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In a calm sector of subtle seas, the Aerios rested for a moment before traveling further. The coordinates on the letter from the Lamprey were a little bit garbled. They needed to guess a few numbers to figure out where they needed to go, and so far, none fit in the navigation system for any solid world. All they could find from the guesswork so far was blank open waters.
Junne was getting impatient. “Have you found it yet?”
Gem sighed and tried not to explode. “There are thousands of possible answers to this, and I’m doing my BEST to figure this out!” She yelled.
Junne withdrew both his statement and himself. “I’m sorry, maybe I shouldn’t have had coffee this morning.”
Gem smiled and hummed. “Oh honey, I guess I should be to blame for that I… uh… I’m the one that kept you up all night.”
Stevero pinched his nose. “You two should be careful, now is not the time to have children.” He was right and nobody needed to think about it for much longer.
Quayl snapped his fingers. “That reminds me.” He went over to the bridge’s replicator and hit the button. “One large wooden spoon, please.” It hummed and zapped together the requested spoon. He calmly went to Stevero. “This is from your Abuela.” He whacked him on the wrist muy fuerte.
“Ow!” He yelped. “What was that for?”
“Find a nice lady and settle.” Quayl replied. Stevero sighed and knew what he was talking about, his abuela had told him many times. He said something under his breath in Spanish, probably something personal. He rubbed his wrist and flexed it, he received the message loud and clear.
Gem giggled loudly. “I got it! That’s it! That’s the one!” She spun around in the chair. “Tell me I’m good. C’mon, lemme hear it.”
The whole crew unenthusiastically drawled out. “You’re good...”
“Music to my ears. Anyway, it’s a sector of planets called Timberokee.”
Junne clapped his hands together. “Haven’t heard of them before. Let’s go meet the Timberokee! They sound like a nice people. I wonder what kind of ships they have?”
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The Timberokee zone seemed like a nice place from the forward scans. Lots of planets, around 20 around the star system, a vast and diverse asteroid reef, and several patches of air and freshwater just floating around. Any terraforming company would love this zone, they could make a paradise planet with great ease. The crew was excited to see the Timberokee.
They got a call on their audio sensors. Gem put it through. All that they could hear was a rhythmic drumming through the water. She listened to it and figured it out. “It’s a code. Like morse code.” She listened to it for a moment. “It says… land on… 53256.23245 by 19578.56026 by 29104.59287.” She said. Junne punched in the coordinates, and it brought them around to a platform.
The platform was some kind of docking station, but it looked more like a listening post. The dock itself was made of wood and stone, complete with large radial dishes made of more wood and clay. Leather was spread thinly on big trusses and lattices to both receive and emit sound into the ocean.
Junne was the first to step off the Aerios and take in the surroundings. “Let me back on the ship.” He said.
Gem gave him a strange look. “Why?” She asked.
“They’re primitive.” He answered.
The inhabitant that came to greet them showed what their species was like. He was a very tall Timberwolf man in tribal garb, easily towering Qualy by two additional feet, and built like a mountain. He had a leather kilt adorned with tools and trinkets of various known and unknown purposes, a vest made of beaded and braided leather strings, and jewelry made of tiny shells and shiny rainbow scales. He had a half-headdress with sparkling feathery fish fins that held his fluffy mane back and out of his eyes.
“Welcome to Timberokee. What brings you here?” He said.
“I carry a message to one of your members, it must be delivered personally.” Quayl spoke and showed the letter to the wolf.
“These coordinates lead to one of our safe planets. I shall be your guide through our territory. Your ship is very loud, and it will disrupt the delicate balance of our natural habitat. We will use one of our boats.” Looks like Junne was going to get his wish after all.
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However, Junne was not impressed. “It’s a canoe.” He said. “How are we supposed to get around in a canoe?”
Quayl smiled. “Oh! I’ve seen these in history books. I always wanted to see one in person.” He ran his hands down the brim of the long wooden shape carved out of a single log and treated with hardened oils and varnish to protect it. The craftsmanship was admirable. Intricate designed and decorative carvings adorned the sides, even the front and back tips. It looked more like a work of art than a run-of-the-mill version made by humans. Planted in the center was a small pine tree. It was like a bonsai but bigger, and the floor of the canoe was filled with dirt for the roots and to hold the canoe to it.
