Human Life



Human Life is the fifth chapter of the Main Story.

Note(s)
Any dialogue that is not being spoken in English is represented with italics and bold text.

Plot
As the night passed, Ellenseren and Samantha slept somewhat unsettled, due to being on an unfamiliar planet mostly against their will, Samantha being totally against her will. Samantha kept her legs crossed around her eggs with her arms covering them all night to keep them warm, despite not having any baby Oviphomos inside.

Ellenseren got up in the late morning and fed the Anoterran Cats with a can of food that they had brought from Anoterra. She spent a few hours reading through articles saved onto her linker about Earth and humans, along with a few common animals. Samantha woke up during this and couldn't be bothered to make any effort to get up.

"Samantha! Get your butt up! We're going for a walk and explore the area," Ellenseren said suddenly, standing by the front door as the Anoterran Cats look up at her. Samantha was surprised by this.

Samantha groaned as she sat on her bed, with her two eggs in her crossed legs. She knew that her mother wasn't going to let up since she almost never changes her mind once she's set on something.

"Come on! Up you get!" Ellenseren said again. Samantha pushed her eggs aside as she straightened her legs and put her boots on. She got herself to her feet, shaking the sleep out of her head and went over to the door.

"Alright you lot, be good while we go out!" Ellenseren called to the Anoterran Cats, who were preoccupied, rolling around the floor play-fighting by the time Samantha got up.

The two Oviphomos went out of the house, with Ellenseren locking the door behind them. Samantha inhaled deeply to try and ease herself before breathing out. Ellenseren walked on down the road with Samantha trailing behind.

After walking down the road, down some steps and down the hill, through some trees and past some other houses, the two found themselves at the high street. The high street had several takeaway shops and a large general shop on the left, a pub right across the one-way road and a few smaller shops on the right. A calm river was flowing between the road and pathway Ellenseren and Samantha were standing on.

"Alright, I say we go get something to eat! I haven't eaten all day and it's a good chance to give some Earth food a try!" said Ellenseren happily, but keeping her voice down so people passing can't figure out what she's saying, to avoid saying anything suspicious. Samantha's ears perked up at the mention of food, but felt that she wanted the food they had packed and brought from Anoterra.

"Can't we eat some Uvolan Cream Cakes?" she asked hopefully, since Uvolan Cream Cakes are one of her favourite foods. Ellenseren just looked at her.

"Let's....go try something else," she said firmly as she walked towards a takeaway shop. Samantha sighed and followed. They looked at the menu pinned on the wall, able to read it because of translators that are implanted into their bodies.

A translator is a piece of cheap alien technology that is implanted into the body with a simple surgery. It causes any legible words the user sees to be translated into the language they set the translator to do, in Ellenseren and Samantha's case, the Oviphomo language. This also occurs with any understandable words the user hears. It can also affect the user's speech, causing them to actually speak in another language without knowing it. It is able to do this with any registered language in the universe, which includes English. Ellenseren put her finger behind her ear and went up to the counter.

“Hello! May I have two of the cheeseburgers and chips, nothing else please?” she said brightly.

“Of course, that'll be £5.98,” said the man, who took the £10 note that Ellenseren held out for him. She hesitated for a moment because the £10 note had been obtained from exchanging Anoterran currency to space-made Earth currency. It was indistinguishable from actual Earth money, but she was still concerned. The man put the £10 note into the till and took out the change and handed it back to Ellenseren as she took a sigh of relief.

The two Oviphomos stood back and waited. Samantha stood in silence because she wasn't very eager to set her translator to English since her mouth moving in a different way to what she can hear feels rather strange.

The man caught Ellenseren's attention, holding out the bag, which she took with a smile. “Thank you,” she said as she went outside, followed by Samantha.

The two Oviphomos went outside and sat down on a bench overlooking the river. Samantha sighed as Ellenseren handed her two polystyrene burger boxes, one with a cheeseburger and the other full of chips.

“Hmm, it has a.....interesting smell,” said Ellenseren, sounding a little disgusted as she held her burger under her nose. Samantha sighed, knowing that her mother won't let her not give it a try, so she took her burger and gave it a smell, feeling a bit disgusted too. Nonetheless, she took a bite. She gave one chew before she almost vomited, giving a sharp shriek at the revolting taste, spitting the mouthful of burger out and into the river.

"Samantha! Don't be such a hatchling!” Ellenseren snapped at her daughter. Several people walking nearby looked over at the two, half due to Samantha's reaction and half because of what Ellenseren just said. Samantha continued to gag, her body wanting to vomit.

"This is disgusting!” coughed Samantha, sitting down, having gotten her stomach settled.

Ellenseren hesitated, seeing as she thought the burger didn't smell very good and after Samantha's reaction. She took a small mouthful. She immediately covered her mouth in surprise, giving a muffled cough before spitting it back out into the bag and looking at the inside of burger.

“My word....is that.....meat?” she asked in horror.

“Oh my Shimmer, that's disgusting!” screeched Samantha, throwing her burger and chips into the river, quickly wiping her hands on her clothing. Ellenseren put her food back in the bag and got up to put it in a bin. She didn't scold Samantha since she actually agreed with her.

Oviphomos are a herbivorous race, their natural diet consisting mainly of fruits found on the trees on Anoterra. Despite being able to consume it since many Earth recipes can be found around the universe and Oviphomos can consume all of them, many Oviphomos believe eating meat, or anything from another living being, to be disgusting.

Ellenseren dropped the bag into the bin as Samantha watched her burger and chips in the water, the burger sitting on the bottom while the chips are floating away. She felt a shiver down in spine in disgust.

“Perhaps we will stick to our food from back home,” said Ellenseren, disgusted that humans eat meat, so their food could be meat or anything from a living being, and she didn't want to risk it. Samantha felt happier with that being said as the two got up and started heading back towards the house.

Characters

 * Samantha
 * Ellenseren
 * Citizens of the high street
 * Takeaway shop worker

Locations

 * Earth
 * Samantha and Ellenseren's house
 * The high street