Stories of the Confederated Star Systems (15 page)

“Yo, Chief, catch a whiff of this!” he almost shouted as he backed away.

Lieutenant Ian came forward and sniffed delicately, then sneezed. “That’s nasty. I’d compare it to burning camphor wood.”

“Ma’am, sir, I have an idea,” Chief Cunningham said softly and both officers turned toward him. “Ma’am, you just sneezed smelling something of that native. It sneezed when it smelled Commander Steinman’s hand. Maybe we’re allergic to each other.”

Lieutenant Ian shook her head, then paused. “I don’t know, Chief. Commander Steinman was close to it for quite a while and didn’t say anything about it smelling like that. It could be something other than the native that’s making us sneeze.”

“Could it be something the native burns for his fire?” Eric asked.

“Or could it be insect repellent?” the chief asked, then continued before getting an answer. “We did that. Human’s I mean. We used smoke to keep the ‘skeeters and chiggers at bay back before they invented chemical repellents.”

“You have a point, Chief,” Lieutenant Ian said softly, rubbing her cheek in thought. “I mean, why not? This
is
the native’s home territory. It must have some way to deal with the bugs. It was obvious that it knew what they are and what they do when Commander Steinman showed it the dead one.”

Eric put the door back the way he had found it and backed away. “Back to camp. We have to tell Commander Steinman about this.”

* * *

Szekely had run as hard as he could, back over the hills to the home caves of the Selexis. He surprised the guardians as he burst through the brush and raced for the Cave of the Overfathers. He almost made it until he ran head-first into Kelesvin, his big brother.

{“You make unseemly haste, little Szekely. Did a ragna bite your tail?”} he asked with a laugh.

{“Far more than ragna have come to our territory, brother. Strangers, of a species I have never heard of, have come. I must speak with the Overfathers.”}

{“You are too young, Szekely. You know too little to come to such conclusions. Just because you know nothing of these creatures doesn’t mean they are not known.”}

Szekely snarled and saw his brother react in shock. {“Do not think you have the right to dictate to me any longer, Kelesvin. I am no longer a cub.”}

Kelesvin snarled and snapped his teeth together. {“You need manners, cub, and it is my turn to teach you.”}

{“That will be enough of that, kittens, or it will be I who does the teaching,”} a familiar voice said from the Cave of the Overfathers.

Szekely and Kelesvin turned to face the voice of their overfather and raised their muzzles to the sky, baring their throats in submission. Szekely lowered his head first and spoke quickly. {“Overfather Szefon, I have seen strange creatures in our territory, creatures that are beyond the knowledge of the Cavvelat.”}

{“Cub.”}

{“That’s enough of that, Kelesvin,”} Overfather Szefon snapped and Kelesvin brought both of his front hands up to cover his nose in contrition. {“Continue, Szekely. Describe these intruders.”}

Szekely did as he was asked and soon even Kelesvin was staring at him in wonder. {“It was when I smelled the blood that I realized that these were not creatures of Savalin.”}

Overfather Szefon looked at his fellow Overfathers, Jvel and Scelet, and got snarls of agreement. {“Lead us to this place, Szekely, but have a care for our aged bones.”}

Szekely led off at a moderate pace, but soon found himself trailing behind the aged overfathers.
They follow my scent trail as fast as I made it,
he thought as he kept on the tail of Overfather Jvel. It was very late in the day when they arrived at the emergency shelter Szekely had been using.

{“We must shelter here until dawn,”} Overfather Scelet said, looking at the small den in evident distaste.

{“We could approach the strangers, Honored Overfather,”} Szekely said and immediately regretted it.

{“You’d have us trapped by these unknown creatures and the ragna at the same time?”} Overfather Jvel snapped. {“Foolish kitten, that would be true folly. Always leave yourself an escape route.”}

{“Yes, Overfather Jvel. It was only that-I spoke in haste and did not carefully consider my words.”}

The old overfather looked at Szekely and relented. {“You’re an adventurous youth, Szekely. Age and misadventure teach caution. These creatures are far too strange to approach at nightfall. You saw no walls to protect them from the ragna. It may be that they are so strange that the ragna do not bite them. If that is so, then we would be bones before morning and they would still be a mystery.”}

Szekely hung his head, then motioned for the overfathers to precede him into the shelter. He had almost closed the door when Overfather Szefon snarled angrily. {“What is this?”} he asked, pointing to a mark on the floor.

