Short Stories

Unlikely Friends

The spaceship was very crowded. Despite the fact that it was the size of several apartment buildings, it was created for a couple hundred scientists and their lab equipment. There are quarters for the captain and crew, of course. However, picking up the refugees had changed everything. Marie had just been working the day they'd picked up the passengers from the wreck. She'd been analyzing a new AI that they intended to test out in just a few weeks. ON top of that, she'd been analyzing the possibility of using wormholes to travel through time, not just space.

When the chunk of metal had flown past her head, Heva had decided to call it a day. Nearly getting hit by a massive piece of a passenger cruiser really took a lot out of them. They just worked maintenance, because Jarrix's "weren't smart enough" to do anything but janitorial work. Heva was plenty smart, although their natural ability to NOT explode when outside of the ship (without a suit) made them nearly invaluable. Heva was sick of it. They wanted to make money. Buy their own things. However, Heva was defined completely by their luminescent skin, four arms, cat-like eyes, cloven hooves, and shimmery grey scales covering their head and hands.

Welding was Heva's specialty. They had short, blunt claws that acted similarly to welding torches. They could melt metal, and the scales protected Heva's hands.

The refugees needed rooms. Many people had to share rooms, including the scientists and crew. Everyone fought to keep families (not that there were many) together in the larger rooms, towards the front of the ship. All the crew and scientists moved towards the back of the ship.

Marie, anxious to get back to her research, tossed her things on one of the small cots. It reminded her of her university days, always sharing a tiny pod with a podmate.

Heva moved their things into an empty room that had a ted roll and a couple suitcases in it. They hoped it wasn't a scientist. Scientists were always rude to Heva, because scientists thought they were stupid.

Heva was dismayed when they discovered who they were rooming with. Marie secretly wished she would have left her things in the lab so she could've worked and then slept there. Heva just knew that the scientists thought poorly of them. They could see it in the way the woman looked at the door. They decided to at least attempt to be kind. "Hello, I am Heva. Might I inquire who you are?" They did their best to seem friendly.

Marie started. "Oh, yes!" she smiled, "I'm so sorry for my miserable manners! I'm Marie, a scientist on the ship! Who are you?"

Heva was confused. They had never been treated this way, like an equal. "Uhhh... well, I am Heva. I work in maintenance, and as you can tell I am a Jarrix."

Marie paused, seeming to notice for the first time Heva's species. "Oh! I am so sorry! I'm very out of it today. I hardly even noticed!" They both began to giggle at the absurdity of it all. The stress from the day had finally overtaken them, and they just laughed together. They readied for bed and discussed everything they could think of, family, favorite colors, jobs, Marie revealed that she had a pink teddy bear named Mondo, which she showed to Heva, and they laughed about the bear's bow, which was covered in cartoon beakers.

Heva told Marie about growing up, how they had never learned to read and write. They told a story about how they'd accidentally set a fire to every book they'd tried to read. Marie laughed a little at that but promised to teach Heva how to read and write. Heva was moved, and they practically threw themselves at Marie, crying and thanking her. They stayed up late but promised to eat together as long as they worked on the same ship. They also promised to stay in touch through an IM system that they could access through their standard-issue ports.