The ocean's Vessel: Alien Communication

Featured Aqrions:

                            Vessel                                                                Nibble

Location: Ego’s research and rehabilitation facility 

Age: Teenager

Activity: Disability Training #1

Wordcount: 1.117

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      The mid-summer sun blazed over the heads of all the creatures trapped in its gasp, the scorching rays causing irritations and burns on seemingly all creatures it touched. The water of the tanks in the research facility heated up at this time of day, agitating all living creatures kept inside. One of which was Vessel, a black pygmy singer with shimmering red and golden plates running along his back. The young teen pressed his body on the ground of the tank, trying to escape the scorching sun, but to no avail. 

 

The lack of shade had already heated up the tank to a degree that caused irritation on his skin and eyes, his black skin color not helping as it seemed to absorb the heat even more. Vessel heard the pity patty sound of small stumpy alien legs on stone as he turned his attention towards the surface of the water. 

His eyes narrowed as he saw the young researcher making her way over to the shallow part of the tank, her favorite entrance point to invade his tank >>Ugh, it's one of these days again…<< he thought as he slowly swam his way up towards the surface. 

 

The immobility of his missing limbs made moving harder now, even more so now that he only had one working pectoral fin, as the other ones withered away under his condition. As he finally breached through the surface of the water, he felt the hot summer air envelop his head, causing more discomfort than he anticipated. His blue eyes darted toward the black-haired woman as she stepped into the shallow water of his tank, letting the warm water wrap around her thighs. 

>>Don’t you dare.<< he growled, his voice rumbling in his throat, but apparently his threat must have sounded like inviting chirps to her, considering that she closed the distance between them. It was only now that Vessel could see a bucket she was carrying, this eye infection caused to deteriorate his eyesight temporarily. The alien made weird noises with her mouth, as she gestured for the aqrion to come closer. With great hesitation the pygmy singer obliged, slowly making his way towards the drop between the shallow and the little less, shallow water. 

 

The researcher reached into the bucket, revealing the most annoying Blue Tang that must exist on this earth, at least to Vessel. Vessel let out a displeased groan upon seeing those blue scales sparkling in the hot summer sun >>And for that I came all the way here.<< he growled, though he remained on the surface, trying to ignore the small fish that was seemingly eying all the details of the pygmy's body. Thankfully, for the blue tang, Vessel’s mobility was so restricted, that he could not lunge and attack the small agile fish, which caused great disappointment in the Aqrion, oh, how he wished he could just, fling this little creature far outside the confines of this tiny tank. 

Due to the distraction of the blue tang, Vessel did not notice that the alien closed in more of the distance, now standing next to his flank, seemingly observing his little stump on his left side. Vessel tried to wiggle away, but the hot sun was more exhausting than he anticipated. 

 

Eventually, he gave up, letting the human touch him with her little coral-thin fingers, yet Vessel was observing her with intense eyes, watching exactly what she was doing. He watched her reach into her bucket once more, taking out a weird paste and smearing it onto Vessel’s skin. It felt like he was covered in mud, his body temperature falling a little as the sun rays stopped cooking his skin. With a sigh of relief, he looked at the alien with a few different eyes, finally, she seemed to do something that was actually beneficial for him, it was the least she could do considering he was stuck in this tank with an annoying Blue Tang, and three bottle-nosed dolphins that wouldn’t stop talking.

Yet the research didn’t seem to be done, she once more reached into her bucket, revealing the small black device the aliens would sometimes stick onto Vessel’s body. He jolted back upon seeing the device, his first experience with it, caused a dysfunction in his sonar, resulting in several days of severe migraines. Claimed by exhaustion I let her install the device on me once more, my little stump wiggling inside, watching it move up and down alongside my pectoral fins. 

 

>>It help with swim.<< the voice felt unnatural, yet it wasn’t one of the dolphins speaking, it was something else, using clicks and chirps only aqrions knew, yet with the language skill of a hatchling. Vessel’s gaze quickly turned towards the origin of the sound, it was that ugly little blue tang, with its stupid little mouth opening and closing. >>Use like this.<< it added with a tone of voice that was unsettling and uncomfortable, it was like listening to a hunter trying to mimic your language while not understanding it. The pygmy singer's eyes narrowed as his eyes flickered between the human and the fish, whenever the alien made noises, the blue tang seemed to repeat. Yet as Vessel was still taken aback by the absurdity of this situation, the fish repeated >>Use like this.<< while wiggling its tiny pectoral fins. The aqrion, despite its high intelligence, found himself stuck, trying to grasp the idea of an alien communicating through him with a small little fish, since when could Humans mindbend like aqrions?

 

After a few seconds of hesitation, and a punch in his pride, he did like the fish commanded, resulting in a seemingly positive reaction from the alien that was controlling it. >>This is so weird, I want to go back to the ocean, this isn’t fun anymore…<< Vessel mumbled as he continued to wiggle with his swimming aid.

Vessel’s attention was claimed once more, this time by the Black-haired alien as she made a weird clicking sound with her mouth. For some weird reason, it sounded close to the word ‘come’ in the language Vessel understood. Maybe these aliens weren’t as stupid as he initially thought. She held up a fish, Vessel had to swim a bit closer to see what it was, and to his surprise, it was a lobster, a delicacy for Pygmys as it provided great enrichment to crack open the shells. Even though Pygmys share similarities to lobsters, they are not related, therefore this was not morally wrong. 

For the first time, Vessel felt a sense of containment in this shallow and tiny prison, something that reminded him of home, something that tasted like nostalgia.

>>I want to go home<<