A week away from Daraxes

Quentin

It has been a week since we left Qasan Station. During that time, we tried to teach English to Gruma, which looked like it would be a long process. While she understood the basics, making the phonemes was an issue. Not at all helped by Scarlett’s inhuman mouth. How that girl relearned how to speak perfect English is beyond me. After the lesson ended today, Gruma reattached her SAD and walked down to the training room. She was there more than any other room, which concerned me. I decided to follow her.

When I reached the training room, I could hear grunting and shouting. I heard punches connect with the punching bag, all with enough force to knock it off its stand. I sighed. It was obvious that she was upset. Maybe we were pushing her too hard. I opened the door and saw her slaughtering the punching bag. If that bag was a face, it would be unrecognizable. I looked at her and said, “I’m sorry we pushed you too hard. I just wanted us to communicate more easily.”

“You’re not pushing me too hard. I’m just too stupid! All I’m good at is beating things to a pulp!” Gruma shouted as she punched clean through the punching bag. Sand poured out as she panted. “I’m dumber than the mutt!”

“Hey!” I heard Scarlett shout from the upper deck, confirming that the walls weren’t soundproof. I guess her claim about the ship being cheaply constructed was true. Not that it matters. Right now, I need to give the space orc a boost of confidence.

“You’re not stupid. To be honest, all this space stuff is advanced for us Earthlings as well. I’m attempting to find out how everything works, but one man can’t hope to truly comprehend all the scientific marvels over a thousand years more advanced than his home world. It’s probably two thousand years more advanced than yours. You’re just having culture shock,” I said as I leaned against the wall.

“I wish it was that simple. I wish you were right. But it’s something inherent in the Taraxian race,” Gruma said as she turned to look at me. I could hear the door open. I immediately knew who walked into the room as I saw her furred body walk up to Gruma and jab a finger at her chest.

“Who are you calling a mutt?” Scarlett snarled, revealing her sharp teeth. Gruma stared down at Scarlett as if the latter was a mere child.

“You,” Gruma calmy said before she pushed Scarlett away. Gruma sighed. “But thanks for showing up. I was going to explain to Quentin the inherent flaw in the Taraxian race. Look at what my device shows me.” She opened her device and displayed the screen:

Psionically Deaf. Due to a low inherent intelligence, psionics are impossible.

“I’m at the average for a Taraxian. That’s what the thing told me,” Gruma explained as she turned off her device. She looked at the two of us and said, “I was told that I was too dumb to use psionics. I can dish out and take hits, but I can’t think. That’s how weak Human boy here managed to defeat me in the fight.”

“I…I didn’t know,” I hesitantly said as I approached her. All of a sudden, I felt horrible for her. I had a feeling that she would never be able to be as smart as a human. We could raise her intelligence stat, but we could never truly make her have a human-level intellect. “We could make you smarter. We can teach you.”

“But I can’t learn! I’m easily distracted and can’t focus! I have to be doing something physical or I’ll go crazy!” Gruma shouted as she started punching a new bag. “I was able to contain it by running laps at the markets, but I don’t know if I can handle any more of that.”

I thought about how to reply. I always thought alien life would be more intelligent than us. If not, then I imagined that they would be monsters or mere animals. But Gruma was an interesting case. She was clearly sapient and a person, but she was also less intelligent than a human. Her rashness during the Dorok Station debacle seemed more like a personality flaw, but it was just her nature. She would need a leader to tell her what to do in the future. It felt horrible to think that way. I wanted her to be our equal, yet it was clear now that she would run in guns blazing at first opportunity unless we stopped her.

“Did they not teach you patience in school? Perhaps we could teach you patience while giving you a coloring activity. I, meanwhile, will be working on my GED, like an adult. I'm sorry, but is coloring too hard for you?” Scarlett mocked. My eyes widened as I knew she struck a nerve. Before I could stop it, I saw Gruma grab Scarlett’s throat and slam her against the wall. Gruma growled, which somehow was more threatening and animalistic than Scarlett’s snarl.

“Gruma, let her go!” I shouted as I tapped her shoulder. Gruma growled as she turned to face me. Seeing her sharp teeth on display scared me. Just like before, it felt more threatening on the Taraxian than the mutant. Probably because that’s not an attribute I would ascribe to someone that looks more human.

“No! This dog is poorly trained! It’s time she learned some discipline!” Gruma shouted as she raised her fist. I could see where this was going. Needless to say, I was terrified. One of my friends was going to kill the other one! I gathered whatever courage I had and slipped between the two women. Gruma saw me and quickly redirected her punch to hit the wall. “Why?” she asked as she looked betrayed.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“If you’re going to kill her, you’ll have to go through me!” I shouted as I clenched my fists. I knew my threat was weak. She could rip me to shreds if she wanted to. But something clicked in her head that made her let go of Scarlett. I could hear the fox-woman gasp for air, unnerving me. Gruma almost killed someone in cold blood for insulting her. I knew Scarlett sometimes messed with people. I knew a lot of people didn’t like that. But I also firmly believed that no one should kill unless they had to.

“Thank you,” Scarlett hoarsely said as she slowly picked herself up. She looked at Gruma and froze. Her tail tucked between her legs as her ears pinned against her head. She was about to fall, but I caught her in time.

