Love, not War

Isaac stared, taken aback at the offer. They were asking him to be their food? “What exactly… would that mean?” he carefully asked.

Queen Mimica smiled. “You would simply have to form and maintain a positive relationship with a changeling. We would take care of the rest, and you’d never feel a thing.”

Isaac considered this, deep in thought. “And there’d be no mind control?” he asked.

Queen Mimica raised an eyebrow. “That is actually something I wished to discuss as well – changelings are incapable of ‘mind control’. It is true we feed on emotions, but we cannot take away the free will of others – hence our reliance on taking the forms of others. It is another form of deception, yes, but I think you will agree it is a necessary one.”

Isaac nodded. “Alright, I accept,” he announced, to the excited cheers of the other changelings in the room.

“Splendid! We shall start right away,” Mimica announced. The changeling scientists left the corridor, leaving Isaac and Mimica once again alone.

“So, which changeling am I going to be forming a ‘positive relationship’ with?” Isaac asked, putting the two words in as many air quotes as he could muster.

Queen Mimica laughed. “Whomever you so desire. Burning Ash would be a good candidate… as would my daughter.” Isaac stared at her, and she leveled her gaze at him. “You think I haven’t been paying attention? You two are friends already, yes?” she asked, and Isaac carefully nodded. Mimica grinned. “Well, if you decide to be more than friends… you have my full approval.” With that, she cantered off, leaving Isaac alone with his thoughts.

Some time later, it occurred to him that he should probably go do something. If he was going to be living with changelings for the extent of the known future, he should work on learning their language. Or customs. Or anything, really. Isaac made his way back towards Chrysalis’ room, and pulled open the door. Unsurprisingly, the room was empty: Chrysalis must have gone off to do something else. Isaac put a finger to his chin in thought. He could always find Burning Ash, and do something with him. Or… maybe he could arrange to get back to Earth? Might as well…

Isaac wandered around the ship, wondering where he might find his two friends. So far, he’d encountered the hangar, the throne room, and the corridors between – he’d never explored the other end of the ship. Curious, he wandered to the other end of the throne room, under the watchful eye of Queen Mimica, and opened the door.

He was greeted with what appeared to be a refectory, with changelings actually serving out plates of a strange pink substance, rather like strawberry Jell-O in appearance. Isaac presumed this was the edible form of ‘love’, however that worked. Spotting Chrysalis and Burning Ash deep in conversation, he sauntered over, aware that a good portion of the changelings in the room were staring at him. Chrysalis was saying something in changeling language, but Ash tapped her on the shoulder, motioning at Isaac, who wordlessly took a seat next to them. Chrysalis stiffened, before putting on a smile.

“Oh, hello, Isaac,” she greeted in English.

“Hey. What’s up?” Isaac asked.

Chrysalis shrugged. “Not much, just waiting to go down to Earth. So far, the scouts have reported back ‘all clear’, but they’re still running some last-minute tests.”

Isaac nodded. “Sounds good. I figured while I was here, I’d start learning about changeling language and customs – any idea where I could get started on that?”

Chrysalis shrugged, grimacing. “Talk to my mom, I suck at teaching.”

Burning Ash, on the other hand, brightened considerably. “Well, I’m great at teaching! I’d love to help!”

Isaac dropped him a nod, smiling slightly. “Awesome, when do we get started?” he asked, and Burning Ash shrugged.

“Whenever, I guess, doesn’t really matter to me.” A changeling trotted by their table, and quickly stopped to whisper something in Burning Ash’s ear. He blushed green, and the changeling chittered with laughter as it trotted away.

“What’d they want?” Isaac asked curiously. Chrysalis snickered.

“Uh… N-nothing…” Burning Ash answered, still blushing horribly.

“Got asked out?” Isaac shrewdly continued, and Burning Ash made a small “meep” sound as he nodded. "They asked if I could... 'give them a private lesson'," he mumbled in embarrassment. This was too much for Chrysalis, who ducked under the table so they wouldn’t see her laughing, and even Isaac repressed a chuckle at the mortified changeling.

“Okay. First off, this is what you’d refer to as an ‘a’. Not an ‘ah’, mind you, that has a different symbol,” Burning Ash instructed, drawing a letter with his ink-coated horn. Isaac watched carefully as Burning Ash traced out what he presumed was the rest of the changeling alphabet.

“Okay…” Isaac muttered, copying it down with a bit of steel wire from a torn part of the ship and an inkwell.

“Nicely done!” Burning Ash complimented, looking over his work. “Careful with that tail on the ‘srr’, though, I almost mistook that for a ‘shs’.” Isaac crossed out the offending letter, and sighed wistfully as he yearned for a pencil. “Oh, don’t worry, it’s only one mistake! I’m sure you’ll be fluent in our language before long,” Burning Ash remarked, mistaking his sigh for one of frustration. Isaac chuckled shortly before returning to his studies.

