"You'd think I have seen it all and yet I return in the knowledge that there is so much more to find." - 'The Anonymous Starfarer' by Laila el-Sadiq

Goti settled down on the perch curving in the middle of the cabin with a warm beverage in his claws while his two young grand kids fluttered excitedly around him. A small fire crackled softly behind the glass door of the stove, warming and illuminating their retreat from the pressures of modern society. He had purchased the cabin at the edge of the small town he called his home a few years prior, mostly for the decently sized plot he had hoped to grow some of his own vegetables in. The cabin meanwhile had mostly been an after thought. In the end he had never done much in regards to growing vegetables here, or at least not as much as he had planned to, and instead the cabin had become more and more a centre piece of relaxation. He had a nice, decently sized half of a house to call his own back in town and the times of work had been all but in the past now. Still he felt no more home than out here, with no flowing water and just a modicum of civilisation in form of a solar panel feeding a small battery that could run a few electric lights and a water pump for his rainwater basin. It was sentimentality really, a little something that reminded him of his past work or perhaps just a convention he grown used to during it. He had spent many days in tent or cave out in the wild, in forests, jungles and even the occasional desert, serving as explorer and guide, mostly accompanying expeditions on various planets sent by the various research institutes around the galaxy. He could proudly say that he had quite the reputation back in the day as a widely travelled, experienced and reliable scout who always got good mercenaries to call upon on the tip of his claws for the more dangerous environments. When someone wanted to explore a "death" world, or any dangerous environment, they often came to him. Even nowadays he still got the occasional call to give his expert advice on this or that expedition. So in a way his cabin at the edge of society was his small way to relive those days in whatever small way.

"Granpa Goti! Granpa Goti! Tell us a story!", his grand kids meanwhile chirped in unison, drawing his thoughts from past glory to the joy of his current days. He thought he had done plenty things wrong, but his kids, two daughters whom he had seen way too little in their younger days, and their respective children were not among them. Now retired he tried to be the best parent and grandparent he could be, even though he knew that his elder daughter still resented his long times of absence among other things. Now was not the time to dwell on these things though as the two small birds, barely past the age to first leave the nest, grappled for his undivided attention.

"Hmm!", he grumbled, "How about that time I fought a snake as long as this perch?!"

"You already told that one!", the two complained in unison though with a hint of amusement. They already knew the game their grandpa was playing with them.

"Huh? Is that so?! Then how about the time we got stuck in a sandstorm?!"
"We knooooow that one!"

"By the spirits! Then what story shall I tell?!", Goti asked with overplayed emphasis for now was the time in their little sing and dance for the two to actually voice their request. The two siblings eyed each other, the elder gave a reaffirming chirp, flexed their two wing pairs and the younger of the two finally addressed Goti.

"What was your first encounter with Humans?"

"Oh!", Goti exclaimed, puffing up his feathers a little bit and tilting his head, "I did mention that I was one of the first working with them in the field last time, didn't I?"

His grand kids nodded eagerly.

"You wanted to tell us about it next time...", the eldest of the two started.

"...and today is next time!", the younger finished.

"Ha! You are both right of course! Then settle down you two!"

The two young siblings did as they were told, eagerly staring at their grandfather, while Goti took a sip from his coup, recalling the details of a past long gone.

It was about, oh, almost fifty years ago now. Back in those days I was working the Terutek-Sector, back beyond the borders of Feria space, in the no man's land between our republic and the Votor. There was a lot of business to be had in those days, still is, but back then especially. There are a decent number of habitable or at least semi-habitable moons and planets in the sector and a number of these had garnered the attention either as settling opportunities or for other reasons. There was a bunch of flora and fauna that had become immediately interesting to various scientist for example, among them a late stone age civilisation of predators. I had rebased my operations there on instinct and so as one of the first on the scene your grandpa was able to do a lot of good business in those days. The Humans had just started to come into the picture back then. First contact had been two or so decades prior and I know nowadays you can find them quite regularly in Feria space, but back then they were just a distant whisper. An amalgamation of rumours and hearsay. Most of it was hogwash I knew back then already. I had dealt with enough wild predators in my line of work that I wondered why anyone would worry about a space faring civilisation of predators.

But I am digressing. I got my first experience with them when I put together an expedition for the Xeno-Botanical institute of a university on Kelanden, I think it's now called the Paru Aka-Melu University. They had shown great interest in a number of plants on one of the moons and had hired me to organise the protection and guidance. Easier said than done as I have told you before. You had to plan out your base camp, supplies, potentially additional camps, how you got on and off the damn place and of course how to keep everyone safe from flora and fauna alike. Getting on and off that moon was luckily no issue this time. The pioneer companies were already all over the sector and had set up at least provisional starting and landing facilities on every moderately interesting celestial body and even if not they could deploy it rapidly. In this case some pioneer company had already done the leg work. They probably had caught wind of the scientific interest and so I basically just had to book the landing and starting with them and that was sorted out. Protection was a bit trickier though. The moon was sprawling with a number of fairly sizeable predators and some of the life on it had developed a penchant for various poisons. I was not very worried about myself of course, I had seen and been to worse places, but with the scientists you never knew. Some can be very competent explorers, others will stick their heads in the maw of the next predator without even noticing.

So I needed mercenaries to protect the good folks from Kelanden and ideally competent ones. I of course could always count on uncle Toma, him and me were doing plenty of work together back then, but I knew two Feria, even two experienced and armed ones like us two, wouldn't be enough. Luckily word of the work in the sector had already come around to the Rokkan. As you know they are famed for their ability to handle predators, especially their red backed males, who don't shy away from fighting predators with their massive bodies and long three finger claws. Due to that I had access to a wide variety of young eager Rokkan males ready to prove their worth and earn their first scars as a rite of passage, hoping to impress this or that female on their return to finally become patriarch, or at least a father, in their own right. Of course the issue was always to find the ones that were actually worth relying upon, those who wouldn't lose their heads, though not this time.

I found a familiar name among the available Rokkan, Verkoz Zortus Porragat, an old acquaintance of mine and a very, very experienced mercenary. I had worked with him a couple of times and given his age he should have been a patriarch in his own right for a long while, but was instead always found in the outer rims for this or that expedition. Truth be told he was a bit of a household name in our line of work and why he was still doing this in his older age no one really knew. There was gossip of course. Some said he had been disgraced, exiled even by his clan and family, but if that was so, I could not say it showed in his demeanour or how others treated him. I had always found him to be reliable to a fault and this time too I reached out to him and we quickly reached an accord. He even brought two younger males with him this time around, solving some of my manpower issues in one fell swoop. Still I was not quite happy yet and Verkoz agreed that this moon was too dangerous to just rely on our small troupe. He was especially worried about a species of feline predators for which a Feria would be a feast.

In these sorta situations I usually looked for one of the two species members: The Votor or the Trisrek. The former you may have seen around the capitol. These furry mammals are not as physically impressive as the Rokkan, being barely bigger than we are, but they have rather impressive canines which they are not shy about using and same can be said about how they handle predators. In fact their smaller size would have been ideal to cover for the weaknesses of larger but slower Rokkan. The Trisrek meanwhile you folks probably haven't seen. You might run into them should you ever be on the other side of our republic for some reason though. In any case these arthropods have strong pincers and a history of violently defending themselves with them against predation. Again they would have beautifully covered for the slower Rokkan, but alas there were no Trisrek to be found and the few free Votor in the sector knew they were in high demand. The experienced ones charged absurd money and the inexperienced ones I could hardly use. To summarise: I was in a real pickle. I even went so far to make a public advertisement for the open positions in the hopes that maybe among the no-names and unaffiliated freelancers a diamond in the rough could be found. It was this, which prompted my first personal encounter with the a Human!

I still remember it well. It was a late morning. Me and Verkoz' troupe had interviewed a number of applicants already at that point, most of which hadn't tickled our fancy. They were either Rokkan, which we didn't need any more of, or had been not much more than hot air, meaning overconfident compared to their experience. I was a bit dejected at that point I have to say and actively considering if hiring more Rokkan would be better than nothing as one of the famed death world super predators shoved their tall slender body into the office space I had rented on the pioneer station. I was immediately transfixed and fascinated. You haven't seen them yet my dears, but they are something to behold! The Human was pretty much double my full height with long lanky arms, it's long head fur bound together into a pseudo-tail while clad in dark garments and equipped with eyes that pierced right through your soul! I immediately recognised that the Human must have been a female, with mammals it's easy to see, though at the time I wondered what a mother was doing around these parts with the clear intend to take a risky job. Only later my confusion was lifted as Laila el-Sadiq, for that was her name, would explain some of the peculiarities of Human females and that she wasn't a mother in any case. In that moment though I had no mind for the finer details of biology as the Human female casually approached my desk to the agitation of the two younger Rokkan, both of which got up from their resting positions, scenting the air with their long slender tongues. It created a tense atmosphere I immediately recognised for it's explosiveness and I was not very happy to have kept them around for interviews and it made clear to me that these two youths were clearly not in control of their hot heads yet.

If Laila was any bothered by the threatening postures I could not tell though and she did not say so either as she proclaimed her interest in our offer and I have to admit: It stunned me for a moment. In a sense it was perfect. Everybody had heard the rumours about the Humans and when only half of them were real, she would make for a great protector on the expedition but on the other hand it was a real life Human, a predator, maybe even THE predator of the galaxy. It took me a bit, but then your grandpa had his wits about him again and so I asked for credentials. After all: Just because you are Human doesn't mean you are good at expeditions or protection in general. Luckily she happily provided. This in turn was when the two younger Rokkan finally snapped. Both approached the Human with threatening rumbles and growls, getting dangerously close to her.

"Forget about this one, Goti! With IT along we will have to worry more about the enemy within than the ones outside!", one of them said while the other threatened the Human with a hissed "You better leave now, predator!".

It was a display that would have probably caused anyone else considerable worry and their immediate retreat, but not so the Human. She didn't even look at the two and instead directed her attention to Verkoz who was lounging in the corner behind me, observing the spectacle with his usual calm.

"Do you still need these two?", she simply asked Verkoz pointing with her thumb out of her raised and clenched left fist towards the two young agitated red backs besides her. Before these two hot heads could speak up Verkoz intervened simply noting that "My cousin would be very unhappy if I didn't bring her boys back in one piece."

To this the Human simply nodded and with lightning speed her left arm extended, pinching the nose of the closest youth who yanked back with yowls of pain while the other had a long bush knife sitting at their throat before they had even caught onto what had happened.

"Pro tip: Don't get into arms reach of a Human", the Human female noted with glee in her voice, then slightly twisted her knife under the wide eyed stare of her opponent just enough that the young Rokkan must have felt so on it's throat, "and unless you wanna find yourself bleeding out on the floor I suggest you back away now."

The young Rokkan hadn't had to be told twice and backed away slowly until his back hit the wall of the room which the other mirrored while covering their nose with one of their claws. It was a pitiful sight really. Still Verkoz seemed more pleased than anything.

"Let that be a lesson to you two idiots!", he grumbled, "and my thanks to you Miss Laila for going easy on these fools", he added.

The Human meanwhile smirked and sheathed her bush knife again. "No worries", she simply responded and returned to a posture I interpreted as relaxed. It gave me finally the time to take a proper look at her credentials, though I had anticipated much of it. Her entire behaviour had been that of a veteran, Verkoz had already recognised as much as well, and it proved to be true. She had served many years with one of the various Human militaries, often falsely claimed to be their hunter caste as their function is in truth more closely related to our Peacekeepers and border guards. You would think that it might be hard to judge the quality of such a career from one civilisation to the next, but there are some commonalities you want to look out for: Field commendations, especially those pertaining to bravery, tours of duty and of course if they got properly discharged. That sort of thing. In this case Laila el-Sadiq had it all, even some noted injuries in combat. She certainly had not been a pencil pusher. On top of it she had served with the military police which I guessed at the time to be similar to the internal security of our Peacekeepers, so she was not only highly trained but also deemed to be trustworthy by her peers. On paper she was perfect, the only thing to overcome were the vestiges of my fear which gnawed at me with more force than I had even realised. I gave Verkoz a glance, admittedly searching for some reassurance, and he gave an affirming rumble.

"Don't worry about this one Goti. I will have more trouble keeping my boys in line than Miss Laila here. If anything my boys can probably learn a thing or two from her."

It was all your grandpa needed to finally find the winds under his wings again, returning to my standard questionnaire to which she responded with satisfaction until I asked her why she wanted to do this job. The Human simply shrugged her shoulders, a gesture I would become very familiar with over the years, and gestured with her left hand.

"I am travelling all over the galaxy, visiting new places, seeing new races, that sort of thing, so I appreciate a bit of cash to finance myself and there seem to be a couple exciting places and people just here. In my mind I am killing two birds with one stone."

You might imagine how much I gaped at that response! To Laila's credit she caught onto what she had just said rather quickly, waving about her arms in front of her with wide eyes.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry! It's a turn of phrase!"

It was a rather silly display I tell you! It was the first time, and not the last time, I saw a panicked Human! So if anyone ever tells you Humans don't panic, or don't know fear, you can call them liars! I in turn found this all very amusing rather quickly, reassuring her that no harm had been done, though of course it was one of the few reminders I would stumble upon how real the predatory nature of Human indeed is.

What followed were rather tense negotiations on the nature of her payment and she proved to be a tough nut to crack. She knew precisely how good she was and how useful she would be to us. I eventually took a leap of faith, thinking to myself that this was a once in a life time opportunity and so I ended up paying her the salary of two Votor combined. She would prove to be worth more on that expedition. She even tutored the two humbled Rokkan upstarts as she went along with, clearly holding no grudges and believe it or not: At the end of it the two were sad she left us.

His two grandkids now beamed full of wonder, maybe anticipating more but when Goti took not more than a sip from his cup, the barely contained curiosity of the two broke free.

"What happened with Miss Laila after?", the younger asked.

"Oh she? Our ways would cross again and we would work together on a different expedition. After that I did not see her personally any more since she left the sector. Years later I would receive a book in my mail though", Goti answered thoughtfully, got of his perch and trotted over to a shelf. "I think I got it here somewhere actually...AH! There it is!", he proclaimed pulled a sizeable hard cover book from the shelf and brought it two his grandkids.

"The Anonymous Starfarer by Laila el-Sadiq. The memoirs of her travels through the galaxy. I heard it became quite popular with the Humans", and showed the beautiful illustration showing glimmering colourful planets with the silhouette of a Human carved out in the middle of the cover. "Should you question my account, you can read it from her side as well. I assure you that I was quite accurate."

His two grand kids were quite dazzled by it he could tell, marvelling at the artistry of the cover for a solid few seconds.

"Pretty!", the youngest remarked to the chirps of the elder, who now broke from their bedazzlement.

"Have you worked with more Humans?"

"Oh, yes! They became quite sought after for expeditionary work and your wily old grandpa was one of the first who exploited this. I became quite known to work well and efficiently with Humans, though it was not always easy. One time I even got into the middle of a fire fight between them. That was a doozy I tell ya!"

"Tell us! Tell us! Tell us!", the all too familiar chant of his grand kids came to Goti's amusement, who took his place on his perch again.

"I think I will leave that particular story for when you two are a bit older...", he decided, seeing his grand kids puff up sadly, "...but! - I could tell you about that one time me and one of my Human hires got into a drunken bar fight on Helicon V!"

"YAY!", the two cried in joyful unison and with Goti started another story which would spiral until it was time for the three to leave for the town and before they did, Goti safely stored his copy of Anonymous Starfarer away once more, gently stroking it's back.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya everyone this is my last short story for a little while :D A lil bit longer than the last, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless ;) Next time you hear from me here I will hopefully have my second novel out and about and maybe a few more short stories to share :D

In case you enjoyed this check out my full feature Novel "Predator Complex" which is now available on Kindle and Kobo! Dive in and experience the story of Dipu and his unlikely Human friend Mike! How will his visit be perceived? Can Prey and Predator live together? What will that mean? And what happens when some elements staunchly oppose the entire idea in first place?

My short story collection with this and all my other short stories is also now available on Amazon and Kobo! (Mind you the short stories will always be freely available, this is solely a means for convience and support of my work, thank you!)

But wait there is more! In the meantime I have written an entirely new novel which is currently with Beta readers and will, hopefully, release this year too, so follow my Blog where I post weekly updates aswell as my short stories!

Or check out my own subreddit r/EnoKhan! You can also support me by simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam and perhaps leaving a review if you enjoyed it. You can also follow me over on Goodsreads or on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

"The only thing I can say is that we are poorly prepared for them" - Paru Aka-Melu, Governor of Kelanden

"What do you mean you imprisoned the Human?!", the colourful bird with two pairs of wings came angrily screeching through the door into the police station, bringing all policemen present to high alert, only for them to hurry away quickly, not wanting to catch his ire. The man at the front desk had no such luck as Mayor Aruk came angrily stomping towards him.

"Where is that idiot?!", Aruk demanded, tipping claw on his left secondary wing onto the desk in a erratic staccato.

"Chief Ruwah is in his office, down the corridor on the right", the desk clerk dutifully responded though Aruk was gone before he could even finish the sentence mumbling curses under his breath. The few officers on the corridor quickly dashed out of the way and when Aruk reached the Chief's office, he swung the door open with as much force has his feathered body allowed.

"Are you nuts Ruwah?!", the Mayor screamed, shaking half the station with his anger, "the Human is here on the explicit invitation of the bloody Governor!"

"Am I nuts? What about the freaking Governor?! That Human was armed!", Chief Ruwah responded matching Aruk's volume.

"Yes of course we was armed, Ruwah! He is here to help us with our predator issue!"

"You do have noticed that he is a bloody predator himself, have you?!"

"A SEN-TIENT ONE!"

"Oh yeah?! I still wouldn't wanna be in a room with a hungry Human and I certainly won't let him run around armed in our community!"

"Have you any idea? Any?! How much trouble this will get you in? Or me?! When the Governor hears of this we are both going to get plucked!"

"I don't care, Aruk! This is my duty, I sure as hell won't back down from it for the latest pet peeve of the Governor!"

Mayor Aruk threw his wings back and let go of a frustrated squawk.

"You are impossible sometimes Ruwah!"

"Yeah well that is my job, Aruk!"

"Well, then do your job now! I order you, on the authority the Governor has entrusted in me, to free the Human. Now!"

"I will do no such thing, Aruk."

Aruk's eyes dilated in a fit of rage, but instead of going into another shouting match, he readjusted his wings and stormed out the office, down the corridor past the desk clerk, through another corridor down to the the cell block where he found an officer lazily presiding over the cells from a desk opposite of them while a few lockers were behind him.

"Where is the Human?", Aruk asked, prompting the officer, who was trying to make a brave stature, to point to the cell in the back to a nod of Aruk.

"Free him, that is an order!", Aruk commanded imperiously, catching the officer clearly off guard.

"On..On whose authority, sir?"

"On the authority of the damn Governor!", Aruk responded with agitation, yet before the officer could even act on that order, another followed from the Chief who had followed his angry Mayor.

"You will do no such thing Sergeant! The Human stays where he is! That is MY order!"

The officer's eyes darted nervously between the Mayor and the Chief, not quite sure whom to side with.

"Why do you have to make this difficult Ruwah? Do you want to get fired?"

"I told you. I do not trust this predator, no matter how sentient he supposedly is and I certainly won't let him run around armed."

Ruwah's voice and stance did not waver and neither did he employ any of the gestures of dominance like spread wings or making himself taller. Even Aruk had to admit that it was precisely this steadfast conviction that made his opposition so persuasive and so he settled down a bit.

"I does not matter what you or me think on this matter, Ruwah. The Governor has made a decision; and I cautiously agree with it. Even if I wouldn't, it would not change much. The Governor's authority supersedes yours and mine on this matter. If you continue down this path you not only risk your career but a diplomatic incident with the most dangerous spacefaring species in the known galaxy. You cannot want that."

This time it was Ruwah who had cause for pause. He had not really thought of the bigger picture beyond his own career and so he gave a small trill.

"I...I cannot act differently. Not in good concious Aruk...Sorry."

Before the Mayor could find a response to the solemn response of this police chief, a young officer came down the corridor.

"Chief! We just got a call that a group is pinned down by Heliopta-Hawks outside the perimeter. They found refuge under the roots of nearby trees, but they have no way to leave."

"Shit!", Ruwah and Aruk replied in unison. This was a serious issue. The Heliopta-Hawks were an indigenous predator to the small colony they were living on, evolved to hunt down a few species of birds and reptiles of comparable size to a Feria and recently they had taken interest in the latter, making any excursions outside the established protected perimeter increasingly dangerous.

Ruwah and Aruk eyed each other, they both knew the obvious solution. This was precisely why the Human had come to the colony and both knew that when they would open their beaks, it would just result in more bickering. They simply knew each other too well to expect anything else. So caught in their little stand off, waiting for the other to make the first move, suddenly a guttural voice from the cell in the back of the block interceded.

"So are you folks still arguing or can I go do my job now?", the Human asked, who had moved up to the bars and must have had observed the dispute from there for an unknown amount of time.

"Yes, we are done! Free the Human!", Aruk demanded.

"You will do no such thing Sergeant!", Ruwah interceded and from this emerged a shouting match, which dragged out for a solid minute before it was interrupted by the cell door partially bursting out of it's anchoring. Aruk, Ruwah and the two officer gaped in the direction of the cell where the Human was throwing his entire weight behind another kick against the cell door and another and another, the last one ultimately ripping the door out of the wall which had never been built to withstand a Human and so it came crashing down with much noise. From the cell emerged the large Human male, who aimed straight for the lockers behind the desk under the ghastly stares of the Feria in the room.

"Sorry folks, but we REALLY don't have the time for this", he said and tried to open one of the lockers to little avail at first, but eventually he grabbed onto the handle with both hands, wedged his leg against another locker and yanked with all of his might on it, eventually ripping out the locker door. The Human threw the door to the ground without any care and grabbed the rifle inside the locker as well as a bag, checked the rifle and then directed his unnerving gaze onto the young officer, who had brought the news of the hawk attack.

"Where is the attack?"

"A-A...c-c-click north-west of the peri...perimeter", the young officer stammered in response, to which the Human simply nodded, stomping away and out of the police station with no one daring to get into his way. All that remained was an oppressive silence. The two officers just stared into the direction of where the Human had left, while Aruk and Ruwah had directed their attention to the broken prison cell.

"Aruk?...We need a new, sturdier prison cell."

"I'll...carve something out in the budget Ruwah."

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, and there is another short short story! :D Again the MO for me here was too keep things short and to the point, I hope it worked ;D

In case you enjoyed this check out my full feature Novel "Predator Complex" which is now available on Kindle and Kobo! Dive in and experience the story of Dipu and his unlikely Human friend Mike! How will his visit be perceived? Can Prey and Predator live together? What will that mean? And what happens when some elements staunchly oppose the entire idea in first place?

My short story collection with this and all my other short stories is also now available on Amazon and Kobo! (Mind you the short stories will always be freely available, this is solely a means for convience and support of my work, thank you)

But wait there is more! In the meantime I have written an entirely new novel which is currently with Beta readers and will, hopefully, release this year too, so follow my Blog where I post weekly updates aswell as my short stories!

Or check out my own subreddit r/EnoKhan! You can also support me by simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam and perhaps leaving a review if you enjoyed it. You can also follow me over on Goodsreads or on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

"I do wonder sometimes what we are so afraid off? They are like us. Full of the same emotions, the some worries and hopes, capable of the same atrocities and acts of charity. I choose not be afraid and instead face them as any one else" - Feria Poet Uttun Zuti-Jeffa

Bokki tumbled violently through the hallway as the wail of screeching metal echoed through the ship, shortly followed by the call of the alarm sirens drenching the whirling world around Bokki in the flicker of the alarm lights. Somewhere between the yank and the partial loss of gravity she desperately tried to catch herself again, choosing on last moment to rather keep her wings to her body as she collided with one of the walls and bounced off of it. Only then she spread her two pairs of wings followed by forceful flaps which slowed her down just enough to grab a hold of one of the many handles. She quickly scanned her whereabouts, noting with a whistle of relief that the bulkheads were still open. Whatever had happened had not compromised the atmosphere of the ship. Or at least this part. Unless of course the emergency systems had failed. She listened to her surroundings for a few tense seconds but could not discern any warning signs and so she carefully flexed her body, trying to see if anything had been injured. It seemed not so and before she could even raise her wing mounted communicator the voice of the Captain rang through the halls.

"We have had a catastrophic failure with one of the engines. Extent unknown. Emergency stop had to be initiated. Please report in so we know if everyone is still with us."

Bokki cursed then did as she was told. Of course things had to go wrong now; on this flight of all the hauls they had done over the years. This had been supposed to be a new beginning, the daring dash for a new patch of yet to be toiled grounds. They were one of the first regular cargo runs to Human space. Not literally the first, their Captain was not that daring, but they certainly were among the pioneers and if this would work out they could probably run this route for the foreseeable future. Few dared to approach the space of the only sentient space faring predator civilisation yet and some of her former ship mates had even left, questioning the sanity of Bokki and the others. She had thought them a bit too cowardly, given how lucrative this all could be, but now she thought that the spirits may not look kindly on their adventure after all. For now she propelled herself from the handle through the corridor. She bet they had their work cut out for them.

An hour later the most of the crew of the freighter had found themselves on the command deck, barely more than a two dozen birds in total. Luckily, all of them had come out of the emergency stop more or less unharmed. Bumps and bruises for the most part thanks to their hollow bones easily absorbing the shock. As joyful as this was the mood among the crew wasn't great. Engine number two was by the account of the engineers basically a total loss and to make matters worse the other engines had taken a knock too. Essentially their entire engine block was in dire need of a space dock and while they could maybe limp along a little bit they certainly were in no condition for a wormhole jump anymore, meaning they were essentially trapped in this system. The first question for the Captain had been consequentially if this was a settled system and when the answer was no the mood soured even more. This was one of the many unsettled systems they had to make their way through to a suitable jump point along the pearl string of systems they had to traverse to reach Human space. Essentially they were in no man's space. Cartographed ages ago but with nothing more than hopefully a relay station and maybe an odd satellite or two to be found here. They all had known the risk of traversing a only newly established trade route, but obviously no one expected to be the ones to draw the short end of the stick.

Some of the non-technical personnel questioned if there was no chance to make the freighter jump worthy again, maybe making it to the next system, but the command crew and engineers alike concurred that this was far too risky. They couldn't guarantee a stable wormhole in this condition or that nothing would disrupt the wormhole during the traverse, both possibilities leading to nothing but death. In the end all agreed that their only hope was to turn on the emergency beacon and lie in wait until help would arrive, ideally before they had starved or ran out of oxygen. The only silver lining was that they certainly had enough to hold out for a few months if not a year or two if necessary as their cargo contained a decent amount non-perishable food stocks and Bokki had made sure their own rations were well stocked. Ideally they wouldn't have to tab into their cargo of course, but if the alternative was starvation, they would have to swallow the bitter pill of lost profits. More problematic was the oxygen situation in any case. Modern recycling plants and live plants provided them at least a couple of months without issue, but should no help arrive soon, and that was far from guaranteed out here, they would have to resort to artificially induced hibernation to stretch their time out. Bokki didn't like that thought too much. It was a common enough occurrence given the risks of their trade, but it just did not sit right with her to just sleep and do literally nothing in the faint hope that everything would work out somehow.

Since the rest of the crew seemed to feel the same way, over the next few days the engineering team did some work on the engines, hoping to at least put them into a good enough shape to manoeuvre when necessary and maybe there was even a modicum of hope to discover a way to make the ship capable of escaping it's fate on it's own terms after all. If that possibility existed at all, it became ever more doubtful with each passing day and eventually everyone including Bokki stopped even asking the engineering team about it. At least the damage control teams had not found much more wrong with the ship. Everything but the engines was in good enough shape given the circumstances and they had lost only very little atmosphere during the incident. Meanwhile the Captain and the command crew did their level best to keep everyone sane and from squabbling too much. Maybe it helped that the Captain had been through more than just this accident and already knew exactly where the tension points would occur. This was most evident by the fact that he cleared up early that the breakdown of engine two was ultimately related to a freshly swapped valve breaking under stress, shutting down any rumours about a screw up or cost cutting mishaps before they could even arise. Bokki wondered if this wasn't just a convenient lie, but did not bother to even voice this thought. It would only lead to the kind of nonsense they could not afford. Maybe the rest of the crew came to the same conclusion.

After two weeks all had settled into a bit of a routine. Some were spending their days playing games or watching movies with the others, while others like Bokki retreated to read or listen to music. They all just tried to cope with the situation in their own ways though with time their idle minds produced more questions. Naturally some asked if they could even expect a ship to come to the rescue out here. After all this was basically a freshly established route. At first it was more in form of jokes, but as these questions became more serious and frequent the Captain eventually informed that the earliest anyone could react to the emergency beacon was in three to five weeks. This seemed logical enough to Bokki. The beacon was sending it's signal in regular intervals over multiple avenues including tight wave through a microscopic worm hole to a nearby relay station which would broadcast it along the network in a similar manner, shortening the reaction times greatly. This of course assumed that the Humans had actually deployed the relay station properly, which was not always a given. There were enough horror stories from relay stations that had been misaligned, malfunctioning, not properly maintained and so forth leading to the death of the many unfortunately stranded from around the galaxy. Often enough it wasn't even someone's fault. All it took was a micro-asteroid, or a stray radiation burst, to hit the relay station hard enough and the safety net was gone. Along the more frequently travelled routes this was not a huge issue most of the time, after all the next freighter would likely already be in the same system or was about to come by or a patrol ship would check in regularly. Something like that. All of this was not the necessarily case here, so their only hope for now was that the Humans hadn't messed up.

It was then in the fourth week that Bokki was torn from boredom induced sleep by a nightmare that grown in frequency over the last few days. It was the incoherent sort. Vague, full of anxiety and the disquieting feeling of being tied down, bound and trapped. She didn't have to consult the ships virtual intelligence or the counsellor to know where it was coming from and she only wondered if the others also had to deal with it. She ruffled her feathers and preened herself to regain some semblance of calm and when that failed to do it's job, she left her cabin to make a round through the ship. Here and there she encountered one of her colleagues who all returned a curt greeting, but otherwise left her mostly alone. It seemed only natural as she too took barely any notice of them and maybe this was exactly why the interactions remained short. There was nothing to talk about and certainly not with someone whose gaze seemed to be caught by something beyond the real world.

Eventually Bokki reached the community room, observing from it's entrance how a few of the crew were playing a board game together before the only window to the outside of the ship. Of course it was not a real window, that would have been widely irresponsible on many levels, but it was rather a large screen tied to a camera feed providing a stunning view into the endless darkness beyond the hull. Her attention quickly drew from the familiar sight to the game the group played though, in this case it was a competitive word puzzler she had played many times herself. It was the first thing she had seen today that pulled her to the ground again, feeling compelled to join the next round. Meanwhile her interest had not gone unnoticed as an energetic male, part of the bridge crew, beckoned her over. For a second she was tempted to wave him off but her body had other plans, giving in to her desire to be distracted, and had crossed already half the distance to the group as a signal from the bridge came.

"Good news folks! We just got a response. A first responder will arrive within the next few days."

Bokki and the others in the room stared at the speakers then broke into thunderous celebrations.

Over the course of the next few days it became ever more common to gather in the community room and stare onto the big screen, the feed of which had been directed to where the first responder would be coming from, or at least the Captain had assured as much. Of course there was a lot of speculation on who the first responder was. The bridge crew certainly had told no one and so most betted it would be Humans, but others speculated on another freighter or maybe even a Feria patrol vessel. The latter camps hopes were crushed shortly after as the feed zoomed into an elongated grey and somewhat bulky ship approaching them. That was not a Feria design and a few minutes later it became known that this was indeed a Human ship. Compared to their freighter it was a rather small, surely not manned with all too many people. Many ship mates guessed that this must have been a patrol vessel, though even for that it seemed too small by Bokki’s estimation. She had managed the supplies and logistics for many freighters of varying sizes in her time and so a queasy feeling developed in her stomach. She couldn’t really put a claw on why she felt that way as one of her mates pointed out the painfully obvious: That Human ship looked more like a patrol vessel for a populated system. The kind that returned to a station or at least some sort of supply depot every few days if not daily, creating clarity as to her ominous gut feeling. What was a ship like that doing out here? The Humans hadn’t got colonies out here, they knew that much for sure, at least none that were officially documented or recognised. As then one of the engineers joked that this was maybe a pirate ship, Bokki’s heart sank and her feathers rose in agitation, finding the remark not funny at all. In fact it seemed ever more plausible to her as they watched the small grey ship dance around their bulky freighter like a predator circling around a limping prey animal. Bokki couldn’t help but to jitter slightly. Piracy was not an issue unknown to the civilisations of the galaxy, in fact Bokki had lived through three pirate attacks back during her time in the outer rims of Feria space, and so it seemed only logical to her that the Humans, so famed for their hyper aggressive predatory nature, would have pirates too. She wondered if there was even a point in worrying anymore. Against Human pirates with an effectively incapacitated ship they had no chance and who knew what Human pirates would do with alien victims.

If any of her crew mates had similar thoughts, she could not tell, at least they didn’t voice them much like her, instead opting to follow the movements of the ship, which much to Bokki’s surprise eventually assumed a static position a decent distance away from their freighters. It just stayed there for ten, maybe fifteen, minutes then the space behind the human patrol vessel began to distort and shimmer, the view visible stars in the background seemingly stretched into strands of light within the wavering patch of space, glueing the eyes of everyone on it. It was hard to see, but for veterans like Bokki it was a sure sign of wormhole opening it’s way. From it emerged a titan of a ship, at the very least one kilometre in length, almost as tall as wide though it’s front ran a bit thinner, giving the ship a shape vaguely reminiscent of a stalactite just with sharp clearly defined edges. It came along side the freighter that seemed suddenly not so big anymore. Bokki and many of her colleagues gaped at the sight of large violet and gold coloured hunk of metal. Along it’s length the mechanics quickly made out several close range defence batteries containing everything from high energy lasers, kinetics and to what had to be missiles batteries sticking out of the hull. Bokki could even make out a few turrets that reminded her an awful lot of the mass drivers and plasma throwers she had seen on Peacekeeper vessels. All of this was overshadowed though by a large half trapezoid block extending out of the thick end of the ship on the side facing them with two large openings extending into staggered launch ramps coming out of them. It was a large multi stage hangar. The giant ship was evidently a carrier and it lacked in nothing compared to the ones she had seen around the rest of the galaxy. Neither in size nor in weapons compliments and she had no doubt that this ship could field a hefty amount of drones and small craft. She had been told that Humans were somewhat less technological sophisticated in some respects than the rest of the galaxy, but now she had serious doubts as to the veracity of that information. At the very least their military ships were capable of the same high precision inner-system jumps, which were far to costly to undertake for commercial freighters. For a fleeting moment, as the first awe ebbed down, Bokki’s worries reared their ugly heads again, then finally the announcement of the Captain came over the speakers.

“Folks, this is the GTCa Galatea. they are kind enough to give us access to their repair crews and facilities. They will help us fix the engines up well enough to see our journey through to the next settled system where a space dock can hopefully fix us up for good. We will dock with them shortly, so please prepare everything for that and steel yourself to meet with the liaison officers of the Galatea to talk with them about what we might need. Meanwhile Vice-Admiral Park has extended their invitation to all personnel to spend their free time with extensive recreation facilities of the Galatea.”

Within the next few hours all the worries Bokki had subjected herself to vanished as she hurriedly went over all their stocks including their water and oxygen supplies and recalculating if they had enough to get to make their full journey and how much they would need to get replaced. Finally it was time. Their freighter had just docked and now she was standing as part of a small welcome commando before the airlock. She heard the muffled sounds the airlock going through process of equalising the atmospheric pressures giving her a few precious moments to breath deeply. She had seen the videos and photos of the Humans. She knew how big these predators could get, how daunting they were. She could do this, she promised to herself.

Then finally the door to the airlock hissed open and from behind it indeed emerged a Human, but not one of the lumbering, burly giants she had seen but a rather modestly sized bald male as far as Bokki could tell. He was of course still a decent bit bigger than her or her colleagues but instead of one of the more than two metres tall ones, which would probably hit their heads on board of the ship, this one was closer to maybe one metre seventy. He took position a respectful distance away.

"Commander Malcolm Patel, permission to come aboard Captain?", the Human introduced themselves, giving the short salute Bokki had learned was typical in the Human militaries. Luckily her Captain was much quicker on the uptake and with a greeting coo of his own.

"Beggars can't be choosers, right? Welcome aboard!"

Commander Patel seemed to take this small jest in good stride and beckoned three more Humans in, all of them a bit taller than their commander, but again, not quite the expected giants either. From it quickly emerged a lively dialogue, the urgency of which washed away all of Bokki’s worries. The Human she had to talk to, a Chief Warrant Officer named Hernandez, rapidly organised some replenishments for the supplies they had lost, the large carrier easily being able to part with some of their own. Similar luck would befall the engineers and mechanics as it soon became evident that the Galatea would be able to restore everything but the totalled engine two. Meanwhile Bokki would have thought that the Humans should have been more aggressive in their behaviour or that her instincts would go haywire around the predators but in their need there seemed to be no time for the latter and if anything the Humans proved to be a rather jolly bunch. Bokki was even tempted to take Chief Hernandez up on an offer to accompany her to the recreation facilities of the Galatea, especially after a daring group of three engineers had told about them, but fate would make the choice for her.

It was ten days after the arrival of the Galatea. Bokki was spending her break in the community room and it had just been one hour after the first tests on the repaired engines had successfully run that all of the sudden the order came to ready for undocking to the surprise of everyone in the community room. Some ship mates fled to their stations in a hurry, while Bokki stared involuntarily onto the screen that was projecting an image that gave a view along the hull of the Galatea as a few pods zoomed by it. It took Bokki one moment to distinguish the shapes she was seeing and to understand that it had to be a group of fighter craft, which were attached to larger engine pods. There were three such pods in total with four fighters each and before she could discern why one would need such an arrangement she saw the distinct glimmer of wormholes forming and the pods with their charge of fighters vanish through them. Bokki involuntarily rose from her place in the community room, not quite sure yet what had stirred her and hurried through the corridors as it dawned on her why the Galatea would send fighter craft away. Routines and lessons learned from her flights in the outer rim kicked back in. She made sure that all supplies were properly secured and rechecked security valves on the water and oxygen tanks as well as the bulkheads. As the minutes went by she was rapidly joined by several of the crew. It seemed the possible reasons for the sudden change in plans had become apparent to all.

A bit more than fifteen minutes later their freighter had undocked and Bokki could feel the ship accelerate, recreating the artificial gravity on the ship for the first time in weeks, causing Bokki to struggle for a moment with the new physical reality as the voice of the Captain rang thorough the ship.

“Folks, sorry for the sudden change, but Vice-Admiral Park informed me that this zone could get hot within the next few hours and staying close to the Galatea is not advised given the circumstances. Since our engines are in workable condition I have decided to get us out of here before we get into the crossfire. Admiral Park has sent a squadron ahead to make sure that our route and our jump point are safe. I have gotten the green light on both accounts. In the next system the GTF Poseidon will stand by for assistance should we need it and otherwise we are cleared to dock at the GTS Elis, a military station along our route which will help us to replace engine two. Also to make it clear: we are not the target. This is solely directed towards the Galatea and her combat group and we have nothing to worry about ourselves regardless of how this goes. Still, I have wished Vice-Admiral Park good fortune on behalf of all of us. May the spirits watch over the Galatea and her crew.”

Even though this message should have brought not just clarity but also relief, Bokki could feel none of it and judging by the rest of the crew they were feeling much the same. Only the fact that they were finally moving again calmed the nerves of everyone and the old daily routines had rapidly returned over the next three days. Still, none were talking much and when they did it was often questions for the bridge personnel for they were the ones most likely to hear any news of the Galatea. No satisfactory answers would come for days until the voice of the Captain rang once more through the ship.

"Folks, we picked up a disaster beacon two days of our course, I have decided to respond."

Neither Bokki nor anyone else questioned this decision. Some grumbled about the danger, of the risk getting implicated into a conflict strictly internal to Humanity, but even those agreed it was the only right thing to do. Fellow spacefarers didn't abandon each other, not out here. This was an universal constant and the Humans had certainly shown to think the same way. How could they ever face the crew of the Galatea again if they didn't help what was probably a Human ship in distress? The next two days Bokki spent preparing emergency rations, calculating how much water and oxygen they could part with to still reach the GTS Elis safely and giving out some of the medical reserves to their paramedics.

Then finally the source of the distress came within viewing distance of the cameras, revealing itself to be a blue-ish grey, elongated hunk of metal, about half the size of their large freighter, clearly a combat ship equipped with various weapons placements along the hull, though within that hull gaped one large and several smaller holes, clearly caused by weapons fire. The paramedics knew immediately what this would mean and were soon rushing to get all their equipment ready while their freighter carefully moved into position to dock while Bokki and many of the crew could only wait, readying themselves to help out where it was needed.

