The hull is silent today. 
The sun still gleams on the shattered husk of a proud ship.  The planet 
edged ever closer across the empty sky.

One being sat alone in the center of her immobile home as she had done 
for quite some time. Her mandibles stir, flexing them from their still 
position. Her eyes scan the room. A hopeless gesture, she knew. Every 
day was like the last, and no sooner would she find a solution in a 
corpse. Still, a spark, a drive lingered in her.

She stood up, moving her plates about and looked to the empty sky again.
 It would have been at least somewhat fortunate to land on the planet, 
she thought. Then the stars would move. Then again, if she were 
planetside, she wouldn’t have to worry about staring at the stars at 
all. Would that be better? To fear the elements for the sake of a change
 of scenery?

The woman stared for a moment longer. Perhaps not. There was safety in 
boredom. She turned her head away back to the reality of her situation, 
walking over to the few functional sensor stations still outputting a 
stream of data. Null data.  She ran a finger down its side, tracing the 
dents in it. A will of fate that it still worked, or maybe she wasn’t as
 forceful with this one.

If there were anything to see, the machine would pick it up and spit it 
right back at her with absurd speed. She picked up the half eaten ration
 and delicately picked at it with her mandibles, moving every little 
chunk from mouth part to mouth part until settling it in her stomach.

Would a prayer work? A pathway down a tunnel of fate rarely had its path
 split. If possible she would hammer right through it. Damn what fate 
had in mind. If fate were kind, this part of space would be free of 
spilled guts and mechanical carnage. Her horns flexed. Damn fate. She 
raised a fist before gently lowering it again.

And yet…

The screen buzzed. An array of colors flashed quickly, swirling into a 
coherent message.

Something was there. 

And it was approaching fast.

The woman took a moment to steady herself. Her body inadvertently 
flexed, preparing itself for action. Horns peaking. Mouth tightening. 
Now was not the time to act so rashly. She took a moment to feel the air
 coursing through her.

It was a ship. Based on its exhaust, it was likely human. Small. 
Slowing. Slowing. Stop.

Her eyes looked to the viewport. In-between the shrapnel of the past she
 could make out a shape. That blocky human physique to their industrial 
creations. It hovered there silently, lights off. There was a good 
chance whoever this was wasn’t supposed to be here. She stared at it, 
looking for the slightest hint of motion from the beast.

The monitor blinked again, swirling its messages. One human was 
departing. Only one? She stood up, seeing a faint orange figure dip out 
of the ship and gently careen toward the remains of her still hell. No 
doubt, humans would enjoy picking apart anything alien. Profit was on 
its mind. Research was another guess, but this was no team. She 
approached the window. No, this was no expert of careful scientific 
research. This was a rogue element picking the bones of the dead.

Its ship was clearly functional, yet just out of reach. Her body 
wouldn’t withstand the rigors to get inside, and even then, it was no 
guarantee she’d be able to accurately pilot it. The guts, however, the 
working inner machinations, those could potentially be pulled free. And 
how would she do that? Sway the creature out there?

She watched as it danced, or perhaps wrestled through the wreckage, 
pushing scrap away with wild abandon. It had some sort of magnetic 
locking system on its boots, allowing it to move slightly more expertly.
 The creature landed on a larger section of hull and began cutting into 
it. Her horns flared. No!

There was a flash of white. The human was flung away. Their ship was hit
 by a stray chunk of gnarled metal, pushing it back and annihilating its
 cockpit. Her own ship slightly jittered but was no worse for wear than 
it was before.

The woman could only watch in unease as the human steadied itself. A bit
 of metal had torn into its arm but it was managing to hold itself 
steady. Now it was headed for her pocket of life. She immediately ran 
over to her one gun and prepared herself near the airlock door.

Seconds, then minutes. A faint thumping. A crack. The door whirred to 
life and another set of thumps, then a loud bang. The inner door clicked
 and hissed, revealing a limp body. Its lungs heaved uneasily. A streak 
of red ran down its side. It was going to die without any help. 

And it could give help in turn.
_

A live specimen wasn’t something she had ever expected in her wildest 
dreams. Yet it produced no spark as it might have done in the past. Now 
it, or he, rather, inspired no joy save for the path to freedom. Black 
hair extruded from his scalp and finer ones down his chin. All over was a
 layer of soft flesh that paired awkwardly with the skeleton that lied 
underneath. His chest still heaved, drawing in air one slow gulp at a 
time.

