by Chris Hechtl
“Come to think of it, I'm the cargo master. I suppose I should check on the load and then bed down in there just in case,” Mackey muttered, making a retreat.
@^&##{==
Kelsea couldn't help it, she itched. It was getting to her, despite the occasional dip in the ocean. Itched and was heartily in need of a shower. But she knew if she went back to the ship, she'd end up staying so someone could take her place. Frack that. She was out of the confines of the ship; she'd enjoy the sun and breeze while she could stand it.
Just as long as she could handle it resonated in the woman's head. Her clothes were getting starches and jacked up by the salt spray. No matter. She'd been on the planet for four glorious days and loved it. The only things that could make it better would be a fine man, good book, and shower.
Hell, she snorted, scratching and then brushing away sand and some sort of tiny crab. She'd settle on the book and shower if she had to and maybe a long neck or two as well as amended.
Kelsea grimaced when she saw the floppy eared Beasley toddle along past her. The dog's nose alternated between the air and the ground as his stubby legs and whip-like tail moved a mile a minute. The elderly dog was a favorite of the captain, though she personally didn't care for the dumb smelly mutt. The crew liked having something to kick around or pet. She hated the drool, and his occasional fit of barking or whines made her wince.
The skipper hadn't gotten him fixed either, so his transmission and works were hanging down low and he was in a state from time to time. She had been most offended and mortified when the little elderly bastard had tried to hump her leg. The crew had laughed at it, even mocked her by pretending to do it themselves at one point but she'd been pissed.
She also didn't like how the dog occasionally whizzed wherever he wanted. The captain saw it as a sign for the crew to do a little extra KP. Kelsea saw it as reason to space the hound and save herself the extra headache of having to clean up after him.
If he was here though … she turned and blinked at the sight of the skipper in an eye searing green and pink polka dot bikini top and see-through silk sarong wrap tied loosely around her waist.
She shook her head, daring not to smile or comment until the woman had proudly trod past in the floppy eared monster's wake. Apparently Blake wasn't the only one trolling. The skipper must be in a mood if she was coming ashore. Maybe one would take care of the other? She wasn't sure, but she'd probably enjoy the sight if the skipper “proposed” to Blake. She had a reputation of dealing harshly with her boy toys, especially those who were stupid enough to disappoint her.
Just about everyone was scheduled for a brief shore leave. They had to help out with the work around the camp, but it was fairly light. The biggest backbreaking project was to clean the shuttle and clear the ground on the improvised landing strip.
@^&##{==
Some of the new personnel who came to the ground brought some improvised gear with them. One of the life support techs, Bruno, managed to rig a hammock as well as a net, spears, and some fishing gear.
Together with Blake and three others, they went fishing in the shallows in order to find something fresh to eat other than the ration packs and what little produce the greenhouse put out. Kelsea overheard them plotting to smoke the fish and then trade it on the ship.
She wished them the best of luck. They'd need it; their luck had been poor to date.
On the fifth day, they saw a massive Plesiosaur with an orange gullet and big fan-like shape behind its head snap a bird creature out of the air. It gulped it down in flight and then went after a flock of smaller bird things before it rose off into the sun and was lost.
The humans were scared at the sight of the predator. Their eyes turned to the water. From time to time, they had seen other creatures breaching and jumping. Now it took on a more ominous meaning.
“Eat or be eaten,” Kelsea murmured. Bruno looked up from where he was trying to rig some hooks with improvised bait and nodded.
When she was off duty, Kelsea used her tablet to take pictures and sketch the area and the local wildlife. The world they had thought barren and useless was surprisingly filled with life, though it seemed limited. Occasionally she saw some flying fish and new species of birds or insects. The plants were in short supply; the island was far too small to allow much growing room.
To get a little exercise she walked the island. On her third lap she realized she had passed a rookery. She stopped at the nests and drove off some of the bird creatures there. It was tough scrambling over the white covered rocks; the poop stank, but she managed to grab a few eggs and stuff the pockets of her coveralls with them.
On the way back, she passed the cove again. It was odd, and she slowed her pace to look at it again. She wished she could get a better view, one from the air, but there was nothing to climb up on. But what bothered her didn't come out to her at first.
It was only when she was back at camp and sketching it while Blake cooked the fertilized eggs that she realized just what she was sketching.
The front entrance of the cove, the inlet leading to the sea, had two rock columns. There had been other columns, but those had been the tallest. Also exactly even. The inlet walls were made of rocks and boulders, something you didn't see in nature. And the columns rose out of the water like the walls but higher. They towered at least two meters above the surface. They were stacked piles of rock too, not one rock. Odd.
She frowned, wondering just what she had seen. She made a mental note to check on it in the morning.
@^&##{==
The distant light on the nearby island attracted other attentions as well. Brrfrak and Sputtersque noted the light as well as animals flocking in that direction. The duo was curious about the light and its cause.
“I'm too tired to do it now,” Sputtersque protested when her partner moved to investigate.
“I'm going to investigate in the morning,” Brrfrak vowed.
