Xeno Relations

by Trisha McNary

  I don’t understand this, Pweet thought. This morning, I woke up just knowing somehow that I would be leaving this planet today. I told everyone I wouldn’t be back. They didn’t believe me, but I was so certain. But now I’m still here. And even though I know the Verdantes aren’t going to take me, I still feel that way. It’s like somewhere inside me, I know I’m not going back to the dorms. I know I’m going up to space. I just know it. Could I really be crazy like those people say?

  She tipped her head back and stared up at the sky as if it might hold the answer. Her raging emotions were calm now, but she still felt a sense of loss. And something else. A feeling deep in her gut like a pull. It was small, but it was there when she focused on it. It was a feeling that tugged her back in the direction of the Verdante building.

  Maybe I am going crazy, Pweet thought with a sigh. Anyway, I can’t go back there, and I’m not going back to the dorm. Where else can I go? Maybe I could leave and walk to the South Pole human settlement. No, that’s really crazy. I’d never make it, and they’d stop me at the North Pole border anyway. I can’t get through the force fields. I’ll guess I’ll stay here then.

  Pweet lay down on her back on the soft, damp grass of Earth and stared up into its atmosphere. Puffy clouds formed odd shapes as they floated across the soft blue sky.

  How long will it be till they notice I’m missing and come to get me? she wondered. Embarrassing! Pweet sighed. Oh well.

  She focused on the clouds and sky, clearing her mind of thoughts. The sadness receded, but the tugging feeling, however slight, was still there.

  Pweet wasn’t alone in the grassy field that day. Another sentient being lurked nearby, watching her and reading her thoughts and emotions.

  Aw! This human is so sad! thought Murrie, a black furry kitten.

  The older cats had warned him to stay away from humans, and he usually did. But this one drew him. He approached closer and closer, then hid behind a clump of tall grass. He stared from up close at the big human lying on the ground.

  This female has a lot of shiny head fur! Murrie noticed right away how the human’s hair spread out enticingly in the grass around her.

  He sighed telepathically. I wonder if she’d notice if I grabbed some of it.

  Her head turned toward him.

  Did I just hear someone? Murrie read her thought. No. There’s no one around here. I’m all alone.

  She turned her face back up toward the sky. Murrie watched a big, bright tear form in the corner of one sky-blue eye. He crept forward on silent paws. The human didn’t notice him. He knew that even if she looked his way, she probably wouldn’t see him. Being a tiny black kitten had its advantages when sneaking up on people. Just a small black spot of fuzz against the shadowed ground.

  He stood right next to her, shamelessly reading some more of her thoughts and emotions.

  There’s no one here, Murrie heard her think again. Nope. I’m all alone. I guess I’ll always be alone. Stuck here alone on the planet I’ve dreamed of leaving all my life!

  She sobbed out loud.

  Murrie couldn’t stop himself. He moved right up next to her and rubbed against her arm. A loud purr roared from his tiny body.

  “Huh! What’s that?” said the human.

  She sat up kind of fast and twisted around. Murrie jumped several inches away. She looked at him and smiled.

  “Well, aren’t you the cutest thing?” she said.

  Murrie padded back toward the human. She reached out her hands and picked him up. Then she held him close and started petting his fluffy fur.

  This is kind of nice, Murrie thought. I don’t know why the other cats are so afraid of these humans.

  She spoke out loud to Murrie.

  “I’m all alone. Are you all alone too?” she asked him.

  “Yes,” said Murrie telepathically.

  He nodded his little cat head, although that wasn’t exactly true.

  Whether she heard him or not was hard to say, but she kept talking to him.

  “I’m Pweet,” she said. “Are you going to stay with me and be my little buddy?” she asked him.

  “Yes,” Murrie said again telepathically.

  He purred again loud and rubbed his head against her hand.

  Things continued like that for a while, but then something scary happened. Murrie sensed the approach of something large and inorganic—with something organic inside it. Coming from the sky! But he looked up, but he didn’t see anything. Pweet didn’t seem to notice.