The patchwork of its arm would have to do. Fortunately, between what 
supplies she could scrape together and the gauze in his pack, she could 
pull out that hunk of metal and repair his arm. It still oozed a 
sickening crimson but he was certainly not going to die at this point.

The woman figured she should probably check the situation outside for 
any potential intruders, but she was focused on him. This curiosity 
among the stars. Her vision soaked up every part of him, indulging in 
confirming the knowledge she had. She reached out, prodding fresh skin 
with her fingers. So oddly pliable and vulnerable. 

The human male’s eyelids snapped open and his eyes wandered around his 
new environment until landing on the woman. They widened all the more. 
He was uneasy. Her horns flared. The man panicked, scrambling away from 
her, only to slam into the wall next to his makeshift bunk and further 
damaging his injured arm.

“Stop,” she said. “Stop.” Her hand held his other shoulder, gently 
pressing him into the bed. “You are injured.” Due to incompetence. “Do 
not move. Stop.”

“Yeah, I can see that!” He hissed, holding his shoulder. “Cool trick. 
What was that? Explosives? Setting scrap to explode is a lot scummier 
than I expected from a bug!”

She stared at him for a moment, willing up those words in her head. 
Explosives? As if! She let the air run through her.

“You were injured by reactive defenses. Your dismantling. It triggered 
the reaction.”

His eyes flicked away before focusing on her. “Yeah? I should trust 
you?”

“Your arm. Mended together. I performed that. I could have ripped that 
supple flesh and left you to expire. I did not.” She pulled her hand 
away from his shoulder.

“So, what, you want a thanks? Thank you. Now what? You eat me?”

I doubt you taste even the remotest bit well, she shot back silently. 
“No. Set aside your prejudice.” It was hard forming that word, but she 
managed. “I require your help.”

“So that makes two of us.” The man rubbed his shoulder. “I don’t know 
what you want from me, but you’re kind of up shit creek right now.”

She paused, trying to imagine his words. Sewage? “Your ship. I need to 
repurpose its organs for my own.”

“You’re going to fucking strip my ship?!”

“Its cockpit was destroyed. Your choice is this vessel or none at all.”

“You destroyed my–”

“I destroyed nothing. Your insanity is your own undoing.” Calm. Before 
someone gets hurt. “Remain still.”

“Or what?”

“Or you might expire.” The woman picked up his bag and set it down next 
to his leg. “Your foodstuffs are untouched.”

“Are there more of you? You convene with the hive and agreed?”

“I am the only one. You are more than fortunate.” She leaned down, 
raising her horns. “And I must ask, are there more of you?”

He turned his head and frowned, unfettered by her threat display. “I’m a
 one-man team.”

“You are certain no one will arrive? Seeking you?”

“How about you? Anyone looking out for you?”

“Your repeated questions are only stressing you further. Your condition 
may worsen.” Maybe she should have just let him rot. “I would not be 
here if there were a search party.”

“Maybe you’re here for a reason.”

She rattled, slinging out an insult in her tongue and slamming her fist 
into the side of the bedframe. “Remain still or suffer! Your choice.” 

The man had no insufferable response, only staring back and easing into 
his bed. Easy, easy. No need to dig into his skull. Freedom was at its 
cusp. She relaxed and stood back up, returning to her sensor station. No
 answers from him, but she could at least gleam some information from 
this thing. Not that she’d have much recourse against a group of humans.
 Hostage? Some of her eyes focused on him. Unlikely they’d even care to 
take him back.
_

The two stayed in their positions, uneasily eyeing one another. Likely 
he couldn’t tell she was looking at him. He, on the other hand, was 
glaringly obvious when his large orbs would swivel about and stare at 
her with their blackened pits. He remained in his bed, only moving to 
either poorly gawk or to make himself comfortable.

Every so often he would test his wound, prodding at it and wincing. 
Despite his frail human form, he was still pushing the rigors of his 
body. She could only hope that her amount of research helped to keep the
 sack of flesh from dying. It was hard to tell his condition with his 
absurd reactions. A shard of metal tearing through him wasn’t enough to 
weather his spirit. With fate’s hand, that might apply to his ship too.

