by Sally Odgers
Xi joined her hands in front on of her. “Yametzan,” she said. “Clothes?"
"Clothes,” I agreed, turned away to start back toward the wrecked ship.
Xi trotted after me, pulling at my arm and jabbering in Concee.
I shook her off and kept on. Franks. Shimo. If I'd survived the crash, where were they? Had the emergency drone gotten them away from the Cormorant before she came down?
Xi's sharp fingers dug into my arm. “Xanu,” she said, tugging at me. Yametzan, Xanu."
I circled the still smoldering wreckage, Xi at my heels, but saw nothing that could be human remains. Either they'd gotten away in the drone or there wasn't enough of them left to identify.
"Xanu,” she said.
I wondered if the word meant death.
The Cormorant had been a three man scout off Vulture, the mother ship hovering above these three unnamed inner planets discovered by Commander Connors. Worlds we couldn't colonize. Connors A was inhospitable to humans and Connors B had been blasted clean by some unknown catastrophe. Connors C would have been a possibility except for the natives. Both continents had native humanoids who were obviously from a common stock. Concees, we named them.
Those from one land mass fought those on the other to the death. They'd also killed a man from the first survey team to land and had crippled their ship so badly the other two crew members barely got off planet. The Council then suspended immediate contact with Concee until they examined the damaged ship atom by atom.
"No wonder B is wiped clean,” Director Ching was told by the evaluation team. “The survey survivors who set down on the Morth land mass of C report Lt. Zane, first out of the ship, ordered them to stay put until he gave an all clear. He was roughly a kilometer away when he reported via the com unit he'd encountered a group of five natives. The next sound was a scream. Then silence. Almost immediately the other two saw red and gold circles of some type of energy whirling toward the ship. When the energy hit, the ship's circuits began to fail. The pilot had the sense to hit the emergency take-off switch before the two survivors were both disable by the alien energy.
"So we can assume this same energy killed their comrade. Plus inflicting massive damage to their ship using no weapon except for, and I quote from the report of the ship scan that survived the onslaught, ‘red and gold circular lights, such seeming to emanate from the bodies of five aliens.’ We feel if five could come close to totally disabling a survey ship from a distance of almost a kilometer, it argues that such a formidable energy force if, used massively, might destroy a planet."
An infodrone with a magspy lens then orbited C and brought back filled AV info cubes. None showed an energy source. But wrap up every horror tale told in spacers hangouts and you wouldn't have as nasty a package as what did come back on those cubes.
On Morth, anything not Concee was enemy. Any Concee from the other continent was enemy. Death to all enemies.
The Cormorant, fitted out with special detectors, was sent down with strict orders to stay at least a kilometer off planet, but to bring specific data on those red and gold lights. I doubted the Vulture would send any more survey ships.
Obviously the Cormorant had gotten too close, whatever too close was, because here I was on Connors C. My arm and shoulder tingled from Xi's determined grasp. I stared at her. Did this ugly female control concentric rings of force that could destroy a ship?
I was alone and defenseless.. I had nothing to gain by refusing to follow Xi—the rest of her pack might return in force if I gave her any trouble, I hadn't yet been harmed. The Council report had indicated the Concees on the land mass called Huder were less belligerent than those on Morth. Maybe that's where I was.
As I followed Xi, we exchanged words for sun—this one was much like an Earth-type star—and ground, face, hands and teeth. Hers were pointed. After a bit, still suffering from the effects of the crash, I had to stop and rest. When she sat beside me on the ground, I caught a whiff of her scent and had to hide my grimace. I picked up a stick and drew a rough outline of Connor C's two continents in the dirt, wondering if she'd ever seen a map.
With no hesitation, her long finger pointed to the first one—"Huder"—then the other, “Morth."
"Yametzan” she said, touching me. She touched herself. “Xi. Morth."
