Chapter 18 - Assimilation

   Once up the platform and into the larger of the several ships at the scene of the accident, they had a chance to see the inhabitants of this world up close and really notice their features. The first thing Joe and Ben noticed was their height. They weren't impossibly tall, but it was like being around a star university basketball team. You think where did they find people of this towering height. They had to guess through their clothes, but they seemed a little slender, too. Joe realized this was probably deceptive. They no doubt weighed a little more than they looked like.

   Their faces were the biggest give away, unless anything else under the clothing was radically different. Their noses didn't stick out as far as a human's nose did. Not really a snout, but you could see the nostrils were more forwards. The face had different features too. The most pronounced difference being the upper lip. It was sort of split in two evenly, and kind of rounded there. The upper lip blended smoothly into their cheeks. Where a human might have a mustache, they had what looked like patches of short... whiskers? Yeah, Joe related that feature to whiskers. Not like cats, cats had long whiskers. Shorter, more bristly. Maybe similar to a seal or a sea lion, but not long whiskers. Short.

   Their hands were like the rest of them. Longer fingers. The thumbs stuck out for attention too. Longer than a human thumb. Not quite as long as the rest of their digits? But a noticeable difference. The one that did the conversation for them, started again. Talking through his device.

   "Why did you land. That was dangerous. You could have been killed. You said you were coming. You said you would be in an orbital shuttle. We thought we would find you in orbit. That's where we were looking for you. We had to come find you. Where you crashed."

   Joe shrugged.

   "Sorry."

   He talked some more, then held the device out.

   "Did I make a mistake? You said you would be in an orbital shuttle. Orbital... in orbit. Shuttle... short distances. Not made for landing. You should have waited. We were coming."

   "No. You didn't make a mistake. We made the mistake."

   More translation.

   "Its okay now. You will be safe now. Don't worry, Joe."

   "Thank you."

   "You're welcome, Joe."

   Joe couldn't shake the feeling that speaking through the handheld translator? Was a little bit like talking to Ada his bedside computer screen in some ways. He asked the one speaking for them, who seemed to be more or less in charge.

   "Are you... the voice I always speak to? When I sleep."

   "Yes. I am like you, Joe. Teacher. Student. Scientist. Research. Calculate. Discover."

   The others not controlling the craft on their ride to whatever kind of hospital they were going to, were looking at the two of them. Studying them. Obviously curious. The others left them sit together, but for the one that did the talking. When they landed, honestly it wasn't that different from a regular hospital. It wasn't that big, and the building was different. The layout and all the equipment looked different. But, the aura was the same. The ones there, acted similar. It made sense. Medical workers? Were medical workers.

   When not doing anything though, they tended to stand around and gawk at them some. Joe quickly started thinking of them as people, not aliens. They looked a little different, but they were quite similar other than the superficial feature differences. If one of them had been brought to earth? People would study them as a curiosity the same way, he figured.

   His friend. That was how Joe had thought of him when he was just a voice he remembered every time he woke up. That was how he found him now. He hovered over him. He constantly reassured him everything was fine. He explained anything and everything in the hospital.

   Everyone was buzzing around after getting Joe to lay on a table, while a bar on tracks passed down and back up very slowly several times. Some kind of x-ray, CAT scan, MRI, some kind of medical imaging is what it seemed like. Everyone crowded around a screen, talking and pointing.

   "Joe?"

   "Yes."

   "Can I have some blood? A small amount of blood. Study. Research. Curious."

   Joe realized they wanted to study him, it made sense. At home, they were always working on looking into DNA medically. It made perfect sense an advanced race like this, would probably be much further along in that regard. Hell, other than the CAT scan or whatever medical imaging it had been, this was probably more useful to them than poking and prodding.

   It was a couple of little blood draws, and it really didn't hurt. Blood samples back home were slightly more uncomfortable. Most people have had blood drawn at least once, and while a minority of people tolerate the procedure well enough, the vast majority of people hate it.

