Humans are Weird – Spooky
Twistunder shuffled his appendages against the dry, dry curve of the shuttle and tried to ignore the chrono-display on the cabin wall. The steady rotation of the central sphere and the subtle alteration in the light only served to remind him of how long it would be before it would be responsible to take his next soak. Even then the water on the shuttle tasted of sterile ionization, but it was water. Twistunder reached out and switched the readout in front of him to the next page. The information was more than interesting, it was tide-turning news in the Survey Corps’ understanding of the migration patterns they were studying.
Twistunder shifted again and wondered why Human Friend Mack Dodge had left the main cabin. Having even one human present was enough to raise the ambient moisture in the air significantly, but this was the only room where it was warm enough for that to be useful. With another irritated prod at the dry floor Twistunder shuffled away from the interesting report and began hunting through the shuttle for the human. Of course he could have just commed Human Friend Mack Dodge, or asked the system where the human’s comm signal was coming from, but it was going to be a long acceleration back to the base and a hunt was a sort of entertainment. Sort of.
Twistunder far too quickly, found Human Friend Mack Dodge sitting cross-legged in the open observation deck at the top of the shuttle. The human appeared to have paused halfway through stripping out of his drift-suit and was staring out at the space ahead of them. Twistunder happily noted that the surfaces of the shuttle were noticeably more moisture rich hear and shuffled up beside the human.
“Beautiful,” the human said in a low tone but there was something uneasy in the sound that drew Twistunder’s attention out, away from his own discomfort. The human’s half dressed state left enough of his skin visible to give Twistunder a good look at how the human’s internal light danced over his stripes and the Undulate gave a concern hum.
Human Friend Mack Dodge was a very, very particular species of frightened. It was a kind that Twistunder had observed just often enough to recognize, though he had hardly begun to sound its depths. The human was seeing, or might be perceiving thought any sense really but seeing made the most sense in the context of the observation level, something that resembled on of his particular culture’s superstitions. Such situations gave the human lights a strange pattern, will and focus overpowering often genetically driven fear. Twistunder gave himself a shake and climbed into Human Friend Mack Dodge’s lap.
The human dropped a hand and gave him an absent pat, but did not change the vector his eyes indicated. Twistunder spread his leading appendages and absorbed the light of the nebula. Ahead of them the orange golds of the nebula gasses were cut through the the transits of hundreds of spacecraft. There were none on the sensors now, this was a slack time for travel, but enough passed this way on a regular basis that the path was visible as a corridor of thinner gasses. At the moment their own shuttle was passing through one of the sections where the lesser space whales’ migration path crossed this corridor. It was unquestionably visually interesting, with the twisting clouds of excrement catching the light in opalescent shapelessness, and there was a very real, if statistically improbable chance of a collision with a space whale. However that was a simple physical danger, and Human Friend Mack Dodge’s nervous system barely seemed to register those.
Though he knew their vastly different visual systems made it a difficult task Twistunder focused on what would be the most striking visual in the scene to the human. Of course he could just ask. Their relationship was close enough that Twistunder was confident that Human Friend Mack Dodge would be at least as honest with him as he was with himself. But where was the fun in a simple question when you might startle your friend with your observational abilities.
The most interesting thing in the otherwise empty corridor of space was the clouds of space whale ‘poo’ as the humans called it. The space whales excreted their waste in long, fibrous strands from two glands on the lagging ends of their bodies. A very recent discovery in fact. This resulted in two, closely spaced tubes that evaporated and gradually separated over time in the stillness of space. As the waste matter aged, much of it caught the gentle solar winds of the region and spread out in an effect not unlike the thin fog that formed over water on a cool day. The main two strands expanded and separated from each end, remaining attached at the center. Those same solar winds catching the loose ends and causing them to sway gently. The resulting shape was, Twistunder noted with a sudden trickle of inspiration, of a very similar shape and ratio to the bilateral symmetry of a human body. In fact…
“If you discount color and density,” Twistunder observed out loud, causing Human Friend Mack Dodge to jump slightly, “The space whale poo bears some resemblance to a human body.”
“You see it too?” Human Friend Mack Dodge asked, his heart rate accelerating and his colors flushing with relief and increased uneasiness both. “You never heard a humans say it first?”
“I have never heard a human say such a thing no,” Twistunder affirmed.
Human Friend Mack Dodge gave a laugh and made a weak attempt to adjust his position.
“Spooks is what they look like,” he said, still staring out at the scene.
“What are spooks?” Twistunder asked.
“Imagine,” Human Friend Mack Dodge said softly, “imagine if you took all the energy of a person. Their thoughts, their will, their actions and after they died you all that energy just, escaped the body and went wandering. That is what those spooks would look like to us.”
“Fascinating,” Twistunder said, taking the thought in his appendages and rotating it. “And when your explorers came upon the first space whale spoors it caused the speculation of these ‘spooks’?”
Human Friend Mack Dodge gave a short bark of laughter.
“No Twist, we brought the spooks with us from our home world. The idea was already there when the first poor spacer caught sight of one of those giant, body shaped figures moving past his port.”
“This idea is not pleasant to you,” Twistunder observed.
“Spooky is kind of by definition not pleasant,” the human admitted.
“They why do you choose to be here in the cold observation nook while we pass through the spooky area-” Twistunder paused as a memory drifted down to him, “and why did you choose this corridor through the nebula. There was an equivalent route available?”
Human Friend Mack Dodge laughed and unfolded his legs.
“Because sometimes something a little spooky is just what a man wants,” he said.
Twistunder processed that through the distraction of the movement.
“You enjoy being frightened?” he finally asked.
