Page 16 of Heart’s Prisoner

Xerus grunted. "It is useful when it needs to be."

Lana frowned. These questions seemed to be going nowhere. Still, she pulled up the rest of the images to gauge his reaction. A lightbulb, a spear, a mirror, and a military-grade handgun.

"What is the first one?" Xerus asked.

"A lightbulb, a glass container that holds electricity to create light. It's how we light our rooms like you can see above, though they are much more advanced here."

"Why is this one the color of the sun" Xerus pointed at the image, "but the one in this room the color of blood?"

Lana's brows furrowed. "I...I thought...the bulbs in your unit use UV light. It's supposed to give necessary vitamins to keep you–"

She could see Xerus had no idea what she was talking about and Lana realized the use of the red light was another clueless theory among the other scientists about Xerus being some kind of lizard; even though they still were uncertain about that notion since they weren't able to perform tests.

"Nevermind," Lana said.

Xerus eyed her curiously then looked back at the images. "The bulb is strange, the stick-knife looks useless, what is the third image?"

"A mirror," Lana said. "To see your reflection."

"...Mm doesn't seem useful either."

"It works like this." Lana pulled up the camera on her ISpad so that she saw herself on the screen. She stood up from her chair and got closer to the window, turning the ISpad around so Xerus could see himself. She watched his reaction with great care. When the alien saw himself, he didn't jump or lunge at the glass or even hiss. He instead looked himself over, scratched at his jaw, then grunted.

"Maybe something aDirraawould use." Xerus stood up and turned away and seemed no more interested. Lana turned the ISpad back toward her and turned off the camera.

The image of himself hadn't scared Xerus which to Lana meant he was at least self-aware, but whether his kind actually used something like mirrors was still a mystery.

Lana deleted all the images off the screen except for the last. "And this one?"

Xerus glanced at the gun then looked away. "Useful. If you aren't in close range."

When he said nothing more, Lana deleted the image and silently wrote down her thoughts on the workpad. She didn't get as much information as she liked but it was to be expected.

"So do you think you have me figured out now?"

Lana looked over at him. "Have you...figured out?"

Xerus came back to the glass to look down at her seriously. "You think you have some idea about me."

It wasn't a question but Lana still paused to consider her answer. "I have...theories, yes."

"Tell me." When Lana gave him a look of uncertainty he gave her a nod. "I'm curious."

Lana didn't see the harm in it. After all, if she was wrong he might tell her and she could cancel out any incorrect assumptions.

"Based on what you've told me so far...you have some technology. And you aren't completely primal, living out in the woods."

Xerus tipped his head up. "What makes you think that?"

"You know what fire is but you don't consider a spear a useful weapon. My guess is you might be living in the caves. You either can see in the dark or use flame for light or maybe another source that isn't like our own," Lana said. When Xerus said nothing, she continued. "I also think that you don't use weapons much at all, except for maybe something long-range. But I don't think it's a gun. I think you only discovered their usefulness from when you were captured."

Xerus' tail swished beside him. "Interesting theories. And what makes you think I don't use weapons?"

This time it was Lana's turn to size him up. She looked him over and Xerus tilted his head at her as he watched her observing him.

"You don't need weapons because you were built to be one yourself," Lana said. "Others theorized this already. But from what I can see myself, I also agree. Your scales are thick, maybe thick enough that they are hard to cut or penetrate. Horns and spikes like what you have are usually used for defense by animals...at least from my world...but your tail and claws and teeth are easily those of a predatory species. Your gait shows the power in your limbs giving you the ability to strike fast and hard or to move with great stealth. You have little competition in surviving or perhaps none at all."

Xerus dipped his head low, his eyes narrowing. "Careful, Doctor. Too much of this flattery and I might...what's that strange thing humans do? Blush?"

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