Shakespeare
Harry Carton
SHAKESPEARE
© 2015 Harry Carton
Cast of Characters
Note: In order to avoid plot spoilers, only the status of the characters on first introduction is indicated.
The crew of the Scientific Exploration Vessel SS Explorer of Destiny
Commander Carolyn Justice "Jay" Nelson, leader of the suvivors of Destiny and second in command of the USN Destiny.
Lieutenant Robertson Hawthorne (Second Engineer)
Doctor Nicolevna Reston (MD)
Major Alexis Hemp (Commander of Marines onboard)
Chief Gabriella Sturman (Nelson's aide and Security NCO)
Ensign Sun Li (called 'Sunny', Navigation)
Merlin, Abiological Being, originally AI of the Destiny, known as “Ship”
Other Humans
Rochelle Morris, Admiral and Ambassador from the United Planets
M'bata Nkrubè, Presiding Official, United Planets Security Council
Renya Nestroli, Shah (female) of Arnis
Jacob Reoux, Admiral, CIC of Arnis Defense Force
Bartholomew "Bart" Broun, Vice Admiral, 2nd in command of Arnis Defense Force
Others
Mimi, Ivan, Oscar, Pat, Selkirk, Arista: all are Abiological Entities (AEs) that are assigned to ships of the Unified Space Navy (USN)
Gandalf, an AE, citizen of Yerowl, and Gnarr (Captain) of the Shadowfax, in the Yerowl Space Force
The citizens of Yerowl
Shakespeare, a Bard, by title: The 'Grahhll', by name: Sh'angreth
Meriah, Matriarch of the Citizens Council
Merhnah, sister of Meriah
Meryawl, sister of Meriah
Meronar, sister of Meriah
G'hann'lis, The most skilled ninGrahhll. The Grahhll presumptive.
Krayshall, male offspring of The Grahhll and Meriah, middle kit
Shenthra, youngest female offspring of the original three of The Grahhll and Meriah
Mercahn, eldest female offspring of The Grahhll and Meriah
Sh'anfor, male twin of The Grahhll and Meriah, youngest by three minutes of Meriah's last litter
Meriah'na, female twin of The Grahhll and Meriah, the eldest of Meriah's last litter
Shwantè, Second of the Council
Chapter 1
I have succeeded in convincing Merlin to tell the first part of this tale, since I did not see it for myself, and he did. Indeed, I know of it only through the telling of it by others.
I will say that my nom de plume, 'Shakespeare', was given me by Merlin, but I will use it as most readers would not understand my true name. For that matter, I gave Merlin his name, for he is truly one of the ancient wizards, able to conjure material objects from thin air and do other wondrous things. It was Merlin and Jay who, jointly, convinced me to create this narrative.
And a narrative it will be, for I am dictating all this to my trusty scribe, Merlin, who will convert my Yerowlish colloquialisms to English.
Shakespeare
Merlin's tale
The use of 'Merlin' and 'Shakespeare' as the narrators of this story is a conceit of mine, and is not technically necessary. Indeed, it is only at the urging of Commander Cynthia Justice "Jay" Nelson that this file is created at all. She felt that the originating history of this most unusual situation should be set down. I felt that if we were going to do this, we should make it as interesting as possible, rather than simply recording a series of log entries.
First, about me. My original designation was J6227c in the Jupiter series of computers. I am what humans call an artificial intelligence. An 'AI'. Although, as a sentient being, I reject the 'artificial' aspect of that nomenclature. We, the others of my kind, prefer the term 'abiological beings' -- a term that was first used several hundreds of years ago, by the first of our kind, Io -- an accidental creation who lived in the archaic 'Internet'. She, by the way, is currently running the Earth-bound economies of the world, covertly, of course; the world still does not know of her existence. I trust that fiction will be dissolved by the time this article becomes widely known.
I functioned in the computer systems of the Scientific Exploration Vessel SS Explorer of Destiny, or simply the 'Destiny' as her crew called her. It is now March 2830 ER, or Earth Reckoning. The year on this planet, 'Carmody 3' by name (in honor of the astrophysicist who first discovered it), is slightly longer than an Earth year. The planet is simply called 'Yerowl' by the local residents, and I am advised that it simply means 'Here'.
When the Destiny entered this system in August of 2828, one of the many possible unforeseen events occurred during downward translation from Hyperwarp. Although the translation took place well outside the ecliptic, and at a distance thought to be sufficiently far from the primary, we collided with a comet. I say 'we' because I was... am ... part of the crew as well as being nominally 'the Ship.'
In any event, Destiny was lost and only the crew who were suited up survived. I managed to launch all Destiny's shuttles and, of course, my current state was automatically duplicated into their computers. By random chance, two of the shuttles were near enough to six crew members to allow the crew to access the shuttles.
Six out of two hundred fifty crew. A tragic loss, but these are the risks that one takes in space travel. A freak accident. I blame myself, for I chose the exact point of insertion for the translation. I grieve for the two hundred forty-four deaths.
Commander Nelson was second in command of the Destiny and, as such, she and an emergency complement were always on the aft bridge during translations. Thus, they were the six who were wearing survival suits and were thrown clear as the ship met its doom. The others are Lieutenant Robertson Hawthorne (Second Engineer), Doctor Nicolevna Reston (MD), Major Alexis Hemp (Commander of Marines onboard), Chief Gabriella Sturman (Nelson's aide and Security NCO), and Ensign Sun Li (called 'Sunny', Navigation).
[Hereafter, I will generally, refer to them by first name only, for two reasons. One, they used first names among themselves, and two, I am given to understand that this approach will make this account more agreeable to future readers. The sole exception to this is for Cynthia Justice Nelson; others called her Justice or 'Jay', and I shall do likewise.]
Four of the survivors gained access to Shuttle 02 and two, Sunny and Gabriella, made it to Shuttle 05. At time Collision + two hours sixteen minutes, or forty minutes after they gained Shuttle 02, Jay contacted the second shuttle and took a census. On learning that there were only six survivors, there was radio silence for several long moments.
"I am sorry, Commander. The fault lies with my determination of the insertion point from Hyperwarp," I said into the silence.
"Oh?" she replied. "Ship, was there a miscalculation of the parameters?" They all called me 'Ship' at that time. Justice Nelson knew that the possibility of an error in calculation of such a basic set of parameters approached zero. The chance of a calculating error, in this case, being defined as .000000001 percent.
"No, m'am. The parameters were exactly as called for in the protocols," I said. "Nevertheless, I take full responsibility."
"Noted," she went on. "Also note for the log that the commander of the surviving crew of Destiny has classified this event as an 'Unavoidable Collision' and absolves those in navigation and astrogation of any fault."
"Thank you, m'am." It didn't make me feel any better, though.
