Nature of two chapter 7
Memory transcription subject: Seln, venlil microbiologist, scientific exchange program participant.
Date [standardised human time]: August 18, 2333
As I was unpacking my things and getting settled into our new room heard a ping from my datapad. Looking at the notification, I saw Kar'ny, my exchange partner, had sent me a message.
Kar'ny: I'm here. May I come in, or do you need a minute?
Seln: It's fine, come on before I can change my mind.
Seconds later, the door and my exchange partner walked in. It was actually the first time I'd seen an Ur'nu without a spacesuit. Not that the suits hid that much. Just like the rest of her species, she had a rotund body with eight short legs and a shell covering most of her back, though most of that shell was obstructed by a large, ornately woven cloth that was draped over her body.
At the front of her body was a four-part beak structure and two breathing holes on either side of it. And above that, there were, of course, the most interesting parts of her species' anatomy. Four distinct heads, each controlled by its own separate brain, stared back at me with their combined 24 eyes.
Calling them heads might not have been entirely accurate, though, as Kar'ny had informed me they were closer to highly evolved tentacles, even if the Ur'nu themselves still called them heads.
Taking her first few steps into our shared room, my exchange partner's head began to swivel in every possible direction, scanning the entire room in about two seconds before locking back onto me.
I wonder if they ever get nauseous from having four different points of view all the time.
About five seconds after she entered the room, Kar'ny emitted a hissing noise that my translator interpreted as exited sqeeling, before charging at me, stopping right before she hit me.
Honestly, I was surprised that I'd been able to keep my cool up until now, though I suspected her lack of predatory features was doing a lot of heavy lifting there. The next thing she did, however, did cause me to panic slightly as three of her four heads lunged at me, with two latching onto my claws while the third began shifting around erratically, seemingly trying to scan me in the same way it had scanned the room earlier.
Meanwhile, the fourth began making chirping noises that, after a moment, were translated into speech, "Oh my god, the humans were so right, you people are really soft, butanywayhiitssogreattomeetyouand-"
I couldn't really pay attention to the rest of what she was saying as my body seized up with fear. The datadump we'd been sent did warn us about Ur'nu being... touchy when meeting new people, mostly because their heads evolved to be semi-independent from the main brain and extremely curious by nature.
I tried to get my breathing under control and ignore the sensory overload while stuttering, "I...It's g...good to s...se....see you too. Uhm, C... could you please let me go?"
That stopped her in her tracks as she turned bright red and quickly let me go, her heads curling in on themselves as she did, "Oh...oh no I...'m so so so sorry I really didn't mean-"
"It's okay," I said while taking a little step back. "You were excited, I get it. I'm excited too."
Slowly, she returned to a normal shade, "Right, I'm still sorry though. That wasn't really a proper way to conduct myself."
"It's fine, really. Does stuff like that happen often?"
"Only if we're really excited and or panicking,...or bored,.... or daydreaming." She chukled, still clearly a little embarrassed.
"I see, no offence, but that makes them sound more like a liability than anything," I said, studying the structures of the four heads while they, in turn, studied me.
"It really isn't that much of an issue; they lock in when I get a good work rhythm going." She said as she started to unpack her things. Sure enough, the four limbs went from a disorganised mess to the picture of coordination in the blink of an eye. perfectly positioning all her personal items around her sleeping spot.
While she was busy, I took a moment to inspect the garment she was wearing. The basic structure of it was pretty simple. It was essentially just a fancy rug that had been thrown over her shell, with a few straps and pins to stop it from falling off. The design that was woven into it, however, was a little more interesting, depicting a set of geometrical shapes and symbols showing a remarkably detailed design of a mostly red planet with small blue and green spots. Mars, I assumed, as that had been the planet she was born on.
Part of me wondered just how much the garment would have cost. Sure, the art on it isn't exactly something you'd see in a museum, but still, something like that would have cost hundreds.
Experimentally, I reached out and ran my claws across it.
Wow, that's soft. Kinda reminds me of my own- wait a minute.
