Chameleon in Chrome Ch. 04

But there was a look to it which Ryan found that he could admire. He supposed that back on earth, there were species of sharks which might be called beautiful in their way.

Shorty was like that as he stood with his smile on and ... the mouth was full of teeth which spoke of a predatory nature. A pair of dark eyes with yellow centers regarded him nervously.

Betty shook her head.

"They're just hungry," Taela said, "They're strictly nocturnal, though Shorty is used to the daylight through the windows and he can stand being outside on a dark day for a few hours."

"What's he doing here?" Ryan asked, watching the way that the screecher kept looking him over.

"He's a prisoner here like the rest of us, in a way," Betty replied, "He broke his wing, and he can't go home unless he walks. His kind lives in trees and he knows that they'd kill him in a heartbeat as soon as they see that he's damaged. They're like seagulls back on Earth in that regard. They kill the weakest of their own kind. I guess you could say that he's like a pet.

They're not all that bright," she said, "but Shorty's a lot smarter than the rest. His looks aren't all that representative of his kind, either. By the way, don't mind the way that he's staring. He's a little freaked out by your size, is all. He's very shy, almost like a girl."

Seeing Ryan's look made Betty laugh, "Ok, I oughta explain that a little. There's not much of a society to it, but among screechers, the females are dominant, mostly because they're larger and stronger. They're also pretty murderous. Shorty's actually a bit large for his kind, but he couldn't hold his own against a female screecher in a fight. The males know their place if they want to live a little longer, so they tend to be submissive.

Shorty is more submissive than what's normal, since he's had his own troubles. He likes to hunt the little things that get in here once in a while and we keep him fed and happy. He's very thankful and devoted, which really surprised me.

We'd love it if you'd stay for dinner, and I think that Shorty's cooking will surprise you.

They don't do anything like that normally, but not long after I took him in, he just picked that up like it was nothing. He doesn't understand human speech too well as far as details go, but he understands the feeling and the intent really well.

The point is, that I'd recommend that you don't sleep out there again. We've got loads of room and we lock down tight at night."

"That's very hospitable of you, Betty," Ryan said, "but --"

Betty shook her head, "Look Ryan, I'm gonna try to spell this out for you as plainly as I can. We can live here. There's food and game to feed us, lots of it. I've been here forever, and just so you know, unless that thing out there's got big-assed thrusters and the fuel cells to feed them, you aren't leaving here either.

You stay in your bird out there, and they'll beat it to a wreck in three days trying to get to you. They'll be through the skin in five at the outside. You might be able to find places to hunker down in like everything else around here at night, but one night they'd find you. That's what they do to stay alive.

If you value that shuttle out there, you'll also see that it's practical to stay here. With you in it, the screechers will die as they beat it apart to get the prize inside," she pointed to him, "If you're in here, they'll leave the ship alone.

I hate to break it to you, but unless you've got some kind of allergy to Morgarods, you could have a pretty good life with my daughter here -- and I can see that the two of you are already sweet on each other in just hours. What's there to fight here?"

She looked at them both, seeing that she'd managed to embarrass them. "I'm sorry if I didn't say it better," she said in a much softer tone, "but that's the way it is. I can see that you're not an idiot, Ryan. That shuttle out there tells me that, and while I can't read them from here, the list of campaign markings down your left arm tells me that you've learned how to fight and stay alive when it hits the fan. My little family here could use a man like you.

Unless you're an asshole and a fool, ..." she said leaving it in the air between them.

Her eye had been on his survival pack for a while. Seeking to make the others a little less uncomfortable now, she smiled, "Does that thing on your back have survival gear in it? "Do they still pack any instant coffee in them? Any tea bags in there?" she asked a little hopefully.

"Yeah," Ryan nodded, "All the crap you can lug around, hoping that you'll find a use for it before you ditch everything and wish that you hadn't later on, why?"

"Oh, because I'd about sell my soul for some of that," she chuckled, "if I've even still got one to sell."

"It's in here someplace, "Ryan grinned a little, "along with the other little vices of mankind, a really cheap little disposable lighter and a pack of six cigarettes."

"Cigarettes?" Betty moaned in joy, "Ryan, you sweet, handsome boy, marry me."

