I would like to take a moment to thank you for the reviews thus far. I do not know how many more chapters this fic will go, but I have a pretty good idea how it will end.

As for the missing No-Tongue pic that seems have been eaten during upload, apparently doesn't allow that kind of HTML coding. But never fear, I have set my DeviantArt account page as my homepage in my profile: the pic of No-Tongue is my current featured deviation. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Arthur didn't do anything special with the Aliens for the next couple of days, allowing them to settle into a routine. No-Tongue, the name he dubbed the younger of the two Aliens, hadn't done anything special with the other lambs he gave it as food since the first one, leaving Arthur to conclude it was curiosity that fuelled it's behavior. The older one had calmed down, but spent most of it's time in the corner of it's pen and didn't move until feeding time, not even when the daily cleaning spay sweeped through the chamber. No-Tongue however seemed to try all sorts of things to keep itself amused, fooling around with whatever was available in it's pen. Arthur couldn't help but chuckle when it bunched up all the hay into a pile then jumped into it one day, then repeated the process several times until it got bored with the game. This Alien was reminding him of a five year child.

But the time of just watching it do things without any prompting was over, as No-Tongue will no doubt start to fade like the older Alien if he didn't keep it stimulated. So this time, feeding was going to be a little different...

Even though there was no means of telling the time in it's prison, the young Xeno knew when it was feeding time, even before the telltale sound behind the door sounded. In fact it had gotten into the habit of sitting itself by the door just before the 'dinner bell' rang and that's what it was doing now. The sound came and the door opened, but something was different this time. Instead of the animal that was usually given as food, it was a big metal box with holes along the top edge.

The Xeno titled it's head to one side, confused, before standing up and walking around the new object. As it inspected it, it smelled the animal instead and heard it's faint cries. For some reason the humans had put it in the box to keep it from eating it, but if they didn't want it to eat it then why put it in here? No matter, the Xeno was hungry and it would figure out how to get to the animal and feed on it's tender flesh.

It tried reaching the animal through the holes, but the holes were too small to fit it's whole hand in and it's fingers were too short to reach it. Then it tried to simply rip the metal apart, but it couldn't get enough grip or leverage to do much damage. A strike with it's barbed tail only dented it. Starting to get frustrated, it circled the box a few times. They had to put the animal in it some how and it was likely that same method it needed to discover to get it out. This time it inspected the box more carefully, looking for a clue. Through it's sonar, it discovered the top side was different, noting two sets of small seams on one side. Looking closer, it found another seam that followed around the top edge.

The Xeno emitted a low hiss and nudged the top edge with it's snout. It moved. With an excited squeal it reared onto it's hind legs and used it's hands to lift what proved to be a lid up. It then grabbed the animal within.

Typical brute force attempts, then careful examination and finally resolution. The Alien seemed excited when it solved the puzzle, which took it a little longer then Arthur thought it would for such a simple one. But he reminded himself this was new territory of research in regards to intelligence: there was going to be things he didn't expect.

Like...No-Tongue, after it had finished eating, jumping into the box, closing the lid upon itself, then bursting out. Arthur watched as No-Tongue paused and briefly made a sort of stuttered hissing sound: was that a laugh? Then repeated the game several more times before getting bored with it. It tried several other things with the box, making Arthur laugh a couple of times, before it finally became completely bored and laid down to sleep.

This guy really is like a kid... Arthur thought with a smile. But will this Alien start to show a more 'mature' level of intelligence?

Only time would tell...

It's been several weeks since the project started and No-Tongue successfully solved puzzle after puzzle. What pleased Arthur even more was that the Alien continued to take such pride in solving the puzzles, it even figured out how to reset some of them, just so it could solve them again. It still acted a bit like a kid after the puzzle was solved, but Arthur decided that was part of it's overall personality. No matter what the reason, it was time to move the project in a new direction.

It was time to see what an Alien was capable of learning.

The sound was different today and early: it wasn't time for feeding yet. The Xeno looked up at door, wondering what was going to happen and watched the door open and stay open. The Xeno watched the doorway for a moment, waiting for something to come out: nothing did. Cautiously it approached the doorway and looked down the darkness of the corridor beyond. Was it meant to go through here now?

Seeing no other reason, the Xeno took a few of cautious steps into the corridor. The door suddenly decided now was the time to close and the Xeno jumped as it slammed shut behind it. Now it was trapped in the corridor, with going forward it's only option. Curious now as to what this all about and wondering if this was just another puzzle, the Xeno strode forward. The darkness of the corridor was no hindrance to the Xeno, it's sonar and other senses enabling it to 'see' it's surroundings better then any human could hope to. As it traveled, it could tell there were other doors, but they were closed and wouldn't budge. Only a single path was offered, a path that turned a few times before the Xeno could see a light up ahead. Breaking into a run the Xeno burst out of the corridor into a chamber much larger then the one it had been staying in.

The floor was covered with the same stuff as in the previous chamber and the chamber itself wasn't void of everything but itself: there were a few objects in here. There was a series of bars and some round things of various sizes, but before the Xeno could start to inspect these things, it suddenly realized it wasn't alone in this room...