Humans are Space Oddities: Humanity, Diplomacy, and Disability in Space
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“Has the translator arrived yet?”
“Yes Ser, she’s sanitizing her clothing and then will go straight to the docking bay.”
“Good, make sure she’s on time. Ser Hei is here in three hours, and we can’t have anything going wrong.” The captain paced up and down the command room of the Yenna. The space fae, Hei, was coming for a diplomatic discussion about setting up a trade route through xir solar system. If this talk didn’t go well, their ship may very well not make it back.
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Three hours later, exactly on time, the dock bay doors opened with a hiss, and a short humanoid figure with brown skin and wild, weightless locs walked through. So this was Hei. Xir reputation preceded xir, and there was not another being so powerful within 1,000 light years. The captain hurriedly stepped forward, only to fall back as xi bared xir teeth towards them, then spoke in a foreign language.
“Uh,” they looked confusedly at the translator. Though translators would work in Hei’s tongue, xi preferred to hear xir own language, and who were they to deny xir?
“I don’t take kindly to your advances. I brought my beings, and will not have you within two meters of them,” she supplied. Behind Hei, a tall being ducked under the door, glowing faintly—a light alien. Holding to xir robe entered a female human with loose brown hair, wearing human attire: a T-shirt and shorts.
“Greetings Mg. Captain,” said the light alien. Then to Hei, “what a nice ship this is.” Hei smiled warmly, then dropped xir expression as xi turned toward the captain again.
“Guang and Fern will be exploring your ship as we talk.”
“Of course, Ser Hei, they will not be bothered. Now, shall we move to the conference room?”
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While Hei went to discuss politics, the tall being and human went sightseeing. Guang reached out a hand to brush dust off the top of a parked ship. It preferred to keep things tidy, but few were tall enough to see the dust that it could. When it looked down, Fern was gone.
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Kell was a human technician aboard the Yenna, a spacecraft specialized in human recreational transport. They knew most of the crew on board, and this one wasn’t one of them. She was obviously distressed, pacing up and down the narrow corridor and wringing her hands.
Kell opened their watch to link their translator to the hers, but no connection appeared. Looking again, she wasn’t wearing any watch. Since Kell was deaf, they only signed. While they could read and write UIPL, it wouldn’t help if the human had nothing to read it on. But the person needed help now, so Kell decided to try ASL.
Hello, I’m K-E-L-L, Kell, they signed slowly. You, they pointed at her, OK? They connected their pointer and thumb in the universal non-ASLsymbol. Or the french chef hand sign among some groups of humans.
She was not facing them head on, but she apparently caught what they said. She started to hit her hands together, one in a thumbs up and one flat in a repeating: Help!
Ok! Don’t worry, I’ll help you. Kell reached out to calm her frantic signing, but she flinched away.
As they drew back, vibrations distracted them; something large was approaching. They braced themselves and turned toward the corner, from which a dim light was gradually growing. The being that appeared was talking. Its words scrolled across Kell’s glasses in a live transcription.
“Fern, thank goodness!” The tension left Guang’s body as it saw her, but she didn’t stop signing help. “It will be ok. This will pass and we will rest and go back home.”
Turning to Kell, it asked, “do you have a room where the lights can be a dim purple? With a speaker for music? I’m her guardian, Guang, it/its, light alien.”
Thankfully, this alien had a watch.
Kell, they/them, human. I don’t speak, so I’ll text. I can take you somewhere, Kell texted back.
“Alright, one moment.” Guang turned to the human, speaking to her in a low voice but never touching her. Then to Kell it said, “let’s go slowly.”
Kell led the tall alien, and it in turn led the human, who held onto its robe. Once safely in the room, Guang adjusted the lighting and thanked Kell for their assistance. It asked for their contact code, which Kell gave. Though they hoped that it was not going to report them for making the human cry. It didn’t seem the type, but Kell hadn’t seen its species before, so couldn’t read its body language. Guang thanked them for their help once more and closed the door.
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The captain sank into their chair. The talk went fine—no one died, thank god—but afterwards… they lost about ten years of their lifespan in stress.
It started with Hei suddenly standing in the middle of a sentence, eyes looking through the left wall, hands clenched. The gravity in the room doubled with the weight of xir emotion.
“Ser Hei, what may I do for you?” the captain gasped out, glancing between Hei and the wall.
“I’ll be leaving in two hours. Prepare my ship.” Hei swept out of the room, not waiting for an answer.
“Of course, Ser,” they inhaled deeply, able to breath again. They ordered the preparations be made and hurried to the control room to see where Hei had gone and what needed to be done in order to avoid damages.
To their surprise, camera footage showed Hei sitting in a dimly lit room, mouth moving in quiet song. Besides xir sat xir partner, the light alien, and in between them, rocking back and forth, their human. After two hours, her rocking slowed and the trio stood. Hei cloaked them in darkness as they walked back towards the docking bay.
The captain and interpreter were there when Hei arrived. Briefly stepping out of the shadows, Hei addressed them.
“Your request is not granted. We will be keeping our solar system quiet. Travel may pass within five light years of my sun, but any closer and you shall not be seeing that ship again.”
The captain flinched at the electricity that crackled in the air. What was it that bothered Hei so? What happened with the human? Why was Hei sparing them if they did something wrong? They didn’t risk asking, and the fae, light alien, and human left without another word.
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Working on a panel of wires, Kell clicked their tongue to the rhythm of their music’s vibrations. It was rare to come across another disabled human in space, and even rarer that that human had real support. How lucky Fern was, and how excited Kell was for the invitation that Guang had promised to send to them. A human who they could connect with, and a chance to visit the planet of a space fae? Few could say they’ve had the honor.
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For your information:
Mg. is short for Mage, and is a gender neutral title for Mister or Miss. Idea courtesy of @apolloendymion (link). Ser is a gender neutral title for Sir or Miss.
As for language, unless otherwise specialized, communication is in the Universal Interplanetary Language (UIPL), the language of trade and international politics.
Hei uses it/its (UIPL) and xi/xir (birth tounge) pronouns. It prefers it's birth tounge and beings often default to what it wants, which is why the captain uses xi/xir pronouns even when speaking UIPL.
"Nikanj isn't male—and I doubt whether it really cares what either of us wants."
"Don't let him touch you! If you have a choice, keep away from him!"
The refusal to accept Nikanj's sex frightened her because it reminded her of Paul Titus. She did not want to see Paul Titus in Joseph.
"It isn't male, Joseph."
"What difference does that make!"
"What difference does any self—deception make? We need to know them for what they are, even if there are no human parallels—and believe me, there are none for the ooloi."
some designs i remastered from a monster boy challenge agessssssssssssssssss ago lolol. i knew What i wanted to do but rly only now does it feel rly realized. ofc progress wont end but the design? nice. finite.
will incorporate into my story at a later point but these guys dont even have Colors lsdfnkj
