Ice World
Ice World By thwale
_Opening scene: an Ice planet as seen from space then a quick zoom-in and the overhead pan of an ice valley with snow covered hills, a not quite frozen lake in the middle. The sides sheer ice with only a few paths leading to the edge of the lake.
There were bipeds but they were not dominant, we were..._
I was under water with about five of our kind, we had metallic colored skin and had a similar look to Earth Sea Lions, but were about 3 times as large with four fingered hands and could communicate mentally and verbally. The lakes themselves were inter-connected by underground rivers planet-wide.
We kept the bipeds safe and healthy and gave them our wisdom when needed...
I/we had just finished instructing a Male and his 2 children on how to properly set a broken leg and sent them on their way, when we looked up and noticed a bright ball of light in the sky. We instantly recognized it as a skycraft and watched as a smaller light suddenly arced away from the first and disappeared over the hills. At this point my brethren exited the lake via the underground channels but I decided to stay, the information had been sent out mentally so everyone knew of the arrival.
We have always been curious and wished to see what happened next, the bipeds may need my assistance with this new experience. I/we were a bit uncomfortable so I moved some large boulders into a semblance of a cave and entered tail first to watch.
The light then dropped down and with a small hiss of melting ice and steam, resolved itself into a small vehicle of an unknown origin and design, we noticed offhand that the shape of the door favored bipeds and decided this wasn't a water species like ourselves.
With a hiss the door cycled open and a group of rough strangely attired bipeds exited the strange vessel and began to look around, we felt it prudent to just watch and examine these new beings. They began setting up strange devices around the vehicle and removed from their backs tubes we/I recognized as weapons. I/we were again uncomfortable but for other reasons and I thought to my kin for instructions, receiving a reply "examine and make contact when you feel safe, we/us are watching through your/our eyes" this is about what I expected so I settled in.
These new beings suddenly pointed towards the biped settlement that the Male biped had come from, and by reading their hand gestures could tell that the other craft that had flown over the hills was heading there. I had a brief thoughtflash of concern but it was quickly stilled.
The leader of the group pointed down into the lake where I was and this was when I/we noticed it had a square black device in it's hand, when I focused on it I could hear it making strange noises that seemed to speed up when pointed at me then slow down when pointed away... They knew we were here...
Suddenly 2 of them with the leader jumped over the edge, we thought they were going to fall or maybe fly but instead they just slowly dropped as if they were standing on melting ice. Once on the ground all three with the leader in the front walked to the side of the lake closest to me and began making loud noises and pointing, this behavior reminded me of the bipeds method of getting a strangers attention and realized with a mental nudge from my kin that these beings wanted to communicate with me.
I then slowly exited my cave and surfaced using my hands I pointed to the thin ice bridge leading to my position, the effect on these new beings face was immediate their eyes got wide and the 2 following the leader pointed their weapons at me, we could tell from their expressions it was a reflex action and didn't feel threatened as we were unarmed.
The leader suddenly made bipedal happiness sounds signaling them put the weapons down then the leader (or so we guessed) began to carefully traverse the path to my/our position with it's followers in tow. Once they arrived I surfaced, relaxing back against my rock and tried to speak to them, we didn't expect them to understand my speech but hoped it would convey that we were able to communicate.
They looked at me/us strangely as if not expecting this then all three pulled out a small sheet of dark colored rock and placed it on their foreheads, we felt a small tingle and this caused me and my kin to be startled, this was the first time a biped had communicated to us the same way we speak to eachother and it took a few moments for us to settle down.
Then with a mental nudge I/we tried to speak again "welcome" These bipeds could now understand me/us, that thing must be a translator... a translator? I guess a translator helps you communicate, more knowledge from these strange beings.
"Hello and welcome to our home."
The leader paused then responded "Why are there humans here?"
"'Umans?" I/we/us did not recognize the term and asked my/our kin for a translation, it took what for us what was a long time but we finally agreed on a response... These bipeds looked like our bipeds perhaps these peoples race was called 'umans.
"Ah we understand, you mean the land bipeds I/we assist, yes?"
"That is what I mean, why are there humans here and why are they slaves?"
Again a term we were unfamiliar with and my kin were also confused, no help did I receive in translation "we do not understand that idea."
This surprised it and it was it's turn to be confused "you do not understand what that means do you?"
