Challenge #02267-F077: Friend? Friend!
Alien Snake-/Reptilian species meet the Human Race. Unfortunately (or Fortunately, depending on your viewpoint ^^) first contact happens between a snake lover (Pet the Snek !) and a proud Ambassador. -- Anon Guest
Many unfortunate First Contact situations have arisen because one or more cogniscent species in the encounter strongly resembles another's phobia species. We therefore recommend that all cogniscents finding themselves within a First Contact situation take a few moments to stop all voluntary movement, put down any tools, and properly assess the situation in a calm and logical manner. -- An Everyday Cogniscent's Guide to Discovering Strange New Worlds and New Civilisations.
Hishesh was doing his best. Honestly. He had put down his tools. He had stilled himself as much as he could. He even displayed open and empty manipulating limbs. Despite all this, the mammal on the other side of this particular space in an abandoned hulk still kept making a long and loud noise. Hishesh had to admit that they had either an impressive lung capacity or a mastery of cyclical breathing. True to the manual, Hishesh made himself look smaller and moved his limbs in a semi-protective manner. An almost universal gesture to communicate You are concerning me.
Finally, the mammal breathed in. "OhmygodsyouarethecutestlizardIeversaw!" They were still loud, but quickly tempered their reactions. Empty manipulating limbs, a reduction in height, and a gentling of their voice. They may not have read the manual, but they were clearly attempting to put Hishesh at ease. "Therenow, therenow. It'sokay. Iwannamakefriends." Open hand, low and exposed, clearly in an awkward position for any kind of sudden attack. "It'sokay..."
Hishesh attempted to follow the same protocol. Awkward manipulating limb pose. Slow pace. Singsong, gentle tones to the voice. "I know we can't understand each other," he crooned. "I'm trying to make peace too." Then, in a fit of inspiration, he tried mimicking the sounds the mammal had repeated. "Therenow. It'sokay."
The mammal startled. "Iknewit." They briefly straightened and pressed their manipulating digits to their face mask. Taking a moment to breathe. Hishesh paused, too. Repeated the words, "Therenow. It'sokay." without understanding anything more than their calming function. He added, "It's calm. It's good," and repeated that slowly.
"It's calm," said the mammal. Now that they were closer, Hishesh could see that their skin was oddly bald of hair. He had been taught that mammals had to be fur-bearing. The only fur Hishesh could see was the twin strips of it above this mammal's eyes. Now a gloved hand reached out to touch Hishesh's. "It's good."
The hand was warm, protected by a thin layer of special fabric from all the hazards space could offer. Hishesh could feel the odd smoothness of the mammal's skin and he had no doubt that they could feel the slightly harder bumps of his scales.
Of the encounter, Hishesh would later write, I had no idea at the time that this was not a traditional Human greeting, nor a typical Human reaction to reptilian life forms. I spent years in the company of Ambassador Annie Smith believing that Humans liked to stroke the scales of reptilians. While it is true that Humans will pet any living creature, they are not all as amenable to petting some creatures as Human Annie was.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / semmickphoto]
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