The Renuea female named Tekui of Seshenu smiled as she bathed with her new friend, Edsaa of the Spayed. The dark yellow furred female with subtle orange stripes was washing his blood from that fur. A police robot on the Qesak Habitat had shot him, the massive wound on his left side already had been covered with a change membrane.
Edsaa was growing closer to her despite the taboo with associating with a Spayed one. He had started to develop the uniform golden color of his fur all over instead of mostly and dark yellow stripes in the same patterns as hers. A lot of Renueas who could change often matched appearances and stuck to their natural colors, making for a distinctive Caste appearance, yet retaining their individuality.
Tekui was a spy and explorer. Edsaa was a thief and explorer. Both were in the off-world section of the work caste for the Change ability, headed by the big gray furred Master Kerrechu. Only 23% of Renueas could change forms, shape shifting by the most extreme biological ways.
They had stuffed Edsaa into a box and mailed to the Qesak Habitat to help her steal a spacecraft to get away. The Ermenda Ambassador gave them a ship, knowing that the Qesak Mind would not let her go. Curiously, the Mind somehow ceased to be, likely by the hands of the aliens from another galaxy they had originally sent her to Qesak to see and learn about. She had started the most primitive way of learning a new form to take after finding one of them, dead in the street, killed by the robots.
In a few months, she would be able to take the form of a species the Cuaxas knew as the Keerchi. A felinoid people common in parts of the galaxy many millions of light-years away to the galactic east from their home world of Ikleu. Of all the A4 galaxy people, only the bearish white furred Cuaxa had relations and trade with that other galaxy.
Meanwhile, she was preparing for an appeal to remove Edsaa from the Spayed Caste and restore his masculinity. Tekui did not know the details of his case to her but she believed that they had judged him for a female�s mistake. She was not the kind who let friends suffer needlessly.
Edsaa looked at her as she used an air dryer to dry off. �Are you married to that other male?�
She looked at him and smiled. �No. He and I are just friends. We mate more out of convenience than emotional attachment. It�s nothing serious. Don�t tell me that you want to mate with me. How can you feel that way?�
Edsaa looked down. �I didn�t say that. I just asked if you were married. It might look strange for an unmarried female to be appealing for a Spayed male.�
Tekui growled. �You don�t worry about that. If they ask, I am helping a friend.� Something in the control center of the ship beeped. She hurried to it and saw that the ship had come out of hyperspace nowhere near Ikleu. She growled softly to herself as she sat in the pilot�s chair and attempted to find out where they were.
She found that they were deep in the Rehdena Nebula, over 350 light-years from Ikleu. She thought that the spacecraft was malfunctioning somehow. The guidance computer was not malfunctioning nor was the engine system. Something else had to be at fault for this. She checked the hyperspace logs and flight recorder.
It was glaringly obvious when she opened the navigational logs. The spacecraft had encountered a subspace mine. Not the usual type that ripped ships out of hyperspace and blew engines but the stealth type that stranded ships by scrambling their guidance systems. It was an Alliances tool to keep people away from sensitive areas.
It was too random a weapon to use against specific targets. Tekui had a lot of experience with sensitive areas of the Alliances. Her spy days were largely limited to exploratory missions now. The Alliances government was weakening, losing territory and had many insurrections to deal with frequently. With the arrival of the aliens from that distant galaxy, who bore plasmic weapons like the Renuea did, the Alliances� future seemed dim.
She checked the guidance computer and saw that it was in reprogramming mode, something that could take days, depending on how much of the galaxy and beyond it knew. She sighed. She hoped that there were enough food and water on board. This was an excellent opportunity to learn more about the Spayed one and how she would go about returning him his dignity, gender and respectability.
Hours later, Edsaa sat at the small table in the spacecraft�s tiny galley. He was showing holographic pictures of his ex-mate and his cub, now 34 seasons old. He was goldenly furred like his father. They had no contact. Edsaa did not know his son but did not regret it. His ex-mate taught him to hate his father and he did.
