Metal Boxes

by Alan Black

  He heard Wright scream as the second creature landed with all four feet on his chest. He heard a second scream, but he was not sure whether it was the creature, Wright or himself. The first creature hit him with a head butt. The weight of the two creatures bowled him over, slamming him to the deck, bouncing his head on the metal plating.

  Both creatures sat on his chest, pinning him to the deck. The one that had head butted him, stretched it’s neck toward the ceiling, shook it’s whole body, fluttered it’s tiny wings, shook it’s head and hissed at the ceiling. The other creature imitated it’s twin and squeaked out a tiny wonk.

  Stone tried to wrestle his way clear. Individually he might have outweighed one of the creatures, but together their sheer mass held him down. They were incredibly heavy for their size. The first creature shook it’s head and sniffed the air with a wide open mouth. It dropped it’s wide open mouth over Stone’s face.

  Stone closed his eyes. He felt the creature’s warm breath wash across his face, feeling warm drool on his cheek. He heard a squeaky wonk. The second creature pushed it’s way up next to the first. There should not be room on his chest to hold both of them, but they were managing to both sit there.

  Stone was surprised he was still alive. He opened his eyes slowly and stared into the faces of each creature as they stared back at him. One of them raised it’s head to the ceiling, opened it’s mouth and shook it’s head, sniffing the air. It swiveled it’s neck and dropped it’s wide open mouth over Stone’s face.

  More drool dripped across his face, but the creature did not bite. Instead it fluttered it’s tiny arm flaps, sighed and dropped it’s head on Stone’s shoulder to stare at his face. The other creature dropped it’s head on Stone’s other shoulder and seemed to fall asleep. He could feel it’s breathing and it’s heartbeat on his chest, assuming the thing thumping in it’s chest was a heart-like organ. The first creature continued to stare into Stone’s face.

  He glanced through the small gap between the two creatures and saw Wright sliding forward. She looked terrified, tear tracks streamed down her face. She held a four foot chunk of wood in her hands. She had it raised and was ready to strike as she slid quietly across the cabin deck.

  Stone wiggled an arm free from under the sleeping creature. He waved a hand at her, signaling her to stop. He said softly, “Wait a minute, Commander.”

  Wright was only too glad to stop. She nodded and squeaked. “K.”

  The one that was awake swiveled it’s head around at the sound of Wright’s voice. It leapt up between Stone and Wright. It raised itself to it’s full height, stretching toward the ceiling. It spread it’s arm flaps, fluttering them. It hissed and shook it’s head at Wright. The second creature woke with a start and jumped up next to it’s twin, but instead of rising up, it stayed on all four legs. It’s tail arched over it’s head. The boney spike tapped the deck between them and Wright. The first creature dropped down and brought its tail over its head. It began to tap the deck in time with it’s twin.

  With the creatures’ weight off his chest, Stone jumped to his feet. One of the creatures swiveled it’s head toward Stone and gave a soft wonk. The other continued to face Wright and hiss.

  Wright held the wood chunk defensively in front of her. She took a step backwards. Both creatures’ necks shot up raising their heads, but they stopped tapping the deck with their tail spikes. One of the creatures tentatively raised it’s tail spike, pointing it at Wright.

  Stone leapt forward, but the creature shot it’s tail spike forward. Instead of impaling Wright, it gingerly tapped the wood chunk Wright held. Just as he was squeezing between the two creatures, Stone felt fingers pat him on the buttocks. He glanced at the creature. It was flexing a hand. It patted his rear again and then flexed it’s fingers again as if surprised at how they worked.

  Wright dropped the wood chunk and the creature tapped it again as it lay on the deck. Using it’s tail it dragged the wood to it. When it was close, the creature swiveled it’s arms forward and grabbed the wood with both hands. It seemed to forget about Wright. It opened it’s mouth and sniffed the wood. It shoved the wood in it’s mouth and bit a chunk off. A split second later it wonked and spit the piece of wood out.

  Stone finally wormed his way between the two creatures to get between them and Wright.

