Authors: Jr H. Lee Morgan
They came in and landed on the empty lot
where three ships and an empty one floated by the upper area of the
building. A private landing pad with an attached bridge to access
it. The cubs were grateful to get detached from their armored
parents and they were growing more tired by the second so Oliver
made way directly for the arched door a hundred meters over the
bridge.
On the way he glanced over a shoulder without
need for the helmet to find the storm about fifteen minutes from
reaching Zaxit which didn’t plan to avoid it. If anything it was
moving in its direction. Another look went to the shell of the
fighter and it’s open canopy to realize it was perfect to retain
water. To negate the need to dump it out later he stretched a hand
and telekinetically flipped it upside down. Collu didn’t mention
anything, understanding the intention quite clearly.
Using the images Netul implanted in his
memory Oliver walked through the large arched entrance to find an
empty hall complete with evenly spaced silvery doors. Taking a left
towards a spiraling stairwell he and all the others ascended
another two levels where a drone shaped like a disembodied eyeball
dropped from the top of the archway. Bluish lasers scanned as a
security blockade because this level and the two floors above were
designated for the highest of military rank.
Apparently they were validated as guests for
the metallic device the size of a human head flew right back up
into its shelf.
The entire floor belonged to
Netul, Callier and their guests. Only they weren’t alone as about
fifty Creelin men were quickly found sitting around a spacious
lounge area after walking down the hallway. Some continued wearing
Zeelin armor while others opted for more casual shirts and pants.
Heads turned to their arrival and Netul was first to rise from his
seat.
“I take it the hunt went well despite
the strength of the storm?”
“
The cubs learned some
valuable lessons for sure. Netul, do you mind if I may use some
towels to dry them off? I doubt you want your floors to get wet and
muddy?”
“
Very astute. Enter that
door over there. My bathing stalls are not designed for all at
once, but they can accommodate the mass of your Pride.”
“
Thank you. I’ll be back
soon to meet everyone.” He said to the large room watching him with
a range of expressions and eye colors.
The barest of nudges had
Nova and the others following their master. Collu asked
“May I be of any assistance.”
And he was sorely grateful. First in a large tub of clean
water went four of the dirtiest cubs. In little time they returned
their coats to soft white with faded black stripes. It was
difficult of the Liger mothers to allow Collu to bathe their young.
The only thing holding them back was Nova and his decision that
soon the young would eventually be in her care anyway.
The extra pair of hands halved the work.
Still it took two additional
hours to rinse the whole lot before they were able to exit. As they
did they noticed the storm had reached the city, but no noise has
come through, being blocked by Creelin technology. Still the vast
spacing of the window was being bombarded by the deluge. Collu
eventually looked over to the seated group to say
“I take my leave, Beyleez Netul. I will make
myself available should you have need of me.”
“
You have my thanks, Warden
Collu. Have a fair evening.”
With his
dismissal there was a flash of light and she was gone.
Another look showed the individual number in
the room had exploded. Now there was roughly five hundred rather
than fifty there were before.
To the side it was clear Netul had brought
out plush bedding for the feline guests as the Pride was laying
atop grooming themselves or the mothers doing the grooming as the
tuckered out cubs were taking a nap. Many of the men weren’t alone
anymore as their women had also come to join them. Mainly the women
were fascinated by the great cats. By their looks some had never
seen one before. Still he crossed the room to say “Sorry for being
abrupt earlier. Hello everyone, I’m Oliver.”
“
Greetings.”
Was the majority reply from them all.
Netul arose again, stop
talking with Sparky and Rose to say
“Oliver, on this side”
he gestured
with a slender arm that was corded in deceptive muscular strength
to the right side of the seated room
. “are
all of my sons and their Matches who were able to arrive. And these
here are my direct daughters.”
Now he understood the division of the two
separate groups staring silently at him. “You’ve been busy. Haven’t
you.”
The room began making the
strange laughing sound Creelin do with their nostrils between their
eyes. None were as loud as Netul himself.
“Young Ones, meet my dear friend Oliver.”
“
He is nicer than the one
called Renee. She punched me in the genitals when I told her she
couldn’t see the matriarch right away.”
“
Be grateful
she
didn’t kick or you’d
be still in fetal position.” Renee piped up as she was right then
coming through a sliding silver door. “I told you to get out of my
way so I can see my girlfriend. It was your own fault you didn’t
take me seriously.” She looked around. “Netul, can you teleport in
another chair for me and Olly?”
He closed his eyes and in a moment a large
loveseat appeared in a free space and Renee dropped down to kick
her feet up on a footstool. Sleeping in the curve of her arm
soundly was Isabella.
“
What reason did you have to
hit him, Renee? We’re the guests here.”
“
Callier was having trouble
eating air and he was in my way.” She shrugged as if it was self
explanatory. “So I punched him in the balls and stepped over
him.”
“
Is Callier alright?” He
asked while sitting down and bringing out the raw steaks from the
pouch made from some of the cape.
His question has the room sober up and be
attentive. Renee smiled and bit a raw chunk right off before saying
“She’s better. I injected her with a new solution after studying
how she feeds on air. My solution opened the pores all over her
body so she doesn’t need to even breathe anymore. The baby put some
serious strain on her diaphragm. My way was faster than their tech
that was still calibrating her needs. So now she’s resting
comfortably.”
“
Thank you for relieving the
burden on my Match.”
Renee wiped her bloodied purple lip. “Thank
you for giving me her data. Don’t worry, Creelin anatomy will be
kept in my total confidence. I’m just glad she’s finally getting
some rest. The baby’s size made it hard to breathe in her sleep.
