Lodka-4
Eric always wanted to be an astronaut. He’s grown up watching Star Trek, imagining how one day he himself would embark on an epic adventure and meet new alien species, out there, in deep space…
He was born in the late 90’s, when space exploration age ended together with the Cold War. But it was the time when the Internet was becoming a rising phenomena, and young Eric would soak up every info the space agencies of the world would give him.
His parents had noticed his great love for the sky, and for his 10th birthday got him what he considered a huge telescope - a 114mm computerized Newtonian reflector. It led him to many sleepless nights sneaking out on the balcony gazing at the stars.
And every night of his life he burned with the desire to set off into the stars, explore the vast expanse, be like Captain Picard, boldly go into the unknown…
As he got older, he became to realize that going to the stars was bit of a hopeless dream. The golden age of space exploration was far gone, and it didn’t look like coming back anytime soon. And Germany had send only about 20 astronomers to space, so to actually be picked for a mission to ISS, you not only had to be in best physical shape and practically a genius, but also ludicrously lucky.
But still Eric never lost hope. He ended signing up for Aeronautical Engineering at Hamburg University, finished top of his class, and immediately joined the German Aerospace Center. He still had small chance of ever going into space, but achieving all this at only 25 years gave him lot more confidence to pursue his dreams further.
And then, the Kemerians came and humanity became space-faring overnight. Soon after that the big Space Station Unity, humanity’s greatest achievement became operational, a large ship-building space dock requiring all willing aeronautical engineers.
Naturally, he applied for the job, and was chosen almost instantly. And in no-time he finally embarked on a journey to outer space.
Although, it was not exactly as he imagined it.
The “Lodka-4” was exactly what it’s name meant in Russian: a boat. It was a shuttle-class spaceship capable of independent lift-off and not much else. It was five by seven meters, not much larger than a large car, with enough space for two people. It was extremely light and fast, it could reach the station in an hour with minimal fuel requirements, and that was all that mattered. It was very cheap earth-to-orbit transport.
He was sharing it with another passenger, a Kemerian biologist, Ranil-El, if he remembered her name correctly.
It should have been an exciting journey to the stars with an alien, them talking about their differences as they cruised to the big station. But it was not to be. Ranil-El turned out not to be so interesting after all. Since lift-off, she only spoke to him when they greeted each other. After that, she immediately went into that Kemerian-trance they enjoy being in so much.
Eric was annoyed a little by her behavior, since he felt they had so much to talk about, and that she was the one that actively chose not to. In any case, he decided that none of it matters, since it’s only an hour and there are much more Kemerians back on the station.
But that was before they hit the damn satellite. It was some Soviet-era reconnaissance junk that scratched the front of the craft. Not enough to breach it, but apparently delivered enough shock to damage the central computer. There was an ongoing discussion back on Earth among aerospace engineers about the growing arrogance of the spacecraft manufacturers. The talk was that as the success rate of launching spacecrafts increased, so did the boldness of the manufacturers to reduce cost on vital systems. Space flight was not so scary anymore, it was becoming more like regular air travel, even safer in some respects, and this in a capitalist mind equals opportunity for maximizing profit.
Eric was part of the team that thought this was nonsense, that no one in their right mind would intentionally cut costs on something as vital as a ship’s computer. He was seeing now how wrong he was.
Not that they were in any danger, really. Despite the damages, the computer was able to keep them in stable orbit, and that meant they were an artificial satellite to the blue ball below until they were picked up by a search and rescue craft.
But it was so damn boring, the waiting. And Ranil-El continued being a boring companion. She acknowledged the accident with certain stoicism, and after making sure that there was really nothing to be done on their side, she simply announced that she is going back into her meditative trance to help preserve their resources. She sat on her spot, closed her eyes, and for all intents and purposes, was gone.
Eric was fascinated by the Kemerians every since they came on Earth. He lived in Bohn, and the climate there didn’t really agree with the aliens. When occasionally they would come to his city, they were mostly wearing their full suits, so he didn’t have much chance to see them, except on TV.
Now he had at last the chance to examine one at close. Since she was in a trance, he guessed that a little staring won’t hurt anybody. It would only help his boredom a little.
He had heard about the trance. They’re stalking predators, meaning that during their hunts it was imperative for the prey not to notice them. So they would sit immobile, not unlike cats, before delivering their final blow. Kemerians had the ability to slow down their hearts and breathing in order to be as silent as possible.
Later, during the migration, the trance was used to help with the long voyage. They were escaping their sun’s death, in the great generation ship that was currently orbiting Earth. The journey lasted a millennia, and some of the Kemerians thought about using the trance to simply pass the time. It turned out this simple cure for boredom, in an interesting side-effect, could extend their life quite a bit, and soon it became integral part of their culture.
It was the first time he saw a Kemerian in trance. She looked as though she was not alive at all. It was also a chance to inspect her up close, as she was wearing only standard uniform, not the full-suit.
Kemerian’s skin color ranged from shades of deep blue to dark gray to black. Ranil-El was a shade of midnight blue. He really couldn’t help but be fascinated as her skin-color shifted shades according to her shape. And her skin was perfect, not even her pores were visible, at least not from this distance. She looked so very polished. Eric could guess that this was attributed to the lack of sun exposure, since most imperfections on human skin can be attributed to the Sun’s radiation.
Her face was… strange. Kemerians were definitely what one would call humanoid. Being mostly bipedal, there isn’t much more that evolution could do in that regard; two hands, two legs, a forward-facing head.
Although, Kemerians can and will run on all fours, if need arise. Eric had only seen them doing that on TV, and it was a bit unsettling to see their spine allowing that movement.
