Oh, of course ZEX wouldn't know of them! "Yes, another intelligent species-- and they did know the Ur-Quan, a long time ago, even before the Dnyarri. They, ah, live on a gas giant, actually-- planet-bound, and... they're really interesting. And interested in everything else, since their world is nothing but clouds." Zelnick grinned a bit ruefully. "If you ever had a red-and-white crystalline probe attack one of your ships after declaring peace, that was one of theirs-- they bought the things from the Melnorme, using the credits they earned by letting the Melnorme study them-- Sullen Plummet messed up the programming, y'see, so after gathering information on whatever it was talking to, it would try to use the object-- or ship-- as raw material for replication. Complete accident, they were horrified at what they'd done." He realized he was babbling a bit and subsided. "Nice guys. You'd probably like them."
Listening to ZEX's recounting, Zelnick's expression grew dark. "That's horrible," he said, rather forcefully. "Not everyone should fit into whatever mould is considered the norm." He wouldn't argue that ZEX's tastes were bizarre (to say the least), but if the guy was happy like that-- well, actually, he did have an objection to the kidnapping thing, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. "Our therapists-- they're supposed to help by, by keeping people functional, and help people who are actually ill, not... not by shaping people into things they're not." His voice was actually shaking in anger, he realized, and he took a few breaths to calm down. "If everyone's the same, where does change come from? Or is stagnation and rotting approved of?"
Shaking his head forcefully, as if to cast hire ire at VUX society aside, Zelnick pulled ZEX's tray over in front of him. "It's corn-on-the-cob. It's, um, unique-- the center is hard, and you can get at the kernals by picking it up and scraping them off with your teeth--" which Zelnick bet ZEX would mess up, "-- or by cutting them off the sides with a knife and picking them up with your fork." That said, he took his (frustratingly blunt) knife and scraped the corn into a pile before sliding it back. "Here, try now." He forced a smile past his slowly-cooling anger.
I can think of a few who... appreciate... ZEX~
Listening to ZEX's recounting, Zelnick's expression grew dark. "That's horrible," he said, rather forcefully. "Not everyone should fit into whatever mould is considered the norm." He wouldn't argue that ZEX's tastes were bizarre (to say the least), but if the guy was happy like that-- well, actually, he did have an objection to the kidnapping thing, but that was neither here nor there at the moment. "Our therapists-- they're supposed to help by, by keeping people functional, and help people who are actually ill, not... not by shaping people into things they're not." His voice was actually shaking in anger, he realized, and he took a few breaths to calm down. "If everyone's the same, where does change come from? Or is stagnation and rotting approved of?"
Shaking his head forcefully, as if to cast hire ire at VUX society aside, Zelnick pulled ZEX's tray over in front of him. "It's corn-on-the-cob. It's, um, unique-- the center is hard, and you can get at the kernals by picking it up and scraping them off with your teeth--" which Zelnick bet ZEX would mess up, "-- or by cutting them off the sides with a knife and picking them up with your fork." That said, he took his (frustratingly blunt) knife and scraped the corn into a pile before sliding it back. "Here, try now." He forced a smile past his slowly-cooling anger.