by Ashley Amos
“Lexicon too? Damn.” Lee snorted, laughing some. “I don’t think I’ll ever get a hang of believe half of the shit I’m seeing. No one back home would ever believe me if I told them a beautiful pink fish lady was the one to save me from this torment.”
“Fish…” Zana paused, pursing her lips. “Ah, you must be referring to my fins. And my amphibious nature? Correct?”
“Yeah,” Lee said, looking off to the side. “Let’s go with that.”
Zana laughed again. Inside, it felt as if all the troubles of work and the responsibilities had melted away. The stress had lifted. Her mind was clear for the first time in several cycles. Something about Lee and the way his deep voice reverberated through the room, helping the translator no less, it seemed to instill warmth and a carefree spirit in her. This was her glory to be and it pulled her out of the murk and gloom, the smooth skin and rippling muscles of her work in the form of Lee more than enticing. It was exhilarating. Was this what it was like, hundreds and thousands of years prior for her people? Whatever this feeling was, she was filled to the brim with it and any and all worry regarding the mission or Fanilgo or the members of the Tennann seemed to melt away.
“Do you have anything else you would like to talk about? The translator needs more from you to properly function,’ Zana said, leaning forward, her bright orange eyes trained only on Lee.
“Is it bad I feel a bit threatened?” he asked. “For days… I think… I’ve been fighting off these wild fuckers and all their handsy nonsense and now you’re staring me down with real pretty eyes and making me feel like this is all some odd sabotage.”
Zana leaned back and shook her head. “No, it’s not bad you feel that way. I can understand it. Or at the very least, I could try to understand.”
There came a moment of silence, the translator humming away in the middle of the table, Lee and Zana locked on each other’s gaze. He sighed. Something about the way he moved, the on guard energy and everything about Lee being defensive, it stirred up a deep sympathy in Zana’s being, making her marks shift a bit and a tightness claw at her chest.
“You’d be surprised how reassuring that is,” Lee said. “I was afraid I was either going to be trapped in an alien horror story instead of… well something that’s not a horror story.”
“Horror?” Zana asked, leaning in again, resting her chin in her graceful hands. “Please… tell me what this word means.”
*
According to human time standards, Lee and Zana spent nearly three hours talking, the translator eating up every last infliction and tone, building an extensive dictionary for future use. To say Zana was enraptured with her work would be an understatement. Fanilgo remained outside, corralling any possible interference away and allowing Zana to melt into the words, the language, to thought of sacred first contact going correctly all because of her.
“So you’re telling me,” she said, almost breathless, “that humans domesticated an apex predator, not for any agricultural purpose, but rather for companionship? That’s it?”
Lee shrugged. “Well when you put it that way,” he chuckled. “It does sound kind of badass. Though honestly most everyone just likes puppies.”
“Baby canines?”
“Well yes, technically. But we have a word for most infant animals really. Kittens are baby cats and fawns are baby deer and foals are baby horses.”
Zana beamed. “Not many cultures have such an extensive vocabulary for things. It’s fascinating to me.”
“Cultures…” Lee said, trailing off. He leaned back and looked off to the side, crossing his arms as if trying to put up his defense again. “And… how many cultures… species actually, are in this Federation of Planets.”
“The Federated Union of Interplanetary States,” Zana corrected him.
“Yeah…” he said, trailing off before finally meeting her gaze. “How many of them are there?”
Zana tapped her chin in thought, markings cycling through a few colors before she whined in uncertainty. “There’s about four hundred. I think its three hundred and eighty something, though I can’t be sure…”
The room fell quiet again. Lee stared, dumbfounded for a moment. Zana worried, judging by the look on his face, that it was all too much to process for an uncontacted person, but even so, she waited for him to react.
“Wow,” he said.
Zana waited a moment. “Wow? That’s all?”
He shook his head, as if trying to scatter a persistent thought. “It’s… a lot to take in, okay? Humans have thought for the longest time that we’re alone in the universe and now you’re telling me we live in a crowded condo complex instead of in the middle of the woods.”
