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“Welcome aboard, Jumbo.”
Mumbo looked around the spaceship, silver metal gleaming from the lights above. He had been moved from his all-human commission after a series of strange coincidences, and now he was here- the Stella Navis , a ship that had only ever had one human on its floors. That human had been a captive.
“Oh, Mumbo is fine, thank you.” He told the tall man. Well, was man the right word? What were the limits to the concept of man?
The alien nodded down at him. He had a mask over his face, only revealing his eyes. A tank of carbon monoxide was attached to his side, and tubes looped around up to his mouth covering. Being on a ship with all humans had been nice. Mumbo didn’t have to worry about breathing in other species' toxic gases, but he didn’t have much say in it now.
“Well, Mumbo, I hope you find it nice here. We haven’t had a human around here in a long time, so forgive the other crew if they seem… nervous.” Xisuma, the tall alien and captain of the ship, explained. “The last time one of you was here, it didn’t go quite so well.”
That was weird. The last time a human had been on the Stella Navis , rumors were that nothing had gone unusual. But then again, Mumbo was a relatively low-level worker, so there was probably more information in the confidential case files.
“No worries.” Mumbo tried to give a reassuring smile. He couldn’t see any change in expression from Xisuma.
“Okay, uh, if you need help around the ship, don’t hesitate to ask any of us. I need to go back to my station, but I hope you adjust well.” He said, beginning to walk in the direction of the captain's quarters. Each step he took shook the ship with his heavy equipment, but within a moment, the captain was gone.
The hour was off to a great start. Mumbo pulled out his communicator and checked the clock- a little past four am Terran time. As exhausted as he felt and how little he looked forward to meeting the other crewmates, he decided it was probably better to get it all out of the way. Frankly, he didn’t want to be making bad small talk in a few weeks when the others barely knew his name.
He walked down the opposite hallway Captain Xisuma had gone. According to his map, the cafeteria should be around the corner. Even though half of the crew would probably be asleep, he could at least grab a snack to pass the time, right? Mumbo’s shift didn’t technically start until seven am Terran time. Maybe they would even have potatoes! Those were always a good snack, and he had been missing them ever since-
His train of thought was interrupted as a giant figure knocked into him, causing him to topple. A strong hand reached out and caught him, lifting him and settling him back on his feet.
“Oops, sorry about that,” the other said, patting him on the shoulder. Mumbo noticed the way his forehead seemed to shift into a couple of devil-like horns, the purple tint to his eyes, the long tail at his back.
“No, no, that was my fault,” Mumbo said hastily, brushing off his suit. When he looked up again, the alien was tilting his head in curiosity.
“I haven’t seen you around before. You must be the new guy, right?”
“That would be me, yes!”
The alien turned around. He quickly yelled, “Hey Skizz! New guy here!”
Barely a second later a man came skirting around the corner, nearly knocking into Mumbo as his friend had done. White feathers were spread along his back, some smaller feathers creating the illusion of stubble on his chin. “New guy! Woah, we’ve been waiting for ya, man!” He gave Mumbo a shove to the shoulder, which hurt more than it had meant to. Apparently, the two aliens in front of him werne’t aware of their own strength.
“Oh. Well, good to hear I’ve been expected?” He rubbed his neck nervously. When he had started heading towards the cafeteria, he hadn’t expected to be thrust into a social situation immediately. He had kind of been hoping that he could take a seat with a snack and be approached quietly, not in the middle of a hallway and already feeling bruises forming.
“I’m Skizz, since I don’t think I mentioned that.” The feathered one said, pointing towards the demon-looking one as he continued. “This here is Impulse.”
“It’s great to meet both of you. I’m Mumbo,” He said, reaching out and shaking both of their hands. Even their handshakes were strong.
Impulse got straight to the point, curiosity written all over his face. “So, what are you, species-wise? I’m a Daemonium and Skizz is a Vian.”
“I’m a human, last time I checked, at least,” Mumbo chuckled. He noticed the way Skizz and Impulse’s faces fell, their quick glance at each other.
