The Smeet

The Cry

Given that nobody in the Massive had EVER taken care of a birthed-smeet, everybody just assumed it just had to be fed and changed and then left alone to sleep.

Ilk soon proved them wrong, however. Her needs went beyond just eating, sleeping and diaper-changing.

Remember the article that said there were MANY reasons smeets cried which weren't only restricted to hunger and poop? Well, Red started finding out little by little what those other reasons implied in the following days.

If she wanted attention (his in particular), she cried. If something hurt or she felt ill, she cried. If she was scared, she cried. If she was tired, she cried. And the list could go on. It was becoming annoying to many, but nobody dared to complain (except Purple).

However, soon he started to note that Ilk wailed and behaved in a particular way for every need. Her 'I'm hungry' cry was repetitive and low-pitched while putting fingers in her mouth. The 'uncomfortable and/or tired' cry was whiny and continuous, building in intensity accompanied by yawns.

He managed to identify seven types of cries, but he had to write them down since it was a bit too much to remember. The two most common were the 'I'm hungry' and 'I'm tired' ones.

There were also the cries he couldn't identify. Those didn't match with any of the seven types, and it was a nightmare to figure out what she wanted. He wondered how come she didn't get a sore throat from all that screaming... OR her throat was sore and that was why she was crying. Did it even make any sense?

Ah, but in his opinion the worst type of all was the tantrum she threw if she was, for one reason or another, awakened from sleeping.

After the 'device to look for information in the web-thingy' was fixed, Red looked for some more information and learned that smeets slept most of the time except when hungry or in need of a diaper change. But they got really upset if they were externally awakened from their sleeping hours.

He initially thought it was merely an exaggeration until last night, when a simple, goddamned notification in the data pad was enough to startle Ilk awake, which sent her into a screaming fit. It took him nearly the whole night, a warm bottle of smeet formula, which he had to go make to the kitchen personally because none of the cooks knew how to prepare it, and lots of cuddling to lull Ilk back to sleep.

Sadly, this cost him his own sleeping hours.

"Want a doughnut?" Purple asked him that morning as he came into the bridge, looking exhausted (and he was). It was the second time he offered a snack to someone. Wow.

Red shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine." he half-lied, even though the bags under his eyes said the contrary.

"Are you sure? You look like a zombie."

"Zombie? What in tarnation is that?"

"A sort of... undead hyooman that eats brains."

Undead? "How can something be... undead? As far as I know, once you die that's it."

"I don't know, Zim mentioned it on that halloweenie transmission*."

Red felt a shiver. "Don't remind me..." It was irritating enough that Zim was calling every two days-or thankfully longer-to recall that particular transmission.

"So how's Ilk doing?"

"She finally fell asleep," He directed the next words to all the navigators. "So you better not make any noise!"

"Yes, my Tallest..." was the response in a low-voice. They didn't need to be told twice. Sadly, the long-distance communicator started beeping. "My Tallest, we have an incoming transmission from..." the navigator grumbled. "Earth."