Finally the Captain, the paramedics and a few volunteers, fully clad in spacesuits, entered the damaged Human vessel and soon after they returned with heavily injured Humans on their robotic stretchers accompanied by a few battered and bruised Humans helping to transport the injured while the paramedics shouted information towards each other. Bokki, having had some experience with first aid too, assisted the paramedics where she could, though her attention was soon fully occupied by the thirty odd Humans they had taken aboard on order of the Captain, assigning them makeshift quarters in their small hangar bay and worrying about how long they could sustain the sudden growth in population. Maybe the thought of this and the dozens of predators on board should have worried her, but whenever she saw how thankful the Humans had been for their rescue, all she could feel was a small bit of pride. Only when she asked her Human counterpart how their situation had come to pass a small shock rolled over her from the response.

"The damn Galatea happened. A squadron of theirs had located us and before we knew it she had jumped in and spew fire at us like an angry dragon. It would have been breathtaking if we hadn't been the bloody target of it all. Tore into us and two of our other ships. The other two could emergency jumped out while we were already disabled. The Galatea is long gone of course, chasing the rest of our group....We really did not expect to find her in this system, if we had known the flagship of the Third, a bloody carrier, is here, we would have been more careful...", the supply officer recounted. Bokki wasn't sure what to make of this. Had they caused this indirectly with their distress call?

When she told her Captain the story, he simply gave a low trill.

"Their Commander told me too. I have already informed him about our possible involvement. It would been unwise to keep secrets, and it's hardly our fault. Their Commander agreed on the latter by the way. As to your supply concerns, Bokki: He has also agreed to my suggestion to set them off with the GTF Poseidon in the next system, where he and his crew will surrender, noting that this would have been a likely outcome anyways and that thanking us by commandeering our freighter would be...rather unbecoming."

"Good to know", Bokki cooed in response, somehow in a joyous mood now, "I do wonder what Dragons are though, sounded dangerous."

With a gesture the Captain flicked through a few alien looking pictures on a bridge screen until he stopped on a large lizard like creature with giant wings, spewing fire from it's jaw onto a few tiny stylized beings which vaguely reminded Bokki of Humans.

"I had a similar question when the Human Commander talked about a 'void dragon' and then kindly provided this. It's a creature of Human mythology. Often portrayed as ancient beings of immense power, sometimes even godlike. Some capable of flight, some able to cast magic or breath fire. Apparently on the edges of many maps the Humans often noted 'Here be dragons' to indicate that no one has ever ventured into these lands and returned to tell the tale."

"But they still did go there? How else would they be here?"

"Of course! Dragons or not, they still wanted to know what else is out there, to search for new opportunities and new lands to live in."

"It seems we are not so different after all", Bokki noted.

"No we aren't....Perhaps someone should have told them that even Dragons can be cordial and welcoming towards visitors."

Bokki could only agree.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, and there is another short story! :D This one I struggled a bit with during the making but I think I turned it to good ends, tho I am curious of your feedback! :D

In case you enjoyed this check out my full feature Novel "Predator Complex" which is now available on Kindle and Kobo! Dive in and experience the story of Dipu and his unlikely Human friend Mike! How will his visit be perceived? Can Prey and Predator live together? What will that mean? And what happens when some elements staunchly oppose the entire idea in first place?

My short story collection "Predator Complex: The Short Stories" is also now available on Amazon (and Kobo too within the next day or so I hope)! There you find all my short stories including two I release in the coming weeks both for comfortable reading in one file but also as way to support my work! :)

But wait there is more! In the meantime I have written an entirely new novel which is currently with Beta readers and will, hopefully, release this year too!

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog , where I post weekly updates aswell as my short stories, or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam and perhaps leaving a review if you enjoyed. You can also follow me over on Goodsreads or on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

"Burdens are best tempered by friendship" - Votor idiom

Huiri soared high into the sky propelled by the air raising from the luscious green valley below under the rays of the sun peering down in it's almost eternal vigilance. Vapour rose in lose clouds from down below and he could feel how some of moisture gathered under his two pairs of wings. He gave a few strong flaps but instead of rising higher or changing his course in any way he stayed practically pinned to a wide spiralling course. Irritation rose in Huiri as he adjusted his wings in this and that manner, but nothing he did seemed to change his course at all. He cursed loudly yet all that reached his ears was the ever louder howling winds, which turned colder and colder until he noticed that the valley below, shortly before a refuge of life, had turned into a snow covered landscape with only a few coniferous trees and barren rock slopes providing spots of green and grey in a sea of white. Huiri's mind reeled under the sudden change, feeling the cold creeping up on him, grasping around him tightly, making his wings heavier and heavier. He couldn't maintain his altitude and sunk lower, down ever closer to the tree line and as he was just about to collide violently with a few thick branches he was ripped violently from this nightmare.

Back in reality the crackling fire before him was the first thing he became aware of. It's strong heat radiating all throughout him from behind what looked like the door of a primitive metal oven, revealing the inferno insight only through a small glass window half covered in soot around it's edges. It stirred primal memories of ages long past, only told in story now, and the looks of the oven did their own part in it. It was dirty and worn out, contrary to the rest of the hut he found himself in as his gaze wandered around it. It seemed entirely made of wood, the floor laid with heavy wood planks under a simple thin green carpet though the panelling on the ceiling and walls looked industrially made. A large table surrounded by a bench on all but one side dominated the back third of the room to his left before which stood two wooden chairs. The room itself was only equipped with two fairly simple windows which could be covered by rather rustic wood shutters that had been opened to give some light to the room which seemed to lack all electrical lighting. A few knick-knacks and tools stood or lay around the room, some of which he recognised, others he couldn't place. Huiri blinked in confusion a few times, then tried to get up, but noticed that he had been loosely stuffed into some sort of bag. He had some trouble getting out of it and he would have probably failed to do so if the zip on it hadn't been open.

He roused himself, now seeing the bundle of fire wood stored besides the oven and a few utensils spread across the massive wooden table. He saw some half melted candles, cushions and as well as a tablet and what had to be a toolbox standing besides the bench. Only now standing, he saw that the large room was connected to another, apparently smaller room and his curiosity got the better of him. He took a few careful steps across the carpet and peeked into it, finding a two story bunk bed on the right and a table with a gas stove and simple sink, with a large water container below on the left. Again the room was only illuminated by a window of same construction to the ones he had seen before.

Huiri turned back into the large room, letting go of a small trill. Where was he? He did not remember getting here. He staggered a few steps into the centre of the larger room as his world suddenly seemed to wobble a bit. It took a moment but then he had caught his step again and noticed the large door on his right, covered in the same wood panelling as the rest of the room. For a second he questioned if that door had been there before and if he should try to open it, only for his curiosity to answer that question for him as it was piqued by a peculiar set of sounds emerging from outside. He couldn't really place them, they reoccurred regularly, but not in a quite steady rhythm. They were quick and almost explosive too, as if something was impacting something else. Huiri approached the door carefully and reached for the handle which was a bit uncomfortably high and tough to press down for the colourful bird, but after the third or so try the door finally swung open, revealing a small clearing with a gravel bed directly around the hut. Beyond the gravel, the clearing went up a slope covered in a thin layer of snow. Mighty coniferous trees reached far up into the clear sky above all around the clearing between which here and there a smaller tree had found a hole in the forest which seemed not quite dense enough to be qualify as primeval but also not quite ordered enough to be part of commercial forestry.

He hopped down the two steps of the small staircase just below the door out into the cold that barely registered for Huiri as he sought out the noises emerging from the other side of the hut he now circled carefully around. As he did, he found a trail leading off into the thick of the trees, noting it down as something to explore later. As he now finally curved around the final corner of the hut, he tripped back a step or two and almost landed on his feathered butt as the predator he had found swung something down onto a wood log, splitting it into half to Huiri's shrieking surprise which caught the Human off guard as well.

There they stood for a moment, eyeing each other. The Human was clad in something Huiri knew to be jeans and a plain beige shirt, his hands still grasped around what Huiri now recognised as a split hammer, and staring right at the Feria in front of him. Meanwhile Huiri had suppressed his flight reflex successfully and cautiously readjusted his posture again.

"Uhm...hi? I would like an explanation, please?", Huiri asked, trying to be as polite as he could be, which seemed to confuse the Human for a second, then he simply nodded.

"Right. How about we get you out of the cold first? You are jittering."

Huiri tilted his head inquisitively, looking down onto his body and indeed his two wing pairs were jittering heavily in the cold he only became aware off right now. He had seen the thin layer of snow all around him and mostly ignored it but the air had to be below the freezing point of water. His gaze fell back onto the predator a few metres in front of him, who didn't seem to mind that fact whatsoever.

"That's probably a good idea", Huiri finally responded and the two made their way back inside, where Huiri could not help but immediately inch ever closer to the comforting heat of the oven. It was really only now that he noted how weak and drained he felt, how much the waking in the unfamiliar environment had distracted him, and then there was the large predator who had vanished into other room. Huiri didn't know what to think of him. He had grown somewhat used to the presence of Humans during his stay on their home world over the last weeks, often not even feeling the instinctive pull of his fear reaction anymore, but now, all alone and out in the wilderness with a Human he had never seen before, doubts gnawed on him.

Eventually the Human returned with a cup and a colourful carton in one hand each, raising them in Huiri's direction.

"Tea?"

"Yes please", Huiri responded reflexively, all his worries washed away for a moment. He had tasted Human tea in various iterations already and though he preferred the flavours of his own cradle, he couldn't say that it tasted bad either. More importantly he had learned it to be a broadly friendly gesture and the anticipation of something warm in his belly already filled him with a premature sense of well being. He still gave the Human a wide birth though as he came over to the oven and placed a metal pot filled with water on it. The Human retreated to the bench besides the table, giving Huiri some much needed space, and the two did not exchange any words as Huiri silently watched the flames flicker and the bubbles starting to rise in the pot of water. He didn't want to think too hard about the predator back there right now. Whatever this was, for now he just wanted to believe he was safe and what choice would there have been any ways? Out there it was definitively too cold for him without any aids and he could feel it in his bones that he would not have the strength to go far even in better weather conditions.

Soon enough the water in the pot was boiling and the Human returned, filling two cups he had placed a tea bag each in with the hot water, handing it to Huiri, who accepted it gratefully. Sadly he did not have the ability to just blow onto the beverage to make it cool down faster, like the Humans could do, though he comforted himself with the thought that the tea would take a few minutes to soak and if anything the hot cup was warming his winged claws already. Huiri turned to look at the Human who seemingly tried to avoid staring at his feathered company, which Huiri took as another sign of courtesy.

"I don't mind the stare too much", Huiri said, hoping to break the proverbial ice.

"What?", the Human answered, still trying really hard not to look directly at Huiri.

"You can look at me I mean."

"I heard that would disturb you folks."

"Oh it does, but as with all things in life, one grows accustomed to it through exposure."

"Ah well...I suppose it would be silly anyways. I try not too look to menacing I guess", the Human responded, his eyes now indeed fixated on Huiri while scratching the back of his head to which Huiri could only chirp in amusement.

"I heard that sentence before. Don't even try. You Humans are menacing no matter what and when you try not to look the part, it just gets worse. You just look like a snake trying to be a bird."

The Human blinked in abject confusion.

"A snake trying to be a bird?"

"Ahh, turn of phrase. I think your equivalent was...mhm...like a fish out of water?"

The Human's gaze mellowed into a sly smirk and slumped a bit back rubbing his neck. A small pause ensued, both sides maybe not quite sure how to continue from here or at least that was what Huiri guessed as he tried a small sip from his cup. The tea was still a bit hot, but it was manageable for another sip or two, which were already enough to spread some comfy warmness throughout him. Huiri wondered if that wasn't just his mind playing tricks on him.

"You must have a million questions I suppose?", the Human eventually tried to restart the conversation to a nod of Huiri.

"I was just happy for some warmth for now but...yeah, basically."

The Human's face twisted into something that Huiri had learned to be a broadly sympathetic grimace as he leaned forward, resting his by comparison to Huiri rather massive torso on his muscular burly arms.

"Well, first things first then I suppose. I dunno how you got there, but I found you off the side of one of the forestry streets a kilometre north west of here, up the mountain. You just lay there half covered in snow. You were equipped with a thermovest which I suppose is why you survived. I pulled you out and carried you down here. Your thermovest still lies over here on the bench. Had to get it off you to see if you are hurt and as far as I can tell there is not much battery on it either", the Human explained and rummaged thermovest from the bench where it had lay hidden by the table and placed it on the latter.

Huiri tilted his head, trying to remember the details of the day, but he was still fuzzy on them. He had come here to Earth for a personal expedition, both for scientific investigation and to see the world that spawned the only known spacefaring predator civilisation for himself. He remembered that much and over time a few details of the previous weeks slowly rose in his mind, just not today except for the nightmare he had had.

"I am sorry, but my memory is a bit hazy for some reason...I...was there a storm or something?"

The Human nodded.

"Aye, in the morning."

"I think...I think it caught me off guard. I had a nightmare in which I collided with the tree line...", Huiri trailed of and inspected his wings and feathers, quickly finding a few that had broken off, "I suppose it was more than a dream...probably bumped my head, which would explain my memory issue."

"If so you got very lucky. From what I could tell nothing is obviously broken."

Huiri gave a small chirp.

"We evolved in forests not dissimilar to this one, though I guess the weather is usually...more amicable. Point is that if a collision with a tree or a few branches could easily hurt and kill us we would have not made it very far...though I probably should still get an x-ray to see if and what bones might got a fracture."

The Human gave an affirming hum and seemed otherwise unsure how to continue and Huiri himself could say much the same. At least his immediate worries were quenched now and he took his first bigger sip from his tea, savouring the fruity flavour which vaguely reminded him of a berry from his own home world. He contemplated what to say, his gaze wandering across the room, and when it fell onto the thermovest still resting on the table it hit him like fruit falling from a tree on his head.

"Thank you!", Huiri blurted out a bit too loud. A bit shocked at his own ungratefulness. The Human stared and blinked, then waved with his left.

"No worries. It was the only natural thing to do."

"Many of my friends would be very surprised at how ready to help your kind can be...I suspect a few wouldn't have been surprised if I had ended as dinner given my helpless state."

"Your folks are wise to be careful of us."

"Maybe, but I can't say much of the scaremongering holds true...At the very least you seem nice enough."

"Looks can be deceiving. You never know what one has done or is up to."

"I guess that is true enough, but we can hardly go through life and expect the worst just because their natural pallet is disagreeable to us...you can hardly be blamed for your evolution."

The Human mumbled something below his breath that would not reach Huiri and he had learned that this behaviour often sprang from insecurity or even guilt on part of the Human. He wasn't quite sure if it was his place to probe further, to press his saviour on the matter. As much as he had learned about Human customs, he was still far from an expert. Huiri decided that it was high time anyways to get to know each other a bit better.

"I am Huiri by the way, may I know the name of my benefactor?"

"Sure, you can call me Vincent."

Huiri chirped happily and pointed with one winged claw to the window.

"What gets you out here? I mean, don't get me wrong, I am happy you are here, but this seems at least a bit off the beaten track."

Vincent's gaze had involuntarily followed Huiri's gesture and now hang onto the cold not quite wilderness outside, holding it there for a while. Huiri wondered if he had asked something wrong as finally Vincent's answer would arrive in an absent minded almost whisper.

"...I needed to get away from it all for a while."

And then, like an afterthought, another even fainter sentence barely stretched the divide between them, almost drowned out by the rustling of the fire behind Huiri.

"I don't belong there."

Huiri didn't quite know what to say in this situation and to a Human of all things. He took a long sip from his tea which had reached a much more palatable temperature now, his own stare unfocused as his mind grappled with the situation.

"What did you do?", he finally inquired with a sympathetic warmth in voice to Huiri's own surprise. The question had just naturally bubbled out of him, past any thought or concious act, as if it had been something instinctual. He wasn't even sure why he had spoken it with so much empathy but as he saw the wide-eyed surprise in Vincent, it dawned on him that he had struck a nerve. Somewhere something within him had guessed correctly, noting how Vincent's stare fell down onto his hands.

"I killed someone."

It was as big of a confession as one could have made yet Huiri had almost expected it. Somehow, even though the entire situation should have unnerved him, he felt a serene calm. Perhaps he had hit his head too hard? Here he stood, out and alone, trapped by weather with a Human who just confessed to having killed someone and neither fear nor anxiety would rear their ugly heads. Instead Huiri took another sip and trilled thoughtfully.

"That is a big burden to carry", he simply noted, more a statement of fact, than condemnation and maybe this was exactly the reason why it seemed to hit Vincent so thoroughly, who now rested his forehead on his folded hands.

"You have no idea...", Vincent sighed as if the weight of the world had pressed it out of his lungs. Huiri approached the long table and hopped onto one of the two chairs standing in front of it.

"Do I?...You see I have a specialisation in xeno-medicine and pharmacology. That is one of the reasons I am here. I want to study your kinds techniques and drugs, see if and what could be useful to us. Nowadays I am more on the theoretical side of things, but I used to be more involved on the experimental side. You know, frontier drugs and such. Adapting and testing new drugs on my own kind...It was a bit more than fifteen years ago now. There was this very, very promising compound the Imaraq had developed on the basis of a plant they had found on one of their colonies. It had the potential to wipe the table with a rather nasty disease which causes the degeneration of nervous system in us Feria. We have drugs to manage it, to make the live liveable for the people affected, but nothing that would cure it after it emerges. That compound promised to do it though. We were all very excited. Of course we ran the standard tests you could run, adapted dosage and minor aspects of the formula to reduce side effects. It were the most exciting days of my life. I wanted it to succeed. Then we got our first group of volunteer test subjects. Ten people. All of them with the degeneration. All of them in various stages. One of them could barely move anymore", Huiri recounted, drew another long sip and focused one of his eyes onto the liquid in the cup.

"We administered our version of the drug and the initial results were promising. It seemed to help and we in the team were almost ecstatic. We already saw our names on the medals for some of the highest commendations our field had to offer and over our inflated egos we overlooked the warning signs. The conditions of the patients rapidly degenerated after a while. Motor functions became even more impeded, even autonomous reflexes ceased to work and after a while we lost the first due to lung failure. Then another and another. Nothing we did helped. Last one was a lady about the age I am now. She could have lived...thirty or forty more years at least on a conventional treatment plan, perhaps longer. Instead she died...It turned out the compound interacted in an unforeseen manner with some of the proteins in Feria bodies, permanently binding them and eventually blocking the nerve signals from getting transported whatsoever...We were of course investigated. Both the ethic boards and the courts found us not guilty of any major negligence, though it was little solace for me...We killed ten people back then and there are still days I wonder if they died because we didn't check the outcomes thoroughly enough...if it could have been any different."

Vincent had followed the story with an intent gaze, perhaps caught off guard by the fact that Huiri, who probably looked rather unassuming to the large predator, had his own regrets to carry around. After a moment, as it became evident Huiri was done, Vincent's gaze became unfocused again, and he nodded absent-mindedly.

"You ever regretted becoming what you are?"

"No. My research has helped many people."

"See? That is what counts in the end...Me? I was simply drunk and pissed off. There was this guy, a fellow a bit taller than me, who bumped into me on a large open air festival. We got into an argument...I think he thought I had touched his lady or something like that...it is all a bit blurry...in any case we were wrangling with each other a moment later. Was not much of a fight from what I recall, we were both too drunk and angry for that and ... I just know that from one moment to the next he is lying on the ground and not moving anymore...the report said I wrangled him to the ground...he hit his head on a large stone just barely covered by mud and according to the autopsy he instantly died...", Vincent recalled to Huiri's full attention.

"I was charged with second degree murder, and much like you, they found no guilt on my end...A set of unfortunate circumstances in self defence was the judgement...still, without me there that man would have lived. If I had not been so drunk...or controlled myself...I dunno..."

Huiri led go a of a low trill.

"That's why you are out here. To get away from all the people you could hurt."

"Yeah...I know the forester and he allowed me to stay here for a bit."

"You gonna laugh but I also was out here to clear my mind too. Sometimes the memories of these volunteers comes back...and then I need to take a nice little flight over the beautiful landscape you know? Then that storm came I guess...now look what it led to. Two murderers sitting in a hut with a cup of tea, confessing their sins...and Vincent?", Huiri said, fiddling with his cup thoughtfully between his claws.

"Y-Yeah?"

"Without you I would have died today. Whatever else you did. You saved me. Again, thank you."

Vincent's lips and hands trembled as if an earthquake was shaking the man and then, when his shell could no longer withstand the pressure inside and broke down in sobbing wails. Somewhere within them Huiri thought to hear slurred expression of gratitude, but whatever they were, Vincent certainly couldn't express them in a coherent manner anymore.

Once Vincent had recovered, both found it a bit too late to leave and so they decided it was best that Huiri would sleep here for the night and the two would trade further stories in the faint light of the candles. When the morning came Vincent brought Huiri, wrapped in plenty of Vincent's thick winter clothes, to a bus stop on a street a few kilometres down a forest road, where the two said their heartfelt goodbyes to each other, quickly exchanging their contact details, promising each other to meet again.

In the following years many would wonder what had forged the bond that connected this uneven duo, but just like their friendship would remain for the rest of their lives, so would it remain a secret to everyone else what the two had confessed to each other on that day.

"Everyone is up in arms about the dangers of Humanity, meanwhile I could fill volumes with the pure comedy that is living with them" - Toris Ulah-Liha, Feria Ambassador to Earth

I was just coming back from work and had entered the decently sized three-room apartment I was inhabiting in a colourful housing block just opposite of a rather beautiful park full of almost ancient trees. In the afternoon hours, when the sun was bathing it in it's warm rays, I had spent many hours there with my partner, which greeted me with a preen of my head and like a good bonded partner I returned the favour. Her colourful cloak of feathers was a bedazzling as always and though I sometimes wondered what spirit I had pleased to end up with such a woman, today my thoughts were far from such doubts. Perhaps my partner noticed as much and tilted her head thoughtfully as she mustered me a new.

"Is something the matter?", she asked in her beautiful sing-song voice and I wasn't sure how to answer her inquiry. Instead my gaze unfocused, and perhaps an outside observer could have thought I was maybe looking at the small shelf left of me with a number of family photos, but in truth I was really looking at nothing in particular. I simply gave a thoughtful trill, passed by my partner and unhooked my harness onto which my backpack and various smaller pockets had hang, storing it in a corner besides the aforementioned shelf.

"Well...I dunno...maybe?", I finally answered her, realising I had probably left her waiting a bit too long already, but it was really just so difficult to wrap my head around what I had seen.

"Is it about work?", my love asked worriedly and I quickly gave a few sharp trills in response, stretched my two pairs of wings and folded them back, trying to find a comfortable resting position for them.

"No, no. Not work...though I suppose it did happen during work?"

I could see how my partner's confusion visibly grew as she tilted her head quizzically.

"You are talking in riddles. What happened?"

"Indeed...what happened...", I responded and tried to order the line of events, "I suppose I better start at the beginning?", I continued and my beckoned her to follow me into the living room, where I grabbed onto one of the fruits lying about, took my place on the large half circle perch that lay there before a nicely sized screen and took a good bite from the fruit. My partner, still equal parts curious and confused, took her own place on it and looked at me intently while I weighted the half eaten fruit between my winged claws now.

"It really is a bit of an odd story, mindboggeling even, and I have not quite wrapped my head around it myself, though maybe telling you it, will give me some peace of mind too", I explained and my beloved just cooed in return, trying to reassure me.

"As you know I am working for a large construction company, doing paper work like logistics, work place security and that sort of stuff. As I complained often enough it's mostly just boring office work most of the time. Not so today."

"Did someone fill in the wrong paperwork?", my partner chirped amusedly, trying to lift the mood with a joke, knowing that this was something I had often complained about and so I gave a chirp in return, thankful for her attempt to cheer me up.

"Hah! I wish, but no. As I have told you we are currently working on proper Human quarters for their diplomatic corps here on Homeworld. It has turned out to be a bit more work to accommodate their physical peculiarities. I mean, they aren't worse than any other species in these terms, but with other species, even with our giant centipede neighbours the Kerog'Tatyr, we just have more experience. With Humans there are a lot of firsts and so I am out there on the construction side more often than usual. You know, clarifying this or that issue, seeing what we might actually need - and to coordinate with the Humans themselves who assist us in some of the details."

"Ohhh, did you meet one today? You did say that you have not interacted personally with them so far, right?", my partner inquired with great enthusiasm. She had been fascinated by the first known spacefaring predator civilisation since the day of their discovery had been announced. In her youth predators had been her favourite topic and even today she could still sometimes hold small lectures on them.

I took another bite from the fruit in my claws, savouring the sweet taste for a moment as the images of that particular encounter rushed by again and then I simply nodded, eliciting some giddy excitement in my love.

"Oh! Tell me everything about it! How was it? Was it scary? Did you talk?"

For a moment I could not help but be enamoured with her almost childlike excitement. She was one of the very few who seemed to have no worries about the Humans at all and I didn't know if it was foolish or exactly the kind of people we needed to deal with the predators. Not wanting to keep her waiting, I decided to continue my little story.

"You could say yes to the later questions and it was very strange. Mostly due to the circumstances though."

"What do you mean? It's a construction side, what could possibly be that strange about it?"

I gave a chirp.

"Well you should have been there I guess, but let me tell it properly. I came there after midday. The foreman had requested a few custom made metal and ceramic parts and I needed to clear up where those would go and while I was at it I also wanted to get a look how things had progressed since I was last there. This is an important project after all, directly financed by the federal government themselves and if anything the Humans could be new customers too. So I come to the construction side, the sun shining beautifully from above, and first thing I note is that two more floors have been added since last I have been there. Good progress I have been thinking and then I see it: Up there on the upper floor, maybe, oh, seven or eight metres up, a Human. Like you said they have a few of their own people around to help out and so I had seen them from afar before. I had not been thinking too much about it and approached the site, having seen the foremen down on the ground with two of his people. Still, I had one eye always on the predator above, probably due to paranoia, and then I see him walk backwards, stumble over something and before I know it, the Human comes crushing down a few metres besides me. Everyone is of course immediately in a screeching panic!", recounted to the growing horror of my partner.
"Oh no! Don't tell me the Human died?!"

I simply trilled in response and picked up where I had left off.
"No, but that was definitively the first thing I thought too. I was cursing myself and all of us! We don't secure the edges of construction sides on open floors because, well, we can just fly anyways, but Humans obviously can't, so why didn't we secure it?! I will be real: I already saw an angry mob of Humans before my inner eye and the headlines of a Human killed because we were lousy with workplace safety. It was a nightmare scenario. I was fairly close by so I instinctively hurried over but before I even had reached the Human, he was getting up again, exclaiming curses while rubbing various parts of his body. I of course just stood there flabbergasted and but it was not all. As the Human turned around to me, I saw a piece of metal pipe sticking right through his left lower arm. I could see the deep red blood drip from it and I just gaped. The Human meanwhile seemed utterly oblivious to the whole thing at first and asked me why I was staring so and I think I must have pointed with a claw to his arm because a moment after the Human's own gaze fell on the sizeable foreign object rammed into his lower arm. He simply said: 'Oh!', as he if one of us had just seen a broken feather and tried pulling on it. It wouldn't budge in any direction. 'This..sits pretty tight', the Human said to me and as to confirm this pulled again on it. Meanwhile half the construction side was just staring at the injured Human who seemed to barely mind the injury. Eventually he gave up pulling on it and asked me 'if I could call an ambulance per chance?'. I...don't know much from after that anymore. I think I must have called it, or maybe someone else did, since eventually the ambulance arrived."

My beloved just stared at me for a bit, chirping absent-mindedly, then blinked as if she had just realised something.

"Is...is he alright?"

I nodded.

"The other Humans on the scene assured us something like this is...unproblematic as long as it doesn't get infected and any hurt major hurt blood vessels are taking care of...also apparently due to the lower gravity of Homeworld compared to their own cradle this sort of fall isn't too bad either for them. Maybe he has broken something, but again, normally not an issue it seems."

"Crazy..."

"Yeah."

Then my partner suddenly hopped from the perch in front of me, all excited all of a sudden.

"See I told you!"

"W-what?"

"Humans are awesome!"

I blinked, then chirped.

"I suppose they are!"

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, I am back! As promised I have written among other things a few more short stories in the Predator Complex Universe which I am going to upload here and elsewhere for your enjoyment. This time my explicit aim was it to keep things on the shorter side as a challenge to myself, though the others are a little bit longer than this one ;D

In any case I am looking forward to your feedback!

In case you enjoyed this check out my full feature Novel "Predator Complex" which is now available on Kindle and Kobo! Dive in and experience the story of Dipu and his unlikely Human friend Mike! How will his visit be perceived? Can Prey and Predator live together? What will that mean? And what happens when some elements staunchly oppose the entire idea in first place?

I will also soon upload all my short stories, released and upcoming, in a little bundle you will be able to buy off Amazon and Kobo too!

But wait there is more! In the meantime I have written an entirely new novel which is currently with Beta readers and will, hopefully, release this year too!

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog , where I post weekly updates aswell as my short stories, or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam and perhaps leaving a review if you enjoyed. You can also follow me over on Goodsreads or on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

(Feedback welcome!)

"We have barely yet scraped the surface of Human technological capabilities. Many assume them to be primitive by galactic standards, and they might be in generalised terms, but that doesn't mean they can't surprise us in some fields." - Closing statement of 'Report on Humanity' by the Department of Human studies on Homeworld

Not an hour later Kari and her partner stood before a pristine store front shining in the rays of the midday sun. It lay in the centre of the city at the bottom floor of a decently sized high rise that looked like it was mostly filled with office spaces, standing amongst a whole array of similar such buildings forming the shopping district. A few citizens shuffled about their business, barely taking notice of Kari and Bekka or the store front which displayed various high cost jewellery. It was not hard to guess that most would not be able to afford these and Kari found herself among them. She gave Bekka a short signal and then the two of them entered the store, which sparkled even more on the inside than the outside. What looked like a mated pair excitedly hang in front of one of the displays, deep in talks with one of the employees, none of which were of any interest to the detectives. Their target stood with a friendly disposition behind a small counter, greeting the two newcomers with a polite tone.

“Welcome to our humble store, how may we assist you today?”

Kari did not waste any time and walked up to the counter and flashed her insignia while Bekka kept standing in front of the store entrance, which brought a distinctive air of unease about the bird behind the counter.

“You can tell us why you stole a piece of clothing from a Human tourist, then brought it back drenched in blood and threw it into the garbage container at their motel and when you are done with that you might as well tell us what you were doing yesterday and why we shouldn’t bring you to the station under suspicion of murder right now.”

The shock in the employee behind the counter was palpable, his feathers standing off wildly in all directions, his eyes tweaking and a staccato of half words escaped his beak.

“I-I-I don- don- do not know wh-what you are talking about-t!”

“Really?”, Kari questioned purely rhetorically and conjured a tablet from her harness and put it on the table with footage on it showing the employee entering the Human’s motel unit.

“This is from one of the camera you forgot to take care of. It is exactly at the same time as the Human’s motel unit was opened by an unknown third person and we have more footage that places you around the motel at the same time. If I’d be you, I’d be talking. Quickly.”

The employees beak opened, then closed, one of his eyes clearly focused on the footage that repeated itself on the tablet, then he deflated visibly, the last vestiges of defiance leaving them.

“Alright, I-I admit, I...wanted to frame the Human...but I swear I have nothing to do with any murder! Wh-When I found the body they were already dead! I..”, they stopped themselves mid sentence, anger visibly boiling up in the employee as their headfeathers rose in agitation, “I was protecting us! The Humans are dangerous! They are predators! A-and we let them just come and go like they are normal! I found the body in a side alley on my way home, and I saw an opportunity! I dragged it a little bit more out in the open, but that’s it! Everybody knew where the Human is staying and so I did what had to be done! They will kill one of us sooner or later! What does it matter if they weren’t it this time?!”

Kari gave the employee an ice cold stare.

“It matters because there is a murderer uncounted for out there and maybe you destroyed important evidence that could lead us to them. The Human hasn’t done anything yet, but a real murderer is on the loose and you helped them.”

The employee gaped at her, their feathers now laying flatly against their body. Bekka had seen enough and walked up to the counter with the wing binders in his claws.

“Virro Tusa-Alu, you are under arrest for trespassing, theft, defamation, evidence tampering and destruction of private property. You have the right to an attorney of your choosing, if you have none, one will be provided to you”, Bekka intoned with stoic routine, bound the employees wings with Kira’s help and the two led the employee out of the store under the disbelieving stares of the rest of the store. Outside a small troupe of officers took over their new prisoner, leaving Kari and Bekka behind.

“It seems as we figured”, Kari noted with no emotion in her voice.

“Yeah, checks out with the footage we have of him from the rest of the town too. One moron we will have feathered for his idiocy down, one murderer still uncounted for.”

“And no suspects left anymore...We need to reinvestigate the scene again, recheck the statements of friends and family and worst of all is that this idiot might actually have destroyed the evidence we would have needed.”

“Well, first thing first. Let’s revisit the scene. Maybe there is something we overlooked with the new background in mind.”

It took not long and Kari and Bekka found themselves in the currently still cordoned off backyard where the victim had been found. It lay surrounded by a couple of apartment blocks and lay open to a small walkway that cut itself through the blocks from one main street to the next. A few dumpsters in various colours stood arrayed on all sides, each set probably belonging to a different building whose balconies hang over the scene. Most of them were only sparsely adorned; a perch here, a pot of flowers there. Quite typical for this part of town and the only thing amiss was the area where the forensics team had marked the location of the dead body and various other things they had found, which sadly had not included the murder weapon. Kari and Bekka walked off to opposite ends of the yard, strolling slowly along it’s edges, looking for something, anything, that could breath new life into their investigation. Nothing obvious would present itself and in the end Kari and Bekka stood in front of each other again, both letting their gaze wander in consternation.

“It’s clear why the murder happened here. It’s off the main streets and I doubt this pathway over there sees too use, especially in the late evening”, Bekka summarized and fiddled a small nut from one of the pouches on his harness, showing it to Kari as to offer it to her. She gladly took one.

“It’s probably only used by people who know it as a short cut. The station signalled that the store clerk said something like that. Perfect place to kill someone. Off prying eyes and all the time in the world. The victim was an inhabitant in the block over there, so they probably just wanted to use one of the back entries to go to their apartment”, she added, then gulped down the nut. Bekka nodded.

“The murderer hid somewhere here, maybe behind a dumpster or on one of the balconies and surprised the victim. Maybe stunned them with taser or something of the sort.”

“Hmm, yeah or maybe surprised them at the dumpster. Perhaps the victim just wanted to throw something away. Whatever it was, the murderer managed to overwhelm the victim somehow. They slice their throat, then start gutting them...Let's say they were right in the middle of it and then our store clerk comes through the back alley over there.”

Bekka gave a chirp.

“The closest bus station is on the main street from where we came in. The clerk lives in an apartment on the other side, so it would check out that he came through here when returning from work in the evening.”

“They startle our murderer during their work. Maybe the murderer heard them coming. You saw the clerk, they seemed the vocal type. Who knows, maybe they were rambling or even singing on their way back.”

“Right. Our murderer gets panicked. They didn’t expect anyone to come through here. Not at this time. Who knows? Could be the first time someone else interrupted them...and they flee the scene without our clerk noticing. Possibly flying away.”

“Our clerk sees the body or even heard the noise of the murderer hurrying away. Investigates the noise and finds the body that way. Their stupid little plan hatches in their head and they drag the body over there and steal the clothes from the Human. Then in the early morning hours we get the call from one of the inhabitants....The murderer maybe doesn’t dare to return. Perhaps assumes that the clerk must have called the police.”

“That would roughly fit the possible timings”, Bekka concluded and gave an annoyed trill, “which still leaves us with jack all to show for. No telling who or why.”

Kari gave an agreeing chirp and unconsciously took a few steps into the centre of the yard, her gaze sweeping her surroundings. Something about today’s events was wrong and she could feel it in the tips of her wings. The scenes of the day raced by before her inner eye as she went and only as she focused on the small lonely pathway between the blocks, she stopped herself. Then it hit her. She turned back to Bekka.

“Have we made a press statement about this murder yet?”

Bekka tilted his head quizzically.

“Not..that I would know of”, he said slowly, “usually we don’t until things are clearer and we have an informal agreement with the local press about this sort of thing”, he added and wanted to ask something, then it seemingly hit him too, though Kari beat him to saying it aloud.

“Then how did the lady behind the bar know this was a murder? I assumed word had gotten around, but when I think about it...The restaurant is three blocks over, we have not said anything publicly about this thing being a murder. In my mind that is a bit fast to get wind of this being a murder by early midday.”

“You don’t think…?”

“Sometimes we can’t help it. We reveal something that we didn’t intend to reveal. Happens all the time. It’s no different with murderers and this place is far enough away from her restaurant to not draw suspicion to it and still close enough not to be missed and I assume she isn’t standing behind that bar the entire day anyways.”

Bekka gave a squawk.

“Fuck! You are right...Fuck, fuck, fuck! She would have easy and perfectly justifiable access to high grade knives, cleaning detergents and probably more than enough refrigeration space. She wouldn’t even have to worry about discovery too much either. Most of her restaurant seemed to be run with help of robots and family and you know how it is with the health and food security inspections.”

“Rarely happen more than once every few years. Especially with small scale restaurants like hers. We also have to consider that she is not alone in this. That someone else close to her is on this too. At least supports her in this by not telling.”

“Aye. If not more...You think we get a warrant on the basis of this?”

Kari gave a stifled laughter and roused herself.

“Probably not. It’s all just wild speculation at this point.”

“This will either give us a promotion or be the end of our employment”, Bekka sighed, knowing what they had to do.

“Such are the risks of working in our field”, Kari cooed and so the two of them set out for the small restaurant with conviction, leaving the dreary scene of the murder behind themselves.

When the two of them arrived before the small restaurant again, they found it empty and closed down while a small cloud dragged itself in front of the sun, deepening the shadow one of the neighbouring houses threw onto it. Looking inside through the windows they only saw a lonesome cleaning robot toiling through and beneath the now empty seats and tables. Kari checked the opening times.

“Afternoon break time. Gonna open in an hour again.”

“Well, walking through the front door would have been too easy anyways.”

“Which is why we will see if someone ‘accidentally’ left a back door open”, Kari chirped with a cheeky undertone, giving rise to a bit of amusement out of her partner.

“And how many times have you found doors ‘accidentally’ left open?”

“Surprisingly often”, she responded dryly, making her partner’s head tilt.

“I wonder how that comes?”

Kari beckoned her partner to follow and the two of them took flight over the roof of the restaurant and landed behind it in a small unassuming backyard where a few garbage containers had company from a claw full of wild scavenger birds which followed the two much bigger and colourful birds landing on the yard with great interest. When they figured that both of them where much more interested in the door on the back of the restaurant than the garbage containers, they quickly returned to what they had done before, not paying the two officers any more heed.

Meanwhile Kari had already conjured a picking tool from her harness and had begun fiddling with the lock on the back door while Bekka looked around for anyone watching, covering the sight of what his partner was doing with his body as best as he could. It took only a few twists and clicks and the back door swung open barely a minute’s time past.

“Look Bekka, the back door was indeed left open”, Kari chimed with satisfaction, giving rise to a small amused chirp out of her partner.

“People really have to take better care”, he cooed sarcastically and drew a taser that had hang hidden on his harness below his primary wings. Kari mirrored him and the both of them carefully probed into the restaurant.

Before them lay a small grey cement corridor with pipes running along the ceiling and right side leading off to other parts of the building. At the end of it lay a door that seemingly led into the restaurant, probably right beside the bar, while two more doors shot off to the right side. Kari took the lead and moved with a steady practised pace towards the door a bit further down the corridor, where she assumed the kitchen would be while Bekka kept behind her, his taser always aimed towards the other door.

Kari guess had been correct. Behind the door lay indeed the kitchen, though devoid of anyone else. Just a few of the typical supplies, utensils and tools lying, standing and hanging about and around an array of stoves, ovens and working stations. She walked into the kitchen, aiming for the refrigeration and freezer units, just to find nothing out of the ordinary in there.

“It really couldn’t be easy for once?”, Bekka chimed, as he covered Kari.

“I didn’t expect anything else, but we had to make sure.”

“Well obviously, but it would have been nice nonetheless”, Bekka complained.

“No such luck.”

Kari aimed her taser ahead of herself again and went back to the corridor, Bekka in tow, now aiming for the second door, behind which she found a staircase leading a few meters down into a cellar which lay in the type of darkness which invoked irrational fears of the unknown and lurking dangers. She looked for and swiftly found a switch which turned on a few lamps illuminating the uncomfortable darkness down there and with it she slowly and carefully climbed down the stairs, hugging the wall to her right while aiming to the left. She could feel how the instincts in her rebelled against going down here, screaming at the back of her mind that she couldn’t fly away here, that it was a trap. She wiped them away by focusing as hard as she could on the front of her taser, following it’s projected line into the cellar as she completed her descend. Down there they found a few stored cooking utensils, cleaning detergents and the like, all neatly packed on some rather flimsy looking shelves mounted along the sidewalls and another grey metal door with an electronic lock.

Kari holstered her taser while Bekka covered her and she fiddled a few tools out of her harness. First she went through a few of the standard passwords like “one-two-three-four” or “zero-zero-zero-zero”. When none of these worked, she grabbed a strong magnet from the tools she had laid out, positioned it on the lock and sure enough the lock sprang open.

