Adventures of Tash and John Ch. 01

After walking for a few more minutes, Tashaiea found a shady spot next to an artificial pond that housed a large statue of an artists depiction of the company that had founded the colony and decided it was a good time to apply some of her moisture lotion. In an environment nearly so polar opposite to that of her home, this lotion was just about the only thing that kept her much fairer skin from completely drying up. The Kai'ani weren't made for deserts. In fact their was only one on her entire home planet, and no one lived there. Well, no one sane anyways. She was about half way done applying the cooling lotion to her arms when out of the corner of her eye, a figure caught her attention.

It was a tall individual, just about as tall as she was but bulkier, walking on what definitely looked like two legs. She quickly took out her camera and snapped a picture at the maximum possible zoom, a technique that she had used many times in the past when she wanted to look at something far away but was too lazy to actually go over and look at it. Something did indeed look familiar about the creature as she studied the image on her cameras display. Two arms, two legs, not inverted like the Kai'ani though. Pink skin, no tail... It suddenly dawned on her why it looked so familiar, she had been staring at one this morning on her computer display after all. A Human? Here? It was an incredibly odd sight.

Kerpzu'avi was quite a distance from Kai'ani space, and as far as she knew it was even farther from Human controlled space. What could he, she assumed it was a he by the torso bulk, possibly be doing all the way out here? There was no way he was competing in the games. The Kai'ani may have been just on the heavy side, but most Humans were in a class of their own. That much muscle mass packed onto that small of a frame was an impressive biological feat. Her curiosity must have gotten the better of her because before she fully realized what she doing, she had put away her lotion and had begun to walk in the same direction the Human was heading.

She kept her camera in her hands, snapping the occasional picture and studying it. Yup, it was definitely a Human male. Adult, probably mid twenties in Human years. She found herself drawn to his muscles, especially when he exposed his arms. They looked solid enough that she could hang off them without so much as a ounce of effort on his part. Every so often he would stop to take a look at something or take a drink from what looked like a water pack on his back. For some reason Tashaiea found herself mesmerized, snapping an additional picture every couple of minutes.

It didn't register with her until she discovered that she had been following this man for about ten minutes that she was being the literal definition of a stalker. Part of her knew that she should probably stop before he noticed, but the other part, probably the part that had lead her to this place in life, wanted to keep going and see what happened. In the end, that was the latter part that won out. She continued to think just what he could be doing here. Maybe being a tourist? But why come to watch a bunch of low gravity athletes? He could easily out run, out lift and general out preform all of them without even breaking a sweat.

Compared to human athletics it would be like watching a bunch of snails racing to see who was the fastest of the slow. Humanity was just superior in every way. Even compared to the Kai'ani they were almost like demigods, not that her people would ever admit it. They just didn't realize that human culture bred the... incredibly appealing specimen in front of her. Tashaiea had found that human culture had a certain... appeal that hers lacked. Even though Humanity was still fairly new on the galactic stage they were already making incredible gains. And Tashaiea wanted to get in on that... in more way than one.

She was in mid fantasy about what lay underneath his clothing when she suddenly noticed that he no longer had his back to her and was just about staring right in her direction. Panicking she suddenly pretended to notice something to her left and diverted her eyes to the non-existent thing. When she looked up a moment later, he had turned back around and was proceeding to walk into an alleyway. Not wanting to let him get away, Tashaiea picked up her pace. What happened next really shouldn't have surprised her, but regardless as soon as she turned the corner into the alleyway she felt a strong pair of hands grab her.

Before she knew it she was pinned against the wall with the Human staring her directly in the eyes, and she wasn't sure where it came from, but there was also suddenly a knife to her throat. Even though she was just a little taller than him she couldn't help but feel like a child in his grip, she had even slid down the wall slightly so that she was looking up at his eyes.

"Who are you!?" The Human shouted "Why are you following me?!"

It was at that moment Tashaiea realized that she had turned off her translator, but she recognized the dialect. It was Human English, pretty much the standard dialect of the whole species. She had studied it so that she could watch Human entertainment programs without the need for subtitles or translators, but even so she had ever only spoken it to computer programs.