Great. I was on the more dangerous of the two land masses as far as the inhabitants went. I gave a longing glance toward the remains of the fused and useless ship, but Xi was on her feet again, urging me up. I figured nothing good came next. We crested a low rise and I drew in a breath as I recognized what lay below from one of the magspy cubes. The pool. A huge seething body of whatever—no way did it resemble water.
Scenes of what I'd seen flashed before me—bodies thrown into this pool and later dragged out and into the nearby woods. For burial?
"Xanu,” Xi said, as if confirming the pictures in my head.
I halted. “Does xanu mean dead?” I asked. Realizing she couldn't understand, I dropped to the ground, crossing my hands over my chest and closing my eyes. “Xanu?"
"Xanu,” she agreed.
I shot up and pointed to the pool, a sinister bubbling excrescence. “Xanu?"
"Xanu,” she confirmed.
"Fine. We'll avoid it.” I started to turn away.
Xi clutched my arm, stopping me, and made diving motions, pointing from me to the pool. “Yametzan. Shursh."
"Shursh, yourself, I'm not diving into that gunk. You'll have to get rid of me some other way.” I freed myself and trotted off, unfortunately not up to running yet.
A circle of red and gold clamped itself around my head and squeezed until I stumbled, fell headlong and blacked out. The next I knew, Xi was dragging me feet first toward the pool.
She pulled me to the edge. When I opened my mouth to yell at her, she stuffed it full of what felt like hot peppers. As I choked and sputtered, she yanked off my tunic, jammed a foot in my belly and shoved me headfirst into the pool. The thick liquid was as fiery as the food she'd fed me. I sank into the hell pool, burning and drowning at the same time.
I'd just about decide this was it, when my feet hit what felt like a taut net. Reflexively, I pushed upward. Moments later my head broke through to the surface.
"Xath!” Xi cried, clapping her hands with what looked like joy. She gestured to me to climb out, backing away as I floundered to the edge.
She didn't come near me as I clambered out, liquid running off me onto to fall hissing on the ground. “Xath!” she cried again, turning away from me, but looking over her shoulder in an invitation to follow her as she headed toward a nearby woods.
The woods on the cube. But I was beyond rational thought, with every millimeter of my skin flaming. Each step I took was agony, but I staggered after Xi. She led me into a grove of tree-like vegetation where I collapsed.
When I came to, I was rightly wrapped in giant leaves rather like a cabbage cigar. No more pain—I was numb from the inside out. No feeling. Except in my head where panic flared. Bodies wrapped in leaf-like vegetation had been on the cubes, too.
"Probably gong to bake them in a slow fire,” someone on the Vulture had joked, “Wasn't there an old Greek dish featuring meat wrapped in grape leaves?"
"Lamb,” someone else had said.
"I'm no sheep.” I meant it to come out as a yell, but my mouth was still numb from the peppery stuff she'd given me, so it was more of a mumble. “Xi, where are you. Get me out of this."
She popped into view, but only to plaster more leaves over my head and face so I could neither talk nor see. Numb, and wrapped as tightly as I was, I couldn't move. I blacked out again.
* * * *
My dream was long and involved. Oddly enough, I knew I was dreaming, yet it seemed as though I was sixteen and back on Earth in my old living complex, with DeNita, just my age, and the sexiest teen in the complex, right next door. Next year I'd be in the Space Academy, so we couldn't have more than a passing romance, but that's all I thought I really wa
nted anyway. Seemingly DeNita did, too, and we both enjoyed the kissing and fooling around. But for her, that stopped short of penetration, frustrating the hell out of me.
"What do you expect?” she demanded. “You're not even going to be on this planet once you finish the Academy. There's no long term for us, so I'm holding out for a better match."
"What d'you mean match? No one matches up at our age."
"The point is, you're not the match I want at any age. Who wants a guy out in space somewhere?"
And then a good six months before I entered the Academy, she quit having anything to do with me. That six months seemed like a lifetime. Now convinced I loved her, I was crushed, certain no other girl would ever have such a kissable mouth or such perfect breasts for me to fondle. Or any other of DeNita's sexy attributes.
