Humans Are Encountered

Starvation

"We cannot avoid meals for extended periods."

Zork'ak and Adam were folded on the roof, this time climbing up after the other humans had left to eat.

"One won't hurt." Adam was picking at a fruit Kai had cultivated. He had told Zork'ak about these large growths where the fruits originally grew on earth. Nearly everything on earth couldn't be replicated on xer planet. Xe was pleased that Kai was able to introduce new crops and now the 'spices' through her biological engineering even if it was unconventional.

"I believe that your body is scheduled for necessary nutrition. So it will indeed 'hurt' to ignore that schedule."

"Nah, it'll just switch into starvation mode. No harm."

"'Starvation mode?'"

Adam looked up, a small smirk on his face. "I forget you all follow a strict regime. No snacks, no skipping meals, no eating for fun." A full smile split across his face as he looked out over the terrain around them. "Not until you met us."

"No, not until we encountered you. We still follow a strict schedule, and in our studies, your body also needs nutritional value at regular intervals."

"Yeah, but sometimes you can't eat or don't want to or something. Like now, I'm not hungry so I don't want to eat."

"Is hunger not just an indicator if you wait too long? Klyls bodies send signals at appropriate times, within our schedule, of when to eat. Why would you resist it?"

He shrugged, looking back down where his hands rested in his lap. "I just don't want to eat right now, Zor."

Zork'ak's behavioral and emotional interests were at war with each other. Xe could tell he was upset, and xe did not wish to upset him further. Still, xe asked, "Your emotions impact your survival needs?"

Adam blew out a breath and ran a hand over his shorn hair. "Yeah, you could say that."

"I do not understand what emotion this 'starvation mode' is."

He released a breathy laugh. "It's not an emotion. It's this thing our body does if we don't eat. It uses fat stores to keep going."

"Wait." Zork'ak cocked xer head. "Your body will break down itself? Just because you do not wish to ingest the necessary nutrients?"

"I mean, yeah. Pretty much. Our body creates stores for that reason."

"I still need clarification. Your body will begin to ingest itself because you have skipped meal?"

"It's not that extreme, Zor. Do you not have a similar body process?"

"Klyls have no reason not to eat. We eat the appropriate amount so there is not excess."

"You never have a reason to skip a meal? What if you aren't hungry? Or you're too busy?"

"We do not experience this hunger, nor do we partake in too much work that it conflicts with our schedule."

"What about, like, if you have to go fight or something?"

Zork'ak pursed xer lips. "We do not battle often, and when we do it, it does not last long enough to exceed our needed meals."

"Oh. That is interesting."

"I am concerned about your species."

Adam's brown eyes snapped to Zork'ak's grey ones. "Why?"

"You ingest materials that are deadly to you all, you withhold needed nutrients for your body, you participate in competitions where you overly consume products for unnecessary or no reason. Shall I continue?"

Adam laughed then, shaking his head. "We've survived haven't we?"

"Your evolutionary development is quite illogical."

He laughed again, an actual laugh, and Zork'ak was pleased to see the way it brought a bit of light to his eyes. It did not negate those deep lines around his mouth and the edges of his eyes, but it did lessen their harsh effect. "Yes, I agree. But doesn't that make us quite a fearsome species? That even nature cannot destroy us?"

Zork'ak was taken back. Xe had considered it several times when xe first met the humans, knowing that if the humans ever sided against the Klyls, the battle would not be in the favor of the Klyls. It was one of the main reasons the commander both agreed to host human researchers and had assigned Zork'ak to them as an analyst.

"I suppose so."

Adam poked Zork'ak and closed his right eye briefly. "You better watch out."

"Are you threatening me, Adam?" Zork'ak said lightheartedly, not genuinely fearing xer friend.

"I might be." There was a full smirk on Adam's face.

Zork'ak pulled xer poisonous outer layer up over xer scales. "Try to harm me."

Adam shook his head. "It's more fun to catch you by surprise."

Not the dreaded surprise