Metamorphosis Alpha 2

by Craig Martelle

  The grounders all stumbled forward, their weapons held at the ready, as they surveyed the unreal scene that presented itself within the elevator. Lila was the first to recover.

  “I want this brought back to the lab,” she said sternly, mustering her control and putting aside her fears. The grounders, even Delta, only looked at her in shocked disbelief. “I mean it!” she cried in exasperation. Regaining her control, and remembering the chain of events that had brought her to this pass, she added, “…and put it in a stasis pod. Warden’s AI says it has some kind of unusual bacteria living in it.”

  “You gonna carve it up, Doc?” asked Jon vengefully.

  “No, Jon, I am not,” she spat in return. “I think it’s important we know what we’re up against. And when we get it back to the lab, I want full restraints and quarantine.”

  “Seriously?” whined Jon, his face an expression of shock and disappointment.

  “Yes, seriously,” chided Lila. “Tie it up, wall it off, and leave it the hell alone.”

  Bahal moved quickly, checking every thicket, every grove of trees, every field, and every hole he found. The vine had been with him throughout the day in a fur carry satchel he had made from the skin of the huge beast he had killed. The fur was untanned, but the vine seemed not to care, and it enjoyed having him stop periodically to relieve himself. Lamya Protectors did not defecate often, but they did drink copious amounts of water, and the vine was made happy roughly four times during the day. Bahal, for his part, was amazed that his makeshift satchel had not gotten soggy by now.

  He and Viny (as he now called the sentient plant), had made a deal. It left one set of its roots exposed, constantly tasting the air. It could then alert Bahal if any creatures approached. It also mentioned a severe dislike for creatures that, like it, were able to work with their minds rather than their bodies. Bahal didn’t understand that part very well, but it seemed that those who could think-talk didn’t like others who could think-talk… and that made no sense to him at all. He would carry Viny, chat with him when he could, and ‘fertilize’ him with liquid fertilizer whenever he had the need. Viny would let him know if anything serious was around. It was enough.

  Viny also never slept, so he could watch when Bahal needed to rest his eyes for a while. Bahal hadn’t considered that aspect when he had made his deal, but it had worked well the night before, and he was grateful for any help the War Don sent his way.

  “You had some strange pictures in your head last night,” Viny said as Bahal checked a clump of brush.

  “They’re called dreams by our wise elders,” explained Bahal. “I’m not sure I want you reading my mind while I sleep.”

  “I still don’t understand this concept of ‘sleep’ you keep referring to,” continued the vine. “Your brain is just as active, at least for a good portion of what you termed your ‘sleeping time’. How is sleep different?”

  “I am unaware of my own thoughts when I sleep, Viny,” Bahal explained. “Don’t you ever rest your mind? Don’t you ever just make things up that don’t exist and think about them?”

  “I should hope not!” retorted Viny. “How would I separate reality from such a fantasy?”

  “Well, I am unconscious when I sleep,” finished Bahal.

  “Again, this is a concept I do not understand,” reiterated the exasperating vine. “Higher brain activity, the stuff I can sense, only ceases at death.”

  “Not true, oh leafy one,” chortled the reptile. “Truly sentient beings have both a conscious and an unconscious mind.”

  “So you have TWO minds?” interrupted the vine in shock.

  “I suppose that’s true,” pondered Bahal. “When I am awake, my unconscious mind keeps a lookout for things I might otherwise miss, while my conscious mind talks with you - that sort of thing. When I sleep, my conscious mind shuts off. That’s why I’m not sure I want you reading my thoughts while I’m asleep.”

  “…and that’s what I really wanted to ask you about,” Viny continued, now becoming excited. “In one of your pictures you were attacking a being like yourself that was much larger than you are. You were repeatedly slamming into it as though you were fighting for your life, and…”

  “That’s enough Viny,” cautioned Bahal. “I mean it. Some things I simply will not explain to you.”

