In Alien Hands: A World Or Two

The hotel room, pt. 2

We all woke up late. Our humans ended up getting more sleep than us, they slept well on the plane. We managed to get the minimum amount to sleep, but our humans got more than enough. They all woke up when we did, however. We were sharing beds and would be for the remainder of the Expo, so this would be frequent.

Lyndsey, the morning human, got up easiest. Grene took her into the bathroom to dress her while Vy and I woke our humans up. We silently agreed (dog-men are far better at silently communicating than humans) to have me dress Holli first, then Aspin. I shook her gently to get her attention, she slowly opened her eyes for me.

Lyndsey and Grene had already finished. I took Holli into the bathroom, dressing her for the day. Once she'd used the bathroom, I took her back into the main room to groom her. Even Aspin seemed well rested, Vyelet had him up and about in just a few minutes. Grene and I didn't say much, we were expecting company shortly. A representative from the Expo would be coming up in a few minutes to chip our humans.

As much as we'd all love to have our humans get external ID's, the chip wasn't optional. It was required to prove the identity of the human. It also prevented stealing, and included a tracking device in case they are lost in the building. The bad news is, it would be injected into their arms. The technology is advanced, a special wipe would immediately render the site healed and the pain gone.

A Sualin knocked on the hotel room door shortly after our humans were prepped. I'd never seen one, but had done my research before leaving for the Expo. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when I opened the door to see a furry green creature greet me. I wasn't sure of the gender, but I knew males were far more common than females. It was safe to assume he was male, so I thought of him as such.

Sualin usually speak through chirps, but this one had a translator. He spoke in my language.

"I am here to give the humans their chips and give you the schedule for the event. Are your humans aggressive?" Was what came through the translator. I shook my head no to the question.

"Watch out for him, he can be ornery" Vy called to him, nodding towards her own human. Looking at them, Aspin definitely seemed the most wary. Holli and Lyndsey just seemed interested in the visit. Holli was the closest, so she'd go first. Grene was handed the brochures and papers, as well as a small tablet that would be linked with our human's chips. I was proud of her, and offered her arm to the stranger.

Things didn't quite go according to plan, as she jumped off the bed once the chip was placed. The Sualin needed to administer the wipe, so I went around to pick her up. She was up very startled, her bleeding arm scaring her further. Her pupils were dilated, I could tell immediately that she wasn't calm enough to cooperate further. Lyndsey and Aspin had since bolted.

I rotated her arm to expose the injection site to the vet. She was sniffling, her eyes tearing up. I tried to comfort her, but she didn't calm down, flinching when he wiped the spot. She calmed down quickly after the wipe, her face twisted in confusion at the instantly healed spot.

With my permission, the Sualin gave her a lollipop to eat. He commented on her behavior, telling me she was very sweet. He patted her head, which she gratefully accepted. With Holli done, I turned my attention to helping my siblings capture their own humans. I figured Aspin would be the most difficult, so we went to him first, get it over with.

Me and Vy managed to get him out of the bathroom quickly, but he acted like he'd gone rabid. We even got Grene to help us hold him down, he wasn't having it. Vyelet seemed embarrassed at his behavior. With Aspin restrained properly, he was done in seconds. The tip of the device automatically sterilized itself between injections, ensuring disease wasn't spread.

The vet didn't want to pet him, which didn't surprise us. He still got his candy, though. Vyelet sat him.down next to Holli while we all went to catch Lyndsey. It took seconds to get her from her hiding place in the closet. She wasn't fighting nearly as hard as Aspin had, so Grene was all she needed to be held completely still. The Sualin didn't have qualms over petting her, handing her the candy.

Before leaving, the Sualin even reached to hesitantly pet Aspin, who grumbled, but accepted it. He hopped out of the room after linking the proper implants to the tablet. All the humans seemed down now, it'd be a while before we could take them out like this.

We all tried to cheer them up. Faces weren't working, however. I watched in confusion as Vy disappeared into a closet. A few moments later, I broke into laughter. She was wearing Grene's favorite shirt. She said something in what was clearly bad english, making the previously stunned humans join me. It all got even better when Grene silently disappeared into another closet, coming out in Vyelet's clothes. He posed in clichè dog-woman clothing, doing a bad impression of his sister.

It had worked, but they had ruined their hair. Grene and Vy quickly changed out of the clothing, coming back out to fix our humans' hair. We gave them each their favorite accessories, they each seemed happy with our choices.

It was time for day one of the Great Human Expo.

Published 11/16/18