Tekui thought that was very sad. It was common among couples where one could change and one was just a typical Renuea. She had always associated with only her brethren who could change. It was a deep dark secret that her father could change but never did. She learned that Edsaa was 2,234 seasons old and spent most of them perfecting his craft of thievery. Until his spaying, he was Edsaa of the Deshanu Clan. His clan disavowed him and considered him �dead�. If she was successful in restoring him, she would accept him into her clan, Seshenu, which was just she and her sister now.
Her sister, Ekuna, was a prominent politician and served every 20 seasons as a triumvir, in the rotating office among the usual sixty chosen by informed popular election. Ekuna and Tekui got along very well. She would also accept Edsaa because she was just like her younger sister when it came to compassion and morality.
Tekui sat across from him at the table and smiled. �You would give your heart to another after what she did to you?�
�Not just any other. Few can appreciate the fact that I�m Renuea and Spayed. They see the mark and instantly recoil as you did.�
She looked down in shame. �I did not mean to offend you. It�s just that, I�m not young and I have never seen a Spayed before in all that time.�
He nodded. �You have already endeared yourself to me. You prove that not all Renueas are blinded by the abuse of the caste system.�
She was glad her fur hid her blush. She smiled and clicked her claws on the table. �I�m just one person.�
�One is all it takes sometimes. Can I tell you something?�
She nodded. �Of course.�
Edsaa cleared his throat. �We can regenerate parts as part of our change ability. Most of us believe that is restricted to skin, muscle, bone, and sense organs as that is what they teach us.�
Tekui bowed her head. �I know that our ability goes beyond that, but how far, I dare not guess.�
He changed the holo to a lumpy mass that she did not recognize. �This is what they cut from me with a razor knife.�
She blinked, grimacing. �That is . . . ?�
�My penis and testicles. You obviously know how they are arranged on the body.�
Her reaction turned to one of horror. �They are internal until . . . oh my. They cut it out with a knife?�
He nodded gravely. �It hurt very much. They could have done it with a laser or some other technical device. They use a knife to be cruel.�
Tekui could not believe this. �You just lay there and let them do this?�
�I had no choice. They physically immobilized me. I could not move a muscle. They did not even numb the area. It�s part of being spayed.�
She felt sick. �That is awful.�
He nodded. �Yes. It is a varied and severe punishment. However, I have studied the entire history of us who have the change ability. Everyone who has been Spayed, both male and female, has long been told that regenerating our reproductive organs were impossible. It is not. The only thing we cannot truly regenerate is our mind. I could regenerate my parts with no more effort than a change of form.�
Tekui blinked, surprised. �You can?�
Edsaa nodded. �Yes. It is a temptation but it�s nothing like regenerating claws. It�s something that if made to part with, and I could not do. I�d die before being Spayed again.�
Tekui closed her eyes to think. It was a risk she was willing to share just to be with him. �Would you if I asked you to?�
He looked down. �You would be asking me to do something they would behead me for when we return home.�
She got up and went to him. �I would stop them if I had to step into the path of the axe to do it.�
Edsaa nuzzled her neck fur as she hugged him. �Then I will think about it seriously. Yet I can get rid of this.� The Spayed mark on his chest vanished and his fur covered the area as if it had never been there.
Hours later, the guidance computer informed Tekui that it could not travel from this spot without a new download of a complete galactic map, something that could only be done at a service station. Angry, the asked it where it could go without it.
It told her that it could return to Qesak. The habitat was not very far at 12 light-years away. This troubled Tekui. How could they return? Whatever shot Edsaa might still be looking for them. They had pooled their money and found that they only had 70 gold pieces and 300 Alliances bills between them. Buying a legitimate stay on Qesak could be an expensive choice.
However, this spacecraft was clearly never meant to hold two people for longer than a trip should take. They had low supplies of food and water, spurring her to decide to return to Qesak.
