Serix grinned mischievously at the human’s eccentric response to his ability. She hadn’t been expecting him to do [i]that[/i]. Her moment of fright amused him. He absently noticed that the rain was still pouring outside, along with the growls of the Storm. Strange. He didn’t feel his usual sense of anxiety when he was talking with the human. She was distracting him from his surroundings. It was an odd sensation to be so separated from the rest of the world, considering how he was always aware of what was going on around him in the past. Yet it wasn’t a sensation he found disconcerting. If anything, he felt more relaxed, leaning in that cushioned chair and having a laidback conversation.

[b]“Is that the only thing you can do,”[/b] the human asked. [b]“Or is there more?”[/b] She was smiling too. She seemed to enjoy learning about his species and all of their capabilities. He found her zeal to be infectious, and for a moment all of his worries seemed to vanish. He was no longer in any danger in the security of the human’s ship. It was wishful thinking, but he held onto the feeling for as long as he could.

“Is that a challenge?” Serix raised a brow. “I’ve already shown you so much. What more do you want from me?” Nevertheless, he decided to share some of his other telepathic abilities. His eyes took on their dilated shape again as he accessed her mind. It wasn’t difficult, since they were sitting in such close quarters. He had spent years training to reach into the minds of Lunairans that were far enough away that he couldn’t see the whites of their eyes.

However, the feeling he received from connecting with the human’s mind was somehow different. He couldn’t quite tell what it was. There wasn’t any interference, but it felt a bit off. Well, [i]‘off’[/i] wasn’t the right word either. He put the thought aside. There would be plenty of time to puzzle over it later.

[i]I’m going to show you a couple of images first,[/i] Serix thought to her. [i]Just to warm you up.[/i] He didn’t want to risk over stimulating her brain, so he decided to test how much outside intervention it handle. He imagined the first picture, carefully painting the details with his mind. It was a landscape portrait from one of his old books, back when he was studying the history of his home planet. The portrait was crafted to depict his planet, Lunair, before the land was poisoned. It was a beautiful picture that Serix could easily pull from his memory. Gently sloping hills dotted with colorful plants – ‘flowers,’ he corrected himself – stretched across the bottom of the portrait. A sheer, black cliff face protruded in the center of the hills, cut down the middle by a silvery waterfall that fell into a pool at its base. In the water of the little pond were distorted reflections of Lunair’s three, ringed moons.

[i]That was my home,[/i] Serix thought to the human. [i]Back when the land was healthy.[/i] He erased the image from his mind and focused on another one that was equally as vivid. It was the same portrait, except this time the land was barren and cracked. Unnatural, charcoal-purple plants clawed their way up from the ground, spreading their black tendrils over the gray dirt. The cliff face was crumbling at the edges and the waterfall was gone. The pool at the base had shrunk to a mere puddle of stagnant, dark green water. Its milky surface reflected nothing.

[i]This is what my home looks like now,[/i] Serix thought. [i]Everything died and was replaced with those toxic plants and water. I don’t know how it happened. We were never told what went wrong.[/i] He blinked and his eyes returned to normal. He wanted to give the human’s brain a break from the stimulation so he wouldn’t do any damage.

“It’s a sad sight,” Serix said aloud. “But what happened, happened. There’s nothing we can do but move forward.” He shrugged. “I only showed you those images to get a sense of your mental capacity. How are you feeling?” He leaned forward, searching her eyes for signs of glossiness or dilation.