I had to live through the same sequence all over again, just as frustrated, just as angry and hurt at her rejection. I hated doing that at the time, and I hated it just as much now, even though I knew it was a dream.
Even though I could vaguely remember getting over it, the dream forced me back into the miserable role of rejected lover.
I heard her calling my name and, excited, tried to respond. Then I realized what I heard was a man's voice. “Rico,” he said. “Wake up. It's all over."
With a great effort I pulled myself from the clutches of the dream and forced my eyes open. I had trouble focusing, but the face hovering over me looked familiar. My mind latched onto a name. “Franks?'
I breathed a sign of relief. It this was Franks, then we were still aboard the Cormorant. Not only DeNita, but the entire crash and aftermath had been no more than a nightmare. When I tried to sit up though, my body refused to obey. Had I been sick?
"Take it easy,” Franks said. “You've been out for two days. It takes time to get used to the change."
Change? I stared up at him. This time my eyes focused much better. Franks’ face had never been that bronze. Nor did he ever look fishlike. “Get away from me,” I cried, trying to edge from him, but too weak to move.
"Linth evebt xen xath,” the fake Franks said. Even though he seemed to be talking to someone else, to my horror, I understood every word. He'd said I didn't yet understand I was xath. Changed.
"Don't panic, Rico.” Shimo's voice.
I shifted my gaze and saw another bronze fish-face, with Shimo's voice coming from it. “We know you're confused. But it's okay. You get used to it real quick. Sam, the guy from the first survey crew helped us to understand what's going on."
From the first survey crew? Impossible. “The Concees killed that guy,” I mumbled.
"They thought he was dead, so they tossed him in the pool to preserve him, because that's what they do with their dead. But he was still alive, though barely, and—he changed. Surprised the hell out of everyone, including Sam."
I didn't like what I was hearing. With effort I managed to lift my hand from under my leafy covering to look at it. I damn near screamed aloud. Three fingers. And a prehensile thumb. No! I had to still be in some horrible nightmare of a dream.
"Pinh xath yeni, Yamatzan.” Xi's voice. Telling me I was her changed man, male, mate, whatever. I shuddered, my hand going down under the leaves to feel for my equipment. Everything was there all right, but that's when I began to believe all this was real. Rico had never been hung like that. So I must no longer be Rico. I was now Yamatzan. A Concee male.
Gathering my wits as best I could, I focused on Xi. To my surprise she no longer looked repulsive to me. “Fint wewaw Yama,” I told her. Just call me Yama.
She smiled, revealing her sharp teeth. A quick probe with my tongue told me that, yup, mine were pointed, too.
When I made another effort to sit up, she put her arm around my shoulders and helped me. For the first time I relished her scent. I then saw what I took to be a female beside Franks and one by Shimo.
I slanted a glance at Xi. “Does this mean you own me?” I asked in Concee.
Her red eyes widened. I found I liked their color and the lashless lids. “Mates do not own each other.” She sounded huffy.
Mates. I looked from Franks to Shimo and repeated the word in Spacer. With a question mark.
Franks put his arm around the Concee next to him. “This is Xon, my mate,” he said in Concee. “I'm glad she chose me.” In Spacer lingo, he added, “Try it, my man, you'll like it."
Xi began to pick the leaves off me and the other two females turned away. Which I knew was correct for Concees. Females do not look at unclothed bodies of any male but their own. The same for males and unclothed females. She helped me to my feet, and though wobbly, I stood while she finished unleafing me and handed me what looked surprisingly like a jock strap and a green tunic.
I felt better dressed. I began to think I might be able to handle all this.
"Our mating ceremony comes tomorrow,” Xi told me.
Staggered, I wondered how the hell as I going to handle that.
Both Franks and Shimo laughed. I glared at them. “How come you guys are already mated?"
"We were found right away,” Shimo said. “You got thrown some distance, so they didn't know there were three of us right away. If it hadn't been that the emergency shock breakers still worked, we'd all be dead."
