CopRit Empire, Halfil
Sol 14 Of Race 4 Year 4958
Frostal Secondary, New Baltimore
Sitting down in the chair across from the Principal’s desk I nervously swallowed and tried to calm my heart. The Principal could probably hear it, and smell my perspiration. Which was only making me more nervous.
“Thoomaas,” squeaked the principal from on top of her desk, the sounds of her voice amplified so we could both easily hear her. She was as large as an Earth cat, and resembled their favorite prey in some respects. Four legged, hairy, with an acute sense of smell and ears like an Earth rodent that had been. Unlike an earth rodent, she was also bright orange, had four long dexterous tails and intricately woven blue wire strung though her fur.
“Yes ma’am?” I asked voice cracking.
She ignored me and turned to look at the green skinned Gunsil sitting in the other chair beside me.
“Haanik of clan Ya. Would either of you like to explain what happened?”
Hanik shifted in his seat to glare at me, “Thomas hit me!” he pointed at the side of his face where a dark black bruise was forming. A bruise that perfectly matched my sprained wrist.
The Principal turned her eyes and ears towards me, “Thomas? This is not like you. Did you attack Haanick of clan Ya?”
“I did.”
She turned around several times on top of her desk, her rat like tails flicked around in agitation, “Why did you attack him? “
I turned to the Gunsil, he narrowed his lips and glared straight back at me puffing out his chest as he did so. “Hanik decided to make fun of the Dela, Eeek’a. Called her a, well I’m not going to repeat it. I will not be apologizing for my strike.”
The Principal turned to Hanik, “Haanik of clan Ya. What do you have to say?”
Hanik twisted away from me and the principal, “Anything I might have said was in jest, and Eeek’a knew that. The Human over reacted and attacked me.”
The principal let out an indignant squeak, “Do I need to pull up the security video? What did you say? Surely if it was in jest there is no harm in repetition.”
“I was not the one who attacked another student!” growled Hanik.
“No, but I see you once a week Haanik of clan Ya. Thoomaas does not have a single reprimand on his file. I want to know what has caused this deviation in his behavior. Rest assured no matter what caused this, he will still be punished.”
Hanik threw me a dirty glare, and turned back to the principal. “I told Eeek’a she was nice for a harmya.”
“Harmya?” asked the Principal.
I leaned cleared my through, “In the Gunsil language it means vermin, with the connotation leaning towards something that should be killed. It also implies ugliness, and the carrying of disease.”
“How do you know what that means?” asked Hanik seething.
“I’m paying attention in Coprit founder’s languages class.” I said my voice even.
The Principal was silent for several moments, and several tiny holograms flitted about in front of her. She settled her small eyes on me. “Even if Haanik did insult Eeek’a that is no reason to attack him.”
“This was not the first time he’s insulted her. He tripped her, and spilled her lunch all over her, then stood over her and said it. He and his friends were all laughing at her, and.” I paused remembering the incident.
She had been on the floor, her eight legs splayed out on the smooth floor of the cafeteria and the blood soup she had been carrying drenching the front of her uniform. A stain that almost made it look like she had been attacked, her almost human like eyes had filled with tears she tried to contain.
For the first time in my memory, I hadn’t thought, I had acted.
“I walked over and punched him.” I held up my fist, which was swelling slightly.
The Principals nose twitched and she let out a low sigh. “I know Humans are prone to hormonal outburst in adolescence, but violence is not the answer. Two days in detention.”
Hanik was smiling.
The Principal turned to him, “You are receiving two days detention as well Haanik of clan Ya. Discrimination, in any form is not something I will tolerate in my school. Is that understood?”
Hanik stiffened and his face fell, “Yes ma’am.”
“I’m not entering this into either of your records if you are on time for your detentions. Neither of you were right, but neither of you are blameless.”
I felt my stomach drop, the small knot that had formed at the prospect of a reprimand on my record falling away, “Thank you ma’am.”
Hanik repeated my words and she let out a disgruntled squeak, “Haanik, you may leave.”
