“GOTCHA.”

The light flicked on. Exflibberaguil beamed in Nick’s face. “How was that?” he asked eagerly, “I was practicing it. It was from a new dictionary I installed on Translator. It’s got a lot of these words called…er…slang, I believe is the term for it.” He grinned gleefully, as if expecting praise.

Nick was on the ground, breathing heavily, frantically blinking tears from her eyes.

Exflibberaguil observed, not at all disturbed by her puffy red eyes. To him, tears were a great mystery. The only tears he knew were the ones he shed when dust or other irritating particles got in his eye. “Why do you cry?” he inquired bluntly, “It’s always been such a mystery to my planet. Primitive species have a tendency to cry when they’re sad. Is that it? Is that why you cried?”

“You scared me,¨ Nick said flatly.

¨Ah, yes, fear! Fear also starts tears, so I´ve been told. It´s really extraordinary, you species. Why waste so much energy on a pointless task such as crying?” Exflibberaguil became more excited. “I know! I’ll write a whole book about primitive species! I’ll be famous! You’ll help me with my studies. Like a test subject! I’m so excited!”

Nick didn’t meet his gaze. She was afraid her glare would trigger him. She stood up without a word.

“Hey!” Exflibberaguil protested, reaching for Nick’s arm to prevent her from leaving.

Nick swatted the hand away. “Don’t touch me again,” she muttered, with as much hostility as she could inject in those four words.

Instead of the desired effect, however, Exflibberaguil saw it all as a joke. “Amazing! Seven words in an hour! That’s a personal record for you, Nick.” Exflibberaguil reached for Nick again, and Nick wasn’t fast enough to avoid. She struggled.

“Get off!” she threatened, squirming and attempting to pry off Exflibberaguil’s fingers one by one. His grip was impossibly strong. The unmistakable feeling of tears rose up her chest again, despite her attempts at suppressing them. She knew Exflibberaguil would watch her in fascination, as if she were some extraordinary mutant.

“Leaving so soon?” Exflibberaguil asked with an innocent pout. The pout quickly broke into a grin, spread across his face like a large worm. “Ah! You’re doing it again. Crying. Why are you turning away? Let me see! Let me see!”

Nick broke free of Exflibberaguil’s grasp. “Stop it!” she hollered, “Stop it! I’m not your lab rat! I’m not your pet ferret. I’m a human being, and if that’s too hard for an emotionless psychopathic alien like you to understand, I suggest you leave!”

“Nick…”

“Why did you come to this planet anyway?” Nick exploded, “Oh, don’t feed me that ‘saving your planet’ bull. If that were your true intentions, you wouldn’t have the time or heart to think of writing a book. You’re just playing with me, aren’t you? You just love being oh so high and mighty. A dictator. That’s it!” Nick gasped for a breath.

“My planet doesn’t matter to you. You think you’re the center of the universe. I thought you were supposed to be smart and advanced! I can see that’s obviously not the case. You’re still stuck in the Middle Ages, where people believed the universe revolved around them.

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“I see it now. I know why you insist on that ridiculous forgetting machine. You just can’t stand it, can you? You can’t stand it that you’re like everyone else, imperfect. You can’t take the pain life gives you. Didn’t you tell me once before, that rabbits interfered with nature and that’s why they’ve become so dangerous? The same is with you! You’ve interfered with nature and—”

Nick stopped. What was she going to say?

“You forget Nick. I’m not dangerous,” Exflibberaguil said snottily, pretending to be offended. Obviously, he believed this was still some big joke. “Or am I dangerous? You do seem to be scared quite easily. Scared to tears—that’s the poetic saying, isn’t it? Is that why you think I’m dangerous? I assure it, it’s just fun.”

Nick gritted her teeth, the prevent more tears from emerging. These tears weren’t sad or fearful tears. These were hot with angry and bitterness.

“This is not joke!” she screamed. “You think I want my planet destroyed? You know what I think? If every person on your planet—”

“Mustela,” Exflibberaguil corrected instinctively.

This only fueled Nick’s anger. “Exactly! You keep on correcting me, yet you still insist on calling humans ‘Sodriew’.”

“At least I give them a different name than my species.”

“Only because you can’t stand being classified with the ‘primitives!’” Nick roared. “You know, I think the rabbits have every bit as much right to inhabit your planet, especially if everyone on your planet acts like you! What did you say before? The rabbits were immigrants?”

“…yes,” Exflibberaguil affirmed meekly.

“I bet the only reason why you Mustela let them in was because you wanted another primitive species to boss around and compare to. You just needed something to boost your pathetic egos because you lack confidence! And what did you do to fix your low self-esteem? You built a forgetting machine.” Nick stated this with a sense of finality.

Exflibberaguil, however, had started becoming as serious, though not as Nick wanted him. He began to go a little red in the face, before the color receded. Evidently, he could control that as well.

“What, so I’m the only one to blame?” he shot back. “Fine. You get mad at me for some reason. And you blame me for building a machine to fix my problems. What do you do? You run to who-knows-where and ignore me for a week.”

“You’re not the only one suffering!” Nick spat.

“I agree. Maybe you’ve also been through some pretty painful experiences. Maybe you’ve also lost a parent. Both parents, even. But I ask you, have you ever lost your planet? Have you ever been forced to flee at the age of seven, knowing that you’d never be able to go home again? Have you ever floated in space for hundreds of years, completely alone and isolated, with only a robot for comfort?”

“I…” Nick couldn’t think of an appropriate response.

“Do you know what happens to you during that time of pure emptiness?” Exflibberaguil continued, unable to stop. “Do you know what would have happened to anyone else without this forgetting machine? You would have gone insane, or so overcome with grief that you commit suicide. You can’t even imagine it with your pampered, spoiled life. If you have a great lost, you can talk to someone about it. Your relations, your friend, or a psychiatrist.

“Me? I have to talk to an animal and a robot. And I hope you realize how wonderful this forgetting machine is. It’s powerful enough to save at least one life. Do you think my life is insignificant simply because I’m too egotistical?” Exflibberaguil adopted a horrible sarcastic voice. “I apologize, then. But I see we aren’t so different after all.”

Nick was swallowing great gulps of air. Something was in her chest. She had to get it out. She wanted to claw her skin open and destroy the heavy air that rest deep within her. But she just stood rigid.

With a great sigh, Exflibberaguil waved his finger toward the car door. “The handcuffs are unlocked. You can leave now.”

It was not an invitation. It was an order.