Downtime, Part 2

© 2018 by Walter Reimer



Meredith’s home planet of This Far had trees, but they were mainly grown for fruit in tidy orchards; a fairly new colony gives survival and trade priority over aesthetics. Still, there had been two forced-growth forests near her town, mainly stringcone pine from Mars, with some maple for variety. The maples had been a wild dream by one colonist who hadn’t realized that the climate really didn’t support the production of syrup.

The Kashlanin park at Downtime sported two forests at either end of the space, sheltering ranks of zh’rekk shrubs that provided some grain for the station’s permanent residents. The bushes had been trimmed back just far enough to allow a single person to walk between them, and there were no flowers to be seen among the broad maroon-striped green leaves.

The mare walked up to one of the trees and put one paw on the rough, scaly bark. She then craned her head back and looked up before glancing back at Varan. “A . . . gchert, right?” she asked.

“Yes,” Varan replied. “All of the plants here are native to the Homeworld.” She extended her fingerclaws and dragged them against the rough bark as she added, “beautiful, isn’t it?” She’d chosen to paint them an off shade of bright green today.

Meredith nodded and her tail swished as she lowered her head and shuffled her hooves on the ground. “I’ve never seen a living tree that tall,” she whispered in a tone approaching awe. “I remember reading that Terra used to have trees taller than this, but they’re all gone now.”

“What happened to them?”

Meredith shrugged. “I’ll have to look it up. Do they have trees like this on Chadan?” she asked.

“Aka, yes,” the vir replied, her tail swishing a little. “I’ve never been to the Terran park here on the station; do they have trees there?

The mare nodded. “Not as tall as these, though – do you hear that?” she asked suddenly, her ears swiveling.

“Meredith?”

“Yes, Varan?”

The vir’s feline pupils were wide, and her claws stayed extended. She was holding her prehensile tail very low, the naked underside of the appendage scraping the soil of the path. “Stay very still,” she admonished, looking past the mare at part of a row of bushes.

And the cold red feline eyes glaring at them from under one of the zh’rekk plants.

Meredith glanced in the direction Varan was looking and froze. “Is that a – “ she whispered.

“Yes, a korip.” Varan slowly lowered herself to a crouch. “I wonder how it got here.” She retracted her claws and held out her left hand in a beckoning gesture, making a sound like a soft hiss and a chirp combined. “It’s scared for some reason,” and she glanced quickly at Meredith.

“Me,” the Terran said. “It’s never scented a Terran before.”

“That, and it’s gotten separated from its owner,” and Varan made the sound again, beckoning with her fingers. Slowly the animal emerged from under the bush and crept forward.

It was a leggy thing, bred for running; the fur was a mixture of dull red and brown, with small rounded ears and a short naked tail. Its broad muzzle was slightly agape, displaying sharp teeth as it looked away from Varan and toward Meredith.

The korip growled, a sibilant sound.

Its ears twitched and it looked at the vir as Varan slapped the ground with her open hand. “’Ik, pay attention, little one. Now, come,” and she beckoned again, smiling encouragingly as the animal crept toward her, its tail held low until it got close enough. It closed its eyes as Varan gently stroked its head. “I can feel where its collar used to be. Little wonder its owner hasn’t found it yet. Do you have a communications device in your bag?”

“Aka, I understand,” and the mare reached into her bag to call station security.

Two constables, identified by the broad white stripe running down their brown uniform tunics, arrived shortly after Meredith had reported a lost korip. “We have been looking for this one for two days,” one of the officers, a kam, affixed a collar to the korip’s neck. "His owners will be glad to have him back.” He thanked the mare and the vir before leading the animal away.

Meredith put her communicator back in her bag and noticed that Varan was staring at one constable’s retreating back, her tail describing lazy S-curves as the vir licked her lips. “Varan?”

The vir looked back at the mare and smiled. “Did you see that kam’s rear? And his fur color – straight tivenekh, and not dye either.”

“Think he’s got a friend?” Meredith giggled. “We could double-date.”

Varan blinked at her, then took the mare’s paw as they both started laughing. They resumed their walk, Meredith asking, “What’s it like?”

“Ernh?”

“Twining tails with a kam.”

Varan grinned. “Not much different than a . . . stallion, I suppose. Why? Are you interested?”

Meredith moved closer and nuzzled the vir. “Curious, but you’re my friend, and I don’t want to put a strain on our relationship.”

“Thank you,” and Varan nuzzled her in return. “I’ll tell you a secret.”

“Aka?”

“You know Kiran, the Sensor Officer on our shift?” At the mare’s nod the vir said, “He’s expressed an interest in you.”

Meredith blinked. “Me?”

“Yes. We should all talk together sometime.”

“Yes, we should.” The Terran put a paw to her chin. “I know there’s a restaurant that we can both eat at.”

“Between the Imperial and Confederate zones? Called ‘Joe’s?’”

“Yes. Would you like to have dinner there, after we finish our walk?”

Varan smiled. “Definitely.”




end