“I would expect no better from you and your alien slut! He sneered.
I drew my own obsidian blade and pointed it at him. “I suggest that you go about your business before I decide to put an end to your troublemaking for you. You wouldn’t know a quality person if one bit you.” I said in a dangerously low voice.
He looked at my sword and a look of satisfaction crept over his face. “I see you’ve stepped all the way down to their technology.” He smiled a nasty smile.
It was at that point that I realized that drawing that blade had fed fuel to the fire and, as furious as I was, I set about correcting my error. I sheathed the blade and drew my pistol. “You feel better now?” I asked him in mock sincerity. “I’m pretty angry, so you’d better hope that I don’t have a spasm in my hand; that would end your sufferings. I’d thought that under the circumstances the blade was safer.” It was my turn to smile. I could tell it was an unpleasant smile, but people in the crowd started to chuckle; I had scored the point I needed.
Blurg took a last look at Patrick. “I won’t waste my time on this sad creature,” he said and walked away, sheathing his sword. It was the perfect move that left Pat looking like the ass that he was. I turned and walked away as well, and the crowd followed suit, leaving him standing there red faced. I turned one time before I’d gone far. “You’re dismissed,” I said in a loud voice; then turned my back and left the scene completely. I could hear the giggles and for that matter actual laughter in the disbursing crowd. It was exactly what I’d hoped for; ridiculing a bigot is the best way to disarm him.
Meeza looked back. “He’s still watching you; you’re really going to have to watch your back, that’s one angry man, if looks are any sign,” she warned with real concern. “Maybe we should go back to my world for your safety.”
“I should throw him into the synthesizer and turn him into something useful and more in keeping with his real identity; like maybe a toilet.” I laughed; I actually thought it was a great idea. I suddenly realized that Sasha wasn’t with us. “Do you see Sasha anywhere?” I asked Meeza. She looked around shaking her head.
“Maybe she’s gone to the forest to hunt,” said Meeza. “I hope she’s not following that creep, Patrick; we don’t need her eating him and getting sick,” she said with more humor than I’d ever heard from her. I think she was picking up one of our most human qualities; sarcasm and a perverse sense of humor.
I decided to just keep my eyes open for a short while; if I didn’t see Sasha real soon, I’d have to call the Captain and get him to have a watch for her. She must be where somebody can see her.
It didn’t take long to find out where she was, by the noise of a small group of people not far away. There was Sasha and Blurg wrestling in the middle of the park. At first glance I was about to shoot her so she wouldn’t kill Blurg; but as I watched, I could see that they weren’t hurting each other. It was a game; sometimes Sasha would rise up in her unique way and sort of box with him. Other times she’d wrap her forelegs around him and wrestle him to the ground but never extended her claws. I could see that Blurg was convulsing with laughter as they wrestled. After a few minutes they stopped and he stroked her head affectionately.
“What was that all about?” I asked Blurg.
“She wanted to play; she seemed to know that I wasn’t one of the soft people,” he answered. “She’s very perceptive; I think she senses people’s emotions.”
“That would explain why she didn’t attack us in the cave.” I suggested. “She probably sensed that Meeza wasn’t going to let me hurt her. How did you know exactly what she wanted?” I asked.
“I don’t really know; I just knew it,” he said, with a degree of question in his own voice. “They are unique creatures, though,” he concluded with a shrug. “I think I’ll build a small stone house for myself somewhere not far from your new home; just to be where she can find me without coming to the village by herself.”
“That would be a good idea; I think she’d spend half her time with you.” I agreed. Actually, I thought it would solve the problem of getting her to give us some space. I’d been concerned about how I was going to work if I couldn’t leave her home; and now that problem was largely solved.
After that little ordeal, we went by the ship and arranged for our trip to one of the other cat areas to see if we had to worry about colonists if they ran into them. If they were all like Sasha, we’d have nothing to worry about, but if not we’d probably have to keep a close watch on them indefinitely. I made sure my people on the ship had some direct contact with Sasha, to be sure that they wouldn’t overreact to the ones in the wild. Even if those were a sensitive as Sasha to Human emotions, it still wouldn’t do to have my people afraid of them just on sight. Their fear might have been enough to trigger a bad response from the cats.
The next morning I received a call from the Captain informing me that we had received a message from one of the much older colonial ships that had left Earth a full hundred years before us. Their message was a general broadcast intended for any that could receive it; not specifically for us. They had made it to the only semi habitable planet in their system, and had begun terraforming a hundred years ago; their planet was by now fully habitable. They had sent this message sixteen years ago, so we knew they were about that many light years away. The only importance of the message was that we now knew there were at least two other colonies that had survived their journeys. The amazing part about this one was that it had been thought lost by an asteroid collision years ago; it being a completely man built craft with centrifugal gravity, constructed before the development of the MCS. The ship had left with only ten couples aboard because the ship wasn’t going to be able to be built large enough to handle the population growth of a group any larger in the beginning. It would take hundreds of years to travel to their system but at least we knew they were there and alive. That would be big news in the community and we would know that if we could ever develop a faster than light drive, we would have even more relatives to visit. Now if we would hear from Earth, it would really be great, but it was becoming more doubtful every day. Neither of the other colonies had made mention of a lack of communication with Earth though it wouldn’t have been quite so long, at the time their messages were sent. The other possibility was that there had been some sort of solar disturbance that was cutting off their communication signals at the source. We had no way to find anything out; but for all our abilities we could only assume that Earth had been removed from the loop for the time being. Our survival wasn’t dependant on Earths still existing, but it would be nice to know that they were still there.