  “Run and hide! Run and hide!” Murrie shouted at her.

  He jumped out of her hands and stared up at her with his fur fluffed out in a giant puff ball.

  “What’s wrong? Are you scared of me now?” Pweet asked him.

  “No. We’ve got to run and hide right now!” Murrie said again telepathically. “Come on! Come on! Something dangerous is coming!”

  He headed away to hide in the tall grass, hoping she would follow.

  Up in his small quarters, M. Mort climbed into bed and stared at the ceiling. Uncomfortable thoughts circled around and around in his head.

  “It’s too bad there’s no shield to shield me from my own thoughts,” he said telepathically to the empty room.

  With his mind so active, M. Mort felt like he would never fall asleep. It was summer in the North Pole. Curtained windows softened but didn’t block the glare of the late night sun’s glow.

  Sensing that even more uncomfortable feelings were lurking and waiting to pounce, M. Mort kept his mental shields up. He stared into the golden glow of Earth’s sun until at last sleep took over. It dropped his shields as it dropped him into unconsciousness.

  Chapter 4

  Back on Central Planet…

  The small black and white-striped cat Potat snarled and growled. Her hair stood up on end. She sat next to her newest pet M. Hoyvil on the gigantic adult-sized Verdante couch in their guest residence.

  “What’s wrong now?” M. Hoyvil asked her in an agitated telepathic voice. “Is Antaska in some kind of danger again!”

  Like all cats who adopted human companions, Potat always knew when her pet Antaska was in trouble. About an hour ago, she’d sensed that Antaska was in life-threatening danger. Potat had raced furiously around the huge Verdante-sized living room, screaming, “my pet!, my pet!,” and frightening M. Hoyvil. But the danger had passed. Now, however, something even worse had happened.

  “No, she’s not in danger,” Potat said telepathically.

  She hissed and spat. She dug her tiny claws into the gigantic couch. Potat poured all her strength into a clawed flurry against the couch. Tearing small holes in it, even though she knew it had the annoying habit of repairing itself.

  That accomplished, she plopped back down, exhausted, next to M. Hoyvil. He smoothed down her puffy fur with a six-fingered green hand that was bigger than her entire body. The fur puffed right back up.

  “If she’s not in danger, then why are you so upset?” M. Hoyvil asked.

  “Well, she might be,” Potat answered.

  “Huh?” said M. Hoyvil.

  His enormous deep green eyebrows lifted in concern.

  “In danger from me!” said Potat.

  “What do you mean?” asked M. Hoyvil.

  He gently lifted the little cat way up high in the air and held her facing him at eye level.

  Potat sputtered mentally, trying to talk. She was so mad and hurt that it was hard to speak.

  “What is it?” asked M. Hoyvil in a soft voice—kind, gentle, and patient.

  Finally, Potat spat out the humiliating and painful words.

  “Antaska…she…she…Antaska is bringing home another cat!”

  “Another cat?” M. Hoyvil asked in a confused but not shocked voice. He didn’t seem to grasp the significance of this heinous act of betrayal.

  “Yes, another cat,” said Potat. “Some big orange cat attached itself to her, and now she’s letting it follow her home! Don’t you understand how bad that is?”
>
  “Well, I guess I don’t,” said M. Hoyvil. “Look at this place.”

  He waived a big hand to indicate the enormous adult Verdante-sized living room.

  “I think we have room here for one more cat. I think we have room for an elephant!” said M. Hoyvil.

  Their residence was huge because Central Planet had accommodations for gigantic adult Verdantes but not for smaller-sized adolescents like M. Hoyvil.

  “I know this place is big, but that’s not the point!” said Potat.

  Why didn’t M. Hoyvil get it? Potat had thought he was more understanding and sensitive than this. Had she been wrong about him too?

  “Then what is the point?” he asked. “Oh. Could you be jealous?”

  The corners of his eyes lifted up. With Verdantes, that could mean either surprise or amusement.

  It better not be amusement! Potat thought.