{“They have been here,”} Szekely said in an awed whisper. {“They managed to follow my trail and find the shelter. That is a paw-print of their hind feet.”}

{“You said you thought they were an advanced people. It would make sense for an advanced people to wonder where you were from and where you went. I wonder the same things about them.”} Overfather Jvel went down on all fours and sniffed the track. {“I have never smelled anything like it. The scent is not that of any animal I know.”}

{“Now I grow increasingly dissatisfied with my decision to come here tonight,”} Overfather Szefon said, taking a platform near the door. {“Start the ravala wood burning, Szekely and hand out some meat. I think we should all sleep well tonight, for tomorrow will be an eventful day-one way or another.”}

* * *

“XO, we’ve got company,” a rating shouted over his shoulder as four of the natives emerged boldly from the underbrush. Commander Steinman and his command team came running, slowing and stopping at the side of the rating. “They just walked out and stopped, Sir.”

Commander Steinman looked at them and immediately saw the differences between them. Yesterday’s visitor stood to the side and slightly behind the others. Standing with others of his kind, it became obvious that he was younger by many years. The others all looked old, and bore scars and heavier builds. More importantly, they wore a lot more ornamentation, and it all showed a remarkably refined taste by human standards. Polished stones were set in silver and gold, and even copper. Metal objects glittered in the sunlight and showed details that it must have taken an artisan of extreme patience to produce.

Commander Steinman stepped forward and stopped a few feet in front of the shortest one. “I am pleased to see you, honored visitors,” he managed to say in a calm tone, though his heart was racing a mile-a-minute.

The leading native tilted its head to the side, then chittered at him. It raised its muzzle to the sky and held its arms wide for a moment. Commander Steinman felt his breath shorten as he recognized the gesture. It was the same as the young one had made the day before. Taking a deep breath, he copied the pose for a moment, then relaxed, carefully not smiling though he desperately wanted to.

The other natives were just coming out of the pose when he heard a sound from behind him. “Sir, I’ve cleared a path. Try to invite them into camp,” Lieutenant Ian’s voice said from behind him.

Commander Steinman did what any southern gentleman would do and bowed, waving his arm toward the center of the camp, and joined the leading native as it cautiously walked forward on its hind legs.

* * *

Overfather Szefon watched the creature’s antics for a moment and took a step forward. {“I think we have been invited to enter their camp. Keep wary and be prepared to flee. I’d hate to die for no reason.”}

{“Agreed,”} Overfather Jvel said softly. {“They are a strange breed, aren’t they? They surround themselves with metal and this other substance. I smell nothing that was alive here, except the ragna. Szekely was correct that they have killed many of the beasts, but I see no sign that they suffered any casualties. Perhaps we could learn something from them.”}

The creature led them to the edge of their shelter, then sat on the ground. Szekely’s story hadn’t prepared the overfathers for the suddenness of the motion and Scelet thought it had disappeared for a moment before he looked down. Seating himself, he let his spine relax and ended up with his head nearly on a level with the stranger.

{“You are going to take a long time to understand, strange creature,”} he said and saw the creature tilt its head just as he had when it spoke. {“Yes, I am speaking to you.”}

Commander Steinman saw the look in the native’s eyes when it chittered at him and he replied. “We,” he held his hand up and made a motion between the native and himself, “have a lot to learn from one another.”

Overfather Scelet froze for a moment, then carefully turned to look at Overfather Szefon. {“That was a deliberate gesture and answer. He didn’t just do it to anyone, he replied to me.”}

{“But what the scat did he say? And is it a he at all? Do they have he and she as we know them?”} Overfather Jvel asked and the creature turned to him.

“You are obviously someone to watch. I don’t understand your vocalizations, but that sounded like a series of questions to me.” Commander Steinman again made eye contact with the native when he spoke and was gratified by the reaction.

{“Did you see that?”} Overfather Jvel asked. {“He answered me.”}

Szekely was watching everything with wide eyes as his leaders met his discovery. The only thing that was bothering him was a favalin that was tangled in the fur on his back. He kept trying to surreptitiously get an arm up to get it, but the overfathers were watching everything too closely.

