She took me to some kind of room. Not unlike the room I had been in for the shrapnel wound only a little while ago. A bit smaller, this was a single room with four walls, the previous one had a fabric divider in between two beds. I’m sure the double rooms served to house more patients, perhaps the singular chambers were for more invasive procedures or to discuss personal information. Either way, privacy was preferable.

The two soldiers were satisfied that we were safe, I was now far away and secure from the human who had attacked me. I was grateful for that, but I noticed a faint, concerning feeling in the back of my mind. I could rationalize that I had been treated with hospitality the whole trip up until now, that I had been saved by the human doctors, defended from pirates by their soldiers, all things that served to build my trust with humanity. However, now I had been attacked by one, and as much as I wanted to yield to logic, I couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else on this ship or the carrier had similar intentions regarding my wellbeing.

I was ripped back into reality with a snapping sound. The female had elected to change out her gloves. Or put gloves on? I couldn’t remember if she had already been wearing them. My ears were still ringing, and I had been unconsciously rubbing them. I wonder if humans had similar issues with loud sounds or impacts. Wait, obviously they do, they had hearing protection for their weapons. I must have been hit fairly hard.

“Alright, uhm, Ozzy? Was that it?”

“Ozis.”

She wrote something down on a tablet when I responded, I can’t imagine my English name was too hard to remember.

“Right, sorry, Ozis. Now I may be a doctor, but given our anatomical differences this might feel a bit… unprofessional. Here, hold this gauze to your head, I’m going to check for a concussion now that I have more tools here.”

I did as I was told. She grabbed some sort of long black object off the counter and stood in front of me. Curious, she didn’t have to kneel or bend down at all to meet my eyeline even with me sitting down. She pressed a button on the object, and it turned on a light at the end.

“Assuming our eyes work the same way, which there’s a good chance they probably don’t, if you’re concussed, your pupils… your four pupils… if these are pupils, shouldn’t dilate properly. Assuming they even dilate as ours do.” She looked down and made some sort of sigh. “If you can even get a concussion.”

There was silence for a few moments. Only now did I realize that this was the first prolonged contact I have had with a human alone, and it was one I had never met before, from a ship I haven’t been on, and she was standing somewhat uncomfortably close to me.

“I can. I can get a concussion. When your brain hits your skull, that’s what you’re testing for, right?”

She finally looked back up. “Yes, exactly. Any chance you know how your eyes work?”

“The pupils get larger in low light and shrink in brighter conditions. Or at least I think that’s how they work. I’m not educated in medicine.”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Well, that’s something anyway. We can focus on the bleeding wound on the back of your head first.” She stopped shining the light in my eyes. She had a weird look on her face. “Are… Are your eyes bioluminescent?”

“What?”

“Nevermind, active bleeding wound, Jesus.”

I removed the gauze, there was a fair bit of blood that came with it, but not a worrying amount. She walked around behind me and started feeling through my hair.

“Can I remove the pins now?”

“Yes, just give them to me when you do please.”

She very carefully pulled them out. It was surprising how gentle they could be, quite a strong contrast to the violence I’ve seen they’re capable of. My hair promptly fell all over the place, as it does. I quickly pulled it all together in front of my face and held it there.

“Alright, Ozis, it looks like the impact created a surprisingly clean tear.”

“What does that mean?”

“He was likely wearing hard knuckle gloves when he hit you. A more even distribution of the impact. Either that or your skin just tears that way, honestly, I don’t know. I am going to clean it and apply medical tape. It’ll hold the cut closed and it’s coated with a medicative salve. Should speed the healing process.”

The cleaning process was rather painful. However, the bandage she put on was soothing.

“Alright, well, I think you have a mild concussion, I’m sure the impact was lessened because he was hitting you at a weird angle with you being so tall. Any of the medical staff on board can provide mild painkillers or ice packs for any resulting headaches if you need it.”

She started to walk toward the door, now resting the tablet device at her hip. I started to put my hair back up in between my ears and behind my head. Before she closed the door she turned around again.

“Oh and you might consider leaving your hair down, it looks good like that.”

I watched her leave. That was a strange comment. Or maybe it wasn’t. I don’t know what humans discuss in casual conversation. I suppose I could go back to my room. Knowing what I know so far though, they’d likely want to talk to me about what happened, and later about my role in galactic affairs. Or maybe I could just sit in this quiet room for a while. Why did they have to be so social? I have enjoyed their company but it’s like they are never alone.

It was funny, what she had said. To leave my hair down. I couldn’t though. Plus, when Gerrick asked me if I was armed when I came on this ship I had been lying. I rolled the longer of the two pins in my hand, then pressed on the side and back, causing it to extend into a stabbing weapon about the length of the knives the human soldiers carried. Of course, it was no ranged weapon but I had begun thinking about it since I’d been attacked.

Gods, and here I had been worried about the humans’ history of espionage, and I had snuck in a weapon in my hair. I collapsed it, and put my hair back up. I wonder how they didn’t notice it when they scanned me for the shrapnel earlier. Or perhaps they did but didn’t care.

I looked down, there was blood all over my hands still. I’d need to go ask where I could wash them off properly, and I needed to talk to Gerrick about something. I was about to leave the room when there was a knock at the door.

It opened right after and in walked the female from the bridge, the captain. She closed the door behind her and removed an object from her head. It was white, like the uniform she was wearing. She had many colorful insignias on her shoulders and chest, likely signifying rank or perhaps awards? She placed it on the counter and sighed.

“We need to talk, Ozis.”