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| Northward Journey Posted by: Jayce Silence Rebel at 11-12-2016 00:16 AM, Last Modified 02-19-2017 12:18 PM |
A Journey Home
l remember an old quote from a movie that always stuck with me. When the main protagonist was asked, "Do you think there is life in space other than us?” she responded with this: ”There are billions of stars in the sky. If 1% of those stars had planets orbiting then, and 1% of those planets could sustain life and 1% of those had life on them and if 1% of those had intelligent life, then there would literally be thousands of races out there we have yet to meet." I'm paraphrasing of course. I never was very good in the memory department, but you get the idea. Mankind has looked to the stars for centuries and wondered, “Am l alone?" That is a good question. Science tells us that the odds of there being sentient life among the stars are extremely rare. They tell us that the human race, was such a 1 in a trillion shot, that the odds of it occurring anywhere else is so remote as to be laughable. I would like to state for the record, that mankind is incredibly vain and self-centered to believe that we could be the only sentient life in the universe. Granted, whatever life there may be out there, may be so far removed from what we would consider a life form, that it would be easy to mistake our own importance in the galaxy.
Mankind just discovered that existence of another planet that looks to be able to support human life in Proxima Centauri. The planet, Proxima B, looks to match all of the sweet spots needed to support life, or humanoid life, but it is far enough away, that with our current technologies, it would take around 1400 years to get there. That is quite a long time to travel and the choices to reach there are either a generational ship where our great, great, great, great... however many greats it would be, grandchildren would arrive to explore, or, a type of cryogenic suspended animation. The latter meaning that everyone you have ever known or loved would be dead by the time you got there. It would also be feasibly to assume that technology on Earth would have advanced sufficiently enough that another ship could be sent long after the original ship was sent and beat it there by many, many years.
Let's fast forward 25 years shall we. Technology has gotten ridiculous. Everyone has their brain plugged into the net now. We all have wireless receivers directly linked to our brain that we can use to control everything from the locks on a door, to piloting a vehicle. We can research information instantaneously with a thought and schools have all but been abolished. Who needs teachers and classrooms, when anything you want to know, can be in your brain instantly? When I say school, I'm specifically targeting higher education actually. Children still go to primary school because implants cannot be grafted into a person until the body reaches maturity. After implantation, there is a short school to help people adjust to the new flow of information and how best to make use of it. Just like with anything else in the world, there are purists who refuse this technology and instead, live in their own small communities as simple agrarian societies. Now you might think this is all well and good and very, very cool, BUT, this is a capitalistic society. Only the rich can afford implants that don't come with ads and spam. Yes you heard me right, spam and advertisements straight to your brain. How scary does that sound? Want to know what else is scary; remember how texting was such a big thing? Well now people send mental texts to other people. Hardly anyone actually speaks anymore because it's faster to just shoot the information to the person you're talking to. Think of it as techno- telepathy. Actual computers are no longer used; we use our brains now as the computers that run things. Companies now hire people based on the computing power of their mind and employees spend eight hours a day, at work processing date in their minds, for the company.
Now, as with all things medical, there are people who can't handle technology like this, their bodies reject the implants like a virus and therefore they end up living in the agrarian societies like ‘primitives’. Now, once all of this technology had become mainstream, there were a lot of things that were scrapped because it was no longer compatible with techno-telepathy. One of those items was a newly created NASA project called ARC (Advanced Research into Cryogenics) Alpha. This was to be the first exploratory vessel to go to (insert name of planet) for the purposes of exploration. There would be a crew of eighteen. They would consist of a captain, executive officer, pilot, flight engineer, payload specialist, computer systems specialist, a doctor, a nurse, a biologist, a chemist, a botanist, a physicist, an archaeologist, 5 flight crew personnel trained in everything that would be needed to keep the ship running and everyone would have remedial training in other specialties so that, if the worst happened, there would be someone to take over. The ship carried the latest in suspended animation technology as well as the newest Ion propulsion drive available. This new drive cut a 1400 year trip down to only 890 years. Huzzah... It was decided, that since this project was so expensive and cutting edge, that they couldn't afford to scrap it altogether, so they offered a challenge and reward to the agrarian societies, to provide and train the needed crew, and the government would fund the agrarian societies for the next century. It ended up being a no brainer really. The agrarian societies, always needed outside resources and had to scrounge to be able to afford them, so a 100 year supply, would help the colonies support themselves for the future ahead.
Eighteen people were chosen from among the bravest and brightest of the colonies and put into a rigorous training program. I was one of those happy, lucky individuals. Yes, that was sarcasm. I didn't WANT to go anywhere, BUT, I was one of the implant rejects, while the rest of my family was not. Do you want to know how long it took my folks to put me into a colony when they found out I rejected the implant? It took them a week. It was for my own good of course, or that is what they told themselves and me every time they actually spoke to me. It took them a whole four months to stop writing after I arrived here and then I was effectively an orphan. My name is Zachariah North, but everyone either called me Zee or Zach. I have an affinity for old tech; things like combustion engines, old computer systems, electronics, you name it, and I liked to tinker with it. This was to be my downfall. They needed Jacks of all trades for this mission, and lucky ole me, was just that Jack…
The training regime was actually pretty damn intense. We participated in some of the most rigorous physical training available. Our bodies and our minds were stretched to the limit and then pushed farther. I learned things I never wanted to know and things that piqued my curiosity. I was run to death, drowned over and over and lifted weights until things popped and cracked with strain. We all trained as a group and became quite close in our mutual grumbling and cursing of the program. We ate together, slept together, learned together, and trained together. I guess this was to emphasize just how long we were going to be together. We were put through all of this for over a year straight; day in and day out. Finally, the ARC has been stocked with supplies, fueled and final construction completed for the long voyage.
The day finally came when we all suited up and strapped ourselves to several thousand pounds of explosives to make our way up to the ARC. When we broke atmosphere, the darkness of space was a stark contrast to life on Earth. We made turnover fairly quickly and headed towards the ARC; this was the first time I had seen the vessel and it was awe inspiring. Take a Q-tip and lay it on its side. One end is the cockpit; the other end is the engines. Now put a bicycle wheel in the middle for the rotational habitat so that we could approximate gravity. On either side of the habitat spoke were huge storage boxes full of supplies, oxygen and fuel. There were huge solar arrays on the sides at different angles looking like wings from some kind of bizarre bug and we were heading straight for a docking container to put the shuttle in for the long voyage. Docking went smoothly and everyone offloaded the last bit of cargo and personal supplies. We floated out way to the habitat ring and my stomach lurched as gravity reasserted itself on me. We hauled our gear to our personal small rooms, about the size of broom closets and stowed our gear. We would all take turns as caretakers of the ARC in the 890 year voyage. The computer monitoring system would wake the crew in the event of an emergency, but, we would all take turns being woken every ten years to run routine maintenance programs and change out the fuel cells for the main drive. Then, once all checks were done, we would go back into hibernation. My first job was to go check on the cryo couches and prep them for the long flight ahead. The main crew's couches were located in the habitat ring in the cryolab. Mine was located in the engineering section in case something went wrong with the engines or fuel control; I would be close enough to be revived by the computer to handle emergencies if they should arise. The main cryolab checked out fine, and I prepped them for the deep sleep to come while everyone else went about their tasks to get the ship ready for the firing of it's main ion engine, one big blast for the right amount of time, in the right direction would set us on our way. The twisted part was, that we couldn't be on the ship when it fired, the force of the acceleration would turn us all into jam on the walls. That is why the cryo couches were also a suspension chamber of a viscous liquid that would absorb the brunt of the acceleration and keep everyone from liquefying.
I could feel a shudder run through the superstructure of the ARC as maneuvering thrusters started to line us up for our initial exit vector from the solar system. The ship may be huge, but, minor tremors ran through the deck plates as the secondary engines kicked on starting our pull away from Earth's gravity and head out system. After checking my own cryo couch, I headed back to the main cryolab to wait for everyone else to show up for the long sleep. Once everyone arrived, we started the countdown clock for the main ion drive burn as well as the main clock for trip length. The medical team went around administering shots of Forapazine. This would keep ice crystals from forming in our bloodstream, kind of like antifreeze for old gas power engines. Once those were administered, special masks were put on and everyone settled into the viscous fluid of the cryo couches. On each couch, I started the sleep cycle and watched as each body slowed down and eventually mirrored the dead. Looking up to the ceiling I said ”SAMP, verify everyone is in hibernation and stable please.” SAMP stood for Semi-sentient Automated Monitoring Program.
I heard a tone through the intercom before a smooth automated voice stated ”I am reading all monitoring systems registering hibernation of primary ARC crew except for you Mr.
North."
"Thank you SAMP, start power down of primary life support in all section please. I'll be heading to my cryo couch now." I stated, cleaning up the area.
”Very well Mr. North, primary systems are powering down now.” Said the smooth voice.
I finished tidying up and checked the countdown clock. Four minutes to get to sleep. I made my way to my cryo couch and put on my own mask. I inputted the automatic hibernation cycle before setting into the viscous goop that would-be my bed for a long time. As the door closed I remember thinking to myself, How did I ever get into the mess? Then my eyes closed, and there was darkness.
The first time I came out of cryo, I was a tad disoriented. It took me a bit to get situated and make my way to the habitat ring and the showers. I got the majority of the goop off of myself and dressed in coveralls from my supplied. ”SAMP, status please."
"All systems are running as they should Mr. North." The smooth voice stated.
”Very well, SAMP prep the fuel pod transfer please, I'll head to the bridge.” I said, talking to thin air.
”Yes Sir. Prepping for fuel pod transfer." Responded the automated tones.
I floated my way to the bridge and strapped into the flight engineer's station logging into the system. I pulled up all of the log files and checked for any anomalies for which there were none. I pulled up the fuel pod transfer program and waited for SAMP to complete the preparations. I pulled up the flight timer... It has been 130 years since I'd gone to sleep. That kind of messed with my brain a bit. 130 years was a long time and here I was still only, theoretically, 24 years old. Well I guess if l really wanted to get technical, I was 154 years old now... That's just fucked up…
I managed the fuel pod swap without issues and then went to the cryolab and checked on the rest of the crew. Everyone was "sleeping" soundly. I made some food and relaxed for a bit with my e-reader and a good story. The silence on the ship became eerie after a while though. I could hear the sound of the power plant and electronics as they did their thing, but other than that, it was dead quiet. Eventually I got creeped out and made my way back to my cryo couch. I injected myself and went back to sleep.
This went on for four more cycles, each time realizing I was now an extra 130 years older and that everyone I had ever known was not only dead, but their great grand children were probably dead as well. It got to where I did my checks and went back to sleep, it was too depressing to think about it all now. It would be over soon and hopefully, where we were going,
would be habitable enough that we could start with soil under our shoes again. I really wanted
off this ship.
The sixth time, I awoke to the sound of alarms blaring and red lights flashing throughout the compartment. It took me a minute to recognize what was going on and even longer to manage a query to SAMP. "SAMP, what the hell is going on?" I asked muzzily.
“Approximately 13 hours ago, I registered an impact and atmosphere decompression on the habitat ring, cryolab section.” Said the unemotional voice. "Emergency bulkheads have been sealed and habitat ring rotation has been suspended."
My blood went cold. The cryolab registered an impact and a decompression? I quickly scrambled into a set of coveralls, still covered in goop. I slicked-the hair back out of my face and made my way down the central corridor and into the habitat ring. I floated my way towards the cryolab only to be stopped by one of the emergency bulkhead doors. Pulling my way up I looked through the view port and saw only twisted metal and space. The cryolab and living quarters were gone, just gone. Stunned, I just floated there. I was alone... There would be no mission now, no habitat, no settlement; just me, flying through space towards an unknown world, by myself. I continued to float there in shock for a while before I managed to ask ”SAMP, what is the overall damage report for the ship?”
”Cryolab and personnel space destroyed. Life support is at 63%, energy reserves are nominal. Systems have been rerouted around the damaged sections. ARC still on course for Proxima Centauri. Time to destination is 92 years. There is minor hull damage on forward deflector plating. Solar cell damage on arrays 1, 7 and 9. Navigational controls still active and nominal. Deceleration controls nominal. Fuel reserves at 44%." Stated the smooth, unemotional voice clinically.
“WeIl, at least there is a little good news." I said numbly. "SAMP, estimate survival chances for a single crewman with supplies still on hand once Proxima Centauri is reached."
”Survival chances for a single individual is 18.991%." SAMP responded.
Well, that was it. The mission ended before it even started. I left Earth and everyone behind, just to die in space. "SAMP, power down all non—essential systems." I said.
"Roger, powering down all non-essential systems." It said.
I made my way back to my cryo couch stripping out of the damp jumpsuit. Well, at least I could just go to sleep and not wake up again, or... ”SAMP, prepare a status report back to Earth. Advise them of what happened. Tell them that lam going into extended hibernation and that if they have another ship on its way that they can wake me up. We will put the ARC in orbit around the planet until the next ship shows up. Once we reach our destination, take detailed scans of the planet and transmit them back to Earth as well. lam going into extended sleep, do not set a timer." I said tiredly.
"Message recorded Mr. North and sent. Automatic orbital programs are online for deceleration. Extended hibernation process has been noted. Sleep well Mr. North." It said before falling silent again.
I injected myself one more time and deactivated the auto-wake feature on the cryo couch. lt was time for the long sleep and if something happened, I wouldn't have to worry about it. One way or another, I was as good as dead... My last thought, before darkness took me was, will I ever wake up again?
Alien Among Aliens
Approximately 93 years later in a far off solar system, on a station orbiting a planet, in a command center, alarms start to sound. Beings start to scramble around checking holographic system tables rendering a three dimensional representation of their solar system. A snarled question echoes across the bridge. A sector of space is magnified and a red flashing icon shows an incoming approach vector for their home world. Hails and messages are sent out on all known frequencies with no reply. The individual sitting in the command chair watches the screen intently and snarls out a command. A ship breaks away from the station on an intercept course. The ship is only a third of the ARC’s size, but much more sophisticated. The ship reaches its intercept vector and paralleled the ARC examining it with scans as well as the naked eye. The ship identifies a docking port and manages a soft dock with~the ARC. A boarding crew of seven foot, armored bodies opens the docking hatch and quickly moves to positions inside the ARC like smoothly trained warriors. Slowly following behind the larger boarding crew, came a group of smaller beings, also in suits. Bright eyes took in everything as the lead of the smaller group motions the larger party forward. Magnetized .boots make hissing thumps with each step taken as both parties make their way through the ship. The boarding parties make their way to the bridge. Searching, the smaller group find what they believe is the computer interface for the ship and set down a small box. Depressing a button, the box lets out a beep and a hiss as tendrils snake out and find access ports on the computer_system making contact with the computer core within. Data is quickly copied over for later translation, but the box manages to stream a bit of data to the lead's visor. As it watches the information scroll by, it signals for the larger group to shoulder their weapons. it motions for everyone to follow it, and makes it's way back towards the engine room and to the one remaining cryo couch there. Looking down at the sleeping alien, it looks back up to the rest of the boarding party, and with a few growled orders, starts to disconnect the cryo couch.
