Chapter 6: Chapter Six

You will forgive me I hope, for the omissions that follow in this narrative, I was not with my fellow students for long after this, and I remember nothing about their reactions because I was so caught up in my own. It was a strange, strange thing. But also it was somehow... wonderful too. Before I explain what it was, you should first know about the Law of Slow Moving Disasters. This law, first given a name by humans themselves even though most races in the galaxy follow it, states that if an intelligent race has the tools, the time, and sees a disaster coming, that they will generally act to avert the crisis. This is not 'always' true, but it is 'generally' true, and in the distant past, humans lived through multiple proofs of it.

They nearly destroyed their ability to inhabit their own world, but... able to see the problem far ahead, they acted to fix it. They began planting trees amidst the concrete, and redesigning buildings as green homes... not in the energy sense that has become popular in the harvesting of energy from the stars, but in the literal sense. Homes were designed for the growth of plant life that would act as a carbon sink, water that was once wasted and lost from the rain was harvested from almost every building either to provide for the plants... which by evolutionary quirk had similar requirements to those I knew from my own world, or it was filtered, recovered, and used to provide for the population. They began to build taller buildings and opened up more space for parks and began to slash hostile emissions little by little... and by this and other methods better discussed in planetary modification texts, they preserved their ability to live on their world.

Perhaps this sounds like sentiment... but I don't tell it to you for that reason, I tell it to you so that you understand the story behind what I saw soon after leaving my ship.

"Grandfather!" It was the first word I heard when we stepped off, and my professor, who I never saw move faster than a shuffle, pushed us aside and rushed to a group of waiting humans as if he were dying of hunger and found a feast laid out in front of him. This group of humans was mostly stooped, hunched forward, and either bald headed or with wisps of that funny fur on top that most of them seemed to have, they had arms open wide, and my professor, a man who never raised his voice for anything, shouted a word I didn't know.

"Jonathan!" His tongue lolled out as he rushed from behind us and he embraced the one to speak. "Nadia! And these would be...?" It was then that I learned that human greetings with loved ones are frequently by name... a very informal sort of way, and it seems 'Jonathan' was the old human's name, and Nadia was his wife.

This shook me to the core to see, Squamatomorph species are not prone to physical contact, so to see it so blatant and eagerly sought out was shocking to say the last. The babble of words my professor uttered was almost all lost on me, the humans were flanked by younger people, tall and strapping or oddly shaped with multiple curves, they made me think right away of Lisa, and I looked down at the wrist that was touched by the first human I ever met. They in turn had smaller humans with them, ranging down to ones that would not even come up to the bend in my knee.

I was lost in thought for a moment and didn't really know even what I was thinking, but my attention was taken away from this nascent introspection when I realized I was being pointed at.

"Doggie! I want doggie! Let pet doggie!" I lifted my eyes to find the voice and saw a tiny human pointing his hand at me and wiggling on the hip of the woman who held it. This was the moment I realized how much my species looked like a two legged version of their favorite pet. I'd seen it in movies and pictures, but never made the connection to myself nor imagined I could be mistaken for something like that. I admit, I wasn't quite sure what to think.

My professor's excited chattering was something to behold, and the many other humans who passed the long open corridor of the transit site were watching with cocked heads and craned necks before they disappeared out of view, going about whatever business they had, but when the little human's high pitched whine threatened to overtake the conversation, finally paused.

"He wants to pet you." My professor explained, "It's a thing human children do with furry animals."

"Ah... is it..." I admit I was a little reluctant, but when my professor gave me the nod I approached and the human woman said...

"My apologies, he always does this." She was a little red in the face, a sign of embarrassment over their offspring, see figures two dash five and two dash six in the back of this book for reference. I still might have held back, but my curiosity got the better of me and I bent my head forward so that the woman could hold the child up. He had a mouth full of pearl white teeth that looked utterly non predatory, and a giant smile that took up a good portion of his pudgy, soft pink face. And still wiggling in his mother's arms, his little hand came down between my ears and rubbed.

It would be years before I learned why my right foot began to thump on the floor where I stood, but at least when my tail wished wildly back and forth I could identify the cause. It felt fantastic. His little hand was so warm, and the fearless way he looked into my eyes, with such utter openness and completely unguarded was something I don't think I will ever find away from human populations.

"He likes you." The woman said as she lowered the young male away, despite the pout that his face took on.

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"I see. Is it customary to offer to pat their head in return?" I asked, and with that broad smile on her face that looked very much like her sons, she replied to me...

"Be my guest."

I put my hand out and draped it over the little human's head and rubbed the same way he rubbed mine, and he let out a noise of laughter, it was the first time I heard a human child laugh in person, and if I could pick any word for it, I would call it 'relaxing'.

"This was my host family, if that wasn't obvious." My professor said and set himself in the middle of the miniature human community, "But Jonathan and Nadia were much smaller and younger then. I've kept in touch with them over these many years, and watched their family grow, the others I knew when I was younger... they've passed away, but I know all of these," he gestured to the left and right of them, "by name and have watched them come together and grow like Laxinian weeds since I returned to University. I thank you, my students, for providing me the opportunity to come back here again, even if that wasn't your intent."

I barely heard a word, I was still focused on patting the tiny human's head, and the way his little fingers closed themselves over top of my hand to keep it going even if I wanted to withdraw. "Headpats are happiness." The woman said with a laugh, I got the feeling she was telling a 'joke' but I didn't quite get it, and then she gave me her name, "I'm Rebecca, by the way. Rebecca Walker."

"My name isn't pronounceable to you," I explained to her, "So pick something that will be easy to say."

"Bailey." Two humans said at once, and 'Bailey' I was.

I have no idea how they came up with that, and when I asked, they moved their shoulders up and down and said with such perfect synchronicity that I wondered if humans had a hivemind we hadn't discovered yet, "You just look like a Bailey."

It did have a nice sound to it, so I nodded my head and said, "That will be fine."

My further reflection was cut short when my Professor said, "As you know, human miniature communities are centered around family units, and this family is made up of multiple branches, each of which lives in a city called 'Louisville', named after one of their ancient monarchs from another continent. If you'll check your data pads, you will see which branch is yours, and you will from here on out, go your separate ways with them, making regular reports to me of what you learn, and otherwise... explore the strangest land you will ever see." I got the feeling my old professor had a deeper meaning to what he said, but he gave us no time to discuss it or ask questions, he was already walking away after a quick embrace with the others, including Rebecca, and leaving with the aged Jonathan and Nadia.

I yanked my datapad out of the pouch I wore at my side and saw the name "Rebecca and William Walker." The humans were doing the same, and her husband held out his hand, "It looks like you're with us," he said and with his other hand, showed me the picture of myself along with relevant information about me such as dietary needs and the like, "welcome to the Walker family...Bailey."

I stuck out my arm, and let him shake it, a strange sort of gesture, but one I knew to be a greeting, and just like that...

I was 'adopted'.

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