Empyrean Iris Story Collection

Friendship Bracelet

It takes almost 25 years for human offspring to reach full cortical maturity.

The average human can weight anywhere between 90 and 300 pounds with outliers dipping down to 70 pounds and reaching up to 700+.

Human skin color ranges on a scale of mostly brows and creams with translucent white at one end and ebony black at the other end. Heights can be anywhere from 4.5 to 7 feet on extreme ends of the spectrum.

Human hair is likewise set out on a spectrum of blond to black or, rarely, auburn, red or strawberry blonde.

Due to the nature of the human physiological structure, their infants are born surprisingly underdeveloped. To keep these infants alive, the humans create pack structures known as families. The classic nuclear family usually includes two parents and anywhere from 1- 20 children (in extreme cases) the parents are in charge of taking care of the offspring until a predetermined age when the offspring is expected to take care of themselves.

A human child reaches milestones of maturity which determine the health of the child. A window of age determines when it is normal for a human to talk, walk, laugh, smile, and begin speaking.

Humans are one of the only creatures in this galaxy to mature at such a slow degree. They are also one of the only species known to give live birth to their offspring, which may be why their children are born so vulnerable.

Human social ties are what keep the offspring alive until maturity.

***

Krill sat in the back of the car squished between two of the three brothers inside his specimen tube staring down at the snow which was coming down in thick flurries. Captain Vir and his second oldest brother sat in the back seat of the car as the old human drove his way careful through the snow. The other two brothers had taken the oldest brother's care and would be following shortly behind.

Waffles, the dog, sat on the floor just in front of Krill head resting on the captain's knee.

Apparently, it was normal for the humans to go out in weather like this. Traveling in a blizzard wasn't unknown or even all that thought about. It used to be more hazardous when cars didn't have emergency steering override, but now attached proximity alarms could track the movement of other objects around them and intervene if an accident was eminent.

It didn't mean that krill wasn't scared out of his mind. This all seemed very dangerous, but Captain Vir insisted to him that the family had been invited to a "Birthday party" at his sister's house, and it would be rude not to come.

Krill was under the impression it would also be very rude to die, but what did he know?

The car skidded softly on some ice, and the old human grunted wrestling control back from the icy roads as he took a slow controlled turn onto another residential street parking himself behind a long line of cars.

Jeremy and the second David pulled up behind them, and they all got out of the car, the dog taking the lead to the correct door.

Captain Vir Held Krill's specimen tube under one arm and a sparkly silver bag in the other hand.

"Prepare for mayhem, it's going to be loud."

Stomping the snow from their boots, the humans made their way up the steps and knocked on the door asking to be let in.

The door opened with a blast of noise not dissimilar to military grade decibel weapons. All of the humans, accept for the alpha female, cringed. Krill became very grateful for the control he had over his sensory systems.