SCIENCE FICTION SHORT STORIES VOLUME IX

by D T Yarbrough

  ....................

  “I've missed you so much,” said Anthony. “Promise you'll never leave me again.”

  “I can't promise that,” said Destiny. “We never know what the future will hold. We'll be together now in a new lifeform. Are you prepared to create a body?”

  “As ready as I'll ever be,” said Anthony. “Let's do it.”

  “I only studied the females,” said Destiny. “But I expected the males to be more similar.”

  “Same here,” said Anthony. “I mean, I only studied the males.”

  “Well, let's get this over with,” said Destiny. “Are you sure you know how to make the transfer?”

  “Yeah,” said Anthony. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” said Destiny.

  ....................

  “Wake up, Lieutenant,” said the orderly. “Time for some solid food.”

  Anthony wanted to speak but couldn't make a sound. Then he realized he didn't know the language or how to make a sound. He stared up at the female orderly and noticed that she was quite similar in most features to his own body. She didn't resemble Destiny's body at all. Was she really a male in drag? “No problem,” thought Anthony. “I'm as open minded as the next guy. To each his own.”

  The orderly continued speaking in his/her strange language. “Why can't I understand,” he thought. Then he remembered that it had taken only a short while for Destiny to pick up the Earth language. He sat up and looked around the room. The other beds were filled with others like him with bandages, casts, splints and all sorts of medical apparatuses attached to them. But Destiny was nowhere in sight, nor were there any females that looked like her. “This must be a military hospital,” he thought. “They don't allow females in the military. So where would they have taken Destiny.”

  “Lie down, Lieutenant,” said the orderly as he/she forced Anthony to lie back down. “You've been injured. You were paralized for a while.”

  “What is he saying,” wondered Anthony. “I guess he wants me to lie down. I don't feel like arguing with him, even if I could. I guess I'll just listen and learn.”

  ....................

  As the day wore on, Anthony began to pick up pieces of the language but try as he may, he was unable to make a sound. Finally he was able to make a grunting noise. As he continue to attempt to speak, the sounds came easier. “Orderly!” he shouted. “Was I alone when they found me?”

  “You're better,” said the orderly. “We thought you'd never be able to speak.”

  “Answer my question,” demanded Anthony. “Was I alone?”

  “No,” said the orderly. “We also found a female Drax.”

  “Where is she?” asked Anthony.

  “She's probably been disected by now,” said the orderly. “It's not often the military gets a live specimen to study.”

  “Disected?” asked Anthony. “They killed her.”

  “Well, what do you normally do to a Drax?” asked the orderly. “We are at war. You don't remember the war, do you? I was afraid of this. You were probably brainwashed. We'll have to treat you immediately.”

  “I'm fine,” said Anthony. “My memory is coming back. I don't need treatment.”

  “That's what they all say,” said the orderly as he/she injected something into his neck.

  ....................

  “This is the worse case of brainwashing I've ever seen,” said the doctor. “His entire memory of his past is gone.”

  “Well, give him a new one,” said the General. “We can't afford to lose a valuable officer.”

  “Yes Sir,” said the doctor. “Consider it done.”

  ....................

  “Okay, Lieutenant,” said the Captain. “Do you understand your mission?”

  “Bring one back alive, Sir,” said Klish. “No problem, Sir.”

  “You'll be behind enemy lines,” said the Captain. “Surrender is not an option. If you're captured, you know what to do.”

  “No worry, Sir,” said Klish as he headed for the border. “They won't take me alive.”

  Lieutenant Klish Yarkor was a career soldier. Since an early age he had trained for just such a mission. The Vorn had been at war with the Drax since before he could remember. His first instinct would be to kill any Drax that he met. It would be difficult to restrain himself, but they needed a live one and it didn't matter why. Orders were orders, and Klish had never disobeyed a direct order.

  He was well within enemy lines now, deeper than he had wanted to go, but there had been no Drax to be found. He realized that the deeper he went into their territory, the more difficult it would be to get back, especially with a prisoner. He decided to stop and wait. There were a few hours of light left and maybe he could ambush a lone scout. He hadn't waited long when he got a whiff of that distinct odor he had been trained from childhood to recognize, the smell of a Drax. He could hear the faint rustle of leaves as it moved cautiously along the trail, pausing to sniff the air. Klish knew it couldn't smell him if he could smell it unless the wind changed. He held his breath as the Drax drew nearer.

  It was a female. What was a female doing out here? Surely the military didn't want a female to study. He should just kill her and wait for a soldier to come along. They hadn't specified male or female. Would he be disobeying orders if he killed it? He couldn't disobey an order. It went against everything he stood for. Should he just let it pass and wait for a male to come along. But if he let it pass, it would be downwind of him. He had never had hand to hand combat with a Drax but this was a female. How much trouble could that be. The main thing was to prevent it from warning others.

  As it passed his position he crept up behind it. As it turned to face him, he struck it in the chin with the butt of his weapon, knocking it backwards to the ground. Suddenly his weapon vanished. Grabbing his knife he leaped upon the Drax, drawing back the knife as he prepared for the kill. That's when he saw the amulet. “What is this? I've seen this before,” said Klish.