Junne didn’t feel comfortable riding in it. “Are you sure this is safe?” He asked with concern.
“It is.” Said the guide. “We have many master craftsmen for our canoes. We travel frequently across our territory and take care of all that is here.” He settled into it and gestured for everyone to join him. They each awkwardly stepped in and rocked the canoe back and forth on the platform. Everyone found their place on a crossbeam that made for a seat and waited. The guide lifted a paddle from the floor in the back. It had special carvings and lines of crystalized salt, as well as rock crystals of pure pink salt in certain special places.
Quayl smiled. “I’m curious how those paddles work with the canoe. They resonate off each other, right?”
The guide nodded. “They do. They work as one and move the canoe. You will see soon enough.” The wolf shoved off from the platform and they parted from it, letting the pine tree in the center make its bubble around them. There was no hum or whirr of any machines, it was just the bare quiet of the ocean around them.
The wolf paddled them carefully around the reef, it was slow going, but the wide and dense reef would have made for a rough course through with the Aerios. Some parts were simply too tight to fit any ship larger than their canoe. There was a separation in the asteroids, and ahead of them was an open way through the ocean. They could see a dot, a faint light slightly brighter than all the dots around them. That was their destination.
Their guide spoke. “We are going to Beleloquoi, it’s a very nice place, nice people there.” He said. “Hold onto your hat, large one.”
“Hrmph…” Junne didn’t like the jab but held onto his hat anyway.
The guide put the paddle deep into the water lapping at the bottom of the canoe within the air bubble. He gave it one hard push with the paddle, and they shot off at light speed. He paddled hard and fast a few more times until it seemed like the canoe couldn’t travel any faster. He then rested and sat the paddle behind him to steer their way. The wind in their faces, even slowed by the bubble, was pressing enough. It was natural with no dampeners aside from the salt’s naturally occurring shielding along the boat’s inner framework. They were indeed master craftsmen of their canoes.
Junne had to ask. “How fast are we going?”
“I’m not sure,” The guide said honestly. “Four, maybe five lightyears per hour?”
Junne turned to speak into her ear. “That is SO slow…”
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Beleloquoi was greener than the greenest planet any human had. The forests were tightly dense with pine trees, towering oaks, and paper-white birch trees. Pine needles carpeted the forest floors among the scattered ferns and creepers. Tiny flowers grew around the trees unkempt and wild without a care if they died or not. Wild berries were left alone for untamed fauna to enjoy in great abundance, berries such as raspberries and strawberries. There was no tending to any of it. It all grew wild and where seeds fell, they sprouted. It was diverse with wildlife, and as the canoe floated in the sky, Geese joined them in formation. They entered a grassland where buffalo roamed free and in large herds, enjoying their freedom and the open sanctuary the wolves had created for them. It was paradise.
The canoe arrived at the surface to gently float down from the air to land on a clearing of padded dirt on the outskirts of an encampment. It was a village of huts held together with wooden poles and sturdy twine. There was a large smoldering fire pit in the center with stones surrounding it to contain it. Near it was a tall rock with ancient-looking symbols and writing. It was a calendar, and by its shadow, it also told the time.
The crew exited the canoe and stepped onto the wolves’ hallowed grounds. The land beneath them felt too solid as their legs and balance had grown accustomed to the subtle wavy motion of the canoe as it passed through currents and eddies flowing in the ocean. It took Junne a moment to recoup, standing for a moment and holding up the group.
The guide remarked. “This one is too used to his big metal ship. He should get out more.”
Junne bit his tongue. He wanted to snap back, this was twice he had been jabbed. He knew better, he knew they were guests and they had a job to do.
An even larger wolf, the alpha, walked up to the crew and introduced himself. “Welcome to our village. I am Chief Dawgo. We have been-” An arrow came raining from the sky. It stuck into the ground between Chief Dawgo and the crew. “One sec, I need to answer this call…” He said. He plucked the arrow from the ground. It had salt lines and crystals similar to the canoe and the paddle, meaning it came from the ocean.
He unraveled the paper around its shaft and read the note momentarily. “By the ancients…” He cursed. “I apologize. I wish I could stay to give you a tour and hospitality, but another one of our planets has succumbed to illness.”