  The second creature wonked and watched him. It grabbed the chunk of wood that the first creature spit out without taking it’s eyes off Stone. It shoved it in it’s mouth, taking a bite. It spit it out and echoed the wonk from the first one.

  Wright said quietly, “Just like a human baby; everything goes in its mouth.”

  At the sound of her voice both creature’s heads shot up. They fluttered their arm flats and hissed at Wright.

  “Stop it,” Stone shouted. He was sure the creatures could not possibly understand his words, but he hoped the loud sound would catch their attention. It worked. Both creatures stopped hissing and dropped their tails behind them. They both opened their mouths wide, stretching their necks forward as they sniffed Stone.

  He realized they were sniffing his breath, so he exhaled deeply on each of them. He tentatively reached up to pat each of them on their boney heads. Soon he had both creatures resting their heads on his shoulders. Although their tails were down and their arm flaps folded, neither creature took its eyes off Wright.

  Stone stepped back. He grabbed one creature by the head and blew his breath into it’s mouth. It wonked excitedly and inched closer to him. He repeated the procedure with the other creature. It tapped the deck behind it with it’s tail spike. He grabbed the first creature’s head again and held it close in his arms.

  “Commander, blow in its mouth.”

  “No.”

  “Come on, Commander.”

  “No.” Wright backed away another step.

  Stone felt the creature in his arms tense. He said in a soft voice “Don’t move, Commander.”

  Wright froze in place.

  “Danielle, look at them. They haven’t eaten me yet. I think you scare them is all.”

  “I scare them! That’s a hoot. I am about to wet my britches. Those are not goats. I don’t want to end up as breakfast for some kind of dragon scorpion thing.”

  “Dragons and scorpions? Hunh! Drascos? Well, they could be called worse,” Stone patted the creatures on their heads. He stretched a hand out to Wright.

  She let out a ragged sigh and took his hand. She let Stone gently pull her forward. When she was close he turned his head and looked at each of the drascos and blew his breath into their mouths.

  “Your turn, Danielle. Let them smell your breath.” He continued to hold her hand.

  Wright closed her eyes and blew in the general direction of the drascos. The first drasco raised it’s head and sniffed her. She would have bolted and raced from the pod, but Stone held her hand tightly.

  Both drascos seemed to dismiss Wright. They faced Stone and wonked.

  “At least they didn’t eat me.” Wright said with a sigh.

  “Not yet anyway,” Stone replied, “How quickly do you feed a newborn drasco?”

  Wright shrugged. “How would I know? I didn’t even know there was such a thing yesterday, not to mention that I didn’t know what to call it if I did know it existed.”

  “I still think they are herbivores.”

  Wright nodded. “It could be, but on earth most herbivores feed first on mother’s milk before tackling vegetation. Their natural mother isn’t going to be any help with that. They seem to have imprinted on you as their surrogate mother and I don’t know how you are going to process drasco mother’s milk.”

  Stone pointed at the dead drasco on the deck. “You could check their mother to see if you can determine how to feed them. Believe me; I don’t want these two to get hungry enough that they start looking at us as a meal. I mean, I could be wrong about them being herbivores.”

  “I am not cutting into their natural momma with them in the room. I don’t know how they will
react. You are going to have to take them outside. Yes, I know you don’t want to go leave the comfort of this pretty little metal box. Just do it. Try and stay close to the pod and you will be fine.” She pulled her hand free from Stone’s grasp and stepped back into the bathroom. She gestured for Stone to go past.

  Stone shook his head but walked across the cabin to the top of the ramp. His drascos followed him. Their heads swiveled as they took in the scenery. They sniffed the air and wonked.

  “Might as well try it,” Stone nodded, the resignation evident in his voice. “Okay you two, let’s hit the beach.” For all his brave words he moved slowly down to the edge of the ramp. His hands felt cold and clammy. His next step would put his feet in the grass.

