*
In the morning, unaware of their nocturnal visitors and overhead observers, the adults set out for the fruit tree with the mat rolled up and the bags. All were apprehensive but all were also hungry. The children were delegated to make the fish trap Karl had drawn for them in the gravel, and make more bags and mats. And also to keep a good lookout.
Rani had a good memory and sense of direction and was in a hurry. They made good time, found the tree, loaded up and headed back. But Rani started to become uneasy.
"They're following us," she said looking frightened.
"They may just be curious. We might be in their territory." Karl tried to soothe her but with no success.
Rani increased her pace until they were nearly running. Nothing was visible but her fear was infectious. Then Julia gasped looking behind.
"I saw something. Like a funny black face. About six feet high."
"That's them," said Rani grimly.
"There's another one," Julia pointed to her left.
"And there," said Rani, indicating to the right.
They continued on for several minutes trying to move away when Karl said, "they're herding us."
The trees around them were too small to climb up.
"Oh God the children," gasped Rani. "How will they survive?"
Julia had been desperately thinking, "Karl, we're too heavy but we could boost Rani up that tree and try to lead them away somehow," she indicated a small but sturdy tree. They eased towards it, carefully muttered instructions and then suddenly all three moved and they boosted Rani up the tree. It leaned precariously but she remained safely holding on, about twelve feet off the ground. Quickly, Karl handed her up the bag of fruit. She slid back down a few feet, grabbed it, stashed it in a fork of the tree and climbed back up to her perch.
"Tell the children we love them," said Julia. "We'll try to lead them away from you."
"It might be best to lead the children out of their territory but the decision’s yours," called out Karl as he moved away.
Karl and Julia started to run. The animals followed them.
Alliecats
Karl and Julia ran for their lives, their breathing increasingly ragged. Karl kept looking back and again realised they were being herded, and driven away from the trees. But then Julia spotted a tree out on its own and headed for it. She sprang and climbed up. Karl too leaped up but the lower branch broke under his heavier weight and he crashed down in front of one of the animals. It couldn’t brake in time and they collided. Both leaped back. They looked at each other, Karl gasping and knocked down. Julia scrambled down and stood in front of him aggressively, her fists ready. The other animals came running up. They stopped. All five of them looked at each other.
Julia noticed the animals weren’t black, they were dark purple. Camouflage? But the grassy stuff was green and blue. The only purple was the trees, the variety they had been in that made up most of the trees in this area. She looked at their feet. Claws. Made for climbing. So why hadn’t they climbed up after them? The animals sat down, all three moving together. Karl had stayed where he had fallen. Slowly, Julia sat down too. There was a long silence.
One of the animals stretched out a paw to Julia. Hesitantly, she reached out and gently touched the huge paw. Shocked, she whipped her hand away.
“What happened?” whispered Karl.
“Images,” she answered. “Like it’s trying to talk to me.”
“Telepathy?”
“Maybe.”
She reached out again and this time kept her hand out and closed her eyes. A series of images flashed into her mind. The ships, the mist, the Aliens dying, some of these animals dying, the balloons crashing to earth, the deaths of things she had never seen before, and a feeling of anguish, fear, anger, sorrow and hope? She looked up and into the creatures dark violet eyes. Carefully, she tried to consciously think back her memories of looking at the mist, her horror, the fear and hopeless acceptance of the Kepis and tried to project that the Nedri’s were trying to help organize resistance. It was a struggle to keep an organized projection. Without realizing, she started to talk. To explain in words. The creature seemed to understand, at least in part.
Karl reached out to another animal. He introduced himself and asked the creature’s name. The animal growled back something. It was a series of noises he couldn’t duplicate. Damn. But at the same time it flashed an image. He found he could duplicate the image. He repeated the process for the other two. The images were similar but not the same and the image for the individuals were all different. He was sure they had named themselves. Then one of them cast an almost cartoon image of Karl as the faller out of trees and Julia as the little one protecting him. Karl laughed. The creature seemed to be asking if he and Julia were mates. He projected back an image of himself, Julia and their children.
“Do we take the chance and go and get Rani?”
“Agreed. We need all the allies we can get and so do they.”
Carefully he stood up. The animal’s heads were around his chest height and up to Julia’s shoulder. They were big! They outweighed Karl. They all headed back to where they had left Rani.
Rani watched them come. She was shocked at first and timorously stayed up the tree until Julia explained. Apprehensively, she climbed down. One of the creatures moved over to her, touched her, and ‘talked’ to her.
