A/N: Time is measured in "clicks" where one click = one second.
Therefore…
Hectoclick = 100 seconds
Kiloclick = 16 minutes, 40 seconds
Megaclick = 11.6 days
Gigaclick = 31.7 years
Teraclick = 31,700 years
H'zashi knew that his luck was running out. He had been too lucky recently, or well, for his whole life he had been pretty lucky. He had a good upbringing with competent, caring parents, met A'zawa (and that was lucky, even when everyone told him that it wasn't and that their species could never work out as a long-term pair), and found a good job with the Universe Alliance as a rescue agent. H'zashi was hoping that his inability to lay eggs was going to be enough "unluckiness" to last him for his whole life, but with how happy he had been with everything else, he knew that would be too good to be true, too much to ask for.
He had warned A'zawa that something unlucky would be coming, and with how interwoven their lives were, he would probably be roped into it as well. It's not that A'zawa didn't believe him, he didn't think, it's just that A'zawa didn't quite understand to what level the unlucky thing had to be to even out how damn lucky H'zashi had been so far in his life.
Like, maybe it would be getting bad food during a grocery run a few times in a row, or having the same part on their spaceship fail three times within the space of a megaclick, or something. But H'zashi knew that it would be bigger than that. Much bigger. But this big? He didn't suspect this.
Being falsely detained on a prison planet?
Yeah, H'zashi thinks that this should pretty much set him up for the rest of his life, no matter if he lives a whole teraclick after he gets out of here, and even if he's lucky enough to live that teraclick with A'zawa still by his side. And he would still have some extra luck left, if H'zashi had anything to say about it.
Especially because the crime they were being falsely accused of was falsifying research records.
First of all, that did not warrant this level of punishment, even if it were true. (Okay, maybe H'zashi would have argued otherwise, being the research-minded aldoi that he is, if it were someone else in his place and he believed them to be guilty. So, he's a hypocrite. There are worse things to be.) Second of all, their accusers did not present the United Alliance with any proof, which is probably because there is no proof to be had, which is the bigger issue in H'zashi's mind. How can they say there are falsified records with no records to present?
They are most likely just going to hold them for the allotted five megaclicks that they are allowed to hold them for without having any evidence before releasing them. For what reason, H'zashi is still trying to figure it out. A'zawa still hadn't let him in on any leads yet either if he had come up with any ideas of his own.
Anyway, they were almost one megaclick in, and the facility was clean and a proper research facility, so the cells were regulation size, and meals were high quality and specified by their species instead of one-meal-fits-all bland sludge. It could have been worse, but H'zashi and A'zawa had important work to do that they could not do while they were locked up there, waiting for their stupid five megaclicks hold for the opposing counsel to "gather more evidence" that doesn't even exist to be over and done with.
Maybe the universe should owe him two teraclicks worth of a lucky life to live alongside his lover, H'zashi thought with trepidation, when he recognized the species of the new prisoners being brought down the corridor. One was unconscious and being carried by two dolluns, an alien species that resembles a pill bug on Terra, and they were obviously struggling under the weight. The other was conscious and struggling, being escorted by two scraks, tall insectoid aliens with long stick-like limbs that were stronger than they looked, but even so, these scraks wore armor reinforcements on their limbs for the escort of this new prisoner.
Both were still dripping wet, obviously having just been cleansed by Kulphea's cleansing liquids, developed right here on the planet and continuously used after being perfected. At least whoever they were placed with would not have to worry about catching any viruses or microorganisms, the cleansing liquids having taken care of all of that. Still, H'zashi prayed to all the gods he didn't believe in that they went far past his and A'zawa's cells.
H'zashi wondered how much unluck he really had to catch up on when his prayers went unanswered, and the guards stopped with the Terrans in front of his and A'zawa's cells. He counted his lucky stars, however many he might have left, when the blue-furred Terran placed with A'zawa immediately turned away from A'zawa, but almost had a hearts attack (probably with all three of his hearts, H'zashi would guess) when the Terran threw himself against the electrified bars of the cell, his anger directed toward H'zashi's cell. Or, well, probably directed toward the other Terran, the green-furred one, that was placed in H'zashi's cell, based on where the blue-furred Terran was looking and gesturing.
Surely the only thing worse than an angered Terran would be an angry and injured Terran, right? But, horrifyingly, the blue-furred Terran just stayed there against the bars, unaffected, as he yelled in his own language at the unconscious Terran placed in the cell with H'zashi, who then sat up straight, suddenly awake, eyes quickly finding his counterpart across the corridor and responding in kind.
Instead of being relieved that the green-furred Terran was awake and alive, the blue-furred Terran just seemed to become more agitated. H'zashi was grateful that everyone in the hall, even those completely out of reach of the Terrans, were silent and still as they watched the interaction play out.
Too soon, the Terran's green eyes were on A'zawa, and then on H'zashi. They'd been noticed! But then the Terran's eyes and conversation went back to the other Terran, and H'zashi was confused.
