“Dear Princess Celestia…” a voice spoke through speakers. They had been playing the audio of a particular cartoon show for the last twenty minutes, all while a glowing monitor displayed the visuals of the show. It played on a tiny window in the middle of the screen, surrounded by other shows playing at the same time. An action film here, an animation there, and even a suspenseful horror. However as their visuals played in their respective windows, only the show in the middle’s audio was unmuted. It held the attention of the one watching it in full. So captivated he was by it, he sat leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and his head resting on his hands. His eyes were wide as they could be while he stared at the screen, listening intently as the audio continued to play from the speakers.
“I am happy to report that I now realize there are wonderful things in this world you just can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily make them any less true. It just means-
“You have to choose to believe in them,” he said, repeating the words at the same time with the purple character speaking on screen.
“And sometimes it takes a friend to show you the way,” she finished.
“A friend… to show you the way…” he repeated forlornly..
“Honk!” a new voice shouted.
He chuckled lightly at the antics the pink character performed, always finding humor in her behaviors. She was just so spontaneous and carefree; she looked like she appreciated the many things in life others were completely unaware of. Lately, he had often felt the same when near others.
“Always, your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”
His blissful grin remained his face, even growing wider in anticipation of the upcoming scene. He watched the two characters that had spoke depart from the flora dwelling the purple one lived in. The camera panned up to the top of the Genus Quercus, stopping as a scaly creature opened a window and prepared to let out a flame. Before he could however, the sound of a falling object so often used in animation was heard, follow the crash of the projectile who was none other than Princess Celestia. Watching her fall out of the sky in front of Spike the first time had him replaying the scene many times over. It was just too comical for him to resist letting out a laugh.
“…Twitchy tail…” the little dragon spoke.
Moments later after she had grabbed the letter and flown off, the end credits began to play with the theme song blaring. The watcher on the other hand, still sat with a happy grin on his face as he watched the text roll by, thinking over the lesson Twilight Sparkle had said at the end of the episode. His pale grey eyelids blinked once over his large pitch black eyes as he stared thoughtfully into the screen, as if he was seeing something far away and behind the vibrant display.
“There are wonderful things in this world… and even if we can explain them, that doesn’t make them any less true or meaningful,” he said to himself. Taking a deep breath, he let out a sigh and continued to stare absently into the monitor, the other shows still playing in their own tiny windows with muted audio.
“If only we had good friends to show all of us the way…”
He sat in thought for a minute before a new window popped up onto his display in flashing colors. Lifting his head instantly he reached out his hand out and pushed it through the display, his hand passing through it like air. Flicking his fingers in a specific way, the screen flashed once as its holographic surface shimmered from his command and revealed the notification that had popped up in a new window.
“Xob, we are already at the Nourishment Center, where are you?”
“FLEEBARB!” Xob shouted. Swishing his hand over the floating display, it powered down and disappeared from sight. But by the time it had finished vanishing he was halfway across his work space in a full sprint, his thin grey feet smacking against the smooth metallic floor. Before he reached the end of the large room he slowed down and took a moment to calm himself. After steadying his pulse somewhat, he walked forward towards the wall. Faint lines that had decorated it shimmered for a moment before a large section began to shift, and slide upwards to allow him to pass through.
As the door slide open, a sudden bright light filled his vision. He had not realized how dark it was in his quarters, his eyes squinting slightly at the sight of the blazing sun shining out in the distance through the window corridor his room was adjacent to. The windows did plenty of work of reducing the brightness and radiation it emitted, but seeing the bright little speck directly still made him want to cover his eyes with a hand. As pretty as the spherical hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields was, he always held a slight irritation whenever the station had his room facing towards it during rotation.
With the door to his room returning into a wall again, he set off down the window panned corridor as a quick pace. The walkway curved along with the shape of the deck he lived on, eventually leading him away from the sun and revealing more distant plasma spheres that were more commonly called stars into view. Their multiple specks of light shining throughout space with a pleasant ambiance to the corridor.
Along the way he passed by beings like him on their own agendas and destinations, each sharing the same features his species had. As impossible and ironic as it was —and one of the supporting reasons to study them— Humans somehow had already imagined what his species looked like, something that was held in great debate even to this day on how such a thing happened. To a Human, he looked to be the iconic alien creature Humans called, “Little Grey Men from Space.” It was true they wore no clothes, being one of the few dozen recorded species to do so. Their bodies were thin, their heads were large, they had three fingers and a thumb, and their eyes were large and pure black. Really it was a statistical improbability that was still being calculated on the odds of how Humans had guessed their forms; specialists were still crunching the numbers on the likelihood of it while others like him, have spent time trying to understand how they imagine his species. Despite what some Humans had thought of regarding a location called Roswell, no Eridin had ever been revealed to the Human race. The only thing they had gotten wrong however, was their height; they were actually as tall as the average Human.
