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Chapter 1
Professor Zorin
They were…
They were so…
They were so horrifyingly wiggly.
Were they broken?
We weren’t supposed to do that and the others around me knew it as well.
“Have they been damaged in some way?”
“Did the closing of the portal do this to them?”
“What are they talking about?”
Questions from the other academics buzzed around me like insects but I ignored them all as I studied the humans and tried to decipher what they might be saying. Nothing about their words was familiar, but the people of Earth used the language smoothly, as well as Klynn and Toman, which was good to see.
Occasionally they paused in ways the other people of Earth did not, but their sounds seemed nearly as smooth as I studied them. “I think it is clear that the spell to obtain the Earth language was successful.”
Something about my words or our discussion had all the people of Earth focusing on us at once, giving them even more horrifying behaviors. Their synchronized movements had me trying to decide if they looked like hunters or prey being stalked.
“Toman is not showing concern.”
“The Earth people may be showing concern, though.”
“Why do their eyes look that way?”
“What does an open mouth signify?”
“I do not know but they are all making the same expression.”
“Do you think the gate travel affected them mentally?”
Questions buzzed around me but I ignored them as I let my gaze scan the individuals from Earth. They had moved together in one large mass, making it difficult to see some individuals at the back, but I did my best to memorize their features.
Somehow theirs were softer than ours, which matched the historical reports of what the humans of Earth looked like, but we had not expected our people to blend in so completely.
They looked human.
They may have even been acting human and not damaged.
We should have expected it but somehow it was still confusing.
“They are watching us.”
The reason for that was obvious, but I showed my agreement before responding.
“They are as curious as we are. This is a foreign land to them.”
Reminders that we were supposed to be getting to know our long-separated families helped and we all moved closer to the people of Earth as they continued to speak quietly and watch our movements closely.
Even Klynn and Toman were standing close to the people of Earth, so it was possible they required less personal space. However, we were missing context to their behavior because as one male spoke the others made odd verbal responses to him that varied in volume.
Was that supposed to be a happy sound?
