08:43 04/04/2587 –(8734/661/29/90)

Gabriel could not believe he had agreed to this as the makeup artist fiddled with his suit, making him look as presentable as possible. He supposed he should be grateful he had not been slathered in makeup.

A fate Nish and Pista had not been able to avoid; while their faces were not susceptible to pimples, boils and other blemishes, lacking the sweat glands on most of their bodies, the producers had still decided that the two ladies needed to look their very best.

“Producers, after the lawyer, there is no lower form of life,” thought Gabriel.

Nish took it all in her stride though Gabriel had a sneaking suspicion she did not care how she looked on camera. Pista, however, was thoroughly enjoying the attention, even if she had not yet fully warmed up the strangers around her.

Sitting alongside the camera crew were Erilur and her, maybe girlfriend, Risoti; Gabriel wasn’t exactly sure what their relationship was. He supposed it was one of those holiday romances he had read about.

Erilur had come along for moral support. Gabriel had mentioned several times that he found it uncomfortable, and Risoti had come along after Erilur had practically begged Gabriel to allow it. The Ponut’Kild had called him romantic gold, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.

The Etulana had nearly collapsed when she visited Erilur in hospital, the shock of meeting the most famous man on the planet having been a little too much for her. Which Gabriel could understand; he had fought two of the deadliest predators in the galaxy.

What he did not get was why that made her faun all over Erilur, it had been nothing but random chance that they met one another, yet Risoti had not been able to keep quiet about how Erilur knew Gabriel Ratlu.

Ultimately, he chalked it all up to aliens doing alien things and moved on. It was not worth losing any sleep over.

Erilur looked at Gabriel and raised her thumb and ring finger, which was also her pinky finger. For the Ponut’Kild, this was the equivalent of a thumbs-up; to Gabriel, it was like he was attending a thrash metal concert.

“Mr Ratlu, are you ready?” the presenter asked. They were a Ho’nunyay, which Gabriel only knew because his cabin on the transport here had been next to one. Driven by curiosity that day and the total lack of anything meaningful to do, he had looked them up.

Native to the world of Ey’onosu, famous for its near-constant rain, nearly all life upon it was covered in highly hydrophobic skin, bark, fur, feathers, shells or anything else that covered their bodies.

The presenter was a woman, which meant she had not yet reached middle age. She was tall and spindly, having similar proportions to stick insects, but she was covered in impossibly smooth, almost plastic-like skin rather than having an exoskeleton.

Four bulbous, jelly-filled eyes sat not in front or to the sides but on top of her head; her pupils swivelled in them like a human head inside a glass dome. It all sounded rather disgusting, but Gabriel found he did not care; the alien was so alien-looking that it did not affect him in the slightest.

“Fine, the sooner we get this over with, the better,” he replied, taking a deep breath.

The director pulled Gabriel away from his thoughts as he approached the set; the title cards began to play and said, “we’re live in five, four, three, two, one.”

***

“Good morning, this is Dawn with Minagerad News. I am Eu’rtoili, and the top stories this week, tritium prices rise to a five-year high this week, causing an increase in the cost of interplanetary flights and imports,” the presenter said.

“The Eusunari sign a trade deal with the Relusu Orits, signalling an improvement in their relations.”

“Scientists had detected radio signals from sector RS/4563. Could we soon be introducing a new race to the galactic community?”

“And finally, we talk to Gabriel Ratlu, the deadliest being on Minagerad and the Nish Tolum Walunet Tufanda, the mother of the young girl who fell into the Vetoru enclosure yesterday,” they added, each segment was interspersed with clips of the various events. Gabriel could not deny that the replay of the footage of his fight and being called the deadliest being made him squirm.

A small segment played on the screens behind him, and Eu’rtoili turned to look at Nish and Gabriel. Pista had lost much of her enthusiasm and was now deeply shy, burying her head into Nish’s wings.

“We start with the heroic rescue of Pista, a Tufanda child, by Gabriel Ratlu, of humanity. They join us in the studio. Hello Gabriel, Nish and Pista, thank you for agreeing to come here,” the presenter said, and the two responded just as they had practised.

“It’s a pleasure to be here, Eu’rtoili,” said Gabriel, his tone flat and monotonous, though to everyone else present, he seemed to have broken out in song.