“Is that a common colloquialism among your people?” Zana asked, her eyes glimmering, her thoughts only on the words coming out of Lee’s pretty mouth. “It’s rather fascinating.”
“No, no…” Lee trailed off. “It’s… something I made up on the spot. That’s not the important thing. The important thing is… I have no idea why me? Why Earth? Why now? We’re not exactly prime candidates as is for being flung into the world… universe of Interplanetary State Unions or whatever.”
“Oh, well that’s easy,” Zana said. “You see, the monitoring league, a non-profit organization that scans and intercepts alien transmissions from deep space, they have had their sights set on the Sol System for decades because of all the chatter you humans let spill out into space. It’s fantastic really. But the Federation is very, very particular about First Contacts. First they send probes and drones out to scope the star system and get a feel for the species’ spread over said system. From there, there’s deliberations and debate in the science councils, and if an agreement is met about a people being worth first contact, then an Exploratory Cruiser is sent out to scope the planet.”
“Is that what happened? I thought it was an abduction cruiser,” Lee said, nearly spitting the words out with a deep sound of disgust.
“No,” Zana said slowly falling quiet. “That being said, there have been rumors for a long time that Seddi and her crew were rather… loose with the rules.”
“Oh,” Lee replied, his head dropping, his eyes focused solely on the table in front of him. “So then… you wouldn’t be here had things gone according to plan?”
“Neither of us would be. Although, I was stationed on an Expedition Cruiser for… how do humans call it? Months? Before the Exploratory Cruiser Tennann became a problem. So there’s the chance I would still come here to the Sol system.” Zana smiled, looking Lee over with a careful, analytical gaze. “But you? You should never have had to confront the entire concept of First Contact on your own. That’s not right to you.”
Lee sat, quiet, his hands retreating to his lap, fiddling and fidgeting as a few seconds ticked by. “If you had said that at the start, I could have easily agreed that that would have been for the best. But now? After talking to someone not trying to chain me to a cell for a few hours? It’s… a lot different. I mean, I’m still pissed at this Seddi woman and her bullshit pirate crew. But now? I mean, now that you’ve sat down and talked to me, all of it is making more sense. I mean, I’m helping aliens understand one of the most important languages in use on my entire planet. I’m the first person to have official contact with an extra-terrestrial.” Lee paused, looking up at Zana with a sudden sense of anxiety filling the lines and contours of his face. He shivered and sighed. “That’s a lot of weight on one guy’s shoulders, you know? I mean… at the very least I’m glad that I got the opportunity to meet and talk to you, Zana.”
“That’s very flattering, Mr. Lee Harrison,” Zana said. “Am I saying that right? Mr. Lee?”
“You got it. Though Harrison is the surname. Just call me Lee,” he said, smiling.
“Lee,” she said, the word hanging with a sense of contemplation in the air. “Alright I think—”
The door slammed open. Lee jumped, mumbling something about how he didn’t even see the intruders coming from through a series
of crystal clear walls. Zana turned to see a few crew members of the Tennann flood in past a protesting Fanilgo on guard outside the room. She jumped, caught up in the commotion and trying to keep a level head despite the shouting. Snatching her translator off the table, she cursed. It wasn’t finished and the new variables and noise were interfering with the processing. She turned it off. Sliding through the crowds as they descended on Lee, she found herself with Fanilgo as he slipped into the room, his fists clenched, and his fingers twitching as if he were aching to get his weapon.
“What’s going on?” Zana asked, her markings faded in anxiety. “What are they doing to Lee?”
“I can’t tell entirely,” Fanilgo said, looking a bit peeved. “My own communicator systems are buggy now, but I think the Tennann intercepted your interview proceedings and tried to translate some things.”
“They hacked my translator?” Zana said, loudly, as if deeply offended. “That’s against protocol! That’s illegal!”
“I know…” Fanilgo said. “Something’s not right. I can’t get in touch with the Azin or Benkof…”
Zana watched in horror as the back door to the room was forced open and the crew members dragged Lee away, the human kicking and screaming for Zana as she stood there with her fins pinned back and her hands over her mouth.
