Defending Hippotigris

by Smith, T. L.

  “Yes, ma’am!” The response was energetic. They were all excited to be back. With my nod, the back doors opened and the team filed out, lining up to wait for their gear and tent assignments.

  In our group Schaeffer hit the ground first, Lizzy on his heels. He swung his arm to the view. “Welcome to Hippotigris.”

  “Stop calling it that!” I stomped past him, Remy following. I heard Schaeffer snicker as he fell in too, Lizzy in tow.

  As we reached the first row of tents, the camp manager trotted up to us. “Col. Kazan, Col. Schaeffer, welcome back. I have your quarters ready, as well as a tent for Ms. Salazar.”

  He handed us each water bottles, giving Remy and Lizzy the speech. “Nothing is thrown away here. You refill these at the mess tent. There’s a sterilization unit there to clean them. If you need anything, stop anyone and ask. We’re fairly informal here. Think adult summer camp. If you see something you’d like to volunteer to work with, extra hands will be appreciated.”

  Remy took the bottle, his eyebrow peaking. “Pretty liberal attitude for a secret base.”

  The camp manager only smiled. “Not like you’re going to sneak off and tell anyone.” He turned back to me. “Ma’am, as soon as you’re available, we’re already getting increased thermals out there. It’s like they know you’ve arrived.”

  “Well then, we’ll drop gear and I’ll head out to the rock.”

  The manager nodded, preceding us, pointing to larger structures in the center of tent city. “Mess, showers, laundry, supply, rec. center, outside of which is a large fire-pit. Yes, we have marshmallows and hotdogs, even graham crackers and Hershey’s.”

  As we reached the housing sector, a soft sound echoed from the forest. Lizzy came to stand beside me. “What is that noise?”

  I’d heard it about mid-camp. “It’s them.” I stared out towards the forest line. My Batista side was a bit scared, but Kazan held the coin right now. “I’ve never heard them like this. Can we get this over with? I have work to do.”

  The camp manager nodded, heading down a row of tents. “Ms. Salazar. Your quarters.” He pulled open a door, motioning her inside.

  She stopped at the door, tapping the side of the tent. It was a semi-rigid plastic, not the old style canvas. “Definitely not a lean-to.” She peaked inside. “There’s two cots. Am I sharing with someone?”

  “No, it was requested you be housed alone.” From the way he clamped his lips together, he was trying not to repeat what he’d really been told.

  Lizzy’s mouth opened, but she looked at me and contained her snide comment. “Well, I appreciate the courtesy. Thank you. Where’s Shara’s tent?”

  The man nodded down the dirt avenue. “At the end of the row. Name’s on the door. Col. Schaeffer is two lanes over.” He held his hand to gesture her inside. “An ensign will be here any moment to help you settle in.”

  Lizzy looked to me and off to the forest. The keening only seemed to get louder. “You going out there now?”

  I nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll catch up as soon as I can. Get acquainted with the camp and behave yourself.” I got her eye roll and she disappeared into the tent.

  By the time we reached my tent, so had our duffels. The ensign carried them in and disappeared as I showed Remy the meager amenities of our new home.

  He was not impressed, opening the lockers and trunks. “This is how you lived on all those TDYs?” He kicked at the cots. “No wonder it took a week to get you out of bed when you came home.”

  “Yeah, but you didn’t complain.” I went to the table, picking up one of my sketch pads and a charcoal pencil. “Unpack. If you need anything before I get back, go find the camp manager.” I turned back around. “I need to let them know I’m back and see how they react.”

  Remy’s eyebrows did their furrowing trick when he knew he was facing Kazan and not Batista. It didn’t stop him from being concerned. “If they’re agitated, is it safe to go out there?”

  “I’m sure it is. I’ve got something of a relationship with them.” I let Batista out enough to cross the few feet between us, stretching up to kiss him. “I’ll be back.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  My first time across this field, the wild grasses came up higher than my waist. Now a narrow path cut down to the soil. I was glad to see no one had ventured too far off it, leaving the meadow pristine.

  I reached my rock. The area around it cleared by frequent visits, though I could see the last few weeks of disuse had allowed some of the grasses to recover. I climbed onto the rock and stood still, listening.