“Human? Not a Terran one, right?” Skizz said, laughter lining his voice. Mumbo didn’t miss the way it felt forced.
“I am from Terra, actually. Pretty beautiful in the summer. Winter, too, although it's objective.”
Impulse let out a low whistle and took a small step back. Skizz stayed where he was but he didn’t seem happy about it. Mumbo looked between the two of them quickly, trying to decipher what was happening. Before he could ask, the Daemonium spoke.
“Cool. Yeah, that’s cool. Uh, I think my shift starts again soon, so I’d better… yeah, I’d better get going. Don’t want to upset X, that’s for sure.” He nodded at Mumbo and Skizz before hurrying off, maneuvering his way between both of them and continuing through the long hallway.
“Ah, sorry about him,” Skizz said. “He really does mean well. Terran humans just have some… complicated relations on this ship. He’ll warm up to you soon enough.”
“What do you mean by ‘complicated relations’?” Mumbo made air quotations. The captain had warned him about this but hadn’t told him why. It had to be something more than just weird relationships with his species, right?
“It’s- a weird story, actually. I wish I could tell it to you, really, I do, but my shift also starts soon,” he muttered something under his breath along the lines of and it's not a good story, either , before snapping his head up. “Cya, Mumbo! Hope you like it here.”
Skizz walked away, leaving Mumbo alone at the entrance to the cafeteria. He sighed, running a hand down his face, before entering the room. It was in a hexagonal shape with a table at each of the sides except for one. On the blank side was a small opening to a counter, a small screen on the side with buttons and pictures of food.
He made his way over, scrolling through the different choices. At the beginning it had the option to select food by species, so he tried looking for humans. It was at the very end and only had two choices- a strange-looking sandwich and a salad. No potatoes.
Mumbo settled for the salad, hearing the empty kitchen buzz as the food was made. A couple of seconds later there was a loud ding and a bowl slid onto the counter. He grabbed it and wandered over to one of the tables, taking a seat and pulling out his communicator. It was halfway to five Terran time, but he continued to scroll around, looking through the map and trying to familiarize himself with the ship’s layout.
He was on board to be an engineer. According to the files he had gotten when he had been transferred, there was already one on board, but it was customary to always have two in case of emergencies and for second opinions. Maybe he should have asked Xisuma what the other crew members did. Xisuma was the captain, of course, but he was also aware that the ship's population was fairly small. If he had to bet, he would probably say that he had met nearly everyone.
Suddenly, the room felt extremely warm. Mumbo began sweating, trying to fan himself from the heat, but it didn’t seem to do anything. When he looked around, he saw nothing out of the ordinary.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone in the entryway, but when his head swiveled to look, they were gone. Then he felt the heat right behind him.
“Hey there,” a voice said, cheerful and crackly like fire.
Mumbo turned quickly to see a tall and lanky alien, fire emitting from his hair. He had his arms crossed and was wearing the regular spacesuit like everyone else, but he also had strange, red-tinted glasses.
Mumbo nearly fell out of his seat, latching onto the table and the salad. The food spilled into his lap and all he could do was stare at it in a mix of shock and disappointment. The alien beside him was chuckling, holding his stomach with laughter.
“Oh, man! I wanted to scare you, but not that bad!” He continued laughing and eventually Mumbo managed to snap out of it, looking between him and his spilled food.
“Uh, hi?”
“Hi,” he responded with a nod, still giggling. “I’m Tango.”
He held out his hand and Mumbo took it, shaking it. His grip was much lighter than Impulse and Skizz’s, which was a relief after the kind of day he was having. Meeting four members of the ship in a time span of barely thirty minutes was a bit much.
“Mumbo. I’m the extra engineer.”
“Ah, I see, I see. Which was your last ship?” Tango asked, leaning against the table.
“The Cor Navis ,” he explained, a sense of pride enveloping him as he remembered some of his old friends, probably eating something similar to him at this very moment.
Tango didn’t seem nearly as happy as Mumbo did. He broke eye contact, glancing at the ground, as if his feet were suddenly much more interesting to look at.
“Isn’t that the… human ship? Like, Terran ones and everything?” He said slowly, like he was talking to an animal.
