The next morning, Nisha once again awoke to the sound of crunching sand. Nisha turned over to Rachel who began to stir.

“Rachel, Bok’s here,” she whispered.

Nisha put on some clothes and walked outside, squinting into the morning light. Bok stood stiffly erect and looked out at the colony as the first rays of the sun reflected off the towers. Over 1,800 towers stood at least 6,000 feet tall with more than 100 being built every day by uncountable numbers of drones.

Nisha walked over to Bok and admired the colony with him.

“I admit your colony is a beautiful sight. It’s an enormous work of art.”

“Humans and Omanji appear to think the same way on the concept of art,” Bok said. “What’s considered beautiful might be different between our species. However, our concepts of beauty are similar. We both have difficulty defining art.”

Rachel walked outside the tent and joined in on the conversation.

“I can’t define the word art. I can read the definitions, but every person has a different definition. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say, ‘that isn’t art’, as they walked around in an exhibit. As I get older, my definition of art is no clearer than in my younger days. However, the design of this colony is art.”

“Good,” Bok said. “We agree the colony is art. We’ve always enjoyed art, especially art we can live in. Ever since we designed builder drones, we’ve been able to construct most things we want.”

“How many drones are building the colony?” Nisha said.

“About 3 trillion right now, I think. More are being built.”

“Who designed this colony?” Rachel said.

“Our group of Esteemed Elders voted from among 100 potential macro designs. We employ many architects who design the smaller elements of each building and hardscape element. All these elements are entered into the master design. Each drone takes a small part of the master design and constructs its portion in the order desired. These drones are skilled, but they aren’t autonomous. They appear free to do what they want due to their complex motions. However, they only execute the master plan. Thousands of years ago we learned what happens when you turn loose autonomous robots. They destroy worlds.”

“I remember you telling us that story in your history and with that other alien planet that was destroyed. I’m broadcasting this to the world, so I hope people listen,” Nisha said.

“Don’t worry,” Bok said. “We won’t let humans build autonomous robots. They’re too dangerous. We didn’t want to move to the planet that was destroyed by them.”

Nisha and Rachel glanced at each other with raised eyebrows.

“They won’t let us build the AI robots? I guess that’s a good thing, right?” Nisha said.

“I guess so,” Rachel said. “Do Omanji pursue careers like humans?”

“Please elaborate,” Bok said.

“For example, I earned a PHD in Genetic Biology. I spent a total of 8 years of education after high school to get my degree. I was 26 when I started my career. I plan on staying in this career until I retire when I’m 75, which is at the top end of the standard age for human retirement. However, the Omanji enjoy long lifespans and high IQ’s. So how do careers happen? How long do they last?”

Bok thought about this question for several seconds.

“Since we live to be over 400 earth years old, we can undertake multiple careers in the human sense of the word. For example, I enjoy the study of off-Oma life, cultures, and technologies. I plan on specializing in that for my first career.”

“Like me. So Omanji pursue many careers?” Nisha said.

“Yes, I’ll work in many careers. There’s a lot of information to be learned before one can be considered an expert by the Omanji Esteemed Elders. After my maturity, which is the equivalent of finishing your high school, I’ll study general topics for 10 years. That’s like your undergraduate university track. Afterwards, I’ll choose my specialty. I’ll study that for another 12 years. Afterwards, I’ll be given permission to apply my knowledge in an apprenticeship for about 10 years. I’ll be 62 and I’ll be able to work in my specialty until I’m 300. Of course, after about 80 years I may want to pursue other specialties and I can if I want. I’m free to choose.”

Nisha glanced at Rachel in astonishment.

“He’ll be 62 before starting his career. And he learns faster than we do.”

Rachel glanced over at Bok.

“By 62 we’re getting ready for retirement. Are you guys a bunch of workaholics?”

Bok paused for a prolonged period. Nisha and Rachel could tell Bok had trouble answering the question.

“The term ‘workaholic’ implies a problematic societal dysfunction,” Bok said. “We enjoy discovering the mysteries of science. Endless discoveries await us. You may think we’re advanced, but we realize our knowledge is still limited. We’re a species of extreme specialization. With 80 billion of us, we all benefit from the deep knowledge of all others. That’s how we accomplish so much and why we can move all of us over 20 light years to Earth in less than one human lifetime. We see humans beginning this process of specialization. This effect is amplified with greater population and higher intelligence. Your human society benefits from a small number of very smart individuals.”

