---------------------
Of Gerbils and Men: Part 1
“Dee…hey, Dee… hey, wake up.” Dee opened his eyes. Groggily, he lifted his head up off of the windowsill. He winced a bit as Earth’s sun shined light in his face. His Atmosphere Filter had slipped off his face. Normally, this would be a fatal mistake, but Earth’s atmosphere was safe for breathing. The only reason he and his partner were wearing them was that it was part of the Interplanetary Study Program’s regulations. He yawned before speaking.
“Bleh... why did you wake me up, Krell? These things haven’t done anything remotely interesting all day. Are they still staring at that screen?” Krell rolled his eyes, all three of them, and looked through his trinoculars at the apartment floor across from them. The two adolescent, male humans could be seen through their apartment window. They were both sitting on a cushioned seat, staring at a flashing screen, as they had been doing for hours. Krell sighed, his notepad’s batteries were starting to die and he had barely recorded anything.
“Unfortunately, yes.” Krell set the trinoculars down and flipped through his Humanology textbook. “I don’t get it. These two haven’t displayed any of the behavior humans are supposed to. They aren’t working, throwing things, or mating. Humans love to mate! Or at least they’re supposed to, according to this book.” Dee groaned and laid his head against the windowsill again.
“I knew this project was a stupid idea. Everyone researches humans, it’s been overdone.” Krell snapped back at Dee.
“Well, maybe if someone had done their research on Earth gerbils, like they were supposed to, we wouldn’t be out here staring at these hairless simians and taking last minute notes.” Dee groaned again.
“Come on, Earth ‘gerdils’ are just as boring as humans. Do you know what I find out about them? All they ever do is eat, sleep, and reproduce; just like humans. They’re basically the same thing. I’m surprised ‘gerdils’ didn’t turn out as they dominant species on this planet.” Krell was looking through the trinoculars and typing out notes.
“You would say something absurd like that. Earth ‘gerbils,’ as they are rightly known, are beyond fascinating. Doing a project in gerbils would be the chance of a lifetime. You’d actually be enjoying yourself if we were observing gerbils in their habitat. Instead, you’re bored because you screwed up our final project, and now we have to stare at these stupid motherf - hey, wait a second, they’re doing something. They’re actually doing something!” Krell leaned out the window, both his talons tightly gripping the trinoculars. Dee straightened up and quickly yanked Krell back inside through the window. The trinoculars flew out of Krell’s talons and skidded across the floor of the room.
“Are you crazy?!” Dee loudly whispered. “Some human’s gonna see you if you stick your exoskeleton out the window like that! You know what they do to aliens on this planet, in this country; they either deport them or vivisect them, and for some reason I have the feeling that they’d prefer to vivisect us! Do you really want to be vivisected? I don’t!” Krell was crawling across the floor, searching for the trinoculars.
“Sorry, I got excited. Do you think they noticed me?” Dee peeked out of the corner of the window. He could see one of the humans leaning out his window, looking in their direction, and calling to the other human inside. Dee pulled away from the window. He was flat against the wall, trying to hide even though he was out of the two humans’ sights.
“Yeah, I think they saw us. What should we do?” Krell picked up his notepad and started pressing buttons. His claws were trembling with nervousness.
“Um, hang on, there should be something in here about what to do if you’re compromised.” Dee was trying to look out the window again.
“’Compromised?’ Forget that! What does it say to do if they see us?” Krell sighed.
“That’s what it means to be ‘compromised,’ idiot. Are they still there?” Dee managed to look out the window, despite his anxiety. The human was gone from the window. Down below, Dee heard the sound of a door closing. He leaned out the window just a little bit and noticed the two humans making their way towards the abandoned building where he and Krell were camped out. Dee became frightened; the cilia on the back of his neck were standing up. He really didn’t want to be vivisected, or dissected, or experimented on in any way, for that matter.
“Uh, Krell? I think they’re coming up here.” Krell stopped looking at his notes and immediately straightened up.
“What?!” Krell frantically started looking through his notes. “That’s not right. Humans aren’t supposed to come after observers. Or are they? Augh, I can’t think straight!” Dee dug his talons into the window frame and tore it out of the wall, shattering the glass and creating a large hole in the side of the building where the window used to be. Krell dodged the window frame as Dee tossed it aside. “What did you do that for?! Now we’re going to be noticed for sure!” Dee slung his materials container onto his back and started to climb out and down the building.
“The ISP pod isn’t too far away from here. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting out of here.” Krell started to say something, but hesitated and started to gather his things instead. He quickly stuffed them all into his materials container and went out the window after Dee. In his hurry, he forgot his Humanology textbook. Krell and Dee clawed their way down the side of the abandoned building, leaving large, noticeable scratches in the bricks.
A few seconds later, the two humans entered the room, one holding a bat and the other holding a bottle of Windex. They looked around, and were just about to leave when, suddenly, one of them noticed a peculiar book lying on the floor. He picked it up and flipped through the pages. Eventually the humans noticed the gaping hole where the window used to be, and they looked out and noticed Krell and Dee making their way through some thick bushes into a nearby forest.
Krell and Dee were sprinting through the forested area near the abandoned building. They were trying to make it back to the travel pod the Interplanetary Study program had provided for their project. Dee called out to Krell, half wheezing.
“Krell…are we… anywhere…near the… pod…yet? My…legs…are…getting…tired! I…can’t…breathe…” Krell, who wasn’t having any respiratory trouble, was running a few feet ahead of Dee. He looked back and called to Dee. His voice was a bit muffled because of the air filtration mask over his mouth.
“Put on your air mask, moron! You can’t run like this and breathe Earth’s air; it’s not good for you!” Dee fumbled with the mask hanging around his neck, but managed to get it on. He noticed that it was a little easier to keep up with Krell, now.
Eventually Krell and Dee found the pod. It was a large, sleek, bulbous craft that stood up on landing gears. It was standing in the middle of an open field, disguised as a septic tank. Krell and Dee scurried up into the pod, and shortly afterwards the pod’s emergency thrusters activated and the pod shot up into the air and out of Earth’s atmosphere in a matter of seconds. Krell and Dee breathed a sigh of relief. They were on their way back to their own planet, where they hoped they could somehow throw together a decent final project before school next week. As they went over their notes, trying to see what they could do with the information they had, Krell was dismayed when he realized that he had left his Humanology textbook behind. His mother was going to kill him.
. However, I should have a printed out copy somewhere, to use, so it won't be like I'm completely re-doing the second part.
Gender:
Points: 1630
Reviews: 2