I sat up in the cryo couch groggily, my brain barely registering anything except for the fact that I was awake again. How long had I been asleep? Removing the breathing mask, I got out of the couch, dripping goop all over the deck plating; God how I needed a shower. Finally my brain managed to kick into gear and I said “SAMP, status report." To which there was no reply. Focusing my eyes I looked around and froze. I wasn't on the ARC... I was in, what was perhaps, a small 10 x 10 room. Lighting recessed in the ceiling gave a soft greenish glow and illuminated the cryo couch which had lines running to a wall. There were readouts on the wall that I couldn't make heads or tails of pulsing in various shades of green. The walls were relatively smooth with a couple of glowing interface panels. As I was turning looking around the room, I never heard the sound of a portal opening in the wall behind me. As I was examining the interface panel with its odd glowing symbols, three beings entered the room. Two of them, the largest of the three, stood on either side of the portal, while the third and smallest of the three stepped forward. I was deep enough in curiosity mode that it took the smallest of the three, three times of clearing its throat in a "growling cough to catch my attention. Spinning around, I let out a yell quickly backpedaling to the wall flattening myself against.
My mind managed to categorize what was standing in front of me even if a part of it was gibbering in fear and trying hardily to climb the wall behind me to get away. The thing was about five feet in total height and wearing a loose fitting robe of an indeterminate color due to the green light filtering into the room. The first noticeable thing was their eyes; bright green with odd side slitted catlike pupils. They almost seemed to glow in the light of the room. The head was vaguely reminiscent of a canine back on earth, but, more reptilian in its elongation and wider head. Large bat-like ears stood up at an angle on either side of the head and both were perked far forward towards me in curiosity, at least I hope it was curiosity. The face tapered into a long muzzle with nostril slits at the end. The whole thing was covered in what looked like thick fur of two different colors, one black and the other unknown due to the light in the room. There was an arrangement of, what looked like horns on the crown of its head extending back from just above the eye ridges curving gracefully backwards with a third in the middle doing the same but slightly further back. It held up its hands in a universal sign of placation and I could see that the hands had three digits, two fingers and a thumb of sorts. The disturbing part was that there were four of them. Twelve total fingers tipped with long, shiny claws tipped each finger. It made odd cooing sounds as it held out all four hands in a calming gesture used in movies everywhere. The two larger being behind it were the same just on more massive proportions and since they were not wearing robes, I could see long, sinuous tails behind them wrapped around their feet loosely. They wore armor of some kind with a matte finish and had various bladed and other weapons festooned to it. In their hands was cradled a larger weapon that one hand was inserted into from the rear and it looked quite vicious. They were obviously the guards while the shorter one in front of me continued to make, what I guess it assumed, was calming noises, hands held out showing they held no weapons.
My eyes and my head started to hurt like a mixture of migraine and sinus issues while a noise, like static, continued to crackle in my mind and I out my head in my hands and groaned slightly trying to massage away the pain that was expanding behind my eyes. Then I heard a tapping sound on the floor and looked up. The smaller of the three had knelt down to more my level and was tapping the floor with one claw to get my attention. Looking up, it slowly reached into its robes, making me twitch slightly, and brought out what looked like a pair of goggles. Watching it, it held them up to its eyes and I could clearly see they didn't match its own eyes and it held them out to me making encouraging sounds, and then slid them across the floor towards me. Slowly I leaned forward and picked them up and studied them. They looked like some kind of welder's goggles, but, the lenses were a glowy kind of green like my host's eyes. Taking them gingerly, I examined them closely, but the increasing pain in my head precluded me from making and detailed inspection. Looking at my host, who was pantomiming putting the goggles on, I did so.
The pain in my head instantly started to lessen as the goggles filtered out the green light making everything, to me at least, look normal finally. I'm sure I made an audible sound of relief because my host clapped all four hands together in delight and made a growling noise back over his shoulder at the guards. With the goggles on, I could see that my host's fur was actually black and a very interesting shade of red, kind of like fresh cut grass back home. The pattern was swirly-ish, like a type of camo pattern. The guards’ fur was the same patterned but one was a blue color and the other was a red color. The smaller one turned to me and produced a series of growls, coos and other sounds that must pass for language here. So I said ”My name is Zach North of the EAS ARC Alpha. Where am I?" I think my noises were as surprising to them as theirs was to me. My host said something else, but I had no idea what he was saying. It then gestured to its eyes and then pointed at me and then back to its eyes. ”Yes, the goggles helped a lot thank you." I said. It growled and gestured again. I tried to signal that I had no idea what it was saying and I guess I got my message through, because it started walking towards me. I admit, I tried to back up through the wall. It must have noticed because it put its hands up in the same gesture of peace as it came forward more slowly. It then leaned forward and touched the side of the goggles and some kind of heads up display showed up in my vision from the goggles. It tried to speak again and text started to scroll inside the goggles.
”Understand you can now me?" the text scrolled very Yoda like in my vision.
"To a degree, yes I can. The grammatical structure is a bit off though." I said in slight awe by the tech on my face.
It cocked its head to the side and pulled out some kind of device which it held in its bottom hands and pulled apart showing what looked like some kind of holographic interface between the two ends. It quickly typed on the graphical interface with its upper hands and then said again. “Can you understand me better now?" which scrolled on my goggles.
"Oh, that is much better!" I exclaimed
It made a very delighted sound in its throat and squatted down to my level again. ”Who are you? What are you doing in our system?" it asked.
"Wait, how do you understand what I am saying?" I asked curiously.
My host reached up into one large each and removed what looked like some kind of small device. I took it to mean that the device translated what I was saying. It put the device back in its ear and motioned for me to speak.
“We are explorers. Our home world is over four light years away from here. Our ship has been on a course for this system for 890 of my years. We only found out that this system may have a planet that matches our own in atmosphere and climate. It took us 25 of my years to build a ship that could even get this far out.” I explained.
My host stared at me with something like astonishment on its face before saying ”You have been traveling for 890 of your years just out of curiosity? All alone? How long does your species live?"
I sank down lower on the floor, my back against the wall, leaning my head back to stare at the ceiling. "My planet is neurologically tied together by technology; a kind of technological telepathy. Some of my species could nor adapt to the technology and were considered outcasts. We were the first ones offered the chance to leave our home planet to see what else might be in the universe. During the voyage, we suffered extreme damage to the cryogenic laboratory where the rest of the crew was sleeping. There were 18 of us, now there is just me. My species only lives about 100 of our years, which is one rotation around our star is equal to one year. Seeing as that I cannot colonize and entire planet all by myself, I put myself into permanent cryogenic suspension. I figured either someone would find me eventually, or I would pass away in the depths of space. Either way, it was a better prospect that being alone forever.”
My host looked at me curiously ”Then you are not the scout to an invasion?" it asked.
I let out a bark of laughter which caused it to lay its ears flat to its skull “No, we are not an invasion force. Just explorers who were hoping to find a new life elsewhere in the universe. We never had any idea there were any other sentient species out here though or we would not have disturbed you. My name is Zachariah North by the way, but everyone just calls me Zach."
My host looked at me blankly for a moment, so I pointed to my chest and just said "Zach."
Understanding dawned in its eyes and it pointed to itself and said ”Te’erraxa."
I leaned my head to the side to look at my host and then queried ”Please don't be offended, but I am probably as curious about you as you are about me. Are you male or female?"
Again my host had an odd blank look on its face as it listened to the translation and cocked its head to the side before saying "No, I am Te’erraxa, not Maleorfemale." It said as if l had been referring to a name.
"No, that is not what I meant." I thought for a moment. "Do you live birth your offspring?" I tried.
"Yes, we live birth our young.” It said curiously.
"Then who carries the young before birth?” I asked.
Light dawned in its eyes and it nodded in understanding ”l am tooro of our species, the one that does not carry offspring. Toora are the one’s that carry young.”
"AH!" I said. “Then tooro is what I would call male, and toora, is what I would call female." I explained.
He made another delighted noise in his throat nodding excitedly "And which are you?" he asked.
”I am also male of my species." I informed him. "Actually, is my ship still in one piece? We even managed to prepare for the possibility of meeting another sentient race. Unfortunately, I am no scientist. I'm an engineer, I fix things. I was quite good at keeping our technology working properly, but I have a feeling your technology is much more advanced than mine is." I said with a sigh.
"Yes, your ship is in the docking arm used for freighter ships. We have thoroughly examined it. Your technology is about where my kind was 1200 of what you call years ago. Although there are some things we did not recognize.” He said excitedly.
I glanced at him shrewdly and said "You must be a scientist. Have you had much contact with other species?"
He grinned showing an awful lot of what looked to be serrated teeth in his long muzzle as he nodded. “Yes, yours is the third species we have encountered so far. So far only one of the three were hostile, the other one was lost and not interested in relations. I'm afraid to admit that we did access your computer systems and copied the data on it. That's how I was able to come up with our translation device." He said with a touch of pride.
"Would it be possible to go to my ship to get something?" I asked curiously. "We actually have a kit specifically designed in case we met another species. Honestly, I'm probably not the best person to make first contact with anyone; I'm just a technician... If the rest of my crew hadn't been killed, you'd actually have someone intelligent to talk to." I said with a hint of sadness.
Te'erraxa made a comforting sound somewhere deep in his chest before saying "I am sorry your crew is gone. You are long way from home all by yourself and that can be intimidating I am sure. We are actually quite excited to meet any aliens!" he said enthusiastically. "Our people have been space faring for many generations now and only three other species have we met. You are first to not shoot or run away and that pleases me." He said with a toothy grin.
For a species with a muzzled face, their range of expression was quite vast actually. I think the ears helped to express a lot of what they were feeling. Their way of communications seemed to be as much audible as well as body language and it took a little bit to get used to but once you had an idea of what you were looking for, then you could pick up on things much easier. "Well, unless more of my people come this way looking for me, or to bring more colonists, then I am at your mercy as a complete outsider in your home. If you prefer, I can go back into cryogenic hibernation. I would not want to cause any kind of incident with your people and since the planet we were coming to look at is inhabited, it would probably be a good idea for me to send a message back telling my people to not come.” I said thoughtfully.
He made a sound that I took as dismissal as he waved a hand in the air in an indication of dismissal. "No, we would not ask that, you are guest, and we may have much to learn from one another yes?” he said happily. “Can not learn from if frozen like stralokkk steak. We go to your ship. You can get this meeting kit you spoke of and get your clothing and things yes?"
I let out a sight. "My things were in the section that was damaged, I have no things now. I may be able to scrounge up a few items from the rest of the ship though." I said thinking over what may and may not be there.
Te'erraxa and his guards let him out of the room they were in into a large, slightly curved hallway. There were others walking around and they all stopped to start curiously as I walked past them. The outside window was a solid sheet of some kind of transparent material that showed the blackness of space and the stars that dotted it. I stopped for a moment to look and Te'erraxa waited patiently. There were small craft moving around outside as well as larger craft parked here and there. The designs, while alien, also looked fairly typical. Most of the larger vessels were made for functionality and had a sleek hunter look about them. A couple fairly bristled with either antennae or weapons, I couldn't tell to be honest. There didn't seem to be any kind of specific uniformity to the builds, kind of like, as if they had been each built for a specific purpose. Each ship was a gunmetal metallic color with the green lights of the interior shining through various view ports throughout the ship. After a few moments I turned and bobbed my head indicating I was ready to continue. We walked for a bit in the curved hallway as others of Te'erraxa's species both the short and the tall stood by and let us pass watching us curiously. Eventually we reached an airlock with a green readout panel to the right. Te'erraxa's bottom hands typed on a holographic display with his upper hands worked over the display screen doing who knows what, probably verifying identity and security, who knows. Finally a flashing light went off above the airlock door and with a hiss and a whoosh, the door spiraled open creating a circular portal. We entered, and the airlock closed behind us with another hiss and a click. We made our way down the umbilical and oddly enough there was gravity, I shrugged mentally, they were, after all, more advanced than we were. The hatch to the ARC was open and I walked into the ship looking around. A few things looked disturbed, but other than that, everything looked to still be in order. Looking up I said “SAMP, are you still online?"
"Yes Mr. North." Said the smooth, emotionless voice.
The guards suddenly had weapons raised looking around alertly and Te’erraxa's eyes widened a bit looking around. "It’s OK." I said placating. "That is SAMP, Semi-sentient Automated Maintenance Program. He is the ship's computer system and monitoring program. He takes care of the day to day running of the ship as well as all minor maintenance functions." I explained.
Te'erraxa looked very excited. ”You have a non-biological entity aboard your ship?"
"SAMP is an AI. Artificial Intelligence; created by my species to take most of the burden of automated tasks from our hands to free us up to handle more challenging issues." I said.
"Fascinating! Simply fascinating!" Te'erraxa said practically bouncing in place. "Your computer skills are more advanced than ours it seems, we never explored the sentient computer systems route. We preferred to rely on our own minds, plus, the more minor tasks help to keep most of our population gainfully employed."
I nodded "That makes complete sense. My people invested heavily into automation and artificial intelligence from an early age. It's why the majority of my species has technology implanted in their brain to directly link them with computer systems and each other as a kind of collective consciousness. Unfortunately I am one of my species who couldn't handle the tech implants, my body rejected them." It is the reason I was one of the ones to come all the way out here." I said with a sigh. "SAMP, where did we store the first contact kit?"
"The first contact kit is in www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=storage containers" rel="nofollow" title="Link added by VigLink">storage container D-11 section 5, after of the habitat ring." SAMP stated promptly.
I nodded to myself and motioned for everyone to follow me. We made our way down the length of the ship and passed the habitat ring and into the storage compartments. "This is where we stored everything we would need to start a new colony." I said looking around. ”We have seed stock for growing, bacteria to introduce into the soil system for symbiosis for our plant species. We have ovum of a variety of animal life in cold storage, habitat structures, electric all terrain vehicles, vitamin supplements, heck anything that would be needed to support 18 people for 10 years until the next transport was scheduled. I guess I should probably send off a notification for them not to come. They won't send an expedition just to pick me up and take me home, and they won't spend the resources to come out here if the system is already inhabited.” And in a much quieter voice I said "And I'll die out here alone..." I shook my head to clear away those feelings not noticing Te’erraxa's ears perked forward listening, nor the sympathetic look on his face. After a little looking I found D-11 section 5 and the crate labeled "First Contact". I pulled the crate off the shelf and set it on the ground. Opening it revealed an odd assortment of things that had been sent out. The titanium "record" that was on the original Voyager probe was reproduced and stored here. Star Charts, samples of music, culture, history, biology, all were stored here. I pulled out the copy of the Voyager record and reverently turned holding it in my hands. "This is a copy of what was sent out on our very first deep space probe. It is archaic compared to even our technology, but, it contains everything we could think of to identify ourselves to another species in as simple a format we could manage." Gently I held it out for Te'erraxa. He looked at it and gently took it in his, what I'm gonna call, main hands. He looked it over noting the various descriptions on it. "I can show you all about it when we get back if you like. I also have samples of our music, literature, cultures, and religions; just about anything we could think of to send honestly.” I said gesturing to the crate.
