Day 17:
I have been on this planet for over two local weeks now, and have once again been surprised by the actions of humans. You would think that, after being repeatedly told in training that humans will do unexpected things constantly, and seeing it happen repeatedly, I would stop being surprised by it. But just when I think I have them figured out, one or more of them will do the complete opposite of what I expect them to do. Today I saw yet another example of this.
Humans, despite having the same sensor technology as we do, physically patrol the areas around their base whether the patrols are necessary or not. Sometimes they let me accompany them, though due to the advance of enemy forces they are currently reluctant to allow civilians such as myself off base. Someone must have decided that it was safe enough today, though they made sure that I was well protected. It was a fairly routine patrol until we stopped about an hour in. This, too, was routine, as regular stops were made to do more thorough investigations of an area. But then something that wasn’t routine happened: all of the soldiers started clustering around something on the ground. At first I was worried. Maybe something bad had happened there. Maybe something bad was going to happen. Nothing happened for a little while, and the tone of voice I was hearing from them (I was too far away to hear what they were saying), while not like anything that I had heard before, was not one I associated with danger. So I headed over to see what they were doing.
Let me take a moment and describe the scene here. This was the safest squad I could go out with. It contained the biggest, fastest, strongest, and most intimidating soldiers on the entire base. These are the type of humans that even other humans find intimidating, let alone someone like me, who is only half as tall as they are. And yet, on the ground in their circle, winding it’s way around the feet of each and every human, was…
A kitten.
Yes, you read that correctly. A baby feline of the type humans keep as pets. And these big, huge, intimidating soldiers were crouched on the ground making what humans call “cutesy noises” at it! They would pet it and put it on their shoulders and laugh as it made its little tiny squeaks and purrs! The same humans that just yesterday were killing their own kind, and yet here they were, playing with a kitten! And then, when it was time to go, instead of just leaving it, they took it with them! Thankfully we made it back to base without further incident. To my surprise, the kitten was accepted by everyone on base, even their commanders. That was when I found out that there were several other cats, and a few dogs (canine pets), on base. They earn their keep, whether it is catching vermin, acting as sentries, or just boosting the morale of the soldiers.
The rest of the night was spent telling stories about the various stray animals found around bases, as well as coming up with a name for the kitten. It turns out that soldiers can get very attached to these strays, so there were a lot of stories. The kitten ended up being named Lieutenant Fuzzbutt, because every person on base has a rank, he is a very fuzzy animal, and the group I was with wasn’t very good at coming up with acceptable names.
And tomorrow they will go and blow up more of their own species.
I’ll never understand humans.