The Nature of Predators

Memory transcription subject: Captain Kalsim, Krakotl Alliance Command

Date [standardized human time]: October 18, 2136

The leafy ground crunched underfoot, as we steered the Terran prisoner across the park. I was certain Arjun was purposefully stomping on brittle patches. The kid wanted to make as much noise as possible, in an attempt to summon others of its kind.

It didn’t matter how much of a ruckus it made, or if it dragged its feet. With how slow humans plodded along, we had at least an hour of walking between us and the returning father. It would tire after sustained exertion, and be forced to retrieve a vehicle to close that distance. That left time to snack and hydrate.

I ambled along on weary legs. “How do you land animals walk everywhere? I wish I still could fly, Zarn.”

“And I wish I could exsanguinate that thing of yours. It would die in minutes if I sliced that big artery on its neck,” the doctor muttered.

Jala chuckled. “Do you think its eyes would stay open after we axed its head? Or maybe they would…pop right out of its skull?”

“We’re not killing it!” I snapped. “Life, even tainted life, is sacred. True exterminators do not kill for fun or for laughs.”

Zarn pulled a scalpel from his bag, and inspected the reflective metal. The Takkan must be considering how it would slice through predator skin. I wondered why he hated humans, when his species’ government voted to be their allies. What left him so certain that social hunters had no emotions or benefits?

I tried to focus on our travels, knowing we couldn’t rest before Arjun’s father did. The kid’s skin was damp, but the strain to its breathing was minimal. We had been walking in the afternoon heat for an hour, and its legs weren’t fully grown. It should be panting and stumbling with exhaustion.

What regiment has this human hatchling been through? Its little lungs must be on fire. We need to rest, for its sake, soon.

Additionally, there had been a surprising lack of predator sightings in the forest environment. Something must have picked up our scent by now, but none of them had investigated further. Did other hunters fear the apex humans? The primates shouldn’t scare wild beasts with their unimpressive forms.

“Mmm! Kmsm!” Arjun jerked backward, and howled against the tape. “Hmm!!”

I cursed as the kid clipped my broken wing. “Did I tell you to stop walking? Er, I mean, we’ll rest in a few minutes…you’re almost there.”

It continued screaming beneath the gag, and its binocular eyes were almost hysterical. If something frightened a predator, that gave me pause. There must be a reason it refused to walk, unless this was a time-wasting trick. The fear looked strikingly real though, so I was inclined to believe the antics.

A blood-curdling hiss permeated the air, and movement flashed across the leafy ground. A brown creature uncoiled its scaly body, lifting its head toward us. A forked tongue waggled from its mouth like a seesaw. The way it slithered forward was alien and unnerving; there were no legs that I could see.

That’s a prey animal…it has side-facing eyes, I decided. The poor thing must be trying to scare off the predator, flattening its neck like that. I can’t believe that works on a sapient human.

The alarm in Arjun’s gaze intensified, and beads of sweat surfaced on its skin. We would’ve stepped on the reptile, if the kid hadn’t flailed about. Why was it so terrified of a crippled animal? The tiger’s bite was much more petrifying than this thing.

The human seemed to forget about the gun to its back, and bolted away with impossible energy. That mad dash reminded me of Federation species in a mindless stampede. Maybe these frail primates incorporated some prey instincts into their hardware, to compensate for their weakness.

Jala lined up her gun barrel. “Better learn how to fly real quick, Arjun.”

My eyes widened. “Don’t shoot it!”

“You’re no fun. I’m not just letting that scrawny beast go!”

The sociopath was airborne before I could stop her, and bore down on Arjun with powerful flaps. She swiped her talons across its shoulder, carving twin gashes into its flesh. The human yelped. It lost its balance from the blow, and toppled to the ground.

Jala’s takeoff aggravated the hissing animal, which hadn’t blinked a single time. Shouldn’t it calm down now that the predator was gone? Zarn seemed to feel bad for it, since the sight of Arjun had traumatized it. He wanted to show it we weren’t like the humans.

The doctor reached out to give it a comforting pat. “Nobody’s going to hunt you, sweetie. Did those nasty apes eat your babies? I—”

The panicked animal was still in fending-off-predators mode. It was worked up in a frenzy, desperate and aggressive to any movements. Zarn was oblivious to the opening of its mouth. It bit the doctor with tiny teeth, and he grabbed his arm in pain.

My gun was readied within a second, and I dispatched a shot through its head. I cursed the Takkan for making me shoot a non-sapient victim to Terran incursions. To make matters worse, any nearby humans would hear that reverberation.

“You had to try to touch a terrified, helpless prey animal,” I sighed.

