FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Future Sanctuary By Goliath Wildcat

Chapter 4 Consequences

Chief Ward is surprised to return to the land of the living. 'I thought for sure I'd end up in Valhalla for dying in battle against a crazed felinoid alien,' filters through his muddled brain.

His first physical sensation is the dull ache in his chest, his hand creeps up to find the bandages that cover the tender wounds received on the blade of that deadly knife. A tender touch of fur brushes against his forehead as he lifts his leaden lids to open his eyes. The blue furred female sits next to his bed, one of her thick soft tentacles snaking from her shoulder to caress his forehead.

"Good to see you returned to us, sir," comes a hushed but familiar voice.

"Pulle?" his eyes look seek the Sergeant for a moment before he steps out of the shadows with a grin.

"Yeah Chief, the Captain sent me and my team up here when you reported you were down. We got here just in time to see this lady and what I assume was one of their doctors, healing a wound that should have killed you."

He shakes his head in disbelief, "I don't know how, but they healed a cut to your heart faster than even our much vaunted science could. I have no idea how, but they used some of this lady's blood to replace what you lost."

"It is good to see you returned to us Emissary," he hears as the blue furred female's lips move in time to the words.

Chief Ward blinks in startled surprise at her a few times, "When did you learn Common Terran?"

She sits back in surprise as the human guard looks between the two of them with confustion, "What was that Chief?"

Ward turns his head to look at the Sergeant with a quizzical frown, "Didn't you hear her speak Common Terran?"

"No sir, I heard her growl and purr softly to you, and you responded with similar sounds."

Yamoti presses a furred hand to her chest, her eyes wide in shcok, "You can understand me Emissary?"

The Chief tries to pull himself to a sitting position as he asks his subordinate, "What is going on here?"

Pulle and Yamoti both gently urge him to lie still with gentle hands. "I don't know, sir. But I think I need to report to the Captain before we go any further." He steps back from the bed and starts to quietly sub-vocalize the newest predicament.

Yamoti calls out, "Bring me a Mender!" She studies Chief Ward's face intently with amazement shinning in her eyes, "The Spirits of knowledge seem to have graced you with our language Star Traveler. I would like to know how as much as you would."

There is a slight whine as Pulle flicks off the safety of his rifle, "Chief, I need you to stay right where you are till I can get Doc in here to check you out. Captain's orders sir. But we need to be sure you are the Chief."

Ward looks up at the security officer and nods in understanding, "Sergeant, I know you're just following the Captain's orders." his look becomes hard and his tone takes on a hard edge, "But if you make any threatening moves towards these people, I will get off this bunk and shove the stripes I gave you right down your own throat."

The Chief nods in understanding but doesn't return his weapon to safe, "I have orders sir, and you are not to leave this compartment until we have some answers. Long as you follow those instructions there will be no threat from me or my men. There is no way you could suddenly know their language. We need to be sure you are you."

The Chief lies back with a sigh of exhaustion, "Sergeant... Tim... I don't know how I know their language, but I can assure you I am me."

"We'll know soon sir," the Sergeant says as Doc comes running into the room.

Kneeling on the side opposite of the blue furred female the medic places his scanner on the Chief's shoulder and starts a detailed analysis. He looks up at the Sergeant, "Sergeant, you better get a look at this."

He taps a few keys on the medical relay on his wrist and the information displays itself on a sub-screen of Pulle's visor. His jaw drops in shock and his weapon goes slack in his hands as he lowers it from readiness and automatically clicks on the safety. "I need to send this to the Captain, get the Chief a headset."

***

Yamoti watches the bustle as the second male comes in and attaches something to the Emissary's arm before conferring with the other dark armored warrior in their strange speech. While they talk with each other one of the Mender's arrives in his red loincloth, leaving his vital red fur bare for all to see.

He asks with a respectful bow to her, "How may I serve Commander Yamoti of the Sacred Family?"

She rolls her eyes at the pomp and ceremony before dismissing it all with a wave of one tentacle, "We don't have time for formalities Lingou, I need to know what happened during the mending of the Emissary that he can now speak and understand our language."

