It had already been nearly a week, and Jaycen is starting to get cabin fever. Every day is the same routine. Shortly after waking up, he eats a terribly unseasoned breakfast of some sort of omelet that came in one of those panel slots on the wall, followed by a brisk brush of his teeth, which is via some sort of vibrating rod that evaporates all the gunk in his mouth rather than a normal goddamn toothbrush. He then hops into his shower to wash himself, which thankfully uses actual water, before he dries himself off with a strangely plastic feeling towel and gets dressed in his new clothes. They provide him with a tailored jumpsuit, white with red trim, which matches the white walls of the room he's confined in. After that, he has nothing to do but futz around with his data pad and find something halfway decent to watch until he's interrupted by Doc Akhia coming in for another interview. Post interview, he'd futz about on the pad a bit more, followed by another unseasoned meal, a few more hours of futzing, and then bed.
In short, it was maddening. He'd already finished his book, and while his captor is at the very least kind enough to give him one of their data pads loaded up with whatever entertainment they had already collected, but it's just barely enough to keep him from slamming his head against the wall. And the damn thing has only snippets and bits of anything; while the archive they had built up from deep space broadcasts from Earth was extensive, it isn't indexed or categorized in any meaningful way. The videos and songs within are a max of 10 to 12 minutes long before the signal breaks down, and none of it is even recent! Almost all of the broadcasts and recordings they have are from around the turn of the 21st century, and therefore hopelessly outdated. Still, he's thankful they haven't picked up the internet itself yet, what with the kind of things unrestricted internet access can bombard you with. And if they ever did get a hold of it, they'd probably bar him access to it anyway, lest he contact any other humans about his predicament and ruin their precious study.
He's maybe two minutes into his newest video discovery (a nature documentary about mongooses) when the door to his room suddenly opens. Akhia steps into the room as Jaycen heaves himself to the side of his bed to sit up.
"Alright Doc, what do you need from your little lab rat this time?" he growls at her.
There's a click that sounds out from under the helmet, a sound Jaycen is getting pretty familiar with. "While I am still not versed in the colloquialisms you use, I believe there is a negative connotation to your choice of verbiage." Jaycen doesn't miss the way she seems to shrink away from him, as well as the way her hand moves to a panel on the side of her suit. "Are you agitated? You have my apologies if I have upset you."
"Yeah," he says, trying very hard to keep his voice even, the burning guilt from his momentary lapse of composure beginning to make his face flush. "I'm pretty agitated Doc. I've been locked up here for days, with nothing but scrambled TV signals to watch, and I think I'm starting to go a little stir crazy."
Another sharp trill of clicks answers him, but she still stands at the entrance to the room, not daring to come any closer. "Please clarify. I know I asked for you to speak freely so we can analyze your language, but I don't understand that colloquialism."
Jaycen sighs. "What I mean is, being locked in a room for an extended period isn't exactly good for my mental health. And I'm pretty sure having no social contact besides a faceless alien isn't doing me any favors."
Akhia seems to relax a bit, but Jaycen can tell she's still tense, even under that bulky suit. She takes a moment to turn her head to the wall, which at this point Jaycen could assume was her addressing to some other scientists that were watching him. It isn't exactly comforting to know that at any given moment, there's probably some horrible bug monster watching his every move, but he'd more or less made his peace with that a few days ago.
After a moment of silence, she turns her head back to address him. "Our resident xenopsychologist concurs with your assessment regarding your mental health."
Jaycen doesn't bother to hide his surprise. "Wait, what? Really?"
"Yes, really. In fact... our head researcher has requested that the entire division all meet you in person." She steps to the door, which whooshes open, and two imposing figures in exosuits brandishing stun rods step past her into the room. "These two shall be your escort to the meeting room."
Jaycen hops up from the bed, and all three of the aliens in the room tense at his sudden movement, the two brutes holding their weapons out at the ready. Jaycen gives them a weak smile, shrinking slightly from their blunt instruments. "Sorry, sorry. Didn't mean to startle you. I'm just... I'm excited to get out of this damn room."
"That's... fine, Jay Sen," Akhia says, though she shuffles behind the two marines as she speaks, "we understand that these are not ideal accommodations for your species. In any case, please allow me to introduce you to Osha and Deshilyrr. They are two of the combat trained security officers we have on board."
The two massive aliens are silent, their impassive helmets simply staring down at Jaycen. He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly as he looks up to them. "Uh, nice to meet you, I guess."
Both of them give him a small nod. Well, at least they were polite.