When Xi was sure I was up to walking, we all headed for what she called the village. Which turned out to be a collection of wigwam-like huts scattered around a larger, more impressive stone building. I recalled seeing one like it on the cubes. The Council had figured it for religious rites. Is that where the ceremony would be held? I couldn't quite think of it as my ceremony. Mine and Xi's.
And what about tonight? The sun was already low. Would I be with Xi? And, if so, what was the protocol? No touching? Premarital sex? I could only assume since I had a familiar male organ, she must have familiar female one. But could I bring myself to...?
I needn't have worried. Shimo and his mate Xena, invited the two of us for the evening meal, along with Franks and Xon.
"How about Sam?” I asked.
"He and his mate live in the next village over toward the river,” Shimo said. “He'll be at your ceremony tomorrow."
We ate outside in an octagonal building that resembled what I remembered of Earth's gazebos, except this one was built around what looked like a tree trunk. I said as much to Shimo.
"As you know, Earth trees, too, are living beings, but this"—he tapped the trunk twice—” responds."
A melodic tinkle chimed, then two large green pods dropped into a padded basket obviously intended for just that purpose. “Dessert,” Shimo added.
The food didn't look quite right to my still unaccustomed eyes, but it tasted wonderful to hungry Yama who hadn't eaten for three days.
I spent the night with Franks and Xon, sleeping in their guest hammock. Xi, I was told was preparing our new home, but would stay with her sister overnight. Not until after the mating ceremony would anyone sleep in the house.
In the morning, I was prepared to be forced into the center building for some esoteric rite, but I was wrong. That building, Franks informed me, was for indoor festivals in the cold weather, yet some time off. Instead, I was taken to a many seated conveyance where I sat at one end and Xi on the other as we rode to the mating ground. Without asking, I knew what powered the rig. I could feel my red-gold energy coiled tightly within me and asked Franks if I was expected to help. “No way. That's xenger and we have to learn to use it first. In fact we're unable to use it until we're shown how."
I wanted to go on discussing my confusion about becoming a Concee and my worry over the coming ceremony, but something told me that wouldn't be proper. What I did ask was, “Why did our mates choose changed humans instead of their own kind?"
"There are no male Concees on Morth except for very old ones who already have mates. The others all died in combat, trying to kill every male Concee on the other land mass. Women now run Morth, and there's no more fighting. The women of Huder quickly agreed to a truce—th
ey also outnumber the males over there now. I doubt if it'll ever get as bad again."
I scowled, “So we're studs?"
He grinned. “Just wait."
I glanced at his wife. While she was attractive enough, I didn't think she compared to Xi. A small part of me still felt aghast that I found anything beautiful about a Concee female, but I was beginning to, no doubt about it.
Mating though, was another matter. On Connors C, mating was a permanent state. No getting out of it. As a human, I'd never found a woman I wanted to be matched with. Had I changed that much? How could I be sure it wouldn't be too stifling an arrangement for a spacer? Or could I still be considering one? But I didn't seem to have any choice.
I don't know what I'd expected the mating ground to be, but it seemed something of a let-down to find it no more a bowl-shaped depression ringed by rocks of red and gold, and surrounded by the same broad-leafed trees that seemed to grow everywhere.
The conveyance stopped and we all got out. Xi led me to a set of stone steps leading down off the rocks into the basin below and I followed her down. I'd thought the green floor of the depression might be something like grass, but it felt spongy underfoot and I wondered if it was artificial. In the center, a large metal ring flashed red and gold as we approached. Apparently a signal, because the ring rose into the air, bringing up with it an elderly figure in a white tunic. The priest? Minister? Mating Official? I hadn't a clue, except for my Concee senses telling me the figure was male.
Xi stopped, facing him. I did the same.
"You have chosen, Xi? The male's voice vibrated into the very marrow of my bones.
"I Xi, have chosen, Honored One. His friends say his name is Rico, but he calls himself Yama."