“No, you and I have our duties to attend to. They take two …,” Sputtersque recognized the stubbornness in her partner's manner and let out a long suffering sigh. “You aren't going to let this go, are you?”
“It's most likely a fire on the island. Lightning …”
“There hasn't been a storm, so what started it?” Brrfrak asked. “You have to admit; it is a curious thing.”
“True,” Sputtersque admitted.
“It could have been a falling star,” Brrfrak stated.
“During the day?”
“What? Stars can fall at any time; we just don't see them,” Brrfrak stated.
The female thought about it and then had to recognize his simple logic. “True,” Sputtersque acknowledged in amusement.
“Besides, we might have missed it when we were going down or when we were in the cavern,” Brrfrak stated.
“True again.”
“Wouldn't it be amazing if it was a ship? A, what did Noeyes call it, a shuttle?”
“Now that I think is asking the spirits for too much,” Sputtersque said crossly.
“Why?” Brrfrak asked dumbly. He had forgotten in his zeal that they were both tired from their daily endeavors.
“Because … because …”
“Yes?” he prodded.
She waited a long moment, then flipped her fins in exasperation.
“Got nothing?” he teased, prodding her with one of his squid tentacles. She nudged him back and then pretended to take a swipe at him with the side with hooks and claws on it.
“Yeep! Nasty female,” he said.
“Just nasty to males who are a pain to me,” she mock growled as they got down to the top of the cave and then started to load up on rocks. He reached out when she started to drift to one side and grabbed her, then drew her in to the bottom once more.
“Thanks,” she pulsed.
He tenderly stroked her tentacles and flank, making her close her eye stalk and nuzzle his touch for a moment. Finally, he gently disengaged and then when her eye reopened, held a rock up to it. “F
orgetting something?” he asked.
“Oh you!” she pulsed in exasperation.
He sputtered in good humor as she snatched the rock. He prodded her, then joked about what they'd seen and was and what they'd find as they made their way past the guard and into the main cavern.
@^&##{==
“So you saw lights on the island? On the surface?” Clank asked, scratching an itch delicately with a claw-laced tentacle.
“You should go to a cleaning station. Let the fish have a go at you,” Sputtersque said, concerned for his welfare.
“Thank you, but I'm rather too busy now.”
“Then perhaps we shouldn't bother you with this,” the female said, wrapping a tentacle in Brrfrak's to try to draw him away.
“Nonsense. Such things are fascinating,” the elder shaper said. “Now, tell me it again. Use words, not just sonar images,” the elder ordered.
“Very well,” Sputtersque said. “We first saw the lights several moons ago.”
“The color? And was the location the same?”
“The color was yellows and whites.”
“Ah, fire.”
“The location was the same place each time,” Brrfrak supplied.
“Ah, odd. It is therefore not natural,” Clank said.
That made Brrfrak quiver in excitement. They talked to the elder about what they had seen. Each time he drew more information out of them.
“For now all we have are inferences. We should send someone to investigate I suppose. I can bring it up at the next council,” he said.
“What do you think it was?” Sputtersque asked. “I thought fire caused by lightning, but there hasn't been any flat clouds or storms in many cycles.”
“True. I too ruled out lightning. Lightning-induced fire would have eventually consumed the materials in the area and then moved on. It would have been driven by wind. This you said stayed in one place each night.”
“Yes.”
“Truly odd. Fascinating,” Clank murmured.
They began to speculate as to the cause, but the Elder was distracted by Sslisquishapa who drew him away to attend to his neglected duties instead of talking to the younglings. Once she had led him off, the Elder returned to berate them for distracting him and then ordered them to finish their chores before sleep.
Sputtersque smarted from the scolding but Brrfrak seemed quiet for a different reason. “What?” she finally asked, prodding him.
“You heard what he said. Someone needs to investigate.”
“You …,” she eyed him, eyes going wide in surprise. “You aren't serious,” she said. She saw his stern resolve and sighed, rocking from side to side in distress as her tentacles hung loose. “You are. To defy the council …”
“We are following the directive of a council member. This is important. Something is going on there; we need to know.” He ran the back of his primary tentacles over her in a caressing motion. “Besides, it will give us an opportunity to check out the birthing and larvae pools,” he teased.
“Oh you,” she scolded. She knew that he knew she was keen to see them before breeding season.
“All right,” she acquiesced.
“Good. I didn't want to go alone.”
“You go anywhere it is with me!” she scolded, wrapping a tentacle around his.
“Do you think we'll have poults like you?” she asked.
He burbled, rose to the surface of the cavern for a breath of air, then sank back down. “I don't doubt it. With our genetics, we are explorers and tend to be bold.”
“Just as well only you survived then,” Sputterque said. “The rest undoubtedly got out of the pools before they were ready and were snapped up,” she said. “We'll have to be more careful,” she warned.
“True,” he agreed, running a fin over hers. She still clutched at his tentacles, squeezing them. “It's why our people have to segregate the larvae into different sizing pools, and start educating them early like Noeyes wanted.”
“And feed them more often so they don't try to feed on one another,” Sputterque agreed. She caught his head and then pressed her forehead to his. He could feel her sonar thrumming through his body. “Always together.”
