The Joining (Nov2013)

So, here's my first ever attempt at a first person short story using a female alien as the main character. I hope you all enjoy the read.

In The Light (Non-writer)

The Joining

As the next team of human scientists, engineers and researchers entered my laboratory to learn of my plasma energy field design for the doming and protection of their cities from cataclysmic storms, I thought back to my first encounter with humans and how far I have come in learning about their behaviour, and how much I have yet to learn.

Since our first contact, some 16 months now, and our agreement to share our plasma energy technology with humanity, I have only met with humans on a one-on-one basis, mostly with Captain Gaston Savon who was one of the first Human-Fornaxian representatives, so I had never been in the presence of a group of humans.

I recall upon my first experience meeting the first team, how I was overwhelmed by the merging of both their verbal and telepathic thoughts into a chaotic din in my mind. If not for the Captain, I would have continued in my state of disbelief and surprise as to the level of their lack of control. But the din stopped when Gaston, as he asked me to call him at our first encounter, came forward and greeted me by clasping my left hand and gently shaking it for a short time and then verbally saying “Greetings L’Aymnet, it is so nice to see you again, and now I will introduce the plasma field team members of Dawson City to you”. At that moment, I recall thinking that this form of physical greeting, which required the touching and grasping of each other’s hands, was interesting and that if I, as a scientist, were to gain a better understanding of human behaviour, to become a better instructor, then I would need to interact with them on the physical level to a greater extent.

The Captain, as I prefer to call him, was one of the first humans to have first contact with our race and during the last few years he has been very successful in transitioning his communication to the telepathic. We both agreed this form of communication would ultimately be for the betterment and advancement of human communication and the tapping into higher thought processes. But, for new scientists meeting our race for the first time, he uses verbal communication for their benefit. I have also heard, telepathically, more than one team member describe him as a ‘genius’ within their race.

As the Captain proceeded to greet me for the hundredth time, he put my left hand on top of his, then put his other hand on top of my hand and just held it there for a longer period of time than what a customary handshake greeting would take. When I asked him to explain the meaning of this greeting, he sent me a feeling that was unfamiliar to me, then he verbally said “Greetings L’Aymnet, it is so nice to see you again, and now I will introduce the team members of the plasma field research team to you”, and so I began the instruction.

Upon retiring and assessing my day’s activities, I recalled the Captain sending me an unfamiliar feeling and that I not had the time to ask him it’s meaning. So, I sent the Captain a communication using the telepathic translator chip, asking him if he was able to meet me in my laboratory tomorrow for the purpose of explaining the meaning of that feeling, the new physical hand greeting, and to help further my understanding of human behaviour. The Captain replied immediately to me, but he requested that I meet him outside my craft in the morning, just before sunrise, as he would like to take me on a special excursion to assist me in learning more about humans. I agreed and he then said ‘good night’, to which I replied that he must explain to me tomorrow what constitutes a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ night and with that he verbally laughed and then replied “tomorrow” and ended our link.

So, I proceeded to start a journal of my interactions with the Captain and my tasks for tomorrow were to learn the meanings within differing physical forms of greetings, exploring that one particular unfamiliar feeling from the Captain, and what certain verbal human phrases mean, or so I thought.
I always preferred walking out of the craft under my own power, rather than using the quantum frequency displacement beam, because I have so little opportunity to engage in physical activities, as our race uses a biomuscular-skeletal cellular harmonics tube in place of physical activity, and walking just seems to have a different sensation than using the harmonics tube. The same with nourishing our bodies, I prefer, like the elders, to use consume our nourishment in the traditional way, rather than applying the nourishment patches to my abdomen.

As I reached the landing pad, I noticed Earth’s early morning air was lighter, cooler and crisper than during the day, which was the only time I have ever left our craft. At that moment, I saw the Captain’s form emerging from the darkness. I put out my left hand for him to initiate one of the two physical greetings that I encountered so far, but he intertwined his fingers with my fingers and telepathically relayed “Greetings L’Aymnet. You are looking beautiful this fine morning”, along with sending me that unfamiliar feeling yet again.

I decided to start my questioning by asking him why he had not released his grasp of my left hand yet, as it had been well beyond the time limit for the last hand greeting gesture. The Captain relayed that he would explain the hand greeting gestures soon, but that holding hands in this manner was a type of joining. He then relayed that he would like me to also join him in watching Earth’s sun rise above the horizon, and that after our viewing of this event, I may gain a deeper understanding of the joining of the hands. I agreed and so we walked a short while to a grassy area where he motioned me to sit down on the dewy grass with him and he pointed towards the East at the lake. At this time, the darkness had turned into middle light and the lower sky into a hazy amber color, then a bright orange point of light appeared on the horizon touching the lake, which made the water and wispy clouds nearby, flicker with bands and orbs of orange glowing energy. As the Sun ascended higher above the horizon, a luminous halo surrounded all its exposed areas. It was then that the Captain turned to me and said “Fine morning isn’t is L’Aymnet?.” At once I realized that my intended method of learning about human behaviour was flawed and so I relayed to the Captain that he may teach me in his own way from this point forward. He relayed to me that I may now release my hand from his if I so desired, where I was surprised and perplexed to realize that I had forgotten that our hands were joined, but I did release from the joining as the Sun had arisen.