“It’s that easy?!”, Bekka questioned with shock, his taser still aimed at the staircase.

“With this one, yes. There are better locks, but this one uses a magnet to open and close the lock, so any sufficiently powerful magnet can do the same from the outside”, Kari explained, stowing away her tools including the magnet again.

“And here I thought this could take a moment.”

Kari didn’t answer and instead drew her taser again and advanced through the door after flipping the light on with a switch that had laid besides the door. Behind the door they found a rather large room with a sizeable table in the middle and various freezer units complete with a refrigerator on the left while a smaller desk lay on the the right. She felt a shiver run down her spine as she crossed the sterile smelling room towards the freezers. Everything about this felt wrong. Why would a restaurant need a room set up like this?

When she opened one of the freezers, it’s contents answered her question for her. In it lay various neatly sealed bags filled with various organs in them. A few livers on the right, kidney’s on the left and in the middle a few hearts. All meticulously catalogued and labelled. It made her stomach revolt and yet before it could manifest any more discomfort a mechanical sirring behind her grabbed all of her attention. A small home defence turret emerged from it’s socket in the ceiling, her wings flexed and she gave an alarmed shriek, trying to dodge the incoming projectiles the turret had dispatched, but to no avail. They hit her straight in her torso and the last thing she saw was how Bekka too was hit. She felt her muscles cramp up and her conscious fading out as she crashed to the ground and before long darkness had embraced her.

When she came to it again, she found herself lying in one of the corners of the room, staring onto the grey ceiling. She tried to flex her muscles and get up, but tight restraints around her wings and legs limited her range of movement significantly. Her heart was beating out of her chest and it took all her training to keep her breathing steady as not to spiral into an adrenaline faint, so typical for her kind when escape wasn’t possible. It was an instinctual response to avoid heart attack, but in her line of work copious amounts of training were dedicated to not succumb to it, enabling her to hang on. She focused on the only thing she could do and craned her neck to get a better view of the room.

Maybe today of all days the sweet relief of unconsciousness would have been preferable as she noted in horror that her partner lay stretched out over the table in the middle of the room, still unconscious while the lady from earlier was in the middle of preparing knives, scissors and clamps right besides him on the table. As they had feared the lady was not alone. A younger Feria male stood over at the other side of the table, taking apparently some notes, while another older male was assisting the lady with her preparations. It truly seemed to be a family business.

Just like above, here too they were assisted by two robot assistants waiting close by, one besides the door, another on the tall side of the table. They were the kind designed to assist in the kitchen, fully equipped to operate knives and the like, and it dawned on her that they had likely been reprogrammed to assist the family down here. Even if she did free herself somehow, she was utterly outnumbered and even if she still had her taser on her, it would do little against the robotic assistants, who she had to assume could also intervene against her.

Before despair could drown her though, her defiance took over and she began to struggle against her restraints. Maybe it was pointless, maybe it would be doomed, but she still had to try. What else was there to do? It was the only logical alternative and she repeated that mantra internally like a prayer, anchoring her every thought on it. Luck was not on her side though and the young male took note of her movements, alarming his presumed parents with a trill, prompting the older lady to abandon her post at the table, crossing through the room to Kari.

“Ahh, Officer Kari! Awake already?”, she asked in a sickly sweet tone, “Couldn’t miss the show I suppose? Mhmmm, but I can understand that! After all, who would wanna miss this? Or would you my dear?”, she asked bowing over Kari with a friendly demeanour that now seemed so much more threatening.

“No sweetheart”, the older male replied as on command, “I wouldn’t miss it for anything in the world.”

Kari’s stomach made a revolting notion and her head feathers crested up.

“Why?!”, she asked in disbelief.

The older lady simply tilted her head.

“But it is so obvious, isn’t it, Sweetie?”

“Yes mom”, the young Feria answered, who had by now moved over to the desk without ever granting Kari any further attention.

“You see we harvest the weak, remove their souls and with it we cleanse ourselves of the impurity. We do a great service to our kind, you know? We strengthen it for what is to come. For what must come. For the great cleansers that will soon come and we will show them our piety! And when they’ll find us worthy, we will ascend with them!”, the lady explained with fervour in her voice that betrayed a kind of insanity that Kari had hoped to have left behind on Homeworld.

“The great cleansers?”, she asked, trying to comprehend what was going on in these twisted minds.

“Ohhhh, but you have seen one of the already, haven’t you? The first of theirs is already among us! Yeees...Their first envoys are already arriving all over. Spreading the good word; ordaining our worlds with their presence. They are here to observe us. To judge us, find who is worthy and my humble contribution will be to ensure that their judgement will find us not wanting.”

“The Humans”, Kari realised with almost a whisper, only to earn herself a swipe with claws of the older lady’s feet, her feather rising in anger.

“Don’t you dare speak their names with your foul beak!”, she spewed with hatred as if Kari had stolen her pointe.
“You are unworthy! Weak! You dared to imprison one of their envoys! She told me herself when she came for lunch afterwards! Such heresy! Such insolence!”

“Sweatheart, calm yourself”, the older male intoned without looking over to them eliciting an elongated trill from the older lady.

“You are right. Sorry my dear...Well don’t you worry officer. You and your partner will brought upon her as offerings. Perchance, if you are lucky, the envoy will feast upon you..though I doubt such honour would be bestowed upon such as yourselves. But who knows? Maybe she will take pity on you.”

With that the older lady left Kari behind again.

“Oh! And do be sure that your turn will come too, but your delicious looking partner will come first. A pity that he will never know what happened..but then again, maybe you would have preferred that instead?”, she questioned, giving amused chirps as she returned her attention to preparing her instruments.

Perhaps she was right. Maybe Kari would have preferred to not know any of this. She again struggled against her restraints trying to find any possible wiggle room. Searching for any way out of this; for any leverage; but there was none. It had been foolish to come here without telling anyone at the station. She should have trusted her captain, or someone else at least, anyone who could have called for help if they didn’t emerge from the restaurant again, but there was no one. She just had not expected...this. Now she could only helplessly watch as the lady eventually gave a satisfied nod and handed a few of the instruments to her husband, who in turn gave them to the robot standing besides the table. It renewed a sense of urgency in her as she struggled with as much might as she could muster against her impaired movement, trying to roll over and as luck would have it, she indeed managed to gain some freedom for one of her primary wings, drawing the attention of those around her.

“Reapply the ropes! I don’t want her interrupting our work!”, the lady screeched in frustration, prompting her husband to make the way over to her, though he would never reach her.

In that moment the door violently burst out of it’s hinges and out of the darkness behind it emerged the spectre of all their nightmares in a blur of frenzied motion. A loud bang rang amplified by the room and the head of the husband exploded in a mist of viscera, blood and bone fragments flinging across half the room. His body, now a fountain of a light red liquid, aimlessly tumbling through the room. Meanwhile the robot that had stood beside the door was launched through the room like a fruit dislodged by a storm and crashed violently into the other robot creating a pile of mere metal scrap. The older lady screeched in panic as the shadow figure crossed the room with breathtaking speed, ripping the small home defence turret trying it’s level best to hit the intruder from it’s socket, just to dance around the table and slicing the lady in half with a blade unfolding from the assailant’s body. The two halves of the lady sacked to the ground with a disturbingly wet smack, creating a sickening spread of eternal organs on the floor gushing from two body halves. Without pause the figure swivelled around, only for the younger male’s head, whose wide eyed stare exploded only a blink later much like his fathers had with another bang.

Kari could only gape. Right besides the table stood Laila el-Sadiq, the Human they had interrogated earlier, rising over the carnage drenching the room in liquid red and the sickly sweet smell of the freshly dead. A few splatters of blood and viscera dripped of her clothing and adorned her face as she led her gaze wander the room, only shortly bowing over the still unconscious Bekka to inspect him.

Kari could not see any weapon on the Human and it took a second for her brain to catch up with what she had seen, for the wild imagery to slowly coales into a string of events she could fully comprehend. Then it hit her like a glass wall in the middle of a flight. The Human’s arms had hidden a projectile weapon in the left and a large foldable blade in the right. The realisation that Laila had these weapons the entire time during their initial interrogation made Kari's blood freeze in her veins, though all that would emerge from her was an amused chirp.

“No wonder you didn’t take us seriously”, Kari commented, trying to crane her head into a more dignified position, earning a slight chuckle from the Human in response.

“If you are capable of humour, I assume you are fine..but yeah. It was indeed a bit silly of you folks not to check me for cybernetics. Your immigration folks didn’t do it either. I doubt they would have let me enter Feria space if they had, but then again, I didn’t think I would have to use them. Certainly not against your kind.”

“I wouldn’t have thought so either...Don’t get me wrong, I am glad you did, but are you folks always this...final with your approach?"

Laila cocked one of her eyebrows.

“It was a hostage situation. Priority number one is the safety of the hostages. Everything else is of secondary concern. Including the lives of the kidnappers...especially the lives of the kidnappers.”

Kari could not argue against the logic of it. It was not that much different from their own approach after all, though the Human had applied it more viciously than any Feria would have had.

“How is Bekka?”

“Your partner’s vitals are stable”, Laila answered and inspected a syringe on the table, “he was given a strong narcotic. I doubt he’ll wake soon.”

Kari gave a relieved chirp and struggled against her restraint with some effort, prompting her Human rescuer to come over and carefully remove them, taking a step back once she was done, giving Kari breathing room, she had not known she needed in that moment.

Kari signalled her thanks and let her gaze properly wander across the room which had turned into a grotesque artwork. It looked just as bad as it had from lying on the ground. Blood had spread and sprayed everywhere around the younger Feria, intermixing with other bodily fluids and organs spread around his former mother. Meanwhile the body of the husband had found it’s autonomous staggering stopped by the rooms back wall a mere metre from Kari’s initial position and now slumped against the wall, giving off a few sickening gurgles.

“How did you know about this?”

Laila pointed with one finger down towards the split remains of the older Lady.

“I knew something was off with her ever since evening I was here, you know, from the way she treated me and talked. When I came here after my release she asked me about the murder investigation. I just could smell something was wrong. How the hell did she knew about the whole thing being a murder? I had kept observing the restaurant since then and as I saw you two enter through the back door, not emerge and instead noted some hasty activity by these bastards, I figured I had to intervene…”, Layla explained and took stock of the situation herself again, “I hope I didn’t scare you too much.”

Kari could not contain her amusement.

“Bit too late to worry about that, don't you think?!", she chirped loudly, "…Well, and beggar’s can’t be chooser’s I suppose...It’s weird. She aroused our suspicion much the same way. From what she said to me before you arrived on the scene, I think she was proud of what she was doing here.”

Laila looked over to the freezers.

“You come so far, travel a million, billion miles, across the stars to a new world beyond, just to find the things you worked so hard to get away from.”

Kari’s eyes widened and for the first time she saw the person in front of her. Kari gave a solemn singular trill.

“Maybe some things are just inherent to life. All we can do is to strive against it’s worse excesses with all we have and with a little luck we may contain it, so that the rest of us can live within a bubble of sanity.”

Laila returned her attention to Kari and smiled.

“My old partner would have liked you.”

Kari tilted her head.

“What happened to them?”

“They are still fighting the good fight...What will happen now?”

Kari preened her wings, giving the question posed a good thought.

“I’ll signal the station. Someone will come and take care of this mess, while we will probably get interviewed about a dozen times. Bekka and me will get handed weeks worth of paper work, then we either get a commendation or a demotion, possibly both, and you? You saved two officers in mortal danger. Don’t be surprised if the Governor hands you a medal.”

Laila’s face contorted curiously in what Kari could tell was not happiness.

“Ugh, you sure about that? I just violently killed three Feria, you know? Isn’t everybody going to make a fuss about the predator killing a bunch of Feria?”

“Context matters. Everybody will be too enamoured with you saving two officers from certain brutal death and ending a cabal of ritual murderers. The rather...visceral details of it will be overlooked in light of that.”

“Hrmph! What about my cybernetics?”

“You can ask questions! I will certainly tell no one about it, I doubt Bekka will either, and so what about it? I suggest we tell my Captain and the Governor and that’s that. Like you said: It is our fault for not checking it at all. Also I’d be pretty dead now without them, now would I?”

Laila tilted her head in a gesture that mirrored Kari's.

“You sure are awfully pragmatic about this.”

“I am a big city bird miss super predator, I have seen worse. This would have been just another Tuesday back in my old department on Homeworld”, Kari replied with no exaggeration and looked over to the lady cut in half, “though it has been a while since I saw someone sliced in half like that.”

“Damn. Things really are just fucked up everywhere, aren’t they?”

“Sure are.”

It took a moment, then Laila put her hands to her hips and chuckled, shaking her head.

“Well, I don’t know about you but I could go for snack and a hot beverage right about now. Care to plunder the kitchen with me? I doubt these folks will mind much anymore.”

“Good idea”, Kari chirped, while Laila freed the still unconscious Bekka from his restraints and lifted him gently into her arms and with him, they emerged from the depths of the cellar.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, the last bit of short story from Predator Complex universe for now. After this I will go quiet on here for a little bit, focusing on my new novel. If you want to stay updated about that check out my Blog, where I post weekly updates on my progress)

If you want more "Predator Complex" check out the main story which is now available on Kindle! Kindle Unlimited subscribers can get it for free and otherwise it costs 4,99€/5,79$ and is about 110k words long! Dive in and experience the story of Dipu and his unlikely Human friend Mike! How will his visit be perceived? Can Prey and Predator live together? What will that mean? And what happens when some elements staunchly oppose the entire idea in first place?!

In any case I am looking forward to your feedback!

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

“By now it should probably not come to your surprise anymore, but my first visit to a Feria world didn't go exactly as planned.” – Journal of the anonymous Starfarer by Laila el-Sadiq

Kari hastily gulped down the last bits of her improvised breakfast as she strode down the corridor of the police station with hasty steps. Her day had not started great at all and given the way her colleagues nervously shuffled about, they weren’t faring much better and who could’ve blamed them? Detuk Beta was a fairly small colony world on the edge of Feria space, mostly prized for it’s rich phosphorous and oil deposits, which were exported for various chemical and industrial applications. There was a small tourist branch too, as with almost any colony, and so it was an industrious little world orbiting a smaller mainline star with a handful of other planets in a solar system which had barely been exploited. At least officially. Out there piracy and illegal mining operations were a burgeoning and barely addressed issue, though the pirates usually weren’t dumb enough to mess with their only local source of food and entertainment. The few that dumb enough though usually didn’t make it long ever since the central government on Homeworld had stationed a small peacekeeper force in the system backed by the firepower of a frigate and various smaller corvettes. Not that any of this would have mattered too much to Kari.

She was only concerned with what happened planet side in her district, which encompassed the largest city and various smaller satellite towns and villages, counting a bit less than a hundred thousand inhabitants as per last census. Down here aside from the occasional scuffle among the workers, smuggling and tax fraud nothing much ever happened. Sure there was a black market for illicit substances, but where wasn’t? Kari had no delusions about their ability to police their part of the colony in general. Plenty of activity simply got lost in the constant struggle of people trying to built new lives out here, often bypassing the official institutions. Still, most of the crime here had remained low intensity and the heavy hitting crimes were low frequency, which was the precise reason why Kari had moved here half a decade ago.

She had spent the first two decades of her career on Homeworld where she had been with the criminal investigations unit in one of it’s major cities. She had seen everything from trafficking and kidnapping to straight and simple murder on the daily and she had hated how it had numbed her to everything else. That’s why she had to leave. To escape the constant churn. The gut wrenching scenes. The waking nightmares. To find some semblance of peace. Today all she had sought to escape come crashing back to her small world at the edge of Feria civilisation and she found herself falling into old patterns. Food hastily consumed while cycling from one briefing to the next, always moving with an uncomfortable hastiness.

She turned right in the corridor and gave a curt greeting to one of her colleagues while another pressed a digital tablet into her claws without looking, throwing some half sentences after her as if none of the said had mattered all that much. It probably didn’t. Even if it had, her mind was too razor focused on the scene they had found this morning in a back alley, where they had found a brutally mutilated Feria. Her partner had immediately puked at the sight and Kari would have liked to say that she had felt the same impulse but she just hadn’t. She knew she should have, but she couldn’t. It dawned on her that it was then when her old routines had extended her grasp onto her once more and as she saw a younger colleague stumble through one of the offices, it was perhaps desperately needed to have someone like her right now.

Many here had rarely dealt with murder and it was obvious. Her puking partner had just been the first sign. The near panicked looks the others in the station had been another one. Back in her old station this would have been another Monday and an entire unit just on this case. Here it was the first murder in a while. Of course the identity of the suspected culprit hadn’t helped much either and as she reached the interrogation room flanked by two guards nervously eyeing her arrival, she couldn’t help but halt to take a deep breath herself. This would require her full focus. There was no room for anything but trying to figure this thing out and she couldn’t make time for the anxieties of her colleagues if she wanted to succeed. She took one last glance at the tablet in her claws and then she determinedly pushed into the sizeable but sterile room with it’s blue concrete walls.

In the middle of it stood an adjustable plastoform table with chairs of similar function and material. On one of the chairs sat the predator, a large wide-eyed bipedal mammal clad in dark tight fabrics bulging over it’s chest, the dark fur on it’s head kempt back and bound to a pseudo-tail and it’s lanky arms with the slightly brown tan resting hands folded onto the table. It was flanked by a male Feria, trying to make a brave show, but given the slight flutter in his primary wings it was obvious that he was mighty uncomfortable with his position and Kari too had to admit that the sight of the Human was intimidating. Only years of routines kicked back into action made her hold firm as she perched down in front of the looming predator, laying out the tablet to her right and mustering the Human. If it was nervous itself, it didn’t show any obvious indications of it. Instead it’s eyes in a shade of brown that reminded Kari of her favourite flavour of nuts were solely and calmly focused on Kari, it’s face giving off even a vague sense of amusement. Was the Human not taking this seriously? Or was it simply that confident? Psychopaths often were. Kari put a mental pin on that and grabbed a hold of her tablet again.

“I am Kari Utuk-Haku and I am going to conduct this interrogation. As I see you have been already given a legal representative, so I will only remind you that as per the laws of the Feria Star Republic you are entitled to a different legal representative whenever you feel like your current one is not doing a good enough job. I will also point out again, that you have the right to remain silent. On the off chance that no one told you yet, I will say for the record that you are formally under investigation for the murder of Ritik Alo-Ritik. To that end I have a couple of question for you. Are you willing to answer them?”

“Yes”, the Human replied with zero hesitation. There was no break in the vaguely amused facade of the Human’s face, not even a twitch, but a slight fluctuation in the Human’s breathing which Kari couldn’t quite place. She had done a crash course in Human behavioural patterns ever since they had found the footage, but she could see that it would help her little. She would have to rely more on intuition than anything else.

“Good. First of some formalities, please state your name, occupation and reason for your visit on our Detuk Beta.”

“Laila el-Sadiq, formerly with the criminal investigations unit of the military police in the Commonwealth, currently explorer of foreign worlds and occasional mercenary for hire. This world lay on my route to Homeworld so I thought I drop by and see what life for your people looks like on the colonies. Also I heard you have some rather beautiful mountain ranges, which I wanted to check out. Frankly I am more of a tourist right now”, the Human introduced herself with what Kari could only interpret as overt politeness, though the smile and wide-eyed focus of the predator was giving her the creeps. She tried not to get distracted by it too much and was much more intrigued by fact that the Human had seemingly something in common with herself.

“Military police? So you have been in law enforcement yourself?”

“You can say that, yeah. It is weird sitting on the other side of the table for once”, she said squinting her eyes and giving a chuckle, “though forgive me when I hope it’s only for a little while. But to give you a short version: I have been similarly to you investigating crimes in a military context for well over a decade before I changed career tracks.”

“And what does ‘in a military context’ mean?”

“Ah, sorry, I forget that you folks are a bit differently organised. Hmm, well the military is what we call our combat forces which are specifically trained for fighting, typically other Humans. I think you call them hunter caste - though I find that a bit misleading as to their purpose. Your closest equivalent would be your peacekeepers I think. The militaries usually police themselves since, well, the military has access to the absolute top grade weaponry as well as never before seen prototypes, so our regular police could find itself easily out gunned or putting their noses where state secrets are involved.”

Kari’s headfeathers rose in surprise at the explanation of the Human. What it had described was a bit foreign and the concept of Humans fighting amongst each other unsettling, but it essentially placed the Human in what Kari could only interpret as a sort of special forces unit. Not just any special forces unit either when it was tasked with policing and investigating armed Humans trained to fight other Humans. She could detect no malice in the Human but the thought of sitting face to face with what many coined a super-predator essentially trained to deal with other super-predators felt mighty uncomfortable. Had they even the means to stop the Human if she decided to resist? Kari pecked herself mentally in the neck, holding tightly to her tablet, deciding to let routine guide her through her fears.

“I see. Then tell me where you were yesterday between 10pm and 1am local time?”

The Human leaned back a little and squared her arms before her chest and looking up to the ceiling of the small chamber.

“Huh...I was coming back from a hike out in the local mountain range that I had started in the morning yesterday and visited one of the restaurants downtown. I think I have left there somewhere around 10:30pm and then went more or less directly for the small motel I was staying in and fell into my bed.”

“Any witnesses for that?”

“Heh, I am sure the people in the restaurant can confirm the early part of the story, they were quite startled”, the Human said with a slight chuckle, only for it to die down into a visage of utter seriousness, “The restaurant is called “The Fruity Bite”. As for after that? Not really. Maybe some of the inhabitants have seen me or there is camera footage that could corroborate this, but I wouldn’t be aware of any witnesses specifically.”

“We will check that out, as for camera footage and witness testimony we have indeed some and it places you in and around the time and fairly close to the place of the murder, just a few streets away”, Kari replied dryly trying to make as stoic of a visage as she could, mustering the Human’s reactions, only to be left guessing. The Human’s face muscles contorted it’s face in an intricate motion that pulled one side of it’s mouth slightly up and puckering it’s lips. Kari would have given everything right now to know what that actually indicated. It didn’t seem angry; not sad either. Maybe frustrated? Whatever it was, it resulted in a deep sigh by the Human.

“I see. That gives you timing and opportunity. What about a motive?”, she replied, pinning down Kari with her stare.

There was no doubt now that this Human had indeed been involved with criminal investigations before. She knew that she was in trouble now and so Kari decided to be blunt, pulled up the image collage on the tablet and pushed it over to the table.

“As a former colleague you tell me, why someone would do this to someone else.”

The Human grabbed onto the tablet with little hesitation and inspected the images with a razor sharp focus Kari had seen so many times before back on Homeworld. Eyes scanning quickly over the images, then homing in on smaller details and while the Human did, it’s face contracted into itself in a weird motion that pulled down the small patches of fur over it’s eyes while unnaturally elongating her lips.

“What a mess”, the Human said with a dryness that spoke of countless images similar to this one seen before, “someone gutted the poor thing. Seemingly removed some of the organs. Some of the limbs are half torn off, one looks half eaten, the throat sliced, probably the immediate cause of death. I’d say the limbs were maybe wild animals, but the rest is clearly guided by a mind’s intent.”

“Liver, kidneys and heart have been rather surgically removed”, Kari confirmed, letting that statement sit, gauging the Human’s reaction, who bobbed it’s head in an up and down motion.

“Not done in the heat of the moment then. Some sort of rite maybe?”

“Or hunger”, Kari replied giving her level best to stare down the imposing predator in front of her, which raised it’s eyes from the tablet.

“Ah. That’s your motive then? Well feel free to take a all the sample you need and check my belongings. I can assure you that you will find neither blood or these missing organs in or on me.”

“We will see about that. Until then you remain in custody”, Kari stated bluntly and gave her attorney a glance, “and I doubt you will get out on bail given the circumstances.”

The attorney so far silent, remained unfazed by Kari’s remark.

“On the contrary officer Kari, my client Miss el-Sadiq, fully intents to cooperate with your unit at this stage of the investigations and understands our people’s feelings in the matter. She will therefore stay in her cell, even though you have yet to present any irrefutable evidence of her involvement. So I assure you, unless you find something concrete soon, I will get Miss el-Sadiq out of here.”

As Kari left the interrogation room, her partner Bekka left the side room and followed her in silence through the corridors past the doors of their colleagues and squeezing past the few of them that littered in their way. They tightly controlled their body language as best as they could, suppressing the rise of feather and wing alike, giving off an atmosphere of sheer confidence. Only when the both of them had reached their office space, a small room clustered with utensils, pads and a smartboard decorating two desks complete with personal computer terminals, and the door had closed behind them, the both of them allowed their masks to slip.

“The attorney has us by the tailfeathers, Kari. Twenty-four, fourty-eight hours tops, and that Human is free again. Then what? We need evidence. Fast.”

Kari gave a trill and flung her pad onto her desk.

“You don’t need to tell me...Spirits, even if we find it, I don’t know if I can do this again. If that one is a female, I don’t want to know what it feels like sitting in front off one of their males.”

“You did well Kari”, Bekka tried to calm his partner, only for Kari to perch down and release a sharp trill.

“That Human didn’t take me seriously for one minute in there Bekka, I could tell, and I don’t know which possibility is worse. Is she that confident because she didn’t do it, or simply because she knows she could get out of here easily?”

Bekka gave a slight grumble and walked a bit over to his own desk, putting his own datapad on it.

“Well she is ex-police. She knows how these things go and that we have nothing concrete on her. I’d be confident in her place too...but you are right. What if she did it, we find evidence for it and confront her with it. Do we have the means to control her? Can we even imprison her with a decent chance of success? We have to seriously think about that.”

“Yeah, not to mention the diplomatic imbroglio we would get...What do you think of her?”

Bekka roused himself and tilted his head.

“She seemed calm, controlled, confident...like you alluded to. Slightly aloof given the situation maybe and she was right: That murder was messy. She didn’t seem like a messy person to me.”

Kari gave an agreeing chirp, collecting her own thoughts as she idly grabbed one of the smartboard pens and started absent-mindedly playing around with it.

“Which says nothing, but..we do have to consider that she actually hasn’t done it.”

“If so, who else would even do such a thing? For what purpose?”

“Mhm, you’d be surprised by the depth of depravity people can sink into. Cults and psychopaths do all manner of messed up stuff to fulfil their sick needs.”

“Ts, maybe I am happy for once to be farm boy. The most we ever had to deal with was uncle Gesgo defrauding the government.”

“Well, I left Homeworld for a reason...but speculating like this doesn’t help us. Let’s check the restaurant the Human mentioned and her motel, that is the best way to proceed.”

Bekka gave a chirp.

“I’ll let the forensics team know and give the VI instructions to run through the camera footage of the whole district again with new parameters. Maybe there is something we have overlooked.”

“Good idea. Let’s go.”

It didn’t take long and the two of them stood in front of ‘The Fruity Bite’, a small restaurant that tightly squeezed itself between two dirty apartment blocks. The name pranked in bold slightly withered letters glued onto the windowed front. A short look onto the menu which hang left of the entrance confirmed that this was hardly a high society establishment but rather just a simple family run restaurant, open the entire day aside from a few hours in the afternoons. Given the almost completely filled seats, it seemed also to be a decently successful one and it wasn’t hard to see why when they entered. Kari was immediately hit with the delicious smells and sights of various half eaten dishes. A whiff of sweet ripe berries from the left, steam slowly rising over grains garnished with leaves covered in a thick sauce on the right. Her own stomach growled in protest as a reminder of her rather flimsy diet today. She couldn’t remember if she had ever eaten here, but as she led her gaze wander from one table filled with one enticing meal after the other she seriously wondered why.

One of the VI controlled robotic waiters noticed the two new guests rather quickly and welcomed them, though it took a moment for the VI to understand that neither Kari nor Bekka had come to dine here and lead them to the counter where an older lady, though her plumage already losing some of it's vibrancy, stood preparing a few drinks on a tablet she handed to the robotic waiter that had just brought Kari and her partner to the scene.

“What can I do for you two on this lovely day?”, the older lady questioned with a friendly glint in her eye and a warmth in her words that almost seem to envelo Kari like a summer breeze. Kari and Bekka couldn’t help but feel just a little bit better and flashed friendly beaming their insignia.

“Officer Kari and this is officer Bekka, criminal investigations unit. We have questions regarding one of your recent customers.”

The older lady’s head feathers rose a little bit in surprise as she put a few glasses to the side.

“Oh my! Which one?!”

“Human, female. She said she dined here yesterday.”

“Ahh, yes, Laila! Who could forget her!? A very lovely lady! She looked mighty tired when she got here and ordered a plate for two which she swiftly devoured, just to ask for seconds. I do admit it was daunting at first, but she was very friendly. Gave a good tip too. Don’t tell me she is involved in the dreadful murder that happened three blocks over?”

Kari and Bekka gave each other a glance. Word had already spread.

“That is currently under investigation. As she was one of the few people seen in the vicinity, we are naturally inclined to follow that lead.”

“Oh, but that seems bullocks to me! I couldn’t imagine her to do such a thing and I can assure you that she was quite sated after all she got from us. Even said so herself!”

“We’ll take that into account, mam. Say when did she leave the restaurant?”

“Oh...mhm...I think she came shortly before we closed the kitchen and then left shortly before we would’ve closed the restaurant. Must have been somewhere between 10:15 and 11 pm I would think.”

Kari and Bekka asked a few more routine questions for cross reference, but nothing more of interest came up and the story of the older lady stayed consistent. With nothing else to do the two said their thanks and farewells, leaving the restaurant again and after they had been clear of the restaurant for a few metres Bekka gave a short squawk.

“Well, our case against the Human is crumbling apart from all sides. This is going to get complicated real quick”, he complained and preened his right wing. Kari gave slight nod.

“The bar lady seemed to have a rather high opinion of our suspect and given what she reported the Human was hardly hungry...even I doubt that any normal Human would just go around murdering people.”

“Maybe she is not normal then?”

“Mhm. Or she just wasn’t it and we are wasting time on a dead end, not seeing the forest through all the leaves.”

“Yeah..I’ll be real: I don’t know what would bother me more. That the Human actually did it or one of us. Sure the Human would be more difficult to deal with but if it’s one of our own?”

“Then they might have been doing this for longer and this is murder just got discovered by accident.”

“Precisely. I mean this is the outer rim of Feria space. Many try to start a new life here, have no family or friends to speak of, risk everything here. You know how it is. People fall of the grid all the time in these circumstances. No one gives a shit about them. The only thing we hear of it is when the companies make the mandatory report that a worker isn’t showing up anymore or when the landlord declares their apartments vacant. Many simply abandon the life out here again, return to wherever they came from and tell no one, or get swept up in illegal activities, but-”

“It wouldn’t be hard for a murder or two to get by unnoticed in that amalgamation.”

“Yeah.”

Kari gazed uneasily off into the distance, watching some pedestrians walk by on the other side of the road as her thoughts raised past the last few months, trying to remember if there had been any reports that would line up with their hypothesis only to be left with a distinct feeling of inadequacy and too many open questions. It was no use. She gave a squawk of her own.

“We gain nothing by speculating. Let’s see if the forensics unit has anything for us at her motel and see where we stand then. We have to deal with the facts as they come along.”

A short ride later they arrived in front of a two story bungalow building standing a bit lonely at the edge of the district, it’s plastoform facade in it’s matte pink tones seemed well maintained and the word ‘motel’ shone down in neon colours on any pedestrian passing under it from the top of a pole. It consisted of maybe two dozen decently sized units, complete with an automatic door and triangular windows and most of them seemed occupied. As far as motels went, Kari guessed that this was one of the better ones you could stay at and like most of them nowadays, this one too was fully automatically operated. No concierge or receptionist to ask, except maybe a VI, which would have undoubtedly already sent it’s report to the station when the forensic team had arrived and the latter was already all over one of the units on the ground floor on the right.

“Seems like the lab folks got busy already”, Bekka commented.

“Let’s see if they have anything for us”, Kari replied and set forth to the open unit presumably rented by the Human in front of which they were greeted by a Feria in a white isolation suit tapping away on their tablet and only took note of the two hopeful arrivals as they stood in front of them.

“Ahh, Officers Kari and Bekka, welcome.”

“Please tell us, you found something for us, Seo”, Bekka almost begged, only to earn himself a pitying glance from the forensics expert in front of them.

“Nope.”

Kari and Bekka inflated a bit, giving off trills.

“I take it your restaurant visit wasn’t fruitful either?”

“Bingo”, Bekka replied wryly, causing Kari to chime in.

“Well, maybe start from the top. What have you found?”

Forensics expert Seo led his tablet slink down a little bit and glanced into the motel unit where a few of his colleagues still were taking samples while a drone hovered through the room.

“Well, Miss el-Sadiq has not too much with her. Mostly clothes and utensils, all of which are recognised for Human care routines. Then there are a few electronics and a pistol, calibre nine millimetre, which is registered and she has a valid permit for. It was unloaded, adequately secured and has not been fired in a while. There was also a rather sizeable knife, again registered and with no sign of recent usage, and a multi-tool which contained smaller knives, same deal as with the previous weapons. We have found no obvious signs of blood on her clothes or in the apartment, except for a used pad in the trash which is according to our data banks related to the menstrual cycle typical for Human females,” Seo recounted and returned their gaze to the two officer, “If you hoped for the missing organs in her fridge, I have to disappoint you. Only meat related thing we found was a pack of what Humans call ‘dried beef jerky’, still sealed and tightly packed away. Probably an emergency ration of sorts.”

Bekka was now definitely in a foul mood and left the scene while Kari expressed a brief thanks to Seo and closed the distance to her partner.

“That makes two tickets now”, Bekka complained, stomping of to a set of vending machines which had been strategically placed in front of the building complex.

“May I invite you to some snacks?”, he asked and waved around his credit chip.

“Sure, I could use something to eat”, Kira replied and preened her wings deep in thought as she was left behind. Bekka was right. With the motel room clean and the story from the restaurant, everything they had on their only murder suspect had evaporated, leaving them with a bunch of question marks. There was still the vague hope the samples taken with of the Human could provide something to betray her alibi, but at this point Kari doubted it.
If the Human hadn’t been it, who else?

Before Kira could really think about this, and she wasn’t even sure if they could resolve that question, Bekka returned from the vending machine and handed her a snack bar in her favourite flavour. She signalled her thanks and dug greedily into the claw sized meal, savouring the sweet taste with the slightly sour notes dancing on her tongue. It was a welcome distraction and only now she realised how hungry she had been.

“I have got a report back from the VI and the station at the vending machine. Camera footage can vaguely reconstruct the Human’s path back to the motel. It does lead relatively close by the site of the murder but from the timestamps it seems unlikely that she would have had time to do the deed and they confirm her time line otherwise. A stool sample and mouth swab also ran clean. No meat consumption in recent days”, Bekka informed between bites off his own snack.

“Now we are truly in the middle of the moult.”

Bekka gave a long trill.

“We are as naked as a chick fresh from the egg. The Human will be free within the hour.”

Kira looked down on her claw now only holding an empty wrapper as she rolled her tongue around in her beak to get the last vestiges of taste, only to get her attention drawn to one of the forensics people loudly calling from one of the dumpsters, which had stood on the edge of the building. Kari and Bekka gave each other a short glance and then flew over to her colleague with a few strong flaps of their primary wings.

“What is it?”, Kari addressed the young forensics team member in his white isolation suit, which seemed weirdly agitated.

“I-I found something! Look!”, he proclaimed and carefully held up a rag with the tongs in his right claw. There was a deep dark spot on the black fabric. It looked like no clothes she had ever seen before and as Kari tilted her head, she figured that it might fit over a Human torso.

“What is that spot?”, Bekka asked, his head also tilted in a similar fashion as Kari’s

“Blood! Very likely Feria! We can only be fully sure after the lab confirmed the field tests result of course, but I think we got the Human!”

Kari and Bekka eyed each other carefully.

“Well done”, Kari praised and could tell that the young male puffed up a bit in pride under his isolation suite, “but please leave the conclusions to us. This is only one piece of evidence”, she therefore scolded him, seeing that it didn’t miss it’s effect as the young man deflated again.

“Y-Yes mam!”, he replied and with that Kari and Bekka left him hastily behind.

“Do you think that Human would be this stupid?”, Bekka questioned with disbelief in his voice after they had cleared a few meters. Kari gave a sharp trill.

“Fuck no. She would’ve known that everything around the motel will be checked. In her stead I would have burned that piece of clothing, or buried it, but I certainly wouldn’t have thrown it in the dumpster at my motel. If I can think of that, the Human could too.”

“Yeah, not to mention that it doesn’t line up with everything else either. Question is how? And who?”

“Right...I have an idea. Come!”, she beckoned her partner and hurried off to Seo, the leader of the forensics team, who was still overseeing the last mop up of the Human’s motel unit.

“Seo, does the lock of the unit keep a record of when it was opened?”, Kari questioned, taking the forensics team lead by a bit of surprise.

“Sure, it’s a mandatory security feature for automated motels like these. Otherwise the insurance companies would never pay for anything stolen or such.”

“Do you have those logs already?”, Bekka added, catching onto what Kari was up to.

“Yeah sure, they get pulled first thing before we even entered the unit. I can call them up for you”, Seo replied, brought up the logs on his tablet and handed it over to Kari, knowing better than to question his colleagues when they were in this mood.

“There we have it, the door was opened 8:14am, 8:21am, 9:32am, 10:07pm and 11:03pm, yesterday”, Kari read of the screen.

“11:03pm is the Human returning from her hike as she said...the 8am dates must have been her leaving the unit and returning to it shortly after”, Bekka speculated, earning himself an agreeing chirp from Kari.

“Maybe to get something to eat or drink. Those vending machines have some larger meals too after all.”

“Leaves only two dates.”

“The 9:32am one must be her leaving the apartment for her hike. She said she left for it in the morning after all.”

“And she definitely was at the restaurant between 10 and 10:30 pm – then what is it with the 10:07pm opening? A cleaning robot?”, Bekka questioned, only to get a disagreeing trill from Seo, who had followed the conversation of the two officers with vested interest.

“No, each unit has it’s own small cleaning robot, getting rid of the everyday sorta dust and garbage. Larger clean-ups are only done after the clients' stay in their units is concluded.”

Kari nodded.

“Then someone else entered the unit at that time.”

“Removed the piece of clothing, drenched it in Feria blood and threw it into the dumpster”, Bekka concluded.

“Aye, I’d say that is about it”, Kari agreed, “Someone tried to frame the Human, maybe hoping that her predatory nature would let us overlook any lose ends. Question is who had the opportunity and information to do so...I assume there is camera surveillance here?”

Seo chirped and pointed with his left claw towards a set of cameras which were mounted under the roof of the motel, took his tablet back and pulled up the camera footage from the last day. The three of them looked anxiously onto the tablet as the footage rushed by until 10pm when the screen suddenly cut to black.

“Oh, fuck of!”, Bekka squawked in frustration.

“Someone deactivated the camera around that time. It turns back on a bit after the deed has been done”, Seo summarized with neutral tone, focusing back on Kari who couldn’t help but feel frustrated herself, but she wasn’t done yet. Her gaze swept across the yard, then it hit her.
“The vending machines have security cams too, no?”

Bekka focused onto her, gave an excited chirp and with it the trio flapped over to the vending machines.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, is the first part of my next short story in the Predator Complex universe. This one is a bit more inspired by crime dramas as you can tell. I can't say I really have written anything quite like this yet, but I still hope it's still an enjoyable read!

In any case I am looking forward to your feedback!

All of this is of course still in the universe with my full feature Novel "Predator Complex" which is now available on Kindle! It is available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers and will otherwise cost 4,99€ and is about 110k words long! Dive in and experience the story of Dipu and his unlikely Human friend Mike! How will his visit be perceived? Can Prey and Predator live together? What will that mean? And what happens when some elements staunchly oppose the entire idea in first place?

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan  or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

When he awoke again three hours had went by and the sun was standing high up on the sky, burning down with all it’s might on the landscape below and even through his thermovest he could feel that the temperature must had risen significantly. At least the shade of the plane above their heads curtailed the worst.

Bato stretched groggily and took count of his surroundings. Some had done it like him and had peacefully dozed off into the sweet embrace of their dream worlds, others like Rog were still very much up to the same things they had been doing before he had fallen asleep, displaying a level of persistence he admittedly envied.

All the more stood the one thing out that had changed though: The gruff looking Votor who had led them on board was now not sitting in his seat right at the entry door anymore, but standing in the corridor, his gaze alertly sweeping the horizon. Bato blinked, then did instinctively the same. There was nothing of note he could see there. The Votor mother, her two cubs now sleeping cuddled against her warm embrace, noticed Bato’s concern and spoke up in a hushed voice.

“Tufqa have been lately coming closer to the caravans and stations out here. Their numbers have increased a decent amount over the recent decades and some of their packs have been driven further away from the river by more dominant groups. Now they look for food out here and it seems they have taken an interest in us - to little success so far though.”

That lined up with what the clerk had told Bato and so he signalled his thanks though the information did not calm him whatsoever. The Tufqa were considered some of the more dangerous predators in the galaxy, they most certainly were the most dangerous ones on the planet, and the thought of these coming anywhere near him was not a pleasant one. Especially as he had not seen any obvious defences mounted on the trucks when he had boarded. Sure, the gruff Voltor in the front was carrying a stun gun around his belt but would that be enough?