Zarn inspected the two tiny puncture marks. “I just wanted to soothe it, Kalsim. Let me disinfect the wound. Barely a scratch.”

My pupils swiveled toward Arjun, who had ripped the tape off its own mouth. Jala was looming over it, and pecked at its earlobe to draw a reaction. I rushed over to intervene, pushing the female Krakotl away from the downed kid. My curiosity demanded an explanation for the freakout.

“That was irresponsible of you to run off. You startled that poor animal,” I grumbled. “All that panic, for a rudimentary threat display?”

Arjun gawked at the marks on Zarn’s gray skin. “The snake bit you? Listen Kalsim, if you don’t get him to a human medic, he’s going to die. Painfully.”

“Die? I’m not falling for that,” the doctor scoffed. “Our species actually knows how to treat infections.”

“We have penicillin too, Doctor Psycho. Do you have no concept of venom? You’re going to be paralyzed and unable to breathe…in an hour.”

“It does burn quite a bit, Captain, but I have painkillers. Besides, if I was actually poisoned, this human would want me to die and languish. That’s all they’re capable of wanting!”

My eyes narrowed, as Zarn confessed to localized pain. His arm did look rather swollen near the puncture wounds. Then again, a medical professional should recognize the signs of blood poisoning. I hoped he wouldn’t brush off Arjun’s warning just because a human passed it along.

We do need to keep moving, urgently. I’ll monitor Zarn’s symptoms, and if it gets worse, I’ll figure something out.

“Let’s get in a few more minutes of walking, and we’ll settle down,” I said. “We can disinfect your wound, and Arjun’s…incisions.”

The predator kid flexed its shoulder with a wince. The crimson blood staining its artificial pelt was drying. It pursed its lips like it wanted to argue, but I waved it along at gunpoint. The human shuffled ahead in silence, not wanting the tape reapplied.

The tree cover thinned out, and we pressed ahead for several monotonous minutes. I remained on the lookout for snakes, just in case. It didn’t make sense why Arjun would help its tormentor. Also, if snakes were really that dangerous and frightening, why hadn’t humans exterminated them?

Zarn sucked in a sharp breath, facial muscles contorting. His pace had begun to lag several steps behind ours. He touched the affected area with the other paw, and screamed in a high register. Tears trickled from his eyes.

“GAH! My b-blood is on fire,” he squealed.

The Takkan slumped against the base of a tree, writhing in agony. Arjun’s eyebrows twitched, as though it was in pain itself. Perhaps I had underestimated the scope of human empathy. The best we could hope for, after this failed mission, was that their murders were less sadistic than Arxur hunts.

“Make it stop!” Zarn shrieked.

Jala puffed out her feathers. “Shut up! You’re giving away our location.”

“It hurts so bad. HELP ME! It’s like acid…it’s…”

The female Krakotl retrieved the medical tape, and I slapped it out of her grip with the good wing. She wasn’t going to shut Zarn up, like an animal, while he was in anguish. Losing the doctor was unacceptable; his services were needed for a fine officer’s survival.

Arjun knelt on its knee, and coaxed the Takkan into a prone position. I knew Zarn was out of it, when he didn’t resist the beast’s contact. The predator was remarkably gentle with its motions. It showed decency to an enemy that did not deserve it. Just like my officers said I had, where humans were involved.

I’m glad I treated their kind with respect. That I didn’t make them suffer, and I didn’t enjoy their deaths.

“Kalsim! We need to get help,” Arjun pleaded.

The doctor’s grip tightened around a grass clump. “Get lost, predator. You j-just want to watch my suffering up close. You’re lapping it up…”

“I don’t want to watch anyone die. You’re the one who wanted to watch humans suffer up close.”

“No. Wounded prey smells good, right? Wait to get your pickings until I’m dead.”

“We never wanted to eat you. I’m a vegetarian! It’s part of my religion…to show compassion for animals.”

My eyes widened at its proclamation. The predator had to be joking. It was Federation religions that dictated that preying on animals was greedy, bloodthirsty, and evil. Natural-born hunters would never follow any ideology that demonized their own existence.

How did that make the slightest sense?

“I thought humans were interesting,” Jala clicked. “But they’re pathetic, just like everyone else. Cowering in the face of danger…religions about compassion…crying over people that are dead like it’s so sad.”

I glared at her. “As I’ve told you from the beginning, humans have selective empathy. Our knowledge of them is evolving, but their expansionism is incompatible with peace.”

“Don’t be fooled, Jala, they’re b-brutal. Cunning and manipulative,” Zarn gasped. “Their history…is one of conquest and invasions. Humans cook up new ways to kill each other…always.”