Before I could finish the thought, one of Kar'ny's heads snapped in my direction, causing me to let out a little yelp of surprise before quickly pulling back my claws, "S...sorry, I was just a little curious," I muttered, a little ashamed.
"Oh, that's fine," My exchange partner chirped. "Do you like it? I had it custom-made."
"I do. I must have cost a fortune, though."
"Not really. I mean, sure it was a little picey, but it wasn't that bad. anyway-"
Ping!
My exchange partner was interrupted by a distinct pinging noise coming from underneath her cloak.
Reaching underneath it, she pulled out a circular datapad and tapped on it a few times. "Dang, looks like it's time for those tests your people were talking about. You sit tight, okay? I'll be back in a bit."
"Oh, don't worry, I'll come with you. They probably have my test scheduled after yours anyway, so-"
"Wait, I thought that was only for the humans and Ur'nu?" Kar'ny said while making her way to the door.
"That's the case for the military exchange, but given were basically just civilians, they want to see how well we can control their fear response."
"Oh, well, alrighty then. Lead the way."
[fast forwarding transcription: 5 min]
When we reached the lab, we were greeted by a human woman whom I recognised as Sara from the first contact team. Seeing a human in the flesh for the first time was nerve-racking, but at least I was able to keep my composure. "Hello there, here for the examination?" She asked in a cheerful but professional tone. Standing next to her was a robot, which I assumed was controlled by that Magellan AI.
"Yep," Kar'ny said, matching the human's cheerful attitude.
"Y...yes," I added a second later.
"Great, you're Kar'ny and Seln, right? Magellen, can you pull up their files, please?"
In response, the machine said, "
Kar'ny, Ur'nu, female, 31years old, born on Mars, she's a wetware programmer who mostly did maintenance work on Cortex. She's never had a proper psych eval, but neither cortex nor any of her previous coworkers reports any abnormal behaviour.
Seln, venlil, female, 38cycles old, born on venlil prime. She's a microbiologist who has mostly been studying the microbiome of soil samples from farmland. No history of abnormal behaviour, heart conditions or other health issues that might cause problems during the test."
Oh, so that's why I had to fill in that questionnaire before joining.
"Oh, you talked to Cortex? How's it doing?" Kar'ny asked nonchalantly as the pair guided us towards two chairs"
"Very well, it remembers you fondly and hopes you're enjoying your time here." The machine replied as my exchange partner, and we both sat down.
"Daaww, big softy, tell it I'm doing well and that I'll be back soon."
"Will do."
"Who's Cortex?" I asked as the human and robot strapped us down on the chairs and started attaching electrodes to our heads, a procedure that left Kar'ny covered in a web of wires as they needed to monitor all five of her brains.
"I'll tell you later when we aren't being treated like lab rats," She said, sounding a little nervous.
"Sorry about this", Sara said, sounding just as uncomfortable as I felt. "Frankly, I think this whole thing is overkill, but the venlil government insisted on it."
"If it ever becomes too much, please tell us, and we'll turn it off," Magellen added.
"Wow, really helping to calm my nerves here, Tincan," Kar'ny said sarcastically.
"My apologies."
"It's fine. What does this test entail again?"
"Put simply, we will be showing you some images of the Arxur and their war crimes, and then record your responses. Are you ready to begin?"
"Sssssuuuuurrre?"
"I...I guess so."
[fast forwarding transcription: 30 min]
After the test finally ended, my exchange partner and I stumbled out of the lab in a stupor. Apparently me results showed I had a remarkably high level of emotional control, which probably meant most venlil fainted during the tests. Even several minutes later, I was still shaking slightly from fear. My exchange partner was similarly rattled, having actually thrown up after the test ended.
"A...are y...y...you okay?"
"No," She said miserably, "I feel sick. "Can we just... go back to our room now, please? I wanna lie down for a bit."
"M...Me to", I said. As we started making our way back, I saw a venlil and a human approaching the lab. I couldn't be bothered to warn them, but I silently wished them luck."