  “Anthony!” said Destiny. “I didn't recognize you with your warpaint on.”

  “Silence Drax, or you die.” said Klish as the grabbed the amulet. “What is this? Some Drax weapon?”

  “Don't push that,” said Destiny. “It will destroy you.”

  “If that were true, you'd never have warned me,” said Klish as he pressed the button. “Where am I? What sort of Drax trick is this? Get away from me.”

  As Klish struggled to escape, an overwhelming felling came over him as the memories returned to his mind. “Destiny, I almost killed you,” said Anthony. “I'm so sorry.”

  “You'll find it's not that easy to kill me,” said Destiny. “I'm just happy I found you. Shall we try it again?”

  “I don't want to be a Drax,” said Anthony.

  “Well, I'm not going to be a Vorn,” said Destiny.

  “There must be other worlds where war isn't the only pasttime,” said Anthony. “Let's get out of here.”

  “You're the leader,” said Destiny.

  “Me? The leader?” asked Anthony.

  “Sure,” said Destiny. “Why not?”

  THE PORTAL of FOREVER III

  “T his looks like a good possibility,” said Destiny.

  “So did the last three hundred worlds we looked at,” said Anthony, “at first glance.”

  “You're right,” said Destiny. “Look at that seventh planet. It has an unstable orbit. It will disturb the orbits of the others at some future point in time.”

  “Wait a minute,” said Anthony. "It's gradually gaining speed. Its orbit will stabilize before it does any damage."

  “Good work, Anthony," said Destiny. "How did I miss that?"

  “Hey, you did detect the unstable orbit," said Anthony. "I might have missed that. It was hardly noticeable."

  “Well, what about all the other variables?" asked Destiny. "Do you see any potential problems?"

  “Looks like a winner to me," said Anthony. "Now if life can just catch hold in a few billions years, we'
ll be good to go."

  "Cross your fingers," said Destiny. "We have a fifty-fifty chance."

  "What fingers?" asked Anthony. "We don't have fingers yet, and there's no assurance that we will have any. We may have fins or paws or hoofs or god knows what."

  "You know what I mean," said Destiny. "Wish us luck. What's your best estimate of the minimum time before life will evolve?"

  "500 to 600 million years," said Anthony.

  "My thoughts exactly," said Destiny. "Let's jump ahead 550 million years and see what's happening."

  ....................

  "Plant life seems to be flourishing," said Anthony. "That's a good sign. Maybe another 50 million years."

  "Let's go 100 million," said Destiny. "If we overshoot, we can use the fossil records to tell us where, I mean when to go and if it's even worth going. The odds of intelligent life is 100% only if life was around long enough."

  ....................

  "Now this really looks promising," said Anthony. "Cities and roads. Let's investigate."

  "Remember, we need a brain capacity of at least 5000 giga-mips if we're planning on staying long," said Destiny. "And just in case there's more than one inteligent species, let's make sure we both have chosen the same one before we transfer."

  "It's okay to choose the opposite sex, isn't it?" asked Anthony.

  "Of course," said Destiny. "We're here to have fun too."

  ....................

  "Talk about multiple choice," said Anthony. "We can walk, fly, or swim. Have you decided which species your body will be?"

  "I've done all those things before," said Destiny. "Why don't you choose?"

  "I've always dreamed of flying," said Anthony. "But the walkers seem to have the longest lifespans, and the swimmers have a more plentiful food supply. None of them have technology yet. It's hard to decide."

  "All of their brains are sufficient," said Destiny. "We could flip a quark."

  "Heads we fly, tails we walk, and both we swim," said Anthony. "You flip."

  "Heads," said Destiny. "Looks like we fly. Are you ready to create your body?"

  "We should find a good hiding place first," said Anthony. "We don't want to be discovered before we're able to move around and protect ourselves."

  "Good idea," said Destiny. "We are quite vulnerable for the first few days.”

  ....................

  "This treehouse seems to be abandoned," said Destiny. "No one's been in here for a while."

  "Okay. Let's do it," said Anthony.

  ....................

  "Destiny," thought Anthony. "I thought I heard you speak."

  "You must have read my mind," thought Destiny. "I haven't learned to speak, and we don't even know the language yet."

  "Do you think they can all read each other's mind?" asked Anthony.

  "Well, these brains are capable, but they don't have the power that we do," replied Destiny. "It's very unlikely that they would have developed a verbal language if they could read thoughts."

  "If we can read their minds, we'll pick up their verbal language in no time," thought Anthony.

  "How are you feeling?" asked Destiny. "Are you able to move?"

  "I feel fine," replied Anthony, "but I can't move my arms and legs yet, and I'm lying on my wings. I've never slept in a featherbed before. It's quite comfortable."

  "Well, get some more rest while our bones harden," thought Destiny. "Tomorrow's a new day."

  ....................

  "My shoulder blades are killing me," thought Anthony.

  "I told you that you were overdoing it," replied Destiny. "You need to build up your muscles gradually."