  “The beastie is all secure, Doc,” announced Jon, slapping the side of the large plasteel quarantine cube that Lila had him bring in for the creature. “I have your scanning and autopsy equipment inside and I strapped it down to the examining table with some of the heavy-duty nylon tethers. They’ll hold up to three ton, so you should be fine.”

  “Did you install the security wrist band reader I asked for?” questioned Lila, not trusting the hot-headed grounder.

  “You seriously think you need that?” asked Jon. “You think that ‘dead thing’ is going to break a 3-ton strap?”

  “No, I think you and some of your fellow idiots might get drunk and decide to sneak in and peak at my work,” replied Lila in an authoritative tone. “I want the reader to allow access only to those with white medical bands.”

  “But you’re the only one on this deck that has a white band!” the grounder complained.

  “Then you had better take good care of me, Security Specialist,” Lila finished with a smirk. “Now scoot — off you go.”

  “Yes ma’am,” grumped Jon as he left.

  With the grounder gone, Lila decided she might as well start her examination. She was fascinated by this monstrous creature. Her additions to the Warden’s database from this discovery would long outlive her. She eased open the door to the quarantine cubicle and walked inside, kicking on the air recirculator. The stench of this beast was rather strong, and in just the half hour it had been within the casing, the place reeked.

  Lila picked up the bio-scanner to see if she could find the micro-biologic life that the Warden had shown on its scan. Its dials immediately pinned. It was as if the machine had gone berserk. Lila quickly shut it off and grabbed the back-up scanner. She checked it thoroughly, noted its last calibration date, and flipped it on, aiming it at the creature on the examination table.

  The result was the same. There could be but one explanation.

  The creature was still alive.

  “Well… then… be that way,” pouted Viny. “But then I’m not telling you about the dropping that just hit the soil not ten feet in front of you.”

  “Dropping?” queried a stunned Bahal, whipping his club to its ready position. “What do you mean ‘dropping’? Something dropped?”

  “Exactly,” stated the vine as though that explained everything.

  Bahal scanned the field he was near the edge of, the trees surrounding it, and finally, the sky above. He glanced up just in time to see what appeared to be a heavily feathered 5’-long arrow headed straight for his head. He dropped to the ground and rolled as it sliced a three-inch gash in the meat of his right arm before flapping its wings and again mounting into the sky.

  “Don’t be so rough!” complained Viny. The satchel had hit the ground at an angle, spilling most of its contents and the malcontented vine.

  “We’re being attacked!” Bahal hissed back at him through clenched teeth. He could see now that it was a bird that had attacked him, a bird that was circling around to make yet another pass. If he was unprepared, this one might prove more successful.

  “Attacked?” questioned Viny in an unruffled tone. “Attacked by what? Can you please place me upright? You’re disturbing my auxins.”

  “We’re being attacked by a flying creature! Now please just be quiet!” demanded Bahal. He brought his strange club to his shoulder, carefully tracking the flight of the beast with its far end. It had finished circling and was about to start another power dive.

  “I can help, you know,” answered Viny, a trifle miffed.

  “How can YOU help?” asked Bahal in an exasperated tone. He was about to die while arguing with a plant!

  “Just let me kn
ow when you need it to be distracted, and I’ll…”

  Of course! Bahal remembered the urgency of his need to relieve himself and how unnatural it had felt that it came upon him so quickly. The bird was in the middle of its dive now, gaining speed as Bahal interrupted his leafy friend.

  “Now Viny! Do it now!” he practically screamed as he took careful aim and fired.

  Bahal fired five shots. All of them arced through the air gracefully behind the bird. No one had taught him to lead his target. He jumped clear at the last moment, hoping the bird would be unable to sufficiently correct its course.

  It flew right by him and buried its two-foot-long beak and a portion of its head in the earth not a foot from where Bahal stood. Thinking quickly, Bahal dropped his new club, pulled his trusty blade, and beheaded the beast in a single stroke. Its legs kicked frantically a few times, but it was definitely dead.

  Bahal plopped to the ground and began to repack Viny in his carry satchel. That had been too close.

  “Did it work?” Viny asked as Bahal brought him back to an upright position.