Lingou bows again, "He was attended to by Lifae, she is still resting from the ordeal that strained her abilities. But I shall answer as best as I can." He clears his throat to gather his thoughts for a minute before continuing, "As I understand Lifae had to use some off your own vital to save his life Commander?"

She nods in answer and he bows his head, his eyes closing in thought, "That could explain it right there."

With a slight nod he opens his red eyes, "If there was a mixing of the vitals he might have gained some of your racial memories. Nothing that makes you an individual, but our language is certainly possible, maybe some of our deeper ancient lore even. It has long been suspected that such things as language are as much a trait of our race as it is a facet of our culture since all the lands of our world speak similar languages. It is us as much as we are it."

The Emissary coughs and weakly purrs, "I can understand you from over here still."

They both turn to him in surprise and he chuckles softly to himself, "My people are concerned, it seems something you did changed me while it healed me. I don't understand but I hope to know soon."

***

Captain Long and Chief Surgeon Juni appear on the HUD of the visor Chief Ward borrowed for the conference. "So, what did they do to me?" he asks into the quiet of the empty room. He had requested everyone, human and Rathac alike, to give him peace for what would be an intimate line of questioning.

Juni clears her throat as she consults some notes, "I think I need to give you some basic information about these natives first Chief."

He nods his agreement and she continues, "From testing the local biology I can tell you their amino-acids, sugars, everything, are almost identical to ours. We can survive in the same air and consume the same plants and meats far as our tests confirm. The biggest difference other than the obvious physical differences is that this is what their DNA looks like," a sub window opens on his visor and it shows a triple helix rotating slowly.

"Biology was never my strongest subject, but that looks kinda like DNA with an extra leg on it."

"That's essentially what it is," Captain Long answers, "It's a triple helix, where our DNA has two legs, theirs has three, again all the same building blocks just arranged in a slightly different structure."

"Indeed," Juni agrees with a polite nod, "And this is how your DNA should look compared to how it looks now."

The image is replaced by a normal human DNA chain next to a triple helix with a leg of it flashing red, "What's the flashing red part?"

The two faces on his HUD look at each other a moment before turning back to him. "We're not sure, but we suspect it's a leg of DNA from this Commander Yamoti who gave blood to save you. Something in their healing technique bonded her DNA to yours."

"What are you trying to tell me?" he asks is a quiet and strained voice, "That I'm not human anymore?"

The Captain lets a worried frown cross his face, "We don't know what to say Chief. Are you human, far as I'm concerned yes, but the scientists and geneticists would like to get their hands on you to find how this bonding occurred, and I can't say I'm not curious myself."

"What? You want me to be some lab rat?" the Chief growls as the Captain and Surgeon both shake their heads and raise their hands to fend off his accusations. "Then what?" he asks with clenched teeth.

Juni holds up a data pad, "We have all we need here to try and figure out what has happened and how. But I think the Captain has a better idea for the present."

Captain Long clears his throat, "Yes, Chief, I'd like you to become our Ambassador to the natives. This ability to understand and speak their language is a convenient fluke for establishing contact that we shouldn't waste."

He looks down at his notes and clears his throat again, "But the choice is of course yours to make. But accept or reject this offer, I want you to know." He looks up with a determined twinkle in his eye, "I won't let anyone experiment on you. You still have human rights long as I have any say in matters. And that will be for some time to come since the colonists just passed a resolution to have me be the governor of our community for the foreseeable future, subject to periodic reviews of course."

"I understand, sir," mumbles Chief Ward, "and I accept the post of Ambassador, for now. Could you send over my personal effects at the first possible convenience?"

The Captain's face softens with care, "Of course Chief, or I guess I should start calling you Ambassador. We'll delegate an honor guard of course, with understanding that they are to take your orders only and they answer to you for anything they do to risk our relations."

"Sir, are you sure that's wise, wouldn't it be a better sign of our power if I don't need a guard?"

The Captain rubs his chin in thought, "Are you sure that's such a good idea, you've been attacked twice, once you were almost gutted. And with so few of us left alive after the crash I can't very well risk you life that way."