Te'erraxa made a gesture and a grumbling sound and the two guards went to the crate resealing it. Then one of them hoisted it up on its shoulders and waited patiently. Te'erraxa continued to hold the old Voyager record staring at it as his eyes flickered over the surface taking in all of the information on it and finally looked at me with a smile. "l look forward to learning from you and in return would enjoy,teaching you about us. I know you can't go home, not after so long a journey, but I would welcome you to our planet once the council of Elders reviews everything. There is plenty of space and if you wish solitude you can have such, but I would also welcome you into my dwelling. My mate would go into zrahkhar to meet an alien." he stated with an enthusiastic smile.
"What is zrahkhar?" I asked curiously.
Te'erraxa considered my question for a moment and checked something on his holographic interface before nodding and saying curiously "Fits of ecstasy?"
"AH!" I said nodding. “Your mate is a scientist as well?" I asked.
Te'erraxa responded "No, she is teacher of the young. Loves new things."
”Ah, well, I'd be happy to meet her. It isn't like I have anything else to do while I'm here." I said in a resigned voice. I went back to where my pod had been stored and managed to find a lot of my things in a locker stored there. I pulled out several clean jumpsuits, my e-reader and my portable music device. I also brought out my personal travel computer which I had tinkered together from older parts with much more success than the new models had when they were made brand new. “SAMP, connect with my portable unit please, partition off a section of the storage for your core program and a link to the ship please."
”Yes sir." After a couple of minutes he said "Process complete, sync established." I looked over at Te'erraxa and said ”So I can keep an eye on the ship and have access to the databases on board if needed.”
Te’erraxa nodded an affirmative, and after I packed up my few remaining things, lead the way back to the station. He made his way around to a different location than the one we came from and palmed open a portal in one of the walls. Inside was a small, well appointed, room where the lighting had been changed to white light instead of green light. Raising an eyebrow I gave Te’erraxa a quizzical look. “This is for you to stay in while the council finishes their deliberation on your status. It shouldn't take overly long, but I'll have to ask you to remain in your room for now until someone comes to get you." He stated in a rumbling growl that almost sounded apologetic. "Meals will be brought to you from your own stores aboard your ship since we aren’t sure you can handle many things on our planet. We are running tests on that now." He put a main hand on my shoulder and a secondary on my arm in what I took to be reassurance. "I will come by again tomorrow, I promise. Leave you by your lonesome too long I won't, my word on that.”
I nodded in understanding. "I completely understand Te'erraxa." I said trying not to mangle his name too much. "Can't have an alien running around your station causing mayhem." I said with a wry grin. "I'm sure if the roles were reversed, I'd be forced into the same situation you're in. Also, thank you for being as close to a friend as I'm likely to find on an alien planet all by myself. It really does mean a lot to me." I said with genuine feeling.
This must have pleased him quite a bit because his ears perked forward and a low chainsaw rumble started in his chest as he smiled. "It is much my pleasure to be the friend of a new person, even an alien." He said with a smile. ”Sleep well friend, I will see you on the horizon." And with that, he nodded to me and left the portal closing behind him. I was left alone in my room and took off my goggles rubbing my eyes. The walls were a pale grey in color with no interface stations anywhere in sight. There was a small bed, a couple of oddly shaped chairs, a table and what looked to pass for a bathroom. The bathroom had a simple hole in the floor and on the wall behind it was another hole about waist height. I guessed that one was a urinal and the other one was for solid waste. There was an opaque stall with tiny holes in the ceiling and walls and touch panel control inset in the wall. I stripped out of my clothing and stepped into what I hoped was a shower of some kind. Touching the screen, an English translated menu came on. It was a shower with temperature control. I set the water temp and pressed the execute command. Water shot out from all of the small holes surrounding me in what felt like one heck of a rain storm. Pressing another button a cleaning solution was mixed with the water so I was able to lather up and clean myself fairly well. The hot water was quite nice after so long on a spacecraft where water was a premium. After rinsing off, I stepped out and found a stack of folded cloth on one of the counters and used it to dry myself off. I dug into the small bag of clothes I was able to retrieve and found clean under garments and a fresh jumpsuit. Grabbing my e-reader I satin one of the odd chairs which, once seated, molded to my body automatically reclining me back slightly. I could get used to these chairs! I thumbed on my reader and lost myself in something that would make me forget about exactly the level of crap I had sunk myself into.
Connections
I'm not sure how long I had been reading before a chime sounded in the room. Blinking up from my book I looked around wondering what the noise was. Then I heard the soft woosh of a portal opening and I sat up turning towards the door. Another of the local species walked in. It was taller than Te'erraxa had been and wore a robe of, what I think was a pale rose color, but it was hard to be certain wearing the green tinted goggles. There were more curves to the robe in the same places a human female might have so I guessed this may be a female of whatever they called their species. She walked in and bowed her head slightly towards me growling out a string of what passed for communication. I held up my hand for a moment and retrieved my goggles putting them back on. I then motioned for her to speak again.
"I've come to bring your food." She said politely, not quite able to hide her curiosity.
"Ah, thank you very kindly." I said and then made a face. "Of course you probably cannot understand a word I'm saying since Te'erraxa has the only ear translation device I'm sure. So that means I just get to sit here making weird noises at you while you wonder what in the world I am actually saying when I'm only trying to be polite." I managed to ramble out not realizing just how lonely I had been feeling sitting in this room all by myself.
When I finally looked up from several more lines of random babble due to my lack of any kind of social graces, I saw her covering her muzzle with both of her main hands while her secondary hands held a tray with food on it. She was laughing…
"I guess it is pretty funny to see an alien rambling to himself isn't it? I know I would either be amused or quite disturbed while I carried on an entire conversation with just myself to understand what I'm saying, and I'm doing it again because I'm bored, scared, lonely and just plain old depressed." I finished with a huff. When I looked up again she was looking at me with her head cocked to one side curiously but a show of compassion from her eyes caught my attention first.
”Actually, I can understand you quite well. Te'erraxa gave me a translator device before he left since I'm to be your caretaker for your stay here. It would have been quite rude to leave you no one to talk to I think." She said kindly, her rumbling growls a pleasant tenor in the silence of my room.
I'm sure I turned three shades of embarrassed. "Please forgive my rambling then." I apologized. ”l spent over 800 years in cryo-hibernation with no one to talk to, and now I'm the only one of my kind on an alien habitat, in an alien system, with no one who speaks my language. I'm half afraid I'm going to end up some kind of science experiment or wind up in a zoo for other people to goggle at.".I said moodily.
She walked over to the table and set the tray on it and then walked closer and satin the other set beside, and slightly catty corner to mine, making herself comfortable. "Do not worry, Te'erraxa will make sure you are not experimented on I'm sure." She said with a flick of her ear. ”Mainly he has to make sure you carry nothing that can cause major illness to our people, or anything that we carry that can cause major harm to you. Our people are quite enthusiastic to meet other alien species actually. We are a very sociable species. We have large families and wish to see who else may be out there. So far, you're the first of three alien species we have met that has not attacked, nor fled from us. We are a curious race and wish to learn from others if we can.” She said watching me. ”I am sorry you feel alone, but I assure you, there is an entire world below us that would be happy to meet you, you will just have to learn how to adapt. The old stories tell us how we were different when we first came to this planet. We've only lived here a little over 3000 years ourselves. We adapted to our new home and now here we are. But those are all very old stories. Our motto is "adapt and overcome”. She said proudly squinting against the glare from the white light in the room.
“If you like, you can change the illumination." I said. "With these goggles on to understand you, everything looks greed right now anyway."
Smiling gratefully at me shi turned her muzzle to the ceiling and growled out something that popped up in my translation display. "System change, illumination, set to standard." And with that, everything turned back to normal colors in my goggles. I was right about the robe color, it was a pale rose and her fur color was a healthy, vibrant red mixed with the swirls and blotches of black that accented and highlighted certain aspects of her pelt quite nicely. Her features seemed more delicate that Te'erraxa's had been. Her horns were smaller, and more artfully arranged in a grouping of two that looped backwards and back up to point up and forward and three that curved back and then to either side slightly. Her build was taller than Te’erraxa's but not as bulky and more sensually shaped. She had a pleasant smile and a curious gaze to her green eyes that asked many questions she didn't voice.
”Please excuse my manners.” I said. "My name is Zachariah North, but everyone just calls me Zach." I said with a bob of my head.
"It is nice to meet you Zach, my name is Sha'lastalla." She said rolling the last syllables.
”So, I was curious, what does your species call itself?" I asked.
She smiled before saying. "We call ourselves Pe"roxenians. Our planet is Pe'roxcen. What do your people call themselves?
"Well it depends on who you ask, some call us Earthlings, some call us Terrans, our scientific classification is human though. Personally I prefer Terran to Earthlings. Our planet is called Earth, but Earthling just sounds like something out old science fiction movies." I informed Her.
She seemed to roll the sound over in her muzzle and managed to growl out a credible ”Terran" and nodded. "I like that, terran. That sounds very organic." She said with a smile, her ears perked forward now fully engaged in the conversation.
We spend probably several hours talking. It was nice to have someone to just talk to about things. We traded stories of family and life. We discussed technology and science. We argued over points of philosophy and ideology. It was a rather pleasant way to spend the evening and I was sorely saddened she had to go.
She grumbled out something what only showed up as symbols in my goggles which I took as a curse of some sort before saying "I've been here for much too much time, and your food has grown quite cold I'm afraid." She said glancing over at the forgotten tray. “Give me a short period of time and I will reheat it." And with that she left the room with the tray. She returned a few minutes later and set the tray back on the table along with a container of what I took to be water. She gave me a slight bow and smiled at me. "Please enjoy your food, and I will come see you again soon, if that is OK by you?" she asked her ears held in what I started to take as curiosity.
I nodded and smiled back at her ”I would enjoy that immensely. Have a pleasant evening and thank you for the company." I said solemnly. ”It helped to keep the loneliness at bay."
She walked forward and placed a main hand on either side of my face and leaned her forehead against mine closing her eyes. There was a very comfortable buzzing purr sensation that ran through my body and a type of... Pleasure??? I'm not sure how to explain it really, but you know that feeling you get from kissing someone that makes your toes curl? That kind of sensation seemed to spark around in my mind causing my eyes to widen in wonder at it. She opened her eyes stepping away. ”Then I shall come back soon to make sure the loneliness stays away." She said with a happy smile, her tail causing her robes to twitch around her legs. And with that, she bowed slightly again and left the room.
That night I slept the normal sleep of the tired and not the technological hibernation in which I had spent most of my life literally. There were no dreams, just deep, black, slumber and it was very nice. I woke up slightly disoriented not knowing where I was and it took me a few moments to orient myself. Not knowing what time it was actually nagged at my mind a bit. Had I slept a few hours? Had I slept an entire day? I guess the lights in the room were on a sensor, because when I started to move they came up slowly and remained slightly dim. I stumbled my way to the bathroom and splashed water on my face. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw that I really needed to shave. I had a nice dark shade of stubble all along my cheeks and jaw. My hair was still in its short shorn cut and would survive for now. I rubbed my stubble as I looked myself up and down, hazel eyes glinting in the low illumination. I really should see about getting some personal hygiene products if possible, or my breath would start to peel paint. I ran through the shower again deodorizing and invigorating myself. I dried off and got dressed and went back to sit down at the table containing the remains of yesterday's dinner and my stomach rumbled in protest. I must have been monitored because only a few minutes later, an alert chimed and the portal in the wall opened smoothly. Sha’lastalla stood there holding two trays of food and waited politely for me to recognize her.
”Sha'lastallal Please come in!” I said happily trying to not mangle her name too bad. "Give me just a moment." I said holding up one finger. I collected my goggles putting them on and then looked up at the ceiling. "System change, illumination, set to standard." I said hoping it would recognize me. I was actually surprised when it did and the room was flooded in low, green light again. Smiling happily I turned back to Sha'lastalla, who was grinning at me as well, and she bobbed a nod in thanks carrying the trays to the table.
“I figured you might be hungry to break your fasting.” She said politely.
I smiled as I said ”You have impeccable timing; my stomach just informed me that it was tired of waiting."
Sha’lastalla took one of the chairs at the table and I took the other and she slid a tray of reconstituted eggs, potatoes and sausage in front of me, while she put a tray in front of herself with an odd assortment of what I took to be local food. "l thought I might join you for the breaking of your fast, if that is ok of course?" she asked politely.
Something seemed off about her mannerisms so I nodded an affirmative and asked ”ls everything OK? After all of the time spent talking yesterday, I thought we had moved past most
of the formalities?"
A troubled look crossed her face before saying “I was chastised by my supervisor for getting too friendly with an alien." She demurred.
"Oh... I'm sorry about that. I guess I can understand where some might not be terribly friendly to an alien showing up unexpectedly." I said with a sigh. "If you'd prefer not to eat with me, I'll understand. I don't want anyone getting in trouble on my account.” I said poking at my food, appetite lost now. I could almost feel a spike of sympathy from her.
”No, I am sorry on behalf of my people. The majority of us would happily welcome an alien to learn from and to teach about ourselves, to foster understanding and friendship. But, there are those who would rather see you dissected to see how your function and the best way to kill you in case of an invasion. Plus..." her ears folded flat on her head as she looked at the wall in what I could only guess was embarrassment. "l initiated Grrack'shai with you and shouldn't have."
My goggles translated the word but gave no context behind it. "Grrack'shai? What is that?" I asked curiously.
Her ears stayed glued to the side of her head as she looked down at the floor, her shoulders were slumped and she looked fairly miserable. ”Grrack’shai is the Bond Link. It is the sharing of friendship and affection between two Pe'roxenians. It is normally only initiated with people we like, or new family members, or really close friends." She said dejectedly.
Trying to bring a little levity to the conversation I said “So did you just adopt me?"
She looked at me slightly hurt and humiliated and I quickly held up my hands, my eyes wide because I could actually FEEL her misery stab at my mind and it was unlike anything I had ever felt. ”Oh my God, I just felt that, what WAS that?" I asked awed.
"That is the Grrack’shai." She said miserably. "You were so lonely and sad, but we're also so kind and nice to me even in your own sadness, that I didn't even think about doing it. Between two Pe’roxenians it would have been a natural thing to do between two who are starting a close friendship and I didn't even think what would happen if I did it with you. I just wanted you to know that you were not alone, that there were people here who would accept you and welcome you happily." She pleaded with me as if she had done me some great crime.
Leaning forward, I reached out and took one of her three fingered main hands and held it in both of mine looking into her widening eyes. "Then I thank you for your kindness, because I was lonely and sad. I cannot go home, I don't even know if there is a home for me to go back to and here, I am an alien, different in all ways from your kind so I will always be an outcast at the worst, a curiosity at the best. Yesterday you showed me more kindness than I had any right to expect from anyone and for that, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” I said trying to make her feel my gratitude unconsciously.