Meanwhile for us, it was time to go and find another group of Tersine; I just wanted to be finished with this little trip. And we lifted off on our venture. It wasn’t going to be without risk, because we would have to expose ourselves to the creatures long enough to see their intent for certain; else the venture was pointless.
It took only fifteen minutes to get to the cave where we first saw one of the big cats and all the bones; it seemed the best testing ground for our purposes. All those bones had to be from more than one cat. We weren’t able to set down as close to the cave as I really wanted to since the terrain was too rugged. We couldn’t get closer than a half mile; that meant that we couldn’t use the cannon to cover us as the cats approached us. If they got close then attacked, we’d have only our hand weapons and probably not much room to use them accurately. I couldn’t bring myself to ask any of my crew to be the test subjects and I settled on myself, Blurg and Sasha to go and for six others to follow about fifty feet back with the larger rifles. They would be our lifeline if things went wrong. Meeza made such a fuss that at last I had to agree to let her come with us, too. She refused a gun, saying that she couldn’t shoot one anyway. I thought then that she in fact may be the key to a good first contact, if they were indeed sensitive to our emotions. They would know she at least intended no harm to them she certainly didn’t fear them.
We w
alked slowly up the slope, keeping a good eye on the cave entrance while not ignoring our surroundings. There were a lot of bones around the area, but almost all were identifiable as those of Yak; all pretty well dismembered with the exception of a half carcass from a fresher kill, it was starting to smell bad already. Then we saw two of the beasts looking out from the cave. We stopped as Sasha stopped. She stared up at the cave; I was wishing I could read her mind. She felt unsettled, or perhaps I was projecting my own feelings. She made a strange sound I hadn’t heard her make before; a sort of gurgling sound in the back of her throat. It sounded rather threatening to me; but I was guessing at best. I heard an answering sound from one of the cats in the cave as it stepped out in a crouch. It looked like a lion stalking its prey; I took one step back in an effort to be behind Sasha; but Meeza took two steps toward the cave looking as if she hadn’t a care.
“Show a little caution, my sweet.” I whispered. “Even Sasha has the sense to do that.”
“I feel only curiosity from the three in the cave,” she said.
“Three?” I asked.
“Yes; there’s a young one just behind them; I saw it peeking between the feet of the largest one,” she told me. “I’m sure they’re not going to attack, but keep your gun ready all the same; one of them is less settled than the other; probably the mother.” She sat down and signaled me to do the same.
Much to my surprise Sasha sat down, too. It almost seemed like a ritual, similar to the way we’d met Sasha herself. The larger of the two adults stepped out of the cave and walked leisurely straight for us. I had the greatest urge to run, but held my ground as the cat approached. She got within three feet and then circled around behind me and started to sniff me over. I could feel her breath on my neck as she nudged me with her nose. I really wasn’t sure how much more inspecting I could take without flinching. Sasha chose that moment to approach the slightly larger cat and proceed to sniff her the same way, while I sat there feeling like dinner. The other cat had come down the hill while I was paying attention to the first one; then the young one, being less than half the size, joined the troop. Unlike the adults she came straight to Meeza and curled up on her lap. The mother didn’t seem interested in us any more, but the big one was still breathing down my neck. I could finally not stand to sit still like that anymore.
I slowly turned my head toward the big guy and said softly; “If you’re going to eat me why don’t you get it over with.”
It snorted in my face and made a growling sound, then it rubbed it face against mine and suddenly I knew I wasn’t going to be his immediate meal, at least. He walked away about four feet and sat down and then lay down and that was that. Sasha then came over and laid down facing him and soon the mother came and joined them. It was all they did; I didn’t know what the next move should be so I said into my head set, “why don’t a couple of you come in this direction; we need to know how much leeway we have in dealing with them.”
Mike had led the group from the ship; he soon came into sight; it didn’t seem to matter to the Tersine around us. It seemed like once they accepted us, we were all the same to them.
We had found out all we needed for the time being; point being, that if you give them time they won’t bother you except possibly to get in your way; that we could live with. Meeza slid the baby off her lap. It didn’t want to move but accepted the push grudgingly. The mother gathered her baby up and nudged her up the hill. The big male walked around me once and followed suit, and with a sigh of relief I started back down the hill.
“It’s hard to believe they’re so gentle with people,” said Mike. “I’ve never seen anything like it in the animal kingdom; they could surely tear us apart with ease.”
“I still think it has something to do with Meeza being from their home world; something hereditary.” I told him. ”They barely even checked her out; it was like she was familiar.”
