Here is the alien species in question... It starts after this... The creature’s face was a featureless carapace. Whatever organs of sense or perception he may possess were concealed underneath, but for the mandibles which comprised of four serrated appendages above the merest suggestion of a chin. He grasped an insect with one sharp claw and raised the struggling creature to his mouth. The mandibles pulled it inexorably inwards. He leapt onto the rock by Thally’s head and opened his mouth to display the half-chewed insect. One wing twitched from where it was impaled upon several sharp teeth. ... and now it is over. This little bugger has sharp claws and the strength of several people. He has a penchant to hold the human's hand. He could crush her hand... they do not share a language... how would you in place of said human trust this bald weirdo to hold your - oh so- fragile hand?
Well, frankly I am disappointed that I offered my alien up for inspection, and no-one could be arsed to make a video.
What's the context of the scene in question? That would have some pretty major influence on allowing any form of physical contact. Otherwise... you could just have the thing grab your characters hand the first time and just hold on long enough for it to sink in that this thing isn't interested in hurting the character. Alternatively you could have it maybe draw pictures or use some sort of visual shorthand to demonstrate it isn't going to pull the characters arm off.
You are starting with a predator and you've given neither the reader nor the female character anything that says, intelligent being. You'll have to establish that this alien is not just a predator and has some intelligence that would allow it to be interested in the human. At a minimum you might want to establish that it only eats insects and the woman knows that. Think about human Orca interactions. That might be an avenue for research. Nice descriptions, by the way.
Hi both, Alien is medium dog-sized, It is of human intelligence or above, which will become clear from use of complex tools. In terms of context- arrival at an alien planet that should have an advanced civilisation, but does not.
I'd advise some sort of sign language or maybe have it offer the woman some of the bug it's eating? Something to indicate that it's intentions are friendly at least. Or is the hand holding meant to develop over the course of the story? If so then you can simply have the trust be formed through observing of a similar action amongst other members of the species (if there are any present in the story at least) or have the alien follow her around and generally act non-threateningly? I'm not sure exactly... why does it want to hold her hand in the first place? Also is this a first contact scenario or are these aliens known to the character?
Tell the reader what a carapace is - use the surrounding words, they'll like you for that, otherwise you're only irritating the audience in your opening...claws...and why do that?
It wouldn't feel unreasonable to have your human frozen in fear as the alien takes her hand, especially if she wasn't expecting to find the alien there.
First contact. The hand holding was going to be a peculiar custom, much like the many peculiar customs humans have. I wasn't intending to explain it. Is carapace an unusual term? I would rather aim for apprehension than fear. The human in question is quiet, introverted and without ego, she is unlikely to stand up for herself (at least at this stage). Some of her colleagues might react with shock or anger, but she is likely to be meekly compliant.
Not to us, brother member Tortoise Club UK, others might think 'platter of cold meats' but I think that is carapacio.
There was a Louis Theroux documentary regarding strange pets... hang on, I'll see if there is a clip on youtube... couldn't find one. Essentially he is in a waiting room by a Chimp enclosure, the Chimp takes a dislike to him, runs at the window and smashes the outer pane.
Yes, but I also live in orca country. I could only find one incident online where an orca actually bit a person and that was in New Zealand. Conditions in captivity don't have much application, if any, to the wild orcas. They do some weird things though, like drowning a whale calf then barely eating any of it. They hunt in packs which is fascinating in itself. They know how to make a wave to wash seals off floating ice bergs. Why Killer Whales Don’t Eat People: Where Science and Legend Meet Back to your story, I don't find it credible the human character would just approach an alien or let the alien approach if the human knew nothing about it. Your character cannot be totally in the dark here or readers will likely balk.