As he walked by others of his kind by, he subtly practice what he had been doing over the planet Earth for the last few Human decades. Observe.
He silently took notice each of his ship coworkers on that lived on the large station as they walked by him, attempting to discern their thoughts and moods. Each of them was either busy reading a portable holopad, or staring straight ahead without regard to the ones around them. They of course could be observing just as he was, the pure blackness of his eyes his species had made it impossible to tell where exactly one might be looking. But he doubted any of them paid attention to him as he did to them, the rest of his coworkers just didn’t seem bothered with the things he found fascinating. Except for the few Eridin he was on his way to meet to share nutritional supplement cubes with.
Still, he took mental note that none of them showed any sign of interest or emotions. It was as if they were single focused machines dedicated on completed whatever task was next. Xob of course knew that most of the time Eridin did not express themselves visually on their inner thoughts and beliefs on things, instead relying a skillful verbal approach for anything. It was normal for an Eridin to act like that, and after his studies on other species he still found it the preferred way to interact with each other. But even so, lately he had developed a small nagging feeling that something was missing in his species…
In a few minutes he he found the closet transmittal pod and quickly stepped onto it, standing in the middle of the tube like transportation. Moments later a shimmering energy sparked across its front, creating an invisible wall that even if Xob tried to pass through, would be unable to. Once it was finished, it pulled away and sank into a gel like substance, then quickly sped off into the bowels of the ship.
Waiting potentially as it moved him throughout the vast ship, he watched the various scenes that passed in front of him. At times he would see only the innards of the vessel, only to at times suddenly give way to vast open spaces that were inside the ship. The scenery was too short lived for him however, as he arrived at his destination within minutes. Stepping off the platform, he looked about open space he now found himself in. Around him were small tables holding some Eridin here and there, and the ones above him seemed to have just as little. Looking up to the far away clear ceiling that revealed the vastness of outer space multiple stories above him, he tried to spot the ones he was looking for from beneath the clear floor tiles that hung motionless in the air; each of them at the end of a row of floating steps that also remained motionless.
Taking some moments to look at each one, the movement of an arm wave caught his attention. To the far right and far above him, one of the Eridin was looking for was staring down towards him through the floor tile, applying the greeting of a small wave as Humans do. Flashing a smile and a half raised hand to acknowledge the gesture, he began to make his way up to the table space from the nearest set of stairs, moving without worry as floating steps changed from their positions to the nearest row in his direction.
After a minute of shifting staircases and steady climbing, Xob reached the floating table space and sat to join his four close co workers; they were stationed on this ship to study varying aspects of Mankind just like Xob. He had grown close to them during their time spent in their studies, often leaving him thankful he managed to form a close relationship with them. It wasn’t often an Eridin could personally feel so close to this many at a time. “Hello everyone.”
“Hello Xob,” they replied in kind one after another, each in a different language from Earth. They were a part of the few Eridin that had adopted the traditional ‘Hello’ that was so accustomed with most Human cultures. Each one had chosen the one they liked the most from each culture, often speaking primarily in that cultures language during their discussions of Humans. Sometimes they even made it a game during their talks, by switching every other word with one from another language while trying to remaining as grammatically correct as possible. For some languages it was impossible due to their sentence structures and phrasing that was unique to that language, but they would still share soft laughs at each other’s expense when they would attempt anyways. The really dedicated ones would even try a hand at speaking some of the dead languages recorded on Earth, their pronunciation often left to personal interpretation.
“We have waited twenty-five and eighty-two telirian for you, what took you so long?” Glxur asked.
“I apologize; I was re-watching one of the early episodes from MLP,” Xob replied.
They nodded their heads at the abbreviated mention of the show, already aware of his personal interest in it. “You are quite fascinated by that program,” Ixena commented, her slight feminine voice over emphasizing the word fascinated as she spoke in Spanish, her favorite Human language by far.
“I, as Humans say, cannot help myself,” Xob replied with a shrug of his shoulders, one of his new favorite actions lately. “I believe it holds something that Eridin do not have or think highly of, like in the episode I just watched. Just because we don’t understand something, does not make it any less true. You just have to choose to believe in them,” he said, tempted to quote the entire passage entirely. “It is clear that we do understand things, but I think we reduce their value once we know all there is to know about it. I am thankful Humans are so interesting that we have not yet understood everything about them or we may have already moved on, missing the important things we could learn from them.”
They all mumbled in agreement to his last statement. Jixhiag swiped a hand across the table afterward, ordering the nutritional supplements to be delivered to their table. A few seconds later, a small android hovered to their position and sat down a plate of multi colored cubes an inch in size. After a few of them quietly gave thanks for the meal as accustomed to their favorite culture, they began to pick the cubes up one by one and pop them into their mouths.
