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

Part 18 -Exceeding Expectations-

Paulie closed the door to his new apartment behind them as the two aliens shuffled in quickly, the rapidly clearing scent of a rotten sulphurous quagmire diminished sharply as the door clicked shut.

Flurn turned to Jakiikii and admonished, “You don’t have to sneak up on me every single time we go anywhere. It is getting rather old, any more of this and I will have to prescribe myself some anti-stress medication.”

The tall six-armed termaxxi shook her angular head, husky feminine voice emanating from deep in her chest cavity as she retorted right back sharply. “Oh yea, and stop the fun? You are easier to startle than an aged chookkac high on sugar fumes.” She made a strange gesture with three of her arms and hopped from hooved foot to foot.

Flurn just grumbled, apparently not amused by the termaxxi woman’s antics. Instead of further commenting on it, the short stocky alien blinked his three eyes and got to business. He set down the small bag he had been carrying and gestured to Paulie to come closer.

Paulie complied, standing in front of the alien who looked up at him like he was a tall building. “This isn’t going to work. Jakiikii, go and grab a stool from the storage room over there.”

As the lanky six-armed alien complied, the short oniuh rummaged around in the bag before making a small grunting noise and extracting what looked like a laptop computer without the keypad. Instead it had two screens, the reason for this becoming apparent as the doctor laid it out flat on the small table in the corner of the apartment near to the kitchen. A small semi-holographic projection emanating from its dark surface.

“Okay, I want to take some preliminary readings, take off your shirt please.” Flurn said, not even glancing up from the device he was fiddling with.

Paulie blushed slightly, not really sure why he would have any compunction to do so and yet still feeling a little odd. He stepped closer as Jakiikii approached with stool, as he pulled his shirt over his head he heard a small growl from behind him.

He glanced over towards the noise and saw that Jakiikii was looking conspicuously in every direction at once but his. She placed the stool down, one of her eyes flicking to him. “Here you go.. human.”

He nodded his thanks and turned away, but not before he noticed two more of her six eyes join the first. ‘What was she acting all weird for?’ he wondered to himself. He was an alien, one she had likely never seen before. At least not up close. He supposed he could understand her curiosity, though a little part of him was still a little shy of the scrutiny.

He put it out of mind as he saw the little oniuh jump towards him with a short hopping motion. He stopped and shuddered before reaching up and unceremoniously ripping the medical patch off his neck.

Paulie jerked as it pulled out several delicate hairs with it. “Ow! Hey, that hurt, Flurn.”

Flurn blanched slightly, but he was able to keep his composure with another shudder. “I would ask that you keep your tone modulated for me please. It is hard enough to work in such close proximity to a ca-carnivore, much less one that is capable of tearing me limb from limb with no effort-t.” he swallowed, their wide mouth opening and closing as they stared at Paulie’s exposed chest. “I w-will now apply.. some non-invasive instruments. Please, remain s-still.”

Paulie’s mouth drew to a thin line. The small oniuh really must be feeling the strain. The way they moved, the small jerks and stutters. Paulie decided that maybe it was his eyes as the man’s own kept flicking to them followed by a shudder every time. Instead, he roved them around the room and once more noticed that Jakiikii was staring at him.

He gave her a smile and she lurched before smiling in return, her tiny little mouth opening slightly. He cocked his head slightly as he saw something long and pink move within, but before he could voice his curiosity aloud he felt a small electrical shock from his chest and jumped slightly.

“Aiie, hey.. what was that?” He said, unable to keep at least some of the stress out of his voice.

Flurn met his eyes and let out a little ‘eek’ before seeming to freeze in place. He started to fall over but Paulie leaned forwards and caught the small alien.

He asked in concern, “Woa, hey. Are you alright Flurn?”

The small alien’s eyes seemed to lock onto his own as Paulie asked the question. Those dark umber orbs staring at him like unto those of a deer in bright headlights. Totally blank.

He felt a presence next to him and noticed that Jakiikii had moved to his side. Her small tri-cloven hooved feet deathly silent on the carpeted floor. “I think you should let him go, he will be fine in a minute.”

Paulie nodded and set the small child-sized alien on the floor as gently as he could. “Why does he do that?” He gestured towards the near catatonic doctor.

She shrugged, the motion looking a little strange as all three pairs of her arms lifted in sequence. “Beat’s the zalc out of me, something about their homeworld being full of dangerous predators. They evolved an involuntary response to danger that seems to be hard to control. Though what possible protection one could glean from pretending to be dead is a mystery to me.”

Paulie sat up a little straighter, “Oh! He’s a possum!” He chuckled for a second before he noticed what he took for a confused look in her eyes. He explained briefly, “Well, possums are a type of small mammal from my homeworld. They lack any strong defensive abilities and so have evolved to play dead as a way of defending themselves. Well, involuntarily play dead.” he paused, pointing to the alien on the floor beside him. “They curl up, pass out and emit a foul odor from glands on their butt. Kinda like our friend here..” He coughed slightly as said foul odor seemed to permeate the room.

She shook her head, middle arms going to cover two small holes in her bodysuit at her upper sides he had not noticed before. “I'll go and open the, oh yeah. No windows in here.”

“There might be a fan in the bathroom, you could try that?” She nodded, her eyes flicking to the bathroom as Paulie sat back, a single small coin-like device adhered to his chest.