Nisha nodded her head.

“Yes, specialization accelerates improvement in the lives of all, except for mass extinction.”

“Yes,” Bok said. “Also, it saves the planetary environment. Most of us will live in this colony, which is located near the best materials for building our colony. We also built the colony here in this desert to avoid disturbing human and animal life. We wish to affect the ecosystem of this planet as little as possible.”

“That’s good of you Bok,” Nisha said. “Can we take a blood sample from you? We wish to understand your species better. We promise not to do anything to you, and we won’t use the knowledge to hurt you.”

“That would be fine,” Bok said. “We aren’t worried about humans. Give me your device and I’ll take a sample.”

Bok examined the needle closely, running his scanner over it.

“It’s simple. However, don’t be embarrassed by this primitive needle-based device. We still use them, as you noticed from the little drones which took human blood samples a couple of weeks ago.”

He inserted the needle into a vibrant green colored patch of skin near the center of his chest. Only moments before, the skin was colored a vivid blue. The blood appeared deeply dark red in color, like human blood.

Rachel watched the blood drain into the vacuum collection tube.

“I’m not sure what I expected, but I thought their blood would be a lot different than human blood.”

“Why?” Bok said. “We rely on oxygen, as most animals do on Earth. You’ll find that Omanji blood is like your blood.”

“I don’t know what to think,” Rachel said.

“The unknown is difficult to imagine,” Nisha said. “I try not to assume life outside of Earth is like life on Earth. We only recently discovered simple unicellular fossils on Mars. Every bit of added information is a surprise to us.”

“There’s more,” Bok said. “There are two bodies in your stellar system with life besides Mars. I can’t tell you which bodies.”

Rachel took the blood sample down to the immunology analysis tent.

“Bok, can I visit Priya again?” Nisha said.

Bok paused for a few seconds, which to Nisha seemed like an eternity. She tried to appear patient.

“Nisha today is domestication testing day for the humans. We want to determine whether the implants are working correctly and if the enhanced intellectual abilities are beginning to manifest themselves. We always had trouble with the Yoots. Some make good pets and others don’t, so we want to closely monitor the humans since they’re a new species with unique issues.”

Nisha felt heartbroken, but she acted upbeat. She was determined to do whatever it took to get her baby back.

“Okay, can we visit with her tomorrow?”

Bok paused again, for a shorter time.

“Yes, tomorrow or the next day depending on what we find.”

“Can we visit the Yoots afterwards?”

Once again, Bok paused as if in a trance.

“We can visit them today.”

Rachel returned from the immunology analysis tent.

“What’s happening?” she said.

“We’re going to visit the Yoots today.” Nisha said, masking her disappointment.

She knew she should be grateful. Three weeks ago, she would have given anything to observe a species from another planet.

“How exciting, when do we go?” Rachel said.

“We can go as soon as we eat breakfast.”

They ate quickly, while Bok walked around making everyone in the mess tent uncomfortable, despite his friendly display of flickering blue and orange skin. He was nearly fully grown and now taller than Nisha by a foot. He appeared more muscular than a body builder. The stronger gravity on Oma required strong muscles for locomotion. His tail withered as the age of maturity, and the age of decision, approached. Soon they drove to the edge of the colony and entered the closest transit cube through its liquid rippling exterior.

Nisha leaned back as the invisible field seating interrupted her fall.

“I could get used to this.” she said. “So, Bok, tell me more about the Yoots. I know they’re five feet tall, blue, and furry. They used to live in the forest and were slaves and now are pets. I also remember you communicate with them via hand signals because their neural network won’t support implants.”

“That’s correct,” Bok said. “Yoot neurons don’t grow around implants as well as Omanji and human neurons. A new subspecies of Yoot is being developed that will be better adapted to implants. For now, we use what you would call hand sign language to communicate with them. They understand basic commands, like your domesticated dogs. They’re at least as intelligent as dogs. You’ll enjoy them.”

Nisha and Rachel glanced at each other in anticipation.

“I’m excited to visit them.” Rachel said.

The transport cube came to a stop in front of a beautiful twisting cylindrical tower, the top of which couldn’t be seen.

“We’ve arrived,” Bok said. “We’re domesticating some Yoots on level 429 in this tower. Follow me.”

