✅ Project SETI Trilogy

Chapter Two - Part III: Query

           The quarters that Jarah brought Nova to were not unlike a modest hotel room or a bachelor suite on Earth. There were two rooms: one to sleep, eat, and generally entertain oneself, and the other was a small but serviceable washroom. It was clear that this room had been designed with humans in mind, but everything about it had wonky proportions. Being as tall as they were, the Daxut built things large and long, but they had attempted to scale things down to be easier for human use. The bed sat low and was unnecessarily long and wide, and the counters also sat a little lower than needed. The ceiling was high, which made the short furnishings appear even smaller than they really were.

          Jarah told him to get acquainted with the room while she went off to tend to other matters, including the issue of getting in touch with someone on Earth to let everyone know that he was okay.

          He lingered on that thought. Was he okay? Even though Jarah seemed to be trustworthy, there was definitely something weird going on when they were interacting. He remembered how inexplicably intoxicated he felt, and how he was completely and utterly compelled to see truth in everything she'd said. Nova shuddered at that; he couldn't shake the feeling of unease he had about these creatures, and the general anxiety about being somewhere that was foreign in the most extreme sense of the word.

          Nova tried not to think about it further and took a better look around. On the counter in the kitchen area, there was an intricate glass device labeled 'COFFEE MAKER' in English, with instructions on how to use it underneath, and it made him smirk. They had coffee, of all the things. Right next to it was a box-like device with a flip-down door on the front, and next to that was a stack of small vacuum-sealed pouches. Jarah had mentioned a 'sustenance rehydrator' that he could use if he so desired, and figured that this was the aforementioned device. There was also a small faucet over a shallow sink that was labeled 'filtered water', with three tall glasses neatly arranged next to it.

         He went over to it, hesitated for a second, then tasted the water. He was startled to find out it had an almost ethereal quality to it—it was perfectly cold, but not too cold, and it felt unbelievably soft in his mouth and truly flavorless, in comparison to the water on Earth. He drank more of it upon realizing he was quite parched, and looked around some more at the same time. He thought that a shower sounded like a lovely idea right about now, but... he wasn't sure if he'd have anything to change into afterward.

          He decided to try the coffee, and had a similarly surprising experience with it. It looked like a weird chemistry set, with lots of little tubes and small chambers. The instructions told him how to interface with the little touchscreen affixed to it, and he was further surprised to find an amazing variety of whole coffee beans to choose from. It prompted him to choose a grind, a roast, and to add some water into a spout. When he was finished, the elaborate contraption went to work creating the specific cup he'd requested.

          He watched as it whirred to life. A tube that extended into the wall suddenly released a handful of beans, which were then swiftly ground up. It emptied into a small cylindrical glass chamber that housed the water he'd poured in, which began to boil when the element beneath it activated. When the water was sufficiently hot, an automated device pushed a filter down, much like a French press. It was then suctioned out to yet another cylindrical insulated glass container which had a faucet to release the liquid.

          The taste was exquisite, much like the water that had been used to make it.

          Nova poked around the rather bare-bones room a little more after that, artisan coffee in hand. There was a sizable flat screen built into the wall opposite the bed, but it didn't appear to connect to anything, and he couldn't find a remote or control console either. After about fifteen minutes of aimlessly milling about, there was a sharp cluster of loud clicks on the door.