Touring

0.0

Pylo of course started out with simply saying

“Hello there! Sorry for the wait is everything alright?”

Left unsaid was the apology/acknowledgement she had not been aware at all that there were passengers. No need to admit guilt if no one had noticed.

It was so nice to be able to just talk to someone directly instead of having to wait for some stupid squawk box.

She was hopeful that the response would be friendly and immediate. Instead the first one she spoke too seized up and started repeating what plyo just said back to herself over and over again inside her skull until she went unconscious.

This naturally just had to upset and put the other two in a panic. Which of course meant they started shouting things at her.

“Okay, that was weird, hey calm down, don’t worry we can figure this out calmly!”

That had a not quite as bad reaction from the other two.

Actually one of them was even smiling really wide and seemed to enjoy it very much.

The other was still and rolling words and thoughts around in their head furiously for some reason. But at least had not passed out.

The smiling one pushed up to look out at pylo and waved a distal appendage.

Pylo nodded, smiled and waved back.

And then blessed coherent thoughts and words formed in the little passenger’s skull and flowed into the air around it.

But pylo was most interested in the meaning running along the sides of that tissue inside the passenger’s skull.

“Greetings oh fair and beautiful courier who traverses the void bearing us and our precious cargo. I am quite delighted to make your acquaintance, In this life I am known as Quarti. But I am also known as the singer of songs and writer of tales from the birth-times of my people. May I compliment you on your lovely singing voice and how it thrills the mind and body to experience its touch? I am afraid my companions had a poor reaction for they are not used to speech that is not hidden in whispers.”

Oh, that was so much more like it. How delightful to be spoken to so fairly and in such flowery patterns!

Pylo actually caught herself preening under the attention, but swiftly stopped and twiddled her distal-most phalanges against one another.

“Ah, I repeat myself is there anything wrong? You seemed to have been trying to get our attention just now?”

The one that had locked up but not passed out gave a little shake then shoved the nice lady Quarti out of the way of the porthole. That was rude. But maybe she wanted to get a good look at the ‘fair and beautiful courier’. Well pylo already understood how to manage the gold shades, she reached over and opened up another view for Quarti to enjoy.

"Loud Strong Much Deafening Intense Roaring! End Stop Finish Cease! Oh Terra I hope it can understand that."

Quarti turned over to her companion and laughed at the silliness.

“She understands us quite perfectly my dear companion and friend Omega, It was unnecessary to speak so crudely and loudly. She is hearing and comprehending every word as it springs like water from the branches of our minds to the harmonies of our throats. Although not so much before or after”

Pylo was tempted to join the laughter but it was rude to actually outright snicker at passengers. So she kept civil and calm, but she was going to have a good roaring bout of it later in her room.

Oh Omega was saying things, right! Professional attitude and attentiveness.

“- can understand this please don't respond! See THIS part and THIS part and THIS part of my brain? Don't touch those when you speak! And also Say "Alien is saying this" to THIS part of my brain all the time whenever you are saying anything!"

The little passenger jabbed their distal phalanges at various parts of their skull through that terrible frizzy mess, but luckily the inflection of each "this" made the intended structure clear. Fortunate really since she was actually quite a bit off with some of the jabbing.

Pylo looked over at Quarti and narrowed her voice to just stroke and brush the structures inside her skull.

“Could you inform your companion that my name is Pylo, not alien?”

Quarti nodded happily and turned to her companion, speaking with all the grace and elloquence that she always had.

“Our dear courier is named Pylo. Twould be rude to insist on saying Alien like that”

Omega blinked a little then looked at Quarti.

“Really? You can’t mean... Really?! Her name is Thick-hipsalicious?”

Quarti shrugged and tilted her head and waggled one set of distal phalanges a bit. Looking out at Pylo to confirm.

Pylo shook her head

“I thought you spoke the same language? Ah well that is a cute nickname but not at all what I told you... Hum I suppose I’ll just try what she said”

It was so finicky, but that is what you got for accommodating passengers. Apparently one side of their brain was a very do-not-pet zone. While the other was perfectly alright this is where words happen zone. Who had brains like that?!

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Anyway Pylo tried again.