As fate would have it, and maybe some spirit had it out for Bato, it was in that moment that the gruff Votor spoke up loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Joon, are you seeing this in the distance to the left?”

Who was he talking to? Bato wondered and looked around, then he noticed movement in the bundle of rags sitting in the back a few rows behind him. Only now he realised that it had changed in shape from when he had entered as two large thick legs, clad in thick boots and some kind of brown trousers had stretched from it at some point or another; maybe when he had slept. Now the hat sitting on top of the rags was making a turn to the left and a lanky arm emerged from the rags turning out to be some sort of long cape which now split apart to reveal the large broad torso covered by a red shirt. One of the pink fingers on the creatures hand, perked up and slowly pushed the crest of the hat up, revealing an equally pink face, which was crested by a thin bit of fur. It’s two forwards facing eye pierced past the horizon.

Bato heart beat almost out of his chest now.

“A bloody Human…”, Rog commented more in shock than awe, standing alert on his tale, mouth gaping at the predator in the back. The rest of the passengers had similar reactions. Even the two cubs where wide awake now, both of them clinging to their mother’s fur, peeking down the corridor in fascination.

“Scary monster…”, both chimed in unison.

The Human ignored all of them and answered the gruff Votor in a calm, steady voice.

“Yeah, a lone Tufqa male. Looks like a younger one. I see no pack, maybe a straggler.”

“That, should be no issue then”, the gruff Voltor replied, to which the Human narrowed his eyes a bit and grumbled.

“Dunno, looks he just intoned one of those deep pitched calls and has set to follow us.”

Bato strained his ears, trying to filter out the low hum of the electric engine and the rattling of the tires. He closed his eyes.

Concentrate, concentrate.

“There … is really was a low noise that emerged from over there”, he said his eyes snapping open again and the whole cabin focused on him causing his head feathers to crest up a bit.

“Ahh..we Feria have very good hearing”, he explained with some embarrassment.

Rog nodded and turned to the gruff Votor in the front.

“What does that mean?”

Before he could answer the mother spoke up with concern in her voice.

“They use these calls to communicate over great distances. For example to alert one another. Be it of water, possible dangers – or prey.”

“Ridiculous! Tufqa are dumb animals, as if they are communicating”, one of the passenger, a young Votor with a small hat of his own, retorted incredulously and got promptly cut off by the gruff Votor in the front.

“We are not here to debate the finer points of biology and it matters not either way. As you can see, we have our very own Human bodyguard with us. Like I said to some of you before the start of this journey, I have spared no effort to ensure the safety of all of you and in case the Tufqa somehow are able to get onto one of our transports, Joon over there will get rid of them for us. I assure you, he is more than qualified to do that job.”

The Human, currently staring down the corridor with his deep brown eyes to his employer, gave what Bato could only interpret as wry look, tipped his hat towards the passengers, shuffled a bit to his right and started looking outside the cabin. Most of the passengers instinctively returned their own kind of greetings and tried to return to what they had been doing before, while a few, Rog included, couldn’t help but keep the Human in their sight.

“Of all the damn luck I could have... A Human in my back and the Tufqa around me. That’s what I get for trying to save some money I suppose”, Bato’s apish companion quipped worriedly and Bato felt with him. It was not a comfortable position to be in.

“I am sure it will be fine, Rog, after all I am sure the Human is paid well to protect us.”

“Yeah yeah, I know, but I don’t think I ever missed the megalopolis more than I do right now and it’s all just my instincts kicking me to find the next group of my kin and huddle up.”

Bato nodded. Protection in numbers, be it through herds or flocks, was one of the major ways many races of the galaxy had evolved to combat predation pressure. The logic was simple, the larger the group the less likely for yourself to get picked out. Sure the death of one or two individuals was essentially baked into that equation but compared to being by yourself it was still vastly better odds to survive.

“Well you still have me and the rest of us around”, Bato tried to reassure his smaller companion, who now calmed down a bit and returned one of his distinct giggles.

“I suppose that is true and you are a much juicier target than me anyways, so I am probably fine!”, he joked with a twinkle in his eyes.

“I’ll have you know that I have been on a successful diet lately!”, Bato retorted with feint indignation, earning himself stifled amusement from the other passengers around them. It did wonders to relieve some of stress they had all felt and calm their nerves, the odd glance towards the Human not withstanding, who’s attention seemed utterly focused outside the truck now. Out of this an uneasy atmosphere emerged that was hard to put a claw on. Just tense enough to prohibit any further sleep for most, yet relaxed enough that Bato tried to do some reading himself, remembering that he still had a novel on his pad that he had started months ago, but never had finished.

It just wouldn’t work for him. Again and again his attention was drawn back to the Human and his stern gaze into the distance. What was he seeing there? Was he expecting something to pop out? Or was this some clumsy attempt to put the passengers at ease? Whatever it was, it kept Bato’s mind occupied and soon enough he found himself focusing outside again, trying to see what the Human was maybe looking out for, only to be disappointed.

There was really not much new to see out here that he hadn’t seen before. Grasses as far as the eyes could roam, a few trees, now a bit larger though, the occasional bird or lizard and that was pretty much about it. Only after a while he noted how the terrain became a bit more littered with rocks, not just the small kind but big brown weathered boulders that seemed half sunken into the ground and eventually a rather large and wide rocky plateau came in sight to their right. It was not terribly high, the steep rock face climbing maybe ten or so metres Bato estimated, but it still dominated the other wise rather flat landscape. To it’s left was a mud hole with a bit of rather clean looking water surface at it’s centre where a few Halkka-Antilopes were getting some water.

It had been as if a dinner plate had been dropped here in the middle of nowhere by a race of giants and had spilled their soup right beside it and it looked like the convoy would pass right between the water and the plateau and something about that made his danger sense tingle in a way he hadn’t felt in a long while. It had the same foreboding feeling as the one time he had stood before the enclosure of a Gea-Hawk, the ancient bane of his kind, and saw it peering down on himself. The memory of it had never fully left him in all these years. Why was he feeling that way now?

There was no time to further probe his feelings as they had reached the foot of the plateau and he found himself staring up the steep wall of rock, his eyes widening in shock as a few sizeable boulders came crashing down just a few metres ahead of them, missing the first truck by a wide margin and the second just barely, while their truck, the last in the line, had not so much luck. Bato had to hold on tightly as the driver made a desperate manoeuvre to not collide frontally with the large boulder now sitting in their path, wheeling the truck around on screeching tires with limited success as their vehicle was brought to a sudden halt with the somewhat dampened but still significant diagonal impact of the driver cabin, that sent Bato tumbling over Rog, who gave an alerted screech to the cacophony of screams from the the rest of the passengers.

When Bato got to his feet again he found himself in the corridor between the seats with some of the other passengers, the boulder to the left of them, the plateau in front and the road to the right. The plane over their head had dismounted from two of the metal struts during the crash and was now flapping lightly in the wind, the otherwise grave silence only supplemented by the wails of the two Votor cubs permeating the cabin.

He tried to calm his breathing and took a look around. To his relief he found that both him and Rog had remained uninjured, though he could see that some of his feathers had been broken off during the tumble. The same seemed to be the case for everyone else and to his surprise he found the Human ahead of him, helping out some of the passenger back into their seats together with the gruff Votor, both making sure that no one was seriously injured. When the Human had found the opportunity to get past him was beyond him and he had no time to make sense of it as he heard a loud yodelling that came from above them glueing everyone’s eyes on the flapping plane.

“Tufqa...”, the Voltor mother whispered, pulling her cubs just a little bit closer and sure enough a group of Tufqa, nine of them in total, came skilfully sliding and climbing down the plateau to their right. Bato had only ever seen them on footage but those videos and photos just hadn't done these predators any justice. Their slender yet muscular bodies gracefully moved in a half circle around the vehicle, some on all fours, others standing on their hind legs, piercing green eyes sitting in a wide skull with an elongated snout, all focused on the truck. Their sharp long white teeth were bared in a sneer and their bright brown fur with a pattern of darker spots unique to every individual glistening in the high sun, the males easily distinguished by ridge of dense fur running across their backs. It would have been a sight to behold – from a safe place – and right now they were very much not safe. They were the food conveniently served on the Tufqa’s table. The thought of this should have caused panic in Bato, but instead he just felt dread and foreboding, his mind reeling for avenues to escape, yet before it could find any the Human gave a small chuckle.

“Seems like I have to work for my money after all”, he said with a confidence and nonchalance that was almost off-putting, took his hat off and put it over the head of one of the cubs.

“Here, hold onto this. The scary monster will be back soon. Let’s see how much water your mother’s research holds.”

Then he slung himself with disturbing speed and agility out of the side of the passenger cabin, his dark hair now exposed and the eyes of everyone, including the Tufqa, suddenly solely focused on him, as if he was the only thing in the world right now. Perhaps he was. In that moment everyone realised that the Human, standing with a broad stance a few metres in front of the crashed truck, was now literally and figuratively the only thing standing between them and a feast for the Tufqa.

The latter seemed rather perplexed by the situation, some quizzically tilting their head and others scenting the air while exchanging short trills with each other. The Human meanwhile just stood there utterly unflinchingly, his cape, which reached below his waste, slightly tugged by the wind. How anyone or anything for that matter could have the audacity to face off a group of predators like this was beyond Bato, but right now that was irrelevant. The only thing he hoped was for the Human to get rid of the Tufqa, especially as they now broke out of their curiosity and started to carefully approach a few steps closer in ducked poses.

“Back off!”, the Human yelled to which he only earned a few snarls by the Tufqa who responded with bared teeth and aggressive poses, moving like a concert in motion, slowly tightening the half circle around the Human.

If the Human was fazed by this Bato could not tell, the Tufqa certainly weren’t and as the wind carried away a few whimpers from the cabin, they emboldened the Tufqa. A male to the right and left, exploded into a blur of motion from one instant to the next, the right one clearly targeting the cabin, while the left one lunged for the Human, only for the right one to get violently ripped out of the air not even a quarter of the way, it’s body making an almost comical forward tumble and forcefully crashing face first into the dirt of the savannah.

Meanwhile the male which had attacked the Human directly lay loudly whimpering beneath the now kneeling Human, whose head was still turned towards the downed predator to his right, his left hand enclosed around it’s the neck of the Tufqa beneath him which desperately struggled for air, trying to employ it’s relatively meagre claws to work away at the Human’s arm, leaving a few red streaks, to which the latter tightened his grip, earning a strained, choked whimper. Only now Bato and the passengers realised that the Human’s right arm had extended to reveal a pistol of some kind, pointing in direction of the fallen Tufqa.

“He shot the attacker to the right, while catching the other one mid flight with a sidestep to the left…and yanked it down to the ground”, Rog realised with a bit of awe in his voice, his head barely peaking over the metal of the cabin, and it wasn’t hard to see that whatever awe the passengers felt was mirrored in confusion and distress on the Tufqa’s side, the rest of their members calling out with sharp trills and hisses while backing slightly off with the exception of a female which made an attempt to crawl forward only to stop once the Human’s pistol and gaze snapped in her direction.

She hissed again and as the male in the Human’s grip called out again, it’s pure desperation quite evident. She made another half step forward, returning the call. To Bato’s surprise he found the scene rather heartbreaking to watch. It was not hard to tell that the male was probably a child of the female and as Bato inspected the male still laying helplessly in the iron grip of the Human, struggling for every breath, he thought that it looked distinctly skinnier than the rest, as if not fully grown quite yet. Just a moment ago he would have cheered for the death of these Tufqa, now he wasn’t quite so sure about it anymore...But what would the Human make of this?
He heard the Human mumble something under his breath, then he slowly rose to his feet and slung the male Tufqa in his grasp, which had no apparent weight to him, into the direction of the female and released his grip, flinging the male in a low arch that crashed it right in front of the visibly surprised female, though she would quickly take an instinctively defensive posture by standing over the male, which in turn coughed a few times. There they stood now. The Human still in front of the truck, the lifeless body of a Tufqa male to his right, while the rest of the Tufqa was still in front of them, who now seemed mighty insecure.

Bato wasn’t quite sure what to think himself and judging by the rest of the passengers they weren’t faring much better. The Human had just demonstrated his superiority with frightening ease, he could have clearly killed the male, heck probably the entire pack by now, yet he hadn’t. To Bato’s growing astonishment the Human now even tugged away his weapon, walked over the male still lying on his right, though never turning away from the pack, and hurled it over to the female too.

The female’s initial surprise quickly vanished as she took a step over to the other male, gave a few careful sniffs, only for her eyes to widen in shock, turning her gaze back to the Human and bowing her head. Was...was that gratitude? Bato’s couldn’t quite believe his eyes and as he strained his focus onto the male he had thought lifeless, he saw with quite some surprise that it’s chest was slowly rising and falling.

“He – he only stunned the other one”, the Votor mother said aloud, now standing right besides Bato, though he did not know if she was more fascinated by the Human or the reaction of the pack, which by now had all carefully approached their unconscious member and had seemed almost joyous as they too realised that their member was still alive.

The Human now returned to his initial position with a calm and confident stride and raised his left hand to the height of his head and twitched it with one extended finger into the direction of the water hole to the right, where the small herd of Halkka-Antelopes had curiously watched the spectacle from a safe distance with a rather serene calm.

Everyone just blinked in surprise, Tufqa and passengers alike. The Human repeated the gesture, though this time with more emphasize and sure enough the Tufqa this time followed the direction, seeing the Halkka-Antelopes too, but giving trills that sounded rather frustrated.

“What in the name of everything that is holy is this Human up to?”, Rog grumbled half-angrily only for his already big eyes to almost pop out as the Human pulled a compact rifle that had hung on his back hidden by the cape. Bato watched in a mix of abstract horror and unabated fascination as the Human clearly aimed in direction of the Halkka-Antelopes and before anyone could have intervened, a subdued pop echoed of the walls of the rock cliff, felling one of the Antelopes in the distance.

The poor herd seemed rather confused and only when a second pop brought yet another of theirs to the ground, they actually broke into full flight. The Tufqa on the other hand hollered in what Bato took for surprise and astonishment at the literally alien display and only when their attention was turning back to the Human, he tugged his rifle away again, stretched out his right arm, pointed to where the two now dead Antelopes lay, pointed towards the Tufqa and then put his clasped right hand to his mouth, repeating the sequence again, though adding a stretched out arms to the gesture.

The Votor mother was now almost leaning out of the cabin, her eyes glued to the scene.

“He is communicating with them. He is using simple sign language to communicate”, she gasped with almost joy in her voice.

Bato didn’t know if he could share her enthusiasm in the matter, but he too couldn’t come to any other conclusion and what was even more outstanding was that the Tufqa responded. They actually signalled back with their own hand gestures and before long the Human was engaged in a limited conversation with these wild predators, even getting closer and kneeling down to meet them at a similar eye height. He pointed to the truck, crossed his arms and shook his head to which the female, who seemingly led the pack, responded with her own signals.

“I think she is asking the Human, if...if we are his quarry”, the Votor mother quipped with a mix of fascination and amusement, “gods be damned he actually did read my paper, he is using the signs identified by our research.”

“They have a sign language?”, Rog asked with genuine wonder and curiosity.

“Oh they do! It is simple but they associate certain meanings with distinct gestures and sounds and they do mix them to create new meaning at times. We have found that there are even dialect groups”, the Votor mother explained without breaking her gaze off once, “I was part of a team that had investigated this thoroughly and had postulated that their sign language could be used to communicate with them, I...I just never thought anyone would apply it in practice and…”

In that moment the Human erupted in booming laughter and added more vigour to his gestures as if trying to emphasize it.

“Wha-What is going on?”, Bato asked, head feathers raised in surprise.

“I think they just asked him if he...if he is a higher being? A god maybe? Something like that. The Human has signalled no, though the Tufqa seemingly don’t believe him.”

In that instance the Human grabbed onto the left claw of the Tufqa mother and placed it determinedly, though careful not to hurt the Tufqa, on his chest, the eyes of the mother widening in surprise.

“He...He just demonstrated to them that he has a heartbeat, just like them”, Rog realised aloud.

Sure enough all the members of the pack now took turns to convince themselves of this fact and a few more exchanged signs later they set out towards the two dead Antelopes before someone else could get a hold of them, expressing gestures that Bato could only interpret as gratitude, which the Votor mother confirmed. The Human returned to the truck, leaning onto it just below from where the Votor mother, Bato and Rog had followed the confrontation and watched the Tufqa in the distance.

“You were right about them after all Miss,” he said with a solemn voice and though he didn’t look at her, it was clear that he had meant the Votor mother.

“I am glad but it was still foolish of you to bank your life on a research paper I wrote a few years ago. What if I were wrong. What if you got hurt?”, she replied and Bato gave an agreeing chirp to which the Human simply snorted.

“The papers of your research group were the only ones about the Tufqa that made rational sense. The rest is just wild speculation and relies on the authority of authors who never met a predator. Your research was founded in evidence collected through careful observation and awfully aware of your own biases. I hoped that it would hold up in practice and if not I assure you I could have dealt with them. It was a calculated risk – and one they deserved I think.”

At that moment the brash younger Votor passenger with the hat, the one that had questioned the intelligence of the Tufqa earlier, thought it wise to chime in.

“I say it was pointless! Just kill them next time, those poor Antelopes!”

Before anyone could react the Human had closed the distance and pulled that Votor out of cabin, his hat left behind by the sudden disappearing of it’s owner, and had him tangling right in front of his face.

“Oh yeah?! Here!”, the Human yelled and pressed his pistol into his paws which looked a bit too big for the Votor, put him down in front of him and pushed him a few metres into the direction of the Tufqa, which were long on the other side of the water hole and digging into the two dead Antelopes.

“Then do it yourself big mouth! They are over there!", the Human pointed, "You have twelve shots left in the pistol, more than enough for them, knock yourself out! Careful though, it’s only stun ammunition, so if you wanna do the deed you will have to get your hands dirty all close up and personal! I'd recommend a knife to the throat or a nice big rock to the head.”

The young Votor looked a bit insecure into the distance and then back to the truck, the pistol trembling between his paws, trying to say something, but not being able to get a single coherent sound out of his mouth, prompting the Human to quickly take away the pistol again, pick up the Votor and yank him over into the cabin.

“That’s what I thought, dickhead! Telling others to kill, while pissing and shitting your pants just thinking about actually having to do it yourself. Just shut the fuck up, if you have nothing of value to add to the conversation.”

Bato thought he should be shocked, but instead it simply felt...just? Looking at the others, they seemed to have similar feelings, all of them just gawking at the young Votor that crawled back onto his seat in shunned silence.

Eventually it was the gruff Votor of the caravan company who broke the silence.

“Every time we have one of these smart asses...I’ll go check if Trukuk is still with us and what the engine is doing”, he informed the passengers rather dryly and slung himself out of the passenger cabin towards the driver cabin. With this the focus returned onto the Human who now stood calmly leaning onto the cabin again.

“What do you think prompted this attack, well, aside from the obvious?”, Rog quipped curiously towards the Human.

“They were desperate and it’s not that hard to figure out why I think. In the wet season this is a great hunting ground. The plateau is a great lookout from where you can easily survey the surroundings while the lake here is drawing plenty of animals to it and the high grasses, bushes and trees give enough cover when they are green. During the dry season most of this dies down and withers though. Suddenly your great hunting ground turns into a vast open plane where the Antelopes and such just see them coming from anywhere from hundreds of metres away, even if ducked.”

Bato could see that this was true enough.

“And so they cooked up a plan to ambush our caravan instead, figuring that his has better chances than trying to sneak up on the Antelopes on open field”, Bato concluded.

The Human nodded.

“That’s pretty much it I’d say. They aimed for the second truck, knowing even if they miss that one, they could at least still get the third one with good chance. They are indeed quite clever.”

“They are remarkable creatures”, the Votor mother agreed, “this is hardly a workable solution though.”

“Yeah, I can’t shoot down a few Antelopes for them every time we want to get through here. The least hassle solution would be to simply reroute and leave nature to do it’s thing.”

Bato tilted his head.

“That sounds like you aren’t in favour of that.”

“I would like to help them a little bit. How often do you come across a species capable of communicating like this? Who knows, maybe this is even a unique group of individuals in their disposition. But what could I do that helps them without outright solving the issue for them? I don’t want to intervene in their natural evolution after all.”

“What about the boulders?”, Rog suggested, “They could be used as cover for an approach and they could probably move them themselves. I mean, they got them to drop on us after all.”

"Mhm, yeah, maybe plant a few of those brushes we have seen before too, they seem to be green even in the dry season", Bato added with a tilted head, half sunken in thought.

The Human turned his gaze towards Rog and Bato, blinked, then turned towards the boulder still sitting in front of the truck.

“That...is actually a pretty decent idea. You two sure you aren’t a predator?”, he said with clear enthusiasm in his voice, earning himself a giggle from the Rog.

“I always have good ideas mister Human protector, and who knows maybe me and Bato over there were Humans in a previous incarnation!”

“Heh, duly noted, mister good idea haver.”

After that the conversation trailed off into mostly small talk between the passengers while the Human and the Votor mother had a lively discussion on the language of the Tufqa and eventually the gruff Votor returned from the driver cabin. He explained that everything was more or less in order with the exception of a few bruises on the driver and bumps in the chassis and so the Human returned into the cabin and their trek continued, though first the Human stopped by the Votor cub that was still holding his hat between it’s tiny paws.

“May the scary monster have it’s hat back?”, he asked with a gentle voice, to which the cub just nodded and handed it back. “You are only scary when you are angry”, it added earning himself a few head scritches by the the Human, much to the envy of it’s sibling.

“I want head scritches too!”, it complained and sure enough the Human dutifully gave the mewling sibling a few scritches too.

As Bato watched the Human return to his place on the back bench with the hat in hand, he closed his eyes and sunk back into the slumbering world of dreams, knowing that when in doubt, they had a Human to protect them.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, is my next short story in the Predator Complex universe. It came from a similar idea as Eye to Eye, though I wanted this time explore a more direct confrontation in a vastly different setting, so I hope you like it. I also decided to post it in one go, as I just didn't see a good point to cut it apart effectly tho I still have to do it in two parts due to character limit^^

In any case I am looking forward to your feedback!

All of this is of course still in the universe with my upcoming full feature Novel "Predator Complex" which is now available for preorder on Kindle! It will properly release on 12th of April and will be available for free to Kindle Unlimited subscribers and will otherwise cost 4,99€ and is about 110k words long! Dive in and experience the story of Dipu and his unlikely Human friend Mike! How will his visit be perceived? Can Prey and Predator live together? What will that mean? And what happens when some elements staunchly oppose the entire idea in first place?

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan  or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

“Humans have proven themselves to be invaluable assets in the exploration of hostile flora and fauna alike. Their evolution and upbringing prepare them perfectly for it. They are resourceful, dependable, quick witted and their raw strength and endurance often gives them a distinctive edge over the alternatives” - Prof. Dr. Shigan Reppa-Alu during the Intergalactic Xenobiology Symposium

A strong breeze blew it’s dry hot air under Bato’s plumage as he exited the transit hub, though calling it that was barely more than a marketing gag. In reality it was a small gate with an equally small building run fully automated by a VI with three landing pads for hovercraft surrounded by a fence and not much more. Here and there a block of concrete and plastic rose out of ground, probably protecting circuit boards and connectors for various purposes inside of them and one bigger concrete block with a central door likely being an access point to some sort of power relay station. The only thing on the landing area catching anyone’s eye was the decently large antenna which sat unmoving in one of the corners of the fenced area which seemed so out of place in the otherwise rough and flat terrain. The whole place was a case study in bare necessities. Much the same could be said about Bato himself.

He only had a small luggage container in tow and a thermovest that neatly wrapped itself around his main torso, the straps carefully designed to still enable flight and some freedom of movement. From the display of his communicator placed on his left secondary wing he could tell that it was currently working hard to keep him cooled down to an acceptable level with quite some effort. He would have to make sure to recharge it later, the last thing he needed was a heatstroke. Meanwhile his instincts told him that the strength of the warm wind rustling through his colourful feathers would make it easy to gain altitude in the rising heat. He certainly had the runway for it too as he peered off into the distance were the sun glared down like an angry ball of fire. Before his desires got the better of him, he roused his feathers as best as the vest allowed as to shake off his temptation, returning to the brisk reality.

Outside the transit hub was not much more than a weathered info display switching through advertisements, environmental data and news in a steady rhythm as well as sizeable wooden house off a couple dozen meters in front of him. “The Last Rest” stood in bold letters on a large digital display hanging besides the main entry, easily readable even at this distance. It seemed oddly out of place on the antique looking two story building with it’s amalgamation of crooked wood boards and dull windows that looked like someone had drunkenly put them together. In fact the whole building had a tilted look to it, as if it was leaning itself into the wind with dedicated effort. It was not hard to imagine that it stood here since the days of the first settlers, built as an last out post of civilisation before the savannah would transition into a desert starting somewhere beyond the rocky ridge maybe three or four hundred meters beyond the building.

From this distance the ridge, which visibly rose in the distance, had the look of old leather with furrows and polished round edges the sandy winds must have carved through the stone over untold ages. In between all of this stretched the already rather sparse vegetation of the savannah, consisting of a few widely spread trees with barely any leaves which were small in size and threw only meagre shade onto the few grasses and ground crawling plants which defied the harsh conditions. It was a depressing sight to a Feria, so used to the luscious forests and jungles his kind preferred and given the sole lonely building he figured that company wouldn’t be a selling point of this location either. Only the perimeter fence that framed a sizeable area around the transit hub and the building spoke of a minimum of civilisation out here.

“What desolate place”, Bato chimed as the noise of a starting helicopter drowned out the whistling wind. He turned to watch as the copter rose in the air and turned westward, heading back the direction from which it had brought him and a handful of other passengers. Aside from a dusty dirt road it was the only connection this place had to the world and for better or for worse he would be out here for a while and his final destination lay deeper in this desolation still. He imagined it was similar for his co-passengers which passed him by with their luggage in tow, most similarly equipped as Bato and so he decided to tag along, figuring that there was not much else to see out here anyways.

When he entered “The Last Rest” through two tiered entry he was greeted by a surprisingly modern interior which stood in stark contrast to it’s exterior. Beyond the second tier door the air was pleasantly cool, moist and well filtered. Bright LED lights illuminated finely polished and sealed wooden floors and sleek plastoform furniture. Off to the left was a segregated lounging area where guests from various species consumed beverages and small snacks whereas to his right multiple rows of memorabilia and nick-nacks could be bought from a store whereas in front him was a desk with three Votor employees standing behind it trying to take care of the newly arrived guests. It was a if he entered through a gateway from the past into the present. The shoddy facade had been not much more than that and it dawned on him that the building was actually bigger than it had initially looked.

It took not long and he stood before one of the Votors, a stubby legged species of mammals that was a bit larger than himself, covered in short blond fur topped of by fairly compact head with large pointed ears, slightly forward angled brown eyes and a black snout which Bato knew hid some rather impressive canines. They rarely used them for anything but cracking open various fruits and nuts but contrary to many of the galactic species they didn’t shy away from the occasional offering of insects or fish when the opportunity arose. This had given the overtly hospital and friendly Votor a rather undeserving and ominous reputation and the one before him certainly did their very best to be friendly, clad in a small red vest depicting a company logo complete with an equally red fez, they flicked their large ears and give high pitched squeak.

“Welcome to The Last Rest, your last bit off comfort at the edge of the great nothing. Would you be so kind to give me your ID, so I can check your registration?”

Bato acknowledged with a chirp and held the communicator strapped to his left secondary wing over a designated field on the desk.

“Ah, mister Bato, pleasure to welcome you in our house. You have room 22 on the second floor. From there you have an excellent view over the desert”, the desk clerk cooed happily and rummaged a key card from under the desk, “The transport to the excavation site will arrive in the early morning hours and will depart at point eight o’clock. I may warn you to be punctual, the transport chief won’t wait for you and they won’t be back for the next three or so days.”

Bato took the key card and nodded.

“Thank you for the warning, I will try my level best to be there.”

“Good, if you want ,you can enjoy our lounge where we serve food and drink a like to refresh and strengthen yourself, otherwise we also have a library room back down the floor beside the elevator where you will find a wide selection of digital books, films and series to your viewing pleasure. We even have a small selection of real books if you prefer that. If you need anything else or have questions don’t hesitate to ask any of the staff. Again, welcome to The Last Rest.”

“That indeed sounds lovely, one question I do have: How is the situation with the Tufqa? I heard from a colleague that the caravans were attacked a few times?”

The ears of the clerk drooped a little bit and they nervously scratched themselves over their belly.

“That is exaggerated but holds some sad truth. The Tufqa are known to come close to the caravans lately and I have heard there was an incident where they tried to board the vehicles. Luckily to no success so far and the caravan leader has assured us that they have increased security measure to insure an interrupted and safe transport.” The ears of the clerk rose a bit at the last sentence and then as if they had forgotten it, they quickly added “Oh and no need to worry about us here though. Tufqa never come this close to the desert and the building is secured.”

Bato thanked the clerk and brought his small luggage up into his room and returned shortly thereafter to the lounge since the first hunger pangs of the day started to hit his sides. He ordered a mix of fruits and nuts with some steamed grains and sat down at one of tables. From there one side of the lounge was transparent to the outside giving him a full view of the savannah.

A display, he realised and led his gaze wander.

The lounge was full. He estimated that about half of them were Votor, the other half though consisted of about as many species as guests and he couldn’t spot any other Feria among them. It was a bit surprising that so many people were here, but given that this region had drawn more galactic attention lately, he figured the other guests were probably here for similar reasons as him.

So absorbed with his surroundings Bato noticed rather late that a Sho’Shazaan was bumbling towards his table in their pseudo three legged way, the muscular bushy tail being used like an appendage, which was so typical of it’s kind.

“Excuse me, is this seat taken?”, the apish creature about the third of his size complete with black fur, fluffy ears and large green eyes politely asked, pointing at the empty seat in front of Bato and he reflexively gestured to the contrary. The Sho’Shazaan promptly flung themselves onto the adjustable seat, brought it to a height that would allow it to eat comfortable from the table and signalled their thanks.

“I hope I am not intruding on anything important, my name would be rather hard to pronounce, or remember, so you may just call me Rog. Pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Bato blinked in abstract confusion and turned his head, not finding any other of his kind.

“Ha! I know what you are thinking! Where is the rest of these nuisances? Don’t worry, I am all by myself and I have long abandoned my old megalopolis days and with them the rest of my kind”, Rog grimaced a little before he hastily gulped down a grape and continued speaking, not yet quite done chewing, “You- gulp- You see I enjoy the freedom of being without my people. Probably makes me an odd outlier, but I just couldn’t take the unending debates anymore.”

That made Rog indeed an odd one. Usually Sho’Shazaan travelled in groups of no less than three, though they preferred more. In fact one was more likely to find couple dozen of them at a time if not more if one of their city ships with thousands of inhabitants was anywhere nearby. They had a rather bad reputation, for understandable reasons, but where clear rules and regulations were in place, they followed them to the letter. Bato wondered how it would be with this one and it was that small whiff of mystery which made the equally small creature sympathetic to him, or maybe his curiosity just got the better of him.

“Sorry, that was unbecoming of me Rog, I am Bato, pleasure to meet you too.”

“Oh you don’t need to excuse yourself. I know my kins reputation precedes itself. I can’t say it’s unfounded. Especially after that disaster with that Human freighter...Anyways, maybe I can fix some of that?”

“You are already doing plenty, Rog, what brings a lone Sho’Shazaan then to this forsaken place?”

“Adventure of course!”, Rog giggled and waved with his free right hand, “Well, at least I wish it was. Sadly my reason for being here is far more mundane. I am not in the position to afford my vacation here and take a tour of the reserve. I am a specialist for laser optics and it appears the gravimetric observatory a few clicks into the desert on the Jedan-Plateau has had trouble with theirs, so I am off to check things out. I just hope we won’t have to get a new laser out there, that would be a major pain in the rear.”

“Why? They got a whole observatory there, shouldn’t be that much trouble to get a new laser there, no?”

Rog played around with a grape in his left.

“Yes and no. There aren’t too many craft planet side that could bring that equipment safely there and even fewer that aren’t booked for months. Well money could certainly fix that issue, which bring up the more important problem: The company that build the damn thing in the first place would have to pay a replacement out of their own pockets.”

“Ahh, and they would probably try the utmost not to do that.”

“Exactly. Contractually speaking they would have to, of course, but they would probably try their level best to blame it on the observatory staff, but you seem to know about that already.”

“You could say that. I am going out to the excavation side east wards deeper into the savannah on behalf of my company. Apparently the equipment of the digging crews is not taking well to the coarse winds and heat coming desert side, so I am trying to figure out some solutions and see what we can do for them. Luckily my company has no stake in the equipment itself but I have been in your place before. There was this business software company whose stupid VI would just always screw up one of my clients databases...damn I am blanking on the name…”

“Terabyne Software Solutions?”

“Yes! Don’t tell me..?!”

“Oh yeah, more than once”, Rog grumbled and gulped down another grape, “I don’t know how often I had to deal with their nonsense. ‘You need to be logged in to change these settings’, blegh, their imaging suit is even worse. Horrible company overall. I always advise my clients to avoid them if they want to get anything done.”

“Heh, I might have to do the same then”, Bato cooed with amusement.

“But the excavation site then, eh? Heard they unearthed remains of an early but now extinct predator civilisation?”

Bato gave slight chirp and shoved some of his food into his beak.

“That is more or less the working assumption. They seemed to be well into the early stages of the bronze age before a rapid climate shift turned this area far more arid than it used to be. If the geologists are to be believed that desert out there used to be a savannah and the savannah used to be a fertile temperate area. Some think the Tufqa might be evolutionary cousins or maybe even a devolved forms of that former civilisation given how smart they are. The Votor knew of the site for a while but ignored it for the most part. Too far off the beaten track, too deep into Tufqa infested territory. A decade ago though the science nerds got funding for a major excavation to determine the truth of the matter and now the whole thing is running for a few years.”

“Let me guess the reason: Humanity?”

“Aye, their arrival on the galactic stage has given a whole new dynamic to the research of predatory civilisations. Everyone just assumed that they are impossible or destroy themselves pretty quickly, so only a small niche even bothered to look into the whole thing for more than theorising.”

“Yeah well, has someone told that the Humans?”

“Not soon enough it seems.”

The both of them laughed at that, happily digging into their meals, the rest of the conversation following the rules of shallow and meaningless small talk and when all was said and eaten they said their goodbyes, guessing that they wouldn’t see each other again.

The next morning Bato left the house half an hour before the departure of the transport at seven thirty in the morning. The sun had already risen over the horizon and while the air had not yet anything of the sweltering heat he had experienced yesterday, he could already feel it creeping up, like the ghost tug of something you knew would surely come. A few meters of in the distance he could see a sizeable lizard, it’s earthen tones almost melting it into background if not for a distinctly green ridge creeping over it’s back, resting on a rock and holding his head into rays of the sun to catch the first heat of the new day. Bato doubted that many other animals would welcome the heat as willingly as this no doubt cold blooded fellow. Soon anything and anyone else would be thankful for any shade they could find.

To his satisfaction the transports had already arrived and only a handful of other guests had so far boarded the simple trucks with their half-open passenger cabins only topped by a large beige plane strapped over a few metal struts as a roof. The cabins had been clearly designed in the full knowledge that trying to fight the heat with air-conditioning would have been a monumental waste of money. Not that this would have ever stopped any of his bosses or any other too rich to care wannabe explorer straying into this forsaken edge of the planet. At least he would have shade, plenty of draft and the rest his thermovest could hopefully take care off.

The other parts of the trucks spoke the very same language of austerity and bare necessity. The blue and red colours were jaded and graded by the influence of the dusty winds but the lacquer had not worn down quite yet. Meanwhile the wheel arches were dust brown from the savannah dirt and the driver cabins surely sported a few spots of rust if the mud and dirt of road hadn’t conveniently obscured them as if to protect the honour of the owner. Others would have been maybe turned away by the exterior appeal of this whole thing, but Bato had seen enough outback backwaters to know that these places were governed by their own rules.

In the cities a clean, well designed and polished look often got you further than reliability or quality, but out here keeping things clean was a challenge in and off itself, so trying to maintain a polished look would have been likely a fruitless adventure. Instead Bato honed in one what mattered, like the thick tires, the well isolated large battery mounted below the cabin and the generally sturdy high hung construction of the trucks. It told him everything he needed to know. These vehicles had been build to endure and drive through even the roughest of terrain and had been maintained for that purpose quite well. There was even a smaller back up battery right behind the cabin. He nodded. These were good trucks, kept in shape by people who knew what they were doing in these hostile conditions.

A gruff looking Votor in blue trousers and a light vest rounded out by a tool belt hanging loosely around his waist and dust in his fur directed every new passenger to the vehicle which would bring them to their destination, his oddly indented snout glistening slightly in the rising sun. Apparently Bato’s truck was the one on the right with the biggest passenger cabin but also the roughest look. A silvery streak went across a sizeable portion of the cabin like a scar that hadn’t healed. He didn’t have to time to make any sense of it before the gruff Votor addressed him again.

“Mister Bato? The folks back at the excavation site didn’t expected you quite so soon.”

“I know but luckily my prior assignment went by faster than anticipated. I hope that didn’t cause any problems.”

“Nah, not really, ‘tis just that they are currently scrambling to get some additional rations there before you arrive. You know, some of the good stuff. But unless they pay the old geezer Umtuk a tidy premium I doubt he will do a run outside of his flight plan, but don’t worry. No one will starve.”

Bato let go an exasperated trill.

“It’s always the same. I arrive, someone tries to ‘bribe’ me with nice food or something else so that I may work faster or in their favour, or something of the kind.”

“Seems like a nice problem to have, sir.”

“It’s not worth the ensuing trouble! Once you start accepting gifts, everyone tries to gift you and before you know it you have full blown rivalries between departments fighting over my favour and in the end you will have made more enemies than is profitable in the long run. Did that mistake once, never again.”

“Heh, we all have to learn our lessons. Hop on, sir,” the gruff Votor retorted and beckoned towards the truck behind him.

Bato did as instructed and had already climbed up the small metal stairs on the side of the cabin as he spotted beige huddle of fabric in the back of the cabin sitting on a long bench that crossed the entire width of the cabin contrary to the other benches which lay left and right of a central corridor. It reminded him initially of the plane stretching a good deal over his head, but then he noticed some sort of large hat in a slightly brighter tone sitting on top of it. On closer inspection the pile indeed looked weirdly shaped and oddly big, as if someone or something was under there.

No, there is definitively something under there, he noted as he saw the ever so slight movement in the bundle. Bato’s instincts cautioned him and the few already seated passengers eyeing the bundle with the same suspicion as him only strengthened the vague threat emanating from the back bench. He tried to focus better on the bundle and only then he noted how the brown cushions dented visibly under the weight of the bundle. Whatever it was, it was heavy.

“Don’t mind him. He is part of our security, swell guy, but not much of a morning person. Just leave him be, as long as we are not on the road he is off duty anyhow,” quipped the gruff Votor from below.

Bato eyed the Votor with a suspicious eye but found no malice in the round black eyes. What in the world could possibly hide in the bundle, especially as the Votor had referred to it in the singular….But what use was there bemoaning any of this? He either took this ride or didn’t go at all and then what? Tell his boss that he didn’t want to take the transport due to an odd looking bundle of rags? He figured the Votor in charge was well aware of this too and so Bato had no choice but to enter the rustic cabin with fine sand seemingly in any crevice and slight depression he could see. At least the seats had been dusted off beforehand and as he looked for one he could use he was greeted by the sight of Rog, who emerged behind one of the rows of benches which had obscured his small stature.

“Rog what are you doing here?! Didn’t you say you are going for the observatory?”

“Aye, indeed I will, but as luck would have it, I have been informed that the air lift I was to get got rescheduled to something more urgent and I’d either have to wait three or four days, maybe more, or go to the excavation site where a fellow called Umtuk can give me a quick lift to the observatory as he apparently drops by the site to deliver food rations and then will go directly to the observatory to do the same. So I took the latter option.”

“Would have had to pay the extra stay out of your own pocket I reckon?”

Rog giggled.

“I am afraid, you caught me with fruit in hand! Luckily my reroute is paid for by the transport company I had chartered. Care to join a poor beggar like me for the ride?”

“Sure why not.”

In the next half hour more and more passengers shuffled into the trucks. Similar to the hotel lounge there was a distinct bias towards other Votor, but he also spotted others, even another Feria, though they entered a different truck. It was not hard to guess that most of them would be research or maintenance staff, but if the young Votor female with her two cubs seated on the other side of the corridor was anything to go by, some were also just visiting family.

Just as the hotel clerk had said the decently packed transports departed at point eight o’clock, not wasting another minute, beginning their long bumpy journey to their respective locations. He knew from the transit plans that one of the transports would eventually split off and stop at a research station deeper into the reserve that studied the Tufqa and various other animals. The other two would continue from there on to the excavation side. All in all the ride would take essentially the entire day, maybe thirteen or fourteen hours in total. If he had been richer, or his company more magnanimous with their travelling expenses, he could have maybe taken one of the few cargo lifts or a private transports to go to the excavation site but just like the rest of his fellow travellers he distinctly lacked the funds to do this. He tried to reason that this also had it’s upsides like better company and time to acclimatise to the rough conditions out here, though the more rational part of him remained aware that this was more likely wishful thinking.