  I’d only heard little sounds from them, of pleasure, excitement, and curiosity. Never the keening. Never this sound. I listened, trying to decipher it.

  “Ara. They’re calling you Ara.”

  I nearly fell off the rock, turning around to see Lizzy behind me. “You were supposed to stay in the camp. You need to go back or they might not come out.”

  Lizzy ducked down a little, nodding ahead of us. “I couldn’t resist and it’s too late now.”

  The grasses were moving, swaying, though I still couldn’t see the LR. They didn’t travel in straight lines, but wove their way towards their center of focus. I saw at least ten different disturbances. “Get behind me then. They might be aggressive.”

  Just as I issued a warning, several heads popped over the grass, the tops of the heads only. Between pointy ears cocked in our direction were thick v-shaped black tufts of fur that stood straight up. The bottom of the V was still hidden by the grasses, but not the eyes. Huge golden, intense eyes stared at me.

  Seeing Lizzy with me, I thought they’d dart back towards the woods, but they kept coming. I held my breath as the grass stopped waving and slowly one head eased into the clearing. A muscular body stealthfully followed on powerful thick legs.

  The tuft that crowned its head continued down the spine to the hindquarters. Black stripes flowed down over the torso, into fur as golden as its eyes. The tufting reappeared down the back of each leg. The bottom of the v-tufted head ended in a broad nose, over a large mouth showing sharp protruding teeth. We still didn’t know whether to call it a feline, canine or primate.

  I leaned towards primate because of its eyes. Large and golden, they reminded me of a giant tarsier. Especially as it sat back and folded its front legs across a broad chest, displaying long fingers instead of paws. It let out a cooing sound and another creature exited the grass from the same path, this one slightly smaller with no tufts.

  I recognized both of them, the pair that visited me almost daily. She wasn’t as cautious as her mate, coming up to me boldly. She stood and nuzzled my cheek, much more vigorously than usual, nearly toppling me off the rock.

  Several more pairs entered the circle, the females giving me the same greeting. Their strange song rose higher and louder.

  The first female stayed in front of me, her head tipped from side to side, her eyes almost seemed to be asking me something. “Arrrraaaa. Arrrraaaa.” The male came to stand beside her, giving me the same forlorn look.

  Shara. Ara. Maybe Lizzy was right. Their first word, after so many attempts to communicate, made me somewhat embarrassed. I pressed my hand to my chest. “Shara.” I reached out slowly towards the male’s chest.

  He backed away and the female’s long digits wrapped around my hand, touching it to her chest. “Yinet.” She pushed my hand back to my chest. “Ara.” Her chest. “Yinet.”

  “Told ya. Ara, Shara, oops!” Lizzy grabbed my leg as the female shot her head around me. Her neck extended, sniffing at Lizzy, pulling back quickly, then sniffing again.

  In a movement I still found disturbing, her head rotated around completely, like the Tarsier. The other females surrounded Lizzy, sniffing at her. Lizzy’s eyes started to look like theirs, huge and bulging. The female swung her head back, nearly nose to nose with Lizzy. “Yinet.”

  “Ahhhh…Shara, what does she want?”

  “Your name, silly. Do what I did.” I had to practically pry Lizzy’s f
ingers out of my thigh. I turned around to face Yinet. Maybe the pack theory was right.

  “Oookay.” Lizzy pointed to herself. “Lizzy. I’m Lizzy.”

  “Litty. Litty.” Yinet jabbed at Lizzy’s chest, then popped back up to me. “Litty.” The other LR picked it up, bouncing around the circle.

  “Shara, why are they so excited? I’m not real thrilled about being on tonight’s menu.” Lizzy’s fingers dug into my leg again.

  “Stay calm, I think they recognize your name from the picture stories I told them.” Now that I’d been greeted, I sat down on the rock, Lizzy crowding up next to me. The male sat down too, so I pointed to myself again. “Shara.” I pointed at him, but he cocked his head at me, chirping in a quizzical tone.

  I started to point at him again, but Yinet stepped between us, spouting out a string of chirps and guttural noises. She leaned her head out, doing that sniffing thing again, up and down my body.

