The IBIF Chronicals

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"I can say the same thing to you." He answered about the truth. He withdrew his hand, and since he figured he'd be sitting there for a while, he sat down on the floor also. Now. What to ask? He wanted to ask H-30 again why his species was here, but he thought he should start with something less urgent first. Just to test the waters.

He toyed with his knife still, but this time it was just to have something to do with his hands rather than a contemplation to use the weapon. "Alright..." he thought something llike asking for his name would be easy, but considering the answer he gave about what his race was called, perhaps not. "What do you consume to stay alive?" He purposefully avoided the word 'eat', since H-30 has expressed confusion over how to do that. Still, something had to be making this thing stay alive. Even machines needed electricity or gas or something similar. H-30 had to run on something too.
 
H-30 stared at Tybalt straight in the eye. This man seemed to detect more easily when he fooled around with his mind. He reached for the mind of the woman who felt attracted to him instead, to search for the proper words to reply with in Tybalt's language. He finally found words that could apply, but he still wasn't completely satisfied by the definitions humans used.

'I think the proper words would be... Energy. Radiation. Light. I'm trying to be as straightforward as I can get, but speaking a foreign language is hard.' H-30 explained himself, followed by a question of his own. 'How do you eat?'
 
Tybalt was unconcerned with the words he was using, mostly because they made sense, foreign language or not. So H-30 ate nothing physical. It wasn't something that they could give him, he already had it. He supposed if they shut down all the tvs and took away all of the computers and turned out the lights, then he might starve. But who knew what kind of radius H-30's species had? He might be sucking energy off of a computer miles and miles from here.

His eyebrows knitted together when H-30 asked how they ate. He shook his head a little. "Er... well..." He'd never had to explain how to eat to someone before. "You just take the food and put it into your mouth. And then you use your teeth to chew until its small enough to swallow it. That involves saliva pushing it down your throat, and once its in your stomach the acids and such in there break it down into usable energy." He supposed that's how it worked, anyway. The rough way about it, at least. "Was that a satisfactory answer?"
 
Despite not showing it on his face, H-30 was very confused by the human's answer. If anything, he had a thousand more questions than before, just about how they ate. 'Not really. I don't know what "chew", "saliva", "throat", "stomach" and "acids" mean. If we weren't just starting, I'd said you're just trying to confuse me. I want a more straight forward answer.' He replied, holding his head high.

The woman who really liked H-30 pressed her hand against her forehead. She suspected the level of detail H-30 really wanted could only be found in an anatomy book.
 
Tybalt frowned. "We're going to need to get you a dictionary, if we're going to play this game." he decided. If nothing else, Tybalt would struggle through explaining this to him until he had to sleep, when hopefully H-30 would read the dictionary and then he wouldn't have to go into so much detail.

Tybalt turned to motion to one of the scientists to go find one and then looked back at H-30 again. "In the mean time. Chew-" He demonstrated with his mouth. "Saliva is this..." He sit into his hand to show H-30 the substance. "Throat is this part." He pointed. "And this is the stomach." He pointed again. "As far as acids, I can't show you that... but its basically a chemical substance that can be found in lots of places, but in the stomach it breaks food down." He doubted H-30 would know what chemicals were, but he wasn't really sure how else to explain that.
 
'Your people seems now like a bag of fluids.' H-30 commented when he was shown what saliva was. He started to get a fuller picture now. He poked around his preferred woman's mind again. Apparently her knowledge of biology was enough to fulfill his desire of knowledge. He'd need to scan the woman's mind during a longer time until he could fully comprehend though. He started looking for information inside of her mind, after all she was the one with the lesser guard, and the lesser willpower to oppose his own.

'Fine. I'm satisfied now, but I'd still like the dictionary though. You may ask again.' he said in a very dignified demeanor.
 
Tybalt almost laughed. If this alien thought he was calling the shots, he was wrong. He didn't say so, however. Instead he simply nodded. "How can the organization stop your people from coming onto Earth?" That was, apart from asking about how to kill them, likely the most sought after answer he needed. Even if they couldn't kill the beasts, stopping them was enough. They already had other monsters to deal with, they didn't need H-30's species mucking things up too. And they were so hard to kill or stop. One of the hardest.

If Tybalt could get that answer, he would be able to do a pretty solid report, and convince One, Two, and Three to keep H-30 alive. Of course, he didn't care if H-30 died or not in the long run. It was just that he wanted more information, and he couldn't get that if H-30 was killed.
 
