Chapter Text
‘Birth! Here we come galaxy! We’re fierce warrior types! Well soon enough, but now we’re babies so deal with it!’
They say being decanted is the most glorious day of one’s life.
They do say that?
Being drawn out of the tube filled with liquid into a bright white world. Taking your first breath and then, screaming out at the top of your lungs, because… well, guess it’s a baby thing, no questions asked?
So, there I was outta the tube… my face all puckered from that karking liquid having raised havoc on my skin all this time. And my mouth a gaping, drool running from there… all very cute for sure.
And then… well, only I did not scream. Nah, me, I just, yawned. Really widely like. Yawned! ‘Cause I felt so totes bored.
“There is something wrong with this one.”
One of those long necks hovering above me told the others flat on.
Hey, hang on, lady? Ain't’ nuttin’ wrong with me. I just don’t like to scream. Is all.
“It must be defective.”
They all stared at each other, the three of them there. And boy, were they all scary looking. But I wasn't about to let my fear show. Nuh-uh. No way Sir, Ma’am Yessire!
We have plenty more coming out of the chambers today. This one is not needed.”
One of them said then.
And I really, really did not like the sound of that. At all. What did it mean they did not need little cute ole moi?
“Surely, his vocal prowess is no reason for that.”
One them defenced me.
Hey! Thanks for that lady!
And whatever the that was I could only guess.
They all looked at each other again. Must’ve been telepathic or something similar as I couldn’t hear any words coming from their mouths.
“I will keep him alive.”
The one closest to me drawled finally.
Uh-oh. There it was!
They were going to just snuff me off! Just like that! Just because, what? No screaming?!
What the kark!?
Well guess what? I can scream, I just don’t want to. Is all.
But, luckily for me, I did not have to try another performance of it, as honestly, I apparently did not have it in me. The screaming part. Not yet anyway.
So, after that they kinda treated me differently.
Or at least the one they called Nala Se did. The one who had been defending me from… well, the D-word. The one word too scary to even think about.
Still, time went on I developed rather nicely if I do say so myself. And I do. I, looked good. Was good. Perfect.
The googo-gaaga-giigi?
Yeah I could do all that and Nala Se seemed to be proud of me.
Well, seemed is kind of an overstatement, as these, longnecks really did not have any facial expressions. At all. Scary if you think about it. But I let it slide.
Then one time, they were all there again, like it was some kind of an assessment to be made. And there sure seemed to be a lot of them things. Assessments, tests, you name it.
But hey, I aced them! O!
So there they were again, five this time. The longnecks. Glaring down at me as I was on the floor, doing my little puzzle thingies Nala Se liked to let me do.
“Still not crying?”
One of them asked.
What’s with all the crying obsession huh?
Yo, dude, I can do plenty of things other than the boring crying shouting screaming you think I need to do! Look, a puzzle and I finished it! Hey, longneck! Check this out!!!
I was trying so hard to catch their attention but they were chatting with each other high up there.
Longnecks!
“No, only letting out small sounds of content.”
And off went the telepathy again. Because they glared at each other for a long, long time!
“It is defected.”
One of them finally commented. Again!
Defected! Little cute ole moi? What’s with you? Look at me! Hey really take a good look!
I stood up and did my little prance dance around the area for show.
But, the did not even notice!
Hey lady, I am perfect!
And besides, who are you calling it?!!!
I am a person! I have a name or at least something similar to it. A designation CT-1409. It’s a name, right?
My glare, the best I could muster aimed right at the longnecks.
I was so irked, so pissed, so angry, well, hangry mostly, as lunch was late for sure because of this, assessment!
And so then, it happened!
Because from somewhere deep, deep, deep within, it finally came out.
The loudest, the proudest of roaring screams I had ever been able to muster in my so far very short life!
The scream was so loud, and lasted so long, I was sure to pop a blood vessel in my brain.
Or theirs.
Alas, neither happened and eventually, I stopped screaming. But I sure put those longnecks in their place! Showed them I was as good as they could get in a mini-me.
And so, after that, reward winning display, there were no more talks about decommissioning or death or anything like it. Because I, was perfection!
Well, perhaps later this comment will come back and bite me in my little tushy. But that, is a story for another time. A much much later time.
You might also wonder if this was how I got my real name, in case you asked, if you haven’t. But it wasn’t because of my articulative prowess bringing it to fruition. Well, more about that too later.
Right now, I’m going to be growing up, double speed apparently if I understood their science correctly.
Learn all kinds of cool and fun stuff, because I know I like to read, even if I haven’t done so yet. Not on my own anyway, but soon. I will do many a wonderful things!