She went to Edsaa, who was reading something on his keeper as he sat at the table. �Edsaa, the ship can only return to Qesak.�
He bowed his head. �Yes, I figured as much. I�m reading about the habitat, looking for the most Renuea friendly part of it. It seems that there is a large alien community on the far side from where we were on the upper 300's and low 400's Plates. It would be no more different from cities in the greater galactic area where we are as welcome as anyone. Plus, our money would go farther there.�
Tekui growled. �How could we get into that area? The Mind isn�t just going to open the door for us.�
He growled back. �Yes, I think it might. The aliens have installed a new Mind there. It�s called the Qesak Core. The Core is friendly and has no prohibitions against any sentient creature. The aliens are still there.�
Tekui smiled. �I can still do what I came here for, only, not in the form I was supposed to take.�
�Watch your hide, Tekui. I will.� Edsaa smiled and got up to go the refresher.
Tekui blushed again. She hurried to direct the ship back to Qesak on the far side of the habitat from where they had been. It took only a few minutes before the ship came out of hyperspace above the huge ring of the habitat.
The communications unit beeped. The Qesak Core contacted it. She opened it and said, �You are the Qesak Core?�
It replied, �Yes. Welcome, You are Tekui of Seshenu and your companion is Edsaa of the Spayed?�
She snarled unexpectedly at calling him that. Was she falling for him? �Yes. Are we allowed to land on the habitat?�
�Yes, you may choose either Gate 35 or Gate 400.�
Tekui frowned. Gate 35 was how she originally came here. �Gate 400, please.�
The Core issued flight instructions which scrolled across the instrument panel. �Follow these directions and the automatic system will help you land. You will be presented with a guide program upon landing.�
She cleared her throat. �Um. My ship needs a map program.�
�I will see that it gets one during your stay.� It disconnected and Tekui followed the directions the Core provided.
The habitat from a distance looked like a vast bracelet with a small moon in the center. Up close, it looked like a massive strip of planetary surface upon massive symmetrical plates of dark foundation material. The underside was an immense dark wall that did not reflect starlight or the light from the local sun, Iteqel, some 95 million miles away. Shiny bands girdled the center underside of the habitat. They were the tracks of an underside transit train and two tube way trains meant for cargo.
The gate the ship was approaching was a vast circular opening in the underside with a docking system. A massive robotic arm swung out and gripped the ship with a magnetic lock. The entire spacecraft shuddered with the impact and movement of the arm, which moved the spacecraft to a locking frame. A boarding tube extended from the frame�s inside and connected with the craft�s entry door. The entire ship hissed and metal groaned as they equalized pressures.
Edsaa came to the flight area. �Do you want to find something to eat? I�m hungry again.�
She was hungry too, and not fully recovered from changing. �Yes. Let�s have fruit this time, with tea milk.�
�All right. Let�s go.� They went to collect their things and left the Ermenda ship, which was otherwise not damaged by the random subspace mine.
The people of this section were largely avian. Intelligent Kenas, tall, white feathered falcon-like creatures dominated the public areas. They were all swathed in black as if mourning something. They chittered in their own language, paying no mind to the two Renueas strolling down the main street, sharing a bowl of something green and leafy. Or so they thought.
A male Kena perched on the ledge of a high building, looking down at the street below with his cam-eye. The silvery rimmed dark lens that covered his left eye was focused on the aliens. He was swathed in the dark gray wraps of Alliances Security. Some of his unusual dark feathers showed through.
The Alliances activated him from Reserve status on the word that two Renueas escaped from the far side of the habitat after a shoot out with habitat security robots. Then, inexplicably, they returned here. Were they stupid? Their actions mystified the Alliances Security Bureau. Renueas were supposed to be crafty and wise.
These two just walked out in the open, eating leaves or grass. The sight sickened the Kena, almost purely carnivorous, of obviously predatory creatures eating such things. He watched them cross the entire market district and head for the spring pool public baths.
The thought of them contaminating the waters with their fur made him really angry. He took several full ID pictures of their faces and made note of their similar colorings. He took off the eye lens and took it to the small satellite uplink that connected him with his bosses, the ASB. He plugged it into the uplink collar and connected it to the ASB-Net.
