Memory Transcription Subject: Deputy Security Director Garruga, Seaglass Mineral Concern

  Date [standardized human time]: January 26, 2137

  An Arxur was carrying me.

  I was helpless, vulnerable, and an Arxur had fully picked me up, and was now carrying me.

  Yulpas, we weren’t the largest species in the Federation, but we were, you know, up there! We’re big quadrupeds! We were not supposed to be hand-portable!

  But no, the giant Arxur was carrying me, belly up and exposed, like a Takkan carrying half a melon to snack on at his leisure. Just stick his snout right in and help himself! If I'd been healthy, he'd be getting a hoof straight to the snout, but with my legs in casts, I had nothing. I was just helpless.

  I kept perfectly still, one eye trained on him, watching for sudden movements, as the other eye scanned for something, anything, I could use to defend myself with. My species was blessed by the Spirit of Life with a prehensile tongue--my only uninjured appendage. Maybe he'd foolishly carry me past an unattended scalpel…

  But no such luck. He carried me into the nearby restroom, likely for sanitary purposes. Couldn't have my blood and entrails staining anything more important than the well-scrubbed bathroom tiles, still lightly scented with bleach. He dropped me, bodily, next to the open latrine and… took a couple steps back.

  He stared at me, unreadable and impassive. I stared back. Gray scales clad a long, toothy reptilian maw, past which lay the final resting place of thousands of souls like mine. His cold yellow eyes with their slitted pupils conveyed nothing. Not hate, not hunger, not pity, not mirth, just… nothing. A deathly chill worked its way down my spine, prickling my fur up for warmth, as the realization struck. I thought of the Arxur as nothing less than the Enemy of All Life. The Arxur thought of me as less than nothing.

  “Are you good here,” he asked at last, “or do I need to help you orient yourself?”

  I stared at him, uncomprehendingly, and said the words that would maybe make him leave. “I'm good here.”

  The Arxur nodded. “I'll wait outside, then. Shout if you need me.” Without another word, he turned and left, shutting the bathroom door behind him.

  “What the fuck,” I breathed, hollowly, to an empty room of ceramic tiles and echoes. For a few moments, I just sat there, perfectly still, my thoughts as frozen as my body… until my body reminded me, insistently, of why I’d wanted to come in here.

  Latrines were a simple and perfectly serviceable design for every species in the Federation. Nobody’s favorite, but a glorified hole in the ground with indoor plumbing didn’t discriminate. It got the job done for hundreds of different body shapes.

  I sat there in silence again after I finished, trying to figure out my next move. Injured and unarmed, I doubted I could overwhelm an Arxur. I needed a plan, which meant I needed more information, which meant… I shuddered. I had to talk to the creature.

  We uplifted the Arxur in the first place in the hopes that they’d join the herd, Tika had said. Should we turn them away now if they want to join with us in earnest?

  I worked my tongue around the inside of my mouth, distastefully. I didn’t believe the Arxur were being honest here, now, for the first time in hundreds of years. I quite literally couldn’t believe it. It was an inconceivable notion, and likely a front for some… larger-scale trick they meant to play on us. But as something not entirely unlike an Exterminator, I needed to figure out what the trick was. And as an herbivore…

  I shook my head, sighing. The leader of the local Arxur, Sifal, had called me a hunter, just like her. Disgusting. Shameful. But my unpreylike rage and recklessness were part of what had led me here, to this irrelevant backwater planet. A proper herbivore like Tika would--with suitable caution!--entertain an outsider’s claims. Trust was earned, but it could be earned. Only a predator trusted no one.

  “What is your deal?” I called out. My voice was hoarse, so that came out more indelicately than I’d intended, tinged with frustration. I coughed, and worked my tongue around my unpleasantly dry mouth. Still needed that juice…

  “I don’t understand the question,” the Arxur called back, dryly.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  I tried to rethink what it was I was actually asking. “What are you planning?”

  The Arxur snorted. “I'm planning to work as a medical orderly.”

  “Why?”

  There was a slight pause. “I'm bored.”

  My eyes narrowed. “You're lying, Arxur.”

  The Arxur snorted. “I don't respect you enough to lie to you, Yulpa.”

  “My name is Garruga!” I growled.

  “And mine is Kloviss. The pleasure is…” He paused, and there was a low, bitter chuckle. “The reluctant acceptance is all mine.”

  I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. It was unpreylike to get this riled up. I just wasn't used to predators that talked back. Different skillset than burning them. “Why do you want to be a medical orderly?”

  “I don't,” said Kloviss. “I want to learn how to take care of animals.”

