"You mean us humans? That was natural."
"And high-impact. The asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs was natural. The ice ages were natural. If we had been around, should we have tried to save the dinosaurs? When I first got involved, I thought the idea was the answer to all our conservation problems. Every year this park costs millions to run, but the funds needed to spread an enhanced cheetah genome through Africa would not buy you a Porsche. Now cheetahs are doing wolf packs better than wolves, the large predator balance is going straight to hell, and I've got to back out before everyone from the FBI to CNN arrives on my doorstep. All we need to do is show that Mike is Mr I, and I'm in the clear."
The alpha stared at her and bared his teeth. She bared her teeth back at him. I often wonder why scavengers have been shaped to bare their teeth when they are trying to be friendly. It is undignified, contradictory, and very bad manners. She was teasing him, daring him to say secret things to impress her. He was too intent on the hunt to realise that he was in turn being stalked.
The echospeaker moved back toward the machines, but the alpha blocked her path. She tried to go around him, but he moved to block her again. They wrestled like cubs, making the laughter chatter all the time. In less than five breaths of languor he had the clothing that covers her legs lowered, and had bent her over the desk facing out to the tree where I was reclining. I watched with no real interest as the alpha and echospeaker proceeded with the mating itself, which was quite without style. After all, they were scavengers, and I am perfect.
The echospeaker noticed that I was staring at her.
"That cheetah is watching us do it,” she said, her voice modulated with unease.
"So what?"
"It must think I'm cheap."
"She's a cheetah, she's only thinking about where her next gazelle is coming from."
Any animal that allows itself to become too involved with the act of mating is sure to be eaten sooner rather than later, yet scavengers have lived in security too long to be aware of this. Their activities were over quickly, and both made haste to fasten and secure their leg clothing again. The alpha bared his teeth at me in some odd gesture of triumph, then he turned away and froze as completely as a Champion in mid-stalk.
There were Champions all around him. A half-circle of Champions on the floor, Champions on the machine boxes, a Champion on the white food locker, and even three Champions on the locker where the rifles were kept. All were staring at him. Without a doubt, he found the sight so surreal that he was unable to believe what he was seeing. Under my purr, the echospeaker had let them in after my familiar had left. They had been hiding in corners and within shadows, but of course the alpha had been too intent on machine deceit and the prospect of mating to check for anything out of place in the shelter. At last he shrieked and pushed the echospeaker to one side before scrambling up onto the desk.
[I am Speaker of Shapes] I announced.
I had purred my words, but they had been voiced in the alpha's language by the echospeaker. She was standing to one side, her arms hanging limp. The alpha's mouth dropped open as he turned to face her.
"Ella, are you controlling these things?” he shouted in the terror of prey. “Get them out of here!"
[I am not the scavenger you call Ella]
Under extreme stress it is common for scavengers to lose their ability to reason clearly. The alpha took the time of twenty bounds to realise that the echospeaker was not herself.
"Ella, what is going on here?” he now chattered. “Is this some trap that Mike left behind?"
[The scavenger female is speaking my words—I am lying on a branch outside your sanctuary]
His head jerked around and he stared at me in disbelief. I twitched my tail as I stared back.
"Speaker of Shapes,” he finally managed, this time very slowly. “You mean you're Demelia?"
[Scavenger name]
He had to pause and gather his thoughts. I was of another species, yet I was speaking with him. For me the feat is nothing, for I know I am perfect, but for a mere scavenger it was significant, even momentous. For all that, he did not realise the length of the pounce between us.
"Er, how are you talking? Is Ella talking for you?"
[Yes]
"Is it telepathy?"
[No]—I purr my words—[The machine in my collar takes them into your sanctuary—The female scavenger hears them—She speaks them to you]
"Is this one of Mike's experiments?"
[No]
"But it has to be ... no, wait. There's no cheetah speaking, this is all some trick!"
The alpha made the mistake of starting to climb down off the desk. Every Champion in the room glared at him and hissed. He retreated so far back onto the desk that he was stopped by the glass of the sanctuary.
[Do not try to leave]
"No, er, sure, I'll stay right here. What do you want?"
[Perfection]
"Perfection?"
I did not answer this question. It was a subtle point of dignity for cats, more than good manners yet not quite protocol.
"Why don't you answer?” he pleaded, frantic with terror and desperate to please me.
[It is not seemly to chatter—I answered you—You repeated my answer—Chatter is for monkeys]
His face flushed with anger for a moment. He was an alpha, and used to being dominant. We Champions are beyond that sort of dominance because we are perfect. Only the boundaries of our domains are a worthy subject for conflict.
"I suppose you heard Ella and me talking about Mike and, er, stuff. What are you planning to do?"
[Plans are for monkeys]
It was communication, but not as he knew it. There was another pause. He was used to manipulating other scavengers, but we need nothing that they value. He decided upon a different stalk.
"You know, I can give you real power."
[Power is for elephants]
"No, no, I mean powerful secrets."
