Science Fiction Short Stories

QARK

Deneb Betelgeuse led his news team across the rocky, broken surface of Leviathan, the fifth planet orbiting the recently discovered star, Gobux. Deneb was the second most popular reporter on QARK, and he hoped this series of reports would make him number one. Deneb was a shapeshifter from Lyka, and shifted into a wolf. His sultry good looks, golden yellow eyes, dark hair, and air of mystery helped his popularity with fans, especially those who had far-fetched and unlikely romantic notions about werewolves and their mating rituals (dating apps, like the rest of us).

Following him was Polydora, his camera and equipment operator. Polydora hailed from Amazonica. She was 289 pounds and 6'6" of bone and muscle, able to tote her own weight at a full run for some distance. She hauled the equipment and, occasionally, Deneb ("our meal ticket") out of danger, if he didn't shift first and outrun her. The tech, ferry pilot, and general handyman was Nurt Wyly, an Earther from Venus who could keep any machine running and flying.

The last, but not least, member of this investigative crew was Stu, a black and white Earth rooster modified for telepathy. For unexplainable scientific reasons, only roosters could be modified for telepathy, and QARK Team 2 had drawn Stu. He was beyond valuable for communicating with alien species, sentient or animal.

Polydora had heard much of the fabled Earth Chicken, which everything was supposed to taste like, collected every recipe she could find for cooking chicken, and eating one was her gastronomic life goal. Stu quickly convinced Polydora that he was a rooster, not a chicken, and swore on his mother's egg that there was a difference. As hard as it is for a psy to lie, Stu liked his job out of the food chain and meant to keep it. However, the strain caused Stu to molt in patches, and he'd lost all of his tail feathers.

The GSS Dauntless, Vice-Admiral Zelly Aura commanding, had found and claimed the star system for the Orion Alliance, and performed preliminary explorations during the previous cycle. Lt. Jaz Bolo, exobiologist on the Dauntless, was in charge of exploring Leviathan's flora and fauna. He was a Lewis Carroll fan, and had named many of the planet's animals, plants, landforms, and ecosystems after Carroll's whimsical creations.

"Minkar, Deneb here, how is the vidfeed?" Deneb asked his producer.

"Clear, and the sound is good," Minkar answered from the QARK studio, floating above Leviathan. "The Dauntless is tracking, and Adm. Aura has a ground crew ready to teleport if needed. She and her officers are watching on their view screens. You're about 500 feet from the octopus egg mass, and it's ready to hatch. This hatching is going to be a contender for news vid of the year. Half the Orion Alliance is waiting to find out how this ecosystem survives, since there are almost no plants...About two minutes to hatching. The mother octopuses are wreathing and writhing and the eggs are twitching. Remember to use your reporter voice."

"Right-0," said Deneb, switching to the velvet baritone of his reporter voice. "Signing off. Let's move it, gang."

"Gyreing and gimbleing," said Jaz. "NOT wreathing and writhing, the proper terms are gyreing and gimbleing. And it's toves, not eggs."

"I'll remember that," said Deneb. "Let's get there before the hatching." Deneb switched to wolf. Stu hopped on his back as he raced to the Wabe, the name Jaz gave the nesting area. Polydora caught up to Jaz and carried him and the cameras to the Wabe. Nurt arrived last.

Deneb moved instinctively to the most photogenic spot, with the sun and storm clouds behind him, and the mass of giant, curling octopus arms and eggs stretching to the horizon. He switched back to human, checked his appearance on his com screen through a link from Polydora's camera, and well-satisfied, struck a pose. He knew he looked good, and the hatching behind him would make history.

"I wonder if octopuses taste like chicken," said Polydora hungrily. Stu lost a feather.

Aura's voice came through the link. "Stu, what readings do you get from the octopuses and eggs?" Direct and to the point, one reason she was one of the most decorated sailors in the starship service.