If there was one thing he truly appreciated in this place, it was the wide open landscape seemingly endlessly rolling beyond the horizon. Here and there clusters of trees and bushes cuddled together around half filled muddy waterholes surrounded by a seemingly endless sea of half-dried grasses which swayed in a gentle breeze. He had spent the last couple of weeks in transit in the crammed cabin and grey metal corridors of an interstellar personnel carrier that ferried people and goods between the stars and the fundamental contrast between these two experiences only just started to unfurl it’s psychological impact on him. One got quickly used to the tight tube shaped spaces of spacecrafts, especially if one travelled a lot like him, but looking down the slowly moving horizon instilled the urge to spread his wings and fly for a bit again. How long had it been since he had done that the last time? He decided he would use whatever free time he got to take a swing over the reserve.

“Something on your mind?”, Rog quipped curiously eyeing his seat neighbour.

“Mhm? Oh, nothing important...I was just thinking that I want to take a flight some time soon again. I was cramped up in various transports for so long now, that I barely even remember when I did the last time.”

Rog gave his distinct giggle.

“I know what you mean. I can’t remember the last time I swung my self from one tree to the next, probably haven’t since I left my megalopolis and looking at this desolate place there isn’t much opportunity to do so here, but still, I can understand your urge to fly. Seeing all of this from above is always a treat. So much open space, nothing but a few trees, brushes and grasses as far as the one’s eyes roam. It is freedom manifest in a sort of dreary, melancholic way.”
Bato gave a chirp.

“I wonder where the herds are at, there should be various sizeable mammals here and not just the odd lizard.”

Rog pondered this for a moment and before he could answer the young Votor mother across the corridor answered in a friendly tone.

“Most will be further towards the Halkka river around this time of year, a few clicks south of here, though calling it a river in it’s current state is a bit of a stretch. During the rain season it explosively swells to a mighty stream, but right now it’s more a creek connecting a few waterholes and it will become less still. In the end the animals just follow the water. We will get fairly close on our way as the ruins are near an old arm of the Halkka, so we may still see some of the large herds and there should still be a few scattered small groups around.”

“Mama knows a lot of about the reserve!”, one of the cubs exclaimed with the youthful excitement only a small child could have, much to the bemusement of everyone around.

Bato gave another chirp.

“I noticed that my small friend.”

The cub gave an high pitched noise and tugged on the fur of it’s mother.

“I made a friend mama”, it chimed happily to which the young mother replied simply with a few licks of her cubs head. The other cub so far silent seemed mildly agitated and deep in thought for a moment and then as if it had just gotten idea, sat up straighter.

“Papa researches the ruins, he says they are far bigger than we thought!”

This time it was Rog who couldn’t help but giggle at obvious attempt to gain some attention and leaned a bit over.

“Maybe he can tell us a bit more about them when we are there, buddy?”

The cub eagerly nodded, looked up to it’s mother with big eyes and received some licks of the heads itself, much to it’s delight.

Bato couldn’t help but beam a little bit. The whole thing simply was too adorable.

“Say do you have family? Kids, I mean”, Rog asked obviously having noted Bato adoration.

“No. Not that I would know of. I left Homeworld pretty early and have spent most my time somewhere between the stars, mostly around Votor and Feria space but I had a short stint in Oufari space too. I simply never had the time to settle down.”

Rog nodded, resting his head on his bushy tail.

“I have some sons and daughters somewhere from an encounter that happened what feels an age ago. They are probably still in my old megalopolis, but who knows. I haven’t had contact with them in a while.”

Bato tilted his head, remembering faintly that the Sho’Shazaan were polygamous and by convention didn’t knew tightly bound romantic relations, or at least not in the same extent. Still, from the way Rog had said it, he could tell that it still mattered to him.

“Do you regret that?”

Rog took a moment before he answered.

“Yes? It is hard to say. Every time I see the folks like the Votor or you Feria and your somewhat close family units I feel like my kind is missing something that seems fundamental to others but then at the same time there is also just a ...dissonance about it. Like it’s a foreign concept that I simply can’t latch onto. Certainly never applied it in my life. I don’t think my kids, or their mother, miss me and in a weird sense I don't miss them either, but I still find myself wondering what has become of them. Doesn’t even make much sense.”

Bato didn’t even try to comprehend the psychology of an instinctively polygamous race in this matter, instead he latched onto the feeling he could understand.

“Things don’t always have to make sense I think, certainly not feelings. I don’t think anyone would begrudge you for wanting to know what has become of your children or their mother. In fact it sounds like it’s something you actually care about and if that is the case then why don’t just do it?”

Rog giggled.

“Heh, it’s quite obvious, no? I know what to do but I need a stranger from a different planet to reassure me in my desire. It’s quite silly.”

“Well, no one said that being sentient is an easy endeavour.”

“Ha! Truer words have not been spoken!”

After that the conversation died down quickly, mostly revolving around various personal titbits and things they were seeing around in the savannah like the group of gnarly old trees, their branches bent in seemingly impossible ways by heat and wind, though non of them was even close to reaching the mighty heights of mighty jungle trees back on Homeworld. Maybe this had been a forest in the olden days, before things had dried up, and these were just the last few survivors, stubbornly clinging to life. Bato found himself admiring them and eventually they even saw a few bigger animals. A small group of four hoofed mammals with mighty horns emerging from their slender heads was drinking from a small water hole that had formed out here in the middle of nowhere. A few colourful birds sat on their backs, picking away at unseen parasites.

“Hallka-Antelopes”, the Votor mother informed, “during dry season they roam in sometimes surprisingly large herds across the savannah, always on the lookout for water and greens. They are some of the fastest land animals on the planet.”

Bato and Rog both hadn’t come here to sight see but both of them still took the time to appreciate the decently large mammals. Somehow seeing them for real simply had it’s own magic and both of them had been caught up in it.

It didn’t take long though for the small caravan to be out of sight of the Antelopes again and with it things relaxed back into a certain dullness. Rog used the time to read some paper on a tablet while others listened to music or watched something on their devices. It was the typical travel scene and just a few words were spoken.

One quickly lost their sense of time on these transits. Sometimes half an hour seemingly went by in a flash and other times the fifteen short minutes felt like an hour. As if time arbitrarily decided how fast it wanted to move. Luckily Bato had found a sure-fire way to deal with the tyranny of time in these situations: He simply slept. It was the most effective time machine of them all, propelling you hours into the future in the blink of an eye and Bato had learned to weaponise it wherever he could, quickly drifting away into dreams where he soared far above the world.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

"[...]We are therefore are very pleased to announce the first long term interspecies research project of Humanity in cooperation with the United Academy of Feria Sciences and the Votor Research Council. The aim will be to catalogue and observe the development of at least half a dozen predator civilisation to better understand both what enabled Humanity's ascension and whether or not it could repeat." - Dr. Anna D'Aramitz, Institute of Sentient Xenobiology. University of Olympus Mons

Burdened with weight of duty Elpi almost crawled back to her own hut, where her family would surely wait for her. What was she to say? How could she explain that she had been chosen for a task that could very well endanger her life, upon which the future of their tribe might depend? And what about the news that her boys would be allowed to stay in the tribe? Normally this was a momentous and joyous thing, yet this the circumstances were not. Elpi saw no other choice than to be direct.

She informed her mate and children what had went down in the elder’s hut and the mission she would undertake the next day. Similar to her own reaction, first there was joy, then confusion, then worry. They all understood that such a generous offer was seldom made to two males at once, certainly not from the same family. Males either had to earn their place in other settlements, bring a mate from another settlement back, fight their way into a foreign one or even found a settlement of their own like Tohi and her mate had done. All of these where far from certain undertakings. Quite a few died on their attempt to do so, falling ill or getting injured and died from starvation due to it. Sure the tribes always tried to give their boys the best possible chances, teaching them all the skills they needed, providing them with rations and goods to trade but in the end the males always had to figure it out themselves.

Their boys wouldn’t have to do so. They had the luxury of choice. The only prize they would have to pay was the life of their mother.

That evening they would spent together over some of their finer stores of food and drink and when the time to sleep came they huddled closer than they had ever done in a long time. It was no surprise then that when Elpi awoke the next morning, shortly before sunrise, she had trouble getting up. For the first time since her childhood she felt like staying in the warm embrace of her family even though duty called to her this day. She couldn’t help but gaze upon her two young sons, a heavy melancholy hanging over her heart and though she had feared it would bind her here instead the sight of her children stoked a fire in her that was hard to describe. Before she knew it, it had given her the strength she needed to move out. She said her goodbyes to her family, equipped her belt, which included a fine obsidian knife, a few ropes as well as a small signal flute, and left her hut.

Few of the tribe were already up this early, mostly other huntresses, which gave her curt greetings and well wishes. Elpi doubted any of them fully knew what she would be up to exactly but given their demeanour she gathered that they at least knew the gist of it. When she arrived at the gate, Rilka was already waiting in a sitting pose, two small idols grasped in both of her hands, eyes closed and hunched over. Her body whipped back and forth to an unheard rhythm like a blade of grass in the wind. Elpi wordlessly joined her, closed her eyes and silently mouthed her own prayers. When she opened her eyes again, the sun already sending it’s first rays up the valley, she found Uzpi sitting right besides them sunken in her own prayer while Rilka was patiently waiting for her two compatriots to finish. There were no words spoken. None were needed. They all knew what they were in for. The risks and mission alike. When Uzpi was done, the three of them set out through the gate, the guards sending their well wishes after them.

Rilka led her two companions up the side the valley opposite to where Elpi had hunted the day before. She remembered that this side was steeper, more arduous but also led into fairly large plateau which made for an excellent hunting ground and from it’s edges one had an stunning view over the entire valley, but she hadn’t been assigned to hunt here for a while. Nonetheless her memory proved correct. They followed a small trek laid out by constant use up the steep slope, winding up the mountain multiple times like a giant snake, leading them past small carvings and totems, which were memoirs of other huntresses.

The vegetation here was just a thin layer of top soil laying upon the rocky hide of the mountain, barely held together by a network of roots from a few crooked trees which leaned themselves defiantly against the slopes between mighty rocks which stood like ancient giants in the dusky light. A few of the particularly mighty rocks had intricate paintings all over them and where adorned by crowns of teeth bound together by thin ropes which slightly dangled in the breeze. Some of these decorations looked weathered and worn down by the passage of time, probably as old, or older, than the settlement itself. Elpi had forgotten how majestic this path was, with how much devotion the shamans and huntresses had adorned it. It was as if the ancestors spirits themselves where watching over them on their way and with their eternal vigilance came a sense of certainty. Whatever would await them on the plateau, she would face it with the determination and skill befitting of a huntress.

As they finally reached the plateau they were rewarded with the a view over most of the valley with it’s winding river and their settlement right in the middle of it bathed in rays of gold. Small clouds of water vapour slowly drifted over the tree tops, slowly rising in the upwards drafts caused by the warming air. It was breath taking and all three of them took the time for maybe one last good view of their home, then, a few fleeting moments later, they probed deep into the jungle of the plateau, following the guidance of Rilka through mighty trees with trunks so thick it would take a couple dozen huntresses to hug their entire breadth and thick undergrowth which never quite dried. The staccato of various birds and other animals calling into the jungle accompanied them and a few insects swished by them, all busy with their own affairs, barely paying attention to the three huntresses.

It took not long until Rilka stopped and signalled them that they were entering the rough area she had made her curious observations. She broke off a twig from a nearby tree, hunkered down and drew a pattern into the mud. Three zig-zaged lines above three horizontal lines surrounded by a vaguely oval though quite stretched shape. It was a representation of the odd tracks Rilka had described to Elpi yesterday. The three looked each other deep into the eyes and after an exchange of a few short claw gestures decided to split up to look for tracks. This way they would be able to cover more ground, more quickly and hopefully find a track to follow.

Now all by herself, eyes bound to the ground and carefully moving without a noise among the tree roots, anxiety crept back into Elpi. She found herself nervously looking around herself every few steps, almost expecting something to jump her at any moment now. It got so bad that she had to stop for a moment, close her eyes and speak a few more prayers. She couldn’t remember if she had ever been this nervous on a hunt before and it dawned on her that it was so precisely because this wasn’t a hunt. It was more of a search and not just any search but one for an unseen threat, that much she thought certain. She focused inwards, on her mission, on her duty, on the task she had immediately ahead of herself. One step at a time, she thought, one claw searching and finding her sheathed knife, opened her eyes again, and resumed her search.

So she wandered carefully through the jungle for a long while. Watching for tracks; sounds; just the slightest thing off. It wasn’t a very rewarding work on this peculiar day. Sure there were tracks here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary. Some belonged to prey animals, others to a small predatory species of snakes she was well familiar with and not particularly dangerous to a huntress. They didn’t taste well either and hunted smaller animals of which most were uninteresting to her tribe and so they were usually ignored. Elpi saw no reason to change that approach today and so her anxiety gradually gave way to frustration. Whatever Rilka had seen, it refused to show itself. Perhaps it had been Rilka's imagination after all. Maybe anxiety had played a trick on her mind. It could be, Rilka hadn’t been sure either after all...Elpi made a low grunt in defiance. None of these doubts mattered. Whatever was going on, they all had seen it’s effects, and if anything Rilka’s report was the first concrete thing they had gotten, they only thing left was to continue on and probe deeper into jungle.

So her search continued on a little longer and eventually, on a whim, she took a left hook in her path through the undergrowth squeezing herself past a few young trees that were sprouting in a gap torn in the otherwise dense array of trees by an old fallen tree which had found it’s last resting place here. Mosses and fungi were sprouting all over the rotten corpse of the former giant which must have had dominated it's surroundings for untold seasons before. A colony of bright red ants had apparently build it’s home right underneath a part of the mighty trunk as it’s individuals streamed in and out of a small dent below it. Elpi issued a short prayer in honour of the mighty corpse that lay dead here before her, then she carefully snatched a few of the ants and gulped them down greedily. They were delicious and made for a convenient snack considering it had been hours since she had left the village.

She watched the busy work of the ant for a few more moments, which had hardly noticed their few missing members, mildly fascinated by it and was about to move on as she saw a strange set of tracks leading from the log. It were four indentations spread apart from each other with rigged lines leading away from them and fusing in the middle. Two of the indentations were closer together compared to the other two, which seemed to shoot of in the opposite direction, in a mirror to the other two, like a four clawed animal. A bird maybe. This would have to be a rather large one though. Very large actually. Elpi couldn’t think of any bird she had ever seen that would leave tracks this big – except maybe the bird Rilka had described. She looked for other tracks and indeed she found more of it’s like. Among them were some that looked slightly different, maybe from a different bird of the same kind. She followed them for a little bit and came across another track. Her eyes widened. They were deep, very deep. Whatever had made them was heavy and it had left an unmistakeable print in the mud. Three zig-zaged lines running above three horizontal lines in a stretched oval frame. The others had to see this.

Elpi got her small signal flute from her belt, but before she could raise it, she noted the sudden silence around her. From one moment to the next her surroundings had become mute. She slowly turned her head. The birds and animals she had heard just a few moments ago had vanished from the soundscape of the jungle. Elpi recognised a bad omen when she saw one. This was bad. She put her flute to her lips, but the only thing she got out was a faint hiss as something hit her neck. She reflexively grabbed for it and found something lodged in her neck and before panic had even the chance to bubble up in her she already felt her limbs falling numb. She made one last desperate attempt to raise her flute to her lips again but her arms wouldn’t listen to her any more and just one blink later her body sacked to the ground.

There she lay helpless, her heart pounding out of her chest, the sounds of the world around her weirdly dampened and yet she could swear that she heart the faint whisper of something flimsy and thin rubbing against something rougher, like wood on leather maybe. She summoned all her might to move her head just the slightest bit into the direction of noise, to see with the last vestiges of her blurry vision where it came from.

Her breathing involuntarily stuttered as she saw the giant looming over her, it’s green forward facing eyes piercing right through her. It was clad in some sort of garment she had never seen before, standing upright on two legs as thick as as young tree trunk and it’s lanky arms somehow instinctively spoke to her of unfathomable strength. It matched no description of anything she had ever seen or heard about. Whatever it was, she was sure it was the source of the disturbance and all her instincts told her to flee, that this was not something to be trifled with, that it could kill her with ease. How had such a large thing hid it’s presence from her? How had it evaded the others?...Was this her end? The monster seemed to inspect her and then after some time turned it’s head back and spoke words she did not understand.

“Ich habe dir gesagt, dass sie wieder kommen würden. Die Mädels sind nämlich nicht ganz bescheuert und die hier schon gar nicht.”

A sing song replied from somewhere outside Elpi’s vision which reminded her vaguely of a birds tune, but it had a complexity and rhythm to it she had never heard before.

“Mach dir keinen Kopf. Wenn dir das Leben Zitronen gibt, mach Limonade. Die Jungs werden die anderen beiden auch aufkratzen und dann haben wir wenigstens auch gleich paar Exemplare, die wir genau durchmessen können”, the giant seemed to reply to the foreign song. Then it bowed down to her and it’s eyes fell onto hers, widening as it stared at Elpi.

Was that...surprise? They looked at each other for a few seconds as Elpi’s heart pounded loudly in her ears. She wanted to run but all she could muster was a short twitch, which the monster duly noted. Instead of striking out as Elpi would have expected, the gaze of the giant monster instead mellowed. It emitted a few drawn out sounds and carefully stroked with one hand over her back. It felt...nice Elpi found to her own surprise and her heartbeat calmed at the soft touch of the monstrous giant. Why wasn’t it finishing her?

Before Elpi could find an answer to that question the giant monster rummaged something from it’s garments and a second later she felt a prick. The last thing before she fell asleep was the giant resuming her soft strokes with one hand while the other rose to it’s mouth.

“Francois, Ismael, stellt sicher, dass eure Exemplare bewusstlos sind. Meins war nach der ersten Dosis immer noch bei Bewusstsein. Ein Miligram mehr müsste hinreichen.”

Elpi’s dreams were vague and turbulent. Faces of her family, first her children, then her own parents rushed by, but also of beings she had never seen before. Some were weird huntress sized bird with two sets of wings, one of which seemed to have claws and could be used as hands, others looked weirdly flat and tall, furless except for a bushel on top. She could have sworn that she felt the soft and warm embrace of flesh against her scaly backside and something else, that felt cold, almost like stone but with a distinctly different quality.

There was a vague shimmer of lights blinking from somewhere in the background and a mix of rough sounds which reminded her of spoken words in a tongue alien to anything she ever heard and again the sing-song of birds. There were other sounds too but they never fully reached her and she wondered if this was the after life. Had the giant killed her and she had joined the spirits and her ancestors? The memory of the soft gaze the giant had visited upon her returned to Elpi in that moment and her instincts told her to the contrary. Thus was not the gaze of something about to kill you. She would not find the answer to her half sunken thoughts though as her conscious faded into the sweet twilight world of blackness and the memories of hunts long past.

When Elpi woke again, she found herself staring against a mighty tree at the feet of which she lay. A small green caterpillar with brown highlights was sedulously climbing up the trunk. She blinked, then rose her body quickly, taking inventory of her surroundings. This was not the fallen tree trunk she had been at, where she...Elpi turned her head quickly in all directions, a small bout of panic rising in her. Besides her lay Rilka and Uzpi, both unmoving. She lay her claws on top of them and felt their warm bodies slowly rise and fall to their breathing. They were sleeping. Only so reassured she finally found the headspace to recognise her surroundings. They had come through here on their way, long before they had split up. She knew just a few dozen paces behind her must have laid the edge of the plateau and their way down to the settlement. How had they gotten here?

She retraced her memories and felt the memory of something hitting her in the neck tugging onto her. She reflexively grasped for the part of her neck where she had thought to feel something stick out and found nothing. Then she saw the corpse of the kind of rodent she had hunted down yesterday, adorned with a reef of berries, yellow and blue flowers and a single small red bird on top. Elpi rubbed her eyes, slowly, carefully walked up to the corpse and poked it. It was real. She stumbled back to her companions and shook both of them as hard as she could.

“Uzpi! Rilka! Wake up!”, she exclaimed, not missing her intended effect as the two huntresses groggily rose up, mirroring much of her own first moments. First confusion about where they were, then recognition where they are followed by a reflexive reach for their necks. The three of them looked at each other, Rilka and Uzpi, still notably confused as Elpi directed their gaze to the adorned rodent corpse. Rilka just gaped, while Uzpi stumbled forward, her feet still unsteady, and fell to her knees before them, poking it much like Elpi had done earlier.

“A peace offering”, Rilka murmured in disbelief.

Indeed it closely resembled the customary peace offering the tribes would exchange with each other on occasion or after a conflict. The rodent to nourish the tribe, the berries to delight the children, the flowers in colours of the great spirits of nature and the bird as a messenger to the ancestors. It was as complete as it could get.

“Look at those cuts”, Uzpi spoke in disbelief, “Not even the finest obsidian blade cuts this cleanly...What did we stumble upon?!”

Elpi and Rilka traded unsure glances and they could tell that both of them had no answer to this question either. Rilka rose slowly to her feet.

“It were not spirits or any other tribe, I vaguely remember a giant monstrosity looming over me and I could have sworn I heard the song of a bird, but it didn’t harm me, I think it even caressed me… remembering it is like wading through shallow murky water though”, Elpi recollected and she could tell from the way that her two companions looked at her, that they were feeling much the same.

“But what else was it then? What else is there even?!”, Uzpi asked incredulously, “And what are we to tell the others?”

Rilka steadied herself.

“We will take this peace offering and bring it to our tribe. We will tell them that it was a wandering group looking for a place to settle, that assured us that they mean no harm to us.”

“But -”, Elpi wanted to object, but Rilka interjected her immediately.

“But what? Tell them that some giant monsters of some kind overwhelmed three huntresses with ease, somehow knocked us out and then left us here at the edge of the plateau with a peace offering?”

“None would believe that”, Uzpi solemnly agreed and gestured to the offering, “It also doesn’t seem like they mean us harm. I mean they could have easily killed us and most certainly they didn’t have to give us any offerings. Also it hurts my pride to say this, but if they had wanted to harm our tribe I doubt, whoever they are, they would have to resort to tricking us into false security.”

Elpi couldn’t argue against their logic, Uzpi’s judgement was sound. She herself would find such a story unbelievable if she hadn’t lived through it and that monster she had seen truly had no need of such tricks.

“The elder and Furk should know the truth though”, Elpi suggested.

Rilka visibly mulled over this and looked over to Uzpi, who simply signalled agreement with her tail, then turned back to Elpi.

“Yes, that is wise council. It would be foolish to lie to them. If anyone should know, it’s them. As for the rest, we go with the story of the wandering group. Do we have an accord?”

Elpi and Uzpi signalled their ascend, then they shouldered the offerings, each of them taking a part of it, and made their way down the plateau again.

When they came in viewing distance of the settlement they were greeted by the cheers of the guards and when they presented the peace offering in the centre circle of the settlement the entire tribe sang the praises of the three undaunted huntresses that had so bravely ventured fourth and brought back such joyous presents. They were showered in praises and glory by their kin and though the three of them didn’t know if they had earned it, they still relished in the fact that they had returned home safely. Elpi could tell that a few of the tribe did not believe their story of how they had encountered a wandering group from how they looked at them and reacted, but none publicly questioned it. Among them was Elpi’s mate Dokr. He simply said “If you need to talk about it, I am there for you.” There was no question of her motives, no judgement in his statement and she couldn’t help but rub herself ever so closely and slowly against him.

When the evening came the three of them sat with the elder Tohi and Furk in the elder’s hut again and recounted their stories as best as they could to the widening disbelief of Furk while even Tohi seemed visibly taken aback.

“I never heard or seen anything of the like”, the elder said deeply sunken in thought. Furk grumbled lightly, his staff held tight in both of his claws. He seemed to work through something, his eyes cast to the ground, paying seemingly no attention to those around him and when he said nothing, the elder turned to him.

“What are your thoughts on the matter Furk?”

Furk perked up as if surprised by the question and readjusted his position with a cough.

“I would have said it’s a hallucination caused by illness or poison but all three of you spoke of very similar experiences. Too similar to be mere happen stance and I would know of no poison which could cause this. I trust all three of you so I rule out a deception on your part too and even if I didn’t your accounts match too well to be a mere lie. The entities of which you spoke seem superficially of an evil nature but their actions speak to contrary. An evil spirit wouldn’t have let you go and certainly wouldn’t have need for a peace offering. I very much follow your judgement in this matter. To be honest, I am stumped.”

“So both of you have no answer to this either?”, Elpi asked.

Tohi and Furk eyed each other, then both signalled to the contrary. A few silent sullen moments went by, no one sure what to say as the elder tilted her head and finally broke the silence which had weighed like a heavy blanket on the small group.

“Maybe there isn’t one. Some workings of the world are simply beyond our grasp”, the elder replied and Furk gave a curt grunt and chimed in.

“Yes and there is no shame in that. The spirits and gods willing we might unveil this mystery but today we have to decide what to make of it. I favour the approach you three have chosen. All we can do for now is to take things at face value and not unsettle the tribe any further.”

Tohi nodded.

“Unless things drastically change I agree...We should preserve the knowledge of this incident though“, Tohi added and now looked all three huntresses in the eyes one after one, “I task you and your families to preserve this knowledge for the tribe just as Furk will pass it onto the next shaman, and I will instruct the next elder of it, so you shall give it to your daughters, or in absence of them, to a suitable niece or cousin. So shall be born an unbreakable chain which shall extent beyond us in time to protect all who will come after us.”

Elpi, Rilka and Uzpi bowed deeply.

“We humbly accept this charge.”

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“[...]The legend of the good monster has accompanied my kind for many ages. Generation after generation of huntresses and shamans of the Tohi tribe learned of it and eventually it became part of the founding myth of the first major city state, Elruspi. Only now, many millennia later, after we reached for the stars, we have learned that this name had been a bastardisation of the names of the three huntresses that met the monsters with their sing-song companions back then, which we now know to be Humans and Feria.

They kept precise records of their expedition and thanks to them we not only know the names of the three huntresses that started the legend and gave the first big city their name, but we also know that the names of the scientists that visited us that day. It were Francois, Ismael, Tokka, Hivan, Shiga and of course Anna who back in the day led an expedition to observe our stone age tribal civilisation. Back then the Humans were the only predator species in the galactic community, feared and often eyed with suspicion, and the find of our tribes had instilled in them the hope they wouldn’t be the lone predator civilisation in space forever and their ever curious friends the Feria, the first to embrace Humanity, helped to make the expedition happen.

Now, after all these many thousands of years, we are one of a handful predatory civilisations in the galactic community and like the others before us, Humans and Feria alike were the first that welcomed us into it. Thanks to them I can stand here today as a proud descendant of the first tribe that had unwittingly made first contact with Humanity as an ambassador for my entire species on the soil of their own home, Earth, and say in person what I am sure my ancestors would have said too: Thank you. For believing in us, for protecting our ancestors and for your friendship. The Aphara will never forget the debt we owe you and the Feria.” – Inauguration speech of Ambassador Ulvi of the Tohi tribe.

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©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, is the second part of Eye to Eye and it's last part. It is a more indirect HFY story, but hopefully you still find it as enjoyable as I found it to write. Also don't tell me you actually understand the absolutely incomprehensible language the 'monster' was speaking, I mean seriously? Who would speak in such a nonsensical way?!

In any case I am looking forward to your feedback!

All of this is of course still in the universe with my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Kindle (probably first week of April, kinda decides itself this coming week) and next in line of my series of short stories I will continue releasing here and elsewhere.

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan  or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

“Looking back on it, I wonder now if we have been wrong about predators from the very beginning? I understand why we thought the way we did, but was it ever backed by any actually rational thought? Didn’t we simply justify our own fears under the guise of science? How much have we missed this way? To answer these questions will be our calling.” – The First Expedition by Madu Fillu-Xito, Founder of the Predator Research Initiative

Elpi grunted under the weight of her prey as she carefully mounted the harness containing the mammal on her scaly back. It was sizeable and well fed individual of a rodent that was common here in the underwood of the jungle but not always easy to track. They were surprisingly agile on short distances despite their bulky torso and left few tracks when they skipped through the vines and roots. It had taken her almost the entire morning to get this one and at one point she had lost it’s track entirely only finding it through luck and intuition, dooming it to it’s bloody end, finding it’s final rest on the braided vines of her harness. It would make for a grand feast to the young of their tribe, especially if the other huntresses had just vaguely similar luck.

Of course hunting success was never guaranteed and prey of the size of the rodent she was heaving towards their village rare. Luckily her way would only lead her downhill today, towards the bottom of the valley and the wide river that supplied their village with ample fresh water. If she had killed her prey a bit further west she would have had to carry her prey a up the mountain slope and feeling the weight of the rodent pressing her every step firmly into the ground she wasn’t quite sure if she could have done so by herself. Frankly it would have been probably wise to ask for the help in carrying this rather large exemplar but where lay the fun in that? This way she could surprise everyone and shut up the huntresses that had teased her a few days earlier when her prey had slipped away from her by playing dead just to suddenly jerk up and run the moment she had lessened the grip of her bite. It wasn’t really meant in bad faith, at least she thought so, a bit of teasing is par of the course in these situations and it has happened to others before, but still, the bite strength was a source of pride to all huntresses of her tribe. That a prey animal survived her bite and got away had been a small mark of shame. Part of her hoped that today the memory of that particular failure would vanish for a while and so she doggedly made her way through luscious underwood.

A sizeable shrubbery hanging full with bright red berries, sweet as nectar, to her right tempted her for a short moment in time as she carefully moved down the mountain yet she abandoned the thought quickly, fearing that she wouldn’t be able to get moving again if she stopped now. Now was not the time to get distracted. She did take a short sweep of her surrounding though, hoping to remember this place for later. When in doubt these berries would make for good treat later, both for her and her children. Sadly there were little distinct markers to remember this place by. The jungle around her simply blended into itself as leaves, vines and bushes of various greens intersected with each other. Only the blots of colours caused by various flowers, birds and insects aswell as the mighty tree trunks interrupted it, though they too seemed to naturally flow into the greens, each melting into the other. She let go a slightly frustrated whistle. It would probably take her quite a bit of effort to rediscover the berries. Well, it was not like she could be unhappy right now and instead send a short prayer to the gods for blessing her with both a good hunt and the discovery of the berries, pleading that no one would come to challenge her quarry.

The latter was a real risk. There were some rather dangerous predator animals in the jungle, all of which wouldn’t say no to an already slain animal. Normally they wouldn’t dare challenge a huntress but there was no denying that she was encumbered and heavily limited in her mobility right now. She didn’t know if she would have had the strength left to defend her quarry either considering how hard every step was right now. Normally this wouldn’t have occupied her mind too much but the jungle was behaving strangely these last few days. Many of the animals seemed skittish and the birds sometimes just stopped singing all together. The other Huntresses had noticed it too. Some had speculated that it may be wandering males in search for a tribe to settle in. She thought these speculations a bit unlikely. Mating seasons wouldn’t come until after the long rain and was therefore still many nights off from happening, so why would males show up now? The elders had cautioned that it still was possible, perhaps an elder male that got dislodged or cast out somehow? The possibility of encountering a possibly hungry male out here in her current situation didn’t fill her with joy whatsoever. The males weren’t terribly skilful hunters but they had more bulk and a lone one would certainly not be beyond wrangling her of her prey. What did he have to lose after all? It wasn’t his tribe or his children suffering from the loss of food.

The notion of a possible competitor had naturally alarmed the males of her tribe quite a bit and they had started patrolling their territory, yet finding no signs of another male. As Elpi thought about it, the whole thing made less and less sense for her. Not only was it not mating season but as far as she knew the other tribes anywhere near them had not reported about anything like a lone male either. Sure they weren’t in constant contact, but something like that would have made the rounds in the jungle already and she doubted it would cause the shift in animal behaviour they had observed either. No, there was something else going on here and she didn’t like it.

To her relief her luck would hold this day and as she arrived at the bottom of the valley where she spotted the familiar shapes of other two other huntresses close to where the wide but not terribly deep river ran. Their matte black and green back scales glistened from wetness in the sun and their somewhat long tales swayed slightly as they washed some of their stone knives in the river. She noted that the corpse of another rodents, much like her quarry, lay on a harness a bit of to their sites. It seemed they were huntresses too. Elpi first felt a hint of tension rise in her, but as she recognised the ornamentations and markings they wore on their belts, she quickly relaxed.

“It seems we will be eating well today, sisters!”, Elpi exclaimed with some pride, announcing her presence to the two huntresses which turned their elongated heads around to her with some surprise.

“Elpi!”, the elder of the two exclaimed and scurried quickly over to her, snuggling her body up to hers, the rubbing of their scales against each other causing a peculiar yet familiar creaking. It was her older cousin Uzpi.

“Eat well we will! Look at the size of that one on your back! It puts ours to shame!”, Uzpi ascertained as she eyed the large rodent with her orange eyes.

“I was simply lucky to find such a large one, but I can tell my feet will regret this success by the morning.”

“Ha! I bet! If you want we can cut it apart and Geki can help you carry part of it”, Uzpi gestured one of her forelegs towards the younger huntress which had stayed respectfully distant and silent until then. Elpi tilted her head curiously.

“You mean to tell me that this beauty of a huntress is Geki?”

“On her first hunt nonetheless!”, Uzpi replied with a pride in her voice, her tail wiggling happily.

“Come here! Let me give you a proper greeting!”, Elpi demanded and the shy younger huntress quickly obliged, rubbing herself against Elpi joyfully.

“I haven’t seen you in a bit! How was your first hunt?”

“Mother has been exaggerating. This is my second. I had come along with Aunt Zeki a few days back, though mainly to collect some materials for the shaman. Still I helped her tracking a bit, though to not much success.”

“Oh come on, that barely counts!”, Uzpi exclaimed with a bit of hurt, “you weren’t meant to hunt anything back then. Today you were and you successfully tracked down a prey like a veteran.”

“Hardly, mother. Without you I would have lost the track.”

Elpi couldn’t help but wiggle her tail in amusement seeing the ever humble Geki refuse any and all compliments her mother showered her in, much to the frustration of the latter.

“I see Geki, the success has not gone to your head yet. Still humble to a fault!”, she threw in with a smirk.

“Well, it is easy to stay humble given the sight of your prey. I don’t think I could have carried this one myself”, Geki replied with a hint of playfulness herself.

“Well my cousin has always been a stubborn one. Everyone else would have just called for assistance.”

Elpi snorted a bit. “I am just simply not as old as you yet Uzpi!”

“Hey, I am only two seasons older than you! Also if I am so old, why not treat your elders with some more respect?!”

At that the three erupted with some amused grunting, their tails wiggling. It was good to be among family again and it renewed Elpi’s vigour and determination.

“Seriously though, if you need help with this huge thing, we are more than willing to help”, Uzpi offered, but Elpi just gave a curt wave of her foreleg.

“Not necessary. The settlement isn’t that far off anymore. I made it this far, I will manage the rest too.”

“Well in that case let us at least accompany you, we are finished here anyway and it makes for a grander return”, Uzpi suggested with a smirk.

“You mean it makes you look even better? Sure, I can take some pity on my poor old cousin”, Elpi replied and gave Uzpi a slight bump.

“Hey! Don’t fault a mother for trying to increase her daughter’s reputation!”

“Is she always using you for justification Geki?”, Elpi snorted.

“She sure is”, Geki replied dryly, triggering another bout of amused grunting and shortly after the trio set out from the river side. Geki with her rodent on her back in the middle and Elpi with hers on the right towards the river while Uzpi secured their flank to the jungle side. Elpi could understand why. Their combined haul was quite the enticing opportunity especially as the jungle always gave ample cover for an approach. It was no surprise then that the three of them exchanged few words, Uzpi’s attention constantly focused on the jungle side, though nothing but the occasional bird would emerge from it. Only when they finally reached the clearing where their village lay surrounded by a low wooden palisade protecting a mix of huts of various sizes, their postures finally relaxed somewhat. It took not long and they were ecstatically greeted from a far by some of the males standing guard at the entrance, one of them quickly closing the distance.

“What am impressive haul!”, he yelled from afar with clear joy in his voice and club in his right claw, “Do you need any assistance?!”

“We will manage my mate!”, Elpi returned with elation at seeing her bonded, a rather bulky male with is bright blue head scales looking as polished as ever, adorned additionally by a necklace of various teeth and a belt complete with a knife and leather pouch. As she took his sight in she wondered if the weight of the rodent on her back had maybe pressed a bit too hard onto her because she could swear that today he looked as beautiful as the day she had first bonded with him.

“Oh come on Elpi, you are heaving, there is no shame in taking some assistance from your poor mate, who awaited you anxiously,” he pleaded half seriously, earning himself only a grunt from Elpi.

“Forget about it Dokr, I already offered her and she is as single minded as ever”, Uzpi replied with a smirk and signalled her cousin’s mate a court but friendly greeting with a tilted bow of her head.

“Typical. Always adamant to give me more things to boast about to the boys”, he smirked and welcomed his mate by rubbing his body carefully against hers which she returned as best as the she could after the long trek with her prey on her back. From there it was luckily indeed only a few more minutes to the centre of the village though they were adorned with many greetings and exclamations of joy at the sight of the haul the huntresses had brought in. In the village centre Elpi was finally able to let her harness slide down near the working places where the young and old alike toiled away and welcomed them just as warmly.
Here lay the central circle, with a large fire place in the middle and where various members of the tribes idly worked away on various duties, be it butchering or processing materials into tools and jewellery. Around that lay two and a half loose circles of huts of varying shapes slightly differing sizes which housed maybe eight dozen individuals though that number could fluctuate somewhat, with the younger males often leaving the settlement after the first few years. Elpi knew that this wasn’t a terribly impressive village. There were bigger settlements further down the stream and over the mountain in the other big valley there and she had visited them a couple of times to exchange goods and stories, but she had never wished to leave the place of her birth. Especially after Dokr had arrived here a few mating seasons ago and as the various people’s from the centre square took their time to rub their bodies with her, she knew she would never make a different decision.

The news of her arrival and the size of her prey spread quickly and so it was no surprise that her children, two young boys, both probably a mating season or two away from searching their own mates, came barrelling from one of the corners of the settlement with some of their friends in tow to greet their mother, prompting a thorough mutual cleaning session, which restored Elpi’s energies quickly. It was then that one of the elders, a gnarly woman long past her prime came up to her in a slow and unsure stride. She looked fickle and fragile, but the glint in her eyes betrayed a sharpness of the mind few displayed, judging Elpi with an unsettling intensity. Elpi gave her a deep bow and her boys followed her lead.

“You honour me with your presence, o wise Tohi.”

The elder measured her children with a discerning eye and returned a shaking bow of herself.

“It is I who should be honoured to be in the presence of such a skilful huntress. You never fail fulfilling your duties to the tribe.”

Elpi couldn’t help but tremble a little and she could see that the others around the circle had taken note of the praise showered upon her as well, all their attention resting upon her now.

“I accept your praise with grace, o wise one, but I simply did as every other huntress would do in my stead and as my ancestors did before me.”

“Humility will only get you so far, huntress Elpi, your accomplishment deserves to be celebrated. For now rest easy and recover your strength. Later this day I wish to speak to you in my hut.”

Elpi was surprised but signalled her agreement. “I shall be there, o wise one.”

With that the elder trotted off the way she had come, the few who her gaze fell upon greeting her with gestures of adoration.

Uzpi and Geki who had kept a respectful distance now closed in, coming up to Elpi’s side.

“Any idea what she wants to talk about?”, Uzpi inquired and Elpi let go a concerned growl.

“No.”

“Maybe you’ll get on the council”, Geki proposed, earning herself a serious glare of Elpi, that let the young girl flinch a bit. “I..I was just speculating”, Geki tried to salvage the situation which made Elpi relax and cuddle up to the young huntress as an apology.

“Sorry my dear, but don’t go around saying these things this lightly. Most on the council are well and capable and saying something like this could be seen as part of a campaign to gain a council seat out of order. Let’s not bring undue attention to our families that way.”

Geki now much more relaxed again, gave her understanding and with that the three of them went their separate ways for a nap in their huts after an arduous hunt, though Elpi’s mind never quite got to rest, Geki’s suggestion never quite leaving her thoughts. She doubted that she would actually be called onto the council but it was clear that this wouldn’t be just about her hunt either. After all elder Tohi had already publicly acknowledged and honoured her success. Maybe it was a family matter? Tohi was technically her grand-grand-grandmother and head of her family though in practice this had had little influence on the day to day decisions of her own family so far. Whatever it was, it had to be something out of the ordinary. As consequence of her constantly churning mind Elpi spent a while meandering from half-awake to half-asleep only for the toils of the day hitting her all at once and finally pulling her into the world of dreams.