She looked down at my hands holding her with very wide eyes and shivered a moment at my last words before putting her other main hand around mine nodding with a smile. ”Then I am happy I did what I felt I should do. I would be happy to consider you a close friend Zachariah North." She said semi-formally, and with a smile from the both of them, they enjoyed a companionable breakfast together.
Not long after I had finished breakfast, Te'erraxa showed up with his escorts. "Good morning Zach." He said informally. ”I hope you slept well yes?" he asked politely.
I nodded and said "Yes, thank you for asking. What is on the agenda for today?’ I inquired.
"Today, I would like to take blood and tissue sample and run genetic tests to make sure there is nothing you carry that can endanger my kind as well as make sure there is nothing planet side that can cause harm to you as well. This station is a sealed environment and very clean, the planet, on the other hand, is not and if you want to leave the station one day, then we'll need to make sure everyone is safe from each other." He stated.
I nodded having expected this. "I expected as much. I know I don't want to spend the rest of my existence on the station even if I'm an outsider, but I also don't want to cause any issues for you and your kind. I would ask one thing of you if I may?" I intimated solemnly.
Te'erraxa cocked his head to the side in inquiry.
"If it is determined that I cannot leave this place, I ask that you just put me back into cryo-suspension. I'd rather sleep into oblivion than be a prisoner here. I know I'll never fit in with your people, but at least on the planet, if I wanted, I could disappear and try to live a solitary existence planet side and not bother anyone with my presence." I admitted.
Te'erraxa clasped both set of hands in front of him and nodded his head towards me "I can understand that, if our roles were reversed, I believe I would feel the same way. You have my oath that if it is to come to that, I will honor your wishes." He said.
”Thank you Te'erraxa. Also, would you apologize to Sha'lastall's supervisor for me? I monopolized her time last evening. She was very pleasant to talk with and made me feel quite welcome here. I think she may have gotten in trouble for spending too much time with me." I asked.
Te'erraxa blinked at me ”Sha'lastall was your attendant last night?" he asked.
I nodded "Yes, and she was very nice to me. Made it not as lonely to be here."
Te'erraxa's ears flipped forwards intently before saying "Yes, my cub has always been generous with her kindness; it's why I got her a job here on the station with me. She’s always loved seeing a doing new things. I'm very pleased that you enjoyed her company, and I will indeed speak with her supervisor on your behalf. Actually, if you are happy with her company, I will have her assigned as your personal attendant?" he asked with a touch of excitement in his voice, ears eagerly posed forward.
"Sha'lastall is your daughter?" I asked slightly stunned.
One of Te'erraxa's ears flicked curiously ”What is daughter?" he asked sounding out the word.
”Female umm.. Cub?" I said picking up the same word he had used.
"AH! Yes, Sha'lastall is my daughter." He said trying to pronounce the foreign word for the second time and doing a fair job of it minus the growling.
”What would she do as my personal attendant?" I asked curiously.
Te'erraxa leaned his head to one side considering "She would be responsible for escorting you wherever you go; teaching you of our people, being your liaison with others of our kind. Prepare your meals; take care of your needs. Plus since we all live together, and if you are cleared planet side, you will be staying with us as well, that works perfectly." He said quite satisfied with how things had worked.
”Will that not interfere with her family? Her mate?" I asked worriedly.
Te'erraxa waved a hand in the air in negation ”No, mated she is not. Still too young for such. She is only 49 rotations old; she will not be eligible for mateship for another rotation. Plus she has shown little interest in anyone who has tried to be her suitor. It is one of the reasons I brought her to the station, so she would have time to consider her options and time away to think on her future." He said.
"Well, if I am not being an inconvenience, then I would gladly accept her company, she has already shared much about your culture and something called Grrack'shai with me. She said it was some kind of friendship bond." I said happily.
Te'erraxa went very still and his guard's ears were both forward listening intently. ”She shared Grrack'shai with you?” he said in a stunned voice.
I looked at him sharply. "Is that bad? She seemed a bit upset about it this morning, but I can tell she is much happier now... It's weird, I feel like I can actually tell what she's feeling right now." I said absently.
"I did not think it would be possible to share Grrack'shai with an alien." He said in a low, quiet growl. "How do you feel about it?" he asked intently.
I shrugged "I don't feel alone anymore actually. It is like; she is sitting right beside me lending support. It is odd. I've never felt anything quite like it." I made a face as something changed. ”Now she is feeling worried..." I said shaking my head, my gaze coming back to the room where everyone was staring at me intently. “What? Did I do something wrong?" I asked apprehensively.
Te'erraxa shook his head and said ”No, you did nothing wrong, though, it probably is a good thing I am assigning her as your attendant. Grrack'shai is something we only share with close friends, family members and mates. It is to help our people understand those they are close to. It is not something she would share lightly with anyone, and as far as I know has only shared it with her family." He looked at me with a touch of worry on his face. I’m more than a little surprised that it worked with an alien."
"If it is taboo, then I do not want her to be ostracized over it, is there any way to cancel it?" I asked agitatedly.
He shook his head. “No, it's a permanent bond, it's why we are careful with whom we share it with. Only death severs it. I am sorry she forced it on you. That is one of our biggest taboos; no one would ever force a Grrack'shai on anyone. She will be in much trouble because of this." He said sadly.
I looked up alarmed "Then don't tell anyone!” I said fervently.
Te'erraxa looked at me appraisingly before asking ”Why should I not report her?"
”Because she is my friend... The first real friend I've made here, she helps me not be lonely and I would hate for her to get in trouble for trying to help me. Please don't report her." I half begged. "l'd happily accept this bond she has shared with me even had she asked me. It means that I don't feel as alone and depressed as when I first woke here. It means a lot to me that she chose to share it with me." I said embarrassed at the admittance. I hadn't realized how lonely I really was until I wasn't anymore.
He looked at me for a moment before his shoulders slumped in relief and he nodded in what I took to be gratitude “Then thank you I will on behalf of the entire family." He said in relief. "Although a stern talking to she will receive from me very, very soon." He said with a low growl. He recovered himself and motioned to me to follow "Come with; let us test to see if it is safe for you to visit the planet, my mate is practically chewing the furniture at the opportunity to meet an alien." He said with a toothy grin.
I followed Te'erraxa around the station until we came to a glass walled laboratory. He palmed open the portal and we stepped inside. There was a reclining chair with four arm rests and what I assumed was a slot a tail would fit in for comfort. He motioned me to sit in the chair and folded up a couple of the arm rests. The seat was quite comfy so I relaxed into it and waited. Te'erraxa walked over to a console and started flicking over the controls with both sets of hands while watching the read outs. ”Just lay still and quiet and this will go very quickly" he said conversationally." He pressed a few symbols and the ceiling opened and a set of robotic arms slid smoothly from the portal in the ceiling. The first one came down with a wide scanning device on it moving towards my feel. The a pulsing green line of light started to scan my body as the arm moved its way up my body ending at my head and then went back down to my feet again. The arm rose out of the way as a second one came down and pressed a cold metallic nozzle against my neck and with a hiss of pressure and a click, a small vial filled with my blood without a single twinge of pain. The another arm came down and took tissue samples from my forearm only leaving a small red, already healed, section of skin. Then the arms drew their way back into the ceiling and it was over. "There, not too bad was it?" he asked.
I shook my head amazed, I'd had more discomfort from my last physical 800 some odd years ago. "No, not at all. How long before you have any results?” I asked curiously.
All four hands were flickering over the double console as he watched the readout screens. "Not but a few moments." He said while continuing to work his way over the console. ”Wow, that fast?" I asked astonished. "Back home, it would take at least several of our days for the tests to show anything at all." Te'erraxa made an odd grunt as he stared at the screen and then looked back at me his eyes a bit wide. ”What? Am I dying or something?" I asked, my mouth going a tad dry. He turned back to the console flicking over the controls more watching the screens before stopping and looking back at me again and then up at the readout screen. He stopped his tapping and turned to be sitting on the high stool in front of the terminal gazing intently at me as if examining me with eyes trying to see something the scanner had missed. "Well, I think I know why my daughter was able to initiate Grrack'shai with you. Your DNA and genetic profile is a 98.817% match to ours...” he said sounding astonished. "Granted, that is about as far removed as we are from the Crrreazarrk on our planet; an ancestral predecessor to our kind, but, that either means that life in the universe is very genetically compatible, or... Or you're an ancestor of the Pe'roxenians, which is quite ridiculous actually. More than likely, every species genetic makeup is just very similar, which would account for sentience and self awareness. Like I previously said though, that is why my daughter could initiate Grrack'shai with you; our species are literally compatible with each other in all ways that matter, which means, that your body will probably be able to handle most foods and beverages on the planet. I'm running a virology profile to be safe though." He said still sounding both excited, eager, and amazed all in the same growling string of syllables that translated in my goggles.
"Well I'll admit, it is kind of comforting to know that even if we look different, we have much in common." I said relieved for some reason. Maybe it was because it was nice to think that maybe I really wasn't alone on this world.
Te’erraxa let out a curious sound while watching the data flow across the screen. "It looks like you should be able to digest and receive nutrition from the majority of our normal staples. There are a few more exotic items we will steer clear of, it looks like either they may be toxic to your system or cause a severe allergic reaction. There is a protein that isn't in your makeup that is in ours that allows adaptation to just about anything on our planet." He said sounding curious. "Let me do some more research, there may be a way to add the protein into your genetic makeup to allow you freedom on our planet to be able to adapt to and eat anything. Later we can look at gene therapy to see if it's plausible or not." He said finally. "Other than that, you should be fine to go to the planet without issues from either side. I'll send my findings to the Council and we should hear back by tomorrow. Tomorrow evening you may get to be planet side!" he said happily.
"Well that is good news then." I agreed. I was getting a tad claustrophobic being on ships and space stations. "In the meantime, what should I do? Just wait in my room?” I asked with a touch of bitterness in my voice.
Te’erraxa placed a main hand on my shoulder when he walked up to me. ”For now yes, I will have my daughter assigned as your personal assistant and send her to your room; AFTER I have a long talk with her about certain things." He said in a resigned voice. "OH! I almost forgot..." he took something out of one of the many pockets in his robe and held it up to me. Taking it, I examined it carefully. From first inspection it looked like some kind of collar. It was metallic and actually a tad stylish looking. It has a couple of buttons and what looked like a screen of some sort. The collar came with what looked like a hearing aid. Looking back at Te’erraxa I asked "Am I to be someone's pet now?" I asked blandly.
Te'erraxa blinked and I could see him running through the translation for a minute before he laughed holding his hands up, all four of them, placatingly. “No, it is a translation device. The neck piece will read your vocal patterns and translate it into our language so that anyone can understand you. It will even approximate your voice to a degree. The earpiece will then translate anyone else’s speech to you so that you will no longer have to read what is being said to you." He said preening a bit. ”I made it myself."
Looking around the room, I put the collar on and it fit snugly and yet comfortably. After a few moments I couldn't even tell it was there. The earbud was the same way, once in my ear, I could feel it move as its shape molded to my ear and then felt like nothing was in my ear at all. Te'erraxa took the ear piece out of his own large ear and looked at me expectantly. "Testing, testing, can you understand me?" I said.
A huge grin split Te’erraxa's muzzle as he said ”Understand you quite well I can easily! Can you understand me?" he asked.
I blinked and nodded "Yes, I understand you very well" I said just as excited. "But what about the goggles? I can't walk around without them, because of the light your species use." I said.
Te'erraxa was actually bouncing on his robe covered feet in excitement and held up a small vial of liquid. "This is an injection I can use with your eye chemistry; it will filter our planet's light just like yours does now for the white light your people prefer. The only side effect will be your eyes will be green like ours.” He said apologetically.
"So, one injection, and my eyes turn green and I can see without the use of the goggles?" I asked incredulously.
Te'erraxa nodded happily ”Yes! It will cause no harm to your eyes, it is just a filtering solution for the spectral patterns on our planet. May I" he asked indicating my eyes. What did I really have to loose? I was going to be stuck here for whatever passed for the rest of my normal life, why not make it easier to at least adjust. "Sure, go for it." I said looking probably more than a little nervous.
Te'erraxa nodded happily and had me lie back in the chair. He then sprayed something over my eyes that instantly numbed them while putting the vial in a strange looking device. He placed the device over my left eye and said ”Start at the light please." As soon as I looked a the light, there was a quick click and a slight pressure and the he moved to my right eye repeating the process. With the goggles off everything went back to its green tinged state but slowly color started to flood into everything like dye running from a new shirt, just in reverse. After a couple of minutes everything looked... Normal... I looked around blinking a few times astounded. ”This is much better than wearing the goggles, although I thank you very much for their creation. Our first day would have gone a whole lot worse if all you could do is growl at me." I said smiling a bit.
Te'erraxa snorted a laugh through those slitted nostrils of his ”And your little rumbling bird noises were about as frustrating." He said. ”Do you remember how to get back to your room from here?" he asked.
I nodded running over the route in my head. ”Yes, I can find it."
"Good, go ahead and go back and I'll send Sha'lastall to your room shortly. Rest well, because tomorrow, I estimate, we will be able to take you planet side." He turned back to his console with a deep pleased rumble in his chest.
I nodded to the guards as I passed through and one of them actually grinned and nodded back to me. That was a nice change. I made my way back to my room and the portal opened at my touch. Inside, someone had tidied the room, and the clothes I had previously worn were laundered and folded on the table. "Well that was nice of someone." Not being much in the way of tired, I started a set of calisthenics on the open floor to burn off a little excess energy. I did notice that I was able to do quite a bit more than I normally could and figured it was due to the lower gravity on the station. I managed to work up a good sweat and, stripping, I got in the shower. While I was covered in suds, I heard the door chime and called out ”Come in!" as I continued to finish my shower. I stepped out of the shower drying off and wrapped the towel around my hips and stepped out grabbing my clean clothes and froze as I looked up and saw Sha'lastall standing in the room staring at me with wide eyes.
“I'm sorry!" she said quickly turning around to stare at the far wall.
"No, it's my fault; I shouldn't have said to come in while I was still in the shower." I apologized. ”I wasn't thinking." I quickly toweled off and pulled on underwear and my jumpsuit. "OK, it's safe to turn around now." I said a bit embarrassed.
Sha'lastall turned around slowly double checking that I was indeed dressed and sighed relaxing a bit. Then she got a curious look on her face and asked "How do you stay warm with no fur?”
I gestured to the jumpsuit I was wearing "Clothing mainly. We dress for the season and the location normally. Why do you wear robes if you already have fur?" I countered.
Her ears turned a little red at the question before answering "Modesty mostly. Plus, pockets. Pockets come in very handy." She said with a grin.
"Agreed!" I said enthusiastically. "Actually I was curious, are there any resources I could have access to for research on your species and culture? I've only seen your people wear robes and armor. I will admit I'm curious what your species look like under it all. For example, your legs are a good deal like a mixture of canines on my world except the feet are more like avians with the gripping toe in the back to perch on things. I would think the whole thing would make for awkward walking, but your species moves very gracefully actually.” I stated with more than a touch of curiosity.
