The next day Kharmadi received permission to collect samples from the brush stand at the far north end of the meadow. At about mid-morning when she emerged from the brush with several filled collection cages she found five of the older Terran children gathered in a huddle.
"What's going on?" Kharmadi asked.
A girl just on the verge of puberty glared at her and sighed. "Those others, the aliens, they're just so static and formal and dull. And tiny. I suppose you'll make us go back and play with them."
"No. Not if you don't want to." Kharmadi shrugged. "It's not my job to police you."
The children peered into the collection cages as Kharmadi stacked them in the shade. "What are those?"
"Don't touch! You can look, but don't touch. That's the most important thing to remember." Pointing to the top cage and moving down, Kharmadi named each of the insectoids as they'd been categorized by Terrans, adding their Rcyyt name if she knew it, and briefly described their habitat and niche in the food chain.
While she spoke, several of the Rcyyt children joined them. They really were very tiny compared with the Terran children. Iol, two other Rcyyt adults, and Kasis O'Flynn stood at the edges of Kharmadi’s little crowd. Kasis grinned at Kharmadi, jiggling the spare kit she had brought with her. "Need any help?"
"Can we help too?" the girl asked. The other Terran children picked it up with a chorus of, "Can we? Please, can we?"
"Now, Jane," Kasis said. "Do you think you can be good? Follow all the rules? Stay out of trouble?"
All the Terran children assured Kasis that they could. The Rcyyt looked on politely and quietly, if somewhat bewildered as to exactly what was going on.
Kharmadi began passing out nets to the children. "I'll let you catch the insectoids, but you can't touch them. The plants here are all surveyed, and are nonpoisonous, but I can't be sure of the fauna, so don't touch. Once you've got an insectoid in your net, call either Dr. Flynn or I, and we'll come get it out of your net. You don't touch it. Understand."
"Yes, Dr. Kharmadi." Each of the Terran children repeated his or her agreement in a very bored sing-song.
When Kharmadi ran out of nets, Kasis pulled some from her kit. As the Terran children dispersed, the first Rcyyt child stepped up to Kharmadi, hand outstretched.
"Uhm." Kharmadi looked up at Iol and the big blue horned Rcyyt beside it. "Yes?"
Big blue horns nodded and said, "Yes."
Glancing at Kasis, Kharmadi said, "I guess it would be okay. I hope they know what not to touch."
Kasis shrugged, "They should. They're native."
Several of the Rcyyt children ran off without nets, to catch the insectoids in their hands. Kharmadi tried to warn Iol and Big blue horns, but they didn't understand.
"You worry too much." Kasis put a restraining hand on Kharmadi.
Kharmadi sighed and nodded. She looked at the three adult Rcyyt and said, "On your heads be it."
"There we go." Kasis smiled, and motioned for the others to follow them into the brush. "Let's go see if the kids have caught anything."
With all the children running, shouting, and crunching through the brush, Kharmadi expected they would catch very little. Instead they quickly filled her collection cages. After releasing several duplicates, Kharmadi started the children searching for ones she didn't already have.
The Rcyyt adults seemed to understand what Kharmadi wanted. They chased after, and directed, the Rcyyt children, passing out praise and encouragement as necessary.
Kasis caught Kharmadi alone, pulling her farther away from the others for a moment. "Over here in the shade." Kasis ducked down, so Kharmadi did too. "I've been watching the Rcyyt, making notes and reports. It's my new assignment. That big blue-horned one, there's something different about it."
"What do you mean?" Kharmadi peeked out between the soft, fuzzy, sour-mint scented branches of fur brush at Big blue horns.
"It doesn't run as fast as the others, and it keeps at least one hand on that enormous belly." Kasis paused a moment while Kharmadi watched the Rcyyt. "I don't know if it is just bigger and slower, or if the swelling is a sign of sickness such as cancer, or what. It's the one that had you captive when we first found you. Do you remember anything about that one in particular? Is it strong or weak? Is its mid-section hard or soft or could you tell?"
