Adaptation

Discovering the Unknown

Kiara marks down the coordinate in the map just inside the forest for where we should stop. 400 meter straight ahead. I smiled mike's way and he returned a goofy grin back, "What would I do without him."

Not long after we arrive at the foot of the forest, we would need to continue on feet as the forest is too dense for the motors. Jake being the huge and muscular hunk he is, carries all the heavy equipment with ease. The rest of the crew just follow after him. The forest is warm and humid, we could see water droplets sticking to tree leaves, the sound birds flapping their wings and quacking above us give this forest an eerie vibe to it.

It was then peaceful for some time, we cross through a thick bush and found our self in the middle of a tribe of improbus. It was quite big with slumps of buildings stacked on top of each other. Compared to the houses we lived in this is a dump. Children are screaming playing around, not noticing any of us. Do they not know of a second species? Oh right, they lack the technological advances to even know we, Praepositus, exist. They probably ignored the wall and do not have the intelligence to question it.

I look at Jake for what to do next and he looks as bewildered as the rest of us. I clear my throat to snap Jake back to reality.

"Oh sorry, um, we should slowly go in the pack. Keep it calm, don't stress them out. For all we know, they could be very dangerous. Also, keep in mind they outnumber us greatly." Jake commanded in his 'leader' voice which I find very unnecessary and obnoxious.

Mike took a grab of my hand and squeezed, calming me down. I did not even realize how sweaty my palms are before he held it. Without warning, Jake walk in exposing himself to the Improbus. The improbus are now staring at him as clueless as we are right now. Jake started to kneel to show them that he meant no harm and wave to us signaling us to get out of the bush. We all followed after Jake, mimicking every step he took precisely and avoiding eye contact. 

I took and turn on my language generator which scans their speech pattern to create this 'dictionary' template of their language. This and further interaction would make me able to learn their language making communication between species so much easier. There's where my expertise lies. If I say so myself, I'm quite intelligent, graduating with a year early with distinction. Not to brag or anything, I'm quite a quick learner, that is a reason why I was accepted joining this mission. If I learn their language, we could break this language barrier maybe then we could live in peace next to each other.

The biggest male in the tribe came to us and smiled at us. I am quite taken back at this gesture, they are surprising so friendly. I'm scared of what us praepositus will do to these creatures. 

They welcomed us with gratitude; food, water, and shelter were all given to us without any questions asked. Mike and I tour around the tribe, getting audio samples for the language to be processed. From all the reading I did about the improbus, I could say that they are very different in person. The books always said they are a feral and unintelligent animal, no society, no authority and little to no social interaction. From what I've been seeing they are highly social individuals with a calm and welcoming personality. I know I should not judge the whole species based on one tribe so I would not assume that what lies in the book is completely false. 

Mike started looking around the perimeter of the tribe, collecting species of plants and soil for further research in the capital. I start to collect data when suddenly a small weight is latching onto my left feet. I look down to see a juvenile Improbus, quite small with big brown eyes and tan skin. I slowly reach down and pet its head. The soft hair runs through my hand like petting a newly conditioned coon. (coon is a hybrid between a dog and a cat that scientists created and due its popularity makes the cat and dog extinct. They are able to reproduce like any normal animal and is the first  successful animal hybrid)

A terrified scream erupts behind me from an adult improbus, guessing it is the mother, I pull my hand back and watch as the child scurried back toward it. The mother muttered something to the child and the child look at me cautiously. She looks terrified and checks the child of any harm, which I understand as I would freak out too if a giant, slender, and human-looking (but not really) thing that cannot speak my language touched my child. 

I just smiled back to the mother and ran off to Mike, "I couldn't wait until this language processor finishes, it is really uncomfortable  not being able to communicate."  I started. 

"Yeah pain in the ass it is really, I'm scared they would poison us in our sleep. It weird how they are so friendly, isn't it?" He said without looking at me too focused collecting samples. 

"Yeah. Yeah, it is." I smile. 

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