TOC MetaStories: Ineen Aldrop's 'He Stood taller Than Most'

Part 11 -Washed Up-

Paulie was awoken by a loud noise, he yelled and tried to sit up only for something to wrap itself around his neck and tighten.

The whites of his eyes flashed as he gagged and threw out multiple punches that connected with something soft, the sound of tearing subtly reaching through his panic as another voice shouted at him to calm down.

He slowed and stopped after another moment, realising that he had been battling his bed the whole time. Holes had been torn in the hammock-like hanging nest and the blanket that he had been wrestling looked a little the worse for wear, but he was alright all things considered.

He scrambled from his bedding, landing on the floor with a grunt of pain before getting to his feet. In the door stood the strangest sight he would have ever seen had he still been back home on Earth, now it seemed downright fitting.

In the doorway stood another alien. They were tall, for an alien, but still nearly twenty centimeters shorter than he himself. Their head was situated atop a very long neck, the shoulders flaring out slightly down its length to end in long arms that the figure currently had clasped behind their back. Two large expressive grey eyes stared at him over the top of a tiny, slit-like mouth that the being seemed to be pursing as if annoyed. Their body was largely hairless, but he could see a line on long spines that trailed from the base of the thing’s skull and ended just above the shoulders, they clattered together slightly as the alien shifted from foot to foot.

At first Paulie mistook the creature for a biped, then he noticed that behind its two front legs its body continued back and down, ending on two short stumpy legs almost like unto those of a caterpillar. The whole ensemble was strange enough without taking their attire into account.

They were wearing a long, almost Victorian looking overcoat and suit that could only be described as dapper. That combined with the fact they were the first alien he had seen up close that wasn’t stressing him out with a weapon or anything gave him pause.

Paulie raised a hand in greeting and gave an awkward wave. “Oh, uh I.. hello?”

The alien leaned back a bit, the overcoat flaring open a little as they unclasped their hands and held them uncertainty in front of themselves. “You do talk. Astounding.”

Paulie smiled a little. “Yeah, I can also sing karaoke if you want me too, but I wouldn't recommend it.” he chuckled and saw the spines on the thing’s back shift subtly. He wondered what they were for and was about to ask when the alien cut his train of thought off at the station.

“I want you to follow me. I was told that you were quite amenable to Officer Liick earlier this afternoon.” They had turned and stepped out into the hall, using a single five fingered hand to gesture that he follow.

Paulie nodded slowly. “I saw no reason to resist the law. I was trying to get to the adjudicator’s complex anyways. Is this it?”

The alien nodded. “It is, I am Detective Luemf’gran’taakk. Senior detective adjudicator for Her Majesty’s galactic central security forces, sometimes just called Censec. You were apprehended after causing quite the commotion in the market. We have reports of both weapons fire and damage to property, but I suspect that there is more to this story than simple hearsay.” He looked Paulie up and down, “Especially given your.. unique perspective.”

The statement seemed to be phrased as a question and Paulie shook his head quickly, “Yes and no. I could explain the entire thing, but it would take a while..” He paused and tried to repeat the name the detective had given him. “..lumfegrantak?”

The alien paused and glanced his way, those large grey eyes narrowing slightly. “If that’s too advanced, you can refer to me as Mack. Most others do.”

Paulie nodded enthusiastically. “Mack, alright. I can do that, Mack.” The centauroid alien snorted, his neck quills chattering.

Paulie was led down the hall to a portion of the wall that was open like a doorway without a door like the entrance to a locker room.

“What is this?” He asked the shorter alien man.

Mack gestured towards him. “No offense Urren, but you reek. You are filthy, covered in cuts and I am sure that even your apocalypser constitution has got to be screaming for a shower or something.”

Paulie’s eyes lit up. “Oh, this is a bathroom? That’s great! May I?” He asked the man, a little hesitant. Mack nodded and Paulie dispatched himself into the room. Before going in he asked, “You are going to stay out here?”

Mack seemed to chuckle, the neck spines that ran down the back of his neck chattering as they moved of their own accord. “Yes, trust me. I have no immediate desire to become that well acquainted with your biology, Urren. Just.. be fast alright? I have other things to do today, there should be fresh clothing in there for you as well.” He sounded a little bored and so Paulie just gave him a thumbs up and disappeared inside.

It took him a minute to orient himself in the alien space, the hall continued around a pair of U-bends before opening out into what looked like a locker room of sorts. The walls in the first part were lined with small electronic cabinets and the floor was covered in ceramic tiles with some manner of texturing that prevented his shoes from slipping on the damp flooring.

Paulie spotted a bundle of fabric sitting on the far bench near to a set of individual cubbies marked with a variety of alien text. There were symbols too, each one looking like some manner of stylized body plan. There were ones that looked like horses, centaurs, and even a large ant or bug. He saw one labeled with what looked close enough to a human silhouette, two legs and two arms and decided that it was probably the right one before grabbing the clothing and setting off to it.

He entered the booth slowly and set the clothing down. He took a moment to disrobe, wincing painfully as parts of the filthy clothing stuck to various cuts and scabs. He was a mess to be sure, but he had not taken the time to think about it too hard as survival had been his only major concern. Now with the time to think, he grimaced at the wreck of a state he had been in.

He simply threw the dirty clothing to the side and stepped forwards to what looked like some madman’s take on a shower. There were no nobs, buttons or dials and he looked around for a moment. “How do I turn it on?” he muttered before yelping as a blast of cold water hit him from nozzles on the ceiling.