  The drascos pounded down the ramp and rushed headlong by him. They wonked loudly and leaped into the air, only to crash back into the grass to roll on the ground. They jumped on each other, tumbling on the ground together. They jumped up, ran back to Stone, sniffed his face and ran back into the grass.

  Stone sighed and stepped into the grass. He was mildly surprised when nothing happened. The grass did not grab his feet. The ground did not open up and swallow him. The sky did not darken and throw lightening at him. The trees did not thunder down around him.

  At the thought of something coming out of the trees, Stone remembered what happened the last time he left the pod. The giant drasco had driven the pregnant female drasco into the pod trying to kill it. He glanced nervously around the meadow to the forest edge. He could not see anything beyond the trees. He certainly did not hear a giant drasco bellow.

  He looked at the two little drascos that seemed to have adopted him. They were still leaping clumsily about and wrestling with each other.

  “You two don’t go too far, hear?” he shouted.

  The drascos raced up to him, sniffed his breath and raced around to the front of the pod. Stone walked in the grass at the edge of the ramp to the side of the pod. He put one hand on the hull. It felt solid and comfortable. There was not any residual heat from their reentry, the shields had absorbed all of it. He could no longer hear the drascos. Keeping a hand on the hull he walked around to the front of the pod.

  Their landing had snapped a tree in half at the forest’s edge. The tree top had fallen into the meadow and was laying a few meters in front of the pod. The drascos were standing in the middle of the leaves stuffing armfuls of brush into their mouths and chewing loudly. Both of them looked at Stone. They wonked contentedly and jostled each other trying to out do the other in getting certain clumps of leaves.

  Stone was thirsty. He did not know if his drascos were or not. He did not even know if they drank water, liquid mercury or if they drank anything at all.

  “My drascos!” he snorted. “I don’t know who adopted whom. What did Commander Wright call it? They imprinted on me.” If his personal assistant still worked he would have looked up what it meant. He was sure he had a practical application of the imprint principle bounding toward him with its arms and arm flaps stuffed with leaves.

  One of the drascos ran straight at Stone. It reared up and dropped it’s front legs on Stone’s chest. It sniffed his breath and wonked excitedly. It dropped a load of leaves at Stone’s feet and wonked again.

  “I hope this stuff isn’t poisonous to the touch,” Stone said. He reached down and grabbed a handful of leaves. He sniffed them and felt them crunch between his fingers. “They have a nice smell, but not really my thing. Thanks anyway. Here, you eat them.” He took the handful and held it out to the drasco. It opened it’s mouth and Stone shoved the leaves in, hoping those teeth would not close until he got his fingers out of the way.

  He spent the next few minutes feeding the drascos, each in turn as they raced back and forth bringing him more leaves to feed them. They seemed to be competing with each other to see who could carry the most leaves stuffed in their arm flaps.

  Finally they quit feeding and rolled in the small pile of leaves at Stone’s feet. Without thinking he bent down and rubbed their bellies. Their bellies and the tops of their heads were the only smooth patches on their rough hides that did not feel like he was rubbing sandpaper. They gave little wonks and crooned.

  “Little pigs are what you two are. Look at these fat, little bellies. You probably ate enough to make yourselves sick.” He noticed both of his drascos had a little belly flap across their stomachs. It was the same flap their mother had used to expel them during birth. He did not notice any external genitalia, not that he would necessarily recognize drasco genitalia even if he saw it.

  “Crap!” he thought. “I hope that doesn’t make me a pervert just for looking. But, I really should know, shouldn’t I? Well, until Commander Wright tells me different, I think you are both little girl drascos. Sisters, right?”

  The drascos responded by crooning louder as he rubbed their bellies.

  “Well girls, there should be an external water tap around here somewhere. Ah, there.” Stone left the drascos lying contentedly and moved to a small maintenance cover. The cover popped free without any resistance. The jumble of mechanical controls was clearly marked.

  Stone knew they did not have much water to spare. They would not have any to waste, until they managed to find a way to haul more fluid into the recycler. He turned a spigot and caught a small dribble of water carefully in his hand and funneled it into his mouth. He was managing to get a refreshing drink without spilling anything until he was bumped aside by the drascos.