"I'll wear my under armor, sir. It's more than sufficient to stop a knife. And I've learned a few things about their diplomacy. It seems the unarmed messenger is a strange idea to them. For when diplomacy fails the diplomat often has to fight his way out. A sword is standard, but a 'shortfang', what we would call a pistol, is not uncommon either. The only exception seems to be if meeting with the High Mother, I believe that is their queen. In that situation no firearms are allowed and she's surrounded by some of the strongest warriors in their ranks."

The officers on the link nod in understanding and the Captain agrees with reluctance, "Alright Jim, we'll do it your way for now. I'll get with our Engineers and see what they can throw together for a sword and include your pistols as well as your rifle and armor with your personal items. I doubt they could duplicate the weapons even if they managed to kill you for them."

Chief Ward nods in agreement, "The Commander Yamoti has been trying hard to convince me that such attacks are not common. It has been a misunderstanding and those who have attacked have been punished. In the case of the former captain of this vessel, permanently."

"That's the tall blue gal?" asks the Captain with a slight grin.

Remembering his words to the Captain when he thought he was dying he blushes slightly, "Yes sir, she is the daughter of the High Mother of these people. I gather she is also quite the respected warrior and commands what I would translate as their Homeguard. Not a low importance, look nice, group of troops as they often were in Terran history. These are their elite of the elite. And I think most of them are scared of offending us with our 'weapons of light'."

The Captain settles back in his chair and nods in understanding, "I can fully understand their trepidation. You tell me they have a form of railgun and we've seen their flying ships. Before his untimely death, Tom Guena thought he saw strange craft in the asteroid belts surrounding this system. Just 'cause they have what appears on the surface to be primitive technology, don't count them out in a fight."

"Don't worry sir, I'm not about to do that."

Captain Long nods, "Very well, I'll send over your stuff in the next hour Ambassador." He smiles at the title, "We'll include a long range com unit, so stay in touch daily so we know we're not at war suddenly. Our primary concern is a place to settle. We don't want to take anyone's land, our agri-crawlers all survived so we can farm almost anything, even bare rock can be turned into habitable land."

"Yes sir, I'll make that my first priority."

"Good, I'll expect to hear from you tomorrow. The Sergeant and his squad will receive orders to leave the Burning Wind when she is ready to return to her port and start your diplomatic mission."

Jim Ward nods, "Agreed sir, I'll report before I sack out tomorrow night."

The Captain leans closer to the monitor, worry lines creasing his features, "I know I'm putting you in a risky situation Jim, just come back alive."

"And we shall see if there is a way to reverse what their healer did to you," Chief Surgeon Juni adds with a slight bow of her head.

"I'm not so worried about that, at least it saved my life and gives us an easy inroad to their language."

Juni nods in agreement and gives him a brief smile before her side of the screen goes blank.

"Good luck out there, and come back alive," Captain Long adds as he too cuts his connection.

With a tired hand he reaches up to drag the video visor off his head. Leaning his weary head back he sighs loudly and a light knock comes from the door. "Enter," he calls in Common Terran.

Sergeant Pulle slips in from the hallway and snaps a quick salute, "I just got my orders from our new boss. We leave here soon as they are ready to return to their home port." He looks down at the weapon held across his chest, "I hear you've been made Ambassador, sir?"

He nods with a tiny motion, "That I have Sarge, you know the Lt. is a good guy. He'll easily step into my shoes."

Pulle raises his head to look his former Chief in the eye, "Sir, are you sure it's a good idea to go alone? You'll be the only human in the whole ship and when they return to their port you'll be alone there too, among even more of them. If an honor guard is allowed..."

He chuckles with a grim smile, "Sergeant, I need to show them that each of us is a warrior who fears nothing. That is what will cement their willingness to help us. How strong of an ally we can be if they need help."

Sergeant Pulle nods in agreement and chuckles, "Ever feel like you're reading one of those old novels written before the launchings? Where humans were only allowed out into the galaxy as mercs for other races?"

Ward lets loose with a bark of laughter, "Sergeant, we're the toughest bastards in the universe, so damn gung ho that we killed each other long enough to stimulate our technology to the point that our home was ruined by the wars."

He sighs and looks at the wooden ceiling over his head, "Son, we'll have to fight here too I'm sure. Not everyone will be welcoming us with open arms, so we'll need allies. I just hope I can live to see some peaceful years here, maybe start a family."

"Yes sir."

