The next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)
When Natalie woke up, she was feeling quite refreshed.
She can't recall the last time she slept so soundly in this hellhole. Then she felt the cot slowly rise and fall beneath her. And she suddenly remembered what or should she say who she was laying on.
Natalie slowly picked up her head and her gaze slowly trailed up a cream-colored chest to a fairly thick neck, over an intimidating set of mandibles to bright yellowish green eyes looking right back at her.
She's unsure why, but it looked like his eyes were filled with amusement as he continued to stare at her.
Yeyinde, who woke up some time ago after having the best night of sleep in a long time, finally felt the small ooman female on top of him stir, and begin to move.
He looked down just as she peered up and looked at him with wide light blue eyes.
Her mane looked like someone sat on it while she slept. It was sticking out in some places, while it stuck to the sides of her face in other places. And it made her look rather comical right now.
Natalie heard a strange sound coming from the strange being who called himself a yautja the day before.
It was a sound she never heard coming from him before. It was hard to describe but it sounded like he was making short little chuffing sounds mixed in with rolling clicks.
'Was he? Is he laughing?' She thought.
If it is his version of laughter, it sounded weird, yet amusing at the same time.
"Ooman, you like you just got blasted through a wind tunnel." Yeyinde said in his language.
Natalie had no idea what he said. But the words came in between the strange sounds he was making. It was obvious he was laughing at her. Why? She was unsure.
'Oh god, did I drool on him? Is there dried up drool on the side of my mouth or something?' She thought.
Her hand subconsciously rose up to her mouth and wiped art it. But she didn't feel anything there. So, just what was he laughing at then?
She then felt weight on her head and felt him sift his fingers through her long chocolate locks. It felt like he was brushing it out for her. And that's when it hit her. She must've woken up with a bad case of bed head.
Why else would he be laughing and running his hand through her hair, trying to straighten it out?
Natalie felt her cheeks go warm in embarrassment. She must've looked quite funny right now to him, with her most likely 'Beetlejuice' looking hair.
Yeyinde noticed the heat signature particularly around her facial area rising. Though he's unsure why. But with her eyes wide and parted lips, she appeared to have a surprised look on her face.
She slowly got up, making his hand fall from her hair.
Natalie's gaze then shifted from his to look anywhere else in the cell but at him. It was awkward enough that she fell asleep on top of him. Then she woke up looking like and 80's rockstar.
When her gaze went back to Yeyinde, there was still a sparkle of amusement in his eyes as he continued to look at her.
She started to push herself back, wanting to get off of him. Which was a shame, because it was still cold in here and his body was warm and kind of acted like a heater.
Natalie started to back away on her hands and knees. She didn't want to climb over him to get to the other side of the cot. So, she decided to back up to the foot of it and get off that way.
When her shins got to the edge near the bottom, she placed her feet on the ground then pushed herself up and off the bed.
Yeyinde watched her crawl backwards, and once she stood up, he sat up. Then he turned his body and placed his feet on the cold metal floor and stood up.
He let out a small stretch, trying to loosen himself up.
Then his gaze shifted to her.
"Nat'alie." He said with a nod.
She's unsure why he said her name. But the nod at the end, perhaps he was saying good morning to her.
"Good morning." Natalie said.
He cocked his head at her then repeated the strange words.
"G'ood moorn'ing." Yeyinde responded.
'Close enough.' She thought, still able to understand it.
Already, the young woman was wondering what will be happening today. She was apparently still in a cell with Yeyinde. And she's unsure how long that will be.
Was this permanent? Or temporary? She so badly wanted answers.
'Just what in the hell are these people looking to get out of keeping her in with him? None of this still makes any sense. They kept them separated for the longest time when they were first brought in. Why would they suddenly decide now to put them in together? Whatever the reason, it couldn't be good, for either of them.' She thought.
Yeyinde continued to stare at the female. She was looking down at the floor. He became a little accustomed to ooman expressions since he came here to hunt.
He understood the face they made when they were surprised, frightened, or confused. But right now, the small lines of hair above her eyes looked like they were furrowed, and her full lips were tilted downwards.
If he didn't know any better, he'd say she was frowning or upset perhaps?
Why'd she be upset was beyond him. Maybe she realized he was laughing at her, and she didn't like it? Or perhaps didn't like the fact that the cot was clearly too small to hold them both.
That cot situation he can't help. But if she is mad about him laughing at her, he didn't mean too. Her mane looked just so funny looking sticking out in different directions.
"It still doesn't make any sense. Why they put us in here together." She said, more to herself then to him.
A series of clicks and chirps left him. He really did wish he understood the words she just said. If only he had still had his translator, it would make things a lot easier for them both.
Though it did get the young hunter thinking. What if there was a way, he could get ahold of it. The translator was a part of his wrist comp. But it was also detachable. If he could somehow get his hands on it, that would be great. Even better if he could get ahold of the rest of his wrist comp and weapons on top of that.