“It’s showing me it could have climbed the tree but didn’t want to frighten us any more than we already were.”
Julia explained about their colour and their claws.
“Well the children will love them, at least my Yogabala will.”
After some discussion, they went back to pick up the fruit and then walked back, eating the fruit, to feed the children. As Rani predicted, it was almost an anticlimax to introduce the children and they did indeed decide the animals were great. The animals ‘told’ Rani that it was easier to speak to the children.
The children were now fed, happy and no longer scared. They had woven more mats and made a huge hammock, not yet big enough for all of them for a bed but it would make a sleeping mat or blanket.
It was now midday. They had a discussion with the animals, which Yogabala insisted on calling cats. She loved cats. “Well you can’t just call them animals or creatures and they sound like cats, they talk like cats would if they could talk, they’re smug! OK they don’t look like cats but they feel like them.” It stuck. The cats were intrigued, according to Yogabala. There was a vague resemblance, mostly in pussonality. Then all of them headed across a valley towards the ocean to talk to the Priskya. The cats knew a cove, hidden from the air, where they could go. There were shellfish there too which the cats were keen on.
An hour or so of walking later, Yogabala and Bea being carried by this time, the cats led them to a tree with fruit they had never seen before. It had a taste that sort of resembled a melon. It was tube shaped and purple and well hidden, just looking like a thicker leafy tube. To the surprise of the Terrans, the cats ate them too. They explained they were omnivores.
Moving on, two or so hours later they came to the cove. By this time they had all had enough of walking. The cats were impatient to talk to the Priskya. They went down to the water’s edge, two looking for food and one sitting, looking for the Priskya.
Julia had a better idea. She took a deep breath, put her head under the water and called, “Coooooeeeee!” She repeated this a couple of times and a Priskya fin became visible in the distance. Intrigued, they watched the fish and cat ‘talk’ to each other, by touching heads. They seemed very unlikely friends, the fish and the cat.
The Priskya then talked to Julia, “We are very happy you have met our friends, but their intelligence is a closely guarded secret that they wish to maintain. We are very interested that you are now the second group of your people that has been able to talk with them. We will take you now to your own people.”
“You mean there are others alive?”
“Yes. They are in boats. Alth
ough most died. Two more of your people were found today that were thought to have died. They are waiting at another cove. We must wait until night to transport you. The day is not safe. We will come back.” The Priskya continued to talk in turn to the three cats and then swam away.
It was a long day but at least it would have a happy ending. Just after dark, the Priskya came back towing a boat. They boarded and it towed them around to a nearby cove. A few minutes later, two women appeared; Jolene and Nanelle! They shared their experiences on the way, then had to repeat them as they reached the others.
Jolene said, “We were out sightseeing and got tired and hot. We took shelter in a small cave on a downward slope. The gas went straight over the top of us. By the time we got up to see what it was, it had passed. We looked out and saw the beast things in the paddocks fall to the ground and we saw the same thing happen to balloons and to a flight of Clets and Hoekfyds. We stayed inside the cave for a considerable period before venturing out,” she said with feeling. “We managed to contact a patrolling Priskya youngster early this morning and she told us to come back after nightfall when it would be safer to transport us out. Otherwise we could swim. I was game but Nanelle said she couldn’t swim that far.”
Mathew was full of questions. “I need details of the Kepis.”
“But Mathew, they wont fight,” said Karl. “They’re scholars not fighters and they have their children with them.”
Mathews face fell when he understood that they refused to fight. But everyone was pleased at knowing the Nedri and de Jonge families, and the Kepis, were still alive. And Nanelle and Jolene were well liked.
Mathew mused later, “Curiosity turned out to have had good survival value. Over half of us were out of the city when it was attacked. The worst hit group were the diplomatic groups as they were all back in the city.”
Karl wondered if Mathew found it difficult that he was the only survivor of the official political contingent from the USA. Mathew kept telling others not to let survivor guilt affect them but Karl suspected he cared more than he let on.
As instructed by Mathew, they next went to see Sarah, the designated administrator, civic leader and everything else that someone needed to do. She smiled at them. “Now you’ve been interrogated, my focus is a little different. Food, any injuries, then I need to know what you saw about food sources, anything at all that could help us. But first, any injuries?”
“Yeah but just bruises, cuts, scrapes.”
“Over to Kelly or Bert, then back here to have some food and a little talk. Then I’ll talk to the children to see what they noticed.”
