A New Threat

by Aaron DeMott

  Bast let out her breath and glanced back at the ship. Another group of the creatures emerged from a point at the top of the ship. Each of them carried several pieces of equipment of varying shapes and sizes. This group looked around for a moment before they walked to the rear of the ship.

  They worked their way onto one of the protruding tubes and stopped at a long jagged scar surrounded by scorch marks. They soon began to remove various pieces around the scar.

  The ground group was almost to the tree line. They still stared at their little boxes, and occasionally looked up, down, and all around. They looked for all the world like a kindle of kittens that had opened their eyes for the first time. She covered her muzzle with her paws to keep from laughing.

  She turned her head and looked back at the ship. The repair crew had half of the area around the damage torn off, and were still taking things apart. They weren’t going anywhere for a while.

  The aliens with the weapons looked around idly. The other two held various leaves and sticks and things up in front of their boxes and then stared at them for a while, only to get another leaf and repeat the whole ordeal.

  Bast almost yelped when another member of her clan contacted her using thought-speak.

  “Bast, the Council wishes to hear your initial report.”

  “I have not yet finished observing them,” she said.

  The speaker was Rrrark, another Scout of her clan, and from the feel of his mental voice, he was on his way to her.

  “Yes, I tried to advise them to wait to allow you to gather enough information to make a full report—” Rrrark’s clipped mental tone sounded irritated to Bast. “—but the Council is nervous about this ship and wants to gather all the information they can, as quickly and accurately as possible, to determine if it is a threat to the clan. I am coming to temporarily relieve you long enough to make your report.”

  “Very well.” Her tail drooped. She wasn’t done watching them yet!

  Bast kneaded the dirt with her claws while she waited for Rrrark to arrive. The Council was probably worried these creatures were here to take over the clan’s territory or something. They didn’t feel that dangerous to her. Perhaps if she delivered her report quickly, she could get back to watching them.

  A black shape moved in the corner of her eye. Bast turned and squinted, then recognized the shadow as Rrrark. His black fur blended into the shadows. She stood and bowed to him. She took a few steps and stretched before she ran off in the direction of her clan’s khaal. Hmm. The aliens were fairly close. She lessened her pace. If she was out of breath when she gave this silly report—well, the Council wouldn’t like that at all.

  Several lengths later, she came to a deep ravine. She leapt up onto the first branch of the tree bridge. Two trees made up the tree bridge, one on either side of the divide. Her clan had used it for ages; it was much faster than climbing all the way down and back up. The trees had been coaxed to grow together, their limbs pruned and twisted to make an elegant passageway.

  Halfway out, on the third branch up, where it was grafted into a branch from the tree on the opposite side, the limb snapped under her. Bast reached out to grab the broken edge with her claws. She clung precariously for a moment. The limb creaked. Small pops and snaps told her she’d better climb back up before the rest of the branch broke. She lifted her right paw and sank her claws into the wood—the rotten wood, she realized as her claws sliced through it as easily as if it were a leaf. She pawed desperately but slid off and into the ravine.

  Bast screamed as she twisted in an attempt to right herself and land on her feet. Halfway through twisting her torso back to center, the rest of the limb broke and tumbled toward her. She landed hard on her feet and tried to absorb the impact. It was too much, and her belly slammed into the ground. Bast tried to roll out of the way, but her legs wouldn’t move. The log smashed into her ribs and rebounded onto her head, just above her ear. The world went dark.

  Tomed walked along the path in the forest. It was a packed dirt track and clear of vegetation. Even the tree limbs had been cleared to a height of about a meter from the ground. They had followed the trail for about ten minutes when a loud snap of breaking wood came from ahead, followed by a scream.

  Tomed broke into a run. “Come on!”

  They ran toward the source of the sound and came upon a ravine. Tomed peered over the edge and whistled softly.

  “Come take a look at this.” Tomed motioned for Commander Vinson to come closer.

  Vinson peeked over the edge. “Wow.”

  A large cat, about three meters long from its nose to the tip of its tail, lay in the ravine. A tree limb covered most of the cat’s body and made it hard to tell its exact size.

  Remarkable. Except for its large size, it looked very similar to a common house cat from Earth, especially in the calico coloration of its fur.

  Tomed and the commander climbed down rapidly, stumbling once or twice over the roots and rocks in the steep incline.

  “This is incredible!” The commander lifted a front paw that was a tad bigger than his hand. “Looks to be a female. Mammalian or the local equivalent. Bone structure is proportional. From that, I’d guess it’s either an adult or close to it, but without seeing more of the species, there’s no way to be certain.”

  Tomed lifted the log off her and tossed it aside.

  Vinson looked up at Tomed with a surprised look on his face. Tomed thought he might want to ask a question, but the commander’s attention was back on the cat. He turned over her front paw and whistled.

  “Look at this!” He pointed to the paw. “She’s got an extra opposable digit here roughly where a domestic cat would have a dew claw. Strange. From the rest of the foot structure, I’d say it’s quadrupedal.”

  He ran his scanner over her body.

  “How is she?” Tomed asked.

  “Still alive. Her heartbeat is steady, but her breathing’s ragged.”