Ranil-El’s face looked like it could belong to pre-First Contact era TV show alien. Although it certainly looked more real, meaning it had more… utility?
Her face was elongated, smooth shaped, completely hairless like all Kemerians are. Aerodynamic - that’s the word he thought first when he saw it.
It had sharp pointed ears, not unlike Mr. Spock would have, but these were certainly no props. He knew that they had almost full range of motion, meaning they could make a complete 3d sound map of their surroundings.
Her eyelids were closed, but he knew that behind were, in her case, yellow cat-like eyes capable of night vision. The main eyes were slanted up from the nose and pointing towards the ears. At the corners there was a second set, most of the time closed. Those where the Kemerian’s infra-red sensors. Eric didn't really know how they looked like, as Kemerian’s used them only while hunting, and naturally, in pitch-black darkness.
Her nose blended perfectly with her face, it was almost non-existent. Humans actually smelled better than Kemerians, as the alien’s noses have nearly lost their function to the abundance of other senses.
Another thing that blended perfectly with the face was the mouth. It was framed by delicate, almost unnoticeable “lips” - slightly darker protruded skin. Inside, among other teeth, there were 4 sets of strong canines.
While talking, their mouth is not very unusual. It’s when you watch a Kemerian eating that things get strange, and even a bit scary. At least that’s what Eric’s being told. They can open their jaw much further than initially looks possible, and it’s then that their pointy sharp teeth really get noticed. Eric has never seen a Kemerian eat, and was now doubtful about what he has been told about it, because it looked like such an elegant creature was unable to look like a thing from a monster movie.
But then he remembered the quadrupedal walking. The neck was thin and muscular, and was allowing for head-movement that allowed the head to stay front-facing even while on four legs.
While watching her muscles, he noticed that they looked deceptively delicate. He knew that she was certainly stronger than him. Kemerian muscles maybe lacked mass compared to humans’, but they were well defined and stronger. He had heard stories about Kemerians taking down large game with bare hands. Even bears, but he believed those stories to be a bit exaggerated.
Again, she looked way too elegant to be capable of that kind of brutality. But then again, looks can deceive.
He moved his gaze to the upper torso. She was covered by her shirt, of course, so he could only wonder what was under. Kemerians were not mammals. They get pregnant like humans do, though they carry their offspring longer compared to us, and their young are capable of consuming meat from birth.
So, Ranil-El wasn’t the busty blue-skinned alien from 90’s TV. It was difficult to guess gender in Kemerians, the secondary sexual characteristics being non-existent. But he knew the reproductive parts were similar, at least in function, meaning they can engage in sexual activity with humans, and in fact have been known to do so. His gaze immediately dropped to between her legs, and he wondered…
But then he realized what he was doing, and raised his head quickly, only to freeze in place when he saw that Ranin-El was staring back at him.
“You are staring at me” - she said matter-of-factly. She spoke English, like all Kemerians do, silently, producing hissing sounds with the letters that required the tongue to hit the upper palate. They can speak it perfectly, technically, but it would require them to, what they call, shout.
“Sorry… didn’t mean to upset you.” he whispered back. He was a bit ashamed at what he was doing. This was his first real contact with a Kemerian, and it seemed like he blew it.
He managed to meet her eyes, fully expecting them to be filled with rage. An irrational fear crept into him: she was a born hunter, essentially a sentient killing machine. And he had managed to piss her off. He could feel her canines on his neck.
But she just stared back at him, with the same calm look as before. Somehow, that was even scarier.
“Is there something that you find interesting?” - she whisper-talked.
But Eric was still thinking of her canines. He knew his fear was irrational, but the whole situation, being trapped in a tin-can with a member of a species that can hunt sharks was suddenly unsettling.
“You… I find you interesting...” What is he saying?
She continued looking at him. “You are sweating, your heart rate is elevated.”
‘Oh, god.’ He thought. 'She is smelling my fear.'
“Do you fear me?”
He could only manage to look guilty.
Suddenly, she opened her mouth, sharp teeth showing. ‘Oh god, it’s really happening!’ he thought as his fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. But there was nowhere to run. And certainly he couldn’t fight her.
But she just moved her nose up and down. Eric was confused for a second before his reason finally kicked in and told him she was laughing.
“Why would you fear me? I am not even a good hunter!” She continued moving her nose. Like everything, Kemerians laughed silently.
“You are certainly a better hunter than me.”
She stopped laughing. “Thank you. Although you probably don’t know, that is a great compliment.”
Now he laughed, a laugh that comes from relief. Of course, it was loud, human laugh, and Ranin-El had flopped close her ears.
“You humans must be so loud about everything.” She complained, still whispering.
Eric tried to suppress the sounds of his laughing. “I’m sorry...”
“And you are always sorry… We’ve been on your planet - how much is it in your revolutions?”
“Six years”
“Isn’t that enough for you to stop fearing us?”
Eric had to think a little before he could answer. “You are too good at killing.”
“No, no. we are good at hunting. You humans are good at killing. We don’t always kill our prey, you know...”
“I have heard about that.”
“We sometimes play with it first.” She continued, and then hissed threateningly, baring her canines.
Eric pushed his back hard against the wall of the shuttle, it even hurt him a bit. He was ready to take on this creature, even if it meant his death. But her nose started moving up and down again.
“Don’t be scared. I am sorry, bad joke. I am not very accustomed to being with humans. I can hear you heartbeat though, and that can’t be good.”
He was still a little startled, and more than a bit questioning of her motives.
“So, you find me interesting?” She tried to change the subject.
She was calm again. Was that curiosity he could read on her face? He calmed down a little. After all, he too was far from being accustomed to any kind of alien presence. Hell, he could barely keep social norms around humans. So he decided that they needed to move on from this awkwardness. He regained his composure.
