Master Twii was taking a class on programming, taking time away from the Dojo, on a station when a lifepod, or what was left of it, docked heavily. The smoking maw of the airlock opening up to disgorge disheveled, frightened, and wounded kids, the accident had killed the very few adults that had been there. The most scared of the kids hid behind the first adult human they saw, never having seen any other species before.
From this prompt - @internutter/challenge-03101-h193-knowledge-versus-wisdom -- Anon Guest
"In teaching, one learns the most. If you do it right." -- Master Twii.
The Master was about to regret their own words, they were sure. That certainty hadn't come to mind when the alert sounded. The Station's debris defense system had picked up a damaged lifepod, and it was all hands on deck. Nobody could have known that it was stuffed with children. And one dead adult.
They for sure knew five seconds after they prised it open. When some scared and tiny Humans burst out, coughing and spluttering. They took one look at the rescue party and nearly fled back inside. Until they saw Twii.
A wordless shriek, and Twii had a very small Human wrapped around their legs. Crying and wailing. Twii scooped the poor frightened scrap into their arms and tried to find a language the group of survivors could understand.
There were advantages to constantly learning things. They yawped understanding when the Master hit an ancient variant of Tagalog. They were from a long-haul colony ship, which had foundered. As such ships often did.
Ancient Humans in the Shattering-Era past were a nefarious lot. Selling the predecessors to these kids a dream of a distant world, on a budget. The ships were never designed for multiple millennia of travel, even at CTL velocities[1]. They broke down, they landed on the wrong planets, and very often, they killed nearly all those aboard.
Even this lifepod was not up to the standards of Shattering-Era Earth. It was a minor miracle that this one had made it to a civilised area with survivors aboard.
Once again, Master Twii wished for a time machine and a baseball bat.
Since Twii was the only near-Human, and the only one who spoke their language, it was up to them to provide for the gaps in the kids' collective understanding.
Powers help them all, none of these kids were over eight.
An urgent APB went out towards all ships along the approach vector of the lifepod, but the hope was thin that there was anyone else. The kids were bordering on starvation, dehydration, and rad exposure, but they were terrified of everything without Twii's guidance.
Becoming a sudden parent to eleven kids in urgent need of medical attention was quite a thing. Twii very seriously let the kids watch as a trainee Medik mimed their way through all the necessary treatments. Which included a bowl of flavoured Nutri-food and a sweet treat they could recognise.
It was amazing how motivating a sweetie could be. In this case, a cake resembling biko with the addition of the purple ube yam paste. They weren't at the stage of forgetting all their troubles, but getting gloriously sticky never hurt.
They wanted to dance in the private cleansing booths in groups and -hey- they were very small and far from everything they knew. Twii could educate them on manners later and program the booth to ignore multiple occupants in the meantime.
The world looked a lot better following a decent meal and clean clothes. This also gave the station crew more than enough time to alter Twii's habitat.
The kids did not like sleeping niches. They preferred mattresses on the floor and, if it was cool enough, quilts to burrow under. They tended to sleep in tangles, regardless. Therefore, sleeping accommodations for the interim was an entire floor of mattress and quilts to suit.
They may well be the only survivors of their civilisation, so Twii had to learn as much about it as possible while they still remembered it. Which included the 'murgency drill' that had saved their lives.
The people in the long-haul colony vessel likely suspected they wouldn't make it, so had a monthly drill added to their calendar rituals. One adult in the pod, and as many kids as they could cram in. And from there? Hope for the best.
Some of them could read and write, and all of them found great amusement in teaching Twii how to write Tagalog. "I am always glad to learn," he told them. "Discovery is fun for me."
Kids do not bounce back quickly, no matter what some alleged experts say. They adapt quickly. The rules of the universe surrounding them are new and confusing at every turn, so they change according to what they learn.
All eleven tiny survivors grew used to nonhumans talking to them, interacting with them, and helping them through their traumas. They would never get used to having their world as they knew it fall apart.
Twii had to wonder how well they might have coped in their situation.
[1] CTL - Close To Light. Similar to Faster Than Light, but not nearly as difficult to achieve.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / Baloncici]
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