Safe?

"Doctor Marc, the computers have identified where the life readings were originating from."

On the spaceship a circular object hovered in front of a man who sat near the center of the deck, it spoke in a stilted tone with no emotion.

"Good! Transport it aboard the ship, make sure to keep it contained, we don't want any accidents like last time!" The slightly chubby man was clearly excited, leaning forward in his seat as if he could see the life form on the blank silver screen in front of him. Clenching the arms of the seat he grinned madly.

"Jazz can't you unhook from the system so we can also see the surface? Marc looks like he's about to jump out of his seat." A woman sat further to the right, attached to a computer that was reading seismology reports from the planet, 2D4.

"Fine Cass, but I'm not integrating with the system again. Someone else has to do it next time! I'm tired of getting the short end of the stick." Jazz grabbed the wires that were placed into his arm's circuitry and gave them a light tug. Leaving the ship's database on autopilot to hover where they were located.

The screen came into focus slowly, zooming onto the object below.

"So… What exactly is that?"

"Really Jazz? You spend fifty years going through information about different species and you can't identify a human on its home planet?"

"That, THING, can't be human. A, humans would never survive in this biosphere. B, the last time humans were on this planet was fifty-thousand years ago, when they fled the earthquakes that brought the current ecosystems into existence." Jazz stood and walked to the screen to get a closer look.

"There are too many humanoid races to tell which group it is from just from a distance. Marc will have to run a few tests before we know with certainty which species this unknown is from."

Cass rolled her eyes as she watched the ship begin the process of transporting the unknown to the containment room set up in Marc's lab. "Just don't let Marc ignore protocol this time. When we obtained the last unknown sample, we had to put it down before it destroyed the assistant. Just because Marc wanted to see how it would react to being in the presence of artificial life forms and let it out of containment before the necessary tests were completed."

Marc was blushing as he stood from his seat and looked at his younger sister. "At least I didn't almost crash the ship into a meteor field just for data on how quickly rocks in space move."

"Hey! The only way to obtain the sample data was to fly within the field at the same pace as the meteors. You try getting the ship through without completely destroying it! At least I got us out in one piece… without destroying a valuable sample or equipment!"

"If I remember correctly, we got written up for both instances. So, if you are done comparing failures can we go check up on the specimen that just got sent to the lab?" Jazz was already to the door, looking at his co-workers while tapping his foot in impatience.

"The only reason I had to hook up to that horrible system is because Cass was banned from flying solo, and Marc, you were hung over when you woke up this morning! I swear. What did I do to deserve you two?"

"You must have screwed someone over royally in your last life!" Marc and Cass shouted at the same time, turning and high fiving as they joined Jazz in front of the door.

"Yeah yeah, come on you clowns." Jazz flipped them off, grinning, and turned into the hallway, walking to the transport pad and inputting the number that would take them directly to the main lab.

"HEY WAIT FOR US!!!" Marc and Cass jumped onto the pad just as it started transporting Jazz.

"Ouch." Jazz hit the wall as they both fell onto him in their haste to join the transport.

"Really you could have just waited and used it afterwards." He was slightly annoyed as he looked at the two who were crushing him into the wall.

"And you could have waited for us to step on before you dialed." Cass said as she stood up and brushed imaginary dust off her flight suit. She held her hand out to Marc. Helping him stand before turning to look through the containment field at their newest subject.

"I'm surprised anything could live on that planet for even a few seconds without some type of protective gear." She looked at the young girl who was unconscious on the medical bed.

"She seems weak, we could probably go in without worrying."

"Really Marc? You haven't learned a single thing have you…" Jazz put his face in his hands as he lost all hope in his friend ever learning that protocol was there for a reason.

"There are so many races that look weak as hell but could snap you like a twig in just five seconds. All of which could survive on that planet."

"I vote we don't leave Marc alone with the subject until all the tests are done." Cass held her hand up as she looked disparagingly at her older brother.

Jazz raised his hand as well, while looking at the thing on the bed. "Marc we are doing this for your own good. Most of those races don't care for other species and would love to kill everything foreign."

"I'm worried that one day you'll get yourself killed. From now on you aren't allowed by yourself while we have unknowns on board until they've passed all tests."

"WHAT!? Are you serious? That's so unfair, I'm not a child!" Marc threw his hands into the air in anger, feeling as if his sister and friend were treating him like a naïve recruit that didn't know up from down.

"I've never put myself into immediate danger, sure I used one of the assistant bots to see how an alien would react, but it's not like I ever considered entering the containment area myself!"

"You just said you could go in without worrying!" Cass and Jazz exclaimed looking at Marc as if he had grown a second head.

"No, I said we! As in no one by themselves, together as a group, protection in number! You get the gist?" He felt wronged, they had totally twisted what he had said. Making it seem like he had no common sense.

"Still a bad idea bro." Cass threw an arm around his shoulders and squeezed them. "The only reason I say this is because I worry."

"Fine…"

"Alright kids, let's get this show on the road, send in the probe to get some blood, and when we figure out which race this thing comes from, we can follow whichever protocols are in place."