"It has been two years since first contact, and this stupid word had haunted my dreams," I heard her say before slamming her head into the desk she was sitting at. "Like, what the hell does it mean? It has no structure. It is like saying you have no Bubblples, they left us a word without meaning!"

She was Penny, a brilliant girl who had been grinding her gears since the Greybal ship had appeared and taken 'volunteers' out into the Galaxy. Of course when they returned they took more and our translators had learned that the word they were using didn't mean space or a council. It was a zoo. They were taking people to be exhibits in a zoo.

Outrage followed, and then this idea 'keeneetaa' came about. Penny and I were among dozens of students that were deemed gifted and but into this accelerated course to deal with this. Of course there were hundred of programs focused on it, we weren't 'that' special.

"Penny, have you considered...they were fucking with you? With all of us? Leaving a riddle behind so that we focus on that instead of something else?"

Penny blinked forehead still firmly planted on her desk.

She slowly sat up, and looked me dead in the eye.

It was a long moment, before she suddenly swore as well.

I was sure that they had been monitoring our communications, and laughing as we continued to focus on their 'sentience' requirement, forgetting our outrage about the abductions and instead the insult of being considered animals.

"I thought Greybalans couldn't lie due to their telepathic communication?"

"Yeah, but who told us that?"

She swore again, and began to lament how long it had taken her. I lightly patted her head. I had figured it out a while ago, but I wasn't the first.

No, the first was Jacob and now he is gone. The next day everyone else seemed to forget and move on, but I didn't. So I watched, observed and realized.

My gaze flicked over to just behind the desk of our teacher, a desk that had never been filled. There one of many lenses could be seen if you looked for it. We were in the zoo, we were an exhibit for these aliens.

I didn't know what would happen to us now, but I couldn't wait anymore. Penny and I were the last...and I wasn't going to watch her go too. I had once thought of telling her about how i felt, but wanted to wait until we graduated. Two years had passed here, and we would have graduated months ago.

We were trapped, and only the next step brought us any hope for change...

I listened as Penny continued to build on my theory, and I merely listened.

If anything...

...it was just nice to hear her voice one more time.