on the other side.
"Hello, Cara." His low voice fell into her ears and she grinned shyly back at him. He tucked a lock of his white hair behind his pointed ear and Cara watched every movement.
Realizing she was staring, she self-consciously looked down at her feet. "Hello." Her eyes floated to take in the space behind him, taking in the tones of blue and grey past his shoulder. "Wow," she muttered quietly, noticing what looked like a bed directly behind him, but not like a typical bed she could recognize.
He noticed her attention passing over the room and stepped out of the way, inviting her in. She proceeded in and was immediately bombarded by a wealth of technology she couldn't comprehend in the surprisingly large space. The bed she had noticed at first was directly across from the door and glowed an oddly shade. There was no pillow or blanket, just a gelatinous looking surface that reminded her of the lights in the cave. A shelf lined the perimeter of the space, stopping on either side of the bed and the door. Almost every inch of its surface was littered with an assortment of things related to Egrix's job. She found the photos she had taken while shopping in one area, surrounded by pages of writing, some in English, and some in an unrecognizable language.
To one side of the bed there was a gaming set up that consisted of every gaming console she'd ever seen, all connected to a large, curved television screen. There was also a gaming computer set up next to it. Another computer was hooked into the other wall with several pieces of alien equipment around it that Cara couldn't even begin to understand. She noticed what looked like a closet toward the back of the room next to a shower booth. It took a moment for her to comprehend all of the amazing things she was witnessing.
After taking it all in, stepping over various Earth items Egrix seemed to be studying, Cara looked back at the man who resided here. She noticed, to her shock that she could see right through the walls into the cave behind him. This just now occurred to her as she was preoccupied with the contents of the room, and she looked astonishedly at the walls that seemed to not be there at all. Her confusion turned to embarrassment when she remembered all of the moments Egrix had gone into this building and left her alone in the cave, realizing he could see her the whole time. The alien man had watched her explore the space, interested in the wave of reactions that continually passed over her face. When she looked back to him, her face grew pink and he gave her a concerned look.
"Is everything okay?" He didn't understand her expression and looked around the room to make sure nothing had offended her again.
"Yeah," she replied shyly, feeling embarrassed. "I just didn't realize you could see through the walls. I didn't know before so I'm sure I made a fool of myself at some point when I assumed you couldn't see me."
Egrix chuckled at her embarrassment. "You didn't do anything odd, don't worry so much about it."
"Okay," she said with a halfhearted smile, trying to chase the thoughts out of her mind.
"Would you like a tour?"
Egrix showed her around his home. "I have lived here alone for the past six months." He pointed out the items she obviously had recognized and did his best to explain the things the union had sent with him to use on his trip. He showed her a machine that could break down anything put into it to its chemical components which could then be labeled and stored for study. Another example was a teleporter that allowed him to send anything of use directly to his headquarters.
Egrix began to make his bed with sheets and pillows as he tried to explain the mechanics of it to Cara. She listened in awe as he described that his bed was made from a portion of his planet's crust because his species took energy from their home planet itself. They had to travel with some portion of it to be able to survive, so his people learned to make resources using the planet's surface such as his bed.
"The lights on the cave wall are also made from pieces of my planet," he mentioned watching her carefully as she processed the information as if he could see her figuring