The bosses ordered him to maintain visual contact that they would send a Hunter to deal with them. The Kena shivered in reflexive fear. The Hunters were the nigh-mythical ASB outfit originally created to keep the Cuaxa in line. Anyone who could do that was formidable indeed. He took the lens off the small gray uplink assembly and put it back on the small connectors embedded into his eye socket and skull. He then took up watching the Renueas again, wondering what the Hunter would do to them.
Tekui felt uneasy. The bird creatures were pointedly not paying attention to them, as if they expected something to happen. She squeezed Edsaa�s arm. �Are we safe here? I don�t think so.�
Edsaa growled softly. �I begin to agree with you, Tekui.� He looked up at the bizarrely dark sky. The other side of the orbital, a place he did not want to ever return to, looked like a bright line that stretched far overhead. More stars were visible here but the other side was always cloudy it seemed.
They had turned around at the bath house and started back up the main street of this peculiar settlement. They paved the street with what might have been crushed bones. It was course and uncomfortable to their bare feet. The smells of the place were just plain strange. Smells of bird effluvia mixed with the smells of cooking meat and fish. Raw meat that had gone rancid and the peculiar smells of the bird creatures themselves. The Av�rite-er did not smell like this. Both Renueas quickened their pace.
Night did not seem to reduce any activity here. Painfully bright lights hung high above at irregular intervals. The bird creatures chittered loudly, making it hard to hear anything else.
�Perhaps it was not a good idea to come here!,� Edsaa yelled over the din.
Tekui growled. She felt like someone or something was watching them. If eyes didn�t take so long to change, she would have altered hers to see from far away. �Let�s go to the ship! It�s gotta be fixed by now!�
They hurried back to the hangar, where the ship waited for them, freshly repaired.
Once inside, Tekui hurried to the flight controls. She put on the comm headset and switched on the line to the new Qesak Mind. �Mind? This is Tekui of Seshenu. Please reply.�
�Yes? Is there a problem?,� the androgynous voice asked. It was different from the Mind�s voice from before. Almost more feminine but not quite.
Tekui looked at the flight displays, checking everything. �We want to leave now.�
�Of course. Set your craft�s engines to pre-flight readiness and engage the maneuvering thrusters when we release the docking lock.�
She sat in the pilot�s chair and growled at the way it made her sit on her tail. She checked everything off and saw that there was a counter, counting down in Alliances standard numbers. She started the engines and put them on pre-flight mode. With trembling hands, she gripped the thruster controls.
The counter reached zero and a loud crack sounded throughout the ship. It drifted free of the docking clamp and Tekui eased it out of the hangar area. Open space appeared beyond the outer rim of the habitat�s flooring. The opening was thousands of meters wide so it was no trouble to ease it right out of the habitat and decelerate from its rotational velocity to jump into hyperspace.
The new map program showed a direct path through hyperspace that led to Ikleu. Tekui noted that it passed very near Celinoa IX, a largely desert world that once hosted an advanced civilization. They had faded into the dust of history before space travel was available to the Renueas. Many travelers and foolhardy explorers claimed that it was haunted by killer machines.
Most avoided going anywhere near it but Tekui saw nothing wrong with passing near it. She waited until the ship braked to jump velocity and entered the coordinates. As she reached for the jump control bar, Edsaa snarled in pain so loudly, it startled her. �Edsaa?�
�I�m okay, just growing,� he growled.
Tekui could not see him or go to him while flying the ship so she worried. She pulled the control bar back and the ship jumped into hyperspace safely but not without being observed.
Once the ship settled in on its course home, Tekui got up from the pilot�s chair and hurried back to see Edsaa, laying on his back on the floor, bleeding from his pelvic area. She gasped. �You started it already?�
He blinked his dark amber eyes, which were teary. �Almost finished. I decided to before we go home. I will face my punishment as a male.�
Tekui growled. She did not like the way he thought. Master Kerrechu would not punish someone so brave. She had known him most of her life. �You shouldn�t be so sure that they will punish you, Edsaa. We live in changing times.�
Edsaa bared his teeth in agony. He looked at the floor and growled lower and deeper than any female could. �Am I the . . . ah . . . the first Spayed you have met?� His words were strained and growly.