Hanik bounced to his feet and quickly sped out of the room slamming the door behind him.
I watched him go and swallowing turned back to the principal. She was string back at me unnaturally still. “Why did you do this Thoomas?”
I winced and raised a hand to look at the small amount of stress induced perspiration on it. “You can smell the lie?”
She wavered side to side on her desk, “You are not lying, but you are holding something back. This matter has been resolved, but I am curious why one of my most promising students felt it was appropriate to attack a peer, even if that peer is less than a model student.”
I bit my lip and tried to think of what I could say, that would be enough of a truth to fool her. Not that it would do much good, the physiological reactions were based on if I thought I was lying, not on a technicality.
Her nose twitched and one of her tails moved to her computer interface, she quickly consulted something on it giving me another moment to think. “Does this have to do with mating behavior in some fashion?”
I could feel the blood rushing to my face and I tried to ignore it. No doubt the principal heard the spike in my vitals confirming her guess. I shifted on my seat and tried to calm myself. The principal lashed her tails several times and let out a low warble.
“Why are all Humans like this?”
I blinked, “Ma’am?”
“Fighting themselves, and what they know is the truth?”
I pursed my lips and shrugged, “Culture? Admitting, feelings like this to a Human in authority would be inappropriate.”
The Principal scoffed, “You are familiar in passing with almost every culture in the Coprit, that cultural rule does not apply. Speak!”
I smiled and shook my head, “Working around what’s the nice thing to say, and how to greet someone of another race is easy. The ingrained cultural ones? They’re not rules.”
The Principal moved forwards on her desk until she was at the edge and eye level with me. “You are a race new to the Coprit, but already your nature is known by all. Contradiction after contradiction, destroying your own planet even as you tried halfheartedly to save it. Throwing yourselves into the heart of galactic politics and against all odds succeeding where all others have failed.”
She lay down now on her desk, “You accept all other races in the last vestiges of your own. Yet you are not overrun by our cultures or ideas. You take from them, and add your own. You cannot do this now? In Human and Dela cultures, mating is important!”
“Yes, but.” I trailed off trying to figure out how to explain it. The Principal’s mating behavior was, well an orgy every year or so. She had children, but had never interacted with them. The strongest drive in her cultural was collecting unique art.
“Human’s and Dela invest a lot in mating. So much, that unless we’re sure we don’t move forwards with its initiation.”
The principal considered that and lashed her tails out, “It seems cruel to leave the young so unsure, unable to know what they should do.”
I nodded in agreement. “It’s supposed to be that way.”
The principal cocked her ears to the side, “Oh?”
I looked up and met her eyes, “I can only really speak of the Human side, but mating is an extreme example of our mentality on everything else. Once we’re set on one mate, one idea, it’s hard to dissuade us. So we debate, wait, and try to make sure it’s perfect before moving forwards. Even though it never is.”
The principal remained silent for several seconds and her tails moved back up and down as she thought. “You are moving forwards then? This is the imperfect attempt?”
“I’m in your office, aren’t I?”
She looked at me and I could see the small spark of understanding in her eyes. We were from different cultures, different morphologies, but she could see it was important to me.
“As I understand yours and the Dela’s mating behaviors, defending one’s mate is a good first step. Don’t repeat it on the grounds of the school, or I will add this to your record.”
I stood up, “Thank you ma’am.”
CopRit Empire, Halfil
Sol 14 Of Race 4 Year 4958
Frostal Secondary, New Baltimore
“Thoma?” the cracking sound of her voice ripped me out of my dreams and I jerked up from the table almost colliding with the woman leaning over me.
Eeek’a deftly stepped out of my way, her torso moving almost independently of her lower abdomen. The Dela were an insane species from a Human centric taxonomic classification, they had eight spidery legs that connected into three limbs at their waist. Two on either side like a human, and another where an earth Human would have a tail.
