“Yes, but now that I think of it, it didn’t hurt a bit.”

“She’s right.” Bulco nodded. “Didn’t feel a thing.”

The creature, Alzigo, rose to his feet and looked at the two students expectantly.

Lana swallowed hard. “Alright, just … just be gentle, please.” She felt a little ridiculous telling a huge, nightmarish-looking alien to be gentle with her, but she couldn’t help it.

To her surprise, the creature nodded and approached her slowly. He reached a hand toward her neck and the tube extended out of it. Lana gritted her teeth, expecting pain, but to her surprise, all she felt was a slight pressure against her skin.

Suddenly she felt woozy and her vision swam. She dropped heavily to the floor and struggled to maintain consciousness as unknown signs and symbols sped across her view.

She was vaguely aware of Nathan dropping to the floor next to her.

After several moments, the dizziness passed, and Lana had to squint to reorient herself.

Nori offered her hand, helping her up. “That was interesting,” she said. “I took a close look at the process. As soon as his needle reached your neck, a small hole opened on its own and the needle just slid inside.

Lana felt a shiver run through her. “My neck did what?”

More clicking sounds followed, and to Lana’s surprise, she could clearly make out the creature’s intended words.

“That is a standard connection port, Miss. Every Infused race has them, though not everyone has them on their neck. My brother once told me of a race of sentient blobs. He had quite an experience trying to find their ports. Though, my brother does tend to over-dramatize his stories.”

Lana blinked in astonishment. The creature’s urbane speech was so different from its feral appearance, it was distracting. “I’m ... err … I’m sure it was … err… interesting,” she said awkwardly. “So … you injected us with something that translates your language?”

He nodded. “A basic language pack. Not as efficient as a full translation implant, but it will do for now.”

She frowned. “Wait, then how come your message was in English?”

“It wasn’t. Every ship’s standard communication module is capable of multi-language translation.”

“Handy.”

He nodded. “Quite.”

“Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and this place?” Nori said. “As I already said, it's our first time meeting an alien.”

“Of course,” he replied. “However, the shuttle bay is hardly the place to conduct a proper introduction. Follow me, I’ll show you to the main deck.” He took a step toward the darkness.

Nori hesitated and exchanged a look with Bulco. The large man pressed his lips tightly, and his eyes narrowed in suspicion, trying to penetrate the oppressive darkness.