Maybe Not Quite so Alone

Translation: Loneliness

The foreigner wouldn't leave their hut.

After several hours of scouting around the base that they had set up, there was no sign of the foreigner. Best guess was that they had barricaded themselves in. Usually, this was best as it would make it easier to assess their equipment before planning the trip and collecting the breathing equipment from the tech department but knowing that the foreigner is still inside, and alone, nonetheless, held back the plans and procedures. At this point I have a choice to make. Option one, I tell Commander about the foreigner and how they were left behind, surely gaining a 'Kill On Sight' command regardless of their intentions. Or, option two, I wait them out, converse with them using my universal translator and figure out their intentions before informing Commander and risk still get the 'Kill On Sight' command plus a punishment for not telling Commander immediately. There are upsides and downsides to both, but the idea of being the first to communicate with a foreigner from Piraek is much more tempting than option one.

The sun started setting. I head back to my bunker. I'll have to sleep on it, option one, or option two?

Option two it is, was the first thought that popped into my head when I woke up the next day. There was one glaring problem with this choice though; the foreigner would not leave their hut. Of course, this is understandable. However, it is imperative that we converse in a safe manner before the day comes to a close and I have to send off my mission report and request for the breathing equipment.

Eventually, I settled for waiting outside. They couldn't stay in there forever, I had watched them clean off the tech that looked remarkably similar to our solar devices back from when they were first distributed. The tech was covered in dust, from the storm a couple nights back. The foreigner would need to clean them, if they wanted power.

I could wait.

It took several hours.

Once the foreigner had finally come back outside I was blocking the way back inside before they could do anything about it.

"Foreigner, I intend to speak with you." I stated, attempting to keep my voice calm and clear. So far it was working.

The foreigner let out a stream of garbled noises, the anxiety in them was unmistakable.

Holding up the translator that had been sitting by my side, ready to use for days now, I pointed it at the foreigner's vague direction.

"I'll need you to speak into this for several minutes. It will allow us to communicate without the language barrier. Though, I know you don't understand what I'm saying. At least, not yet." Clicking a few buttons and swiping a few options; the translator was ready to do its job. Pressing the 'start' and sealing my lips so as to not interfere with the tech as it was doing its magic; a small line appeared, floating a few ershals above the interface. The line was mostly straight.

The foreigner garbled a few more of what seemed like sentences.

The line warped and twisted as they garbled and stopped when they did.

There was a beat of silence. I looked up at the foreigner. I could vaguely distinguish more features now that we weren't freaking out at each other, but I was getting impatient. I gave them a look. They did nothing. I started gesturing at the tech, mimicking moving my mouth as though I was speaking but they didn't seem to be getting the idea.

Finally, the foreigner garbled some more and in my haste I stepped forward so the tech could pick it up more clearly. They were obviously startled by this and shouted more noises. I started shaking my head in a way that indicates 'yes! yes!' before realising that they probably didn't know what I was trying to say.

Imagine my surprise when they started shaking their 'head' back in the same way before continuing to garble more and more.

The tail end of the now-warping line was turning from blue to purple. The foreigner kept garbling until the line was a solid purple and I held up my hand. They stopped immediately.

Now, for my turn. I started speaking into the translator. Repeating the protocol that had been instilled into my memory years ago, "I am Ophelia from the Doagaru clan. Sector 14-B, national ID: 6729475140382A1C. Welcome to Salrich." As well as more meaningless sentences to tell the device my speaking patterns and grammar structures specific to my people. The process went much faster as I was using the basic structure that the foreigner wouldn't know of.

Nearly buzzing with energy, my tail swishing violently behind me, the transfer completed. I took off my military edition vocal translate brace that is usually situated around my neck and inserted it into the vocal slot and repeating the process with the hearing translate studs into the hearing slots. It felt strange to be without them but they were needed.

Within less than a grick it had finished processing and transferring the data to the devices. Placing the tech back into their respective places and clearing my throat, preparing to speak, a thought drifted around my head. This moment will become an important piece of history. Don't mess it up. Totally not intimidating.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Welcome to Salrich." Smiling, I had to maintain a look pleasant look as the foreigner acted reasonably shellshocked.

"Whaaaaaaat? You did not just speak English. I must be going crazy." the foreigner started shaking. "That's it, I'm going crazy." They assured themselves.

"I can assure you that you are not going insane. Rather, my technical device synced our sound waves and speaking patterns in a way that should you speak to me, I will be able to understand and construe a response that registers in your language functions inside your brain as a response that you are able to understand." I hoped none of my jittering was noticeable.

"Yeah, okay, that makes sense."

"Come, we have much to discuss. Such as your business on our planet." Walking to the side and finally unblocking the way into the foreigner's hut.

"You're why." I heard some shuffling steps, the foreigner was following behind me.

"Please rephrase that statement. I do not understand."

"We wanted to know whether or not we were alone."

I stopped walking and heard their steps stop as well. Turning around, I smiled at them, as gently as I could muster.

"You were never alone."

**A/N: Hello! I'm terribly sorry for taking so long to update but I had to think over how I really wanted their interaction to be, as well as the fact that up until the 2nd chapter I was going off of mostly memory. Now, I have arrived with a timeline of the movie as well as a list of every log listed in the movie while also being able to access the book. I may add sections of the book into here as well if I see it fitting for the story. Eventually this should turn out to be my own version of Frankenstein's monster. Either way I hope this chapter makes my lateness up to you :)**