But whenever he left this room, he was barely conscious. These oomans had a way of making sure he was out while they poked and prodded him.
He can only think of one other solution. But he has yet to see them take Natalie out of her own cell since she has been here. If he had notice them take her out at different intervals, he would have been trying like hell to try and communicate a way for her to get to the translator or wrist comp and try and bring it back to him.
The awkward silence was broken when they heard the slot by the door move and open. And saw the first trey get shoved through.
He looked to her then the trey and moved over to get it. The first one was clearly his. And as soon as the trey left the slot, hers was then pushed through.
Natalie walked over and saw her trey. She reached up and took it from the slot.
She then took it over to the cot, sat down with it on her lap, and started to eat. Yeyinde went and sat beside her on the cot. But instead of eating, he put it aside.
He's been here for how long now, and these oomans still haven't figured out yet that his kind didn't always eat every day. Or at least not have more than one meal in a day.
Yeyinde huffed then turn his attention back to Natalie. He watched as she dug in, like she hasn't eaten in days. If there is one thing he learned while he was here observing oomans, he learned that they certainly liked to eat.
But he brushed that thought aside. There was something he really wanted to try his best to communicate with her.
It was a crap shoot, but he will have to try his best to informed her of the translator. Perhaps, now that she was in here with him, they may start taking her out every now and then. If not to talk to her about him.
If and when they do, maybe she could see where they are keeping his things. And if possible, she can get ahold of his translator.
Now all he had to do was play a little game of Charades with her again and use a series of hand gestures to describe it to her. He can only hope she gets what he's trying to tell her.
Natalie was halfway through the couple slices of bacon on her plate when she heard Yeyinde beside her.
"Nat'alie." He said, getting her attention.
She turned to him, letting him know he had her attention.
He then lifted up his right wrist and gestured to it. He made a small circling motion around his wrist and forearm. Then made it look like he was pressing imaginary buttons on it.
Natalie watched as he made the gestures. It was obvious he was trying to tell her something, using some kind of gestures or hand signals.
He kept tapping at his wrist then tapped his fingers against his forearm. Every now and then his gaze would shift from her to his arm as he continued pantomiming to her.
"Something to do with your arm?" She said, as she gestured to her own.
Yeyinde heard her speak then gestured to her arm then his. He nodded, hoping they were headed in the right direction.
He continued to pretend he was tapping buttons and looked at her again.
"Buttons? Something about tapping or pressing buttons on your arm." She said and repeated the gesture.
Her and her friends used to play Charades all the time as kids. And Natalie herself was usually quite good at it. From what it looks like, Yeyinde was pointing to something on his forearm. Or...something that used to be on it. Something possibly with buttons.
She nodded, "Ok, something on your arm with buttons. And?"
Natalie made sure to mimic his gestures as she spoke, in hopes that he picked up that she understood.
He then made a move to make it look like he was pulling something from the imaginary thing on his forearm. Then pretended to hold it up to her.
She noted that Yeyinde held out his thumb and pointer finger and had them spread about two inches apart. Whatever it was, he was indicating it was small. Something that came from this imaginary thing on his wrist.
"Something, little?" She said as she imitated him by placing her own thumb and pointer finger a small distance apart.
He then put both his hands together and made a somewhat small rectangle shape when he connected both his thumbs and pointer fingers together.
"Ok, something little, and rectangular." She said, making a rectangle with her fingers.
At this point, Yeyinde was unsure if she fully understood or not.
He wracked his mind trying to think of a word. He has been on Earth now for a while. And in the beginning, while out on his hunt, he heard many ooman conversations in passing. And heard many words.
There were plenty that got filtered out through his mask that was all interconnected to the translator in his wrist comp.
He so badly was trying to think of the ooman word for translator. The young hunter knows he heard it somewhere. He recalls hearing one of the oomans he was hunting say it.
Yeyinde then remembered, it was on his third bout of hunting here. There were times he had taken to recording certain ooman words or sayings. And sometimes he played some of these sayings or phrases back to his intended prey in a means to taunt them.
They weren't played at random either for the hell of it. His translator scrambled the words into his language, so he knew what the oomans had said.
During a hunt...
Yeyinde slowly moved in on the two male oomans who were shooting their pistols at him. They still couldn't exactly see him because he was still cloaked. So, all they saw was a warped outline of a large being coming towards them.
"What the fuck is this thing!?" One of them blurted out, as he continued to shoot at it.
His friend didn't know how to reply, he just kept shooting.
Most of the bullets bounced off Yeyinde's armor. And the scent of the ooman males' fear started to grow stronger. It increased even more when he unsheathed his wrist blades and let out a few clicks.
