"Yes, yes. Lohgur was Lohgar's parent."
"But how could he...how could he just murder his own father like that?" Rebecca asked in shock.
Prin glanced at her quizzically. "What difference does it make whether he was his parent or not?"
Dumbfounded, Rebecca was silent for a moment. Then she said, "Don't you love your parents or have any special feelings for them whatsoever?"
"The translator did not translate those words," Prin said casually. "What do you mean?"
For several moments, the question hung in the air without an answer as Rebecca pondered how best to explain the concept of love and emotions. "You know fear and anger, correct?" she asked. "Those are feelings."
Prin's face brightened. "Yes, yes. We fear. We have anger. You speak of instincts."
Rebecca paused. "Yes, in a way, but we also have other feelings. Good feelings, feelings that make us want to...to do nice things for others. We call this love. Sometimes this feeling is so powerful that it causes people to give up time and money, or even to sacrifice their lives for each other. Don't you have anything like that here?"
This time, it was Prin who was shocked. "No. That makes no sense at all. Instincts are for survival. How could you have instincts that make you less able to survive? Why would anyone spend time and money on someone else when you could spend it on yourself? And you lie when you say someone would die for someone else. That is insane." Prin looked at her skeptically. "I am beginning to think that you and Ch'ran are similar in your minds.
"Besides," Prin said, noting Rebecca's continued silence. "If such a foolish thing as these good instincts as you called them did somehow evolve in a being, it would have been wiped out in one generation. It would never have been passed down to its offspring, for a being who gives up his time and money for another makes the other one stronger and himself weaker."
A sudden image invaded Rebecca's mind with such vividness that she immediately stopped in her tracks. Before her, lying in his hospital bed was her father. Her eyes moved down the length of the bed to rest upon the spot where her father's right leg should be. A look of terror suddenly flashed across his face. Then to her utter horror, she saw her own hand rise up in front of her and level a pistol at her father's head. The image abruptly ended with the loud crack of a gunshot.
Prin turned around and stared at her in confusion. "Why did you stop? Is something wrong?"
A solitary tear gently slid down her cheek at the memory of the vanished image. She quickly wiped it away and pushed her thoughts and feelings to the back of her mind so as not to show any sign of weakness to the alien. The more she learned of these creatures and their ways, the more she began to understand that she needed to show more strength and less weakness. It was likely her very survival would depend on it.
"No. Nothing's wrong," she replied firmly. "I thought I may have heard something." She lied. "Let's go."
As they stepped closer to the vehicle, the translator began to pick up snatches of conversation coming from within.
"...have all...parts...power regulator...bent."
"...make it work?"
"...not sure..."
Prin and Rebecca approached the bottom of the left side ladder to see Sikaris and Tarrsk facing each other over a small collection of machine parts laid out neatly on a dirty rag. Sikaris activated its commlink. "We have the parts we need. Everyone, head back to Transport One."
Tarrsk reached down and gently gathered the parts from the floor, placing them carefully into a travel bag. In a few moments, the entire team had gathered and began heading back to their original transport.
Once they arrived, Tarrsk immediately headed inside and began installing the new parts with Rysth-nuul, who had already repaired many of the wires in their absence. The rest of the group, who were still sitting outside, waited expectantly for instructions.
Sikaris faced the assortment of aliens, looking at each in turn as instructions were given. "Ch'ran, go into the transport and give me a report of what food and other undamaged equipment we have. Kyen'tir, continue to keep watch above. Prin and Rebecca, stand guard here on the ground. Lohgar," it said, addressing the ape alien who still carried the lifeless body of its parent across its shoulder. "I want you and Jorylk to prepare a meal. We may need all the prepackaged food for later, so use the fresh meat. If anyone needs me, call. I will be scouting out the area."
Immediately, Kyen'tir returned to its perch atop the nearby building as Ch'ran headed into the vehicle, contentedly humming to itself. Lohgar lowered the body of Lohgur to the ground about ten feet from the rear of the transport as Jorylk entered through the door and returned a moment later with a large box.
