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In the gray light of dawn Kate woke to the sound of Blue squawking bird talk and then talking human. She was surprised when she realized that John lay sleeping pressed warmly against her, spooning her close as she lay on her right side. They had gone to sleep back-to-back, but had both unconsciously shifted about during the night. Her head was tucked under his, and she could feel the press of his chin and his show steady breaths on the top of her head. His left arm lay over hers, and his left leg lay over her right leg. Most noticeably, the entire length of his body was snuggled warmly against hers, separated only by thin layers of flight suits and clothes. She felt sore but very comfortable.
In front of Blue stood the two other jays attentively, as he rattled off word after word to them, interspersed with bursts of ‘bird talk’. The big jay was evidently teaching human-speech to Bob and Nod.
Realizing this to be a tremendous research opportunity, Kate gently separated herself from John, retrieved her COM unit, and recorded the exchange. Hundreds of words were being ‘taught’, with amazing rapidity, in just a few minutes. If jays could learn a human language so quickly they were remarkable creatures indeed.
The falcons preened on a nearby tree limb, perhaps also listening to Blue. The raptors were splendid and frightful, and every gesture hinted of savage independence and power. Were they as intelligent as the others? Could they also learn human speech?
Finally, Kate turned to gaze at Blue. In the light of day, the big jay was even more spectacular, and seemed larger and covered with finer feathers. He had preened, she realized. He concluded his language lesson and turned his attentions to Kate.
“Greetings this morning of sunlight, Kate,” chirped Blue. “Bob and Nod know much human talk now. They be good flyers and blackbird fighters. Sheriff John will be safe with them.” He squawked to the jays, and the pair hopped off into the bushes together and disappeared into the forest. “They bring food and water soon. Humans eat. Then Kate and Blue go with falcons.”
“You said that Bob and Nod saved us because the crows attacked us had killed their chick eggs. Are Bob and Nod mates then?”
“Yes. Their eggs were eaten by those crows. Bob and Nod are a pair, male and female. Mates is word for this? Are Kate and John mates?”
Kate laughed and shook her head as she stretched and stood up. She felt a bit sore in spots but well rested. “No, no, we just work together.”
“Work together; do job together, be of the same flock. John is flock leader for Kate.”
“Yes, I suppose he is, in a way.”
“You will wake him now? We will have Plain Song again, flock leader to flock leader.”
Kate did as she was asked. She was relieved to see that John was more alert and less pale. He even smiled for a moment, when he first saw her and sat up, but his expression turned grim when he fixed his attentions on the huge jay that stood behind her.
“Greetings this morning, flock leader Sheriff John. Soon I fly with Kate. Yesterday we plain talked of keeping your flock member Kate safe. Now we must plain talk of my flock members Bob and Nod.”
“What is there to say?” he asked, as he stood up to better confront the jay. His felt dizzy and his head still throbbed where the crow struck him yesterday. Standing tiny and injured before the giant jay he felt powerless and helpless. Worse, realization of what Kate faced crashed in on him. She was going to fly off alone with these birds.
“I, flock leader for Bob and Nod, need plain talk from you. I go with Kate, Bob and Nod stay here. They sing that they will protect you from harm. I ask you to talk that you will do them no harm. They are good, good birds.”
“Very well. I will do them no harm, if they do me no harm.”
“You sing true?”
“My word is true.”
Human like, the big jay nodded his head. “Small bird Brownie stays with you also. Brownie is good, good bird. You will do him no harm?”
“Of course not; he is my friend.”
“You will protect him and the jays from harm?”
“Yes, if it comes to that, I’ll do what I can.”
Blue again nodded his head slowly. “Is good.”
“Do you again pledge to protect Kate as well?” asked John.
“Yes, I am jay; my word is true,” replied the bird.
Bob and Nod arrived with breakfast, hopping from the forest carrying folded leaves again, and Blue withdrew to sing with the raptors. “Greetings of morning suns, humans. Water for humans drink,” squawked Bob.
“Berries for humans eat,” added Nod. The grapefruit-sized blackberries, cantaloupe-sized wild grapes, and gulf-ball sized huckleberries looked particularly good.
“Thank you,” answered Kate, amazed at the language proficiency exhibited by the birds. “And thank you both, for saving us from the crows yesterday. You are brave fighters and friends.”
“Friends is good,” replied Bob.
“Is good, good, good,” repeated Nod, nodding her head repeatedly. They both seemed to be much more at ease, now that they could directly communicate with the humans.
Weltman shook his head in wonder and bewilderment. He could hardly believe this was happening. Since the previous morning his world had been turned upside down. First there were the giant worms, now this. Attacked by blackbirds, saved by jays and raptors! Fed by jays! Talking with jays! Too much was happening, much too fast. What was behind the crow attack? Was it an isolated incident or part of something more insidious? Worst of all by far, what was Kate getting herself into with the big jay and his raptor friends? Could they really be trusted?
“Have you tried the COM this morning?” John asked Kate, hoping for some sort of development that would change her plans.
“Twice,” she replied. “We’re clearly out of range.”
