A dark farmhouse came into view, silhouette barely seen against the meager stars. Thignax activated their ship's hover feature, holding a hundred feet over the farmhouse, and a bit to the side. "...We are in position."
Issull's pressed several buttons on another console, and a pair of long, thin tubes stretched out from an opening in the ship's underside. They wound toward the farmhouse, and when they reached the back door they eased it open.
They stretched through the hallway, up the stairs, and to the master bedroom, where a pair of bodies slept in a big bed. The tubes separated, one approaching each sleeping form. They pulled the covers down, pulled the sleeping forms to a sitting position, and picked them up, carrying them out of the room.
They re-entered the room a moment later, sat the humans back on the bed, attached slippers to their feet, and resumed. Less than a minute later, and with only one bump on the head, the sleeping forms rose up toward the hovering ship. The tubes placed the humans through a small door and returned to their hole.
"The humans are inside," Issull reported. He moved toward the rear of the ship as Thignax set the ship into motion, circling above the farmhouse. "Will you be joining me?"
"It's the reason we have come."
They put on long robes and helmets to hide their forms and went to the ship's rear, where the two humans slept on separated beds.
The first, what Thignax and Issull understood as "male," had a rotund form, flabby excess skin drooping. He snored. The other, "female," seemed the opposite: thin, comfortable, quiet.
"If we separate them to different rooms, they will be easier to...handle," Thignax said. "They will fear for the other, and do as we ask."
"You're the expert," Issull said, and he went to the female's bed, pressing a button and leading it beyond a door. Once away, he woke the female up.
Her eyes opened quickly, and they took in the strange room, landing on Issull. "And who might you be?" she asked.
Thignax woke up the male. His eyes didn't open.
Thignax hit the button to wake him up again. Still nothing. Thignax pounded on the button. "Hon, give me five more minutes and I'll get up, I swear," the male said. "I feel like I only slept half the night. Stop that pounding. Ugh, my head."
"You truly aren't afraid?"
"Darlin'," the female said to Issull, "I've seen a combine roll over a dead skunk. Nothing you look like, or smell like, could possibly compare. But why are we here?"
"We want to know what humans are like."
"Well, pull up a chair, young man, I can tell you everything!"
One of Issull's four or maybe five tentacles pulled a seat closer. "You can tell me everything?"
"Young man--or whatever you may be--talking is one thing I am quite good at."
The male looked around the room. "Shiny-like. Let me guess--it's not powered with diesel?"
"Our energy sources have moved...far beyond chemicals."
"Solar energy?"
"We...yes, that's correct. Do humans have solar energy?"
"Yeah, some. Prob'ly not as efficient as y'all have. How's the power stored?"
"Engersium batteries."
"Engersium? Why, that's shore a new one. Any backups?"
"Lithium-ion batteries to be used...in the case of an emergency."
"Ah, we got those. What about those lights? Don't seem fluorescent. A good light. Bluish."
Thignax shook the bag as the male's blood flowed into it. "The star our planet circles is at a...different shade than your own. This is a more natural light for us."
"No kidding! What about propulsion?"
"So Katharine went to Susanna and said 'I can't believe your boy said that to my sweet girl,' and Susanna said 'Maybe if your girl didn't go out playing all night long,' and then Olivia said to Susanna-"
Issull pulled away from the female, having inspected the interior of her ear. "Why was Olivia there?"
"Oh, Olivia's always coming over to other people's home unannounced. Anyways, so Olivia says to Susanna and she says 'Well miss maybe you should start looking in the mirror before you talk about playing all night,' and that of course sets Susanna right off, and trust me, Susanna has herself a hot temper. But for some reason then Kat turns to Olivia and starts telling her off-"
The female continued, through and past when Issull used a tongue depressor to stare down her throat.
"So y'all just checking things out then?" the male said, as Thignax shined a beam of light to the back of his retina. "I get it. Investigatin'. What about communication? Is it wide-beam? Radio? Radio'd take far too long, y'all'll beat it back home by a country mile. Ha, that's just a saying we have. Y'all got a country? Suppose you gotta, to eat and such. What about cities? Y'all got cities? If y'all got these fancy spaceships, I suppose you gotta. What's the work like? Y'all union?"
"...And in the meantime, my pa went off to school to learn about fixing the machines, and there he met my ma who was fixin' to be a baker, and hoo-boy, young man, you want some of the best buns ever, I could whip you up a batch. My ma taught me everything she knew. If you've got a cast-iron pot around here and some fruit-"
Issull entered the room with Thignax and the male, pulling Thignax away, where they spoke. A minute later the two tubes grabbed the humans and returned them down to their bed, pulling the covers up to their armpits. Through the bedroom window the dark vessel sped away, and it would not come back. They'd learned enough about humans.