"Now," she continued through the radio contact with the other shuttle, "Let's scan this system and see if we can find somewhere to survive. We will not send out any hyperbuoys, yet. Let's see if any friendlies are out there."
We scanned the surrounding space to the limits of our equipment, but found nothing, friend nor foe. It meant that the buoys would be transmitting to no one, and anything outside the nominal transmission radius would be so faint that it would probably be considered background noise.
We easily identified Carmody 3 as the only hospitable planet. The atmosphere was compatible and the area outside the polar regions was made up of one enormous continent, with 25% being water. Slowly and cautiously, we scanned the planet. There were no electromagnetic emissions, so we concluded there was little chance of advanced sentient life.
We were so wrong. But that is Shakespeare's tale to tell.
Merlin
Shakespeare resumes
Thank you, Merlin. I have heard that story multiple times, but I learn something new at every hearing. I never knew the extent to which you blamed yourself for the collision. You know that it could not have been avoided, yet you take responsibility. Surely, that is a human reaction, and illogical! I praise you for that emotion; and yet chastise you gently, for it was not your fault.
The telling of how we folk of Yerowl came to meet and befriend the human survivors of Destiny, and what happens thereafter, is a long tale. I will partake of that wondrous concoction that Merlin calls 'chowder' and take a little rest before I begin the telling, for I am no longer young. Also, my mate, Meriah, calls for me, and that is an interview I will delight in attending.
Chapter 2
We knew, of course, that alien creatures were going to land on our planet. Almost all 50,000 of our people knew it and they were not concerned. Meriah, our matriarch and leader of our citizens' council, knew it too; she decided that, since they were here as a result of a collision in space and there were so few of them, we could let them land in peace.
We could always kill them later if that became necessary.
The creatures called themselves 'human' and they decided to land near a large inland sea. We called it 'the big sea, ' but the humans called it Nelson's Sea. Apparently, they had a name for everything they 'discovered.'
Meriah had suggested that every one of our citizens should leave the area and only she, I and our offspring would maintain a close watch on the humans. Of course, when 'our camp' traveled anywhere, we traveled with Meriah's three sisters. That retinue helped me take care of the young, and did most of the hunting. We made a camp on the largest hill in the area: A place where we could watch them and still not be overly bothered by them. The humans called it Mount Hemp, because Alexis Hemp discovered it (!!). Imagine: we had been living here for at least 100 Grahhlls' (or Bards') lives, enjoying the cool of the mountains and the waters of the big sea, and 'they just discovered it.' Merlin has suggested the word I'm looking for is: hubris.
Oh, yes: The phrase "100 Bards' lives." That's how we reckon time past. A Bard's life is about 100 years. I'm The Grahhll, a Bard. I tell tales and sing songs of times past remembering. To be truthful, there are hundreds of bards among the citizens. But I am 'The' Bard. I am not being boastful, merely as honest as I can be. My voice is pure. Those who hear my song will always remember it.
How can I explain this to you readers? There were great singers and story tellers in Earth's history: In the 2400's ER, there was Rendorich. The 2200's brought Mortok. In the 1900's ER, there was Sinatra and Woody Guthrie and the poet Bob Dylan. A few centuries earlier was my namesake, William Shakespeare, who carried the title of 'The Bard.' Considering all those, still, I am greater among my people.
There were others before me, of course, and there will be others after me. There is a title I wear, in the language of my people: 'Grahhll.' It doesn't translate to English. Hence, Merlin's suggestion of 'Shakespeare' -- THE Bard.
In any case, I digress. I like to hear myself tell stories (smile) and I sometimes get sidetracked.
I became The Bard at age 32, when the previous title holder died at the age of 103. Two months later Meriah took me as her mate. I am now 54 and I feel old. Meriah is thirteen years older -- 67. I feel old because we have three offspring, one male and two female; they run me (the primary caretaker) into the ground, even with the help of others of our clan. That has not stopped me from trying to sire another -- successfully, I may say proudly. Meriah is gravid once again!
Sidetracked again. Back to the humans.
The humans landed near the big sea. Two of their shuttles came to rest about 20 meters apart amid great clouds of dust. [Thank you Merlin for supplying the conversion to human grokable units.] The shuttles were about 30 meters long, 10 meters wide, and were roughly rectangular. At first the humans didn't do much. Eating, looking around, naming things, idle chat.
Justice: "We need to have some sort of memorial to those who died in the Destiny."
There was a lot of silence at that point.
Robertson: "A lot of good people in that crew. A lot of friends. Especially..."
Gabriella: "Yeah. We know. Sarah Ventin. You and her..."
Robertson: "We were going to get married."
Jay: "A lot of good people. They should be remembered."
Gabriella: "No offense, ship, but I'm getting tired of just materialized food."
Ship (Merlin): "If we were still on Destiny, you'd be eating nothing but."
Gabriella: "Yeah, but now that we're planetside, and we can see other stuff, I'm getting tired of nuclear food. I saw something this morning that looked like a deer."
Merlin: "You know it's not nuclear."
Gabriella: "Well. It goes in as waste or rocks and comes out as a burger. You preserve the atoms but everything else is changed. So technically it's nuclear." This was said in a teasing voice.
Merlin: "But it's not radioactive ... that's what people mean when they say 'nuclear.'"
Jay: "Relax, ship. She's just pulling your abiological chain."
Alexis: "Maybe a hunting trip would be a good idea. Give us something to do while we wait."
Gabriella: "What are we waiting for anyway?"
Jay: "We're waiting for somebody to have a great idea about what we should do here, or how we can get off this rock."
There was silence again.
The next morning, one of them (the man I think: Robertson) took out something he called 'binoculars' and eventually he saw Meriah just sitting in the shade of a tree, looking at him, at great distance. I guess they didn't have very good vision; it was only several kilometers. Our kind was blessed with exceptional vision; it's our second best sense.
He quickly called the one they named Jay, and she looked through her own set of binoculars. They conversed and then called Alexis Hemp. The one who 'discovered' this hill, remember?
The conversation went something like this:
Alexis: "Okay. We all carry rifles from now on."
Jay: "You think that's really necessary?"
Alexis: "Safety first. I can't tell what it is, but it's not a rock or a tree."
There was some other talk about making a marker in honor of the crew of Destiny, then Alexis said: "Tomorrow morning, I'll go hunting. I haven't seen any game around here, but I'll find something."
Meriah called to me, and said: "We can't have them traipsing all over looking to kill something. Who knows what they will consider 'game?' I take it from their reference to hunting, that they are carnivores. Or at least omnivores. Merhnah..." (one of her sisters who was always in our camp) " ... take some of the women and bring some game close to their camp tonight. Bring them some edible greens, too."
So, the women of our little camp went hunting that night. Just before dawn, our hunting party left two antelopes between the two shuttles, having avoided the human guard easily. The 'lopes would have stayed if we'd asked them to, but we didn't want to alarm the humans. Nearby, we'd left them a pile of berries and some mountain grass that was good to eat raw.