  “Yes Viny, it did; rather well as a matter of fact,” admitted Bahal frankly. “I’ll eat tonight, you’ll eat tomorrow…” Bahal paused a moment, unsure how to express his gratitude properly to a plant.

  “…and…?” Viny asked, a note of worry permeating his thoughts.

  “…and I owe you a big one, my friend,” finished Bahal.

  Lila had been working in her locked laboratory for days, and the grounders were getting cranky about it. Some of them wanted trophies (a request she would have refused regardless of the situation), while others simply wanted to brag to their friends that had not come along. Lila had kept them all out of her lab.

  She was a Med-tech, and although the Lamia was not a human, many of the organs were the same. Lila had administered a tissue regrowth regimen, with nutrient baths and an intravenous drip to restore fluids, and the healing progress made by the creature had been remarkable. Some of the skin that used to cover its teeth would likely never grow back, but it was stable, and breathing, and it could regain consciousness at any time.

  Lila had to stop calling it an ‘it’ — she had discovered early in her investigation and treatment that this was a female, and that this species gave birth to live young rather than eggs. She knew because she had also discovered that it was pregnant, and that the fetus within this horrendous beast was still viable.

  Yet one more reason that the grounders outside could not know of this Lamia’s recovery; at least not for a while yet.

  Lila was exhausted by the work. She sat down in a chair within the quarantine chamber and rubbed her eyes, hoping that the itching caused by sleep deprivation would subside. She awoke six hours later to a loud metallic crashing sound.

  Rani was surfacing from extremely deep water, and so she held her breath. Although far from the strongest swimmer in her tribe, she could survive any water, and patience was the key. Just keep moving your tail until your head breaks the surface. That’s it. But the surface was still far away, a dimly perceived light far above her. She stroked more powerfully with her tail, and the intensity of the light increased. Just a few more…

  Rani was lying on her side inside a large windowed room that was within an even larger building. The items on the floor near her looked completely foreign, and she seemed unable to move her arms, legs, or neck, almost as though they were tied down to something substantial. Her tail still moved though and had probably knocked over whatever restrained her. She was terrified by her situation, but happy to be alive.

  “War Don,” she cried in worry and exultation, “Help me!”

  “Lower your voice!” hissed Lila without thinking.

  “Ravager!” replied Rani in a voice as cold as iron. “I will feast on your blood before this day is done!”

  “Well if you keep making this racket,” explained Lila sarcastically, looking the reptile squarely in the eyes, “you won’t get the chance. A dozen more ‘ravagers’…” she continued, making air quote marks with her fingers, “… will come running in here to rip your throat out.”

  Rani calmed visibly. She would need to outwit this adversary, at least until she was released from her bonds. Her Protector training reasserted itself.

  “Release me and fight me with honor then, Ravager,” she demanded in a tone that reeked of controlled violence.

  “No one is fighting anyone today if I can help it,” Lila answered in the tone of a mother scolding a small child, “… so why don’t you just relax?”

  So her captor had no honor. This was not to be tolerated! Rani lunged at the outstretched arm, missing by nearly half a foot. It had been worth the attempt. Already she felt better; less helpless.

  “For Crissakes, stop it!” demanded Lila, slapping the huge reptile in the face. “We need to communicate, not squabble.”

  Rani had not been prepared for the slap. It had not actually hurt her, other than a mild sting, but it infuriated her while at the same time calming her. Her hatred for this ravager quickly settled itself into a slowly burning rage. “I don’t speak with Ravagers, I kill them,” replied Rani haughtily. “Why should I speak with you?”

  Lila bristled at the continuing attitude she was getting from this creature. Maybe she should just kill it. It wouldn’t take much… a bit of cyanide in her IV and it would all be over in a jiffy. Of course, that would only make her the equal of the idiotic reptile that she was arguing with right now. She was responding like a child. This Lamia wouldn’t win via that route. “Well, come to think of it, there is no reason I can think,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders in an aggravated manner, “… other than… oh, yeah. I saved your life.”

