Storm World Ch. 08

Ima` Nef`Tn had not expected to be asked, though she knew if their positions were reversed she would have wanted to know.

"Was he as large as they are supposed to be?" the veteran asked mischievously. "Even limp he was at least as thick as our males. Was he able to penetrate you?"

"He..." Ima` Nef`Tn began, but she was so flustered she could not finish.

"Do not be like that," chided Liat `del Qha. "We are curious. We will not tell the males. They need not know all that goes on between us."

"You do not think it was wrong?" the younger female asked sheepishly, glancing at the two of them.

"Ha-ha!" Tem l`eth tong laughed, sounding merry. "Wrong? I might as well say pleasuring myself is wrong. It is not as though you mated with an animal, Ima` Nef`Tn."

"You must grant, this Ben `Jamin is a wild looking creature, but he has a mind equal to our own," Liat `del Qha put in. "What I want to know, though, is if he was equal to the task?"

Feeling bashful, yet desiring to tell the tale, Ima` Nef`Tn grinned, flattened her ears out to the sides and nodded. She shuffled back a little and the other females edged closer conspiratorially as if they feared the males might overhear.

"He is not nearly as long as a male of our kind," she said in a quiet voice, barely able to keep from giggling. "He was very thick, though."

"He has no points. Is that true?" Tem l`eth tong asked eagerly, pleased her young companion was willing to open up.

"No points!" chuckled the girl, placing her hand over her mouth as one who does not wish to offend might. "He is smooth and his tip is rounded."

"And he was able to enter you?" Liat `del Qha prompted, keen to hear more.

"It hurt," Ima` Nef`Tn admitted. "But it felt good once he was all of the way in. Very good. And he did not rush as males sometimes will."

"Sometimes?" snorted Tem l`eth tong. "Every time. I have not known one that did not rush in and rush out."

"So you were wet before he began to thrust," Liat `del Qha said, sounding pleased. She shot a warning glance at the older female and then flicked her ears. "I do not like it when the male is too eager to wait. They do usually finish too quickly and then leave."

"I was wet before he tried to enter," confessed the younger female. Then she grinned and flicked her tail like a naughty child and went on, "He gave me pleasure of the tongue!"

Both of her companions gaped at her, hardly able to credit what they had heard.

"It is true!" Ima` Nef`Tn said, eager to convince them.

"And did he know what he was doing?" Tem l`eth tong asked in a hoarse whisper.

Ima` Nef`Tn nodded fervently, saying, "He did it as well as any female I have ever been with. I think he is well practiced in the art."

"How strange," Liat `del Qha said, her expression dreamy. "I have seen some Human females and have wondered what they would be like. Do you suppose they pleasure each other the way we do?"

"If they are female, why would they not?" Tem l`eth tong chuckled. "I have heard that some of their males pleasure each other like that."

"Males with males?" wondered Ima` Nef`Tn. It was a strange notion. No jZav`Etch male would ever lay with another. She knew some males who never lay with anyone and they were considered strange.

"I had heard that, also," Liat `del Qha said. "I am not sure I believe it."

"I do," Tem l`eth tong said flatly. "If they are smooth as Ima` Nef`Tn says, there would be little reason for them not to do so."

"How are their females made?" Liat `del Qha asked, curiously.

"I have seen images of a naked female Human," Ima` Nef`Tn said. A warm feeling was spreading through her belly and she glanced at the others, wondering if either of them might be interested in some privacy later. "Their females are made much as we are."

"Indeed? And where did you see these images?" Tem l`eth tong asked.

"In Ben `Jamin's quarters." Ima` Nef`Tn went quiet as TaH `Kiy mTh came and collected a few completed bundles. She waited until he was far enough away before going on, "I believe they were images of Ben `Jamin's mate. She has a long mane of gold or golden red. It was different in some of the images. Very attractive. I like her eyes, too."

Tem l`eth tong purred at the thought of the Human female's mane.

"Are Human females comely as jZav`Etch females are?" she asked, closing her eyes.

"Ben `Jamin's mate is, in a very alien way," the younger dTel`Qohar said. "She looks very fit and well-shaped. I would certainly be interested in an encounter."

"I like a mate who is strong and fit," agreed Liat `del Qha, grinning and sending a glance Tem l`eth tong's direction.

