Somehow, the droid seems flustered. “Follow me, if you will,” it says, entering the room that was just opened. I follow closely, letting my eyes trail over the room. It’s pretty small, all and all, with the main features being a rectangular window to the outside, a strange bookcase and a desk holding a pair of what seems to be computers. Maybe. See, the computers are just… melded to the desk. Kind of. They look both ancient and extremely modern and it kind of spooks me.

As I follow the droid inside, I get a closer glimpse at the bookcase. It holds a lot of things, most of which I just don’t recognize at all. There are things that look like small disks, small metallic cylinders, tablet things… Cool technology. Probably very useful.

The droid pauses briefly to grab an object of indiscernible use and shape before advancing on one of the monitors and sitting down on a chair fastened to the floor.

With a few simple taps, the monitor hums to life, and after a minute or so of the droid doing seemingly incomprehensible things, it turns to me and holds out its hand. For a second or so, we just stare at each other.

“I’d like to begin with the tissue sampling, unless you’d prefer to form your ID first?”

“Oh, uh, no, that’s fine. What do you want me to do?” I ask diplomatically, eyeing the thing he’s holding. It seems to be part of the thing he picked up before. It looks kinda sharp. Spiky.

“Present a part of your body, please. Your arm will do fine.”

Uh. Okay, um, sure?

I hold out my right arm, the small blue-ish freckles glinting softly in the light. The droid quickly presses the butt of the tool into my supple flesh, and I feel… Well, I don’t feel anything, but at the same time, I don’t feel the expected pain. It’s just kinda dull, and when the tool is pulled out, the part that was pricked is quickly healed, leaving not even a scar behind. The droid lets its photoreceptors linger on my arm for a moment before inserting the tool into the other part of the tool, and then finally putting that into a hole on the side of the computer.

While numbers and words and signs I can’t recognize flash on the screen, the droid turns to me. “You have excellent healing capabilities. And it leaves no scars?”

“Um, no scars, no,” I say with a shake of the head.

The droid nods in that stale way again. “If we could harness this ability… Indeed, you could be the next bacta. Or kolto. Either way, I hope you’ll give me a minute or so to enter what information is known about your species.”

I nod, preparing myself for another time of wait. I let my eyes drift out of the window…

“Are you a herbivore, carnivore or omnivore?”

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Oh fuck-, oh. Uh? Pop-quiz time? Okay… I can eat anything. Omni means all. That would mean… “I’m an omnivore.” The droid enters something into the computer.

“How do you reproduce?”

Discarding the fact that I can’t… “Through mitosis?”

“What are your stages of maturity?”

And for a few minutes, longer than it promised, I answer questions about my biology, such as the placement and existence of organs, my life-span, whether I have any bodily liquids… It feels kind of invasive, but all and all, I try to respond as honestly as possible.

And then, after that, probably realizing that I’m willing to put up with as much prodding and poking as it can submit me to, it starts physically examining me, checking out my teeth, examining the form on my ear, shining a light into my eye (apparently it doesn’t dilate?), stretching out my tongue… It feels really weird, but I’ve been to the doctor before, so I guess it’s fine?

And after taking a look at every part it could get access to, it sits back down and puts its finger-probe into the computer, probably to upload the information directly.

And once that’s all over and done with and a profile of me is right there in the database, the droid stands up, walks over to the bookcase, grabs a small disc and returns to the computer. The disc is inserted into the computer without a moment’s notice and the droid spends less than a minute entering information. And then, it turns to me. “I have entered all information I am capable of giving. The rest is to be written by you personally.”

I nod resolutely, shifting into place once the droid stands back up.

And the moment I lay eyes on the screen, I know I fucked up.

Yeah, this is gibberish? Like, I don’t even recognize the written language! Well, except for everywhere else I’ve seen it out here in space, but otherwise, it’s completely unintelligible. Yeah, uh, I’m gonna need some help.

I point at the screen and turn to the droid. “Uh. Sir? I can’t read?”

It looks at me for a moment, large insect-eyes unblinking, and for just a moment, just a single moment, the pure exasperation in that silence convinces me that this creature has to be sentient. “...Is that so?” The voice has so much unsaid emotion that it practically exudes it. “Are you unable to read in general, or only written basic? For example, can you understand bogolan script?”

“Uh. I mean-, I can understand some written stuff, but I don’t think it exists here?” I say noncommittally.

“Very well. We shall attempt various forms of written script until you recognize something.”

And that we did. While the droid stood leaned over me, cycling through various languages, I just kinda looked on. A few actually had normal letters, others were completely alien, and a few seemed a little familiar but too rough around the edges to really be recognizable. That was, until…

“Hey, I recognize that one!” I say, pointing at the screen and the familiar letters. Only seconds after my exclamation do I realize the strangeness of the situation. Finnish exists in this universe? Huh? That’s… Then, might this be a world in the future or something?? It would explain the cool technology and the existence of humans and English. Hmm.

“Then my hypothesis was correct, esteemed guest. Although using bogolan script is unconventional for official business, it shall be allowed at the moment due to your unusual situation.”

Uhuh, uhuh.

Saying so, the droid leaned back to his rigid stance, leaving me to write in my information. The ID requires name, species (already filled in), occupation, rank… All of that. A bit uncertain, I try my best to answer what I can, and once I’m done, I turn back to the droid. Sensing my mental state, the droid takes over, finishing the last few parts. As it turns out, the very final step appears to be walking over to the bookshelf, grabbing a small cylinder and transferring the information of the ID into it. And then it hands it to me.

“-There. It has been a delight serving you, esteemed guest. I hope you do well on your continued travels.”

I slide the little cylinder into a pocket on my shirt. “Uh, yeah! Happy to be here!”

And with that, the droid leaves the computer room, the door sliding shut behind its back.

And… now what? I mean, there’s plenty of things I’d like to do, most of them involving hanging around people I know, but it kind of feels like they’re not too interested in having me around at the moment. Typhin and Fern are doing official business in the cockpit, Atte is probably doing official stuff too, so… Yeah. What’s there for me to do?

Hrm. Maybe I should take a look at the computer database? I’ve been given clearance, after all, so there shouldn’t be any issues.

Alright, let’s take a look here.