The two hind legs, which could bend around at angles unlike anything Human were their arms and manipulators. On their torsos where Humans would have arms were large wing like membranes that served as their lungs. They looked like wings, but were nowhere close to the size needed for a humanoid to fly. Most Dela in New Baltimore could keep them almost completely folded, the oxygen content so much higher than their home world, they only needed a small portion of them exposed to the air.
What creeped out most residents of New Baltimore, and made the relatively peaceful Dela look threatening were the small fangs that protruded from their lipless mouths down past their chins. They were omnivorous like most intelligent life forms, using the long fangs to suck nectar from the oversized fruits on their home world, or blood from animals. Chewing was something they rarely did, preferring instead to liquify things before consuming them. Blenders were all most restaurants needed to accommodate them.
I looked around the room and shook my head, “Eeek’a. Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep like that.”
She frowned and her eyes, like a cat from Earth met my own. She wasn’t exactly right either, her species had a mating quartet system. Female was closest through, considering she would be the one giving birth. She would not however be providing ‘milk’ or caring for the child. That was the responsibility of the other half of the female quartet.
“You were making vocal.”
I had to work through her words for a moment, the vocal cords of her species were limited. Air was something they had to force through their throats only when speaking. The ‘ss’ sound was absent from their repertoire.
I grimaced, “Snoring. I was snoring.”
She cocked her head to the side, “What doeh it do?”
I blushed slightly, “Nothing. It’s a byproduct of breathing while I’m asleep.”
She absorbed that and her lungs fluttered open slightly. “Cool.”
Sitting down next to me Eeek’a dropped the project data chip down onto the table, spawning an image of the small planet we had been assigned to study for class.
Rubbing my eyes, I turned to the assessment and groaned. Only half of the world was catalogued, and we had been working on it for weeks now. The thing was a dead moon in some far-off system, mineral and ore deposits the only things that made the rock even mildly interesting.
Eeek’a pushed a chair away and ‘sat’ next to me, six of her legs bending and folding in on themselves in a way she insisted was relaxing but looked painful to my eyes.
Silently we both continued to analyze the planet, working through the detailed scans that the probe had made. In a holo room we could have walked around on the surface of the planet and investigated it ourselves, but it was faster to manipulate a desktop holo.
I zoomed into the norther hemisphere and focused on the small canyon I had almost finished surveying last time.
“Did you get in trouble?” asked Eeek’a her voice low.
I shook my head, “No, the principal let me off with a warning.”
“Hanik in detention, you are not?”
I scratched at the back of my neck and zoomed in on a random crater on the moon’s surface staring a mineral analysis. “Later this week, she didn’t think it would be a good idea for us to be doing it together.”
“Oh.”
The room was silent for several more minutes. It wasn’t an awkward silence though, Eeek’a and I working together was always efficiently quiet. We would talk when we needed to solve a problem or wanted something double checked, but we had been grouped together so often at this point that neither of us felt the need to check the other.
It was a relaxing partnership, working with anyone else I almost always had to double check things and fix the errors they made. I wouldn’t have been so annoyed if it weren’t for the lack of care that others seemed to give the work. I wasn’t perfect, Eeek’a wasn’t perfect, but we both at least tried to get things right. Most of our peers just wanted to pass.
I glanced over at the alien girl, her eyes were locked on the analysis of a methane lake on the other side of the moon. Something was off though, and I couldn’t put my finger on what it was for a moment. She was just still, almost statuesque in her pose.
The lungs on her sides were held partially open, but weren’t moving back and forth like normal. She glanced up at me, and we both spoke at once.
“Thoma”
“Eeek’a”
I shook my head, “You first.”
She shifted and moved around to the other side of the table putting the hologram between us.
“You go ahead, apology.” She muttered.
“Eeek’a what were you going to say?”
The room was silent, and she twisted the hologram around to continue her analysis leaving it active in front of her.
“Why did you attack Hanik?”
I blinked in surprise, “He insulted you. He tripped you and made you spill all over yourself.”
