Aliens Abroad

by Gini Koch

  “That’s it?” Jeff asked. “You have ideas and the first one is to eat?”

  “You’ve known me how long?”

  “Good point.”

  “I’m all for eating,” Reader said. “I know what tends to happen when Kitty says she knows what to do, and I prefer to roll on a full stomach.”

  We ate quickly, with those of us who’d stayed on the moon telling the away team all about our vacation so far. “I don’t want to lose this world,” Jeff said when we were done. “It’s too special to give up on.”

  “And we will not. I want everyone to go swimming—the mercury ocean is not to be missed. Everyone other than Richard and Paul, that is. I’d like them with me.”

  Looked like a lot of people wanted to argue or ask me what I was up to. Put up the paw and was rewarded to see all those people grimace and stay quiet.

  “I want to do this so that I don’t insult or terrify our hosts and don’t get people’s hopes up with unworkable ideas. And I want Richard and Paul with me for reasons I don’t plan to share yet.”

  “Fine,” Jeff sighed. “Why ask why?”

  “That’s the spirit!”

  We got everyone’s Moon Suits on. No one delayed—everyone really loved going to the beach here.

  Normally we sort of shouted and somehow a Cradi heard us and came to let us out. Wanted to test a theory, but had to do it quickly. “Jeff,” I said quietly, “don’t call up just yet.” He nodded and I went to the area where Feoren always opened the door. “We’d like to leave,” said pleasantly but also softly, “please and thank you.” The opening appeared. There were no Cradi nearby.

  Everyone filed out. Kissed Jeff and the kids, snagged White and Gower, and headed off toward the Orange Scourge.

  “May we know what you’re thinking now, Missus Martini?” White asked.

  “And why you only want the two of us?” Gower added. “I was looking forward to swimming with my husband, you know.”

  “James will still be there when we’re done, Paul, I promise. As for why you two, it’s because I have a theory that I need to test, and the two of you are the only ones who won’t instantly tell me I’m crazy.”

  “This should be good,” Gower said. “I’ll bite—what’s your theory?”

  Made sure no one else was around. We were close to where the rabbits were, and the Cradi did their best to avoid this area, so we were good.

  “I think we have a real-life Man in the Moon.”

  CHAPTER 68

  TO THEIR CREDIT, neither White nor Gower gave in to the urge to say I was crazy.

  “Come again?” Gower asked finally.

  “I think the moon is a benevolent, sentient being.”

  “Why do you think this?” White asked.

  “Well, for starters, because it’s been done in the comics. In Green Lantern Corps, the planet Mogo is both sentient and a Green Lantern.”

  “Kitty, just because it’s in the comics doesn’t make it real,” Gower said patiently.

  “Yeah? I point to Superman and the Flash as merely two examples of my daily real life.”

  “She has a point, Paul. What else, though, besides the fact that your favorite form of nonbedroom entertainment says that it’s possible?”

  “Look at you, managing to get the snark in no matter what. You’re an artist, Mister White, I’ve always said so. And the what else is that this moon does whatever its residents want, presumably within limits. They have no crime, they have no predators, they have no worries. Or, at least, they didn’t until the Orange Scourge arrived.”

  “So, what do you plan to do?” Gower asked. “Talk to it?”

  “I do, as a matter of fact. And before either one of you tries to scoff, let’s all remember that the three of us know someone personally who can merely snap his fingers and make reality whatever he wants.”

  “An excellent point,” White said. “Why is he with us, do you know?”

  “Know? No. Suspect? Yes. We’re fixing other people’s terrible mistakes and he needs us to do it.”

  “Why can we talk about him so easily?” Gower asked.

  “I think we’re being allowed to, honestly. Or else Cradus is messing with him, which I kind of doubt.”

  Called to SuperBun in my mind. He hopped over to us. Picked him up. He was definitely bigger.

  “You’ve grown. Are you feeling alright?”

  He was. But he agreed that he and the others were larger. He felt that the delicious squash was the reason.

  “Me too. I think there’s a very big mind here. I don’t know how to connect with it. I’m wondering if you do.”

  SuperBun considered and suggested we all sit. Which we did, cross-legged on the ground, SuperBun snuggled in my lap. Then he concentrated.

  It took a while, but suddenly I felt a surge, similar to when I spoke with ACE, but different—stronger and somehow older, if a feeling could be old—surrounding me. It felt huge but gentle. Cradus?

  I am Cradus.

  I’m Kitty, and Richard and Paul are with me. SuperBun is connecting us. I’m sorry if we’re disturbing you.

  You are not. Are you enjoying your time here?

  Very much so.

  We all are, White said. Very much.

  We appreciate your hospitality, Gower added.

  Good. You are the first to speak to me in a very long time.

  Do the people who live here realize that you are here?

  No. Could feel the smile in his thoughts. They are wonderful, are they not? So special, so kind, so peaceful. They do not need to know that I am here—they need no gods.

  They are indeed wonderful, and that’s what they told me, too. But they’re in danger.

  How so?

  The plant that’s taken root on your surface—it’s deadly to them.

  Ah. It itches.

