The door that looked like a rock closed behind them.
It was far from the one Mati had left ajar days earlier, selected for its distance from the cavern of the homeless reptiles, designed to make anyone coming through it seem like they had just crossed the vast open desert.
Boro remembered well that they could not return to their lives in Satamia Star Station, and in the Nebador Transport Service, by going back through that door. But just to be sure, he used his new claws, quite long and sharp as claws went, to try to open the door. After a long effort, he gave up. “It’s locked,” he said with deep throaty sounds and hisses. “Like they said, the only way back is . . .”
“We know,” Mati assured with a hiss. “It’s strange hearing reptile sounds, and yet understanding them, just like you were talking our language.”
“It’s genetic,” Rini recalled with a throaty gurgle. “This would be a lot harder otherwise.”
“But that bird,” Sata began with a wavering growl, “the one who knew the language a little, said there would be some idioms we wouldn’t know.”
“That’s where the story about coming from far away will help us,” Boro reminded them.
They all fell silent for a while, looking around at the rocks and sand.
The scales around Mati’s eyes tightened. “I know they put me in command, but I don’t think that’ll look good here. Boro, I want you to be in command most of the time, unless I override something. Even then, I want
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you to look like you’re in command.”
Boro stood up on his hind legs and filled his chest with the dry air. Sata stood close beside him, letting her scales touch his.
Rini smiled without letting it show.
“We stay in pairs,” Boro began, “as every male in this place — about a hundred of them — are looking for females willing to mate.”
Mati nodded. “We’re here for twenty Satamia days, not an hour more, and hopefully less if we discover what we’re here to learn. Rini, will you keep track of that?”
“Sure. It’s a hundred and forty simulated days in this place. I’ll make marks on a rock somewhere,” he promised, flexing the sharp nail of one finger.
Mati looked at Sata, who was rubbing up against Boro. “And don’t forget what we can’t do, with reptiles here, or each other, to have any chance of going home.”
Sata collected herself and let some space come between her and the large orange male who was making her feel very affectionate.
When the four new lizards arrived at the main cavern, they were immediately surrounded by about two hundred reptiles, mostly female, who immediately began showering the newcomers with questions.
Boro stood tall and silent, obviously in charge, while Mati, Rini, and Sata did most of the talking.
“We were in a small cavern across the desert when the ground started shaking,” Mati began the story that had been suggested by the equine on the briefing team. “Many were killed when the cavern collapsed . . .”
“Ours did too!” many reptilian voices shared.
“. . . and more of us died on the long desert crossing,” Rini took up the story. “Our only hope was to find the great tribe our legends told us we once came from, long before we hatched.”
“You have found it!” a very large male suddenly boomed, standing upright and towering over the females.
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The four newcomers looked at him with respect, as they knew they must.
“But alas, we have little,” he continued, dropping back to all fours. “The stars are wrong here, the water does not flow right, and most females are so upset, they never go into heat. We discovered a Rip in the fabric of the universe, but our scouts returned trembling with fear and muttering about sights and sounds that made no sense. The Rip will no longer open. We are a dying people. You are welcome to die here with us, perhaps distract us with stories from your cavern.”
As Boro listened to the heart-felt words of the cavern’s leader, he became aware that two young males were edging close to Sata, sniffing and reaching toward her. He took a deep breath, felt the muscles in his spiked tail respond to his will, and slapped the ground right in front of the two males, sending them scurrying backwards. “She’s mine. Don’t get any ideas.”
An older male sniffed the air. “She’s in heat. You’d better mate with her, or someone else will.”
Boro growled, but the older male just shrugged and walked away.
The females quickly surrounded the new arrivals. “Come into the cavern!”
an older female, wearing several pieces of jewelry, invited. “We just collected
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grubs. Not as tasty as the ones in our old cavern, but they’ll fill an empty belly!”
Mati walked beside Sata and spoke in a soft voice. “Why are you in heat?”
“I don’t know! I just got this reptile body an hour ago, remember?”
Mati sighed and continued following the other reptiles toward the cavern entrance.
Deep Learning Notes
Humans, when considering mating, are influenced by the natural cycles of our bodies, but also have a large degree of free choice. Many animals have little or no free choice in the matter, and their natural cycles are irresistible. Why would mating make it difficult for Mati, Sata, Rini, and Boro to decide to go back to their previous lives?