“In fact, I was fascinated. I was thinking how elegant you are, yet you are the apex-hunter.”
She laughed again.
“We are not the apex-predators. I find it funny how humans take one prevailing characteristics of a set of specimens and apply it to all indiscriminately. The Hunt is central to our culture, true, but it’s not all there is, you know. Same as your Entertainment is not all that is to you. ”
“Entertainment?”
“Yes, aren’t you entertainment-centered? It seems to us like that. Your culture, your sexuality, your technology… you get entertainment even from war and killing.”
Eric half-opened his mouth to argue, but he could easily see how she had a point. “Isn’t your Hunt entertaining?”
“The Hunt is getting us close to Malar, and to our original birthplace. It helps clear up the mind, and helps us keep our senses. And, of course, feeds us.”
“So, Malar is something like a God, right?” He regretted saying that immediately after the words left his mouth, he could hear himself how ignorant he sounded. But, it was out there.
“God, as your concept of omniscient and omnipotent creator? There is no such thing. Malar is a collection of both written and unwritten philosophical and scientific works that shape our cultures. That’s my simplest explanation to it, although there are many… layers?”
“So, it’s a collection of your knowledge?”
“Now you over-simplify it. Collection of knowledge is a library, it can hold anything. Malar contains knowledge that can be used to help you become, well, mostly better Hunter. But also a better artist, fighter, scientist, parent, lover...”
“It’s not canon?”
“What is ‘canon’?”
“Something that must be followed?”
She moved her nose. “That’s another thing about you. Laws, rules… No, Malar is never prohibiting or enforcing.”
“You don’t have laws?” Eric has heard about Kemerians being quite libertarian in nature, but never that they had no laws.
“We do, just not about lifestyle choices.”
“But doesn’t your Malar say ‘you should not kill’, or ‘you should not steal’?”
If he could guess her expression, his best guess would be confusion. “Murder and theft are not lifestyle choices.” She simply replied. And now she looked like she was picking her words. “Malar is about…”- he recognized that she was gesticulating a word, but he couldn’t understand Kemerian sign language more than simple greetings. - ”wisdom, I believe,” - she continued - ”and stating things that go against reason are hardly wisdom”.
From her increased gesticulations Eric could see that the conversation was tiring her. Kemerians could learn almost perfect English, there were instances even where they learned other languages, but the loudness of human language and the fact that their languages relied heavily on gesticulation made speaking tiresome for them. So Eric knew it was time to move the conversation to something simpler.
But his mind simply froze up. It was the only thing it could do when he needed to change the flow of some social situation.
Luckily, Ranin-El spoke first:
“So, am I only fascinating to you as an apex-predator?”
“You said you weren’t? There is something that hunts you?”
“We are as much apex as you are. Nothing hunts us because we climbed on top of the chain. But, that's not an answer to my question?”
“No, I don’t view you just as some killing-machine. But you have perfect skin, such delicately shaped frame...” - he stopped, realizing that he spoke of her as he would speak of a car. The expectation of her teeth on his neck was rising against in him.
But she just stood there, considering the words. He couldn’t read her expression, but he knew that she could sense the fear in him. And he half-knew that he would notice anger, and there was none.
“You do know that we admire that in you also?” - she whispered finally - “You are bipedal in spite of your big mass.”
“You are also bipedal…?” Eric asked confused.
“Not while running. You must have seen that we run on all fours. This is not by choice.”
There was sudden interruption from the shuttles AI:
“Attention, craft losing altitude. Attempting course correction.”
Usually an AI would course-correct automatically. It announced it’s intentions only if the result is inconclusive. Eric jumped to the console, and confirmed that they were indeed falling off orbit. In about an hour, they will enter the atmosphere.
“Fatal error: course correction failed.” It was both written, both spoken by the ship computer. “Projection: Atmosphere re-entry in 59,4 minutes.”
‘How did it all go to hell?’ A minute ago they were adrift, but in stable orbit. Now it seems they’re hurling towards the earth. Eric quickly calculated his own course-correction, and fed it directly to the navigation computer. But the navigation computer seemed unresponsive, despite the green light on the control panel.
“Katerina, what’s the status on Nav?” Katerina was the AI’s designated name.
“Navigation computer is operational.”
“Please re-check, it’s not recognizing input.”
“Please stand by.” A status bar appeared on screen. They now had 57 minutes.
“What about the main connections? Are all connections well?” It was the Kemerian that posed the question.
“All connections operate within normal parameters.”
“Are there really no ships around?”
“Kemerian mothership is in communication range.”
“Hail them. Priority message to Karam-El.”
“Communications systems offline.”
Eric and Ranin-El looked at each other in confusion.
“Katerina, aren’t you sending a distress signal?”
“Communication systems are offline.” She repeated flatly. “Analysis completed. Navigation system running within optimal parameters.”
“Then enter course-correction, for fuck’s sake.” Eric was yelling.
“Fatal Error: Navigation System non-responsive.”
“But… Katerina, run self diagnostics.”
“Processing...”
“It looks as if she took the beating. Goddamnit, we weren’t even sending a distress signal! They’re noticing we are missing just about now!” Panic started rising within him. And of course, Ranin-El felt it.
“Calm down, your heartbeat is getting too fast.” But her words weren’t helping. She came closer to him, extended both her arms, her hands touching his shoulders. She had heard this helps humans calm down. “You need to calm down, and slow your breathing. We can get out of this, but I need you.”
