Challenge #00544 - A169: The Un-Secret
Dunno if you’ll like this one, but I ran across it:
“The thing about evolving on a death world is that you don’t really realize you’re doing so until you get the chance to leave it. Up to that point the presence of carnivorous monsters, venomous micropredators, extreme climatic conditions, geological instability, the most lethal cocktail of microbial and viral life forms in the galaxy and of course the crushing gravity, seemed entirely natural. Until we left Earth we thought ourselves rather weak, frail, defenseless creatures because we only had earth fauna to compare ourselves to. You can imagine our surprise then, upon joining the galactic community to find ourselves in fact to be enormous, robust and insanely dangerous in our own right.” – RecklessPrudence
The humans had literally gone all out to ensure T'reka’s comfort while she recovered from her broken leg.
They’d made her a nest-bed and a special ward where she had a panoramic view of the human town below. And they made sure she had access to their entire database and an ever-evolving translation app. And rechargers for her own technology.
They even invented a patch for her comms system so she could check in with her origin city.
Which was how T'reka found all the archived documentaries.
Su-syn found her staring in awe as David Attenborough narrated his careful and whispery way through explaining life on a coral reef.
“You is good?” she chirped. “You is not needing more calm-shots?”
“No, is good.” T'reka shook herself. Fluffing her feathers and resettling herself. “Am now knowing human secret.”
“Secret? We is no hiding true from you.”
“You is not knowing it is a true,” T'reka soothed. “You is living be on death world, before come here. Whole planet - deadly. Big thing, small thing, big risk, all time. You not noticing. Not knowing other way.”
Su-syn smiled. Uttered a brief laugh. “You is making jokes, yes? Earth no death world. Is where all human living.”
Yes. And that’s the problem. “Earth living four time tough than Hu'lu'a living. Human four time tough than Numidid,” she tried to explain. “All you big tame animal? Still big threat to me folk.”
Su-syn made a face like something smelled bad. “Even sheep? Even chickens?”
“All,” confirmed T'reka. “You folk many much tough than most others star folk.”
Su-syn sat down abruptly. She just folded her legs and landed solidly on the floor. “Is not shock, you folk is think we monster,” she murmured. “We is promise we try no be monster for Numidid.”
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