   A long needle of a sharpened tube, carefully and slowly and methodically shoved up into the tube of a vein. The slight torture of them doing it more than once unless they're an experienced expert at their craft. The horrible experience of a new blood taker taking yours; an experienced hand overseeing them doing it. You know they're going to have to do it a couple times, until the expert finishes it properly. The hospital is "in charge" and you can't say no to being the test patient for it. How else would new blood takers get experience, nobody would choose that. No, its forced on you. He talked Ben into it as well. His new friend explained that they couldn't give them anything for pain yet, until they were sure it wouldn't harm them. That was one of the things the blood draw had been for, in addition to just studying them as something new to them scientifically and medically.

   Joe and Ben marveled at it. It was quick and painless, you barely felt the prick. They only had to endure a couple pricks that felt like being touched with a pin. Not jabbed, just a touch. Like poking yourself gently with a sewing needle, to see if it seemed sharp. It was adjusted for depth, like a tattoo machine. A trigger let it fire, just once. They knew the depth of their own bodies and their own veins and arteries. Two on Ben and three on Joe had them down pat. Wow. Better than at home, wasn't that something. Just give their own medical science another million or so years? They might learn to draw blood and it wasn't uncomfortable.

   Joe thought it was ironic. He could understand the advanced development of things like technology. If someone had worked up to understanding four dimensional objects, okay then. They then had time to invent, test, adjust equipment to utilize it. But, drawing blood? Joe realized he could experiment with a student from the medical science department joined up with a student from the manufacturing department that had degrees in things like CNC programming. He could probably make this device at home now that he had seen it.

   Why was home medical as an industry and establishment not capable of this? A smaller sharper needle. Adjusted to depth and spring loaded and fired once. What genius and eons of time did it take to conceive and develop that technology. What was he missing. Okay, it took a little longer to get the blood into the vacuum receptacle. What was a minute long wait instead of instant results.

   It took him a while to come up with a guess. Maybe the needles and attaching them to the little vacuum vessels? Would cost too much with our own manufacturing technology. While it was probably possible? It had to be cost effective and quick. Whoa, another thing. The hospital had to worry about real life costs. They couldn't have more people drawing blood. Each and every Phlebotomist worker was an expense. If it took longer to draw the sample through a tinier needle? It would cost too much.

   He realized that even if he was back home, and tried to invent and implement this? It wouldn't catch on. Too expensive. It would only exist as a top of the line luxury for important or rich patients. Like the luxury hotel in the sky. It was expensive, because it was new. Until costs were more affordable? It was only for the elite to enjoy. Only workers or anyone with some measure of access could enjoy the G rides. Staying in the luxury hotel? Only for the workers there.

   Because Joe had time while he was treated, and he was sure they were milking this treatment and observation period of time to stretch out as much as they could get out of their scientific novelty, a real live alien to study. Not understanding the language, he had time to draw on his inner thoughts. It was how he first thought of the innovation of "inventing" the blood draw technology. Then, it dawning on him how it was probably pointless, he would only be "helping" a few elite.

   But by having this time, he arrived out of this line of thinking at a last idea. Maybe it was more than cost and practical reality. At any medical experience back home? From a routine visit to the doctor, to a trip to a hospital. It was always the same. The patient? Was suddenly the child again. Any hospital worker, was above you; they were the adults even if they were half your age. You? Were the child, even if you were older or had a much better paying job in your own life.

   A receptionist sweetly ordered you to sit and wait. If you bugged her? You were politely rebuffed. If you were late to your appointment? You were chided and sent home. Sorry. Try again in three weeks time, sir. But then you had to sit there for an hour or two until your doctor was ready to see you. You could arrive a half hour late and it was no big deal. Didn't matter. You missed your time. See you in three weeks.

   It was mild punishment and training. You were ordered what to do and when. You disobeyed mom and dad's rules of where to be and when. You missed curfew. Now? No dessert for you, mister. You were grounded for three weeks. We'll see if you learned your lesson next time, little boy. We'll try it again. Oh, you were on time like you were taught three weeks later. Good boy. We'll handle your case now. Here's a lollipop for learning to obey the rules.

