To Be Human

Earth

I take a glance at myself in the mirror. I look... Bizarre. My skin is a pale, white/pink colour, it's covered in brown, irregularly arranged spots. The eyes I have been given are blue, they seem to twinkle in the light. Long brown hair fell past my shoulders, tickling my back.
I hate this body.
"Can I have this hair cut short?" I ask to the woman who had been putting this skin on and was now tidying up her equipment.
"Long hair is stereotypical for females on Earth, you cannot stand out" she said without even looking up.
"It's illogical"
"Tie it up then" she sounded exasperated and bored. It's frustrating that people are treating me lower than everyone else because of the fact I am not technically a life form.
"You will go by the name of Amber, you are 23 years old, in your shuttle you have a suitcase of all their different currencies, it will also contain a passport, this allows you to travel across countries. You will have a drivers licence which gives you permission to drive vehicles legally. You will have to rent a hotel everytime you move to a different country". She was giving me all of the necessary information for surviving on this planet.
She handed me five pieces of fabric.
"Clothes" she pointed at the different pieces of fabric as she named them, "T-shirt, trousers, underwear, bra, and socks"
"And what are they for?" I ask her.
"To cover yourself".
Right. It's not the weirdest thing I've had to wear when researching a species, I once had to completely cover myself in a weird blue paste. That was a horrible assignment.

The woman showed me how to put these clothes on, I looked in the mirror again and wondered why the hell I had to wear an uncomfortable strap thing round my chest so that I look dignified in a place where I have never been before, and I will never be again.
The T-shirt was gray and fitted, and the trousers were black and skinny. I had tied my hair up so it was out the way. The woman handed me two objects and told me to put them on my feet. She called them shoes.
She walked me through corridors, giving me information about how to behave, their economic system, their basic psychology, their political system, etc.
We were at the shuttle.
I climb in, sitting down at the control panel and closing the door, shutting me off from the rest of the ship. All my equipment has been packed for me.
"Are you okay in there RD-17?" said the woman through the microphone connected to an ear piece she has given to me earlier.
"We are going to go ahead with sending you off, is that okay?"
"Yes" I answered in my monotone voice.
I detached myself from the ship, firing off the engine.
"I'm taking manual" I told the mouthpiece (which was connected to the earpiece).
I put my hand on ball which controlled steering, it is a bit like a much larger version of your planet's ball point pen tip. My left hand was occupied with the buttons that were disconnecting me from the ship.
"I am detached, preparing to start engines four and five".
En.4 and 5 were the engine that propell me at imense speeds towards Earth. Unfortunately they use up way too much fuel to be useful at long distances; the maximum is about a lightyear, which may sound a lot but I assure you, it is a minuscule amount considering our ship's mission is to travel around the galaxy.
So we only use this fuel for missions like the one I'm on now.
"I am reaching 17, 000 miles per hour".
My shuttle is built for this speed, so I will be fine. Also consider the fact I am not alive, built for these extremes and replaceable. The beings that I work for know what they are doing.
I am entering the atmosphere and the intercom will be disconnected by now so all I can do is sit back and try not to think about how much the shuttle is shaking. I have been built with anxiety because if anything did go wrong I can go into fight mode and save myself. (Even if I am replaceable I am very expensive and difficult to build). The only problem I have with this is that I still feel terrified when the shuttle is shaking like this, even if I am safe to a certain extent. I hold onto the control panel to stable myself.
I can see on my scanner that I'm approaching the planet's surface, and I prepare myself for the crash.
My anxiety expects a crash anyway. I immediately took my control panel and pulled up the shuttle, I slowed down the speed and landed. Not exactly smoothly but I landed all the same.
I stepped out of the shuttle and took in my surroundings. I am in a field, the field is dotted with tiny white flowers, I pick one and decide to analyse it later. The planet's star shone in my eyes so brightly I had to cover them with my hand. I noticed a little shelter approximately 50 metres away. An elderly man walked out of the house carrying some sort of weapon, he cocked it and pointed at my direction. Although he was far away he did not come any nearer to me. I sensed fear.
"Oi! We don't want no green, bug what aliens on this planet so why don't you get back to where you came from, y' hear?!" He had a very strong accent.
I didn't want to cause any trouble when I had only just got here.
"Yes, I can hear you." I said as calmly as possible in an attempt to sooth his paranoia.
"Ho- how come ya can speak English now? You look pretty normal t' me."
"Please drop the weapon sir" still trying my best to sound calm.
"Don't tell me what to do!" He ran towards me, the weapon still aimed at me.
I acted instinctively and ran back at him. As soon as I was in reach I grabbed the weapon and bent it over my knee.
"What weapon is this?" I demanded from him.
"A rifle, ma'am. Please don't abduct me!"
I stared at him. What an idiotic man.
I walked back to my shuttle and pulled out my suitcase. This is all I will need. I walked past the man who just seemed to be in shock.
To my surpise he called back to me "What's your name ma'am?"
Why was he interested in my name?
"RD-17, but to humans it is Amber. Do not tell anyone of my existance."