The guide was concerned. “Which one?”
“Chuutoy.” He said with sorrow. “They have had trouble lately, but the sickness had spread at a devastating rate. Chief Moon Moon is now sick and cannot help his people. I must go to him.” He announced. He turned to the canoe and the guide relinquished it to him.
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Stevero stepped up. “Wait, I am a doctor, I have sophisticated tools, I can help.”
Chief Dawgo nodded. “Very well. With 14 of our 20 planets sick, I am open to any help we can get.”
Stevero went to the canoe and Quayl asked. “Won’t you also get sick?”
“That means I better hurry. 14 planets quayl, that’s more than half of their population, they could die out if we don’t help. We have the technology to do so.” He had a strong point. The crew understood, and with haste, Chief Dawgo floated in the canoe up to the ocean and sped off at light speed.
Quayl sighed. “Don’t be a hero.” He wished for Stevero without him ever hearing it. “Well, let’s carry out our duty. I’ll deliver the letter, why doesn’t everyone take in the local culture, they look like a lively bunch.” Quayl pointed to a band that had gathered across the fire pit. There was a drum kit that looked like a modern one, but made of primitive bongo-like drums stretched with leather and hide. It was being played but with drumsticks all the same. It was accompanied by several flutists ranging from bass to soprano.
Gem smiled. “C’mon Junny honey, let’s go dance.” She dragged him off into a group of others that were beginning to as well. Hebu had sat down to observe the group, curious about this phenomenon called dancing.
Rob decided to follow Quayl, trusting his prior knowledge and studies of such a culture would provide him with additional information about the primitive workings and origins of ocean travel. “I think it’s awesome that the primitive technology here is so much like our own.” He stated.
Quayl chuckled. “I wanted to make some of my own, but I couldn’t even make a bike… uhm… Rob?”
“What?” Behind Rob was a large female wolf. She was average-sized to her own kind but towered over their human visitors. She was getting closer to him, sniffing his hair, neck, armpits, and all over. “Excuse me? What are you doing?” He asked the lady wolf. She said nothing and looked at him bright-eyed. Her tail wagged and quickly swished back and forth.
Quayl smiled widely. “I didn’t know you were a dog person.”
“I’m kinda not, not really.” He answered. A second wolf female joined him, both sniffed all over. Quayl shook his head and they continued through the village to find their delivery.
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Stevero and Chief Dawgo’s canoe landed next to the chieftain’s hut on Chuutoy. Chief Dawgo exited immediately and left the canoe in the middle of the path leading to the entrance of the hut. Time was of the essence now, and Stevero was in a dangerous zone. The sickness that plagued the wolves was his first priority.
The Chief entered with no introduction and fell to the side of Chief Moon Moon laying on a low bed of quilts. “Brother, how are you feeling?”
“Like dog crap.” He cursed the sickness for bringing him down. Those who weren’t sick yet sat at the ready to give him herbs and tea to help the symptoms. “Why are you here, Dawgo? You shouldn’t have risked yourself for me!”
“I have brought aid. This is Stevero, he is an experienced medicine man.” He introduced him.
Stevero kneeled by him. “I’m going to examine you.” He said while putting on sterile latex gloves and a surgical mask for protection. He first felt his forehead and instantly made a discovery. “He feels hot.” Stevero pulled a scanner from his case and began scanning Chief Dawgo.
“I’m not sick.” He said.
Stevero explained. “I need a baseline, someone not sick to see what your normal conditions are.” He waved the scanner all over Dawgo until his assessment was conclusive. He tapped a few buttons on it and then scanned Moon Moon. The scanner beeped a few times in an alarm. “Just as I suspected. He has a fever. It’s a virus.”
“We haven’t had a virus in a long time, many years,” Dawgo informed him.
“Have you had any visitors recently?” Stevero asked.
Chief Dawgo spoke. “A couple of years ago, but nobody had been sick.”
Stevero thought for a moment. “It’s very unlikely a virus would be dormant for that long. I’ll have to run some tests and see if a vaccine can be made. How deadly is it? Has anyone died from it?”
Everyone looked around at each other. There was a brief silence before Chief Dawgo spoke. “I don’t recall anyone dying from this.”