Invaders
All during the night, Mathew sent people into the city, in small groups. He ordered, “Get in, load up anything useful and get out as quickly as you can. Keep looking for any survivors and grab anything you think could be useful. But first, before you do anything else, get another boat ready for your booty and your escape route. Constantly plan your exit.” And he insisted that each group did not go in until the previous group was returning.
“Every time you go anywhere, first organise your way out. You are not kamikazes and this is not a suicide mission. Go everywhere with an eye on your escape route. Make your own safety your first priority. You kids are good guerrillas alive but useless to me dead. So far you’ve managed very well but luck had a hand in that. Don’t get complacent. Is that very clear?” Mathew looked at each of them in turn. They nodded, excited. All were thrilled at their near adult status and their success.
Sarah and her SETI team continued with all the administrative work, organising people, goods, food gathering,meals, fishing, medical care and such military aspects as lookouts which were mainly the children, with an adult running the team.
There had been a heated argument between Kelly and Mathew but Mathew had won. Kelly was very upset at Mathew using the children but she couldn’t fault his logic. He pointed out, “Those kids were resourceful to the point of leaving the adults for dead. Literally, in Mahmoud’s case. They got food, Intel, gas masks, our only weapons, more information, survived even when Mahmoud had been gassed and Stella was the only one to think of artificial respiration. They negotiated pockets of gas, they used their observation skills well. They blitzed everyone else. Most importantly, they survived.” Mathew kept telling all the scroungers, “Remember, it’s not how much you find or what Intel you get that matters. If you don’t get back here to tell me, it’s useless.”
Excited, the kids and others left by boat for the city. Li, Stella, Donny and Mahmoud had been in the city a few hours when Li reminded them, “Mathew warned us to get out before dawn.”
Donny and Mahmoud started off with some of their booty and one small boat. Back in the big conference hall, Stella and Li again tried to persuade some more Terrans to leave but they wouldn’t go. Stella was getting nervous as dawn was breaking and they were still in the city. They hadn’t realised how light it was getting outside. Stella and Li were frustrated, angry and confused. They were about to leave when there was a disturbance. Horrified, they heard that planes were landing. “Now, we will find out whether we are to be ransomed, enslaved or killed,” said one of the Aliens through a Translator.
“Not bloody likely!” Yelled Li and she and Stella ran for the nearby apartment block. They ran through the lobby and up the ramps that functioned as stairs here and started to climb. They ran as fast as they could. With the power still out, none of the lifts were operating. Behind them, there was a long silence, followed by screams in any language, then an ominous silence. Panicked, they picked up speed. They climbed, exhausted, until they reached near the top of the building. They were about 15 stories up. They went over and cautiously looked out the window. Appalled, they looked out at a nightmare. Bodies were being hurled outside and loaded into planes by a weird variety of Aliens. At least they assumed they were bodies. When apparently full, the planes took off. The speed at which the Aliens were working, and the numbers of bodies they were loading was stupendous.
“Maybe they aren’t dead. Maybe they’ll be ransomed,” said Li hopefully.
“But who’ll pay for Terrans? We’re not even recognised let alone Allianced. I hope those Aliens aren’t alive. Look how roughly they’re being thrown.” Stella looked more closely.
“Oh my God,” she said, “they’re throwing them out of the windows and it looks like they’re several stories up! They’re searching the building! We have to hide!”
They searched for a likely hiding place. Some time later, they found some storage areas that they would fit into if they removed the contents. It was a struggle, but they managed between them.
“We need to put these boxes somewhere else or they might smell a rat and look closer.”
“Good idea,” puffed Li. They dragged the heavy boxes, one by one, down the ramps thinking it was lucky they weren’t stairs. Having a quick look around, they put them in one of the lecture rooms, assuming they were aids for lecturers. The sounds of the body removers were getting closer but were still several stories away. Li saw a Translator by a desk-like thing and put it on. Then she had an idea. She grabbed some of the polystyrene-like containers, emptied them, and gave a large box to Stella. She emptied one for herself.
“We won’t fit in these.”
“No, but we can hide behind them.”
“Oh. What if they have life signs detectors?”
Li looked up at her, “Then we’ve had it. We take flying lessons!”
They went back into the room they had chosen, Li climbed up by using other cupboards as steps. She was now about seven feet up. Stella split the boxes and passed them up, then followed, awkwardly closing the cupboards behind her. They moved into the cupboard, hiding behind the box fronts. Carefully, they pulled the door closed. Li whispered, “if the cupboard is opened but the contents not checked, we should be all right.”