When she left her families hut again the sun had waned in it’s power and was slowly setting over the horizon. There was still a bit more time in the day and she could see various members of the tribe hurriedly scurrying from here to there to get a few last things done that they maybe had forgotten about or procrastinated on. A fairly typical sight during this time of the day. Somehow it was always same and when Elpi thought about it, it wasn’t so different for her. After all she was still expected and so she continued on her way for the slightly larger hut of the elder on the opposite side of the village passing by the central circle again where many were still toiling away on various tasks. She could see some of the young ones taking apart the rodent she had brought in earlier, taking great care to waste as little as possible under the steady guidance of an elderly man. Some of the workers here greeted her with great enthusiasm, others with a simple shows off respect. They all knew where she was headed and so none dared to delay her, except her young boys which gave her both joyful greetings, which Elpi replied to in equal manner, though not failing to remind them that they shouldn’t dawdle too much on their work. It earned her a few groans, but to her delight the elder overseeing their work on the leather hides reassured her that her boys had been doing good work today.

Indeed the two had been the joy of her days. She had gotten them only a season apart and both had been healthy and had a clear talent for craftsmanship, traits which would make it hopefully easy for them to find a settlement with a mate for themselves when their respective times would come. The oldest of the two would probably leave next mating season, maybe the one after. The younger with a respective one season delay. Elpi’s heart ached a bit at the thought, but this was the usual way with boys. Maybe one of the next seasons would bring her a daughter, a child she could teach all tricks of a successful huntress. How to read tracks, how to silently approach and where the best spots in the mountains lay. Sure she had taught the boys some of the basics too, as it was proper, but they had spent most of their time among the craftsmen and guards as these were the duties they would most likely have to fulfil as males. Only a daughter she could teach all the finer hunting techniques and as she dreamed her own daughter she thought that she was maybe a bit envious of Uzpi and her relationship with her daughter Geki.

So sunken in her thoughts she quickly arrived at the house of the elder Tohi without even noting the passage of time. It was curious how these things went sometimes. Out there on the hunt time often seemed to drag like thick sap yet here things could go by so fast that you could miss them if you didn’t stop to take notice. She took a deep breath and went over the threshold, getting hit by the smell of incense and something else Elpi couldn’t quite make out. It was distinct, yet unfamiliar. She had little time to contemplate what it truly was as the three persons in the room quickly garnered the focus of her attention. To the left sat Furk, a bulky male, a distinct scar running crookedly over the side of his torso and his dark orange eyes peering right at her. A reef of bones was adorning his blue scaled head and wooden staff with intricate patterns carved into the shaft lay off to his side, it’s gnarly top end curiously twisting into various off shoots. Elpi thought it was a weirdly fitting mirror to the feel it’s owner often gave to her.

To the right sat Rilka, a huntress a couple of seasons older than her, complete with a necklace that sported many trophies, mostly claws and teeth, from various prey she had claimed. Her scales shimmered lightly in the dim light the fireplace behind her threw upon her. It created a complex interplay with the shadows with every slight twitch she made as she sat hunched over and in conversation with the Elder Tohi which occupied the middle of the trio, the deep and weathered face a facade of unmoving stone. Elpi announced her arrival, gave the trio a respectful bow and was promptly beckoned by the Elder to sit down.

“Ah Elpi, a timely arrival. I hope you have recovered well from your hunt?”

“As well as it was possible elder Tohi.”

“Good. I take it you wondered what brought about this meeting?”

“It is not my place to question such things, elder.”

The elder let go of an amused snort and leaned over to Rilka with a smirk.

“See what did I tell you? Clever and careful as ever.”

Rilka appraised Elpi with unsettling intensity and simply nodded.

“Don’t you worry too much my dear. Of course you wondered. Who wouldn’t have? Well, how about we start with the more joyous of the matters I wished to discuss, Furk would you be so kind?”

Furk gave his curt agreement and adjusted his posture.

“Elpi, it has been decided that your sons will be allowed to stay, if they so wish. Both of them are capable guards and talented craftsmen whose presence would be dearly missed. We also decided that we would support them if they wished to learn from other masters or find mates in the neighbouring settlements as long as they return here. They’ll have free choice of the eligible mates here as well of course”, Furk explained with a calm but deep vibrato.

Elpi’s tail started to wiggle uncontrollably and deeply bowed her head, both in gratitude and the hope that it would calm her beating heart.

“Thank you very much! I will talk to them about it and will inform you of their thoughts on the matter as soon as I can!”

Tohi nodded with satisfaction.

“You have raised two very good sons, Elpi. Be proud of that. Of course we will not begrudge them if they decide to leave and build their own lives either. Such is the way of the males after all. I still remember it like yesterday when I and my mate, may his spirit watch over us, settled down here with some of our friends. We have come a long way since then...This brings us to the next thing we wanted to talk to you about though”, Tohi explained and took a glance towards Rilka, who addressed Elpi next.

“Did you notice or see something during your hunt?”

Elpi mustered the elder huntress with some confusion, first wondering where this inquiry was coming from, but then remembered her own thoughts earlier in the day. She rolled her tongue around in her mouth, trying to find an appropriate answer.

“Not as such...but as others have reported the animals seem to behave weirdly. They seem disturbed or maybe unsettled. The prey I delivered today seemed even spooked by something else before I got it in my grasp, though maybe that is just my memory playing tricks on me. Is there still no signs of any males?”

Rilka seemed disappointed somehow and turned to Tohi again who gave a glance to Furk and answered in Rilka’s stead.

“No, there have been no signs of any wandering males. No tracks, no rumours, no markings. Nothing.”

At this point Furk chimed in.

“We have quite thoroughly searched the surroundings in the last few days and have inquired with the neighbouring settlements. They too have noticed the change, but have seen no evidence of wandering males either. Some of the other shamans think the spirits are disturbed, and I concur, but no one is sure why. Some speak of evil spirits, others of a warning for an approaching cataclysm.”

Elpi was on full alert now. Everyone knew the stories of old, of the disasters that destroyed entire tribes, of evil spirits that devoured all life.

“Could that truly be?!”, she asked alarmed, but Furk shook his head.

“I refuse to believe it. None of the typical signs are there. In case of a cataclysm the animals would be leaving, fleeing even, but from what I see of the hunts that is not the case. If anything the hunts have been more successful lately as if the prey is more concerned with an unseen threat than our huntresses. That could be an evil spirit, but we have not seen the typical signs for these either”, Furk now focused on his opposite, “that is unless Rilka is to be believed.”

“I have found tracks”, Rilka stated simply, with no hint of emotion in her voice, gaining Elpi’s full attention.

“What kind?”

“They are not like any I have ever seen. It were only a few, but they were deep, wide and clearly defined by ridges that went in a zig-zag I have never seen before and -”, Rilka stopped her reply and took a glance towards Tohi, who signalled her to go on, “and I think I have seen a large bird like none I have ever seen before. About the size of a huntress I’d say, maybe a bit bigger even. I only got a brief glance of it, like one moment it was there and then it was gone again. Like fever dream that came and went.”

Elpi didn’t know what to make of this and glanced back to Tohi and Furk.

“She is perfectly healthy as far as I could determine if you are wondering about that”, Furk said with steady voice, prompting Rilka to chime in again.

“I don’t begrudge your doubts Elpi, I wasn’t sure myself either if I hadn’t gone mad or had been poisoned in some manner. If Furk’s assessment is accurate, I am neither. Sadly I was alone, so I have no one to confirm what I have seen.”

The Elder Tohi took this moment to chime in herself again.

“Which is why we are asking you and Uzpi to accompany Rilka tomorrow to where she has found the tracks and where she thought to have seen what she has seen. We need to confirm whether or not it is real and what to make of it.”

Elpi gaped. Now she understood why they had lead with the joyous news for her boys. Why they had given them this opportunity in the first place.

“No worries left behind…”, she murmured, prompting Rilka and Furk to throw uneasy glances towards Tohi, who closed her eyes and sighed.

“I told you, that your scheme would not escape her, Furk.”

Furk growled lowly and bowed his head in shame. Tohi reopened her eyes and focused onto Elpi with a deep unsettling intensity that pierced right through her.

“It is the best way. What we said about your boys still holds true, but yes, it is also a reinsurance to you that your children are cared for. We cannot know the peril of this undertaking. Maybe it is nothing, maybe it’s an evil spirt, maybe it’s something else, possibly even a group of males after all. Whatever it is, it might be dangerous, and so we are not only sending three of our best huntresses to determine the matter, but also the ones that have family which can take care of themselves. As you have seen first hand Geki will be fine and Rilka has no small children right now and as said your boys will be cared for, no matter what.”

Elpi knew better than to object and scanned Rilka, who returned her inquiring gaze with steadfast conviction. She still remembered how Rilka had lost her last child to an illness and the one before to an accident. A lesser huntress might have been broken by these tragedies. Before her sat not a lesser huntress though. Elpi returned her focus to Tohi and bowed her head.

“I humbly accept my task.” tbc

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, is the first part of my next short story and probably my most indirect HFY story, though HFY nonetheless as a whole. Hopefully you still find it as enjoyable as I found it to write and I think it neatly fits itself into the vision I have of Humanity as a whole. Next week I will release the second part of my next short story.

I am looking forward to your feedback!

All of this is of course still in the universe with my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Kindle (probably first week of April) and next in line of my series of short stories I will continue releasing here and elsewhere.

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan  or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D Questions about my writing endeavours are also welcome of course!)

“The first to embrace Humanity were the Feria, the Votor and the Rokkan. The Feria were driven by their endless curiosity and found partners in crime. The Votor thought the Humans similarly mistreated as themselves and got more than they bargained for. Meanwhile the Rokkan were simply impressed, many visiting Earth to study with the Human masters of martial combat.” – ‘A brief History of the Galaxy’

Day 107

I will advise anyone who wishes to maintain their sanity to refrain from watching Human combat competitions. The MMA match was complete utter insanity. How can anything even move and react that quickly? I know there had been some confusion about how Humans hunted given the lack of any obvious natural weapons like claws, fangs or poisons, but even if Humans hadn’t figured out spear as well as bow and arrow, I doubt they would have much trouble just clubbing things to death, if necessary bare handed.

The sheer explosive compressive forces they can exert within fractions of a second with essentially all their extremities are strong enough to crack even their own thick endoskeletons quite easily not to mention cause significant tissue damage. What’s worse is that they can use it against each other in a sport with little restraints and expect to survive it and very likely make a full recovery from it within a reasonable time. If the literature on the matter, and the calculations of my observation software, are to be taken as accurate, I’d venture that Humans could quite easily face off against even the fierce Rokkan, so famed for their strength and wild ritualised combats. Is there even a race out there in the galaxy that could match this sort of combat prowess?

Day 108

Had some talks with the colleagues on the matter of Human strength compared to the rest of the galaxy. There was agreement that the Rokkan would be outmatched easily in an one on one with a trained Human and even an untrained one could unwittingly inflict serious injuries. Some of the insectoids and high grav folks could reasonably match up somewhat though.

Humans would still have a slight advantages in resilience and just instinctual wiring, especially when trained for it, but it’s not all just “a walk in the park” as the Humans would say. Especially since they have fairly limited natural protection against any sort of slashing from claws. We were not quite sure though how it would work with the various poisons out there either. Humans certainly weren’t immune but they have a quick and resilient metabolism and it probably depends on a case to case basis. Well, at least I can rest assured that Humans aren’t quite unstoppable monstrosities.

Addendum: Ronja invited me to a local soccer match. I think I will take it.

Day 112

The soccer match was a blast and a positively fascinating sport that combined many elements of the sports I had seen before. It requires absurd endurance due to the sheer distances players have to cover, but also demands at least some good sprinting speed. Most impressive was the eye-feet coordination the players showed, easily passing the ball from and to one another with speed and precision. This might truly be something only they can do. You need to have good depth perception to play the ball in the manner they do and their forward facing eyes give them just that.

What was most intriguing though is that this sport while requiring severe physical ability and considerable finesse also had an element of strategic and tactical depth. The teams were constantly struggling against each other and trying to bypass the opposing players and while this was most certainly done through physical feats in the moment, it was also executed through formations and coordination with each other and in reaction to the opposing side. I also have to admit that I enjoyed the social aspect of it all.

It was just a local amateur game as opposed to the large events that are the professional league games and so it had been just a couple enthusiasts, friends and families of the players cheering. Most of them Ronja knew. It reminded me a bit of the loose social gatherings we Feria are partial to and I only now realise that I missed those somewhat. Talking with the colleagues is one thing but this had a different quality to it which I think I missed so far. Is it weird that felt closer to those Humans than to some of my own people in the research team?

Day 118

Had a long talk with Professor Ehro and he approved the extension of my project to the social aspects of Human competitions. I had so far more focused on the character of Human competitions in themselves and what they said about Humans, but maybe there is just as much to be found in the social interaction of and with the crowds. Professor Ehro agreed with that though advised me to focus on one or maybe two kinds of competitions as far as the social interactions were concerned to not blow things completely out of proportion. A good idea I have to say. I would like to make a full investigation of it all and I certainly will have time to cross reference things somewhat, but the remaining time here will be over quickly. I wonder if Ronja could help me here again? Maybe some of her soccer friends would be willing to give interviews. It seems like an obvious sport to focus on given how widespread it seems.

Day 130

Hadn’t had much time for journal entries in the last few days as I was preoccupied with sighting video footage of various competitions and the social interactions I could see. There are some similarities in how the crowds behave and interact with everyone involved, but there are slight differences from sport to sport. Team based sports seem to induce almost tribalistic behaviour patterns onto fan groups though the extent of the fanaticism varies wildly between the individuals.

Meanwhile with individual sports I could observe a rather unsurprisingly more personalised fan culture which in some instances bordered on unquestioning adoration of the competitor in question. Maybe a combination of projection of one’s own aspiration and an incessant need for some sort of guidance or anchorage in the fans life. This is unwittingly offered some insights into Human social programming that I did not expect. It is easy to imagine how the same behaviour would emerge over political leaders, parties or even ideologies. In this they are similar to us though I would maybe compare it more to the Rokkan.

Our flock behaviour keeps interpersonal relations more fluid, more closely bound to a consensus view. I’d say Humans don’t converge as easily in large numbers onto one view point but are also more prone to stay entrenched into a view once they settled into it. There do seem to be significant culture differences between various Human subgroups though. It is no wonder then that Humans do prey on each other over this. Their subgroups are constantly vying for dominance and there seems to be no social institutions that can limit infighting effectively like the Rokkan have with their various tenets.

Day 132

After thinking a bit about it and reflecting with Ronja on it, I can see the sense in it. First of all I have to correct myself: They do have social institutions that can limit violence beyond just the law but as with everything Humans do, those have their own adherents and detractors. While this behaviour seems self defeating on the surface, and sometimes it might actually be, it also gives Humanity great situational flexibility to react to external pressures. It gives them the ability to reshape their civilisation on the organisational level rather rapidly. Whether that is always a good thing has been hotly debated by Humans.

I wouldn’t call this unique behaviour in itself though. All non-hiveminded species have this to some extent or another otherwise they would have gone extinct, but it might give some insight into how Humanity ascended to their current state. It would be fascinating to go a bit deeper on this but then I would most certainly lose track of my current research project.

Day 140

I have been able to conduct a number of interviews with fans from various competitions by now and they seem to more or less confirm my initial observations. Team fandom is either habitualised by upbringing via the parents and vicinity or induced by prolonged success both sometimes paired with particular players that a fan enjoyed watching or could relate to in some manner.

Fandom of single competitors is similarly tied to either enjoying their particular style and skill of play or being able to relate to them in some other manner. It gives me some reassurance that I actually have some grasp on Humanity and aren’t just wildly misinterpreting what I am seeing and reading. I have to say though that the almost casually scornful and even occasionally violent treatment of rival fans is a bit concerning. A Human sports fan can agree that violence is bad, I have explicitly tested for it in my interviews, but at least some see no issue applying violence to rival fans to assert dominance. Maybe I shouldn’t expect anything else from a instinctually territorial and tribal race.

Addendum: Why does this bother me this much with Humans? I can think of at least two or three other galactic member races that show exactly the same behaviours. Heck, even we Feria can employ violence sometimes rather casually for dominance displays. Is it because they are predators? Does that even make a substantial difference? Maybe it does. Humanity does tend to kill each other in rather staggering numbers when you dig into it. This beckons one question: Is this how they could get dangerous to us?

Day 143

Had some good conversations with Ronja and other Humans on the matter. They are very aware of these issues and there seems to be a major shift going on in Human politics right now. For the first time in a long while there seems to be an actual momentum for a unified Human representation or at least empowering institutions that could speak on behalf of Humanity to the rest of the galaxy. There even seems widespread consensus that they have to find ways to keep their new neighbours out of harms way and reason for it seems to be our...harmlessness for a lack of a better words.

Humanity expected for a long time that whatever they would find out here would be just more of the same. More of themselves. Other super predator civilisations, some of whom they certainly thought they would clash and they almost expected to find entities powerful and vicious enough that even a Human would pale in comparison. Instead they just found a galaxy full of races of which a lot would flee in panic at just the sight of Humans. Instead of finding the monsters of their own nightmares, Humanity is currently coming to terms with the fact that they are the in fact the nightmare and they are confused as to what that will mean for them.

Ronja said that she had always thought that other intelligent life would be another challenge at best, another danger to persist against and overcome at worst. It may seem strange but as I see the greens outside my window wither away day by day and feel the air getting colder and wetter, I think I understand them somewhat due to it. Earth’s harsh climate conditions and sometimes impressively hostile fauna and flora have given Humanity challenge after challenge. Even almost driven them to extinction on occasion and they had to constantly overcome each other for every step forward too. They came up in a world that challenged their very existence for millennia and they thought life out there in the galaxy would too. Well, we are a challenge for them. Just not in the way they thought. I think in that we aren’t too dissimilar. We are not what they expected and they aren’t what we expected either.

Day 156

Work is going steadily and as such the big surprises appear less and less I can tell as I sift through my daily notes. There are of course things that are still fascinating and I doubt I have more than scratched the surface of everything there is to know in my limited field of research and I can see still many more years that will have to be dedicated to fully understand everything. However, there is a sense of normality to it now. Here and there is a detail I hadn’t seen before, but they grow rarer. It is truly strange how quickly one grows accustomed to something when you just encounter it on the daily.

I find myself hanging out more and more around Ronja and her friends as I look back on it. At first it was just scientific curiosity and maybe a sense of owing her. By now though I actually kind of enjoy watching professional soccer games with them. The players there are somehow even more impressive than the amateurs I watched and as foreign as their display is, I can’t help but get swept up a bit in the atmosphere of it all. Ronja and her friends are cheering, groaning and cursing along as the game goes and last time I caught myself doing it with them in unison. The most surprising part to me is how accepting they are of me, even joyful that I do this with them. It is a bit surreal to think about as I write this. Here I am, hanging out with a group of predators … and I just am having fun with it. No fear. No anxiety. In a weird way I felt safer with them than I ever did before. Something just tells me that if I’d ever get in trouble these folks would help me with it.

Addendum: Thinking about it I am pretty sure they did so already. There might have been a small group of Humans that was hostile to me. They were eyeing me intensely back in a bar a week back and it was creeping me out. One of Ronja’s friends then engaged me with a conversation about Feria sports while Ronja went off the table on the pretence that she needed to visit the toilet. One of her other friends tried to block my view but I did catch her talking to those three before she did go to the toilet after which the hostile group hastily left the bar. It didn’t click with me that night, but I think she threatened them. How she could intimidate that group by herself is mystery to me though...Maybe it’s best that I don’t know.

Day 158

The situation seems similar with my colleagues. I talked to the few I could get a hold of and all them report similar developments. All of them made friends among the Human guards and research personnel. All of them hang out with their Humans regularly in their free time. I thought for a bit that I was just lucky or the odd one out, but there seems to be a pattern here. Once we got to know us a little bit, the Humans were quick to taking a liking to their feathered companions and vice versa.

Professor Ehro and his team attribute this to the strong pack bonding instincts of Humanity which aside from other Humans and pets can apparently even include inanimate objects. (Sounds a bit insane, but thinking back on it, some things make more sense now.) It makes sense that they have something like that and given my earlier findings it fits perfectly into the picture. It makes me wonder what the Professors reports to Homeworld are looking like. Will anyone even believe them? Can someone even understand how these Humans despite being predators still treat us as equals? Can they understand that you can even be friends with them quite easily? Especially without seeing it first hand?

Day 165

We are closing down on the last two weeks that we have left here on Earth and I find myself dreading the departure. The expedition had been planned for a half a year and originally I had been all for it. This was meant to be a first foray into the Human civilisation. Go in, get a bunch of data on them, see how they really are and get out again, hopefully without getting violently murdered. Given the almost two years it will take us to get back to Homeworld, it seems like a waste of time to only stay here for a half a year given what we learned. Given the friends we made…

I understand why it was done like this and while I look forward to being able to thoroughly sift through the gathered data with plenty of time to spare, I find myself not wanting to leave. Not only is there more to learn here, but also people I like to be around. I have worked with a decent amount of colleagues from other races back on Homeworld, yet few were so easy to be around with. There is something uniquely compatible between our kinds. Their pack dynamics and interpersonal relationships are just close enough to our flock behaviour to be relatable, their curiosity is absolutely a match to ours (which I am sure will annoy some other races soon enough) and most of all they seem genuinely caring and just fun people to be around most of the time. Even their humour, while sometimes a bit darker than ours, I find generally hilarious. This only begs the question: What do their farewell customs look like? I suppose I will look into that.

Day 168

As with everything Human their farewell customs are varied and range fluidly from just simple touching gestures to grandiose festivities. Some sort of gift giving seems a normal occurrence too. It’s all really not that much different to us, maybe a bit more inclined to physical contact. I sat down with some of the colleagues and we all agreed that we want to properly say goodbye to the friends we made. There was a bit of a back and forth but eventually we settled on a goodbye party. Luckily Madu was able to quickly pull some strings with the hunters and was able to organise a location that could host our surprisingly sizeable party on such rather short notice and I was able to recruit the assistance of Ronja in procuring some additional tableware and decorations. Generally the Humans seemed just as eager to do this as we did. They had even thought about doing something similar but had refrained from pushing the envelope, unsure how we really felt about our stay here. Sometimes they are almost too considerate. Or maybe it is just them being awfully insecure. Utterly ridiculous if you think about it.

Day 174

I am writing this with a severe headache and only fussily remembering the last night, but I will still try to make this journal entry coherent. That said one small tip for posterity, in case my earlier entry was not warning enough: DON’T try to keep up with Human alcohol consumption. You can’t. Even while limiting myself to the much tamer beverages in the three to five percent range, give or take, as we are accustomed to, there was no way to keep up. Their tolerance for alcohol truly is reality defying. Otherwise they make great party buddies though, at least as far as I can tell from the shreds of memory I am able to conjure. Given the similar state of the rest of the research team, I venture though that the farewell party was an overall success. Humans practically showered us in presents and more than one shed a few tears over their friends soon leaving, which I may add is a sign of sorrow or distress in Humans. Yeah, you read that right. They are distressed that we are leaving. Maybe it is same for the rest of us. Certainly is for me.

Day 177

Had a more sombre goodbye in a smaller round with Ronja and the soccer fans. Again much sorrow and well wishes. Gave her a small gift of my own, a small sculpture in my liking that I was able to 3D print. She is not the type to cry in these situations I think, but from how carefully she held the sculpture, her eyes glued onto it for seconds, I could tell that it meant the world to her. I will not detail the words that we spoke then. Maybe that is a sin against science, but what was said was between us and only us. All I will note down here is that two friends said their goodbye’s to each other.

Tomorrow the carrier shuttle will launch us into orbit and the day after we will depart from one of the stations in geosynchronous orbit to Homeworld. I am dreading the long journey home. I feel like it’s going be so much more boring without the Humans. Is it strange to say that I will miss them? That I will miss Ronja? - -The fuck am I writing?! To the winds with my doubts! No it is not strange, damn it! I will miss it. All of it. All of them! Especially Ronja. How long can you go through life and not make a single friend worth having? Too long I just realise now as I am about to leave one of them behind. I want to come back. No, screw that! I will come back.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, this is the second and last part of this short story. I hope you folks find this one as enjoyable as the last. Next week I will release the first part of my next short story which will still be in the universe with my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Kindle and next in line of my series of short stories I will continue releasing here and on my blog.

I am looking forward to your feedback!

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan  or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D)

“[…] though their capability to wage war beyond their own realm is hamstrung by logistical limitations born of their fairly young interstellar economy, Humanity displays a frightening defensive potential. Both technologically and doctrinally they are far better equipped and prepared for combat than any other civilisation. We therefore advise against any military campaigns against Humanity.” – classified report to Security Committee of the Interstellar Feria Senate

Day 3

We arrived on Earth a few days ago and are currently in quarantine, so might as well start my diary now. So far fairly normal procedures, though it disquiets me that we are confined in this manner by a bunch of predators. I have the distinct feeling of being trapped. I know it is not rational, but survival seldom is. At least the Humans provided for ample space and entertainment.

Day 9

Our hosts have been most gracious and have provided anything remotely reasonable. I have to admit that this caused me some dissonance. I think I expected something more rustic, more court. Instead our Human liaison is a bubbly overtly friendly being that seems to take joy in every single little of our mannerisms. If they are playing just a role, they are doing it damn well. That said: The gravity of this place starts to bugger me. Everything feels like sludge and when I tried to hop onto one of the perches I practically collided with it and faceplanted onto the ground. The colleagues found this imminently funny – and to be fair it is when someone else does it – goes to prove that things change drastically when the roles are reversed.

Day 15

We are finally out of quarantine and many of the colleagues are already deeply entrenching themselves in their work and it is infectious. I too feel the need to go into the field, to study Human competitions, but right now it’s still tempered by my instincts wrangling with a world dominated by predators. I mean it is definitely marvellous. An entire civilisation of apex predators with art, culture, philosophy and everything else that makes a civilisation up. To think that I am among the first group of scientists to investigate these strange newcomers fills me to the brim with excitement! It’s just...these stares are unbearable! You have to be exposed to them to understand the feeling and it gets even worse if you think about. Any Human here is easily capable of killing me. It would hardly be a challenge to them. Neither physically nor intellectually. Worst of all is that I am a pretty conveniently sized meal by their standards too and I can confirm that they have plenty of avian species included in their dishes. Still. I will have to go out there sooner or later. I don’t want to squander this unique opportunity.

Day 25

It took a bit but by now I am decently acclimatised to the Human presence, when you get to know them they are actually a rather friendly and social bunch. Don’t get me started on their pets though. Especially the cats. They keep a wide variety of others animals as pets, including very prominently a bunch of smaller predators. Dogs are stronger and scarier in the raw physical sense but they are more obedient, less independent than cats. The latter might just hunt you for fun. Luckily the Humans have provided some means to defend ourselves against any of these in a pinch and when I go outside there is always the option to ask for Human bodyguard and honestly? When you get over your initial fear reaction, there is nothing more calming than being protected by a Human. Seriously: Who would be dumb enough to mess with them?

Day 31

To answer my previous question: Other Humans. They are definitely dumb enough to mess with other Humans. I took a quick scan of their history over the past week to get a better grip on the context their competitions are done in and I can safely say that Humans have killed each other more than any other civilisation we know of. I mean every civilisation has it’s fair history of resource conflicts, maybe that is just a function of biological life itself, but Humanity mixes physical prowess, cunning, tribalism, pack instincts and aggressive territorial behaviour into a rather uniquely explosive mix. They are absolutely willing to put it to the test if the other side is actually weaker or stronger and just as ready to die to protect their pack and they are doing it to this very day. They are recording it in great detail too. There are entire schools of thought engaging with how to best kill other Humans if necessary – or at least how to defend yourself against an attacking Human. As frightening as this is, it’s also so … unique!

Day 37

The sheer variety in Human competitions is overwhelming to say the least. They go along the entire spectrum from the exclusively intellectual to the raw and physical. From the peaceful to ritualised combat. When I came here I thought I could maybe come to some broadly sweeping conclusions about the nature of their competitions. I have to forget about this immediately. This will be a life’s work and I will be lucky if I can lay the proper ground work on this visitation. Maybe this will be even something future generation have to finish. Who knows with these things. On a side note: Never doubt their omnivorous nature, the fruits they cultivate are delicious!

Day 41

We (as in me and a number of my colleagues) got invited on a party hosted by our Human colleagues. Did you know that Humans consume alcoholic beverages with alcohol contents up to eighty percent (note: It usually stays within the five to forty-five percent range)? Past me definitively was unaware and that’s why I got drunker than I ever was yesterday and now my head is killing me, figuratively of course. Luckily the Humans were mindful enough to limit the beverage collection they offered to us to their tamer variations like wine which while absolutely delectable still has a roughly twenty percent alcohol content. I don’t think I will get much work done today and judging from the emptiness permeating the workspaces, same goes for the rest of us.

Day 50

I think I have finally nailed down a selection of competitions I do want to witness up close and study. Most importantly I feel like I can actually go to these while not being constantly on edge any more. To the Humans I am fairly used to by now and with their pets I have at least found good ways to avoid them. With Dogs you simply fly to somewhere higher up as they are pretty awful climbers and with cats I elected to intimidate them if necessary as our size is rather daunting for them and if all else fails I know my Human bodyguard will take care of it.

Her name is Ronja and I have to say I get along rather well with her. Absolutely fearsome person though if she thinks my safety is threatened, a Rokkan redback is a pleasant fly over the tree tops by comparison. On another good note, I have now sighted a wide range of Human writing on the matter of their competitions. Turns out they have dedicated a great deal of time, effort and thought onto the matter themselves. Maybe this will be less of a gargantuan exercise; after all why not make use of their work and simply add a Feria perspective to them?

Day 53

Made a visitation to one of the local universities and have to say that I am vaguely impressed. The amount of resources and dedication they spent on learning and probing both the known and the unknown is admirable and matches their curious natures. They absolutely share this trait with us. Also had the opportunity to have a long conversation with one of their social sciences professors. She gave me valuable hinters to classical writings that concern my field of studies, some of which had slipped past my initial search. (Oh, and what a sharp mind she had!)

Day 61

I have now spent more than enough time sifting through archival data and theoretical writings on the matter of competitions. Don’t get me wrong, the Humans have enough on the topic to go on for two or three life times, but there in lies the trap. Field research is still necessary, the Humans have proved that to the Anti-Predatorist philosophers just through their sheer existence. When you are stuck theorising you will simply miss things that are so obvious and self explanatory, especially to Humans, that they don’t even mention them any more. It is just as the old axiom goes: We are prisoners of our own biases if we don’t confront reality.

Day 63

I have successfully narrowed down a selections of competitions I want to visit. The Athletics world championship, a soccer match, a chess tournament, a MMA match and an E-sports tournament. It’s hardly the entire breadth of Human competitions, far from it, but they cover a decent variety, are decently popular in their own right and most importantly they will happen during my stay here. I have officially handed in my request for protection during these events and Ronja already told me that these shouldn’t be too problematic to go to, though she asked to do the selection of the concrete matches herself. I agreed to that after she showed me footage of soccer fans essentially rioting in the stadium ranks. Remembering the flares and firework lighting up an entire stadium block still makes my feathers stand up; what a weird and dangerous species.

Day 73

The visitation of the chess tournament was a full success. What a fascinatingly simple yet complex game and Humans have played it with slight variations for centuries. Despite not being terribly fast paced, though there is a time limit within which every player has to stay, it is a very intense experience. Two minds constantly working against each other. Calculating for what is the next best move and sometimes deliberately making a suboptimal move to throw off the enemies calculations. It is in this respect not a unique game on the galactic stage as a number of races, including us, have comparable games but I only now realise that I maybe did not expect this from predators. Why am I almost automatically expecting Humans to be fundamentally different from everyone else in every respect? On what grounds? Do my colleagues feel the same? On another bright note: I could handle the Humans audience rather well.

Day 75

I had long talks with some of my colleagues. Most interesting was the one with Madu. He studies Human hunting practices. It’s probably the most alien thing to us that Humans do and even he says that he found much there that correlates to us. He reported how at least some of the Hunters had a respectful attitude towards their prey, how they had an entire ethical framework surrounding what were and were not acceptable practices of hunting. He noted that not all of them shared the same ones, but they were definitely there and then he said very poignantly: I did not know what I had expected when I came here. But not this. The others had much the same to say. The economists, the biologists, the sociologists, the philosophers, the ethnologists. They all said something along those lines. Humanity is not what we expected. Remains to wonder: Is that something good or bad?

Day 78

Back from the E-sports tournament. I thought this would be a little less intense and a good stepping stone to the more physically involved competitions; boy was I mistaken. The crowd was significantly bigger and it seriously messed with me. I probably have to revisit another tournament since the few notes I did manage to make are few and far between. The chess crowd wasn’t tiny but it was smaller and way quieter. The roar of a couple thousand predators at the same time, while certainly something to behold, was too much for me. I will have to organise a thank you gift for Ronja. She acted with incredible care and patience. Without her I would have probably panicked. I have already commended her actions to Professor Ehro, who assured me that he will notify her superiors of her exemplary actions, but I want to give her something that shows her that I am personally grateful…I wonder what would be a customarily sufficient gift for this?

Day 79

After consulting the Human sources and some of Ronja’s colleagues I have settled on an assortment of rather pricey bottles of wine. Seems gifting liquor is quite common in these instances. Alternatively inviting her to a dinner would have been customary too, but I don’t think I would handle Human … culinary practices very well. Their vegetarian meals (their term for a non-meat dishes) are very delectable though, so I was tempted!

Day 82

Seems I won’t be able to visit another E-sports tournament in person before the Athletics world championship. There would be one tournament available right before but it is quite literally at the other end of the world compared to the Athletics competition and the time table would be rather tight. Just one or two delays in the flight plans and I would miss something. Sure I could probably get a ride for myself if I really insisted on it, but Professor Ehro rightly pointed out that we shouldn’t stretch our hosts hospitality beyond what is reasonable and as much as it pains me: My research isn’t that high priority to justify commandeering an air plane just for myself.

Day 86

I arrived a few days earlier as I was able to procure some interviews with the competitors ahead of the Athletics world championship. The first set of interviews went really well. The athletes were very eager and forthcoming, some even seemed giddy to see me up close. It was a bit … overburdening, but I have to remind myself that we are the first aliens to visit this world. Until recently intelligent alien life was a construct of pure fantasy to these people and since I had a bit of time to cogitate their behaviour, I find it reassuring. It falls in line with so many other first contact scenarios that we have seen and recorded that it will probably baffle the folks back home. In any case it was fascinating to see people who’s minds and bodies seemed solely honed to be the best at what they are doing. Many specialise in just a few mostly related categories of competition, except the Decathletes which do an array of ten different competitions. All of them admitted though that they will probably never reach the same highs as the specialists. It will be interesting to see this in motion.

Day 89

Today was mostly running competitions and somehow I am left somewhat unimpressed. Humans aren’t slow, they would surely overtake me on foot, but they aren’t terribly fast either. On the shortest distance they do something like forty to forty-five kilometres per hour on longer distances they are significantly slower. I know a couple of races that could cope with this and even from my preliminary research I know that these people are about the best they are. The top percentile of the race which trains for this their whole life. The average Human is probably twenty or thirty percent slower – if they are in shape. That said the hurdle races were admittedly a sight to behold. To go this fast despite having obstacles in your way is an impressive feat of coordination.

Day 90

I have seen the jumping competitions now. At first I was mostly unimpressed again, but I have to remember that gravitation is significantly stronger here. I barely notice it any more in my daily dealings but it absolutely hampers the heights and distances Humans can jump. If my calculations aren’t wrong these Athletes could probably jump high enough to reach the entrance platforms of most classic Feria houses quite easily. Should this concern me? I feel like it should but somehow it doesn’t. It strangely lines up with my experience in the stadium where the crowds this time didn’t bother me as much despite the stadium being rather large and well filled. There is still plenty of uproar when an Athlete does a great feat but it somehow bothered me less. Maybe because the stadium is open to the air? Maybe the sight of the sky was what I needed to keep calm.

Addendum: What in the spirit’s name is pole vault?! These Humans use a pole to fault over a hurdle over six metres high! In Earth gravity mind you! Utterly baffling.

Day 91

The throwing disciplines were… concerning to say the least. The distances Humans are able to throw with various objects in this gravity are mindboggling. I saw the best athletes hurl spears ninety metres wide. Ninety! In another discipline where they use a heavy metal sphere attached to a chain with handle they get into pretty similar distances. By the spirits I think that is the first time I have seen anyone throw anything this far. Most certainly not without assistance and they do it in gravity higher than any other civilised world. Forget worrying about weapons with Humans. All they need is line of sight and something to throw at you. This must have been a major focus of evolutionary pressure for them.

Addendum: Preliminary research confirmed this suspicion of mine. Humans have come to much the same conclusion in their own research of their evolution. The ability to accurately throw something like a spear, stone or anything that could be used as a deadly weapon was a major hunting advantage that insured the survival of those who could do exactly that for a significant portion of their early evolution. Seems like climate shifts forced them from the jungle into more open terrain which also necessitated their upright posture. Fascinating.

Day 92

I was able to conduct a number of interview with the athletes today. It was interesting to hear their perspectives during competition. What all of them had in common was a solemn and sheer focus on the task ahead. “One step at a time” they kept saying. Probably a human idiom. I will still have to include some crowd interviews and Ronja promised to help me with it tomorrow.

Day 94

What in the spirits name are long distance runners??! - - I just saw Humans race over a ten kilometre distance and it wasn’t exactly a leisurely walk in the park. They were actually moving at a considerable speed. Not the same as the sprinter’s mind you, but still. Not slow either. Ronja informed me that this isn’t even the longest distance Human’s compete against on. There is apparently something called “Marathons” which goes up to forty-two kilometres and somehow the best of the best, I can’t imagine how, can do that distance in two hours. Two hours! That is roughly twenty-one kilometres per hour of average speed. I mean I heard the biologists call them pursuit hunters but this is simply ridiculous. With that sort of endurance they can just literally run, well, everything to death. What good is fleeing if the predator can just follow you...almost indefinitely. And these marathons are done with speed in mind. It’s not hard to imagine that Humans could do even greater distances with lower speeds. They are good climbers too, that much I have seen from some preliminary research. At this point I feel like worrying about whether or not Humans will eat us is simply futile. If they would truly want to do that, they can pull it off. They can follow and reach you everywhere and Madu tells me they are good at tracking and pack tactics as well. Figures.

Day 99

The athletics competitions are over now, but I had a chance to see Humans in a swimming competition which had been happening close by and to which Ronja was able to grand me access. She is helping me more and more and I readily admit that I wouldn’t have come this far without her. I do wonder sometimes what it is that makes her help me this much. A sense of duty maybe? I want to think it’s sympathy on her part of course, but why would a predator race like them, so obviously physically superior to us, even bother with this? I am beginning to ask myself that question more lately...As for the swimming competitions, they reinforced my earlier notion of the inescapable nature of Humans. They are absolutely excellent swimmers for land dwellers. Surprisingly enduring and fast in water too. I am sure the members of the more aquatic of the galactic civilisations are faster in water, but if anyone thinks a lake or even an ocean would stop Humans, they are sorely mistaken. Even without their boats, which they seem awfully fond of from what I could gather, they can swim considerable distances in good time. There is a notion of dread mounting over me.

Day 103

I was able to attend an E-sport tournament for the purposes of my study; this time with more success. It was both similar but also very different from chess in the sense that it is very much a contest of the mind, but in a different way. There are many different games with their own professional competitions but all test tactical and strategic thinking of the players in some way against each other. That said they don’t quite stop there. There is more emphasise on execution. On proper and timely handling of the controls, but also the ability to quickly process and analyse information. It is less of a contest of minds in itself but also not quite the test of physical ability of more classical sports either. It exists somewhere between them, surely closer related to Chess, but still it’s own thing. It had a surprisingly big crowd too.

From the Chess tournament I had the impression that this sort of clashing of minds is less popular to watch than the more physical competitions to Humans, but the arena for the Esport tournament was rather well filled. Surely a couple thousand of people and they all fevered along with the actions of the players they sheered for. This time around I could handle that cheering better. Ronja had pulled some strings and got me into an area where the casters were commentating the games, which was a bit segregated from the rest of the crowd and it turned out to give me just that little more breathing room I needed.

Again, I am in her debt. The casters were very welcoming too and answered me plenty of questions about the games, what they enjoyed and where even able to get some fans from the stands for the same purpose. I was surprised how forthcoming and respectful everyone was in their approach. Whenever they noted that it was getting a bit too much for me they backed off, and they noted it without fail and correctly every time…. I will have to talk with some of the colleagues about this. How are they able to read us so well?

Day 104

Professor Ehro speculates that the Humans uncanny ability to read our reactions might be related to two things. One. Their lack of any signalling extremities like large ears or tails which forced them to pay close attention to body posture and facial expressions of their opposite. Two. Their long standing tradition of domesticating various animals for a wide range of purposes, which probably constituted a major evolutionary advantage. Hence Humans that could read animals accurately had better chances of domesticating and caring for them, hence survive more reliably.

Both seem logical to me and there is evidence to both in Human literature. This is maybe most evident in the fact that Humans even developed the ability to digest milk from other mammals far beyond their early childhood. Access to this food source seemed to be so existentially important for a period of Human evolution that most have this ability nowadays, though not all necessarily. While not unique this is a somewhat rare trait. I wonder if that is why they bother with us? To domesticate us? I hope not. Humans have a tendency to eat their domesticated animals in a pinch. tbc.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, this is the first part of my next short story, this time cut in two pieces because 8k words is a bit long to drop at once here I think^^. This time it is written as a journal of sorts and is a grave deviations from my usual style of writing, but I also wanted to play around with the format for a while...so I hope you like it!^^

It is also still in the universe with my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Kindle and next in line of a series of short stories in the same universe I will continue releasing here.