“So…” Stevero thought. “It’s a non-harmful virus. It seems too aggressive to be idle. All it’s doing is replicating itself and spreading. 14 of 20 planets infected is a bad sign. My worry is a mutation, then it will be worse, people will start dying.” Everyone looked concerned. Stevero realized that perhaps thinking aloud wasn’t the best action. “Don’t worry though, I’m top of my class, and I studied with the Puuqpu, nobody has ever done that before in our history. I’ll work as quickly as I can and life will be back to normal very soon.” It was a meager promise, but he set up a small table and started placing equipment and tools to begin.
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The hut the letter had led him to was before him. He turned around to see Rob had joined him after a quick stroll through the arts and crafts section of the village. To his surprise, there were now six wolf females orbiting around him, smelling and taking him into their senses as much as they could with tails furiously wagging. “Good god man!” Quayl yelled. “Do you have a sausage hiding in your pants?”
“I don’t know what it could be!? I tried asking them and they didn’t answer or don’t know themselves.” He called out. A seventh wolf female walked by and scented the air. She smiled and saw it was coming from Rob and joined Rob’s pack.
“Well…” Quayl had nothing to add. “Don’t die.” He said.
Quayl turned to enter the hut with the recipient of the letter. A large paw of a female blocked him from entering. “Halt, one of our females is in labor. She will give birth soon. Only family and midwives may enter.”
Quayl held the letter for her to see. “I am a messenger. I bring a message to the one named,” Quayl read the name on the letter. “Fluffy.”
“No one is called that in this village. You must be in the wrong place.” She said.
Quayl thought for a moment. “Perhaps the letter is for the child?” He asked.
The large female bent down into his face and displayed her teeth. “You dishonor our wisdom, Fluffy is a female’s name, and the child is a boy.”
Quayl stepped back and muttered to himself. “Yeah… we’ll see about that.”
He returned to Rob, or at least what he could see of him. He was buried in female wolves. “I really could use a wingman here, Quayl.”
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Yet another wolf joined the group. “How many are there now? 12? 13?” Behind him, there was a commotion. It came from the hut with the new mother. They were frantic for more water and washcloths. She was giving birth.
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Chief Moon Moon’s condition was worsening. Stevero worked as quickly and efficiently as he could, but all his medicines and methods were not producing promising results. Moon Moon’s temperature was increasing, he was panting and didn’t make any sense while he spoke.
Stevero isolated a few of the virus cells. He scanned them and exposed them to antigens and antibodies from the wolve’s immune systems. He was getting frustrated, and one of the aids to Chief Moon Moon was beginning to fall ill. He sighed and realized the scanner was lacking resolution. Each virus that was scanned was only showing up as a dot of light. He didn’t know why because he had never seen anything like this before.
He dug into his medical kit and retrieved a microscope. It wasn’t Puuqpu technology but he had to see with his own eyes what might be causing the glow. He placed his sample on the tray and looked for himself. Once in focus, he made an alarming discovery.
“They have shields?” He said. “My god, the virus is mechanical!” He looked to the wolves. “The only way this could have infected your people is if someone put it here.”
The wolves were deeply concerned. Chief Dawgo seemed angry. “Who dared to do this?”
“I don’t know, but I fear that once everyone is infected, the nanite virus will be reprogrammed to be fatal. That’s why it’s spreading so fast. Someone is controlling it.”
Stevero took out another empty hypo-tube and loaded it into the needle. He pricked his arm and drew a bit of blood of his own to examine. Same as before, isolated the virus. He had a hunch and he had to see for himself. He placed the slide under the microscope and what he saw shocked him. The virus was dormant when in contact with his blood and DNA. The virus was targeting the wolves specifically. There could be a thousand reasons why this was happening. To wipe them out of existence perhaps? He suspected it was because of their rich natural resources. But who?
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Rob had disappeared from Quayl’s sight or was carried away, or perhaps now dead. The screaming and crying from the tent erupted, and a new life was being brought into the world. The wolf guarding the entrance of the hut was summoned and she went inside. Several males were gathering around as the wailing of an infant wolf pup rang out. Quayl waited patiently from a short distance, not wanting to interfere. It was time for him to affirm his suspicions that the child would be a girl.