  This time it seemed so specific, I considered taking a whiff too. Did I smell offensive? Suddenly she stood up on her hind legs. Her nose twitched vigorously as she looked back towards the camp.

  Her head spun around towards her mate and she chattered at him. He approached and started the same snorting. While not as intrusive, I was getting offended. Suddenly he darted back into the grasses.

  I stood up on the rock again and saw the sway of the stalks. He wasn’t heading towards the forest. No, he was heading towards camp. No, towards a small group of observers. Lizzy wasn’t the only one who’d tried to follow me. There was the colonel and Remy.

  Oh, crap. “Schaef, we got one coming your way. Remain calm. Don’t react, unless he gets aggressive. Then just retreat.”

  I tried to keep my voice low. They’d never done this before. To my surprise, Yinet climbed up on the rock with me, staring back at my camp. From the way my people started to turn in circles, I knew her mate was already there. They were fast on all fours.

  “Shara?” Lizzy gripped at my leg again as several LR again started their sniffing and nuzzling, purring her name.

  “You’re fine, just keep telling them your name, and pay attention to theirs.”

  “How, they’re all the same. Lizzy. Lizzy. Oh, we need to introduce them to breath mints. Hey, where’s that one going?”

  I looked down in time to see tufted heels disappear into the grass. “Another male heading your way.” I bit at my lip, wondering what all this meant. I stretched to look back at the camp. I squinted.

  Yinet’s mate suddenly loomed tall over the men, then his head darted out.

  “Owww!” I heard Remy over my comm. “Shara, I’m trying hard not to react, but I don’t appreciate the head butting over here. What the hell is going on, and why’s he growling at me?”

  “Are you sure he’s growling? What’s it sound like?”

  “It sounds like growling, like… grrrr…ret… Oh? Gerret? Ah, he stopped hitting me.”

  “Well, it might be his name. Introduce yourself and see if he repeats you.”

  “Okay. Gerret… Rem…my. Yeah, Remy. Remy… Oh Shit!” As I watched, Remy disappeared. I could see a flailing arm or leg as he was dragged off his feet and into the grass. My hand clenched, Batista trying to get out. I couldn’t let her, she’d panic.

  Just then another LR stood over the group, his nose roving about before he started butting his head against Schaeffer. “Kazan?” For the first time Schaeffer sounded genuinely alarmed.

  I could see Remy on his feet again, walking or being pulled towards us. “Introduce yourself and start this direction. Use your first name. They can’t pronounce ‘s’ sounds.”

  “Dick should be easy for them.”

  “Shut up, Lizzy.” Schaeffer stuck with Richard, avoiding the tumble by heading towards us willingly.

  The LR next to Lizzy heard her name over the little speaker on her belt and got excited, chattering at it. Great, there went our open comm line.

  Remy entered the clearing, Gerret’s marsupial fingers wrapped firmly around his arm. He was dragged right up to my rock, where both he and Yinet resumed snuffing at us and chittering to one another. I suddenly wanted to crawl under the rock in embarrassment.

  “Want to tell me what’s going on?” Remy’s tone said he really was trying not to be rude.

  “Not yet.” I looked at Gerret and spoke his name. Now he chattered excitedly, bouncing off the rock with Yinet. They made a circle of the clearing before sitting down together.

  Schaeffer stumbled into the circle and was thrust towards Lizzy. That male bounced around the circle. “Rikerd. Rikerd. Rikerd.”

  “Richard, what did he introduce himself as?”

  Schaeffer, all stiff and composed, shifted his eyes to me. “Belup. We seemed to agree on that pronunciation.”

  “She’s Kenup. Seems there’s a naming thing for mates.” Lizzy looked at the male. “Nice to meet you, Belup.” That elicited an excited reaction.

  I glared down at Lizzy from my place on the rock. “Now, is there anything you want to tell me?” Getting nothing, I had to fight not being totally pissed off. “All the sniffing around was to see who… marked who.”

  Lizzy’s cheeks turned red. Schaeffer’s lips got tighter.

  Remy caught on, looking over Lizzy’s head to the camp. “I suppose it could be worse if they got a whiff of the crew.”