The human’s ship remained in position. Its engine had kept it mostly 
steady during the explosion. From what her own ship could gather, it was
 still running normally and could be cleanly picked for retrofitting. It
 was coming together. She turned her attention to his spacesuit which 
sat nearby, the next key for her escape plan.

Naturally, the suit had one large gash in its side. She could probably 
make some rudimentary repairs and hoped it held. He would have to do the
 same. There would have to be some way for them to communicate to 
dictate which parts required removal and how. If he was dumb enough to 
trigger an armor reaction, he likely didn’t have any intelligence to 
spare for his own ship.

“Hey, devil, over here,” he said.

Joy, more annoyance. She complied and moved over to him.

“Why did you really keep me alive?” he asked.

“You suspect I was untruthful?” she replied.

“No shit. How are you supposed to fix your ship with mine? If you’re 
going to kill me, tell me, I’d rather think about my life before you 
do.”

“Are you not someone who harvests scrap?”

“Yeah, I thought that was obvious.”

“Then you should realize that your ship design is based off of ours. 
Poorly.”

He paused and furrowed his brow. As petty as it was, it was nice to call
 him an idiot on simple terms, and further insult his species by calling
 them thieves.

“Whatever. Nice job on finding my knife, by the way.” He plopped his 
head back onto his pillow and sighed.

“Any more questions?”

“You got a name? I need to know what to swear at.”

Her jaws tightened. “No.” She retreated back to her station and returned
 to making sure this simple plan would actually work. With every word 
that jabbered out of his mouth, she was beginning to feel less and less 
like this would actually work and more that he would end up with a torn 
trachea. Everything seemed to be in place, otherwise. 

She picked up his knife, which she had stowed away nearby. Away from 
him. It was a simple thing. Elegant, though. There was something to be 
admired in their insistence on tradition. Along the wooden handle of the
 blade read “Joshua.” A funny thing, pronouncing those J letters. She 
mumbled it, flexing her mouth parts in odd ways, “Joshua.” That was his 
name, then? Vain to place a name on an object like that. She set it 
down. Unlikely that he could pierce her body with that, but he seemed 
brash enough to try.

Time trickled by. The woman grew tired and weary. No sign of incoming 
ships from either side of the vastness of space, yet that could change 
at any moment. Or they could have already piled on the far side of the 
planet. His own ship refused any sort of attempts to gain access to 
internal workings. No doubt in the time she had been adrift, humans had 
since fixed any holes to be exploited.

Frustrated, she stood up and walked over to her new asset.

“Yeah?” Joshua said. His stoic face had faltered somewhat. A hand 
massaged his wound, as ineffective as that was.

“Your ship. Do you have access to its database?”

“It’s not really my ship, so no.”

“Are you being deceptive?”

“Do you think I want you to kill me?”

“Perhaps waiting out time?”

“If I were that lucky.”

“We will need to cooperate to leave. You understand?”

“Yeah, I get it, cooperate. I’m kind of in a bad spot right now. 
Abducted by bugs, arm shot up, extreme pain. Come back to me later.”

“Later. After rest?”

“Yes.”

“So be it.”

She pulled up on the side of the cot, bringing up a metal door and 
closing it shut. There was a bang from the other side.

“Just my luck,” Joshua muttered.

“I cannot trust you to move about during rest. You cannot trust me to 
watch you. This is best, right?”

Another bang, and then a grunt.

That was for the best. The woman moved back to her seat and settled in. 
Her eyes stared at the container she sealed him in before slowly willing
 herself into a sleep. The image blurred and her thoughts faded into 
darkness.
_

There was a thump, and the woman instantly rose to attention, body at 
the ready. Then came another bang. It took a moment for her mind to 
catch up, slowly putting the pieces together. To the side lay her new 
captive assistant, her canned food, and his knife in his hand.

She hissed and snatched the sharp tool away from him.

“Trust is much harder than it seems,” she said, pressing her foot down 
on his uninjured arm.

“Christ, I thought you were asleep.”

His box had been pried open. A nearby hunk of metal, likely from his 
pack, confirmed that he was more resourceful than he had seemed.