Pregnant sleep apnea. She’d gasp for breath. The kid is sucking a
lot of O2 her own body needs. So long as the air in your bedroom
circulates she’ll have eating easier till eventually the little
bastard is squeezed out.”
“
Do not be so
vulgar.”
Someone said.
“
Behave yourself,
Malleia.”
Netul warned his daughter when
Renee offered a challenging grin.
“Take not
offense to Renee Void’s manners. She merely speaks her mind rather
than fit into polite society.”
“
Hey! Now you’re offending
me.” Renee glared at him.
Netul broke out in a
laugh.
“You are brusque, offensive and a
stubborn child, but if anyone took time to see past your nature
they will see as I have that you are a wonderful individual who has
already earned my respect and has unbending honor in the service of
saving others who you know not whom they are and do not care for
praise. You are a kind and tender friend who I would not hesitate
to give my life for.”
Honor was something
Creelin society took deadly serious despite being uptight. His
declaration had the filled room go silent.
“
Good recovery on that
fumble, Netul. Apology accepted.” She said and tore off another
bite of meat. “You have anything to drink?”
“
Would you like to try a
Creelin libation?”
Netul
offered.
“
As long as it is Torruk and
not Gavalen. Gavalen makes me hallucinate some really weird shit.”
She admitted.
This had the room laughing
once again. Netul visibly shook so much his thick segments of
pseudo-hair rattled.
“Not to worry. I will
serve chilled Torruk. It is the favorite drink of my people. Humans
though make libations into an art form. I’m quite fond of Scotch,
but my stock ran out when my sons raided the cache.”
“
Father, I never had it
before. I was six galaxies away last week and you permitted me to
partake along with my brothers.”
Netul playfully waved him
off and got to his feet.
“Daughters, go
distribute glasses around while I gather the drinks.”
In relatively little time everyone got a
large glass of drink. The liquid was a dark amber that had hundreds
of small bubbly crystals inside. It was a bit strong, but also had
a sweet tang that left a pleasant aftertaste. Though Creelin didn’t
have mouths to drink they instead were able to stick a finger in
heir glasses to absorb the alcohol right to the blood stream. It
made getting to know the family much more pleasant. Solarians drank
normally.
Socializing turned out to be rather
enjoyable. Most asked Oliver and Renee questions about their lives
since most didn’t have the clearance to be allowed full access to
their achievements like their father and only he had it because of
achieving the pinnacle of the Zeelin military rank. Beyleez. Or a
six star general. Which is granted, Oliver learned if the
individual lived more than eighty thousand years and upheld the
highest honor in battle to engage in over five million successful
battles. It was difficult to say the least, especially since in all
of the hundreds of trillions of Creelin in the universe there were
only two thousand active Beyleez. A significant minimal percentage
to such a gross immortal population.
Nevertheless, the initial meeting of Netul’s
family was pleasant, but not even half their offspring had arrived.
They would arrive in two more days for the events.
By nightfall Renee got to her feet. “I had a
long day. Netul, where exactly is our room?”
“
Next to mine and Callier’s.
Before she fell asleep she had me ask my firstborn daughter to move
over after you helped ease her struggle. She wants to keep you
close in event something occurs.”
Renee looked to the daughter who was to be
the Caliiev, or midwife, and she nodded without appearing to be
upset. “That’s generous, but I’m not Callier’s Caliiev.”
“
Fear not.”
The daughter spoke.
“My
mother’s condition would have been treated moments ago rather than
the mere moments it took you to open her pores hours back. I knew a
few Solarian healers, but never have I seen your kind so
effectively work on our biology and ease her pregnancy before our
own medicines could properly aid her.”
“
It was really easy. Surely
you all ironed out…”
“
We have, but you exceed my
own abilities as healer after my mother allowed you to study her.
Your mind is solely unique and with your Valek, your healing
abilities exceed our technology in this area. I willingly permit
you to stay close in event of complication, but I will retain my
right as Caliiev to bring my brother from the same womb I once grew
inside.”
“
Thanks, I
think.”
“
A moment, Renee.”
Netul said as she and Oliver went to stand.
“Game Warden Collu informed me you discovered the
true reason for the… as you call them, Ligers. How?”
“
Simple, I was bored and it
was a passing thought. I took a sample from Snowball to find she
had minimal ancestry with Olly.” Snowball lifted her head while
allowing her cubs to suckle and knead on her swollen teats. “On
Earth humans long ago discovered all life there had a common
ancestor. Humans shared DNA with birds, snakes and even trees once
upon a time before diverting down different evolutionary
paths.
“
So I thought ‘What about
Olly and Nova? Surely they shared some distant parent and should be
similar.’ Boy was I surprised when Nova’s alien DNA had minimal
comparison to Olly. Too much of a difference to be natural if
indeed Ligers and Solarians evolved on the same world however long
ago. The extreme differences made me look deeper into Nova’s
biology and I discovered genetic marker sequence tampering so
carefully done that it would be overlooked as natural if they
didn’t have my suspicion or Solarian deductive
reasoning.
“
They were too smart for an
animal. And no species becomes telepathic without first being
socially sentient. The Ligers completely did it in reverse so I
broke down the genetic strands hundreds at a time to see how they
were born. To my astonishment they were made by using an feline
original species, but were given neural enhancement that randomly
breeds one smarter than average leader among a group of cubs
regardless if the pride’s king is the parent or not. So I began
wondering why this is and why they are so unnaturally dependant on
a master.
“
My conclusion is they were
living weapons. I’ve seen the connection Nova has to Olly and how
Nova is the fulcrum to the rest of the Pride. So then it got me
further thinking why the hell did Solarians create
Ligers?