"Perhaps when we win the war I will set aside part of my pension for a bond servant," purred the older female, not looking at the pilot, but smiling. "I will get a young one and teach her how I like it."

"That would be nice," Liat `del Qha said. Bond servants were not slaves and could only enter into a contract willingly. Any Human that was so tractable would surely be willing to learn how to be a good lover.

"Or perhaps I will simply find a young lover," Tem l`eth tong mused, eyeing the small Pah`Tht meaningfully.

All three laughed and returned to work. Their conversation drifted from subject to subject as females do, but frequently it returned to Ben `Jamin or other Humans. They completed much that evening and were less worried by the prospect of sailing for the floating island than they might have been.

*****

"Do you really think this will work?" Benjamin asked M`peth qHo. He shifted the auto-doc onto another crate and switched on the power.

"Much of our anatomy is similar to yours," the commander said. "We are carbon based life forms and our blood carries oxygen the same as yours. Our bones are composed of calcium with a nearly identical structure to yours. Many similarities. I think that is why my people and yours have come into conflict."

"My people are Free Worlders, Commander," grumbled Benjamin. "From what Ima` Nef`Tn said, we aren't at war with the... How do you pronounce it? Javitch?"

"jZav`Etch," she corrected him. "And you are correct. We are not at war with the Free Worlds. Forgive me. We encounter Humans from the Conglomerated Planets more often than any others. Almost exclusively, in fact. I did not mean to... I believe the expression is 'lump you in' with them."

"Happens all the time," Benjamin said, checking the readouts. "Sorry. I just get irritated about it. We have to deal with their bullshit a lot. Trade agreements and border disputes are always being hashed out. They keep trying to get in on our markets. They raise tariffs all the time. We showed them we don't need them and they keep trying to show us how important they are. Fuckers won't ever learn. Humans aren't the only colonial race in the galaxy. The Thimkeins are actually our best customers and very good allies."

"Is the machine ready?" M`peth qHo asked, looking doubtfully at the hole in its side.

"As ready as it is going to be," Benjamin confirmed. "Put your hand under this plate."

"You are just running a diagnostic, correct?" she asked, reluctant to trust the less than stable Human and the less than perfectly functional and quite old looking medical machine.

"No," Benjamin said. He pressed a button and peered at the display. "Diagnostics are pretty much shot. Liquid ware is gone. This is just a test for compatibility. Not quite the same thing. It can only tell us if the treatments currently available will work for your anatomy. It would be more precise if we shot a pic of your torso, but we're dealing with your crewmember's broken bones, so the organs aren't important right now."

M`peth qHo glanced warily at him. While Benjamin had been explaining and demonstrating how to bundle the reeds the subject of his broken hand had come up. Benjamin had explained how it had been healed and M`peth qHo had decided to investigate the possibility that the auto-doc might be able to repair Ty`em P`tral's shoulder. Another able body would be very useful in the near future. Even so, the commander hesitated to place her hand under the scanner.

"It won't hurt," he said. "If you're worried, use your off hand."

"My what?" she asked.

"Your off hand," he repeated. "You know. I'm right handed. My off hand is my left."

"I do not understand," she said with a frown.

"Right hand," Benjamin said, holding up his right hand. "I do most things with it. I shoot. I eat. I comb my hair. I mostly use my left hand to hold things in place or something."

"Your dominant hand. I see," she said. "We do not have a dominant hand."

"Really?" he asked, surprised.

"I can use either equally well," she confirmed, holding her hands up, making mirror movements with them. "Most jZav`Etch are the same. Only those who have been injured in some way do not. Or artists, for some odd reason. Something about how they use their brains. There are also a few scientists that are like that, I have heard."

"Well, your gun is on your right hip," he said. "Use your left hand."

With a flick of her ears M`peth qHo placed her hand flat on the crate under the scanner. A chime sounded and a blue glow emanated from the underside of the scanner for a couple of heartbeats and then went out.

"Looks okay," Benjamin told her. "Soft tissue scan is a little off, but at low power it could be used to speed up healing. Couldn't just knit things the way it would for me, but you might want to use it on Temlithtng or whatever her name is. She's the one with the cut in her leg, right?"

"Tem l`eth tong," M`peth qHo said, massaging her hand, though the scan had caused her no sensation at all. "What of the bones?"

