urge to bend down and pick Appi up like a baby, or like her cats back home….

"Yes, please," Adina said. "I'd love the company."

#humans are space orcs #sci fi #writeblr #writing #Fayte writes #barely edited

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