"What is that?"
Posted on Mon May 25, 2020 @ 1:55pm by Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD
Edited on on Mon May 25, 2020 @ 3:29pm
746 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
The Binary Suns
Location: Teccapus Market
Timeline: Between "Stay Out of Trouble" and "So Much For Subtle"
Going off by herself was probably not the smartest decision Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque, PhD, would ever make. She knew that the instant she began walking away from the landing party. Nevertheless, the diversity of alien life on this planet was simply too fascinating. She needed to explore and watch and learn and anybody else would just get in the way.
In one hand, covered by a long sleeve, was a tricorder, always on. The tricorder fed data to contact lenses which displayed information directly in front of her, auto-focused for her visual impairment.
She wasn’t defenseless; a holdout phaser was under her poncho-like top and could be retrieved quickly. And the tricorder would pick up imminent threats.
After a few minutes of walking, she ended up in an open-air market, where dozens of aliens congregated and shopped. On sale were dead animals, live animals, strange robotics, and even what appeared to be people — some beautiful women, others burly strong-types (sex and labour, Camille assumed).
She tried to hide her disgust at the slave trade and paid close attention to the animals. A number of amphibious creatures hung from a display. Green and speckled, its tongue hung out as the meat dried in the sun.
“Are you going to pay for that?” came a voice behind Camille. She turned to see a tall alien with white skin, bulbous eyes, horns, and a wide mouth full of teeth. A quick anatomical scan revealed the alien was female and apparently evolutionarily very primitive. The alien spoke again. “That gorg costs seven wupiupi.”
Fascinant.
She smiled, happy the modified translator was doing its job. “Pardonnez-moi madame,” she said. “I am just looking for now, thank you. But what else do you have?”
The alien gestured for her to come see. “What you eat? Selonian Tube Larvae? Manka Cat? Porg?"
She looked at the various animals on display. Vertebrates had mostly been exsanguinated and disemboweled, leaving only the meat. The invertebrates, including different kinds of worms, were alive and wriggling and Camille was desperate to take some home for analysis. She was about to ask for a pair of Selonian Tube Larvae when she saw something else in a large transparent case.
"What is that?"
The alien turned to see what the visitor was looking at. "Oh, that's just for waste disposal. Adolescent sarlacc. I keep its digestive chamber visible in case it doesn't like something I feed it. But that's where the guts go." She lifted the lid of the container and dropped something that Camille thought looked like a chicken liver into the case. Little tentacles grabbed it and brought it to the beak inside the toothy maw.
Sensing an opportunity, the alien turned back to her guest, who stared into the case with wide-eyed wonder. "You want one? This one make spores. Babies grow quickly. Can sell you mini sarlacc. Grow like this in months, it will." Little did Camille know it was a lie, and that this one on display was a millennium old at least, and it would take a further thirty millennia to grow to full size.
Camille had been scanning the 'sarlacc' with her tricorder up her sleeve, but longed for the opportunity to do more. "Absolument!" She found the currency that they had replicated before landing and began putting pieces on the table. Barely understanding economics as a concept, she hadn't realized that her first few coins were higher than the price the shopkeeper would have set.
"Okay, that's good," said the shopkeeper after ten coins had been placed before her. She retrieved a small container, six centimeters tall by 2 wide and deep. Inside it was a live miniature version of the alien lifeform Camille coveted. "Put in dirt. Feed meat parts every day. Five percent body mass. No extra water."
Beaming like a girl who got exactly what she wanted at Christmas, Camille put the container in her cloak and practically skipped out of sight. When she left the market area, she tapped her commbadge under her cover. "Lévesque to Victory. I have a specimen container on my person. Beam it to the glove box in science lab one. Full decontamination protocol. No one touches it until I'm back." The specimen vanished under her clothes.
Excited but parched, the young science officer looked for a place where she could continue people-watching and enjoy a drink. Maybe she would find her teammates there.
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