For brief moments at a time, Chrysalis was able to become part of the waking world. During these brief moments, she had gained more insight as to her current situation. After the third time she awoke, she managed to deduce that the room she was in served as some sort of prison cell. Every once in a while another figure in a yellow suit would pass by the glass wall. Chrysalis just knew they had to be some sort of guard or something. Her assumption was reinforced when she saw melee weapon strapped to their waist. Sadly, she could bearly make out the figure's face as they made their rounds because they too had a mask that covered its face. She would like to see who she was dealing with exactly.
After the fifth or sixth time of waking up, Chrysalis found that she could stay awake for a longer period of time. She considered this a victory as she had more time on her hooves. The first thing she tried to do was to stand up. However, this proved to be more challenging than she thought it would be. She continued to struggle to stand, but she continued to fail. In the end, she fell back to the floor, more tired than she had ever been before. Deep breaths mixed in with fast beeping. Chrysalis lifted up her head as she looked around to find the source of the beeping. To her right, was a big blue screen with jagged lines running across it. A series of so kind of symbols appeared on the screen that she could not read.
Now Chrysalis has been around for a long time. If her calculations were correct, she and Celestia were just a few decades apart with Chrysalis being the younger of the two. She had seen civilizations rise and fall, partly because of her kind's doing. Her mother had nearly every language recorded after the beings who created them parished away in the sands of time. Though Chrysalis could not memorize all the languages that were recorded, she should have, at the very least, been able to decipher a few words. However, a small prong of fear coursed through her as she tried in vain to read the symbols displayed on the screen.
Her fear of the unknown grew even more as three figures in yellow suits appeared behind the glass wall. Each appeared to possess at least one type of tool that Chrysalis was unfamiliar with. One of the figures placed a rectangular card against the glass wall. A bright red light shined on the spot where the card was placed before it turned green and a light *bing* was heard. The glass wall then began to slide to Chrysalis's right, almost vanishing behind a pale white wall.
One of the figures took a few steps into the room. There were a few moments of silence between the two parties. After a while, the figure took a few more steps and a few more. Soon it was towering over Chrysalis, forcing her to move he head to look into where she assumed the figures eyes were. She was about to curse the figure for making Chrysalis risk getting a cramp in her neck, but the figure soon crouched down to where they were now looking into each other's eyes. Before Chrysalis could utter a word the figure raised it 'paw' and used one of its digits to lightly press the end of Chrysalis's snout.
The gesture was more confusing than anything else. Chrysalis was about to respond, however, the figure gave her another boop on the nose. "Could you not?!" Chrysalis snarled. The figure seemed taken aback for a moment. This made a smug grin appear on the changeling queen's face. "What's the matter? Scared of little old me? You should be." she teased. The figure raised a paw to its head and began to speak.
"Gries tul fol klieat?" they appeared to be asking. Chrysalis face contorted with confusion as she tried to grasp what the figure was saying.
"Um... what?" she replied.
"Wes dokol noot uletifik tus foll!" they yelled.
"I have no idea what you are going on about you... thing!" Chrysalis stated. "But, don't take that tone with me!"
"Ul wolt noot folitok a tul." the figure said. Chrysalis groaned loudly. This conversation was annoying her to no end.
"Listen you!" She started. "I. Can. Not. Under. Stand. You!" Her words seem to fall on deaf ears. Did this figure even have ears? That was a topic for another time. The figure continued to stay crouched for some time. "Hello!? Anypony home?!" Chrysalis lifted a hoof to tap on the figure's mask, but the figure flinched back and ended up falling on their behind. This got a laugh out of Chrysalis. She hadn't laughed in a while. It felt good.
There was a series of sharp beeps came from the screen displaying the weird symbols. "And what's with the beeping?! I swear that sound is starting to annoy me." Chrysalis groaned. The figure sat for a few moments before starting to speak again.
"Can...you...understand me?" the figure spoke. Chrysalis gave a look of confusion which then turned to relief.