The sound of buttons clicking or switches flicking was followed by the low and steady thrum as the fan turned on. The air started to move subtly, the finer hairs on the back of his neck prickling as they detected the tiny shift in air currents. He watched as Flurn seemed to shake himself awake and quickly stood back to his feet with a low grunt.

He pointed directly at Paulie and chastised, “You need to stop being startling. If you cannot help it then I may have to temporarily incapacitate you. But that would mess with my readings.” he grumbled.

Paulie was a little taken aback, he hadn’t really done anything at all. “Well, what can I do to be less.. alarming?” He shrugged his shoulders as the oniuh messed with his instruments again.

“You can stop staring at me like I am a tasty morsel of meat for one.” Flurn said, one of their eyes glancing his way as he checked Paulie from his peripherals.

Paulie nodded. “Okay, I will do my best. Er, I guess I can stare at the wall or keep my eyes closed.”

“Mmhmm, yes. Do that.” Was the response.

Jakiikii seemed to think it funny, the woman giggling slightly. He pointed to her, “What about her?”

Flurn stopped and then glanced at the termaxxi. “What about her?” They asked, their tone a little more exasperated than before.

“Why are you not scared of her like that?” He asked, she was as dangerous as him from what he had picked up on. And the way she moved seemed to point to muscles at least comparably dense as his own.

The oniuh chuckled. “What, Jakiikii? She is much less dangerous than you. And thusly seen as less of a threat, you on the other hand. Are large even for your own kind. You are the biggest urreni.. sorry. Human.. I have ever seen.”

He approached with his own eyes down, his two hands holding what looked like a silver stick or rod. He handed it to Paulie who took it gently. “What is this? And how many humans have you met before?”

“It is a ‘croak-hiss’ and will measure your muscle density among other things.” The word once more didn’t seem to translate and so he ignored it. “And you are technically the first.”

Paulie asked tentatively, “So, what do I do with it?”

Jakiikii stepped up and held out her hand. He hesitated and she bade him hand it over. “Here, I will show you.”

He handed her the stick and she gripped it in her two largest hands before seeming to try and bend it. It curved slightly from her actions and he heard the computer beep alarmingly, the screen flashing with several green alerts that almost seemed to spin lazily in the air as she nodded and let out a sigh from her chest.

He took it back as she offered it and glanced at Flurn. “So I just try and bend it?” They nodded and he shrugged. “Alright. Seems simple enough.”

Paulie wasn’t the strongest man in the world, not by a long shot. But he liked to stay fit and with his larger than average mass he liked to think he was a little stronger than the average guy. So he gripped the device and with a small strained grunt, tried to make the ends meet.

The computer beeped, green alerts flashing on the screen as the stick bent a little. But Paulie was far from done. He pressed harder and bared his teeth from the effort, the computer now beeping insistently as the stick slowly bent further. There was some resistance, but not so much as to halt his efforts and after another moment of the small device resisting him it finally gave up and bent into a perfect ‘U’ with a small shriek of tearing metal.

The computer seemed to flatline as the entire screen went green and there was a thud as Flurn’s eyes rolled up and he hit the carpet again.

He let out a snort and tossed the permanently deformed rod onto the table as he dusted off his hands. “Is this going to keep happening every time I do anything?” he stopped as he noticed that Jakiikii was staring at him too. “What? Was it something I said? He told me to bend it, so I did.”

She seemed to shake herself off and then let out another one of those deep grumbles. The sound of it was low, near infrasonic and he felt it vibrating his bones as she stepped closer to the table and then reached for the broken sensor. She rolled it over in her hands as if it were some manner of precious artifact. “You did indeed. Tell me, are all the males of your world so impressive?”

He cocked his head. “Me? Impressive?” Paulie chuckled modestly. “I mean, I would say that I'm a little above average, but I am far from the pinnacle of strength. There are guys in the world lifting championships that could do that with a bar twice that size.” her eyes flashed to him again, not all of them settling on his face as she did so.

She seemed to purse her lips, her mouth remaining motionless as her voice emanated from her chest. “So humble. I think that you are stronger than you are admitting. Surely you cannot be an average example of humanity.” She seemed to hesitate. “Can I..” She reached out towards him with one of her own hands, palm up as she indicated towards his own hand.

Paulie nodded, a little self conscious of his current state. “Oh, uh.. sure.” He reached out towards the termaxxi woman with his nearer arm and she gingerly took his hand with two of her own. Once more he felt a little embarrassed, but he pushed the feeling aside as he tried to remain objective of the situation.

Her skin was softer than he might have imagined, from an outward standpoint she seemed so tough. But right now, she seemed much more personable. He smiled at her again, the woman’s skin seeming to flash slightly as her chromatophores shifted to a solid white for a moment before settling back into their normal mottled state.

She cocked her head, “Your hands are so strong. I can feel the muscles in your fingers, like braided wire. And so many tiny bones, you must have a great deal of dexterity. These are not the hands of a mindless savage, no. Not at all.” Her skin flashed again and she released him hurriedly as several of her eyes blinked rapidly. She nodded slightly, almost imperceptibly, to herself and he thought he heard her whisper something. But it was too low to catch.

He wanted to ask her what that had been about, but the moment passed and he turned as the oniuh groaned once more. Shaking their arms and rubbing the back of their head with a webbed hand. He groaned, “You know, either one of you could have caught me before I hit the ground.”

Paulie chuckled. “I would have had I been expecting it. So doc, how’d I do?”