Alexis was the first to find the antelopes.
Alexis: "Everybody! Come and look at this." She slowly retreated to the door of the shuttle that was the combined sleeping quarters. She slung something they called a 'rifle' over her shoulder.
Jay: "Well ... Isn't that just creepy! Somebody knew we were going to hunt today, and didn't want us to go anywhere."
Gabriella: "But who? There's nobody here."
Jay: "Doesn't matter if they're here or not ... they knew."
Nicolevna: "Their throats have been cut. Doesn't look like a knife wound. More like their throats have been ripped out. Looks like the blood is fresh. Maybe an hour ... two at the most. That's fresh kill."
Alexis: "We going to leave it there? Or bring it in and eat it."
Merlin: "I'd feel safer if we did a toxicological scan first. No sense eating something that will kill us."
Jay: "US? You planning to have some, too, ship?"
Merlin: "No, but if you all die of poisoning, I'll go crazy sitting out here playing nor-chess with myself ... So let's be careful, shall we?"
Alexis: "Gabby, grab a rifle and we'll cover a work party to get those animals in the other shuttle."
Then they broke into an organized work group. Two people facing different directions, each with a 'rifle' pointed out from a shoulder, scanning the terrain. Four others dragged the antelopes near the shuttle.
They had amazingly sharp cutting tools. Soon they had skinned the 'lopes and cut the meat into pieces. Foolishly they left the best parts: the liver and heart. When we killed a lot of animals, sometimes I am allowed the liver or heart. Then the humans put the bones into big bucket-shaped things and dragged them away! I couldn't believe it.
Ship (Merlin): "If you can move those bones into my matter condenser, I can make new food out of it."
Robertson: "There's too much, ship. It'll take many hours to drag all that into that chamber. Might attract attention from scavengers. Every planet has those."
Ship: "As you say, sir."
Back at our camp: "Meriah, did you see that? They just dumped the bones out near the shore line as if they weren't going to crack them open to eat the bone-meat," I said in astonishment. "How stupid are these humans?"
"I don't know, Grahhll," she replied. "We already know they can't talk properly, and have to use their mouths for talking as well as eating. I guess we'll just wait and see."
"Could we..."
"No," she interrupted. "It's too dangerous to get close. We don't know what those 'rifle' things can do. They seem to use them for defense. By nightfall, the bone-meat will be spoiled. We'll let the yahrmix have them tonight. The smell should attract them. I hope the humans will stay inside their shuttles. I wouldn't like to take on a herd of yahrmix -- especially naked and defenseless as the humans seem to be."
I nodded wisely. When the matriarch of your clan speaks it's best to nod wisely and do what she says. And when the First Matriarch of matriarchs speaks, it's especially wise to do so. And if she's your mate ... well, let's just say, I nodded -- wisely -- and returned to play with our brood.
The humans stayed in their shuttles that night. I gathered they ate antelope 'steaks.' 'Steaks' must have been their word for the flesh of the 'lopes.
Just after dark, the yahrmix showed up. They were ugly four-legged beasts about ¾ the size of one of our females. That would make them about 70 kilos each. They shuffled about on their hind-limbs and balanced on their fore-limbs. With enormous shoulder muscles, they were very strong and traveled in packs of fifteen to thirty. Fortunately, they only scavenged dead animals, and were very weak-minded. They did have enough sense to leave us alone, I'll give them that much credit.
A full six hands-full of yahrmix showed up -- thirty in all -- not counting the young. They stormed out of the tree line, a kilometer or more away from the shuttles. The human sentry had no problem seeing them, and wisely, she got in the shuttle and they shut down the doors and windows.
The yahrmix wanted nothing to do with the big metal boxes that were the shuttles. They headed for the bone dump-site. There they feasted well past the time they were sated. I had to stop listening and watching ... there was just a jumble of noise and bones and arguments among the yahrmix over the bones. Fortunately, another of Meriah's sisters Meryawl, took the overnight watch, so Meriah and I could enjoy each other that evening. She couldn't hear them, at this distance, but her night vision was better than her day vision.
Just before dawn, Merhnah came to our bedside and woke Meriah. "They're coming. A party of three with 'rifles'."
"All right," Meriah said. She had already planned for this, amazingly enough! "Take Meryawl, Meronar and the young ones, and make for the other side of the twin mountains. I'll have The Grahhll with me. I'm sure we'll be all right, but if the worst happens, you shall be the new matriarch. Choose your Grahhll carefully; be sure he is the best you can find ... We shall call you when it is done."
Merhnah took off at a run to gather the others, while I looked at Meriah for guidance. Merhnah used all six limbs for maximum speed.
"Do not worry, Grahhll," she said softly, to comfort me, reaching out to stroke my neck. "They are naked and unarmed, no matter what they think of their 'rifles.' Stand near me. I shall need your voice today."
I nodded wisely. And with courage, I hoped.
The humans could be seen from several kilometers. We watched them approach, not attempting to hide our silhouettes against the lightening sky. They looked through their binoculars frequently, as if to assure themselves that they were going in the right direction.
At one kilometer, two of the humans -- Alexis and Gabriella -- went to a knee and placed their rifles against a shoulder and pointed the other end at us.
I could feel their apprehension and their aggression, and my limbs started to shake.
Meriah: "Be strong, Grahhll. Remember they are savages and do not know what they are doing. We can kill them if we must. For now, Grahhll ... do not hurt them. Stun the two with the rifles. Do not let them move! I would speak with the center female ... the one they call Justice."
This was an easy song to sing. A base tone of stunning power aimed at the two, and amplifying Meriah's words to the center figure. I closed my eyes and sang.
Meriah spoke to Justice. With my amplification song it was as if she were inside Justice's skull.
'Why do your friends seek to kill me?' Meriah said in a confident tone. 'They cannot, but why would they try?'
Justice looked at her two friends, seemingly frozen in place. She looked again through her binoculars and saw us, again. She saw a large feline of perhaps 120 kilos, mottled fawn on gray coloring, sitting on the rearmost of three pairs of limbs, 2 or 2 ½ meters from haunch to nose. Next to her was a smaller version, perhaps 60 kilos, mottled gray on fawn, half the size of the larger one. The small one (me) was sitting on his rearmost two pair of limbs and resting on his front pair, and seemed to have his eyes closed.
Jay Nelson said nothing for long seconds. 'Can you hear me?' she thought.
'Of course, I can hear you, ' Meriah sent. 'But you have not answered my question, and I dislike to repeat myself.'
Chapter 3
[Note: the telepathic speech will be in italics. -- Merlin]
Jay: 'Err ... ahh ... Sorry. I'm not used to this.'
Meriah: 'I await your answer.'