“I would not kill you in your sleep. Could you not afford me the same?”

“I wasn’t going to kill you. I just wanted my damn knife back. And if 
I’m going to die, I’d rather my dead body still be holding it.” He 
gripped her leg. “Now get the hell off of me before you really regret 
it!”

There was the spark she had seen not long before. The injury must have 
been healing nicely. She pulled off of him and helped him up. Fully 
standing they were roughly the same height. Strange, he had seemed so 
diminutive in that bed of his. No doubt she still had the advantage.

She trained her head on him while her eyes went back and forth between 
the object and him. 

“This is yours, Joshua?”

His eyes widened briefly. “Yes, that’s mine.” He swiped at it, but was 
far too slow to grab it. “Look, I’ll do whatever you want, just give 
that back to me.”

As inefficient as the human eyes were, they were oddly expressive. There
 was a cute aspect to their large pits. In a way she had almost gathered
 he wasn’t lying from his eyes alone. Perhaps she was biased, but if he 
were being truthful, then so be it. Carefully, she handed it back over 
to him, palm open.

He stared at her for a moment, as if truly testing her response. Fair, 
given the circumstances. Eventually he grabbed it and folded it back up,
 hooking it into the band of his pants.

“Thank you,” Joshua replied. He hobbled back to his bed, picking up his 
bag, and tossing it on the bed. He plopped down not long after, staring 
at the ground. “So, just to get this straight, you need me to rip out 
some parts and put them in here? Then what?”

“Then we leave.”

“You want me to return to bug space? And then what, I’m a pet?”

“I would not return you to our space.” Her horns flared. “You would 
receive a distress device and would be left on a planet of your 
choosing. Simple.”

Joshua raised his head and looked out the front of the ship. “Simple,” 
he repeated. “Right. Let’s do it now, then.”

“Your suit needs to be repaired first. Then your body.” She pointed to 
his wound. “Unless you wish to be in paralyzing pain.” Wouldn’t be a 
surprise. They were gluttons for pain.

“You don’t have any escape pods on this thing?” he asked.

“We do not have fleeing craft.”

“Oh, ‘fleeing craft’ excuse me.” He blew air out his nose. Dismissively,
 she assumed. “Right, not much for the whole living thing.”

“Insults will only slow you down further.” All her eyes snapped to him.

“Insults have gotten me a long way. Let me have a little fun, I’m in 
pain, aren’t I?”

“It could be more.”

“Oh, is that a threat?”

She took a moment to relax herself.

“No.”

The two were at a silence. This might’ve constituted a moment of 
reflection for her species, but she was at least somewhat aware that 
this would be an emotional toil for him. Good.

“You know, staring, for my people anyways, really is a sign of a 
threat,” Joshua replied.

“I’m aware.”

“You seem to know a lot about us for such an innocent bug, you know 
that, right?”

“Innocence is not a factor in either of our existences,” she replied.

“I hope you’re not trying to compare me to you.”

“I would say…” She thought on the word. “Graverobbing is lacking in 
innocence.”

“Your guys would’ve picked it up anyways, right? Might as well go to a 
nice guy like me.”

“To fuel what?”

“I don’t see what it has to do with you. Other than I’d be home by now.”

“You would be dead.”

“Maybe that’d be better.” He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “How’d 
you learn English anyways? You’re a spy, right? I’m sure you’re already 
figuring out how best to exploit me.”

The insectoid woman grinded her mandibles together. The first human she 
could speak to and it was this.

“Receive your rest. Consider that you will rot here without me.”

“You think of the same. I’m not going back in the box, by the way.” He 
leaned back into his container and settled in. “You got my clothes, by 
the way? I’d like those back.”

She reached above the container and retrieved his clothing, tossing it 
onto the bed.

“Thanks.” He placed his uninjured arm over his eyes.

Perhaps she was a little hasty with her entrapment. Nonetheless, they 
were at a stalemate. She moved back to her seat and settled in. This 
would just have to do.
_

She awoke, slowly. Joshua was nearby, fiddling with a computer. Her 
plates flexed, stretching them.

“Your computers are nonsense,” he said.

“For good reason. Is there a reason for your tampering?”

