All this started with a SciFi challenge and was meant to be only 1000 long story. "Was meant" is well said hehe, I feel I've opened a door that I can't shut close anymore. Can't seem to stop writing, it's a bit scary in fact, but an exciting experience nonetheless.

   As English is not my main language, learned in games, I always complain my vocabulary and grammar are bad and make me feel limited in expressing what I want to say. I'm grateful for your effort in reading it. :p

   Thank you very much for any kind of critique and are more than welcome as they will help me see my mistakes. Hope you guys will have a nice ride along Andra and Do An, if you so choose to ;)

   Wish you a great day. Zuzi

                                                           Chapter 2

   As he came close and grabbed my hand for a human-style shake the space around me started getting less white and forms took shape. We were in the middle of a room, on a raised platform on top of which I was still floating.

   On the room sides, all kinds of machines were beeping a quiet symphony, nothing to scare me, just technology that was making different sounds and lights, with screens full of data in a language I did not understand.

   My attention concentrated on the room around me, I was not aware a soft tug was leading me down, when my feet touched the floor I would have fallen on my knee if not for the support Du An hand was giving me.

   Then I realized "Sorry, I forgot to let go of your hand Du An " I said, taking back my hand as fast as I could and feeling my ears blazing hot from embarrassment.

   "No problem Andra, I knew you might fall when touching the floor. You have floated for some time, your vestibular center is a little off-track, are you feeling well now?"

   "Yes, thank you," I say, shifting my weight from one leg to another on the platform to check my legs.

   "Andra" he calls me and I see him going towards a chair on my left "You have to get a health check so we can connect the device, come sit down"

   I look at the chair and my pulse speeds, a dry laugh escapes my lips. Ah this looks so much like a dentist chair, only more modern, more lights on top and strange devices on its left and back "Hope it doesn't hurt too much" I whisper.

   A flash of experiencing agonizing pain when I was young makes my skin crawl, a stupid dentist started working on a bad tooth and by the time he got to extracting the nerve out, the anesthesia was over. Dentists are one of my biggest horrors since then.

   I sit down as he goes ahead and connects wires with little suction cups on both my wrists and ankles, one close to my belly button tickling me a bit, then on both sides of my neck under my ears, and finally on my temples.

   Feeling like a damn Pinocchio with string from above, I take a few short breaths and get ready for what is to come. It did look like an EKG so far, but could not calm down expecting pain.

   He moved to a big screen next to the chair and pressed a few buttons, text filling the screen, "Now relax and try not to move too much," he looks at the data for maybe one minute and then says "your pulse is too fast and you take only shallow breaths, there is no need to be scared. I promise those little suction cups will not bite you."

   All the air I was keeping inside me went all out with a laugh, funny alien, who would have thought. After that, I relaxed. Some of the lights on top of the chair start changing colors from white to yellow, from red to blue, and sounds fill the room from different devices and machines. I see, so this is the alien variant of a disco, fancy.

   Waiting for the test to be done I started checking out my alien friend Du An. He was close enough to see most details and I had time.

   His buff body looks human if you forget about being way taller than an average human, around 8 feet maybe. His muscles look very well defined all over the body.

   Ears were more like a bump, straight nose, mouth with lips a shade lighter than the black of the skin, and corners pointing downwards as if he was sad. Sharp jaws and strong chin. Only the eyes were a bit bigger than ours, black with iris in a milky shade of gray and no pupil. And not a damn strand of hair.

   I start counting other similarities: 5 fingers, 5 toes, nipples, a bulge down there ...... "Du An can I ask you something?"

   "Go on."

   "Are you naked or is that a suit?" the next second a chuckle escapes from his lips. "This is my skin, we, of the Vurat race, do not cover our bodies except when we wear a spacesuit. Does this bother you? He asks

   "No, no, I was just curious. Thanks for answering," then I start questioning how does Vurats reproduce with only a bulge down there? Ah, Andra, what the fuck are you thinking about I ask myself??

   Trying to take my mind off that embarrassing subject I ask "How many of you are on this ship? Is it only Vurats or are there other races?"

   "Few hundred, there are 23 races present on the ship at this moment. We, the Vurats, are the most numerous. Our home is the closest to earth, so we get on this ship often for research. A trip from our home to Earth and back, non-stop flight, takes about 10 days."

   "Besides us, Andalians look very similar to humans and will be easy to recognize, the rest have humanoid build but you will learn in time with the device. Try to not get too close to Andalians, they are in the alliance and have the biggest grudge towards your race as they had a colony on the planet the humans destroyed."

   "I will try," I say in a sad voice.

   "They will not hurt you but I can't promise they will be polite, so try to bear with it if they behave rudely. In time they warm up if they see the human has a healthy and peaceful mentality, it happened many times."

   "Also all done, your liver is not in top condition, you are low on iron, magnesium, and vitamin D and your hormones are all over the place"

   "Thank you, sounds healthy to me," I say

   "You call that healthy? Hump, the medical lab will prepare a pill daily to regulate all the issues, you will get it with the third meal."

   "Come, " he calls.

   I follow after him as we enter a hall with 5 doors, he tells me the ones on the sides of the hall are my rooms, a sleeping room, a feeding room, both on the right side of the hall and on the left, I can find my study and washing room.

   "The washing room is designed similar to earth style, go make a shower then put the black suit that you find in there, we can go eat after while we wait for the device to be calibrated to your parameters."