   Well, the adults didn't get the lollipop for being on time and waiting patiently like they were told. But that was all that was missing from the medical workers enjoying a parent-child relationship with you. The treat for listening. Everything else? The same. Every hospital worker? Told you what to do and when, and you listened to all of them. If you didn't like an idea of how a procedure went? Someone would sit you down, and smile, and all but pat your head as they explained the terribly advanced concepts a child like you couldn't possibly even fathom. They patronized you, again as a small child requiring explanation.

   A parent all but owned the child, in practical terms. You had to obey. You had to learn the rules and regulations. Like curfew your parents wanted. The doctor's office, the hospital? No different.

   And, doctors had a cold clinical manner. As friendly as a doctor could be? They couldn't care too much about you emotionally. They had to have clinical detachment. A doctor grabbed your broken arm as a child and needed to see if it was a break in the bone. They grabbed it and felt the broken bone move. You screamed. They looked at mom. Yeah, its broke. No big deal. X-ray... a cast... you'll be home in a couple hours. Relax, this is routine. We do this all day here, lady.

   And yeah, you got a lollipop when you were done. Other than that? Your parents owned you. Their personally owned property? Broken. They took you to the repair shop. The repair shop fixed you up, like a flat tire. You don't emotionally invest in the rim and the tire. You just get the work done, and someone is watching the system that its fast and orderly and you don't waste resources going about it. And that? Was the medical industry in Joe's experience in a nutshell.

   Oh, I'm a doctor, nurse, X-ray technician, whatever job... because I enjoy helping people, I just care about people so much. Really? Had nothing to do with the fact it was a good paying job, and no heavy manual labor required. Working indoors. Heated in the winter, air conditioned in the summer. An amount of prestige to work in a hospital or other medical job as well.

   I just love helping people, my ass. Good job, prestige in career.

   But, that was home. He was here now. He didn't get that sense. What he thought of as probably or most likely doctors, nurses, custodians and receptionists... they were all... what. Took him a while to notice. They seemed like they were actually warm and compassionate in demeanor. It didn't seem like a taught and learned fake affectation. How to smile and act friendly, while you sweetly got people to obey you like you needed for your job.

   Maybe it was a put on for his benefit. Him and Ben were the only specimens they had ever seen in the flesh. This made them valuable, and rare. This might well be their version of the hospital the president or the general went to. The extra care and attention. Perhaps no doubt the hovering close presence of his "friend", wasn't hurting any. He was probably important.

   But he saw other... patients around. They seemed to be getting what he was getting. He had no trouble discerning male from female. Stature told him what was probably children. Body language told him more. When a female had one or two small people with them? Following her around while they were there. It was obvious, the relationship. The short children tended to hover close to the mother. Hiding behind her legs, peeking out at the other people that were new and unfamiliar. Really like toddlers back home. Some things were probably universal in any universe, he realized quickly.

   While waiting another time, he asked his hovering friend about it.

   "Everyone is very polite and nice here."

   "Yes, Joe. Hospital. Medical care. Help. Care. First aid."

   "You're very careful with me and my friend I traveled with."

   "Very careful, Joe. I waited a long time to find you. Rare. Valuable. Unique. Not easily replaced."

   "This hospital. Its a good hospital."

   "Yes. A bad hospital? That wouldn't be logical. I don't understand."

   "What I mean is... this is a hospital for important people. I understand I'm unique and valuable to you. So... you took me to a hospital for important people. Thank you."

   "You're welcome, Joe. But... I don't understand. I want to understand."

   Joe found this was not a language barrier. There was no poking and prodding which words would convey what he meant. This was no case of the foreigner speaking in a second language, and idiom was the last thing they would pick up in language. His friend, his caretaker? Simply didn't understand the concept it seemed. Of a better hospital for patients that could afford it, or were more important. He was confusing him, trying to ask what he was asking. He gave up for the time.

   They both realized there were going to be things they simply didn't "get" about each other's cultures. You could get that at home, just by taking a vacation and enjoying the novelty of traveling. That he had gone from one universe to another, and things weren't really so radically different? Kind of amazing. Though perhaps, he shouldn't be amazed.

   Before he left the hospital, he quit thinking in terms of he was around "aliens". Or, that he was the alien. These were people. They looked a little different, they acted different in some ways. But really, the similarities were what he noticed more than any of these small differences. Unless he was getting the red carpet treatment rolled out for him, and it was certainly possible... this seemed at first blush to be a quite easy culture to assimilate into.

