I push him ahead of me down the tunnel to the lab. He skitters around within his ball. He tends to shift around when he’s looking at something new. I think it helps him get a better “view” of things with his sonar. Kind of like a dog tilting its head to get more information about a sound.

“This is my lab,” I say. “All the science happens here.”

“Good good good room!” he squeals. His voice is a full octave higher than normal. “Want to understand all!”

“I’ll answer any questions you have,” I say.

“Later. More rooms!”

“More rooms!” I say dramatically.

I push him along into the dormitory. I give us a very slow velocity so he can take it all in from the center of the room. “I sleep here. Well, I used to. Then you made me sleep in the tunnel.”

“You sleep alone, question?”

“Yes.”

“I also sleep alone many times. Sad sad sad.”

He just doesn’t get it. A fear of sleeping alone is probably hardwired in his brain. Interesting… that might have been the beginning of their pack instinct. And a pack instinct is required for a species to become intelligent. That weird (to me) sleep pattern could be the reason I’m talking to Rocky right now!

Yeah, that was unscientific. There are probably a thousand things that led to them being sapient and stuff. The sleep thing is likely just one part of it. But hey, I’m a scientist. I have to come up with theories!

I open a panel to the storage area and push his ball partially inside. “This is a small room for storage.”

“Understand.”

I pull him back out. “That’s all the rooms. My ship is much smaller than yours.”

“You ship has much science!” he says. “Show me things in science room, question?”

“Sure.”

I take him back up to the lab. He shifts around in the ball, taking it all in. I float us to the center of the room and grab the edge of the table.

I push the ball against the lab table. I think it’s steel, but I’m not sure. Most lab tables are. Let’s find out.

“Use your magnets,” I say.

He pushes one of his magnets against the pentagon face touching the table. With a clunk the magnet takes hold. He’s now anchored in place.

“Good!” he says. He uses his magnets on one face after another to roll across the table and back. It’s not graceful, but it gets the job done. At least I don’t have to hold him in place.

I nudge away from the table and float to the edge of the room. “There’s a lot here. What do you want to know about first?”