A few hours later, he sat alone in a room Mimica had picked out for him, reviewing his notes as he sat on the odd ‘bed’ they had constructed for him. It was made of a sealed-off, reshaped cocoon ‘mattress’ and a sheet of foam insulation, and was about as comfortable as Isaac would expect. Not that he’d complain, as it was better than nothing. Ignoring the scratchy feeling of the makeshift blanket, Isaac returned to his studies. He’d had a lot of difficulty pronouncing most of the changeling noises, as his mouth wasn’t exactly designed to hiss, shriek or chitter. The written language, to his dismay, was even worse: Over a hundred sounds comprised the subtle nuances of changeling language, each with its own symbol. To aid him, Burning Ash had given Isaac a wriggler’s book of common words, much like those ‘A to Z’ books back home.

“Sss – no, ssth..a…ae…sthaena?” Isaac tried, looking at the word for ‘water’.

“It’s pronounced ‘stheena’,” a voice behind him corrected, and Isaac jumped. Chrysalis was there, leaning against the door casually.

“How long have you been there?” Isaac asked irritably, after taking a moment to compose himself.

“About two seconds. Can I come in?” Chrysalis asked, and Isaac nodded. Chrysalis walked in, took a seat by his side and glanced down at the book he was reading.

“I had to start somewhere,” Isaac defended, noticing her smirking at the simple pictures.

“No, no, it wasn’t that. I just found the picture funny,” Chrysalis hastily assuaged. Isaac examined the picture. It was a single changeling, swimming underwater with an adorably scrunched-up expression on its face.

“Why does it look like it’s smelled something bad?” Isaac asked, and Chrysalis stifled a giggle.

“Changelings don’t much like water,” she answered. “Most of us aren’t good at swimming, and it tends to clog up the rest of our useful abilities.” Isaac nodded, and Chrysalis looked down at the book some more, in silence.

“So… just got word from the scouts on Earth, everything’s good,” Chrysalis spoke up, after a few minutes of silent reading. Isaac, who had been worrying about the pause in conversation, gave a relieved smile.

“Glad to hear it. What took them so long, anyway?” he asked, and Chrysalis shrugged.

“No idea. You’re right, it shouldn’t take nearly that long, but Mom wouldn’t tell me what the delay was for.” Isaac gave a disgruntled sigh and returned to his book – he supposed they’d find out eventually. “So, is this what they gave you as a ‘bed’?” Chrysalis asked, looking at the makeshift contraption.

Isaac nodded. “Better than nothing,” he replied, echoing his earlier thoughts.

Chrysalis grimaced. “Not by much, from the looks of things. I’ll see about getting you a real bed when we go down there.” Isaac gave an appreciative grunt.

“You're not... still mad at me, are you?” Chrysalis asked. Isaac looked up at her.

“No, not at all, it’s nothing like that,” he soothed. “I’m just a little annoyed at how much I suck at this.” He gestured at the book, and Chrysalis gave a small ‘hmph’.

“Everyone takes a while to learn a new language, let alone an entire new culture. Don’t worry, you’ll get it eventually,” she admonished, and Isaac slowly nodded.

The night was a sleepless one, consisting of much tossing and turning. Isaac couldn’t quite get himself into a position that wasn’t cold somewhere, be it his toes or his shoulders. He checked his phone often, and time seemed to slow to a crawl as he more and more fervently wished that ‘morning’ would come. He vaguely wondered what life had been like before this seemingly eternal hell of waiting, and only thoughts of seeing Earth once more carried him through the night.

Isaac checked his phone for what seemed to be the millionth time, and sighed in relief as ‘7:00’ flashed on the screen. Now he could officially get up without having to make an excuse. He got out of his ‘bed’, groaning and stretching as his joints popped back into reasonable positions. Shuffling around his tiny room, it took him a moment to realize that today he and Chrysalis were going back to Earth. Once this fact did penetrate his mind, Isaac stopped moving around his room, staring at the wall in shock. Would the planet be what he had seen? Was it radioactive? Maybe there were some humans somewhere, and Queen Mimica had just missed them? A barrage of questions assaulted his mind, each more urgent than the last, and after a few seconds he shook his head angrily. He’d just have to go down and see for himself.

Walking into the throne room, he was surprised to see Chrysalis in what appeared to be a gown, translucent green and shimmering.

“Nice dress,” he complimented, and Chrysalis gave him a fanged grin.

“Thought I’d wear something nice today,” she explained, and Isaac nodded, feeling more out of place than ever before in his t-shirt and jeans.

She led him to the hangar, where Queen Mimica and Burning Ash were waiting over by the only two ships present. “Just got the final all-clear this morning. Are you two ready?” Queen Mimica asked, and both Chrysalis and Isaac mutely nodded. To their surprise, Queen Mimica gestured for them to join Burning Ash’s ship, which was larger than Isaac remembered. “I’ll be off doing my duty to my changelings – wouldn’t want to interrupt, after all. Have fun, you two!” Mimica called, before the glass windshield slid over her face, blocking her from view. Isaac looked at Chrysalis, who shrugged and flew into Burning Ash’s ship. Isaac climbed up with some difficulty before taking a seat on the floor. Burning Ash chuckled at his expression, before starting up the ship and flying out of the hangar.

