"Crewperson Geoffreywalter." Zlith hesitated by the door of the medical bay room, skin pulsating in a pattern that Geoff recognized as an odd mix of hesitation and fear.
"Come in, Crewperson Zlith," Geoff said, touching a button to elevate his bed into a sitting position. He grimaced uncomfortably but forced a closed-mouth smile for Zlith's benefit. Never show teeth.
Zlith surged forward and draped zemself over one of the Ryesh-friendly chairs, settling zer appendages carefully and setting at least three directly on the ground for support and balance.
"Thanks for coming to visit me," Geoff said, suspecting his -- friend? acquaintance? alien cohort? -- needed some prompting. It was good to see zem, though; Geoff liked Zlith's cautious curiosity about humans. Most of the Ryesh treated humans as insane deathworlders. Zlith seemed to want to understand.
A pulse of color, purples shifting to a vibrant green, signaled the equivalent of a deep breath or steeling oneself before a hard conversation. Geoff's eyebrows went up.
"I was told you were voluntarily in med bay. Why?"
Geoff looked startled, not expecting that question.
"Well, yes, sort of? You know Crewperson Nancy Pritchard?"
"Yes, of course. She is your podmate."
"My sister, yes," Geoff smiled. "We both, ah, spawned from the same two genetic donors."
A burst of yellow tinged with red. Amusement. Ryesh did not know their genetic donors. Eggs were laid in clusters by dozens of ova-givers, then subsequently fertilized en masse by dozens of spermatozoa-givers. You were podmates with hundreds, if not thousands, of "siblings," whom you may or may not have any genetic connection to. You grew up together, survived together, and -- upon reaching adulthood -- would often enlist together for work. It made for excellent teamwork. The idea of small, intimate pods was, frankly, alien to the Ryesh. However, the Council had agreed that perhaps it was for the best, as far as Humans were concerned.
"Anyway," Geoff continued, "Nancy has been sick for a while and they finally figured out that she needed a kidney transplant. Humans have two, you see, and neither of hers were working anymore."
Zlith bobbed his head-shape, a gesture he had picked up from the humans on board.
"I am a close genetic match to Nancy and this meant I could give her one of my kidneys."
Zlith went black. Octopus ink black. It was a startle reflex; ze was terrified.
"It's a pretty standard operation that's been around for hundreds of years. The grown organ thing is newer -- we really nailed that once we met your people. You have incredible regenerative powers; we are just very good at not dying."
Zlith settled down to a dark orange with black spots and flicked one arm; it had been removed in a fight several years before and regrown within a month.
"They took my left kidney two days ago and implanted it into her. The med team is currently growing second kidneys from scrapings. I'll get my missing one replaced and she'll get her second defective one replaced in about a week."
Zlith appeared to be contemplating this information and digesting it. A slow pulsation of the colors, akin to a heartbeat, communicated this.
"You said that your people have been doing this surgery since long before you met us," ze finally said.
"So before us, you would have both simply lived with... one kidney each?" Red flickers. Unsettled.
Geoff nodded. "Yeah, pretty normally, too. Nancy would have had to take medicine for the rest of her life to stop her body from rejecting the kidney, but otherwise, yeah."
"YOUR BODY CAN REJECT A DONATED ORGAN?!" Black again with red flickers. Zlith clearly did not know what to do with this information.
Geoff sighed. He was reaching the limit of his medical knowledge. He pressed the "Call Nurse" button.