"Should work just fine for them," Benjamin said. He touched the screen and read the data. "I think it would be best to keep the gain at about forty percent. We would be able to monitor the healing and growth of new bone. It would be less painful for your girl, too."

"Ty`em P`tral is not my daughter," the commander said.

"She's a female, though, right?" he asked. "And not very old."

"Of course."

"A girl is a young female," he explained.

"But you said she was my girl," M`peth qHo said. "That denotes possession. In this context, would that not indicate she is my daughter?"

"It could, but that isn't what I was saying," he said.

"English is such an inexact language," she grumbled and shook her head. "We should get this out to Ty`em P`tral and try it. I do not think she will feel any pain. She has lain under sedation since we performed the operation."

"Really?" Benjamin asked, closing the case and returning the scanner to its place. "Is she hurt that bad?"

"Her injury is serious," M`peth qHo told him and helped lift the auto-doc. "For some reason the medical kit recommended keeping her unconscious. We suspect it was because there were bone fragments that might move and cause further injury if she were active. I confess, it seemed odd to me, but these kits have the latest update for treatments and perhaps the protocol was changed."

"What do you mean?" Benjamin asked as they carried the machine between the enclosures to where Ty`em P`tral lay on her stretcher.

"I have seen people with broken bones, some protruding from the skin, who were awake as soon as the bone was set," she told him. "I have not seen shoulder injuries like this before, though."

"Well, hopefully in a few minutes this one will be remedied," Benjamin said.

*****

"What is it? Why have you stopped?" Chep `Urt vEss demanded softly so that the females would not overhear. He and TaH `Kiy mTh had been working steadily, lashing bundles of reeds into groups of three and then lashing those groups to others. Looking up he found the Thahn `Den staring across the chamber. Glancing over his shoulder he caught sight of the commander and the Human carrying the machine they had discovered in the enclosure with the jumble of medical supplies.

"What do you think they are doing, Gunner?" the engineer asked softly.

"It looks as though they are carrying the medical machine to Ty`em P`tral. Apparently the machine is functional," Chep `Urt vEss said with a flick of his tail. He returned to work, tying off the slim cord of fiber. It was stronger than it looked and gripped the reeds well. The Human certainly had made a great deal of these cords. Long days alone with little to occupy him had yielded a bounty of useful things, it seemed. "Come on. Get back to it."

"Do you think using a Human device will be safe?" TaH `Kiy mTh asked, still staring.

"The commander seems to think so," the big dTel`Qohar said with an irritated lash of his tail. "Our concern is the boat. We must complete as much as we can as quickly as we can. Come now."

Reluctantly, TaH `Kiy mTh bent once more to his task. His tail flicked and twitched as if he were agitated.

"Are you so concerned for Ty`em P`tral?" asked the gunner.

"I am concerned that the machine is damaged," the engineer replied. "I am certain it cannot be working properly. The Human is not sane. Perhaps he only thinks the machine works."

"You said his hand was broken," rumbled the dTel`Qohar. He did not mention how the hand had been broken and did not like to think on it. "If the machine healed his bones, it must be working."

"That does not mean it will be safe to use on one of our kind, Gunner," hissed TaH `Kiy mTh. "We are not the same as Humans. How do we know it is compatible?"

Chep `Urt vEss looked over his shoulder again. The Thahn `Den had a point. Perhaps he should go over and inquire. Commander M`peth qHo might not be as concerned for his crew as she would be for Intelligence Branch personnel. He turned a look on Liat `del Qha and hissed to get her attention. The Pah`Tht looked up from her task and he made a motion with his head to direct her attention to the commander and the Human.

Frowning, the pilot observed as the two set the machine next to the injured Thahn `Den. She watched them open the case and position the scanner over Ty`em P`tral's shoulder. Uncertainly she rose and crossed to them. There was a brief exchange and the Human showed her something on a small screen. After a moment she nodded and returned to the other females. Before settling back to binding the reeds she gave Chep `Urt vEss a nod and a wave to let him know all was well.

"The pilot believes things are in hand," he said, finishing the knot he had begun.

"I thought you did not trust her," murmured TaH `Kiy mTh.

"Shall I tear your ears off or do you wish to return to your task?" demanded the big dTel`Qohar through clinched teeth. "Remember your place, Engineer."

