“That I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this before, well, I have, twice now, but nothing like this-this.” he said. “Now stop wasting my time with silly questions and start asking the important ones. Like why they’re even here for a start!” he said. Then, after a beat, “go on, ask.”
Kaite tilted his head. "I was just about to ask that- Why are they here?" He paced up to the Doctor, looking up at him.
“No idea. But! I’m working on it. Damn, the phone isn’t working! Well, now I’ve just broadcasted my location to several hostile alien groups, better shut that off before anything bad happens.” he said, with absolutely no shame.
Kaite froze. "Wait- What?!" He yelped, nervously. "H-Hostile?!"
“Towards me specifically, don’t worry.” he said. “Well, and maybe to humans. It’ll be forever until they get here, and once they see I’ve bolted, because I will be gone by morning, believe me, they’ll leave. Except maybe… ah, they don’t matter, they were wiped out centuries ago.” he rambled.
Kaite's nerd side had kicked in. "What was wiped out??" He asked, slightly impatient to figure out.
“An ancient alien race, I really forget what the called themselves by. It doesn’t matter.” he said coldly.
Kaite. "Are you sure? And it seems that it matters to me, sir. You seem- uh- Dark, about it."
“I’ve given up on caring.” he said roughly. “Caring takes too much energy. Doing, now that, while energy-draining, is easier to deal with.”
Kaite wasn't good with motivation, but he paused. "I heard that caring means more work, which leads to succeeding." He points out, trying to help him.
“I’ve never met a single person who succeeded with caring, including myself.” he said gruffly. He genuinely didn’t care for this human’s antics. “Ya know, we are still here. And while I appreciate a good debate as much as anyone else, there are killer monsters outside the door right now and we have no way of escaping them unless we actually work towards it.” Jaws said.
Kaite glared toward him as well as another girl did.
The girl's name seemed to be Kate.
"Ah, shut up! If were all gonna die, I at least wanna see a bit of drama." She scowled at Jaws.
Kaite sighed, but nodded. "So, um… What do we do?"
“First, we find what we’re here for. One of us, me exempted, is an alien. Or has angered some aliens, by the looks of it.” the howling was getting louder.
“Why you exempted? You could easily be an alien too, you know. Or pissed one’a em off.” Angus said roughly.
“Well, I am, hello! But I’m almost certainly not the one they’re looking for, trust me. If they were looking for me, they’d have killed you all and had me in chains by now.” he said pessimisticly.
Kaite nodded. "Hm, okay. But why else would they be hunting you down?" He asked, leaning his head to the side.
“I don’t know which of you all they’re hunting, but I dearly hope it isn’t for a reason I’d find morally objectionable. Kaite, are you an alien? Tell me, honestly.”
Kaite paused. "Only if you mean I got illigaly into this country when I was 10-" He said, sighing with a snicker. "Don't worry, I'm legal now."
“Oh, good for you. I’m something of a traveller myself, and the legalities are also sketchy. But most laws are morally objectionable, so I rest my case. Besides, morality and ethics are also highly arbitrary so when it comes down to it, why think anyone to be illegal? We’re all people.” the Doctor rambled on as he stared out the window, trying to make sense of the whole thing.
Kaite sighed with relief. "Okay, but who else could be a alien, sir?"
“Hmm.” the Doctor turned to Angus. The man was picking some earwax out of his ear with a meaty finger, scratching his auburn beard with the other hand. “Not you. Not Kaite. That leaves, uh, Carrie… Callie, no, it’s Callie, Jaws, Kate, and Nari.” he said, pointing to each in turn.
Kaite nodded. "Okay." He muttered. "But how could they be aliens?"
“Well, nobody’s interested in humans, now are they? I mean, I am, but because you’re endearing. Like small dogs.” he said.
"Small dogs-" Kaite was slightly offended, but shook it off with a huff. "Good point.." He muttered, now thinking of another question to ask.
“Never mind all that. I can practically smell the perception filter from here. But because the room is so crowded, we’ll never know who it is without figuring it out through deductive reasoning skills. So, who is our alien impostor, hmm?” he asked.
Kaite looked at the people, as a man was nervously fidgeting. "What about you, sir?"
Callie looked up when he was addressed. He coughed a little, and signed ’Not me.’ while gesturing around the place vaguely.
Kaite leaned a bit close, to see. He was, curious, after all. "Are you sure, sir?" He asked, tilting his head.
’Of course.’ they signed, glaring at the other man. “I see. Well, we’ll figure whoever it is out eventually.” the Doctor said, moving to examine Nari’s eye. The woman slapped him away, growling at him a little.
(Also: Re-reading SotS for the hell of it and this line: ‘No,’ he called, his accent indicating the kind of classical education that one only got in the better schools in the southern spiral arm of the Milky Way which just goes to show that accents tell lies, this line killed me.)
(Oh-)
Kaite paused. "Did- pronouns- Sorry!" He squeaked, before awkwardly leaning his head low. "Who could it be?"
‘He/they.’ Callie signed. ’You’re fine’