"What the hell!? This thing some kind of fucking robot or something!?" The second man blurted.
The young hunter snorted at that remark. And then decided to play a jumble of words that came together to form a sentence in their language.
"Time to die, assholes." The translator dished out.
They both had a look of alarm on their faces as they heard the ominous computerized words.
"The hell was that!? Some kind of weird translator or some shit!?" He stated.
It was not long after that, Yeyinde quickly dispatched the two men.
Then it hit him.
'Translator! That's it!' He remembered.
He put his arms down and stared at Natalie. He hopes he can pronounce it right.
"Tra'ans'layy'tor." He rumbled.
The young woman furrowed her brows. He was trying to communicate something to her. But she was unsure if it was another word in his language or not. But it did sound similar to a human word.
Seeing her sit there in silence, he tried again.
"Tra'ans'lay'tor." Yeyinde said again, trying to say it right this time.
Her eyes slowly widened. Natalie is almost certain of what she heard him say that time.
"Translator? Is that what you just said?" She inquired.
He nodded, recognizing the word coming from her.
"Sei-i, trans'lator." The young hunter repeated a third time.
This time, it was perfectly clear what he was telling her.
He had a translator. It must've been on something that was on his wrist. And the assholes here must have it somewhere.
"Is translator here?" She asks and points down at the floor.
Yeyinde heard her say translator again and point at the floor. It took a moment for him to figure out what she meant. The only thing coming up, is that she was implying if the translator was here.
He shook his head then gestured over to the door.
Natalie followed his gaze to the door. So, it was out there somewhere. She then heard a grumbling sound coming from him and turned her attention to the large yautja sitting beside her.
"Nat'alie." He said her name while pointing at her then pointed to the door.
Ok, he was pointing back and forth to her and the door. There weren't really many guesses as to what he was trying to say there. Especially, after he repeated it two more times.
"You, want me to get translator?" She pointed to herself then the door as she said it.
He nodded, hoping she got what he was asking of her.
"I get translator?" She slowly inquired.
"Nat'alie, g'et trans'lator." He repeated, hoping he worded that small three-word sentence right.
"How? I haven't left my cell at all since I've been here. The only time I know of is when they put me in here with you." She said.
Yeyinde huffed, he needed that damned translator badly. He barely understood a word she just said. While he did listen to many oomans speak while hunting, he was still more focused on the hunt then their bazaar words.
She sighed, as she sat there and thought about it. Then she looked up and around the cell. That's when she noticed a camera up in the upper right corner of the room near the door. It was similar to the one she had in her cell.
'If they been watching this whole time, then they know we were communicating. I don't know if these cameras pick up sound. But if they don't, then they may just drag me out of here one of these days and question e about what Yeyinde has been saying to me.' She deduced.
Hopefully, that's the case. What were the odds that these cameras didn't pick up them speaking? Surely a place like this, the cameras must pick up sound, right?
Still, she had to hang onto some hope that they couldn't hear them.
Natalie shifted her gaze back to Yeyinde, and nodded.
"Ok." She said.
As soon as she said that she saw him pull in his lower mandibles and flare out his two top ones again. The young woman was certain now, that was his kinds' equivalent to smiling.
And Natalie couldn't help but smile back.
Meanwhile in the Control Room down the hall...
"It's quite clear, they are definitely communicating with each other or at least attempting to. I want to give them a little more time. Then I'd like to haul her out and question her on what he's been saying to her." Lt. Pearson stated.
"Is there possibly a chance he knew our language all along?" Hicks inquired.
"With all the charades they have been playing in there for the last day and a half. I doubt it." Lt. Pearson said, with a shake of his head.
"But we have an idea of what most of his weapons do. So, what else could you possibly want to know from him?" Hicks asked.
Their scientists have been studying his weapons day and night. And were able to figure out how a good portion of them worked.
"Not all of them though. We're still a little unsure how the projectile weapons he had works. And there is still so much we can learn from this creature.
I've talked to some other higher ups about him and sent photos of the creature while he was sedated and asked if they have come across a being like this before.
And I was surprised to hear, that they have, a few times. The latest being only about six years ago in 2018. There was one military and science division called Stargazer. They had one of the creatures in theis possession.
Though they didn't have it long before it got loose in the lab, killed several scientists and soldiers, before it fled from the facility. That's why here, we're not taking any chances with him when he's out of the cell and it's why we keep him under heavy sedation and give him muscle relaxants so he can hardly move." Lt. Pearson explained.
"So, when are you looking to pull Miss. Ricci out of that cell to talk to her then?" Hicks asked.
"Soon, let's give it a few more days. Then we'll gas the room again and take her out while he's knocked out. We'll rouse her and start questioning her then." Lt. Pearson replied.
The men continued to watch the screen, as Natalie and Yeyinde continued trying to converse with one another.
Until Next Time ;)