“Sorry, It’s just my first flight is not going as expected.” His breathing was still shallow and fast, but he looked like regaining control. “It was supposed to be great adventure…”
“And it is. Now I need you to focus. There must be back-up coms, right?” She was looking at him intensely not sure exactly what was normal in this situation. But she heard his heartbeat and breathing slowing down. That had to be good.
“Ok...” He gulped “There is auxiliary com system, off course. Just it seems Katerina is unable to utilize it for whatever reason.”
“I think Katerina is not herself.” Ranin-El reasoned. “There must be a manual override, am I right?”
“Of course, of course you are..” He gulped again. His pulse was closer to normal now. He gestured that he needed to get up and Ranin-El let go of his shoulders. he went to the panel and started tinkering with it.
“Self-check complete. Warning: Cyclic-Redundancy check Error. Partition Error, bad sectors…”
“Katerina, switch all mission controls to manual and go to sleep.”
“Warning: Inadvisable action. May result in mission failure.”
“Warning noted. Carry out command. Authorization Eric-Alpha-Charlie.”
“Authorization verified. Transferring controls. Entering sleep-mode.”
End then finally silence. Now he needed to focus. He has controlled this thing million times, but in a simulator. Never in real-life, and certainly never while being catapulted towards the Earth. He tried the Nav once again. Nothing. It was just blinking green stupidly, but it was dead. So he fired up the auxiliary Nav computer. To his appalment, he noticed that it was missing. ‘If I ever survive this, I’m going to personally hunt down the fuckers that designed this bucket.’ he cursed inwardly.
He inhaled deeply. There was really only one chance, and that’s to get rescued. So, he tried again the secondary Coms. He was relieved, they were still there, and functioning. Now, to fire them up and send the blasted beacon…
In that moment, a violent thud could be heard, and both of them hit the starboard side of the shuttle. ‘How much space junk is actually out there?’ thought Eric. It was highly improbable to get hit the first time, but second? That’s just ridiculous. They were out of luck.
“What’s the damage?” Asked Ranin-El. She was again remarkably stoic regarding the situation.
“We were hit on the aft side. Unidentified object. No damage, but it sent us further off-orbit. We have now about 25 minutes to re-entry.”
There was silence as both of them calculated their chances. Slim, Eric thought.
“Did you manage to start the Coms?”
“Yes, it’s sending out the signal. At least, it says so. I was sure it was sending out last time too.”
There was silence in the craft again. The only sound present was the hum of the cooling systems for the equipment, but it was silent enough for Eric to ignore it, and Ranin-El to not be terribly bothered by it.
“It’s not the best thing to spend your last minutes in.” He commented, leaving out the beginning of the thought about the tin can they were in.
“We are not dead yet. Enirsem is well within range.”
“What does ‘Enirsem’ mean, actually?” He knew that they referred to their mothership with that name, but never got the meaning of it.
“It means ‘skyship’” she responded simply.
“You have so generic name for a ship that big?”
“It’s not a name. One gives name to something to differ it from other.” There was some reluctance in her voice when saying this.
“You want to tell me this is your only ship?”
She shook her ears. Eric had no idea what that meant. But after a short pause, she responded: “Yes, what you call our ‘mothership’, it’s actually our only ship.”
“You have never said so...” He referred to the whole species, of course.
“No, we haven’t. It’s a consensus that we should keep it from humanity. A precaution.”
Eric considered her words for a moment. He felt a bit.. cheated? But he understood that keeping a guise of being a vast space-faring race was a good way to keep humanity from doing something stupid. He would do the same, actually, if he was in that position.
“But you’re still telling me this?” He wanted to see if this secret was strongly kept inside their community. And be it for their situation, but he started feeling close to this alien. He wanted to know if she felt the same.
“It’s a precaution based on your species’ violent past. It’s an assumption based on a month of research. Although you seem capable of attacking our ship and doing significant harm, I don’t think not being honest with you helps. And, it’s unlikely that you are going to tell anyone.”
“So, you’ve come to terms with our situation too?” It was a bit cruel question, he didn’t know why he asked it.
“No, we have 13 minutes for Enirsem… the starship to come and rescue us.”
Eric had increasing doubts about that. If the beacon was being sent out, they should have heard a response from anyone by now.
“What do you think happens when we die? What does Malar teach about that?”
“Malar doesn’t teach. And I don’t understand the question, is this somehow connected to your religion?” He was simply fascinated about how composed her voice was. It reminded him of Mr. Spock’s behavior. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was laughing just few minutes back, he could confuse her for a strangely-shaped and colored Vulcan.
“No, I am not religious. I think that we just die. I was just interested what your culture thinks about it.”
“We die. Everything dies. It’s pointless to discuss it. Malar is about self-improvement in life. We have philosophers that talk about different aspects of self and some selves leaving the body, or something like that, but I don’t know anything about it. Death is end, it’s inevitable, and so it’s fruitless to discuss it. Same as birth. Your species are caught up in thinking about it far more than we are, I guess.”
“Yeah, fear of death is what starts religions practically.” He paused for a bit. “Ranin, I must say that I don’t think we are getting out of this one.”
“It looks like that. They should have responded by now if we were broadcasting.”
He extended his hand towards her. “I wanted to say that it was a pleasure meeting you. You are a truly fascinating being… sorry, person.”
She looked at his hand for a time, then remembered that she is supposed to shake it. She extended her a bit clumsily considering how elegant her movements were, and just let Eric take it and shake it.
“It’s been a pleasure too, Eric-El. You are a good companion.”
They were clumsily spoken words, but Eric took them for what they are. He was considering his life so far. He wanted to go into space, meet aliens. He did that. Death doesn’t matter, he could accept that Malar wisdom.
