Chapter 8

Chapter 8

M y worries chased me, but after almost three hours of walking and jogging, with Pearilla hauling along a wheeled contraption holding several cages suitable for small animals, we reached where the land ended. I stared out over the vast expanse of water, which surged and broke over the sand in waves. Awe over the existence of such a place rooted me in place, my mouth hanging open.

“You have never seen the ocean before.”

I pointed at the endless blue. “That’s an ocean?”

“It is. This is but one landmass of many. I suppose I’m not surprised you did not know this was here. Had you followed the sandy river farther, you would have stumbled upon the bay. But saltwater backwashes up the river, so perhaps your furry friends live here as well as there.”

The wagon, which Pearilla had carried when the terrain had proved too overgrown to haul, had survived the trip intact. The Veloc wasted no time making certain the cages were ready for any occupants we might catch. As I wanted to thank Taesinn, I went to work hunting down holes the nocturnal critters denned within. I found none close to the land met the ocean, but farther inland, I began spotting the telltale signs of their presence. The first hole I found proved occupied, although the animals had prematurely reached their expiration. The culprit hissed at me from deep within the burrow. Scowling, I withdrew. “There is a moss snake in there.”

“A moss snake?”

I stood and held my hand up over my head. “This long. The color of moss, and they often hide in the moss, pretending to be a vine. They constrict their prey, let it rot, and then eat it sometime later. They do not bother me. I am too big for them. But they like the little ones.”

“Moss snakes. Interesting.” Pearrilla came over, crouched, and peered into the hole. The serpent resumed hissing. “How sad. It killed the furry little ones. And it will eat them later?”

“Yes.”

Without a care that the snake might bite her, the Veloc reached into the burrow, and after a bit of a struggle, she hauled out her prize, holding it behind its head. She gathered up the snake’s coils in her other hand, turned, and held it aloft. “What a beautiful specimen.”

Right. The feathered predator likely loved other predators. The moss snake hissed, but it failed to do anything to the Veloc. “Won’t it squeeze you?”

“It is not nearly strong enough for that. It can do that with the small rodents, yes, but not us. We are far stronger than them. She tries to constrict me, but she does not succeed. This is an emerald python, a species cultivated from a python from Earth and some other snake species. It is a common creature on many worlds now. They are slow to reproduce, they’re difficult to kill, and they are not hugely disruptive to the environments they are released in. It would not surprise me if she were a descendant from emerald pythons from Veloci Minor.” The snake went into one of the cages, and not to waste the deaths of the rodents, she collected the bodies. “Are these the animals you were talking about?”

“Yes, that is them. Well, was.”

“I do not know this little creature, but you are right about its plush coat. Perhaps we will find a burrow that has fared a little better. But this is something Taesinn would like. Small and fluffy — much smaller than the furred tyrants we will have attacking our wallets. This will suit him well, for he is small and rather fluffy.”

I giggled at the rather apt comment about Taesinn’s stature. “You think he will like them?”

“If they are anywhere near as tractable as Sweetheart and Stupid, he will be charmed at the first look. See what you can find while I settle this python. She will make an excellent gift for someone in my clan, and she will enjoy a long life of prosperity.”

While she tended to the snake, I hunted for more holes. I checked six burrows before coming across one with sleeping habitants. I counted furry bodies by their fluffy, rounded ears, determining the momma dealt with caring for eight babies. Outside of the moss snakes and birds, I knew of nothing that predated on them. In my past attempts to handle them, I’d been able to catch them without anything more than some thrashing and startled squeaks. I went for the mother first, pinching her scruff between my thumb and middle fingers, which was more than sufficient to get a good hold on her. She woke with a squeal, and I pulled her out, supporting her hind end while keeping her head out of biting range.

Her fur, a pale silvery color, was sinful in its softness, and I resisted the urge to rub her against my cheek.

Once she ceased struggling, I lowered her to the ground, but kept my hold on her scruff. She stayed put, allowing me to reach into the burrow to gather her wiggling mass of babies and scoop them into my palm.