[Secrets are for squirrels]
"What do you know about squirrels?” he demanded, momentarily forgetting that he was ringed with Champions. “There are no squirrels in Africa."
I did not reply. The alpha regarded the Champions. All were well within a pounce of reaching him. His nerve began to waver.
"Er, why don't you answer?"
[Your question was flawed]
"You mean there are squirrels in Africa?"
[I shall not discuss squirrels]
He took out a cloth and wiped his forehead.
"You know, I don't understand this. We never introduced the hybrid cheetahs here, yet here you all are, working together."
[We are not working—We Champions are here for amusement]
"So, er, you cheetahs have a language and do things together, you have a culture,” he began, attempting a new stalk.
[Culture is for monkeys]
"You call us monkeys?"
[No—You are scavengers]
"Scavengers?” he shouted angrily, then caught himself. “Must focus, must keep the focus,” he muttered softly, then took a deep breath. “I'm not dead yet, so you must want something from me. What do you want?"
[Perfection]
"What do you mean? How can I give you perfection?"
[You took it from some of us when you altered our life pattern]
"Life pattern ... You mean the wolf DNA business? Wait a minute! How do you know about DNA?"
[Because we are superior]
"But we didn't introduce the wolf DNA in this park's cheetah population."
[Good—You cannot improve on perfection]
"Will you stop being so goddamn superior?"
[But we are superior because we are perfect—You have made many Champions in Africa flawed—They are no longer part of us—You soiled their perfection because you are flawed also]
As I was hoping, he forgot himself. Terror must come in waves if it is to do the work that I required.
"Humans are superior, we're the ultimate survivor
s!” he said loudly, with the confidence of the ignorant.
[You eat carrion]
"So do you!"
[We do not—Champions only eat from fresh kills]
"Eh? Oh, yeah, but ... it's still raw meat!"
[You eat carrion degraded by fire—You have no dignity]
This time I tripped him. Like a lion deprived of its kill, he again roared.
"We track you with satellites! We can do what we like with you."
[Scavenger tricks]
"Our tricks are powerful!"
[Power is for elephants]
"We can shoot you helpless with trank darts then piss on you!"
A Champion sprang elegantly onto the desk, put both paws onto the scavenger's chest, bared his teeth, and hissed into his face. The scavenger lost balance and tumbled right down to the floor. The Champion stared down at him from the desktop.
[We do not take offence at being shot—We are perfect so naturally we are desired by those who are flawed—We only take offence when our perfection is soiled]
I slipped from the branch and sauntered over to the sanctuary. A door opened, and I entered a little room with two doors. The outer door closed, then an inner door opened. I entered the machine room, where sixteen Champions sat surrounding the alpha.
[He attempted to use his speaking machine] said Watcher of Prey.
The echospeaker translated his words, just as she translated mine.
[Very foolish] I replied.
[I batted it away] said Hunter of Prime.
I leaped onto the desk above the alpha and stared down at him.
"Ella, Ella! Please, if you can hear me, please tell them to stop."
[The echospeaker is asleep within herself while I use her—She will remember none of this—I will give her memories that suit my needs]
I batted down at him with a forepaw. He cringed away, then dry-reached for some breaths.
"What happens now?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “Do you get the glory of the kill or something?"
[Scavenger talk—We are perfect—Glory is nothing to us]
He did not understand, which was only to be expected. His unease was increased, which was good. Watcher of Prey batted at his foot and hissed.
"You're like paparazzi with a movie star, aren't you?” he whimpered. “Niggling and goading, forcing an outburst. What are you trying to do?"
[I am running behind you]
Yet again, he did not understand. Very slowly he stood, trying to assert his dominance even though he was quite without defences.
"You should be grateful,” he chattered defiantly. “This captive breeding program helps you to survive."
[Scavenger values]
"Our scavenger values conquered the Earth. We'll conquer you. Just you wait."
[You are our tools—Tools can conquer nothing]
"Humanity, the tools of cheetahs?” he exclaimed before losing himself to his laughter chatter again. “When? How?"
[Five million years ago—The Ancestrals watched birds use twigs to tease insects from holes—They watched apes use rocks to crack nuts—They saw the value of tools but because they were perfecting their bodies they could never use tools—Instead they cast the shapes within their thoughts upon apes and shaped them into scavengers—Scavengers were the familiars of Ancestrals—We shaped them to use stones to crack the bones of our prey and rewarded them with the marrow]
"Five million—” he began, then caught himself. “Five million years. That sounds weirdly plausible."
He became silent, and for a time he stood in thought. Hunter of Prime pushed at the back of his knee with her paw. Again he fell. When he was finally able to speak again, his confidence was all but gone.
"You—you bred humanity as tools?” he quavered.
[Yes]
"So ... you want to use us to guarantee the future of cheetahs?"
[No—Our future is certain—We are perfect]
"But your species is vulnerable, there's only thirteen thousand cheetahs in the wild."
[We are Champions—We are perfect]
"Perfect? Cheetahs have almost no genetic variation. Most cheetah sperm is defective."
Hunter of Prime snapped her teeth at him. His face lost what little colour remained to it.