Issull's pressed several buttons on another console, and a pair of long, thin tubes stretched out from an opening in the ship's underside. They wound toward the farmhouse, and when they reached the back door they eased it open.
They stretched through the hallway, up the stairs, and to the master bedroom, where a pair of bodies slept in a big bed. The tubes separated, one approaching each sleeping form. They pulled the covers down, pulled the sleeping forms to a sitting position, and picked them up, carrying them out of the room.
They re-entered the room a moment later, sat the humans back on the bed, attached slippers to their feet, and resumed. Less than a minute later, and with only one bump on the head, the sleeping forms rose up toward the hovering ship. The tubes placed the humans through a small door and returned to their hole.
"The humans are inside," Issull reported. He moved toward the rear of the ship as Thignax set the ship into motion, circling above the farmhouse. "Will you be joining me?"
"It's the reason we have come."
They put on long robes and helmets to hide their forms and went to the ship's rear, where the two humans slept on separated beds.
The first, what Thignax and Issull understood as "male," had a rotund form, flabby excess skin drooping. He snored. The other, "female," seemed the opposite: thin, comfortable, quiet.
"If we separate them to different rooms, they will be easier to...handle," Thignax said. "They will fear for the other, and do as we ask."
"You're the expert," Issull said, and he went to the female's bed, pressing a button and leading it beyond a door. Once away, he woke the female up.
Her eyes opened quickly, and they took in the strange room, landing on Issull. "And who might you be?" she asked.
Thignax woke up the male. His eyes didn't open.
Thignax hit the button to wake him up again. Still nothing. Thignax pounded on the button. "Hon, give me five more minutes and I'll get up, I swear," the male said. "I feel like I only slept half the night. Stop that pounding. Ugh, my head."
"You truly aren't afraid?"
"Darlin'," the female said to Issull, "I've seen a combine roll over a dead skunk. Nothing you look like, or smell like, could possibly compare. But why are we here?"
"We want to know what humans are like."
"Well, pull up a chair, young man, I can tell you everything!"
One of Issull's four or maybe five tentacles pulled a seat closer. "You can tell me everything?"
"Young man--or whatever you may be--talking is one thing I am quite good at."
The male looked around the room. "Shiny-like. Let me guess--it's not powered with diesel?"
"Our energy sources have moved...far beyond chemicals."
"Solar energy?"
"We...yes, that's correct. Do humans have solar energy?"
"Yeah, some. Prob'ly not as efficient as y'all have. How's the power stored?"
"Engersium batteries."
"Engersium? Why, that's shore a new one. Any backups?"
"Lithium-ion batteries to be used...in the case of an emergency."
"Ah, we got those. What about those lights? Don't seem fluorescent. A good light. Bluish."
Thignax shook the bag as the male's blood flowed into it. "The star our planet circles is at a...different shade than your own. This is a more natural light for us."
"No kidding! What about propulsion?"
"So Katharine went to Susanna and said 'I can't believe your boy said that to my sweet girl,' and Susanna said 'Maybe if your girl didn't go out playing all night long,' and then Olivia said to Susanna-"
Issull pulled away from the female, having inspected the interior of her ear. "Why was Olivia there?"
"Oh, Olivia's always coming over to other people's home unannounced. Anyways, so Olivia says to Susanna and she says 'Well miss maybe you should start looking in the mirror before you talk about playing all night,' and that of course sets Susanna right off, and trust me, Susanna has herself a hot temper. But for some reason then Kat turns to Olivia and starts telling her off-"
The female continued, through and past when Issull used a tongue depressor to stare down her throat.
"So y'all just checking things out then?" the male said, as Thignax shined a beam of light to the back of his retina. "I get it. Investigatin'. What about communication? Is it wide-beam? Radio? Radio'd take far too long, y'all'll beat it back home by a country mile. Ha, that's just a saying we have. Y'all got a country? Suppose you gotta, to eat and such. What about cities? Y'all got cities? If y'all got these fancy spaceships, I suppose you gotta. What's the work like? Y'all union?"
"...And in the meantime, my pa went off to school to learn about fixing the machines, and there he met my ma who was fixin' to be a baker, and hoo-boy, young man, you want some of the best buns ever, I could whip you up a batch. My ma taught me everything she knew. If you've got a cast-iron pot around here and some fruit-"
Issull entered the room with Thignax and the male, pulling Thignax away, where they spoke. A minute later the two tubes grabbed the humans and returned them down to their bed, pulling the covers up to their armpits. Through the bedroom window the dark vessel sped away, and it would not come back. They'd learned enough about humans.