Prin and Rebecca settled into their sentry positions just outside the left entrance to the transport. "What's to be done with the body?" she asked, pointing toward where Lohgar was removing what little remained of the metallic armor from the dead alien. "Do you bury your dead? Do you perform any kind of funeral?"
"Bury?" Prin replied. "You mean, bury in the ground?"
"Yes, of course," she said.
Prin shook its head. "But that would be such a waste. Did you not hear what Sikaris said?"
Rebecca scanned her memories, trying to find some part she may have missed regarding the body. Suddenly, an uneasy feeling began stirring in her gut. Something about the way Jorylk and Lohgar were handling the body didn't seem right.
Then she understood. Remembering too late to hide her revulsion, she averted her gaze just as Jorylk pulled out a long jagged knife from the box and began to slice into the body. Noting her expression of horror, Prin's mutated features twisted disapprovingly.
"Let me guess, you do not eat meat on your planet either," it said. Although the monotone voice removed all inflection from its comment, it seemed to Rebecca that Prin's voice dripped with sarcasm.
Fighting to regain her composure and put up a strong front, Rebecca looked straight at the creature and replied coldly, "Yes, we do, but we don't eat our friends or family. Only livestock."
"What is the difference between them?" Prin asked. "Meat is meat. Are we not all animals?" Prin's face suddenly changed as if remembering something. "Yes, yes. You said that there are no other intelligent beings on your planet, so you do not need to eat your own. Tell me, if all of these other creatures on your planet were intelligent, would you still eat them?"
Once again, Rebecca found herself struck speechless by the strange ways of this alien culture. Even more, she was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with how these ideas were causing her to reevaluate her own beliefs. "I...I don't know. We value human life, but animals are...are different."
"Why do you think the Mrdgangam stopped attacking us after they killed Druen?" Prin asked as another thought came to its mind. "And why do you think they took the bodies of their dead clan mates? Did you really believe that it was because they wanted to hold some ritual for them? Yes, yes? Or was it because you thought they had some wild insane instinct that made them want to save the bodies?"
Seeing that no response was forthcoming, Prin continued, "It was because the two bodies of their clan mates plus Druen and the six others from Transport Two would give them enough meat to last for a week."
Feeling foolish and hurt by the scathing remarks, Rebecca remained silent. Prin shook its head. "You have some very strange ideas, Rebecca." Turning to look at Jorylk and Lohgar working at their gruesome task, it licked its lips in anticipation. "Well, if you do not want your part, you can give it to me, yes, yes!"
"You can have it," she said quietly, trying carefully to keep any trace of disgust from her voice.
Walking happily over to where dinner was being prepared, Prin took a large portion of raw meat and began eating ravenously.
During the following half hour, each of the others took turns eating with the exception of Sikaris, who was still out scouting. To keep her mind off the revolting food and her own growing hunger, Rebecca took out her journal and began to record.
Journal Entry #3
I apologize in advance if I ramble a bit in this journal entry. So much has happened. Hopefully I can organize my thoughts somewhat.
But before I get into all that, let me briefly relate recent events. Since my last entry, I boarded a transport filled with a number of bizarre aliens, which I will describe in further detail later. We traveled one hundred and forty-three miles without incident, leaving just over fifteen remaining. However, we were suddenly attacked by five enormous dragon-like creatures that damaged our transport. We now wait in a ruined city while two of the aliens I'm traveling with attempt to repair the engine.
During the course of the trip, I've had several conversations with Prin that have left me shocked and, to be honest, quite confused. I'll relate some of these conversations here.
First, it seems that these creatures don't wear clothing except for protective skins and armor. Their genitalia aren't visible or are covered by armor, and they have no concept of modesty. In fact, after my discussion with Prin, I'm wondering why we humans ever evolved such a notion. Is it due to some ancient ritual passed down from Paleolithic man or simply the result of some kind of religious indoctrination?
