We, as humans, have always strived to push past our natural boundaries, haven't we? Nature gave us lungs to breathe, and arms and legs to crawl across the surface of our planet, and yet we still desired to sail the seas, dive deep into the depths of the water.
Nature gave birds the ability to fly, and us the ability to walk. Yet we still desired to soar the skies, and so we did. We view ourselves with pride, don't we? Above the rest of these feral animals we're forced to coexist with.
Where there's a possibility to go somewhere, we will. From the lowest depths of our planet to the highest peaks. Yet, one frontier remained elusive. Space, and the stars above.
Our technology may be great, but it was never enough. Though, we did manage to put a few people up there, develop suits specially tailored to keep us from an unpleasant death by the vacuum of space.
Yet, we still salivate at the thought of conquering outer space. And perhaps, now we will. I've discovered something amazing, perhaps by accident, perhaps by a divine miracle. I never went to the stars myself, but one of our missions came back with something very interesting.
Another desire of ours has always been to know we're not alone in this universe. And now, I suppose we know we aren't. This discovery will undoubtedly make my name known worldwide, from every urban metropolis to every last backwater country town. I will go down in history. I will be known for generations, no, centuries to come.
He set down the pen. An elegant fountain pen, just as elegant as his handwriting. Though, he gazed at one capitalised 'A' and scoffed. It was a bit scuffed, and he was not going to accept that. With a small stroke, he fixed it. Perfect.
Brushing off his suit, Quinn quickly shut his little memo book and turned around to his nearest subordinate, the lady with curly auburn hair and bags under her brown eyes. He couldn't be bothered to remember her name, so he just called her 'intern.'
"How's our specimen doing, intern?"
"It's Tabitha," the intern, Tabitha, said, "and the alien is… stable. Not a fan of being contained, but stable."
"It's not an alien, Tabatha," Quinn said indignantly, "it's a guest. Don't be rude to our guest."
"You quite literally just called it a specimen."
Quinn paused. God damn it, he hated when other people were right, and he had no clever retort. He sputtered a few times.
"Well…" he tried to begin, "do we at least know what it eats? Is it aggressive?"
"No and probably not."
"Probably not?" Quinn said, incredulously. He walked over to a desk, opening a drawer and hovering his hand over its contents. Was this necessary? No, especially not without a valid confirmation. But did he want to? Yes, he very much did. He watched so many science fiction movies when he was younger, and he wanted nothing like that to happen. Take no chances, as his father had once said, only work with absolutes.
And at the same time, he wanted to see what made it break. Before he got to the second phase of his grand plan, so to speak.
He debated for a few more moments, then pulled it out. It was one of those ugly black collars with a large black box in the front, two prongs sticking out of it, and a buckle in the back, though he noted that he'd probably make that singular buckle much more secure.
It was a shock collar, simply put, one used for dogs. In addition to strengthening the buckle, he could also strengthen the power of the shock, for sure.
"Is that…" Tabitha's brows furrowed, "oh, god, Quinn, no, we don't need to do that."
"What if it goes berserk, Tabitha?" Quinn fiddled with the collar in his hand, sliding a finger along the box, "what do we do then, ask it politely to stop?"
"It's a child, Quinn, I really don't think it's going to go on a rampage as of right now, but who's to say if it will with a shock collar on it?"
Quinn curled his lip in a grimace. "I don't want to take chances with creatures like this."
"And just a moment ago you were calling it our guest."
Quinn's eyes narrowed. "That was merely because I do not particularly enjoy the term alien, Tabitha. That is all."
Tabitha threw out her arms in exasperation. "Sure, but I still don't see the need to put a collar on it when it hasn't done anything warranting that!"
Quinn knew it hadn't, and that this was unneeded. But he also didn't want to reveal his other reasons behind this. It wasn't just over aggression. But he kept up with the guise of fretting over the creature's potential hostility.
"I do not care about the thoughts of a mere intern," Quinn said coldly, "I am going to put this collar on it, and that is final."
Tabitha opened and closed her mouth a few times, and then huffed, holding her head in her hands. "Fine, Quinn, go put a shock collar on it. Shoot yourself in the foot, go see what happens."
Quinn only sighed himself as she stormed out. Poor Tabitha, if she only knew why he was really doing this.
He set the shock collar down, tapping the desk. He was not afraid of it being hostile. He merely wanted to see it in its… purest form. Quinn knew it couldn't be so humanoid naturally. It had to be like… like the other one. The one he'd seen when he was younger.
And so, he would force it to reveal its true form. Even better, perhaps he could attract more of them, relay whatever distress calls it made to the stars above. He looked back at his memo.
Yet, we still salivate at the thought of conquering outer space.
He smiled slightly. He had discovered something truly great.
I will go down in history.
Yes, yes, he would. He would be the one to find a source of energy so powerful, so potent, that humans could finally achieve their spacefaring dream.
That being, the blood and essence of the very stars themselves.