  “Let me look at her.”

  Tomed moved closer, and held his hand about four centimeters above her body. He moved it slowly from head to tail. Commander Vinson looked at him with a puzzled expression.

  “What are you doing, sir?” he asked.

  “Checking for damage...”

  “Are the rumors about Psygens’ abilities true?” Vinson asked.

  “Not all rumors are true, Commander. But some have a kernel of truth in them.” Tomed smiled, and put his right hand gently on the cat’s head, and his left over her ribs where the log had caught her. He felt a static-like sensation tingle his hands as he passed them over the injured area. He could feel a faint echo of pain. He concentrated and could almost see the cat’s wounds.

  “She’s got a mild concussion, four broken ribs, and possibly a punctured lung. I’m not a doctor though—it might just be bruised.”

  Tomed closed his eyes and pushed energy out through his palms. A faint, soft yellow-white glow formed between Tomed’s hands and the cat’s inert body. A soft hum emanated from the light. Tomed moved his hand over the area echoing the most pain. He pushed more energy into that spot and imagined the bones growing back together.

  Bast woke with a splitting headache. She hurt all over. She started purring softly to help healing. Her people had always known that purring helped the healing process, but it was only within the past hundred years they had discovered that it was the specific frequency range of an average purr that stimulated and sped healing. She tried to remember where she was. A tree branch slowly came to mind. She remembered something about falling and then where she was going at the time.

  Bast jerked into full consciousness. Two of the strange creatures stood over her. The other two were at the top of the ravine. One of the two closer to her was the brown-furred leader. A musky smell wafted from his skin. Yup, it was a male. He made a combination of noises at the other one. She didn’t move. Neither did they. She blinked slowly. The brown-furred one blinked slowly back.

  He pointed at his chest and said: “Tomed.” />
  Was that his name? Should she just run off or stay and see what they did next? She slowly reached up and touched herself in the chest, just as he had done. “Bast” she said, pronouncing her name slowly. She could sense a presence. She concentrated on it. It wasn’t a Meskka presence, and it seemed to come from the alien who had identified himself as Tomed. She blinked again. How could she sense a presence, even though he wasn’t thought-speaking to her?

  “Hello?” she queried.

  He looked surprised for a moment, and then answered her, also in thought-speak.

  “Hello. My name is Tomed, I am a human from a world called Earth.”

  It was her turn to look surprised—she really hadn’t expected him to answer her, and she especially didn’t expect to understand him.

  “I am called Bast, of the Mer-ahsh clan. I am surprised that we are able to understand each other.”

  “It’s probably because we’re communicating ideas telepathically, and our minds translate the concepts into words,” he replied. “I, too, am surprised that we are able to communicate like this. Very few on my world are able, and no other species we have encountered can do it. May I try something that might let us communicate even more efficiently?”

  Bast wondered what on Alkask that could be. “What do you mean?”

  “Our minds are able to understand each other,” he answered, “I would like to try to send your mind our language, so that we can communicate verbally. My companions are wondering what’s going on. It won’t hurt at all. Worst case, it’ll sound like I’m talking a whole bunch of gibberish.”

  “You can really do that?” Bast asked.

  She stared at him. She hadn’t even heard stories in which such a thing was possible. And if it was possible, was it safe?

  “I don’t know.” The alien moved his shoulders up and down. “I’ve never had the chance to try, but in theory it should work. Telepathy is a side effect of controlled quantum reactions. Basically, my brain stores information in a quantum state and then induces the same quantum state in your brain. Thus we can understand each other even though we don’t know each other’s language.”

  Bast tried to follow what he was saying, thinking, quantuming, whatever. It made her head hurt. Pity, it had just started to feel better.

  “I don’t really understand all of that. My people have always been able to talk with thought-speak. But if this method to learn your language won’t do any damage, and will possibly help communicate with the others, it’s worth trying.”

  Tomed reached his hand out very slowly and laid his palm on Bast’s forehead. His hand was smooth and cool, but not cold. He closed his eyes and took a deep, slow breath. Bast felt a series of thoughts flow into her head, too fast to grasp, so she tried to relax and let it come. It felt like a river of ideas flowing into her brain. More and more came every second. Just when she thought she couldn’t take in any more, it stopped. She opened her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled quickly.

  “Well, I don’t think anything went wrong.” Tomed tilted his head to the side. “But can you understand me?”

  Bast surprised herself more than the humans when she answered in their language, “Yes, I can understand you now. You are from the ship that landed in the valley?”

  “Yes. Our ship was damaged, and we needed to land to repair it. I’m Psygen Tomed Nor, and this is Lieutenant Commander Greg Vinson. Marine Major Hood and Marine Lance Corporal Harris are up at the top of the hill.”

  Bast dipped her head to each of the others as he introduced them.

  She suddenly realized that her ribs hardly hurt. She was sure she had cracked one or two of them when that log hit her. She had almost forgotten in all the excitement.

  “Did you help me heal?” she asked.

  “Yes. I helped a little.”

  “Thank you. May I ask what your intentions are after you have repaired your ship?”