Nisha signed off her live broadcast since there’s no reception inside of the towers. She continued recording for broadcast later. They walked into the tower and gazed up at its hollow and well-lit interior, which seemed to stretch to infinity.

“Follow me,” Bok said. “This lift cube will take us to level 429.”

They accelerated. If it weren’t for the field seating, Nisha and Rachel wouldn’t have been able to stand up against the strong G-force. As they approached level 400, they decelerated and were weightless for the next 25 levels. After that, they experienced normal gravity.

“Follow me,” Bok said

They passed numerous hallways filled with strange images on the walls. Some moved in 3 dimensions.

“Are these pictures of Oma?” Rachel said.

“Yes,” Bok said. “We’re encouraged to place images and other artwork on our walls to remind us of Oma and our travels to other planets. For example, that image on the wall is from the planet you identify as Gliese 667 C f, the nearest planet to Oma orbiting our star Pfeex.”

“It looks familiar,” Rachel said.

“As you can see, it’s a desert planet like your Mars, only it’s larger than Earth. A few primitive life forms struggle to survive there. We enjoy traveling to the equatorial regions which are like the polar regions of Oma. The equator is a warm area with some water and native life. The habitable area is in a large canyon, too small for all of us to move there. Also, the atmosphere hurts our lungs though we might survive there with some genetic modifications. Each habitable planet is unique. Therefore, a habitable planet that’s hospitable to one planet’s species is rarely hospitable for another planet’s species. For example, Earth is habitable to us, but barely hospitable for us. Every planet we’ve examined has properties which are incompatible with our biology. Humans will discover the same difficulties when they venture away from Earth. Only Earth is naturally compatible to Humans. We have compatibility problems with Earth. The gravity is too weak, the sunlight is too strong, the days are too short, and the atmosphere contains too much Oxygen. It’s still the best planet we’ve found for us, though there is another one about 40 light years from here which may be better. And it’s further from species AI1. We’re considering genetic engineering to help us adapt to Earth’s slightly inhospitable conditions.”

“Would you say most planets that develop simple life never develop intelligent life?” Nisha asked as they walked towards a large room.

“Yes,” Bok said. “From what we can tell, far less than one in a thousand planets with life forms eventually produce intelligent life. Simple life is common on habitable planets, but usually something happens along the way to stop higher life from evolving. Events such as large object impacts, volcanism, large aggressive animals preventing smaller smarter ones from evolving, or many other reasons may stop evolution. Even if intelligent life evolves, higher life can extinguish itself by accident. Eventually humans will enter the second dangerous phase in addition to powerful weaponry use, where machines or chain reactions might end everything. Even if you are aware of the danger, an artificially generated extinction event will happen in your future. We won’t allow that to happen. You should be glad we’re here.”

Nisha glanced at Rachel and raised a skeptical eyebrow. Rachel smiled back. They continued walking and entered an enormous room at least the size of the one used to domesticate the humans.

“This is one of 20 locations where we domesticate Yoots. About 50,000 Yoots are being processed in these locations. The Yoots we’re domesticating now were chosen from wild colonies immediately before we left. We left them alone in their family groups on the trip to Earth. They aren’t as tame as the genetic lines which we’ve domesticated for thousands of years. We love the Yoots we own, but we’re hoping to breed and genetically create a better line of Yoots for the future. However, we’ve been having difficulty with this group. They’re resisting domestication in a way like humans. I think it’s because they are wild. I’ve been told we can see one in this room over here.”

They walked into the room. The Yoot sat human-like in a barely visible field chair. The Yoot spotted Nisha and Rachel and ran behind Bok as if it were afraid, peeking out at them from behind Bok’s muscular physique.

“This is not what I expected,” Nisha said to Rachel. “I had this vision of the Ewoks from the old Star Wars movies.”

“Me too,” Rachel said. “Bok called them furry creatures of the forest, so I expected Ewoks too, but he or she—”

“It’s a female of the species,” Bok said.

“Okay, but she looks like a small bluish Omanji.”

Bok turned slightly red for a moment.

“Oops, sorry Bok,” Rachel said. “We humans bear many resemblances to monkeys and other animals, so don’t feel bad.”

“Rachel is right,” Nisha said as the red faded from Bok’s skin.

They silently studied the Yoot, and she looked back at them.

