Yeah, I know there's been a very long wait for updates on this story. And I know that this isn't exactly the longest update ever. I apologize. On the bright side, I just finished one of my longer stories. I don't know if it'll help me update this one more often, but it might.
Stitch was absolutely shocked to realize he'd fallen asleep. He'd been absolutely certain that he wouldn't be able to do that with the knowledge that Lilo was missing and that it was his fault for not protecting her. But somehow, regardless of how tightly wound he felt and the way his mind kept racing before, he found himself waking up.
A quick look showed that he was still on Nani's lap, the older girl holding onto him gently while dozing slightly. He remembered feeling slightly more relaxed while she held him and hummed a lullaby, but apparently he'd calmed down more than he expected. Or perhaps he'd simply exhausted himself with worry to the point sleep claimed him. Regardless, the experiment did feel a little better than before. He had no doubt that the previous problems with his mind devising so many scenarios, his desires to destroy trying to surface, and the waves of guilt trying to drown him would return soon enough. But at least he was calmer for the moment.
That didn't change the fact that he did miss Lilo and was worried about her. He wanted her back. And nothing in the universe would stop him until she was back and safe again.
Turning his head slightly, Stitch caught a glimpse out one of the port windows of the ship. He'd only been to the planet a handful of times in his entire life, but he recognized Turo. Soon they would have answers. And when they had those answers, he could start looking for her.
"Soon, Lilo," he whispered. "Chi chabita."
Lilo was gently nudged into a room with bright lights and a slightly paler shade of brown for the walls. There were machine against the walls that didn't quite seem to match each other. Some were sharp-edged, others were curvy, some were shiny metal, others were a dull black or grey, and one was a swirly white thing that reminded the girl of a vanilla ice cream cone. There were buttons and dials and switches on the different objects, but none of them matched or even looked similar between devices. There were screens on some of them, showing scribbles and pictures that didn't make any sense to the girl, but none of the screens seemed to match each other either. There were round ones, square ones, rectangle ones, and a triangular one that only seemed to show different shades of pink. They didn't match; none of them looked like they belonged together in the same room.
As she thought about it, Lilo decided they didn't even look like they were meant to be used by the praying mantis people. Some of the stuff seemed too high off the ground to be used easily while others were too low, making it easier for the child to see the buttons with odd symbols on them. They lacked the normal uniformity of Jumba's machines, even if some of his more recent inventions were cobbled together with human technology. It reminded her of someone tossing a bunch of puzzle pieces from different boxes together and trying to make a picture out of the assorted pieces.
In addition to the strange mixture of machines, there were a few metal tables and what looked like glass boxes and tubes large enough for someone to stand inside them. On a different table, a smaller one, there were strange metal objects with long handles lined up neatly in rows. She didn't recognize any of those objects, but they still reminded her of the shiny tools that she'd see in a dentist's office.
Finally, scattered all around the room were yellow versions of the praying mantis people. There were slight differences in the shades of yellow, like if someone pulled out bright sunshine-like colors from a giant crayon box and used every single one, but none of them were too close to orange or green that Lilo would make the mistake of what color they were supposed to be. Most were close to the same height as Pua, though a couple of them that were carrying things back and forth were shorter. The aliens were working at the different machines, which sometimes looked like a struggle to the child and added more evidence to her belief that not all the equipment was supposed to go together. Others were just staring at the screens, their antennas perked forward as they looked at the strange symbols. If she ignored the multiple arms and the giant eyes, the girl could easily imagine them as lab coat-wearing scientists like she would see in her cartoons or even Jumba when he was in more of a "scientist" mood rather than a "mad scientist" one.
If it wasn't for getting a good look at Kekoa earlier, Lilo knew she wouldn't have noticed that the pincher-claw arms on the yellow praying mantis people were a little smaller than those on the orange ones. The difference wasn't as extreme as with the Blue, but it was there. The spiny spikes on the inside edge, the ones that looked like they would stab into someone if they were grabbed tightly like how real praying mantis's catch prey, weren't as long and sharp either. That seemed to make it easier not to break things when they were handling the different long instruments. What worked well for catching grasshoppers for dinner probably didn't work as well at picking up pencils or something. Not that Lilo saw anything that looked like a pencil. A pencil probably would be hard to use anyway. Their larger arms didn't have fingers and the smaller arms only had three fingers. They wouldn't have the dexterity for pencils.
