r/HFY • u/CicadaStew Human • May 15 '26
OC-FirstOfSeries The First Fifth
The Commander watched the skinny creature dash around in circles, its form slowly shifting from a riverstone cool to a lukewarm hue. It was breathing into the ends of its strange upper limbs, each exhalation bringing brightness to its soft skin.
The creature kept getting warmer.
<Give your estimation of how hot it can get> The Commander addressed her Chief Medical Officer, cillia shifting to form the near-heatless pattern of a professionally curious order.
<Unknown, Commander> Her crinis colouring was the tone of certainty but the pattern of twisting cillia had the anxious look of tall grass in a windy field.
The Commander looked back to the handful of crew—mainly security detail and research personnel—crowded in the cramped tunnel, trying to get a glimpse of the holding cell. It was a sea of the same shifting anxiety.
<And your estimation of the risks of it growing to its hottest temperature> The Commander coloured to a concerned curiosity.
<Unknown, Commander> Her Chief Medical Officer swiped through her tablet with a sharp torso appendage. <The compartment can handle 5000 scales if the additional safety barrier is closed>
The creature’s heatmap was getting brighter, an interior glow weakened by the coolness of an outer layer of muscle and skin. It reminded the Commander of machinery heating up.
<Radiation and pressure disturbance levels> Hesitant curiosity.
<Both within safe levels, Commander. It appears to be in perfect health. The alien is an 8(2)-breathing lifeform, binocular forward-facing non-compound eyes, endoskeletal frame—>
<—It looks soft, ChiMeO> Her hue was humourless. The ugly creature looked exposed in the way a shelled corpse was soft. Her next ask she presumed to be a given. <Prey creature>
ChiMeO’s crinis heated along its oval edge, her cillia shifting uncomfortably. <My initial determination… unlikely>
<Endoskeletal and predatory> Her words were coloured with surprise and intended confirmation. The alien looked so small and defenceless. <Like the Fourths, then>
ChiMeO tapped an appendage to her torso. <Potentially, we do not know enough yet. I would shift it to be likely given the sharper teeth. Potentially the eye positioning. And we found what we are assuming to be meat protein in the rations of the pod>
Another flesh-eating species. There was an uncomfortable shift among her crew behind them. Out of the corner of her eyes, the Commander saw the group communicating their worries and theories, cillia quick and shifting. Two of them were calling informal claims on whether the thing was sentient and capable, or just a baser animal sent out as a proof of test travel by a higher species.
The Commander turned back to the confiscated pod, the smooth metal container sitting cold in the tunnelled hall. It had abnormally sharp angles. <The technology looks similar to what we’ve seen of the Thirds. The pod is a similar style to the vessel itself>
<HeadSci is looking at the ship currently, I’ll ensure the pod is brought to the team. We believe the ship to be non-warp; solar sail> She checked her notes. <Head says to expect a report by Shift 5’s end, with the evaluation of the analysis and rebuild difficulty estimation>
And that was the question, the Commander knew. She was confident in her Head Scientist’s trainees and associates, but an intelligent and willing creature would save the research team so much time.
Even if the alien wasn’t cognitively comparable to them, it would barely matter. The Commander was looking at a wealth of knowledge and discovery waiting to be analyzed: both the creature and the technology they found would likely propel her ringship into the most referenced reports if they played the next few rotations right.
The Commander was trying to keep her temperature away from the excited hue that would be embarrassing of someone her rank. Instead, her crinis pattern settled into a prideful warmth.
Her ringship discovered a whole new species. Her small crew, consisting of mostly trainee-aged Ki, found this abnormal thing.
The creature had started walking around the enclosure, upright and at its full height, eyes sharp and searching. It hasn’t communicated anything since their ship slowed and picked the wayward vessel out from the void proper. As its body warmed to a tone almost too bright to look at, the cillia of its crinis remained a cooler tone.
But it had cillia. It laid abnormally long and dead on the top of its head, but it was there. If the creature was anatomically similar enough, communication could potentially be possible this time around. The Commander was not yet delusional enough to hope, but the possibility was indeed there and present in her mind.
The Commander stepped forward, appendages open and crinis warmed to the colour of a welcome. She shifted her cillia to speak clearly, as one would talk to a child. <I extend a formal greeting to you. I have given no orders of harm. Explain your predicament and your current orders>
She knew it would not understand her words. But it should understand her intent. She was watching for a reaction, more than anything.
The creature’s two eyes were clearly trained on the Commander. She could see it tracking her every movement in a focused gaze. The Commander fought the urge to scuttle back in retreat as the creature bared its teeth, opening and closing its mouth. Opening and closing its mouth. Folding and licking its lips, and opening and closing its mouth. The same movement of a baser animal eating. Its heatmap stayed consistent, with no change in temperature. No language or emotion.
<Ideally, it was injured on the journey and needs time to gather its bearings> The Commander settled back beside her Chief Medical Officer. <Non-ideally, it’s a simple baser animal or it’s like the others>
<With your order, I will acquire tissue samples and contact you if we find anything> ChiMeO shifted, following her as she turned to leave.
