After what felt like a few days I found myself falling into a routine. It was hard to tell how much time was passing, but having slept three times since arriving I felt like I had to have been on the ship for at least a week and a half.

  My favorite place was at the windows, looking out at space and mostly at the earth. I felt like I’d gotten to know it a lot better, flying over Europe, Asia, the various oceans. I’d always pay extra attention when we found ourselves going over the United States. I’d try to figure out where I came from, hopefully find Colorado Springs somewhere in the lights below but without any borders drawn anywhere it was nearly impossible to distinguish one group of lights from another.

  I’d learned a lot of things, mostly picking up the language they all spoke. I was able to keep up on conversations a lot better but I still hadn’t tried speaking to anyone outside of a quiet “pardon me” or “thank you” whenever it was necessary.

  I’d learned the names of the two species as well. They called my species ‘melodians’ and the others were called the ‘mechara’.

  I enjoyed exploring the city. Finding the various streets, getting lost throughout the shops and town squares. The larger buildings had a lot more commotion around them, especially when it was the mechara’s time to be out.

  I noticed their time was quite a lot longer than the melodians. By my best guess, the mechara were out for about ten hours at a time where the melodians only got about two, half of which they spent cleaning and weren’t exactly ‘present’ during that time.

  Either way, the two groups barely seemed to know I was there, only looking at me if I’d messed something up. The mechara specifically acted as though I wasn’t even there. When they were out, I could go anywhere, do just about anything, and they wouldn’t pay me any mind. For food I usually waited for the melodian’s time. They had food that tasted a lot better to me. I found I didn’t need to try to put my hand to the machine anymore. As soon as I’d get to the front of the line the person behind the counter would be taken over, would give me something, wave me off, then go back to normal.

  When I explored though, I preferred when the mechara were out. They’d talk about much more interesting things, like what they thought the people of earth were like, wondering where things would go next. They all seemed nervous about being around a planet with a sentient species on it and from what I picked up, they still hadn’t made proper contact. It was like they were waiting for something.

  One name that always piqued my interest that came up only in hushed conversation was ‘Sloan’. They’d been talking about her a lot along with discussions of the black shard. Some said they wanted the higher ups to just go down and take it by force. Some said she probably doesn’t even have it and the entire thing was a trap.

  I wanted to ask them about her more but I was afraid to jump into any conversations. Instead I’d just sit by and listen as the conversation would inevitably lead to something else.

  One thing they talked about a lot were their clocks. They spoke about them quite a bit. Every one of the mechara carried one in their pocket and they’d discuss them at length with each other. Each one was different, completely unique to each person. They spoke about different ways they wanted to change them, paint them, add complex new movements to them.

  I never got close enough to take a proper look, but they were all different sizes and shapes and from what I gathered, each mechara built their own and seemed to have a whole collection of them and would choose each one depending on their mood.

  I had no idea why they were so obsessed with them, but I thought it was interesting to hear how passionately they spoke about them.

  They also seemed to carry that passion to other things, almost always focused around movement, about precision and building things. They spoke about design and mechanics a lot and I had a feeling if they were speaking English I’d have just as hard a time understanding what they were saying.

  The melodians on the other hand were quite a disappointment. They only seemed to talk about themselves, their discussions never leaving surface level observations about things.

  When it was their turn to come to the surface I’d just find a spot to sit down and wait and as time went on I’d usually turn to music while I waited for them to finish up their shift. I’d noticed none of them seemed to sing, I hadn’t seen or heard a single musical instrument since I’d arrived and I’d almost hoped someone would ask me about my headphones at some point but nobody did, they all continued about their business as if I wasn’t there.

  The lack of music was starting to get to me. I’d expected to hear new things, exciting instruments I’d never imagined, musical ideas and concepts that I’d never explored, but instead there was nothing. It was as if the concept of music had never been discovered.

  I sighed, looking out at the earth through the window, watching it’s spiraling dance out from the center of view as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. It was a beautiful sight, but each time I watched the cycle play through I’d ask myself how many more I’d see until I found out what I’d be doing with myself on Lifeboat 8, because since my arrival I’d just felt like a stranger in a strange place.

  A soft tone came through the ship, indicating it was time for the mechara’s to come back out. I turned around, watching as all the melodians filed through the various elevator doorways and were brought back to the lower parts of the ship. I still hadn’t tried going to them yet. In a way I was afraid of what I’d find. Despite the beauty and enchanting nature of the world on the surface, I kept feeling like I was out of place, like I didn’t belong. Every time I’d see the melodians file through to the elevators I wanted to follow them, but I felt this sinking feeling in my hearts that if I didn’t find what I was looking for down there, then there wouldn’t be much of a reason to stay.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  I’d worked so hard to get to Lifeboat 8, to bring them to Earth and get back to my people, but the more time passed, the more I felt out of place. I felt like one of the last potential places to find somewhere to call home would be in the lower decks.

