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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/DiscombobulatedPay51 on 2024-11-02 05:47:10+00:00.
The air was warm, almost suffocating, especially with the smell. The cage hadn't been cleaned since the creature moved in, so a day’s worth of excrement had piled in the corner opposite where it slept. On top of that, the creature itself had a putrid scent caked into its skin.
The thing was still in the corner eyes wide, but its breath had slowed considerably. Sthalsh took the blanket in his right arms and tossed it over to the shivering thing. It looked at the blanket and then at Sthalsh. It was clear to him that the creature was not going to trust him as easily as last time. It had taken the food because it was desperate, this was different.
Watching the alien closely, Sthalsh sat down slowly and steadily. The creature sniffled and pulled its knees in tighter. Sthalsh’s ears pulsed pink and he wished he brought his journal to record what it was doing. He made a mental note of the sniff and wondered if it meant the same to its species as his own.
“That blanket is for you,” Sthalsh said with a slight trill. “I’m sure you don’t know what I’m saying but-” he paused. The creature's expression had darkened. Its brows were furrowed deep, muscles tense. Sthalsh swallowed hard and held up his four hands. “I’m not here to harm you.” He spoke quietly to come off as non-threatening and also because his mouth had dried up suddenly. “You don’t have to fear me. I want to help.” He motioned to the blanket with his lower right hand. “It’s for you.”
Its eyes softened. The face was extremely expressive, especially in the eyes. It looked away from Sthalsh and lurched forward just enough to grasp the blanket. The creature held that position for a couple of tics before moving back to its spot in the dark corner. It quickly and easily wrapped the blanket around itself.
They stayed like that for a while. Staring back at each other stiffly. Snuggled in the blanket, the creature looked much less intimidating and more… cute. Still, it was tense holding its muscles tight, not letting itself rest. It looked as tho it was ready to pounce at any moment. This only piqued Sthalsh’s interest in the thing.
“I can’t understand you,” Sthalsh said shaking his head.
The creature held its gaze on Sthalsh with a creased brow.
“You look like an animal and you act like one, for the most part, but there’s something about you- something I'm missing. I’ve never come across a thing like you in all my passes.” He trilled, “I suppose that makes sense you being an alien. I can tell you’ve been to the afterlife and back. I don’t blame you for being weary of us.”
The creature had relaxed its muscles slightly. The shivering had stopped and it was replaced with a steady rocking from side to side in a rhythmic pattern.
“My name is Sthalsh and I think we are going to call you Creature, if that's okay with you. That other guy was Blat, and he’s nice too.” He furrowed his eyebrows slightly. “I’m really hoping we can make you as comfortable as possible moving forward.” He looked away from Creature, “Although tomorrow is going to be a nightmare.” He tugged on his ears with his upper arms and noticed they were a slightly dark beige. Not too surprising given the circumstances but he assumed they'd be darker.
Creature was still watching him but its features were relaxed almost curious. It opened its maw wide suddenly. Now seeing it up close it was obviously an involuntary movement, whatever it was. It closed its eyes and exhaled air through its nose. Its whole body relaxed with that exhale sinking into the wall and the blanket.
Sthalsh’s ears were now a steady pink flowing with excitement. The alien oozed expression in everything it did. Every small movement seemed to mean something, and seeing it up close was so much more intriguing than from behind the glass. He scooted just a bit closer and laid down on his back head turned to face the alien. Creature opened its eyes sensing the movement but didn’t seem disturbed by it.
A half shron passed by before Creature fell asleep. Its breath became very slow and rhythmic. Its body lay limp curled up in the animal fur blanket. Sthalsh had been fighting sleep long before that point so he found it easy to drift away.
Blat had taken the skipper that morning for two reasons. First, he knew the writers would be stalking the lab like scavenger birds around a fresh kill and he would never get through the crowd on the scamper. Second, he did not want the writers to report that he took a scamper to work. The skipper was a large electric-powered vehicle much like a car. It has two metal wheels in the back and one in the front. It's entirely hand-controlled from the front center seat and it tops out at around 70mph. In all, you can fit around four adults and two kids in the vehicle.