Furthermore, their skin seems to be scale-like and hard. They view my soft skin as a sign of physical weakness. They even offered me a suit made out of skin from one of the races here as protection. Upon reflection, I wonder why mammals have soft skin when scales are much more durable. If we evolved from fish and reptiles, why did we lose the benefit of tough scales? Or why did we humans lose the hair on our bodies? At least, those who live in the cold northern countries should have retained their hair.
Secondly, there seems to be no sense of beauty or artistry here. Prin didn't even understand the concept. Again, the question arises: how is it that we humans spend so much time and energy making beautiful things that often serve no practical purpose? I can imagine how art and music, for example, were used for primitive communication, but how and why would they evolve into anything more than that? Are they just results of our advanced culture? But even so, how could a sense of beauty be developed at all when one who spends time making beauty can spend less time on survival? Natural selection, therefore, would have weeded that trait out of existence.
Third, these creatures don't care about their environment. Selfishness is the driving force for everything they do. They don't care if the environment gets polluted as long as it doesn't affect their existence. The fact that it will affect others after they die doesn't matter to them. They seem to live only for themselves with no thought whatsoever for the well-being of others, not even their own family. Yet when I think about it, isn't this exactly what evolution is about? Isn't this at the core of "survival of the fittest"?
Fourth, all of the aliens I've met have tails. Prin thought I was joking when I mentioned that we humans lost ours through lack of need. But is that true? As I've seen here, these animal creatures use their tails for many different purposes. Surely an animal with one would have an advantage over an animal without one. What happened with our early ancestors that made it an advantage to not have a tail? I must admit I can't think of any scenario that would make sense.
Fifth, trust is not in these creatures' nature. Two aliens betrayed six others to their deaths, and Prin, Sikaris, and the others accepted that as normal. Furthermore, our transport abandoned the second transport that accompanied us while they were under attack. Self-preservation is the ultimate goal here, which again makes logical sense. I wonder more and more why humans developed a sense of self-sacrifice at all, for anyone that sacrificed for someone else would be immediately wiped out, thus, becoming unable to pass along whatever it was that made him or her act that way.
Sixth, I witnessed one of the aliens murder its own father simply because it had lost its legs in the dragon attack. It seems that on this world, when your usefulness to your clan is gone, you are eliminated. If you're a hindrance in any way, you are killed. What's most disturbing to me is that I'm beginning to understand these creatures' logic. To them, why spend resources on one who can't strengthen the clan? Although children drain resources now, they'll, at least, make the clan stronger in the future. But the crippled and infirm... they are a burden.
Yet if I apply this logic to myself, that would mean that my own father should not live! No matter how much I try to rationalize it in other ways, the most logical conclusion, according to my own beliefs, is that he die. How can I reconcile my feelings with logic? Fortunately, we humans have developed a sense of the value of life, even weak life. But how and why did we develop that sense? My thoughts move in circles.
Seventh, the other thing that shocked me about the murder of the crippled being is that it was done by the thing's own offspring. These creatures seem to have no positive feelings at all. As intelligent creatures, they feel fear, anger, and despair, but no love or compassion. To them, love, compassion, and any kind of self-sacrifice is a waste of time and energy. At the risk of sounding redundant, how and why did such emotions ever evolve on Earth? Surely natural selection would have wiped out any kind of unselfish ideas from the gene pool, for they are, by definition, concepts that put others first.
Finally, these creatures are cannibals. Not only do they kill the weak and infirm, but they use them for food. As repulsive as this concept is, I must admit that it makes sense within the context of this civilization. If all life evolved from a common ancestor, then no one creature is any different from another. On Earth, however, we have animals that didn't develop intelligence, so we have a different perspective. But what if animals on Earth had evolved intelligence, would we still eat them? And why does intelligence alone change things? How do we define intelligence?
I came to this planet seeking some answers, yet I have more questions now than before.
A sudden violent curse erupted from the transport, causing Rebecca to look up and stop recording. "You broke it! You idiot, slave scum! Now what are we going to do?"