She cringed, wishing she could do something for him. This kind of change was completely foreign to her and she did not know how to soothe it. �Yes. Is there anything I can do for you?�
�Leave me alone until I�m done,� he growled and turned over. The blood was deep red and didn�t look like the normal disposable change blood. It was deep body blood.
It really bothered her but she respected his wishes and returned to the pilot�s chair. She sat and started to sulk worriedly.
The ship was nearing Celinoa IX an hour later. Tekui had dozed off in her chair and was startled awake by a loud, staccato beeping. She fumbled about, looking for its source and gasped in horror when she saw an Alliances spacecraft bearing down on them.
Before she could react, it deployed a subspace interdiction net, which dragged the passenger craft out of hyperspace. The Alliances ship over shot them because it had to transition out of hyperspace. The Ermenda ship shuddered in the tidal stresses of space-time, groaning and shaking badly. Alarms screeched and a new control panel flipped up from a previously empty part of the control console.
Tekui slowly recognized it to be a weapon control board. She identified the control for the phased plasmic pulse guns that had sprung up from their hidden bays on the outer dorsal hull. She gripped the fire control and a holo target appeared on the view window in front of her.
The Alliances ship, an X-33 Neatas patroller with big guns, came out of hyperspace 22,000 kilometers ahead. The disc-shaped, wide-bodied craft spun about and boosted toward them, firing bright yellow pulses of energy from unseen cannons.
She gripped the fire control and lined up her shot as the first pulse missed. She fired and the twin white beams of phased energy struck out and cut the Alliances craft apart like a cake. It exploded as the second of it its pulses slammed into the Ermenda ship�s engines, destroying them with a ship rattling boom and sending it into an uncontrolled spin, venting vapor, sparks and coolant in a sparkling trail that looped around it.
Alarms blared and many colored warnings in the Ermenda language appeared on the control panel. She could not read them. The yellowish-tan globe of Celinoa IX spun by, alternating with the fading debris of the Alliances craft. It made Tekui dizzy but she fought it, using intact maneuvering thrusters to slow and stop the spin.
The alarms still beeped as Edsaa leaned in, heavily resting on her shoulder. �What happened?,� he breathed. Blood dripped from his pelvic area even more than before, leaving a thick trail and puddle on the floor.
Tekui growled. �They attacked us . . . �
His gasp cut her off. �These warnings, I can read them. No engines? Our air supply is leaking. We must land quickly!�
�But that�s Celinoa!,� she cried in protest. �Who knows what horrors are down there?�
Edsaa growled. �We can protect ourselves from threats down there, not in a dying spacecraft. This is the emergency landing control.� He sat heavily in the copilot�s chair, squishing as he settled in a comfortable position, and indicated a red glass-covered panel. He smashed the glass with his left fist and showed her how to work it.
She used her keeper to translate the instructions. She had to guide the ship through a re-entry and it would help her into a hard landing. The air gauge was decreasing at a noticeable rate. Tekui wasted no time in setting the wounded ship on a re-entry course.
Edsaa abruptly stopped bleeding although he was a mess of matted fur and sticky blood. �I am done,� he panted.
Tekui looked to see if anything was visible. It was not a polite thing to do but if they were going to die, she wanted to be familiar with him before the end. Nothing was visible in that bloody mess. She wished that he could go wash but that was out of the question right now. �We should attempt a communication despite the damage to the antenna. Ikleu is not as far from here.�
The restored male looked at the radio. �If it is restricted to subspace, it could take a week to get there. You should be the one to call for help. They value you more than me.�
She glared at him as she reached for the radio and entered the access code and her emergency code that would reach the comm center in the training dome back home. She continued to glare at him as she spoke into the radio�s unusual microphone, which was shaped like a crescent moon. �Master Kerrechu. This is Explorer Tekui with Explorer Edsaa. We were beset by an Alliances attack that has damaged our craft irreparably. We are forced to crash onto Celinoa Nine. I�m aiming for a spot.� She checked her coordinates. �At 44̊ West, um, and 12.3̊ South. Please look for us in this area. We will try to hold out for as long as possible.� The radio beeped as it sent the message through the undamaged subspace antenna.