“At the speed they’re going, surely they’re not checking for people hiding. Those idiots downstairs weren’t hiding,” whispered St
ella.
Another hour or so passed and the noises got closer. They were holding hands now, numb almost beyond fear. The noises got closer still. Then something was searching the room! They shrank as the cupboards were opened! Then the cupboard they were in! They shivered in terror as their box fronts were swept away. A brown paw grabbed Li and hauled her onto the floor.
She crashed down, stunned. Terrified she looked up at something that looked like a slim brown gorilla. It leapt back and looked as startled as her. It had brown eyes that looked out from a face that looked like it could be human under the dirt. It spoke to her, then gently helped her to her feet. It didn’t look much like a gorilla on closer look. The palms of its hands were hairless. Its neck was furry too and the fur seemed to stop at what would be a low natural hairline on a human. The fur on its head, like the rest of it, wasn’t long but was dense and the fur was the same length all over.
It was tall, over six feet. On second look, it didn’t have the stature of an ape, more human in shape. And its speech sounded like something a human could replicate. That made a difference. It made a change too! Then it called out. Another one came it. It was shorter, but still tall and slightly more of a golden brown in colour. It also looked startled to see Li. The two conversed, then the newcomer looked up into the cupboard and hauled Stella down but a lot more carefully. It spoke to her, seeming puzzled when she didn’t answer. There was the noise of yet another creature approaching. Quickly, Stella and Li were hoisted back into the cupboard and very obviously admonished to shut up and stay put. The box fronts were lifted up to cover them. The cupboard doors were left open. The gorilla things called out something and ran from the room.
Stella and Li stayed put, silent, bewildered and increasingly cramped as noises continued all around them. They were in too perilous a situation to talk. Li looked at Stella seeing the same confusion she felt. Why had those gorilla things re hidden them? Li pondered. They had been surprised to see them, or to see them alive? Or both? They appeared to have been protective of them. But how could she accurately read their body language? They were Aliens.
Another hour or so passed. There were sounds of something approaching. The box fronts were pulled away again but it was the same creatures. They hauled them down again but gently this time. The darker one touched Li gently and talked to her again. It looked puzzled when she didn’t reply. It obviously expected a reply! Li passed up the Translator. It looked even more puzzled but adjusted it.
“… none alive. Where are you from? “I’ve never seen a girl with eyes like yours before.” Its language sounded vaguely familiar and he definitely sounded male.
“We’re Terrans. From Terra.”
“Where’s that?’ “I’ve never heard of it. Why can’t you speak Universal?”
“What’s universal? I don’t know what it is. Is it a language?”
“How come you don’t know your own language? Are you a slave?”
“No we’re not slaves. What do you mean our language? Why would I speak your language?”
“Well it’s yours too!”
Li stared at him, confused. “Are you Human?”
“What’s Human?”
“Well, like us.”
“Of course I’m like you!”
The two groups looked at each other, baffled.
Stella tried to work this out. “I have never seen people of our race that look like you.”
“Well I’ve seen plenty that look like you. One of my cousins is jare,” said the darker one.
“What’s jare?”
“Hairless, like you.”
“But we’re not the same race.”
“Yes we are!”
“Where are you from?”
“Petislay.”
Li suddenly remembered what Donny had said. “Are you Niseyen?”
“Of course we are! Like you!”
Stella gave up. There were more important things to think about. “What are you going to do with us?”
“We don’t know. Have you got any good ideas? You could stay here. It’s probably safe now. It won’t be searched again today but it will be scanned later. But the food has been poisoned. You’ll starve.”
“No we won’t. Our people are organizing to fight back. We were sent into the city to get supplies but the planes arrived so we hid.”
The two looked very interested. “There are more People? How are you hiding? They have scanners.”
Li smiled, “We know. But we’re proving difficult to kill.” She looked bleak. “They got about half of us the first day but the rest of us are well spread out.”
Dark furred one said, “They have mercenaries. They will kill everyone on this planet. What is this planet? I don’t recognise it.”
“Torroxell.”
“Never heard of it.”
“Are you slaves, soldiers or what?”
They both looked ashamed. “Slaves,” said lighter fur. We were captured a while ago. We hate this. The rumour is that some or all of us will be killed to make way for loot and captives. But they don’t seem to be taking any captives. They’re just killing everyone.”
“What? Everyone on the planet?”
“Yes.”
“But there must be millions. How is that logistically possible? And what are they doing with the bodies? Are all those People outside dead?”