"Do not blame me, you diseased slime. You damaged it when you took it off the other transport!"
Just as Rebecca had finished returning her journal to its bag, the lengthy form of Rysth-nuul flew out through the door of the transport to land roughly in a jumble of coils barely six feet in front of her. With lightning-quick reflexes, the snake alien righted itself and began reaching for two pistols that were resting in holsters on each side of its torso. But before it could draw either of the weapons, another form leapt from the vehicle and knocked Rysth-nuul to the ground, landing it hard upon its back.
"Sikaris, come quick," someone said into the commlink.
Rebecca looked around to see if any of the others were going to try to break up the altercation, but with the exception of Ch'ran who was hopping about and whooping with delight, the rest of the group sat stoically in silence and watched.
"Clan members of all ages, today's main attraction—Tarrsk of Clan Torlig versus Rysth-nuul of Clan Dakkar-nil!" Ch'ran said, its shrill voice echoing slightly off the walls of the nearby buildings as it leapt up to stand on the platform behind the vehicle that Druen had ridden on.
Tarrsk, who was now on top of Rysth-nuul, began digging its foreclaws into the tough, scaly hide, hoping to throttle the snake creature. However, as the claws started to pierce the thick flesh, Rysth-nuul's whip-like tail snapped up and grabbed the reptilian alien around the neck. For the first time, Rebecca noticed that Rysth-nuul's tail had three wicked-looking, scythe-shaped blades adorning it, which were now beginning to press into the sides of Tarrsk's neck. Suddenly, the alligator being flew backward, propelled by a sharp yank from Rysth-nuul's tail and landed roughly on the rocky ground with a dull thud.
Ch'ran's enthusiastic laughter was shut out of Rebecca's mind as she stared at Tarrsk in surprise. In the brief moment that it was laying on its back, she could clearly distinguish what had to be a large mouth containing several rows of teeth set into the alien's abdomen!
Rysth-nuul, taking advantage of Tarrsk's momentary helplessness
, regained its balance and moved deftly into an attack posture. For a split second, it looked to Rebecca as if Rysth-nuul was performing some kind of acrobatic headstand. Using its two arms and underside of its head to form a sort of tripod, Rysth-nuul lashed out over its head with its thin whip-like tail, scoring several hits on Tarrsk's unprotected flank.
Leaping to its feet, Tarrsk backed away from the writhing tail. Rysth-nuul pressed the attack, causing Tarrsk to back up against a nearby wall. Rebecca held her breath, fully expecting the sharp barbs on Rysth-nuul's tail to begin tearing into the trapped creature at any moment.
But just as Rysth-nuul was prepared to strike out, Tarrsk jumped against the wall and began climbing up like a spider traversing its web, the two tentacles on its back pointing down toward its enemy. As soon as Tarrsk's claws touched the wall, the color of its scales began to change. Within moments, its body blended in with the wall like that of a chameleon, with one exception. The white flaky patches of scales never changed, causing Tarrsk's camouflage attempt to be somewhat lessened.
Rysth-nuul somersaulted sideways as a volley of small rock-like projectiles shot forth from the ends of Tarrsk's tentacles. The maneuver caused the sharp shards to narrowly miss their target. The alligator being, now hanging vertically high up on the wall, continued to rain down the deadly pellets for several seconds, keeping Rysth-nuul on the defensive. Finally, with its ammunition apparently depleted, Tarrsk ceased fire and leapt to the ground near a pile of rubble. Once there, Rebecca noted in astonishment that it began scooping up fist-sized chunks of rock and shoving them into the mouth on its belly as its scales reverted to their natural dark blue color.
Meanwhile, Rysth-nuul, who was now bleeding from several nasty-looking gashes, withdrew its pistols from their holsters and prepared to open fire. Suddenly, movement from up in the sky caught Rebecca's attention, diverting her gaze from the deadly battle.
Logic's End Page 12