“Yeah, I think so. Why is everyone so weird about that?” He threw out his hands in confusion. Three separate aliens had all reacted nearly the same about Terran humans. Were they just space racist? Was there something he didn’t know? He had a thousand questions and every time he tried to ask them, he was brushed off.
Tango put his hands together awkwardly, starting to sit up from his seat next to him. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what? I mean, seriously, no one has said anything other than ‘it’s complicated’. I didn’t do anything, I don’t think, so I’m really confused.”
“I’m not the person to ask,” Tango said, standing from the table and beginning to walk towards the exit of the cafeteria. “It’s late Ardere time, so I’m going to go head to bed. It really was nice to meet you, Mumbo.”
He left without another word. It was nice that both him and Skizz seemed regretful at their strange behavior, but it didn’t make him feel much better. All he knew was that his being human was going to be a problem and that the salad dressing was beginning to seep through his clothes.
This was going to be a long transfer.
*
Mumbo was doing his shift in an engine when he heard a knock ring against metal.
Impulse was in the entryway, watching him work. When Mumbo turned around and gave a small wave, he waved back, although it looked like a struggle for the alien.
Mumbo took off his work goggles and walked over, opening the door. “Hi Impulse, what’s up?”
He faltered for a moment, looking around nervously before he finally spoke. “It’s around eleven Terran time, right?”
Mumbo glanced down at his communicator for a moment, confirming it. “Yep, looks like it. What about it?”
“Well, it’s kind of early for Skizz, Tango, and I, but we wanted to see if you were hungry? You definitely don’t have to, it’s just-”
“No, no, that’s alright. I think I can go ahead and take my lunch break now.” He pulled off his gloves and placed them on the counter with his other equipment. As it turned out, Tango was the other engineer. It had been a shock to find how he had been keeping his things organized, but luckily there wasn’t much to fix. He had just moved some stuff around and it was already a lot better. He just hoped Tango wouldn’t mind.
“Great! Uh, I can wait here for you, if you want, or I can go ahead to the cafeteria, it really doesn’t matter to me.” Impulse offered, still hesitant.
“You can go, I’ll catch up in a second.” Mumbo smiled, and Impulse sped off in the other direction.
At least it’s an improvement from before , he thought to himself. He hurried to put away the rest of his tools before going off to the cafeteria.
*
The three aliens were sitting at the table in the far back. They were shuffled close together, whispering something to each other. No food was on the table, which was strange considering they had invited him to lunch, but before he could think too much about it, they waved him over.
“Hey Mumbo!” Skizz greeted happily. He gave a rough nudge into Impulse’s side, which the demon-like alien flinched at before waving stiffly to him.
“So, what human food do they have for you?” Tango asked, and Mumbo was suddenly aware of the bright shade of red his eyes were.
“Not much,” he admitted. “A sandwich and a salad, and since I’m vegetarian-”
“You don’t eat meat?” Impulse blurted out, confused.
“Yeah? It’s a moral thing, mostly.” He explained, waving his hands around as he spoke.
“That’s so cool! I’m vegetarian, too.” Skizz grinned, feathers flapping slightly. “So humans can just pick what they eat?”
“Yup. What, you guys can’t?” Mumbo tried to put on a joking tone, but the other three flinched back.
“No, no, sorry.” They all jointly apologized, avoiding eye contact with him.
“What? Why are you sorry, you didn’t do anything? I was messing with you, I swear. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you guys upset or-”
“You’re fine!” Tango said quickly. “We just don’t want you to think we have anything against you, y’know?” He sent a meaningful look toward the other two aliens.
“Yeah! Man, never apologize, you’re all good.” Skizz said.
“Do you want to get lunch?” Impulse asked quietly, staring at the table.
“Oh, sure. You guys can go ahead, I’ll grab mine in a minute,” he said, but the others didn’t move.
“Are you sure? We really don’t want to leave you out.” Skizz asked.
Mumbo looked between them all. He decided that after lunch, he was going to get to the bottom of this. He hadn’t been mean from what he knew. There were pieces of a puzzle that he wanted to put together, even if it was the last thing he did.
