"Well, I'm a turian, from the planet Palaven," she answers. "But I haven't lived there since I was a kid." She tells him more about Palaven, about the low-grade radiation from their sun that caused turians to evolve their bony plating. She tells him about their biology — what she knows of it — and how turians and quarians can't share food with humans, but most other races can.
The thing is, this is interesting to him, but seeing as he's only ever remembered Earth (despite being an alien), it's not like he's got a wide range of galactic information. He grabs the microscope to look under it, glancing at what he could do.
"Can you eat the food?" he asks. "Like, even if you don't get nutrients, can you eat it? Cuz it'll be a lot easier to supplement with vitamins or a protein in it."
"It's hard to say," she admits. "I don't think I want to risk it by trying. It could kill me. I mean, it might not, but... it could." If she tries, and she starts reacting, there's nothing on hand to save her. There aren't any shots or sprays to counteract the closing of her throat, the swelling of her brain, whatever it is that happens when a dextro eats levo foods.
Michael looks at the blood on the slide, noticing the color. His blood is red, he knows that, but he's pretty sure that once you dig down into the organs, he's definitely not even close to a normal human being. He eyes her, not sure he likes the sound of that.
"I mean, we're looking at trial and error here," he warns. "I'm gonna try real hard not to kill you, but I'd appreciate knowing how to avoid that."
"So would I," she points out. "Run whatever tests you need. If you can figure out a supplement, or something, then you'd be ahead of the curve even where I'm from."
And if she dies while they're trying, well... It'd be faster than starving to death.
"What about you? I've never seen your species before."
He wants to figure it out, if only because he's stubborn that way and the idea of being able to solve an alien's hunger issues is kind of incredible. It's the boost he needs right now to try and get him out of his depressive funk, which feels like it could take over.
Michael shrugs when she asks. "Your guess is as good as mine," he says. "I hatched out of a pod when I was seven. Stasis," he clarifies. "I don't have any memories from before, but seeing as I was in there for 50 years, I'm not surprised."
"I am," she admits. "I was in stasis for six hundred years and my memories are fine." It makes it seem intentional, or else like the pod is faulty somehow. But why would his people intentionally block or remove his memory?
He fixes a perplexed look on her, wondering if he should figure out a way to get her to the pods so that she's able to take a look and figure out why he doesn't remember. "Maybe the pods were damaged. None of us remember." Not that there's many of them left, and Noah had.
So maybe it had been on purpose, or maybe they had actively repressed the memories, unwilling to recall them.
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Date: 2020-01-06 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 06:47 pm (UTC)"Can you eat the food?" he asks. "Like, even if you don't get nutrients, can you eat it? Cuz it'll be a lot easier to supplement with vitamins or a protein in it."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-06 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-07 01:39 am (UTC)"I mean, we're looking at trial and error here," he warns. "I'm gonna try real hard not to kill you, but I'd appreciate knowing how to avoid that."
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Date: 2020-01-07 11:26 am (UTC)And if she dies while they're trying, well... It'd be faster than starving to death.
"What about you? I've never seen your species before."
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Date: 2020-01-07 02:18 pm (UTC)Michael shrugs when she asks. "Your guess is as good as mine," he says. "I hatched out of a pod when I was seven. Stasis," he clarifies. "I don't have any memories from before, but seeing as I was in there for 50 years, I'm not surprised."
no subject
Date: 2020-01-08 08:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-01-08 04:51 pm (UTC)So maybe it had been on purpose, or maybe they had actively repressed the memories, unwilling to recall them.