“Searchers should home in on the plane’s emergency beacon eventually, if it still functions, but that could take several days, maybe longer, assuming the worms are their main concern by now. Besides, we were blown far off course. You should take my gun with you, Kate.” Kate had lost her own weapon during the blackbird attack. John detached his holstered weapon and held it out to her.
She wouldn’t take it. “You’re a much better shot, John. You should keep it, if it makes you feel safer. I’ll have Blue and the raptors protecting me.”
John shrugged. He knew that Kate was too stubborn for him to change her mind. Besides, she was probably right. Gun or no gun, they were both at the mercy of these huge, powerful birds. “What about the bug repellent? Where do you stand on that?”
Kate opened a tiny COM unit storage compartment and examined the little bottle of pills it contained. “Five days-worth, then I’m an insect lunch. My various anti-disease inoculations are good for three more weeks though. How about you?”
“Only three days of anti-bug pills. That’s going to be our main problem, but I plan to look for the scooter; we have survival gear stowed on it, including a two week supply of pills that we’ll probably need, not to mention the radios. What’s the communications range on your COM unit?”
“Very limited, only meant to augment science team communications in the field. Transmission range is only about ten or twenty kilos, and that uses a lot of juice. Sunlight will keep it charged, if I limit use. Reception is a bit better, and I have it set to trigger an alarm if it senses anything at all. I expected it to have triggered already; doesn’t Aves have a satellite communications network?”
“A partial network, and we’re out of the coverage area.”
“Figures.”
“Kate, I still don’t want you to go.”
“I have to. It’s only for a couple days.”
“And what if you don’t come back? Kate, I can’t make you stay, but I don’t want you to go.”
“I’ll be back. You rest up here and recover from that head wound. Find that scooter and see if its COM works. Talk with Brownie, Bob and Nod. You’ll be so busy you’ll hardly notice I’m gone.”
“I notice already.”
She smiled and looked into his eyes, and it was enough of a signal for him to take a chance. His lips were suddenly on hers, surprising her. She didn’t pull away, surprising him. It was a short kiss, but while it lasted it caused the rest of universe to spin away and disappear.
“You take care of yourself, John Weltman,” Kate told him. He was downright handsome when he smiled, she decided.
“You too, Kate,” he replied awkwardly, as surprised and amazed at his own feelings as he was with hers.
The birds all stood around them, watching attentively. “We go now, Kate, on long flight,” announced Blue. “These are raptor allies, Swift Wing and her mate, Mate to Swift Wing. We have vines. Kate can be in vines held by Mate to Swift Wing.” Mate to Swift Wing hopped forward to stand before Kate, a length of vine held in his talons. Swift Wing watched attentively, her head twisted nearly upside down.
Weltman shook his head. “Instead, what if she rides on his back, holding onto feathers, with a vine around his neck and tied to her as a safety measure? That way his talons are free to land or to fight blackbirds, if the need arises.” And she would be out of reach of those cruel raptor talons also, he didn’t add.
“Yes,” squawked Mate to Swift Wing, with a deep raspy voice, surprising the humans. “That is good. Kate can hold feathers strong?”
“Yes, with the help of vines,” replied Kate, awed by the language ability of the raptor. It had a deep, raspy voice, but its speech was easily intelligible. “It sounds safer.”
“Is warmer, also,” added Swift Wing. “Humans have no feathers to be warm. It will be cold in the high sky. Can Blue prey bird ride this way also? Use claw and beak?”
“I will try it,” said Blue. “Without vines.”
As Mate to Swift Wing stood before them John and Kate arranged the vine harness. The falcon made sure the vine was not too tight around his neck, but otherwise let the humans set it up the way they wanted it.
“You should not worry, crawler Kate,” said the huge falcon. “If you fall off, I will catch you in the air like this.” He held out in front of her a cantaloupe-sized grape in his powerful talons. He tossed it a meter into the air, caught it, and immediately crushed it to mush, causing blue-tinged juice to gush and squirt. “Khhe, khhe, Khheeeeee,” he cried then, as did his mate, as they watched the shocked reaction of Kate.
“Raptor humor,” explained little Brownie, to the wide eyed humans, who looked at each other and then also laughed.
Blue, who had been recently held firmly by falcon talons, did not think it so funny, but he was glad to have learned for certain that humans had a sense of humor. “It is time to go,” he announced.
Kate turned to John and looked up and deep into his eyes. “Take care,” she said. She reached up and pulled his lips down to hers, intending another short but meaningful kiss, but the kiss stretched out much longer than she intended. She soon found that his arms were holding her tight against him and not letting go. She liked it, and didn't want it to ever stop, but finally she pushed away. It was time to go.
“You too,” he said. Then he boosted her up onto the falcon’s back and then reluctantly stepped away, forcing a smile and wave as she looked down at him. He was still weak and she wanted to stay with him, but for the love of God, she thought, she was taking to the air again, and was already experiencing vertigo just from being atop the falcon's back!
“WEEchew, WEEchew,” cried both Falcons, as they spread their great wings, and Blue hopped onto the back of Swift Wing. Kate held on for dear life while the great beast beneath her flapped its wings powerfully and rose swiftly up into the thick air, past bush and tree. She could feel the rippling of its great muscles, pushing them forward and up through the thick air.
