A human arrived on the ship. The crew didn’t exactly know what to think of this. They heard humans were wild, talkative, indomitable, sociable, flamboyant creatures, excellent liars and capable of taking down anything if they so wished.
When they saw the human however, it was different from what they expected. It was small, lonely and very quiet. It was competent at repairing anything in the ship but it would always do so in a corner, out of the way, if it could. When it finished, it promptly booked it before anyone could interact with it.
The crew didn’t know if it was a good liar since it never spoke more than two sentences at a time. They heard it say: “Just passing by”, “I’m finished here”, “Excuse me, I need to access this”. From as far as they could tell it never lied with its words.
Some of the crew felt more powerful near the human. They could tell the human thought of itself as something weak and inoffensive and it gave them the feeling that they could crush it anytime. They knew to use this thinking to entertain themselves with the human’s fear.
That’s when Sak’ari intervened. They were from a very old and advanced species. A long white robe fell over their blue tern skin. They usually walked on their four legs and their tail. But when they stood on only two feet, with their tail helping to balance, with a straight posture, they looked majestic and wise. They were one of the last Ancient Ones.
They were the leader of the ship. They took decisions alone, as everyone knew how rational they were. There was no way to corrupt them and they knew to put the greater good before themselves, they didn’t exactly want anything. They longed for a connection, something…meaningful. But they wouldn’t have that by being a tyrant.
When they heard about what happened to the human, they knew it would affect everyone negatively. They first took measures to prevent some of the crew from seeing the human. Usually, they would stop here and focus on other issues. But this time, they listened to their instincts, and watched the human closely.
Sak’ari saw that these measures were practically useless, it was clear that the crew was deliberately malicious towards the human. So, they did something they have never done before, they made new laws to protect the crew and secretly, to protect the human.
Sak’ari had hoped the human would use those laws to protect itself. But it didn’t say anything to anyone and thus the laws were useless.
And so, Sak’ari decided to talk directly to the crew. They didn’t appear in public often however when they did, it was important. They were sure, the crew would listen, willingly or not.
Sak’ari told the crew “You might believe that a frail creature, weak physically, is below you. But no. If those creatures could survive their planet long enough to be civilised today, then, they are not weak. They have strength no one else has, they have a mind no one else has. Respect those species like you would respect anyone else. If you don’t want to do that, at least, acknowledge that you too have weaknesses.”
Everyone knew what Sak’ari meant. The toughest ones of the crew listened. Begrudgingly, they did. They apologised to the human who said nothing in response. After that, life continued its course on the ship.
Until pirates attacked them. Everyone knew the procedure. The more resistant species would protect the offensive ones in fights. The ones who had neither were requisitioned in a room to heal the wounded.
Sak’ari fought well. With their powerful bottom legs, they propelled themselves on their enemies before promptly shredding them with their claws. They were covered with fluids, they basked in these even.
It was one of the only moments where they were not the rational, stoic, collected Ancient One. They were back on their planet, they were wild, they were predators, they were free, they were feeling. How thrilling!
And then, they felt like they forgot something. They stopped for a moment, going back to their rational thinking. In their “infinite wisdom”, they didn’t tell the human the procedure.
They rose on their four legs, gave the commandment to their second and left in the corridors.
The human was running in the corridors. They were sweating, they were breathless but if they stopped they would die. The stomping behind them merged with their erratic heartbeats.
They knew they were not as fast, not as resistant, not as strong. They were all alone. They were a prey. A prey that needed to run fast. How long? Tears were falling down their cheeks. They didn’t want to die.
They saw a door on their left. It was the one to their workshop. They took it and closed the door. Claws made their appearance, ripping through the door. The human screamed. They took a crowbar on their shoulder and booked it.
They couldn’t hear the stomping anymore, so they walked fast trying to catch their breath. Then they heard it, closer than before. They turned around. Their heart dropped. They screamed. The mandible-claw-thing was right there!
Without thinking, they bashed its “head” with the crowbar and ran. They ran fast and whimpered. They took another door to save themselves…they trapped themselves. There is no second door here.
They turned around and watched as the door was torn apart. They backed off into a corner. As far as they could from the monster that was entering. They begged, they begged as much as they could. It cliqued its mandibles in rhythm. Was it laughing?
The human felt dizzy. It was so big. The creature approached, slowly, already victorious. The human felt their thoughts fleeting, eaten away by terror. It was right there, it was right there, it was right there! They tried one last:
Before the creature could touch the human, it was hit by a crowbar, again.
The human entered a frenzy. They hit the creature with all their strength. The creature was disoriented. Then its carapace started to crack. It’s only then, that they felt the shift.
There were no more whimpers, no more sounds coming from the human. They were just wide eyes, almost angry-looking. The fear subsided, there was only instinct. It was hit, after hit, after hit.
The carapace was broken, legs were destroyed. The creature was lying on the ground, fatally wounded. Now the creature was the one begging, it screeched uncontrollably, miserably. It was as if the human didn’t hear.
The screeching subsided to clicks. Then its mandibles were damaged. It only left it with a low and weak rumble. Then it didn’t make any sound anymore. Finally, it didn’t move. It was completely disfigured, damaged beyond repair.
The human kept going, mind blank. It was mechanical at this point. It is all they did for who knows how long. They only stopped when they felt their arms hurting.
Sak’ari chose this moment to approach the human. Only to swiftly dodge a crowbar. Upon seeing them, the human backed off, tripped on the carcass, fell down with a whimper and managed to hit itself with its own weapon.
It crawled toward a corner and stayed there. Tears streamed down its face. Sak’ari knew it meant it had too many feelings or one very strong emotion. They approached the human, making sure their movements could be predicted.
What Sak’ari didn’t predict was that the human would jump into their top legs. It held on to them for comfort while sobbing. It reminded Sak’ari of what they did when they were younger.
They passed their tail around the human. Their species are not so different, they thought. In fact, in some ways, they looked alike: they both came from death worlds and convergent evolution made their bodies similar; they were wild but knew to keep it for themselves and harbour a calm look, until danger was near.
Perhaps, that was why Sak’ari was so keen on defending the human against the crew. Maybe, it was because of these small links.
After this incident, the pirates were successfully defeated. The crew discovered what the human had done. The ones who hurt the human felt like they had dodged a bullet, or a crowbar in that case. The crew thought that humans could indeed take down anything, that the rumours were true.
The human was now respected by the crew. However, it was all the more terrified by the tough ones. It found comfort with Sak’ari and stayed with them as much as it could. In the end Sak’ari and the human were inseparable in their time off. Sak’ari found solace in finding someone just like them and the human wasn’t as lonely anymore.
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