   A feature of this culture came up a couple times in the course of the hospital. The first was when he had what he was certain was the medical imaging scan. The room they went to for that, the worker running that imaging machine? Talked to his friend before they left that room and went to wait again.

   "Joe. He wants to touch you. Before you leave his room. Don't be afraid. It won't hurt. Handshake. Kiss. Hug. Friendly. Friends. Custom."

   He agreed. Any culture would have some form of that. He was just warning him so he didn't get alarmed. As well as asking his permission. It seemed important to his friend, to always seek his permission for anything in advance. His friend spoke to the worker, then last to him.

   "Watch, Joe. We'll show you. This is normal after you meet someone. It shows meeting them went well."

   He watched. The worker approached his friend. When he got close, inside personal space being shared? He acted with slow movements and trepidation. He held his hand out, then he gently touched the upper lip of his caretaker. He ran a couple fingers over one side of the split upper lip they all had, smoothing down the short widely spaced bristles a couple times. His friend did it back. Then, they had short friendly sounding words, and it was over. He was next.

   It felt weird to have a stranger touching his upper lip. He started to jump, and the worker pulled back. Unsure. So he closed his eyes so he wouldn't jump. He ran one of his long fingers over Joe's stubble on his upper lip. From just aside under his nose, out towards his cheek. Just a couple light, quick strokes of a finger and it was over. Really not bad. Maybe they took his stubble for short versions of their own whiskers. By the second or third time, he was used to the custom. It was different, but not unpleasant.

   He did it back each time. They had expressive faces not unlike humans. You could get a sense of their state from it. The last one was a female, what he thought of as a receptionist and host that led people around when it was their turn to go to another room for anything. After they both did it, her hand stayed near after drawing back. She cocked her head and came in slowly, unsure, seeing that he didn't jump. He closed his eyes, and... she lightly scratched his hair for about a half a second. It reminded him of his mom doing similar when he was young. Not unpleasant. They seemed to take some care during social interactions that everyone was assured that it had gone friendly.

   Another thing Joe couldn't figure out was how his caretaker paid for him and Ben at the hospital. He hadn't seen anyone else doing it either, and what he took for a waiting room let him see other people coming and going like him and Ben. He couldn't detect identification, either. Hospitals were inordinately concerned with getting paid and making sure they were going to get paid. You could get needed care if it was an emergency, but then some system was footing whatever bill they could manage to get paid later on.

   It made sense to him that they had some form of medical records, to keep track of who needed what. Surely some people had, if not diabetes for instance? Something similar. Tracking allergies if they had those. Something. He decided they were clearly advanced technology wise. It must be some form of cashless payment. They probably had some small electronic identification, some small electronic purse system of cashless transactions. His own electronic memory devices had gotten progressively smaller and held more and more data more compactly. He had seen older devices from the past, and you could see them first able to hold more data, and to get faster in transmitting that data back and forth. Finally going wireless.

   Of course. Some small item, or even a chip under the skin. Automatic identification, automatic deposits and withdrawals and transactions. It made perfect sense. He made a mental note to ask about things like that later. It wasn't important now.

   When they were done at the hospital, his new friend and the people he had with him took them back to the larger ship. As always, his friend did the translating.

   "Do you want to eat, Joe? Hungry, food, drink. Or do you and your friend want to take a rest. Sleep, relax, recuperate, get better."

   He looked at Ben, who seemed to be nodding to him on the food idea. They weren't in a city, but neither was it a small town. Not many really huge buildings. Some were clearly bigger for whatever purpose, but most of them were small to medium sized. It was like a city, in that it stretched out, as far as the eye could see looking out the window of their craft. It was more like a medium sized town though, the way it wasn't centralized and built up. Perhaps they were in the suburbs or the outlying districts of the metropolitan area. There were regularly what he thought of as large parking lots. They landed and walked a short distance to get to the buildings.