He tosses the visor to the Sarge who catches it easily, "Return that to Doc would you, and try to let the Commander know I would like to see her please."

***

Commander Yamoti enters the former Alpha Captain's cabin and gives a toothless smile to the human. He pushes himself to a sitting position with a grimace of pain and greets her. "Commander Yamoti, it is good to see you again."

She bows her head, "Chief Ward, it is good to see you feeling better. Again I apologize..." she stops at his raised palm.

"Think nothing more of it please, I wish to put it behind me." He lowers his hand and waves towards one of the chairs in the room, "Please, honor me by making yourself comfortable."

She settles herself into one of the offered chairs with a dancer's grace despite her armor, "I have talked to our Menders and they..." again she stops at his raised palm.

"I wish to thank the Mender who saved my life when she is recovered enough to see visitors."

He lowers his hand again, "Now, I think you should know that my people have officially made me Ambassador to your people. In a little while a delivery will come for me containing my personal belongings, armor, and weapons. I would ask that they be delivered here please."

She bows her head in polite agreement, "That can easily be arranged Ambassador Ward."

He chuckles quietly, "Call me Jim please, that is my familiar name. I don't need the formal title and such all the time."

"Then please, call me Yamoti when no one else is around but my personal guard. Will the warriors with you now stay as your honor guard?"

He shakes his head, "No, they return to my people when we leave to return to your palace and an interview with the High Mother. It was decided in council with my leaders that I will not require such a guard if I take certain precautions. And they can be of better use here to guard our civilians and cubs. While I trust you and your Kingdom, I do not trust those raiders or anyone else who would attack us so openly."

She blinks in surprise but nods in understanding, "You are a brave warrior as well as an Ambassador I see. I think my mother will enjoy meeting you. She finds new and different things to be of great value. She says they teach us things we've never thought of."

"I look forward to a peaceful existence between our peoples."

She bows her head politely, "I agree with such a forward view." Turning to the doorway she roars, "Tambir!"

A young female of her race steps into the room, her body covered by the red armor of an elite honor guard. Dropping to one knee in front of the Commander she touches the tip of one tentacle to her right eyebrow, "Yes Commander Yamoti?"

"You will be the aid to the Ambassador while he is with us for the time being."

The smaller rusty brown furred female looks towards the human from the corner of her eyes, "I understand Commander Yamoti, I am to be his honor guard?"

"No," she says, "You are to help him with anything he asks for. He knows our language due to an unfortunate incident, but he may still require further knowledge and I do have my own duties to attend to."

With a smile she reaches out to rest a comforting hand on the female's head, "Fear not, you are still a member of my personal honor guard, but I wish you to help me, and in turn the Ambassador in this duty."

She looks up to her and nods, "I understand Commander. I will do as you request."

She nods and gives Tambir another closed lip smile, "Good, now return to your duties till such time as the Ambassador calls for you."

With another lightning quick salute she is gone and Yamoti is sitting back in her chair, "She is young, but the experience will do her good. Vorga says she is smarter than the grunts we often get. I wish I could answer any and all questions, and I will gladly when I have time, but I do have my own duties as I explained."

He bows his head politely, "No explanation is necessary Yamoti, and thank you for the honor."

She nods and graces him with her closed lip smile, "Is there anything else I can do for you before I leave you to rest Jim?"

He shakes his head, "No, but I'll want to know when my items arrive from my people."

She stands and nods her head to him, "Easily done, till this evening's meal when I hope you will honor me with your presence?"

He gives her a crooked grin and nods his head to her, "Of course Yamoti, I would be honored."

***

Sergeant Pulle knocks on the door to Jim Ward's quarters and enters at the acknowledgement from inside, "Your belongings have arrived sir."

Jim opens his eyes and nods to him, "Thank you Sergeant, I guess you and your men will be leaving soon?"

"In ten minutes sir, Angel is warming up the hopper's engines as we speak."

Heaving himself to his feet he offers the younger man his hand, "Thanks for the backup Sergeant, and I'll see you again soon enough."

Taking the hand they shake vigorously for a few moments, "Good luck sir, we'll be waiting for your return. Watch your back out there. Just wanting them to be peaceful doesn't make them so."