  "But flying is so much fun," replied Anthony. "I didn't want to ever come down."

  "I know," thought Destiny. "But you've got to learn that there are always consequences."

  "Couldn't you give me a massage or something?" asked Anthony.

  "As long as we don't make a habit of this," replied Destiny. "Lie down on your stomach and spread your wings."

  "I'll bet I was ten miles high," said Anthony. "You should have been there, gliding above the clouds. Hey, watch it with those retractable claws."

  "While you were up there overdoing it, I was picking up some of the local language," said Destiny. "I'll teach you what I've learned. You were right about reading their minds. It does make learning their language a lot easier."

  “That feels wonderful,” said Anthony. “You're an angel.”

  “On Earth, you said I looked like an angel,” replied Destiny, “and I didn't even have wings. I realized later that that was your way of telling me I was beautiful. Is that still the case or do you believe that the wings actually make me an angel?”

  “I meant that you are sweet and kind like an angel,” said Anthony. “But you still look like one too.”

  “Is that a term of endearment or are you simply stating the obvious?” asked Destiny.

  “Read my mind,” said Anthony.

  “Now you're being an angel,” said Destiny as she gently kissed him. “Are you hungry. You seem to be thinking a lot about food.”

  “Not at all,” replied Anthony. “I'll bet that I ate three pounds of insects today. I'm just hoping there's something else on the menu tomorrow.”

  “Then we should get some sleep,” said Destiny. “We're going to meet our neighbors tomorrow. By the way, we are called Wenosi. That means riders of the wind.”

  “Do our neighbors have first names?” asked Anthony. “Will we have to change ours?”

  “I really don't know,” said Destiny. “Maybe we're not ready to meet them yet. I wouldn't want to make a bad first impression. We'll just wander around tomorrow and see what we can learn. Maybe we'll find some books.”

  ....................

  “I think we should do some walking today,” said Destiny. “It will strengthen our legs.”

  “That's fine with me,” said Anthony. “My wing muscles are too sore to do much flying.”

  “I thought I heard something scratching on the door last night,” said Destiny.

  “It wasn't locked,” said Anthony. “It doesn't even have a lock.”

  “Whatever it was doesn't know how to open doors, I guess,” said Destiny.

  “Maybe it was just some branches rubbing against the house,” said Anthony.

  “What about this?” asked Destiny as she held up a large black feather. “I haven't seen any Wenosi with black feathers.”

  “Bring it with us,” said Anthony. “Maybe someone can tell us where it came from.”

  “Let's go,” said Destiny as she flapped her wings and descended slowly to the ground.

  Anthony attempted to glide down in a circular spiral.

  “I hope your muscles heal quickly,” said Destiny. “You can't glide back up there.”

  “I could probably climb back up,” said Anthony. “These retractable claws give you a pretty good grip, and my arms feel fine.”

  “The Wenosi seem to be loners,” said Destiny. “They pair up, but you don't see them in larger groups. I haven't seen any structures larger than your typical treehouse, which is barely large enough for two. Even the young ones don't hang around their parents.”

  “About those young ones,” said Anthony. “Where do they come from? We males don't have any reproductive organs.”

  “Since you mention it, neither do we females,” said Destiny. “Maybe we have to mature further.”

  “Maybe you lay eggs,” said Anthony with a slight snicker.

  “That's not funny,” said Destiny. “If I lay 'em, you'll sit on 'em till they hatch.”

  “I'm hungry,” said Anthony, trying to change the subject. “See anything edible?”

  “Let's watch some of the others for a while,” said Destiny. “We'll find out what they eat. Listen closely to their conversations and see what we can pick up.”

  ....................

  “Berries and seeds,” said Anthony, “with an occasional worm or ins
ect larva. I may become a vegetarian.”

  “Nonsense, Anthony,” said Destiny. “You need a balanced diet. Did you read her mind when she saw the feather?”

  “Yeah,” said Anthony. “She called it a Nightwing. She seemed to be frightened by it.”

  “You would be too if you saw the vision that I did,” said Destiny. “It's a hideous barbaric creature. It drains the life force from its victims and relishes in their pain and fear.”

  “Is that why they all carry those long wooden poles?” asked Anthony.

  “Nightwings only come out at night,” said Destiny. “I think those are spears. They're sharpened on one end.”

  “If they're not for protection from the Nightwings, then what?” asked Anthony.

  “Look,” said Destiny. “That other pair is starting to crowd the two we were watching.”

  “That answers that question,” said Anthony. “Do you really think they would have fought to the death if the strangers hadn't backed off?”

  “They looked pretty determined to protect their space,” said Destiny. “So much for striking up a conversation.”

  “I don't believe this civilization will have any books,” said Anthony. “They don't even talk except to their mates.”

  “Idiots,” he shouted. “We're all idiots. We think we're safe in our little houses, in our own little worlds. But it's only an illusion. The only safety is in numbers. They took my mate last night. Yours could be next. You're all idiots.”

  “I beg your pardon, Sir,” said Anthony. “Is there anything we can do to help you?”