They never really let go of their hands as the little “Lodka-4” finally entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up quickly, appearing just as another falling star in the night sky.
He was born in the late 90’s, when space exploration age ended together with the Cold War. But it was the time when the Internet was becoming a rising phenomena, and young Eric would soak up every info the space agencies of the world would give him.
His parents had noticed his great love for the sky, and for his 10th birthday got him what he considered a huge telescope - a 114mm computerized Newtonian reflector. It led him to many sleepless nights sneaking out on the balcony gazing at the stars.
And every night of his life he burned with the desire to set off into the stars, explore the vast expanse, be like Captain Picard, boldly go into the unknown…
As he got older, he became to realize that going to the stars was bit of a hopeless dream. The golden age of space exploration was far gone, and it didn’t look like coming back anytime soon. And Germany had send only about 20 astronomers to space, so to actually be picked for a mission to ISS, you not only had to be in best physical shape and practically a genius, but also ludicrously lucky.
But still Eric never lost hope. He ended signing up for Aeronautical Engineering at Hamburg University, finished top of his class, and immediately joined the German Aerospace Center. He still had small chance of ever going into space, but achieving all this at only 25 years gave him lot more confidence to pursue his dreams further.
And then, the Kemerians came and humanity became space-faring overnight. Soon after that the big Space Station Unity, humanity’s greatest achievement became operational, a large ship-building space dock requiring all willing aeronautical engineers.
Naturally, he applied for the job, and was chosen almost instantly. And in no-time he finally embarked on a journey to outer space.
Although, it was not exactly as he imagined it.
The “Lodka-4” was exactly what it’s name meant in Russian: a boat. It was a shuttle-class spaceship capable of independent lift-off and not much else. It was five by seven meters, not much larger than a large car, with enough space for two people. It was extremely light and fast, it could reach the station in an hour with minimal fuel requirements, and that was all that mattered. It was very cheap earth-to-orbit transport.
He was sharing it with another passenger, a Kemerian biologist, Ranil-El, if he remembered her name correctly.
It should have been an exciting journey to the stars with an alien, them talking about their differences as they cruised to the big station. But it was not to be. Ranil-El turned out not to be so interesting after all. Since lift-off, she only spoke to him when they greeted each other. After that, she immediately went into that Kemerian-trance they enjoy being in so much.
Eric was annoyed a little by her behavior, since he felt they had so much to talk about, and that she was the one that actively chose not to. In any case, he decided that none of it matters, since it’s only an hour and there are much more Kemerians back on the station.
But that was before they hit the damn satellite. It was some Soviet-era reconnaissance junk that scratched the front of the craft. Not enough to breach it, but apparently delivered enough shock to damage the central computer. There was an ongoing discussion back on Earth among aerospace engineers about the growing arrogance of the spacecraft manufacturers. The talk was that as the success rate of launching spacecrafts increased, so did the boldness of the manufacturers to reduce cost on vital systems. Space flight was not so scary anymore, it was becoming more like regular air travel, even safer in some respects, and this in a capitalist mind equals opportunity for maximizing profit.
Eric was part of the team that thought this was nonsense, that no one in their right mind would intentionally cut costs on something as vital as a ship’s computer. He was seeing now how wrong he was.
Not that they were in any danger, really. Despite the damages, the computer was able to keep them in stable orbit, and that meant they were an artificial satellite to the blue ball below until they were picked up by a search and rescue craft.
But it was so damn boring, the waiting. And Ranil-El continued being a boring companion. She acknowledged the accident with certain stoicism, and after making sure that there was really nothing to be done on their side, she simply announced that she is going back into her meditative trance to help preserve their resources. She sat on her spot, closed her eyes, and for all intents and purposes, was gone.
Eric was fascinated by the Kemerians every since they came on Earth. He lived in Bohn, and the climate there didn’t really agree with the aliens. When occasionally they would come to his city, they were mostly wearing their full suits, so he didn’t have much chance to see them, except on TV.
Now he had at last the chance to examine one at close. Since she was in a trance, he guessed that a little staring won’t hurt anybody. It would only help his boredom a little.
He had heard about the trance. They’re stalking predators, meaning that during their hunts it was imperative for the prey not to notice them. So they would sit immobile, not unlike cats, before delivering their final blow. Kemerians had the ability to slow down their hearts and breathing in order to be as silent as possible.
Later, during the migration, the trance was used to help with the long voyage. They were escaping their sun’s death, in the great generation ship that was currently orbiting Earth. The journey lasted a millennia, and some of the Kemerians thought about using the trance to simply pass the time. It turned out this simple cure for boredom, in an interesting side-effect, could extend their life quite a bit, and soon it became integral part of their culture.
It was the first time he saw a Kemerian in trance. She looked as though she was not alive at all. It was also a chance to inspect her up close, as she was wearing only standard uniform, not the full-suit.
Kemerian’s skin color ranged from shades of deep blue to dark gray to black. Ranil-El was a shade of midnight blue. He really couldn’t help but be fascinated as her skin-color shifted shades according to her shape. And her skin was perfect, not even her pores were visible, at least not from this distance. She looked so very polished. Eric could guess that this was attributed to the lack of sun exposure, since most imperfections on human skin can be attributed to the Sun’s radiation.
Her face was… strange. Kemerians were definitely what one would call humanoid. Being mostly bipedal, there isn’t much more that evolution could do in that regard; two hands, two legs, a forward-facing head.
Although, Kemerians can and will run on all fours, if need arise. Eric had only seen them doing that on TV, and it was a bit unsettling to see their spine allowing that movement.
Ranil-El’s face looked like it could belong to pre-First Contact era TV show alien. Although it certainly looked more real, meaning it had more… utility?