“This isn’t right. Nothing about this is right,” Fanilgo muttered as the last of the assaulting crew members disappeared into the bowel of the ship. “I think Benkof’s suspicions were well grounded. This ship just isn’t right.”
“Of course it’s not right!” Zana shouted, rounding on Fanilgo. “Everything Lee has told me so far has shown that he’s nothing short of an innocent caught in some nonsense on our end. This ship ought to be renamed the Renegade! The Rogue! Anything else…” Zana clawed at her rosy scalp, looking over the ground as if there were answers there. “Where’s Seddi?” she asked Fanilgo.
“I don’t—”
“Where’s Seddi? I need to find her and rip her a new one for all of this! Nothing is being followed in terms of protocol and an innocent member of an uncontacted people is being manhandled like meat at the butcher’s.”
“Manhandled like…” Fanilgo paused. “Is that a—”
“Colloquialism. Yes. He made it up on the spot it’s not a…” she groaned, confusion causing her face to crease and her marks to fluctuate wildly between colors. “That’s not important right now. Where the hell is Seddi? And see if you can figure out a way to contact Benkof. Please. Please Fanilgo I will not have my first mission end up like this.”
The two of them were quiet for a moment, Zana looking down at the inactive translator in her hand. They retreated, out of the various containment chambers in the loft. Fanilgo pursed his lips, eyes darting around some, as if he were battling conflicting thoughts.
“She’ll be in the communication sector. She had said something when she was leaving you and this Lee person earlier. That being said I don’t—”
Zana wouldn’t, couldn’t even let Fanilgo finish. She was off. Pacing quickly out of the Sciences Deck, she headed for an elevator, pausing only when Fanilgo forced his way in, by her side.
“What, you think you’re going to confront Captain Seddi without me?” he asked. “You know that’s stupid, right?”
“I don’t care. I’m not about to have some renegade Exploratory Captain ruin my first mission,” Zana spat. The way Exploratory Captain rolled off her tongue made it sound as if she were talking about sewage. “You and I are above this bullshit.”
Fanilgo was quiet as the elevator zipped from the Sciences Deck to the Communications Deck, the doors opening with a soundless glide, Zana and Fanilgo marching out and into the hub of noise and activity. Her translator held firmly in one hand, she held it close, fingers running over it slowly but surely as if she were trying to—
“Darex! Fanilgo!” shouted a voice.
The two of them turned on their heels to find Seddi gliding over to them at full speed, her imposing, inky body seeming to suck all light out from the room around her. She was a monolith among the chaos of the communication officers.
“Captain Seddi,” Zana said, pulling herself upright, her thin frame towering there next to Fanilgo as she stood her ground. “I have words for you.”
“When doesn’t a communication officer have words for their superiors,” Seddi spat. “I take it the interview with the combatant is concluded then.”
“Hardly!” Zana yelled. “It was cut short before I could harness a proper translation for my records. Your goons rushed in out of nowhere and took the human… took Lee away. I want answers, now!”
Fanilgo blinked, staring at Zana with a bit of shock. He stepped forward, hand on Zana’s shoulder now, and nodded. “Your crew threatened me and my mission here with Officer Darex Zana. I was personally threatened by the intruding crew members as they barged through the Sciences Deck.”
Seddi scoffed, her glassy blue eyes rolling in disgust. “I don’t have to answer to either of you. I am a Federation captain. The two of you—”
“Are officers operating under direct command of an Expedition Cruiser Captain, your superior, and have full reign of this ship and its facilities,” Zana said, fins flaring. “Under no sense of imagination are you our superior especially considering all of the failings and illegalities occurring on this cruiser. So, Seddi, do not presume to use any dismissive tone when I am at work righting your wrongs and conducting myself in the proper manner. I want to know right now if what Lee had told me is truthful. Are you abducting humans for profit? Are you priming him for some horrendous tenure as a slave outside of Federation territory? Don’t you dare give me attitude when the accusations against you are this severe!”