"Well?" The Human asked again, tightening his grip on her and pressing the sharp end of his knife ever so gently into the exposed flesh of her neck. Well it was now or never, Tashaiea thought as she let out a whimper.

"S-sorry!" Tashaiea said in the clearest voice she could muster "P-please don't not slice I!"

The man seemed taken aback for a moment, so much so that he removed his knife-hand to check the translator rig that wrapped around his ear and ended with a shield like readout screen in front of his eye. Obviously bewildered that the translator was working correctly, as in not translating at all. He turned his attention back the girl he was pinning against the wall.

"You speak English?" He asked, still obviously confused. Tashaiea could feel his grip lessen slightly as he asked.

"Y-yes sir!" Tashaiea stammered out "Please, I mean you no hurt."

She noticed that he started to relax slightly, and he was no longer holding a knife to her throat.

"Then why are you following me?" He demanded in a stern voice, making it obviously clear that he was still the one calling the shots.

"You're Human. Very odd be see around here." She tried to explain.

"What's that?" He demanded nodding towards her camera which she was just now realizing she had a death grip on.

"Camera. It's camera." Tashaiea responded after a moment of searching her memory for the correct term.

"A camera?" The Human repeated. "Are you some kind of photographer?"

"Photo-grapher?" Tashaiea said, more to herself than to him as she attempted to process the word. "Yes!" she said finally "I'm photographer!"

"Let me see" The Human said, offering his now non-knifed free hand.

Tashaiea wasn't sure when he had put the knife away, she was just glad that it wasn't pointed at her anymore. Releasing her death grip she cautiously placed the camera in the man's hand and undid the clip that kept it on the strap around her neck. His hands were nearly twice the width of hers and just about as long. With the camera solidly in his hands, he began to retract the arm that he was using to pin the Kai'ani woman to the wall.

It was at this moment that Tashaiea realized that his force was the only thing keeping her upright, and without his arm quickly slid down the wall, falling into a pile of herself. Her legs were shaking and felt like wet noodles. She vaguely remembered the Human asking if she was okay, to which she responded a quick series of nods and a noise that might have sounded like a 'yes'.

"Alright" He said "Don't go anywhere"

Tashaiea barely had the strength to stand up, let alone make a run for it so she just nodded again. Her breath was ragged. The heat of the dry air was starting to play havoc on her lungs and throat. She tried to concentrate on slowing down her breathing, and decided now might be a good time to take a better look at her assailant. He definitely was well built. He wore black baggy pants made of a fabric she wasn't aware of and tan leather boots which looked like they were probably made for extended time walking. He also wore a tan jacket made of the same unknown fabric.

Every once in a while when he moved she noticed what looked like tubes printing from the inside of his jacket. Probably some kind of inbuilt cooling system, not a bad idea for this kind of climate really. To top it all off he wore what looked like a kind of respirator, it wasn't attached to his face but more seemed to sit right at the bottom of his chin. Tashaiea remembered reading somewhere that the Human's home planet of Earth had a higher oxygen content than most planets that used the galactic standard, her own included. So it was probably to supplement his oxygen supply on planets like this one that used the galactic standard.

On the top of his head he wore a wide brimmed hat that seemed to be the same on all sides. The term 'booniehat' seemed to come to her as something she had seen in one of her earth entertainment programs. They tended to be used mostly by Human military people. That thought got her thinking, as she quickly reexamined everything the man was wearing. It definitely did bare a resemblance to some of the military clothing she had seen in her shows, just without the normal camouflage patterns. The last clue came when she noticed a patch of some kind on the sleeve of his jacket.

If she read the text right it said '105th AIRBORNE' right above the picture of some kind of mean looking white bird with some additional subtext that said "We Go Feet First". It made sense to her then how he was so attuned to his environment and had been able to pick up on her following him, among other things. Human military training was some of the harshest and hardest training in known space, well at least compared to Kai'ani military training. Tashaiea's thoughts were cut off when she heard the Human make a noise.