“Even so, I still find it hard to believe the difficulty we have had in comprehending such species with even their level of imagination,” Ixena said.
“I know,” Xob replied quickly. “They have not even left their solar system, and already they have imagined so many worlds. Many of them improbable of course, but they still create them in their minds! They do not wait for new evidence to present itself to consider something apart of reality. Even the notion of thinking of something before ever discovering it in itself is fascinating!”
Naxf, the remaining one in the group decided to jump in the conversation. “I agree. Even during my studies on the Heeglor, a species that are also known to have quite the imagination, do not compare to Humans at all.”
“Exactly,” Xob continued excitingly. “There is so much to learn and understand from them. How their cerebrum even developed the ability is a very interesting topic that is proving vast!”
Glxur chimed in with his voice, starting softly in Japanese and in impressive display of verbal acrobats, ending in Danish. “I do not think we realized just how much we were getting ourselves into when we began our observation of Humans. Every Grandirlag, more experts come to our outpost in further attempts to discern Humans, and yet we seem to dig ourselves deeper in their mysteries. Even they don’t understand themselves clearly!”
Ixena jumped in before anyone else could comment. “It’s amazing isn’t it? It reminds me of one of my favorite Earth stories. I often find myself pondering; how far down the rabbit hole will we go?”
Naxf laughed lightly, “Careful with your fascinations, you know there have been talks of concerns of Eridin becoming too obsessed with Humans. I dare say our group might even already be, how did they say again? Under the microscope? Haha microscope... such a primitive tool.” Naxf often laughed aloud when he found a phrase that was appropriate but somehow held humorous applications to him. The rest of them did not always understand what would draw out a laugh from him.
Xob narrowed his brow ridges at the comment. “To obsessed? Can no one see how much potential Humans have? And the potential they can give us? They already sit at a scale of eight point nine on the rate of species advancement charts. Their planet is apart of the few dozen planets who inhabitants produce adrenaline naturally! That alone is reason enough for long term study. And as I keep reminding everyone, they haven’t even left their solar system!”
“Exactly,” Jixhiag said. “It is because of that and their current world politics that propositions of termination have been proposed.” Xob's eyes widen at the statement, and Ixena gasped softly bringing a hand up to her mouth, a habit she unconsciously adopted.
Termination!?” Xob said a little louder than he intended. Glancing around, there was thankfully no one else near adjacent tables, above or below. Leaning forward he hissed under his breath, “Where did you hear this?”
Jixhiag tilted his head slightly, the manner in which Eridin either expressed concern or curiosity. “It was during one of our genetic analyzes, one of the Prime Supervisors were talking about it.”
Xob was becoming more visually agitated, “How can they even consider it? Yes, Humans are still settling their differences, but it’s not like they have the warlike obsession of other species. Yet, we still do not even consider Termination with them!”
“But there are no species like Humans,” Glxur said. Xob turned to him, unsure if he should verbally attack him for even giving some reason for such a notion. “The potential for Humans is so great in either direction, that they are the very first species we have encountered that even warrant a serious discussion of Termination. Should concerns show true, they will be the first species we will have wiped out…” Glxur lowered his head at the thought, showing the idea bothered him just as much as well.
Xob tightened a fist as he started angrily in Russian, “How dare they think that Humans deserve Termination! Why, they have also been one of the kindest species we have met as well. We have documented evidence of endless acts of selflessness and care towards others. And they hold a love for understanding the universe! In fact, their cultural diversity alone is reason enough to let them-“
“Xob!” Ixena whispered in interruption.
He snapped his head to her as to why she interrupted, and then soften his features as he realized he had gone on a rant that had grown in volume. His behavior was considerably emotional and worrying for an Eridin. Ixena continued as she placed her hand on his, a gesture he was very fond of since she begun it. “You mustn’t forget to think logically. This problem will not be solved by spouting only the positive traits of a species. We cannot ignore potential threats.”
Xob opened his mouth to respond, but slumped back in his seat as he thought over his next words, almost blurting out the first thoughts that came to mind without given them the usual third or fifth once over. “You… are right. I am sorry.” The rest of the group leaned in closer to hear him. “These Humans… their ideals have struck very close to me. So much that I find myself wondering what it would be like to live as they do, to experience the range of emotions they frequently display. I know we have moved past it long ago, after all, why would one want to deny themselves the truth of the universe by succumbing to the chemical responses in their cerebrums built over eons of evolution and survival. When a species has moved passed the natural cycle and chain of nature, there is little use for them anymore.” They all watched him as he spouted the information each Eridin has practically memorized since birth, an ideal that permeated their entire race.
