Caveship

17 || The Challenge

"Before we get started, we need to outfit you in something more appropriate. Your Earth clothing is primitive and affords you no real defensive or offensive benefit. For this reason, we'll have to ask you to remove them and bathe yourselves, in preparation for our sanitation protocols." The Mowaii leading them along stops at two doors, which open quietly as he motions toward them. "We saw fit to separate you by gender and have prepared these facilities for such an occasion. To the left, the men. To the right, the women. You'll be given a chance to shower, then you'll be sanitized properly, and finally, you'll be given new clothing."

"Can we keep our old clothes?" Sophia says, tugging gently at her shirt. It's dirty and desperately needs to be cleaned, with red dirt still visible on it.

"If that is what you want, that can be arranged." The Mowaii motions toward the open doors again. "Leave your clothing behind and we'll clean them for you to keep later."

With an awkward wave, the group split in different directions, with Tah-Kuell, Darius and Nicholas heading to the left, and Ava, Sarah and Sophia moving to the right, as directed. The next room is simply one large rectangular space with several metal spickets on the ceilings, each over a drain. There doesn't seem to be any buttons to turn them on. The only other noteworthy feature is the smaller door they're meant to exit the room from. To Nicholas, the room almost resembles a hotel sauna.

"So, TK," Darius speaks up as he removes his shirt, tossing it aside carelessly. "Can we trust these guys? I mean, I get that they're your people, but is what they're saying true? Will they let us go after this?"

"Of course. Though they hold considerable disdain for me, they hold no ill will toward you or your friends. Everything they've said so far is truthful," Tah-Kuell responds, easily pulling his single piece uniform wide enough to climb out of. Without the uniform they were so used to seeing him in, it's clear that their friend has no outward genitalia. His entire body is perfectly smooth from head to toe, barring the occasional wrinkles from a more notably active lifestyle in research back on Ziron 8. At this revelation, Darius and Nicholas glance at each other and decide to simply completely disrobe.

"So, uh, how do these things work?" Nicholas holds out his hand underneath one of the spickets. It suddenly activates and begins to shower a steady stream of warm water over his hand, and with a shrug, he moves underneath it. "Never mind, I got it."

"Not gonna lie, I didn't think we'd ever get to shower again." Darius responds, picking a shower a bit further away from the other two. Darius and Nicholas soon discover that, at some point during their shower, they'd been left nondescript clear bottles of what they can only assume is some type of body wash. "I wish I could read what these say."

"Oh. The one with what looks like a C in your language is essentially what you might consider to be shampoo. The other should be some sort of soap," Tah-Kuell advises. "We don't create oils, so just a quick shower is usually enough for us." He steps out from underneath the torrent of water, looking around. "Interesting. These facilities don't have instant dryers." He steps across the room as Darius and Nicholas lather up, and once on the side with the door, gathers up one of the three towels that seem to have also appeared from nowhere. Tah-Kuell carefully holds one up to his face and lets out a satisfied sigh. "These must be what you call towels. It seems they've pulled out all the stops to make you feel more welcome here."

He begins to dry off with the towel, but he pauses his enjoyment to throw Darius and Nicholas their towels once they've finished washing off. "Okay, what's next?" Nicholas asks, to which Tah-Kuell turns to face the smaller door opposite of the one they'd entered.

"The sanitation process is very simple. I'm not allowed to explain the intricacies, but it's very safe and practically painless," Tah-Kuell smiles, leading them toward the door, which opens as they approach. Darius, still holding on to his towel and drying himself, gives Tah-Kuell a worried look. "What do you mean, 'practically'?"