The Vascar appeared to have form-fitting suits, though it was tough to tell if their heads were actually that poofy. The first thing I noticed, as one’s grip pushed the interior airlock inward, was that they appeared to have segmented claws; that is, they bent at two joints, like ours. While human fingers were like little hotdogs inside astronaut gloves, theirs were curved and tapered. Their bodies seemed stocky, with broad chests and legs. Up close, I thought their weaponry most resembled carbines. The guns were navy-blue, which popped against the metallic suits.

“Get out of my face,” the team leader remarked, shoving me with the barrel of his rifle. “Up against the wall. Raise your appendages where I can see them.”

”Mikri?” The alien grunted in agreement, and waved to its squadmates. I raised my hands cautiously; a dryness had taken over my throat, as the Vascar posse boarded our vessel. “You don’t need t-the suits. This cabin is pressurized; there’s oxygen. Unless you, um, don’t breathe that…but if you don’t breathe that, your ship won’t have the right mixture for us.”

“We do not breathe oxygen. We will study the atmospheric composition here and ensure that ours is conducive to your continued survival.”

Sofia interlocked her fingers behind her head. “It’s your ship; we don’t mean to inconvenience you. What do you breathe? Is your world…?”

“What did I say about not prying for us to share anything we did not offer up?” She only asked the most basic question about what they breathed. Surely we must know something about the first other lifeforms we’ve found, on a biological level. This is harmless stuff. “Our world will be fine for you. Our suits will remain on, and that’s final. Were either of you injured in your crash?”

“I don’t believe so, sir. Thank you for coming to our aid. I’m sure you have your reasons for not matching my enthusiasm, but we’re very excited to discover we’re not alone.” Sofia offered an earnest, toothy smile, which caused Mikri to tilt its…no, I was going to say his from now on, for the sake of clarity. He said he didn’t care. “There was a whole existence here out of our reach.”

“I do not understand your facial expressions. Please specify their meanings.”

I tugged my lips up, then down. “Happy, sad. Done.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” my squadmate protested. “The Earth Space Union left a chart in that binder, in case we ever needed to communicate through pictographs. It should have the human emotions and correlating expressions.”

Mikri stared as the scientist pointed at the first contact manual, which a Vascar had thrown onto the floor as they rummaged and ripped apart every compartment on our ship. The military craft‘s leader took a moment to catch on to what the pointer finger was suggesting. Did an intelligent species with segmented claws never develop that nonverbal to show each other where to look? The alien found the page, and took a picture of it with some kind of rectangular device. He held the paper up in front of him, as if comparing me to it.

“Nervous?” the Vascar guessed, helmet focused on me. I swallowed hard, though I didn’t deny what he’d said. “Why are you nervous?”

My eyes widened, glancing at Sofia for support. “Because you have guns? And I have no idea who you are and what your intentions are?”

“That is untrue. I have told you that I am with the military, and that I am here to help you. Unless you prove to be with the enemy. Tell me who you work for exactly, and the history of how you came to be.”

“Well. We’re with the Earth Space Union…it’s a c-collective built to colonize and regulate space. Nations made pacts about how to divide the planets’ land, with supranational borders. There were mergers up in space, and that led to blocs at home, like the North American Combine: a w-whole continent united. I work for their space force, um…”

Sofia seemed eager to introduce herself. “I’m a scientist with the Eastern Atlantic Collaborative. First countries to join forces, to colonize the outer planets after the Mars Rebellion left the future of spaceflight—”

Mikri turned his back on us. ”And you’re working together now. Yes, yes, I do not actually care. I was just putting you on the spot to test that you had a legitimate history. I assume you want to go home now, which will require us to fix your ship? I have no doubt you’ll expect this favor from us also.”

“We’d like to go back, so we can tell Earth what’s on the other side, and…yes. You’re the only ones who can help us with any of this! We don’t know where we are in relation to the portal home, everything we know about engineering doesn’t work here, and we want to talk to these Elusians if they’re behind all this. Allow us to get our footing, please, Mikri. Humanity would be in your debt forevermore.”

“We’re not a threat,” I added.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“I am not so foolish to believe that, Preston, but your colleague speaks well for you both. Very well,” Mikri determined. “The Vascar have already agreed to send you home. You will stay in an installation on our planet, Kalka, until we are able to return you. We saw the general area where your emissions began, and will monitor the area closely. Once your people send another craft, we will have the breach’s location. Is that acceptable?”

“You mean it?” I tried to hide my shock, though judging by how the alien glanced at the expressions chart, he knew my amazement. “Yes, of course. That would be incredible. May I ask, um, w-why you’re doing this?”

“Preston!” Sofia hissed.

The Vascar stood still for several seconds, before beckoning to us. “I’m doing this because I have chosen to, and so have my people. No questions, remember? Where was I? In addition, we will compare the physics of your universe, and repair your ship to alternate between the two. Now don your spacesuits and come with me—before I give more thought to why I’m aiding you.”