“Likewise,” said Nish, more enthusiastically than Gabriel had.

“Now, as the event had been recorded no less than thirty-six times, there is little need to go over what happened, so instead, I will ask, what was going through your head when you jumped the electrified fence?” Eu’rutoili asked, leaning closer, her oversized head bobbing slightly.

“I was hoping that the fall would not break my legs,” responded Gabriel, running through one of the many answers Erilur and Risoti had helped him come up with the night before. The presenter let out a retching sound, it seemed painful, but Gabriel assumed they were laughing; Eu’rtoili did not appear distressed.

Several of the crew made other laughing sounds; Gabriel did not think it was that funny.

Still retching, Eu’rtoili looked at Nish, “now I know you’ve had a harrowing experience. I don’t mean to pressure you, but what was it like when Mr Ratlu emerged from the brush like a charging Posup.”

“Shock followed by relief and fear,” answered Nish.

“Fear?” asked the presenter, raising her head slightly.

“I was afraid that someone else had fallen into the paddock. Even after I realised Gabriel was a human, I was still concerned that he might not make it out alive,” Nish explained; Pista ruffled her wings and settled back down.

“Yes, though despite the terrifying experience, you seemed to have suffered no ill effects, Gabriel,” said Eu’rtoili, attempting to bring the conversation to a lighter tone. This was a morning show, and people generally disliked downer stories just before they went to work.

“Quite the contrary, I broke three ribs, bruised over fifty per cent of my body, sprained my leg, and pulled several muscles. I am in some pain as we speak,” replied Gabriel.

Everyone went silent, even Nish and especially Erilur, as that had not been one of their pre-prepared responses. What made the statement even more jarring was the extremely formal way Gabriel had said it, as if he was a lawyer in a courtroom discussing a parking violation.

Which had been something else Erilur had noticed about him. Gabriel was not still learning galactic basic; he was fluent, as were many humans. After all being able to talk to aliens, even in a post-contact society, was highly appealing. Yet despite this, he stuck to the formal speech most fluent people did not use.

“Are you ok? Do you require help?” asked Eu’rtoili; the concern was not feigned. Gabriel was a hero to the presenter, and to know that he was suffering was unsettling.

“No, I can handle it; I will recover, and the pain will pass in time,” Gabriel explained matter of factly like he was describing the weather.

“Well, I knew you people were tough but to see it first hand is something else,” Eu’rtoili said, shuffling through her notes. Gabriel had a sneaking suspicion that they were blank and only existed to give the newsroom the illusion of old-time professionalism.

“You must be very proud of what you accomplished yesterday,” said the presenter, finally regaining her train of thought.

“Proud, no, I am not proud,” replied Gabriel.

“Why?” asked the presenter; she had not been expecting this as a response.

“I do not regret what I did, and if given the choice, I would do it again, but the vetoru and carnedon were beautiful, majestic creatures; they were not evil, they just did what they did, and now they are dead, because of me,” he explained.

***

“Does that put your concerns to rest?” Fesul said, pointing at the screen, “Mr Ratlu is not a vicious thug as you seem to think; proof positive.”

Fesul was the liaison between Reshu Zoo and Reshu city. The two were inextricably linked, both created to support the other. Most of his days were spent tending to the animals, but he was sent straight to the mayor’s office when things got serious.

Weluit hissed in frustration; he was the head keeper in charge of the more dangerous residents of the central section of Reshu zoo and had wanted to see Gabriel prosecuted for the damages he had caused. Unfortunately, that little stunt had made it all but impossible.

“Posunefri, Treni is currently undergoing major surgery. We can’t let a guest just kill our animals like this,” stated Weluit.

Posunefri extended her tongue and rubbed her forehead with the flexible cartilaginous tips that her species used in place of arms and hands. She had not run for mayor to deal with things like this; she had become mayor so that she could open a few hospitals, a park or two, and fix that street lamp that had been flashing outside her house for nine months.

“We can’t punish him. The entire planet will be up in arms. Besides, even if the public were on our side, the law is not. That woman Nish could sue the zoo for all its worth; you know how strict the safety laws are,” Posunefri stated; she was beginning to think that merging a biological park with an incorporated place had not been the best idea.

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Not that any of that matter, Ewolu Notis Tex had made that decision over a thousand years ago; there was no going back.