H-30 had seen Tybalt scratching himself in thought. He imitated the gesture, scratching his chin, as he meditated on how to answer that question. 'That's a hard one to answer, since I don't know the full extent of your organization's power. Limited, I guess, given how everything in your world is so...' He went silent, and it seemed like he wouldn't continue speaking, until he finally completed his sentence. '...tangible.'

'You know, I wasn't joking entirely when I suggested you moved the Earth out of their way and just flee in general. I've seen how the Earth is held by other worlds, but really, would it be that hard to just move the Earth away?' he wasn't joking with even one fiber of his being, and from the outside it could be seen he was talking seriously.

'That aside, I don't really know how to stop them from coming. I'm sorry.' For a brief moment, he seemed sad, but the impression faded away quickly. 'Is that satisfying enough? Or do you feel like you have the right to ask another question?'
 
Tybalt waited for an answer, but the one he got wasn't satisfactory at all. They couldn't move the Earth, it would ruin the entire balance of the planet. The whole thing would be chaotic and according to scientists even just an inch out of line might mean death for everyone. Not to mention, they didn't physically know how to move the Earth. Tybalt's mind was racing a mile a minute with H-30's answer. It was one he didn't like, but was it enough to let H-30 ask a question, or should he ask another?

The part of him that wanted all his answers told him to ask another, to tell H-30 that no, he was not satisfied. Technically he had said he didn't know. Tybalt's lips pinched together tightly. The other part of him thought that he should play fair. H-30 had given him an answer he didn't like, the fact that it didn't work shouldn't have anything to do with the fact that he had, in fact, given an answer. He grit his teeth.

"Fine." He answered, still holding his jaw tightly in place. "Ask your next question."
 
H-30 was dying from curiosity. He wanted to know how everything in Tybalt's body worked. The story of how humans became what they are, right from the very beginning. The details of the technology they had developed, which seemed so unnecessarily complicated to achieve those primitive functions. He doubted Tybalt would be able to answer even one of those questions in deep detail before feeling the need to go to sleep, or if he even had the necessary knowledge.

He settled for a more concrete question. 'Has your organization encountered other members of my species?' He said trying to put it in human terms.
 
"Yes." Tybalt responded. He knew it was likely that just a simple 'yes' was an adequate answer, but probably not one H-30 was looking for. He likely wanted more details, and Tybalt decided to give it to him because eventually he would want more details too. "We've fought a couple of times before. Someone has killed one once, but it wasn't easy, and your kind killed way more of us in the process." H-30 was their first sample of his species to be kept alive and in captivity.

"Why is your species coming to Earth?" Maybe if they could take away whatever they were here for, they would go away. Or, less desirable, they could just give it to them and send them away. Either way, Tybalt thought it would be useful to know why they were here in the first place.
 
H-30 wondered who was the one killed by the humans. He wished it was someone he didn't like. Maybe, without knowing, the humans had lifted a weight off his back. He went back to observing Tybalt. With every slight shift of emotion inside of him, Tybalt's eyes seemed to reflect it. He could notice, even if it was a very subtle effect. He tried to imitate that. Now H-30's eyes didn't look as cold as before.

'You humans have lots of different energies flying around. They come from you, from the machines you invented, from the nearby planets, and you're so conveniently near the sun... It's a very pleasing place. They want to turn the Earth into a vacation place.' He simply answered. 'Is that specific enough?'
 
A vacation spot? Just because their planet was desirable? They could very well shove off and go someplace else, but Tybalt didn't think that they would. Not unless they made it difficult for them to be here. He frowned and then nodded his head. It was specific enough.

Tybalt was already attempting to devise ways to make it less worth-while to come to Earth. If they could figure out how to hurt them easier... that would be of help, and Tybalt was almost certain it would be his next question. It wasn't as if they could stop their energy output, or leave the sun. Tybalt pushed a hand through his hair and then sighed. He shifted so that his weight was distributed differently and then looked at H-30. "Ask another question."

Some people, he was aware, might think he was being too soft on H-30. That they shouldn't give away information of their own. Maybe they were right, but Tybalt couldn't see any immediate harm in it. If they did their job, and kept H-30 contained, there wouldn't be any future harm either. However he came off to the others for this idea of his, he didn't care. He was getting answers, even if they weren't desirable ones.
 