“She’s smaller than me, and so cute.” Nisha said. “She has those independently moving, chameleon-like eyes and the six opposable fingers and toes. They’re like the Omanji in that way. And they differ in some ways. They have short blue fur and this one doesn’t seem to flash colors.”

“She’s shy,” Rachel whispered. “I love the little wiggly nose and the deepest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. I understand why the Omanji like them as pets. They’re as cute as can be. I like how she peeks out from behind Bok’s back. She’s adorable.”

“According to the trainers, she’s also a lot of trouble,” Bok said.

Nisha smiled at the Yoot and glanced at Bok.

“We’ll take her.”

Bok went silent for a long time.

“What’s he doing?” Rachel said.

“I don’t know,”

Bok came out of his telepathic trance.

“You can have her.”

Nisha and Rachel glanced at each other and laughed.

“Congratulations, you’ve told your first joke. That’s a good one Bok.” Nisha said.

“I don’t understand human humor. However, I stated a fact. You can have her.”

“We can take her with us right now?” Nisha said.

“Yes, you can,” Bok said. “They tell me she is not trainable.”

Rachel squinted.

“When?” she said.

“You can take her to your tent as soon as I teach you how to care for her. She has been made compatible with human diseases and she has been cleaned of all microbes dangerous to Earth species.”

“I’m not sure how you can do that, but I’ll take your word for it,” Rachel said. “We haven’t been sick since we met you. I noticed new microbes in my system according to a test I took yesterday. However, I’m fine. The microbes will die or adapt in several days. The Earth’s micro biome will never be the same.”

“Okay, what do we need to learn to take care of her?” Nisha said.

“I’m sending you a list of Earth foods she can eat. The Yoots are mostly vegetarians. They also eat insect-like creatures on Oma. They sometimes need protein, like omnivorous animals on Earth. Many proteins found in Earth food sources are like those on Oma. The rest will be ignored by her digestive process. She will experience some initial gastrointestinal difficulties, but she’ll adjust. We’ll give you this food replicator to feed her. You’ll have to adapt the replicator to earth power sources. We use direct electrical current unlike many human power systems. Next you need to get used to caring for her and you need to gain her trust.”

Nisha knelt to appear less threatening to the Yoot. She turned to Bok.

“What’s her name?”

Bok fell silent again.

“Her name is Yoova. She is 24 years old and not genetically modified. Their life span is 120-140 Earth years. Therefore, she’s equivalent to a 15-year-old human. The life span of my Omanji ancestors before we modified ourselves was approximately 120 years. Medical care increased it from 60 years in the wild.”

Nisha moved a little closer and pointed to herself.

“Yoova, my name is Nisha.”

Yoova peeked around Bok to examine Nisha more closely. She didn’t say anything audibly.

“You will need to learn Omanji sign language to speak with them,” Bok said. “They’re primitive but they understand basic sign language commands.”

“It’s okay,” Nisha said. “I understand they used to speak an audible language. I’ll try that first. Also, I only have five fingers, so I can’t use your hand signals.”

Nisha turned to Yoova and pointed to herself.

“Yoova, my name is Nisha,” she repeated.

Yoova’s independently moving blue eyes focused on Nisha. Nisha glanced over at Rachel.

“I felt a chill go down my spine.”

She turned back to Yoova.

“Yoova, I’m Nisha.”

Yoova focused on Nisha, scanning her from head to toe and back to her head again. Her eyes moved like the Omanji. She pointed at herself with three of her six fingers and a sound came out of her mouth which sounded like “Yooooovaaaa.”

She pointed at Nisha and said, “Neeeeshaaa.”

Her tiny voice sounded like a clarinet.

Nisha raised an eyebrow. She turned to Bok.

“You told me the Yoots were primitive.”

“That’s what I’ve been taught,” Bok said. “They learn a few hand signs for some basic commands, and they don’t communicate much. We’ve been taught that they don’t speak a complex audible language. They live primitive lives, much like the lesser animals. We discourage audible speech, but this is a wild specimen.”

“Well Bok,” Nisha said. “Yoova appears to know how to identify individuals with spoken language. She’s alert. She wasn’t alert when we walked into the room. I noticed none of the other Yoots looked alert. Maybe they don’t want to do sign language and they’re more advanced than the elders admit.”