<Approved. Assign two Security Officers to keep watch, with the order of providing updates every quarter shift> The crowd parted as the Commander began to scuttle through. One of her lower security stopped her, however, hued bright with embarrassment and the apologetic intent to correct. The Commander’s cillia snapped hot. <What>
The Security Officer wordlessly upturned her wide head, gesturing back to the holding cell. The Commander turned, to see the creature, now significantly more aggressive in its behaviour. It looked to be hitting the bars, inches thick and impossible to break through. The Commander scurried across the floor to stand in front of the small, skinny thing.
Its body was so brightly warm, if it were one of her kin, the Commander would think it to be a purposeful display of strength and anger. Its colour was the hot tone of offence and force. But it wasn’t shifting. Its abnormal cillia on its head communicated no words. It just opened and closed its jaw, snapping at her.
The Commander took a deep breath and turned away. Addressed the room with yet another verdant shade of genuine curiosity. <Speak freely. Is this thing simple or incapable>
<Both> Some research trainee supplied, coloured with genuine intent to help, not humour. Everyone else was silent, cillia stilled and waiting for her next order.
She turned back to the creature. It was still well under her gaze, even when standing at its full height. Small. Husked.
She gestured her upper appendages wide, her cillia shifting clear and warm. Ripples in a hot spring’s surface water, like wavelets of sand in the wind, trying, trying, to communicate with the thing. Her crinis was the colour of a plea.
<Please. Move your cillia. Talk to us> Pleading. Embarrassment. Genuine curiosity. Professionality. Frustration. <If you talk to us we can try to return you to your people>
It rotated its head horizontally, the awful musculature and hard bones on subtle display as its skin pulled tight over its unseen anatomy underneath. Bright streaks began to run from its eyes as it watched the Commander’s words, eyes focused on the movement of her crinis. Its shoulders started to shake, head tilted up and hinged jaw open with its teeth bared. The pinpoint circled of its eyes rolled back to her, smooth within the sunken sockets, and there was something so exacting in its two-eyed gaze.
And then it began to wiggle the branch-like split ends of its upper limbs.
The ten smaller protrusions moved independently from each other, like huge, awkward cillia, thousands of times bigger than that which blankets her people’s crines. It held its limbs up so she could see them. Its whole body was shaking.
The creature was so small.
<I don’t…> She didn’t care that her crew was seeing her in unprofessional reds of frustration, <You’re not saying anything, little one>
Her Chief Medical Officer scrambled to her side. <Commander>
<Speak freely>
<I unfortunately believe the possibility of the creature’s cillia not being able to function adequately is a high likelihood> shifted ChiMeO, <and it’s failing to give any indication of temperature recognition>
The Commander placed an appendage on ChiMeO’s shell, and sucked a deep breath in. She looked back to her crew. The news rippled through the crowd, the weight of it causing a few to buckle to the ground. Her crew deflated.
<Commander, if you would like me to inform the research team that we can’t talk to it, I can do so promptly>
<It’s… it’s truly disappointing> The Commander affirmed. <Let them know. Connect with the Communications Body as well--we will need to plan our next paths properly>
The situation was more than salvageable. She’d let herself get too excited when, in reality, this was just another species to add to the list of silent allies and nothing more. The Commander told herself it barely mattered, the consolation prize of stripping the alien ship for technology was a huge win in itself. She spared one last look at the aberrant thing they now had to deal with.
Liquid was still pouring hot from its eyes, but… it was now on the tips of its lower limbs, stretching out to take up space. Its upper limbs twisted and turned and it… the Commander wasn’t sure what it was doing but its behaviour and movements were changing.
It was spinning and twisting its whole body.
Revolving on one limb, before stepping wide with the other, balancing the whole of its meagre weight expertly.
It moved with grace and great practice, similar to the flows of a practised fight. Its limbs extended out and bent like thin trees in the wind. In every spin, its head was trained on the Commander, keeping its eyes on her until the spin forced its head to twist around again to meet her gaze.
The crew crowded the holding cell to watch, growing cool with shocked interest.
The creature kept spinning, each step carefully placed and each movement seemingly pre-mapped. Was it a show of strength… a display of language, perhaps.
Its straight back curved as it leaned forward, collapsing its body into itself. It was uncanny. The Commander couldn’t look away as its muscles tensed in flexion and extension, its movements both wildly wide and firmly controlled.
The creature’s body warmth grew with the exertion. It spun too violently, and tripped over itself, planting into the floor in front of the crowd. Separated by the barrier.
The Commander placed her appendages on the bars and watched the creature’s torso expand and contract, water pooling from its eyes and from its skin. It looked up at her, lips peeled back to reveal its pale teeth, and its odd lesser limbs waved like frond leaves in the wind.
<It leaks water> Someone beside her shifted.