The marines move to keep pace on either side of Jaycen as Akhia leads the crew out of the room and into the corridor. Jaycen tries his best to take in the sights of the ship as they walk down a maze of hallways to their destination. The whole ship has a utilitarian look to it, with pastel blue and white walls and unpainted metal floors. The hallways are occasionally punctuated by more of those tall automated doors, and the ceiling is around ten feet high, giving the whole area a feeling of openness that stands in stark contrast to the few spaceships Jaycen had traveled on. Most of what he'd flown in had accommodations that were, at best, cramped and grimy. All of them were blatant attempts to get the most value out of the smallest use of resources; if they could save money by having half the required cleaning staff, they did it. Double bunking with at least six people to a room wasn't just common, but expected on most ships. Jaycen's more than happy to see that these aliens seemed willing to give far more consideration to comfort than humanity did. Or, more accurately, than the human corporations who actually owned transport ships did.
Akhia leads Jaycen into a room where a dozen figures are already waiting for him, their faceless exosuit helmets glaring back at him as he makes his way in. They are sitting around a long ovoid table, some huge like his escorts and the one who subdued him back outside his farm, some smaller even than Akhia. At the opposite head of the table from where Akhia motions for him to sit is what he assumes is Akhia's boss, an unimposing figure that nonetheless seems to have a commanding presence in the room. After he and Akhia have taken their seats, she addresses him.
A high pitched feminine voice greets him in some inscrutable alien tongue, followed slightly after by its English translation. "It is good to meet you, Jay Sen. I would once again like to echo Akhia's sentiments in thanking you for your continued cooperation with our study on your species."
Her synthesized translator (again, inexplicably British) fights against her naturally squeaky voice as Jaycen has to try very hard to not laugh out loud at her, all of the tension he felt dissipating suddenly. "Uh, no problem?" he answers her, maintaining his poker face as best as he is able, trying very hard not to imagine the diminutive boss lady as a child playing at being a serious scientist.
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"My name is Kyxoro Kozyx, or Doctor Kyxoro if you prefer," she continues, either oblivious or indifferent to his reaction. "I am the head researcher of this vessel, and have been overseeing this study since its inception. I believe... that we owe you a deep apology for your treatment so far." There is a moment of quiet disruption as she speaks, many of the researchers around the table seemingly surprised by her words, but she presses on regardless. "It was never our intention to capture you, only to study your species from afar, and the rash actions of one of our researchers was what led to this predicament in the first place. The fault lies entirely with us."
Jaycen nods, pretending not to notice that one of the larger figures suddenly looked away from him as the doctor mentions the circumstances of his situation. "No hard feelings. I mean, I guess it's pretty cool to be the first human to meet aliens."
"However," she says with sharply with a raise of her hand, "we find ourselves in a difficult position. While at this point we have intensive scans of your biology, and therefore we know that your species and the microbes you carry pose no... immediate threat to the well being of our crew, I am somewhat reluctant to allow you full access to our ship. The Truth in Darkest Void is not a pleasure liner, and there is sensitive equipment onboard that we cannot risk giving you access to."
At that point, one of the big aliens, the same one that refused to look at him, speaks up. "Doctor, if I may," a deep, husky voice interjects (though Jaycen again has to struggle to pay attention only to the British robot voice that speaks his language), “I have been observing the human as long as you have, and I find no good reason to deny the human’s request for greater autonomy. Jaycen has been more than willing to cooperate with our requests, even ones that are invasive. In all honesty, considering the circumstances, we could not ask for a more willing subject to study. I sincerely doubt he’d be any danger to the crew, so long as he’s treated fairly as a fellow sapient. And considering that is a requirement we’d have to follow by law regardless…”
“Thank you, Sheilyn,” Doctor Kyxoro interrupts with a raised hand, “You’ve more than made your point.” She casts a gaze around the room at the various scientists before continuing, or at least Jaycen assumes that’s what she’s doing. It’s hard to tell with the helmet. “Does anyone have an objection to the subject being allowed free access to the ship, but only as a passenger?”
There’s a short awkward silence for a moment, before one of the smaller team members near Kyxoro speaks up. “Alright, if no one else will, I’ll be the one to say it." His voice is slightly deeper than the Kyxoro's, but the synthesized English translation accompanying it is still the same vaguely feminine British as the others. "What if the Killer,” the faceless voice snarls, “goes on some berserk rampage? Are we really willing to risk our lives for this?”
The room murmurs with unease, but Jaycen can’t help himself, jumping up at the man's harsh words. “Hey, what the fuck’s that supposed to mean!?”