H-30 had to stop his overwhelming curiosity from making him ask that for the humans surely wouldn't be compromising. He perked up when Tybalt sighed. It was a gesture humans did quite frequently. He had figured out they pulled air inside of them, and then pushed it out, but didn't know if it was just because it was pleasure, or if it was another need, or how they did it.

He opted for something that he considered would be far more compromising, ignoring humans had next to no experience with aliens. 'Regarding interplanetary relationships with other worlds, where does the Earth stand? I mean what alliances and treaties are you part of.'
 
Tybalt shook his head. "We aren't a part of any." he responded. "We haven't had any contact with.... other worlds. Maybe some of the other monsters we're fighting aren't from here, but thats unconfirmed. Except for your race." Tybalt cracked his fingers and then leaned back, supporting himself with his hands and letting his feet move back and forth in front of him.

The idea that aliens really did exist was not exactly surprising among most of the Organization. Considering what they fought on a regular basis, nothing was surprising anymore. Satan himself could rip through the crust of the Earth and Tybalt wouldn't be surprised. Scared? For sure, but not surprised. Tybalt didn't kid himself with fear. Fear was important, he never thought otherwise. "What weaknesses do your species have?"
 
'I don't know.' H-30 replied being completely honest. He repositioned himself, and imitated Tybalt's pose. He wondered why the man kept moving around despite not needing to go anywhere. Maybe staying still was uncomfortable?

'I'd say a stronger mind, but isn't that a universal weakness? I guess that makes you able to ask another question.' A frown appeared on H-30's face. One of the few expressions he had learnt to imitate. He was a bit bothered by the question, but what else could be expected from a human?
 
How could H-30 not know? He frowned and shook his head. "What do you mean you don't know? How can you not know? You are the same as your own species, aren't you? Surely you've hurt yourself before, or were told not to do something because it would hurt, or I don't know... burned your weird blobby stuff with fire on accident or something?" It was kind of multiple questions, but really it all served to have one end answer. Weaknesses.

Tybalt could not wrap his mind around the idea of not knowing about your own weaknesses. Maybe they could drown, or maybe a bullet somewhere in particular would be fatal. Something. Anything. If they kept H-30 around under the impression that their species couldn't get hurt except under extreme circumstances... that would not bode well for keeping H-30 alive. And Tybalt needed him alive to learn everything he could. Knowing your enemy was the most important thing. Otherwise, you knew nothing.
 
The way Tybalt was getting irritable made H-30 feel a bit weaker. He waited until the other stopped asking, not wanting to interrupt him. 'Those were too many questions. I have to only reply one. Yes, I am of the same species as the other beings you are interested in.'

Judging Tybalt's mood was too low in order to appreciate a joke, he continued talking. 'I've told you, the only thing I know that could count as a weakness is a stronger mind. I--' He stopped for a moment, remembering the moment he had been captured. 'Your people stumbled upon me at a moment were I was weak. Your attack overwhelmed my thoughts, the next thing I know is I was imprisoned. But nothing you attacked me with felt like it did more harm than anything else. From the bottom of my 'weird blobby stuff', I really don't know.'
 
Tybalt was most certainly frustrated. How were they supposed to hurt or kill something that didn't seem to be able to be hurt? Did the one they killed even actually die? He pursed his lips, no sure if he believed H-30, exactly. He shook his head again, this time much slower. It was really concerning. They needed a way to get them off of Earth. They were ruing everything, and they were hard to contain. Sooner or later, the rumors would turn into actual sightings, and that was so much harder to cover up than anything else. The last thing they needed was panic about alien invaders.

He snapped his jaw shut then, going a bit rigid in his irritability. "Fine." He decided to move on. "I suppose that makes it your turn." He didn't think it was a very fair answer, considering he had said 'I don't know' to the first question and then answered a question he hadn't really meant to be answered - the species question.
 
'Thanks.' H-30 said in a soft voice, and took a couple of minutes to think of a question. 'I can't blame you, for wanting us dead. But I'm curious about other species you've encountered. Is annihilation always the first option, or have you learnt to live in peace with any of them over time?' He knew asking for peace might be too much to ask for his own people. But more than once he had wished such an utopia was possible, and to see different species opting for peacefully living together instead of trying to devour each other, or force each other into submission.

The more the frustration grew inside each of the people who were listening to him, the weaker he felt. He wanted to go back to his blue jelly appearance, but the way the humans felt horrified or disgusted by his appearance would make him feel even worse.
 
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