A: hey man are you ok?
B: .... yeah sorry, feeling a little burned out
A: ah, I see. Hey do you want some coffee after this? -- Anon Guest
Humans are resilient. Humans are robust. Humans are strong. Humans are also living beings with limits. There is only so much stress, devastation, and chaos that even a Human can handle.
Learning this was something of a hurdle after Humanity was accepted into the Alliance.
Witness Human Doe, who has apparently reached a limit and, as a result, has retreated to something resembling a catatonic state. They had sat for a meal and beverage break over an hour ago, and were still sitting there. Their meal was untouched. Their hot beverage had gone tepid. They were just... sitting. Staring, apparently, at nothing. Face blank.
Companion Grox worried that something had gone medically wrong with their Human and, still learning to be a good Companion, sat at the same table and attempted to unriddle what was happening with their assigned Deathworlder.
The space Human Doe was staring at was unremarkable. An inoffensive patch of grey wall exactly like every other patch of grey wall in public spaces. Human Doe didn't appear to be offended by it, nor enamoured of it. They were looking that way because that was the way their head had turned.
The food was Human standard, with a slight edge of the mineral compounds they preferred. Human Doe liked their food with an acidic preparation they called katsup, which was already present on their meal. In fact, scans revealed that the only thing making their meal unappetising was the fact that it had been sitting uneaten for so long.
Companion Grox decided to try a verbal stimulus. "Hey, are you okay?"
Human Doe startled. "Huh? Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Today's been a long year. Feeling a little burned out."
The words were in GalStand, and each one had a meaning, but put together like that, they were nonsensical to Grox. The only way to respond to nonsense was with one of the handy pack-bonding non-effort phrases. "Ah. So anyway, do you want to grab an inoffensive treat after this?"
Human Doe stared at Grox in a way eerily similar to the way they had been staring at the wall. Their lips formed the phrase, "Did you just--" but no sound came out. Then they burst out into laughter. "I'm guessing you didn't understand all of that, huh?"
Grox knew to let hir embarrassment show. Humans liked to share emotions with their pack-bonded fellows. "I understand each word you said, but together..."
Human Doe slumped in their seat and started picking at their food. "We only seem like vastly strong unstoppable juggernauts." They gestured with an empty hand before their face, then quoted something from Humanity's extended libraries of entertainments. "They look like big, strong hands..."
"I still do not understand."
Human Doe was eating in a mechanical fashion. They knew they had to eat, but the food was not appealing, so they ate anyway. "Humans have limits. We have breaking points. I'm not broken, not yet, but I can feel the stress fractures, you know? We're not... we're not..." Human Doe circled a free hand in the air. "We're not bottomless pits for [UNGULATE FECAL MATTER]. There's only so much we can take before something's got to give."
"You have reached your capacity for stressors?" Grox interpreted.
"Yeah, today's been pretty bad for me. I have definitely reached my capacity." They sighed. "I want hot soup, cold ice cream, and a good lie down in my soft nest, but it's only mid-cycle. Y'all need me."
Grox considered this. They did need their Human, this was true, but they did not need their Human all the time. "I could write the rest of today off as an illness recovery period."
"But... I'm not sick..."
"I could easily enter that you are suffering from a temporary spell of mental instability. The rest of the crew would..." what was the Human phrase? "Buy it."
"Sure you can manage?"
"We will pause the operation in process on your behalf," assured Grox. "The care and maintenance of all crewmembers is priority. That includes you."
"Thanks. I think I'll start with that nap."
Grox would, in the fullness of time, understand all of Human Doe's peculiar phrases. Today, however, it was hir duty to merely attend to Doe's comfort restoration.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Dusan]
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