If Aliens Met Humans by Samuel Masten - HTML preview

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Several months passed, and the golden age of humanity continued. The gifts of the Xylans had transformed society for the better, and the friendship between the two species was celebrated daily. On the surface, everything was still perfect. But for those humans who worked most closely with the alien visitors, small and unsettling changes began to appear. They were like tiny cracks appearing in a flawless diamond.

The first change was a physical one. The beautiful, iridescent skin of the Xylans, which shimmered with a soft, healthy light, began to appear slightly duller. The vibrant, shifting colors became muted, as if a thin layer of dust was settling over them. At first, people dismissed it as a trick of Earth's yellow sunlight, so different from the light of the Xylans' home star.

Soon after, subtle behavioral changes started to occur. The Xylans had always been the very definition of patience and calm. But now, signs of irritability began to surface. A Xylan scientist, who had been working happily with a human team, might make a sharp, impatient gesture if a human colleague was too slow. These moments were small and quickly passed, but they were completely out of character.

Dr. Lena was one of the first to take official notice. She was a scientist, and she observed and recorded everything. She noted that the Xylans' movements, once so fluid and graceful, were becoming slightly more rigid and abrupt. Their musical voices, once always calm and melodic, sometimes carried a new, sharper tone, especially when they were frustrated.

Even Olen, the wise and serene leader, was not immune. During a meeting with President Shaan, he seemed oddly distracted. At one point, he interrupted the President mid-sentence to demand a technical report, a shocking breach of his own polite etiquette. He quickly seemed to catch himself and apologized, blaming his rudeness on "fatigue" from adjusting to Earth’s "heavy atmosphere."

This excuse about the atmosphere became more common. The Xylans, who had once seemed to delight in walking through Earth's parks and cities, began to spend more and more time inside their ship. They claimed the air was tiring for them and that they needed to rest more often in the familiar environment of their own ship. Their public appearances became less frequent.

Out of genuine concern, the United World Government's top medical team offered to perform a health assessment. They wanted to help their friends if they were falling ill. For the first time, the Xylans refused a human offer. They politely but very firmly declined any medical examination, stating that their own physicians would handle it. This refusal was a quiet shock; it was the first sign of secrecy from the once-open aliens.

Human aides who worked within the Xylan embassy ship also reported a change. They noticed a new tension among the Xylan crew. Before, the aliens had moved together in perfect harmony, a single, coordinated unit. Now, observers could sometimes hear their musical language spoken in sharp, argumentative tones. The perfect unity of the visitors was beginning to fracture.

Dr. Lena and her science team began to work on a new theory in secret. They took Olen's excuse about the atmosphere seriously. What if it wasn't an excuse? What if something in Earth's air—the high concentration of oxygen, the nitrogen, or some other trace element—was having a slow, negative effect on Xylan biology? They began to analyze every component of the air they all breathed.

The chapter of perfect friendship was slowly coming to an end. A shadow of unease was falling over the once-bright relationship. The humans saw their friends changing, becoming more distant and irritable, and they felt a growing sense of worry. In her private digital log, Dr. Lena gave the phenomenon a name. She called it the "strange sickness," and she feared that its cause, and its cure, were a complete mystery.