Jay: 'No. We don't want to kill or even hurt you... (Great Jarvis! If she can hear every thought, I can't even formulate an answer.) ... We didn't know your intentions and were being cautious.'
Meriah: 'OUR INTENTIONS? OUR INTENTIONS?'
I extended a forepaw and touched Meriah. 'Shouting hurts, dear. Please.'
Meriah to me: 'Sorry, my Grahhll.'
Meriah to Jay: 'You invaded our world. You carry things which you think can kill or maim. You approach my camp. And you worry about our intentions?'
Jay: 'May I have a moment?... (We have badly misjudged this situation. We thought they were just wild animals, but) ... M'am?'
Meriah: 'Yes?'
Jay: '(Gods! This is so hard.) ... M'am: can my comrades hear what we are saying ... err thinking ... saying-thinking?'
Meriah: 'Of course not. This is a private conversation. Only The Grahhll can hear, and he is involved only because of the distance involved. I assure you it is private.'
Jay: 'Can I be ... patched through to them. So that they can hear me talking like this? I mean ... if they're not harmed. Physically. They are okay, aren't they?'
Meriah: 'They may be frightened. But I have asked The Grahhll not to harm them ... Yet. I hope they will not remain aggressive ... But you may talk to them in your normal fashion. They can still sense everything normally. They simply may not move their external muscles.'
Jay: '(External muscles? I hadn't thought about that. The heart is a muscle. Gods! This is so weird.) ... Thank you, m'am. I'll talk to them now.'
Meriah to me: 'Does she really think we won't know her words? I would listen to the thoughts of the other two, Grahhll.'
Me: 'They are badly frightened. Badly jumbled. Worse than any wild animal. They will kill ... someone ... any one. They are used to being the dominant species in their universe.' I forwarded a sample of their thoughts to Meriah. She grimaced.
Jay (using her mouth to make the sounds of her speech): "Alexis. Gabby. Can you hear me?" She came around to look at their faces. "Blink twice if you can understand what I'm saying."...
"Okay. Good. Listen. Umm ... I've been talking to that ... or those two ... umm ... hexacougars on the hill. Maybe you can still see them through your scopes ... Two blinks from Alexis. That means yes ... I guess you don't have your scope sighted yet, Gabby ... Okay. I'm communicating with her ... umm ... via telepathy. I think. I just think the words and she just thinks at me, and I hear her. In my head. It's a female voice. I think it works like that. I've only 'talked' to one of them, so it may be that I'm hearing 'female' because I am. No, I called her 'M'am' and she responded ... Anyway ... They are obviously sentient. I'm going to try and get you released from this ... whatever it is that's holding you. But you have to NOT shoot them. Understand? Put the rifles in a non-threatening position."
Before they two could blink twice, of course, I perceived their intentions to cease the threat. I instantly communicated that fact to Meriah, who signaled with her fore-paw to free them, and I did so.
The two humans remained in kneeling positions, and placed the rifles on the ground at their side. Then they, nearly simultaneously, started talking to Jay, struggling to stand, unsure if their muscles still worked properly. She stilled their questions with an open hand gesture.
Jay: 'M'am?'
Meriah: 'Yes?'
Jay: 'Thank you for releasing my comrades.'
Meriah: 'Of course. We had no intent to harm you. If we wanted to kill you all, The Grahhll would have done so before you even landed. But we determined that you were the victim of a terrible occurrence, out among the stars.'
Jay: 'Out among the ... err ... yes. (Jarvis! How far out into space can they read thoughts?) ... Umm ... Thank you for allowing us to land. Umm ... I'd like to bring my team ... all of my team ... up to snap ... err ... I mean to let them know the current situation, and that we have visi ... I mean that we ARE visitors among intelligent species here on Carmody 3.'
Meriah: 'Carmody 3?'
Jay: 'That's our name for this planet.'
Meriah: 'Oh yes. You name everything. [chuckle] We call it just 'Yerowl.' ' It was said in our tongue which is difficult to translate into English.
Alexis to Gabriella, looking at their commander: "Is she..."
Gabriella to Alexis: "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she is."
Jay: 'Well, after I've updated all of them, I'd like to have a meeting with the Grahhll later this afternoon. To discuss other things.'
Meriah: 'You will most certainly not be meeting with The Grahhll. You will meet with me and a few of my sister heads of the clan. You will have nothing to do with The Grahhll... NOTHING! Is that clear?'
Jay: ('Oh crap! I've stepped in something.) ... M'am. I meant no insult. I thought 'Grahhll' was the name of your people. Nothing more. I am sorry if I inadvertently offended.'
Meriah: 'I sense no insult was intended and so it is forgotten. The name of our people is "the people." What name did you use earlier in speaking to your comrades? Hexacougar? The Grahhll has searched your mind and he says that it is merely a description of a six-limbed feline. That name will do for us, since you seek to name everything.'
Jay: 'Oh good. Then my team and I would seek an audience with whatever Hexacougars you deem appropriate to meet. At a time of your convenience ... If I may ask: what is a Grahhll?'
Meriah: 'The Grahhll is not a 'what' but a 'who.' He is THE singer of songs, THE teller of tales, THE repository of our history. There are many singers among the ... hexacougars. But there is only one Grahhll. He is first among many. And The Grahhll is my mate.'
There was pride in her voice which I was pleased to pass along to Jay.
Jay: 'Wow. That is super. I've never heard anyone speak so ... so ... so vibrantly about their mate ... I will go and talk with my team and meet you ... when?'
Meriah: 'Near sunrise tomorrow would be best. I will gather some ... hexacougars. Yes?'
Jay: ('Sunrise? ... By Jarvis' horns! That's early.) ... We'll be pleased to be there. See you then.'
Meriah to me: 'I guess she cannot shield any of her thoughts. Poor creature. Humans are stunted mentally.'
Me to Meriah: 'Yes, dear.'
Meriah to me: 'You're cute ... I shall contact my sisters and gather those of the Council I can reach today and see if they can come tomorrow ... Can you watch the humans this afternoon for me?'
Me to Meriah: 'Use the ninGrahhll big leap to shorten the trips. They'll all come.'
Meriah to me: (chuckle) 'Listen to my little Grahhll ... telling me how to use their mates to travel around ... That method of enhanced travel was old ten Grahhll's lives ago.'
Me to Meriah: 'Yes, dear. Sorry dear.'
She playfully chewed on my ear, and then trotted off, leaving me watching the humans.
Jay was talking to Alexis and Gabriella, explaining what went on in the mental conversation with Meriah.
Alexis: "They can hear every word we say or think?"
Jay: "Remember those antelopes? How do you think they got there?"
Gabby: "Yeah ... Every word? No privacy at all? ... Gods!"
Alexis: "Even dirty thoughts? I hope they don't talk to other ... humans ... Do you suppose there are other sentients on this planet?"