  Couldn’t help it, giggled in my mind. I imagine it would. Does it hurt you, though? The people living here seem to think it’s harming you.

  It is not. It is . . . adding something to me, but it is not a dangerous thing.

  Adding what?

  Adding a different kind of life.

  Um, is it sentient life? Because if it is, the rabbits—SuperBun’s people—are eating it, and they enjoy it very much, but they’ll stop if they’re eating something sentient.

  No, it is not sentient. Not all life is.

  True enough. Was relieved that we hadn’t done the wrong thing while trying to do the right one. The planet, Spehidon, is sending more spores to you on a very regular basis.

  She is playful.

  She. Because, of course she.

  Um . . . do you mean that in a general sense, as in you refer to Spehidon as female and, say Crion as male, or do you mean that specifically, as in Spehidon is also a sentient world?

  Our sun is not sentient, which disappoints us both. Spehidon is sentient as I am. But she is lonely. None have chosen to live within her.

  It’s hard for most life to survive inside a gas giant, White said.

  Most of us can’t survive in the radiation, Gower added. It’s why we need the Moon Suits to spend time with you. Your people can, though. They are amazing.

  They are. But they would not be comfortable on Spehidon. She needs those who are more spirit, as she is.

  We know of races like that, actually. The Vrierst were living on Jupiter now, after all.

  Could you have them visit her? He sounded hopeful. It would mean so much to her.

  We can try. In the meantime, can you ask her to stop, um, spitting at you?

  I could, but it would make her sad. She is trying to be helpful.

  By sending something that is harming your people?

  She thinks she is sending something needful to me.

  Is it? White asked.

  I don’t
know. It is unlike me in almost all ways. Just as all of you are unlike my people in almost all ways. But that doesn’t mean it is bad.

  No, it doesn’t, Gower said. But we are more alike than you realize. He put his hand onto the ground. See for yourself. Look at what we are under the Moon Suits.

  The ground swirled up around Gower’s hand and forearm. You are mostly something that does not exist here.

  Water, White said. Just as your people are mostly metal. But look beyond that.

  Stroked SuperBun while we waited.

  I can see the similarities, yes. The dirt retracted from Gower’s arm and went around SuperBun’s middle. He is no longer mostly water. He is becoming a part of me and a part of Spehidon, too. As well as a part of somewhere else.

  Uh oh. Presumed the somewhere else was Nazez, but the rabbits had been able to leave.

  Um, does that mean I should have the rabbits stop eating the squash?

  SuperBun said that the rabbits could help. Some could stay on Cradus.

  I agree, Cradus said. You are welcome to make a home here. I will provide whatever I can for you.

  That doesn’t keep the rest of you or your people safe, I pointed out. Not if Spehidon keeps on sending spores to you. Even with a hundred thousand rabbits, she’s sending more than they can eat.

  Oh, she has to, though. If the rabbits are to stay.

  Why is that?

  Cradus chuckled. Because what they excrete kills the plant.

  Let that sit on the mental air for a moment. Um, are you saying that the rabbit’s, ah, evacuation is killing the very thing they’re eating? And is therefore able to keep the Orange Scourge from taking over at least your surface if not the rest of you?

  Yes.

  Wow. This has to have been the easiest save we’ve ever had. Poop for the win, I guess.

  CHAPTER 69

  SUPERBUN WAS HAPPY TO help and keep his people pooping all they could. Could tell he was shocked but also found this as hilarious as I did.

  So if they are to stay, then Spehidon’s gift is a good one. Cradus sounded like he wanted my agreement, not in a demanding way, but in a hopeful one. Got the distinct impression he didn’t want to hurt Spehidon’s feelings, not out of fear but out of love and kindness.

  I suppose it is. Tell me, has she been sentient as long as you have?

  Yes. We have been sentient for as long as we have been created.

  Did she tell you how she got these spores to send to you?

  She did. Something sailed through space and entered her. She found some of it distasteful and discarded it. But some was good and she kept that.

  Huh. So it didn’t harm her?

  No. It gave her the spores to send to me, which now have given me new people to love and entertain. It is a good gift.

  Yes, it is, White said.

  But it still risks your other people. My idea was to ask you to create an island that has the Orange Scourge and, now, the rabbits on it, because the Orange Scourge doesn’t grow in the mercury or rubidium for some reason and it also doesn’t affect them negatively. Would that work? I don’t want the rabbits to be cut off from the others, but until a way can be found to protect the Cradi from the Orange Scourge, I don’t see how they can live right next door, so to speak.

  Your suggestion is a good one. I will make an island for the Orange Scourge, as you call it, and the rabbits that are staying with me. I will make it large enough for the rabbits to live well and prosper and deep enough that the roots will have room to grow. Spehidon will send her spores to the island only from now on. Should the rabbits want to visit the rest of the world, I will ensure that they can. They will not be cut off.

  Will they need water? It’s something we from Earth and many other planets need to survive.

  SuperBun felt the Orange Scourge was giving them all the water they needed somehow.

  It should be impossible for a planet without water to have a plant growing on it that requires and provides water. I’m just mentioning that.

