Empyrean Iris Story Collection

The Watering Hole

You see that.... Beautiful isn't it. The watering hole, the place where all the humans go to feed, drink and meet up with other humans. Humans are very social creatures, but all of them still prefer to have their own territory. They work out this problem by having their territory in a different area of the ship, and then return here where the territory is communal. Technically it is owned by the alpha who allows all the others to go about his space." The camera slowly zooms in on another large, intimidating figure, much larger than its human counterparts, with bright red carapace and a beak-like face. "Humans are notorious for their pack-bonding ability. This creature right here is a Drev, named Cannon, and he is just as much a part of their human pack as any of the humans are. With a lot of species, to become a member of the social structure, there may be some sort of challenge or requirements one might meet, but integration into a human pack requires only time, and the stipulation that the humans actually enjoy your company. As far as science can tell, the Drev and the Humans are the most psychologically similar species in the universe. Not many tests have been done on the subject, but they seem to have a similar cortical and limbic structure, which suggests that humans and Drev feel and think in the same way."

Dr. Krill moves around the corner and scoots just a little closer the camera jostling in his hands. The humans are the first ones to notice his presence lifting their heads from the odd multicolored mush on their plates. Those strange, unnerving eyes lock onto him, an entire pack of the creatures. A few of them began to chirp at each other and at the camera as Krill moved forward. The Drev raised their heads relying on the human reaction as they turned to look at Krill grunting huffing a hooting at each other with their own strange dialect.

"As a doctor, I often come here to observe the health of my humans. You see when a human isn't feeling well, they will often avoid socializing or even eating. Now you well know that humans need food to survive, so to see a human not eating is a very alarming sign. Additionally, from here I can observe their social patterns to determine how healthy the social structure is. Today everyone seems happy and calm. Now, because this is such a large place where many humans come to eat, you may also see pack conflicts between subordinate humans."

Krill moves up the gauntlet of humans even despite multiple pairs of predatory eyes locked onto him as he goes. The camera doesn't even tremble as the humans lean over him occasional paw swiping at the camera as they hoot back and forth to each other. He turns to the camera towards a row of humans. One of them swipes at the camera showing his teeth as he does his dark eyes and brown skin blending pleasantly with the strange green/grey outfit he wears. "Down Chavez, sit." The human pulls back head tilting sharply to the left mouth open slightly.

"See, a firm hand works well with the subordinate humans specifically the low level pack members. Chavez is a very young juvenile member of the pack and so does not have a very high ranking, and the more subordinate you are the more dangerous work you do. You see he is what is called a Marine, and the humans use members of his class as protection and to fight. On the other hand, the Alpha could choose to stay aboard the ship and avoid all confrontation but isn't likely to do so because he must show his competence to the rest of the pack by supporting his subordinate members." The camera trembles slightly as the Dr.'s voice changes imperceptibly, "Besides, the marines are the dumb ones."

The pack of humans erupt into a burst of sound. It is a horrifying sight, teeth flash as the humans snarl before exhibiting a strange noise like the revving of an engine. One of the humans rises to his full height and hoots something loudly to the room. All close-by human groups are making the same revving noise now. It seemed as if the Dr. was about to get jumped and ripped apart for some breach of protocol, but the humans themselves remained seated though their eyes never left the Dr. as he moved around the room with his camera pointed their direction. Slowly the lens zooms in on one of the humans hunched over his plate and using some strange silver tool to shovel the strange much into his mouth. The camera continues in until the human's face filled the entire picture, "See that, the human jaw muscle is one of the strongest in their body, making the human capable of biting off fingers, and, for certain nonhuman species..... Limbs. I don't know if you can see, but inside the mouth they have two rows of teeth, now teeth are actually bones that grow from the gums and protrude into the mouth. The front two teeth are generally used for biting and holding, the sharp pointed teeth next to it are for ripping, and the teeth behind those, the ones that are sort of flat and round are using for grinding. Though humans are classified as a predatory species, they are primarily omnivores eating both meat AND pants. Hard and fast rule is that a human can eat almost anything as long as it contains nutritional value. Correction, humans can pretty much eat anything they can digest, it may not provide them with the minerals they need to survive, but they will at least digest it."