  They pushed at each other trying to get at the slow dribble of water. They were managing to spill more water than they caught. Stone reached between them, shutting the water down. He was serenaded with a chorus of plaintive wonks.

  “Okay, you two. We have to work this together. We have to share.” He tentatively grabbed one of the drasco’s hands and an elbow. Stone flexed the arm gently until he had the arm flap loosely hanging.

  He nudged the drasco closer to the pod’s hull and maneuvered her arm flap under the water tap. He opened the spigot and ran a few cups of water into the flap before shutting the water off again. He was expecting to help the drasco get the idea by pushing her head to the water. He was surprised when she lowered her head, twisted it around and poured the water into her open mouth. She wonked at Stone and licked her arm flap dry.

  The other drasco wonked and head butted Stone in the chest. She had moved up next to the water tap, but she had not been able to get her arm flaps in the right position. Stone moved her arm until the flap was in the right position. He ran the water and watched her drink the same way as her sister. They poured the water into their mouths, not lapping like a dog.

  Thinking out loud he said, “Huh? I wonder if they can’t suck the water up the way a human could.” He was startled when Commander Wright responded. She was standing four meters away from the drascos.

  “It is quite possible that they can’t ‘suck’. Many earth animals can’t because it actually involves making a vacuum in their mouth to draw up the fluid. That said, you seem to have resolved the issue very well. Your drascos seem to have taken to you and you to them.”

  “I don’t know how well I have taken to them,” Stone shook his head. “They are still kind of creepy looking. Did you get a better look at their mother?”

  “Yep. The big drasco did kill her. My guess is the big one was male. The mother was about to give birth to your little drascos. Male urges being what they generally are, I think he didn’t want her to give birth to babies that were not his.”

  “How do you know he was not the father?”

  Wright said, “Just a guess.” She pulled out her p.a. and waved it in the direction of the little drascos. “Give me just a second here…yep. That is what I thought. They are sisters, but they must have had different fathers. Strange! No, very strange!”

  “What?”

  “The mother had a womb full of undeveloped drasco embryos. The embryos contained DNA from a dozen different males. There was a second smaller womb that held a few unfertili
zed eggs. I thought a female would mate with as many males as she could to get a viable embryo. But now I am not sure.”

  Stone nodded. “I am with you so far. I have heard of human women who kind of do the same thing. Why the hesitation?”

  Wright shrugged. “According to my scans, your newborn girls have wombs filled with dozens of fertilized, but undeveloped embryos. They seem to be born ready to give birth.”

  “That actually would make sense. The species would survive even if there aren’t any males around, right?”

  Wright nodded. “That would be good, except that all of the embryos in the mother and both of your little girls are all female. There isn’t a male embryo in the bunch.”

  It was Stone’s turn to shrug. “And that would be a problem why? I mean, we saw the size of the males, if that big one was male, right?”

  “Maybe. Yes, if males are just rare, that is one thing. But maybe they all start out as female and then at some point in life they change to male. I don’t know. We can only tell so much from looking at one dead body and a couple of quick scans.”

  Stone grinned, “Well, maybe we can just get off this rock fast enough that we won’t find out.” He looked down. The drascos had fallen asleep at his feet.

  “Can we get off this planet? And if we can, where are we going to go?” Wright asked.

  “I don’t know if we can get the engine running to lift off the planet. I imagine it needs a complete overhaul at a service yard somewhere. We have to re-task the pod’s computer to start doing a star chart search to see where we are and if we are close enough to get anywhere. I am not sure this little engine will survive another series of conversions to hyperjump and back to sub-light. But, we might have to give it a try if we run out of other options.” Stone said.

  “Not to mention that we don’t have fuel, water, or food for a long flight,” Wright added. “The air recyclers have to do a much better job than the last time. And speaking of air, the pod may not smell like farts anymore, but there are two dead drascos in there that are going to start smelling worse than rotten eggs if we don’t figure a way to get them out of there.”