"It's a boy!" A female wolf yelled from the entrance, her eyes shining with joy. The males all howled in unison, their voices rising like wildfire across the village. The males all congratulated the one who appeared to be the father.
Quayl approached the group. “Pardon me,” he said, and all the wolves tilted their head curiously. “Are any of you named Fluffy?” He asked. The wolves looked at one another and shook their head to say no. Quayl was running out of ideas.
More cries came from the mother and with it came more commotion. The mother tried all she could, and a twin was born soon after.
“TWINS!” The father nearly fainted, nobody had seen it coming. Calmly, Quayl went to the hut.
Just in time, he caught the mother's name the second child. “Sweet pup, you will be called Fluffy.” Quayl had found his delivery.
He asked the female nearest to the entrance. “Could you give this to the twin child? It is divine.” The gold on the letter convinced the female and she nodded and handed the letter to the mother. While wet cloths were changed out and placed on her forehead, she opened it.
She read the letter aloud. “Dear Fluffy, I am you. I have learned in my past life to be giving, and not to be selfish to those around me. I have consumed and taken all that I could until I couldn’t anymore. I have learned deeply from this lesson, and I will be you. We will grow together until we are the same. Until we are one. Bless our lives, Wolfmother, and bring us fair teachings and joy.” The mother was crying having hearing from the soul of her girl. An aide brought the mother her firstborn, the boy. She held them and she spoke to them both. “Fluffy, this is your older brother. He will teach you kindness and sharing, for who else but a twin to teach how to share.”
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Quayl was sitting with Junne, Gem, and Hebu around the central fire. The party had died down and the band had put away their instruments. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was falling towards the horizon. Food was plentiful with sweet and salty ham and the freshest garden vegetables and berries imaginable. Hebu especially loved the salads available. She felt energized by it and it seemed to brighten her colors. She out-ate everyone by a heaping amount, a testament to the Namina’s hunger for plants.
Over the communicators came Stevero’s voice, everyone could privately hear it. “Hey, it’s me. Had a breakthrough.”
Quayl replied, “What is it?”
“The virus is mechanical, but that’s not all. It’s made by humans.” There was a silence. The news put them in danger, as they were human among a lot of very large timberwolves.
Quayl whispered. “I hope you’re being discreet.”
“Trust me, I am. I need a way to shut it down. Gem, can you hack it from there?” He asked.
Gem sat her leaf of food down next to her and pulled out a datapad from an internal pocket. “I’ll try.” She said. She first used the communicators to broadcast a signal and access the code to the virus. “That’s strange, there’s a centralized location where all the signals are communicating. There’s a beacon hidden somewhere in the wolves’ territory.”
Quayl shook his head. “It could be literally anywhere across a lot of lightyears.”
Gem added. “I already found it. It’s new, but outdated. It’ll be an easy shut-off. The virus should follow.”
“Wait.” Hebu stopped her. “Namina will come here and ravage these worlds. Make the beacon cast a quarantine signal on all frequencies.”
“Smart,” Quayl said. “But wouldn’t the Namina scan things for themselves?”
“Not if it’s quarantined for fungus. Fungus kills us very easily.” She told them. Gem did just that, and the quarantine signal would protect the wolves from both future human and Namina attacks.
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Aboard the bridge of the Aerios, Gem and Junne were leaning on each other lovingly for no reason as they normally do. Gem had acquired a plethora of new beads and shiny trinkets for her attire. They like to do that a lot it seems. Stevero had a clean bill of health, and with the shutdown of the virus, it was passed by the body quickly. The wolves across the 14 infected planets were bouncing back. They had strength again as their fevers broke and their temperature came down. Quayl had delivered the letter and Hebu was sleeping off a food coma. Rob was in the back of the scanning console, leaning back in the chair as far as it could go. He had his feet up on the panels, hands behind his head, and an unyielding smile stretched across his face.
Junne took notice. “What’s his problem?” He asked.
Quayl explained. “He was swarmed by a group of maybe 16 female wolves. We still don’t know why.”
Junne shrugged, he couldn’t hazard a guess either. “Well, he deserves it for saving the ship from Lampreys.”
Quayl nodded. “True. It was a large group though.” He looked at Rob. “How many did you sleep with?”
“Yes.”