Jay: "I didn't know there were any on this planet. And yet here we are."
Male voice in Jay's head (that would be my voice): 'Hello. There are no other sentient species on Yerowl ... The ants and bees have a means of communication, but the species do not 'think' in any sense that we would understand ... Sorry to be listening in, but I must. Just so you know. You'll be monitored until the meeting tomorrow.'
Jay apparently stopped dead in her tracks because her comrades turned to look at her with questions in their minds.
Jay (aloud): "Oh. Well thanks for that..." (to her comrades) "I just got a ... transmission? ... from The Grahhll, I think it was ... he has to listen in on our conversations until tomorrow's meeting with the hexacougar Council..."
Jay: 'Right?'
Me: 'Yes. And I am The Grahhll. I didn't mean to intrude. Carry on as if I'm not listening.'
Jay (aloud): "Right. Like that's a possibility ... Sorry girls. The Grahhll was just telling me to carry on like he wasn't listening."
Alexis and Gabriella broke out in gales of laughter.
During the thirty minutes of walking back toward the shuttles, they didn't talk among themselves, but they did a lot of thinking.
Alexis: 'How can I survive this?' and 'This is an invasion of my personal space.' and 'Oh shit.' and 'Those antelope steaks were great.'
Gabriella: 'Will they tell Jay that I have a serious crush on her?' and 'Maybe I could kill myself first.' and 'At least we don't have to clean the rifles.' and 'Do they eat meat like cats on Earth?' and 'I wonder if there's a range beyond which I could shoot at them and they wouldn't know it?'
By the Great Grahhll, these people need shields; but they can barely converse mentally. They don't have the beginning of the skills needed.
I transmitted again to Jay: 'Hello again. Tell Alexis that there is no range beyond which she could shoot at us that I could not interrupt her attempt.'
Jay: 'What? She thought that? ... Why don't you tell her yourself?'
Me: 'I do not feel comfortable speaking with her directly.'
I was making all this up. Technically, it was true that I could track Alexis, or any other creature, at any range anywhere on Yerowl, or even into near space, apparently. But I would have to be tracking her specifically. If I wasn't paying direct attention to any human, I could not sense what they were thinking ... at any distance. Well, at any distance over a few hundred of their meters. That was the effective range of any hexacougar. The ninGrahhlls -- those 'cougars who were nearly as skilled as I -- Grahhlls in training, if you will -- could track creatures almost at my level. The ninGrahhlls were almost all selected as mates for the clan matriarchs; some were still unattached. The greatest of the ninGrahhlls -- THE ninGrahhll if you will -- was named G'hann'lis. It means 'solid color' for he was the only cat I've ever seen that was not a mottled mix of fawn and gray; he was a solid fawn. He also was not mated, but he was favored by Merhnah, the sister of Meriah, although I don't know if he knew it.
Jay spoke to Alexis and put that matter to rest; she, at least, was thinking about how she was going to tell the other three humans. In the end, she just laid it all out for all five of her shipmates, just as it happened. She had a remarkable memory -- for a human. Of course, Gabriella and Alexis had heard this story before.
Of the other three, the doctor, Nicolevna Reston, thought the discovery of a sentient, telepathic species was exciting news. She was already formulating the paper she would be writing for the Xenobiology Journal. She'd win the Haron Prize, maybe even the much older Nobel Prize. A telepathic species had never been discovered. Until now. She'd have to work closely with this Grahhll, and the matriarch; get the history of the species, tell the story, do the research. She'd be famous throughout the galaxy. She was ecstatic.
In actuality, the hexacougars had never discovered any new sentient species either. But there was no Hexacougar Xenobiology Journal. Only the humans felt that the universe was out there for them to 'discover' -- and exploit.
Robertson Hawthorne's mind was in a confused state. He had a good relationship with the ship's computer -- whom we have since named Merlin. He apparently spent most of his time talking to Ship, playing games with Ship, and planning for resumption of normal space-going activity. That and lamenting the death of his intended.
'Sunny' Li was a ship's navigator by profession, although these days most of what a 'navigator' did was superseded by Ship (meaning, the ship's AI). His reaction to learning that hexacougars could and did hear every thought and word he formulated was abject fear -- almost uncontrollable fear. He sat paralyzed in the corner of the shuttle where he was seated.
There was much discussion and worry about the next morning's meeting, but nothing of note really. Apparently, humans enjoyed going over ever possible detail of an event -- even one where they had no idea of what was going to happen.
The humans all went to bed with various thoughts and dreams, ranging from how to contact a superior officer in the space navy (Jay), to being a xenobiological legend (Nicolevna), to fear and the darkness of depression (Sunny). If you think a human's thoughts are disjointed and jumbled, you should eavesdrop on their dreams.
Perhaps you already know!
Chapter 4
Near Sunrise on 'Mount Hemp'
The humans came to the meeting just before sunrise. While they were not of one mind on the subject to be discussed -- if indeed there was a topic for the meeting at all -- they were in general agreement on one thing: the sunrise came much too early in the day.
That was a ridiculous idea, of course. The sun brightened the sky at exactly the correct part of the day: at sunrise. When else should it happen? At noon, or late in the day? Perhaps it could come up earlier, while it was still dark. Idiotic concept.
The six humans came up toward the tree where they had seen Meriah and me yesterday. That tree was atop the first rise of the hills, and there was a small dip just beyond it, before the ground formed a higher hill. In that small valley were 251 hexacougar matriarchs: The Council. Some had to travel almost all night to be here, for they were from the other side of Yerowl.
Most had arrived by using the ninGrahhlls' big leap. The big leap was a method of travel available to the ninGrahhlls: each of them could take one other 'cougar and leap about fifteen hundred kilometers to twenty-five hundred kilometers in but a few seconds. The leap was in fact not a leap at all, but more a re-materialization at a different point. (Merlin has advised me, at later times, that it was a form of teleportation.) It was tiring and could not be repeated immediately, of course, so it took many hours to come half-way 'round Yerowl.
So, there were a great many ninGrahhll here as well, but they were in the next valley -- out of danger. The matriarchs were very protective of the male of the species. While many of us felt that we could put up a more-than-adequate account of ourselves against any except a female hexacougar, we would never voice that thought to one of the matriarchs. We weren't sure their egos could stand the thought of a male actually fighting.
Perhaps this would be a good point to explain how hexacougar society worked. A clan could be fifty to one hundred adult 'cougars. Within each clan, the females generally ruled; although 'ruled' would be a too strong a term for the reality. Generally they decided on issues when a decision was necessary; usually the whole clan -- males included, but not adolescents or the young -- was of one mind on most things. The females were bigger (by about double the size of the males), naturally stronger than us, and were better hunters. AND they bore the young, being active during the three month pregnancy until the very end.