“We heard there are about 100 million here. Almost all of them are dead now. All the bodies are being dumped into the deepest parts of the oceans to get rid of the evidence. And I do mean all. But everyone we’ve seen is dead. How did you two survive?”
“We were North of the city when it was attacked. The gas missed us. Well it got one of us but he survived.”
“How?”
“We breathed for him until he could breathe for himself. Her mother’s a doctor” (Li indicated Stella), “and taught her and my mother taught me. My mum’s a vet. She’s missing.”
“How old are you two? Why are you so small? Are you children or (click)?”
Li recognised the all too familiar sound of the Translator encountering a word it didn’t know. “No we’re not children, we’re adults!” said Li indignantly. “And yes I am small, but in my case it’s genetic and dietary.”
Stella wondered what the (click) word was. Did he mean dwarf or midget? “This is crazy,” said Stella. “How can they find every Person on this planet?”
“Very good scanners,” said light fur. “But it isn’t as hard as it appears. Almost all the population is confined to the cities and in these buildings. And the good scanners will be used later to find live People. They won’t panic about a few dead ones not being found. It’s live witnesses they don’t want.”
“Who are they?”
“Keulfyd. But the rumour is they capture planets to order. Someone else ordered this planet.”
“Someone ordered a planet? That’s obscene! That’s immoral! How can this happen?” Asked Stella.
“It’s complicated. It’s connected with treaties and alliances,” said dark fur.
The girls looked at each other. “What time are you two expected back?” asked Li.
“We’re not going back. We’ve decided to stay with you two. We need to stick together.”
Stella switched the Translator off. “What do you think. Can we trust them?”
“They’ll have information we need. What do we have to lose? These Keulfyd know where most of us are anyway. What harm can they do? I think we should take them to Mathew,” said Li.
Stella switched the Translator back on. She couldn’t resist it and said with a grin, “I’ll take you to our Leader.” Li groaned.
It was only about midday. It would be a long wait until dark. The building was now silent. Li sat down. She started to cry and shake. Stella thought she was in shock. She started to move but dark fur was closer. He put his arm around her. She turned towards him. He eased her onto his lap and cuddled her while she sobbed.
“Her parents are missing. They may be alive, we d
on’t know.” Stella and lighter fur eventually sat down.
“What’s your name?” I’m Kaswa, he’s Aswin.”
“I’m Stella, she’s Li.”
“How come her eyes are like that?”
“She’s Asian.”
“What’s Asian?”
“Same planet, different country.” Stella wondered how that would translate and would it be accurate? Maybe that was the misunderstanding. Maybe the Translator was wrong. It had been programmed on Terra and on the flight here on the brief visits of the linguists. They had been told that the more they used the Translator, the more accurate it would become. The Translators all updated once a day. But only when the power was on. They were told they needed to plug them in overnight. They would update first, then charge. The power was off. She wondered how long the Translators would last. They must have batteries. She thought she should be talking, getting Intel. But she was exhausted. Li was quiet. Stella looked over. She was asleep. Li was one of those lucky ones who could sleep at will. Stella was a chronic insomniac like her mother. Good idea though. Stella yawned, then so did Kaswa. They laughed, softly. Stella lay down. Far sooner than usual, she went to sleep.
Kaswa reached over her and carefully turned the Translator off. Aswin and he looked at each other and down at the girls. Aswin was now lying down, Li held protectively in his arms. He looked down at her in awe and said softly, “She’s so beautiful. And look at her hair. It’s gorgeous, so long. She’s like a midget but taller. I wonder if she will grow taller?” He sighed. “I never thought I’d hold a girl in my arms again. She’s young too. Do you think we’ve got a chance?”
“Aswin! We won’t live long enough to find out! And she looks too young! She doesn’t act it though,” he added puzzled looking at her. “Maybe she’s a tall midget? She definitely isn’t a dwarf. But how could they send girls into a war zone? And unescorted! This doesn’t make sense. And they don’t seem to mind that we are naked. That’s weird. They didn’t even seem to notice! And look what they’re wearing? Or not, in their case!”
