Kitty Katt 11: Alien Separation (17 page)

B
UT I COULD HEAR.
And it sounded like whooping. Familiar whooping.

Looked up in the sky. Sure enough, there were things flying around up there. Based on my experience and the total weirdness of this world, what they were wasn't a surprise. Or rather, who.

The Lecanora, of course, were racing to toss ocellars into catapults. When we had a moment, I was going to have a severe Shealla Does Not Like This chat with them. I knew Ginger would approve this chat—trained for flying into the air to kill Horrible Snakipedes or not—because she was cuddling against me even harder than she had been.

But Jeff had seen what I had, too.

“Stop!”
he bellowed. No one could bellow like my man, and I had to assume he had a lot of pent-up bellowing, based on the last month or so of our lives, let alone our current situation. “They are
not
enemies! No catapults! No attacks!”

The Lecanora froze in their tracks. Apparently, when the Top God bellowed, the Lecanora listened.

So the five giant flying ostrich-pterodactyls were able to land safely. Which was nice, because each one of them had a flyboy riding as either pilot or copilot. Wasn't sure if the ostrich-pterodactyls were of a high sentience level or not yet. Right now, though, my bet was for high.

The flyboys' mounts had ostrich bodies, legs, and necks, but their wings, though covered with feathers, were pterodactyl sized and shaped. Their feet and heads were really combos of both things, though, with more emphasis on pterodactyl in the head—particularly in terms of elongated beaks and eyes set more in front, like predators' were, rather than to the side, like prey—and more ostrich in the feet. Unlike ostriches and what we figured pterodactyls looked like, their skin was a light lemon yellow and their feathers were literally neon yellow, with neon orange and red highlights. It was like the flyboys were all on predatory Big Birds. Yep, they were a Planet Colorful species.

As the flyboys dismounted, I gently moved my current menagerie off my lap—Wilbur had followed Ginger's lead and snuggled much closer than before—and trotted over. Humans didn't group hug as much as the A-Cs did, but we made an exception in this case and had a big group huddle hug.

“I was so worried about you guys,” I said when we unclenched and Jeff grabbed each of them individually for hugs. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Jerry said with a grin. “We are. We lucked out and landed with the strautruch.”

“Really? That's what the ostrich-pterodactyl Big Birds call themselves?” What was I complaining about? I traveled with Poofs, after all, and Lecanora was no better or worse.

“Yeah,” Walker said, as he patted the one he'd been riding. “They're great. They can't really speak in a language we can understand.”

“But they can draw pictograms,” Hughes added. “And they can understand us just fine.”

Pictograms meant sentience. Understanding extremely foreign languages meant a higher intelligence, though if I had a universal translator chip, so did the flyboys. Only I was sure they'd known about theirs since they'd been installed.

“We were lucky,” Joe said. “We landed in one of their empty nests.”

Randy nodded. “Really lucky. They nest on the tops of mountains. They aren't all that high, at least most of them.”

“But if their nests weren't large and we didn't land just right, we'd be toast,” Jerry said.

Looked at Jeff. “Coinkydink is now out of the question.”

He nodded. “I agree, baby. Someone wants us here, and in specific places.”

“No argument,” Joe said. He looked around. “Uh, where are the others?”

Randy was looking, too. Both of them now looked worried, and no wonder. Their wives had been taken and were nowhere in evidence. And I had no answer that was going to make them feel any better.

“Not with us. Chuckie, Christopher, and I landed with the katyhoppers,” I indicated Pinky. “Chuckie and Christopher, along with the katyhoppers who've let them ride on their backs, are off checking out the planet and searching for the rest of our team. Did you see them? Because I kind of assumed they'd told you where we were.”

Hughes shook his head. “The strautruch elders suggested that some of their younger members help us search for the rest of our people.”

“So we were flying around and spotted dust flying up,” Walker said. “Figured that meant something or someone was down here, so we flew closer to take a look.”

The Big Bird that Walker had been riding scratched in the dirt. Took a good look.

“Aha. That's the All Seeing Mountain, isn't it?”

It bobbed its head, just like Bruno did. Then it scratched some more, nudged its head toward Jeff, then me, then the flyboys.

Looked around for King Benny, who was waiting nearby, and motioned him over. “King Benny, who are they?” I pointed to the flyboys.