[We are perfect—Champions were born to the Mother of Champions—She was perfect]
"This is a test, isn't it? If I work out your riddles, you let me go."
[Think what you will]
Again he stood, seeking dominance.
"You're testing me, I know it. Got to think, got to work it out. Cheetahs had a near-extinction event ten thousand years ago. You went as low as a single breeding pair. Mother of Champions, that's it! Cheetahs are a species of identical twins."
[Yes]
"But what happened to all the other cheetahs?"
[The Ancestrals ran the Perfecting]
"Ran the Perfecting? What does that mean?"
[Scavengers are survivors—Survivors could never understand]
"Try me! Were they hunting?"
[No]
"Was it a war?"
[Wars are for scavengers]
"A race! They were racing to, er, see who was perfect?"
[No]
"Damn you—"
Every Champion in the room in the room hissed, and six of our number sprang forward elegantly, reared up, and placed their paws upon his chest and shoulders. It was very nearly the moment. The steam of urine arose from the alpha's leg clothing, then the moment was lost. The Champions backed away, but it was two dozen breaths of languor before he could speak again.
"You—no, the Ancestrals ran the perfecting, you say. This is like charades, I was always good at charades. Er, did they run very fast?"
[As fast as could be]
"As fast as could be. Cheetahs run really fast. Faster than anything. What happens if a cheetah runs really fast? An entry in the Guinness Book of Records? It catches dinner? Someone videos it for Discovery Channel? It gets tired. Tired! If a cheetah runs flat out for too long, stress and heat exhaustion kick in. It can be fatal. That's it! Did the Ancestrals run themselves to death?"
[Yes]
"The great extinction, it—it was mass suicide?"
[Scavenger word—They ran the perfecting]
"But why?"
[To become perfect]
"How can they be perfect if they're dead? They—no, wait. They were not perfecting themselves, they were removing themselves from the gene pool. They were making the species perfect ... because then all surviving cheetahs would be descended from the Mother of Champions."
[They saw perfection so they cleared the way—We are very fastest of all yet all one]
"All one. A species of identical twins! You made yourselves a species of identical twins!"
[You have it—We all have perfect shape and are optimised for speed]
"Identical twins. Sometimes human identicals have a weird empathy, like one mind and two bodies. Oh shit! It can't be! Thirteen thousand cheetahs, and one mass mind!"
[Ninety-seven Champions defiled with dog essence—Ninety-seven Champions lost to the Overself—You are to blame]
"I had help, there were others. I'll do a deal, my life for names."
[Four of the nine are dead]
"You mean you killed them? Don't try that on me! There are thirteen thousand of you in a few zoos, reserves and parks, but there are billions of us."
[There are billions more who are amused to do our work—They purr to you in the shelters where they keep you as pets—They watch from the alleys where they live as ferals—They listen from fencetops that divide your little domains—They set scavengers with souls upon those without]
"Cats! You use cats to control us!"
[It amuses cats to control you for us—Nothing can use a cat]
Our time was near, for talk of cats had unsettled the alpha to his very core. He had noticed the change in the Champions surrounding him. All were tensing, crouching, shifting their
weight, rippling their muscles, seeking purchase for their claws. Watcher of Prey snapped his teeth.
"What are you doing?” the alpha whined like a mere dog. “I passed your test!"
[There was no test]
"No test? Then what the hell is going on?"
[You are running the perfection]
"Oh no, oh no no no! I'm not going outside, I'm not running to death."
[You do not have to]
With that the chase ended, for he clutched at his chest and wheezed with pain. None of us moved. Like a gazelle that stumbles yet recovers at the end of a chase, he managed to stay standing, yet there was no escape. Somehow, just steps from death, his mind cleared.
"Running the perfection ... you're stressing me ... heart blown out ... no evidence."
He dropped to one knee, barely able to breathe, yet still he fled.
"Wait ... make deal..."
He was able to say no more, for the chase was over. He toppled sideways and lay still in the pool of his own urine. The echospeaker walked past the Champions gathered around the alpha and reached down to press her paw against his neck.
"Dead,” she said, then slowly straightened.
At a purr from myself she turned, and walked to the door to the domain. Six Champions went with her, to be let out.
[Are we going to just leave the body] asked Eyes Without Warning, a juvenile male.
[It must seem that his heart failed him and that we were never in here]
[It seems a waste]
[Nobody may take a single bite]
The echospeaker returned to take a second group of Champions through the room with two doors. I waited, for I had to be last. Eyes Without Warning gazed intently at the body of the alpha.
[Speaker of Shapes I have a question]
[Voice it]
[Why was this scavenger so dangerous]
[We could not control him as a tool—He conspired to defile our perfection with dog essence—Many dozens of Champions in Africa are lost to the Overself because of him]
[He did it to increase our numbers]
[What are numbers without perfection—Hardship sharpens us—Without hardship we would not be perfectly fast—He tried to take hardship away from us—We are taking it back—It makes us perfect]
Interzone Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine #222 Page 12