"Huh, well at least you got my good side in most of these" He said without taking his eyes off the camera display. He looked up and directly into Tashaiea's eyes. "What's your name?" He asked, the demanding tone from earlier now gone.

"V-vakal K'shon Tashaiea." Tashaiea responded, voice hoarse and cracking from the dry air. She felt a sudden and sickening urge to cough that she couldn't stifle no matter how hard she tried and within a moment felt like she was trying to cough up her lungs.

"Hey, hold on there" She heard the man say and felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see him kneeling beside her and extending his drinking straw towards her "Here, drink."

Obeying, Tashaiea took the straw into her mouth and started sucking. She didn't much care what the contents were at that moment but was shortly relieved to taste water, gloriously cold water. She took a long draw before stopping to stifle another cough with her hand. She then went right back to the straw and greedily took another long sip.

"Whoa, slow down there, you're going to make yourself sick." She heard the Human say, his voice now laced with concern. "I'm John by the way. John Henry Baird."

Tashaiea finished her sip and let out a relieved sigh, her chest still hurt but the water was enough to subdue her coughing for the time being. As she looked up she saw that John was already standing up and was holding out his hand.

"Here, let me give you a hand up." He said

Tashaiea took the Human's large hand and was suddenly standing up once more. She was amazed at just how easily he lifted her entire weight with just one arm.

"Thank you." The Kai'ani said, now looking slightly down at him. It took a moment before she realized she was still holding his hand. A flush of green flared over her face, her species form of blushing from embarrassment. She quickly let go of his hand and tried to recompose herself. John had obviously picked up on her visual queue and spoke first.

"Sorry about all that earlier. I didn't know why you were following me and I had to make sure what your intentions were." John confessed, maintain a warm smile.

"It is my fault." Tashaiea replied " I should have spoke you my... intentions."

John laughed "Yes, if you had just TOLD me you wanted to take some pictures, I would have happily said yes."

"I'm sorry." Tashaiea said again, eyes slowly sinking down to stare at her feet. "I should have... told you intentions."

John just smiled "No harm no foul. And besides, it's not every day that a pretty girl wants to take pictures of me."

Pretty? Tashaiea perked up. He thinks I'm pretty? Her mind raced as she scrambled to make sure that word meant what she thought it did. A smile started to creep across her face. He thinks I'm pretty! Tashaiea tried to retain her composure, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that she was excited. And once again, John obviously picked up on it.

"Hey," He asked "If you're not doing anything, would you maybe want to get something to eat? I don't know anywhere around here that's good"

"Yes!" Tashaiea said, no longer attempting to hide her excitement. "I know a someplace good to eat!"

"Well alright then!" John chuckled "Lead on!"

"So the Kai'ani evolved from primates as well huh?" John inquired while poking at what he could only assume was some kind of omelet, made with an egg from a creature that he couldn't pronounce the name of if he tried.

It tasted similar to the chicken eggs he was familiar with, but just more... chewy. Perhaps it was just the way it was cooked. Tashaiea, who now insisted he call her 'Tash' because the shortening of her name was what 'you Humans' did to those close to them, said that it really was some of the best cooking the Voss had to offer. And it wasn't that it was bad... it was just that it wasn't great. John could immediately think of a dozen different things he could do to the recipe to improve on it. But that really wasn't the most urgent thing on his mind.

It was this Kai'ani girl. She had nearly attached herself to him ever since they left the alleyway. It really was a new experience for John. He'd never met someone, let alone a female, who was so genuinely interested in everything he had to say. He was really starting to enjoy her company. At the moment they were having a discussion about the ancient histories of their respective people. Tash knew a surprising amount about Earth and Humans in general. While he on the other hand had never even seen a Kai'ani until just a couple hours ago.

"Yes, we evolved from a kind of primate on Kai, much the same way of Humans on Earth. With a couple of differences, see?" Tash said, making some gestures towards her face and legs.