Celinoa now loomed large in the forward windows. The blue veil of a breathable atmosphere resolved into seemingly endless sky. Thick crash web emerged from their chairs and enveloped them bodily. Tekui gripped the flight controls as the ship started to rattle and shake.
Re-entry heat started to make the intact ventral hull glow red hot. The damage was restricted to the aft dorsal hull and the very stern of the small craft, safely protected by the heat shield that extended beyond the stern.
Tekui had to alter the muscle density in her arms and hands to hold on. The damage reduced the aerodynamic profile of the craft significantly.
Edsaa growled as he intently watched the blinking warnings on the console. As explorers, both knew how to fly a wide assortment of spacecrafts. Tekui knew how to fly more than that. He watched as she intently concentrated on reaching the coordinates specified, a vast field of sand dunes near an oasis of sorts.
The shaking worsened as the wounded ship leveled out its plunge to the surface. Tekui whimpered as she fought the forces that were trying to flip the ship over, which would mean instant death for them. The ground, a vast tableau of sand heaped into giant wind sculpted dunes, spread out under a wispy pale blue sky. It was coming up very fast.
A minute later, Tekui yelled. �Hold on!� The ship struck a sand dune and skipped off like a flat rock across water, spraying sand everywhere and making an awful screeching sound in the back. Tekui flinched as the ship�s nose dipped and slammed into another dune with a teeth-jarring impact that yanked them into the crash webs with terrific force. Both cried out, the breath squeezed out of them.
The ship settled with a bone jarring boom. Sand and debris rained down on the dorsal hull, now half buried in the sand.
A long few moments went by before Edsaa undid his crash web and checked on Tekui, who had hit her head on the flight controls. A small bloody spot on her head healed before his eyes as the change ability was also a healing ability. He undid her crash web and she fell slack into his arms. He picked her up and went to the dorsal hatch, which had blown open upon the crash. He pushed her up through the opening and climbed out. He then picked her up and looked around.
The ship had left a trail of debris and scorched sand for a few kilometers back. Acrid smoke boiled out of the aft of the ruined Ermenda craft.
Edsaa growled as he found the air and sand very hot for his liking. He stopped a moment to arrange a more efficient cooling effect as he breathed and thickened the soles of his feet so they wouldn�t be burned by the hot sand. He then set off for the oasis, now a few kilometers to what he reckoned to be the southwest.
Carrying Tekui over his left shoulder, Edsaa did his best to keep his footing on the treacherous sand. He fell once, down a slope, dropping Tekui and tumbling down to a painful rest. Sand now coated him and stuck to his bloody fur uncomfortably. He worked his way back up to Tekui, who was not hurt by the fall and picked her up again.
He took a more careful path and made it to the oasis, a grove of grass, tropical looking trees and a vast, spring-fed pool. Edsaa smiled and lay Tekui down on the grass before diving into the cold pool, very gladly scrubbing himself clean and cooling off.
Tekui came to and sat up, rubbing the sore spot on her head. She looked around and found herself in that oasis. She saw wet footprints on the sand that lined the pool and smelled wet fur. �Edsaa?�
�I�m here, Tekui,� the restored male said, stepping out from behind a tree with an armful of wood. He took it to a circle of rocks and stones on the grass near the pool and behind some tropical ferns. �This is a desert and deserts get cold at night.�
She looked up at the pale blue sky and saw that this world had two suns, one white and the other, an orangish yellow. Both were descending toward the western horizon. The air was warm but not oppressively so.