“Go get your food, I don’t mind.” He smiled again. It didn’t seem to work, but the three aliens stood up and wandered over to the ordering station.
From afar, Mumbo could see that there were a lot more options foodwise for the other species. Skizz went first, clicking on a strange-looking burrito that smelled vaguely of mushrooms. Impulse selected a large steak, although he knew it probably wasn’t cow since that was a human animal. Tango was last and came back with a large bowl filled with what he could only guess was literal molten lava.
They ate happily, Mumbo eventually walking over and ordering another salad. There was too much dressing on it and the vegetables were strangely squishy, but he ate it nonetheless, despite his lack of appetite. The aliens had seemed to forget he was there for a moment, which gave him peace from being stared at, at least for a little while.
“Did you hear what X said?” Skizz said in between a mouthful of burrito. “Our next route is near my planet. Think he’d let us stop for a quick visit?”
Impulse shook his head. “Nah, even if it's a free day, he won’t want us wasting any time.”
“Bummer, I was really hoping we could see our families for a minute. It’s been a few months, at least.”
“What missions have you guys been going on?” Mumbo asked. It was the first time he had spoken in a good while, and he had finished his salad already. Their heads shot up, turning over to him.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Mumbo. We got kind of caught up in our own conversation.” Skizz breathed, speaking carefully. “We’ve been mainly stopping space pirates since there’s not much else to do.”
Mumbo hummed, looking down at his communicator. He still had another few minutes before his shift started up again, but he stood up anyway. “I’m going to go and head back, if you guys don’t mind?”
“That’s fine!” Tango said, jumping up from his seat. “Want us to walk you back?”
“Uh, that’s okay, thanks.” He nodded at them before turning around, picking up his trash and throwing it out on his way through the exit.
Mumbo went in the direction of the engine room. When he reached the door, he made a quick glance behind him before turning down the hallway. The map said the office would be through one of the doors around here, so maybe…
He found the room relatively easily. To his luck, it was unlocked, and he was able to open the door and walk in without any struggle. The only problem was that if he was caught searching through here, he could possibly be permanently kicked from the Space Force. He just had to hope that wouldn’t happen.
The room was small and had the same metallic shine as the rest of the ship. There was a desk and a large projection laptop, a rolling chair sitting behind it. There were no lights on, the only light coming from the device on the desk.
Mumbo walked closer, sitting down in the chair and tapping some buttons. Even though he knew his way around an engine and the wiring of a ship, using advanced technology so close up was new. He struggled for a moment, searching through the files before he eventually found one that looked promising. For some reason, there was no password. That and the unlocked door began ringing bells in his mind, but he had to find out the truth before worrying about anything else.
Human Subject 055324
Terran
Case #2
Review video link
He clicked the link, turning down the volume and watching closely as someone appeared on the screen. He recognized it nearly immediately as Captain Xisuma.
We were on our way past Mars in the Milky Way, Xisuma explained, speaking slowly. His voice was shaking. We had picked up captives from a pirating ship and held them in the hold to attend to their wounds. The rest of the crew was busy trying to make sure everything was running smoothly, and I was attempting to contact Mission Control. As I was on the call, a loud… scream, I think, sounded and echoed through the ship. I immediately went on the intercom and asked what it might have been. I instructed two of the crew to go downstairs and investigate, just to make sure everything was okay.
The two crewmembers came over and, uh, yeah. That was the last time we ever heard from them. So then I went down and I saw the one human who had been captive on the pirate ship, covered in… the crew member’s blood and everything. It was really vile. I got another crew member and we escorted the subject out of the hull and they fought hard. They kept crying out in Terran English to something my translator only told me meant, ‘home, I want to go home.’
We were all pretty shaken up. We took them down into the actual cells hoping that they would stop, but they didn’t. They kept clawing at everything, biting us when we got too close, trying to use our own syringes on us. They managed to kill another crew member. I don’t even- I don’t even know how. Xisuma’s head was facing towards the floor, avoiding looking directly towards the camera.