They both looked at the two girls. Their bodies were covered but most of their arms and legs were not. And both had bare feet. Kaz had never seen bare feet on an adult jare and never even on an adult woman. They had seen no women among the Niseyen slaves. He stared with a slight sense of guilt at inappropriate behaviour. Their feet were pretty, so perfect. So were the girls. It was difficult not to stare and would be very rude if they were awake. Why were they wearing so little and why were they not embarrassed because of it? But a few weeks in a slave locker had altered both their views, a little, on clothes! Kaswa looked back at Stella. He could hope. She looked pretty good. Pity about the bare skin. Carefully, furtively, he tightened the loose fabric around her chest. The profile he sought was there. She was old enough. She might be too young to have Chosen yet or cautious.
Kaswa got up and paced restlessly around the room. He carefully looked out the window. The search was continuing through the city. The bodies were being removed at full speed. He shuddered as he thought that there were very few other Niseyen among the slaves. The girls could have been among those bodies. Most other Races would have promptly killed them. Probably just thrown them out the window alive. He shuddered again. All was quiet and his bare feet made no sound. He came back and looked down at Stella. She was curled up in a ball. Maybe she was cold. She wasn’t wearing much! Maybe they’d lost their clothes or had them ruined in the attack. Carefully, he lay down beside her and cuddled up next to her. After a few minutes, she turned and snuggled into him in her sleep. He looked up at his brother and they both smiled. Eventually, they were all asleep.
Stella woke first with a familiar need. She eased herself away from Kaswa but he woke up.
“Sorry,” she whispered. She wandered around the building until she found what passed for a toilet here. Kaswa had followed her. She closed the door on him and balanced over the hole. The water was off here. No water, no paper. Yuk, she felt filthy. Oh well couldn’t be helped. She walked out and Kaswa smiled at her and walked in. He made a point of closing the door on her. He was soon out again. She noticed he had brought the Translator with him.
She said softly as they started back, “We have to wait until it gets dark. My people will come back for us. Will you be missed? Will they search for you?”
“Definitely not. They told us the food has been poisoned so we can only survive if we go back to the ship. It’s a very good way to ensure obedience.” He sounded bitter.
“How were you captured?”
“We took a risk we shouldn’t have. We are both pilots. We were ferrying supplies to a war zone when the fight ended and the side we were working for lost.”
“Was it your Race?”
“No, the Zeobani. We get on with them well enough and it was well paid. All that’s lost now.”
Stella went back to Li. As she bent over her, Aswin looked up. She shook Li awake. Sleepily, Li stretched and looked startled as she realised Aswin was there snuggled into her. Aswin rolled away and got up. Li looked at him and blushed. She looked at Stella. Stella shrugged. “Get up. It’s nearly dark. I’ll take you to the bathroom.”
A few minutes later, having checked that there were no Aliens or planes in sight, they softly walked down the ramp. It was dark by the time they got to the ground floor. There were still some bodies lying around. The girls shuddered as they walked through them. Li and Stella led the way to the sea. On the way they discovered Donny and Mahmoud also on their way to the sea. There was a joyful reunion.
Mahmoud said, “We had just started back to tell you to get a move on but we forgot how fast daylight comes on this planet and we didn’t know where you were. So we ran for it but we were too late too. We’re sorry. We thought we’d lost you when we saw the planes. We ran back into a building and hid. Wait till you hear what we found! We…” He spotted Aswin and Kaswa, “Who’re they?”
The girls introduced everyone. They continued down towards the sea, Donny running forward as he spotted the Priskya and saw another towing a boat. As the girls walked into the sea, Aswin and Kaswa came to an abrupt stop as the Priskya came swimming up.
“What’s wrong?” asked Stella as they both leaped back. In the moonlight, their fear and loathing was evident. “It’s OK, these are the Priskya. They own this world.”
“But they didn’t develop it,” added Donny, “The Ridianit did.”
“What’s wrong?” She repeated.
“On our planet, things like that pull us under the water, drown us and eat us.”
“Oh. Well we have some fish on our planet that do that too but the Priskya are intelligent, very nice and the reason most of us are still alive. They’re helping us.”
“And these Terrans have helped us too. They saved most of us that were in the city. They didn’t know they were saving themselves as well.” Aswin and Kaswa looked startled to hear the fish speaking.
It took considerable time and effort to get Aswin and Kaswa into the boat. They didn’t like water. They hated getting wet. It took ages to get dry. They would be cold all night. This was unnatural. They didn’t trust water. They didn’t trust what was in the water. They didn’t trust boats. There were no floatation coats. They would drown. They would fall out and get eaten.
