It was a cosmic storm, or that's what they had taken to calling it. They were very rare across the galaxy, and only happened in very specific locations at very specific times. They were so rare primarily because they required the mass collection of particles large enough to simulate a storm. In space, of course that didn't usually happen, if there was a cloud thick enough to cause such conditions it was usually prone to turning itself into a newborn star as the rocks and dust collected into itself, but occasionally, you would find yourself stuck inside a cloud of high velocity particles that were moving too fast to stick together or create any sort of gravitational drifting affect.

The result was.... Sort of like a cosmic sandstorm.

Sunny sat in the half darkness her bright yellow eyes looking out through the large open window in Adam's quarters. Light filtered through, only somewhat, but it was enough to allow her sensitive cones to pick up subtle variations in color as the sandy particles rolled across the window. It looked almost blue with the light that was seeping through and scattering from the stars behind it. The sound of the sand particles hitting the window was like the sound of rain, subtle and soothing aside from the particles likely going hundreds of miles an hour faster than rain.

She hummed softly in the half dark, listening to Waffles grumbled ad kick her paws as she slept.

It wasn't nighttime or anything, it was simply the nature of the storm. It had happened like that, a sort of strange feeling had come over the ship as the storm hit, and she had watched the humans grow rather quiet. The instinct that marines and others usually had to be loud and boisterous was put aside as they watched the sand come in and listened to the sounds. She had watched the humans subdue, in a way that was not sad but merely trance-like.

Dr Krill had been taking notes on the strange phenomena as the humans went quiet suddenly bound by the overwhelming instinct to nest themselves somewhere. Loud and noisy activities were silenced in favor of quiet contemplation. A few humans dragged bean bags over to the nearest window where they could listen to the sound of the storm.

Some read books, some lounged, and others fell asleep entirely to the lulling sound of the storm, like the sound of rain against glass.

It was an interesting fact about humans that they could be soothed by storms. It seemed like a primal and innate nesting instinct that had pulled here here with Adam as he returned to his own den, and promptly went quiet, listening to the sound of the particles against the window.

Sunny was no krill, she didn't need to write reports about the thing she noticed on humans, but there were a few things she had picked up on that he probably hadn't.

Then again it would be hard not to pick up on them when ou were this close to a human.

She looked down to where Adam lay curled up with his upper body resting in her lap his head against her stomach. Around his remaining leg and lower body he had gathered together a nest of pillows and quietly burrowed himself within them before going into a state of half trance half nap as he rested against her.

It was the middle of the day and it felt like the entire ship had been dropped into some sort of trance.

That didn't surprise her.

As she had thought before, there was something about storms that soothed a human, or at least most humans. She supposed it probably bored others.

Of course there were plenty of ways to sooth a human.

She had stumbled on many of them quite by accident. Or at least she had stumbled on the ones that worked on Adam.

Humans, as she had come to find with surprise and consternation, liked to be petted, kind of like a dog might. It was interesting that some humans seemed to share that common trait with animals. If she an her hand gently through the hair on his head that was generally enough to get him, make him relax. He even liked it when she gently ran a hand over his back or one of his arms or even his chest, so that was something humans and dogs had in common. They liked it when you pet them.

Then there was one that Drev and humans had in common that surprised her. A gentle rocking motion did one of two things to a human, it either made them sick, or it caused them to grow drowsy and pass out, generally though if the human was prone to being car sick they would like the rocking motion, but any other human was not a big fan of it.

It worked wonders on Adam, but she fund he was susceptible to a lot of things. Even when upset, it wasn't something he was easily able to avoid. One time she had used the tactic when he was having a mild episode, and somehow he had been out within seconds. She knew that was probably not how it worked with most humans, but he was the only human that she had to deal with. And the best part is that with four arms she could do two of those at the same time. He seemed to like it when she did.

She was half asleep herself but the absent mind continued to rock her gently keeping the human from waking up.

There were plenty of things that could sooth or relax a human.

Not that she was keeping mental count or anything.

Certain noises and smells helped different humans fall asleep.

She had listened to a discussion about the sounds that humans found soothing, and she had noticed a bit of a trend. Humans liked the sounds that they had fallen asleep to as a child as a general rule.

Some of the ones she had heard included.

- The sound of the rain on the roof

- The sound of the wind and the creaking of the trees.

- The distant hum of the TV

- The dishwasher

- The refrigerator

- Cars on the highway

- Sprinklers

- Crickets

- The sound of people talking quietly to each other

- A fan

- The sound of the ocean

- The sound of traffic

- The humming of a propane stove

- The call f distant animals

- The crackling of a fire

- Wind rushing through trees

She had brought up the discussion with Dr. Adric one day during lunch, and he had tilted his head thoughtfully at her observation pointing out that many of those sounds had soemthing in common. They were considered, "White noise" which was a form of sound that contained many frequencies of the same or similar intensity. He told her that humans already knew of this phenomenon and often used white noise as a sleep aid or to help in relaxation. In fact having white noise present in an environment could help with insomnia. It seemed that having white noise is some sort of sleep indicator if you do it right, and the way the sound has so many frequencies helps to drown out other noise that might cause the brain to be more active. There was, of course one other theory that he had. He had no idea if it was true, but he liked to think about it sometimes.