"It was requested that she be brought for examination and testing," said Pua, interrupting the child's thoughts. "Where do you require her?"
A yellow alien gestured with one of his bigger arms and said, "That examining table should suffice for now. We will be focusing on gathering the baseline information at this time. More detailed and invasive procedures will be performed later. Your task is to keep subject in place and to force it if necessary to cooperate."
"Understood," said Pua, inclining her head momentarily before turning her attention back to Lilo. "Do you require assistance following his command? You are shorter than most of the member of your species and the surface may be too high for you to reach on your own."
The girl looked over at the metal table and then back at the orange praying mantis. It was nice of Pua to ask, but she was good at climbing. Between just playing around the island and hunting experiments with Stitch, she could handle most it.
Lilo shook her head, "I'll be fine."
The girl easily scrambled up and perched herself on the edge of the table, her legs swinging freely as she looked around the room at the different aliens. She found it kind of creepy that the praying mantis people didn't seem to blink or have eyelids, so they always looked like they were staring with their huge eyes. She knew people who were mean would say that thick glasses make someone look "bug-eyed," but they didn't know what they were talking about. Real bug-eyes were huge and took up most of their head. And at least people with glasses blink sometimes. She almost giggled as she imagined what one of the yellow praying mantis people would look like wearing glasses.
A second one of the yellow aliens came up to the table, glancing momentarily at Pua, before turning his full attention to the girl. Gripped by the hands on his smaller arms was some kind of object that looked like it belonged either in a dentist office or a toolbox. Or maybe an electronics store since there seemed to be a tiny screen further down the long handle. There were three prongs on the end, arranged in a triangle. It wasn't particularly sharp-looking though. The tips were rounded and shiny instead of true points. The alien pressed it momentarily against her forehead, the device buzzing slightly through the contact and forcing Lilo to struggle against the desire to giggle. He left it there for several minutes, producing a soft clicking sound that reminded the girl of someone humming thoughtfully to themselves.
"Interesting," the yellow praying mantis eventually said, studying the small screen on the instrument.
"What?" asked Lilo.
When the alien didn't answer, she turned her attention to the strange instruments the alien doctor person was using. In addition to the three-pronged device, he quickly selected a long-handled object with a large cone on the end that looked like a larger version of the thing doctors use to look in people's eyes and ears. In fact, he quickly started poking it in her ears and nose. Once again, he studied the screens that rested in the handles of the tools before he moved the instrument in front of her eyes.
"What are you doing?" the child asked, refusing to give up on finding out information.
"Currently, we are examining several sensory organs to determine the strength and range of those senses," he answered finally, his tone rather distracted. "We need to compare them to the Swarm, other known species, and the limited records we managed to gain access to from the Federation about humans to see if there are any anomalies. We have already concluded that your species does not rely on the sense of smell as much as many species do. The lack of antennas already suggested that conclusion, but we have encountered other populations who have other methods of detecting scent. Your species, however, seems to be more concerned with visual stimuli. While you do not have the ability to detect all of the wavelengths of light that members of the Swarm are able to, you are able to see most of them that we can. Not the ultraviolet light, but the rest of light spectrum is the same between our two species. Tactile sensations, however, are more intense for your species than ours. You are more sensitive to lighter and fainter forms of those stimuli."
He paused a moment, using the smaller arm not holding the tool to lift up a section of her hair and looked at it closely. His antennas twitched forward as he studied her hair. Lilo didn't know how her hair could be that interesting, but maybe it was because bugs didn't have it.
On second thought, that wasn't quite correct. She could spot tiny, short, fine hairs along the giant praying mantis people. They were almost impossible to spot unless they caught the light just right. But they didn't have the long hair on top of their head like humans, so it was probably kind of strange.
The yellow alien gave the handful of hair a quick tug, earning a squeak of surprise from Lilo before he let go. The girl then glared at him in the hopes that he would feel guilty about messing around with her for science, but he didn't even seem to notice her expression. His next selected tool was a long-handled device with a clear circle on the end covered in bumps.
"Human, open your mouth," he said.
As Lilo started to inform the yellow praying mantis that she actually did have a real name, he popped the clear circle into her mouth as soon as it opened. He briefly rubbed the bumpy object along the inside of her cheeks before pulling it back out and handing it to another yellow alien, one who appeared to be the same one who spoke to Pua earlier. The doctor-like praying mantis person, who Lilo was currently trying to decide a name for, then gestured towards one of the clear boxes in the corner of the room.
