Chapter Fifteen

Warriors recognize warriors, I suppose. I watched out of the corner of my eye, my professor’s words ‘Everything is an experiment’ still in my mind, while Boatswain and David fell quickly into talking shop, discussing some of their tours of duty and workout routines.

Thankfully with my multiple ears, processing Lisa’s instructions proved very easy, filling out my request for logins, taking a photo, some things were so hauntingly familiar, like a shadow of our processes back home.

I quickly caught Lisa off guard, “...So then we process these documents through the RAMPSYS-” She was explaining to me but I immediately interjected, my hearts all raced at once like I was chasing that blasted tennis ball again.

“Yes, I understand.” I said and my fingers flew over the pad, tapping buttons and eyeing the split screen system while I processed the autofill, I quickly brought up a spreadsheet and said, “But that presents a problem, if you look at cell B42 on the other document, that will put this soldier over his leave total, and he was due to take a fitness test a few days after that, and I didn’t see him on the other roster as having taken the last one…”

Lisa frowned and stood beside me, she put her hand on the back of the chair and leaned over my shoulder, she smelled vaguely of lilacs, I noticed, and she let out a derisive snort. “I’ll be damned.” She straightened up a little, “Hey, David, when was the last time Private Morris took a fitness test? According to what the new guy just found, it looks like he’s skated out on at least the last two, probably more by gaming the vacation system.”

David pursed his lips when he looked over at me, a glint in his eye as he looked me over again as if it were the first time. “That right? One second.” I waited in quiet patience while he pulled up some information and then began cursing up a storm.

“Lazy sonofa- hey, Lisa, show him where to pull up the rec-” She shook her head, cutting him off.

“He’s already found it.” She sounded almost awed and I could feel her eyes boring into the top of my head.

“Have you used this system before?” She asked with utter incredulity in her voice.

“No, it’s just the logical structure, it’s kind of like ours.” I explained and then pointed to the new document I pulled up, the naming convention was what I expected, sorted by date, company, and location. “Private Morriss, Charles C. has taken six vacations, cross referencing it against outside missions on your assembly notes, this pattern dates back five years since his initial arrival. I’m guessing that isn’t normal?”

The way David’s face darkened with anger, I was sure I guessed correctly, but he was looking at me with new respect. “How the hell did you do that?” He asked.

“He’s dlamisan, we’re efficient.” Boatswain explained on my behalf.

“You know, if you put all this into a uniform database you could easily cross reference this kind of information and identify the problem before it becomes persistent.” I suggested and swiveled my chair around to face David directly, “I could do it for you if you like, depending on how large your information is, it could take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks, but it can be done.”

“That’s a yes from me.” David answered, “Consider the job yours.” He snapped his fingers and pointed his finger at me, “Three days per week if you’re a student here.”

“I am, or, I will be in a few hours.” I explained, and I think his face was almost disappointed when he learned that, but he didn’t object.

“I should actually take you over to the admissions office now, they’ll be bogged down and take forever if you don’t catch them early.” Lisa cautioned me and looked at David for permission, she fluttered her eyes and he let out an exasperated sigh.

“Yeah fine, take him over there.” David answered, “It’s more efficient that way.” He said and waved me up from my new desk. It had barely been two hours, but I was already fairly sure I would like my new job.

Boatswain made a brief farewell and followed behind me while Lisa led the way over the campus, this part at least I was sure I could have managed without her, the directions were very clear and there was a large ‘Admissions’ sign in red and white above the stone steps.

It is here that I stopped, Lisa didn’t realize it at first, she went several paces further before becoming aware that I wasn’t following her. I had my datapad out and began writing. The steps of stone had words etched into them, words I considered important not just because of their placement but because of what they were. Every intelligent race develops a value system, ethics of some sort.

A study of human ethics was more complex because their ethical history is so complicated. However, a few values at least, seemed to transcend time and culture. Considering that these steps were now centuries old, predating even human space travel, it was telling that the values inscribed on the facing side of each step were still there. I wrote them down to ensure I researched it more later, and took several photos which you will find in the back of this volume as figure 15-1.

What startled me, if startled could be said to be the word, was how similar these values were to our own, not only in practice, but in display. Of all the species I’ve studied, only dlamisa and humans tend to etch their words permanently into stone even ‘after’ the invention of more disposable and easier methods of record keeping such as paper, parchment, vellum, or other equivalents.

Stone has a sense of permanence, unchangeability, once there, it is there forever, or at least long enough that it doesn’t matter that it’s not truly eternal. Seeing values like fidelity, patience, diligence, and honesty etched into stone at one of their institutions of higher learning in such a way that anyone ascending those steps would know what the institution stood for? It was heartening to me, and I heard the wagging of Boatswain’s tail behind me as he read the same words and felt the same sense of approval as myself.

The more I thought of it when I finally resumed walking behind the patient Lisa, the more credibility I gave to the idea of a kind of coevolutionary principle, a shared origin to all the living species of the galaxy… but I was still years away from the studies needed to even test the idea.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

But by this time? Yes, the studies were in my mind and were already starting to take shape.

I still considered the Zenti stories of humans being an unnatural species to be pseudoscientific bunk, of course. But a shared origin? That was at least not impossible.

The doors were antiquated in that they were simple glass and swung manually, no automated systems controlled entry, and I was confronted by an unusual layout. More glass walled offices with a round design with office workers sitting in various locations where applicants or existing students could come up and speak directly, and a row of cushioned chairs in the University of Louisville colors lining the wall.

Thankfully Lisa’s forethought got myself and Boatswain in while those long rows of waiting chairs were still empty. The fact that the row was twenty in length with more just outside, promised long waits at other times.

Riding the wave of my good luck, as soon as Lisa opened the door for me I went straight to the long round desk and toward the nearest employee, an older man with a balding head, gray hair, and while he was a bit overweight as age took him, he still had a vigorous gleam in his eye.

He did give me a once over, his eyes went up and down my full height, though he almost scooted back when he saw Boatswain right outside, waiting patiently. “My escort.” I said, tilting my head toward where the giant dlamisan security guard stood.

“Right, I saw you on the news. You’re shorter in person.” He said and grabbed a document from his desk that was just out of my view, he put it up on the counter and slid it over to me. “This is the new form for admissions, make sure you put ‘planet of origin’ in red ink, and then in green ink, mark this spot,” he pointed to another section of the paper, “for any dietary restrictions or special requirements you have.”

I was surprised enough to see that the document was actually on paper. Strangely enough, some humans seem to innately be able to read the thoughts of others, or at least my own species as much as theirs, and he didn’t wait for me to ask my question. “We haven’t had time to adapt our digital filing system yet, in a few weeks, maybe, but you’re the first alien to attend school here.”

“I suppose I would be.” I acknowledged and he added immediately…

“Normally we would require that you meet with an academic advisor, but from what we hear you’ve been a student for longer than most of us have been alive, and as a special accommodation since you’re not seeking a degree from us, only studying, you are allowed to take any class or subject you like, regardless of prerequisites.”

My tail wagged so hard that it was pummelling Lisa’s leg well before he even slid the datapad over to me with the course listing available. “Here you go, pick what you want and just write them on your form, I’ll input the data manually and we’ll message your data ID the course schedule.”

I was browsing the course list, flitting my finger over the information and found that some of the classes held a distinct appeal. Western Civilization from 1850 to 2000. Anthropology 300. Chinese Art after 2200. The list of options went on, and each course description came with a brief bio link to the professor.

As I was browsing, Lisa put a hand on my shoulder, I looked over at her and she said, “Can I make a suggestion?” She asked, I will admit, even many years later, she had an utterly charming speaking voice.

“Sure.” I said and when she got my permission to suggest something, she slid the datapad over to herself and scrolled through the list of classes.

The words moved too fast for me to see, but she seemed to know what she was looking for and tapped her finger on the screen to stop it, she inched it down a little and then said, “This one.”

“Creative writing?” I asked, “Why that?”

“The class is small because it isn’t a requirement, plus, writers are fun. You know they can tell a good story, and you’re here to study people, right?” She rested her arm on the surface of the counter above the employee’s desk and crossed one foot over the other. I nodded to her question, but I doubt she noticed, she was a very fast talker, not one to slow down for much.

“So you can study dead people and ancient history, and sure that’s fine, but you want to give a good study of humans that will help the rest of the galaxy’s intelligent races understand humans, so why not study modern humans? The stories we tell today are the things that concern us today, that’s the cutting edge of modern culture. Modern music, modern art, modern writing and videos and simutech, not dead people.”

She made a powerful argument, and then she added, “Oh, and I’m in that class, so hey, at least one friendly face will already be there.”

That clinched it, a small class, a friendly face, and the promise of a good time? I tapped the box for Creative Writing 101 and another for Kentucky Authors of the 21st Century and handed the datapad back to the employee.

“Alright…” He muttered while he typed something else up just out of view, the clack of keys indicating his actions continued for another minute before he said, “There’s only one small problem.”

“A problem?” I felt my air sacs tense up in my chest.

“These classes include some field outings, tours, they’re not covered by your embassy, if you want to go, you either have to pay out of pocket or by the school through the volunteer program.” He explained, and again he saw my expression and seemed to know what I was about to ask.

“There’s things around the school that need doing, volunteer for those and the school waives the outing costs. Nothing too stressful,” he emphasized, “trim the fruit trees, take care of water at the football game, help support some of the campus clubs by helping them with activity setup, that sort of thing.”

“Pick the waterboy job.” Lisa said at once, “You get in free to the games while you work for the team.”

She winked at me when she said it, and I knew enough about humans thanks to their films to know that a wink meant a lot of different things, but usually favorable to the person being winked at.

“I’ll do that, then.” I said, and then he pointed me over to another chair.

“Sit right there and look at the camera.” He said and finished typing something on his screen. He grunted as he pushed his sizable body upright and half waddled over to the camera, I stared straight ahead while he fiddled with the little black camera device.

“I’d say smile but…” I did the next best thing, I opened my mouth a little, and cocked my head with my ears down.

I got the reaction I expected, the old man broke into a massive smile that seemed to take up most of his face before he said, “Perfect.” and pushed the button, I was briefly blinded by a flash, then while I was blinking and trying to restore my vision, he finished up his task on his system.

It took a few seconds to get my vision back, and when I did I saw he was placing a plastic ID on the counter. “Alright, you’re enrolled, there is your student ID, it’ll get you some discounts in the city, entitle you to three meals per day at the dining facility and get you into any class building on campus.”

I looked at my ID and read it out, “Bailey Walker.” I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that, given that my species didn’t have ‘family names’ in the usual sense, but I wasn’t displeased with it. I put it into my pocket, and waited while Lisa said a brief farewell.

“C’mon, I’ll show you where the stadium entrance is, I’m going to practice now anyway.” Lisa said and added, “Welcome to the team.”

I barely heard her though, for some reason one thought immediately came back to my mind.

‘I don’t want to leave.’