"Didn’t look like a lot of changelings were overseeing the Hiveship,” Isaac commented after a few minutes of space travel.

“It can oversee itself,” Burning Ash answered. “Way back when it was designed, the architect made it to be self-maintaining. All that damage from a few days ago is probably repairing itself as we speak.” Chrysalis was gazing out the window, her expression a combination of distraction and boredom.

They landed just half an hour later, and Isaac climbed out with a relieved expression on his face. “Gah, I’ll never get used to that…” he muttered. Anything he had been about to say after that stopped on his lips as he beheld his surroundings.

Not much had changed, really. They’d landed in a field just outside what looked to be a once-populous city, the endless golden sea of wheat waving slightly in the breeze. What struck Isaac wasn’t the lack of human population, or animal for that matter. What really left him reeling was the silence. There were no birds chattering, no cars honking or doors closing or any of that background noise. All that was left was the rustling of the wheat stalks in the wind, an eerie reminder that all animal life on Earth had been extinguished. Chrysalis and Burning Ash looked at Isaac anxiously, and after a while of staring he turned to them. “This is creepy… let’s get going, huh?” Isaac remarked, and the two eagerly followed him into the city.

From a nearby billboard, Isaac determined that he was currently in Oklahoma City. Well, at least that told him what state he was in. To his surprise, he spotted a few changelings off in the distance, though Isaac couldn’t tell what they were doing from so far away.

“What’re they up to?” he asked Burning Ash, who followed his gaze.

“I think… they’re maintenance drones. They were assigned to figure out and keep the power, water, and ‘gas’ running for this city. But why are they starting so early? We were supposed to start all that in about a week or so, right?” Burning Ash wondered out loud, giving Chrysalis an inquiring look.

Chrysalis shrugged. “Maybe… oh, for cocoon’s sakes. I know what they’re up to,” she sighed, and Isaac looked at her expectantly. “They’re keeping this place running just for us, for today. Mom’s orders, probably,” Chrysalis grumbled, and Isaac raised an eyebrow. Huh, that’s nice of them, he thought. He said as much, and Chrysalis shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Still…” she trailed off, leaving Isaac confused. Was she mad because her mother was doing something nice for her? Changelings were weird.

They stopped in a restaurant, a Mexican one judging by the décor and vaguely upbeat Spanish music softly emanating from the speakers on the storefront and inside. Isaac noted with some surprise that the door was still open – but of course, the staff wouldn’t have had time to close down. They wouldn’t have had time to do much of anything, besides vaporize – No. Focus. Don’t think about it, Isaac furiously thought, stifling any inner monologues to the contrary.

Chrysalis gave him a surprised look when Isaac stepped behind the counter and began to search through the supplies. To his surprise, the meat was still there - Isaac had suspected it wouldn't, due to the bio-bombs targeting animal cells, but he supposed the walk-in freezer had been just airtight enough to avoid the shock wave. “So, what may I make for you?” Isaac asked the two changelings, who looked at each other in confusion.

“You… can make the food here?” Chrysalis asked, eyeing a menu on a nearby table. Isaac nodded.

“Worked at a different restaurant for a few years, I know the basics,” Isaac explained, and continued looking through the ingredients. The truth was, he had only worked at a fast food place, but he figured the experiences were pretty similar – and besides, he enjoyed the surprised look on Chrysalis’ face. “You can eat this stuff, right?” Isaac asked, and Burning Ash nodded.

“’Regular’ food just gets converted to nutrient slime, or other types of slime depending on the breed of changeling,” he answered. Isaac laughed and nodded. Nutrient slime. Why not? Isaac supposed it was a bit like honey, or something.

A few minutes later, he’d taken their orders and was busily dancing around the kitchen. Burning Ash had wanted to try a burrito, but had settled with a vegetarian-themed one after Isaac reminded him of the meat content - as it turned out, changelings didn't do meat. Chrysalis, after looking at the menu as though it was written in a foreign language, had eventually decided to have the same thing – Isaac suspected that she hadn’t gotten the chance to study human cuisine. Speaking of Chrysalis, she was watching him work with a curious fascination – Isaac suspected it had something to do with the fact that he was smiling. Sure, every human was dead, and he was serving burritos to aliens. But the fact of the matter remained: He was making food. Isaac had finally re-entered something resembling his comfort zone, and after the panic and rapid-fire sequence of events that had dominated the past few days, this was a very welcome change in his life.

“Order up!” Isaac announced, placing two steaming plates of vegetarian goodness in front of his changeling friends. He’d had to replace the meat with onions, mushrooms and peppers, but he though overall the thing he had created was pretty tasty.

Burning Ash eagerly took a bite out of the odd creation, and smiled at Isaac. “Good!” he complimented.

Chrysalis poked at the burrito, and hesitantly nibbled on the corner. Apparently finding it passable, she continued to take dainty, small bites. Just then, Isaac’s own stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn’t eaten anything for several hours - and he, unlike his changeling friends, definitely wanted something red-blooded and juicy.

“Be right back, you two,” Isaac declared, disappearing once more into the kitchen area.