"We need you to step into the containment unit," he stated.
"Why?" asked Lilo, tilting her head even as she slid off the table.
"There are sensors in the structure that will take measurements and perform internal scans that are easier to accomplish than by more direct means," he said, glancing briefly towards Pua as if he was nervous that the little girl would do as he asked.
Narrowing her eyes at the Yellow, she said, "No. Not until someone around here starts using my name. It isn't even a hard one to say. Lilo. I want you to call me 'Lilo,' not 'human.' If you do that, I won't cause too much trouble while you run your tests. That sounds fair, right?"
"Her species seems to have an obsession with names," the orange alien said. "She does not comprehend that the individual has negligible importance and it is only the entire Swarm that matters. She has repeatedly insisted on being addressed by her individual name and seems to find it easier to use one for me. She claims that it was important that she gave me a name."
The yellow praying mantis tilted his head in curiosity, "What a strange behavior. Is it cultural or something strictly limited to this particular specimen? Does providing of a name serve as more than a quaint method of identification? Perhaps a rite of passage, demonstrating that the member is approaching the age of mating. She is supposed to be an immature sample of her species, after all."
"Hey, I'm plenty mature. Nani just sometimes says I'm not when she's really annoyed with me and Stitch," Lilo complained.
Apparently ignoring her outburst, yellow praying mantis said, "It is possible to force her into the containment unit, but it might damage her or the sensors if she struggled. Her cooperation with testing would be preferred to ensure the readings are accurate and the minimal amount of collateral damage occurs."
"It would be simpler to go along with her minor request," Pua said.
"Lilo," the yellow alien said, stressing her name carefully, "we need you to step into the containment unit so that we can take measurements and perform internal scans."
The girl smiled at this small victory. It wasn't that much, but at least the bug aliens were treating her like a person instead of a science experiment. Well, they were still treating her like an experiment, but it was at least a little bit of an improvement. The Swarm was viewing her as both and she could work with that. After all, Stitch and the cousins were both people and experiments.
"What sort of measurements?" she asked, heading toward the clear cube obediently.
"The general height, weight, and body proportions," said the yellow praying mantis. "Density of your internal skeletal structure, which are necessarily thicker and more solid since your species lacks a proper exoskeleton, are also recorded, along with the composition of the skeletal structure and muscle system, and a general representation of the internal organs present in your species. More detail scans will have to be calibrated later, but the basics can still be handled now."
Frowning briefly for a moment as she considered his words, Lilo asked, "So is it like an x-ray? Does it just take pictures of my insides? Or is it going to horribly mutate me and have me start growing extra arms and a second head? Will I start dripping green slime?"
His antennas twitched a few times and his head tilted to the side at her question, but he eventually seemed to understand her question. The girl didn't understand why they seemed to have so much trouble figuring out what she said. They were the ones who used big words instead of making things simpler. If it wasn't for having Jumba as part of the ohana, she wouldn't be able to understand half of what they were saying.
"While the first example would not be completely accurate, that is essentially what we shall be doing," he said as she reached the clear container. "There will be no mutation, growth of extra limbs, or… green slime."
"Okay," she nodded.
The box was mostly clear and uniformly smooth. There was a thin line of metal along the top and a display with buttons on one side, but it didn't even seem to have any visible hinges as another yellow alien opened it and Lilo stepped inside. There was plenty of space in the container for a couple of more people, but there didn't seem to be any air holes. The girl found that to be a silly mistake since someone was always supposed to poke holes in jars and boxes they use to catch bugs, frogs, and turtles in. On the other hand, the containers she and Stitch used to use to catch the cousins didn't have air holes either and they never had any problems. And the aliens didn't seem worried, so Lilo decided there was probably more than enough air in the clear box anyway.
"While the process can be accomplished regardless, it would be more efficient if you remain still," the yellow praying mantis doctor person said.
Lilo started to nod her understanding, but quickly stopped herself since he asked her not to move. The thin line of metal near the top of the box clicked a few times as he pressed the control panel with his fingers. When a light abruptly came on and started shining down from the line of metal, the girl almost jumped in surprise. But she managed to keep still as it moved up and down her body like a white laser pointer, though she closed her eyes tightly whenever the light moved up to her face and near her eyes.
