The rec room aboard the U.N.S.S Harbinger was only partially full scattered here and there with an assortment of humans, a couple playing ping-pong against a single Drev opponent, having two more arms than you average human, while another group played pool or lounged around on the over-sized bean bags reading, drawing or listening to music.

Dr. Krill had only recently begun investigating the human activity known as "relaxation." and so far he hadn't made much progress. The Commander said he was too 'neurotic' for relaxation, whatever that meant, and Sunny pointed out that he ended to think to much to relax. Either way he was trying. Apparently it was acceptable to think during relaxation time, but not about one's work. He wasn't exactly sure who had made the rules about relaxation, but that seemed to be how it worked.

He leaned back a little further in the beanbag aware that he would not be able to get out on his own as sunken down as he was. He rubbed two of his upper limbs together as he stared at the ceiling.

From somewhere to his left human purred contentedly, not really purring but more like a short hum, "Doing better than usual, Krill. Watcha thinkin 'bout." he chose to ignore the horrific grammar.

"I am thinking about writing a book."

"Like another boring medical journal?" The human groaned

Krill sighed deeply, "Honestly, the way you talk always makes me forget that you're supposed to be educated for a human."

"Ouch, and besides my degree was in aviation, I'm not a doctor. If it isn't a medical journal, than what is it?"
Krill tapped his hands together, or what would be considered hands by human standards, "I am thinking about writing a sort of.... Care manual for the proper upkeep of humans."

That earned him a snort and a laugh, "Like a 'how to train your dog manual'." The human laughed, "Krill, we are people, not pets." Krill glanced over at the human aware of an irony the human didn't seem to have picked up on. Lounging on a couch head resting on one of Sunny's armored legs as she absently stroked his hair attention fixed on the pages of a weapons catalog. The human closed his single eye contentedly as she continued to 'pet' him.

"Uh-huh." Krill acknowledged smugly.

"Alright, oh great expert of humankind, tell me what the first chapter is going to be about."

Krill tapped his chin, a habit that he had picked up from the humans, "I don't know, I was actually thinking something more towards my area of expertise. Proper ways of soothing a sick human."

The human opened his one green eye eyebrow raised, "Well I have to hear this."

Krill waved his hand, another human gesture he had picked up, "Well I was thinking about the importance of water for humans. I mean think about it what do humans do when they are upset, tired, sick, or in pain."

The human thought for a long moment, "Um ... sleep."

"Before that?"

"Uh, well, personally, a hot shower."

"That's it!" the human looked over at him curiously, "No other species I know of does that. Give a human the ability to soak themselves in warm water, and they will spend hours doing it. They do it for pain, sickness, stress, relaxation, social bonding. Literally everything. It doesn't even have to be a LOT of hot water, just a shower or a shallow pool. Not to mention that you just love the use of water as a soothing agent in all generalities You consume hot water flavored with powder. You like to LOOK at water, tell me that humans don't go to specific places to look at lakes or waterfalls or streams. You even put them in your buildings with fountains and things. Humans love water."

THe human shrugged, "I mean yeah, probably because we are like 70% water ourselves plus warm water increases blood flow, AND if you get in the water than you can ignore gravity for a bit and relax. It isn't a mystery."

"Accept for the fact that humans also love the SOUND of water."

The human tapped his foot absently, "Ok, that's fair.... I love space but..... Do I miss the sound of rain."

"Exactly!" Krill exclaimed, "You like the sound of destructive storms, some of you even fall asleep to them. Doesn't that seem strange how humans like falling asleep to the sound of the most powerful destructive forces on the planet. Waterfalls, the ocean, a storm, and all of them water themed. I'm thinking about advising other medical professionals o use these sounds in clinics to soothe humans ."

Sunny had stopped stroking the human's hair to turn the page of her catalogue, and in annoyance he prodded at one of her extra arms. With a roll of her eyes she began stroking his hair again returning back to her reading, "Not that I disagree with you, but based on that logic, humans also love fire. Think about it, we have to use fire to heat our water, we love lighting things on fire, we use it as a decoration, we keep it in our homes, and I would argue that there is nothing more soothing than the sound of a fire."

"Yes but not to the degree of water." Krill argued, "you wouldn't much like the sound of a forest fire would you because that's TOO much fire, but yet you insist on playing in the ocean which is the definition of TOO much water. Plus, despite your love of lighting your drinks on fire, you generally aren't supposed to ingest it."

The human gesticulated his hand's wildly now invested in the conversation, "Ok fine, but how about air. We need air more than we need air. We breath it in, heat it up, move it around. I like the sound of wind against the outside of a house. We sit in rooms specifically built to heat up the air because it makes us feel good."

"ok , but you don't like it when a hurricane blows down your house."

"I don't like tsunamis either, or flooding. Everything on earth can be dangerous." Th human pointed out.

Krill sunk a bit further into the beanbag. He was definitely going to need help getting up now. This would probably be a good source of restraints for some species seeing as you needed a fair amount of muscle and coordination to escape one of these death traps, "Your house burns down, blows over, or is hit by a rockslide and you are upset, but you can't tell me that if the town floods you won't find some human canoeing down the street."

The human shifted his head to the other side, allowing Sunny to pet him at a different angle, "I won't deny it."

Krill tried to sit up, and failed, "All I am saying is that humans love water. You even like it frozen, you play in it frozen, slide down mountains of the stuff, throw it at each other, put it in your drinks, strap knives to your feet and dance on it. Humans love water, and that needs to be acknowledged as something useful for non-human dealing with humans. Even that tiny piece of knowledge will help you understand how humans relax and pass their time."

The commander frowned thoughtfully, "I mean that's one way to talk about ice skating, but back to your point, our earth is like two thirds water, it would be really inconvenient if we DIDN'T like it."

"Do you dispute my logic?"

"No, I think you may be exaggerating though."

Above him, Sunny snorted, not entirely an accurate approximation of the human vocalization, but it was close," This coming from the man who routinely takes 40 minute showers."

The human glowered up at her, "You were listening this whole time?"

She turned the page of her catalog, "bits and pieces, and I agree with the doctor."

The human waved a hand at her, "Oh shut up and look at your guns." Sunny smiled and flipped another page.

To summarize my point, humans, having come from a world that is covered in nearly 2/3s water, it is the single most important elemental compound in all its forms and can be utilized in one way or another to sooth, please, or socialize with a human. As a doctor I highly recommend its use in the context of extra-medical therapies.