The Creature's Piping Song

I arrived without a sound. Without terror, without threat. I meant the humans no harm, though the horrified looks on their faces portrayed otherwise.

The captain jolted. The officers gasped. Everyone froze as I stood there -- the foreign alien -- tentacles floating carelessly above my head.

Beep, went their maintenance systems. It went off steadily, unlike the crew's breathing and heartbeats. I sensed their fear. I sensed their desire to run. To destroy me -- to be a hero and save themselves.

So I acted before it was too late. I raised my hands -- isn't that what the humans do to look innocent?

A roach crept along the floor, pausing to glance at me.

I just wanted to help. I just wanted to know what it was like to be one of them.

"What do you want?" the captain growled. I felt his nerves, his thoughts, thinking that I meant to kill them. That I was nothing more than a killing beast, here to destroy them all.

I twisted my hand, gazing upon it with curiosity. My dark skin was cracked, covered with scales. Sharp, angled claws protruded through the stubby tips of my fingers.

Is this what terror looks like?

"I want to help," I said. But they didn't understand. Human minds are small. My words sounded nothing more than a garbled mess of angry snarls, that their minds translated to, "DEATH IS NEAR!"

I watched as hands crept toward weapons.

Am I that easy to kill? I wondered. Is my image that revolting?

My eyes closed. My tentacles twisted and formed and melded together. I allowed myself to relax.

I played my song. Quietly at first, and then louder, letting it float its way to the corners of the room, under the floor, into the ship's operating systems.

I called for the roaches.

It didn't take much for me to find out about the ship's infestation problem. The worry hung in all their thoughts -- the realization that the space roaches were slowly destroying their ship, along with the passengers inside.

I called, and the roaches came. They slipped through the cracks in the floor. They wormed their way out of broken wires and compartments. They all came to me.

As the roaches followed, I did what any other human would do -- I announced a price. Sketching the number, I scratched the floor with a claw, sending a sharp, grating sound into the air.

Seven thousand. That was my price.

The captain's mind was slow, and he muddled over this for a moment. His brow hardened when he finally put everything together. I could hear his thoughts as he stared at me with a firm expression. This creature wants me to pay it for taking our roaches? Human money?

Creature. Is that all I am?

The captain nodded. "Rid the ship of the roaches. The money is yours."

I bent to the floor, song quieting. The roaches gazed at me, patient, waiting for my command. My body pulsed; the power inside increased. I raised my arms, forming a circle with my looping tentacles. I created a dark portal, leading into the empty void of space.

The roaches skittered inside. I looked up to see the crew staring at me, mouths open and eyes wide.

I took a bow. I rid them of their roaches. This is what they wanted, and now they had to understand. Now they had to see me as an equal.

The captain shied away as I held my hand to him, outstretched for the payment. "Go," he hissed. "You have no use for men's money. Leave while there is no problem between us."

The curves on my scales lifted. He meant to go back on his deal. He meant to betray me.

But how -- after what I had done? I saved their ship and their lives.

The captain stood, arms crossed, glare pinpointed on my yellow eyes. "Go," he repeated, and I knew there was no changing his mind.

Just as I arrived, I left without a sound. One moment I was there, the next I wasn't. Instead I watched their ship from a corner of space.

There, in my corner, I fumed. I raged. Roars rose from my throat, and hatred burned deep in my soul.

What did I do wrong to be treated like this?

Was I really nothing more than a creature to them? Easy to push around and ordered what to do?

Fine.

I shuddered as my body flexed. Spikes released, claws sharpened, my melody intensified.

If they refused to treat me as an equal, then I would rise above their puny minds and souls. I would unleash my power.

I would show them what it's like to be ignored and rejected.

I hurled myself to their ship. This time I arrived with many sounds. Loud, crashing notes of song, screeching in their ears. Revenge -- that's what I felt as they screamed and writhed.

"AM I THAT MEANINGLESS? IS IT THAT HARD TO TREAT ME AS AN ALLY IN THE GALAXY?" I screamed this in their faces, though they could not understand.

I took my place at the front of the ship -- exactly where I had placed myself before. I went silent.

The crew went silent. Their faces reflected pale, white creatures.

Creatures that refused to pay my price.

My eyes closed, and I gifted the crew one, final performance. The melody rose, but this time I did not take roaches. Instead I took those who still yet didn't know the cruel ways of this universe. I took those with small minds I might be able to change.

The cadets -- the young officers. They followed my song's commands and marched into the portal.

And I walked after them, with the desire to teach proper manners of the galaxy, and the intent to never return.

I arrived without a sound.

I left with distant echoes of my piping song.