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Chapter Three
“We should leave,” Kiendeclared in their native tongue as he stared out the window.
Voices carried from the parking lot below where men unloaded furniture from the vehicle known as a truck and brought it into their apartment building.
“I pray to the Ancients every day to take us away from this vile primitive world,” Solgre grumbled from his place at the kitchen table where he sat hunched over the pieces of the portable replicator.
They’d been in some questionable predicaments before, but this was by far the most stressful. Never had they been stranded on an isolated planet where the inhabitants were ignorant in the ways of how the rest of the galaxy operated.
They each were afraid of what would happen if humans discovered aliens walked among them, but Kien, like Phate, was beginning to feel like a caged animal. Solgre seemed content to stay in the little apartment day and night while Phate and Kien wanted to go out and explore this new world and breathe the fresh air.
Their ship had crashed to Earth not far from where they were now. Well, it had been more of a strategic landing. Phate had been able to guide them to a body of water deep enough to hide it. They’d stayed hidden underwater for months while they worked to get their systems back online. Even with the shield at twenty percent capacity, there wasn’t any fear of water breaching the hull and damaging the internal systems.
Luckily for them, some of the mechanical bots were still online and worked to fix the outer damage caused by the crash right away. But even so, there was too much damage and the radiation that couldn’t be contained. They estimated the distress signal would most likely reach the nearest ship within six Earth months, with a rescue expected in the same amount of time.
They could’ve waited that time out on the ship but doing so would’ve completely drained the already damaged systems. They had no choice but to leave, allowing the bots to divert from maintaining life-support to concentrating on fixing the vital areas of the ship and purge the radiation.
Knowing what needed to be done, they’d downloaded information on the language, learned the phonics and practiced. Learning languages wasn’t new to any of them. That had been the easy part. It was Phate who’d learned the monetary system. With his tricorder properly re-configured, he’d hacked into the banking system, created an account and with a few touches of the buttons, they had the necessary funds to buy what was needed to start their temporary life on Earth.
Their first days offHalo Onewere rough. They’d bungled shopping. They had a hard time finding a store with clothes to fit their larger than average human forms. They’d searched for a suitable dwelling but without something called credit, a job and references, they’d been turned away, until they’d met the landlord of the apartment building they currently resided.
The landlord had given them an apartment in exchange for a transfer of five hundred thousand dollars directly into his account, which Phate had done expeditiously as it was growing cold and dark outside and they got tired of sleeping in dilapidated structures.
Luckily, the landlord had also been gracious enough to give them the furniture from his apartment for a few hundred thousand dollars more.
It had been a grueling time, leaving their safe-haven, and acclimating as best they could into a strange society. But now they were getting alone nicely and fitting in. They’d learned how to order pizza from a flyer left attached to their door and the saleswoman the landlord had sent, provided them a cable subscription package and cellular phones.
While his shipmates talked, or in Solgre’s case, grumbled, Phate browsed through television channels, stopping at a station that aired a cartoon. It was his favorite show about an alien stranded on Earth and living with a government official. Although it was clearly fictional, he enjoyed the alien’s antics because it reminded him of the Stod species. They were conceited, only thought of themselves and looked like the fictional character.
“Not again!” Solgre roared, lifting his head to glare at Phate. “We’ve seen this episode so many times before. Turn to something else!”
“I believe this is a very limited cable package. Basic is what the saleswoman called it,” Phate said as he pointed toward the box sitting underneath the television. “Maybe we should look into the premium package. With that, we would have other shows available to us.”
Solgre raked his fingers through his hair, but the overly long length quickly fell back over his forehead. “We don’t need to watch their television. It’s nothing but a distraction.”
“It’s research,” Phate pointed out. “Since you won’t let us spend any amount of time outdoors, it’s the only glimpse we have into their world.” He aimed the remote control toward the television. “We need a better package so we can get additional news channels and reality television programs. How else are we supposed to learn their customs and mimic them?”
Solgre shuddered. “Do you really want to watch more of their news programs? The one time I did, I had nightmares and that’s saying something. I’ve been to Udon and helped them recover from the Turkrar genocide.”
Kien turned away from the window, the goings on outside no longer holding his attention. “The saleswoman mentioned a premium package with more channels. How many humans have this premium cable package? Premium sounds like something only a handful of humans have access to. The elites.” He raised his chin. “I agree. We need the premium package.”
Phate’s eyebrows drew together. “I don’t think it works like that. I think premium is reserved for anyone who can afford it.”
“I’m all for the premium package for the sole purpose of having something different to watch. I agree with Solgre on this point. Phate is driving me insane watching the same shows over and over again.” Kien stepped away from the window and leaned against the wall beside it. “But when I said, let’s get out of here, I meant leave the apartment and leave this building.
