Curate, connect, and discover
There's been a LOT of movies/games where an alien gets onboard a human ship and goes around terrorizing the place. But imagine this reversed where a human stranded on the edge of the cosmos finds a high tech alien ship and decides to go say hello? Keep in mind they're in a spacesuit that appears to have "one big black eye" Imagine aliens two times bigger than us all huddled underneath the ship's console after the computer gave them a haunting reading of the unknown life form breaking into their ship. "Krek- calm down- it can't get past the lockdown system" Then the human gets frustrated with the doors not opening (lockdown mode) and crawls through the air vents. "ITS GETTING PAST THE LOCKDOWN SYSTEM!!!" I can just imagine the aliens shrieking and running for their lives as a confused human drops into their laps from the vents then starts trying to follow the aliens running away all while excited at the idea of meeting extraterrestrial life. And the aliens ate just freaking out because they see the human as some sort of half sized terrifying one-eyed leech that's trying to catch and suck their brains out.
Can you even imagine being the poor alien sod responsible for auditing an earthling spaceship’s spending allowance? Like:
“I see, and why do you require many tubes of white plant flavoured paste?”
“Oh well, if we don’t rub that on our teeth twice daily the bacteria living in my mouth will begin to devour me teeth.”
“…Noted.”
“I have also noticed several large shipments of specific medications, and a variety of individually packaged absorbent material - however injury records do not show sufficient numbers to justify these recurrent deliveries.”
“Ah, yeah, it’s not really an injury per say. As part of our natural reproductive cycle approximately half the population will shed the lining of one of their internal organs and expel it.”
“…that is the most horrifying thing that I have ever heard.”
“Yeah.”
“Does such a process not hurt?”
“That’l be what the medication’s for. Pain killers for the cramps, birth control to stop the process.”
“…and your reasoning behind the fully functional, high-tech entertainment system?”
“Okay, that we could probably do without. But in our defence that was actually insisted on as a standard feature of all fleet-ships expected to encounter Terrans. Admiral Plo’Kaght insisted on it. Something about bored humans and a an illegal betting ring featuring a cleaning robot with a knife strapped to it going up against a human with a mop?”
“…I believe I should speak with my superiors.”
„ Sir „ The alien asked his commander
„ Why are humans considered one of the most dangerous species ?
They do not posses any special powers ,
They are dependent on so many factors to live
They are fleeing , their lifespan isn’t more than 2 centuries ? “
The commander stayed still . After a long pause , in which the alien soldier already admitted defeat he spoke :
“ Because they learn not to fear death.
Not all of them . But some.
They overcome the biggest unknown the universe offers . They simply conquer it . They risk their life’s for war , for emotions , sometimes even for fun. Fully aware that their one chance is so insignificant . Fully aware they might not live to even a century .”
The commander turned towards the soldier .
“ No other species has ever learned that. Even our race , that lives for millions of years , shivers and screams as the dark void that consumes everything comes to get us.
Humans are terrifying because they play with that void on a daily basis. Some of them even long for it.
Can you imagine , soldier ?
A human could live for only 20 solar circles and long for the unknown void . How could it feel so much in such short time span ? How could it look the horror that the unknown brings and reach out for it ?”
The aliens eyes widened, and he stepped back
“ Everybody fears the void . It’s impossible not too” He didn’t fully believe his commander . Yet he couldn’t deny the insanity with which humanity moved forward .
The commander made a sound that was considered a chuckle in their race .
“ Say that to the next human you meet and watch, how they defy that in every way .”
All life in the galaxy is crystalline: Rigid, orderly, rational. Then they meet the eldritch horrors from beyond the stars. Contorted, fleshy bodies; moist darting, ocular orbs above a wet, gnashing mouth that vibrates the very air with their insane gibbering. They call themselves “UUM'N”.