Fesul croaked in agreement; they did not like that some of their star attractions were dead, but the simple fact is it was them or the girl, and Fesul was glad it had been the girl.

“I understand; you love those animals. We care about them too, you’re just emotional now, and the vets say Treni’s jaw will heal in time. She’s a tough old girl,” Fesul said, trying his best to show Weluit that no one here thought his care for the carnedon and vetoru was foolish.

“Fesul, you were employed at Reshu zoo the last time someone got hurt. What did you do then?” asked Posunefri. Though the serpent woman was not much of a leader, she was at least humble enough to know when someone was more qualified than her.

Fesul remembered it well. A fecker had escaped its lagoon and ambushed a couple along a local river; while no one had died, one lost a leg. Fesul could remember how grateful he had been that it had not escalated further, though he supposed that had been of little comfort to the Edrtfo.

“Well, we should do what we did last time, first pay off the affected parties, somewhere along the lines of fifty thousand credits each, including the girl,” explained Fesul. Posunefri sighed.

“Secondly, we award the human the Tex loop,” added Fesul; the other two looked at Fesul; that was undoubtedly a significant award. It was the highest one a civilian could achieve. Technically it was only available for Minagerad citizens, but there was no law against giving it to a foreigner.

“And the final part will be the most expensive. We’ve just lost face with the planet, in a month, the entire galaxy. No one is going to want to bring their children somewhere they could be eaten; I know I sure as hell don’t,” stated Fesul.

“How much?” asked Posunefri, closing her eyes.

“Millions at least, possibly tens of millions, for five years at least,” answered Fesul.

“What for exactly?” inquired Weluit.

“For a massive security overhaul, of course,” stated Fesul, “we will need consultants. I recommend we reach out to zoos on Deathworlds. They have to deal with creatures even more deadly than the carnedon; I would also consider asking Mr Ratlu about it as well.”

“Why? He’s just a civilian, isn’t he?” asked Posunefri, looking towards the screen. Nish was describing what she had done since arriving here; it wasn’t exciting.

“True, but he jumped into the enclosure, which meant he felt the need to do it; I would not be surprised if he noticed the lack of a security feature they regularly use on Earth,” answered Fesul.

“We don’t need his help,” stated Weluit, glancing at the interview, palpable contempt radiating from them,

“Maybe not, but even if he had no insights to share, it could only help us in the P.R. department,” countered Fesul.

Posunefri rubbed her forehead once more; the sooner this whole thing was resolved, the better; she tapped her P.D.A. and made several clicking sounds, speaking in her native language. A response came back, and she took up at the other gathered, “I have asked, Opiuon to send requests to Mr Ratlu and Ms Nish to meet with us at their earliest convenience,” she explained.

Still looking at the screen, Posunefri said, “He is right, Weluit, we got lucky this time, I am dreading the bill, but there is no way in the dreadful sky that we can save face without going through our equipment, procedures, and infrastructure with a sieve.”

Looking at Fesul, she could not help but notice the surprise on his face, “something the matter?” she asked.

“No, quite the opposite; I was expecting you to fight me more on this. Most of the other mayors loathed to spend any more money than absolutely necessary, saying that it would hurt their chances for reelection,” explained Fesul.

“Even Nrt had put up more of a struggle than you,” he added.

If Posunefri’s memory served her well, Nrt had been the mayor during the last event. “I may not be the most enthusiastic mayor in the galaxy, but I like to imagine that I have just enough self-respect to put the needs of the people above my own,” she replied.

***

“Now we have another question from a viewer, one on the lighter side of things,” Eu’rtoili said, looking at her P.D.A. “Are Gabriel and Nish together?” the presenter said.

“We are sitting together right now,” said Gabriel, wondering if some were listening to this over the radio.

Eu’rtoili retched again and said, “No, what the viewer means is, are you partners?” she asked.

Gabriel shook his head and responded,” We only met each other a few days ago, and with everything that has happened, we’ve had no time and, as far as I am aware, no desire to start a business.”

Eu’rtoili did not know if Mr Ratlu was making fun of them or if he was indeed this ignorant; she was leaning towards the latter as Nish seemed just as indifferent as he was.

“I will try again. What the viewer is asking is, are you and Ms Nish in a romantic relationship?” explained Eu’rtoili.

