11-May-2018

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11-May-2018

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The last Christmas kaleidoscope projector in the galaxy

Ja’en gently opened the container. The flimsy lid, made out of the same material as the box, rotated up. Her eye stalks hovered, looking at the contents.

A faceted, clear ball peered back at her.

“What’s that?” Suc’e asked, leaning over the floating counter.

“Special order,” Ja’en said as she slipped a tentacle down the corner of the box and wrapped the base of the device.

The shop would open in a few minutes, and Ja’en had wanted to get everything in order before then. But this had distracted her. She heard the doors automatically unseal, but ignored them. No one came in this early.

The special order?” Suc’e’s insect eyes glittered as Ja’en pulled the item free.

“Yes.”

A black, metal cone attached the faceted clear ball to a sharp, plastic stem. A black cord exited  the cone. Ja’en wiggled the ball and cone and found that the assembly swiveled.

“What is it?” Suc’e asked. He turned his triangular head to the side and licked the air with what he called a tongue.

“I’m not sure, but it’s Earther.”

Suc’e scuttled back a step. “What?”

“Don’t believe everything you hear about the Earthers,” Ja’en said, still studying the ball.

“But they’re savages,” Suc’e said. “That’s probably a weapon.”

“Does this look like a weapon to you?”

“Doesn’t matter, my queen says that Earthers will kill you rather than look at you.”

A gruff voice spoke from behind Ja’en.

“Depends on how tasty you are.”

Ja’en jumped, and cradled the device next to her body. Her two hearts sped up, and her flight glands began to secrete.

Suc’e scuttled back another step, and held a pincer out in front of himself.

Ja’en stilled her energy and turned.

She’d never met the buyer. He’d always sent someone else to pick up his orders. She’d wondered why he never came. Now she knew.

Not many beings in the galaxy had seen a human in the flesh before. There were plenty of vids on the net of the destruction of Earth and all of their colonies, and none of them painted humans in a favorable light.

“Sir?” Ja’en said.

He pointed to the object in her tentacles. “I believe that’s my special order.”

It was difficult to gauge his mood. Humans didn’t change color or scent when they were angry. There was supposed to be a way to tell with their mouth, but Ja’en had never read the articles. This male—she was fairly certain he was male—had a scar that ran down one side if his dark face. Lines of hair sat above each of his small, cold eyes. The only other hair he had was on the top of his head, and as all humans, he covered the rest of himself.

“Uh, yes. Of course.”

Another customer came into the store, and Ja’en waved at Suc’e to go and take care of them. Her assistant practically ran away.

“May I?” he asked, pointing with his strange arm with fingers at the end.

“Yes.” Ja’en wrapped the object in two tentacles and offered it to him. She held her breath as the human’s hands came toward her. His fingers slowly, gently took the object from her.

Parts of his face changed as he studied it, turning it over and over in his hands. After a moment, he looked up.

“Do you have the box?”

“Here,” Ja’en said, pointing.

The human moved to the container, rummaged around inside and pulled a flat disc out of it. He removed the clear ball with a click and inserted the disc into the cone. Then he replaced the ball, pulled a small black box from his coat pocket and inserted the end of the cord into it.

Ja’en bit back a gurgled cry as light exploded from the faceted ball.

Colors that Ja’en couldn’t even describe appeared on the shop’s ceiling. Like stars, but different. And in its own way, beautiful. The array began to move, the entire thing twisting around an invisible axis.

She risked a glance at the human, afraid he was going to be upset at her outburst, but his eyes were on the ceiling. His face had changed again. Somehow it had softened. She plucked up her courage and asked, “What is it?”

He looked at her, and then at the array. “Back on Earth we had a holiday called Christmas. We celebrated giving and getting and love. My family had one of these when I was a little boy. My brother and I would sit at our window and watch it for hours.”

Ja’en could see why. There was a beautiful simplicity to it. Soothing.

Moisture gathered in the human’s eyes, but he blinked and it was gone. He pulled the plug and the display disappeared. He reached into another pocket and offered her a generous pile of credits.

“This is too much,” she said, waving her tentacles in front of her.

“You got it here early, just as I asked.” He slipped the machine back into the box and closed it. “If Earth were still around, Christmas day would be tomorrow.” He set the credits on the floating counter. “Thank you.”

Ja’en watched as he picked up the box and walked away.

What had he said? Giving, getting and love? Were those really things that Earthers valued? It sure hadn’t looked like it at the end.

But here was this human, thanking her. She moved toward the door. “I hope you have a good Christmas day.”

The human stopped. His body tensed, and Ja’en thought she had made a terrible mistake, but after a moment he turned. “I do to.”

***

I hate it when a short story like this explodes into more in my brain.

lalalalala, I’m writing something else right now!

Genre – Science Fiction

Character – Female

Setting – In a shop

Random Object – Christmas Kaleidoscope Projector

Theme – Death


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