V - the Visitors

Inside the base was still skipping alongside Daniel. The boy hadn’t slept all night, but instead of being sleepy, he was feeling strangely tipsy. Cole alternated between telling the alien all about the new Safariland and emphasizing that bis father was innocent. It was the single cornerstone in the boy’s mind now: The Zoo was being remodeled, aliens had taken over Belle Isle and Daniel had turned out to be an upright walking giant lizard, okay, plum happened, and sometimes it was some seriously cool plum, even. But Hank Anderson was a hero, regardless of what Cole’s mother and the aliens said!

https://64.media.tumblr.com/662c71c8566010d22c2dc9b8b71dcbc4/a57bf0ed7dbd8ca0-3b/s540x810/cc28a2aa6d550b6f8b1e5ac9277d0e2bb6ac00e7.pnj

Cole: “...although she doesn’t deny that dad’s a hero. But if mom still believes in dad, then why don’t they get along anymo... aaahhh!”

Cole cried out when he realized that there were vines on the floor of the room they had just entered, and that they were greedily creeping all over his shoes.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/54914174b1883c295d948c3b99f31835/a57bf0ed7dbd8ca0-09/s540x810/ab545845ae643672b152466ed9ca18771ae6fb75.pnj

Daniel: “Just stand still for a few seconds while the hyggie-vines clean your footwear. Think of them as an automated bootbrush... with an attitude.”

Cole: “How do they know where to stop? They do know that, yes?”

Daniel: “The vines may go for the dirt in your face when you come in from the playground, but they are severly icked out by the idea of eating people. They cannot digest us. Or your species, for that matter.”

Cole: “Wow!”

https://64.media.tumblr.com/8cd112567f91e296c09104ec4271bd0d/a57bf0ed7dbd8ca0-5f/s540x810/c6e48c57ca5dd876cda3b30a29e2d203ba35676d.pnj

Daniel: “They can still be a nuisance, growing up the wall and into trashcans, and I get the feeling it’ll be me who has to remove the overgrowth later today.”

Cole: “That’s what you get to do for detention? Will... will you make dad clear hyggie-vines, too?”

Daniel: “No! Absolutely not! You told me your father hasn’t done anything bad, remember?”

Cole: “Uh-huh. Where are we going, Daniel?”

Daniel: “Seeing someone who was impressed with your hologame skills. - Oh, here's something cool, Cole! Stand right under the cloakroom vines and they’ll grab your jacket.”

Cole: “How do they know where to stop?!”

https://64.media.tumblr.com/ae91d78ef9cf6459d61d4aa1ca447835/5a27d69990e95a9f-88/s540x810/3bca8170e72570fda27f9f40b6544ef675039389.pnj

Daniel: “Cloakies are a lot smarter than hyggie-vines. These here are a domesticated species that can get trained. They remember each clothing item’s owner and will only give it back to the correct person. Real expensive ones will even slap pickpockets on the wrist.”

Given their planet’s pollution, any kind of cloakie, even the most stupid ones that would steal your glasses, were an expensive luxury on Sirius 4 at the moment. But those worries Daniel didn’t share with the human child.

While the cloakies did their duty, Cole looked around.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/b8bca03f5edd7f5e5825607aee3a03e7/5a27d69990e95a9f-5a/s540x810/82997ef924b6024ccd6c336d885323ce91ebb163.pnj

Near the door was a small buffet and the signs on the wall seemed to say “Grab something healthy on your way out!”. Only for Daniel’s species fruit weren’t really healthy. Too many of them would give them the runs. The human boy thought he was looking at the icky health stuff, when in truth the buffet was the aliens’ equivalent of the cookie jar.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/cf35a4cd7e5daaf51b616515fae89f67/5a27d69990e95a9f-5f/s540x810/03385e5fe8e5fb600e65ea2801553dd64ea72a4b.pnj

Next to the fruit were houses for crickets and bugs. How did the Visitors keep the buzzers off the fruit, Cole wondered? The answer was of course that they didn’t even bother to do that, because both the fruit and the insects were tasty treats to them.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/9c34a7c54bc8214ec9aca04d15985978/5a27d69990e95a9f-22/s540x810/78ba292eeaf492d86616c3925ab9196086fb4fff.pnj

Freezers lined up along the wall were holding drinks, bowls of raw eggs and flasks that, as Daniel explained, contained egg mixed with spices. He didn’t delve into the nature of those spices, but they were most likely not salt and pepper.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/0b549a7fcd8e47910d0dcdd45a66b596/5a27d69990e95a9f-7e/s540x810/b40b0134dab05783295186666d89f7115351f1c9.pnj

In a corner this strange arrangement was nestled. Cole at first took it for a bar, but on second glance the structures he’d taken for a table distillery turned out to be glass cages filled with rats.

And finally a large fish tank that’s roof could get raised and lowered on the push of a button, dominated the middle of the room. Giant guppies and an eel-like species that Cole didn’t recognize were swimming around inside.

https://64.media.tumblr.com/1dda73f67ea75056f6011f30a06fa6a1/5a27d69990e95a9f-6c/s540x810/a1392ea6792bdf14f0d120c3480f7361558d666a.pnj

Cole: “What is this place, Daniel? A laboratory?”

Daniel: “What? No! This is one of the Belle Isle Base’s cafeterias.”

Cole: “Not for real! You guys eat the bugs and raw eggs? That's not just a gross habit of Eustace's?"

Daniel: “You saw him snack?"

Cole: "I shouldn't have, right? But I found it fun to dare him eat live bugs, so I kept on doing it..."

Daniel: "Eustace is actually eating very healthy for a kid his age. Uh... take a banana if you want.”

Cole: “So that’s why you mistook the pet shop for the diner the day we first met!"

Daniel: “...sorry.”

Cole: “Ey, it’s alright, I guess. I mean, the aliens in stories eat people, so guppies are a real improvement.”