  Spehidon has ice within her, and she says that it is in the spores.

  Realized what was happening. Spehidon was terraforming Cradus. Wasn’t sure if that was in the moon’s best interests. Wasn’t sure that it wasn’t, either. Felt a migraine wanting to show up. Then felt it whisked away and as if someone was petting my brain in a very soothing manner. Cradus was truly a loving entity. Pity we hadn’t known him when Chuckie was having twelve migraines a day.

  Why does the Orange Scourge hurt your people? Does Spehidon know? I know she’s not sending the spores to hurt them. At least, I hoped.

  No, she is not. She does not know why, either. But she would not harm me or my people any more than we would harm her.

  Gower jerked. You said that there is ice in the spores, because they’re part of Spehidon?

  Yes.

  Maybe that’s why the Cradi can’t touch it without pain or damage—the water, or the radiation, maybe both, Gower suggested. Are you sure that the Orange Scourge can’t hurt you, yourself?

  I am, but what you say is most interesting. Spehidon and I have not considered that. She is our planet, we have assumed that nothing she could do could harm any who live upon me.

  Maybe before she was hit with that neutron wave that was true. But I agree with Paul—it doesn’t seem true now.

  That means we will have to determine how to ensure that my people can adapt to the Orange Scourge and whatever else Spehidon wants to send to us.

  Take it slowly, White suggested. Rapid change can be very hard on people and the Cradi are afraid of the Orange Scourge, rightly from what they’ve shown us.

  So much so that they are wondering if they would need to evacuate, I added.

  That would make me and Spehidon terribly sad.

  It would make them sad, too, and then it would kill them. They need to be near you in order to survive. It’s been tested.

  Then we will work to ensure that my people are able to adapt to this new gift from Spehidon. They are more than capable of it, as long as, as you suggest, we move slowly.

  SuperBun mentioned that those rabbits remaining on Cradus would like to be able to take off the Moon Suits.

  As long as they won’t be hurt by Spehidon’s radiation or the gravity you and she create, I added quickly.

  There is no worry. The Moon Suits are a part of you now.

  All of us? Didn’t really want to have to wear these when we left Cradus.

  No, just the rabbits. The Orange Scourge is helping them to bond with me and Spehidon.

  SuperBun was worried and wanted to know if they could ever leave now, because some of the bunnies wanted to stay with me.

  Yes. I can show you how to make the suits hide.

  Hide? You mean take them off or internalize them?

  Both. They will be able to do what my people do—live upon me freely and with no fear.

  Rabbits were often afraid, SuperBun said. They would enjoy not having to fear.

  But the Cradi don’t use the Moon Suits and, in fact, can’t survive too far away from you. And I think only those of us with opposable thumbs can get the suits on and off of the rabbits.

  This is true, but my people are of me. The rabbits are not and they were special before they got here. They can adapt to anything.

  The black water. Wondered if I’d regret not making all of us drink some of that or end up hella relieved that we hadn’t. Ah. The rabbits were taken from Earth to a planet far away and that planet gave them some special abilities.

  They can become invincible.

  Can they protect you from strangers?

  Maybe. But Spehidon does that already.

  Pondered this. I mean, we were here, so she wasn’t doing that great a job. Oh. Did she create the illusions that entered our ship when we arrived?

  She did. She is v
ery protective of us. We are alone and have no others like ourselves to talk to.

  Yes, sentient planets and moons are rare.

  It’s a large galaxy, White said. We may find others like you.

  Or you may not. Spehidon and I are happy together. She would just like people, as I have people. It is her only wish.

  A wish. James had said, rightly, that needs were important where wants were not, and Jamie had told me that Naomi had said that needful wishes were granted. And this sounded needful—giving a sentient planet people to care for. Maybe she’d stop sending spores to Cradus, too. Maybe not. It was hard to guess—this moon and planet had an interesting relationship.

  We’ll find people for Spehidon. But she needs to stop the illusion. It doesn’t work right. We will help figure out a better way to protect all of you.

  Keep it until we return, Gower said. Just in case.

  But you are still here. I am happy for you to stay if you choose.

  We have to help some others, far away from here. Then, once we’ve helped them, we will come back and take care of protecting you and finding people for Spehidon.

  Can I help you find these others?

  Only if you know where the spaceship Eknara recently crashed.

  I do not know that. I am sorry.

  It’s okay. We have to do things for ourselves. It’s part of what makes us people—that we do and think for ourselves, versus allowing others to do and think for us.

  So the rabbits are . . . people?

  As I see people, yes. I’m a human, Richard is an A-C, Paul is a hybrid, Fathade is a Cradi, and SuperBun is a rabbit. But we’re all highly sentient, able to think of more than the basic necessities of life, and a part of societies in the greater cosmos so, to me, that makes us all people.

  Do you consider me a . . . people?

  A person, that’s the singular of people, and yes, I do. Spehidon, too.

  You are different.

  So I’m told.

  I will give you a gift.

  Getting to relax on your surface and enjoy what you offer has been a gift already.

  Thank you, but I will give you another gift. A gift of myself, a part of me you can carry with you.