Finally Li said, “Were going. Suit yourselves.” She got into the boat. Donny and Mahmoud followed. Stella looked back at them, then she got in too. Aswin was in agony but he couldn’t bear to be parted from Li. He struggled clumsily in, dragged into the boat by the others. He cowered, miserable, in the bottom of the boat. Kaswa followed, desperate not to be parted from Stella and his brother. The two refused to get up onto the plank like seats. They huddled in the middle of the boat, their backsides in water. Li got down beside Aswin and hugged him.
Mahmoud laughed, “Two wet Wookies.” Everyone laughed except the Wookies who failed to get the joke. On the way, the girls told their story. Donny, busting to get his story out then said,
??
?We found Helkmid and his staff! They were hiding behind a false wall. They built it years ago just in case something like this happened. They had disconnected the ventilators. They even had a spy hole. One of Helkmid’s staff saw me and they opened the panel and let us in. Boy, were we pleased to see them! They’re going to join us but not on the water. They say the city should be vacated soon and then abandoned. Then it will be safe for them to come out. Helkmid thinks he may know how to get the power back on too. He says the invaders have been turning it on and off. The Healing Machines have back up batteries. Helkmid says there isn’t much they can do at the moment but there is enough power to treat Alan unless someone else is injured. He wants me to fetch Alan and bring him straight back!”
The Priskya towed them to the biggest boat where Stella’s mother Kelly and the Nedri’s, had spent the day in agony. There was a joyful reunion and lots of tears as they were helped on board. It was a minute or two before the foursome remembered their guests. They were then carefully helped on board.
Kaswa and Aswin looked curiously around their fear easing. This bigger boat wasn’t so bad. At least it didn’t rock so much. But some of these People were also wearing hardly anything though most were decently clad. Some of them were soaking wet! There were more women than men. And so many different colours! Where were these people from? Why were so many of them so small? Such small adults, yet some of the children were bigger than the adults and looked like they would reach normal size. And all were jare. Why?
Stella asked for Mathew but he was somewhere else. She pulled Dan aside and said, “Get Mathew. These two are part of the invading force. They have switched sides. And they say they are Human.” Dan looked startled but headed off to find Mathew.
“Mum,” she said grabbing both of them and pulling them forward, “They say they are Human. Can you check that? They saved our lives,” she added. Kelly looked at them.
Aswin was still wearing the Translator Li had given him. Embarrassed he said, “Could someone please get us some clothes.” It wasn’t what anyone expected to hear first. But now that people looked, his discomfort was obvious in his posture. Obligingly, someone found some clothes. The two got dressed with great relief. Unconsciously, both of them now stood taller. Ever observant, Kelly noticed. She also noticed they immediately looked Human if you didn’t notice their neck, feet and the backs of their hands.
“Would you like to come with me. Who’s who?”
“I’m Aswin, he’s Kaswa.”
The two followed her and Bert into the surgery. Kelly and Bert had a quick discussion then Kelly took Aswin and Bert took Kaswa.
“Thank you for not killing my daughters,” said Kelly. “They mean everything to me.”
Aswin looked horrified. “We didn’t kill anyone,” he said. “The gas did. We didn’t expect anyone to be alive. Apart from those in the conference hall, no one thought to disconnect the ventilators. The filters aren’t designed to keep the gas out. They aren’t programmed to. All the bodies we found were dead. But many hid and died as they inhaled the gas. So we had to search for them. I got a heck of a shock when I saw Li was alive. Then Kaswa saw another one and hauled Stella out. He didn’t expect her to be alive either. We thought they must have been immune until Stella said they had been away from the city earlier and had run away from the conference hall. We wouldn’t have killed anyone and especially not our own race. We didn’t find anyone else alive in that building. Not after they killed the ones in the hall.”
Kelly decided first things first and subjected Aswin to as thorough an examination as she could manage. Bert studied the physiology of Kaswa while Kelly checked out the social, psychology and linguistic side of Aswin. While they were busy, Mathew came in with Dan. Aswin and Kaswa looked as if they had never seen anyone who looked like Dan. Kelly noticed.
“Have you never seen a black Human?’
“No, nor anyone with brown hair and blue eyes like yours. We do have some with white fur, pink skin and blue or pink eyes.”
“The pink eyed ones are albinos. We have some too. But very few albino-looking but with blue eyes. Though I have seen two.”
Mathew walked in. “Have you found any indications that they are Human?”
“Other way around,” said Kelly. “We haven’t found any indications that they aren’t.”
“But they don’t look Human. Not with all that fur. I’ve never seen Humans that look like them.”
“It’s hair not fur and I have.”
“So have I,” said Bert.
“But they don’t look Human.” said Mathew stubbornly.