Sha'lastall took a seat at the table and pulled the hem of her robes up exposing her legs. "The joint where the foot meets the leg is multi directional. It provides a great deal of stability and purchase. The Crrreazarrk, the animal we are descendant from, is just as at home in the trees as it is on the ground or more rocky terrain. The hind feet, allow it to hold onto branches, or to snag prey when it leaps from concealment. Actually our species can easily walk on all six limbs if we so choose, but it's considered barbaric in modern society. Our hips are multi jointed so we can walk upright, or on all six limbs if we so choose without difficulty. We've been walking upright so long now that our middle limbs have grown smaller and are only used as a secondary set of hands for complicated tasks. If you look at the Crrreazarrk, you'll notice that the middle limbs are the same size as the rest and quite strong. My people actually keep some of them as pets while others live in a natural preserve. They are quite intelligent and curious creatures." She explained.
"I would love to see one.” I said wistfully. “If I'm going to be relegated to living here, maybe if I can find a nice quiet piece of land someplace to hide, maybe I can coax one into being my friend so I won't be completely alone." I said with a soft smile.
Sha'lastall tilted her head to one side while putting her robes back down. "Why would you do that?" she asked warily.
"Sha'lastall, look at me. There is no way I'm going to blend into your society. I'll be stared at no matter where I go, and that is only by people who are curious or don't mind me being around. Think about the ones that will NOT want me there. It will happen, and I have no way to protect myself from your claws and teeth. It would only take one of your larger brethren to decide I shouldn't be on your planet, and you will find my shredded carcass in a shallow hole someplace. It's better if I just find someplace and disappear, or go back into cryo-hibernation and sleep into oblivion. I'm always going to be alone here Sha'lastalI. I'll never find a... Never mind, you wouldn't understand, it's not your problem." I said sitting in the chair across from her slumping a bit.
"Zachariah North, Zach..." she murmured towards me. ”Actually you're very wrong, I DO understand, more than you know. You forget about our Grrack’shai. I do feel what you feel, and if you try, you should feel what I feel as well. I feel your hurt and your loneliness. I cannot imagine how it must feel to be so alone even in the middle of a crowd. You are good at hiding it on the outside though, but I can feel your pain inside." She said placing a main hand on her chest.
If I did concentrate, I really could feel what she was feeling and at this moment I felt a mixture of pity, sympathy and, underlying that, a kind of fierce determination that made me raise an eyebrow at her. "What are you so determined about?" I asked.
Sha'lastall’s ears reddened a bit but said ”That you don't have to feel like that. It isn't your fault that the system‘ your people sent you too was populated, nor was it your fault that you're the only one of your kind here. There is no reason you should have to hide yourself away from everyone and remain alone the rest of your life, which just isn't fair at all." She said with a touch of heat in her growling voice. ”You are a very nice person, for an alien” she said with a small smile.
That caused my cheeks to heat up a bit and I bobbed my head towards her in thanks. "That is very kind of you to say, but really, what place do I have in your world? Your technology is so far beyond what I know and understand that I wouldn't even begin to be able to know how to work on it. Heck I don't even know how to use it.” I said with a touch of frustration in my voice. "l hate feeling useless. I need to be useful, to be able to pull my own weight."
”What does your mass have to do with anything?" she asked confused.
I blinked and re-examined my last sentence and chuckled. "It is a colloquialism. It means to be able to provide for one's self or take care of one's self without assistance; or to be able to provide for a family unit without being a drag on their resources." I explained.
Sha'lastall nodded in understanding. ”That makes more sense.”
”So, did your father speak with you?" I asked.
"Father? What is a father?" Sha'lastall asked.
I thought quickly looking for a correct term to fit the role of father and not coming up with one I had to explain instead. ”The one who provided the genetic material to the one who birthed you?” I said floundering.
Sha’lastall's eyes lit with understanding ”You mean my sire Te’erraxa?" she verified. I nodded in response and she made a face. "He was quite upset with me for accidentally forcing Grrack'shai on you. It is one of our greater taboos to force Grrack'shai on anyone. It is supposed to be between willing participants. I did not know that your species would be compatible enough for it to occur. At the time I wanted you to feel less lonely is all so I shared Grrack'shai as a form of affection only. I am sorry if it makes you uncomfortable. From what I understand, your species does not have this?” she queried.
I shook my head. ”No, my species are not empathic or telepathic to any extent. We
developed a technological equivalent of it, but that is all." I informed her.
"Technological?" she said baffled.
It took me a short while to explain social media and the cybernetic implants that allowed us to send messages to one another via wireless signals. She seemed to find this fascinating and listened with rapt-attention. She definitely was her sire's cub.
"And you were unable to be part of this collective communication because your body rejected the implants?" she asked, her head cocked to one side and her tail twitching beneath her robes.
Shaking my head I said "No, there was a small percentage of our species whose bodies rejected the technology. They managed to isolate the genetic marker that kept us from accepting the technology and made adjustments in everyone so that no more offspring would be born as we were. So those of us who were not able to join, were shunted off to small colonies to live out our lives until our genetic aberration died of old age. Any children we would have had would have been able to use technology and therefore would have left us to be part of the collective. We were an endangered species on the edge of extinction. lts why we accepted the chance to come here thinking it would be a place for us to start over."
”Soooo, technically, even back on your Earth, you did not belong?" She asked. Something else apparent in the back of her mind since I could sense it to some small degree.
Raising an eyebrow I said "Nooooo, I guess not?”
Then she visibly brightened and I could sense triumph in her mind when she said "Then technically you have more in common with my people that you do with your own people because at least here, you can share Grrack'shai with me and anyone else who wishes it, whereas back on your Earth, you could not.”
I opened my mouth to argue and then closed it again looking slightly shocked I'm sure.
”Then it is good you came here!" she said with a touch of finality. ”And since my sire has assigned me to be your permanent guide and assistant, then you won’t really be alone, AND my strrarna will be so excited to meet you!" she said with a look of a cat who had just managed to snag the canary.
”What is strrarna?" I asked feeling more than a tad nervous about the direction of this conversation.
"The one who carried me beneath her heart and whelped me." She explained.
"Oh, we call those mothers.” I replied.
"Muhtherrrs.” She said trying out the word.
So I said it phonetically. ”MUH —Ther."
"Muuhhh-therr.” She tried again.
Grinning l nodded. "Close enough, I'm sure muzzles and long tongues make it a tad harder to speak my language. You sire said that you’re... Strrarna? Was ”chewing on the furniture” to meet me. ls your strrarna that interested in aliens?”
Sha'lastall tilted her head back in a full body growling laugh of humor "My strrarna is fascinated by anything alien related. She studied Xenobiology and hasn't had a chance to really use it yet." She said still laughing. "She will scan you multiple times and ply you with questions about everything she can possibly imagine. My sire will probably have to remind her several times that you are a guest and not a test subject." She said with a buzzing growl which I had started to associate with laughter. "She is actually a teacher at the local academy; do not be surprised if she asks you to come for show and tell."
I made a wry look which caused her to laugh harder "Well I guess being a show and tell dummy beats having nothing to do." I said.
"Do not worry; Te'erraxa has decreed that I am not to leave your side from now on, so I'll protect you from my strrarna." She said with a grin.
"Oh? Are you to be my bodyguard?" I asked with a smirk.
"From what I could see that the towel wasn't covering, it's a nice body to guard." She said.
This sentence had the effect of causing them both to get very quiet suddenly as their respective parts turned bright red. Nothing like a good old fashioned awkward silence, good to see some things were universal.
I cleared my throat self consciously before saying “Sooo, not to leave my side? Does this mean we get to be best friends?" I said trying for levity to break the awkwardness of the situation.
”More like caretaker. I'm to take you for walks and clean up after you when you make a mess." She said
"What?!? Like I'm some kind of pet??" I exclaimed, suddenly heated.
She looked up at me clearly trying to hold back laughter and failing miserably as she almost flipped her chair backwards when she broke out in laughter. This immediately disarmed my nuclear fire of anger to a more sheepish embarrassment of having had one pulled over on me and I started to laugh as well. It worked quite nicely in disarming the embarrassment and simply turned it into two friends poking fun at each other, just like it would have happened back home. Suddenly I felt better than I had in a very long time and the niggling hint of loneliness was fading quickly.
”Sha’Iastall, how do your people show thanks to each other for things like making someone feel better or to express gratitude or affection for friendship?" I asked curiously.
"Well..." she said thoughtfully. "If we have already performed a Grrack'shai, then, one places their hands on the other’s shoulders and presses their forehead to the other, who repeats the process. Other than that, we cross grasp the other’s hands in friendship. Why, what do your people do?" she asked, curiosity plain in her tone.
"We hug each other." I said.
"What is a... h’uggh? She asked with a tilt of her head, her ears pricked forwards.
Grinning I asked ”Do you want me to show you, if so, you'll need to stand up?"
Nodding vigorously, she quickly stood up watching me as I stood as well. I walked over to her and once I was standing in front of her I said "Just mirror what I do, OK?"
She nodded watching me closely. I opened my arms wide, which she mirrored with all four of her. It was a good thing we were close to the same size; this might have been awkward with one of the larger of her kind. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her neck in a nice customary hug. I felt her freeze for a moment and could sense the confusion and slight shock skittering around in her mind, but she quickly stamped it out and wrapped her four arms around me in response pulling up closer together in a nice embrace. I placed my chin on her shoulder and she followed doing the same resting her long muzzle on mine. Slowly and gently I squeezed and she did the same. I could quite literally feel her vibrate all over in what amounted to some kind of purr or thrumming. I really hoped that meant she liked it. Her body felt a bit smaller than mine, more wiry muscle than I had and a bit fluffy with her fur. It was actually a really nice sensation.
Eventually I relaxed the hug and it took her a moment to realize I had and she hastily eased her grip as well as we extracted each other from the hug. I stepped back from her clasping my hands behind my back watching her. She had an odd look on her face and I could feel a mixture of pleasure, happiness, and a type of peace flow over her as she blinked a couple of times then looked at me.
"That was a h’uggh... It was very pleasant. Normally that kind of closeness is reserved for mates.” She said, her ears pinking a little. "But, it was very nice; I can see where it would be a positive way to make someone feel cared for and appreciated." She said in a thoughtful voice. ”ls that how you show intimate affection as well?”
”That depends on what you mean by intimate affection. Before my people went for the technological upgrade, we were a fairly tactile species, but normally only with those we were dating or mated to, or perhaps family. We hug, kiss, hold hands, and cuddle. I guess a lot of physical intimacy with humans is tactile since we don't have your species’ ability with empathy. We have to be able to physically express our feelings to one another. Normally couples that are either in a relationship or mated spend a lot of time touching, or cuddling." I tried to explain further, but how exactly how did one explain the complexities of a relationship to someone? "How is it with your people?" I asked to shift the responsibility to her for a while.
"Well, if it is with a mate or very serious prospective mate we perform a different level of a Grrack'shai called the Grrack'shai'tet. It is a complete exploration of another one’s life experiences and feelings. Kind of like... Kind of like getting a sense of a complete person not just their emotions, and they a more complete idea of who and what you are as well. We are only a tactile people with family, and those we are truly close with. What is cuddling?" she countered.
”Ummm... Well, it is like hugging but not always in the same way. It is holding someone to be close to them while doing sedentary things like reading or watching a movie or listening to music. It is kind of hard to explain without actually doing it. It is something so ingrained it is kind of like trying to describe a color to a blind person... Does that make sense?” I asked trying not to flounder too badly.
She looking thoughtful as she absently scratched the tip of her muzzle in concentration. ”A bit... Maybe you can show me?" she asked enthusiastically. Yup, she was definitely her parents’ daughter.
I'm pretty sure I turned three different shades of scarlet before I managed to choke out. ”Well, that is really only done with close, romantic friends or mates, and besides, there is nothing we can cuddle on, except the bed, and that would be... Well..." Yup, let's upgrade that to six shades of red.
I think she understood because her own ears turn fairly red too. “Oh!!! I did not mean... It would be like Grrack'shai’tet? Something to share with a very special other person?” she asked quickly.
I let out an explosive breath I hadn't realized I had been holding “Exactly! It is intimate and normally only between prospective mates or mates." Well that was one potential crisis headed off. I know she was only being curious, but damnit, I was lonely and the idea of cuddling up with anyone, even an alien was tempting, especially after the nice hug and I absolutely felt very odd about the whole idea. Looking up I realized Sha'lastall was watching me.
"Why do you feel... conflicted?" she asked
I winced; I was going to have to get better control of my emotions. ”It is hard to explain." I said with a sigh. "It has been a long time since I was with any female who asked me to cuddle, even if it was accidental. A part of me really wanted to say yes, even if you aren't human, and cuddling doesn't always have to be with potential mates or mates. Sometimes it is to provide comfort for someone who needs comfort. Even back home I felt a bit alone, I didn't date or ‘cuddle’ with anyone. Another reason I decided to sign up for this mission, I really didn't feel like I fit in back home. So a part of me really wanted to say yes, while the other part of me was slightly appalled at the fact that I was so desperate for some kind of tactile contact that I would consider cuddling with an alien species, which caused another part of me to be ashamed of really even caring that you were an alien species. Heck you've been a better friend to be in two days that l have had when I was back on Earth ever.” I managed to just blurt all of this out and slumped in my chair feeling a tad exhausted from just laying it all out there. This empathic link must give a bit of a nudge to share things, because I can't recall ever having spilled that much to anyone, ever. I didn't hear it when Sha’lastall walked over to me, but I saw her kneel in front of me. She placed her main hands on my shoulders and gently drew me in placing her head on mine closing her eyes, her secondary hands gently grabbed mine, and placed them on her shoulders to match her gesture. Sighing, I closed my eyes as well.
A wash of emotion flowed over me as if I was standing on the beach and the ocean was surging gently around me. I felt her gentle emotions rolling over me; feelings of acceptance, understanding, care, and genuine affection. They helped to sooth my mind and in return, I was able to attempt to send my gratitude and affection for her as well. We both got caught up in our mutual sharing of feelings and I'm not sure how long we were like that, but when we finally parted, there was a calm inside me that was much more stable than it had been before. "Was that your hug to me?” I asked with a trace of a smile.
She grinned back at me nodding "It seemed you needed it, and I wished to provide it. You are not alone Zachariah, you have me and soon my family to be with you. Most of my people are happy to meet new aliens, even if only just one of them. Try to give my people a chance yes? This may not be your native home, but it can still be your home if you let it.” She said solemnly.
