He really didn't feel like getting up, no matter how cool he thought being in a spaceship way above earth may be. He hated to admit it, even to himself but the one thing he wanted at that moment wasn't to be at Cedar Point or teasing Gwen; he really wanted to be home with his mother.
"Oh, so you're awake," a whispery voice said. Ben blinked and looked directly above him to see Ghostfreak appear right before his very eyes. Ben jumped and sat up, his head going through the ectoplasm that seemed to make up the being.
"Woah," Ben gasped and looked at him. "How long have you been there?" he asked sheepishly.
"Just a few minutes," the ghostly apparition replied. "I was sent here by Hoverboard to see if you were awake. He wants to talk to you."
"Oh," Ben said simply and slid from the bed he was in, leaving the covers rumpled and undone. "Did he say anything else?"
"No," came the simple answer.
"Huh," Ben murmured as he left his room. He looked at the alien floating beside him and a thought came to mind. "What's your name?" he asked suddenly.
"Me?" he asked, pointing to himself.
Ben nodded, "Yeah, well everything has to have a name, right?"
Even though Ghostfreak couldn't smile, the idea of one was still there when Ben said that. "You can call me Specter as I don't think my name has a direct translation into your language."
"Speaking of which," Ben noted, putting another piece into the puzzle and finding it didn't fit. "How can I understand you if you're an alien? I mean don't you have your own language on whatever planet you come from?"
"We do," Specter agreed. "However since we were chosen to represent our races we had to learn different languages in order to carry out diplomat missions."
"Cool!" Ben said excitedly. "I kinda know Spanish, how many languages can you speak?"
"5,134," Specter answered.
Ben's enthusiasm melted into awe. "Wow, that's… a lot," he said in a well rounded boyish way.
Specter chuckled, although it sounded more like a dry cough. "Yes it is," he replied.
"You're not as scary as I thought you'd be," Ben told his new friend.
"Oh?" Specter asked.
"Yeah, even though you're like a ghost from my world you're really…" Ben searched for the right word. "Nice."
"Thank you," Specter replied. "Courtesy is a powerful tool in diplomatic missions."
"Can you fight?" Ben asked.
"Of course, we are all trained in combat as well as how to handle delicate political issues. It's why we're here in the first place," Specter answered.
"Oh," Ben nodded, pretending he understood although he really didn't. He was honestly confused about the whole thing but he decided to try and take it in a stride until he understood what was going on.
"Here we are," Specter said, stopping at a door that looked identical to the doors around it.
Ben blinked and looked up and down the hall. "Uh, how can you tell?" he asked.
"You get used to it," Specter answered and opened the door so the corporeal being could get inside.
Ben sidled inside and looked at the other nine aliens that sat at a long table. Ben guessed that the room he was in was some sort of meeting room although it looked bigger to accommodate the size of Hoverboard and Red. Now Ben wasn't one to be shy, ever but if he had ever been intimidated in his short time alive that moment was most certainly it.
"Hello Ben," Hoverboard said in a calm voice. "Good morning."
"Uh right," Ben murmured, still taking in the sight of all the aliens from his watch. "So… why am I here?"
"So we can all meet each other and so I can give you a few… uh…" Hoverboard wondered how he should word it so as to not spark a rebellion in the spunky child.
Ben crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "Rules?" he asked.
Hoverboard nodded, "Sure."
Ben shook his head, he never realized just how uncomfortable Hoverboard seemed to be around him until that moment. "So… it's back to kindergarten we go then?"
"Hm?" Hoverboard asked.
Been shook his head, his sarcasm obviously missed. "Never mind," he dismissed.
Hoverboard blinked at Ben, unsure of what to say. He had never been dismissed by a child before and he wasn't sure how to act. "All right then, from left to right," he said pointing to the alien Ben knew as Greymatter, "Tech," he pointed to Heatblast, "Sun," he pointed to Stinkfly, "Stinky," this drew a silent chuckle from Ben that only Specter could hear. He pointed to Fourarms, "Red," he pointed to Wildmutt, "We're not sure because we cannot understand him but we call him Rampage," Rampage growled proudly and Ben looked back in interest. He pointed to Upgrade, "Impulse," he said and he pointed to XLR8, "Accelerate," this also drew a chuckle from Ben, just as silent as the first. Then he pointed to Ripjaw who was the only one in a tank of water which Ben knew from experience was the easiest way to handle being out of a large lake or river, "And he's Umi."
"Umi?" Ben asked.