Eeek’a bobbed her head in agreement, “He done that every time we meet, the Dela look like an animal of vermin from Hanik planet. They avoiding relatable,”
“Stop.”
Eeek’a paused and her eyes went wide. I pulled the data chip off the table killing the hologram and glared across at Eeek’a. She was carefully looking down at the now blank display.
“There are hundreds of species in New Baltimore that look like creatures from other planets, you look like an Earth spider in some ways, and the first time I met you I was freaked out. I’d never seen a Dela before.”
Eeek’a leaned back from the table her lungs fluttering once, “Really? You didn’t act like it.”
I rolled my eyes, “That’s my point. Even if you looked like the most horrid creature from my home world, how could I be mad at you or hate you for that? Especially after getting to know you? He’s just a bully.”
“You’ve watched him do that before and done nothing more than yell at him. Why did you attack?”
I bit my lower lip and tore my eyes from her gaze, “He tripped up, you almost landed on your lungs and he spilled your lunch all over you. You, you.”
I hesitated for a moment my eyes watering slightly, not sure why I had to explain it to her. “When he insulted you after all of that, you just looked beaten.”
I paused and she said nothing.
“I didn’t like that look in your eyes, and he was gearing up to say something else. I didn’t want him to hurt you any more, if all I had done was argue with him again he would have insulted you more. I wanted to make sure he wouldn’t be able to say anything else to you.”
Eeek’a hesitatingly stomped her feet a few times and I glanced back at her. Her eyes were closed now. “Do you plan to attack every bully in the academy who attack a person?”
“No.”
Eeek’a’s head snapped up, “Then why attack one for me?”
I sighed and scrunching my eyes down forced my words out, “I like you.”
“I know that.” She scoffed.
“No I mean, I like you. Do you want to go out and see a holo play with me, or something?” I asked wincing as the lameness of the suggestion. It had been the first thing to pop into my mind.
Eeek’a said nothing, and I kept my eyes closed not breathing.
“Oh.”
“Sorry. Forget it.”
Eeek’a shot a hand out, and grabbed my own. It was an interesting sensation; her skin was almost feverish in comparison to my own. The four fingered two jointed hands an alien comfort.
I slowly opened my eyes.
“You want to court me?”
“Uh, if you want too.”
Eeek’a tilted her head to the side, “My Father and Father are not going to like it.”
I swallowed, “Is that a yes?”
She frowned and tapped at the table with her other hand, pulling up several documents and articles from the net.
“Pre-courting. That what you want, human dating?”
“I’d suggest a Dela courtship dance, but I’m not sure how it would work. I can’t translate them into two feet, all I’ve managed to do is end up on my face.”
Eeek’a honked, her equivalent of laughing. “You’ve tried the foot movement?”
Wordlessly pulled out my personal data chip and checking that the library was empty set it down on the table. “Recorded them too.”
Pulling up one of the files I set it to play. The Dela dancing was something like Earth square dancing without a partner, and old-style break dancing. All set to an uneven tempo and varying volume that was more suited for a thin atmosphere.
Eeek’a silently watched the video I had made so I could compare it to the actual dances. I turned away from her as it finished and the silence of the library pressed in.
She honked once. “That wah horrible!”
She broke down honking, and her lungs spread out and began to violently flap. I blushed but began to laugh along with her.
“You have no idea, I can’t even do human dancing! Here I am trying to do dancing meant for someone with four times as many legs as me!”
She honked harder and leaned down onto the table, “You better of not have revealing me video! Video all I’m going to think about when I watch another potential mate foot moving!”
I chuckled and curbing my own laughter I quieted, “So, is this a yes or no?”
Eeek’a honked again and extended a hand across the table, “We can try a Human date!”
She sobered and narrowed her eyes, “Assuming we get our work done.”
I nodded, “Tomorrow then?”
“Tomorrow. We complete project now?”
I winced and looked down at the data chip, “You want to finish it now?”
She nodded.