“Ahem, This is Pylo Speaking: I was wondering if you needed anything, it seems like you were trying to get my attention.”

Quarti sighed softly and murmured something about how much less thrilling the timbre was.

Omega shuddered and gave her head a strong shake before looking back out and trying a strained smile.

“Uh that is better... but um... I think maybe your words are not quite translating properly? They are... uh... very intimate and... suggestive.”

Pylo looked over at Quarti.

“Suggestive? I don’t follow.”

"I guess you do have a rather romantic inflection. Poetic and almost erotic really it’s really quite delightful."

Pylo tilted her head one way, then the other and tried to think of what they could possibly mean.

“I don’t ... Ahem This is Pylo Speaking: I don’t really follow what you mean by that. Could you give me an example?”

Omega looked at Quarti, then back at Pylo.

“There were at least three word choices there that sounded like you wanted to impregnate me... Holy Terra, Quarti How do you stand that?”

Pylo did not have eyes, but she could feel that Omega would expect the tumult of confusion to cause her to blink.

“I appreciate the artistry of her speech of course.”

Omega’s face constricted away to have a lot less blood flow and she seemed a bit queasy for some reason.

“I did not need to know that was what you were into Quarti.”

Pylo decided to intervene before they apparently got in an argument due to mistranslations.

“I must apologize, Ahem and again This is Pylo Speaking: I would never actually do that to you. You are not at all my type I think it must be something wrong with your receiver”

Omega shuddered.

“How could you possibly make saying no you won’t do that sound even MORE like you have already? Wait... Did you just say you were... nevermind I’m sorry that apparently my BRAIN is having a problem with you literally f-”

Quarti halted the train of thought with a hand on Omega’s shoulder.

Pylo thought that over, didin’t Terrans have skin spores or something?

And they called her lewd.

Finally cooler and more civil minds apparently prevailed as Quarti took control of the conversation.

“I must apologize for the roughness and uncivilized demeanor of my companions, one is EXCEPTIONALLY young, barely an infant and I suspect she did not even realize it was you who spoke and not some horror of her own Soul manifest.”

Pylo nodded, that was understandable, children some times were overwhelmed when exposed to new experiences. She would not share her own misadventures of course, the less said about unintended-pollination the better.

“That is alright, but there was a reason I was called yes? I do have many duties to tend to”

Quarti looked at Omega and grinned back at Pylo.

“Before your arrival I believe the young ones very much wished to speak with you, learn of who and what you are and see the nature of your ship?”

She eyed the passed out and curled up individual who first greeted Pylo. Who Omega was now tending and muttering under her breath rude things about pylo’s diction.

Pylo nodded and began to swim over to one of the latches.

“Well that’s fine, It was good of you to get my attention instead of wandering off on your own. Tunie is a big girl. Some of her is even a bit dangerous to the unaware. But you can come out now, I’ll show you stuff and we can talk while I do my rounds”

Quarti turned to Omega.

“Go... Out? ... can we do that?”

Omega looked at her, then seemed to realize something.

“No, No we can’t That would be very bad.”

Pylo paused.

“But you three want to see the ship?”

Omega nodded.

“And I’m not going to drag your giant can around. That would be very inconvenient”

Omega and Quarti nodded.

“So you are going to have to come out.”

Quarti looked at Omega, who said some things that Pylo had trouble grasping the meaning of.

She wouldn't admit it of course.

Omega looked out at Pylo and then said the words.

“We are going to need a contained quantity of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon Dioxide, and probably to bring one of our scrubbers... This... THis is VITALLY important, if we don’t have that we will DIE.”

Pylo checked her special care instructions for their can.

She stared at the ‘passengers’ .

“Wait you need all of that stuff to LIVE?!”

Omega seemed annoyed.

Quarti shrugged.

The third passenger floated unconsciously.

Pylo was growing very distressed.

She had passengers on her ship.

For the worse, said passengers were possibly the most finicky and difficult to keep alive passengers she had ever heard of.

Quarti seemed to arrive at the nature of the confusion and tried to helpfully explain.

"Terra always had air, and so it became like blood to us."

Pylo curled up into a seedling position and internally cried a bit.

She couldn't afford to void another contract.

[https://i.imgur.com/7Paugdf.png]