“That’s possible. However, from what I understand, they’re only cute animals which are perfect for pets. My family doesn’t have a Yoot, so I have no expertise with them. Also, these wild Yoots aren’t modified or domesticated. The captive Yoots are modified and tame.”

Nisha stared intensely at Bok.

“You told me that the Omanji wouldn’t own an intelligent species as a pet?”

“We can keep intelligent animals as pets if we enjoy them and if they aren’t as intelligent as us. Some of us believe intelligent species don’t make good pets. If these wild Yoots are intelligent, the elders made a mistake with the Yoots and the humans. That’s especially true since they made the humans smarter. We’ve always been taught that the Yoots weren’t intelligent in the same way we are. We’ve been breeding Yoots for over 500 generations, to make them passive and good companions. Perhaps these wild Yoots aren’t good for pets. We’ll see. This situation is like humans being able to have dogs as pets, but not usually wild foxes.”

“Bok, you’re experimenting with life forms before doing your research,” Rachel said. “This is un-Omanji-like. Don’t you think?”

Nisha nodded her head.

“Yes. If what you’re doing is not appropriate by your own rules, you should let them go.”

Yoova listened while this philosophical debate went on.

“Bok, Yoova seems to be listening to what we’re saying.”

“That might be, but I’ve noticed dogs watch their human masters with equal curiosity. I’ll accept your points about the humans though. As I get to know you better, I’m having second thoughts about having human pets. I’ll investigate this more closely.”

Yoova moved closer to Nisha and Rachel. She sniffed them cautiously, retreating from time to time back behind Bok. Over a one-hour period, and with a lot of talking, Yoova became comfortable with Nisha and Rachel. Nisha brought Yoova over to the window and pointed out things which were interesting. Yoova watched with sentient eyes.

“Okay Bok,” Nisha said. “I think we can take her now. This seems way too quick and easy.”

They walked out the door and down the hallway to the lift cubes, talking casually to make Yoova comfortable. As the cube descended, Yoova became nervous, and held Nisha’s hand.

“Her hand has the texture of cat’s paw, but with no claws and more dexterous fingers. Our hands aren’t compatible for holding. I can only hold three fingers at a time, or I can hold the entire hand without interlocking the fingers. Her hands are more dexterous than human hands. Her three thumbs and three fingers are like the Omanji.”

They walked out of the tower, emerging as though the tower gave birth to them through a liquid crystal membrane. Nisha turned on her live broadcast as they walked to the transport cube, which transported them to the edge of the colony.

“Hello everyone, we’ve exited the tower after visiting the Yoots. I brought back a surprise,” Nisha said to her video audience.

Nisha turned the camera towards Yoova.

“Her name is Yoova. She is a Yoot, which is a species the Omanji keep as pets. Isn’t she the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen? She’s a wild and unmodified Yoot from the southern continent of Oma. The Yoots the Omanji keep as pets have been domesticated for several hundred generations. We’ll take care of her, and we’ll learn all about her. I’ll broadcast live as often as I can, so keep watching.”

Bok had to return to his studies, which he’d been avoiding. They exited the transport cube without him and returned to their tent.

“So, what should we do now?” Rachel said. “It’s dinner time and we have a new child to take care of.”

Nisha smiled.

“I’m glad you called her a child. She’s young, but she seems more self-aware than any animal I’ve seen.”

“You’re right. Notice how she pays attention when you speak?”

Yoova gazed up at Rachel. Her small voice pronounced a squeaky version of, “Rachel.”

“Oh, my,” Nisha said, looking at Yoova.

“I know.” Rachel said. She looked back at her and said, “Yoova!”

Yoova unlocked her hand from Nisha and walked over to Rachel.

“Rachel,” Yoova said once more.

She touched Rachel’s face, paying close attention to every detail with her, piercing blue eyes.

“I can’t believe it.” Rachel whispered, trying not to startle Yoova. “It’s hard to describe how she’s touching me. There’s an electrical current in her hands. It’s subtle, but the current radiates up my arms and down my spinal cord.”

“Yook noob woopma,” Yoova said as she gazed at Nisha while stroking Rachel’s face.

Nisha opened her eyes wide.

“She has a language! Bok didn’t mention this. Perhaps he didn’t know. The elders hide information from the younger ones, or at least they decide to not disclose it. Just like humans.”

Rachel turned to Yoova and parroted back, “Yook noob woopma.”