CopRit Empire, Halfil
Sol 15 Of Race 4 Year 4958
Downtown, New Baltimore
Eeek’a and I stepped out of the holo-theater along with the rest of the crowd, the suns were just about to set and the light was filtering through the buildings of the massive city casting long shadows over the crowds on the ground, as transports flashed in and out of the dying light.
I turned to my date trying to keep my expression neutral, “Did you understand any of that?”
Eeek’a ruffled her lungs causing the intricate metallic beads and rings that covered her body to flex and jangle. The clothing was far more provocative than anything I had ever seen her wearing at school, allowing a faint glimpsed of the dark brown skin beneath the interlocking metallic lattice. “No, I’m glad I’m not the only one puzzled.”
“You would think the Jalal would make a more exciting movie. They’re almost literally indestructible!”
Eeek’a stomped a foot, “The main individual kept dying, I don’t think one of them endured more than ten mintueh!”
“The size of the projections kept changing, you think the holo projector was messed up? Or was that intentional?”
“For the charge of the two ticket? It had better be intentful.” Growled Eeek’a.
We moved away from the holo play building down one of the main streets of New Baltimore, Eeek’a slowing her pace to keep up with me as I moved as quickly as I could without running. Aroudn us the thousands of other species moved about through the city, the lights flashed, and the city began to wake for the night.
Some species were nocturnal, others only slept once every few days, some hibernated for months on end. Cities on Earth had at one time been called cities that never slept, but in New Baltimore it had never been more true.
“Oh!” Eeek’a reached out and took my hand in one of her own nearly crushing it.
I winced, “Eeek’a?”
“Human hold hand during date? Correct?”
“Yes, hold! Not crush!”
She fluttered her lungs and loosened her grip. Hand in hand we continued to walk. For the first time, an awkward silence between us.
Eeek’a was feeling it as well, her gait awkward.
“Why do you want to court me?”
I blinked, “Who wouldn’t?”
“We are not identical kind!” said Eeek’a lamely.
I scoffed, “You did not just say that, we’re in New Baltimore!” I squeezed her hand. “You and I are hardly the oddest couple! Theirs’s a Human woman in my apartment building bound to a Chella! Don’t know how she’s not always pulling quills out of herself.”
She shifted and turned us onto another street, “Not novelty then. Why?”
“You’re smarter than me? Kind? I don’t know, is there any one thing you can point to for liking me?”
Eeek’a thought for several moments, and we continued to walk. The next block in front of us was darker than the rest, one of the many park in the city. An Earth based park if the foliage was anything to go by.
“No. I have no one point.”
“So why do I have to have one? I like you for you!”
She honked once and quickened her pace pulling me into the park. the entrance was filled with a new gaudy collection of Earth murals hung up marble walls. I directed Eeek’a away from the very liberal renderings of Earth zoology towards the thick grove of trees that covered the park.
She looked around eyes wide, examining the flora. The atmosphere of her world was so thin, and light not something the plants were desperate to compete for, so shrubs were about the largest plants she had ever seen up close. The massive oaks and redwoods from Earth, towering up over us had to be an alien sight.
“They do not fall?” asked Eeek’a, her hand tightening again.
“Not unless they’re dead, and it’s storming. None of these will fall. Tree’s on Earth were some of the oldest organisms, living thousands of years.”
“Woah.”
She reached out to one of the nearest plants and rapped her knuckles against it.
“It almost rock!”
“They’re tough.”
Eeek’a her curiosity now peaked dragged me further into the dense park forest off the beaten path. I let her pull me along, enjoying the amazement in her eyes and posture more than the scenery. New Baltimore was one of the last refuges of Humanity, but not only for Humanity.
Coming to an old and knotted, but still living tree Eeek’a paused. “What happened?”
“It’s surviving.” I walked over to the old oak and sat with my back to it. Eeek’a moved over and copied my pose, settling down on the ground, her back legs / arms pocking out next to me, and her other legs awkwardly splayed out on the grass and leaves.
She turned her eyes up to the plant examining it, “amazing to endure.”