Planet Fall
Sha'lastall and I spent the day just hanging out and talking about various different things. I learned more about her people, how they had immigrated to this planet a little over 3000 years ago. How when they got here, they were different than they are now and how their species had adapted to co-exist on this planet with the native species. How they had developed their technology to work with the environment instead of against it causing damage to the native species. How their space program had grown and how they had tried hard to find out if they were alone in the universe. She told me about the only other two encounters her people had had with alien species. How one had attempted to drive them off their own planet with dreams of conquest. They had fought them off fairly easily, but there had been significant losses to her people in the process. She told me of the second contact hey had made with a xenophobic species who had ended up in the wrong system after a navigational failure on their ship. They had been polite but quite firm that they did not wish contact with an alien species. Then there was my ship. It had come in system setting off all of their sensors. There had been mixed reactions and when they found that the ship had been damaged and that there was only one alien on the ship. Her sire, Te'erraxa, had pushed to allow me to be moved to the station and then pushed again to let me be awakened. After all, what harm could one single alien cause to their people?
I found out that the difference in sizes between certain Pe’roxenians was due to geography and clans. The larger, more beefier ones were from the fringes of their society, the ones that preferred to live a more natural life in the wilds. They were strong defenders of their people and most went into military service in protection of their planet. I learned that males were smaller than females because of the genetics of the Crrreazarrk. The Crrreazarrk males were natural, quick hunters and their smaller sizes allowed them to hide better as ambush predators. The females were larger to better protect their young while the male was out hunting. The differences in the bright colors of fur had to do with the botanical diversity of the planet and camouflage. The planet's botanical diversity made for large clusters of primary colored vegetation and Crrreazarrk that lived in certain clusters had fur color patterns to help them blend into the surrounding foliage. All in all it was a very enlightening conversation. l told her about Earth and how we had managed to survive several World Wars. How it took technology to join everyone’s minds into a common goal to let us set aside many differences. It was had to be deceitful when everyone could read your thoughts.
Around, what I assumed was lunch, since my stomach started to complain, Sha’lastall went to get us food and ended up coming back with hir sir. Te'erraxa came in with a huge smile and an odd look in his eyes.
”Well, you have been cleared to go planet side.” He said expansively. "When you've had food, we will head down. My mate is practically going mad getting the den in order and cleaned for your visit." He said chuckling to himself in which Sha’lastall joined in. ”My mate, I'm afraid, is probably going to pester you to distraction with her questions and scans." He apologized with a wince.
"Do not worry strrorno, I'll try to keep strrarna from driving Zachariah insane." She said with an impish grin my way.
”Why do I have this feeling it might be safer to just stay on the station?" I asked resigned. This had the added bonus of causing both Pe'roxenians to do that little buzzing laugh they do. ”So when does the transport depart?" I asked curiously.
"Transport?" Te'erraxa asked curiously, and then nodded in understanding. "No, we will be taking the sky lift." He said.
"Sky lift? What is that?" I asked.
"Come Zachariah, you will see!" said Sha’lastall.
So the skylift was something else. Te'erraxa and Sha’lastall led me to a central lift that went down to the bottom of the station. There, at the bottom, were many more Pe'roxenians going about their daily duties. Most stopped and stared at me, there were no glares or hostile looks, mainly curiosity. I tried to smile and look friendly as best as I could. We made our way to a security booth and Te'erraxa used his little holographic device to show the security on duty what I guessed were my release papers. The security guard read it thoroughly and nodded. He looked at me and said ”Welcome to Pe’roxcen Too'azzha, please enjoy your stay.
"Thank you for your kindness." I said with a short bow of my head.
We entered a large circular room with seating around the edges. It was a full room and the three of us sat together. Sha’lastall showed me how to activate the passive restraint system in the seat, and, what felt like a comfortable weight, settled over my body. I raised a curious eyebrow at Sha'lastall and she said "lt is a gravimetric restrain system. A micro gravity device is in the shuttle and localized the gravity to each seat to keep people secure. “Neat!” I said getting comfortable in the seat. It was a touch uncomfortable since there were large holes in the back for what I guessed was to allow tails to slide through comfortably. In a few minutes an automated voice came on. "Descent is about to begin, please stow all items for transport." And then the bottom dropped out. It was an elevator! The walls were transparent and we were descending rapidly. I could watch the transition from space to atmosphere as we fell towards the planet at remarkable speeds. l was so enthralled in the view I missed the grin and significant look between father and daughter. I got an entrancing view of the planet and Sha'lastall hadn't been lying. The foliage on the plants was all large clumps of bright, primary colors. Blues, reds, yellows, greens, oranges, violets, they were all present in a riot of colors spreading across the planet. I could see cities in the distance, shining beacons in the sun’s rays. We started to slow as we reached the bottom and eventually towers of crystal and stone shot up all around us and slowly, ever so slowly and gently, we came to rest on the planet's surface. I disengaged the restraint system eagerly ready to see what this new place had to show me. Sha'lastall laid two restraining hands on me and motioned me to wait. She handed me a package her father had handed her and curiously I opened it. It was a robe kind of like what they wore in a lovely mixture of blues and reds. Raising my head I have her a quizzical look.
”lt is family colors and signature. In case you get lost, others will know to whom you should go to. Also, it will help you blend a bit more in the crowds. I know you're worried about sticking out too much." She said quietly.
"You do?” I asked surprised.
She tapped her head looking at me. “Remember, I can read you as well.” She said with a smile. ”lf you want, you can put the hood up and no one will even know that an alien walks among them, but that is your decision shi'irra." The last word got her a startled look from her sire.
I blinked at the new word that didn't translate. ”What is shi'irra?" I asked.
Te'erraxa answered quickly "It means friend, kind of. It is a hard translation.” He said while Sha’lastall managed to look embarrassed.
I was pretty sure he wasn't being entirely truthful, but who was I to push? I just nodded and put the robe on. It was lightweight and very soft to the touch, kind of like silk but much stronger, or so it felt. "Thank you, it is beautiful and so very soft!" I said happily.
We all stepped out of the shuttle and were met by three armored Pe'roxenians. Te'erraxa stepped forward and looked up at the lead and asked "Is there a problem Kha'aja?”
"Kooro Te'erraxa, apologies. There have been demonstrations near by at letting an alien on planet. We are here to act as security until you arrive to you den." The lead turned and offered a nod of greeting to me. ”Our apologies Too'azzha, please do not judge our people too harshly."
I shook my head "No apologies are needed Kha'aja.” I said trying to not mangle the new word. ”My planet also has fringe people who would rally against a bath if it were approved of by the government." I said with a snort.
The lead let out one of those buzzing laughs and nodded his head to me in thanks. ”Please, if you would put your hood up for now, we will escort you home."
Smiling, I lifted the voluminous hood and kept my hands hidden inside of the sleeves of my robe. We followed the guards to a public rail station. The train seemed to be floating above the rails as it gently swayed in place. The guards secured one of the lead, smaller cars and we all took seats. In no time, without even a hint of acceleration, we were off like a shot. We wove through a city of crystalline glass buildings and towers. They were all quite organic looking in structure and quite beautiful. The train would it's way to an out skirted section away from the main city and stopped at a terminal station there. We disembarked with our guards and hoofed it the rest of the way. Oddly I didn't feel a single twinge of fatigue, I felt oddly lite here and I was practically bouncing on the balls of my feet while we walked. The whole area was heavily wooded by brightly colored... trees? The ”leaves" looked a bit like feathers actually. Each one had fine filaments that waved in the breeze like living things. The section we were in was predominantly red in color with smatterings of blue here and there. We reached a massive sprawl of lumpy mounds of a blueish-type of grass that was also masses of filaments on a single stalk. Three and grass covered the area, but we followed a flattened and paved trail to a cleared, sunwards facing side of the mound. There were recessed windows lining the front and a closed portal with a scanner on the front. From the size of the mounds, the complex was giant. How many people lived here?
We finally stopped at the entrance and the guard lead gave a snort bow of his head and said "Kooro, we will do an area survey and if we do not find anything, we will leave an observation drone over the area just in case. We will be a comm away should you need us. Be well Too'azzha, you stay with good people." And with that, he nodded and he and his group disappeared into the trees of the property.
Te'erraxa looked at his daughter and said ”lt is your responsibility now to watch after and protect our guest. Do not let him go anywhere alone." Turning to me he said. “Please forgive the restriction of movement Zach, it is for your protection I promise."
I nodded in understanding. "Do not worry my host; I will strive to not break hosting rules.” I said remembering an old book I had once read. "I will do my best to make sure no harm comes to you and yours either by my hand or by my actions."
Te’erraxa smiled and nodded happily. "Now, let us go inside so my mate can zrahktar all over you."
The portal irised open leading into a large interior room lit by natural light via several skylights spaced evenly throughout. The whole area was well appointed with nice, furniture made of what looked like natural woods and cushioned in bright happy colors. The whole area had an organic feel of stone, earth and sky. It was like being outdoors while being underground. The floor was carpeted in, what felt like, grass. Sha’lastall motioned for me to remove my boots, which I did, and sure enough the ground really was some type of grass, very nice to walk on and warm to the touch. Te’erraxa let out a low undulating cry and then chaos erupted.
Smaller versions of Te’erraxa and Sha’lastall came boiled out of hallways and side rooms. They were either red or blue in coloration and ranged from small to slightly smaller that Te’erraxa. A larger, blue furred female came bustling out of a side room. Her eyes were quite wide in excitement and she was a good foot taller than Te’erraxa. And she was completely naked... Well she had beautiful, thick blue and black fur, it wasn't like she had been shaved or anything. I'm sure my eyes widened slightly as I was swarmed under by... I counted quickly... Eight youths, all staring up at me wide eyed and also not wearing anything other than their fur, made for a heavy dose of intimidation. Te’erraxa and Sha’lastall both removed their robes as well and hung them on protrusions from the wall. Sha’lastall motioned for me to do the same and I did so, good thing I still had my jumpsuit from the ship. Te’erraxa and Sha’lastall traded crossed hand clasps and leaned their heads against the other female in greeting. Te’erraxa motioned me to come over, which I did, followed by an oddly quiet pool of young.
”Ruh'khanna, this is Zachariah North from the planet Earth. Zachariah North, this is my mate and Sha'lastall's strrarna, Ruh'khanna.” He introduced.
Bowing my head slightly, I worked my mouth around the words ”Koora, it is a pleasure to meet you." I attempted formally.
Roh'khanna made a noise to her children who parted out of the way with noises of complaint that anyone would recognize as grumbling children and walked over to me clasping all four hands in front of hirself and bowing slightly, her tail flicking behind her in what I took to be excitement. ”Too'azzha, welcome to Per'roxcen and to our home. It is an honor to host you here."
I also bowed slightly to her as well. ”Thank you koora, but please, call me Zachariah or Zach, it may get a little stuffy if we stick to formalities for too long. I do not wish to inconvenience you and yours in any way if I can help it and I will attempt to pull my own weight as best I can to not be a burden."
Roh'khanna looked at her mate curiously at the colloquialism I had used and Sha'lastall spoke up first. ”It means, he wishes to help contribute and not be a burden on the family." She said with a touch of pride as obviously having remembered.
"AH!" she exclaimed in understanding. ”That is very kind of you Zachariah, but at least for today, can I have my formality? I so rarely get to use it." She said with a grin. I could see where Sha'lastall got it from.
Trying hard to hide too big of a grin I nodded. ”Very well koora, I beg your humblest forgiveness at the inexcusable breach of etiquette." I said grinning at the floor while bowing, and then yelped as something popped me on the bottom. I looked up to see Sha'lastall laughing at me.
"Don't encourage her, or we will be speaking formally all evening." She said through her
laughter.
Rhu'khanna gave her daughter a look of reproach before saying. "You may have spent time with our guest, but I have not, and you will show better manners or you can take your meals in your room alone.”
Sha'lastall quickly swallowed her laughter and bowed her head to her mother. ”I am sorry strrarna, I will attempt to behave better with our guest, but I cannot leave him alone unfortunately."
Rhu'khanna looked at her mate with a quizzical eye before Te'erraxa explained. "Our eldest decided to initiate Grrack’shai with our guest, although I believe it to be an accident, his species is susceptible to it and now they are bonded."
Sha’lastaII’s mother's eyes went wide and she turned to her daughter. ”You initiated Grrack’shai without consent??? Have we not taught you better than that?!?" she exclaimed, anger rising in her voice.
I stepped between the two hold my hands in front of me in a placating gesture. "Please, it is not her fault. I was... I felt very alone and depressed, enough so that I contemplated asking to be resealed in my hibernation pod and put back to sleep until oblivion took me. I'm alone here; I've no family, no friends, no species. I believe she was simply trying to show me that I was, in fact, not alone. She helped quiet my fears and worries, and for that I am thankful for her intervention. No one could have guessed that our species were close enough in makeup that it would have bonded us." I tried to explain.
Rhu'khanna had settled down during my explanation and once I had finished she looked between her eldest and me before deflating slightly and then nodded to me. "l can understand how you must have felt. My eldest has always been of the caring nature, I guess I cannot fault her for something she did not know could happen. Are you OK with what has happened though?" She asked worriedly.
”I've... I've never had someone else's emotions swimming around in my head before and it is not uncomfortable, it just takes a little getting used to. From what I have been told, all of you share this same bond?" I asked.
Rhu'khanna nodded ”Most families do. It brings us all closer together and helps to keep misunderstandings from happening. Where are my manners, please come sit down and take your ease.” With that she took one of my hands and led me over to what looked like a couch with an opening in the back for tail to slide through and I took a seat at one end, while Sha'lastalI sat in the middle, a bit closer to me than was needed and her mother at the other end. Te'erraxa took a padded chair close by and shooed the younger ones off to their rooms to play, with quite a bit of grumbling. Sha'lastall's tail had a tendency to keep migrating towards me and brushing against me almost as if she were making sure I was still there. Rhu'khanna said something to the eldest of the youths and he? She? It was hard to tell at their age, scampered off only to return balancing a tray in its hands containing what looked like steaming mugs of something. ”This is our second eldest XiaI'skanna." At the introduction the youth beamed a smile at me as happy as she could possibly be. She set the tray on the center table and with a slight bow towards me and the rest of the family exited the room.
Te'erraxa brightened at the beverage. "Oh, you made churoori!" he said happily. "You should be able to pallet this Zach, it is a tincture of a local restorative plant and a low grade alcohol. It is good for bolstering the immune system and waking one up after a long journey."
”WelI, you can get much longer of a journey than over 800 years." I quipped.
Rhu'khanna handed out the drinks and asked curiously ”So your species have to use cryogenic suspension to be able to travel far distances?"
Nodding absently I sniffed the beverage and caught the whiff of alcohol, citrus and mint. I took a sip. It was sweet but not too sweet and the mint and citrus had a pleasant flavor chased with a kick of alcohol. I'd have to be careful, I'd never been a big drinker. ”This is quite good." I said. “Yes koora, my species has not found a way to accomplish faster than light travel or any other kind of travel that would work to get us to far distant location, so cryogenic sleep is the best we could come up with." I explained sipping the drink. ”I am now the oldest living human ever." I said a bit wryly.
Rhu'khanna started to ply me with questions liberally as well as scanning me with some kind of hand held scanning device she had with her. The question went on for quite sometime before Sha'IastaIl stepped in. ”Strrarna, that is enough please. I can feel his weariness even if he is too polite to say so. Were you going to feed him, or just let him hunger in silence?" she asked a bit protectively.