  “I never… not this time.” Lizzy turned nearly purple.

  “So, Dick, how long did it take her to get under your sheets?”

  “Not long. She was easy. Ouch!”

  Lizzy nailed his shin perfectly.

  The LR started to keen at the tension. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “We’ll discuss this later. You better sit down.” I pulled Remy down on the rock beside me. Schaeffer and Lizzy sat on the ground and immediately the LR calmed down.

  As disturbing as it was, it revealed LR formalities. Females could speak to females, males with males, and mated pairs with each other, otherwise the sexes sat in clusters of bachelors and bachelorettes.

  Our xeno-sociologists would have fun figuring this out, later. For now I needed to continue communications.

  I started by pointing at things around us. It amused the LR and we played the naming game for a good hour, until they grew fidgety.

  I knew it was time for us to part when Yinet came to me again and nuzzled my cheek. “Yes, Yinet.” I pointed at the sun and circled my finger across the sky and back to its morning position. “Tomorrow.”

  I pointed to the rock beneath me. “Tomorrow.”

  “Tomrow.” She took my hand and pointed to the forest. “Ara, Yinet.” Her long fingers pointed to the others in my group, then to the forest. “Tomrow.”

  All I could do was nod my head. Was she really inviting me into their forbidden territory? She let me go and ran off into the deep grasses. I was in.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  We were accepted, though it opened up a larger mess for me to deal with. I turned my attention back to Lizzy and Schaeffer. “Seriously?”

  Our distraction with the LR gave Lizzy time to recover. “Last time I checked it wasn’t illegal to screw your kidnapper, though the opposite’s a felony. Besides, you threw me at him.”

  “You did!” Remy and Schaeffer spoke in unison.

  “What happens in a week when you get bored?” Being Kazan, I knew everything in Lizzy’s history. “I have to work with this guy. He’s a big enough pain in the ass without you screwing with his head.”

  “We’re adults, so that’s our business. Who knows, maybe he won’t be such a pain in your ass, if he’s my pain in the ass for a while.”

  Her cheeks flamed as her words replayed in her head. “Shut up, Remy. You too, Dick!” She stood up and stomped back towards camp.

  Schaeffer squashed his comeback. “Listen Kazan, it happened. Drop it.” At least he didn’t stomp off pissed, not that I felt any better.

  I felt worse, Batista digging at my conscience. Crisis over, my sides started to turn again. I told Lizzy
to have fun with him. I never thought she’d actually get involved.

  Remy watched them leave too. “Don’t worry. Actually, this might be a good thing.”

  “I don’t know.” Schaeffer caught up with Lizzy and wrapped his arm around her. “She’s the ‘catch and release’ type.”

  “Yeah, well there’s always a first.” Remy pulled me from the rock and kissed me, then backed away. “Okay, I’m with Lizzy on the breath mints. Can we go wash off this LR funk?”

  “I’ll tell you what, there’s a little cove up the lakeside. You game for skinny-dipping on an alien planet?”

  Remy laughed, kissing me one more time.

  

  I replayed the LR strange introductions to the Xeno team. Introducing Remy and Lizzy, as embarrassing as the episode was, revealed their social secrets and sentience. I left out how I reacted to Schaef and Lizzy.

  I felt bad about it, but when Lizzy joined us for breakfast, she seemed to have forgotten the way we’d parted the day before.

  She sat down bubbly as ever, not even complaining about reconstituted eggs. She just folded them into a slice of bread, a habit she had as a kid. She squirted her sandwich with ketchup as Schaeffer set his tray down.

  He wrinkled his nose and she only smirked, nibbling on her egg sandwich. “So, I’ve been thinking. Since they seem to like art, can I do sketches while you do your thing?”

  She reached into her backpack and pulled out a sketchpad. “I did these from the videos you were running.”

  I opened the book and she reached over to point at a male. I recognized immediately it was Gerret. “They’re markings are distinct. See how his flow almost perfectly along his rib, while Belup’s zags more horizontally. Yinet has a swirl right down the side of her neck. Kenup’s stripes don’t start until her shoulders.”