All of them fit, putting them on the small side of the species.

Pearrilla joined me, and her eyes widened. “These are of diminutive size compared to the other nest.”

“Will they fit in your cage?”

“Yes, but barely. She is just allowing you to hold her with but a light pinch?”

“I’m not hurting her, and they’re really not all that bright.”

“She isn’t even struggling.”

“They’re really not all that bright.”

The Veloc’s crest flattened. “Why are they not at all afraid?”

“Well, she’s not getting eaten, is she?”

“Well, no.”

I nodded in the direction of the Veloc’s new snake. “They don’t tend to leave any survivors when they snack on them. So, how would they know to be afraid?”

The Veloc bowed her head. “At least the grazers give us a little sport.”

I snickered at the disgust in her tone. “I watched a whole flock of Veloc approach a baby, pet it, and lead it off so it could grow up to be big and strong, Pearrilla. The bounders are the only species here smart enough to run from predators.”

“It pains me that you are right.”

Careful not to drop any of the babies or the mother, I carried my catch over to the wagon. “Which cage should I put them in?”

After making certain there was no chance of the emerald python escaping and having another snack, she sighed and said, “I will carry their cage. You can pull the wagon unless we need to haul it over obstacles, in which case you can carry the cage and I will take care of the wagon. Let’s not teach these ones the meaning of fear.”

“I’ll check a few more burrows before we leave and fill the other cages. Then you can carry the snake.”

“That would work nicely.”

After transferring the little family of fluffs into their cage, I went off to see what else I could catch before heading back to Veloc’s ship to check on Persistence.

***

One beleaguered fluff had twenty-seven babies, and after a little bit of work and testing, we determined we could transfer them to the other mothers without much of a fuss, better distributing the load so the babies could eat. Aware of the overabundance of babies, I did a sweep for burrows containing a mother with only one or two young. It took me an hour, but I succeeded, which complicated getting everyone back. However, the mother with few young delighted in her new babies, and she settled into grooming them while sharing a cage with the mother of many.

“I am disgusted at how cute these things are.”

“I’m calling them fluffs.”

“Fluffs is a good name for them. They have long, soft fur and little else.”

It took us five hours to return to the ship, and exhaustion hampered me. I managed to drag the wagon and do my share, but I questioned why I’d thought it’d been a good idea to go on an adventure to get Taesinn some fluffs. The rainbow-colored Veloc hooted a laugh, bounded over, and bumped his nose to my throat before saying, “You’re late.”

I turned and pointed at the cage with the two mothers in it. “I got you some fluffs to thank you for your kindness.”

Taesinn’s crest snapped up, and he peered into the cage. “They’re so small.”

“Small fluffs for a small Veloc,” Pearrilla stated, her voice rumbling with her amusement. “She caught them all for you, so you can pick your favorites to be your pets. The rest will be given out for those who want small animals in their quarters that will only take a single cabinet.”

Taesinn huffed, considered the wagon and its occupants, and picked the whole lot up before fleeing in the direction of the ship.

I covered my mouth in an attempt to hold in my laughter. After a snort, I broke down and chortled.

“Clearly, he will be losing his cabinets to his fluffs. Hatchlings, I swear. Hopefully, he will have some mercy and return the wagon. It is quite useful, especially when we’re hauling our living prizes back to the ship.”

Once I could speak without breaking down into more laughter, I said, “Do you think he thought you’d eat them?”

“I think he’s being a greedy little hatchling and doesn’t want to choose between any of them.”

“He’s going to have to have to find home for the males.”

“And we will have to get him a male from a far distance away. I will handle that matter tomorrow, and I will get Amberley to help us identify which ones are male and separate them from his pets. That should keep the chaos somewhat contained. But only somewhat. Come along. Let us see how Persistence is doing.”

Pearrilla carried the cage with the emerald python into the ship, and upon checking the cage, I realized the snake had finished its meal and slept. One of the other Veloc claimed her prize, cooing his admiration over her catch.