He chuckles rubs the healing wounds on his chest and gut, "Don't worry son, I've been bitten once so I'm twice shy." He motions towards the door, "Come on, I'll see you all off as an Ambassador should."

The Sergeant nods to his injuries, "Should you really be up sir?"

He shrugs, "I think I can walk that far, I'm not in my deathbed after all."

Pulle gives him a friendly grin, "Yes sir."

***

Jim watches from the deck as the Burning Wind turns from the wreckage of the Maiden's Voyage. Massive banks of flood lights on the crawlers make the area bright as day. "Your ship will fly again?" asks Yamoti as she steps beside him in her quiet and graceful stride to lean against the railing as he is.

He shakes his head and sighs, "No."

"But surely you can fix..."

"The Maiden's Voyage was a one way ship. She was built to carry a large enough gene-pool to another world where we could survive. We knew there was a chance we might find that planet has a native race already, but we could only hope for peaceful relations when we finally met."

He closes his eyes, the images of the dead, burned and crushed, lying in rows where the bodies had been extracted from the destroyed sections. "We have already taken most of what we can from her. She's a tomb now, a marker for the dead, nothing more. We lost a lot of people while landing."

She looks back to the mounds of metal that surround the immense craft and watches the scurry of the humans working in the bright artificial lights. "You were long in travel?"

He looks at her sideways, "Seven of our generations, I don't know how I can translate that into your time segments yet. No one alive when the ship launched was still alive when we arrived in your system. A hundred of our years are about what we can average if something else doesn't kill us."

He turns his back to the wreck in the distance and with casual indifference leans his butt against the rail, "How about you, how long do your people live?"

"We live on average not less than two-hundred of our planet's cycles around our sun."

He raises an eyebrow, impressed, "Damn, from what I remember that's almost three hundred of our years." He crosses his arms across his chest and chuckles softly to himself before he quietly asks, "May I ask how old you are?"

Her ear flicks but she shows no other obvious hint of agitation, "Normally that would be an unwise question, but I will answer it. I am forty of our cycles this last spring." She looks down at him curiously, "And you?"

He smirks, "I'm thirty-six of our years, twenty-four of your cycles give or take a cycle." A crooked grin crosses his lips, "I guess that would make me a youngling by your people's standards. Hardly old enough to join the military let alone be an ambassador."

She shakes her head, "Our cubs are declared adult at twenty cycles. Though young, you are hardly a cub." She hesitates before reaching a single furred finger to trace a scar along his forearm where it protrudes from the loose robe he's wearing, "And it is much more a matter of your experiences then your age that makes you adult. I can see you are a brave warrior with experience in combat."

She scratches behind a flicking ear with a tentacle, "Though in such a limited community I would have thought warriors not needed."

He twitches his arm and she retracts her hand, "Even on a generation ship, there are those who can cause troubles." He pulls the loose sleeve of the robe he's wearing up over his bicep and shows a cluster of scars. "A man who went insane," at her look of confusion he corrects himself, "lost his inner calm under the stresses of our lives, killed six people before he did this to me with a riot gun he took from a dead guard."

She leans in closer to see the cluster of scar tissue from the tightly packed pellets, "And your arm survived such a mauling?"

"It did after the surgeon, that's what we call our menders, reattached it. Thought for sure that guy had killed me, but I got him too," he taps the scarred flesh, "I did this to his head."

She flicks an ear and nods in understanding, "You have fought for survival, such is the way of life." She looks up to the darkening sky, "That can age you more than any number of cycles."

He nods in silent agreement as he watches the bright stars start to fill the sky. He wonders about the trials still to come and how he will face them. "Life is a challenge," he whispers to the sky.

Turning her gaze on him the tall feline nods in agreement before returning her gaze to the familiar stars of her homeworld, "Indeed it is." With a soft chuff like sigh she pushes away from the railing, "I must attend to the duties of a Commander. If you need anything don't hesitate to ask Tambir and she will assist you. We should reach our port about a segment after dawn with how far night is currently advanced."

He continues to stare into the starry night, "Thank you."

All characters unless otherwise stated are the intellectual property of Chris Gilman [aka. Goliath Wildcat] Story © Copyright Christopher Gilman 2009 all rights reserved tell me what you think