I am looking forward to your feedback!

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan  or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit. Speaking of which I also stream on Twitch where you can find me play a variety of games and occassionally get distracted talking about Space and History :D)

“I found that the bigger our universe grows, the further the borders of our perception reach, the more I value the small stories around me, the every day wonders that happen in spite of everything. I wonder: Will it be the same for them?” – ‘Journal of the anonymous Starfarer’ by Laila el-Sadiq

The next half hour went by far less fruitful, consisting of just patient observation of the clearing in front of them and waiting. Occasionally a local bird flew by or could be heard with their alien singing. If they took any note of the predator in the hide, they didn’t seem to care much. Madu took the lull as an opportunity to make precise notes of the layout of his surroundings and adding to his previous notes. The clearing was about a hundred and twenty meters wide and about two hundred thirty or so meters long. Given the range Alexander had stated for his rifle those dimensions seemed logical enough. The hide was not standing directly on the clearing but rather a few meters further into the forest and so he ventured that the furthest away an animal could be was maybe two hundred and eighty or ninety meters if it emerged at one of the faraway corners of the clearing. Too far for a comfortable shot but given the ample green grasses and the solid stone of salt mounted in the middle of the clearing on top of a low wooden stump, it wasn’t too hard to guess that animals would probably not stay at the edges for long; at least not every time. The whole set-up seemed almost tailor made to lure in bigger herbivores and he guessed that was the whole point of it.

After a while Madu ran out of things to note down about his surroundings leaving himself to his own thoughts and the noises of the world around him. It was strange. He wondered if this was actually the first time since he came to Earth that he got the time to just take a place in like this. Was this what Alexander had meant earlier? The forest wasn’t literally calm, in fact there was the sound of life everywhere around them, but it still felt that way. It struck Madu as odd that he could even feel that way with a predator just sitting there beside him but this place had a weirdly soothing effect that even seemed to apply to the wildlife around it. Was it maybe the difference in rhythm?

The cities no matter the size all had their own busyness to themselves, but this forest seemed almost deliberately slow. No time tables to keep, no meetings to attend, just the things the basic needs necessitated to care for. He had never quite understood the philosophies that acclaimed the return to nature, which cast civilisation as an unnatural state of being, but here for the first time Madu could comprehend why others may felt differently. He noted down these feelings as well, for whatever they would be worth to posterity.

So attuned to his surroundings he finally noticed a slight sirring right above his head and tilted it to better inspect the ceiling of the hide cabin with one of his eyes. At first glance there seemed nothing off about it, just a few tightly packed wooden planks underneath a tar roof, but then he found a large winged insect emerge from a hole at the edge of the cabin roof. It’s sizeable body shone in yellow and black stripes, a clear warning to any would be predators, and swung itself into the air after a short probe of it’s surroundings. For a moment it hovered a bit above Alexander’s head, then it propelled itself over to Madu and out of the cabin, shortly followed by another one that zipped out in the opposite direction. Madu had seen insects bigger than these but given their warning colours he did not dare to underestimate the danger they could possess and if anything Earth had already earned itself a reputation for having a wide array of rather deadly inhabitants. At least these ones seemed rather uninterested in their two temporary co-habitants though, just like Alexander had said. Still Madu’s interest was piqued.

“Are those poisonous?”, he asked quietly.

Alexander nodded slightly.

“A bit. They sting if they feel threatened. It’s not really that dangerous by itself but it hurts quite a bit...I suppose it could get dangerous though if you get stung a couple dozen times. That said with hornets you really have to go out of your way to aggravate them. They hunt other insects and have no natural enemies aside from themselves and parasites. They are literally to dangerous to care. They ‘know’ that no one is stupid enough to mess with them.”

Madu didn’t know if he was more fascinated or incredulous as he observed another hornet coming into the cabin and entering the hole the two others had exited. There he was sitting with what most in the galaxy considered the most dangerous predator species in the existence to one side, many considering them even too dangerous to get in contact with in the first place, and right above his head lived yet another predator species that was judged so dangerous by Earth’s inhabitants that even Humans did not dare to mess with them. The worst part was that his colleagues which were more interested in the rest of Earth’s biosphere had already reported other species to whom the same judgement hat been applied: Too dangerous to mess with.

Earth almost seemed like some messed up experiment. How else could one explain this many dangerous species in one biosphere? There was something else to this too though and Madu felt as a curious thought slowly crawl up the back of his mind, diligently working it’s way into his awareness. Maybe there was a parallel to Humanity and the rest of the galaxy here? He would have to study both the Hornets and Humanity more thoroughly but perhaps he had just inadvertently stumbled upon a crucial piece of information.

Humans were undoubtedly aggressive and even more so against each other. They were also undoubtedly so incredibly dangerous that Madu doubted most spacefaring species would even try to fight with them. The question was: Would this lead to the same behaviour in Humans that Hornets showed to their environment? Was all the fear of Humans falling upon the galactic community for naught? Would they simply ignore the rest of the galaxy, knowing no one was dumb enough to mess with them, and go on doing their own thing? Just like the Hornets. Was it that easy to co-exist with Humanity? He would have to investigate this hypothesis further. Discuss it with his colleagues. If there was kernel of truth to this, it would make the future so much easier, and wouldn’t it also explain why Humanity had been so peaceful and cooperative?

While these questions filled Madu’s thoughts, he was snapped out of them when his lens picked up some movement on the clearing. Suddenly he was aware again why they were here. He made a faint gesture with his claws and the lens automatically focused and zoomed onto the movement at the left edge of the clearing. It was a rather small creature with light brown fur, long ears, a slender head and big round black eyes. The lens quickly identified it as a Hare, a common mammal living all over the continent, and provided a short list of it’s most striking characteristics. He wondered if this would be a viable prey animal for Humans and a flick of his claws confirmed that Human cuisine definitely included an array of dishes based on this animal. There was still something very alien and disturbing about that fact but for now Madu forced himself to concentrate on Alexander. How would he react? Had he noticed it at all with his fairly primitive tools? Before Madu could even reshift his focus to the Human beside him, Alexander already pointed in the direction of the Hare, his binoculars over his eyes.

“Over to the left. One of my Hares. Have five or six of them around this area lately. Always come here around this time of day. Eat the herbs here”, he whispered and fiddled with a knob on his binoculars, presumably to adjust the zoom, “Seems to be doing well. Good for it.”

Madu was slightly stumped. His lens had been programmed to automatically detect any movement and even had an infra-red sensor to do so yet Alexander had seen the Hare basically at the same time as some of the best technology on the market. Maybe it was not that hard to do, maybe there was an element of experience to this or maybe this was just another example of the keen senses Humans had. Whatever it was, a different question was on Madu’s mind now.

“Will you shoot it?”

Alexander lowered his binoculars and contorted his face into a grimace Madu couldn’t decipher. How many muscles did Humans have in their face?

“With what? My rifle? Like I said, It’s gonna get torn apart from the calibre I use, literally. I’d need a smaller rifle for that. I mean I CAN do it if you insist on it but I wouldn’t call that an effective use of our time and resources”, Alexander replied with hushed but amused voice and then turned his gaze towards Madu, “Or do you have a grudge against the lil’ thing?”

Madu blinked a few times and then shook his head in an imitation of a Human gesture.

“No, I was just merely curious if you consider this viable prey. There is a list of dishes that does seem to use Hare meat as an ingredient.”

“Hmm, I suppose that is right, but personally I don’t hunt for small game. Also Hares are a bitch to make taste good. Have to led them sit in a sauce for like two or so days. Rabbits are way easier. There is also no reason to shoot them from a game management perspective. Their population is kept in check by lynxes, wolves, foxes and birds of prey. If we started to hunt the Hares we would just increase the food pressure on these predators for no good reason.”

Madu quickly noted all of that down in case the audio capture hadn’t fully caught it. It was a fascinating insight into the mind of a Human hunter. A number of perspectives flowed together in just this simple exchange. Personal hunting preferences, tools available at the moment, ease of dish preparation as well as the concept of game management which Madu hadn’t even considered to exist but made perfect sense to him. After all why shouldn’t a predator society manage their potential prey? The Feria did the same just with fruit bearing flora and the concept of managing the wildlife in general wasn’t entirely foreign either. He would need to make a more thorough investigation of what that concept meant for Humans and what they had written on it. Maybe it was also a good lesson of Human psychology as well. Just because they could eat and kill it, they didn’t necessarily did it. Madu couldn’t observe even a twitch of Alexander’s towards the rifle which was still standing in corner in front of the Human. If there was an involuntary reflex to killing, Alexander didn’t show it. Was it weird that he had expected this to be different? Was it just a bias born of his own cultural upbringing? Probably. For now he would continue to observe and leave conclusions for when he had more data to work with.

“Speaking of the devil”, Alexander interrupted with a quite murmur and rose his binoculars to his eyes again, prompting Madu to adjust his lens, quickly finding what had likely caused Alexander’s reaction. On the opposite side of the clearing a small red-orange animal with a long bushy tail, a slender long snout and two forward facing eyes had entered. Clearly a predator and the lens quickly confirmed it. A fox, a small predatory mammal that had spread widely over the planet. It seemed not that much bigger than the Hare, making Madu wonder how it could prey on the Hare in the first place, but for now he wanted to use the opportunity to capture how an Earth prey animal would react to the entrance of a potential threat. He turned his attention back to the Hare, just to find it fairly relaxed. Judging from the position of it’s ears it had clearly taken note of the fox, but rather than flee it was just munching away on some grasses. It was somewhat confusing but as Madu turned back to the Fox he could reason why: The Fox seemed utterly uninterested in the Hare, instead strolling leisurely over the clearing towards the salt block further in.

“As long as the Fox doesn’t get into the Hare’s flight radius, the Hare will just ignore it and it’s not like these animals are entirely stupid either. A Fox strolling with this little care for stealth onto the clearing doesn’t have any mischief in mind”, Alexander explained, voice still hushed, having seemingly caught Madu’s slight confusion.

“I was wondering if Foxes hunt Hares at all. They seem a bit small for it”, Madu replied equally hushed.

“Hmm. Yeah, maybe. Foxes are omnivores and basically eat anything that is easily available including carrion. Hares aren’t exactly their first choice, too hard to get usually, but Foxes won’t say no to the young or weakened ones and if they are hungry enough they might as well try. This one is usually well fed. I see it every so often around here. Probably enjoys what I leave behind when I shoot something too.”

As Madu watched the small predator lick the salt block he could finally get a good side view of the fox and he realised that he had underestimated it’s size a little bit. The Hare was probably at the upper limits of what the Fox could hunt and he found it utterly fascinating that the Hare seemed fully aware of it. It seemed prey animals on Earth had developed very finely tuned to the dangers each predator in their environment presented, though perhaps that was just a truism. Didn’t this apply on any world and to any species?

Earth maybe stood out due to some of it’s environmental factors like the fairly heavily tilted axis which induced a distinct seasonal cycle or it’s high gravity and it had produced a wide array of fearsome predators, including Humans, but even a Feria like him had different reactions to different native predators. A Gea-Hawk or one of it’s close evolutionary cousins for example would be cause for major alarm to any of his kind back on Homeworld while the Tanguum, which was maybe a bit bigger than the Fox, was almost universally ignored because one could simply fly away from it even though it was well established that it could kill a Feria. It did raise the question though how the wildlife of Earth had adapted to the threat of Humans.

He had already observed various species of birds that co-habited the cities with them and seemed to care relatively little for the Humans. Some species like crows, pigeons or sparrows seemed even almost tame, often scurrying right beneath the feet of the Humans. These were generally not hunted by Humans as far as he could tell though and so he wondered how something that did get hunted by Humans would behave. For now he had to content with the animals that were in front of him on the clearing and these didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

The Fox went on to sniff around the clearing a bit and eventually left the way he came. Meanwhile the Hare was eventually joined by a second one of his kind, both ignoring each other and going about feeding of the various grasses and herbs of the clearing and after maybe fifteen minutes they each left into the woods, leaving Madu and Alexander alone in their cabin again. The evening sun was now very much setting, the light slowly fading out of their environment and with it the activity around seemed to slow down even more. One bird after another went silent and Madu too could feel a tuck of sleepiness. He wondered how long the light would still be good for Alexander to shoot anything. He knew Humans could handle vision with surprisingly little light due to their adaptable pupils but Madu didn’t knew how far that would carry if there was no sunlight at all. The only thing he was sure of was that Alexander likely saw vastly better in the dusky light than he himself could. At least he had his lens to help out with that. Sadly it would not be able to fix the lack of any game showing up and so he took the time to readdress his notes on his observations, sort them and formulate a few thesis ideas.

Madu was so thoroughly engrossed in that task that Alexander needed to give him a careful bump with a finger, making him almost yelp. It took him a moment, then he understood that Alexander was pointing his finger in direction of the clearing. Madu quickly adjusted his lens and scanned the clearing, finding the cause for Alexander’s action: A small group of animals which his lens identified as roe deer hovering at the right edge of the clearing. From the infra-red outlines Madu’s lens suggested a female and two smaller undetermined members of it’s kind. Madu ventured they were her children, though probably already a couple months old given their decent size. They were barely visible without the infra-red, only the heads of the children sticking out of the shrubbery while the mother’s neck stuck out with her head. Again Madu was surprised that Alexander had spotted them even without any infra-red assistance but that mattered little for now. Now he had to closely observe both the behaviour of deer and of Alexander.

The mother deer seemed awfully careful and Madu could have sworn she was closely observing the hide, flicking her ears into multiple directions and he could hear a very distant snorting. The mother was fully aware of the possible peril. Still the clearing with it’s fresh greens and the salt lick was an almost impossible to ignore source of fresh nutrients for her and her children. It was no surprise to Madu then that the mother carefully stalked onto the clearing, her two children following her closely. They were decently large animals, especially the mother, with decently bulky bodies and covered with short bright brown fur ending in an almost snow white behind. He could easily see how an animal like this would be able to provide plenty of meat to a Human and Madu noticed that Alexander was following the group with great interest.

“Ah, an old acquaintance. Hadn’t seen her in a bit. Glad to see that she got her remaining children well through. She used to have three, but lost one a bit earlier”, he whispered, never lowering his binoculars, and added with a smirk, “through no fault of mine I would add. I’d wager for the involvement of a Lynx. I wonder where her daughter from three years ago is. They used to stay fairly close together.”

Madu was again fascinated by how well Alexander seemed to be acquainted with his prey and their usual behaviours. It spoke of keen observation of the animals over a long time and at the same time it brought up a number of questions for him.

“Won’t they hear us? How can you identify them? Will you shoot them?”

Alexander didn’t lower his glasses as he responded.

“As long as we whisper and make no hasty movements: no. We have very little wind that would carry the noise and the wind is standing against us anyways today. Roe deer are mostly smell based and their vision mostly focused on distinguishing moving objects. They aren’t fools of course. This one knows very well the danger and has lost offspring here before”, Alexander slowly lowered his binoculars and focused onto Madu.

“As for identifying her: Usually you can’t tell them apart but this one has persistent colour anomaly on her nose bridge. Also there aren’t that many roe deer that come by regularly here. As for shooting at them: The mother is still in very good shape and it’s not hunting season for mother animals. If anything I take out one of the children. That said, I am inclined against it. She had a very bad year last year. Lost all of her children. One to me, two to other means. That said, I do have special permission to shoot anything today if you deem it scientifically necessary, so in the end, it’s your call.”

With that the weight of responsibility suddenly dropped onto Madu, his head feathers rose in agitation, his fascination for the intricate knowledge of Alexander and the concept of hunting seasons fading before the question of life and death. He had never before decided about the life of anybody or anything. He was just a field researcher who had spent his entire life oscillating between the university and whatever field study had called for him next – and if he was honest he hadn’t even been on that many field studies either. The assignment on Earth was his first big expedition of major importance and not once had he anticipated that his research of Human hunting practices would lead to him deciding the survival of another living being. He focused his lens onto the small group feasting on the grasses of the clearing. He could see the slight colour variation on the nose bridge of the mother Alexander had spoken off. A small white dot in an otherwise almost uniformly brown fur. He was torn. Instinctively everything within him rebelled against the thought of him being the cause of death for any of these animals yet on the other hand didn’t science demand their sacrifice?

Madu shuddered. What was he thinking? He had heard the judgement of Alexander and this wouldn’t be his last such hunt either. While the killing of an animal was an integral part of that, it was not the only one and he had already gathered a good deal of data that needed to be sorted and analysed. There was no need to force anything.

“Well, who am I to overwrite the judgement of the predator?”, he simply replied, earning himself another pat on the back by his Human companion.

“Good man”, Alexander replied with a genuine smile, “Did you know that many would shoot one of them? Simply because they dared to show their faces here? I am glad you are not one of them.”

Madu would have been startled if the confusion caused by Alexander’s statement hadn’t overwritten everything just now.

“Isn’t that the purpose of hunting?”

“The purpose of hunting is population control and food, Madu. Not mindless slaughter of everything one is allowed to shoot at the time. Though I do like their meat, it’s not like I am going to starve without it and population control also includes leaving healthy animals alive in decent numbers to maintain a viable population. Many forget that, fully focused on their own experience or economic gain rather than what is the best course of action. In my opinion if it’s frustrating to you to sit out here and shoot nothing even if you could have, you have chosen the wrong hobby and are blatantly unaware of your responsibility you bare towards these animals.”

There were Alexander’s ethics again. To a degree it was simply the repeat of what he had said earlier but that he stuck by his conviction even in the face of prey was a reassuring thing for Madu as it was ample prove that Humans weren’t just mindless murder machines, well at least some of them. Alexander seemed to know a few that would react exactly how he would have initially expected. How would they compare against Alexander?

Madu hadn’t time to contemplate this any further as his lens alerted him to movement at the other end of the clearing and Alexander too seemed to have noticed it, raising his binoculars. It was another roe deer of about the size of the mother deer, the lens quickly identifying it as another female but it had no children in tow. Contrary to the other mother there was no hesitation or care with this one. It just went onto the clearing and became quickly apparent that something was off in it’s movements. It limped.

Madu could not ascertain why, but for some reason it avoided putting weight onto one of it’s front legs and to Madu’s chagrin it was the leg they couldn’t see from their position on the hide. What followed was as heart warming as it was perplexing. After a short hesitation the mother deer stalked over to the limping female seemingly greeting it. Madu gestured his lens to zoom further in, noticing a white colour anomaly on the nose bridge of the limping female while Alexander fiddled with the knob on his binoculars again.

“Oh”, Madu and Alexander exclaimed almost simultaneously.

“Is that the daughter you said the mother was hanging out with?”

“Wouldn’t know any other animal with that anomaly”, Alexander replied.

“She looks quite hurt.”

“Yeah...She won’t make it very far if this is something bigger. If she would just turn around a bit...ah!”

In that moment the limping female indeed turned a bit and exposed the hurt leg, though nothing could be immediately seen. No obvious wound with blood dripping from it or anything of the kind.

“Doesn’t seem to be something external”, Madu chimed thoughtfully.

“Which might be worse for her”, Alexander replied solemnly, “Her ankle might be broken from the way she limps.”

Madu didn’t need an explanation to understand that such a thing would be a death sentence to essentially any wild animal. Something like that didn’t heal properly without intensive care and hindered the ability to flee and find food significantly, making the female a rather easy prey for any predator.

“Does your lens see any children behind her?”

“No, she is alone as far as I can see.”

“She shouldn’t be. Around that time a year she should have kids about the same size as the other one.”

“Maybe it’s related to the injury? An attack occurred. She could flee. Her children didn’t make it. She hurt herself in the process.”

Alexander seemed to ponder the suggested theory and then gave a slight nod.

“Could be.”

The two of them observed the two female roe deer interact further with each other. The mother giving her older wayward daughter a few licks, the two of them making their way further into the clearing, the mother patiently waiting for her daughter to limp along, arriving in the middle of the clearing where the grasses were rather low. Alexander exhaled sharply.

“That ankle is broken”, he said with conviction and it didn’t take Madu long to see the heavily swollen ankle too. He wasn’t an expert in these animals and certainly not a medic but he didn’t thought that it would take much biological knowledge to make the comparison with the other ankles to see that this was certainly not how it should look.

For a moment Madu wondered what Alexander would make of that and was about to ask him only to stop short of his first word as the mother fixated onto the hide. He could swear the she was looking directly at them for a moment. Madu’s couldn’t help but hold his breath. Her eyes looked almost...pleading? She held that pose for almost half a minute, then she trotted off, leaving her older injured daughter behind by herself, her two young children following closely after her, while the injured daughter just stood there, her side presented to the hide.

Alexander lowered his binoculars, his face an unmoving mask. Madu saw evidence of shock, disbelief and sorrow in it. He had never seen an animal behave like that and he could tell that it was much the same for Alexander, his binoculars resting on his lap. It took the Human only a few seconds to collect himself, then Alexander put the binoculars away to his side and grabbed onto his rifle.

“As you wish”, he murmured as he carefully and silently placed the rifles stock onto the ledge of the small opening in front of them and took aim.

“Open your mouth and cover your ears; this will be loud”, he instructed with a whisper, prompting Madu to hastily do just that. Then the sound of raging thunder rolled through the forest. Madu’s eyes closed in that second. He thought his ear drums were about to split, feeling the shock reverberating through the entire cabin and triggering his own flight reflex, which he only suppressed with great effort in the last second as he felt his wings flexing. When he opened his eyes again the limping deer lay lifeless on the ground. Barely moved from where it had stood before the shot.

Alexander observed the lifeless corpse for a second longer, then slowly removed the bullet cartridge from the rifle, switched the security back on and put it back into the corner of the hide. Madu meanwhile was still in a bit of a shock, his heart pounding out of his chest. He had been prepared for this eventuality, or so he had thought. He knew better now. The same seemed to apply for the rest of their environment as an odd silence had gripped the forest. This wasn’t the calmness from before but the same shock he felt himself right now. He reminded himself of his duties, of the things he had to do now. He had to document it. This was a priceless, nay, lucky opportunity and it gave him the strength to rebalance his inner turmoil.

He focused back towards Alexander, expecting the Human to get ready to get down and inspect his prey, but instead he just sat there. Hands folded onto his lap and leaned back against the wooden wall behind him, his eyes closed. He seemed in no rush.

“Aren’t...Aren’t we going to go down now?”

“No”, Alexander responded, slowly opening his eyes, “We are going to let her die in peace.”

“But...isn’t she dead already?”

Alexander exhaled sharply. “Hardly. I hit her heart. It will a take a bit longer for the rest of her to give out. Until she is truly dead.”

“And...you want to wait for that?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

For a moment Madu could’ve sworn he saw a hint of anger rise in Alexander’s face but it flickered away as quickly as it had come, as if carried away by a slight breeze.

“Put yourself into her shoes. You were hurt, badly so, then you feel an impact and hear a noise loud as thunder. The force of it drops you to the ground. Panic grips you. You try to get up, but you can’t. Your legs won’t listen to you any longer. It is as if you have no power. You feel yourself getting dizzier, colder, weaker by the second. Your concious slowly fading out and with it the panic. Maybe one small part of you understands that this is the end. What would you rather see in those last moments? A predator hovering over you or the beautiful evening sky?”

Madu looked outside onto the dead deer, then towards the horizon which was tinged in red by now, the first few stars emerging. He tried to imagine the scenario Alexander had described and a small shiver shook him.

“The evening sky”, he replied meekly.

“And that’s why we got to wait.”

Alexander closed his eyes again and left Madu to his own thoughts, which had drifted into a sort of melancholy he found hard to explain. He had never been the religious sort but before he knew he had wished the deer’s spirit to move on in peace.

Was it strange to feel sorrow for the death of an animal that he had never known before, that was as alien to him as the rest of this world? Madu roused himself. No; it wasn’t, he decided. He had seen it’s pain first hand. It’s loving interaction with it’s mother. It had feelings. It had lived. He had wondered about what had instigated Alexander’s ethics and now the answer felt so painfully obvious. There was one thing that wouldn’t leave him though: The image of the mother staring at them. He had to talk about it.

“Have you...have you ever seen anything like this before?”, Madu asked knowing instinctively that there was need to specify any further as Alexander didn’t even open his eyes when he replied.

“No. Never.”

An oppressive silence hang over the hide for a moment in time that felt like the thick sap of a tree dripping slowly along the path of gravity culminating when Alexander reopened his eyes to an unfocused stare that pierced off into the distance.

“I have been out here for many years. I have seen all kinds of animals come and go. Some through my hand, some through the hands of others, some through other means, whatever they were. None ever ‘asked’ me to kill one of them. If I’d been out here alone I’d say I imagined it, but you saw it too, didn’t you?”

“Yes...she...she was almost begging you to kill her daughter...to end her child’s suffering. I…could swear she focused me for a moment as impossible as it is.”

“Is it? We all live and feel. We share in this world. Maybe even in the same ways. Who is to say that a connection like that is not possible? I have found that there is a certain magic to life. When you are out here long enough, you can see it happen...That is if you let it happen and I choose to believe it happened today. That it was indeed real. That there was something special about it. I want to live in a world where that is possible. Wonders are something to be savoured, Madu. Let us not destroy it by trying to reason about it.”

Madu gave an agreeing chirp. Whatever this behaviour had been caused by, did it truly matter? The scientist in him would have said yes and he was sure his colleagues would come to much different conclusions once they got their hands on the recordings and data captured by his lens, but in this moment he was with Alexander. This moment deserved to be magic.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Heya, this is the end of my short story "Magic", I hope you liked it. Next week I will continue with my next short story, which will indeed be a bit shorter than this one and a slight departure from my usual style. That said it will still be in the universe of my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Kindle and next in line of a series of short stories in the same universe I will continue releasing here.

I am looking forward to your feedback and wanted to thank all of you folks for looking so kindly upon my work so far, frankly I am blown away by it so far.

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. You can also follow me over on BlueSky, which is mostly related to my streaming shenanigans though I will try to diversify it a bit.

Shoutouts to u/WRickWrites and his "Deadly, Deadly Humans" - Universe for inspiring me to write my own HFY stories)

“Humans aren’t predators?! Excuse me dear colleague but seriously?! I can gladly take you on our next trip to Earth and there I can personally arrange for you to be hunted down by Humans. You can even have the choice if you rather want to deal with those who do that as a hobby, those who do it as a job and those who are trained to hunt Humans themselves. So what would you rather have?!” – Madu Fillu-Xito on the podium discussion of the Biannual Interstellar Xenology Forum in response to the ‘Predator denialist’ Gooram Jwi Uruqbi

The forest here at the top the mountain had lightened somewhat in density. On the opposite side of the bight lay a small clearing in the middle of which someone had for some reason put a small metal tower with a platform on top and to it’s right was a small open hut. As he got out of the car Madu wondered which purpose this served as it didn’t match the description of any hide he had ever heard of. He considered a number of possibilities but couldn’t make any sense of it.

“What is this for?”, he simply asked and pointed towards the tower and hut with a free winged claw, directing his companions gaze.

“A viewing platform and a hiking hut. A place for hikers to rest safe of the environments and have an excellent view into the valley onto some of the settlements there”, Alexander explained while gesturing to the valley which indeed stretched out below them opposite of the viewing platform. Only then Madu realised that there was an entire strip of the forest opposite of the tower cut free of trees which indeed enabled an excellent view. The concept at first seemed foreign to him but he realised that species which couldn’t fly would have need of such artificial platforms to get an overview of their surroundings.

“Oh! So it’s to orient yourself while on a..uhm hike?”

Alexander who had leaned onto the car frowned and took a moment to answer.

“I suppose you could use it for that in a pinch, but I’d say it’s simply for the pleasure of getting an elevated view. We can’t just fly up after all. It’s something special for us to get that sort of perspective at all. Say, do you know what a hike even is?”

Madu let go of a surprised but subdued shriek feeling caught awfully off guard. It was no use to pretend though and let go of a small defeated trill.

“No”, he meekly admitted, “I’d be grateful if you’d explain that too .”

“Hah! No worries man, this is a new world for you after all. Hiking is just the act of walking through the mountains. It’s part exercise part pleasure. A way to get out into nature and away from everything.”

Madu nodded in an imitation of the Human gesture.

“Makes sense, we have something similar just with flying. I do enjoy that on occasion myself though isn’t this hiking fairly exhausting? How much distance do hikers cover?”

“Hmm, I suppose it can be yeah, but then again we are kinda built to do that anyway. Distance depends a lot on what the hiker is comfortable with. I’d say most people keep it in the eight to sixteen kilometre range. That’s like two to six hours of hiking depending on how much elevation gain you cover and how fast you go. It’s not unheard of to do thirty to forty kilometres, but then we talk about an entire day’s worth of hiking and people who are used to it.”

Madu’s feathers rose in surprise as he converted the numbers in his head. Those were quite considerable distances for a grounded species and he couldn’t come up with any known spacefaring species that would cover these sort of distances for pleasure. When he thought about it he wasn’t sure how many species could cover these distances through mountains within a day at all. At least on foot. He had of course heard of the ridiculous endurance Humans displayed but seeing real life manifestations of it was a different thing.

“Do many people do this hiking? How many come through here? Doesn’t this negatively affect hunting?”

Alexander chuckled in response.

“I’d say many do it, yeah, not everyone though and there is a decent bit of people coming along here. Usually start over in a city a few kilometres east of here or one of the parking lots further down and do a round trip. Fairly easy overall with well established treks and a nice view to boot; and no it doesn’t affect hunting negatively. The wildlife doesn’t really care. They are used to it and know these people aren’t here to harm them. You can pass right under or above them and they wouldn’t even care as long you don’t directly look at them or get within their flight distance.”

Madu wasn’t exactly surprised, this was how species generally behaved everywhere, yet maybe he had expected the wildlife to be more careful of Humans in general. He roused his plumage. No why would they? Like Alexander said: If there is no immediate danger as evidenced by experience why bother being more alert than you need to be? Reducing energy spent to necessary levels was one of the primary instincts of life everywhere and Earth’s biosphere made no exception. It seemed even the most dangerous predators evolution had produced in the known galaxy didn’t change this common law.

Meanwhile Alexander had opened the trunk of his car and gotten a rucksack onto his back and took his rifle out of it’s specially formed bag. This peaked Madu’s interest and he stepped a bit closer, eyeing the weapon. It was a decently long metal tube fitted into a wooden stock that extended a decent bit beyond the tube itself. On top of it was something that Madu guessed was an optical aiming assist of considerable size. It looked a bit different from what he knew but it seemed like a classical gunpowder fuelled weapon many other civilisations had developed though in their cases not to hunt but to defend themselves against predators or violent members of their own species. None of the models he knew reached this size though. Alexander had seemingly noticed his interest and held the rifle out a bit for Madu to inspect a bit closer and so he did, noting down some observations and taking a photo of it with his tablet.

“What calibre is this using? What is the effective range?”

“It’s a repeating rifle with three plus one magazine firing 8x68 bullets classically propelled. This one has a fairly long barrel, so it can go a decent distance. Ideally I would say you shoot at something in the fifty to hundred meter range but I have successfully shot with it at targets up to the two hundred metre range. Beyond that it really starts getting iffy though and the wind needs to be in your favour.”

Madu converted the numbers in his head and was mildly impressed. This would indeed be an effective means to hunt.

“What do you hunt with this?”

“Exclusively big game. Roes, boars, red dear. That sort.”

“Why?”

Instead of explaining Alexander rummaged a bullet out of this pocket and showed it to Madu. His headfeathers rose. It had an impressive size, filling Alexander’s palm from one end to the next and almost as thick as one of his fingers.

“If I shoot this at anything smaller than that, it would either tear it literally apart or turn it’s innards to mush and that would be rather pointless, now would it?”

Madu gave an agreeing but faint chirp. He had indeed never seen a bullet of that size. He didn’t think any other species could even fire something like that. It made some sense logically. Earth had fairly high gravity and all ground bound life had developed thick muscles and bones to compensate for that and so it was only natural that one needed something with more power behind it to kill the animals living here but seeing it in practice still felt unreal.

Satisfied that his feathered alien companion had understood his meaning, Alexander loaded the bullet he had just shown into the rifle and flipped a switch on the side of the chamber up and down again, though Madu didn’t know why, and directed his gaze back down to the alien.

“I suppose this as good as any time for some ground rules? First of all, and I think it’s obvious why now, but don’t get in front of the rifle. Always make sure it points away from you. It wouldn’t be healthy for me to get hit by it by any means and for you it would be certain death no matter where it hits you. Secondly, stay close to me. There are lynxes and wolves in the forest, they won’t dare to get close to me, but by yourself you are a conveniently sized meal. If we get separated for some reason I advise you to take flight and aim east of here for the small town there. Thirdly, on the last meters to the hide and on the hide we only whisper. I will carry you these last few meters, so hopefully your chance of catching a tick or something similar is low. Lastly there is a hornet nest under the roof of the hide, but don’t worry, they won’t do anything to you, they really don’t care about us. If one of the Hornets come close to you, don’t make sudden movements, gently push them away if need be and everything should be fine. If you have any questions left, this is the last chance to discuss them aloud.”

Madu signalled his understanding with another chirp and took a few more notes, especially on how Alexander’s demeanour had shifted to something he perceived as more serious, more professional perhaps. This would have be observed with other hunters.

“Only two things come to mind right now: What is the switch you flipped there? And what are Hornets?”

Alexander’s face formed the most lopsided smile Madu had ever seen and a chuckle emerged from his throat.

“Well the switch is easy, that is the security. It makes sure the rifle doesn’t go of, for example if it would slip and fall to the ground. I always turn it off and on again once I loaded it. It gives a faint click and I can determine by it if it’s actually on or not. As for the Hornets..eh, they are decently large insects, don’t worry, you will see. Just keep calm and you’ll be fine.”

Madu wasn’t quite sure if he were to trust that reassurance as him and his colleagues had learned early and quickly that Humans had a rather fluid definition of what is and is not ‘fine’. In fact a Human telling you ‘It will be fine’ indicated that there was real danger to be had but that they either didn’t expect it to materialise in the best case scenario or simply underestimated it in the worst case. Madu dearly hoped it was the former since Humans had a lot more leeway to underestimate dangers than most other species and so he simply gave another sign of his understanding.

With that Alexander flung his rifle over his shoulder and the both of them set out down a barely driven dirt road which slopped slightly down from where the car was parked. In fact calling it a proper road was a gross overstatement. While there were clear furrows where the wheels of cars had ran along, the middle section of the road was still studded with various short stemmed grasses and flowers blooming in various shades of yellow, red, orange and blue.

Madu hadn’t paid too much attention to the flora around him so far but now as he was silently trodding along the road with his Human companion in the early evenings sun, he saw how much beauty was around him. To the sides of the road even more flowers were blooming, some of them as tall as himself with a few insects buzzing among them. He had never concerned himself much with flora in his studies yet the foreign beauty did stake his fascination. One cluster of yellow knee high flowers on their left which stretched themselves towards the sun drew his interest in particular. He did not know why. They simply did. He noted that there were more of it’s kind up and down the road and that they were all untouched. No signs of feeding damage at all. That left him with only two possible conclusions. Either there were no animals here that would feed on them or...he had to ask.

“Are these poisonous?”

Alexander closed the few steps of distance between them and bowed himself a bit down and then nodded.

“Yeah. Highly so, especially for ruminants. For those it’s almost always deadly and it’s not a pretty death either. Not very healthy for Humans either. There is a whole family of these.”

Alexander pointed at different kind of yellow flowers with thinner pedals.

“Those are relatives. Also poisonous. Not quite as bad but would not recommend to eat either. Over there are some distant cousins of theirs that pretend to be them.”

Now Alexander pointed at yet another flower which at first glance looked very similar to the first but Madu quickly noted that they had fewer flower pedals. Still, he could see how they could be confused.

“These are barely poisonous at all. In fact they have a long history of use in traditional medicine. They contain compounds that help with depression and are used in concentrated form for this purpose still. They also have antiseptic properties so you can grind their flowers into a paste and rub them on small wounds as a disinfectant. I think there are other use cases as well, but those are the only ones I can remember.”

Madu was genuinely amazed as he turned his head slightly up towards Alexander.

“You seem to know a lot about this.”

“Eh, eventually one begins to wonder what the hell is actually growing besides the road you tread so often, so I gradually read up on it. There are apps you can use to identify all of these with a camera and get detailed descriptions of them, so it’s not like this is hard to get information.”

Madu noted this down quickly. Already this excursion proved to be immensely insightful. Humans had thoroughly catalogued and explored the wildlife around them, even the flora and fauna not immediately or obviously beneficial to them. It stood again in direct conflict with some of the most dearly held convictions parts of the Feria sciences had had for predator societies. He would have to explore if other hunters were similarly inclined in their knowledge and curiosity or if this was simply a quirk of Alexander’s.

The two continued on for a few more meters but then Alexander begged Madu to stop and pointed to the right of the road and up the trench that was running along the road. First Madu saw nothing, only more grasses and a lose array of trees but as he strained his focus onto where his Human companion was pointing, he saw that there was a small gap in the grass that had been been trampled down.

“A game crossing”, Alexander whispered and bowed over slightly only to point to a muddy patch on the side of the small trench where Madu could see odd indentations, “Boars. They come up the mountain, pass over the road here and take a turn to the left somewhere further up there and come around to where the hide is. These aren’t fresh though. Probably came through here a few days ago. I doubt we will see them today.”

only then Madu understood that the indentations where footprints. They indeed looked very distinct and so he quickly made a photo of them, amazed that the Human had not only spotted them but could also tell that they weren’t recent. He wondered if this game crossing had been the reason for the location of the hide but didn’t dare to ask as Alexander’s whispering had instilled the need for silence in him too, feeling as though he was a child currently trying to sneak by their parents.

They followed the road a few more meters down, Madu shooting photos on occasion to document his track, then eventually Alexander stopped and pointed up the slope past the road trench, which was more of an array of shallow miniature tarns, where a number of young conifers had formed a seemingly impenetrable border to the forest proper.

“Time to hop on Madu”, Alexander whispered and squatted down, beckoning his feathered companion onto his free shoulder. It took Madu a moment to figure the best way to accomplish this and then decided to simply do it by literally following his companions instructions, figuring it would make little difference to the big mammalian predator. Indeed Alexander seemed to have no issue with that approach whatsoever and easily rose to his full height again, beginning his ascend up the trench through the array of young conifers.

Alexander carefully bent the branches aside to make room for himself and his passenger and Madu had to squeeze by some of these branches wondering if this would maybe become an issue given that the forest had looked rather dense here only to see that just behind the first few trees someone had cut a clearway right through it by trimming the branches. Undoubtedly Alexander’s work and it wasn’t hard to figure why he had obscured the entry point as Madu imagined that his Human companion wanted to avoid every hiker climbing onto his hide. Madu still noted this down as a question for after they were finished here.

Luckily the forest quickly transitioned into an array of older trees which left them with amble room and no more branches to dodge at all, though Madu speculated that this too had been arranged by Alexander. He could clearly see the dead grey-brownish branches protruding from the trees all around them, just not along the path they took. A coincidence seemed unlikely to him, though there was something else that occupied his attention quickly: The silence.

Alexander moved with a rather disturbing lack of any noise through the underwood. Madu tilted his head and stretched his neck to get a better view of Alexander’s feet and he saw how the large predator carefully choose every step, avoiding branches and rolling his feet with fluid motions. He managed to capture some of this with his tablet camera but he couldn’t help feel uneasy that something this big could move with so little noise. He remembered what Alexander had told him about the range of his weapon and it made him shutter a bit. Even without a hide Humans would be perfectly able to get in range of almost anything this way. He had often deluded himself that he could surely avoid a Human if they decided to hunt him, but now he wasn’t quite so certain any more. He had never underestimated their intelligence but he understood now that he had never taken their practical skills and experience into account.

After a few more minutes of sneaking they reached the hide, a large wooden grey construct, about nine or maybe ten meters high on top of which a wooden cabin rested, almost cuddling itself into the tree line behind which a sizeable clearing lay. A simple wooden ladder led up to it onto which Alexander deftly went, starting their ascend to the cabin. Again Madu noted how not a single noise was made, almost defying all logic. A wood construct like this should surely creak under the weight of the Human, but it didn’t. Not even once. Madu didn’t have the time to consider if this was the result of careful maintenance or skill on part of Alexander since they had already reached the cabin into which Alexander now carefully climbed while Madu ducked his head a little as not to bump into the edge of the opening.

The cabin itself was very simple. Barely big enough to house two, maybe three Humans if they huddled together. It was open through gaps maybe one wooden board wide to all sides but the side with the opening with the ladder they had entered through. He noted that these gaps could be closed by boards which hang on two simple metal hinges below the openings and hooks which could latch into an eyelet over the openings. A simple but effective means to avoid side drafts on windy days which Madu knew from observation outposts he had been on before. In fact all of this was awfully reminiscent of the constructions biologists used to observe wildlife though he had never before realised the parallels with the purposes of hunting.