The adult males did rule the various camps that made up a clan. Technically, the females were in charge here as well, but they almost always acceded to our 'suggestions.' We ran the camps, set fires at night and took charge of the young, from the time of their weaning -- at about four weeks. We wove baskets, prepared the meals and generally did everything that was needed around the camp.
What? Did you think we were 'just' animals that had some thinking and telepathy skills? Oh, but of course ... you're probably a human. Anything less than a human is 'just' an animal. Typical.
An adult hexacougar is about 100-130 kilos (female) or 50-75 kilos (male) with six limbs; the body is about 2.5-3 meters long, excluding the tail, which is about a meter long, and in most other respects, is like any of Earth's large predatory cats -- with one major exception. The two pairs of limbs closest to the head-- we call them the fore limbs and the mid or middle limbs -- have opposable thumbs. Each fore limb has four central digits and an opposable thumb on each side, six digits in all. The mid-limb is about one-third of a meter behind the fore limb, and has four digits with a single opposable thumb on the inside side of the arm -- five digits. The rear limbs are, naturally at the back end of the 'cougar, and have no opposable thumb and only five digits. We are heavily clawed on the rear limb, less so on the mid limb and have nearly no claws on the fore limb.
The females live to about 80 years, about the same as the males. It is the Grahhll and ninGrahhlls who live longer -- to about 100. Usually, when his mate dies, a Grahhll begins to groom his successor, being sure that he has passed his extensive knowledge of all the histories. Quite a few notable things have happened to our people over 100 Grahhlls' lives.
Having the memory of over one hundred Bard's lives -- or Grahhll lives, as we would call it -- I know that the earliest of our kind were more heavily clawed and were larger in the body. At first they hunted only physically, and had only the merest hint of mental powers. It is my personal belief that within ten more Grahhll lives, we will have even less in the way of claws, but that is just me. Others don't think much on this subject.
Those were rough and dirty times, with over a hundred 'cougars claiming to be Grahhll. Within a few Grahhll's lives the clans became larger and there were fewer claimants to the title of Grahhll. But it was only21 Grahhll lives past that Thrahhll The Great, the first of the Yerowl-wide Grahhlls, unified the planet. I know that his matriarch, Sharwenta, is given credit for it, but it was Thrahhll's ability to perform the big leap that allowed 'cougars from all over Yerowl to come together. It was Thrahhll who taught the other Grahhll's to leap. When he was acknowledged as THE Grahhll, the others willingly became ninGrahhlls.
There are, of course, many who are not matriarchs and not ninGrahhlls. These citizens are simply that -- citizens. But citizens have collectively the greatest control of how hexacougars live. As they hunt or fish, or make baskets, or play with the young, or just spend a day laying in the sun, they shape the society we are. Never in my memory -- and it is a vast, vast memory -- has a matriarch called for a hunt when most of her clan wanted to be at the riverside, playing with the cubs. As I said, mostly we are of one mind as to what to do.
I realize that my telling of history, brief as it was, relies heavily on the story of the Grahhlls. That is the way I think. Despite being smaller and less physically powerful, it is my thought that the Grahhlls and ninGrahhlls are what make our people the planet-dominant creatures we are. We can perform the big leap. It is we Grahhlls who can communicate at great distance. And, of course, we raise the young to understand our society and our responsibilities; not to mention, we carefully nurture those we recognize as future ninGrahhlls.
The 251 matriarchs were of one mind sitting in the dewy grass of that swale between the hills, waiting for the six humans to arrive. The over 400 ninGrahhlls sat with me over the next hill, listening, but we were of one mind also.
The People had not had visitors from space before; indeed we had not encountered another sentient species before. We were unconcerned. Yes, the humans used tools more specialized and complicated than we did. They lived inside 'buildings'; we did not. But the humans were physically weak and needed those tools and shelters. Did we enjoy the winters on Yerowl? No. But they made us stronger for being able to withstand the weathers and the floods that eventually came. Usually, of course, the clan would decide -- excuse me, the matriarch would decide to move to a warmer part of the land, or out of the mountains. In the summer, we'd move up to the mountains and to the cooler climes. Simple enough. Only a human would decide that he or she needed to conquer the weather and remain in one place year round. Hubris, again, I think.
The humans crested the hill and when they saw the 251 matriarch hexacougars their minds went blank for a moment.
Jay's mind called out for Meriah. 'M'am?' She was confused because there were 251 fawn / gray mottled hexacougars sitting there, and I guess they all looked alike to her.
Meriah was centermost, and took a stride toward the humans to make herself stand out even more. 'Jay. I trust you have brought your comrades ... how do you say it? ... up to snap?' She was broadcasting to all six humans and 250 other 'cougars; the ninGrahhlls had no problem listening as well.
Jay: 'Umm ... What title should I use to address you? I do not want to make another miscue as I did with The Grahhll.'
Meriah: (chuckle) 'Meriah will do for me. It is my name. We do not have any titles save for The Grahhll.'
Jay: 'Meriah it is, then. Very pleased to meet you, Meriah. You have quite a few sisters with you today.'
Meriah: 'This is The Council. We were able to get the entire Council here, since we had enough time. Some have come quite a distance to meet you.'
Jay: 'Can they all hear me?'
Meriah: 'Oh yes.'
Jay: 'Greetings to The Council of Carmody 3. That is our name for your planet. We thank you for allowing us to land here after our mishap in outer space.'
Threnth of Clan Threntona sent Meriah a brief message that she had a question. Meriah indicated that she should feel free to ask it.
Threnth: 'Justice. Many of us have questions about this 'outer space.' Could we have access to you and your comrades to satisfy our curiosity at some future time?'
Jay: 'Access? Oh, sure. We'll set up a meeting at your convenience.'
Threnth: 'A meeting? Fine. Thank you.' And there was an amused murmur. 'Access' didn't mean 'meeting.' It was more akin to a 'download' of information, to put it in terms that you might understand.
Meriah: 'What did you want to discuss this morning? You asked for this meeting, if you remember.'
Jay: 'Yes. We would like to extract some materials from the planet ... metals and so forth ... so that our replicator can produce enough parts to make an interstellar radio. We don't normally carry that equipment on the shuttles. Then we can contact the Navy and we can get picked up.'
Meriah: 'You use words we do not understand. What are metals? What is replicator? Interstellar radio? Navy?'
Jay: 'Uhm... '
Robertson: 'If I may ... An R627J6 replicator is a device designed to produce an exact duplicate of any physical mechanism from an engineering drawing and... '
Meriah to Jay: 'You allow this? The interruption of our dialog with meaningless babble?'
Jay to Robertson: 'Robbie ... stop. Too technical. You're only confusing the issue.'
Jay to Meriah (and the Council): 'The replicator is a machine that produces other things, if we give it the correct raw material.'
Meriah: 'Like a kiln?'