“But even so…” he said lifting his head to look at each of them. ”When I look at these humans, I cannot help but think we are missing something important. Even with all our vast growing knowledge, I find myself now believing we are lacking something…”
The rest of them slowly began to nod their heads in agreement. Though they have not verbally announced similar words, they had all began to feel the same effect the Humans had on Xob. It was something they noticed beginning to appear in each other’s behaviors the longer they observed the Humans. They had not shared their actions or beliefs with others, unsure of how other Eridin would react. For all they knew, they were the only ones on the whole station that felt this way.
Unable to decide what to say next to cheer up the depressing mood that had set, they spent the rest of the time eating the Nutritional supplements in silence, each lost in their own thoughts on the matter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Xob had slowly made his way back to his room, passing through the appearing doorway that returned to once again a wall. Standing at the entrance of his room, he idly passed his gaze over everything inside. Around him was all his equipment he had used frequently during his studies. Signal receivers, biogenetic processors, holographic simulators, and a hollow floating oval filled with gel that had been his bed since his arrival on the station. Sighing, he moved across the room and back to the main terminal he had sat at before leaving.
Standing in front of it, he flicked his hand in a few complicated movements and brought the screen back to life in addition with a few more holographic modules floating nearby. On the screen, the various shows he had left during his studying still played silently, even My Little Pony was still on, already a few episodes past the one he had watched earlier. Looking onto the scene, he watched the Mane 6 going about an adventure, all of them smiling happily as they shared laughs and pains with each other. The sight of them sparked further thoughts in his mind.
He mulled over that even if Eridin were supposed to be mostly logical thinkers instead of feelers —a trait that only a surprisingly few species did not share with the rest of the universe such as Humans— he could not help but feel a longing for the type of things they shared with each other. The very concept humans portrayed into stories, wonders of dreams and imaginations instead of simple facts or pure history, seemed so appealing to Xob. He wished he could somehow experience them himself, the drive of wonder and imagination many stories expressed. He was Eridin after all, uncovering secrets and learning about things had been one of the driving forces for his species ever since they had first made their way into space. He needed to figure it out to increase his and the rest of his species understanding of the universe. But he also felt the need to experience it. To even if for a short time, truly live with the ideals he had grown to be attached to both in mind and ‘heart’ as Humans say.
“If only you were real, then I to could study the ideals of the ‘Magic of Friendship” first hand. Maybe I could even figure out its structure and spread it to the rest of my kind, bringing the joy I see within it to everyone else.” Xob stretched out a hand to the screen, pausing just short of touching it. The screen flashed a bit of one of the ponies before turning into credits signifying the end of the episode.
Sighing as he sat down into his terminal chair, Xob idly reached out towards a nearby holographic control module and began to play with it. He stared into its glowing form as he reconstructed it into the shape of a stick figure. Abducting Humans was strictly forbidden, and could be severely punishable. Communication alone required a long list of approvals, and one could never reveal the fact they were Eridin. Xob thankfully was able to reserve some rights to connect to the World Wide Web, sometimes chatting on forums or talking to other Humans online to learn from them. The anonymity of the Internet made it possible. But it wasn’t enough for him to feel like he was truly understanding them. He believed he needed face to face interaction with one to really have a chance at understanding their emotions. He need to experience it first hand in the moment, not read about it on text or video communication.
Even if one somehow manage to sneak a Human on board, the internal sensors would detect them immediately and report directly to the control center aboard. But how else am I going to study such ideals first hand such as the ones from the show? If I can’t figure out how it all works, how will I be able to share it with everyone else? How will I show that we are indeed missing something...
Xob’s hand moved around the stick figure and set about dismantling it in silent frustration. As its pieces spun slowly in the air, he moved his hand across it again, and began rearranging it into something that resembled a pony. Staring at the glowing figure he formed as his mind racked different possibilities on what to do, he paused to regard the completion of its form. It was a simple stick figure pony similar to the ones the show used in their mosaic glass pieces. It’s eyes were blank orbs staring lifelessly ahead. With a sigh he flicked a finger and spun the pony in circles, its form a dizzy blur as it twirled around in its unmoving position in space. Eventually it began to slow down, its features now definable from its previous blur like appearance. Slowly it turned before coming to a standstill, facing directly at him. The small circles for eyes stared him emptily as if searching for something, and Xob returned it with a questioning glance.
Then, an idea struck him. Fluttering his eyelids at the dawning realization, he leaned forward and looked closely at the stick pony, taking a much deeper consideration of its shape. A grin slowly began to spread across his face as he cupped his hands beneath the pony as if to hold it. “If I can’t obtain something that holds the ideals I want to study…” Lifting his hands, he brought the tiny hologram away from its floating position and up to his eye level while sitting back in his chair, admiring its form with a twinkle in his eye.
“I’ll make one.”