Nish and Gabriel looked at one another, then back at the presenter and stated matter-of-factly, and in near-perfect unison, “No.”

***

Gabriel had never been so happy to be inside a hospital in his life. The interview had left him exhausted, and he was relieved to lie on a bed. Sadly the peace and quiet he craved would escape him as Pista hopped onto it as well, sitting down on Gabriel's legs.

It stung a little as the girl put pressure on his injured leg, but she was very light, and he could deal with it. Nish did not reprimand her daughter for the rude behaviour; she had learnt that Gabriel was somewhat forgiving towards Pista’s antics.

“You get stressed around other people, don’t you, Gabriel?” said Erilur as Risoti assisted her into the bed; Erilur did not need the help, but she certainly wanted it.

“That’s obvious, huh,” replied Gabriel, his eyes shut.

“Well, you were stimming pretty much the entire time,” stated Erilur.

“Stimming?” asked Nish confused.

“It’s a repetitive behaviour someone does when they are stressed,” explained Gabriel as Pista played with his feet.

Nish opened her mouth to speak, but Erilur cut her off, “It’s not as serious as it sounds, it’s not good, but it’s pretty common in Deathworlders.”

“That was creepy,” thought Nish. It was almost as if the Ponut’Kild could read her mind.

“Shouldn’t Gabriel stop it, even if it’s just a little bad?” asked Risoti.

Erilur rotated her head and replied, “No, stimming is a symptom, not a cause. Trying to make someone stop it when they’re stressed can do much more harm than good. It’s a coping mechanism.”

She pointed at Gabriel and added, “See, he’s not doing it now, so the source of his stress, the interview, is gone.”

“Could you all stop talking about me like I am not here,” said Gabriel, as Pista tried her best to count his toes, the thick material of his shoes made it difficult, however.

“Sorry,” said Risoti and Nish; Erilur just shrugged.

“So they’ll leave us alone now?” asked Gabriel.

“Most will. Paradiseworlders tend to be satisfied by the first reasonable answer you give them; pretty much everyone will have seen it. While you’ll certainly be treated differently, I doubt many will pester you with questions,” explained Erilur.

“You’re sure?” inquired Gabriel.

“Yes, I know what I’m talking about. I practised for a year on Yufr, I mean, I’ve dealt with Ponut’Kild, who were easy to work with, but they’re nothing like habitableworlders,” explained Erilur, irked that Gabriel kept questioning her skills.

“Was that an insult or a compliment?” asked Nish, raising her antennae.

“Neither, just a neutral statement of fact,” said Erilur.

The group was silent except for Pista, as she rained an imaginary carpet bombing on Gabriel's feet. Eventually, Nish decided the time had come, “come on, Pista, we should be going now; get our tea.”

“I’m not hungry; I want to play with Gabriel more,” she replied without looking up from the imaginary piano she had made from Gabriel’s legs.

“We need to go,” stated Nish even more firmly, making it clear by her tone that this was not up for discussion.

Pista pouted and complained, but she slowly removed herself from Gabriel’s bed, taking as much time doing so as she dared. “Can we come tomorrow?” Pista asked, getting to her feet.

Nish looked away, knowing what she had to tell her daughter, “No, Gabriel will be leaving the hospital, so we won’t see him here again.”

Pista was quiet for a moment before saying, with great enthusiasm, “Then we get to visit his house? I want to go to his house.”

Again, Nish steeled herself and explained, “No, Gabriel has his own holiday to get to. We can’t go bothering him at his home.”

“So we’ll meet him at the zoo?” inquired Pista, her brain struggling to understand what the problem was.

“No, Pista, we might see him again in the park, but it will just be an accident, he’ll have his holiday, and we’ll have ours,” Nish stated, holding onto all four of her daughter’s hands.

Once more, there was silence as the cogs in Pista’s brain set to work. When she finally understood what her mother had meant, she ripped herself from her mother’s grasp, jumped back onto the bed, held Gabriel as tightly as she could and screamed, “NOOOOO!”

Nish sighed as Pista created the same buzzing noise she had made after Gabriel had rescued her. Now that he was not so focused on the pain or the fear of attack, Gabriel noticed that it was nothing like the whine of any insect; it was much deeper and far less annoying than one might expect.

As she attempted to pull her daughter off of Gabriel, he felt a pang of guilt, even though he knew he had done nothing to warrant it.