“When it’s like this,” Human Friend Mack Dodge said gesturing out the observation bubble. “Opalescent figures dancing along a black road studded with diamond stars and the softly glowing orange of the nebula laced through with the ebony of deep space beyond. It’s beautiful, eerie, I like it.”
Twistunder shifted again and wondered why Human Friend Mack Dodge had left the main cabin. Having even one human present was enough to raise the ambient moisture in the air significantly, but this was the only room where it was warm enough for that to be useful. With another irritated prod at the dry floor Twistunder shuffled away from the interesting report and began hunting through the shuttle for the human. Of course he could have just commed Human Friend Mack Dodge, or asked the system where the human’s comm signal was coming from, but it was going to be a long acceleration back to the base and a hunt was a sort of entertainment. Sort of.
Twistunder far too quickly, found Human Friend Mack Dodge sitting cross-legged in the open observation deck at the top of the shuttle. The human appeared to have paused halfway through stripping out of his drift-suit and was staring out at the space ahead of them. Twistunder happily noted that the surfaces of the shuttle were noticeably more moisture rich hear and shuffled up beside the human.
“Beautiful,” the human said in a low tone but there was something uneasy in the sound that drew Twistunder’s attention out, away from his own discomfort. The human’s half dressed state left enough of his skin visible to give Twistunder a good look at how the human’s internal light danced over his stripes and the Undulate gave a concern hum.
Human Friend Mack Dodge was a very, very particular species of frightened. It was a kind that Twistunder had observed just often enough to recognize, though he had hardly begun to sound its depths. The human was seeing, or might be perceiving thought any sense really but seeing made the most sense in the context of the observation level, something that resembled on of his particular culture’s superstitions. Such situations gave the human lights a strange pattern, will and focus overpowering often genetically driven fear. Twistunder gave himself a shake and climbed into Human Friend Mack Dodge’s lap.
The human dropped a hand and gave him an absent pat, but did not change the vector his eyes indicated. Twistunder spread his leading appendages and absorbed the light of the nebula. Ahead of them the orange golds of the nebula gasses were cut through the the transits of hundreds of spacecraft. There were none on the sensors now, this was a slack time for travel, but enough passed this way on a regular basis that the path was visible as a corridor of thinner gasses. At the moment their own shuttle was passing through one of the sections where the lesser space whales’ migration path crossed this corridor. It was unquestionably visually interesting, with the twisting clouds of excrement catching the light in opalescent shapelessness, and there was a very real, if statistically improbable chance of a collision with a space whale. However that was a simple physical danger, and Human Friend Mack Dodge’s nervous system barely seemed to register those.
Though he knew their vastly different visual systems made it a difficult task Twistunder focused on what would be the most striking visual in the scene to the human. Of course he could just ask. Their relationship was close enough that Twistunder was confident that Human Friend Mack Dodge would be at least as honest with him as he was with himself. But where was the fun in a simple question when you might startle your friend with your observational abilities.
The most interesting thing in the otherwise empty corridor of space was the clouds of space whale ‘poo’ as the humans called it. The space whales excreted their waste in long, fibrous strands from two glands on the lagging ends of their bodies. A very recent discovery in fact. This resulted in two, closely spaced tubes that evaporated and gradually separated over time in the stillness of space. As the waste matter aged, much of it caught the gentle solar winds of the region and spread out in an effect not unlike the thin fog that formed over water on a cool day. The main two strands expanded and separated from each end, remaining attached at the center. Those same solar winds catching the loose ends and causing them to sway gently. The resulting shape was, Twistunder noted with a sudden trickle of inspiration, of a very similar shape and ratio to the bilateral symmetry of a human body. In fact…
“If you discount color and density,” Twistunder observed out loud, causing Human Friend Mack Dodge to jump slightly, “The space whale poo bears some resemblance to a human body.”
“You see it too?” Human Friend Mack Dodge asked, his heart rate accelerating and his colors flushing with relief and increased uneasiness both. “You never heard a humans say it first?”
“I have never heard a human say such a thing no,” Twistunder affirmed.
Human Friend Mack Dodge gave a laugh and made a weak attempt to adjust his position.
“Spooks is what they look like,” he said, still staring out at the scene.
“What are spooks?” Twistunder asked.
“Imagine,” Human Friend Mack Dodge said softly, “imagine if you took all the energy of a person. Their thoughts, their will, their actions and after they died you all that energy just, escaped the body and went wandering. That is what those spooks would look like to us.”
“Fascinating,” Twistunder said, taking the thought in his appendages and rotating it. “And when your explorers came upon the first space whale spoors it caused the speculation of these ‘spooks’?”
Human Friend Mack Dodge gave a short bark of laughter.
“No Twist, we brought the spooks with us from our home world. The idea was already there when the first poor spacer caught sight of one of those giant, body shaped figures moving past his port.”
“This idea is not pleasant to you,” Twistunder observed.
“Spooky is kind of by definition not pleasant,” the human admitted.
“They why do you choose to be here in the cold observation nook while we pass through the spooky area-” Twistunder paused as a memory drifted down to him, “and why did you choose this corridor through the nebula. There was an equivalent route available?”
Human Friend Mack Dodge laughed and unfolded his legs.
“Because sometimes something a little spooky is just what a man wants,” he said.
Twistunder processed that through the distraction of the movement.
“You enjoy being frightened?” he finally asked.
“When it’s like this,” Human Friend Mack Dodge said gesturing out the observation bubble. “Opalescent figures dancing along a black road studded with diamond stars and the softly glowing orange of the nebula laced through with the ebony of deep space beyond. It’s beautiful, eerie, I like it.”
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