”Gladly,” I grumbled.

The two of us hurried into our spacesuits, under the watchful gaze of the captain; his body language screamed of impatience. The Vascar had said no questions, but perhaps we needed a diagram of their emotional cues as well. I’d have to drop a suggestion that it might be helpful, since any direct inquiries didn’t please them. Surely they wouldn’t wear the suits on Kalka, which would make it easier to glean their tells.

Why did Mikri say he’s not so foolish as to believe we aren’t a threat? What have we done to him? I stared out at the asteroid’s surface, while the Vascar hurried us along toward his boxy ship. I hoped this ride would be less of a roller coaster, compared to our entry. They are strange, but they offered us everything we need. Shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Everyone had assumed this was a one-way trip, so what was Earth going to make of this, when we returned home and told them what we’d learned? To the rest of humanity, we were missing astronauts who never checked in. They had no idea how limiting and small their universe was. I had to find out as much as possible, without seeming like I was nosing into Mikri’s business. My goal was to search for any clues about who the Vascar were, and how they lived. Inference would be our greatest tool to learn about them.

The vessel’s interior appeared to be one single room: the bridge. No appliances, no amenities. There were only rows of seating, consoles, and weapons lockers.

We were situated near the front of the vessel, by the windshield and what I imagined was the captain’s chair. The rest of Mikri’s unit filed back to the ship, sitting down and avoiding talking to us. There was some chatter in their own tongue; I wondered whether the program to communicate with us was only available to the leader. None showed any signs of removing their suits for so much as to drink, eat food, or relieve themselves. Were all of their biological functions handled by this exoskeleton, perhaps? That was something I’d tuck away about their customs, though I couldn’t help but question the reasons behind that.

“Our magnetic hooks latched onto the cargo,” Mikri informed us; it took a second to realize he meant our ship. “You may remove your helmets. It is breathable for you.”

I lifted my helmet, stuffing it under the chair after sucking in a test breath. “Thank you. We’re honored to be on your ship.”

“I am not sure what the sudden flattery is about, but no matter. It’s a few dozen trillion miles—your units must be microscopic—to Kalka. It’ll be a few hours. Do whatever it is that humans do to occupy yourselves.”

Sofia weighed how to respond. “Sir, that most often is to talk. Are you open to getting to know us? What we call…small talk?”

“No. I will engage with you regularly, as I have been chosen to test your abilities and to teach you of this universe. That will be exasperating enough, but we don’t need to be friends.”

“You’re right, sir. We don’t need to. However, if we’re going to be working in close contact, we should be…friendly?”

“I will chaperone you. I will help you. Kindly do not bother me further with menial concerns about my affability.”

Nice guy, Sofia mouthed at me, which caused Mikri to look at the expressions sheet with confusion.

I giggled, as the Vascar turned around with disgust. Yeah. Real nice.

The spaceship had accelerated to astronomical speeds; only now did I have time to process just how far a vessel could travel in a few hours here. Did the speed of light even exist in this universe? It seemed like velocity wasn’t capped at all, if going trillions of miles was as trivial as flying from New Boston to Los Angeles. I leaned back in my chair, my thoughts running every bit as fast as the ship. We were going to be living with these aliens, who had no personality, for months at best. It could be years, if Earth shut down the program after we vanished!

What if the accommodations were lacking? What did Mikri mean about testing our abilities? Nothing about the Vascar’s behavior seemed fond of our presence, so there must be something they wanted from us. I didn’t know what their ulterior motive was, but that was a terrifying thought. My throat clammed up again, and that was when I noticed the skin burned like sandpaper. I twirled my helmet around in my hands, only to realize I hadn’t refilled the drinking bag since the last spacewalk. Deciding water wasn’t a menial concern, I opted to seek the alien’s attention.

“Mikri?” I called out to the captain. “May I please have some water?”

The Vascar froze, taking several moments to formulate a reply. “Water?”

“Yeah. I’m thirsty as f—fun times. You know…hydration, drinking fluids. Water. Two hydrogens, one oxygen?”

“I’m familiar with the molecule! I don’t have any to provide to you right now. Can it wait a few hours?”

“I…I just asked for…yeah, I guess. I won’t die.”

“Good. Write down a list of your basic needs for us, so we can ensure nothing is missed.”

Sofia furrowed her brow at the aliens, before passing me her helmet with a sympathetic smile. I took a few gulps, making sure to ration it since this Vascar military outfit couldn’t be bothered to accommodate our most fundamental need. Mikri acted like I’d asked him for Kalka’s nuclear codes, not a swig of the basic building block of life. Maybe it wasn’t the basic building block of life in this zany universe, which was another thing humans would have to know. These beings behaved stranger and stranger by the minute.

After how I’d been handled on the ship so far, I was even more uncertain about the accommodations these Vascar would provide.