Our New Human

5

      "Excuse me, Commander Grim?" Elsie asks quietly in the doorway. I stand beside her, because humans need to feel supported.
   "Elsie! Come in! What do you need?" Commander Grim chirps and her expression changes from stressed to genuinely excited.
   "Well, you see, I didn't know we would be traveling to extremely cold climates, and the problem with that is that I can't go out in that."
   "Oh no! Why is that?"
"Humans can't survive in harsh cold, and we can't even take one step outside in weather that cold or our body temperatures will drop and we get hypothermia and die."
   The commander and I make eye contact. We're both quite put off my this.
   "Death is not an option, you have already become a valuable member of our crew!" the commander replies. "How can we solve this issue?"
   "We could put very warm clothes on her or have someone keep a heater near her." I suggest.
   "Elsie? Could that work?"
Elsie laughs and shakes her head.
   "It would be very useful on earth in harsh weather, but unfortunately even those temperatures are like a brisk summer day compared to what we'll be going in. Might I suggest a spacesuit?"
   "Pardon me, but what is a spacesuit?"
   "It's a vacuum sealed suit with a helmet and it makes it so that I can breathe in oxygen and stay warm so I don't die."
   "Oh, that sounds ideal. Unfortunately we don't have one yet, because you are our first human on board."
   "Was there one sent over with a 'basic human necessities' guidebook or something?"
   Commander Grim stood up suddenly.
   "Yes! We couldn't activate the box so I never saw what was inside."
   Elsie looked over at me.
   "It's true, we had our brightest engineers attempt and nobody on board could open it." I offer. Commander Grim nods her head sincerely.
   "Can I see this box? I don't want to hold up the trip any longer."
   "Don't worry. I've alerted the crew that we have to delay a few minutes to deal with some unforeseen issues."
   Commander Grim stands up and presses a hand to the wall, and the fleet vault opens up out of it. Elsie and I follow her into the vault, where a large rectangular box with a lid sits ominously at the end, lit by a single bulb. The bottom is blue, like Elsie's hair, and the top is pale like her skin. It is locked shut with a mysterious human contraption.
   Elsie sees this trap and begins to laugh hard again, like she did last night. She looks at the commander and I and stops laughing.
   "Ahem. Folks, this is a human cooler. We use it to store and chill drinks and foods when on the go. However, it is also an efficient way to store items." she walks up to the 'cooler' and runs her fingers down the section where blue and white meet. She hits a groove and pulls up on it, effortlessly popping open the box with her extreme human strength.
   "No wonder we couldn't open it." I say. "We weren't strong enough!"
   Elsie grabs my hand and pulls me towards the opened cooler. Then, she slams it shut and drops my hand.
   "Use your hands and open it like I showed you." she instructs.
   "Okay, but I'm telling you- extreme strength is a human trait." I mimic her actions and the cooler pops open.
   Elsie looks into my eyes. "Never, ever say you aren't strong enough. You are amazing. Commander Grim, you are too."
   She looks sincerely at both of us, inspects its contents and then grabs a small air-sealed package and a larger, firmer one from the cooler. There are strange markings on it that Elsie mutters the meanings to under her breath.
   "You can keep the rest of this for the fleet, I want to share my care package with you guys!" Elsie says.
   I'm not quite sure what sharing or a care package is, but Elsie seems excited about it.
   She looks down at the loot she's holding, then to us, then back to the luggage. She smiles and wraps them up tight in her arms. I'll have to learn what this process means later.
   "Come on, let's go! We should get into the ship, I can change into my spacesuit there."