She looked at Taela's shocked face with a chuckle, "Just ah, kidding, honey."

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Taela stared up into the shuttle as the loading ramp whined down.

"Come on," he smiled as he led her onto it to walk inside.

"Ryan?" she said, her voice sounding uncertain, "I'm sorry for my mother's words. I could tell that she embarrassed you." She rolled her eyes, "I know they embarrassed me."

"It's ok," he said as they walked up, "I get the feeling that your mother is the kind that says it like it is, and since she was a military pilot, that would come out even more. I'm used to that. It was just the subject matter of the sermon that got me, I guess. Facts are facts, and have to be faced."

"I meant about what she said about us," she groaned a little, "I know that humans and Morgarods have needs for others. I'm both, aren't I? But I don't want you to think that you have to -- MMmmpf."

Her voice changed to a soft sigh as she stood in his arms, yielding to his kiss for a minute. He pulled back and smiled.

"Stop," he said ,"I'm not upset or unhappy. I don't care what your mother said or the way that she said it. I like you. If we weren't here, I'd still like you. If Morgarods and humans have found a way to live together and we were there, I'd still want to know you. Your mom was just being really blunt about it all."

Her relief showed in her face after a moment and she began to smile, "I would still be attractive to you there?"

"Hell," he kissed her again, "yeah. I've never met anyone like you. Come on, let's get this stuff out of here."

Taela smiled to herself, wondering if Ryan had read the same sort of books to have used those words.

There were four other survival packs in total. Ryan helped her shuck one on and grinned as she wobbled a little on her feet from the weight, never having anything like that to deal with from the way that it affected her balance until she adjusted to it. "Are you ok with that?" he asked.

She nodded, "It is different, just lower down than I am used to," she said, "I am used to carrying meat on my shoulders when I've, ... hun ... ted."

There it was, she thought, that idea again. She looked down at the checkerplate pattern of the floor sections. She didn't want to look at him for the moment until she could force the thought away.

"What's the matter?" he asked, seeing that something was.

"Nothing," she said, "I just need a moment to get the balance here."

Taela was fine a second later. "Would you do something for me?" she asked as they turned to walk back out. Ryan had a pack on himself, and he was carrying some clothing that he'd removed from a pair of lockers.

"Sure," he said, "what do you need?"

She chuckled a little nervously, "Nothing," she replied, "but if you get a chance, I think that you should ask my mother about hunting here. I can't, ... I can't say what I would wish to say, and I do not want to say more. Sometime, can you ask her?"

"Yeah," he said, wondering now.

They made a few trips back and forth before Ryan motioned for her to sit in the co-pilot's seat while he checked a few things. She looked around in wonder. Ryan caught it as he worked, and he turned on the head's-up display for her.

Taela gasped as she saw things; symbols and text and mapping there on the inside of the windscreen.

Ryan smiled, "I'm going to have to come back here tomorrow and light off the APU for a little while to top up the batteries a little."

She nodded absently as the display disappeared and she was looking through a blank windshield again and the covers slid up to cover everything up. "Come on," he said, "Let's go make your mom happy."

Betty gasped in happiness when she saw it all. "God-DAMN," she laughed, "Honest to God flightsuits! Oh, I'm in heaven," she said, "I wouldn't give you a nickel for the finest Earth fashions anywhere, compared to these."

"I've got two of mine," Ryan said, "and the other pilot and my co-pilot were about the same size. I'm sure these would fit you. The other co-pilot was about Taela's size, maybe a bit taller."

"What are these?" Taela asked, "Why are you so happy, Mom?"

"They're just flightsuits," Betty smiled, "but they're perfect for here," she said, holding up one of the earth tone garments. "They've got a million pockets, and they're just right for when it's not this hot around here. Thank you so much, Ryan."

When he began to lay out the contents of the four survival packs, Betty thought that she'd gone to Heaven. He pushed one of the PDW's toward her, "You know how to use one of these?" he asked.