Edsaa arranged the wood so that it would burn more efficiently and for a long while. His golden fur was clean and mostly dry. He looked very appealing to her. �How is your head?�
She got up and stretched. �It�s a bit sore.� She pulled her keeper from its hidden pocket and began to scan the plants to see which ones were edible.
Edsaa returned to the trees for more wood.
The keeper said that the trees bore an edible coconut-like fruit and there were edible fruits on the back rim of the pool. It suggested that she return to the ship for a med-kit if it was needed and rations for protein. It was far too hot out there to travel the almost three kilometers of sand. She decided to wait until the early morning to go.
Edsaa returned with more wood. �Did you find anything to eat?�
She smiled. �Yes. Tree nuts and water-fruits. We must get rations from the ship but we can wait until tomorrow morning for that.�
He nodded and started arranging the wood. �You may want to configure yourself for hot sand and air.�
She smiled, already doing that and warming up certain other parts. �I am.� She made a pheromone she knew that would work on him.
Edsaa froze suddenly. He looked at her. �Stop that. I know what you want. If you leave me alone until I finish this, you will get it.�
Tekui smiled even more. She went to bathe in the pool to cool off for now.
Back on the Qesak Habitat, Alliances agents chattered excitedly as the ship bearing the Hunter arrived. This one was assigned to hunt down and kill the two yellow furred Renueas. They were on Plate 15, where the new Mind had no influence. Many were greatly upset by the destruction of Patrol 15 based on this plate.
The Hunter emerged from a steam filled corridor draped in white robes that marked a VIP in the Alliances. As they walked toward the egress terminal, the various people and aliens gasped and whispered in awe and astonishment.
The Hunter was a tall, thin framed Cuaxa female. Her snow white fur was trimmed very short, almost to the skin but left enough to hide that skin under a short carpet of white. Her large amethyst colored eyes took in the whole terminal without actually looking at anyone or thing. Female Cuaxas were rare in the Greater Alliances territory due to their notoriously vicious disposition.
This one seemed sedate if anything, likely controlled by drugs or threats or actual torture. The white robes gave away no details of her body other than that she was thin. She walked slowly and gracefully. She passed the people and came to the entry gate where she presented an ID card that identified her as Hunter Esha.
A scan revealed that she was armed with a skinning knife and a powerful phase caster, a devastating plasmic pulse weapon whose sole purpose was to blow living creatures apart. Under the robes, she wore a white Hunter�s bodice and skirt that had a weblike protective layer that would stop anything but hardcore weapons like the phase caster. Though she looked sedate, she didn�t move like it. She quickly left the gate and went to the Alliances command office.
The Qesak Region commander, a Cuaxa male simply known as The Butcher, showed her pictures and gave her smell samples to memorize of the two Renueas. He also gave her an eye shield with silver lenses that was actually a tracker. He issued her a small infiltration craft and a map program of Celinoa IX.
Her orders were simple. Find the Renueas. Kill them, skin them to collect their pelts and bring them back as proof of the kill. The Butcher warned her of the superstitions surrounding that world and of the oppressive heat. She had her own large water bag and filled it before leaving. She left at once.
Night came and the temperature plummeted dramatically in just an hour. Edsaa started the fire and they ate a meal of the fruits before laying on the grass together. They mated twice before it got too cold. He was very relieved to see that his regenerated parts worked perfectly.
Tekui liked it too. Her stamina was impressive but all Renueas with the change ability had such stamina.
After they were done, they lay beside each other, looking at the stars. Edsaa found Ikleu�s suns in the high northern sky and pointed out Iteqel high above, where Qesak was. As they admired the natural beauty, a bright streak of light crossed the sky from northeast to southwest.
�What was that?� Tekui asked.
�A ship. I hope it�s one of ours,� he replied.
She snuggled against him. �There�s no need to hurry.�
He smiled. �Indeed not.�
To Be Continued...
Thank you for reading.
� 26 June and 8 July 2004 Gregory Thompson. All reproduction is prohibited.