   They were led to what looked like a restaurant. But instead of counters or booths or small rooms? Large tables in rows. More like a banquet hall. Like where you held a reception or an award meeting at. There were trays up and down the one long table with bench seats where others were sitting and eating. People were getting up and getting their food off of the trays and returning to where they sat. The customers spaced themselves out with space between them on the benches. Small groups sat next to each other or across from the table to one another.

   His caretakers and compatriots just walked in, made what seemed like small talk, and looked over the trays and got what they obviously wanted. His friend touched his shoulder gently, and held his hand out. No translation needed. Try stuff, pick things. He was again tickled about the transaction. More cashless identification and payments. It was convenient, he thought. You didn't need to worry about losing a wallet anymore, the more he thought about it.

   An alien visiting his world? Would hardly be expected to have money and identification. Quite ridiculous to think like that. Of course you would feed them and give them medical care and it would be arranged for them. It was silly to think otherwise. That was when it dawned on him another big difference. The visiting alien? Would no doubt be hosted in some secret out of the way place, probably on some military base for secrecy and protection and security.

   They might well not take no for an answer, at extended medical and scientific observations. Not unless they were afraid of recriminations if they got a bad report on how good of a host they had been. A crash landing alien, wholly unexpected. Yeah. Probably end up in some secret lab somewhere. But if arranged? Still secret, but then probably more resort-like of a stay.

   Ben sat close to him, and they had a quiet conversation. They were being treated very well, they agreed on that count. Neither one saw the value of being rude, but it was the food. It seemed to be mostly meat, though many different varieties. Some greens and vegetables, but not nearly as many trays of that. It wasn't the sauces and things to sprinkle on the food, either.

   The meat was all raw.

   What seemed like fish or a fish-like meat? Was edible. Joe and Ben had both been to sushi restaurants before, so it wasn't that foreign of a concept to them. They tried a small bite of the other meats, and didn't hazard seconds. They concentrated on the two trays of what seemed the most fish-like to them. They covered it in granulated and sauced coverings that gave it flavors and more or less... covered what it was up.

   They wouldn't starve, but the joy was out of mealtime for now. Unless some other situation presented itself in the future. Maybe this was a quick lunch. Maybe dinner was different. Maybe breakfast was different.

   Socially, they all talked. Before, during, and after? Gathering and eating was social as well as just a time and a place to eat. What his own culture did at home, only for special occasions and reasons? These people did seemingly everyday to judge by his first examination of it. It made him wonder then, why that was so different.

   There was no rush to anything yet he saw. It made sense that he wouldn't see this time pressure because he was a visitor, and escorted around. But he hadn't seen it with everyone else at the hospital, and now he was seeing the same thing again here. Joe was used to schedules. Times, dates, places. Appointments, schedules, itinerary. He had yet to see that here. They seemed as if they organized themselves differently, and he couldn't place it.

   After they all ate, his friend talked some and naturally using the translation device. Small talk, really. He was treating Joe and Ben like he did people around him he normally moved around. Everyone else naturally was highly curious about him, and they talked in their own language to his friend and his little entourage. They were polite though, all of them. They stole glances but if they met his gaze they quickly looked away or back to their own food. And he quickly got the idea that it wasn't just him. They did this to each other as well.

   If you weren't in close proximity and interacting, you looked away if your gaze was met. They all did it. Curious but shy as a race, Joe decided. He was used to some people being like this back home, both in personal life and at school and work as well. But some people had bigger and more outgoing personalities. They greeted the whole room anywhere they went loud and with confidence. They addressed most of the group whether they knew them well or even not at all.

   No one he had met or observed yet, seemed to do this.

   After polite small talk when eating was done, it was explained they could rest and relax now. They had a big day. They ended up at a set of some of the larger buildings he had seen yet, and were led to a smaller room inside. Joe asked where they were.

   "This is where I work with other people like me. People like you, Joe."

   They were left alone, and there were fairly comfortable things around. Chairs, couches. Benches along some walls. What looked like big, circular beds. It was a warm place, at least where they were at on the planet, or it was the warm season. There was still large pieces of fabric heaped on the circular beds, that he took for bedclothes and sheets and the like.

   His host and his little group occupied the room outside this one and left them alone. Him and Ben were both sore and somewhat drained from all the excitement. After talking a while, they picked out circular beds and fell asleep.