Peeking over the great bird’s shoulder Kate saw that they were already above the great trees and still rising at an impossible rate. These creatures flew much better than the scooter ever could, that was immediately obvious. They soured above a rocky hill and apparently caught an updraft, in which they circled for several minutes, souring, climbing much higher without even flapping wings. Thousands of meters above the forest, the air was indeed cooler and thinner. Kate was grateful for the warmth of the flight suit and the feathers that she nestled in, and for the heat that radiated from the body of the great beast she rode. “WEEchew,” cried Swift wing, and the two birds turned north as one, wings pumping steadily, focused now on forward motion rather than gaining altitude.
“You like to fly?” asked the falcon that carried her.
“Yes,” said Kate, hoping that she could be heard through the wind. “I'm starting to like it very much.” She liked it much better after the first minute or two of flight, when she had determined that she could confidently hold on to her mount well enough, and her heart slowed to a near-normal rate.
“It is a fine trick of the Great Maker, that you like to fly, but have no wings. Do humans believe in a Great Maker of all?”
“Yes, many of us believe in a Great Maker, but many do not.”
“Kheeeeee, they do not fly then. If they would fly high and free, and see the great green living world, and feel the air through feathered wings, then they would believe.”
“Yes, you are very wise,” replied Kate, astonished to be discussing religion with a giant bird.
“We raptor birds sing much of such things with mates and siblings and offsping, as we fly for long times, searching for prey. Do humans sing of such things?”
“Yes, many humans do,” she replied.
“In this you are like us, the raptors, and not like most songbirds. Most songbirds sing only of simple things. We raptors use much Plain Song. Much complex thinking, less complex sound. Is this how humans learn? Through their use of Plain Song?”
“Yes, if by that you mean words said without singing notes, we mostly use Plain Song, but more than that, we read.”
“Explain what is read.”
Kate explained as best she could the concept of Plain Song being represented by markings made on flat sheets, and how these could be remembered in COM units. She also talked of schools that showed all human children how to read, and how to do many things, such as building COM boxes and space ships.
“This explains many things,” replied the raptor, after a period of silence. “Wise words are not lost through careless song, but seen and used again and again by others, and made yet more wise. More thought and more thought, unending, and growing almost without limit. Cleverness and wisdom, shared and saved, made greater with each new generation. It is clever and good for you humans, to write and to read. Very clever and very good.”
Yes, it did indeed explain much, thought Blue, who had been listening attentively to the entire exchange. This was clearly a major key to human success, and something that birds lacked. For birds the closest parallel was the song of the song masters that was passed on, generation to generation. Yet as the falcon hinted, song had limitations.
“Do raptors belong to the Great Council?” Kate asked.
“Khhheee, khheee, khhhheeeee,” both falcons laughed. “No, human. We raptors keep our own great council. It is best that we take you to the songbird Great Council and not the Raptor Council. At our council you would only be a very small meal. Kheee, Khhee, Khhheeee.”
Conversation slackened then, as the travelers focused on flight. Kate used the suns to gage their direction. The falcons flew north generally, but they explained that they read the clouds and the feel of air on their wings to often tack to the east or west of that course to take advantage of tail winds and uplifting thermals. On an Earth sea, Kate had once ridden on a wind-driven sailboat. That had been an incredible experience, but it was nothing compared to the current one. She was flying many thousands of meters over an alien landscape, on the back of a giant, sentient, predatory bird. Beneath her, she could feel its massive muscles flex, and with her head pressed against its back, she could even feel its great heart beating. Only the fact that the componen
ts that made up their bones, muscles and other parts were five times stronger than in Earth life could account for their incredible flying ability, even in the thicker air of Aves. The creature she rode upon was much stronger than an ancient Earth T-rex, she realized, though it was much less massive.
As the hours wore on, however, wonder gradually gave way to weariness. The air, though thinner than at ground level, was cold and pressed against Kate endlessly, trying to slide her off of her feathered perch. She had fixed the vines to her belt and twined it about her shoulders and one arm, but her hands and arms were sore and cramped from clutching vines and feathers. She had dug her way between and under feathers as much as possible, for warmth and for streamlining, and also because it helped her hold her position on the bird, but she was still becoming increasingly tired, hungry, thirsty, and cold.
“WEEchew, WEEchew,” cried Swift Wing abruptly, startling Kate.
“WEEchew,” cried Mate to Swift Wing.
“Yaw, yaw, yaw,” replied Blue.
“What is happening?” asked Kate.
“We are over Song Wood, human,” explained Mate to Swift Wing. “Birds fight and die below, the blackbirds and the blue. Many raptors fight the Black Flock also. Hold tighter. We too will fight!”
“WEEEEEEEE,” cried Swift Wing, as both falcons folded their wings close in to their bodies and dropped swiftly downward.
Kate dug further into Mate to Swift Wing's feathers as well as she could, as now that they were in free-fall, she couldn’t use her weight to help her stay on the falcon. Through the noise of rushing air, as she clung to the raptor for her life, she heard the angry screams of thousands of birds fighting and dying below them.
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