The Captain then asked me if I would allow him to prepare breakfast for me, to which I agreed, as I was curious to know how this would be achieved when Earth’s foods are known to be devoid of the essential nutritious elements required for my metabolism.

continued...

We walked out of the landing area and followed a beautifully landscaped path to the science community where we entered a glass and steel habitat structure, then into the Captain’s personal living unit. His living quarters were not unlike my own, small, yet designed efficiently using all space both vertically and horizontally. He pointed to the ceiling while at the same time pressing a button, which lowered a suspended garden that encompassed half the overall ceiling space. He explained that he researched the chemical components of foods from my planet and selected specific foods that are equivalent in chemical composition. I relayed to him my feelings of being impressed and curious to try these new foods. It was then that the Captain sent waves of that unfamiliar feeling to me again, so I explained to him that I was not familiar with that feeling and if he would please explain its meaning. After raising his garden back to its lofty perch, the Captain asked me to be seated at a small table and that he would explain that feeling after I had sampled some of his garden’s delights.

The Captain placed before me a plate containing unusually shaped and coloured foods. The first food I choose to sample was a small, red, cone-shaped, soft-fleshed food - a ‘Strawberry’, as he called it. At first inspection, I was somewhat taken aback because it was covered with hair-like protuberances and had its embryonic seeds embedded on its outer skin, nevertheless, I bit into it and discovered I enjoyed its soft texture and flavour, while still trying to overcome its undesirable outer characteristics. I then picked up what appeared to be a somewhat long, slim cylindrical-shaped orange food that tapered off at the end and had fibrous string-like protuberances - a ‘Carrot’, as he called it - which appeared as if someone had taken a sharp instrument and made superficial slits along its entire outer casing. I tried to take a bite from the larger end, but found it too hard to bite through, so I backed away. It was then the Captain suggested I nibble the carrot, which he explained further was to take very little bites instead of big bites. I tried this nibbling technique and found that while I enjoyed the taste of the carrot, it was laborious to masticate. All the while the captain was reading my thoughts and he laughed verbally out loud.

There was one food left to sample. It was a small, dark perfect square, which I thought looked as if it were engineered and not grown by nature. The Captain explained this food was called ‘chocolate’ and that he grew the cocoa beans in his garden, then made his own chocolate squares. I then bit into the square and almost instantly the solid turned into a flowing semi-solid liquid which encased the entirety of my inner mouth. He, once again, let out a verbal laugh as he watched my physical reaction to this delicate and tasty delight. It was then that he clasped both my hands then verbally said, in a low comforting tone, “I have grown to care for you a great deal, L’Aymnet” and this feeling is called ‘love’.
I became overwhelmed with all the experiences of the morning and it was then that the Captain asked me if I would consider joining my life to his. I looked questioningly at him, then relayed telepathically that the union of a human and a Fornaxian has never been attempted. He then asked me if I felt the same way towards him. Did I feel the same? No, not quite the same, but rather I felt a subdued reflected feeling of this ‘love’. Was this enough to have success over the multitude of problems that he and I would surely face in the joining of two different humanoid species?

It took me only a few moments to decide that I had come to appreciate and rely on the Captain’s companionship during my mission here on Earth, and that throughout my existence I had been a solitary, isolated individual devoted to scientific purposes only, as was the expected behaviour of all Fornaxians. So, with my weak attempt at returning the ‘love’ feeling to Gaston and with a smile from him, the joining began.

That was a very pleasing story. Complex, with the various new experiences be shown to the female alien, and interesting enough to make it a good read. I especially enjoyed 'her' descriptions of foods commonly know to us.

Well, thank you for your comments, they mean a great deal to me as I am a budding writer and welcome all types of criticism. Actually, if you really think about strawberries and carrots, they are somewhat strange in appearance. Nothing need be said about chocolate, though.

As well, I left out physical descriptions of both characters because I wanted the "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" concept to prevail. I hope it did.

a reply to: InTheLight

I'm marking this page to come back later, as I see it's a long one. Back Soon! I hope!! LOL!

originally posted by: SyxPak
a reply to: InTheLight

I'm marking this page to come back later, as I see it's a long one. Back Soon! I hope!! LOL!

I am flattered that you are reading my tidbits of writings. Here's another one that you may enjoy. www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: InTheLight

I was there earlier but didn't mark the Page. Just did! Syx.

I just got back into reading books, yes, actual books, which might help to ferment those writing juices again.