On the way to the medical bay, we checked Taessin’s chamber to discover the young Veloc had brought all three cages into his domain and had taken out one of the mothers and snuggled with her, nuzzling her.

The idiotic fluff, clueless that Taesinn could eat her in a single swallow, squeaked and rubbed her nose in his feathers.

“Is she happy?”

“She smells happy, yes. Perhaps we should name this the Planet of the Pets. Everything, except for the pythons, could be domesticated without any issues. I bet we could rig stalls in the cargo bay for some of the weaned grazers.”

“No. You can’t take every single animal and bird species off this planet.”

“I don’t see why not.”

Taesinn gave the fluff another nuzzle before saying, “I agree with her. Why not?”

“How will you get rid of their messes? They stink . They’d pollute the entire ship with that nasty stench.” I wrinkled my nose at the memory of the acrid stench of their urine. “They make massive piles of dung.”

Taesinn sighed, returned the fluff to her cage, and closed it. “She presents a good point.”

“That she does. You may keep the females, but the males will find homes elsewhere. We do not need inbred fluffs taking over the ship. If you can contain yourself, we’ll find you an unrelated male so you can start a breeding program, but you cannot keep any of the babies until your male passes away, and even then, you can keep only females until we catch a new male for you.”

It took the rainbow Veloc a few moments to realize something was better than nothing, and he bobbed his head in agreement. “I don’t know which ones are male or female.”

“Amberley will help you gender them. For now, you can keep them in your quarters, although we will have to put them elsewhere for the flight home. We can have your quarters modified after our return.”

Once again, Taesinn bobbed his head. “Thank you.”

I wondered which one of us he thanked, but before I could think on it much, Pearrilla dragged me away to see Persistence.

***

A sleepy Persistence stood on Amberley’s arm, and she held her new leg up in the air as though uncertain what to do with it. The Veloc used his capped claw to guide her leg down, and after some coaxing, she stood properly and fluffed her feathers.

He rewarded her with a scrap of meat and praise.

“You have a colony of fluffs you need to evaluate, identify, and gender,” Pearrilla announced. “Kithya caught them for Taesinn. The males need to be separated once weaned, as we will not be inbreeding the fluffs.”

“The inflection on fluffs indicates that this is what the species is named.”

“They are fluffs,” Pearrilla confirmed. “It is the only name appropriate for them. They are small, they are fluffy, and they are even dumber than the bounders.”

“Those would be pygmy chinchillas,” Amberley announced. “They were brought from Earth, genetically modified for small size and habitat changes, and set loose on this world with the first colony before we found out this planet is toxic to homo sapiens. They are, as you claim, fluffs.”

“They are the dumbest damned things I’ve seen in my life. They just let an emerald python slither into their burrow and kill them.” Pearrilla turned her head and snapped her teeth. “The python is in the cargo bay. An excellent specimen. It tried to bite me several times while I caught it.”

“How long is the python?”

Pearrilla held her hand up at roughly my head level.

“Excellent. I’ll deal with the python before talking with Taesinn about his fluffs. Kithya, judging from Persistence’s behavior, she was born without her leg or lost it as a hatchling. She simply doesn’t comprehend what her second leg does. We will have to do therapy for her, and she will struggle to fly somewhat at first. Or, more accurately, she will struggle with landing.” Amberley transferred the ghost bird to my shoulder. “Take her back to your home for tonight so she has a familiar environment. She is overwhelmed with change and needs to relax. You should rest while we begin preparing for our voyage home. We are charting a course to pass Galeize so you can have closure. Ideally, you will help teach your bird to hunt and fly again before we leave. She will have limited space to fly once we are in space.”

I could handle hunting bounders with Persistence while she learned how to cope with life with two legs rather than one. “It won’t be a problem if I’m not helping?”

“Your job is to help your bird adapt to her new reality. That is as important a job as hunting, dressing our prey, and otherwise preparing for space,” Amberley assured me. “But tomorrow, you should both rest. There is time enough before we leave, and you will both benefit from some time to simply be.”