Interesting experiment

As Sasha walked towards the main lab, her anxiety grew with each step, journalism to her wasn't a hobby nor something she did for fun but it was a ticket to fame, with every interesting story she would publish, she would become equally famous too!

When rumors began to circulate online about the research institute conducting an interesting experiment that was a top-secret, she saw her chance to earn her coveted fame, if she could just persuade them to grant her access, it would open a door to a whole world of opportunities.

With that in mind she wrote an email to the head of the institute, explaining point by point how it would be beneficial for their research if they let her write about it, gaining public interest in a top-secret research would make them get more funding, she felt like she sounded like a desperate journalist and didn't expect to get any reply but when the head of the institute wrote back asking her to visit their institute, she couldn't believe her luck!

It was a long way to the main lab and to her surprise she had to walk to a more isolated chamber before she could reach the main lab, the isolation of the place made her think exactly what was the top-secret research and did she make the right decision?

Before her mind was filled with excitement, there were butterflies in her stomach, she didn't even have a proper breakfast because her excited mind filled with a dose of nervousness won't let her think of anything else, but now there was a sort of anxiety mixed with fear racing through her.

What she saw upon entering the main lab made her gaze in shock but the shock soon turned into laughter, infront of her was a cute octopus shaped figure with a conical head inside a huge cage, it was a mix of squid and an octopus she thought, it's bright orange hue mixed with a bit of pinkish tone near the end of the tentacles amazed her.

"It's so adorable!", she said excitedly.

"It looks adorable but we can't be sure whether it is actually friendly towards humans, we captured it when it sneaked into the space ship but since we aren't sure of it's exact nature, we have kept it's existence a secret, we have named it Aethel", one of the scientists explained.

Hearing those words she stopped where she was, she had instinctively gone near the cage but fear had gripped her a bit, it was an alien creature whose exact nature was unknown, what if behind the cute facade there was a violent alien?

The huge metallic cage bothered Aethel, he hated captivity, everything around him seemed weird, it was very different from Aethel's planet, only sharp purple plants grew there, so many different colorful things were something he had never seen before.

He regretted venturing away from his cousins, he didn't even remember why he even went into the huge floating metal, maybe because it was strange?, he wasn't the sort to be curious about things, but seeing the huge metal thing with strange light coming from it made him wonder what was out there, but that was the biggest mistake he had made in his whole life!

Amongst these strange creatures who made weird sounds he couldn't understand, he felt scared, he didn't know what they were going to do to him?, was he ever going to see his family again? or was he going to end up getting eaten?

He missed his home, he had never bothered much about his surroundings but now being far away from a place that was familiar to him, he yearned to go back, he wanted to go back and tell his cousins about the strange creatures he saw and the weird noises they made.

Sasha's gaze bothered him, she looked like a hungry predator to him, he had never encountered a predator before but had heard a lot of scary stories to assume how a predator would look like.

He chirped, this is how they talked with each other, maybe thats how these strange creatures also talked, all he wanted to say was he didn't mean any harm and hoped Sasha understood it too.

"Thats strange!, he has never made this sound before!", remarked one of the scientists

"Maybe he likes you!", the head of the institute laughed looking at Sasha.

Sasha didn't know exactly why Aethel chirped but his chirp was the most adorable thing she had ever heard, she nearly forgot the purpose of the visit, Aethel looked a lot like an octopus she had seen once in an aquarium as a child, but this creature infront of her was more adorable.

Aethel chirped again, Sasha felt maybe the cage bothered him, she requested the scientists to remove him from the cage, it was dangerous but she couldn't bear to see such an adorable thing locked like that, the scientists were hesitant at first but upon her continued insistence they relented making sure that all the doors were locked.

As soon as he was let out of the cage, Aethel walked towards Sasha and chirped again, she bent down and petted him, he chirped twice, if she had any fear before, all of it had vanished away.

Faint memories started coming back, Aethel remembered the scent that had attracted him to the metal thing, it was not just curiosity but something else, something more necessary, he was searching for food and was hungry he recalled, there was a delicious scent that he followed.

Sasha gave him a cup of water, Aethel sniffed it but didn't drink, he wasn't thirsty and the water here smelled strange, his behaviour confused her, the research head handed out a lettuce for Aethel to munch on, he took a bite and was about to chew it, when he remembered what he ate, as he opened his razor sharp claws beneath his tentacles, he remembered the mouth watering and delicious scent that he could smell again, Aethel was reminded by the scent that he ate meat.