  “I’m not jealous!” Potat insisted even though she knew she was. “But I’m mad because I have a right to be mad.”

  M. Hoyvil set her down on one of his large but bony knees and looked down at her while he listened to her explanation.

  “I adopted Antaska first, so she’s my pet. Then another cat comes along and tries to adopt her too. That’s an invasion of my territory. Don’t you get it?” Potat asked.

  “OK. I think I understand that,” said M. Hoyvil. “But then why are you mad at Antaska too?”

  Potat’s anger leaked out. A tiny tear formed in a tiny green eye.

  “Because Antaska is going along with it.” Potat spoke in a voice that got sadder and sadder. “She didn’t do anything to stop this cat from following her home. She could have said, ‘No! Go away, cat! You can’t come with me. I already have a cat at home.’ But she didn’t. And that hurts my feelings.”

  The little cat sunk down and curled up into a ball on M. Hoyvil’s knee. He brushed a large finger across the white stripe down her back. Potat had that stripe because she had sacrificed the purity of her cat genes to rescue Antaska by disguising herself as a skunk.

  I would still do anything for my pet Antaska, thought Potat. But it seems like she doesn’t care.

  She sighed a tiny sigh.

  “Hey, wait!” said M. Hoyvil. “Didn’t you adopt me too? Am I your territory too?”

  “Of course,” said Potat. “Didn’t you know that by now?”

  “Not really,” said M. Hoyvil. “Interesting. So does that mean if I bring home any cats, you’ll be mad too?”

  “Yes, I’ll be mad, but I can’t stop you,” said Potat. “Obviously, no one cares what I think about this.”

  “I do care,” said M. Hoyvil. “And I know Antaska cares too, but she probably just didn’t know how upset you’d be.”

  “Humph!” said Potat, not ready to agree to that.

  “Anyway,” said M. Hoyvil. “Now that I know how you feel, I promise I will never bring home any other cats. I promise.”

  He placed a hand over his heart, making the universal promise gesture.

  “But what about dogs?” asked Potat.

  She had picked up a disturbing image of a member of the cursed canine species in his mind.

  “OK, OK. No dogs too. I promise,” he answered, with his big green hand still over his heart.

  “Thank you. That makes me feel a little better,” said Potat. She sighed again and patted his knee with a tiny paw. “Anyway, they’re almost here.”

  Potat sat up and stared across the room at the door, steeling herself for her enemy’s entrance.

  Chapter 5

  Just a few miles up from Earth’s surface…

  Marroo’s stealth ship circled the North Pole human settlement for the fifth time. For several hours, he’d caught sight of only a few human females. But he knew that those ones would be hard to snatch away without calling unwanted attention to himself. They were clustered in groups near the buildings.

  “Do none of these females spend time alone? Or are humans a herd-type race that must be around their own kind at all times in order to be happy? I know so little about them.” Still practicing the vocal language, Marroo spoke the words out loud.

  He ran a dark blue hand through wavy darker blue hair.

  “Have I travelled all the way here in vain?”

  He sighed telepathically.

  “I suppose I could check the empty fields and spaces between the buildings. I’ll fly across diagonally a few times. If that doesn’t work, I’ll head to the South Pole settlement. Maybe I’ll get lucky there.”

  He turned his craft away from the space school dorm. In less than a minute, Marroo shouted out loud, although no one was there to hear him. A small female form lay in the grassy field directly below his ship. Silver hair and a gray uniform. That was about all he could see, but he knew she was human.

  But wait! he thought. This seems unusual. Could she be dead?

  The space ship was equipped with sensors that tested for life forms. He directed one down at the still female body. Alive!

  “This is it!” said Marroo, speaking out loud again to get his voice warmed up for the task. “Success at last! It’s as if she was put there on the ground just for me.”

  He adjusted his ship’s flight for a slow descent. When it neared Earth, Marroo hovered his invisible ship a few feet above the ground according to standard procedure when visiting alien planets.

  The reclining female was now sitting up just a few feet away.

