Skin Comes in Different Shapes and Sizes

Your New Prompt is:

Frogs can “drink” through their skin.

Octopi can "see" through their skin.

Giraffes have brown spots or “thermal windows” which allow body heat to leak out.

Chameleons' skin changes colors for purposes of communication and camouflage.

The green sea slug uses algae to make its skin solar-powered.


Write a poem or story about SKIN.

Skin Comes in Different Shapes and Sizes

     The room was in complete darkness. Even the windows were blacked out. Only two voices could be heard. One of those voices sounded male. The other voice female. “Jennia, what kind of creatures are living on this ship?”

     “Pantom, most of them are called humans. There are other species living here, but most are humans. The two leaders are human.”

     Two pairs of footsteps sounded like Pantom and Jennia were walking across the floor in the darkness. The slight clicking sound of a button being pushed came a few seconds later. A sliding sound that sounded like a door sliding open. Rustling sounds as though clothing was being searched began. Then it suddenly stopped.

     “Jennia, what is the color of these humans. I have heard they come in different colors.”

     “Pantom, they do. There are several different colors, but the two most dominant is a pale brown they call white and black.” The rustling began again.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Co-Captains Donnal and Yeallei talked as they walked down a corridor. “I don’t understand these Aliens. Why did they insist on being transferred directly to their guest quarters and why did they insist on it be in complete darkness?”

     “I don’t know why these Aliens are acting like this either Yeallei. These Aliens are stranger than usual. You know they have a planet-wide force field around their planet. That they have never left their planet or let anyone come here. Until now.”

     “All we really know about them is that they call themselves the Manciens. We also know that they have contacted us for help.”

     Donnal and Yeallei suddenly stopped and turned toward a closed door. Yeallei pushed her hand against a hand-sized square box next to that door. The familiar clicking sound sounded. A few seconds later Pantom’s voice could be heard. “We will be there in a minute.”

     About a minute later the sliding sound could be heard as that door slid open. The light from the corridor bathed the darkness a little. Out of that darkness, Pantom and Jennia stepped into the light. Donnal smiled but Yeallei stepped back with a shocked look on her face.

     After several minutes Donnal finally spoke. “You did know that you were supposed to dress for this meeting. Didn’t you?”

     “Yes, you did.” Pantom looked confused. “Is there something wrong?”

     “Actually, there is.” Donnal opened his mouth to speak, but Yeallei spoke first. “I don’t know about your planet but on this ship, we don’t go around naked.”

     Jennia was about five feet and Pantom stood around six feet. Other than a difference in heights they looked just like Donnal and Yeallei. Donnal looked up at Yeallei then back at the Aliens. “Did you bring any clothing with you?

     Pantom and Jennia looked at each other and smiled before Panton answered the human's question. “I’m sorry if we offended you. We do know what clothing is, but we don’t have any of it on Mancie.”

     “That’s not a problem. Our Replicators can replicate all the clothing that you will need.” Yeallei didn’t wait for an invite. She just walked between the two Aliens into the darkness.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     In the darkness, Yeallei bumped into three things before she reached the Replicator. I thought I knew where everything was in these guest quarters. She couldn’t feel what she bumped into with her legs or hips. Touching them she could feel a table, a chair, and a two-person chair.

     After showing the Aliens how to use the Replicator Yeallei left. Once the door closed behind her and the room was in total darkness again did Pantom and Jennia speak. Jennia spoke first. “With these Replicators, we really don’t need any help.”

     “We still need their help. Even if these Replicators work on our planet they won’t work for very long. Besides, we would need at least one million of them. I don’t think the humans have that many of them to give us.”

     “Maybe we only need a few of them. Then we can use those to Replicate them.”

     “I don’t think that will work either.” A series of clicking sounds says buttons are being pushed. “What do you think of this?”

     “It looks exactly like the clothing in the image next to the buttons. I don’t really like it, but I guess it will do. Especially since I’m not going to be wearing it long.”

     “Let’s see if I can find something just as bad.” Silent for about a minute. “This looks like something I might like. At least it will be for a few hours.” Another series of clicks could be heard.

=====-=====-=====-=====-=====-=====

     Pantom and Jennia sat in chairs on a raised platform in front of about two hundred individuals dressed similarly to Donnal and Yeallei. Donnal and Yeallei were also on that platform. One on each end.

     Donnal walked to the center of the platform in front of Pantom and Jennia. He whistles to calm down everyone there who was babbling. “We don’t understand why you wanted everyone on the ship to be here, but they are here.”

     “Is everyone here?” Pantom asked as he and Jennia got up to join Donnal.

     Yeallei joined them too. “Everyone except for the few that are needed to keep the ship going.”

     “That will be just fine. We will contact them later.”

     “What is it that we can do for you?” Donnal asked.

     “We need your help. Our planet is dying.”

     “Whatever it is we will help you. If we can’t then we will find someone who can.”

     Pantom and Jennia started stripping. The normal reactions from the audience there began. Before Donnal and Yeallei could re-act their clothing was off. Only the clothing wasn’t all that was taken off. So was their skin.

     They were just skeletons now. The skin was held up beside them. “This is what we need to survive. If you help us get it from other worlds you will be spared giving us yours.”

Word Count = 992