Piece Simul ✔

Chapter 26-Guin-Everybody's Changing and I Don't Feel the Same

Her hand shook, but Guin resolved to keep a steady grip.

"No pressure," Dlarin said.

She relaxed her hold a bit, but Dlarin clucked his tongue. "Sorry, carry on. I utilized your euphemism and failed."

A smile painted her face as she carried a greenish liquid from the outside and onto her ship. Carefully, she extracted small amounts into a syringe. The substance exuded a polymer glisten, unlike anything she'd ever seen. Finally, something to build research from. Now all she needed was that idiot anthropologist to analyze it, and that idiot theologian to explain the stuff's significance to her in terms of Dlarin's ritualistic culture.

Once understood, the stuff might have a use. Everything had a use. Guin's mother had taught her that.

She had also often forgotten to feed and bathe Guin before sending her to school. By age ten, she had that stuff figured out for herself, so no harm no foul. Upon meeting her American father in her teens, she had cared little for her absentee mother. Working women were, well, busy working, and Guin understood. Understand...

"Do you understand it's volatile?" Dlarin had floated over to her workstation, watching over her shoulder.

With her eyes brighter than the liquid, she nodded.

She faced him and said, "Thank you for trusting me. I'm honored."

Dlarin's green-blue mouth curved upward. "You already said that, Terran. Just be sure to handle this carefully, and make sure your team follows suit."

Guin flipped her fair in her hand. "Oh they're not my team, though they'd be better off with me calling the shots," she added.

"I see," Dlarin said, gracing her with another small smile.

He was by far the hottest Gumby-double out there. However, he was the only one of his kind she'd met so far. Upon landing (no where near her team), she had stumbled upon a small installation tucked behind a row of monstrous trees. Tree wasn't really the way to describe the swaying swatches of green springing from the ground, but the name was all she had. Before she navigated completely around them, a voice boomed out,

"Stay your course!"

Guin froze, wishing she'd packed more substantial tech than an ansible. The Rules of Contact skimmed her thoughts:

Observe. Before anything else, observe.

Engage in an exchange of knowledge whenever possible.

Defer to the host species as long as your life isn't threatened.

If threatened, evade.

Do not kill.

She thought the last rule asinine. If threatened, she was goddamned defending herself. Guin unzipped the repair kit on her side, remembering the polymer sprayer designed to seal tears on a suit. The polymer burned within contact of organic matter.

Armed with her three inch friend, she felt safe in responding, "Hello!"

Though she was no anthropologist, the significance of the foreign entity speaking English (or speaking at all) wasn't lost on her.

A figure emerged from the other side of the tree. He had a human like shape, was tall, and green of stature. In fact, he looked entirely human but for the height and green skin. His eyes were hooded over with a black sheen, another non-human trait, but not a deal breaker for Guin.

He greeted her, advancing with deliberate slowness. Then he grinned, and the rest of their initial meeting faded away in her memory. While any detail begged to be prodded, she found that, for the first time in a long time, she was content in not asking questions. As long as Dlarin kept smiling, she'd be just fine.

She even forgot why she had sent out an S.O.S. over ansible airwaves. None of that mattered now.

She faced him, a large smile pinned in place. The last few hours, she'd smiled so often that her cheeks ached.

"So I bring the vial to the ship?"

She wanted to get every instruction right.

"Yes." The soothing quality of his voice washed over her once more.