Rini soon returned to the cave to check on Boro. When he found no signs of life in his friend, Mati instantly knew. Sata, the eleven young reptiles, and the female of the Guard, all followed Mati into the cave and gathered around to pay their respects.
Rini could see Sata trembling with grief, so he put his arm around her.
“Remember, he’s home, probably sucking on a nutrition drink while watching us from an observation window.”
Sata cracked a tiny smile, but her eyes still swirled with emotions.
Mati lifted the lifeless female child, from where she lay in one corner, and placed her close beside Boro.
“I’m sorry,” the female of the Guard began. “It was stupid for the thick-headed males . . . and some females . . . to attack you. You were just trying to help us.”
Mati swallowed and found her voice. “Same thing would have happened where we were born. Our teacher did nothing but help people, so they tried to kill him and burn our ship.”
“What’s a . . . ship?”
Mati smiled. “Long story.”
The leader of the group of youth cleared her throat. “If you’re done with adult talk, can I ask a question?”
Rini looked at the girl.
After stammering with embarrassment for a long moment, she finally
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collected herself. “Um . . . now that you know about our dreams, can you help us find that place again?”
Rini looked at Mati during a moment of silence, then he spoke. “Your planet . . . your old cavern . . . was probably once like your dreams — wet and warm, with plants and huge insects everywhere. Then it slowly changed into a desert. You survived by learning to live in caves, eat smaller grubs, pick cactus fruit instead of jungle fruit, and water mushrooms that used to grow by themselves . . .”
“Wow . . .” the female of the Guard began. “We have no memory of that, except in our dreams.”
“That entire . . . world . . . no longer exists. It was burnt to a crisp when your star . . . your sun . . . became very large. That happened soon after you were brought to this . . . new cavern. You are inside a star station where thousands of people live and work, all around you, and many of them have been working hard to find you a new home, a real home to call your own.”
“Will they find one?” the half-grown female asked bluntly. She and all her friends looked at Rini intently.
Rini smiled and looked at Mati. She smiled back. “I think we know of one you’ll like,” he said.
Ilika and Kibi were soon back in Satamia Star Station. Their patience was sorely tested as reptiles and ursines slowly unloaded the cargo from the asteroid mine. The moment the last pallet cleared the boarding tunnel, the captain and steward dashed to the simulated desert environment.
Ilika and Boro embraced, then parted and looked at each other. Ilika could see a new light of confidence in Boro’s eyes, a light born of passing through the Great Transformation.
Kibi greeted Silmula Sorafax with a bow and a friendly touch.
The big cat experienced a moment of jealousy, but had plenty of practice dealing with other females, of many species, who had felt the magnetic qualities of her beloved Toran Takil. She returned Kibi’s gentle touch.
“What’s happening?” Ilika asked, nodding toward the observation window.
Boro took a deep breath. “They’re all standing around my carcass, talking about something. I don’t understand a word of it anymore, but the bird over
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there is getting the gist of it. They’re from a jungle, not a desert. I vaguely remember the dreams.”
Ilika looked where Boro had gestured, and could see a large bird, his face nearly pressed against the window, muttering into a knowledge pad. Others followed on their own pads.
The captain of the Manessa Kwi turned to the big cat in charge of the mission. “Now that we know what to look for, we’d be happy to help find the reptiles’ new planet . . .”
Silmula Sorafax licked a paw. “I’m sure Kerloran and Melorania will expect you to.”
“We must leave you now,” Mati announced after everything had been said that anyone could think of to say.
“Will you . . . see if that . . . jungle . . . is still available?” the female of the Guard asked.
“Someone might already be doing it. Our people are watching over us constantly, day and night.”
“How will you leave? The Rip in the universe will no longer open.”
Mati looked at Rini and he answered. “We came in through another Rip, but can’t leave that way. We need . . . a high cliff where we can . . . fly.”
The female of the Guard opened her eyes wide, but eventually nodded.
“There is one near here. Morning light will allow us to find it.”
Boro and the little female were left alone in the silence of death. Out under the simulated stars, the living curled up together in a sandy hollow not far away. Mati, Rini, Sata, and the female of the Guard took turns keeping watch. The rest dreamed of dripping ferns, mushrooms springing from the wet forest floor, and big, juicy grubs.
“I had it easy,” Boro said as he worked his way through a hearty meal with his captain and steward on the second balcony of Violet Hall. “I was fatally wounded. I can’t imagine how hard it’s gonna be for the others.”
Kibi nodded and smiled weakly. “That’s one of the final tests in Psychic Development. I wonder what kind of creature I’ll get to be . . .”
“Whatever you’d learn the most from,” Ilika guessed.
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“In other words, whatever would be hardest,” Kibi decoded with a smirk.
Ilika
smiled.
When everyone was awake, the three visitors and one adult followed the eleven youth to some nearby caves where the grubs were small but tasty.
After a light breakfast, they followed the female of the Guard to a cliff that overlooked a sheer drop of more than a hundred meters.
The adult female and the eleven youth stepped back from the edge to give the three visitors some space.
Mati looked at Sata, then at Rini. “I’m in command of this mission, right?”
“Right,” Rini said firmly.
“Right,” Sata whispered after a pause.
“Okay,” Mati began. “Rini, I have an assignment for you. You already know what it is, but I need to say it out loud so Sata will know. You will be in the middle. You will hold our claws tightly and take us over the edge with you. Can you do that?”
“Yes,” Rini said aloud, “but you both must be willing to step to the edge and take my claws. I won’t go until you’re both with me. We all go or we all stay.”
“Fair enough,” Mati responded. “You okay with that, Sata?”
“Um . . . yes,” she said with a slight whine.
Rini stepped to the edge, facing outward, and stretched out both arms. He knew what he had to do, and it did not involve leaving any extra time for thought, worry, or fear. The instant he felt Mati’s claw touch his on one side, and Sata’s on the other side, he grabbed both by the wrists and launched all three of them into the air.
Eleven youth and one adult reptile stepped to the edge of the cliff and looked down.
“They . . . didn’t fly,” the half-grown female said with sadness.
“No,” the female of the Guard agreed. “I don’t think they intended to. I think they just said that so we wouldn’t worry.”
They all stood in respectful silence for a long minute. Eventually one of the young males said what many were thinking. “I wonder how long it will
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take the star-people to find us a . . . jungle.”
“Probably many days,” the female of the Guard replied.
“We’re going to stay on the mountain and wait,” the leader of the eleven said, “eat small grubs and lick morning dew. You are welcome to wait with us.”
“Thank you,” she said. “That would be nice.”
Deep Learning Notes
After the female lizard apologized for her people killing Boro, Mati admitted that the same thing would have happened where she was born. How do you think the people of 21st century Earth would have handled the same situation?
How hard would it be for you and your friends to accept an explanation like Rini gave, considering that you had witnessed almost none of it? How hard do you think it would be for most adults?
Now that you know how the Great Transformation had to end, for each of them to be able to return to their former lives, can you see how difficult (perhaps impossible) it would have been to make that decision if they had mated while in reptile form?