Rhu’khanna made a face but gave her eldest an odd look before saying. "You are right whelp. I let my curiosity get the best of me. I have a stew in suspension. Bring our guest to the dining room and we will eat. Before we got up an odd sound permeated the room and everyone turned to see an animal enter the room. It had green and black fur over its body. It looked like a tiny Pe'roxcen except that it walked on all six legs and had an elongated neck. It looked a bit like a small, furred, wingless dragon and it was quickly approaching me. Rhu’khanna make a noise somewhere between distress and worry and made to intercept the little thing, but it quite adeptly avoided her and slithered its way to the top of the couch by my head and stared at me for a minute.
"Ummmm, should I be worried?" I half whispered.
”Do not make any sudden movements." Sha'lastall said back almost in a strangle of voice.
Licking my lips I sat very still while the little beasty examined me, and then sniffed me, and then proceeded to crawl across my shoulders draping itself from one shoulder to the other and closing it's eyes let out a low buzzing purr.
Te'erraxa let out an explosive breath and said ”Well, it looks like Xi'xi approves of our new houseguest."
”Who? What?" I managed to get out still trying to not move much but now, my nose was starting to itch.
Sha'lastall looked at me and I could sense a mixture of wonder and relief from her. "That is Xi'xi, she is a Crrreazarrk. She must have escaped one of the whelp's rooms. We weren't sure what she would think of an alien, but if she is sleeping on your shoulders, you've just made a new best friend.”
”Is... Is it ok to touch her?" I said quietly.
Everyone nodded and I reached up and gently stroked the little Crrreazarrk’s head and her buzzing purr went up another notch, but other than that she didn’t move an inch. Sol ended up going to dinner with a Crrreazarrk snoozing on my shoulders and the family giving me odd looks. The stew, while looking odd, was quite tasty and well seasoned. Conversation continued around the table while we ate. Rhu’khanna really tried to not ask too many questions, but it was obvious that they just kept bubbling to the surface, so I answered with patient equanimity to be a good house guest. Sometime during the dinner Xi'xi woke from her snooze, rubbed her head against my cheek and scurried down my body and off to wherever. Now this whole time I was trying very hard not to stare at everyone around me, being as that no one was wearing a stitch of clothes, but I kept feeling odd things from Sha’lastall and when I would look up to her, she wasn't looking at me at all. It gave me time to study her profile for a good bit. The four arms were spaced on a double set of shoulders that looked like they split the rib cage in half making them both shorter and offering an increased flexibility. That gave the impression of having two chests, and for the females, there was a gentle swell on both chest signifying a double set of mammaries. The necks were a tad longer than would be normal for a human, and the shoulders were a bit broader. The waist tapered a bit to slightly widened hip and then down to legs that looked like an odd combination of canine and bird. The feet were three toed with a fourth digit on the back end for gripping things like a bird perching on a limb. The limb was digigraded and the thighs were thick and strong with muscle. There wasn't what anyone would call fat anywhere on any of them, and the tails seemed to be more reptilian than mammalian, very broad and muscled at the base tapering to a brightly colored fan of fur at the tip. The length was enough to drag the floor when they walked but the seemed to keep them up and constantly moving as a counterbalance to their body. The large ears were also tufted a bit with their primary color and seemed to be one of the main items used in expressing emotion just like a canine would. The faces were almost draconian in build looking very much like the little Crrreazarrk that had napped on my shoulders. The muzzle narrowed and contained two slitted nostrils on top. The eyes were forward facing, but were elongated enough to allow for significant peripheral vision. Their faces and muzzles were still quite expressive even if they looked like they shouldn't be. Of course they weren't speaking English, I only heard that. They spoke in odd growling noises that changed in timbre and pitch as well as depth and breadth.
Watching them talk and joke with each other like family caused a touch of pain somewhere inside me. Not that I had a family even back home, they gave me up long ago, but still. I must have gotten buried in my thoughts because I almost jumped out of my chair when something brushed my leg. Looking up I saw Sha’lastall looking at me worriedly, her parents were in discussion over work and not paying us any mind at the moment. I felt a flash come from her, concern, worry, and a question. I looked at her and smiled, in what I hoped, was a reassuring manner. I don't think I fooled her, stupid mental bond. I just shook my head slightly at her trying to send patience. She seemed to understand because, her tail lightly wrapped around my ankle, in what I guessed, was comfort.
Once dinner had been finished, and the dishes cleaned away, we made our way back to the main living area. Tomorrow, I was told, was going to be a relax day for me since I had been poked and prodded enough for a bit, to Ruh'khenna’s chagrin. I promised her that when she wanted to, I would accompany her wherever she wished and she could scan and examine all she wanted. I mean, I didn't have anything else to do now did I?
I must have looked tired because Sha'lastalI announced it was time to sleep. I thanked her mother for the dinner and said goodnight to them both, before Sha'IastaIl led me back, to a room towards the back of the complex. One the way, we passed a room full of sleeping youths. They were all piled together in a heap of fur on a large padded nest thing with blankets and pillows galore. We finally reached a room off to the left and inside was another of those large
padded nests with pillows and blankets. There was a desk and a couple of chairs and several robes of varying colors hung on the wall.
"Who's room is this?" I asked.
"It's mine. Normally I sleep with the young, but since I'm to be with you from now on, I'll be sleeping with you instead." She said as if stating that water was wet.
I nearly choked on my next words as that processed through my head. "You're gonna what now?" I asked in a slightly strangled tone.
She looked at me oddly. ”Does your species not sleep together?” She asked surprised.
”Well yeah, but normally that is only between mated pairs.” I said trying to regain some semblance of composure.
”Only mated couples?" She said sounding just as shocked. "For our people, family sleeps together, you saw the whelps all piled together. Strrarna and strrorno sleep by themselves though and I slept with my siblings. Now that you're here though, I'm supposed to sleep with you and honestly, I much prefer that than sleeping with the whelps." She said with a touch of a grin.
I made to say something several times but I guess my roiling emotions was enough to get my feelings through because sent her own soothing emotions to me to help quiet the turmoil in my mind a bit. "I'm sorry; it just caught me broadside on top of everything else that has happened. With my people, only children or intimate partners or mated pairs sleep together." I tried to explain.
"Well if you want to be intimate, we can do that too.” She said with a straight face.
I think that is when my brain broke. The next thing I remember she was shaking me calling my name. "Zachariah! I was joking! BREATHE!”
I gasped taking in a lungful of air feeling light headed for a minute. "That was NOT nice." I said feeling a little woozy.
“By the first colonists!" She exclaimed. "I actually felt it when your mind shut down. Are you OK? Do your people have humor?" she asked slightly cross with me apparently.
”Sorry..." I said a touch weakly. "It just caught me off guard is all. Why do your people sleep together?" I asked trying to steer the conversation away from my mental meltdown.
"Because of our bond link." She said. ”Sleeping alone is a lot lonelier without a bonded partner or family member with you; it is a different level of being alone." She explained with a shudder.
"OK, then we can sleep together if it will be that bad for you. I don't want anyone suffering because of my modesty. Let's just try it and see how it goes?” I whined slightly.
She just rolled her eyes at me and went over to the nest and laid down making herself comfortable and then looked up at me “Well?”
Sighing, I undid my jumpsuit and slid it to the ground and, picking it up, folded it setting it aside. I’m going to have to figure out what to do about clothing.” I muttered.
"We can get you clothes made, plus you have the robe. Are you going to wear that clothing to bed?" she asked indicating my underwear.
"Goddess yes!" I exclaimed.
She looked at me curiously "Why?"
Turning about 3 shades of red I said. “Because my people's reproductive organs hang externally from their body, well the male ones do. This piece of clothing keeps it from dangling and flopping around." I tried to explain lamely.
"OH?" She said looking quite curious.
"Yes it does, and no I won't show you..." I said going another shade redder.
She let out one of those buzzing laughs watching me and apparently tasting my embarrassment. "Well, if you're going to leave it on, then come to bed, I'm just as tired as you are.”
I walked over and stepped onto the padded nest and instantly started to flail as I fell forward, it was MUCH softer than I thought. Sha'Iastall managed to catch me with a bit of a grunt. ”You're heavier than you look." She said. She helped me lay down and get comfortable. I pulled a blanket up around me and just as I was getting comfy on my side, she scooted up right behind me wrapping both sets of arms around me, her chest pressed firmly against my back. I'm sure I stiffened up a bit, but a gentle, buzzing purr passed through her body and into me calming me down, her tail lazily twined around my leg and with the light purring of something that looked like it could eat me if it wanted to, I fell asleep.
I dreamed. I saw bright colored trees, scurrying prey, sun warm on my back, the mewlings of young, the passion of a mate at her peak, the taste of hunted prey on my tongue. Contentment... I perched high in a green tree, wind rustling the limbs. The smell of sunrise on the horizon as the two moons set on the opposite -horizon. The night was cool but my fur was a barrier to the chill. Behind me I could hear my mate stirring sleepily, and turning, I went back to join her.
When I woke up, I couldn't move. Well that wasn't true, I could wiggle body parts, but I
seemed to be buried to my eyeballs in warm, furry bodies. Oddly enough the extra weight didn't feel all that heavy but I still wasn't sure what the heck was going on, so I slowly tried to work and arm free. I guess my struggles woke Sha'lastall up because I suddenly heard a low buzzing chuckle. Moving my head to the right slightly, I looked up to wear she was propped on her left arms looking at me. .
"lt seems the whelps decided we needed company." She said with a grin.
"Then why am I the one buried and not you?" I murmured.
"Because you're the alien and new. That and you have very nice dreams." She murred to me, her eyes half closed as if recalling the dreams.
"You saw my dreams?" I asked a bit muzzily.
"I think the whelps did too, you broadcast fairly loud in your sleep, even the non-bonded could hear them apparently." She said staring at the pile of fur surrounding me. ”Even Xi'xi joined in it looks like.” She said motioning for me to look down.
Staring back at me were two small green eyes blinking sleepily at me. Xi'xi let out a sleepy growling chirp and rubbed her head against my chin rumbling like a small generator. There was a tapping of claws on the portal to the room, and it irised open and a blue furred head popped in. Ruh'khanna’s eyes widened at the site and a grin split her face as she looked at the pile of children on top of me.
"My, I knew your dreams were loud, but I didn't think they'd attract the whelps." She said with a buzzing laugh. She made an odd coughing growl a couple of times and the little ones started to stir out of their sleep. ”Rise and greet the sun little ones, it's time for breaking your fast!"
The children started to wake and move around, I got a foot in the groin and an elbow in the stomach which caused me to make many undignified noises but the young ones woke up and extracted themselves from the pile and suddenly I was much colder. Eight pairs of green eyes all stared at me as I finally managed to sit up on my elbows.
"Morning kiddos." I managed under the scrutiny.
One of the younger ones piped up. ”What is kiddo?" she said managing the new work with more alacrity than the humans.
"It is a term of endearment from my world. It means little ones or children, or, as you call them, whelps." I said explaining.
The oldest of the group managed a thoughtful look and said "Kiddo, I like it. Strrarna, can we be kiddos today?" she asked curiously.
Ruh'khanna laughed again and nodded. ”Yes you can be... kiidddoos today." She said drawing out the word as if tasting it. Now give Zacha-:riah room to move and get ready to break your fasting.” She said before withdrawing her head from the room.
One by one, eight whelps took my hands in their and pressed their heads to mine in an affectionate greeting and each one gave off their own little individual ping of a mental signature, about like getting a hug from a sibling. Each one said ‘good morning’ and made their way out of the room.
Sha'lastall stared at me with a grin and said. "Well it looks like you have eight new admirers."
"Well I guess that's better than them not liking me." I said a bit ruefully.
"Would you like to clean yourself? I noticed that your kind seems to enjoy a morning ritual of cleaning before facing the day." She asked.
I nodded ”Yes please. We tend to start smelling odd if we don't bathe and I'm not sure if I'm ready to find out if I stink to your people yet.” I responded.
”Well, personally, I think you smell fine, but ritual is important. The facility is two doors on the right. I'll be sure they ‘kiddos’ save you some food.” She said with a grin also trying out the new word.
I grabbed my bag from the corner and went down the hallway irising the door on the right and stepped into a massive facility. There was a small bowel indenture in the floor with a drain in the bottom and a button at the back. I figured that was the toilet and I quickly relieved myself. Pressing the button a swirls of liquid scoured the area and everything drained into the floor. There was a large stall against one wall which was perforated with small holes like the shower back on the station. A container of some kind of viscous liquid was on the top ofthe wall, and smelling it, it smelled a bit like soap but with a more natural organic smell. I put a small drop on my fingers and smoothed it around between them. Well, nothing dissolved or started to hurt. I added a touch of water to it and it sudded up satisfactorily, so I used it to bathe myself. Looking into -a mirror on the wall I saw that I now had several days of beard growth and looked decidedly scruffy, but in a world of furry aliens, would anyone even notice? Besides, I didn't even have a razor to shave with. I'd have to ask about that later. I got dressed in a clean jumpsuit and padded out of the bathroom on silent feet making my way through the hallway to the main eating area.
The dining room was a cacophony of sound and noises all being translated through my earpiece. Sha'Iastall motioned for me to take a seat, which I did by one of the kiddos. They were eating a bowl of what looked a bit like porridge and smelled a bit like grapefruit. Sha'lastall put a bowl in front of me and absently ran a hand through my hair as she walked back to the kitchen to help her mom. Whatever it was didn't taste bad at all and was even a little sweet. A few minutes later, she set a steaming mug in front of me which smelled a bit like coffee. Raising my eyebrow I took a tentative taste. IT WAS COFFEE! Shocked, I looked up and saw Sha’lastaII looking at me.
“We brought a bunch of food down from your ship's stores. Strrorno wanted to examine it to see if it was safe for our consumption and maybe even for planting. We could always use new foodstuffs. When he tried the coffee, he almost went into zrahkhar." She said with a deep buzzing laugh. "He is already trying to figure out if it will grow here, but he brought a supply of it to the house for you and him of course." She said with a grin. "l even tried some and strrarna likes it too."
"WeII don't let the kiddos have any!" I exclaimed. ”The caffeine content for coffee is very high and I'm not sure how it affects your people, but it helps keep us awake and alert when we are tired. Some of us can't really get going in the morning without it." I said savoring the flavor of the beverage. Of course my exclamation prompted a response from the kids who all wanted to try it now, so raising an eyebrow at Rhu'khanna, she nodded and I passed the mug around letting everyone try a taste. It got mixed reviews. ”WeIl more for me then!" I exclaimed sticking my tongue out at the kids, this had the added benefit of making them all laugh. After everyone had finished breakfast, the young were dressed and sent off to school and Rhu'khanna, scanner in hand, departed as well to upload all of her scans and notes she had made about our meeting. That Ieft just Sha'lastall and me since her father had already headed off to work.
"So, I was curious." She started. "What do you think of my famiIy?"