"Huh," John mused "I suppose that makes sense. For all the different species that evolved in different ways, I guess it is statistically possible for primates to evolve into sentience the same way as well."

Tash nodded, taking another bite out of her omelet. John was quite surprised how quickly she had started adjusting her speech to better match his. It seemed she was making the most of talking to a real native English speaker. She even went as far as to turn her translator off while talking to him, only occasionally turning it on when she got stuck on a word, which really wasn't very often. John on the other hand kept his on, using it to help Tash out when she needed it, and also because he was lousy at learning other languages. He's tried in the past, but they just never seemed to stick. At least Tash was perfectly content with speaking in English. Her accent was pretty cute too.

"So, Kai is your home planet?" John asked, attempting another bite of his food as well.

"Yesh" Tash said and nodded, mouth still full of omelet. She swallowed and continued. "All Kai'ani originate from Kai. The planet is also goes by Seya Four, or Seya Prime, for legal reason. Seya is the star."

John smiled "Earth's star is called Sol, which would make Earth..."

"Sol Three." Tash cut him off, taking a drink of her water.

"Sol Three." John chuckled.

Tash set her water down and her eyes moved to meet his. Damn, she really was pretty. John never thought he would actually find an alien attractive. Especially since most every other alien species he had ever seen looked nothing like anything he had ever seen. Humanoids seemed very few and far between. And even then two arms and legs were pretty much the only commonalities they shared with Humans. But there was just something about the way her green eyes stared at him. So full of life and exuberance. Not to mention the rest of her. The smooth features of her face were similar enough to find commonality with, but alien enough to constantly keep him exploring her every curve. And her skin, that tan-green mix just seemed so exotic. He couldn't help but smile.

"So where is your people from? Did you grow to on Earth?" Tash asked. "Your skin looks... Euro-pan?"

"Yes, I grew up on Earth." John replied, smile still not fading. "I believe my ancestors were European at some point, but for myself, I grew up in North America."

"Ah, yes, America. I grew to on Kai, in Kazhon country." Tash said, pausing for a moment. "Kai'ani don't have same... skin differences that Humans do. My people do..." She paused again, mumbling a word he couldn't make out and his translator didn't catch. After a moment of consulting her own translator she continued. "My people do 'selective breeding'. Skin colors basically all same. Main differences are in face and genetics. Some Kai'ani have skin patterns. My family bred out skin patterns for generations, so I have smooth skin."

It was an interesting prospect for John. Tash's people practiced some kind of culturally enforced eugenics program. Well he supposed different strokes for different folks. And if they all produced women like Tash, well he could see the appeal. There was one thing that was bugging him however.

"Tash," he said. "How do you know so much about Humans and Earth?"

John could see her start to beam, like he had asked just the right question.

"Humanity is best!" Tash nearly sung "Humans are honorable with a deep history and culture! Humans have not been around for long, but look at accomplishments! Other species don't understand, but Humanity is future!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious. John wasn't sure if it was possible for him to smile anymore than he already was.

"Ok," John said. "But why. I want to know why you think this way? Why do you like Humanity so much?"

Tash's cheerfulness slowly faded. She let out a sigh and clasped her hands on the table in front of her.

"When I was young, I and my family were on trip. We were traveling on a ship back to Kai from attending a birthing ceremony for a new line of our family. The route the ship took was lane just outside of Human colony system. New Holland, I think it was. We were almost out of range of system when our ship was attacked. It was pirate slavers, the Breaten Hvas clan. I was quite young, but I still memory the faces of my parents. Never have seen them terrified like that." Tash trailed off, obviously dredging up more of a terrifying memory. John simply decided to sit there patiently and wait for her to continue. After another moment she did.

"The ship was disabled and boarded, the Breaten Hvas started rounding us up. I memory I and my mother being taken and put in a group with other females. I memory my mother holding me and telling me everything was to be okay. I didn't know what was to happen. There was shouting and screams... and then a different sound. A popping that made echos all over in hallways. Our captors were panicking. I remember watching our guard's chest explode into blood. And then, new people arrived, different ones."