“They are the Winalla, the flying warriors of the Gods.” He sighed. “Still you test me, Shealla.”

“Just because I know you'll always pass the tests.” Looked back to the pictograms while Jeff quietly and quickly brought the flyboys up to speed on our Godhoods. “So, the strautruch also have a history of, ah, Gods like us? Or visitors like us?”

Pinky joined us, antennae focused on the Big Birds. They, in turn, gave him their full attention. And then they all bowed to him. Deeply. In the same way that the Lecanora had bowed to us.

“Mind catching me up on what's going on?” I asked Pinky quietly.

He waved his antennae at me.

“Interesting. Excuse us all, for just a minute,” I said to King Benny and the Big Birds. “Please talk amongst yourselves—we're all headed for the same place, by the way. King Benny, the strautruch are as smart as your people are, so work at the understanding, please.” Pulled Jeff and the flyboys aside. Pinky came with us. “Okay, Pinky just had an interesting talk with the strautruch.”

“How?” Randy asked. “They didn't speak, and they didn't draw.”

Well, no time like the present. “The katyhoppers can read minds. And, frankly, so can Chuckie, Christopher, and I right now. Something in the water or food or whatever in the Purple Land.”

“I've never flown faster than we did over the purple part,” Jerry said. “They told us it was a forbidden area.”

“I think it's forbidden because that's where the mind-reading life-forms and mind-reading food source are, but that's not important now. Well, it is, but not what I'm trying to tell all of you. The strautruch know of the katyhoppers. They worship them as demigods on the planet—that's why they avoid the Purple Lands, so as to not offend them. But the strautruch, like the rest, consider all of
us
to be the embodiment of millennia-old God legends. We're all fitting into the assigned God roles perfectly, too. Which is weird beyond belief, but probably a reason we were sent here.”

“Do the katyhoppers consider us Gods?” Jeff asked.

Pinky waved antennae.

“No, they do not. They're really clear that we're aliens from another world. Their Matriarchs are also really clear that other worlds exist, and that they're populated. Look, what I'm trying to say, among other things, is that the top sentient life-forms on this planet are not the Lecanora, though that's what I think all of the rest of the system has decided, because they're bipedal and have wagons and a civilization we can all relate to. But the top minds on Planet Colorful belong to the katyhoppers.”

Everyone stared at Pinky. Who, despite not being able to blush, still managed to look embarrassed.

“So,” Jeff asked slowly, “what does that mean for us or for what's going on?”

Was about to share my thoughts when Christopher appeared out of nowhere. “Everyone's fine,” he said quickly. “At least right now. Hey, guys, good to see you,” he said to the flyboys.

“Why are you back already? Did you find the others?” I asked.

“I'm back because we've found good shelter. Chuck and the others are there. And we need to get this caravan to that shelter as fast as possible, because there are at least twenty snakipedes heading this way.”

“T
HE FLYBOYS AND PINKY
can get to shelter fast. But there's no way that we can get this caravan anywhere faster than tortoise pace. Trust me. It took the bosthoon thirty minutes to get up to faster than a Sunday Afternoon Stroll speed.”

Christopher looked at Jeff. “I think we can carry a wagon each, if we do it together.”

“Not with the bosthoon attached you can't,” I said. “They're big, heavy, and unwieldy.”

“Then we unhook them and get them if we're able to,” Christopher replied briskly. “They're the lowest sentience life-forms we're traveling with, and that means they're the last to be taken care of.”

Jeff nodded. “I agree. Let's give it a shot. Kitty, I think the ocellars and chochos can go a lot faster than the bosthoon can. If Christopher and I really can move the wagons, you and Pinky lead the animals while we get the Lecanora to safety.”

“Okay.” It wasn't, but I knew they were right—we had to get the majority to safety first. Then I could worry about the slowest. “Keeping in mind that I have no idea where safety is.”

Toby popped its head out of Christopher's pocket, mewed, and leaped onto Pinky's head. “Aha, never mind. Poof at the wheel. Okey dokey.” Ran over to King Benny. “Binalla has identified a terrible threat. We're going to move your people to safety much faster than you're used to. You need to unhook the bosthoon, get everyone into their wagons, and ensure that they all stay put until one of us tells them it's okay to get out. I'm taking the chochos and ocellars with me.”