H'zashi knew his and his partner's new roles here on the prison planet, Kulphea, for the rest of their holding time. Of course he did. They were promoted in the worst way possible. Where they once were spares for any low-level experiments that might have occurred, they now were center stage as social companions, if they survived, for the two new Terran inhabitants. If they made a mistake, made the Terrans angry enough to lash out against them, or just if the Terrans decided they looked more delicious than the food offered one day, then they would be written off, the results well-documented, and that would be that. They would be replaced.
It wasn't fair. They weren't guilty. They didn't have any sentences handed down. They were just there for holding for their five megaclicks until they were to be released, unharmed, and were able to go back to their jobs as rescue agents. Somehow, H'zashi knew that bringing these facts to the guards' and scientists' attention and complaining would not bring favorable resolution.
H'zashi and A'zawa were either the best or the worst on Kulphea for this role because they were more intimately familiar with Terra and its inhabitants than most. He wondered vaguely if the scientists knew their specific backgrounds or if it was just coincidence.
During downtime from their rescues, when there were more rescue agents than creatures who needed rescuing, part of their jobs were to research and learn more. H'zashi and A'zawa were assigned to Terra, to observe from a distance a planet whose First Contact had not yet been assigned, and based on what was found during research, might not be assigned for a very long time, if ever at all.
What they found at first was astounding– a miracle, really. A seemingly sentient and sapient species on a level 12 deathworld? No deathworld species had evolved so far that they had found in the universe thus far. That would be a first!
The more they watched, the more they flinched away from the screens, not wanting to learn more but also unable to tear their eyes away. The natural disasters were one thing–the way parts of the planet would seemingly shake itself apart, the tunnels of air or water that would demolish everything that the Terrans had built, the way that the water levels would rise, taking out everything in its path with it. Surely with all of the adversity coming from their own planet they inhabited, the Terrans would band together and be indivisible as a unit, H'zashi and A'zawa had predicted.
Oh, how wrong they were.
How Terrans treat one another on an individual basis could be absolutely horrific, let alone on the wider scales. Where was the altruism? When H'zashi excitedly seemed to have found it, calling A'zawa over to show him a priest who had raised money for a good cause, A'zawa would come over just in time to watch the priest embezzle the funds for himself.
Then the wars happened. It was so bad that surely the humans learned their lesson. Then another war happened. Surely that time–no. Another war. When would the Terrans learn that there was no good in all that death and destruction?
There was good, sure. But the little girl sharing her dolls with a less privileged girl expecting nothing in return paled in comparison to the bombs going off in the foreground. The governments setting up meager welfare programs while funding large militia and then spying on the whole of their citizens was nothing that could be overlooked. The few rich Terrans sitting fat and happy while the millions starved just outside their doorstep was despicable.
Then, to make matters worse, some Terrans started to develop extra abilities. H'zashi was hopeful that this would make things better, but A'zawa was more skeptical. Yes, at first, those with extra abilities were sought out to better their societies, but soon more of the population were being born with these abilities. Those that were doing good with their abilities were doing it more so for fame and fortune, not just out of the goodness of their hearts, which might have been able to be discounted if not for those using their abilities to actively hurt other Terrans.
Overall, they were deemed not ready for First Contact. They were not close to getting to light-year travel by themselves, and it was voted that they were not deemed worthy of help getting to that point. Not only were they not worthy, but they'd be a holy terror on the universe, upending it as they knew it, turning everything on its head as they plowed their way through it, making their own path without regard for who they hurt during their journey.
So what the hell were two Terrans doing here on Kulphea?
With the way the blue-furred Terran in A'zawa's cell was yelling and screaming and throwing himself against the bars despite the electricity, H'zashi doubted that he was the sharing dolls type of Terran.
H'zashi almost squawked in fear for A'zawa when the blue-furred Terran, seemingly giving up on yelling at his companion, turned 180 degrees and planted himself on the floor, staring at the wall with his arms crossed in front of him. H'zashi probably was not supposed to stare–it was considered rude in most cultures on Terra–but he was seeing an example of pouting in real life! He couldn't help it! This was a researcher's dream come true!
Well, if the researcher and his life partner were not trapped with the Terrans… then, it would be a researcher's dream come true. But H'zashi couldn't afford to be picky on Kulphea, so he would take what he could get.
The green-furred Terran continued to speak to the blue-furred Terran and stepped toward the bars, seemingly tentatively. H'zashi almost drew attention to himself by trying to warn the Terran not to touch the bars, but stopped himself, figuring that if one Terran was immune to the electricity, the other might be, too.
The green-furred Terran was much more cautious about the electrified bars than the blue-furred Terran was, reaching out tentatively to touch the bars quickly before drawing away. Once the green-furred Terran determined that it was safe enough, he fully grabbed the bars, and continued speaking to the blue-furred Terran, who remained seated but did twist in a way that looked like it would be uncomfortable to view the green-furred Terran as he spoke.
After more words were exchanged, much more calmly, each Terran then turned their attention to their cellmates. To H'zashi and A'zawa respectively.
H'zashi almost missed when the blue-furred Terran was yelling. It sure beat having the green-furred Terran's attention on him, he thought, as he tried to calm his three wildly beating hearts.
A/N: There was quite a bit of information in this chapter, and NO dialogue, so I know it was pretty heavy! Please let me know if you have any questions or anything that I can clarify for you!