Yoova’s eyes and three nostrils dilated.

I felt a rush of electricity,” Rachel said. “I didn’t feel an electrical shock. I felt a smooth and soothing current. I like it.”

“I think there’s more to the Yoots than meets Bok’s eye,” Nisha said. “We need to give Yoova some intelligence tests ASAP.”

“Okay but first let’s eat lunch,” Rachel said.

Nisha walked with Yoova, hand partially in hand into the mess tent with Rachel. Everyone buzzed with excitement. She brought some of Yoova’s food with her, so they chose their own food and walked out to their favorite picnic table with a view of the colony. Yoova didn’t have a tail. She sat like a human at the table. She glanced at the colony and looked away, holding onto Nisha with both arms.

Nisha understood a child’s fear. She stroked Yoova’s short blue fur and looked into her eyes.

“Yoova, you’re safe now.”

Nisha felt a surge of soft electricity flow into her from Yoova’s hands and turned to Rachel.

“This is intoxicating.”

“I know,” Rachel said. “I’ve never been a drug user, but I’ve drunk wine and this experience does resemble being drunk a little. I think I’m starting to understand why the Omanji like Yoots as pets. They must get some mind-altering effect from them. We need to get her to eat. Bok told us to feed her every 10 hours, day, or night. Since a day on Oma is 20 of our Earth days, there’s no circadian rhythm to sync our schedule to hers. We’ll figure out what to do about that.”

Nisha picked up a food container Bok had given her earlier. The crunchy pellets looked like large grains of rice. She scooped some out and placed the food on a plate for Yoova. She looked down and seemed interested, but she wouldn’t use the fork or her hands.

“Rachel, can you get those chopsticks from the other table?”

Rachel brought over several pair and placed them on the table.

Yoova turned to them and said, “Weeba,” in her little clarinet voice.

She took a pair of chopsticks out of the paper holder, inspected them with her chameleon like eyes, and broke two of them open. She took a second pair and split them apart. Then, she placed two chopsticks between the three fingers on the left side of her left hand. She placed another two chopsticks between the other three fingers on her left hand and picked up some food pellets.

“She’s eating with four chopsticks at the same time.” Nisha said. “My hand with its single thumb looks clumsy in comparison.”

“Yeah, her fingers are nimble,” Rachel said. “With three fingers opposing three other fingers, I guess they have more flexibility of movement. Using four chopsticks is better than two.”

They watched as Yoova adeptly enjoyed her lunch. She kept looking up at Nisha and Rachel with gratitude. When they were finished, the three of them walked back to the tent.

“Her feet are like her hands,” Rachel said. “They’re similar to the Omanji in—”

Yoova looked out at the colony and hid behind Nisha in fear.

Nisha looked down at Yoova and said, “Omanji?”

Yoova held tightly onto Nisha’s hand. Her tiny pointy fingernails dug in. Nisha glanced at Rachel.

“She’s afraid of the Omanji. Let’s go.”

They got up and walked into the tent.

“We need to find out who we’re dealing with. Let’s do the mirror test,” Nisha said.

“Good idea,” Rachel said.

She took a mirror, as developmental psychologists informally did with human babies and showed Yoova her reflection. Yoova took the handle with her dexterous hands. Yoova looked into the mirror and combed her fingers through her hair. Nisha placed a dot of rouge under one eye. Yoova noticed the mark and meticulously cleaned it off, making funny little noises.

“She’s more self-aware than most chimpanzees or human babies,” Nisha said. “What else can we do to test Yoova? Giving her human tests is unfair, but let’s find out if we can invent our own way of learning about Yoova without calling the process an intelligence test.”

Nisha pulled out her 16-inch iPad device, which was rolled up in her pocket. She placed the device on the viewing stand on the table and sat down next to Yoova.

“She’s interested in what you’re doing. I wonder if she knows numbers and can write them,” Rachel said. “She may be capable of communicating with a written language.”

“Let’s find out,” Nisha said as she drew one dot with her finger in the upper left side of the screen.

To the right of the one dot, she placed two dots next to each other. After that, she drew three dots and four dots and so on until she got to 10 dots. She wrote the numbers 1 through 10 under the groups of dots.

“I wonder if she can draw her numeric symbols under my numbers.”

They watched as Yoova drew a symbol which looked like \ under the single dot and Nisha’s number 1. Under the 2, she drew \\. Under the three she drew \\\.