Interestingly, Blackfish covers those issues... the lies told at Seaworld about how Orcas live longer in captivity, and the bent fin occurs just as commonly in nature. Evil bastards. Higher animals tend to hunt for sport- Orcas do it, Dolphins do it, Chimps do it, Humans do it. On the subject of your link, I always find it odd how surfers choose to dress like seals (wet suits) when they enter shark infested waters. You final line. This is what I am struggling with. These aliens are significantly more intelligent than Chimps. A human will be more likely to approach another human, than a potential predator (in isolated situations). Given that these aliens are human-level (or above) intelligence, my big assumption is that they recognise intelligence. The human is a little green, and perhaps does not perceive danger as well as she should (at this stage in the novel). She will see the alien using a complex tool (electronics- communication device- an IPhone- whatever), which strongly implies equivalent intelligence. I am still not sure how to handle this though. EDIT: characters you don't know, but: If Ember was there, she would practice caution in an almost cowardly manner. If Talisker was there, he would approach behind a gun barrel. If Sigma was there, she would approach with an overwhelming confidence and laissez faire attitude. Thally, our protagonist, is more easily led, less self-assured.
I like the featureless face idea. It's perfectly plausible as long as the atmosphere is different than ours. You could have a protective shell over its head that would be opaque to it. Humans have a very limited eyesight, we see about a 300nm range of the electromagnetic spectrum because it's the colors that our atmosphere is clear in. If we had a different class of star and a different atmosphere, the dominate spectrum would be different so evolution would favor different materials. Humans trust predators, but only if we're familiar with them. I'll put my hand in my dogs mouth even though he's perfectly capable of breaking it. I just know that he won't.
Well for starters it should have a sense of feeling when he applies pressure. Unless when they exchange the customary greeting by trying to crush one another's hands, you could make it work. Though it is not very clear what type of hands your species has. I will just assume for the sake of an argument, that it has dexterous hands like most humanoid creatures. So it would be safe to say that he could hold her hand. Provided it understands the difference between a human and one of its own. If it has the intelligence roughly that of a humans, it would be curious of the new animal. As long as it doesn't take the human approach and club her death, because that is what a human would do. Providing that it is based off of early human intellect standards. Though it all comes down to what you have given us to work with, which is not a lot. So it is a 50/50 split on what would happen. Though in the real world most predators don't usually eat humans, cause we apparently don't taste all the good. So it all comes down to what you want to have happen. But more than likely it will assess her, ruling her out as food or foe before approaching. What would you do if you were the alien? That is what matters in this sense, as you created them and should have some understanding of how their psychology works. Who knows, maybe he throws her over his shoulder and takes her back to the tribe.
My first thought was pressure (like advanced ears) and that it was a nostalgic alien (that's the right word isn't it?). Then I started to think about wavelengths that penetrate. Not sure if I'll explain it...
What happened to boggle-eyed-Bart? I kinda agree with most of this... but one point: Homo sapiens contain Neanderthal DNA. The idea we hunted them belongs in the same text book as the idea we thought the earth was flat in the time of Columbus- we got on rather well. Homo Sapiens were just more adaptable.
That is a flawed argument. My scottish genes have viking DNA in it. It wasn't because we existed peacefully next to each other. African Americans also tend to have European DNA in them, very little of it was probably exchanged willingly on the black side. There was many reasons for Neanderthal extinction and fighting with humans would have been a minor factor, but still a factor. Women for most of human history, was one of the spoils of war. Kill the men, take the women and children.
But it was, the Viking marauders was a British Victorian invention. By all accounts you got on quite well. Also Neanderthals were physically much stronger than us, just less adaptable. Imagine a Chimpanzee against modern people and how much damage it would do- that is neanderthal- homo sapiens.
It's more complicated - you're both kinda right. Vikings, depending on the year and their mood, could be coming to trade or to pillage. You could tell by whether they had the dragon's head on their ship, because they'd remove it when approaching a friendly dock. And if they came to trade, they could wind up pillaging if they got pissed off. The Belgians dealt with that by having their towns a bit inland, with lots of defences along the river, so the Vikings coming in would see that they were well-defended and decide not to start trouble because they didn't want to fight their way out.