"Honey," she said, emphasizing her background in her manner of speech, "I'm an old girl from Texas. What the hell do you think?" she winked. She took the stubby rifle, picked up a magazine, looking at the round which she could see in it for a second, before she fitted it and then removed it right afterward. She held it up and looked through the sight for a second. "Some kind of 5.56mm round and a Tritium reflex sight," she said. Pointing to a feature on it, she looked at Ryan, "Cocking handle?"

He nodded and pointed to the safety.

"Shorty!" Taela said, seeing the creature cowering in the corner whimpering softly.

"Oh, Shorty," Betty said, setting the weapon down to go to him. She sank to her knees and reached out to caress the frightened face, "Oh, I'm sorry, Shorty," she said softly, "Nobody's going to hurt you, baby. It's ok, honey."

The creature looked up at Betty from behind the arm that he'd raised in front of his face. Betty leaned in and kissed him softly. Shorty looked as though he got the idea that his number wasn't up yet and a second later, he was in her arms as she hugged him tightly. Ryan noticed that he was crying with his eyes squeezed shut over her shoulder while she tried to reassure him.

"Come on, honey," Betty said as she pulled him to his feet. He hugged himself tightly to her for a moment, "Let's go see how your fine dinner is coming along."

She turned to Ryan and her daughter, "We'll be back in a minute," she said as she led the sniffling creature from the chamber.

"He is terrified of any sort of thing which he thinks might be a weapon," Taela said quietly. "I saw him just now. He was fine and curious about everything that you have brought. All of the screechers that I have ever seen are stupid, but Shorty is much smarter than they are. Until my mother raised the weapon to her shoulder, he was fine. It was then that he grew frightened."

She looked at Ryan, "They are all just animals," she said, "but not Shorty. He is like a boy of about eleven or thirteen Earth years in his mind, my mother said. But I do not think that it is correct. I do not know his exact age, but we have had him for fifteen years and he was at least four then.

He is not stupid, or even the way that my mother said it. He is only different from us in how he thinks. He will surprise you with his cooking. You tell me if you think that any thirteen year-old Morgarod or human could do what he can. He cannot speak much, but he knows a lot and we love him. He is not really what she said. He is not a pet."

Ryan looked at the things that he'd taken out of one of the packs. "Do you think that he'd like one of these?" he asked, "It's just a bar of chocolate. I'm hoping that at least it will still be good. They're made to last a long time in storage."

Taela smiled, "I would like to taste it once myself, but it is sweet, yes? Shorty would love that."

"Well, there are four to each pack," Ryan smiled, "I don't see why you can't have one."

A minute later, Ryan grinned at the look on her face. "I wish that your craft was full of these," she laughed.

He smiled back, at least a little thankful that it wasn't.

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Shorty's culinary skills were wasted, he told them all, "He really prepared all of this?"

"He did so," Betty smiled proudly, watching as Shorty deftly worked with his knife and fork, "I told you, he's really bright. He even knows how to lay out and use the appropriate cutlery. He knows what's what, and what it's for, too."

"He's brighter than I am, then," Ryan grinned, "He's needed on Earth, or maybe on one of the mining posts. He could make a good living at this."

There was no dessert, but Ryan was prepared for that. He got up and walked around the table setting out small tins of fruit salad and little plastic spoons. When he got to Shorty, he smiled as he crouched a little.

"Here," he said, trying not to look at the creature's wide eyes as they regarded him, "I'll help you, Shorty."

He opened the tin and pulled the lid off, handing over the tin and one of the spoons. Shorty stared at the pieces of fruit and tried some of the syrup with his spoon. He gave out a soft hiss of pleasure and began to eat.

"Eat it slow, honey," Betty said, "Ryan likely doesn't have any more to give us, so you ought to be thankful that he's sharing with you."

Shorty looked up as he ate to stare at Ryan. His eyes were still large, but at least Ryan couldn't see any fear there anymore. It had bothered him a little to see that.

Shorty was nowhere near finished, but he set the tin down next to his plate with a great deal of care before he slid from his chair. Ryan was surprised to find Shorty hugging him for a second before he backed away with a shy smile and quickly climbed up to return to the treat.

"He's very affectionate," Betty smiled, "that was his way of saying thank you, since he can't talk."

