"Well, thank you for your time. We're very interested." Mia smiles, then gives a small wave. The alien waves back before heading away down a hallway, humming a little as he goes.
I think it's humming, anyway. That's what it sounds like to me.
I sigh and slump down onto one of the benches in this break area. "It's a good thing I'm not alone, or I would have probably just sat there staring at him like a weirdo until he left or got creeped out."
"Probably." Mia laughs.
"Thanks." I snort.
MIa grins and nudges my shoulder with hers. "It's okay. When you're working around them you'll start picking up the language by immersion."
"Better than by electrocution, I guess..." Especially as that has not worked. Ever.
"It'll happen."
"You're way more confident about this than I am." I shake my head, but I'm smiling despite the fact that my chest is tight with the thought of trying again and again, and failing again and again.
But, Mia doesn't respond. Instead, she turns around and heads over to Hestia. She puts a hand on the other girl's shoulder, smiling softly at her. "And thank you too, for accompanying us. Are you sure you want to sign up for odd jobs too?"
She nods, then smiles back shyly, her gaze flicking from me to Mia and then back again.
Mia pats her head. "You're a sweet girl, Hestia."
Hestia blushes, her face turning red and her gaze falling downward. Her hands cover her face as if that makes her more inconspicuous.
It's super cute, I think.
Even Mia's expression is soft and warm, and I don't think she has the ability to look at Hestia any other way, with how kind and soft and gentle she is with her. It's almost motherly.
Mia ruffles her hair playfully, then steps away and looks at me. "I'll be off, then. We won't get any answers about what you'll be assigned to for a couple days."
She's optimistic.
I'm pretty sure that 'nothing' is an option, after all.
But there's nothing for me to do but sit back and sigh. At least less of my time in the day is spent with that damn rock now. I'm not quite sure if I've gotten better at it or if they just make me do it less time - the time I'm doing it still feels arbitrary.
Eric settles in the seat near me without any fanfare.
I blink, stiffening in surprise.
When did he even get here??
Hestia skips over and sits on my other side.
"I've been wondering..." Eric says softly, breaking the silence. "What happened to the others...?"
He just. Says it. Without any fanfare or lead in. Without even a greeting.
But I guess that's not too unusual for Eric.
I blink and stare at him for a moment or two. "The...others?"
He crosses his arms under his chest and looks at me. "The humans. On the ship. All the ones that were trapped in the room with us but didn't move or react. What happened to those? I can't see them anywhere..."
...That's a really good point.
I'd forgotten about them, but...
He's right.
They split us up from those others immediately, though I've never known exactly why.
I didn't think about it at all at the time, and life has been one catastrophe or stretch of suffering after another since then, so I really haven't had time after.
It's a little impressive Eric even remembers. Even if there's been a bit of a breather since that trial, I've been entirely consumed with thinking about the plan. I guess that just goes to show how much more confident he is.
He crosses his arms and purses his lips. "What made them single us out to end up here, and what did they do with the ones who they sent elsewhere? I've been asking around since we first got here, and I haven't gotten an answer. Not from any of the other humans, and not from any of the rest."
"Maybe...they're the ones who get abducted and sent back, telling all the stories?" I shrug. Given that aliens are real, and they really do abduct people, it feels less likely that all the abduction stories are made up now.
Even if mine is. Nothing like those.
He clicks his tongue. "Doesn't seem like their style to just let some of us go. Never heard of any stories that match even that original place, either. And I don't see why they'd do the things those stories talk about."
He's not wrong. If I were honest with myself back at the time, nothing past the initial beam of light fit any kind of stories I've ever heard. Not that I was ever an expert at it.
And he's also right that...
I can't really see these creatures doing the sorts of random, weird medical things that I hear about in those stories.
They're far more sadistic than that.
...Which makes me wonder, briefly, if that means there's an entirely different group of aliens who cause those abduction stories we actually get to hear about but....
Far more relevant is still the question: Where did the other humans go?
Now that Eric asked it, I'm asking it too. And I can't help it, the question keeps spinning in my mind like it's stuck in the wash, over and over again.
Maybe they were just sent to a different camp on this planet.
But then why separate us before arriving for processing? And why would we go to different camps, anyway? What's the difference between us?
The only thing I can say for sure is that some of us were looking around and some never woke up from that initial black out I felt when getting abducted by that light.
So...
Maybe this isn't the planet they send the other humans to?
But. That...doesn't feel right. Not that. I can confirm or look into that feeling at all.
I can't just...ask. I don't speak alien. And it's not like the aliens go around just discussing the things I'd like to know about where they're in hearing range. At least not in English, anyway. They seem to have pretty limited conversations with each other while they're working, and they certainly aren't in English.
It's really just a lot of... 'do this' and 'do that'. From what I can tell.
Not the best for immersion learning or whatever. But maybe it's...
Just better learning material, more fertile ground, if I'm listening to them chatter.
It's certainly an idea I can cling to. Even if I have no real proof to back it up, or even an idea of if it's a thing I can learn from at all. I just want to hope I can, and so that's what I'll hope.
I mean. I don't have anything else to hope with.
If I can learn from immersion then at least it would also give us a chance to spy on the aliens, which. Obviously, would be good.
Even if Eric and Mia can already handle it, three is better than two, right? We'll get it done better if there's three of us working than if there's only two.
Again it's...
Mostly just something I want to believe.
...But my mind has completely wandered away from the plot, hasn't it? I just. Jumped the tracks to my other concern.
Finally, I speak. "Why...are you thinking about it now?" I tilt my head. "We've been here...months."
I have no idea how many. But that it's months is certain.
"Been here too long." He snorts. "If they go elsewhere in the camp we should have seen them, but I've looked and they're not. And Ivan," He says the name out loud like it's not dangerous?! "he never mentioned any of the rest of those people as having been here either. Which means...where did they go?"
Well.
When he says it like that...
I purse my lips.
I don't have an answer.
Besides the idea that they just. Go to another planet or something. But...why? I have no answer for that.
Still, it's definitely strange to consider that the other people, even those that have been here for longer than we have, never mention the people we started the journey with. The ones we came in the ship with, who were in the big room.
"You. Don't think they...killed...?"
"Perfectly good slaves?" Eric snorts, his tone flat. "...I'd be shocked." His gaze is sharp. "...I think they were sent elsewhere."
"Elsewhere?" I purse my lips. He must mean. Another planet, right? Like I'm guessing. "...Why?"
He shrugs. "No idea. They haven't ever told any of us anything about the humans they take here, either. I can't expect them to tell us about the others."
...He makes a point.
But it's an annoying one because...
"Then. How do we even figure out?"
He hums and rolls his shoulders. Then he leans forward in his seat and rests his elbows on his legs, leaning his head in his hands. "I don't know yet."
That look on his face. I've seen it a few times from him. That expression is...it's not exactly plain confidence but. It makes me think he feels like it doesn't matter he doesn't know yet. Because he'll find out, eventually.
And I don't know how he does it. How he can be so confident about something like that, especially in a place like this.
How can he be sure of anything? At all?
I guess he has to act that way. He needs to be certain, maybe. I don't think there's a lot of other choices, anyway. Act like you'll eventually figure it out even if you have no idea what you're doing, or be frozen in place.
Like me.
But still.
It's just...
Weird.