“Let’s go to the medical bay. We need to make sure that you don’t have any internal injuries,” I said as I allowed her to use my shoulder as support. I helped her walk out of the training room and into the elevator. I could hear Gruma screaming from the training room as the doors closed.

“Quentin, what’s Gruma’s problem?” Scarlett asked hoarsely.

“It may be Taraxian psychology. I have a feeling that the world the Taraxians evolved on must’ve been a brutal death pit. That’s the only way I can see someone so aggressive towards insults,” I said. I quickly corrected myself, “Actually, I know a few humans with similar anger issues.”

“I’ll admit, I was a bit rude,” Scarlett said. After a glare I sent her way, she corrected herself, “Very rude. But that doesn’t excuse her actions. I swear I saw my great-grandmother for a moment.”

“You’re right. Gruma is more in the wrong than you. But that doesn’t justify your actions. Could you maybe stop insulting our crewmates? I know it may be fun to mess with others, but some people don’t take it as well as others,” I said as the elevator doors opened. I helped Scarlett into the medical bay and sat her down next to the RNU. Almost immediately, the RNU scanned Scarlett’s throat.

“No permanent injuries noted. Patient will be bruised for a while, but she’ll get better. Keep her away from any fights the rest of today,” the RNU said as it gave Scarlett a glass of water. She drank it and handed the empty glass back. “The water contained some healing accelerant. Your bruising will be gone by tomorrow morning,” the RNU said before rolling off.

“I’m sorry,” Scarlett said as she looked at the ground. She looked at the door and shivered. “Can you take me to my room? I need someone to protect me in case Gruma sees me,” she asked while looking ashamed.

“I’ll do it,” I said as I helped her get up. I allowed her to wrap her arm around my neck and lean on me as I guided her. For those wondering, it was a bit weird to feel a furred arm against your neck, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. At this point, I kind of accepted that my life was strange. I was just lucky that I was still myself.

I guided Scarlett to the room across from mine. She opened the door and said, “Thank you.” She then closed it behind her, giving me time to confront Gruma.

I walked down to the training room and opened the door. To say that it looked like a bloodbath was an understatement. Only the blood was sand as all the punching bags were busted open. “Gruma?” I asked as I walked through the sand. Sand was fine, but it was coarse, rough, and got everywhere. Especially in my shoes. Okay, Anakin. The point is we’ll need to get better punching bags, but we need money for that. And we spent it all on this spaceship.

My thoughts were interrupted by a screaming Gruma walking up to me. Rage was flowing through her as she ripped another punching bag apart. “Go away!” she shouted as she kicked another punching bag.

“Gruma, you need to cut it out!” I shouted as I ran into her field of view.

“I almost killed the fox! I could’ve killed you! I need to release my anger so I won’t kill my allies!” she shouted as she picked up one of the torn punching bags. She tore it again and again until all that was left was shreds.

“First off, stop calling Scarlett a dog, fox, or mutt. She’s a person just like us even if she’s a mutant. Secondly, you need to focus on controlling your anger. It may be harder due to your psychology, but it’s possible,” I said as I tried to recall what my younger brother did at his Anger Management classes.

“You have no idea what it’s like to be filled with rage! That d… Scarlett insulted my honor! To a Taraxian, honor is more important than life! If a breach of honor is unchallenged, then my entire family would’ve been shamed! I wasn’t intending to kill her. I only intended for her to recant the statement. I didn’t know she was seriously at risk of suffocating until you freed her!” Gruma shouted as tears started to form in her eyes.

“What does it matter anyways? Honor? No one here is going to tell any Taraxian what happened! Heck, Scarlett would’ve forgotten her insult by tomorrow! And you’re right, I have no idea what it’s like to be filled with rage! But I knew someone who was! One day, during elementary school, a student decided to call him a freak that nobody loves. After three weeks of these insults, including lines about his parents secretly hating him or me wanting him dead, all lies, he had enough. He beat the insulting kid to a pulp and smashed the other kid’s head on the sidewalk.

“We were lucky when paramedics were able to revive the insulting kid. The boy who beat the insulting kid up was expelled from school and almost sent to juvie. But he was too young. However, the fiery anger had to be controlled! He almost killed someone while he was still a child! So we started taking him to classes to control his anger. He practiced taking deep breaths. If he could, he walked away from infuriating situations. He started meditating. He worked out. He expressed how he felt to us. It was a long process, but he eventually learned to contain his anger,” I replied as I felt ashamed. I didn’t say the name of the person involved or his relation, but it was a bit obvious that I was close to him. I just hoped she didn’t catch on.

“I see,” Gruma said as she started taking deep breaths. I noticed her muscles relaxing as she took her breaths. I could see her anger start flowing away. I was either lucky or her anger was already dissipating. Then again, the story probably did a lot to calm her down due to her focusing on my words and not the insult. Whatever the case, I was glad that she was no longer furious.

“I need to go now. Just remember, practice those relaxation techniques. You can also stay away from Scarlett for a while. Just look away and ignore her,” I said as I left the training room. Once I was sure she wasn’t following me, I ran upstairs and into the living room. I immediately plopped down on one of the couches and activated one of the alien videogame consoles. I was handed a controller by a robotic arm from the ceiling. The controller was a bit odd, obviously designed for alien hands. As I activated one of the games, I was immediately blown away by the graphics. If nothing else, the videogames may be great. I started to play, letting time slip by.