Page 97 of Malliko
Walking into the entertainment room, the first thing that struck me was how the people in there looked bored. Some were slumping on a long seating arrangement that stood pressed against the wall. Others were on the floor doing what reminded me of yoga, and then there was a group of three people talking softly in the corner. But the most bizarre thing were three white elongated egg-shaped cocoons that lay next to each other. They were massive like huge dinosaur eggs, and I wondered whatkind of creature would come out of them. My thoughts, however, were distracted because the moment we entered they all turned toward us and straightened up.
I could remember one similar moment in my life. It was back in high school when rumor had traveled that I was pregnant. Walking into school and seeing everyone staring at me had filled me with dread. Back then the looks had been full of judgment, but now I saw only curiosity. Remembering what Malliko and Cacala had told me on the way here, I knew they had an impression of humans as being immature and emotionally unstable. Maybe their interest in me was similar to modern humans’ fascination with isolated tribes that lived in the jungle, untouched by technology and politics.
The three men who had been talking in the corner came to greet us.
“Let me introduce you to Zobran, Nerix, and finally Lios, who is the captain.”
I could feel eyes on us as I smiled politely and listened as they spoke. Lios’ hair was wavy and long, reaching his shoulders. He had a calm expression on his face, and I instantly felt safe with him.
“Do you feel better now?” he asked, and I nodded as if I was in a trance.
“You connected to her?” Malliko asked.
“Clara was nervous, so I calmed her a bit,” Lios answered.
“Stay out of her head,” Malliko warned him.
Blinking my eyes, I looked around. Despite everyone still watching me, I didn’t feel bothered by it. Had Lios really manipulated my mind without my noticing? I couldn’t comprehend how that was possible, but then Nerix addressed me.
“It’s nice to meet you in real life. Lios and I experienced Malliko’s memories of you the last time we saw him.”
I didn’t understand what that meant but what he said next surprised me. “Did Malliko tell you that we’re communicating with humans through dating apps now?”
My brow furrowed and my lips slightly pursed. “No. Is this a joke?”
Zobran confirmed Nerix’s words. “We found a different one than the one you showed us, Malliko. There’s a website where people can meet and interact. There’s no swiping or waiting to be matched. You can write to anyone you like, and there are social groups. We even found one for people who are into aliens.”
As if I was trying to figure out a puzzle, I asked to understand, “You’re chatting from space with humans? Is that possible?”
Nerix gave Malliko a strained look as if he pitied him for being with someone as slow as me.
“I understand your confusion,” Lios said in a patient tone. “When Malliko was here the last time he talked about his work, and I’m afraid his stories about human dating made my crew curious to see if they could interact with humans as well. As part of the cultural defense team, we have a special license to interact with protected species and everyone is curious about humans. You look like the rest of us descendants of doom and yet, you’re rumored to be very different. Because humans don’t travel outside your planet, few have ever interacted with your species.”
“When you’re done with your interview, we want to talk to you about a woman Nerix has been chatting with,” Zobran said in a serious tone.
Lios seemed to know what it was about because he answered his crew member. “We’ll deal with that later. First, let’s go and meet the committee members.”
Scanning the entertainment room, I noticed that two of the large egg-shaped white cocoons had opened and a woman was sitting in one of them.
“Are the committee members here?” Malliko asked.
“Not physically. We’ll link to them.”
As we walked out of the room with Lios, I whispered to Malliko. “What are those cocoons?”
He looked in the direction of my eyes. “Those are exploration capsules. They’ll take you on fun adventures throughout the galaxies. You can compare it to your computer games. These are just on a whole different level.”
“Ohhh…” I felt stupid for having thought that it might actually be an alien egg.
As we walked into the meeting room on the spaceship, I marveled at the alien technology surrounding us. The room was circular, with two rows of comfortable chairs surrounding a large, glowing panel embedded in the center. The panel emitted a soft, white light and displayed the images of a solar system. If I had known anything about astronomy, I might have been able to tell if this solar system included Earth, but I had never been focused on learning the names of planets or understanding how the Universe worked.
The chairs were made of a metallic material with padding and the walls were lined with screens that showed the stars outside the ship. The atmosphere inside the room was much more sterile than a meeting room on Earth, with no decorations or plants. Instead, the focus was on the technology, and I marveled as Lios didn’t even touch the panel in the middle before two other aliens joined us.
Malliko leaned closer and whispered, “The one on the left is a Scilm and that’s a good thing because they believe in free love. The other is a Clattonom, which is a water creature with incredible intelligence. They are androgynous and able to reproduce without the need of a partner. As far as I know, they don’t have names like we do, and they live three times ourlifespan. I fear it will be hard for a Clattonom to understand our desire to be together.”
I stared at the two aliens. One was a humanoid who looked a bit like my colleague Kenny, except milder and younger. The other alien had the shape of a seal, with no visible neck and large round eyes that shone with interest.
Lios described the purpose of the interview and pointed out that everything would be verbalized for the benefit of me, the human. He looked at me when he said that one of the committee members didn’t have the capacity for speech but that he would translate.
