Cerulean Planet (Blue Dust Trilogy #1)

Chapter 4

Light from the main star had completely disappeared once night fell, but with the faraway starlights spilling onto the ground, their surroundings were not pitch black either.

Jiayun looked down at his outstretched hand. The monster's body blocked out most of the light. Moments later, he sensed the monster's movements and noticed a few of their tentacles were pointed skyward. Jiayun raised his head and saw an iridescent nebula gliding up the horizon like a ribbon of light. They were probably this planet's satellites.

Jiayun knocked on the monster's inner wall. "I wanna look too."

The monster's body underwent a series of changes. The area in front of Jiayun's eyes became clear and focused. The satellite belt was long and narrow, and deep blue in colour. "Ice," the monster commented.

"It's beautiful," Jiayun exclaimed.

"A monster like you can't possibly tell what's beautiful from what's not," he added.

"What is ugly and what is beautiful? Humans seem disposed to using their subjective perspectives to judge and define the nature of things. However, there is not always consensus around how these things ought to be defined. The minority simply agree with the views of the majority. Or, they may choose a path less travelled and go against any and all mainstream perspectives. These form your pitifully narrow aesthetics."

"And you've only met 17 of your kind despite having lived for a 100 million years. I would question whether your species even has art, let alone culture."

The monster continued, "You also constantly belittle and reject those different from you, an indication that you live in fear of inferiority."

"There's one thing I'm sure of, which is that your appearance is heinous. I think any established civilizations in the universe would agree on this point."

"Displaying this face of yours to others would truly be heinous indeed."

Jiayun was tired from the bickering and sagged down to a sitting position. This monster wasn't even human, so why wasn't he able to beat them in a debate even though they were using arguments like humans did?

"I'm thirsty," Jiayun said, piqued.

Even though their words had sent Jiayun fuming, the monster never truly seemed antagonized by him. They raised a tentacle to wrap around an icicle, breaking it off, then absorbed it inside their body before throwing it back out at Jiayun. Jiayun picked up the sticky icicle with disdain, wiped it clean, and began licking at it.

It still tasted a bit fishy.

A face formed on the inner wall, watching him. It made Jiayun feel a bit awkward when licking at the icicle, so he chewed bits of it off and swallowed them instead.

It was a good thing that the monster wasn't actually able to read his thoughts.

Once he had replenished on water, Jiayun began to feel the pull of hunger. He ripped open a packet of dried beef jerky, tore a small piece off, and tossed it inside his mouth to chew on.

Food was limited, and while it wasn't enough to last him for three days, it was enough to sate his appetite. "What do you usually eat?" Jiayun asked while chewing.

"Eat?" the monster repeated. "I absorb heat and can turn almost all forms of matter into energy. If I wanted to, I could turn you into food as well."

Considering that he was a viable food alternative and just so happened to be inside the other's stomach, Jiayun decided to change the subject.

"You could eat anything. You truly don't know how wonderful food can taste. If you can produce a human's taste buds and nasal cavity, I might be able to let you have a taste of human food. Then you'll understand."