  On the one hand, if I stayed on the surface, I’d never find out if I’d find a home down there. But if I went, and I didn’t find what I was looking for, it would make everything I’d work for feel like a waste.

  I knew I’d have to go eventually, but I felt that time hadn’t come yet. Despite spending at least a week or two on the surface, I felt like I’d barely covered any ground. The circular city was larger than I could comprehend and as I explored it I kept finding more new and interesting things about it.

  I was taken away from my thoughts when I heard a commotion coming toward me. I was sitting on one of the higher up bleachers looking down on the walkway that lined the border of the windows. It was the mechara’s time to be out and I saw a group of about thirty of them approaching my little section of bleachers.

  In the front of the pack was a very frustrated looking woman who had a pack of mechara’s following behind her. She was pushing a very old, decrepit looking mechara in a wheelchair.

  The wheelchair caught my eye. It was similar to the one Oliver had and I felt a moment of remorse from leaving him behind. I wanted to reach out to him, to tell him I was okay, but I had no idea if it would even be possible for me to do that. I hoped he was at least doing well after everything had happened. I was sure the authorities had a lot of questions for him when they eventually caught up with him.

  As the two approached I saw the older man had a discolored chunk of his upper beak, like he was seriously injured at some point and some prosthetic had been put in. He was barely able to sit up but he kept his eyes forward as the woman pushed him along.

  “For the last time, no, I don’t have anything to tell you. We told you we’re working on it, we’re learning as fast as we can and the last thing we want to do is start off on a fractured gear” the woman said to the crowd as they tried to grab her attention.

  “But what if our silence IS the fracturing gear? Shouldn’t we say something? I’m sure there’s something we could say or do that would let them know what we need” one of them said to her side.

  The woman shook her head “We’re working on it. Please, can you just let me and my father have a moment? I didn’t come here to answer questions and if you people surround me every time I leave the tower I’ll just have to stay up there until we figure this all out, please just leave me alone, we’ll let you know what’s going on when the circuits synchronize. Until then please just leave us be” she said, pleading with them.

  There was a murmur in the crowd but they reluctantly agreed to step back as the woman continued in my direction.

  My attention was brought back to the wheelchair. It had a folding metal design similar to Oliver’s, but it had a duller, soft finish on it and interestingly, none of the metal bars on it were straight. Similar to just about everything else I’d seen, it had an organic looking shape to it.

  Just as they were about to pass the old man grabbed the side of the wheel, coming to an immediate halt that made the woman almost fall over.

  I stepped back in surprise and when I looked up I saw the old man staring at me with the most intense glare I’d ever seen from a mechara.

  I looked up at him, stepping back a bit as his head turned to look directly at me, his mouth gaping slightly as it felt like he was gazing into my soul.

  “Come on” the woman said as she started to push him again, but he gripped the wheel once more and brought them to a stop.

  “What’s gotten into you?” the woman asked, coming to the side of him.

  The old man slowly lifted his hand, weakly holding it up and pointed at me as a gentle smile started coming across his face.

  The woman turned to look at me, confused, then back to her father who hadn’t let his eyes off me since he’d first seen me.

  He gestured for me to come closer, the woman didn’t seem to notice or care, her attention staying on her father as she seemed increasingly more alarmed, asking if he was okay or if something was wrong.

  I almost wanted to turn and leave, but the old man was seemingly the first person to properly acknowledge that I even existed since I’d first arrived.

  I slowly approached, his smile became bigger as he seemed to relax back into his chair.

  “Dad? Hello?” the woman asked, trying to get his attention “Lampro can you hear me? Hello?”

  It looked like he tried to speak but all that came out was a dried huff.

  He looked like he was having a hard time staying sat up, his body was frail to the point where he could barely move but I could tell his daughter was alarmed with how he was acting.

  He turned to her for a brief moment, the first time his eyes left mine since he’d first seen me and gave her a slow nod. He then turned back to me with a satisfied smile on his face.

  The woman turned around, once again looking confused as she looked me up and down, then back to her father, then brought her attention back to me.

  “Do… You know each other? I’m sorry, but this is the first time I’ve seen him light up like this since… Well… A long time ago…” she said.

  I gulped, trying to think of how to respond but she continued for me.

  “Sorry, I think we should get going, I think my dad’s had enough for today. It was uh… Nice to meet you and uh… Yeah” she said, sounding about as awkward as I would have.

  Before they set off, Lampro gestured to me again as if to say to follow them.

  The woman shook her head.

  “Dad I’m sure she’s got other business to attend to we don’t need to bring this one back with us” she said as she started pushing him along.

  I decided to speak up.

  “I… I can join you” I said.

  I figured I didn’t have anything else to do. Throughout my stay I’d seen several melodians follow the mechara back to where they lived so it was probably a normal thing. The melodian’s eyes were usually glowing at the time but it felt like the mechara didn’t treat me any different anyway.

  “Oh… Okay, sure you can join us. Also hello” she said, turning around and leaning down to look at me “My name is Nori.”