“Tampering. That’s my job description. No, I was looking for a way to 
grab schematics. That’s what you wanted, right? The sooner we get out, 
the better. Though I don’t know what the hell any of this does.”

She stood up for another stretch, rolling her exoskeleton along with her
 joints, then hovered nearby to watch him work.

“Those are colors.”

“I can see that.” He turned to look at her. “Hell, you can probably see 
that.”

“You cannot see that.” She took a step forward. “Each color represents a
 general idea and is modified by the next by its shade. You cannot see 
most of them at all.”

“That sounds so stupidly complex I’m not even going to ask.”

“Have you decided to hand over access?”

“Do you think everything that comes out of my mouth is a lie?”

“It is not a misguided judgment.” Her head turned.

“I get it. Your guys want to kill me. My guys want to kill you. Didn’t 
you say we have to cooperate? Let’s cooperate and never talk about it 
again.”

“Do you have to paint your words with violence?”

“Let’s go over it.” One finger. “Nearly lost my arm.” Two fingers. “I’m 
with a bug who probably still wants to kill me.” Three fingers. “Stuck 
in space. Let me be angry, alright?” He mumbled something afterward 
about high and mighty. “Go fix my suit or something.”

The woman walked away, not wanting to prod him further and stood in 
front of his suit. That garish, orange thing that was an assault on her 
senses. She picked it up. All available suits for her kind were gone, 
frittered away on a suicidal assault. Not so keen on living. True. 
Commanding culture had squeezed life out of them. Her maw rubbed against
 itself. Yet it would not have been this way were it not for their war.

It was so strange seeing a human suit without the blemishes of soldier’s
 ranking. If they weren’t smart, they were certainly proud, and there 
had to be some admiration in that front. Though, without being in the 
military, was he proud? He certainly carried himself as such, she 
figured. Something told him that even if he were torn limb from limb, he
 would still carry himself smugly. 

Setting her thoughts aside, she moved to a nearby emergency tool cabinet
 and opened it. Sealant would help.

“You do know what you’re doing, right?” the man asked.

“I am not an engineer. I should know regardless,” she replied.

“You were a pilot, then?”

“No.”

“Ground soldier.”

“No.”

“Oh so you’re a scientist then.” He looked up and down her. Those large 
orbs were practically grinding up against her exoskeleton. “You don’t 
look like one.”

“In a limited understanding. I am a researcher. I am merely trained 
properly in all fields.”

“So you can kill me after all.”

“Untrained or not. Yes.” She pulled out the sealant and pinched the suit
 together. “Hold this together.”

“Why?”

“You portray yourself as strong. That does not extend to the vacuum of 
space. Another hand would help secure this.”

His mildly amused expression melted away and he nodded. He did as he was
 told. Not as precisely as she would have wanted, but it would do. The 
suit held and he withdrew his hand. The woman then pressed a small meter
 against it. A brilliant blue along the side of the device confirmed 
with her that it was properly sealed. No way to test it until the hour 
of reckoning but that was one less issue to worry about.

“And that’s going to keep my insides in?” Joshua asked.

“It will have to. Do you have another idea to reach your ship?”

“Not really, no. Fine. I guess I’ll give it a shot. I die in here or I 
die out there.” He shrugged. “Better view out there, I guess.” He tapped
 on the sealant, as if that would somehow test its mettle.

“You made it out. You will be able to make it in. Provided you do not 
trigger any more reactions.”

“Would you stop bringing that up? Do you think I like being reminded 
about it?” Joshua shook his head. “And would you stop talking like a 
text book? You’re getting seriously annoying.” He rubbed his neck.

Text book? Not entirely wrong. “Irrelevant. What tools did you bring 
with?” She riffled through the suit’s pockets, digging out what 
implements he had. They were clearly weathered, having nicks in their 
metal and covered in all sorts of grime. She briefly wondered how humans
 did anything without worrying about all the dirt permeating their thin 
outer layer of skin.

“Don’t touch those.” Joshua pulled the suit over to him. “Let me handle 
this part.”

“You know how to remove certain parts of the ship?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t be out here if I couldn’t pull shit out, right?” He huffed.