“What about the bosthoon?” he asked, sounding worried. “Not only are they our transportation, but they have no real natural defenses.”

“Leave that to me. Just get your people doing what we need, as fast as possible.”

He nodded and trotted off to get his people moving.

I ran back to the others. The flyboys were already mounted up. Kissed Jeff hard. “Get yourself to safety, too, please.” Then I went to Pinky, mounted up, and whistled. “All ocellars and chochos, follow Shealla Kitty!”

Interestingly enough, Ginger roared, and the ocellars formed up right behind Pinky, adults holding young ones too small to run fast in their mouths. The chochos, on the other hand, weren't doing so well. Until Wilbur bark-honked louder than I'd thought possible.

It was as if he'd given them the Line Up and March order, because they fell in faster than the ocellars had. As with the ocellars, any chochos too young to run fast were being carried, but on the adults' backs. Decided now wasn't the time to argue or question. “Pinky, my friend, let's fly low and as fast as the slowest of these animals can run.”

With that, we took off.

It was probably an interesting sight from the air. Or from space, if someone was looking at us with a really excellent telescope. The flyboys were higher in the air than Pinky and I were, but they were in goose formation and flying behind us—Hughes in the lead, with Walker and Jerry streaming out to the right and Joe and Randy streaming out to the left.

Under them were the mass of ocellars and chochos. I hadn't bothered to count heads in the time we'd been with them, but it seemed like there were at least five chochos and four ocellars per wagon. Really hoped that whatever place Christopher and Chuckie had found was truly big enough to house us all.

The land under us flew by quickly. We passed several large rock outcroppings, but no one was there. Surprise at how very unpopulated the parts of this world we'd seen so far were struck me again. It just didn't seem normal. Then again, nothing else here was normal, either, at least as far as I saw it. Besides, I hadn't asked the flyboys about their population intel, and we hadn't seen most of this world yet.

It took us a good thirty minutes to reach what I realized was our shelter—a gigantic rock formation. Well, it was gigantic when we got into it. From the air, it just looked like a domed rock about twelve feet high and not all that impressive.

However, as we flew in and landed, I could see that what they'd found was an underground cavern. A huge one.

Jeff and Christopher already had five wagons in here, and by the time we dismounted and checked in with Chuckie, they had another. However, there was no way the bosthoon were going to make it here in time, not if the snakipede herd was close by.

Pinky read my mind, of course, and we both went outside. I was still on Pinky's back anyway, and Toby was still with me, along with Harlie, Poofikins, and Murphy. So we flew up to see what we could see. We still had light from the suns, but we were going to lose it sooner rather than later. Far off on the horizon was a speck that got larger as I looked at it. Safe bet this was the snakipede herd.

“Pinky, what are our options?”

He waved antennae as the five strautruch joined us.

“Aha, good plan and worth a shot. Wow, you guys are strong if you think you can do this.”

The Big Birds bobbed their heads. Took this to mean they were going to do their best to be awesome.

“Super. Let's roll, then.” We zoomed off, at a far faster speed than I'd flown with Pinky yet. Presumably because we had no reason to go slowly. The strautruch kept up without issue.

We swooped in as Jeff and Christopher returned for another wagon. “What are you doing?” Jeff asked. “I want you back to safety right now.” He was using his growly man voice he still persisted in believing I listened to anywhere other than in bed. It was cute.

“Yes, well, I'll go a lot faster if you guys move it. Now, leave me alone. I need to focus.”

I was focusing on the bosthoon. They weren't the brightest, but then again, I was Dr. Doolittle, and now was the time to use the skills. Pinky was assisting, so I had high hopes.

“All bosthoon, gather together, please. The nice strautruch are going to fly you to safety, one or two at a time, depending. You need to not struggle. Shealla Kitty promises that you'll be safe this way. The rest of you, follow Shealla Kitty as fast as you can.”

The strautruch were actually able to grab and carry two bosthoon at a time, which was amazing. Almost too amazing. Made a mental note to ask about what their part of the world was like.

Ten bosthoon flying off was good, but since we had seventy-five bosthoon if we had one, this wasn't making the dent it could. However, I wasn't willing to just give up.

