Author's Note: So.
D'you think it'd be amusing for Aesearia to say "take me to your leader"?
Yeah. Thought so. :)
bwahahahahahahahahaha BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
AESEARIA
Then came a morning which started off as naturally as any other. Ethan had taken to staying inside his Marine suit every moment of every day, just in case Herobrine decided to strike again. Daniel, on the other hand, was keeping his armor in his "hot-bar" where he could equip it whenever he "right-clicked".
Aesearia was seriously considering the possibility of permanent insanity if she kept hanging around Terrans.
Not that she had a choice.
Ethan's armor's incessant whirring made it nearly impossible to sleep for both Daniel and Aesearia at first, but Daniel had taken to using earplugs (cube-like, as ever) instead of arguing pointlessly with a stubborn Ethan.
Aesearia?
Personally, she thought that dealing with the sounds from his armor was much, much easier than dealing with the sounds that came from his mouth.
Naturally, she did not share this sentiment with any of the others.
Not that they can read her mind, of course. Only she can do that. To others, that is.
Ethan's armor whirred and whined loudly in the same fashion that it did every morning when he woke, and he climbed with quite a racket to go outside for some air. He has long since stopped trying not to wake the others.
"Wake up, ladies!" he shouted, clapping his large, armored hands together. "Rise and shine! Daniel, those laps ain't runnin' themselves!"
There was a groan from the lump of cube-y woolen blankets that was Daniel, and he proceeded to mutter some odd words.
(Aesearia had caught, so far, the words that meant "butt", "poop", "reproduce", and "female Arf". She had no idea what they were meant to be.)
Ethan had started demanding that Daniel accompanied him on his routine morning laps in order to stay "fit". Aesearia had agreed to run as well, but only because she needed both psionic meditation and physical training. Otherwise, she would end up like the incredibly slow High Templar who only focused on the psionic side of things. The very thought sent a shudder through her. Of course, Ethan tried once to name-call Aesearia the same way he name-called Daniel (apparently, this was a Terran way of showing affection, which was, in her opinion, better than the Zerg way of shooting spines or tearing each other apart). Aesearia had calmly lifted Ethan off his feet psionically and asked him politely whether or not he wanted a bit of permanent rest.
Ethan only name-called Daniel after that.
(Not that she had any idea what "maggot" was supposed to mean.)
The sun was only a square of red peeking over the skyline by the time the Terrans and the Protoss made their way out, followed by the dog. Laps were run, push-ups were done (though not by Aesearia), and finally all took a break by sitting down next to a house and drinking (in the Terrans' case)/absorbing (in the Protoss's case) a glass bottle of water.
Ethan was loudly telling some Terran joke (which Aesearia couldn't even hope to understand) regarding a "kangaroo" and a "ninja" to a good-humored Daniel when a villager poked his head outside the door and started staring at them all. They had gotten used to this type of odd behavior over the days and none paid the villager any attention, until –
"What do you primitive screwheads think you're doing, loitering on my property?"
Daniel choked, sputtered some water, and turned to look incredulously at the villager, followed by Aesearia and Ethan.
"Wha - "
"I thought they were mindless!"
And a grunt from Ethan.
"I'd take care who I was calling 'mindless' if I were you," the villager said darkly. "Now get off my property, or I'm calling police!"
There was a scrambled rush as all three made a mad dash for home, Arf whining as they did so.
There was a villager in a white robe at their house. He looked up, apparently surprised, when Aesearia busted through the door.
"Do you mind?" he asked in a very nasal voice, his brow (no plurals there) furrowed.
"Please get out," Aesearia said in her most persuasive manner. (That is, she was mind-controlling.)
Curiously enough, the villager's eyes did not glaze over as Aesearia had expected, but he did reluctantly leave. After he did, Daniel took a seat, Ethan loomed in a corner, and Aesearia sat a table, staring at her hands.
"What does this mean?" Daniel demanded to no-one in particular. "They aren't supposed to be sentient! They aren't supposed to be even able to talk!"
"I'm not sure they're entirely sentient," Aesearia muttered. "If they were, that one's eyes would have glazed over. I was psionically controlling him." Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait here," she said, and rushed out the door. Naturally, the Terrans followed.
She walked up to a villager (who looked at her curiously, as if she were an alien (oh wait, she was)), reached into his mind –
And saw the coded orders.
?!
And then a thought came, foreign and unbidden.
This thing isn't from around here
and then
Should I call the iron golems?
then
Dunno, it doesn't seem hostile…
And then the villager spoke aloud.
"Can. You. Under. Stand. What. I'm. Saying?" He said this with much unnecessary flourishing of his arms, which were finally unfolded and waving about.
Aesearia stalked back.
"What?!" Daniel exclaimed. He threw up his arms in defeat. "That's it," he said. "I give up. Whatever evil force is at work here, we're screwed. So screwed."
"Why?" Aesearia asked, slightly bemused. She didn't see how this was so dangerous. Perhaps it was a good thing. It wouldn't be so empty around here, for one…
"They shouldn't be able to think!" Daniel moaned exaggeratedly. "They're freakin' AI's!"
"The way I see it," Ethan grunted, "is that we need to go find whoever their leader is and work out some type of agreement. I don't want one of these iron golems on my tail."
"Agreed," Daniel said instantly.
"Well, I suppose I am outvoted either way, so let us proceed."
Aesearia was excited about talking to the villagers. Not just for any reason, too.
Daniel had mentioned a while back about something the Earthlings had a passion for – science fiction. Apparently, it was "fashion" for the aliens to say in a monotone –
TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER