Rokul

by Elin Wyn

  “I just came from Jeneva’s home,” Mariella said. I’d heard the name Jeneva in passing a few times, but I’d never met her.

  “How is she?” Leena asked with a level of concern I wouldn’t have thought she possessed.

  “She’s very tired all the time,” Mariella sighed. “The baby is really giving her a hard time. Doctors come to her house twice a day.”

  “If it’s giving her a hard time now, imagine what it’ll be like when it’s born,” Leena said. “Do they know the gender?”

  “Not yet. I think Jeneva wants it to be a surprise,” Mariella explained.

  I sliced off an impossibly small piece of each vine and prepared them for microscopic viewing. Then I cut larger slices and prepared them for genetic testing.

  “Vrehx must be worried sick,” Leena said. “I haven’t seen him in weeks.”

  “General Rouhr’s put him on leave until the baby is born. I saw him while I was at Jeneva’s. I’ve never seen a Skotan look so pale.”

  I froze midway through preparing the genetic testing machine. Did Mariella just say Skotan? I put the pieces together in my mind. Jeneva was a human woman having a child with a Skotan male. That didn’t sound possible. No wonder the pregnancy was rough.

  “Do you think you and Tu’ver will have kids soon?” Leena asked her sister.

  “We aren’t even married yet!” Mariella laughed. “I always assumed we’d have kids. But if carrying a K’ver child is anything like carrying a Skotan child, I’ll have to prepare myself in advance.” Mariella was with a K’ver?

  “Axtin and I both thought we never wanted kids, but we’re both coming around to the idea,” Leena said sheepishly.

  “A Valorni baby is going to be huge!” Mariella exclaimed with a laugh. “You’d look so funny carrying such a big baby.”

  Were all of the human women I occasionally saw around the building paired with an alien male? Was that becoming a common thing now? I considered bringing up Rokul and joining the conversation, but what would I say?

  I may or may not be considering casually sleeping with a Skotan I might actually have true feelings for?

  Not exactly in the same line, not when they were talking about marriage and babies.

  I kept my mouth shut and focused on my work. While the genetic test ran, I looked at the smaller samples through the microscope. The cell structure of the vines was similar to other sentient vine species I’d studied. In fact, the cell structure of the vines looked almost identical to the cell structure of parent plants the current species had evolved from. The vines controlling the sorvuc corpses were old.

  Ancient, even.

  “You really need to pick a date for the wedding,” Leena said. I’d somehow tuned back in to their conversation.

  “It just feels wrong to have a wedding while the planet is still rebuilding,” Mariella replied. “It would feel like I’m flaunting my happiness and good fortune in front of thousands who lost everything.”

  “You don’t want to get married because you don’t want to hurt strangers’ feelings?” Leena said slowly.

  “Exactly,” Mariella said with confidence.

  The genetic analysis machine beeped, startling me from my eavesdropping. That was one thing I absolutely loved about the lab machines in General Rouhr’s building. They were all so fast and amazingly accurate. I wondered which species brought in this tech. My guess was the K’ver.

  I sent the genetic analysis from the machine to my datapad. When I pulled up the data, I noticed that it looked familiar.

  “Hey, Leena?” I called.

  “Yeah?” she replied.

  “Do you have the analysis on the genetic material from the crater?” I asked.

  “Right here.” She picked a datapad up off her desk and handed it to me. “Why?”

  “Look at this.” I placed both sets of data next to each other. They were identical.

  “The thing in the crater is a sorvuc?” Leena asked, brow furrowed.

  “The samples I took weren’t from the sorvuc,” I explained. “They came from parasitic vines still living inside the sorvuc corpses.”

  “I don’t understand.” Mariella walked over and stood beside her sister.

  “The thing out in the crater is the same thing that attacked the settlements, right?” I prompted. Leena nodded. “Well, it’s also the same creature that somehow planted vines inside the sorvuc.”

  “But the vines were completely separate entities, weren’t they? The sorvuc bodies weren’t connected by a single parent vine that trailed off and somehow connected back to the creature in the crater?” Leena asked with an intense look on her face.

  “No,” I replied. “All of the sorvuc were completely separated from each other. However, each cluster of vines woke up at the same moment and started dragging the sorvuc bodies away at the same time.”

  “What do you mean ‘woke up’?” Leena asked.

  “The vines didn’t look alive at first. They were just there, coiled up. I thought they were dead, too, until one grabbed me,” I said.

  “If what you’re saying is true-”

  “It is,” I insisted. “It means that the invasive vines might not be just a part of the same species as the creature in the crater, but are possibly somehow part of the creature itself. It’s all one entity, that has… what, multiple bodies?”

  “An entity that can, apparently, be in multiple places at once,” Leena huffed and ran a hand through her ice-blonde hair. “Just what we needed.”

  “How are we supposed to protect people from something like that?” Mariella gasped.

  “How are we supposed to kill something like that?” Leena added.

  “We can’t kill it,” I replied. “This thing, whatever it is, is deeply ingrained in the environment. Until we know how deeply, we can’t hurt it. It could be disastrous for us.”

  “Annie said the same thing,” Leena laughed dryly.

  “Then you know I’m right.”

  “But then what the hell do we do?”

  Rokul

  Last night, I found every excuse to hang around work with the hope of catching Tella when she left the lab. However, by the time the rest of the personnel started leaving for the night, Tella still hadn’t reappeared.

  I ran out of reasons to linger and I didn’t have an excuse to stay when my brother asked if I was ready to go back to our place.

  I suspected Takar knew I was stalling. He gave me that look.

  It wasn’t that I wanted to hide my feelings for Tella, or that I had any problem with my brother knowing I had feelings for a human female.

  I simply felt that telling other people was something I shouldn’t do without making sure Tella approved.

  After all, we hadn’t defined the parameters of our relationship. I didn’t want to tell Takar something only for it not to be true. It was obvious to me that Tella appreciated her privacy, as well.

  I didn’t want to violate that.

  So Takar and I went back to our place and I had to be content with the possibility of seeing Tella the following morning.

  In the morning, Takar woke me up after the alert from my comm unit failed to do so.

  “Get up.” He tapped me on the forehead. “How can you sleep through that? I can hear it in my room.”

  “Now I know why you’re in such a foul temper all the time. You never get any sleep.” I silenced the alert and checked my comm unit. It was a broadcasted message from General Rouhr instructing us to prepare for a meeting in one hour.

  “That alert came in ten minutes ago,” Takar informed me. “And I’m in a foul mood all the time because you prevent me from getting sleep,” he shot back. “Get dressed.”

  “I’m the eldest. I’m supposed to be the leader,” I called after him as he walked back to his room. He didn’t say anything, but lifted his hand and made a rude gesture that made me burst out laughing.

  Many people assumed Takar and I didn’t get along because of the way we interacted with each other. The tr
uth was, we were two halves of one whole being. We balanced each other perfectly. That’s why General Rouhr kept us in the same strike team. We weren’t as effective when we were in separate teams.

  Takar practically dragged me out of our rented rooms twenty minutes later. He hated to be late. The funny thing about Takar was that he considered arriving on time to be arriving late. He liked to arrive ten minutes before the event began. I, on the other hand, if left to my own devices, was always ten minutes late.

  We strolled into General Rouhr’s conference room precisely on time. Tella was already there. When we locked eyes, she smiled. It was subtle, barely a tug at the corner of her mouth, but it was warm. I smiled back, less subtly than she had.

  “Good morning,” General Rouhr began. “I’ve called this meeting so all strike teams can be collectively updated on recent finding concerning our new friend out in the crater.”

  I looked around the room. Only Vrehx wasn’t present. I assumed he was with Jeneva. Dr. Parker, the geologist, was here, as well as Leena. Vidia was here, of course. She was always present at General Rouhr’s briefings. She said it was because she liked to keep abreast of the issues the Vengeance crew faced, and she needed to know what might affect the human population, but everyone knew it was also because she wanted to be near her mate.

  General Rouhr nodded for Tella to present her findings. Tella stood from her seat and moved to where General Rouhr stood.

  “I won’t bore you with the scientific details,” she began, eliciting a round of soft laughter from her audience. “I’ve found significant evidence that whatever that thing is out in the desert can control other species of sentient plants using invasive, parasitic vines that don’t have to be physically connected to the creature to take control of the host.”

  “The creature has vine minions?” Karzin asked.

  “Not exactly,” Tella replied. “The parasitic vines are more like clones of the creature itself. Genetic analysis proves it.”

  I knew something was wrong with those vines, but I wouldn’t have guessed they were an extension of the creature itself. The way those vines dragged the sorvuc bodies deeper into the forest showed intelligence

  Those vines didn’t want Tella to look at the sorvuc bodies.

  Now that she’d figured out they were part of the creature, it was obvious we were in more danger than we’d realized.

  “What’s the next step?” Takar asked.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” I asked. “If that thing can control other sentient plants, then we have to remove the sentient plants. Take away its advantage.”

  “We can’t do that.” Tella gave me a surprised look that I didn’t understand. What other option did we have? “The sentient plant population is vital to maintaining the balance of the forest we rely on for eighty percent of our resources. I’m sure Dr. Parker has already said as much.”

  “I have,” Annie spoke up.

  “That was when the creature posed a threat we couldn’t do anything about,” I replied. “We had no way of stopping the attacks on the settlements. No one remembered them and they happened without warning. Now we have a threat we can stop, so I think we should stop it.” My words elicited murmurs of support.

  “What you’re proposing is a band-aid solution, at best,” Tella argued. “Within months the ecosystem will collapse and we’ll be in a far worse position than we are now.”

  “With all due respect, our job is to protect human lives,” I said. “If we have the opportunity to do that, you can’t ask us not to.”

  “It’s a moot point if the lives you save now are lost in a few weeks because we’ve destroyed the environment we live in,” Tella said. “Do you know what will happen if the sentient plant species die out? The populations of the creatures they feed on will skyrocket. If those populations skyrocket, they’ll continue to grow out of control. The forest won’t be able to support large increases in population like that. It will collapse and we will collapse with it.”

  “Then we maintain the environment ourselves,” I shrugged.

  “How are you going to do that?” Tella challenged, throwing her hands in the air. “This isn’t your native world. You don’t know enough about the complex ecological structure to manually maintain it, even if it were possible.”

  “That’s why we have experts,” I grinned, which only seemed to make Tella more irritated.

  “Those experts won’t do you much good if you refuse to listen to them,” Tella said pointedly.

  “That creature out there has already done considerable environmental damage,” I pointed out. “If they can control other species of sentient plants, won’t that damage the environment just as much as we would if we hunted down the sentient plants? Either way, the sentient plant population will be damaged. Why not save lives in the process?”

  “The damage you want to do isn’t reversible,” Tella countered. “We don’t know that the creature in the desert permanently damages the sentient plants it takes control of.”

  “We can’t keep using the fact that we don’t know enough about that thing as an excuse to continue doing nothing.” I realized I had stood up. I wasn’t sure when that happened, but with each word exchanged, Tella and I stepped closer to each other.

  “And we can’t jump at the first solution without ensuring that it’s the best solution,” Tella argued. “With all that’s at stake, we have to think things through.”

  “Someone get in between them before they come to blows,” Sk’lar interrupted.

  “Yes, I think we ought to step back from this issue,” General Rouhr cut in.

  Tella returned to her seat without another glance in my direction.

  “You both make fair points,” General Rouhr continued. “However, Rokul is right when he says our duty is to save lives.”

  “At least give me a chance to find an alternative,” Tella suggested.

  “Us,” Leena jumped in, surprising us all. “Give us a chance to find an alternative.”

  “Such as?” General Rouhr lifted a brow in interest.

  “A neutralizer or a tranquilizer,” Tella blurted. “Something that will kill the vines without killing the main body of the sentient plant.”

  General Rouhr fell silent as he considered his options. After a moment, he looked to Vidia, who nodded ever so subtly to Tella and Leena. With that nod, I knew my suggestion was out the window.

  “You have three days to come up with something,” General Rouhr instructed Leena and Tella. “If you don’t have a viable plan by then, we’ll have to go with Rokul’s plan.”

  “Yes, sir,” Tella murmured.

  “Thank you, General,” Leena added with a smile.

  “I hope you can pull it off,” General Rouhr replied. He turned to face the rest of us. “If there are no other concerns, you’re all dismissed. Go about your regular duties.”

  I wanted to talk to Tella, but she refused to meet my gaze. She looked furious.

  As soon as she had the chance, she slipped out of the room without so much as a glance in my direction.

  Skrell.

  Tella

  I felt Rokul’s eyes on me as I stood up. I didn’t want to talk to him.

  He’d already explained his viewpoint and made it perfectly clear that, no matter what overwhelming evidence I showed him to the contrary, he still believed his plan was the best one.

  Who the hell did Rokul think he was?

  Did my years of schooling and experience mean nothing?

  Was I unclear at any point?

  Or was Rokul just too eager to pick up a blaster and charge into battle to listen to anything I said?

  I wiggled past the other aliens trying to leave the conference room. I didn’t want to be near anyone right now. Once free of the crowd, I stormed off to the lab.

  Perhaps there was something else I could use that would convince Rokul beyond a shadow of a doubt that killing all of the sentient plants was the wrong way to go.

  I fought the urge to break something. M
y mother always told me my temper was my one vice. Of course, I had plenty of other vices when she’d told me that. She just didn’t know about them.

  I paced the walkways between the lab stations. While I paced, I heard someone enter the room. I assumed it was Rokul, so I looked up, teeth bared and ready to argue.

  Leena laughed when she saw my expression.

  “If you’re looking for round two, you’ll have to go somewhere else,” she joked. I sighed and pressed the palm of my hand into my forehead.

  “I’m sorry. I thought you were Rokul,” I explained.

  “I assumed so,” Leena said. “We aren’t the best of friends, but I don’t think I’ve done anything to warrant that kind of look from you.”

  “No, you haven’t,” I smiled weakly. “Thanks for having my back in that meeting.”

  “Of course,” Leena grinned. “You’re the one in the right.”

  “Rokul doesn’t think so,” I huffed.

  “Fuck him,” Leena shrugged.

  I almost did, I thought to myself.

  “I just can’t believe that after seeing me in action on multiple occasions, knowing my qualifications, and the fact that his general brought me in because I’m an expert, Rokul had the audacity to think he knew better than me!” I threw my hands up as a fresh wave of anger hit me.

  “That’s just how men are,” Leena smirked.

  “He’s not a man. He’s a Skotan.” I rolled my eyes.

  “He might be a different species but all males have some universal similarities,” Leena replied with a smirk.

  “Then what good are they?” I exclaimed, but I started laughing before I could finish the sentence.

  “We know what they’re good for,” Leena winked.

  “Rokul could be good for that. Not that I would know,” I added quickly. “But I don’t know if I can get past what happened in there.”

  “Skotan are extremely military oriented, more so than the other races,” Leena explained. “It’s in his nature to say things like that.”

  “I understand that,” I replied, and I did. “But he and I are supposed to be friends. If he can’t respect my educated, professional opinion, how can I trust him to respect any of my other opinions?”