“We need to herd them, just like cattle,” I said to Pinky. “Normally that takes at least three cowboys. We have one, since rider and mount work as one.”

Pinky waved antennae. Not to worry—help was on the way.

It was. Saffron and Turkey arrived, with Hughes and Walker riding them. “Need help herding your cows, little lady?” Hughes asked me.

“I do. We need to get them to safety before the rustlers show up. Great to see you guys, how did you know to come here?”

“Jeff just did a drop-off and was shouting at Chuck, as if he was responsible for you doing this. We suggested that we knew what you were going to try to do and that we should help. Chuck said the katyhoppers were in agreement. Everyone else is staying put, per Chuck and Jeff's orders.”

“We promised to force you to safety if whatever's coming shows up and there are still animals in danger,” Walker added. “So let's get moving.”

Pinky and I took the lead, with the bosthoon following us pretty decently. Hughes and Walker did what the cowboys who weren't lead did—herded and encouraged said herd to move a lot faster.

We trundled along, but faster than we had before. The bosthoon were able to move better since they weren't pulling laden wagons. The strautruch returned, grabbed two from the rear each, and took off again.

Based on my limited memory of how to do speed and distance math problems, I had to figure that if it had taken us thirty minutes to fly to our destination at a fast rate of speed, it was going to take at least an hour, maybe more, to get the herd there. And I didn't think we had an hour.

However, we persevered. After about fifteen minutes and one more Big Bird snatch and grab run, Jeff and Christopher showed up with a catapult wagon. They tossed four bosthoon on it, with me doing some serious animal calming talk, and then zipped off. Figured the bosthoon barfing up their cud, or whatever, would still be preferable to them turning into carcasses.

Between all of these efforts, we were a lot closer to our destination and had a lot fewer bosthoon to get to safety. But we still had plenty and I could now see things in the sky. Not clearly, but close enough that I knew we didn't have too long before we were attacked.

Motioned for Hughes to come up to where I was, and he did so. “What's up, Kitty?”

“Did you guys happen to have guns on you when you were snatched into this solar system?”

“Yeah, Chip and I did for sure. We don't have more than one clip each, though. We weren't going out on a mission, we were doing a briefing.”

“Yeah, tell me about it. The things that are coming at us from the sky are what I've kind of named snakipedes and the Lecanora we're with call the Horrors.”

“We know about them. They're a threat to the strautruch, too.”

Really? Interesting. “Did you guys have to deal with any of them yet?”

“No, but we saw one yesterday. It flew below the nest we landed in. The strautruch had us look so we'd know what to fear, basically.”

“Well, that's good, I guess. Because according to Christopher, we have a herd of snakipedes coming. They're definitely killed by bullets, but it took a lot. I have plenty of clips in my purse, but I'm not sure that they'll work in your guns.”

While I was saying this I was also digging around in my purse. Pulled out a bunch of clips. They were not clips for my Glock. Hughes grabbed them. “Yeah, these will work. I'll get some to Chip. I know you don't want to let these animals die, Kitty, so we'll all do our best to hold the snakipedes off.”

Sent a mental thank you to Algar. “Thanks. But you need to know and to tell Chip—in addition to these things being like a triple big anaconda with a zillion little wings, they're also venomous.”

“Oh, great. Can't wait.” With that, Hughes and Saffron flew over to Walker and Turkey.

“Pinky, is there any way we can get the bosthoon moving more quickly?”

Antenna waves indicated that he doubted it. The Big Birds arrived again and grabbed another ten bosthoon, while Jeff and Christopher arrived with another catapult wagon. Four more bosthoon on, more animal calming work from me, and then they were gone.

The Big Birds were tiring. I could tell because Jeff and Chuckie were back with the third catapult wagon before the strautruch came back. Another four bosthoon were off and the guys were back with the fourth catapult when the strautruch returned for their next set. They were still able to grab two bosthoon each, but all of them were flying lower this time. Didn't figure they could do more than one each next run. If they could even manage a next run.

However, that would work, if we'd get the time. Because we had nine bosthoon left, meaning that the last catapult run and one bosthoon to a Big Bird would mean we got everyone to safety.

Took a look in the sky. I could see the snakipedes. Clearly.

We were out of time.