Eric saw the native’s abortive movements and maneuvered to get a look at its back. It took a moment to spot, but he finally saw the bug and acted without considering the consequences. He stepped forward and pulled the bug out of the native’s fur.

The whole crowd was instantly quiet, and every eye was on him. “Um, he had a bug biting his back, sir,” he explained, holding the creature between two fingers. It twisted around and sank fangs into his thumb and he let out a howl of pain and threw it to the ground, then instinctively sucked his thumb.

The natives were watching him closely and he took a step toward the bug, but Jen Ian stopped him. “It’s dying, Eric. Don’t stomp on it.”

The natives were looking at it as well, and the young one was poking at it with a long, wicked-looking claw.

Overfather Szefon was the first to react to the incident. Looking at Szekely and Eric, he started to laugh. Softly at first, then louder, he was rocking back and forth, his back wriggling with mirth, and he pointed at Eric. {“They have their own Szekely!”} he howled.

“Mister Carlson,” Commander Steinman said in a restrained tone, “get your thumb out of your mouth.”

Lieutenant Ian was laughing and looked at Eric’s thumb once he had it out. “What were you thinking?”

“I wasn’t, I just saw the bug and acted.”

Overfather Jvel was closest to Eric and cautiously reached out to gently take Eric by the wrist. He pulled Eric closer to him and examined the injury. {“It was bitten but is not swelling. Szekely was right about their blood. It’s red and smells something like copper, but I don’t think that’s it.”} He released Eric’s arm and pulled his hand back, and a long, thin blue line trailed off one claw. Seeing the creature’s skin caught on his claw made him freeze in horror. He’d injured it, all unknowing, but injured nonetheless.

Eric saw the thread from his uniform on the native’s claw and reached out with his other hand and unhooked it, smiling apologetically. The native seemed to shrink back and Lieutenant Ian clamped her hand across his mouth.

“No smiling, Eric! Teeth are an aggressive display,” she hissed. “It probably thinks it was unraveling your skin and hurt you.” She looked over at the natives and they were chittering in what looked like concern.

{“You injured the youth, Jvel!”} Szefon snarled. {“Trim your claws while we try to avoid a confrontation!”}

Lieutenant Ian let go of Eric and stepped back. “I have an idea. Take off your shirt, Eric. Show it that it didn’t hurt you.”

“I’m not…”

“Oh, yes you are,” Commander Steinman said softly. “You’re doing whatever it takes to defuse this incident, even if it means stripping naked and smearing your ass with mud. You got me, Carlson?”

Eric gave the Executive Officer a pained look, but said, “Sir, yes, sir!” He raised his hand to catch the natives’ attention, then slipped his shirt off over his head.

Szekely squealed,
{“It took off its skin!”}

{“No, it didn’t,”} Overfather Scelet said, looking closer. {“Look at it. Now it matches hands, face and body. They are completely furless. I’ve never dreamed of such a thing. That blood-blue covering isn’t its natural coloring.”}

“Pants as well, Mister Carlson,” Commander Steinman said and Eric sighed as he complied.

{“Look! It’s the same all over,”} Overfather Szefon said, looking around. All of the creatures were wearing the same pattern of covering, even if the colors were different. There was a rippling sound from the crowd, directed at the one that was shedding its outer covering, and Szefon came to a stunning conclusion. {“They’re laughing. They are laughing at the young one’s antics.”}

{“Are you certain, Szefon?”} Overfather Scelet asked.

{“Yes,”} Overfather Szefon answered. {“They are not as different as they appear.”} He looked at the suddenly more familiar creature and waved it to him with an imperious gesture. It stepped forward, just like any misbehaving youth, and stopped at arm’s length. {“You and young Szekely seem to be two of a kind, strange one. You’re hairless skin must be fragile indeed to need such coverings, and we would not see you injured. Put your covering back on and let us find the things we have in common now that we know the difference.”} He motioned toward the discarded items and saw the youth quickly obey.

Commander Steinman understood immediately. “It just told you to get dressed, Eric. Do it quickly while we try to find a better way to communicate.” He stood and bowed to the natives, then stepped backwards and motioned with both hands for them to follow him. “I hope this works.”