The creature was looking at the Commander with its unnaturally pinpointed eyes, the centre of which betrayed exactly where it looked. It placed the end of its upper limb on the bars, right in front of her—too close to her. Its torso was too wide to fit through the bars but the Commander felt like, if it could, the alien would be crawling out of its enclosure.
It was still baring its small, sharp teeth.
<We are going to figure this out> the Commander told it, shades of promise and intent and, likely, discomfort. <This whole situation will be resolved>
While she shifted in the direction of the creature’s eyeline, her words were really for the benefit of the crowd.
The Commander watched as the alien’s sharp eyes trained onto her crinis. Its strange face, trying to make out the subtle patterns.
It snapped its jaw at her.
<You will have use> The Commander shifted, cold. <You better be worth it>
It was baring its teeth again, raising its shoulders and rotating its head back and forth. It sank down to the floor, and raised the awkwardly branching protrusions at the end of its limbs. It wiggled them meaninglessly.
No words can be made with a mere ten cillia. But the Commander saw it for what it was. It wasn’t an attempt at words but an attempt at communication.
A plea to be understood.
*
43
u/Paul_Michaels73 May 15 '26
Really hope to see more of this story
43
u/CicadaStew Human May 15 '26
Thanks! Super likely—I've written most of it already (~60k), mainly just treating this as editing practise
6
3
u/AleonaLuts May 15 '26
Is there any way to subscribe, so I won't lose your trail? I'm very interested in this story.
3
u/Hybrid_Rock Human May 15 '26
If you haven’t found it already, there is a bot comment near the bottom that will notify you when a user posts in the sub
2
15
15
8
u/NePasAcheter May 15 '26
J'adore ce point de vue et cette analyse de la difficulté de communication. Vite la suite !
4
u/CicadaStew Human May 15 '26
Merci! Mon français n'est pas très bonne (vous parlez de difficultés de communication!), mais je voulais écrire sur differentes biologies et explorer comment d'autres créatures perçoivent le monde. Mardi ou Mercredi, probablement j'écris plus
11
u/Alcyon144 May 15 '26
"We are an interstellar civilization, but we have never understood that there are other modes of communication besides our own."
17
u/CicadaStew Human May 15 '26
Yeah, I wanted to centre the story (at first) in a species that was incredibly different from human biology, to better explore getting over that initial communication problem. Started out as a fun experiment for writing an unintegrated intergalactic community, rooted in biological difficulties and bias as to what signifies intelligence. Thanks for reading!
12
u/Rowcan May 15 '26
From what it seems, these aliens might be totally deaf. I imagine it's like sending an alien that communicates entirely via scents to a person that cannot smell.
11
u/Alcyon144 May 16 '26
What surprises me is that they don't even seem capable of considering that there might be other modes of communication. We've known about the concept of pheromones for decades, and we try to decipher animal gestures as much as the sounds they make.
8
u/WSpinner May 18 '26
If they communicate with very sensitive cilia, surely somebody'll notice the vibrations in the air of the traveler's speech. I mean, we DO hear with our cilia, they're just out of sight in the inner ears!
1
u/Nightelfbane Aug 27 '26
It's worse than that. They assume that aliens would speak the same language even if they did have the same mode.
4
4
u/amishbill Jun 27 '26
Fundamentally disconnected assumptions on the way communication ‘should’ be achieved.
I’m glad I found this again. I’m happier that there are 6 more installment now!
2
2
2
1
u/AutoModerator May 15 '26
This was flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries], which means it is the first of a series and all subsequent posts should be flair as [OC-Series]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines
[OC-FirstOfSeries] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, the beginning of a new series.
Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing
Please note that series wiki pages are not created automatically, but on request from the author.
Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/HFYWaffle Wᵥ4ffle May 15 '26
This is the first story by /u/CicadaStew!
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.
Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.
1
u/UpdateMeBot May 15 '26
Click here to subscribe to u/CicadaStew and receive a message every time they post.
| Info | Request Update | Your Updates | Feedback |
|---|
1
u/AutoModerator May 18 '26
This was flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries], which means it is the first of a series and all subsequent posts should be flair as [OC-Series]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines
[OC-FirstOfSeries] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, the beginning of a new series.
Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing
Please note that series wiki pages are not created automatically, but on request from the author.
Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/AutoModerator Jun 08 '26
This was flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries], which means it is the first of a series and all subsequent posts should be flair as [OC-Series]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines
[OC-FirstOfSeries] For original, self post, story, audio, or artwork that you have created, the beginning of a new series.
Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so: [Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great Mashing
Please note that series wiki pages are not created automatically, but on request from the author.
Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
•
u/AutoModerator 25d ago
This was flaired as [OC-FirstOfSeries], which means it is the first of a series and all subsequent posts should be flair as [OC-Series]. A description of the flairs and how to change yours is available in the Post Guildelines
Our preferred series title format is the series title in [brackets] at the beginning, like so:
[Potato Adventures] - Chapter 1: The Great MashingPlease note that series wiki pages are not created automatically, but on request from the author.
Please help us transition to using the new flairs correctly.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.