Rachel glanced at Nisha.

“I’m not surprised.”

“Me too,” Nisha said. “There’s more to the Yoots than we were led to believe.”

Yoova glanced at Nisha, as if needing approval.

“Yes. Yes good.” Nisha said.

Yoova looked back and continued writing under Nisha’s 4, 5 and 6. Yoova drew /, //, and ///.

“That’s odd,” Rachel said. “Why would she repeat one, two and three again?”

Silence.

“Oh. This mimics six fingers on each hand in two sets of three. It’s like counting on their hands which have fingers like \\\ ///.”

Yoova continued writing her numbers 7, 8, 9, and 10. She wrote \,\\,\\\,/ but thicker and bolder. She continued writing two remaining symbols, // and /// again darker and bolder than the first six numbers. She stopped and gazed at Nisha and Rachel as she wiggled her nose.

They were silent for a few seconds.

“Ah that refers to the other hand. They use base-12 for their numeric system.” Rachel said.

“That makes sense,” Nisha said. “We have five fingers on two hands and we use base 10. They have six fingers. In mathematical terms, base-10 has no advantage over base-12. In fact, base-12 might be easier because the number 12 is divisible by more numbers.”

They both examined Yoova’s writing.

“Rachel, there’s something wrong. I had the impression the Yoots are simply furry creatures of the forest, but Yoova is intelligent.”

Yoova nudged over to Nisha and ran the tip of her long nose up and down Nisha’s bare arm.

“She’s affectionate too.” Rachel said as she smiled. “Let’s find out what else she can do. I’ll get that pad of paper and pencil over there.”

Rachel placed the pad and paper next to Yoova with no explanation and waited to see what happened. Yoova gazed at Nisha and Rachel. She picked up the pencil with three fingers on each side of the pencil. She huddled up against Nisha and studied Rachel across the table, moving each eye across Rachel’s face and body. She did this for a long time.

“What do you think she’s doing?” Rachel said.

Nisha watched Yoova as she studied Rachel.

“I don’t know but she’s focused on you.”

Yoova rubbed the pencil on the bottom of the paper as if to sharpen the point. She gave Rachel one last glance and began to draw. At first, they couldn’t tell what she was drawing. Yoova kept her head down. She rubbed the side of the pencil, shading the outline of a face.

“I think she’s drawing you,” Nisha said.

“What? I’m a little too far away to see.”

“She’s drawing your face. Those are your eyes,” Nisha said. “Your nose looks realistic.”

They watched as Yoova rendered Rachel’s face with photographic quality. Within 5 minutes, she finished drawing and pushed the paper across the table to Rachel.

She gazed in awe at the fine work of art.

“Thank you Yoova.”

“Weebo,” Yoova said in her little clarinet voice.

“Hmm,” Nisha said. “Weeba means thank you and weebo means you’re welcome. Maybe wee means you.”

Rachel turned to Yoova and said, “Weeba.”

“Weebo,” Yoova said again as she wiggled her nose.

Nisha said, “I think she wiggles her nose when she’s happy. Everything about Yoova is cute.”

Rachel held up the portrait to the side of her face.

“What do you think?”

“It’s perfect. It’s better than anything I can do. Even if I viewed this in a museum, I would be impressed. The work reminds me of one of those Leonardo da Vinci sketch drawings, don’t you think?”

“It does. I’ve always wanted a portrait done, but I never thought an alien life form would be the artist.”

“I like how she— There’s more electricity now,” Nisha said. “I like it. I don’t know how she does that, but it’s addicting. Can you grab that Rubik’s cube off the table?”

“Do you think she might?”

Nisha smiled.

“I don’t know but I intend to find out. The fastest I’ve solved the 3×3 cube is 6.3 seconds, which far from the human record of 3.9 seconds. My solution time was the result of luck and a lot of practice. However, I’m usually stumped by this 4×4 version. The current world record for the 4×4 version is 19 seconds.”

Rachel shuffled it and handed it to Yoova.

“Weeba,” Yoova said.

Yoova handled the cube deftly, turning the edges over and over as she examined it.

“Those six fingers can manipulate that cube quickly,” Nisha said. “I think she’s trying to solve it. Did you ever try to solve the 4×4 cube?”