They refused to eat any of the food we gave them. Eventually, they died of starvation before we could make it back to our main base of operations. We put their body in the morgue of the ship until we reached Terra on a trip back. It was rough. We weren’t quite sure what to do, and I was trying to keep the crew from going insane, and just… yeah. Case report number two complete. Captain Xisuma of the Stella Navis, over and out.
The video cut off suddenly. Mumbo could feel his chest heaving, hear his heart pounding in his ears. He remembered hearing about the last human Terran on the Stella Navis , but no one had ever said anything like this.
The silence was broken by the door to the office opening. Xisuma stood, far too tall for the door, in the entrance. It was hard to see the look on his face, hidden by the mask, but Mumbo wasn’t keen on finding out.
“You found the report?”
“I- no, what? There’s a report?” Mumbo tried, then gave up. “Yeah, I did.”
Xisuma leaned down and walked into the room, arms limp at his sides. “I’m sorry you had to find out that way. I’m also sorry that you felt like you had to break in in order to get answers.”
“Whenever I tried to ask, everyone avoided me.” He explained. He didn’t even argue; he was still in shock from the video.
“I know. I do hope you’re aware that they truly don’t mean anything bad. Tango, Impulse, and Skizz had all seen what had happened that day. They’re just wary.”
“I understand that now,” Mumbo said, staring at the blank projector. “I just kind of wish I knew, you know? And if I had, I might’ve, I don’t know, tried to argue my case in order to keep it comfortable for you guys. I didn’t want to disrupt anything here.”
Xisuma was shaking his head. “It happened a while ago. They’re all still impacted by that experience, yes, but I chose you for a reason.”
His brain buffered for a moment. “Hold on, you’re the one who wanted me here?”
“Yes. I thought it would be good to help them adjust some more, but I didn’t really think about how it would affect you. Sorry about that.” Xisuma shifted nervously.
Mumbo faltered. Did they actually need another engineer, then? Had he been moved from his ship with his friends for no reason other than to act as exposure therapy? And the human from before? He didn’t even know their name. They had died away from Terra, their home, a place Mumbo had been so ready to leave.
“I would love to have you continue staying on the ship,” Xisuma began. “The decision is up to you, but from what I’ve seen, they do like you. It just might take a little adjusting.”
Mumbo wondered if it was worth it. If he went mad and started killing other crew members, what would happen? And why was he now worried about going crazy? Skizz seemed to not mind him too much, and Tango was cheerful, but Impulse? His head spun with the questions, the biggest one being if he should stay or not.
Then he thought about Tango’s laughter as he snuck up on Mumbo. He thought about Skizz and Impulse’s teasings. Maybe they were afraid of him for reasons that weren’t his fault, but who was to say that he couldn’t eventually join in on that fun? He had come aboard the Stella Navis expecting to be an engineer and nothing else. Maybe he had another job now- maybe he could help the ship in more ways than one.
“I’ll stay.”
Xisuma’s mask shuffled. Mumbo could only assume he was smiling.
“Thank you.”
*
“Hey man,” Tango called from the counter. Mumbo stuck his head up from where he was working in the engine. “I know I didn’t really say it before, but would you mind leaving my stuff where I put it? You’re definitely more organized, it’s just kind of hard for me to find my things. Controlled chaos, y’know?”
Mumbo nodded emphatically. “Yeah dude, no problem! Sorry about that.”
“It’s no worries,” he said, speaking loudly to counter the noises of the engine. “I was just too nervous to ask a few months ago because of everything.”
“Totally get it,” he said, looking down at the machine. It had been a while since he had first arrived, and he was happy about the progress on the ship. The other crew members had been opening up more and more to him, adjusting to his presence on board. They still had moments where they seemed fearful, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as those first few days. He was happy to call Tango, Skizz, and Impulse his friends.
“Tango, could you pass me the wrench?” He asked, not looking up. A second later, the metal tool was in his hand. “Thanks!”
“Anytime, Mumbo,” Tango said, turning back to his own work.
This position on the Stella Navis could work. In the end, all of them might be able to live like regular people around each other without any fear. It would just take a little time- luckily, they had that.