“Akppth! What the hell, turn off damn it!” He shouted and was mildly surprised as the stream of water halted. He took a moment to compose himself before nodding slowly. “Voice activated, huh. Okay, cool.”

He thought for a moment and then said, “Turn on water, warm this time.”

It took a moment, the sound of something clicking in the wall giving him pause before a stream of water flowed from the ceiling nozzle once more. Using a foot, he tentatively tested the temperature before smiling. The water was warm, a little cooler than he would have preferred, but he wasn’t about to complain about this most recent success.

He gave a sigh as the warm water sluiced off the accumulated filth and debris. The pain of the last few days being soothed by the running liquid that cascaded over his shoulders and down his back. he used his hands to clean himself the best he could, he hadn’t seen any soaps or rags. He would have to inquire Mack about it later he decided.

Paulie would have been content to stay that way forever had the detective not specifically warned him off of it. With a heavy sigh he tilted his head back and spoke, “Ok, you can turn off now.”

The stall obliged, the water cutting short and the air rapidly clearing of steam as the fans kicked in.

He stood there, naked and damp. Thinking for a minute he looked around tentatively and asked, “Uh.. dry me off please?”

Paulie didn’t know what he had been expecting, a blast of warm air perhaps. Maybe a heated lamp shining from the ceiling. Instead he jumped and yelped in surprise as a low bass note filled the cubby. The vibrations making his teeth chatter in their sockets as the water all across his body suddenly flashed to steam.

Almost as soon as it started it was over leaving him feeling more than a little on edge.

He grunted as he felt around his body, he was completely dry. “Okay.. that was a thing.” He muttered to himself as he donned the new clothing he had been provided. He smirked a little as he saw that they were near perfect replicas of his old clothing, just without any of the logos, tags or inside markings. They fit well enough and were not coated in blood and crud, so that was a major plus.

They had not provided him with new shoes and so he simply put his old one’s back on. He was going to have to ask them to replicate a pair of hiking boots or something. But his dress shoes would do for now. He made sure to remove his wallet and personal effects from the old clothing as well as the crystal that Krissh had given him. He felt a tear form in his eye as he held the small red crystal, the terrible events of the day before still far too fresh in his mind.

Pushing the pain down, Paulie threw his dirty clothing into what he assumed was a trash receptacle and left the bathroom feeling about ten times better than he had before.

Mack looked him up and down before shifting the sensory spines that ran down the back of his neck. “That’s much better. Okay, follow me please.”

Paulie nodded and followed the alien as he once more led him down the hall. As they rounded another corner the four legged alien man motioned towards one of the nearby doors.

Paulie shrugged, “I guess it’s time to get back to being serious then? Do you guys have any kind of food or something? I haven’t eaten in ages.”

The detective seemed to sigh at his remark before pushing open a door and gesturing inside. “After you, Urren. I will see what I can do.”

Paulie just gave a small sigh. He had been through this kind of treatment before, back when he was a youth. He had been caught vandalising the back of a jewelry story with a few of his buddies, nothing too gross. Just kids being stupid, but the police had taken him into a room just like the one he saw, complete with bare metal table and what looked like a one-way mirror on the far wall.

He chuckled low in his chest, the more things changed the more they stayed the..

He stopped dead in his tracks so suddenly that Mack nearly slammed into his back, the tall alien exclaiming in surprise, “Hey, what’s the big idea? Get in the room, I am only here to ask you some questions.”

Paulie didn’t answer, instead he pointed at the far corner of the small room where the shadows gathered. In the corner of the room he saw that faint shimmer, like a mirage in the distance on a hot summer’s day. It was only barely noticeable as a slight warping of the shadows, so slight that for a moment he wasn’t even sure he saw it. But no, it was there. That same shimmering patch from back in the alley.

“No, there’s something in there. In the corner, in the shadows. Can you see it?” He said, a tinge of the earlier terror creeping back into his voice.

Mack stepped past him and looked, the alien’s large grey eyes searching for the tell-tale shimmer. But he seemed to be confused.

“What? I don’t see anything. What are you on about, Urren?” Paulie gave him a look and then pointed directly at the corner.

He shook his head. “Right there, I am telling you. There is something there, I saw it before in the alley. I could have sworn it was a creature, I saw it looking at me.”

He expected the man to look him up and down as if he were insane. He expected him to ask him if he was alright, to tell him that there was nothing there and to stop worrying. He had expected almost anything but what happened next.

Mack just shook his head slightly and looked towards the corner. “You were right, I didn’t believe you. But he can see you, incredible. I guess I owe you fifty osmir.” He sounded a bit more resigned than surprised and Paulie looked from the corner to the man several times before snapping his attention back to the shadowed corner.

A voice from the shadowy corner replied, it was husky and distinctly feminine. “Oh, it will be my pleasure to buy a drink on your dime, Luemf’gran’taakk. I told you this one was more perceptive than most.”

Mack shook his head and muttered, “I told you to just call me Mack. Everyone else does.”

The shadows seemed to shimmer before they peeled back and something seemed to step out of them. Paulie’s eyes widened as he saw the same deep orange colored eye he had seen in the alley, then he saw five more of them turn to look at him as the thing cocked its angular head and crossed two of its six arms and gave him an appraising look.