Humans Are Encountered

Singing

"Mmmmm," Caiden let out a quiet breath, "It's-," an audible inhale through clenched teeth, "It's really far down," and a tight exhale. Wren laughed, tiptoeing across the edge of the structure.

Caiden had been working with Kai and Reese on a project, which led to his slow assimilation into the group. He had begun joining the group of humans up on the roof and at meals.

"What are the three of them doing?" Zork'ak asked Adam.

"Unfortunately for him, Wren and Jess discovered that Caiden is afraid of heights."

"Yet he participates in the climbing ritual?"

Adam was watching the way that Jessica stepped around Caiden on the ledge, causing Caiden to scream. "He was last up the first two times. He kind of got screwed by the girls here."

Wren and Jessica were tugging at Caiden, attempting to force him to walk along the concrete barrier overlooking the terrain far below. "Guys!" He wiggled back and forth, taking a small step. "I'm going to fall."

Jessica rolled her eyes. "You're not going to fall."

"Come on. Let's just walk."

"Wren, I can't."

She spun around, gripping his hands and taking a step backwards. "Look at me." Caiden's eyes flicked between the ground and Wren's eyes. "No." She tapped his chin. "Look at me, not the ground." She took another step backwards, pulling him with her.

"Mmmmm." Caiden's jaw clenched as he took a step forward. "It's okay." His voice was a softer volume and a weird pace. "It's just walking." The pitch jumped up on the end of 'walking' as his balance wavered for a moment. "I know how to walk."

"What is he doing?"

Adam laughed a little. "He's singing."

"Singing?"

Adam nodded. "It's like talking but with a different inflection and set to a tune."

"Why is he singing?"

"It makes some people feel better. Like right now, Caiden is scared so he is distracting himself by focusing on singing."

"This is an effective method?"

"I!" Caiden shouted out, teetering for a moment. "I have great balance and the ground will not hurt me." His voice was not following an exact rhythm. He and Wren approached the corner of the ledge, and she finally let go of his hands. "I'm getting down now." His voice was trembling, hitting awful, screeching pitches. He folded himself on the ground, still singing under his breath.

"Is he," Caiden was sitting against the concrete barrier, "harmed?" He seemed to be inattentive to his surroundings.

"Uh, a little. Facing fears can cause some chemical releases that are not exactly beneficial."

"And this singing," Caiden was still quietly whispering to himself, "calms this effect?"

"It doesn't change anything; we just do better at ignoring things we can't handle."

"You can simply ignore the chemical signals from your brain."

Adam rose to his feet. "Yeah, kind of."

"And you can do it simply with vocals?" Zork'ak followed Adam back off the roof and down into the laboratory.

"We can do it in a lot of ways."

"How does-"

"Mother fu-" Steve was clutching his upper extremity in the center, having just climbed in through the window. "That fucking hurt." His teeth were clenched. "Tell me why we keep that-"

"Tell me why!" Jessica and Carrie screamed at the same time.

"Oh no. No, no, no-" Steve was shaking his head.

"Ain't nothing but a heartache," Wren joined in, her voice set to a pace all the humans seemed to know.

"Tell me why!" Carrie threw her arm around Steve.

"We are not-"

"Ain't nothing but a mistake." Wren slid around to complete the small circle around Steve

"I truly hate you guys."

"Tell me why!" The words were mostly dissolved into laughter at this point.

"I never want to hear you say." Wren spun in a circle as she sang.

"I want it that way." Adam sang the last sentence and all three girls twirled to look at him.

"Yes, Adam!" Carrie and Wren tackled him in a hug, and Steve groaned.

"It's such an old song." Steve was walking across the room towards the door.

"It's a good song!" Carrie chased after him.

Wren and Adam walked with Zork'ak behind the two, the other humans already in the meal room.

"I do not understand this 'singing.' I thought it was to distract your brain from unpleasant situations."

"Not always."

"It's just fun!" Wren smiled. Her beauty struck Zork'ak; somehow how stunning she was always shocked xem.

"But why do you sing?"

Adam shrugged. "We just do."

"And you all know how to sing?"

"There's some songs that most people know, like that one. But yeah, you don't learn how to sing. Some people sound better, but everyone knows 'how' to sing."

"So this is a thing you do naturally for no apparent reason?"

'"It does make some people happy or helps them to calm down," Adam said.

"We just sing, Zor. Maybe you should try it."

"But there must be a reason. You can't do actions with no reason-"

Wren laughed. "We do nearly everything for no reason."

Zork'ak shook xer head. "Humans," xe muttered.