The doctor howled through gritted teeth, as a spasm rippled down the afflicted limb. His pained cry morphed into a full-throated scream. Arjun wordlessly poured some water on the Takkan’s head, trying to cool his burning skin. Somehow, I trusted the predator not to finish him off; my attention shifted to finding an effective painkiller.

Before I realized what was happening, a deafening gunshot echoed behind me. Jala was hovering over Zarn, a crazed look in her eyes. The physician’s body went slack, as blood gushed from his temple. The human gaped as the corpse brushed its leg.

I aimed my sidearm at the sociopath. “What did you do?! DROP YOUR WEAPON!”

“That’s precisely how to shut someone up,” she chirped. “Enough of your games, Kalsim. We do this my way now.”

“Drop. The. GUN!!”

“C’mon, you hated Zarn. He was making too much noise; the predator said he was going to die anyway. Plus, you would’ve had us stay here and listen to him scream.”

“This is your last warning.”

“The human is slowing us down too, and it will actively work against us at every turn. I’m doing you a favor. Make your choice: me or Arjun.”

Jala swiveled her pistol toward the predator kid, who seemed stunned by Zarn’s death. Arjun had never seen a creature die in front of it, had it? The words it said about compassion for animals reminded me of my extermination philosophy. We both killed when it was necessary, and contained our damage to the rightful sources.

Against all odds, I appreciated this predator’s way of life. It was honorable and empathetic enough, not yet lost to its destructive instincts. I had more in common with this prowler than Jala. There was some attachment to it…to him, in that I didn’t want to watch him die in front of me.

I squeezed the trigger, and a succinct pop indicated a successful shot. Shock flashed in the sociopath’s eyes, before her body crashed alongside Zarn’s. The gun slipped from my grasp in a daze. Had I really just lost both able-bodied crew in the span of a minute?

Arjun scrambled to his feet, scooping up the weapon. He didn’t point it at me, for some reason. Blue Takkan blood was spattered alongside his own scarlet shade. The little predator flopped down beside the doctor’s satchel.

“You’re hurt. We need to t-treat your wounds, and find your father,” I stammered.

The human didn’t respond, and merely got to work patching up his own injuries. My instincts should’ve created an uproar, over my proximity to an armed predator. However, I couldn’t process fear through the shock. This world of death and wilderness, Earth, could not be my reality.

I zoned out, staring into the distance. My story would come full circle, if it was ended by the predator I chose to spare. Quite a poetic conclusion…for turning my back on my occupation. The three Federation castaways could lie unburied, in this infested land, for all eternity.

Thyon is unconscious and abandoned, in this predatory hell. Snap out of it, Kalsim.

There was a slight cracking sound from above, which broke my trance. Before I could glance up, something rough brushed against my throat. The next thing I knew, rope cinched around my throat in a suffocating knot.

My body was yanked upward, and I found myself standing on empty space. I instinctively tried to loosen the noose, as my entire mass dangled in its secure embrace. My wings attempted to tread air; searing, all-encompassing pain lanced down the broken bone. Generating lift was impossible.

“Son!” a thunderous voice barked from above. “Get out of here, and call for help. MARCOS is looking for these fuckers.”

How had Arjun’s father gotten here so soon? There was no way a human predator could’ve closed the distance without running. But running that long was impossible, unless their endurance was nigh divine. The kid hadn’t tired at all either…oh, sweet Inatala.

Arjun palmed his black hair. “Tell me you regret what your species did, Kalsim. Please.”

“Regret? Sure…I always did,” I croaked. “But it…was the only way. To secure a future. I did my d-duty.”

The human youngling watched as my oxygen supply dissipated. His vicious eyes watered. I knew he was thinking about Bengaluru, contemplating how my orders leveled dozens of cities like it. The poor thing never understood the bleak necessity.

A constricting pain centered around my larynx, and my field of vision began to diminish. Awareness was receding, like sinking into a vast ocean. Struggling didn’t seem important anymore. I felt like I lived a good life, a meaningful one…

“Cut Kalsim down, Dad, please!” Arjun’s voice sounded as though it came from underwater. “He saved my life from the other two, multiple times. I don’t want him killed.”

The adult human growled a reply I didn’t register. Its voice was charged with bellowing savagery, a preview of what Arjun would sound like at full maturity. I didn’t want to see him transform into an unstable beast, constantly beleaguered by the need to chase. That sickening development was the reason why pups were supposed to be exterminated.

The kid offered a plea that was incoherent, as my eyes fluttered shut with grim realization. The rope released its grip, and I plummeted back to the earth with a muted sensation. The little predator poked at my beak, but I couldn’t move a muscle.

The world faded away, leaving me helpless at the paws of the warlike monsters.