“Always,” he replied, sending out a thrum in kind. They let the thrum lull their upper level consciousness into slumber.
@^&##{==
The following morning the two Ssilli surfaced and then defiantly swam in the direction of the island. The fires along the beach were gone as were the odd shapes of strange animals that had been dancing or milling around them. But the glitter and sparkle of something was still there as the morning rays touched something further up the beach away from the high tide line. It had curves and straight lines which defied logic. They both knew from their teachings that there were no straight lines in nature.
“We need to get this done quickly before our absence is noted,” Sputtersque said nervously, looking over her shoulder.
“Don't be a spoilsport,” Brrfrak sent back, aware that they were doing their own version of hookey but at the moment revealing in its freedom and not caring about the consequences. He would deal with such things later he thought.
The closer they got to shore, the more they saw the tantalizing glitter of metal. It made them more and more curious. When they got to within a thousand body lengths of the shore, they paralleled it, going back and forth. They studied the object and camp. It became obvious from the straight lines that it was artificially made. Together they built up a sonar image of the camp and exchanged thoughts on what it was.
Then they saw a being get up and stretch. It went over to the great metal thing and touched the wing. What had looked like a great pterosaur of metal resolved itself as some of Noeye's long forgotten lessons came to the forebrains. Memory of long forgotten lessons in their own history were resurrected.
“That is a shuttle!”
“That being, we do not have them. Is that a two-leg?” Sputtersque asked.
“I think it is! It … look, one is putting a construct around its head and upper torso! And the other is carrying a net!”
“I see it,” Sputtersque said. “Note they talk with their upper limbs and mouth. I believe it is a mouth. We are too far to get an accurate image,” she groused.
“Then we will have to get closer. Initiate communication.”
“Shouldn't we alert the community?”
“And have them panic? Scoff? Be angry because we aren't doing our make-work?” Brrfrak asked. “Later,” he said in his haste, flicking his tail and then diving to get some room before he spy hopped again, bringing his head up out of the waves to see the shore. He had to wave his fins, tentacles, and tail to remain upright in the waves. He could only spy hop for brief periods so close to shore; he didn't want to be so distracted he beached himself. When he felt his tail touch the bottom, he reluctantly ducked his head and moved back to deeper water to try again.
“They are so fascinating! And to think, another species does exist!” Brrfrak said excitedly.
“But how can we talk to them?”
“We can at least let them know we are here,” Brrfrak said. “The cove is near. I think we have their attention now. Perhaps we can induce them to go over to get a better look?”
“It is worth a try I suppose,” Sputtersque replied reluctantly. “But we can't stay too long. The tide would trap us.”
“Definitely wouldn't want that,” Brrfrak said in a tone that couldn't be dampened from his curiosity and elation.
@^&##{==
The Horathians on the beach were initially wary of the spouts of water. Kelsea shaded her eyes with a hand to see animals approaching through the depths. They ran on the surface after a bit, sometimes making bobbing motions, other times spy hopping to see the humans on the beach.
“What the hell?” Blake demanded.
“Think they can get to us on shore? Should we shoot them? Move back?” he asked.
“I don't …,” Kelsea gasped as she saw tentacles come out of th
e water. The tentacles waved, confusing her. Initially she thought it was a monster, a kraken of legend.
But then Kelsea gasped when she realized the monster was a Ssilli. “Spirits of space it is,” she said in growing excitement as the two aliens squeezed over the lip to enter the sheltered cove.
“It is what?” Angelo asked dubiously, backing up.
She turned to him. “You don't see it?”
“See what? I see two big ass monsters thinking we're lunch,” he said as the squid-like long tentacles came out of the water dripping even closer. The tips bobbed up and down. Then they touched each other.
He saw the hooks and claws on the underside of those monster limbs but then when they bobbed again and touched again he frowned. Something was prickling at the back of his mind.
“Don't you see it? The tentacles? The eye stalks like a hammerhead? The whale tail? The spines and squid tentacles? Don't you see? It's a Ssilli! Here!” she said, eyes wide. “We hit the jackpot!” she said as Angelo sucked in a breath of disbelief.
“Okay, so now what do we do about it?” Blake whispered behind her.
She whispered to Blake to call in the find to the ship.
“Get Mackey or someone to go around to the cove entrance and knock over the columns there to trap them. I'll keep them talking here,” she urged quietly.
“Right,” he said, passing on the orders to Mackey over the radio as he went to one side.
Mackey came over, and then saw Blake hand wave him to the other side of the cove entrance. He nodded and did his best to walk along the slippery moss and weed strewn rocks to the column.
Kelsea smiled, waving her hands. “Over here!” she urged to the aliens to keep their attention on her instead of her crewmates. Once the columns were down, they'd have a hell of a time getting out over that lip that was there. Once the tide went out they'd be trapped as the water receded.
@^&##{==
Brrfrak was initially oblivious of the two-legs antics as he and Sputtersque excitedly attempted to communicate with them. They tried to dredge up long forgotten lessons from Noeyes. Their sonic calls were ignored by the two-legs as well as the Ssilli community.
