Damian, Chel and Lexx walked further up onto the beach, Chel untucking her shirt and wringing out water where she could. It was a futile effort. The shirt was soaked, as were her jeans and anyone who has worn wet jeans knows how stiff and clingy they get when wet.
"Here, let me help you with that." Damian offered cheerfully reaching into a pocket on the inside of his cloak. "I always come prepared."
"Uhm…" To say that Chel was wary, was an understatement. Damian was just a bit too invasive and didn't seem to realize that he was. Lexx didn't seem to hear the conversation, head down and trudging ahead to where he assumed Damian was going. Up to the trees where he'd left his ship. He didn't have to, but knowing Damian, he'd better just do what he wanted. It did little good to tell Damian No. Lexx had quickly discovered that you couldn't debate anything with this alien.
Damian removed a small oblong device that closely resembled a TV remote to Chel. "You never know when you're in need of such gadgets." He smiled and pointed it at Chel. A golden light emanated from the end of the device, spreading out in a small array. "Close your eyes." Damian warned, stroking the light down. Chel squeezed her eyes shut and felt tingling warmth that gave her goose bumps pass over her. In one pass, she was dry.
"Wow…" Chel patted the shirt.
"Here," Damian tossed the device at her. "Everyone should have one, has lots of interesting options, mainly for doing your hair, but it can be adapted for other purposes,… like drying your clothes."
Chel blinked, catching it and turning it over in her hands. "Thank you, Damian." She stared at it. It had a small color screen with a pictoral menu on it. That was good,… and interesting. Damian wasn't so bad afterall. What was Lexx's problem with him.
"Damian…" Lexx growled, "Should you be giving things like that to humans?"
Damian shrugged, striding pas Lexx and into the ship. "What harm is there in a personal grooming device, Lexx? I know you carry one around. We ALL know how vain you are about your appearance."
"I am NOT vain!" Lexx raised his voice, his face flushing a slight red, which came across more as purple beneath his blue skin.
"Are you hungry? I took the liberty to bring down a few things." Damian spoke from inside the ship, accompanied by the sounds of things being moved.
"Zeta hungry!" The little dice had been silent up until the mention of food. He swished his tail eagerly and cocked his head. "Zeta hungry!"
"You're always hungry." Lexx muttered, taking a seat on a nearby rock to sulk.
Chel quietly sat next to him, scrolling through the options on the grooming device. "Zeta… come here." She grinned. Zeta bounced forward, thinking he was going to get a treat. Instead, he was met with a green light which made all the fine fur on his head and neck stick out straight in a fuzz.
Zeta stood there a moment, blinking as Chel's face broke out into a broad grin and then an amused giggle. Lexx sniffed, determined to be in a bad mood despite how comical the sallomandyr looked.
"What… what?" Zeta didn't seem to realize what had happened.
"I could have fun with this." Chel grinned holding it up, for a moment. Lexx reached out and grabbed the remote, throwing it aside with enough force to bounce it off a rock and into the high grass on the other side of the rocks they were sitting on.
"You should not have that. You're a human." Lexx grated, folding his arms and glaring at the ground.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Chel stood up and glared at Lexx. "I think Damian just commented that YOU are really a human. Would you care to explain that?"
"No." Lexx didn't look at her, closing his eyes and lifting his head with an air of disdain.
"He said this is your home world, what are you, an elf?" Chel persisted, just to annoy Lexx. He was starting to bug her with these rapid mood swings. "A dark elf, that's what you look like, just like on that Evermore game!"
"I am NOT an elf." Lexx snorted.
Damian stepped off the ship at that point, holding a large ornately designed case. He'd heard most of the conversation from inside and was more than obligatory to explain. He loved to talk and show off what he knew and he quite liked the human. She was pretty, short,… but pretty. "While there are many truths to Earth mythologies concerning gods, elves, fairies and strange creatures that were in reality visiting aliens,.. Lexx is not one of them."
"Damian… don't." Lexx started up in protest, feeling an uncomfortable prickling sensation in his throat. She did not need to know this. This was not something any human should know.
"Lexx,… Lexx… you worry too much." Damian placed the case down, flipping a latch and opening it. He pulled out a couple of large pieces of cloth and placed one on the rock near Lexx and Chel for him to sit on. Then another beside him to start laying out small packages and a pitcher of sorts. "Lexx is genetically a human,… aside from the physical differences. You two could have kids with no problems! Lots of them! I could tell you some other interesting differences between Rishan men and Human men!"
"Damian! Don't you dare!" Lexx seemed to get more irate with each word that was being spoken. Was Damian purposely trying to make things tense between Chel and he? That's all he needed, Chel with a deeper understanding of Rishan anatomy. It was unnecessary. "I mean it, Damian!"
Damian looked at Lexx, "I guess going into detail wouldn't be proper in front of a lady, but I'm sure she'd appreciate an explanation of why you look the way you do." Lexx was silent, glaring at Damian with an icy expression. He wouldn't say yes or no to that, but at least he wasn't going to go into detail.
Chel sat back down, accepting an offered cup from Damian. "Do you want to know, Chel?" He asked, pouring another glass for Lexx.
"Yes." She didn't hesitate, just because it seemed to irritate Lexx and she really was curious.
Lexx held up his hand without saying a thing to reject the offered drink from Damian. He was mad, very mad and being offered things while being angry from the source of that anger did not make him any happier.
"Couple hundred years ago, a group of slave traders thought they'd bypass Galactic Laws in a creative way." Damian unwrapped a small loaf of something and offered it to Chel to go with her drink. "You see, ownership of another sentient being is illegal, Chel. These traders set out to engineer a race of slaves,… because if you create something from things you own, then technically, you can own it. The law was perfect, because no-one has been able to create sentient life from scratch, at least at that time. You'll note that the dice are moderately sentient and we do own them, but while they are self aware they are incapable of caring for themselves any more than a pet. They're dependent.
Anyway, back to the Rishan, just thought I'd explain why it is that slavery's illegal, yet we have apparently sentient dice. These slavers abducted a large number of women from this planet, harvested their eggs and altered the eggs at the genetic level. I'm sure you know enough about your own genetics that just a mere altering at a somatic level would not do anything more than change the appearance of the one that was modified. It would not be passed on to future generations. By using eggs, they could make a race that could save them money in the manufacturing of more slaves in the future, they could be bred.
The final appearance is what Lexx looks like. The blue skin is standard, really an easy manipulation of pigment, hair ranges from white to black with shades of blue, eyes are brown to orange, although that trait seems to be changing in current generations. There are now blue and green eyed Rishan." Damian rambled on, obviously enjoying the opportunity to talk. "Really doesn't make a difference in how they see. Pointy ears, no idea why they gave them pointy ears and then there's the other really weird thing the slavers did to the males, not really sure why. It's suspected because they wanted to make them possible sex to-."
"DAMIAN!" Lexx interjected. "Do NOT go into that. That is unnecessary!" Lexx's livid tone worked, Damian didn't miss a beat in continuing with the story.
"Because the Rishan in their final appearance did not resemble any existing race and did not come from a planet, they were classified as a created slave race. After a generation had passed and the slavers were certain that the traits passed on perfectly, they began selling them for all manner of services. Mostly as servants to do things nobody else wanted to do. They were a status symbol in the beginning because they were rare, then, they were created by the thousands in ways that were very cruel. For the first several generations, no child was born naturally. All eggs were harvested for mass production. In the labs, they had complete control over the final appearance and fertile females were not available, only male Rishan were sold.