  “We had hoped to stay and survey your planet as long as we were here. We are a curious race and know nothing of your world.”

  Bast’s people also had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. It would be odd if they had come all the way from another world merely to repair their ship. However, the repairs could be a ruse to cover a more nefarious purpose. Rrrark or one of the others might know a subtle way to get this information. Bast thought about it for a moment, but nothing came to mind. Better to just ask.

  “Are there any other reasons you are here?”

  Bast listened as Tomed told her of his being attacked by pirates, and how her planet had been the closest world where they could make repairs. Her people had only just begun to survey the stars with automated spacecraft.

  Bast’s ears perked up. “What do you look for on all the planets you travel to?”

  “We look for many things—materials we can use to build new starships, places to visit for relaxation, sites for colonies to place people that we don’t have room for, or even to make new friends in the rare case we find other intelligent life.

  “In this particular instance we hadn’t planned on actually coming here for a very long time. We were on our way to the Deneb system for a trade and exploration conference with the SeQish, allies of ours, when the pirates attacked.”

  The alien sounded sincere, and the damage she had seen on the ship would be hard and dangerous to fake, but if they really were here for some of the other reasons he listed, like setting up a colony or gathering materials…

  “You should come and speak with the Council of the Mer-ahsh. They are the largest clan of Meskka on Alkask—our name for our world. They will wish to talk to you.”

  Tomed looked at the others for a moment before he turned back to her. “We would be delighted to meet with your Council.”

  “If you would follow me, please.” Bast turned around and led them up out of the ravine to where the path resumed on the other side.

  She would have to remember to inform a builder about the broken tree bridge so it could be repaired.

  Bast kept glancing over her shoulder at the humans while they walked. They looked at the trees, birds, and other animals they saw in the forest. Curiosity was a good thing, in her opinion. Perhaps they had only come to look around. She hoped so. It was rare, but not unheard of, for a clan to challenge a bordering clan’s territory. Perhaps these humans were here to do the same. Even if the aliens were being truthful, the pirates they mentioned might be a threat too. As a Scout, it was her job to make sure any stranger to the Mer-ahsh clan was not a threat. In this case, the strangers could potentially be a threat to all Meskka.

  Chapter 2

  After they had walked for a half an hour at the abysmally slow pace these humans seemed to consider normal, the path came to dead end at a line of trees grown closely together. Flower-studded vines grew in a carefully maintained pattern across the whole wall. One of the aliens, Commander Vinson, stepped closer to the wall to examine the intertwined vines.

  “This is the entrance to the main khaal of our clan.” Bast pointed to the wall. “Each khaal is started by individual families of the clan as a home, storehouse, fortress, and protection from the weather. Over time, they have become cities for many families.”

  “Incredible.” Tomed studied the wall to where it stretched into the forest and curved out of sight. He ran his hand over the rough bark. “How’s it made?”

  “The trees are shaped as they grow, so they twine together over the years. At the same time, wood from other trees is carved to add to the effect, and provide doors. A khaal is a city, and a work of art. Khaal Mer-ahsh is the oldest khaal on all Alkask.”

  Bast stepped forward, reached a paw into a twist between a few of the trees directly in front of the path, and pushed a hidden lever. She stepped back, and a section untwisted and slid back into the surrounding wall and down into the dirt.

  One of the marines blinked rapidly and took a half-step back. “Wow.”

  Tomed, Commander Vinson, and the others’ eyes widened. They stepped forward and knelt to exa
mine the area where the trees had slid away. There was no sign now that there had ever been a door in the spot. A smooth wooden threshold now covered the ground where the trees had been.

  Bast stepped through the door. Inside, a path ran straight to the center of the khaal. A giant tree dominated the skyline. Along the path, other, smaller trees grew in a row, and the path branched into several side streets.

  Major Hood bent to examine the path as the others gawked at the city of trees.

  “Psygen Nor, this path isn’t made of dirt. It looks like it’s a type of rubberized asphalt of some sort.”

  “Huh.” Tomed stomped his boot onto the surface. “That’s interesting. Durable, and easy on the feet, too.”

  The group walked down the main path toward the center of the khaal. The humans proceeded even slower for all their craning their necks around like newborn kittens.

  “Are these trees for decoration or dwellings?” Commander Vinson asked.

  “Some of each.” Bast looked over her shoulder at him. “We like the look of the forest, and even after we developed industry, we preserve natural beauty whenever we can.”

  When they arrived at the center of the khaal, Tomed and the other aliens looked up at the enormous tree in awe.

  “Are all the khaals built around ancient trees?” Tomed asked.

  Bast laughed. “It’s not a real tree. A very close likeness though, isn’t it? That is the palace of the Mer-ahsh clan and our temple.”

  Tomed whistled and looked more closely. “Amazing. It looks exactly like a natural tree, leaves and all. Truly a work of art.”

  Bast smiled. “The leaves are real. The artisans that built it took branches from live trees and grafted them into the structure. Water and nutrients are fed through special vessels hidden in the walls that connect the grafted branches to roots. Of all the clans of Meskka, the palace of the Mer-ahsh is the largest and most life-like.”