Aroma of a race

Our boots skid to a stop an inch from the steep drop off of the cliff. We lock eyes for a moment, realizing just how close we'd come to toppling over it. I'd make it easily but him? He's human. Fear of falling would probably kill him. I glance furtively at him. I can smell the fear on him and in him as he inhales and exhales through his nose, looking down in wonder that he's still alive. Humans have a distinct scent, especially when they're terrified. I've always thought it has something to do with blood pulsing through their veins, heart pumping it, forcing it through their bodies and minds, dying or living without sentience. I can see the sweat drip from his hair, past his face, and over the cliff's edge. His eyes are still wide but in a frown as if thinking "What the hell? How am I still alive?" Perhaps that is what he's thinking. I can feel the synapses in his brain connecting and disconnecting whenever the emotions or reality become too real. I just can't read them. And what hell would break loose if I let him--or anyone on this planet--know that. 

His sweat, now mixed with some man-made chemical to prevent odors, is tinged with fear--hard fear--and he looks at me through pale blue eyes circled with black in another synapse connect/disconnect. There is whimpering behind those eyes. Purely a human reaction. My species doesn't whimper at death or even the possibility of it. What can I tell him to make him smile again, make the fear and its odors evaporate? 

"Hey," I say in the most human way possible for me, "We made it. We're still alive. Now back up from that edge." I smile and try to make it realistic.  I hold out a hand and watch him debate with himself whether he should by rights be dead or alive until finally, he grins in relief and clasps my forearm tight as I pull him closer to safety. I can smell his relief too. Hot, sweaty, but a free breath without that fear that might have killed him. His teeth flash at last as he grins and walks past me.

"Thanks," he says in earnest. "We did make it. And I, for one, am grateful. Very grateful."

I grin back but say nothing. I glance down over the cliff one last time and wonder if I or my race convey emotions through bodily functions. But then, that's a different question for another species, maybe even the human one.