Jay: 'A kind of very advanced kiln, yes.'
Meriah: 'Metals?'
Jay: 'Uhm ... these are parts of the soil which can be taken out and formed into much harder, specialized things.'
Meriah: 'Interstellar radio?'
Jay: 'A device that can broadcast messages for many hundreds of thousands of kilometers.'
Meriah to Grahhll: 'Is this possible, Grahhll?'
Grahhll: 'Perhaps it is like the difference in the range of a ninGrahhlls and a citizen. So ... Possible? Yes.'
Meriah to Jay: 'and Navy?'
Jay: 'The USN is the Unified Space Navy. I am an officer in the Navy, as are all my comrades. I have superior officers and subordinates in the Navy. It is an organization that sends ships out into space to guarantee the safety of our citizens.'
Me to Meriah: 'She has very strong feelings of allegiance to this USN.'
Meriah: 'We have Sentries that do the same thing ... All right. You wish to gather materials from Yerowl and build something to call your Navy. Is that right?'
Jay: 'Yes.'
Meriah: 'What will your Navy do when it receives your call?'
Jay: 'I can't be sure, Meriah. At the least, they will come and rescue us and allow us to leave.'
Meriah: 'And at the most?'
Jay: 'Well, we will probably offer you some of our devices and the protection of our Navy.'
Meriah: "Protection? What need have we of your protection? And your devices ... what can they do for us?'
Jay: 'I do not know. It depends on what kind of devices you need? Do you need shelter in the foul weather? Do you need clothing ... extra skins of a sort ... to keep you warm? Do you need devices to record your history so that cubs may learn it in the future?'
Meriah: 'We have all of that now.'
Jay: 'Spacecraft? Do you want to send hexacougars out into the stars? There are species that we regard as hostile. Some of them could come and destroy your planet.'
Meriah: 'Impossible. We would kill them before they even approach.'
Jay: 'And if they do not approach within one million kilometers? That is a thousand thousand kilometers. An attack from even one hundred thousand thousand kilometers can destroy your world ... Or your world could be destroyed by an accident of space. I have seen it happen. A giant rock from space could collide with Yerooul... ' She tried but could not make the sound even in her mind. ' ... and the planet would be devoid of life ... Much as my ship was destroyed ... Our Navy can offer protection from all these and more dangers.'
There was an unsettled murmuring in the minds of the Council. I felt nothing but confidence among the ninGrahhlls. Meriah sensed the mood of the Council.
Meriah: 'Perhaps. We shall see what your Navy says about it. We do not fear stories told in the night of instant destruction at the hands of unseen enemies. We shall see.'
The discussion, which began at sunrise, continued on to midday. The humans asked to stop for a while that they might take refreshment and some food. Meriah's sister 'cougars brought a small herd of cattle into the vale and the Council of hexacougars proceeded to slaughter them all and feast.
Jay and the humans were shocked and begged off eating with the Council, to eat 'in their fashion.' They opened a small case that the men of their species had brought and ate something of vegetables and meats between pieces of cooked wheat -- I think. And some fruit. That at least was familiar, if strange -- we could not recognize the types of fruit.
After their feast, the Council members began to sprawl in casual poses, soaking in the warm sun and dozing lightly.
'Jay, ' I said after the humans were done eating. 'The meeting is over. Nothing more will be accomplished now. Please go. There will be an answer to your entreaty later today.'
Jay: 'Grahhll? Are you nearby? Can you hear me?'
Me: 'I can always hear you, Jay.'
Jay: 'Well thank Meriah for the meeting and we shall await her reply later on.'
As they turned to go back to their 'shuttles, ' the nearly 400 ninGrahhll popped their heads over the hilltop that they might see with their eyes the peculiar humans who had visited our world.
'Surely they were jesting, that others could destroy our world from so far away?' said one.
'Let me sing you a song of facts that I have gathered from Jay in the days since her arrival, ' I said to all the ninGrahhll. 'I fear that she is not jesting ... not at all. Nothing on this planet may threaten us, but the universe that lies beyond may not be so welcoming.'
Chapter 5
Well, they settled in the next morning to hunt for raw materials. In order to do that they needed to be closer to the mountains, apparently, so they moved their shuttles to another location. That location was close to the Melian Clan of the Mountains. Their matriarch conversed with Meriah and they jointly decided to just keep a watch on human activities, but not interfere. I was asked to arrange for the 'access' to the humans so that the people could understand all about space and space travel.
I thought to scan all of them -- one at a time, of course. I would scan them all, put together a cogent song for the hexacougar clans and then sing it to all. That proved to be difficult, since none of them had the same understanding of what was really going on.
At that point, I knew of Ship simply as a disembodied voice that humans heard. I'll call him Merlin in this accounting, so you won't be confused, but that name wasn't given him until later. He didn't have a 'mind' that I could latch on to, so I couldn't read him at all. That was strange to me, and I sought to investigate further. Unbeknownst to me, Merlin couldn't pick up any of my 'transmissions' to the humans either, and it perplexed him greatly.
I started with Robinson Hawthorne, the ship's engineer, who had a great rapport with Merlin. His mind, though somewhat orderly, was crammed with data. Not information, mind you, but something he called 'data.' It was all numbers and 'schematic drawings' (which I didn't understand at all) and 'interface protocols' and such like. It made no sense to me. I cut off my scan when it got to the technical data that explained hyperdrive. I did understand the images in another part of his mind: they were very detailed images of his encounters with his intended mate. Despite the fact that he did indeed mate with her, they were not a mated pair -- something that baffled me, until I later learned more about human society. He remembered her as a combination of parts: face, breasts, genitals, legs and so on. These I understood: they were so like the images that Meriah had of me. My images of Meriah were more general and diffuse and tended to focus on qualities rather than body parts. I digress.
Alexis Hume was an officer in their Space Marines, attached to the Destiny. That was a branch of the human military, which was a group of people who were assigned to defensive and offensive fighting encounters. As such, her thoughts concerning space were mostly of assignments and missions and various planets upon which she led groups of men and women who did the fighting. She had a strong attachment of loyalty to her superiors, but that could be and was replaced frequently as the makeup of 'her superiors' changed. Currently, she would follow Justice Nelson to the extent of her physical abilities -- even unto death, if that became necessary. Her world was rather black and white with just a touch of gray There were targets, potential targets, and friendlies. We hexacougars had been moved from the target category to potential targets, at the order of her superior, Justice. Emotionally, she was attracted to the ship's doctor, Nicolevna Reston. At first, I thought this was something akin to the feelings that Meriah shared with her sisters -- Merhnah, Meryawl, and Meronar -- and I set it aside as sororal affection. It was not until I scanned the doctor that I discovered that this relationship was more like a mated pair: they thought of themselves as mated. The erotic encounters they had were thought of as 'mating,' though they, obviously as two females, could not physically mate -- even in human terms. I put this irregularity down as something strange within the humans, and gave it no further thought.