  Rani paused for a moment. It could be a bluff. She had been surprised to find herself still breathing. Perhaps this Ravager was different from the others she had encountered. She thrust her chin forward and replied in a more civil tone. “I am Rani, Protector of the Lamya tribe. Do you claim that you do not ravage the helpless?”

  “Well Rani, that’s better,” Lila began. Maybe there was room for growth here. “I am Med-tech Lila Burke of the Warden crew, and I am happy to make your acquaintance.”

  “I sense a chemical signature that matches your own,” Viny chimed in. Bahal had travelled for two more full days with the plant, and it had proven invaluable. It had only asked for his feces once, and had otherwise been content to feed on his urine. In fact, Bahal was certain that his leafy friend had put on some mass over the last two days. The satchel was beginning to feel somewhat heavier.

  They had recently stopped at a strange formation of trees that beckoned from 20 yards ahead. The trees seemed ‘flat’, without dimension, and not so much as a leaf stirred amid their branches. Studying the scene for several moments, Bahal had also noticed a small, backlit horizontal indentation several feet from the ground on one of the trunks. Flummoxed, he had placed Viny on the ground and had asked him to share his findings.

  “Something with fertilizer very like your own stood here some time ago,” Viny continued, “and fertilized this area.”

  It had to be Rani. But where would she have gone? Bahal strode forward and was shocked to discover that the trees were not trees at all, but mere pictures of trees. He strode cautiously over to the backlit horizontal slot, moving ever further from Viny, who had planted himself into the ground.

  “Ummm,” projected the vine, “let’s not forget our friends here!”

  Bahal ignored the plant, his attention now focused on the slot. The light was strange, almost chemical. He reached forward to touch it, and as his fingers made contact, a great voice, undoubtedly that of the War Don, interrupted his act.

  “Please login with your ship-issued wristband in order to access the central elevator.”

  It had been several days and Lila and Rani had become friends. It had been challenging at first — Lila had to agree to remove all of Rani’s bonds, and Rani had agreed both to not leave the laboratory, and to not eat Lila. Thei
r relationship developed from there, growing daily.

  Rani now understood that the Kroo were not actually ‘ravagers’ and had originally planted all of the vegetation that they later consumed. She found it hard to grasp, but now understood that Lila’s ancestors, as well as those of the rest of the Kroo tribe, had actually built the world in which she lived. She still revered the War Don as her god, but that conversation with Lila had left her confused.

  “What do you mean the War Don is no god!” she had demanded. “Any of my tribe simply thinking such blasphemy would be put to death!”

  “I didn’t say that to upset you, Rani,” Lila had calmly replied. “Think of the Warden you know as more of electronic intellect.”

  “Eee-lect-ron-ick?” Rani remembered questioning the foreign term.

  “An intellect without a body,” explained Lila.

  “Exactly,” concluded Rani with a nod of her gigantic head, “a god.”

  Today’s topic was a bit more delicate. Lila was trying to explain that Rani couldn’t remain in the laboratory for the rest of her life, and that she would need to inform the grounders of her findings fairly soon. That meant allowing the grounders to meet Rani. It could be an explosive situation.

  “So Rani, I want you to meet the other members of my,” Lila paused to clear her throat, ”err, tribe, at least those that are here locally.”

  “Fear not, I have given my word,” Rani replied with her best, most noble bearing. “They have nothing to fear from me.”

  “I am pretty sure they’ll want to kill you,” offered Lila, attempting to provide understanding to her reptilian friend. “It’s only been four days since we discovered the crewmen that you killed. I’m a bit sad myself as yet. They will still want revenge.”

  “Then let them come!” snapped Rani. “I will teach them to fear the Protectors!”

  “Yes, Rani, I have no doubt that you would kill several of them before they annihilated you,” Lila agreed, “but they would destroy you eventually, and then all of my hard work would be for naught. I understand their need for revenge; I had to overcome similar feelings myself over the last several days. What we need is a reason — a reason that makes sense to the grounders — sorry, ‘warriors’ — of my tribe that explains why I saved your life, and why they must also preserve it.”