"Good god, finally!" Chrysalis cheered. "I wasn't sure what would annoy me first. The beeping or me not understanding a word that came out of your mouth. Anyway, could you tell me where I am and why are you wearing those yellow suits?" The figure was silent for a long time. An uncomfortably long time to be correct. "Come on, you talked so easily before. A chat will give me some form of entertainment that I've been lacking for the past few... days?" That brought a question to Chrysalis. She was in and out of the waking world for a while. Whether she blacked out for only a few minutes at a time or a few days at a time was a mystery. Despite her whole race used to be a mystery and used to thrive off of the fact, Chrysalis was not a fan of mysteries.
"Talk... not... easy... few days.... be...fore... good." the figure spoke. "Talk easier... you talk." Chrysalis took a moment to think.
"Am I not speaking a language you understand completely?" she asked. The figure sat in silence for a moment before nodding its head. "Are you somehow translating what I'm saying right now?" The silence returned and was followed again by a nod. "If I speak more, you'll be able to talk to me properly?" The same silence was followed by the same nod. "And let's say that I believe all of this. What do I get in return?"
"Talk more... I get you... home." the figure replied. Home? What home did Chrysalis really have? Before she could speak, however, she had run out of time. Her world was turning black again as she groaned in protest. Oh well, she would just have to craft a plan while she was asleep.
The lifeform that teleported aboard the ship three full cycles ago had just gone into stasis again. The period in which it remained active was longer than the previous six times. The stimulus of interaction with another being may have contributed to its long active time. I motion to my co-worker to enter the room and the two of us begin to collect a few samples from the lifeform. A few medical cylinders of blood, a sample from its black chitin, a swab of saliva, and a small piece of the lifeform's horn were collected and put into individual holding cubes. We would like to collect more samples of the horn, however, most of the personnel on this ship are in a disagreement as what the horn is used for and if there is any blood running through it. They also did not want to risk rendering a newly discovered intelligent lifeform handicapped.
A lot of questions flooded my mind. Each of them gave birth to theories and hypotheses which in turn gave birth to more questions. I sigh in frustration. This was going to have to wait until tomorrow. It was late in the lunar cycle and I needed some rest for my shift in the early solar cycle. My co-worker and I deposited the samples into the designated depositor before heading off to the decontamination chamber. Once we were in there was a hiss as a chemical spray washed over us. A few moments later we were blasted with a gust of hot air, drying off the chemical solution. We barely felt any of it in the hazard protection suits.
After the decontamination was done, we walked out and began to put our suits into their lockers. It felt nice to have the feeling of cool air on my fur again. After being in stuffy suits for so long, whether it be in the contamination cells or outside the ship in the vacuum of space, one often begins to enjoy the little things in life. "So, Almira, what do you think of the lifeform?" asked my co-worker. I turn around to see the light blue gelatinous form of Ge-Foli. She placed her hands on her humanoid figure as she waited for an answer.
"They are talkative, I'll give them that. I also didn't expect them to be so active so soon. I'm glad we are still monitoring their brain activity along with their heart, " I responded. "I should have expected the harsh response after physical contact though. However, their talkative nature just makes the translation process easier for us. Oh, that reminds me..." I place a hand up to the device on my ear and pressed a button. A display monitor appeared before my eyes as I began to read the information on it. "Argh, the translation isn't nowhere near being complete yet. It's going to be another few conversations before it's done."
"You don't sound as enthusiastic as I thought you would be," Ge-Foli stated as she proceeded to leave the room. I quickly followed her.
"I am enthusiastic. It's just I have so many questions. Unlike the other lifeforms we've met, this one can talk back! Which means that they..."
"Won't be too happy about the massive debt they'll in?" Ge-Foli finished for me. I took a moment to process my response.
"Well, that, obviously. But they can actually tell us about their species. That is if they'll cooperate." I pouted. Ge-Foli seemed to catch onto my dismay.
"Aw, don't worry about it. Knowing you, everything will be fine." She said. That brought a smile to my face. "Now come on, let's see if the snack bar still has that human dessert you like." If anything, that really did bring a smile to my face. "Show a little less teeth there, honey. You might spook somebody again." I quickly cover up my mouth as Ge-Foli laughed. I didn't see anything funny about that though. Those poor kids were screaming until their vocal cords gave out. The lawsuit that followed wasn't funny either. Having to explain to my boss that I almost got sued for basically smiling too hard was something that I was not taught in the job course.