Her face was elongated, smooth shaped, completely hairless like all Kemerians are. Aerodynamic - that’s the word he thought first when he saw it.
It had sharp pointed ears, not unlike Mr. Spock would have, but these were certainly no props. He knew that they had almost full range of motion, meaning they could make a complete 3d sound map of their surroundings.
Her eyelids were closed, but he knew that behind were, in her case, yellow cat-like eyes capable of night vision. The main eyes were slanted up from the nose and pointing towards the ears. At the corners there was a second set, most of the time closed. Those where the Kemerian’s infra-red sensors. Eric didn't really know how they looked like, as Kemerian’s used them only while hunting, and naturally, in pitch-black darkness.
Her nose blended perfectly with her face, it was almost non-existent. Humans actually smelled better than Kemerians, as the alien’s noses have nearly lost their function to the abundance of other senses.
Another thing that blended perfectly with the face was the mouth. It was framed by delicate, almost unnoticeable “lips” - slightly darker protruded skin. Inside, among other teeth, there were 4 sets of strong canines.
While talking, their mouth is not very unusual. It’s when you watch a Kemerian eating that things get strange, and even a bit scary. At least that’s what Eric’s being told. They can open their jaw much further than initially looks possible, and it’s then that their pointy sharp teeth really get noticed. Eric has never seen a Kemerian eat, and was now doubtful about what he has been told about it, because it looked like such an elegant creature was unable to look like a thing from a monster movie.
But then he remembered the quadrupedal walking. The neck was thin and muscular, and was allowing for head-movement that allowed the head to stay front-facing even while on four legs.
While watching her muscles, he noticed that they looked deceptively delicate. He knew that she was certainly stronger than him. Kemerian muscles maybe lacked mass compared to humans’, but they were well defined and stronger. He had heard stories about Kemerians taking down large game with bare hands. Even bears, but he believed those stories to be a bit exaggerated.
Again, she looked way too elegant to be capable of that kind of brutality. But then again, looks can deceive.
He moved his gaze to the upper torso. She was covered by her shirt, of course, so he could only wonder what was under. Kemerians were not mammals. They get pregnant like humans do, though they carry their offspring longer compared to us, and their young are capable of consuming meat from birth.
So, Ranil-El wasn’t the busty blue-skinned alien from 90’s TV. It was difficult to guess gender in Kemerians, the secondary sexual characteristics being non-existent. But he knew the reproductive parts were similar, at least in function, meaning they can engage in sexual activity with humans, and in fact have been known to do so. His gaze immediately dropped to between her legs, and he wondered…
But then he realized what he was doing, and raised his head quickly, only to freeze in place when he saw that Ranin-El was staring back at him.
“You are staring at me” - she said matter-of-factly. She spoke English, like all Kemerians do, silently, producing hissing sounds with the letters that required the tongue to hit the upper palate. They can speak it perfectly, technically, but it would require them to, what they call, shout.
“Sorry… didn’t mean to upset you.” he whispered back. He was a bit ashamed at what he was doing. This was his first real contact with a Kemerian, and it seemed like he blew it.
He managed to meet her eyes, fully expecting them to be filled with rage. An irrational fear crept into him: she was a born hunter, essentially a sentient killing machine. And he had managed to piss her off. He could feel her canines on his neck.
But she just stared back at him, with the same calm look as before. Somehow, that was even scarier.
“Is there something that you find interesting?” - she whisper-talked.
But Eric was still thinking of her canines. He knew his fear was irrational, but the whole situation, being trapped in a tin-can with a member of a species that can hunt sharks was suddenly unsettling.
“You… I find you interesting...” What is he saying?
She continued looking at him. “You are sweating, your heart rate is elevated.”
‘Oh, god.’ He thought. 'She is smelling my fear.'
“Do you fear me?”
He could only manage to look guilty.
Suddenly, she opened her mouth, sharp teeth showing. ‘Oh god, it’s really happening!’ he thought as his fight-or-flight instincts kicked in. But there was nowhere to run. And certainly he couldn’t fight her.
But she just moved her nose up and down. Eric was confused for a second before his reason finally kicked in and told him she was laughing.
“Why would you fear me? I am not even a good hunter!” She continued moving her nose. Like everything, Kemerians laughed silently.
“You are certainly a better hunter than me.”
She stopped laughing. “Thank you. Although you probably don’t know, that is a great compliment.”
Now he laughed, a laugh that comes from relief. Of course, it was loud, human laugh, and Ranin-El had flopped close her ears.
“You humans must be so loud about everything.” She complained, still whispering.
Eric tried to suppress the sounds of his laughing. “I’m sorry...”
“And you are always sorry… We’ve been on your planet - how much is it in your revolutions?”
“Six years”
“Isn’t that enough for you to stop fearing us?”
Eric had to think a little before he could answer. “You are too good at killing.”
“No, no. we are good at hunting. You humans are good at killing. We don’t always kill our prey, you know...”
“I have heard about that.”
“We sometimes play with it first.” She continued, and then hissed threateningly, baring her canines.
Eric pushed his back hard against the wall of the shuttle, it even hurt him a bit. He was ready to take on this creature, even if it meant his death. But her nose started moving up and down again.
“Don’t be scared. I am sorry, bad joke. I am not very accustomed to being with humans. I can hear you heartbeat though, and that can’t be good.”
He was still a little startled, and more than a bit questioning of her motives.
“So, you find me interesting?” She tried to change the subject.
She was calm again. Was that curiosity he could read on her face? He calmed down a little. After all, he too was far from being accustomed to any kind of alien presence. Hell, he could barely keep social norms around humans. So he decided that they needed to move on from this awkwardness. He regained his composure.
