Traveler in the Dark

16

Issk'ath took a step backward, raising up to its full height. It took the animal a moment to notice. It was small, this beast. Not small enough to ignore, but smaller than Issk'ath. Bipedal, warm-blooded, its pheromones were unfamiliar. Something utterly new.

It did not come from the nest, but from the river, surprising Issk'ath. But its tympana were sensitive and it heard the animal long before the creature realized Issk'ath was there. It knew when the animal saw him, could hear the thing's pulse turn rapid and its respiration stutter. Issk'ath raised its arms. A warning. A test of the animal's intentions. The animal paused, stood very still. Froze. As the Kek'hwe had done before the colony had hunted them to extinction. A prey animal then. Issk'ath lowered its arms. The animal took a hesitant step forward. A sound echoed in its round, shining head. "But Captain, I think—"

Issk'ath twisted its head and hissed releasing a thick plume of synthetic pheromones intended to soothe and lure the animal. But it didn't relax. Issk'ath tried a friendly chirp. It swayed, hoping the animal was open to suggestive hypnosis. The beast didn't move. Issk'ath closed on it slowly. Its forearms shot out and clutched the animal before it could flee. Soft. No exoskeleton. Had it molted? Issk'ath opened its mouth and extended its maxillae tapping carefully on the animal's head. It had not molted. It was not organic. The materials were synthetic. Some familiar, some not. Was it like Issk'ath? Had something created it? Issk'ath clacked a series of questions to it, forgetting that the sounds it made were unlike the colony's. The thing remained still. It didn't respond. Issk'ath was too fascinated to care.

A rapid series of noises erupted from the nest. Issk'ath twisted its head around to see more of the animals climbing the ramp. Pack or herd? Issk'ath's antennae flickered, testing the air. Similar pheromones, except one. The alpha? They were loud, these ones, and carrying things. They had tools. No animals had tools. Except the colony. One of them waved a metal stick around. The animal Issk'ath was holding was making sounds again. Another animal ran up and pulled on Issk'ath's forearm. They wanted their comrade back. Issk'ath tapped the animal's head one more time with its maxillae and then turned and released it back to its pack. It backed away a few steps and stopped.

Issk'ath was surprised. It expected them to flee. It meant to follow them back to their habitat, to study them. But they stared at it instead, making those rapid bleats and waving their soft arms. The first animal approached again. Issk'ath raised its arms in warning and the animal stopped. The bleats of the others grew in volume. The animal turned its head and bleated back. Softer, slower. Its stubby antennae waved in the air a moment and then a long stridulation erupted from it. Issk'ath lowered its arms and leaned forward. It scuttled around the animal searching for its tegmina. Issk'ath chirped back, encouraging it to make the noise again. The animal obliged, but Issk'ath could not see how. It sank back, swaying, trying to calm the herd. All but one of the other animals began to approach. One reached slowly up, the one with distinctive pheromones. Issk'ath froze, waiting. It was only fair, it had tasted them. The stubby antennae glided over Issk'ath's chassis, traced the illuminated pathways of the storage network. The other two crowded around also reaching out. One traced a pattern, connected the nodes. Issk'ath gently followed its antenna with one tarsus, retracing the pattern. The animals twisted their heads, speaking to one another. One tapped on the chassis again and made a noise. It repeated the noise. Issk'ath considered. It tapped the illuminated web of information and clacked "colony." They waited. Issk'ath clacked again, patiently. The animal it had grabbed took a tool from one of the others. It flipped something. It smacked with a hard click. The animal did it again. Worked out a series. Issk'ath clacked the correct pattern, slowly this time, tapping on its chassis. The animal repeated the pattern with the tool. The colony heard. Issk'ath's chassis began to light up, patterns zipping in light across it, the pulses almost too quick to see. The colony was talking to itself. Long dormant programs initiated inside Issk'ath, neglected learning algorithms kicked in.

Issk'ath could not blame the colony for their enthusiasm. It was intrigued as they. The boredom had entirely receded, the iteration slowed to a distant crawl. These animals could talk. They could understand. They were more than prey.