There was an occasional beep as she stood there, trying to keep perfectly still. As she waited, Lilo noticed the beeps were getting closer together like some form of countdown. She could also hear the yellow alien clicking softly to himself as he focused on the control panel. He wasn't talking, but he just kept clicking softly as he worked. Maybe it was the alien bug equivalent of humming or muttering under their breath while working on things.
After a little while, the beeping and the light stopped, letting Lilo open her eyes again. There were now three yellow praying mantis people staring at the control panel while Pua continued to watch the girl. One of them was the exact same shade of yellow as the lines that ran down the middle of the road while another reminded her of lemonade. The main yellow one, the one she'd finally decided on a name, was more of warm and darker shade.
One of the newcomers held a large rectangular object with his bigger arms while pressing smaller sections of it carefully with his hands on the smaller arms. It took the child a few moments to figure out what he or she might be doing, but Lilo finally guess the device was supposed to be like some of the touch screen computers and the lemonade-yellow praying mantis person was working on it. Maybe they were even writing things down that way since pencils didn't seem to be used by anyone in the room.
The girl also noticed that the lemonade-yellow one tended to tap on the flat object more right after the main yellow alien muttered something. Lilo decided they were probably recording the measurements that the clear cube produced. She could hear him rattling off numbers, but she couldn't tell if he was using inches, feet, or something else. It was actually kind of boring to hear him explain the exact length of her toes or how thick her finger bones were.
Part of her did wonder if Jumba ever wanted to do something like this, analyzing humanity and categorizing every part into nice little numbers. He usually preferred to build and create, but he might enjoy having these types of tools to study other species. It might even give him ideas. The thought of him taking a bunch of these machines to put either in his room or on his ship unfortunately managed to bring back the feelings of homesickness and dread that she would never see her family again. The girl quickly forced her thoughts in another direction, quietly reminding herself that Stitch and the others would come for her.
The yellow praying mantis was still reciting numbers while his apparent assistant kept tapping on the flat rectangular object as he spoke. The girl tried to remain patient, but couldn't help fidgeting after the wait started to grow longer and longer. Lilo and boredom rarely got along. Usually she could do something. Whether it was draw, play, practice her hula, watch television, or scour the island for experiments, the girl could always find a way to occupy her time. This time, there was nothing really to do except listen to someone ramble a bunch of numbers.
She glanced over at Pua, her expression as pleading and tired as she could manage. Lilo didn't know if the orange praying mantis would be able to convince the yellow ones to let her out of the box or to do something else, but she was getting so bored and tired of just standing there while he listed off the information. But while the girl's face might have been enough to convince most adults of various species that she dealt with regularly, it didn't seem to have much of an effect on Pua.
Rolling her eyes briefly to the ceiling and the diamond-shaped light sources embedded in the surface, Lilo started swinging her arms back and forth. If she ignored the fact everyone looked like giant bugs, the entire experience wasn't too different than a normal doctor's visit without anyone trying to give her a vaccination yet. She didn't find it surprising that she was getting bored. The girl was about to start humming, but quickly changed her mind since distracting the yellow aliens might make everything take longer.
By the point where Lilo was considering just sitting down while waiting, the main yellow praying mantis person looked over at Pua and inclined his head briefly.
"We have enough for now on… Lilo," he said carefully, "to start our research. While we go over the information, it would be best to store her in one of the cells. That should keep her safe and secure until we are ready for further tests."
"Sure, just lock me up like an animal at the zoo," she complained. "Why not? It isn't like I'm a real person or anything."
Pua stepped towards her, the spear-like blasting weapon still in her grasp. Lilo knew that she didn't have much choice in the matter. She would have to go with them. But she didn't plan on leaving without at least one final word in the matter.
Pointing dramatically at the main Yellow, the girl declared, "You will regret this, Inupani. Don't say I didn't warn you."
If it was possible for the giant praying mantis scientist to blink, she was certain that he would have. Instead, he tilted his head and stared at her in confusion.
"I do not understand," he said.
"Your name. I picked out a name for you," Lilo explained. "I picked one out for Pua earlier, but the rest of you need names to. So I'm going to call you Inupani. It means 'a person of great wisdom' and you seem to be a smart guy. Even if all of you are crazy because you chose your jobs based on colors, you still would have probably made a great scientist regardless."