Just as he suspected, hundreds of people were gathered waiting for anyone with a few tics to spare. Word had gotten around about the mysterious spacecraft and the creature that came with it. Great. He was sure that everyone knew by now that Sthalsh would be studying the alien and by default himself. After all, the alien crashed several towns over. Once the writers in Pordolin radioed the ones in Warss that an alien was on the way there, it wouldn't have taken long to put the pieces together. Warss was lucky to have Sthalsh, not just for this occasion, but for the dense population of animals in the town’s surrounding forest. However, this event would surely put the sleepy town on the maps for passes to come.
Once he parked it was a mad dash to the door before he could get trampled. Tens of questions were thrown at him at a rapid speed. Some were baffling and others were downright disrespectful. Somehow he managed to jump inside the door without answering a single one. He took a short rest in the entryway before heading down the long hallway.
He unlocked the observatory expecting to find Sthalsh but it was empty. “Sthalsh?” Nothing. He walked up the auditorium looking down each row of seats. On the last row, he found an empty glass and Sthalsh’s journal. There was no sign of his colleague although it was obvious that he was there at some point during the night.
He scanned the room and then noticed. Sthalsh was inside the animal cage with the alien. Blat’s blood ran cold and his ears turned bright red almost instantly.
Not a second thought was had before he rushed down the steps towards the front of the room. Sthalsh was lying down motionless, he could be injured. The alien had one of those cheap lab blankets. Gods what if the creature hurt Sthalsh to get the blanket? What if Sthalsh had been lying in there injured the whole night?
Blat practically ripped the projectile unit off the wall in his haste. He quickly loaded the weapon with the dart and slid it into the slot. Sthalsh had just begun to wake when he saw Blat aiming the PFU directly at the creature.
“No! Wait!” He was too late.
Just as Creature woke in a start, the dart plunged into his thigh. It let out a yelp before immediately pulling out the and throwing it to the side. Sthalsh rushed to his side but Creature pushed him away, hard. Blat opened the door and dashed over to Sthalsh who was still trying to comfort a now very groggy Creature.
Sthalsh knelt next to the alien holding its left hand while caressing the right side of its chest. “It's okay. It’s okay, don’t fight it.” Creature winced in pain while grasping its thigh clawing at the place where the sedative was injected.
“Are you okay?” Blat asked Sthalsh. “I’m sorry I saw you in here and I just- I thought maybe-”
“It’s alright,” Sthalsh glanced behind him at Blat. “I understand how that must have looked.” The creature went limp in his arms. “He's asleep now.” Sthalsh stood up and turned to face Blat. “You’re late.” He said simply.
“I’m so sorry- are you okay? Why were you in here? Did that thing hurt you?”
He held up a hand. “No, no he’s harmless I think.” Sthalsh looked back at Creature. It‘s breathing was steady and uninterrupted. “He was cold so I offered a blanket. We fell asleep, that's all.”
Blat nodded with his hands on hips ears still bright red. “He? Are we calling it a ‘he’ now?”
“I do actually think it might be male.”
Blat looked at the thing lying on the ground motionless. “What else did you figure out?”
Sthalsh didn’t answer. He wasn’t even looking at Blat anymore. It seemed that he was in a whole world of his own lost in thought. “Come with me.” He said.
Blat locked the door to the cage taking one last look at the alien held captive inside. Sthalsh grabbed his journal and then left the observatory heading to the West wing of the lab.
“When they transported Creature here, they brought the ship he crashed,” Sthalsh spoke to Blat without looking back at him.
“Right, I assumed as much.”
“It was destroyed in the sense that it no longer works, however, the hull is mostly intact. The ship was the first thing I looked at.”
The halls of the lab were dead. No one was around so early in the morning and it made Blat feel uneasy. “Why didn’t you show me yesterday?”
“Truly, I wasn’t sure what to tell you.”
They opened doors to a large storage room that had been cleared out. In the place of boxes, cages, and extra food, was a very large busted spaceship. It took up the entire room. It was made of a dark metal and looked as though it might glow if it was operational.
Sthalsh held out an open palm. “Here it is! Feel free to observe and tel...
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