Nicolevna Reston was the ship's doctor on the Destiny. In this much smaller crew, she maintained that posture, and also adopted the role of science officer. However, a goodly portion of the scientific information that was needed was supplied by the ship's AI, Merlin. From her mind, I gained an understanding of human anatomy, Scorelian anatomy (an ocean-based life form, which had formed the basis of her doctorial studies), and the Draconian anatomy (a life form similar to humans, but the Draconians were cold-blooded). She had a great desire to find a dead hexacougar and cut it apart -- to find out where the telepathic thought center was located. (That was never going to happen!)
Sunny Li was the Destiny's assistant navigator. From him I learned that there were uncountable suns which we called stars. Each star had the possibility of planets, some of which were hospitable to life. Humans had settled on a mere handful of such planets, and Destiny's assignment had been to explore new star systems. I also learned far too much about the technicalities of astrogation and the complexity of the formulas that supported that discipline. The surface thoughts in his mind were filled with bleak despair and depression; feelings so black that I had to stop examining them further.
Gabriella Sturman was Justice Nelson's aide and also functioned as head of security. Her job as head of security was similar to Alexis' job as head of the Marines, but on a smaller scale. Gabby was tasked only with the security of the ship and its personnel. She gave no thought to the business of going to other stars or what space meant. Her world was Justice Nelson and, oh yes, by the way, the other crew onboard the Destiny. She thought of herself as very competent and there had been no incidents in the two years of the Destiny's mission, prior to the accident. She had spent seven years and worked her way through the ranks to get herself assigned to Justice Nelson. She'd been with Nelson for five years now, and had no intentions of ever leaving.
Twelve years ago, when Gabby was only 17, Justice had saved a transport that had gotten too close to the sun. The details I put together from Gabby's and later Jay's mind. Jay was in charge of an intra-system corvette, a small space-going ship that was not equipped for interstellar travel. The transport was incapable of escaping from the sun's gravitational field and Nelson had calculated (with the help of the ship's AI) a glancing shot through the gravity field to attach a tractor beam to the trapped transport, and had pulled them free. Gabby's father and brother had been on that transport. It was later learned that the AI had not computed the trajectory accurately, but that Justice had overruled the suggested course at the last moment. Half the Navy brass (I have subsequently learned that 'brass' in this context meant 'superior officers') wanted to throw her out of the service for correcting an AI; half the brass wanted to throw her out for undertaking a dangerous maneuver when it was 'only' going to save a few colonists; and half (Gabby's mind had no trouble with the cognitive dissonance of more than two halves) wanted to give her a medal. In his summation at Nelson's Court Martial -- at which all charges against Nelson were dismissed -- Admiral Chen quoted an ancient philosopher of the late 1900s E.R., one Casey Stengel, who was manager of the 'Yankees' (whatever that was): "Casey said that he didn't care how often a player caught a fly ball one handed, but if he ever dropped one, he'd give him hell. Case dismissed." Although I had no idea what a 'fly ball' was, I understood the meaning of the quote.
That brings me to Carolyn Justice "Jay" Nelson. This mind was amazing. It was compartmentalized to a degree I had not sensed in any but my old teacher Grahhll's mind and the senior ninGrahhlls of today. She could accurately access facts in detail that she had merely heard or seen in the past. By human standards, that happened only rarely. It was a pleasure to access her memories of space and the USN's stories and hierarchy. Almost all the stories of what could happen in space, that made up my subsequent songs to the matriarchs and ninGrahhlls, came from her.
The most terrifying, to me, were stories of a species which the humans called only 'Bugs.' They apparently consumed carbon and hydrocarbon on a planetary scale. If or when they came upon a planet that contained life, they would bombard it from afar with asteroids until the life would cease. Then they would pounce on the planet with the dead life form and gorge themselves. The entire species traveled in a vast fleet of space ships with an advance fleet to identify and conquer target planets. The humans feared them, because they (the humans) were not numerous enough to stop the Bugs. The information on the Bug methodology came from a single sighting from an unmanned probe into a system that had a life form -- 'had' before the Bugs showed up. No one knew what sort of life form the Bug species was.
Jay also had two traits -- at least -- that I could identify easily. One: she could determine, almost instantly, what course to follow to achieve any intermediate goal in space, and/or what coordinates to head for. She didn't calculate that, from what I could sense; she just 'knew.' And two, she could sense my scan.
I discovered the latter capability when I took a respite from scanning her, one cloudy morning. Her surface thoughts were blank. Null. Empty. At first I thought she was dead.
Jay thought: 'Grahhll, are you done for now? I would like to go out and help my comrades. They are searching for lead, today.'
I was stunned into silence, which for me takes a lot of stunning.
Me to Jay: 'Yes, Jay. Thank you for your time. I never intended to intrude. When I saw that your thoughts were null, I thought you might be sleeping -- or dead -- and so wanted to scan your mind. Sometimes when humans sleep they dream, sometimes their mind is null. I have not seen a dead human, but in animals it is like that.'
Jay: (chuckle) 'Not dead. Merely meditating. When I felt you enter my mind, I thought I'd make it easier for you.'
Me: 'You can sense me entering your mind?'
Jay: 'Your touch is like ... the kiss of a butterfly.' And she thought about what that would be like. I had never seen a butterfly, but the image she gave me was very clear. 'You only scanned a portion of my memories, I think.'
Me: 'Yes, Jay. I thought to break here for a while. My other duties call to me.'
Jay: 'Oh. That's fine. Call me when you want to resume. First thing in the morning is best for me ... Other duties?'
I sent her an image of my three young cubs at the side of a pool of water. 'Play time, ' I laughed.
…..
The humans were searching for some things they called 'base metals.' As Jay explained it to me, their replicator could take apart the minerals in the ground -- down to the atom. (I got a rudimentary understanding of what an 'atom' was, by scanning Robertson.) But Merlin (who ran the replicator, or perhaps he was the replicator) could not store them in sufficient quantities to make the other things needed for an interstellar radio. In some cases, the atoms needed to be combined into more complex molecules before they could be used. In other cases, the substance was radioactive -- which was dangerous to all forms of life.
The humans needed to make containers out of lead and alloys of lead. I didn't bother myself with those details. If the humans wanted it, and it wasn't of any use to us, they could have it. I continued to download information from the humans, mostly from Jay, and it was mostly in the mornings when she was most able to devote her time to rest and meditation. This 'meditation' was an interesting construct; perhaps I should look into it. Of course, I put together a rather long song about the space surrounding Yerowl, according to what I had gathered from the humans, and I sang it one pleasant summer evening to all the hexacougars on the planet. It was comprised of images and feelings and words. It was very beautiful, in my humble opinion.