“In fact, I was fascinated. I was thinking how elegant you are, yet you are the apex-hunter.”
She laughed again.
“We are not the apex-predators. I find it funny how humans take one prevailing characteristics of a set of specimens and apply it to all indiscriminately. The Hunt is central to our culture, true, but it’s not all there is, you know. Same as your Entertainment is not all that is to you. ”
“Entertainment?”
“Yes, aren’t you entertainment-centered? It seems to us like that. Your culture, your sexuality, your technology… you get entertainment even from war and killing.”
Eric half-opened his mouth to argue, but he could easily see how she had a point. “Isn’t your Hunt entertaining?”
“The Hunt is getting us close to Malar, and to our original birthplace. It helps clear up the mind, and helps us keep our senses. And, of course, feeds us.”
“So, Malar is something like a God, right?” He regretted saying that immediately after the words left his mouth, he could hear himself how ignorant he sounded. But, it was out there.
“God, as your concept of omniscient and omnipotent creator? There is no such thing. Malar is a collection of both written and unwritten philosophical and scientific works that shape our cultures. That’s my simplest explanation to it, although there are many… layers?”
“So, it’s a collection of your knowledge?”
“Now you over-simplify it. Collection of knowledge is a library, it can hold anything. Malar contains knowledge that can be used to help you become, well, mostly better Hunter. But also a better artist, fighter, scientist, parent, lover...”
“It’s not canon?”
“What is ‘canon’?”
“Something that must be followed?”
She moved her nose. “That’s another thing about you. Laws, rules… No, Malar is never prohibiting or enforcing.”
“You don’t have laws?” Eric has heard about Kemerians being quite libertarian in nature, but never that they had no laws.
“We do, just not about lifestyle choices.”
“But doesn’t your Malar say ‘you should not kill’, or ‘you should not steal’?”
If he could guess her expression, his best guess would be confusion. “Murder and theft are not lifestyle choices.” She simply replied. And now she looked like she was picking her words. “Malar is about…”- he recognized that she was gesticulating a word, but he couldn’t understand Kemerian sign language more than simple greetings. - ”wisdom, I believe,” - she continued - ”and stating things that go against reason are hardly wisdom”.
From her increased gesticulations Eric could see that the conversation was tiring her. Kemerians could learn almost perfect English, there were instances even where they learned other languages, but the loudness of human language and the fact that their languages relied heavily on gesticulation made speaking tiresome for them. So Eric knew it was time to move the conversation to something simpler.
But his mind simply froze up. It was the only thing it could do when he needed to change the flow of some social situation.
Luckily, Ranin-El spoke first:
“So, am I only fascinating to you as an apex-predator?”
“You said you weren’t? There is something that hunts you?”
“We are as much apex as you are. Nothing hunts us because we climbed on top of the chain. But, that's not an answer to my question?”
“No, I don’t view you just as some killing-machine. But you have perfect skin, such delicately shaped frame...” - he stopped, realizing that he spoke of her as he would speak of a car. The expectation of her teeth on his neck was rising against in him.
But she just stood there, considering the words. He couldn’t read her expression, but he knew that she could sense the fear in him. And he half-knew that he would notice anger, and there was none.
“You do know that we admire that in you also?” - she whispered finally - “You are bipedal in spite of your big mass.”
“You are also bipedal…?” Eric asked confused.
“Not while running. You must have seen that we run on all fours. This is not by choice.”
There was sudden interruption from the shuttles AI:
“Attention, craft losing altitude. Attempting course correction.”
Usually an AI would course-correct automatically. It announced it’s intentions only if the result is inconclusive. Eric jumped to the console, and confirmed that they were indeed falling off orbit. In about an hour, they will enter the atmosphere.
“Fatal error: course correction failed.” It was both written, both spoken by the ship computer. “Projection: Atmosphere re-entry in 59,4 minutes.”
‘How did it all go to hell?’ A minute ago they were adrift, but in stable orbit. Now it seems they’re hurling towards the earth. Eric quickly calculated his own course-correction, and fed it directly to the navigation computer. But the navigation computer seemed unresponsive, despite the green light on the control panel.
“Katerina, what’s the status on Nav?” Katerina was the AI’s designated name.
“Navigation computer is operational.”
“Please re-check, it’s not recognizing input.”
“Please stand by.” A status bar appeared on screen. They now had 57 minutes.
“What about the main connections? Are all connections well?” It was the Kemerian that posed the question.
“All connections operate within normal parameters.”
“Are there really no ships around?”
“Kemerian mothership is in communication range.”
“Hail them. Priority message to Karam-El.”
“Communications systems offline.”
Eric and Ranin-El looked at each other in confusion.
“Katerina, aren’t you sending a distress signal?”
“Communication systems are offline.” She repeated flatly. “Analysis completed. Navigation system running within optimal parameters.”
“Then enter course-correction, for fuck’s sake.” Eric was yelling.
“Fatal Error: Navigation System non-responsive.”
“But… Katerina, run self diagnostics.”
“Processing...”
“It looks as if she took the beating. Goddamnit, we weren’t even sending a distress signal! They’re noticing we are missing just about now!” Panic started rising within him. And of course, Ranin-El felt it.
“Calm down, your heartbeat is getting too fast.” But her words weren’t helping. She came closer to him, extended both her arms, her hands touching his shoulders. She had heard this helps humans calm down. “You need to calm down, and slow your breathing. We can get out of this, but I need you.”
“Sorry, It’s just my first flight is not going as expected.” His breathing was still shallow and fast, but he looked like regaining control. “It was supposed to be great adventure…”
“And it is. Now I need you to focus. There must be back-up coms, right?” She was looking at him intensely not sure exactly what was normal in this situation. But she heard his heartbeat and breathing slowing down. That had to be good.