"Oh, it's strong. At least its grip was. I don't think I could have easily broken away. I don't really remember anything else, just its grip." Kharmadi shrugged, breathing deep the sour-mint scent of the fur brush. "And it smelled funny. Kind of sweet and musty at the same time. But that may be the way they all smell. That's the only one I've ever gotten really close enough to smell."
“I’ve smelled a lot of them.” Kasis peered out of the fuzzy fur brush. "They do seem to use a lot of perfumes and scents. So scent probably isn't important." She frowned. "We'd better get back out there. Keep an eye out, let me know if you see anything unusual, or usual, or anything at all."
Now that it had been pointed out to her, Kharmadi could see that Big blue horns was bigger around than the other Rcyyt. Much bigger. But not really slower, just more cautious, keeping an eye more on where it was going and what it was doing than the others.
Also, Kharmadi couldn't help but notice that Iol and Big blue horns spent more time together than either did with the third adult Rcyyt. And they spent more time following after, looking at, and calling encouragement to a small purple horned child, than any other of the children.
With her attention splintered on watching the Rcyyt and keeping the Terran children from touching the insectoids, Kharmadi paid little heed to the path she took, and ended up falling flat on her face in a large stand of fur brush. The soft fuzzy branches enveloped her, wrapping around her body, cushioning her fall, but hampering her escape.
For every branch she pushed off of herself it seemed another waited to wrap around her. Spitting fur fuzz and squawking, Kharmadi tried unsuccessfully to get out of her soft furry trap. Kasis, Iol and an assortment of children ran to her aid. Kasis and Iol pulled branches from her while the children watched wide eyed.
"Are you supposed to touch those?" the girl, Jane, asked fearfully.
"This is why you need to be careful," Kharmadi said sternly, trying to cover her embarrassment.
The Terran children nodded to each other. The little purple horned child clapped its hands. Iol shook its head at the child.
Kasis grabbed Kharmadi's hand and pulled her up out of the fur brush. She grinned at Kharmadi. "Yes, do as Dr. Kharmadi says, not as she does."
The Terran children grinned, too.
Biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing, Kharmadi dusted fur off her coveralls, unable to gather any real dignity to herself.
A couple of the Rcyyt children were clapping now. Iol appeared to be trying to stop them. Kharmadi just swept an exaggerated bow. "Thank you. Thank you. There will be no encore."
Jane snickered. Egged on by Kasis, the Terran children joined the Rcyyt, clapping and cheering too.
After a few more bows, Kharmadi waved her hands at them to send them off. "Get back to work all of you."
Iol ground its teeth, and urged the Rcyyt children to move along. Once the children were off, Iol faced Kharmadi with its hands clasped over its round belly, and made a short speech. Though Kharmadi couldn’t understand the exact words, she guessed he was worried.
Kharmadi shrugged. “Yeah, well, if I do something stupid, I deserve that.” She smiled and clapped, then bowed with her hands clasped in front of her. “Don’t worry about it.”
Iol looked around, first at the crushed and broken fur brush, then at the children scattered through the brush stand. It nodded.
After Iol walked away, Kasis laughed and ruffled Kharmadi’s hair. “Let’s get back to work.” She clapped as she ran off toward a cluster of children calling her. “I’m coming. I’m coming.”
Taking a few minutes, Kharmadi surv
eyed the areas around her. The Terran children ran and shouted and laughed and squealed. The Rcyyt children walked or stalked their prey, making as little noise as possible. Kharmadi noticed what could have been hand signals passing between the Rcyyt.
She checked the collection cages, finding them nearly full. Once all the cages were full she called off the hunt and returned to camp to fill out her reports and catalog the insectoids.
That evening she spent with Kasis, discussing her observations and conjectures. Kasis’ own perceptions mirrored Kharmadi’s, but neither had enough information to make any certain conclusions.
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