It was a creature.
A creature which, at the moment, was crouched down in a thicket of thorny brush overlooking the giant hole Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p had accidentally blasted into the ground with his ship.
Visually, the creature did not appear hostile. It did not have sharp teeth or pincers or claws, and better yet, it was wearing outer garments that were, perhaps, a little tight and ill-fitting, but that demonstrated sophisticated cognitive abilities not present in all beings. A sign of intelligent life!
Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p brightened. It seemed his luck was finally turning around. He had been unsure how he would go about getting home, but now he needn’t worry. This creature would help him. Surely it had a communication device of its own he could use to call his parents, and while he waited for pickup, it could help keep him safe from whatever dangerous fauna inhabited this planet. It was, to put it lightly, a tremendous relief.
Still, he proceeded with caution. He didn’t know what kind of intergalactic alliances this species had made, and while there were very few violent intelligent life forms in the universe, it would be just Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p’s luck to encounter one. He eyed the creature carefully, looking for signs it might feel anger at him for having crashed into its planet, but saw none.
He did notice something else, though.
The creature, while visually distinct from his own species, shared some common physical traits with them that drew his eye.
By Darvrokian standards, it was quite beautiful, with lean yet defined muscles it modestly kept hidden beneath its strange clothing, and soft-looking skin that lacked visible markings. Its nose was more pronounced than any Darvrokian’s, but the slope of it was charming, and Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p found himself enchanted by the angular bone structure of its face. It was also quite handsome, reminiscent and yet somehow more elegant than even the most aesthetically pleasing Darvrokian face. Its only flaw—from what he could see—was that it lacked a pair of auxiliary arms, which seemed highly inefficient, but he didn’t linger long on that, as he found himself captivated by the strange puff of floofy, soil-colored hair atop the creature’s head.
Darvrokians did not have hair. It was physically unnecessary, and even as far back in the evolutionary line as science could trace, it had never been a feature of their species. This creature, however, had plenty of it, and not just on his head—Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p had the poorest eyesight out of all his many siblings, but even he was able see the fine hairs on the creature’s arms. Hairs that strangely seemed to become sparse at the creature’s wrists.
What an odd, yet alluring trait.
Did it have hair onallof its body?
Maybe, if Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p was lucky, he’d be able to find out before he had to go home.
A little rush of pleasure coursed up his spine at the thought and inspired him into action. Telepathy had never been his strongest subject in school—he’d scored a -0.5 on his evaluation, barely scraping together a high enough score to graduate—but there were other ways to communicate. Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p was especially good at linguistics, and could usually figure out most patterns, sounds, syntax, and even grammar usage almost instantly upon hearing a language in use.
But this creature wasn’t talking.
It stared at him, frozen in place, and showed no signs it would be defrosting soon.
He was going to have to try telepathy. He really didn’t want to—not only did it trigger bad memories of failing at school and being teased, it also gave him a nasty headache every time—but it was the best option he had. He only needed to get a feel for this creature’s mother tongue. If he did that, then he could speak to it. And if he could speak to it, he could ask it for help.
Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p took a deep breath—the surplus of oxygen continuing to provide him with a nice wave of calm—and attempted to clear his mind. This was the part he was the worst at. He simply couldn’t understand how anyone could keep their mind quiet. Not when there were so many things to think about every second of every day. For example, in that moment alone, he was thinking:
What am I going to do about my ship? I loved that ship. This sucks. My parents are not going to be happy when they find out. Ugh. My parents. I don’t want to call my parents. They’ll probably make my brother come and get me, and he’ll never let me hear the end of it. If I survive, that is. Is this much oxygen actually safe for me to breathe for a long period of time? It’s making me kind of loopy. Unless I hit my head in the crash. Did I hit my head in the crash? Oh well, at least it feels really nice. The weather is also really nice. Maybe I’ll just stay here forever in hiding with this hairy creature and my parents will never have to find out that I totaled my ship. It might not be so bad to stay here. The hairy creature is fascinating to look at, and I want to know more about it. I want to touch its hair. Would it let me touch its hair? Why does it need so much hair in such a warm climate? Is its species susceptible to cold like mine is? I’m hungry. I should grab an energy bar. But all my snacks were in the front compartment that caught on fire. Hopefully there’s something edible around here. This suit is really uncomfortable around my—
Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p wrinkled his nose. How was he supposed to turn all that off? It wasn’t his fault his brain didn’t know how to be quiet.
He tried anyway, determined to connect with this creature.
What was the trick his teacher had taught him? Find a focal point, keep your eyes trained on it, and think of a single phrase over and over to keep your mind focused.
Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p immediately zoned in on the creature’s floof of hair.
Its hair looks soft,he thought to himself.Its hair looks soft. Its hair looks soft.
It became his internal mantra, and he used it to call his mind back every time it tried to wander. When other thoughts tried to creep in, he merely thoughtits hair looks softlouder, in order to drown them out. Once he got into the groove—his mind as silent as it was going to get—he centered himself and reached out to touch the creature’s thoughts.
They were a jumbled mess of utter nonsense when Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p got a hold of them. Strange sounds assaulted him one after the other until he’d heard enough of them to recognize them as words. Steadying himself from the onslaught, he probed deeper, past the creature’s surface thoughts, down into its language center, where he riffled through as much as he could, as fast as he could, knowing he’d only be able to maintain a connection this deep for a few seconds at best.
As expected, much too soon, a searing pain struck Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p between the eyes. The suddenness of it made him drop the connection involuntarily, like jerking a hand away from a hot surface. He didn’t have nearly as much information as he wanted, but he’d gathered enough to build a small lexicon of the language he now knew as “English.” He’d need more if he was going to hold any substantial conversations, but it was a start.
Inside his mouth, his slim, pointed tongue struggled to form the language’s unfamiliar syllables. He was sure anything he said would come out with a ridiculous accent, which was going to be such an embarrassing first impression, but he forced himself to speak anyway, two words only for now, as clearly as he could.
First, a statement: “Hello!”
Then, a question: “Help?”
The creature—a “human,” according to Ξ.A.kr’ξ??’p’s newfound English lexicon—stared at him in what appeared to be shock for several tense seconds.