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Chapter 32: Getting Comfortable in New Shoes Kibi greeted the three avians and two small mammals who came through the boarding tunnel, but frowned when one bird stepped into the galley and began opening cupboards, and another hopped into the steward’s chair.
Ilika, working on a flight plan at navigation, caught her eye and motioned toward the watch station. “They know we’re short-handed. Try to ignore your human territorial instincts. That bird in your chair has more flight experience than you and me put together. The watch station is where I need your skills today, and probably at navigation too.”
Kibi swallowed and began activating external sensors. “Why am I more worried about Sata than I am about Mati?”
“Anything we should tell Silmula Sorafax?”
“Nothing I can put my finger on, just my over-active intuition.”
“That intuition of yours is one of the most important strengths of Manessa’s crew.”
Kibi smiled. “Am I still second-in-command?”
“Oh, yes. And the avian up there will respect that. Also, you can, and should, monitor what he does from here. Think of it like this — with just you and me on the crew, you are too valuable to use your time as steward when Nebador citizens can easily take care of themselves.”
Kibi smiled, and felt her territorial instincts melt away. She placed a copy of the steward’s status list in the corner of the watch station display, and noticed that the bird in her chair had almost completed his checklist. “Hey,
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you’re good!”
“Glad to be of service, bok.”
A moment later, Kibi squinted at her display. “Ilika, why are there four thousand seven hundred and fifty people on the passenger list? Manessa isn’t as big as a star station, you know.”
The captain chuckled, but shrugged.
One of the small mammals looked up from a knowledge pad. “They’re non-material. It’s a specialized type that can’t go outside a gravity field.
They’re checking in with Manessa as they arrive, but are invisible to us.”
Kibi glanced at the acting steward.
“All but eight are here, bok,” he began. “There, the last group just checked in.”
“Close hatch, retract boarding tunnel,” Ilika commanded from the pilot’s chair. “Kibi, I need you at navigation for the first leg of the flight plan . . .”
The main cavern of the homeless reptiles seemed almost perfect, with a sandy floor, many smaller alcoves and caves for storage or privacy, and rock balconies that overlooked the large public space. On one of these, the cavern leader ate grubs while surveying his tribe with sad eyes.
Water, apparently from higher in the mountains, gushed from a crack in the ceiling of a side-cave, then collected in a pool big enough for swimming. It flowed into a smaller pool, then disappeared, along with any waste, into another crack. The residents of the cavern had no idea where it went after that.
The surviving reptiles had found this new home almost immediately after a violent storm and earthquake collapsed the cavern they had inhabited for countless generations. It had seemed so close to their old territory that they wondered why they hadn’t found it before, and could make no sense of the riddle. Their vague memories of that terrible time contained blanks they couldn’t fill, gaps in their recollection that must have been, they presumed, caused by the fear and chaos of that frightening day.
Mati, Rini, Sata, and Boro were served wiggling insect larva, slimy fungus, and spiny cactus fruit. Their new bodies rejoiced at the sight and aroma of the fresh food, but their human minds were much less thrilled.
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Rini noticed his friends hesitating. “This is all there is to eat,” he mumbled softly, “and all there’s gonna be.”
Boro grumbled a little, then noticed Sata swallowing a grub. Her eyes lit up with pleasure, and she quickly grabbed another. He cautiously tried one.
To his new reptile tongue, it was quite delicious. Noticing other reptiles watching, he puffed himself up. “Better than the grubs in our cavern! If you had even better in your cavern, I’m sorry our ancestors left!”
The watchers seemed delighted that their new guests were happy. They strutted with pride at the memory of their beloved old cavern.
Deep Learning Notes
In what kinds of situations are “territorial instincts” useful, maybe even necessary? In what situations are they NOT useful, maybe even dangerous?
Why was the new cavern “almost perfect” in its arrangement? Where did the water go after flowing through the two pools? Why did the new cavern seem
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so close to the old one? Why did the reptiles have poor memories of the day their old cavern collapsed and they found the new one?
Our minds can have a great effect on our ability to eat certain foods. Young children, and other very immature persons, can literally starve to death if preferred foods are not available. One sign of maturity is the ability to eat for nutrition, when necessary, instead of pleasure. Could you eat Brussels sprouts, every meal, every day, if you had nothing else? Slugs and snails?
Raw eggs?
