Page 16 of Experimental Voyage
“He exists,” Waldren informed me before something clicked.
“My uncle is the Veloc who won his sister,” Gersenalt informed me. “As such, I carry the burden of his humor. It doesn’t help that I tease him about this at every opportunity. Don’t fret. I have earned my fate. My uncle offered to sacrifice me to Waldren in an effort to earn some favor. It has worked to a limited degree. Had I been a behaved hatchling, I would be home with my mate working on convincing her we should have hatchlings. But she joined forces with the rest of the clan, thus resulting in my eviction.”
The fondness in his tone made me smile. “Is she also an Emerald Crest?”
“Oh, no. My mate is a Scarlet Tail who married into the Emerald Crests. The Scarlets—the entire lot of them—are wicked temptresses, as evidenced by her taking over our clan with her iron claws.”
I wanted to meet his mate, who sounded like she could take over worlds if given an opportunity and an excuse. “They aren’t all female, are they?”
“Oh, no. The males just know better than to get in the way of their mates and daughters. They’re an adventurous and brave clan. We’re adventurous in that we’re more inclined to travel the stars, but we are less aggressive than they are. It works well for us. The Scarlets tend to view the Emerald Crests as a clan to be safeguarded, especially our hatchlings. We’re most likely to be targeted due to our disposition.”
I’d heard of traffickers on my world, ashomo sapienswere common targets, also due to our general disposition. “Are there more clan types than named after crest and tail colors?”
“Tails, breasts, crests, backs, and tails tend to be our predominant groupings. There are others, but they’re rare.” Gersenalt gestured to his clawed feet. “Feet is one, and they are to be approached with care, no matter the color. The clans named as such tend to fight with all their natural weapons, andthey are not inclined to cap their claws. If you hear about a Veloc being involved with the mass slaughter of other species, one of the Feets was likely involved. They tend to hunt traffickers and live out among the stars, making it so the rest of us can stay safe and cozy in our nests. We will all indulge in violence as needed, however.” He made a point of showing me his capped claws. “These are not just for show.”
“Frankly, I’m amazed that you can work on something like that machine with those claws!”
He showed me his hand, wiggling padded fingers beneath the claws. “When claws do not suffice, we use our fingers, although they are not nearly as dexterous ashomo sapiens. The claw tips are textured, and they are quite strong, which helps. Learning fine-tuned movements with our claws is something we practice when young, so we are not at as much of a disadvantage as one might think.”
Without the distraction of observing him fix the machine, the itching made itself known, and I eyed his claws. “How good are those at scratching?”
“Quite, but there will be no scratching on my watch. I will restrain you should you try. I can, should I desire, carry you around by your wrists while you are reduced to standing on your toes, and you will not be able to pull free no matter how hard you try.”
I held out my hands. “Demonstration, please.”
Hooting a laugh, the Veloc complied, taking hold of my wrists in one hand, the padded claw tips pressing against my skin. With zero evidence of my weight bothering him, he lifted me off my feet and let me dangle for a moment before easing me down to my toes. “We learn how to restrain excitablehomo sapiensin safe fashions. My uncle’s mate often becomes excited and requires such tethering to keep her from investigating newcomers. Like you, she is inclined to pet any Veloc to cross herpath.” He herded me along, forcing me to prance around on my toes. “We have done experiments with intriguedhomo sapiens, where they climb all over us with the goal of making us move from our chosen position. They rarely succeed.”
“Waldren tossed Herserael to the floor,” I commented.
“You cannot see this, I know, but your ears just betrayed you, perking forward with interest when you made that comment. Your tail has also fluffed. The body language you express seems to match Palta’s. Most interesting. Does our little cousin interest you, or are you curious on how he can throw a being far larger than himself?”
“I really want to know how he threw Herserael,” I admitted. “It seems useful being able to toss a Veloc to the floor.”
“It is a matter of gravity. He waited for Herserael to be off-center in balance and took advantage of his position. Without that leverage,homo sapienssimply cannot toss us no matter how hard they try. Had Herserael been balanced, he might have lost a few feathers to the attempt but little else. We’ve worked hard to make sure thehomo sapienswithin our clan are best able to defend themselves.” The Veloc’s tail twitched. “Such encouragements come at a price, as Waldren has discovered it is possible to ride us. Most will not allow such things willingly, but when we do not wish to harm our troublesomehomo sapiens, he takes advantage of that weakness to do what he wishes. And sometimes, he wishes to establish his status as a pest through pouncing onto our backs and remaining until he is ready to depart and go back to whatever it is your kind does when behaving.”
I giggled at the thought of Waldren scrambling onto the back of a Veloc and staying there, all without permission. “Your clan must really like him to put up with that.”
“We like his sister more, but we are fond enough of him despite his status as a frequent pest.”
“What other things has he done?”
The Veloc grinned. “I would be pleased to tell you all of his dirty secrets.”
After an hour of itching,I snapped so hard it took three Veloc to contain me. I landed several bites on Gersenalt, kicked Herserael numerous times, and I attempted to scramble my brains, bashing my forehead into the thick skull of Alban, the eldest Veloc—a green, yellow, and red male who found my plight fascinating.
While Gersenalt held my wrists together, Herserael pinned me long enough for Alban to give me several injections. One needle, taken directly to the ass, had stoked my fury to the point I’d unleashed threats to pluck all of them for a new pillow.
A rather bemused Waldren observed, safe out of my reach. “I’d read the reports about the problems with her itching, but they neglected to record temporary psychosis. This could be an issue.”
Alban’s hooted laughter drew my attention to the elder Veloc, and I hissed at him. “She is a feisty female, this is true. The feisty ones are always troublesome, but they are worth keeping around. They tend to be clever as well as stubborn. Her tolerance? Quite admirable, really. We now know her tolerance for the itching problem, and we will be certain to medicate on the appropriate schedule. Her nerve endings are healing nicely, and she has full mobility of her tail and ears. This is a useful incident.” After stowing the expended syringes, the Veloc dug his capped claws into my hair and scratched, light enough to relievethe itch. I went limp and still. “There, there. This should tame the beast.”
“Without injuring her?” Waldren demanded.
“The site has fully healed. It is the new nerves causing the problem. Unattended scratching might create injury, but a little to offer relief is permissible. That does not mean you can scratch, young one. We will scratch for you until the healing process finishes. We will only test if you itch every few days, and we will make certain to numb it before you try to murder us or rip your new ears and tail off.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumbled.
Alban gave the other side of my head a healthy scratching, and by the time he finished, the itching subsided to something I could ignore with a little work. “You have nothing to be sorry about. We understand that some of our tests may result in our patient threatening to pluck us for pillows. A potent threat, especially now that we know you will bite if provoked.”
