Cerulean Planet (Blue Dust Trilogy #1)

Chapter 15

"Are there specific needs or conditions that need to be met for you to advance to your Second Form?" Jiayun asked the monster.

"One would only need to enter into hibernation, typically deep underwater or in a safe, quiet place," the monster replied.

"Then go. Why don't you start? This planet is almost entirely covered in water. There should be spots that are quite deep. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll be able to leave."

"What about you?" the monster asked.

"Me...." Jiayun pulled a wry smile. "I'm thinking of giving up."

"Give up what?"

"Everything."

"Why?"

"Why? Because there's no point in holding on. Even if I lived, I'll have nothing to leave behind. I can't do anything without you, not even to survive. Why keep bogging you down?"

"You will always leave behind something," the monster said.

"And what exactly would that be?"

"I have obtained your genetic information. I have also learned some information about humans from my kin. But you as a person. I can only learn about you through each second that I interact with you, your every expression and every word."

"Is there a point to you trying to understand a primitive, boring human like me?"

"There is," the monster said.

Jiayun shook his head.

"I want to understand you, more, and more deeply. You and I are so unalike, yet I have never truly looked upon you with contempt or disdain. I am merely interested in knowing everything there is about you."

Jiayun felt momentarily at a loss. He dipped his head, a bitter smile on his lips, and pressed his hand against his forehead. Slowly, his hand slid down to cover his eyes.

The monster's face protruded from the inner wall along with a pair of hands. Like a pair of vines capturing their host, the hands hooked onto Jiayun and trapped him in place. "If you can no longer determine what needs to be done, or have nothing else that you would want to pursue, why not surrender yourself to me?"

Jiayun seemed to have lost all his strength.

He nodded.

The monster stood up.

They made such a big movement that Jiayun stumbled without warning, falling to one side. Even so, the arms that protruded from the monster's inner wall remained wrapped around him and did not let go.

Jiayun gave them a push and the monster released him. Jiayun sat down, his blank gaze drifting towards the scenery outside.

The monster walked quickly, through crater-filled terrain, through scattered bits of rubble, and finally stepped into water.

They sped across the shallow water. Their body, no longer in humanoid form, took on the shape of a fish that swam more easily. Still, they left Jiayun plenty of room to move around. Jiayun would switch between sitting and lying down. The monster would capture newly spotted aquatic life from time to time and ask him to have a taste. Jiayun didn't have much interest in fish. He preferred meats with tougher fibers or human food that had been carefully seasoned.

Jiayun did not refuse the monster's eager hospitality and tried some, then told the monsters what he thought: this was alright; the texture of this one was a bit weird; this one's disgusting....

This went on for about half a day until Jiayun snorted.

How very human it was of him to have greeted any alien lifeforms he first encountered with his teeth, chewing and swallowing them so that his taste buds and stomach would get to know them.