Mike nodded in agreement.
“Until we know better, I’m going to recommend that we have at least one Reeshian on any trip going near the cats; perhaps their scent is what the Tersine react to. I don’t want to risk any men to a first exposure without a Reeshian present. I think we’re safe once the cats have been initially exposed to us; then the association sets in.” I sent my report to the Captain. He suggested we try a test without a Reeshian present while we had the opportunity. I didn’t like the idea but set course for the area near the coast where we knew there were Tersine in abundance.
We set down near the same area as the last time and I prepared to go it alone. “You’d better have a couple of us within fifty feet so we can hit it if it attempts to kill you,” offered Mike. “We don’t want to lose our Commander to a breakfast date.”
“Sounds like a good plan to me; I’m not real happy about being ripped to shreds myself, but I guess the Captain’s right; we have to know,” I said uncomfortably.
“At least we’re close enough to use the cannon if more than one shows up in a bad mood,” said Ira, who thankfully was back on my crew. It always feels better when you have people you really trust with you.
With that I walked out to see what was going to happen. Meeza wasn’t happy about me going without her, though she understood it had to be done; we had to know our people were reasonably safe. She did say that if things started to go wrong, she was going to run out to try and defuse the situation. I told her no; but you know how that one went.
I walked out about fifty or sixty feet from the ship and sat down feeling very alone and vulnerable. Meeza and Sasha watched from the ship, and as long as Meeza was there, Sasha was willing to stay. I felt that it almost confirmed my theory enough to give it up now, but knew that wouldn’t really prove my point. It was about fifteen minutes before a Tersine showed up. I could hear Meeza talking to Sasha to keep her from coming out yet. It was somewhat comforting to know that Sasha would come out and try to rescue me if I was attacked; though I didn’t think it could be quick enough to save my hide.
This cat made a different sound as it approached me; much more of a growl. I pretended not to notice him. He was only six feet away when he lunged for me. A shadow over my shoulder told me that it wasn’t the only one. Fortunately it was Sasha defending me; she tore into that creature with such a fury I was stunned into complete paralysis. The other cat lay on its back with its feet up and Sasha’s teeth at her throat; it was obvious submission. In only seconds Meeza was there also, to call Sasha off.
“Well; that’s settled anyway,” I said, a little shakily. “I think that next time I have a theory, I’ll just roll with it.”
The other Tersine was a completely different animal with Sasha and Meeza there. “It’s clear to me that there is an inherent relationship between the Tersine and your people, or at least you in particular. I wonder if it’s something to do with the pheromones Lee found to be present in the females of your people. If so we could synthesize that scent for when we’re going to a new area.” It was something for research to follow through on; but I’d bet on its success after this experience. “Let’s go home.”
Capt. Pierce was delighted with the results of our excursion and turned that part over to the lab to see if it could be tested. Future tests would be done with dummies, it would show if the pheromones had any effect by themselves.
Meeza and I spent the next two days really relaxing and I was enjoying her pheromones; for the first time since our arrival in this solar system, we were really free of any missions hanging over our heads. Olga’s ship the Virgil, with Dan Morley in command as Olga had duties to attend to here at home, had gone with Hero to bring as much of his family and friends as they could back with them to their new home. All seemed to be going well with the tree production for Hero’s people, too; the planting had been approved by Mayor Jordan’s committee.
Could it stay peaceful for more than a few days? Get serious. We had been on Olympus for almost half a year already, though it seemed considerably less. Of course for me, I’d spent a good deal of time off world
so I’m sure that affected my perception.
It was during a week of frequent eclipses which seemed to affect some people’s dispositions that our resident troublemakers started their next round of disruptive activities. There suddenly started to be signs posted around town with a picture of a five fingered hand. The signs read: Human Hand Print; signed: The Human League. There was little doubt about the source, but freedom of speech was an important issue.
Blurg had built a stone igloo in the style of his people’s homes; and Sasha spent some of her nights there; she loved to play with him. Meeza woke me to say she smelled smoke from somewhere. I got up and found our home in flames from the rear and already spread to the roof. There was no chance of getting a fire crew there before the whole building was engulfed. I barely had time to grab some clothes and a few belongings for the two of us. There was already a fire crew on its way since the watch had seen the flames. In the middle of the front yard was a sign stuck in the ground with the hand symbol, black on white. There would be no mistaking whose work this was; but try to prove who in particular was responsible.
Blurg agreed to keep Sasha with him until we were resituated; Sasha didn’t seem to mind.
Captain Pierce was enraged to think that anybody from the colony would stoop so low. He called for a town meeting to try and put an end to the growing problems of racism and violence developing. The Mayor himself was to preside over the meeting. He felt that the problem was starting to get way too dangerous to be ignored. And in the end it was decided that any activity such as hate crimes were going to require serious punishment and if anyone was seriously injured or killed the death penalty wouldn’t be out of the mix. These warnings were posted before the meeting and would be discussed at the meeting proper that very evening.
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