"No, we do not understand this idea, could you explain?"
Now it had the bipedal look of suspicion "again, we?"
Then I realized it would have no way to know about my kin, feeling no threat I explained "yes, my kind are all linked, what I/we see and think they/us see and think yet at the same time we/I are all individuals as well."
It nodded to it's companions and said " a group mind" then continued " a slave in this sense of the word means someone who is forced to take care of others under threat of harm, without regard for their personal health or safety."
This idea startled me/us and the biped could see our reaction it continued...
**"You have no idea what I'm talking about do you?"
"We do not understand this idea/meaning, but your explanation helps"** this idea of slavery was unknown to me/us until now, though I/we knew the bipeds weren't slaves.
_ "The bipeds we assist come to us for guidance, they are not slaves in any sense of the word, we get our food and life from the planet without assistance from others, I/we have no reason for slaves." _
"Then why do you keep them so primitive?"
"Primitive?" again a term we were unfamiliar with, it seemed this encounter was teaching us many new things, I almost felt like a biped at this moment.
"You don't understand what that means either do you."
"No, could you again explain?"
"The humans..." We were right "... That are living here are living as our ancestors did many thousands of years ago."
Ah now it made sense he was under the impression that we were somehow keeping his species as slaves and primitive in order to easily control them, I/we must correct this mistake.
"These new ideas you bring are interesting yet do not apply, the bipeds live as they want, the only time we interact is when they have a question or need help then we proceed to assist them" seemed reasonable to me/us "we once lived on land but gave that up to live in water, our group knowledge comes from that time."
It looked interested, so I continued.
"The bipeds are related to us, not everyone wanted to live in the water and many stayed on the land, I/we have an obligation to help them."
It seemed to relax "So you are related to them, can you prove this?"
"Prove it?" an intriguing notion, I asked my kin for assistance "we all live on this planet and we have always lived here what other proof would we need?"
It was then silent in thought "Can we have a tissue sample to test this?" I must have given/directed it that look of confusion again "a tissue sample is small sample of your body, if you are related to them your sample will match theirs."
An interesting concept, at once my kin agreed and I could do no less, it seemed these bipeds thought that the bipeds we help were related to their race and needed their assistance, this was understandable to us so I agreed to the test. The leader had one of the others lean forward and I was instructed to give them my hand, I did and was suddenly stabbed, it hurt and I responded by pulling it back and rubbing it. This seemed to concern them, I let it pass and watched as the one who stabbed me placed a small object in a pouch and listened to the sounds it made.
"It seems this being is telling the truth, Argost took a sample from the settlement and it's a match, these bipeds are not only not human but are related to these water beings."
We were learning much from their conversation, I was now glad I had stayed, the pain in my hand was subsiding, this new firsthand knowledge was worth it...
"We had been told that several humans were living on an ice planet and seemed to be under the control of others, it seems that information was incorrect."
I had an idea and asked my kin for assistance, perhaps this was from that strange skyship that landed about 30 turns ago, the non bipedal occupant seemed to ignore us, quickly repaired It's vehicle and departed.
Curious I/we asked "And now that you know this what will you do?" perhaps they were looking for a place to live "you are welcome to stay here if you like you seem to have much that you could teach us."
It shook it's head "Sorry no, my species is used to living in space, we could never be comfortable on a planet. We will leave a communication device in orbit -in the sky... That will tell others that this is not a human world and to leave it alone."
This saddened us some, we might never have visitors again... It continued.
"Our examination of the bipeds as you call them shows they are in excellent health..." As they should be I/we thought "we will leave you now in peace."
"Please come again if you like, you know much I/we could benefit from."
It looked a bit dejected and sad "Sorry no, we have a policy that prevents us from interfering, the orbital transmitter is the most we can do."
It then reached out and seemed to offer it's hand to me, this was strange but I repeated the action, it then gripped mine and shook it, causing me/us to jump, startled. It found this amusing while I/we just found it strange.
Then they walked towards the wall and slowly floated back up to their vessel, the other craft suddenly appeared and attached to the first one, they entered then it rose in a cloud of mist becoming a glowing ball and was gone.
Shortly after a female biped visited the lake and needed help fixing a broken basket, I proceeded to assist her but in the back of our thoughts was the strange encounter, and the hope that it would occur again.
END
©2007 thwale