I wake up surrounded by … glass?
My gaze wanders through the weird room I’m in. There is nothing around me but bare ground and dead plants. I can hear a constant hissing. Weird. I scratch my head.
Wait.
My eyes grow wide as I realize I’m not wearing my helmet anymore. I look down but the rest of my spacesuit is still there. Just my helmet vanished. I begin to panic. I can’t breathe this air for too long or I will die a horrible death, I will …
”I see you woke up”, a voice says through a speaker. ”Don’t freak out, please. The building you’re in is a greenhouse for genetically altered plants and I made sure it’s hermetically sealed before I pumped it full of CO2 and put you in. You’re safe.”
Behind the glass, I can see the man that found me. He’s talking through some sort of microphone. But how ...?
”You’re probably wondering how you’re able to understand me”, he seems to read my thoughts. ”I took the thing I assumed is your translator out of your helmet and hooked it up on my intercom. It’s a bit experimental but seems to work. Should work in both ways, if you want to try it out.”
He seems to wait for a response.
Groaning, I try to stand up, using the cold glass surface of the walls surrounding me as support. I seem to get used to this gravity, although it’s still exhausting me a lot.
I walk up to the thing the human called “intercom” and press the button located next to it.
”Thanks for saving me”, I say. ”I didn’t expect a human to be friendly.” The man looks almost offended.
”Humans can be bad, yes, but that’s no reason to assume we’re all assholes.”
”That’s not what I meant. I … I …” Fear lets me stutter. Angering this human would be stupid. I’m at its mercy. But to my endless relief, he chuckles.
”It’s alright”, he says. ”Maybe you’re right. Many people might have killed you on sight. I might have, a few decades ago. But I’ve changed since I live out here. It’s peaceful and I can commit myself to my studies.”
”You’re a scientist?” I’m surprised.
”Bit of this, bit of that”, he answers. ”Trying to find interesting ways to genetically manipulate our plants. Trying to find exciting stuff in the night sky. And, as it seems, saving alien visitors from death. How are you, by the way?”
I give myself a moment to think about that question. How am I? Exhausted, for once. Relieved that I’m not dead. Lonely, knowing my crew probably died a week ago. And …
”I’m hungry”, I realize. The rations on my ship had been used up three days ago. ”And incredibly thirsty.”
”I can imagine”, the man says. ”What does your kind eat? What can I get you? Can you drink water?”
”Yes, water is fine. But I think food will be a bit more complicated.”
”Why so?”
”Because”, I say with a pained expression, ”your planet has evolved a bit different than ours. While organisms on your planet use L-amino acids, my home prefers D-amino acids. The difference is not big, it’s only a small structural difference but …”
”But your body can’t work with L-amino acids?” The human correctly concludes. I nod.
”In fact, it makes me violently sick to ingest a bigger amount of the wrong amino acids. And I doubt you’ll find anything that has mainly the kind I need.”
”Don’t be so sure about that”, my host says. ”I told you, I like experimenting with plants. And it seems that some kind of luck god has chosen you, cause I might be the only person on earth that can help you.”
”What do you mean?”
Well, one day I asked myself: ´Rick, if you don’t create D-amino acid plants, who will?` So I went ahead and bred some. They are not that different from normal plants I guess.”
”Why would you even want to do this?” I wonder. ”You humans don’t even need D-amino acids, you’d have absolutely no use of those plants.”
”Well that’s not true. Some proteins in our body use them, just not that many. Now, just tell me one thing, do you have a problem with D-sugars too?”
”No, those are fine.”
”Great. Let me get you some food.”
References:
Hunting the elusive D-amino acid
D-amino acids in the central nervous system in health and disease
Chemistry, nutrition, and microbiology of D-amino acids
Picture taken from pixabay.com
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