“Ok...” He gulped “There is auxiliary com system, off course. Just it seems Katerina is unable to utilize it for whatever reason.”
“I think Katerina is not herself.” Ranin-El reasoned. “There must be a manual override, am I right?”
“Of course, of course you are..” He gulped again. His pulse was closer to normal now. He gestured that he needed to get up and Ranin-El let go of his shoulders. he went to the panel and started tinkering with it.
“Self-check complete. Warning: Cyclic-Redundancy check Error. Partition Error, bad sectors…”
“Katerina, switch all mission controls to manual and go to sleep.”
“Warning: Inadvisable action. May result in mission failure.”
“Warning noted. Carry out command. Authorization Eric-Alpha-Charlie.”
“Authorization verified. Transferring controls. Entering sleep-mode.”
End then finally silence. Now he needed to focus. He has controlled this thing million times, but in a simulator. Never in real-life, and certainly never while being catapulted towards the Earth. He tried the Nav once again. Nothing. It was just blinking green stupidly, but it was dead. So he fired up the auxiliary Nav computer. To his appalment, he noticed that it was missing. ‘If I ever survive this, I’m going to personally hunt down the fuckers that designed this bucket.’ he cursed inwardly.
He inhaled deeply. There was really only one chance, and that’s to get rescued. So, he tried again the secondary Coms. He was relieved, they were still there, and functioning. Now, to fire them up and send the blasted beacon…
In that moment, a violent thud could be heard, and both of them hit the starboard side of the shuttle. ‘How much space junk is actually out there?’ thought Eric. It was highly improbable to get hit the first time, but second? That’s just ridiculous. They were out of luck.
“What’s the damage?” Asked Ranin-El. She was again remarkably stoic regarding the situation.
“We were hit on the aft side. Unidentified object. No damage, but it sent us further off-orbit. We have now about 25 minutes to re-entry.”
There was silence as both of them calculated their chances. Slim, Eric thought.
“Did you manage to start the Coms?”
“Yes, it’s sending out the signal. At least, it says so. I was sure it was sending out last time too.”
There was silence in the craft again. The only sound present was the hum of the cooling systems for the equipment, but it was silent enough for Eric to ignore it, and Ranin-El to not be terribly bothered by it.
“It’s not the best thing to spend your last minutes in.” He commented, leaving out the beginning of the thought about the tin can they were in.
“We are not dead yet. Enirsem is well within range.”
“What does ‘Enirsem’ mean, actually?” He knew that they referred to their mothership with that name, but never got the meaning of it.
“It means ‘skyship’” she responded simply.
“You have so generic name for a ship that big?”
“It’s not a name. One gives name to something to differ it from other.” There was some reluctance in her voice when saying this.
“You want to tell me this is your only ship?”
She shook her ears. Eric had no idea what that meant. But after a short pause, she responded: “Yes, what you call our ‘mothership’, it’s actually our only ship.”
“You have never said so...” He referred to the whole species, of course.
“No, we haven’t. It’s a consensus that we should keep it from humanity. A precaution.”
Eric considered her words for a moment. He felt a bit.. cheated? But he understood that keeping a guise of being a vast space-faring race was a good way to keep humanity from doing something stupid. He would do the same, actually, if he was in that position.
“But you’re still telling me this?” He wanted to see if this secret was strongly kept inside their community. And be it for their situation, but he started feeling close to this alien. He wanted to know if she felt the same.
“It’s a precaution based on your species’ violent past. It’s an assumption based on a month of research. Although you seem capable of attacking our ship and doing significant harm, I don’t think not being honest with you helps. And, it’s unlikely that you are going to tell anyone.”
“So, you’ve come to terms with our situation too?” It was a bit cruel question, he didn’t know why he asked it.
“No, we have 13 minutes for Enirsem… the starship to come and rescue us.”
Eric had increasing doubts about that. If the beacon was being sent out, they should have heard a response from anyone by now.
“What do you think happens when we die? What does Malar teach about that?”
“Malar doesn’t teach. And I don’t understand the question, is this somehow connected to your religion?” He was simply fascinated about how composed her voice was. It reminded him of Mr. Spock’s behavior. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was laughing just few minutes back, he could confuse her for a strangely-shaped and colored Vulcan.
“No, I am not religious. I think that we just die. I was just interested what your culture thinks about it.”
“We die. Everything dies. It’s pointless to discuss it. Malar is about self-improvement in life. We have philosophers that talk about different aspects of self and some selves leaving the body, or something like that, but I don’t know anything about it. Death is end, it’s inevitable, and so it’s fruitless to discuss it. Same as birth. Your species are caught up in thinking about it far more than we are, I guess.”
“Yeah, fear of death is what starts religions practically.” He paused for a bit. “Ranin, I must say that I don’t think we are getting out of this one.”
“It looks like that. They should have responded by now if we were broadcasting.”
He extended his hand towards her. “I wanted to say that it was a pleasure meeting you. You are a truly fascinating being… sorry, person.”
She looked at his hand for a time, then remembered that she is supposed to shake it. She extended her a bit clumsily considering how elegant her movements were, and just let Eric take it and shake it.
“It’s been a pleasure too, Eric-El. You are a good companion.”
They were clumsily spoken words, but Eric took them for what they are. He was considering his life so far. He wanted to go into space, meet aliens. He did that. Death doesn’t matter, he could accept that Malar wisdom.
They never really let go of their hands as the little “Lodka-4” finally entered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up quickly, appearing just as another falling star in the night sky.
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