  She’s not dead, but why was she just lying there before? Could there be something wrong with her? Marroo wondered now.

  Concerned, he opened the door of his ship and stood visible in its entrance.

  “Uh hmm,” Marroo cleared his throat. “Excuse me madam, but are you in need of assistance?”

  For some reason, he felt the need to speak in the formal manner he would use to speak to a Woogah female.

  The young woman gave a high-voiced shriek and sprang up into a standing position. She turned and faced Marroo. He realized the bizarre picture he must make, there in a doorway that appeared to be floating in space.

  “I mean you no harm,” he assured her.

  He felt a slight twinge of guilt because of his true intentions, but he ignored it.

  “Who? Who are you?” she asked, clutching a hand over her chest. “And why are you floating there?”

  “I’m Marroo from the Woogah planet,” he answered. “I’m pleased to make your acquaintance. I’ve come to Earth seeking a human companion to take along with me on my travels to unknown planets in the far galaxy. Just like the Verdantes do.”

  The young woman stopped clutching her heart and dropped her hands down to her side. She stared at him with wide surprised blue eyes.

  I think I’m making progress with her, thought Marroo.

  He kept talking.

  “I’m floating in space like this because I’m in my space ship, but I must keep it invisible from the Verdantes. They don’t want me here. They want to be the only alien species to have human companions. Do you think that’s fair?” he asked her. “Other species need companions too.”

  “You’re right. The Verdantes aren’t fair!” she spoke with strong emotion.

  This is going even better than I expected! thought Marroo.

  “Well then,” he said. “Would you like to come along with me?”

  ‘Yes, I would,” said the young woman.

  She stood up and walked toward him. Marroo leaned out and reached a hand down to her. She grasped it and jumped up in the air, and he pulled her in.

  Chapter 6

  Central Planet…

  M. Hoyvil sat with Potat on his knee on the adult Verdante-sized couch in their quarters. Because he was only eight feet tall, his feet dangled, not quite reaching the floor. He petted tiny Potat with two of his large fingers. The little cat didn’t seem to mind staying in giant-sized quarters, but M. Hoyvil felt like a child here. All the planet’s Verdante quarters were sized for adults because it wasn’t normal for an adolescent to be here at all, esp
ecially not alone. M. Hoyvil hated Central Planet and couldn’t wait to get off it.

  Outside on the rest of the planet, everything was sized too small for M. Hoyvil. Most telepathic humanoids in the galaxy were much smaller than him—about the size of Antaska, who was tall for an Earth female. So M. Hoyvil stayed in the Verdante area most of the time. He only left when he was called to court to testify about his experiences on the Woogah planet—rescuing Antaska from her kidnappers.

  He was worried about Antaska.

  What could have happened to her today? he wondered.

  M. Hoyvil had no doubt that Potat was right about Antaska being in grave danger earlier. Or that she would be back any second accompanied by a new cat.

  I should have gone out with Antaska every day, M. Hoyvil blamed himself for whatever had happened. Just being uncomfortable sitting in tiny chairs and having to duck my head all the time in tiny buildings is no excuse. I should have known by now that she gets into all sorts of trouble by herself. Just like Potat always says. Not that it’s her fault, of course.

  On his knee, Potat stood up, arched her back, and dug tiny claws into the bright blue material of his ship suit.

  “Are they here?” M. Hoyvil asked her telepathically.

  The bottom of the entrance door began to slide up. Potat growled a tiny growl. Her black fur with a white stripe down it puffed out all over her body.

  “It’s OK. It’s OK,” M. Hoyvil tried to reassure her.

  But what he saw through the bottom few feet of the rising door wasn’t very reassuring. Giant orange cat feet with giant claws stood close to Antaska’s space-booted feet.

  Is that a cat? he wondered. What is that thing?

  Chapter 7

  Back on Earth…

  Throwing common sense and caution to the winds, Pweet had grabbed the strange alien’s hand and jumped up.

  “I’m out of here!” she exclaimed. “My dreams are coming true after all!”