Gabriel sighed alongside Nish and said, with admitted reluctance, “I have a V.I.P. pass for the entire planet, and I can take up to five other people along with me.”

Pista stopped buzzing, looked up at him, and Gabriel added, “If your mother is ok with it, you can come along with me.”

The girl squealed, and her attention immediately switched to Nish. A Tufanda’s face was not mobile, lacking facial muscles. Despite being physically incapable of expression, Pista made her best effort.

Nish could tell that Gabriel was in two halves over the whole thing. On the one hand, he wanted to return to his holiday. On the other hand, he really did not want to make Pista cry, she had gotten incredibly attached to Gabriel over the past couple of days, and Erilur mentioned that a clean break would not be suitable for the young girl's mental state.

Nish decided to take advantage of Gabriel’s generosity and said, “That sounds lovely.”

“I will need tomorrow to recover, but we can explore the park together the day after,” Gabriel explained.

At this moment, Erilur made a hacking hissing sound, and Gabriel looked at her. As she gave Gabriel a knowing gaze, he sighed and said, “sure, you two can come as well.”

Risoti tried her hardest to suppress a squeal as Gabriel asked, “Is there anywhere on Minagerad you want to go?”

A few minutes passed as everyone offered their suggestions, though many of them had to be shot down as they required more than a day for Gabriel to book them. Eventually, Risoti said they could all go to the Learning Centre if they needed to keep it simple.

Gabriel knew what it was; it had been the first place he had visited. The Minagerad Learning Centre was a vast complex, a museum and play park all rolled into one. It was filled with information about the history of the planet, large interactive displays and games, game areas for small children, a few small animal displays containing the more delicate specimens from across the galaxy.

To be perfectly honest, he liked the idea of going back, and this was as good an excuse as any.

Nish also liked the idea; she had tried to take Pista before, hoping to make the trip educational as well as fun. Unfortunately, Pista had thrown a tantrum the moment they had approached the building; not even the play areas, slides and rides inside were enough to tempt her in.

Judging by the bouncing Pista was engaged in, that was not the case anymore. Gabriel grabbed his P.D.A. and searched for tours at the Learning Centre. While it initially seemed fully booked, Gabriel tapped in his credentials, and a special listing appeared; the day was pretty open.

After a brief discussion, they agreed to meet at forty outside the Centre.

As Nish and Pista left the Ward, Pista turned around and gave Gabriel one last hug, “ok, I like you too, now you best get going, or your mom’s going to be cross.”

Pista skipped out of the room, her wings fluttering all the while. Once both she and Nish were out of earshot, Erilur said, “you really hate kids don’t you?”

“Oh, nasty little rodents, can’t stand them,” replied Gabriel sarcastically

***

The nurse checked the clock; it was 85:00, and the two patients in Death Ward were finally falling asleep. Gabriel and Erilur were delightful people, but their ability to push their bodies beyond all reason made taking care of them difficult.

It was rewarding work, though he did not know how his Deathworlder colleagues could be so blasé. Oh well, they were asleep now, and the best part of his day was about to begin.

Just about all life slept; even plants had periods of lower activity. Deathworlders, however, were something else. Their sleep was so deep that the first time he had seen it in person, he had nearly overridden the doctor and hit the panic button.

The monitors in front of him kept track of their vitals; the heart rate slowed, breathing became shallow, the core temperature dropped, and most shockingly, the body paralysed itself.

That was not what he was waiting for; a second monitor was monitoring their brains. It was all standard; everyone admitted to hospitals was carefully watched in case something went wrong.

Slowly but surely, their mental activity slowed. To the untrained eye, it looked like they were undergoing brain death, but the drop in activity stabilised and held steady for almost an hour.

Then it happened, the brain exploded into activity, the display went mad, and the monitors detected rapid muscle contractions in the eye. In just about every other species, this would indicate a stroke, but for these two, they were dreaming.

Everyone had dreams, he had had dreams, but they were nothing like these impossibly vivid recreations of unbelievable scenarios. Some Deathworlders had told him that they could even feel temperatures, pressure and even a type of pain in their dreams.

It all seemed paradoxical to him; evolving on such deadly worlds would require periods of such vulnerability, and the Deathworlders agreed. What a fascinating galaxy this was.