“Mathew,” said Kelly, exasperated at his concrete thinking, “If these two came to see me on Earth, I would not consider they weren’t Human. People who look like them just wear clothes and shave exposed areas or use lasers to get rid of hair on their faces. Or they join a circus. You must have heard of the bearded ladies and children in Barnham and Bailey’s Circus. I wonder if their bodies were hairy too though I could be wrong. This isn’t a mutation; it’s a throwback. As Aswin has been telling me, this makes perfect sense. Anyway scram for a few minutes so we can finish. Then we’ll give you a report.”
A while later, Kelly, Bert, Aswin and Kaswa emerged to find almost everyone outside, highly curious, waiting for a report also.
Kelly started. “Aswin and Kaswa say they are considered normal for their race and age. Compared to Humans, their height, circumference, and weight are within normal human range, although they are tall. Blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration rate are normal. Their body temperature is almost two degrees lower than our average but only just under low normal. This makes sense. On a frozen world, the body needs to put less effort into staying warm.”
Bert took over. “Kaswa’s lung sounds are normal, stomach feels normal, bowel sounds are normal. His pulses, arteries, veins and nerves are all in the right place. All expected internal organs look to be the same and in the same places but I couldn’t do an X ray, CT scan or MRI. His skeleton and the movement of his back and all his limbs is normal. His blood sugar level is normal, his reflexes are normal and all in the right places. His reactions are normal, both speed and type. His eyes look and react normally. Significantly, his teeth are identical including the type and number. Like us, he now has too many teeth for his mouth. His wisdom teeth were removed for this reason. His musculature is normal. He is an omnivore. As he describes it, his gastro-intestinal tract and excretory system is the same. His feet and hands are identical except for the hair. His urinalysis is normal.”
Kelly took over. “I examined Aswin. Psychologically, his behaviour seems normal, he is curious, his mannerisms are normal and his own speech pattern has the same internal logic. He understands metaphors, nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives. Also sarcasm. His voice range is the same. He can sing and in tune. He’s cheeky and has a sense of humour. He reacts as I would expect someone to react in this situation. He expressed moral values. Apart for the fur, which is hair by the way, he checks out normal. To put it another way, as I told Mathew, there is nothing to indicate he’s Not human.”
“But what about the fur?” asked someone.
“I have seen people on Earth that look like them,” answered Kelly. “Although they are very rare and their pelts are mostly patchy, not good ones like these.” Bert nodded.
“You sure they’re not gorillas?” someone called out.
“Seriously, do they look like apes? Do they sound like them? Gorilla eyes are all brown, no white around the iris. Gorillas are much bigger. Their head shape is different as is their gait. They can’t walk properly upright. Their teeth are different as is their musculature. These boys are Human!”
“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck…” said a wag and they all laughed.
“But seriously,” someone called out, “What about the fur?”
“It’s hair not fur. I keep telling you, mutations of Humans on Earth are like them. Actually, I think it’s a throwback not a
mutation. Aswin told me their legends say they were kidnapped off their world and taken to the planet Medala which is a frozen world. Because they were slaves, they were stripped naked. Slaves are forbidden to wear clothes. Many of them froze to death. But eventually a baby was born with a full pelt of hair. Luckily a boy. He survived. He sired many children. Many of his children survived unlike other children. This gene must have been dominant. Almost all his children were like him.
Apparently, most of their race are descended from this boy and what appears to have been some other throwbacks. Children like that are born on Earth but most lose their pelt soon after birth. Maybe this baby Aswin speaks of didn’t lose his pelt because he was cold. I don’t know. Aswin says they eventually overthrew their masters and took over this world. They now have two other worlds since most Races don’t like the cold planets. The climate control is too costly to run. And few like the cold. I’ll bet he can’t take the heat that we can. He says people are still born looking like us, with our distribution of hair, which is why he immediately assumed Li and Stella were his people. He couldn’t understand why they couldn’t speak his language. They’re a sensible bunch, they speak a universal language. Sounds very logical and civilized to me. Pity we didn’t legislate to have Esperanto as ours. But the non-Europeans wouldn’t have it.
Their people must have originated on our world. They know Medala is not their planet of origin and we know Terra is ours.”
“Could they be the missing link?’ asked someone.
“No. Because the hairiness developed after they left our world not before. There are too many co-incidences here for them not to be Human.”
Sarah summed it up neatly, “Two more for our side and pilots to boot. These boys are going to be useful.”