”l think your strrarna is very excitable." I said with a laugh. "The kiddos, are like kids back on my world, curious, easy to trust and easy to accept new things. Your strrorno is a very kind person and, if not for him, I'm sure I'd still be frozen in a warehouse someplace after your ships found me. I am very grateful that your family has accepted me so readily. It is one thing to take in an orphaned person; it is something else to offer your home to a literal alien. For that I am truly grateful to your family and especially to you."
She blinked at me surprised and said. "To me? What did I do?"
"It may have been a complete accident, but you willingly bonded with me in your effort to make me feel like I wasn't alone. Now I have this whispering in my mind on how you feel and I've felt nothing but acceptance and affection from you and that means more to me than anything. That acceptance has been the anchor that has kept me from giving up entirely. Thank you.” I said. Then I stepped forward and gave her a hug.
She stiffened for a moment and then wrapped her arms around me hugging back as her buzzing purr kicked in a rolled through me both physically and emotionally. She settled her muzzle on my shoulder pulling me in closer into her warm, soft embrace and it made me feel whole and accepted which was something I sorely needed. She pulled her head back and rested it against my forehead. I'm not entirely sure what happened next because it felt like every door in my mind was thrown wide open and every corner of it was laid bare for her and at the same time, I could suddenly see every part of her. In flashes, like a movie I saw her life. Her childhood as an only child and the first of what her parents hoped would be a large and loving family; her schooling and friends. I saw her entry into adulthood and her worry that every potential mate that attempted to know her never quite felt right. She worried about what she wanted from the future, how she would make her place in the world, she fretted over ever finding a mate that would compliment her and be the other half to her heart and to her soul. Yes her people believed in souls and the great adventure beyond this life. They also believed that every soul was only half of a complete life and that somewhere out there was the other half that would complete them. The other mind that would intertwine with theirs on such a deep level that one would never question how the other felt ever. I saw her when she saw me for the first time; a hairless being sitting alone in a room trying to occupy himself in a strange new place and all alone. I felt how her heart ached for me, for at times she also felt alone as I must feel now being truly alone among aliens.
For every memory and thought her mind flooded into me, my mind did the same. It showed her my parents’ disappointment when they realized I would never be able to join my people in their technologically psychic lives. She saw how they talked themselves into giving me up to the techless colony I was sent to placating themselves that it would be for my own benefit. She felt my despair when my parents finally stopped contacting me altogether as they sunk deeper into the collective consciousness of the new world order that was my planet. She saw my life in the colony repairing old tech and making myself useful even though, at night, I would curl up alone in bed and cry myself to sleep in the depths of my loneliness. She saw the glimmer of hope in my heart when they announced the ARC project and she saw why I truly decided to join. A part of me believed that the project was doomed and that by joining I would simply disappear into space, another casualty of a poorly conceived space program and that deep down, that is what I really wanted. To die…
I'm not sure how long this went on, but when she finally broke the connection with wide eyes, she managed to say. "Oh no.... What did l do?" before I slumped to the floor and darkness took me.
I came to in darkness. I was on something soft and there was a comforting warmth on my chest emitting a low buzzing purr. Slowly a dim light came on illuminating what looked like one of the bedrooms. Looking around I see Roh’kha.nna and Te’erraxa were sitting on chairs facing me and looking up I saw a very worried and upset Sha'lastall on whose lap my head was apparently laying in. Looking around a bit blearily I managed to get out ”What happened?"
Te’erraxa stood slowly with a grim look on his face as he looked at Sha'lastaIl and me. "It seems that Grrack'shai’tet has been initiated between you and our eldest." He said with more of a snarl in his voice. He looked at Sha'lastaIl. "Do you want to explain how this happened? Do you have so little control that you empathically attack and force yourself on our guest? Once, when you initiated Grrack'shai on accident, which could be forgiven as an accident because you did not know that his species was compatible. Doing so a second time when you knew it was possible is unforgivable. You have forced yourself on Zachariah North and have committed one of our most unforgivable taboos whelp! What have you to say in your own defense?" he snarled out.
Something wet hit my forehead and looking up I could see anguish on her face and tears rolling through her fur. I could feel the deep guilt she was feeling as well as confusion as to how this could have happened again. Under that I could feel regret. Regret at what had happened, but not regret that it HAD happened. She despaired that I would hate and loathe her now, and that, more than anything, scared her the most. Those feelings sunk into my heart like daggers of pain. I could feel her despair in all of this. Slowly I raised a hand and placed it on her wet, furred cheek. Her eyes went momentarily wide and then a main hand took mine desperately and pushed it against her cheek as she leaned into it like a drowning man reaching for driftwood in a storm. Her eyes closed as her whole body rumbled in a purr and her soul calmed. I looked back at her parents who both had stunned looks on their faces.
"This may have been completely my fault." I said weakly. ”l was attempting to thank her for everything she has done for me. Even if the Grrack'shai was by accident, it has kept me from feeling alone and from feeling the despair that has threatened me since I woke here alone. Your eldest has been an anchor in a storm for me when I thought I was completely lost. So, to thank her, I hugged her. It is a form of affection on my planet. Then when she put her forehead to mine again, I had an overwhelming urge to share with her just how much her presence meant to me. And then..." I shrugged. ”And then I'm not sure what happened... If anyone is to blame, it is I." Looking up at Sha'lastall I asked. ”Can you ever forgive me? Claiming ignorance is no excuse I know, but, you've been my only true anchor here and l just wanted you to know how much I truly appreciate it. I am sorry I did this."
Sha'lastall pressed her cheek even more firmly into my hand as she held it to her, a fresh wave of tears welling from her eyes as she shook her head gently. ”There is nothing to forgive. I have seen your soul through your memories and I have found the other half of mine finally. I accept you for all that you are, I accept your Grrack’shai'tet." She said, her eyes still closed, and I could feel the waves of emotions pouring from her into me and it was almost overwhelming in their intensity.
Te'erraxa sat back down in the chair staring at us and Ruh'khana places one hand on his should and one on his leg before saying. ”It is done, and it is accepted. Our eldest is happy, can you not feel it? She feels complete and whole now." She gazed at both of us, an odd look in her eyes. "Some things happen for reasons we will not know, this is one of those."
I looked at both of Sha'lastall's parents and said. "l am truly sorry for coming into your family like this. I honestly expected to be a curiosity for a short while and then placed somewhere quiet to live out the rest of my life in obscurity. If you want me to leave, I will. I never meant to cause strife in your family. I will pack my things and go.” I said with sincerity.
Sha’lastall's grip on my hand became like steel suddenly as a wave of fear and then determination rolled off her. ”lf Zachariah leaves, I will be going with him." She said with quiet determination.
Te'erraxa looked at his mate and rolled his eyes. "Whelps and their drama... They always think things are like stories they read." He said in resignation.
Ruh'khanna grinned at her mate. ”Remember how we were at their age? I think my strrorno threatened to take your pelt if you initiated Grrack'shai'tet with me." She said, fond memories playing in her eyes.
Te'erraxa chuckled and nodded at the memories he shared with her. "I guess our family grows then. Who would have guessed it would be with an alien?" He looked at both of us who had both gone very quiet watching them.
"Do you mean it strrorno?" Sha'lastall asked not quite believing what she was feeling from her parents.
"Yes whelp, I mean it. If you have both found your Grrack'shai'ellet, then who am I to stand between it? Next time try not to scare the fur off your parents please?" he said with an amused grin.
I suddenly found myself buried in flexible Sha'lastall as she bent over me holding me in some kind of upside down hug both laughing and crying. I could feel the relief rolling off her like a furnace. I was still a bit confused by all of this though.
”What is Grrack'shai'ellet?" I asked.
”lt is when one finds the completion of their soul with another." Te'erraxa said as if that explained everything.
The next few days was a bustle of activity. I accompanied Ruh'khanna to her lectures. I met other Pe’roxenians who were interested in learning about humans and where I came from. It was pretty much several days of non stop lectures, meetings, and socials with interested people. Towards the end of what passed for their week, I started to feel extremely run down and I think I was starting to run a low grade fever. I was surprised it took this long for my body to complain about an alien planet. Te'erraxa took more scans and samples and after several tests said that my body now possessed a protein chain that was common to the planet and his people and that my body was primarily trying to figure out what to do with it. He said I should be fine, but would probably feel horrible for a while until my body sorted itself out. Sha'lastalI spent every waking minute with me and curled up to sleep with me every night. All I ever felt from her was a quiet contentment that said louder that any words that she was happy.
Discoveries
One evening, my portable from the ship beeped at me. Most everyone was away doing their own thing, and Sha’IastalI was practicing brewing coffee since it was my favorite morning beverage. I opened the portable and ID'd myself to the system. SAMP’s voice issued from the speakers. "Sir, sensors have detected a faint signal on the planet, Terran in origin." Said the smooth voice.
"The sensors aren't just detecting my portable is it?” I asked.
"Negative Sir, the signal, while Terran in origin, is on a carrier frequency that was not used when we left Earth. That is why I just now picked it up on a random sweep. I am also getting incongruous information from the logs during cryo hibernation. I am currently extrapolating data from them now. Estimate 48 to 72 Terran hours before analysis is complete.” SAMP stated.
"Very well SAMP, transfer the coordinates to my portable and I'll check out the signal. Let me know when your data analysis is complete." I informed the AI.
"Very well Sir; coordinates transferred. Good evening Sir." And with that, SAMP was gone.
I sat there studying the portable and overlaid the coordinates with a map of the planet that Te’erraxa had given me along with a translation program to make sense of the different data. With a little tinkering I was able to bring the coordinates up on the map. It looked like it was at the city center. When Sha'lastall came back with the coffee, I showed her the coordinates and told her what SAMP had told me. Her ears perked forward while she looked at the readout.
"That looks like the colonist memorial." She said. "Why would a Terran transmission be coming from there?”
”I don't know. Maybe one of the probes we sent here a long time ago is buried there?" I asked.
She looked doubtful. ”I don't think so, but if you want, we can go and take a look?"
I nodded feeling a bit shaky from whatever was wreaking havoc on my immune system. "Can we go tomorrow morning?" I asked.
"I don't see why not. I'll be sure we are up in time to catch the first rail to the city center." She said looking at him worriedly.
The next morning I felt worse. A shower managed to wash away most of the sweat, but that didn't keep the tremors in my hands from making it fairly obvious I wasn't well. I managed to hide them in my new robe all the way to the city center with Sha'lastall watching me with an anxious expression the entire time.
”Are you sure you up for this Grrack'shai'ellet? You do not look well at all." She murmured nervously to me.
I shook my head to not only signify that I was fine, but to also clear away the double vision that kept plaguing me. "I have to know why a Terran signal is coming from your city center."
Sha'lastall escorted me to the memorial, holding my hand in support and to make sure I didn't fall down in my current state. The memorial was a large tower of a structure, but small in comparison to the building around it. Inside the building was another structure that looked a bit like the chopped off nose of some kind of spacecraft that had been converted into some kind of dwelling. The exterior materials were corroded and pitted from age and whatever color it had once been, was no longer evident now. Inside the structure, I was definitely sure it had been some kind of spacecraft at one time. There odd consoles here and there as well as an old jump seat still fastened to one wall. In the middle was a plaque in Pe'roxenian which I couldn't read but the consoles caught me eye and I shambled over. The top of the control panel was a flat touch panel which was no longer illuminated and each one had, what looked like, a metal tag attached about each one. The tags were corroded and marred but something nagged at me. Wetting the corner of my robe I rubbed vigorously at the metal tag removing centuries of grime and corrosion. Finally I was able to make out the etched symbols on the tag... ‘Life Support Systems.’ It was in English. Turning quickly to Sha'lastall I grabbed her robe dragging her over to the console and pointed. "That is English! That is my native language!!l" I shouted blinking my eyes rapidly as my vision kept doubling and wavering before me.
"How is that possible?" She asked amazed. "This was our first colony ship, our people came to this planet on this ship!"
My portable chimed an awaiting message. Thumbing it on, I pulled up the message, it was from SAMP. It read:
Log files from the flight recorder have been reconstructed and analyzed. ln the last 92 year sleep
cycle, engines reported an anomaly and had to shut down. Systems went into standby mode and
the ship traveled on inertia alone. I had to correct the total time you were in cryogenic
suspension. Your total time in cryogenic suspension was 5177 years. Congratulations Mr. North,
you are now the oldest living Terran ever. Systems will be going into standby until needed
further. Complete log files have been uploaded to your portable. Have a good day Mr. North.
I read the message three more times before it clicked into my mind. I was asleep for 5177 years in total. There was a Terran ship already on this planet when I got here. It had already been settled. Pe’roxcen, the name of the planet... Proxima Centauri, PE'ROX could easily be short for Proxima and CEN short for Centauri. Our genetic profile make up was a 98.817% match. What are the odds that that kind of match would be found between alien species? I started to shake all over now, everything clicking into place in my head. Asleep for 5177 years and the next ship had passed me in space and settled the planet ahead of me. They had adapted, changed to survive on this world. They had been here for over 3000 years. I looked up into Sha’lastall's wide, scared eyes as she was hit with wave after wave of incredulity and shock, and then l crumpled to the floor as darkness took me.
"ZACH!" Sha'lastall exclaimed as her Grrack'shai'ellet stopped shaking suddenly and slid
bonelessly to the floor unconscious. She laid her large ears to Zach's chest and could still hear his heart beating, but rapidly as if in the middle of a flight or fight response. Remembering, she pulled down the collar of his robe to check his pulse and instead stopped dead. On the crook of his neck, where the natural hollow formed between shoulder and neck, was a patch of blue fur the size of one of her fingertips.
Glossary
Churoori - Tincture of steeped local leaves and alcohol served hot
Crrreazarrk - What the Pe'roxenians are descended from, kind of like human and apes, but six legged, furry, small, dragon type animals
Grrack'shai - Empathic bond shared with family and close friends
Grrack'shai’tet - A different level of the previous used to learn a person's true being, used for mates and potential mates
Grrack'shai'ellet - A soul pairing. A true soul mate. A completeness of soul with another person. Also the affectionate name of one so paired
Kha'aja - Squad leader, equivalent to Sergeant
Kha'shirzo - Private, grunt
Koora - Equivalent of Ma'am
Kooro - Equivalent of Sir
Pe'roxcen - Name of the planet, discovered to actually be a contraction for Proxima Centauri
Pe'roxenians - The name of the species
Ruh'khanna - Te'erraxa's mate and Sha‘lastall's mother
Sha'lastall - Daughter ofTe'erraxa and Zach's keeper
Shi'irra - Term of affectionate endearment kind of like darlin, hon, baby but with a touch more
significant connotations
Strrarna - Equivalent to mother
Strrorno - Equivalent to father
Te'erraxa - Lead scientist, sire of Sha'lastall, Zach's direct contact and friend
Too'azzha - Honored guest
Toora - Female
Tooro - Male
Xial'skanna - Second eldest child
Zrahkhar - Fit of ecstasy or excitement, swooning
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