Challenge #02646-G089: Nothing?
Vorax-Ambassador: “Alright. I’m all decked out; got my calming Medication, my Weapons, my Suit, my Everything. I’m ready for this and nothing can Stop me!”
—‘laughs in 4.5 Deathworld’— – Anon Guest
The Vorax are not mindless eating machines. Their metabolisms just happen to be set on 'rush’ and they actively need dense calories to make it through the day. Usually. The advent of calming medication to keep their rage/pillage instincts curbed had helped diplomatic relations intensely. Therefore, the new livesuits for Vorax included automedication for the calming drugs.
Weapons, in Alliance ships and stations, were stunners only. This was far less than any Vorax was used to, but it was also nothing greater than any other species in an Alliance ship or station had with them. Therefore, Xarq was ready for an Ambassadorial Encounter.
The calming meds laid a soft blanket over his mind, and slowed his hearts. Not enough to be dangerous, but enough to put the edge off of his needs. Enough to curb the fight-or-flight response to literally everything around him. Enough, in short, to make sure he would think about how his responses might be received before he actually responded.
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Challenge #02645-G088: Getting to Know You
“Try not to read my my mind, I am running five jokes in my head, that will possibly offend you and make you laugh. Another part of my head is accidentally reminiscing about college and now internally screaming. My lizard brain want food. And the rest is upholding this conversation.”
“First off, how did you block my mind scan, and secondly - lizard brain?”
“Oh a part of the human brain can be traced back to a reptilian ancestor thus it is dubbed the lizard brain. Speaking of lizards…” a green creature crawled out of the human sleeves. “Her name is Shelby.”
“That does not explain the mind scan.” – Anon Guest
As a survival tactic, telepathy is not one of the more common evolutionary stepstones. Those who have it, of course, think it’s vital until they eventual fact that other telepathic species are very rare and other cogniscents don’t know how to do Private Thoughts.
That’s when they learn to adapt to tuning out the seas of mental babble, or at least shutting themselves off from it until they consciously scan other minds. The Melil are experts at this, having learned their lessons and returned to teach those at home how to protect themselves before they encounter the harsh truth.
Of the telepathic species, the Melil are the most widely-spread because of their practical approach to non-telepathic encounters. Nevertheless, there are still some encounters that surprise even them. Like having a Human block them upon first greeting.
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Challenge #02644-G087: One Person’s Spice…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RG9TMn1FJzc
Imagine Aliens need a Substance (like Salt, etc…) so Bad. -Mike666
“Limestone,” said the Human with a raised eyebrow. “You guys need calcium carbonate? For reals?”
“The calcium carbonate is an essential mineral for us, yes. For reals.”
The Human shrugged, “Well, we need sodium chloride in special amounts, so yeah. I’ll try to see if we have the pure stuff for you.” There was some significant rummaging about in the storage boxes. “Yeah. I usually have these for baby carvers, but I got you some of the more manufactured stuff. How much by weight are you looking for?”
“Oh,” said the customer. “My crew and I will need a total of twenty Siwus[1] for the entire journey plus contingency[2].”
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Challenge #02642-G085: The Honest Mood
Walks in
“tbqh idfk”
leaves – Anon Guest
[AN: OP, I had to leave the link out because this is a mostly-PG exercise of mine and fetish-adjacent material is not safe for any minors who may have wandered in.]
Human Jor spoke in abbreviations. This caused some trouble for the crew she was Ship’s Human for, but on the up side, she also provided a phrasebook. Simple words like “yes” or “no” became tonal grunts. Human Jor had a set of initials or a shorthand for everything.
The simple bonding query of, “How is your day,” or, “What is the mood,” got answers like, “Sasidida,” or, “Snafu.” Though there were other times when an actual word would be employed. Those were rare and therefore treasured. Getting a word out of Human Jor was an accomplishment.
There were entire days when Human Jor only uttered incomprehensible gargles of frustration. Despite all this, Human Jor was effective in her communications and bonded well with her shipmates. Vocal intonations and concatenations of seemingly random sounds, in concert with efficient gestures, could deliver a lot of information.
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Challenge #02640-G083: Why is it So?
(Not related to the other “Why” but got me thinking)
A young child begins the “Why Game” with another species. The parent offers them an out but they politely decline. Curiosity is an enviable trait and they will continue to answer for as long as the child asks…
…A small crowd of interested and amused people has begun to form, with some stepping in to field questions from their own specialties. A few humans encourage their children to join in as the first child starts to get fussy (it is past their nap time by now).
The original Answerer insists on remaining even as others offer to take their place and some of the humans begin to quietly place bets. Win, lose, or draw they have earned the humans respect and, unknowingly, a reputation for being a great babysitter. – Silverrey
Patience is a virtue, catch it if you can. Seldom seen in women, and never seen in man. – ancient Terran saying.
Human parentals seemingly need an infinite supply of patience, especially when their young start asking questions about the world around them.
“Why is space black?” asked the little Human as parent and child waited for a connection shuttle. They were peering out a porthole apparently watching for the shuttle’s approach. They were also too young to employ a brain-to-mouth bypass.
[Be sure to visit internutter (dot) org for a link to the rest of this story, and details on how to support this artist. Or visit steemit (dot) com (slash at) internutter for the stories at their freshest]