She decided against pointing out yet again that he was in pain for that 
very reason. Though it was unlikely his ship was similarly fitted to 
explode upon violent reaction. Instead, she moved to another console and
 consulted with it, noting which parts of her ship were damaged. The 
closest equivalents to his own ship should be easy enough to pry loose.

“Can you tell me what I’m looking at? I don’t read colors.”

“Unfortunate. Your colors read like an odd tapestry.”

Joshua frowned. The insectoid woman ran her fingers around the screen, 
causing the colors to ripple.

“The main space manipulation drive requires one of its spatial 
coordinators. A ‘pulsor’ as you would know it. A ‘pin-pointer.’ ”

“What do they look like?”

She tapped on the screen, producing renders of the devices. Trying to 
fit it to colors that he could better perceive was difficult, but she 
managed.

“I’ve seen those. I can get it done.”

“I will assist you.”

“You have a radio?”

“Similar.” She moved back to his cot and opened another container, 
pulling out two metallic ovals. “These.” Then she walked right back and 
held one up to Joshua, who reflexively pulled back.

“Easy with the claws.”

“I will demonstrate. Your anatomy is different. Human speech will work 
regardless.” She pressed the device to her throat, sticking it, and then
 handed the other to Joshua.

The man stared at it for a while, then pressed it into the side of his 
neck. Less discomfort, she supposed. She nodded and chittered something 
in her language. He winced and shook his head.

“Say something in English! I feel like I had a bug crawl into my body.”

“So be it.”

“That’s better.”

It was curious how his words rang through her. Human words rang deeper, 
vibrating through her body in an odd way. 

He pried the device off and set it down. “So you’re going to talk into 
my head like that? Better than nothing, I guess.”

“Now we wait on your physical form to mend itself.”

“And how long is that going to take?”

She took a few steps toward him. “Remain still.” Gently, she picked up 
his wounded arm and moved it. He winced and she set it back down. “In a 
few days, perhaps. Your muscles are healing.”

“A few days? Just my luck.”

“Would you prefer it be a month?” 

“You’ve been here for a month?”

“If I recall your dates correctly.”

“Yeah, well, shouldn’t have picked a fight with us.” He moved back to 
his bed and sat down.

“Picked a fight? We were here to study the atmospheric reactions of 
spatial warping.”

“OK, I get it.”

“Your soldiers saw it pertinent to attack.”

“I get it!”

“We fought back. Expertly. That is why I only remain!”

“Back up!”

In her responses, the woman had inadvertently walked toward him and was 
now towering over where he sat. 

“Do not place blame so poorly.” She settled her horns back down. The 
elevated breathing and heart rate. It was practically pounding out of 
him, almost threatening to shake him loose. A part of her wanted to make
 amends, but he deserved it.

With nothing better to do, she moved to staring out the front of the 
ship, watching the stars. Where would she go when the plan worked? If it
 worked, rather. To move to the uncharted stars in the void? A 
functional ship gave her that possibility. Back to her own kind would 
be… Unwelcoming. Certainly the same with the humans for other reasons.

“You have anything to eat?” Joshua asked.

Without a word, the woman moved to her sensor station and plucked a 
canister of food, tossing it over to his side.

“What is this?” he asked.

“Food.”

He didn’t respond. Likely he knew that his choice was that or 
starvation. As far as she knew it wouldn’t be poisonous. Perhaps not as 
palatable. She watched him eat out of the can. It wasn’t the most alien 
anatomy. She had similar one-jawed creatures on her own planet, but it 
seemed so wild and violent. One gnashing maw. Humans varied from cute to
 violent in one simple motion.

She tore into a can herself. His voracious eating was infectious.
_

The solitary life had been disrupted by this human. While they didn’t 
talk, much, she could still feel him nearby. Breathing, oozing, staring.
 It was a good moment to realize how much reality differed from the 
cadavers, or how they portrayed themselves in their texts and visuals.

“Is this all you do all day?”

The woman perked up from her reading the sensor station. “What do you 
expect?”

Joshua looked around the room for a while, then shrugged. “I don’t 
know.”

“You assume we watch media?”

“It would be better, I guess.”

“I have studied them. I do not enjoy them.”

“Wait, you’ve studied our TV shows and movies?” His blank expression 
faded into a smile, then back into uneasiness. “You are a spy, aren’t 
you?”