I nodded in agreement, “This is one of the last places in the universe you can find them. They’re going survive, adapt, endure.”
“Like Human?”
“Hopefully, assuming we don’t kill ourselves again.”
“Not allowed. I need you to live.” Sai Eeek’a playfully pouting.
I raised an eyebrow, “Oh that’s why we’re going to survive? You demand it?”
She shrugged, “I need you to complete project. That and future project. Other than that? No need for Human to live.”
My smile widened, and I leaned down to sit in the grass beneath the tree. Eeek’a quickly folded her legs to join me. Another companionable silence stretched between us. Eeek’a shifted and turned to me, extending her lungs out like a Human offering a hug.
My eyes widened recognizing the gesture, “Eeek’a?”
She fluttered her wings, and turned away from me, “I can’t kih like Human. You though,” She trialed off and I smiled.
“I might be able to replicate the Dela ritual.”
She nodded, “I examined net data. Human have comparable behavior in mating.”
“A comparable human that is a little more intimate.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, “You complain?”
“No, no! Just, well I don’t have tongue like yours. I do have lips, so it might feel weird.”
She ruffled her lungs, “I have no compare.”
“So, the standards set low?” I asked.
She let out a disgruntled squeak, “If you do not want too,” she began to fold her lungs and I moved forwards towards her chest.
Eeek’a froze as I neared her, “One thing though.”
“That is?” she asked.
“I don’t have to spread my lungs for air. You won’t have to let go to let me breath.”
Her eyes widened, “I hadn’t thought of that!”
I leaned forwards, and being far braver than I would have been with a Human date spread the metal bands and wires on her chest apart exposing the skin and breasts beneath. Dela had no nudity taboo like Humans, at least in the chest area. Male, male-2, female, and female-2 wore ‘shirts’ only out of as much preference as a Human would an old-style wrist watch.
Still Eeek’a stiffened as I exposed her skin.
Her lungs wrapped around me, pulling me closer to her. To a Dela, the act was one of trust one could breathe while the other could not. They could survive for several minutes comfortably without spreading their wings in their natural atmosphere, but being completely cut off like I was now would be like a Human having to adapt and breath oxygenated liquid.
It was dark, and the heat of Eeek’a’s body radiated all around me. Leaning forwards, I experimentally licked at her skin far away from anything that was a sensitive area.
She shuddered, the wings tightened and pulled me closer towards her right nipple.
I was trying my best to equate the action to a kiss, and keep it light note moving into the equivalent of French kissing. It was only the first date and we were both, inexperienced.
Eeek’a was having none of that though, and continued to push me towards her more sensitive areas.
The Dela like Eeek’a who gave birth to the young, but provided no nutrients to them afterwards had much more sensitive breasts, the organs needed to produce ‘milk’ absent and replaced with nerves.
Opening my lips, I kissed her skin.
Eeek’a let out a squeak and her wings opened, letting in a cold snap of air.
Blinking in surprise I pulled away from her, “Sorry! I won’t do that,”
Eeek’a cut me off, her wings snapping forwards again to envelop me and push me even more tightly to her chest.
“Repeat!” she insisted.
I did so, adding a slight amount of suction. Eeek’a shuddered again but didn’t push me away. Slowly I laid kisses over the outside of her bust, avoiding the nipple and playing with her. She continued to shake and groan not saying anything else.
I had no doubt we had moved into the ‘French kissing’ level of interaction, but I wasn’t going to complain. Moving to her nipple, I lightly bit her. Eeek’a keened and her wings tightened pressing me so close to her I nearly suffocated despite my insistence it was impossible.
We broke apart and I smiled, I wasn’t sure of her reaction and breathless didn’t exactly apply to her but she looked it.
“So, Human kissing works then?”
“I tell other Dela what Human can do and it will be difficult to keep them away from you!” She cuddled up next to me, her legs twisting with my own.
We relaxed beneath the tree, in the center of the city, far away from what our ancestors called home. I closed my eyes and leaned into Eeek’a. I was where I was meant to be.