“Well, I remember a time in high school where some friends of mine used to see how quickly they could solve them. It’s been a long time since I’ve tried it. I remember once where— Nisha look.”

Yoova pushed the cube over to Nisha.

“Blobt,” she said.

“She solved it.” Nisha said. “How did she do that? She took less than 20 seconds. We weren’t talking for long.”

Rachel stared at the cube and at Nisha.

“Maybe she should be giving us the intelligence test.”

“You’re not kidding Rachel,”

Nisha turned to Yoova and smiled

“Good Yoova.” she said.

“Weeba,” Yoova said, wiggling her nose again.

“She’s irresistible Rachel, and smart. We need to talk with Bok about this. Furry creatures of the forest indeed.”

Nisha contacted Bok. After dinner they met at the tent. As soon as Bok arrived, Yoova hid behind Rachel because Nisha stood next to Bok. Yoova was afraid of all Omanji, though less afraid of younglings like Bok.

Nisha held out her hand.

“It’s okay Yoova, Bok is our friend.”

Gradually, Yoova came out of hiding.

“Bok, we need to talk about Yoova,” Nisha said.

“Yes, what would you like to discuss? Is she giving you trouble? I’ve been worried about that. We can take her back if—”

Nisha picked up the solved Rubik’s cube, shuffled it and gave it to Bok. “Can you solve this?”

Bok took the 4×4 cube in his hands and said, “Yes, I solved the 8x8x8 cube earlier.”

He manipulated the cube with hands and fingers which were like Yoova’s, but without as much fur. After about 20 seconds he solved the cube.

“That’s good Bok. That’s close to the human world record. And you haven’t practiced!”

Nisha took the cube from Bok, shuffled, and handed it to Yoova.

Bok turned vibrant colors as he watched Yoova turn the sides of the cube repeatedly.

“I understand,” Bok said. “This is humor, right? I’ve been studying human behaviors and humor is complicated. I can’t tell the difference between serious talk and humorous talk. In this case, you’re being funny by trying to convince me.”

Yoova handed the solved cube to Nisha.

“Blobt,” she said.

Her little nose wiggled with happiness.

“Weeba Yoova,” Nisha said.

Nisha handed the cube to Bok, who inspected it curiously on all sides.

“Bok, she solved that as quickly as you did. Why do you keep Yoots as pets? You told me the Omanji only make pets of species that aren’t as smart as they are.”

Bok fell silent for a long time.

“I just spoke with my parents. They don’t own a Yoot. They don’t think they’re intelligent. They say the Yoots were bred to be good companions.”

Nisha looked intensely at Bok.

“You’ve bred the intelligence out of them and replaced that with passivity. However, Yoova is wild. She’s intelligent and young. You should release all the wild Yoots and humans. They’re too intelligent to be pets. Domestication is like prison to us, and it’s the same way for the Yoots too. Here Bok, go now and take this cube and test the Yoots, both domesticated and wild. Tell me what you find.”

“Yes, I’ll do that,” Bok said.

“Oh, I want to ask one other question.”

“What Nisha?”

“I noticed Yoova emits a pleasant electrical flow when she’s happy. I get a sensation like drinking alcohol. I can tell this might be addictive, at least in humans. What can you tell me about this?”

“I haven’t directly experienced this effect. I’ve never owned a Yoot or been close enough to one to experience their yoom. Many elders say they don’t know what they would do without their yoom. They’re addicted to them. I’ve always wondered why some elders are attached to them.”

“The elders keep a lot of information from you and the other younger ones. You should have the right to know reality before you commit to merging with the telepathic collective awareness. Do you agree?”

“I agree Rachel. I’m unhappy that I’m not informed. The Omanji are supposed to value knowledge more than anything else. I’ll go test the Yoots and learn more about them. Tomorrow morning I’ll let you know the results. Goodbye for now.”

“See you tomorrow,” Nisha and Rachel said at the same time.

They ate dinner. Yoova wasn’t ready to eat until 10 hours after her last meal, which would be sunrise. After dinner, Nisha sent a message to Bok asking him to develop a translating device so they could communicate better with Yoova. Bok agreed to begin the project.

They ordered an extra cot and Yoova attempted to rest there for the night, next to Nisha. Yoots aren’t used to a 24-hour day and night cycle. She got up in the middle of the night to eat what Nisha had left out for her, unknown crispy bugs with four chopsticks.