  “What the fuck?” I muttered under my breath. Through the door, he couldn't hear me, I hoped. “Why?” I said, louder.

  “They talk less, for starters,” Kloviss grumbled.

  I stared at the floor, incredulous. Everything he said sounded earnest but baffling. I didn't know what to make of it. I didn't… I shook my head in disbelief. This was just so far outside what I knew, and what I knew how to do. What would Tika do? I snickered a little as the answer came to me: she’d ask a million innocent-sounding follow-up questions.

  “What else do you like about animals?” I asked.

  There was a long pause. “Are you done in there?”

  I made a disgusted noise. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

  The door opened. The Arxur crouched in front of me, down to my eye level, but he didn’t leave the door frame just quite yet. I still flinched, slightly, at his proximity. He stared at me, but now, as I entertained the idea of his earnestness, the tiny mannerisms on his face started to piece themselves together. His own mouth worked silently, but not out of hunger. He was just trying to find the words.

  “I saw a human on Earth with a herd of goats,” said Kloviss. “His cattle. He walked into town with them, and they followed him willingly. It was strange. They didn't fear him. They didn't fear me. One of them walked right up to me, sniffed around in my pouch to see if I had food for it, and when I didn't, it nibbled the pouch itself to check if it was made of food. I even touched one, and it didn't flinch away. It seemed to enjoy me combing its fur with my claws.” The giant death lizard shook his head. “The whole experience was surreal.”

  “But then you ate it,” I said.

  Kloviss shrugged. “That was also surreal.”

  I tried to think about what that all meant. What would that mean, if an herbivore had said it? Closeness, trust, and even physical contact weren't particularly noteworthy within the herd. If someone brought it up as a meaningful experience… It would mean they were touch-starved. Lonely.

  …Could an Arxur even be lonely?

  “We’re not doing live prey anymore,” he continued. “Not the kind that can talk, at least,” he amended, nodding towards me. “Our instincts are still our instincts, though. We just need a better outlet. Or a less problematic target. Humans keep non-sapient cattle. Animals. If we acquire some in a trade, I want the job of caring for them.” He glanced back towards the unconscious Arxur, Kitzz, with a look of disdain on his face. “Needs to be someone with the self-control not to eat them all before it's time.”

  I nodded slowly. Predators were supposed to be insatiably hungry. It must have been the case that sapience allowed for some variance. Composed Arxur officers in charge of lying in wait, much like the brave Federation officers in charge of controlled retreats. Maybe some of the Arxur could be played against the others? I shook my head. That was an insanely risky thought. “I don't understand what that has to do with being a medical orderly.” I said aloud.

  Kloviss shrugged. “How different is it to care for a Yulpa versus a Fissan?”

  I tilted my head in confusion. “I'm not a doctor, but… I guess aside from our bloodwork…” I shook my head. Orderlies didn't get that deep into practicing medicine. “No, for a medical orderly, it's probably pretty similar.”

  Kloviss nodded. “And a Sulean?”

  I rolled my neck, uncomfortably. “I don't know, but probably similar. More care for their antlers, I'd guess.”

  Kloviss nodded again. “I see. Would you suppose this applies, generally, to all four-hooved ruminants? Even non-sapient ones?”

  I nodded, and jumped ahead to the end. Did all Arxur have such an uncanny knack for rhetoric? “You don't have any animals to study, so learning to care for members of the Federation is the next-best thing.”

  “Correct,” said Kloviss.

  “And a goat looks like…?” I asked.

  “A bit like a Venlil with four hooves, I suppose,” said Kloviss.

  That was a weird mental image. Still, Seaglass wasn't really near Venlil space, and most Venlil were too skittish to leave safe territory and come to the untamed frontier. I doubt we had enough for Kloviss to experiment on if he got ideas. “Any other Terran animals catch your eye?” I asked. Maybe I'd help him mitigate the worst excesses of whatever research he was planning, or maybe I'd just try to warn whichever citizens of Seaglass resembled the poor creatures.

  Kloviss shrugged. “Chickens, probably. Closest is maybe a Krakotl, but not very. You guys aren't flush with birds.”

  “I suppose we aren't,” I said. I coughed.

  “You good?” Kloviss asked. It put a little impossible bow on top of the whole interaction. Was Kloviss just doing his new job, or could Arxur actually care about prey?

  I suppose I'd find out sooner or later. “Still thirsty,” I said. “Too much talking.”

  “I agree,” said Kloviss, scooping me back up. It was less terrifying this time, and more embarrassing, to be carried around like a child. “Too much talking. Let's get you that fruit juice.”

  He was trying to be subtle about it, but I could feel him idly stroking the fur on my back as he held me. I let him. He needed it.