The Human

By J'aime Wells

He's never met a human before. Now one's booking a ride on his ship.

 

Kekitaka has never met a human before, but this one needs a ride, and Kekitaka needs the money. He's been stranded on this dingy, backwater space station for three years with a broken down ship. This human's family is offering to fix his engine in exchange for passage, so Kekitaka's jumping at the chance. He's going home. He doesn't know much about humans, but he's got a book about them. It seems fine… until he meets his passenger.

 

Alarmingly, the human turns out to be terrified of him. And are humans supposed to be this small? Spending ten days alone together on the journey home could be more complicated than Kekitaka thought, between a scared young passenger, a ship that keeps breaking down, and a galaxy full of people who fear and misunderstand his species.

 

If they're going to make it to Kekitaka's home planet, these two people of very different worlds will need to overcome their distrust and pull together into a strange little two-member crew…or maybe even make friends.

 

"The Humans" is a short standalone story of about 10k words, ideal for fans of character-driven, found-family science fiction such as The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J'aime Wells
• Release date: Dec 15, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223109181

J'aime Wells

J'aime has lived in the American midwest, in the mid-south, and on the east coast, but now lives in the state of Washington with one husband (purebred New Zealander), one doggo (Miniature Pinscher cross), and an ever-expanding collection of musical instruments. She reads anything that's not too scary, but usually writes SF/F with a cozy feel. p.s. It's pronounced just like "Jamie."

Book preview

To Mom

I got this idea in an airport, on the way to visit you...

The Human

Have you ever transported a human before?

Of course not. She knew I hadn’t. No one had, out here. It must have been an interview question requested by the client.

I didn’t have to tell her that I wanted the job, either. She knew. Three years by local reckoning I’d been stuck on 8756, the dingy station that she managed, while the whole time, home was a ten-day trip away.

You might be in luck this time, Bee said. There’s no one else, and these folks are so desperate that they’ve even agreed to hire you. Assuming the passenger is comfortable with it.

I didn’t take offense. Bee is fully aware of my reputation around the station, but she’s probably the only person here who knows me well enough not to believe it. Also, I’m pretty sure that when her ears poke out like that, she’s being funny.

I’ll get the human there safely, I vowed. It’s paying my expenses home. I’ll learn. They breathe oxygen, right? I’ll get oxygen. Give me the job, Tki.

Tki is my best approximation of Bee’s name, considering that I don’t have lips. My own language consists entirely of differently pitched clicks. Translation software does a great job of letting me talk to other species, as long as everyone has their wristbands on, but it’s generally considered a courtesy to at least try to speak the names of your friends in your own voice.

Why don’t I introduce you? Bee opened a door on the other side of her office. She had the human waiting? Interesting. She really did think they would hire me. The human who came in was a lot smaller than I expected. I guess I haven’t seen that many humans, come to think of it. This one was about as tall as the shoulder joint of my secondary set of arms, so even shorter than Bee. Its skin looked ridiculously delicate next to Bee’s tough gray hide and my exoskeleton. Just two arms, but I was getting used to seeing that strangeness on other species. It froze at the sight of me. A prey response? Possibly. Too bad we don’t have translation software for body language. It would save a lot of misunderstandings.

Bee said a human name, which was so difficult that I didn’t take it in. Well, it would be written on the contract.

Hello, I said. I hear you need a ride to Ittak.  I try to keep my words simple when I’m speaking to new people. Nothing worse than confusing the translation software when you’re trying to make a good first impression.

Wow, the human said, making the word long.

An emotional expression, said the translation software, not helpfully.

This is Kekitaka, Bee said. He could take you to your parents on Ittak, if that’s okay with you.

Kekitaka is a decent stab at my name, the closest that most mammalian species can come to it.

Kariaka, the human attempted, which made me laugh, a rattle of rapid clicks with a snappy curl of my antennae.

The human flinched back toward the door. Definitely a prey response. I’d frightened