Life on Another Planet

        I'm the last one in the lab. Several bots had been sent out to uncategorized planets, returning with samples containing rock, dirt, and even some plant life, that had all been analyzed and documented. All but one returned and I volunteered to be the one to stay and wait for it. This was my first time working on a deployed ship. I hate being away from my family, but when a new galaxy was discovered and the Head of Exploration recruited me to help analyze and document each planet, I didn't feel right refusing. Also, it's a hell of a pay raise. So here I am, collecting samples, studying them, and filing reports. Wash rinse and repeat. Most my associates are in no rush to get done, but I try and move things along as quick as possible so I can get home to my wife and kids. Hence the volunteering to wait hours for this last Bot to arrive. I may as well get comfy. Maybe even sleep a little.

            The beeping sound of the Bot returning to it's loading station wakes me up. About time. I walk over and activate the monitor to read the findings. Not too bad, about time I catch a break. It's liquid matter, the easiest to analyze. All you have to do is test a small sample of it and run the rest through a strainer. And it's very rare for anything solid to show up in liquid samples.

            Let's see, mostly chloride, sodium, sulfate. Some magnesium and calcium and potassium. This is some rather salty stuff. I get the tests done fairly fast and I walk towards the bot with a little spring in my step, excited to be nearly done for the day, and type in the code that orders it to run the rest of its contents through the strainer. I file my findings and clean up my work space when all the sudden I hear a large thud. Spinning around fast, I find myself face to face with some kind of creature.

             It doesn't look anything like me or any animal I've ever seen. It's about as high as my waist, and looks soft and weak with some kind of bright garment around its waist and legs. We're staring in each others eyes, both of us shocked, and while I'm wondering how such a scrawny thing can even support its own weight it starts to emit a high pitched frequency and darts to the corner of the room, cowering.

            I ignore the adrenaline that's beginning to course through my veins and slowly put on a pair of sanitary gloves. I'm a little scared to touch the thing, even though it looks harmless, so I grab it quickly and, holding it as far away as I can from myself, walk it across the room and put it in the largest specimen container that we have. It barely weighs anything, and doesn't seem to have sharp teeth or claws, but it starts up it's shrieking noise again, which makes it really hard to stay calm. Luckily the noise quiets down substantially when I seal the lid onto the container.

          Now that it's contained I start to let the gravity of the situation hit me. I walk to the monitor, watching the creature from the corner of my eyes, and page the Head of the ship. I'm a little nervous to wake him up at this hour, even though it's justifiable under the circumstances. I explain the situation to him and, after inquiring multiple times about the strength of the specimen container, he orders me to stay put and make no further action till he arrives.

             Upon arriving to the lab, he stares at the creature for a long while before calling the Head of Exploration. I'm amused to notice he seems a little nervous waking them up at this hour as well. I try and eaves drop as much as I can but he's gone to pace up and down the opposite side of the lab, so it's hard to hear much. He finally finishes up his call and re positions himself in front of the specimen jar, staring at the creature.

"What are we going to do with it?" I finally ask

"We're not quite sure yet. They have ordered us to run some tests on it and to study it's behavior. Depending on our finding we will either dissect it and preserve the remains or..." he stopped mid sentence and waited so long to finish that I almost thought he had forgotten he was talking. "....Or possibly send bots to collect more for breeding purposes, so we can study it's behavior more extensively."

The room was silent while we both stared at the creature, who was now curled up, whimpering at the bottom of the specimen container.

"Are you sure the container is secure?" He asks me for the fifth time.

"I"m sure"

"Clean up the liquid that it left behind. Sanitize the floors and tables. Then you are excused to your bunk."

He left without another word.

         I robotically finish my tasks. The reality of all of this not really sinking in. I'm still not sure if I'm dreaming or not. I walk past the creature to the exit doors, but then turn around and walk back to the container one last time. I reach out and poke the glass, hard, a few times. I don't really know why I'm doing it. The creature looks up and stares into my face. It looks so strange, with a tiny fleshy face and body. It's ears and nose protrudes from it's face in the funniest inconvenient angles. It has only two arms and hands, with only five thin fingers at the end of each one. How strange. It makes me appreciate my dark thick green skin and four strong arms. I put my hand to my face to feel my wide jaw and ivory tusks on either side of my mouth, I feel the rest of my face wondering what it would feel like if I had a nose sticking out of my face or ears from either side of my head. Why, it's jaw looked so small and weak I doubt it even has two rows of teeth. I run my tongues over my many rows of sharp teeth and feel proud. I smile at how handsome I feel, and the creature shudders and hides its head at the sight of my smile. That's weird. Maybe if thinks I'm the ugly one. The thought makes me chuckle. I shake my head and run my hand through the tentacles on top of my head as I walk out of the lab doors. What a crazy night.