“Zana,” Fanilgo said, holding her shoulder tighter.
“What?” Zana snapped. “I have a job to do Fanilgo! I’m not about to concede to fool who has tormented an innocent uncontacted—”
“Zana!” Fanilgo said. Pulling her close to his person, she turned, finding the two of the circled by Seddi’s crew, armed to the teeth and staring them down. “For the love of all that is sacred, shut up.”
Chapter Four
Zana yelped, being thrown into the brig with Fanilgo by her side, her feet stumbling, her arms flailing. It was comical and she hated it. There was work at hand, but not with the crew of the Tennann and their ridiculous, nonsensical captain, something Zana could complete. Holding the translator tight in her hand, she watched Fanilgo be dragged by two burly officers to the adjacent cell.
Scrambling, she looked around in the dark, hoping she could find herself a light switch at the very least to combat the deep, dark, cliché of her dungeon. She stumbled again and fell forward. Turning, she found herself confronted with a lump on the floor, shivering and shaking. Reaching out, she gently poked her cell-mate.
“Lee?” she whispered.
There came a groaning and the lump on the floor sat up. “Zana?”
“Lee!” Zana exclaimed, finally dropping her translator and descending upon her cellmate. “Oh my goodness I didn’t think I would find you and…”
“Keep back…” Lee warned, pushing himself away from Zana. “They drugged me with something. I feel weird. I feel… out of it. Not entirely but…”
The translator began pinging again and Zana turned, smiling faintly. Despite having found herself in a mess, one the likes she could never have imagined, she was still able to help translate and help with the push with humanity’s first contact.
“Zana…” Lee groaned. “What’s the purple stuff that has a syringe with two needles? What’s it do?”
Zana froze. Letting the translator work and help her understand what Lee was asking, she froze. Scrambling up, she approached the bars of her cell, only pausing for a moment as to why such crude measures were still employed by an Interplanetary… No. She shook her head and shouted out the bars and to Fanilgo.
“Fan! Are you there?” she shouted. A guard glared at her and her markings flood
ed with a deep black coloration, fins flared. Remembering something Lee had shown her, she flipped her middle finger to him. “Fanilgo!”
“I’m here, gosh…” Fanilgo whined from the cell next to her. “They threw me on my back so I got winded. Gimme a sec…”
“We don’t have a sec!” Zana shouted. “You guarded the Infirmary on the Azin, right? What class of drugs are administered with a double-pronged syringe?”
“How the hell should I know?” Fanilgo replied with a groan. “I’m not a doctor.”
Zana groaned in return, not out of pain, but from disdain. “Yeah but you security officers are nosy as hell. How else are you supposed to fill your boring jobs if you’re not eavesdropping on everyone?”
“Hey!” Fanilgo and the guard shouted.
“Am I wrong?” Zana shouted. Both Fanilgo and the guard fell quiet. “That’s what I thought.”
“Shut up,” Fanilgo muttered.
“Well?” Zana pressed on. “Do you know what…”
“Neurological suppressive narcotics,” Fanilgo snapped. “They’re usually only in emergency kits in order to subdue combatants…”
“See?” The guard snapped at them. “Nothing wrong there. We are only acting according to law.”
“Or,” Fanilgo continued, “I know some criminals use them to alter behavior of kidnap victims before selling them. And in some cases, dosages administered in a certain way can permanently alter temperament of the patient.”
Zana froze, looking back to Lee shivering on the floor. She turned back, flipped the guard off again and turned back to Lee, descending on him like a concerned parent, cradling him in her surprisingly strong arms.
“You’re welcome!” Fanilgo shouted.
Zana ignored him, only focused on the human in her arms, only focused on making sure he was stable. The shivering continued. Lee looked up with glassy, dark eyes, catching Zana’s face as her fins fluttered and she blushed. The color wasn’t normal for her or her kind, a deep almost eggplant color crossing her features, over the rosy pink and the shifting color of her markings. She cleared her throat.