The room falls disconcertingly silent, and at this point Jaycen knows he's made a mistake. Behind him, the two massive figues that accompanied him to the room flick the switches on their stun rods, the humming of the electric fields beginning to fill the empty silence of the room. Everyone stares openly at the human, a sight that’s made significantly more disturbing by the blank faces of their helmets, but the tension is quickly broken up by Akhia clicking loudly at Jaycen’s side. “I’ll explain later, Jay Sen,” she says as she places a hand on Jaycen's arm, gently pulling him to sit back down. His face feeling flush for the second time today, he quickly follows her lead and shrinks back into his seat. Akhia nods silently at him as the guards click their stun rods again, their ominous hum dissipating. “Suffice to say," she says, returning to address the rest of the room, "I would remind this gathering of professionals that the official term for a sapient from a Class 5 planet is a Survivor.”
A pall falls over the meeting before Doctor Kyxoro once again takes command of the situation with a raise of her hand. "While I am well aware of the concerns raised by Researcher Xakyg, I cannot allow such concerns to rise above our ethical obligations. Remember, we are to be investigated by a Coalition representative as soon as we dock in Coalition space. The decisions made during this meeting will be in their report, for good or for ill."
The researcher by her side sinks into his chair, well and truly reprimanded by his superior's words, as the room again fills with tension. Jaycen is again feeling well and truly out of his depth.
"And with that, I believe I have made my decision. Jay Sen, you may now have full access to the ship, within reason. Certain areas containing sensitive information or equipment will be off limits, but from this moment forward we will all endeavor to treat you as a guest on board this vessel."
Jaycen sighs and slumps in his chair in relief, but the large husky voiced woman pipes up again before he can truly relax from. "Does that mean we can take off these stupid helmets now?"
Kyxoro turns her head to the offending voice, no doubt glaring at her from behind her expressionless mask, but then reaches up to her own helmet. With a small hiss of pressurized air, she pulls it off and sets it on the table in front of her, revealing her face. She waggles her antennae in some sort of gesture, the meaning of which Jaycen could not even begin to guess, and the rest of the scientists quickly follow her lead and move to remove their own helmets.
The first thing Jaycen is struck by as he looks at the alien faces around the room is just how human they all look. Two eyes, noses with two nostrils, lips... for the most part, he doesn't find them that strange. To his untrained eye, it looked like there are three main species of alien in the room, himself excluded. Eight of the people in the room look much like Kyxoro does, with green to green blue skin and bright hair in primary colors, as though it had just been freshly dyed. Vibrant blue and green assaulted his eyes, but he notes that Kyxoro is the only one of them with red hair, though he couldn't even be sure that was actually her natural hair color. They seemed pretty split between the traditional genders, at least as far as Jaycen could tell at a glance, but both the more masculine ones and the more feminine ones look around the same size, maybe between three and a half and four feet tall. The most inhuman thing he sees about them is the strange antennae that jut from their foreheads, but... if he's being honest with himself, it just made them look cuter.
The next most common, at four, are the wolf... fox... cat people? Three of them look female, but they all had fierce faces, all sharp lines and hard edges; combined with the fact they looked like they were near seven feet tall, he felt more than justified in being intimidated by them. As the four of them shake their hair loose from their helmets, he notes that almost all of them had long dark hair, deep brown and black, and the male even has a mane of black hair (or maybe more accurately, fur) framing his face and neck, though he isn't bearded. His advocate is among them of course, but unlike all the others, her pale skin and white hair makes her stand out against her swarthy peers. At least she'd be easy to spot as he moved around the ship. He'd have to remember to thank her later.
And lastly, there was Akhia right next to him. She's the odd one out in the room, as it looked like she's the only member of her species... and given her solid black eyes, her insectoid palps, and her chitinous antennae, Jaycen was confident in this assumption. She has a cute face, with a somewhat larger and longer nose than the human average, but she is absolutely nailing the intergalactic version of the girl-next-door look with her chin length tussled black hair. Akhia looks back at him, and he realizes just a moment too late that he's been openly staring at her. He quickly shoots his gaze back to Kyxoro before she gets upset, the blood rushing to his face once again in embarrassment.
"As you can see Jaycen, you have nothing to fear from us. Any of us," she adds quickly with a pointed look in Xakyg's direction, the small man's pale face holding a thousand yard stare. "And with that, I believe this meeting is adjourned. Akhia, could you please debrief Jay Sen on his new access to the ship? The details should be already forwarded to your datapad."
"Of course, Doctor," she replies. She stands up quickly to leave the room, and as she does, Jaycen rises to follow her, though much slower and more deliberately than previous. As he goes to follow her out of the room, he turns back to the assembled aliens, and gives a small awkward wave, before shuffling along with his guards quick to follow behind him.
After they're gone, the tension drains from everyone's shoulders as they all slump back into their chairs. Kyxoro raises a hand to her temple to massage herself, before looking again at the strangely pale Xakyg. "You're lucky to be alive right now, you know that right?"