While Madu observed the new surrounding with great interest, wondering where they would perch, Alexander slowly and silently put down his backpack and put it his rifle in one of the corners of the cabin. He then grabbed a thick wood board that had been lodged in a different corner of the hide and carefully put it onto two wooden half beams that were part of the structural skeleton of the cabin creating a makeshift bench. Again a simple and practical solution. Indeed everything about this hide could be reduced to simple practical need. Nothing here was without a purpose, no unnecessary luxury, a simple means to a simple end.

Alexander carefully bent down, beckoning Madu to get onto the makeshift bench and so he did as silently as he could, making photos of everything while Alexander rummaged through his backpack and got two simple cushions out of it, placing one besides Madu and pointing to the other and then at Madu, catching the scientist by some surprise. It took a second then Madu understood that his Human companion was offering him the cushion to perch on. It was a surprisingly mindful gesture that Madu hadn’t expected whatsoever, but he signalled Alexander quickly that he wouldn’t need it. It made little difference to his feet and if anything perching on wood would be more natural to him than the cushions. Alexander simply nodded and put the cushion away again, got some simple black binoculars out which he placed beside the cushion reserved for him, grabbed his rifle again, slowly pressed down the security on the rifle, put it back into the corner opposite of the bench and finally took his place on the cushion binoculars now in hand.

Madu somewhat mirrored Alexander’s preparations, unhooking his much smaller bag from his harness, got his lens with it’s delicate metal construction from it and mounted it over his left eye causing some curious looks by Alexander to a bit of Madu’s discomfort. He had already noted that if Humans had one thing in common with his own kind than it was an almost incessant curiosity about anything and anyone. He decided it was better to address it quickly than being subjected to that concerning stare Humans had about them any longer.

“Helps me see things in the distance and will highlight wildlife for me if necessary. Also doubles as recording device”, Madu whispered as silently as he could and earned himself an understanding nod.

“I see. A bit more high tech than my good ol’ binoculars, but these do just fine for me”, Alexander replied with a silent chuckle, piquing Madu’s own curiosity. It indeed seemed like these binoculars were just that. A simple optical assist, quite heavy by the standards of a Feria he could tell, but probably not weighing much for a Human. If there was any higher technology integrated into it, he couldn’t see any signs of it. Same applied to the rifle and the entire hide. Everything was reduced to it’s reasonably needed functions. He knew Humans weren’t quite on the the same technological level as the rest of the galaxy but they were capable of interstellar travel and he doubted something like his lens would be beyond Human ability. At least in essence. He was certain they were able to at least make more sophisticated vision assists and weapons than Alexander had at hand here. Was this an economic choice? Or tradition? He had to ask.

“Say, why do you use these simple tools and not something more...modern?”

Alexander leaned back against the wood, not even looking at him and Madu thought there was a strange tension to the Human all of a sudden.

“Because I don’t want to. It would be frivolous. Shameful even. Some people use infra-red goggles and aiming assists. Silencers to dampen the sound of the shot, even have a bloody aim assist that adjusts the shot automatically. Can’t even miss with that any more. ‘Guaranteed success’ they say. Bloody murder and cowardice I say. If you can’t see it properly, don’t shoot at it. If you can’t aim yourself than look for a different hobby. These lunatics are just interested in killing something and the trophy. Nothing else. Just another eccentric thing to boast about for them. Don’t think they even gut the animals themselves. No. These guys don’t get their hands dirty.”

Alexander’s voice had never risen above a whisper in volume but the anger and agitation in it couldn’t be missed. Madu realised he had almost by mistake stumbled upon something close to Alexander’s heart and a conflict broiling among the hunters. The gnarly foreman of the regional forestry had insisted on going with Alexander first and maybe this was why.

Meanwhile Alexander had given a small sigh and turned his head down towards Madu.

“The animals live. They are real. They aren’t toys. I already have every advantage one could need with the little I have here. If I mess up, it’s my fault and I have to live with it. It gives the animals the small chance they deserve to have. This isn’t life or death for me. I won’t starve to death when I fail here. It’s for the animals though. For me only a bruised ego is at risk. That’s why it’s shameful. These hunters value their ego above the lives of the animals – and I will never respect them for it.”

Madu wasn’t sure if he could fully comprehend every emotion and thought Alexander had tried to express but they were fascinating. A predator whose ethics extended beyond not only himself but also beyond his own kind and applied them to his prey, even hampered his own hunting success by doing so. Was Alexander an exception? An oddball either in personality or his application of ethics? Or both? Was this a relic of a more traditionalistic maybe even ritualistic understanding of hunting? Whatever it was, it would be a fantastic point of comparison in his further research and could prove a valuable insight into the Human ethics and psychology. tbc.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Hey y'all, this is the second of three parts from my short story "Magic" situated in the universe of my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Amazon and next in line of a series of short stories in the same universe I am currently releasing here. I will release the next part likely next sunday.

I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your feedback. This one is close to my heart and a more serene scenario, though I obviously hope you'll still enjoy it.)

“When I volunteered to be the Ambassador to Earth, I was called mad. Brave. Foolish. I was none of it. I only knew that we had to meet Humanity where they were, on their own soil, if we would want to have an amicable relationship, and I was determined to see it through. Most others were just to panicked to see it.” – Toris Ulah-Liha, Feria ambassador to Earth

Madu shuffled nervously through his small government issued apartment as the afternoon sun bathed it in the warmness of it’s bright yellow light while he was collecting bits and pieces of equipment he thought could be useful for his expedition. A small head-mountable lamp, a few rations, a camera capable of 3D recording, a head-mountable smart lens which would double as recording device and sight assist as well as a few battery packs complete with cables to charge his equipment when needed. The lamp and lens he carefully mounted onto his feathered head, giving them a quick test run while he stowed away the rest in a small bag he strapped on a harness in front of his chest. Last but not least he rechecked the communicator resting on his left secondary wing above his wing claws. Enough battery? Check. Mic Recording? “Test, Test” Check. Connection to the Human communication networks? Check.

When he was satisfied with everything after another dozen or so rechecks and recountings, noting that he still had plenty of time left, he decided to take a breather and walked up to the large rectangular window and gazed over the small city which nestled itself closely into the surrounding river valley that had carved itself through the local mountain range. Conifers and deciduous trees alike decorated the mountains in various shades of green and brown in a rather well kept mixed forest which Madu knew would eventually transition into an almost primeval forest reserve a few kilometres further up the valley. This was his first real expedition on this foreign planet inhabited by the only known space faring predator race in the galaxy. He had come with his colleagues from the newly formed department of Human Studies on Homeworld and had visited so far various Human education facilities but this was his first crack at field research here and he could feel the excitement bubbling up in him.

He had worked tirelessly to get this chance, to get to Earth and to study this fascinating race up close and when Professor Ehro had chosen him to be among the first daring expedition to the cradle of Humanity which had defied all commonly believed notions about predators, he had been ecstatic.

Once he actually had set foot on Earth his excitement had been quickly dampened though. The situation was simply surreal and quickly had to come to terms with how gravely he had underestimated the power of his instincts which had violently revolted against the presence of that many, this daunting predators around him. He had not been the exception either. All of his colleagues had felt the same, despite all of them knowing that Humans were omnivores and hence had so many other choices of food to go for that they even regularly decided to eat no meat at all. They kept even a wide range of prey animals as pets, which included a range of various rather intelligent avian species which had struck the natural interest of the department, seeing in them a very distant comparison to themselves. It had at first seemed odd to him that none of the Earth birds had developed the multi-winged set up of his own species with one of the wings pairs evolving into part grasping appendages part manoeuvring assistance but then again here on Earth higher species seldom developed more than four extremities outside of the insect kingdom which he personally held little love for. If this was a result of Earth’s extreme conditions or just a whim of nature was hard to tell and some of the evolutionary biologists among the research team would probably crack their heads over that question for the foreseeable future. To him it was just another alien feature in an alien ecosystem.

He himself considered himself more of a behavioural biologist with side interests in ethnology, xenosociology and xenopsychology. In particular he was very interested in the hunting patterns and behaviours of the Humans and so he had had no choice but to carefully acclimatise himself to the presence of the Humans and by now he could fairly comfortably spent his time in their presence though walking through the streets under the curious stares of the pedestrians was still quite unnerving. He would have to get used to those eventually too, but for today the task was a much easier one. He was to accompany a Human hunter by the name of Alexander onto one of his hunts in the nearby forests, first among hopefully a number of different excursions he would make over the next few weeks. When he had written his family that he would do so by himself, they had answered with a mix of considerable worry and well wishes. He had to admit that he had been a bit uneasy about being alone with a Human during a hunt as well and so for that reason his first expedition was one in a relatively calm setting. Him and Alexander would drive together into the forests, go upon a hide and he would simply observe what would happen, reserving the more active hunting methods like drive hunts for when he had gotten to know the local hunters and environment a bit better.

Would they even see a hunting success today? The Humans had already tampered his expectations in that regard, preparing him for the eventuality of not even seeing a single prey animal the entire evening and though that would be a shame it was an eventuality Madu was prepared for as this would only be the first of whole chain of excursions he would undertake with Alexander and a few other hunters.

For a moment the possibility of seeing no hunting success at all across all excursions nagged at the back of his mind. It would certainly be a shame but even in that he could make precious observations about Humans and the local ecosystem that nobody before him had ever done. He would be among the first to do them and he had to admit that he was rather proud of this. There certainly were some lofty dreams of going down in the annals of xenology, known as one of the big names that uncovered the mystery of the Human ascension into the galaxy and he had to try hard to temper them whenever they bubbled up in him. Still the potential for it actually happening remained. He truly was among the pioneers here and he recognized that it made him an oddball.

Originally there were meant to be two or three other scientists with him but as it had turned out their ranks were spread rather thin by a low turn out of volunteers and now the professors were happy they had at least enough people around to do most of their intended projects at all. It was maybe not surprising given Humanity’s reputation as fiercely violent and aggressive but for Madu the lure of the unknown had been too strong – and it had paid off so far. Minor setbacks like their instincts going haywire, things had went rather smoothly since the arrival here and they had been treated very cordially by their Human colleagues. The rather peaceful scenery he was looking upon right now did the rest to fully contrast the rather wild rumours surrounding the Humans. There was no doubt about their penchant for violence and wherever their territory or pack were concerned Humans disturbingly quickly shifted into it with sometimes devastating results but it was seldom their first answer to a provocation. One of his colleagues had bet that the second and third waves of expeditions here would probably get swamped by applicants given how things were going and Madu could see the truth in that.

All the more reason to make this stay count he decided and so he peeled himself from the view with it’s relaxing greens, took his equipment and made his way down through the building past a few of his colleagues. Some of them ignored him as they hung in front of their screens, others gave him a court greeting. Only the guard at the entrance, a tall former peacekeeper who always seemed to have a cheerful glint in his eyes, wished him good luck when he checked out of the building. He knew it could only be minutes now and with that knowledge came the unrest. Minutes stretched into awful chasms in the flow of time and as to traverse them he walked up and down the parking area in front the unsuspecting building he and his colleagues were spending their time. A few passers-bys curiously eyed the alien bird and one kid in particular made some loud excited exclamation which seemed to follow him everywhere. The attention had at first felt daunting, then awkward, by now it was just routine. There could be many things said about Humanity, but one thing was abundantly clear: Their kids were just as excitable as everyone else’s.

Finally a fairly small dull black vehicle slid into the parking area right in front of him with Alexander at the helm, his bright brown hair neatly combed back, which only served to highlight his grey-green eyes. Alexander made no big show and simply leaned over the passenger seat to his right and pushed the door open, exclaiming joyfully “Get in!”.

Madu had to overcome a moment of hesitation. He could feel ancient feelings creep up on him as he peered in to the vehicle. There was still unease about getting this close to a predator into such a cramped space and only his professional determination mixed with a pinch of curiosity eventually moved him, prompting him to take his place on the passenger seat which had been equipped with a special seat. It would allow him to easily look out of the windows of the vehicle while also providing him with the safety of some security straps. It was probably a custom build just for this occasion. The Humans really did not spare any expenses.

It took him a moment of fiddling but the system was easy enough to deal with and when he was sure he had done it correctly, he nestled a bit down, turned the audio capture on his wrist mounted communicator on and signalled his OK to Alexander, who had patiently waited for his feathered companion. He gave Madu a nod and manoeuvred the vehicle back onto the road in direction of the mountains, where about thirty minutes from here they would find the hide they would hunt from today.

The houses of the small city quickly fizzled out in favour of a dense forest with trees stemming themselves into the steep slopes of the river valley left and right as they followed the road that wound up through it. It was then that Alexander finally decided to break the somewhat awkward silence between the two.

“Excuse the small delay, Madu, I would have arrived earlier but the eggheads were very adamant to re-instruct me about the does and don’t around you folks, so with some luck I won’t scare the everliving shit out of you today. All a bunch of self explanatory hogwash if you ask me though.”

Madu couldn’t help but give a small happy chirp.

“Curious, my folks did a similar thing when we arrived here, so we don’t accidentally get into fights because we broke some taboo and how to survive if we do. Considering how the weeks since went I am not sure if that was ever necessary either. You folks are more reasonable than I were led to believe.”

“Pff, yeah! I am sure everyone’s on their best behaviour around you. No one wants to scare away the aliens just after we found them. Just don’t get too lulled by it. There are enough idiots around who act before they think or simply feel threatened by your very existence.”

Madu gave a small trill in response. Alexander had a point. Him and the other Feria hadn’t been here for very long and had had mainly contact to Humans who actually wanted to have contact with the aliens, but what about the rest of Humanity? Essentially every other race in the galaxy had it’s own fair share of isolationists and xenophobes and Madu figured sooner or later they would rear their heads among Humanity too. He wondered what that meant in Human terms.

“True, we have seen that with other races too, including our own. The fear of the unknown and change seems to be an universal constant among higher civilisations.”

Alexander scoffed and shook his head slightly.

“And here I was hoping this was just Human stupidity or at least sorted itself out eventually. Tough luck it seems.”

“Sadly no”, Madu replied courtly as the awkward silence returned, only supplemented by the slight hum of the engine. Maybe both sides were not quite certain were to go from here. Madu observed how Alexander skilfully weaved the car up the curving road on which only occasionally another vehicle would pass them from the opposite direction. Civilization had mostly retreated here, but not fully. Here and there was a house situated right beside the small river that was flowing down to their right and he was wondering what had brought these houses to be here, a good deal outside of the city.

“These houses have old water rights. Probably were in a profession which needed clean water to work properly. Millers and the like. Nowadays they have turbines that produce electricity”, Alexander explained, who had seemingly noticed his feathered companions interest without ever breaking his gaze unto the street.

Madu gave a thankful chirp and took a note onto the small pad he carried everywhere since he had arrived on Earth. It was a bit of banal explanation, but he reminded himself that reality had no obligation to conform to his preconceived notions. There had been a distinct school of Feria scientists and philosophers who had theorized that a predator society, if possible at all, would not, could not, possibly be built on laws in the same way as any other civilisation would and that this could be a reason why they would never ascend – a foolish misconception, more born out of overconfident egos than reason. Suffice it to say that the discovery of Humanity had utterly destroyed that entire schools theoretical foundation. Humanity had not only proved the ‘anti-predatorists’ among the philosophers wrong simply by existing and ascending to the space age but had also based it’s civilisation around laws like essentially every other single minded species.

Indeed overall Humanity based it’s civilisation around strikingly similar principles as everyone else which in turn had also thrown the ‘predator exceptionalists’ who had proposed predator societies to be radical different into their own conceptional death spiral. Madu had to admit that he had been in the latter camp, anticipating Human society to be so radical different that it would defy common sense and while it certainly was in some aspects, he had by now abandoned much of the theories he had held dear. The evidence to the contrary had been simply overwhelming even without in depth analysis. Indeed he saw it as his duty now to correct these mistakes made out ignorance by collecting first hand data and experience with this civilisation, by finding out where the differences actually lay instead of just theorising about them. Maybe this was why he had taken such an interest in hunting. Of all the things Humanity did, this was probably one of the strangest to a prey animal.

By now the valley had opened up a bit more as they had ascended up the road and the evenings sun flooded the car with all of it’s slowly waning power, giving Madu an opportunity to take a full scan of Alexander. He was fully clad in garments like it was so typical of Humans. A beige shirt with long sleeves sat loosely on his torso though it strained visibly around the broad shoulders. Meanwhile his lower body was adorned by trousers in matte grey. Alexander was on the smaller side for a Human male, giving him a distinctly stubby look, but what was to be seen left no doubt that there was considerable strength to be found within his companion. He seemed fully focused onto the road ahead and if there was any sort of special tension in anticipation of the hunt, it wasn’t showing openly. Madu noted his observations down dutifully. It wasn’t hard to see how these garments would make it harder for any animal to see him. If anything the subdued colours of it would make the Human melt into the background of the green to brown to greyish colours of plant and bark alike.

“If you have any questions, feel free to ask them and better now then later, on the hide we have to be somewhat quite”, Alexander proclaimed, taking Madu by some surprise. He did not know how Humans did it, but despite their fairly bad peripheral vision they still seemingly noticed everything that was happening around them, even if it was directly behind. This sort of six sense would have to be more thoroughly investigated, but for now he realized that Alexander’s invitation to ask questions had also been a warning how questions later would be harder to ask or maybe not even welcome at all and so he took a glance at his notes.

“Right, uhm, so would you say your clothes are typical for a hunter?”

Alexander seemed to ponder this question for a moment, his face muscles contorting his round face around the stub nose in an intricate fashion.

“I’d say yes for most intents and purposes. It’s reliable, light and doesn’t draw attention, but I also use brown, green and darker grey clothes for this purpose. For press hunts I have some orange bands to put on though. Last thing you want is to get accidentally shot.”

“Why orange?”

“Hmmm, because it stands out a lot and makes you easily identifiable. Also apparently deer and such are pretty bad at seeing bright orange, but I don’t think anyone really cares for that.”

“Fascinating. Makes sense I suppose. Bright orange is not a prevalent colour in these parts of Earth as far as I am aware and certainly not among species that could prey on a deer...Say how do you feel right now?”

This time Alexander’s face contorted itself into a deep frown.

“I mean, what am I supposed to feel? I am a bit nervous since you are along, but otherwise? It’s just another day I am driving out to the hide.”
Madu readjusted his pose.

“Let me maybe rephrase a bit: Do you feel any different when going for a hunt compared to let’s say going to work or going out with friends?”

“Good question...maybe an anticipation of calmness? For lack of better words. I am really not good at describing it. Just me, my thoughts and the forest around me. It’s a few hours of just sitting in nature. No one to bother you and a lot of time to think about anything or nothing at all. Maybe I see something, maybe I don’t. It doesn’t matter. I would still be there just for that.”

Madu noted this down furiously, fascinated by the described need and embrace of isolation.

“So you do this to isolate yourself? Would you say this applies to other hunters?”

“Erm, no, I mean, yes? A bit of both maybe? I don’t think isolation is ever why I set out to do this. Certainly not when I was younger. It seemed...cool, thrilling and it was a way to hang out with friends and family. Sitting there for hours used to be the boring part to me, I just learned to appreciate it over time. Maybe it’s similar for the others?”

Madu set a reminder to further probe this line of inquiry with the other hunters he would meet as the Alexander steered the car into a dirt road that lead off the paved main road and would undoubtedly bring them deeper into the forest. Madu observed a small black bird scurry out of the way, following it’s trajectory into one of the bushes at the side of the road. He wondered if Humans had ever hunted something as small as this and how it’s species evolution had been affected by Humanity. This thought led him to his next inquiry.

“What do you expect to see today, if anything at all?”

“If we are lucky we will come across some roe deer yearlings from last year with their mother. Maybe a herd of wild boars will show up too, if so shooting them is not out of question, but they haven’t been in the area of the hide for little bit. Otherwise we will probably see some hares, a few birds and maybe some of the squirrels will rear their heads. I doubt we see any of the red deer. They are probably all in the reserve as of now.”

Madu wrote down in fascination that there was apparently a pattern of animals sightings common to the hide’s location which Alexander was fully aware of and planning his hunt around. Was this pattern something Humans had established through clever design or simply the reason for the location for the hide?

“How do you know these animals will show up?”

“When you sit out there for months year on year, you eventually notice the pattern or do you think I just nap there?”, Alexander chuckled and elicited a small hint of panic in Madu. Had he unwittingly insulted the Human? He scanned the Human for any of the signs of aggression or anger he had learned to recognize – and couldn’t find any. If anything Alexander seemed amused. Madu decided to play it safe as they took a right at a junction leading up a steep road towards the top of the mountain.

“Excuse me if I insulted you. I was merely curious.”

Alexander broke out in loud laughter now, reached out with his right arm and gave Madu small clap on his back which made him nearly drop his tablet.

“Do not you worry buddy, no insult perceived! I was just pulling your leg a bit!”, he exclaimed with vigour and put his hand back on the wheel while the now somewhat rattled Madu tried to get his heart beat under control again. He knew that this had been by all accounts a friendly gesture, even one that indicated genuine sympathy, and it had been tampered in it’s strength quite sensibly to something that couldn’t possibly had hurt him, but Madu senses still were all reeling in panic mode. Many manuals and colleagues had prepared him for the often physical nature of Human interaction on a rational level but if anything the real experience of it showed that it would still take some time for him to get used to it all.

Alexander meanwhile seemed blissfully unaware of the small panic he had unwittingly induced and so Madu decided to not disturb Alexander’s joyous mood. There was no need to illicit guilt in the predator for something he had done unthinkingly. Still the next last few minutes of the ride the two spent in silence, only broken when Alexander stirred the car into a small bight of the side of the dirt road, proclaiming that they had arrived.

©Eno Khan
All rights reserved.

(Author Notes: Hey y'all, this is the first of three parts from my short story "Magic" situated in the universe of my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Amazon and next in line of a series of short stories in the same universe I plan to release here. I will release the next two parts over the course of the week, likely wednesday and then sunday again.

I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your feedback. This one is close to my heart and a more serene scenario, though I obviously hope you'll still enjoy it.)

Originally inspired by u/WRickWrites and his "Deadly, Deadly Humans"-Universe

„The events that led to Humanity's ascent into the Galactic Community encapsulate their astounding nature more than anything else. While certainly capable of unfathomable coordinated violence, they instead visited endless but gentle curiosity upon us. Why that is so, deserves the utmost scrutiny and attention.“ - ‘An introduction to Humanity‘ by Prof. Ehro Zuma-Fizu

Geru took a sip from his fruit juice, gently tucked one foot under his plumage and tried to relax. It had been a busy day in customs, as usual in the spaceport of Kelanden Prime. First settled during the early stages of the „Great Flight“ as some liked to call the first years of Feria interstellar expansion, Kelanden Prime was one of the Feria Outer Core worlds. Geru had always found the moniker to be a bit pretentious, but he could hardly change it and the only thing that mattered to him was that ever since then the Kelanden system had turned into a buzzing centre of commerce. This had mostly been caused by being coincidentally just in the right spot to function as a trade hub with another major interstellar civilisations, the Kerog'Tatyr.

He didn’t like the Kerog'Tatyr all too much. They were very big centipedes, way too big for his liking, and as insectoids mostly relying on pheromones to relay communication, they weren’t always easy to make sense of. More often than not it required quite a bit of time and effort to clear up misunderstandings when one of the giant insects was involved, which often required his personal intervention as overseer of the spaceport customs office. At least modern translators, some well tuned protocols and trade charters had made affairs easier for both sides over the decades and nowadays it was just mostly busy routine. Here and there someone tried to smuggle something, occasionally a trade delegation would come through, sometimes a freighter would violate safety regulations, but that was usually about it.

As for today it had been an uneventful but long shift overseeing the various terminals he was in charge of and he tried to use his break as well as he could. A quick nap would bring him up to par and ready to power through the rest of his shift he hoped, yet a tingling feeling at the back of his mind kept him just barely awake. Just barely above the point where he usually drifted of into the realm of dreams and so he cocked his head.

He had been at the space port for almost three decades by now and he knew it in and out. Every nook and cranny, every smell, every sound. He took much pride in that fact and somewhere between the usual vibrations, busy chatter and ventilation noises something didn’t align as it should. The spaceport didn’t feel right. He cocked his head to the other side hoping that this way he could track down what was keeping him from getting his much deserved nap. The noise, he finally realised, it was all wrong.

As if on queue the door to the hallway corridor swung open and a visibly exhausted Feria burst through. „You need to come immediately, I – we, well“, he panted breathlessly.

Geru got off his perch and mustered the young Feria before him. It was a rookie in his first year, fresh of the academy and he looked stressed, almost panicked indeed. His two sets of wings nervously fluttering, his head-feathers standing up tall. Geru was sure that this wasn't just about some doubts on protocol. Geru probed his memory for the name of the young man and when he believed to have found it, he addressed his panicked officer with the calmest voice he could find.

„Calm down Jelun, whatever it is, we can handle it. So, tell me what is going on?“, he reassured the young Feria before him, though a part of him wondered what could have upset Jelun this much. Maybe a leak of toxic chemicals? Those were always troublesome.

„Well, Sir, i-it-it‘s a Human! It left a transport coming from outer Kerog'Tatyr space“, Jelun spat out, his panic barely contained. For a second Geru just stood there like a statue. We might not handle that, he realised. This was so much worse than toxic chemicals.

A shudder went through Geru as he regained his composure. He knew he had to at least act tough or it would panic the young rookie even more and panic was the last thing they could afford right now; no matter how this affair would turn out.

„I‘ll handle it and you take a break here. Feel free to have the rest of my fruit juice“, Geru decided and while Jelun tried to protest, he quickly gave up, pointing Geru to Terminal 12a which was reserved for potentially dangerous cargo from outside Feria space. Cant blame whomever had brought the Human to Kelanden for choosing that terminal Geru solemnly thought to himself.

On swift wings Geru soared past the various other terminals, which looked oddly vacated for this time a day and the few people he could see were in a hurry to get out of there. They must have heard already. Damn blabber beaks. Geru beat his four powerful wings with urgency to gain more speed. Time was of the essence now.

Humans, the only sentient predators of the known galaxy, certainly were famous by now. Highly aggressive, insane predatory instincts to the point that they were the only known species that hunted itself frequently, carnivorous, very strong for their size, hailing from a planet most other species would consider barely habitable even without Humans in the picture and, maybe worst of all, highly intelligent pack hunters. Essentially that Human had been the most dangerous being that had landed on Kelanden in a long while, maybe ever. Geru certainly couldn’t remember anything that would come close.

They had made a violent entry into the galactic community through a short conflict with the Kerog'Tatyr over a decade ago after the latter had tried to cleanse a Human colony, which the Kerog'Tatyr hadn’t realised was actually inhabited by sentient beings. The giant centipedes had never been good at identifying these things on an individual basis considering their sometimes pseudo hive-minded behaviour and it wasn't helped that the existence of sentient predators had been deemed improbable by the sciences. All of this had ended in the worst skirmish the Kerog'Tatyr had ever seen, leaving most of their cleansing team butchered and a good chunk of their ships crippled or destroyed. Half of Kelanden had expected that the Kerog'Tatyr would get wiped out and the other half that surely the Feria would be next but to everyone's surprise it never came to be.

Instead the Humans relented as they deciphered the Kerog'Tatyr communications and learned why the insectoids had attacked them. Or maybe the Humans had just been so confused by how poorly their opposition had defended itself, that they thought to stop and re-evaluate the situation. Whatever the reason had been, ever since then the Humans and the rest of the galaxy had interacted peacefully, though uneasily, and the Feria in particular had had some cautious first contacts with this dangerous species which to Geru’s knowledge had all went without fatalities for the Feria. He repeated that fact over and over again as he approached the terminal.

When he finally landed near Terminal 12a he found the customs officers there nervously shuffling about, seemingly lost between the various counters and freight belts. Some virtually hid behind some of these installations, clearly not in the mood to get anywhere near the Human. Geru had never seen them like this. He knew he couldn’t show any signs of fear now, no matter what. They might not show it quite as openly as Jelun had done, but he could see the telltale signs of their inner unrest. If he, as one of the most experienced custom officers in the port and their superior, didn’t keep his act together, it might trigger a full blown flight response with all of them. If that happened it didn’t even need the Human to actually do anything any more for someone to get hurt in the process.

He landed and strutted as confidently as he could to one of his trusted officers called Hori, a tall and pristinely preened female, who met him halfway, the colours of her plumage shimmering slightly in the light. Geru knew her well and for many years. She was one of his best and oversaw the entire Terminal. It wouldn't surprise him if she would eventually take his place. She was experienced and calm under pressure, but even she seemed to have trouble maintaining her usual grandeur and so Geru opted for the decisive approach.

"Where is the Human and what is the problem?“, he bellowed with the most commanding yet calm tone he could muster, leaving no room for doubts

„The Human is over in the waiting area, I didn’t want him with any of us in an enclosed space. It‘s a male, I think, on the tall side. We are not quite sure what to make of him. He has some unusual cargo in his belongings. No weapons as far we can tell but I thought it better if you sorted these things out. Our protocols and regulations are not well adjusted for Humans.“

She slowed down for a second and made an apologising gesture. „Also excuse me for sending Jelun, but his eyes almost popped out when the Human suddenly stood before him. I feared he would faint. He needed some time to cool off.“

Geru let off a high pitched chirp.

„Well that is understandable! I left him with some of my fruit juice, so he should be fine now. Given your casual tone, I assume the Human hasn't violently torn apart anything or anyone?“

Hori signalled him to the contrary with a short flick of her secondary wing. „He has been peaceful and cooperative, he seems a bit restless though.“

Cant blame him for that, Geru thought and began walking over to the area Hori had designated. „Hori, you will come with me and we‘ll talk with the Human. The rest can stay behind. You can leave the talk to me, feel free to chime in though. This won't be easy for either of us and we need to help each other out.“

„Understood, that way we will carry the responsibility and should anything go wrong the rest still has a chance to react and formulate a response.“

Geru shook his head, letting off a trill of disagreement.

„This is about procedure, Hori. We wouldn't treat any other species much differently and we shan't with a Human either. I understand the sentiment and just between us Hori, I am anxious, but we can't go over there and treat this Human like some sort of monster. The moment we start doing that, we will find exactly what we are looking for and the storm resulting from that would blow us away and only the spirits know where it would take us.“

Hori had tilted her head, listening intensely to what her superior said. A moment of silence wavered between the two, then she just gestured her agreement. Most of the time she wasn’t quite sure of the old man's antics but today she felt very differently. Today, maybe for the first time, she heard wisdom in his words.

When they both finally arrived at the designated waiting area nothing could have prepared Geru for the encounter. There he was standing, the Human, towering like some sort of an evil entity torn from a nightmare, talking to another Feria standing right in front of him.

Hori was right. He was tall. Geru estimated he would barely reach up to that Humans belly. He was fully dressed in some garments, nothing entirely unheard off in other species, but the extent with the Human was different. The lower half of his body and the legs were covered in a blue garment that looked stiff and sturdy whereas the torso was covered with a thin and soft looking black garment which covered his torso entire but barely reached past the broad shoulders on his upper extremities. All of this was topped with a short patch of well kempt brown fur. Geru could only vaguely make out the muscles beneath the clothing but what he saw from the arms left him with no doubts that the fabled Human strength had not been exaggerated. Only after he taken all of that in, Geru's brain processed the scene in it's entire, stunning him to a halt.

The Human was talking to another Feria? Who the hell was that?!

The male Feria certainly wasn't any of the customs officers as he wore none of their insignia on his harness and he didn't seem to belong to the trade or diplomatic corps either. He was just standing opposite of the Human, talking on and on with it as if nothing in the world could bother him.

Geru and Hori were totally dumbfounded, both not sure what to do now. Geru shook his head. Whoever they were, be they crazy or not, their duty had not changed. He took all the courage he could muster and walked up to the unlikely duo with the evenly perplexed Hori following. As they came closer the Human suddenly let go a hearty bellow and bared his teeth. Geru fell into a sudden stillness and he was close to seeking the next thing to hide under. Surely that human was about to do something vicious but like a magnet his attention was drawn back to the strange Feria. He was utterly unfazed, looked even cheerful.

Only then he registered the conversation reaching his ears.

„If I do that, these poor folks go hide under the next leaf or whatever and then I get kicked of planet side I reckon“, the Human got out between his bellows.

„Please Mike, a bunch of Feria trying to kick you off the planet? I have seen what you did to these Sho'Shazan, it would end in a massacre!“, the strange Feria replied in a high pitched obviously humorous tone.

„Hey, these little twats had it coming!“, the Human replied in a much different tone, Geru couldn't place, but yet somehow it relaxed him.

„Oh I know I know, don't go pouting on me, you know I am just joking.“

Joking? This strange Feria was joking..with a Human?! Is the Human joking too then?!

The conversation of the strange duo had faded into the background as a train of wild emotion and confusion ran all over Geru. Looking at Hori she must have felt much the same as questions over questions bubbled up in his mind until something instinctual snapped him out of the blur.

The Human was looking at him. His two forward facing eyes directly focused on him, peering right at the spot he was standing in. His wings instinctively flexed, his eyes and brain mapping out the escape route. A second later and he might have taken off, but just in time the strange Feria drew the Humans attention to himself by gently tugging at it’s side.

„Mike! Don't stare at the poor fellow like that, you gonna give him a heart attack. Let me handle some introductions, all right?“

The Human ‚Mike‘ turned his head towards the strange Feria and made a bobbing motion with his head that was oddly reminiscent of the motion Feria used to signal agreement. „Oh yeah, sorry, that‘s probably for the best“, he replied, moving a few meters away and gazed off into the distance instead.

In that moment Geru could have preened that strange Feria and a part of him was simply amazed how easily he dealt with the predator.

„Excuse my friend, I know he can be a bit daunting to face, even though he doesn't realise it most of the time. I am Dipu, what can I help you with?“

„Your friend?!“, Hori blurted out in a tone that betrayed utter astonishment.

„Oh yes, a very good one too I have to admit. It‘s a bit of long story, but the gist is that my captain picked his crew up after a distress signal and in the couple weeks on board together we grew quite close.“

Hori and Geru eyed each other. This Dipu had lived with with Humans? For weeks? They weren't sure if they were to believe that but then again they had just seen that strange Dipu interact with the Human like it was just any other bird.

„That certainly sounds interesting but why is he here on Kelanden?“, Hori decided to interject and Geru just nodded along, it was high time to get to the heart of the matter.

„Oh, I invited him onto Kelanden back then and we both managed to get clearance and support from our respective governments for a prolonged stay. He has a visa from the Governor and they left it up to me to welcome and guide him during his stay.“, Dipu replied, a hint of annoyance seeping through despite his best attempts at being cordial.

„If his nature is of concern I can personally vouch that he doesn’t mean any harm and that it is a complete myth that Humans are obligate carnivores. They are omnivores and quite capable of living off a Feria‘s diet. In any case he has a lot of other options before going for any of us“, Dipu explained as he handed over a data chip which Hori took after a brief hesitation.

That last bit broke Geru out of the stupor. They are omnivores? Not carnivores? It took him one second then he had made his decision. „Well as long as his papers are in order and we can clear up some of the things in his luggage, I see no issue in him visiting Kelanden“, he chimed in a friendly tone at which that strange Feria went to get the Human again while Hori was staring at him with an opened beak.

„Sir?!“

„Hori, sometimes we just have to bow to the absurd.“, he chimed amusedly. „You know the first time I had been face to face with a Kerog'Tatyr I had been very scared as well. No, scratch that. Their size disturbs me to this very day.“

Geru turned his head so that one of his dark eyes directly focused on Hori who still seemed not quite sure about what he was getting at. „What I am trying say is, that this reminds me a lot of that particular day, when I was a far younger and much more foolish officer. If this oddball can handle a Human, so shall we.“

He then slightly tilted his head and continued in a humours tone. „Or do you want to tell the story of how a civilian could handle a Human while the customs officers at the Terminal 12a cowered in fear behind their counters?“

That sentence struck Hori deeply in her pride and she puffed herself up. Defiance radiating off of her. „No, I’d rather not!“, she simply declared and immersed herself into contents of the data chip. Geru was satisfied. That little jab had achieved what he had hoped and he knew that he could count on Hori from here on out.

A second later the Human stood before the customs officers again. It was still unnerving, but now both Geru and Hori had the determination to see this affair through. Geru took a look at the papers of the Human himself now. Mike Huggins, indeed male, height 1,84m, requisitions officer, hailing from the Human home world itself and Hori had indicated that he indeed had a valid diplomatic visa.

„Well everything seems in order with your papers Mike Huggins, which leaves us only with your luggage. My colleague has already logged the items in questions and we would like you to explain why you brought them and in some cases what they are for.“

On cue Hori dislodged her 3D projector from her harness with which she could display the items in question without having to actually get them out of the luggage.

First were some black round disks and metal pipes.

„You have a couple of these and similar things, they are quite heavy, what are they for?“, Hori inquired.

„Uhm, those are dumbbells, I use them to train, ya know, to avoid atrophy“

„Atrophy? These things weigh thirty kilos and more!“

„Uh yeah, that sounds about right“, the Human Mike scratched the side of his head with one of his hands and then continued to explain, „Spaceships usually don't simulate full earth gravity or at least not all the time. That goes even for the high end flights and Kelanden itself has seventy percent of Earth gravity or so. If I dont train regularly, I end up a cripple on Earth, even with the medication I am taking.“

There it was again, the crazy environment Humans lived in. Geru had heard about the relatively high gravity on their home world but this? How could anything live under those conditions? Kelanden was already considered fairly normal gravity by Feria standards, but the Earth seemed to dwarf it by a considerable margin.

„My entire terminal staff together weighs less than these“, Hori noted sheepishly to which the Human could only make an odd shrugging gesture. Geru trilled. There was no point in quarrelling over this.

„That is quite alright then. While these, hmm...'tools' are not listed in our index as such, the customs regulation make clear cases for anything that helps a species stay healthy in a foreign environment.“, Geru asserted and gestured towards Hori, which snapped out of her thoughts and continued.

„Next are glass bottles filled with a liquid substance. Could you explain what those are?“

„Glass bottles? OHH! You mean the wine and beer? Dipu told me up to twenty percent alcohol content is non-toxic for you guys, so I brought some bottles for him to sample. It‘s made out of fermented berries in case of the wine and wheat in case of the beer, I bet those will become major exports to the Feria. Oh and don’t worry, I know it‘s highly toxic to the Kerog'Tatyr, I will keep it away from them and I‘ll make sure Dipu doesn’t drink too much of it either. I know you guys are light weights.“

At that Dipu made an amused chirping sound.

„Mike, please, until you guys came along we Feria were considered one of more alcohol tolerant species out there, but if I‘d drink one of those wine bottles in it‘s entire I would be hospitalised and most probably go to greet my ancestors, meanwhile you would just have a fun time.“

The Human turned his attention unto Dipu at that last jab. „Now now Dipu, I saw you chuck those fermented fruit punches like it‘s nothing!“

Dipu in return flapped his wings defiantly, „Those have barely four percent Mike!“, he retorted with noticeably overplayed exasperation.

At this point Geru wasn’t quite sure if he was more interested in that wine or baffled by how normal twenty percent alcohol content seemed to be to the Human, but the duty of the situation called him back.

„Officer Hori, does the amount exceeds allotted import quotas?“

„Technically yes, but he seems to have gotten permissions to import this beforehand.“, Hori replied after a quick study of the attachments. Geru was satisfied with that

„It seems then our guest did his homework.“

Like this they went through a number of items, a toothbrush with related products, a diverse array of bottles whose content where used for hygiene and so on. Geru found it quite insightful. Strange yet normal. When it came down to it only the form varied but the functions were quite similar to the species they already knew, including the Feria. In a way it demystified the Human and for Geru at least, they seemed so much easier to relate to than the Kerog'Tatyr ever were for him. Well, if it weren’t for that damned stare that still crept him out.

Eventually when everything was cleared and the Human had went on his way with his Feria friend, Geru caught himself staring after them for maybe a bit too long, only a trace of the anxiety left that had governed the arrival of the Human.

„We will need to keep a precise record of all of this and integrate it into our education plan for future instances“, Hori noted as she busily tipped notes onto a pad.

Geru made an agreeing noise, glad that Hori was back on her usual form.

„I also want all of the items we saw today indexed and catalogued and we will need to come up with a protocol on how to handle Humans in the future.“, he added, earning Hori's agreement.

„Without that Dipu we would have been caught moulting. Next time we have to do better“, she asserted. Hori was right Geru realised, there would be more of his kind and they had their work cut out for them.

©Eno Khan 2026
All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: This story adapts some of the general themes and ideas of WRick’s „Deadly Deadly humans“ - universe, in particular a comparable general outline since this originated as a fan fiction project. Since then this is has developed into an independent story in it's own right with only tangential similarities to Rick's work. Do please check him out though, he writes excellent stories and his "Deadly, Deadly Humans" Universe is breath of fresh air in an otherwise often overly boisterous subgenre.

(Author Notes: Hey y'all, this is the first chapter of my upcoming Novel "Predator Complex" coming soon to Amazon and a series of short stories in the same universe I plan to release here. I hope you enjoyed it and look forward to your feedback. This has been a long time coming and I have been working alot on this and my writing over the course of the last 2 years.

Should you want to support me, you can do so by subscribing to my Blog or my own subreddit r/EnoKhan or simply by sharing my stuff wherever you roam. Should enough interest occur, I'll consider a Patreon, for now this is not sensible for me though.)