While the newly named alien glanced between her and the rest of the room in shock and bewilderment, the girl grinned towards the other two Yellows nearby. The lemonade-colored assistant and the quieter one without the touch screen. They needed names too, after all.
Pointing towards the assistant with the touch screen, Lilo declared, "You will be Akamai. That name means 'smart,' so I hope you like it. Even if you mostly just work on that flat computer screen and put in what he tells you, I think you're probably pretty smart too."
The third one, the bright yellow of a road line and who seemed to understand what was coming next, started backing away from the girl as if gaining an individual name was a contagious disease. Lilo, not wanting to lose momentum, actually took a few steps towards the confused aliens. If none of them wanted names, then they shouldn't have kidnapped her in the first place.
"I'm going to call you… Mamo," she said after struggling a second to decide. "That's also the name of a yellow flower."
"You are not choosing a name about wisdom?" the Yellow asked, sounding slightly disappointed.
Lilo shrugged, "I was starting to run out. That doesn't mean you aren't smart. It just means you have a name about flowers and the color yellow instead."
"Why does it matter which name she selects to use?" asked Pua. "It is merely her preference to use one. We do not need names and we will forget them the moment she is gone."
"You are right, Orange," said Mamo, head inclining momentarily in respect. "Forgive this Yellow for the foolishness."
Gesturing with her weapon, Pua ordered, "Move, Lilo. You must be escorted to a secure cell on the lower level. There will be no further delays."
Holding her hands up in surrender, the girl headed towards the door. As she and her guard left, she thought she heard one last quiet comment from the scientists.
"My name is the best one, of course."
The Grand Councilwoman made sure to be there when they arrived. She sent most of the others away, promising to handle the necessary paperwork and such later. The small ohana didn't need to be bothered by too many other people at this moment. She also didn't want the news of an ambassador of the Galactic Federation becoming known yet. Minimizing those involved would help control the spread of information. Especially if someone within the Federation was somehow connected to the abduction.
She wasn't surprised that there were a few experiments accompanying Dr. Jookiba and Agent Pleakley. She knew Stitch would accompany them, but the presence of a few more was understandable. The Grand Councilwoman recognized Splodyhead, Slushy, Kixx, and Slugger from the reports, though this was one of the first opportunities she'd had to see them in person. The one that did surprise her, however, was the human accompanying the group.
Ms. Pelekai always seemed like a nice enough young woman who did her best to care for her sister and the other members of her ohana, but she had never left the planet and never seemed to have the urge to do so. Even during the ceremony honoring the rehabilitation of all the experiments, Nani Pelekai remained on Earth. True, the official explanation for her absence was that her job required her presence at the time, but the Grand Councilwoman held her own theories that the older sister was more content with her planet and did not share Lilo Pelekai's adventurous spirit in regards towards other worlds.
But it seemed that the kidnapping of her sister was enough to bring her to another world. There was a nervousness about the young woman as she stepped forward, glancing around with unease and awe. She wasn't as comfortable as the younger girl always seemed. But she did not let her concerns stop her from doing what was necessary. That was a noble trait to find in a guardian.
"Welcome to Turo," greeted the Grand Councilwoman solemnly. "We will do what we can to help find Lilo."
"Good," Jumba stated bluntly. "Because I am to be needing to speak to an old colleague that I am to be believing might know something."
There was something dangerous in the Kweltikwan's tone. It reminded the Grand Councilwoman quite strongly that though Experiment 626 was once a dangerous and violent monster that wanted to destroy everything in the universe, Dr. Jookiba was the one who made him that way in the first place.
"Take me to Hamsterviel. I am needing to be seeing my dear friend," he said with a vicious and predatory grin. "Alone."
Once again, Lilo is naming the aliens. And Jumba wants to have a little "chat" with Hamsterviel. That probably won't go well for the villain who told the Swarm about Lilo in the first place.
On a slightly different note, I have a book on Amazon. Not a physical book, unfortunately. But it is one that can be downloaded. So go and buy my book. There's a link on my profile. You can buy it for the Kindle or download the Kindle app thing for your smartphone. You can probably even download it on your iPad or other computer things. Just go out and support my original piece of fiction, please. Reviews are nice (and I always appreciate them), but fanfiction doesn't pay the bills.
Thanks again for the feedback and I hope that you're enjoying the story.