"You're very welcome then," Ryan nodded with a smile as he walked back to his own chair. Now that he knew a bit more about the creature, he was getting used to the way that he looked. What he hoped that he wasn't showing was the surprise that he felt when he'd seen that the little guy was sporting an erection as he'd climbed back up onto his chair.

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Taela was with Shorty to help him with the dishes. There was a type of plant which grew everywhere, Betty told him, the leaves of which produced large amounts of a soapy substance. A few of these crushed into a dishpan, she'd said, and you had your dish soap.

"Can you tell me if the war is still on?" she asked him.

"I don't know about now," he said, "but it had died off before I left. There hadn't been a peace declared or anything like that, though. I think it was more that both sides had gotten what they came for and went elsewhere. I'm sure that if they met up again, there'd be more killing. I kind of hope that they could just work something out. It would save a lot of lives, suffering, and fuel."

Betty nodded. "People look at Morgarods and think that they're these bloodthirsty things. They're no more bloodthirsty than we are," she said, "they just look different, that's all. Humans have nothing to be proud of."

"I know that," Ryan said, "Whenever I had to fight them, I never thought about it any differently than I would have if it was other humans that I was fighting. I kind of grew to respect them, too."

"And you do seem to have eyes for the pretty ones," Betty smiled, "I'm sorry for the way that I said it earlier, but I know that Taela likes you an awful lot and it's easy to see that it's mutual. You're stuck here with us, that's all, "she smiled, "so you two go ahead on and do what comes natural, if you need my blessing -- and you don't -- as long as there's a lot of love in it between you. That'll come anyway, she's just a little confused, and with her being both human and Margaroth, there's bound to be a little more confusion, that's all."

"She asked me to ask you about hunting," he said, "I haven't got a clue about what she was talking about."

Betty looked a little uncomfortable for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.

"Morgarods -- when they're someplace civilized are not much different from us -- just like they're much the same as us in many other ways. No matter what we try to tell ourselves, humans are an aggressive and warlike species. So are Morgarods.

Now, I don't know what our ancestors did when they found some game and went out to hunt it down for food. I have the feeling that once that was done, and whatever it was that they'd killed and butchered was brought back to the village or wherever they lived, well there must have been feasting and some sort of communal joy over the news that they'd all cheated death by starvation one more time. Especially if they lived someplace where there was winter, since they couldn't get any nuts and berries then, so meat was pretty much all that there was to eat.

Well it was the same way on Morgaron, I was told, except for one big difference. For the most part, on Earth, the females didn't go out with the males to hunt, depending on the culture, I guess. But on Morgaron, it was part of the process of proving yourself as a female that you could hunt just like a male. From that, their early culture evolved the concept of the hunting pair -- a male and a female who hunted together well. They weren't necessarily mates, and could sometimes be paired to others, but when they were hunting, they belonged to each other.

Once the game had been found and killed, they'd fuck each other pretty senseless, and I can tell you from personal experience that Morgarods, when they're hunting in pairs, they love pretty violently, both sexes. Taela's father sprained my arm badly one time. I'm pretty sure that I loosened a couple of his teeth for him over it, but in the moment, well, I can tell you that it's another thing that we have in common. We still screwed like bunnies, me with my arm smarting like hell and all.

In fact," she smiled a little as she remembered it, "I think that was one of the best hunts because of it. He was very sorry for it afterward, and I hurt like hell for a while. But it brought us closer. I miss that. When I need to, I just hunt alone now."

She looked at Ryan and smiled, "If she mentioned it, well I'd say that she's looking at you as a mate, that's all. She's wondering about if you can hunt. We need to around here every so often. We both like the things that our great big garden provides, but there isn't the protein in it that we want. I'm sure a vegetarian could make out alright here, but neither Taela or I can and be happy. Looking at you, and how you sawed through that steak, you're probably the same.

One day, maybe soon, Taela will ask you to hunt with her. I'd say that she's feeling a little hopeful over the idea -- since she's Morgarod enough to have the want in her, and if there were a lot of them here, you'd be feeling a lot of pride to be asked by a female like her. Hell, you'd likely have to fight a few of the other males just because she'd asked you and not them. I've never met a Morgarod female, but I've seen the files on the system that my husband built up for her use. Morgarods and humans make pretty children, I've decided.