Trust
A man struggles with an impossible question. How do you know what you know is true? Can we really trust what anyone says online? What if your life depended on it?
Trust Them
By: Blobskin
Contains: implied macro, sad, deep
Version: 1
Sam wiped the last of the suds off the window, leaving a sparkling reflection of his plain face behind. It was a face filled with uncertainty. He sighed. Shoving the last of his supplies back on the cart, Sam the janitor began wheeling the noisy cargo back to its closet so he could lock up the school for the day and be done with it. The kids who graduated never had to see the inside of a school again. That was the curse of failing. You were trapped in school, doomed to wander the halls for the rest of your life.
Being a janitor was not a fun job. It was honest work that a part of him was proud of, but it was also embarrassing work that too often had him surrounded by little brats. School really was a prison.
A prison he had a way out of.
Sam lay limp in his favorite chair as the sun set outside his apartment. Long shadows streaked across the room as the orange glow grew ever more faint. The computer remained off. The television too. The only sound in his little one bedroom was his old-fashion clock.
Tic. Tic. Tic.
The man sighed. He licked his lips. He closed his eyes.
Should he take Asaka's offer?
The question lingered in his mind like a toothache. It kept a firm grip on his attention no matter how desperately he wanted to focus on anything else. It even had him massaging his head and groaning in frustration. It was an impossible choice.
Humans were the smallest sentient race in the universe, about 1/50 the size of any other. And for centuries human authorities had asserted a strict separation of humans from non-humans, only approving of interactions in a digital form. Not that it was very difficult to simply leave human space. The point was just to keep the aliens from coming in.
Asaka was a wolfkin who stood at around 80 meters (260 feet). A friend since he met her online during high school. Kind, funny, and uniquely beautiful. They'd been as close as two could be without ever actually meeting face-to-face.
Asaka's offer was to leave human space, come live with her, and perhaps be a part of her show.
Asaka was a livestreamer that pulled in big viewers and a ton of cash. Compared to Sam's crappy janitor job it was like being offered a major acting gig out of the blue. Not to mention he'd get to live with his longtime friend and crush. Also, because she was a macro, she could provide for him very easily. He'd be rich and taken care of.
Though the temptation was strong, so too were the deterrents.
First off, he was a bit of an introvert. She definitely wanted him to appear on camera and to take part in her livestreams, but Sam wasn't sure he'd be entertaining. He wasn't loud and funny like her. He'd just get in the way and hurt her views. What would he even do? He wasn't an actor.
Then there was his living arrangements. Sam would most likely end up sleeping in a glorified cage for the rest of his life. Granted, one with nice furniture, but a cage none the less. Would Asaka and him really still be friends if she was feeding him like a pet? Taking him out to play? Getting him toys? It felt demeaning. But was it better than being a janitor?
However, for all Sam's silly little worries, there was one final glaring fear he couldn't ignore. A possibility that made him tremble in his seat even now. A threat that had to be taken very seriously.
What if Asaka wasn't who she claimed to be all these years?
And not in the sense that she wasn't really a female wolfkin.
What if Asaka's entire personality was fake?
He only knew her through their online interactions. What was she like when she wasn't on camera? She had all the time in the world to carefully craft her text messages. How did he know any of her so called "passions" were things she really cared about? There was no way to know if Asaka was really the person she said she was. Not until it was too late at least.
Humans were pretty much helpless outside of their space. It was easy to get on a ship and leave, but every other species in the universe towered over them. There were countless stories just like Sam and Asaka's. Of a kind macro convincing a human to come live with them. Then the foolish little human would disappear and the macro would simply move on to courting the next sucker like nothing had happened.
Did Sam trust Asaka? Did he believe her? Did he truly know the alien he called his best friend?
The man opened his eyes and took a deep breath. With a grunt of effort he stood up and began shuffling towards the fridge. After guzzling down a bottle he leaned against the cold metal and sighed. The buzz of the machine in the dark kitchen wasn't enough to drown out his thoughts. His desire to accept or his fear of betrayal.
Should he take Asaka's offer?
If she was honest it could be the perfect life. If she was another psychopath she'd kill him shortly after he arrived. If he was lucky.
If he was lucky...
The man shivered and not because of the chilling surface he was rubbing against.
Sam went to the bathroom where he stared at his reflection. There were bags under his eyes. His body was sore from working. He had no real future. But... he was alive and free and he wanted to stay that way.
Becoming a slave or a pet scared him. The possibility that Asaka could just eat him made him sweat. And getting away from her once he went would be nearly impossible. Sam couldn't imagine escaping an evil giantess after willingly stepping into her domain. And help would never come either.
If he went he'd be at her mercy, even if she gave him everything he wanted.
If he didn't go he'd just remain here. A nobody. A loser. A lonely janitor.
But he'd be safe.
Sam began aggressively washing his face in the sink.
Should he take Asaka's offer?
He didn't know what to do. It was an impossible choice.
Author's Note:
You can find a pony version of this in "Flashfic Collection 2_1", if you care.
This short story was inspired by Hetzer's "Integration" series. An okay piece overall, but I thought it was too... Utopian. Yeah, there is a terrible war and PTSD and gruesome imagery tucked into the backstory. But everything else was overwhelmingly portrayed like a fairy-tale. Too perfect. Too happy. And the "villain" was simply the guy who could see through the BS. The guy who was skeptical and afraid of what would happen when the little dream world everyone else was living in shattered. The man who just wanted to be ready for it. He was the "bad guy". If you couldn't tell, I was very disappointed with how Hetzer handled his main villain.
So this is a darker and much more serious take on roughly the same premise. What if all the sentient alien races of the universe were 50 times larger than humans? How would we mix with such a galactic community? In my opinion?
We wouldn't.