He noted that it was similar to the idea of humans liking to be rocked, and somehow that led back to when they were infants, a time they could not remember, but connected to some sort of innate instinct. When humans wanted to be soothed they often went back to thinks that helped them relax or things that soothed them as a child. That is why many of the noises they preferred were ones that they liked most as children, the same with being rocked as if being rocked by a parent or guardian. Being rocked was symbolic of being safe in the arms of someone who could protect you.

Car rides often combined the use of white noise and the subtle vibration of a car to cause humans to become drowsy, though that drowsiness could also be related to motion sickness.

Then of course, there was the sound itself.

While in the womb humans are constantly barraged with noises, and these include the sound of the sloshing gut and the sound of the beating heart, or even breathing. In the womb babies spend most of their time sleeping, so it might make sense that humans would primally associate deep repetitive white noise as soemthing that can be soothing. Of course, that was all speculation, he wasn't sure if that was the case at all. It was just a sort of little theory that he had.

That gt her thinking of course about other things that tended to sooth humans.

And fund that there was something in every category of sensation that humans liked. Sound was one of the large ones, but even things you could see were soothing.

- Low level blue light was a common one it seemed, or the sort of light that you got on a rainy or dark day.

- The flickering of firelight.

- Certain locations, like mountain ranges, or the ocean

- Trees passing outside a widow

- Even the long stretches of highway passing off into the distance.

- The night sky

- Meadows

The list could go on of course, and the visual soothing agents of humanity were a little more varied than those of hearing. Most people tended to find "White noise" soothing, but everyone had a different opinion on what visual stimuli they liked more. Some humans liked the diffused blue light coming through the clouds on a rainy day, while others preferred beams of light falling onto furniture from an open window.

Smells were another big factor a lot of humans took into important consideration when something was soothing.

- The smell of ones own home, as it seemed there was a distinctive smell to every house. Adam had a theory that you tended to like people who smelled like you more. He knew a family when he was growing up who grew dill plants in their house and he just couldn't stand going around there because the entire time it smelled like pickles.

- Petrichor of course, or the smell of rain. Krill and others had a theory that this one was based in survival. When humans lived on the savanna so many thousands of years ago, being able to find rain was an important part of survival, and so being able to smell rain had to be calming as it meant there was water nearby

- Mowed grass

- Baking bread

- Lavender

- Citrus

- The smell of the forest

- The smell of the ocean

These could also be highly specific from human to human and also indicated the things that soothed them as a child. Childhood development was very important to humans in general, as it seemed the childhood years shaped the later years of a human in ways that she never would have expected.

Of course then there were tactile and other sensory sensations

- Soft and fluffy was the most common one, blankets, pillows and clothing were all created to sooth by making them fluffy or soft.

- Pair fluffy and soft with the feeling of warmth or heat and you had a good combination, though this was only as long as the mouth and the nose were cool so the air coming into the lungs didn't feel stifling.

- Slight pressure was another good on that surprised her. Some humans liked the feeling of being squeezed or pressed on lightly, and would use weighted blankets for comfort in certain situations. She wondered if this was another simulation for the arms of a parent. Hugging required a soft sort of pressure so it might make sense that humans would look for it.

- Warm water was another great soothing tool, humans loved to relax in warm baths or take warm showers when upset.

- Even certain body positioned worked, and often included the fetal position, which of course sunny had to assume led back to childhood much like most of these soothing experiences.

You could mix a lot of these sensations and sounds together to create better environment for the enjoyment of the humans. For instance if you lay a human on a boat in the sun, you give them a gentle rocking sensation paired with the heat of the sun and the sound of the waves and the smell of the ocean, creating an ideal location for relaxation.

If the person is not so into that, you might put them inside during a rain storm or a blizzard under a bunch of blankets In front of a fire.

Each human had their preferences, but generally speaking you could follow the same sort of pattern. First you had to chose a good white noise, then you had to chose a sensation, like soft or warm, after that you can add visual stimulus and smell.

Taste is a little harder to determine, not because there weren't tastes that humans found soothing, but because there were so many. One of the common human coping mechanisms was to eat when they were upset. Sunny didn't know the reasoning behind this just yet, but it was a well known fact. Humans knew this fact too which is why they had dubbed a lot of their foods, "Comfort food" which also had their basis in the human's childhood experiences.

High calorie, high fat, high carb items were the most common, though in the aforementioned situations you might chose a smoothie or a hot chocolate as the choice to match the enviornment. However lots of times comfort food tended to include grilled cheese, macaroni, potatoes or some other version of childhood food marketed towards stressed adults.

It was n interesting concept, and an important set of factors to keep in mind when you had a human.

She looked down at Adam, who was almost completely asleep now, his chest and back rising and falling softly with his breath. His remaining leg was curled up tight to his chest under the blankets and he rocked himself softly in his sleep.

She noticed humans did that sometimes.

When falling asleep, he tended to kick his foot gently causing a gentle rocking motion through his body.

These led back to some more tactile self soothing measures that a lot of humans had which sunny found quite adorable. Humans rocked themselves, hugged themselves, and rubbed their own arms to stimulate a soothing sort of affect.

Most of them didn't really notice it, but she did.

And she kept a close eye out

After all, when you have a human, it is best to make sure you know how to care for them.