TaH `Kiy mTh shrank from the bigger male's wrath and held his hands up in a gesture of acceptance. Sullenly, he went back to binding the reeds, though he continued to cast warry glances at the Human from time to time.

*****

"I have been thinking, Ben `Jamin," M'peth qHo said while they watched the readout on the auto-doc's small screen. "You spoke of something called a spinner. You said we might salvage parts from it."

"Yeah," the Human said. He touched the screen, stopping a long stream of text so he could read it. "Grace and I took what we could. The power pack was too heavy for us to move. We're going to need it if you want to have enough juice for a motor, though. If that big guy is as strong as he looks, we should be able to get it over to the dock."

"So this spinner is a kind of vehicle?" she asked.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "It's a lightweight, low altitude flyer. More compact than a rotary wing ship and more powerful than a gyrocopter. Better protected, too. And less expensive than a grav-sled."

"You said a large predator attacked it," M'peth qHo probed, hoping the memory would not set him off again.

Benjamin remained silent for a while, finally giving a nod and saying, "Carla was piloting, but we could hear Dr. Troi hectoring her. Most irritating Vespan I've ever met. Troi wanted Carla to fly higher and move faster. Carla was a good pilot, but the wind was up and the spinner wouldn't have been stable above the canopy where the wind would have been stronger."

"What happened?" M`peth qHo prompted.

"Best we could tell, Carla decided to chance more altitude once she got under the lee of the coastal ridge. I warned her. I tried to get Troi to shut up." Benjamin shook his head. "Carla tried to rise up through the trees. Couldn't have been moving very fast. That area is a mess of branches and vines. I still don't know why Carla let that bitch get to her. Anyway, as she was bringing the spinner up one of the big poly-pods must have dropped from a tree. Put a leg through the forward fan and wrapped its tentacles around the fuselage. Dr. Troi probably survived the impact. Carla didn't. Her seat was crushed. Blood all over the cockpit."

"Did Dr. Troi succumb to her injuries?" M`peth qHo asked.

"We figured she got eaten," Benjamin said with a wry smirk. "Her safety harness was torn apart and we found pieces of her clothes and a boot on the ground. Never found any trace of Carla except her helmet."

M`peth qHo did not know what to say. Ben `Jamin seemed to have remained perfectly calm and sane during the recounting of his friend's death. Did she dare press for more? She had to.

"How far away is the crash site?" she asked.

"Depending on what the storms have done, about four hours hike." Tonelessly, he said, "They were almost home."

"Have you any idea what condition the machine's drive is in?"

"Not really," he admitted. "We didn't have any use for the motors and the power pack was too heavy, like I said. The engineer's tool kit is still there, so at least we won't need to pack one out with us. I already had one from when we built the station up top, see? Most other stuff we took. This auto-doc. Any other loose gear that was left after the impact."

"These creatures you call poly-pods," she said.

"What about them?" he asked and touched the auto-doc's screen again.

"Are there very many?"

"There are a shit ton," he said with a sigh. "Not all of them are huge like the one that attacked the spinner, though. Most are no bigger than my hand. Those are no trouble unless you're knocked out or something. They might swarm you. I've seen them feeding on things that washed up during a storm. A lot like crabs. They taste like shit, though. Don't eat them unless you're starving."

"And how large do these creatures get?"

"The biggest one I ever saw was on the rocks at the bottom of the cliff eating tanglefish," he said, making some adjustment or other to the auto-doc. "From the tips of its tentacles to the end of its carapace it must have been near twenty meters. We don't need to worry about ones that big. They don't come inland. Too big and heavy to support themselves out of the water for very long. Most of the ones on the island are going to be around as big as me. Dangerous and pretty fast, but one of your pistols should be able to deal with them. The one that took out the spinner had to have been four or five meters. I don't know how it survived the impact with the ground. It definitely lost a leg. Biggest one we actually saw inland was four meters. Faster than I would have believed. They use their tentacles like a snake uses its body to thrust themselves across the ground. Their legs support their carapace and sort of skip as the tentacles propel them. They get in range and strike. They'll either punch or drag you down. Their claws are really strong. Sharp, too. If one comes at you, move fast at ninety degrees to its line of attack. Don't get to feeling safe until it's dead, though. They will track you. I had three of them dogging me across the island for two days one time. I got tired of them."