"It means sea in a different language on Earth," Umi said. "My real name has no translation."
"Oh," Ben nodded, getting it but not really.
"I am Hoverboard and you've already been introduced to Specter," Hoverboard concluded.
"Yeup," Ben agreed. "So, aside from the whole keeping the Omnitrix out of enemy hands, what do you all do?"
"We handle interspeical relations between our races," Hoverboard replied. "You wouldn't understand."
"Nope," Ben replied. "I barely made it through math class," he said with a grin. "Although I figure its pretty much stuff I shouldn't mess with, because I'm a kid, right?"
"Exactly," Hoverboard replied, not realizing that Ben was teasing him. Red did realize and he chuckled a bit to the dismay of some of the other aliens.
"So, I'll bet I can guess the rules too," Ben went on, starting to feel a bit more comfortable. "Probably the same as grandpa's for that matter. Stay put, don't go where I don't know about and don't activate the watch without permission or unless there's an emergency. Right?"
Hoverboard sighed, already a small headache beginning to form. "Look Ben, believe me when I say that it would have been greatly preferred to keep you on earth with your family. But that's not how things ended up so when I ask this, please try to understand that we're all trying to help. Do not under any circumstances activate the Omnitrix here."
"Why?" Ben asked, taking hint to the seriousness of the request.
"Because, when you activate it, it sends out a traceable signal. If you activate that thing it could lead the enemy right to our front step," Hoverboard replied fairly.
Ben nodded, "All right. I won't then," he replied.
"And those other things you said were good rules too," Hoverboard noted.
Ben made a face, his moment of wit having completely backfired. "All right," he said sulkily. To his embarrassment his stomach decided that at that moment would be a great time to growl loudly. He blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm hungry," he said to the questioning stares of the aliens in the room.
Hoverboard sighed, things were certainly going to get more interesting from then on, that was for sure.
Ben was delighted to note that because of the ship's technology he could get any food that had previously been scanned into the ship's computer. Which meant that most of the food on earth already had been scanned because it was the closest planet. It took all of his self-control not to get a hot fudge sundae for breakfast but he didn't know how much the aliens knew about earth food and he didn't want to risk it. Instead he went with some random sugary cereal that he downed in about 3 minutes before running out of what he knew to be the 'kitchen' to explore.
Sun and Hoverboard watched this with noted interest. As Ben dashed out of the room Sun turned to Hoverboard with a short laugh escaping his mouth. "Very energetic, isn't he?"
"Apparently," Hoverboard sighed. "I only hope we can get through this without anything happening."
"Don't worry, we're so careful I doubt anything will happen," Sun assured his friend. He stretched his arms over his head. "Well, time for me to go burn off some energy," he said then blinked. "Ha get it? Burn?"
Hoverboard gave him a silent stare.
"Cause in this language burn means…" Sun faded off. "Never mind, you never get good humor. I'll see you in the council room after I'm done in the training room."
"All right," Hoverboard replied and turned on his heel to go do whatever it was he did during the day.
"Such a stiff," Sun sighed and went to train.
Ben ran down the hallways, looking from room to room, completely ignoring one of the rules he set for himself. He went into an open arena and looked around in awe. "Awesome," he said slowly, his voice echoing back. He really wanted to know just how big the place was that he was in as it seemed to be a lot bigger then most places on earth.
There was a light growl and Rampage came out into the open. Ben waved and trotted over to the large, dog-like alien. "Hi there," he said cheerfully and stopped in front of it.
The sightless alien sniffed, trying to asses Ben and his threat level, getting ready to attack just in case. Of course Ben didn't know this so he stood on tiptoe and scratched at the base of Rampage's neck, a place where he knew was sensitive and felt good if not pressed too hard. He figured it was the one area where the hard fur couldn't dig into the bone because there was no bone there.
Rampage stopped thinking about attacking and knelt down so that Ben could get closer. Ben laughed and continued to scratch with more ease. "You like that?" he asked.
Rampage growled something that Ben actually seemed to understand somewhat due to his time as the alien. He nodded and continued to pet the giant orange creature. "You're not that bad," he told him. "Just because you can't talk I mean." He brought his hand down, "you're just different, that's all."
Rampage knelt down and lay on its side. Ben leaned back and rested against the softer fur of the underbelly to look at the high ceiling, which showed the stars. "It's so pretty," he said softly. Rampage growled his agreement and Ben nodded. Together the two watched the stars through the window on the large ship.