A meteor storm of complex emotions washed over Kemm. He had been afraid when the acid beasts cornered him. But now that he understood how poorly they had been treated and the neglect that they had suffered, he couldn't help but feel it wasn't their fault. It would be like being mad at fire for being hot. The acid beasts weren't evil, they were just acting in accordance to their nature.

Now his uncle Rett was shouting at him. Someone Kemm had been raised to respect and follow was bellowing insults, telling him he was stupid, screaming at the top of his lungs… and Kemm felt nothing. He should have been panicking, fearful that his uncle would strike him, instead he was just numb. No, not numb, indifferent. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

Rett continued on obliviously. "I would expect more from you if you weren't such a soft horned moron, nephew of mine."

Kemm found his voice. "This would mean more if I judged you to be competent, uncle of mine." He let the words hang.

"Through negligence you allowed four Vressian acid beasts to roam loose on this ship, which would have resulted in a fatality had this human not intervened. So if someone here has soft horns, or maybe even soft hooves, it's you."

With a snort of anger Rett lashed out, or would have, if the human hadn't calmly grabbed him by the wrist and put the sharp tip of a gardening trowel against the inside of his elbow before he could take a swing. The metal practically hummed with menace as it tickled the skin right above Rett’s brachial artery.

"Do you know the difference between a sword and a shovel?" The human asked icily, “You can kill a man with a shovel. But it’s a real bitch trying to dig a grave with a sword.”

There was a moment where Rett’s higher brain functions seemed to be coming to terms with his situation while his temper and his body itself were still trying to fight. Muscles tensed… then relaxed. He cautiously stepped backwards, the human let him go.

“I forgot, you fornicating primates train your females how to fight.” Rett rumbled. “If you didn’t have your sharp little piece of metal-”

The human, who Kemm now realized was a female of their species, made a show of dropping her trowel into the basket and kicking it to the side. The formless green uniform had hidden her shape but now he noticed how her long chestnut hair was curled into a bun beneath her cap.

“If you truly believe I am powerless without weapons...” The human crossed her arms. “Then you have nothing to fear and we can continue our business peacefully.”

Rett acted in accordance with his nature and lashed out. The human dodged his first wild swing then seemed to flow like water as she guided his next awkward blow into a hip throw and sent him flying into the side of a cargo container. There was a thud followed by cursing as Rett bashed his horns against the metal.

He tried to pick himself up but the human grabbed him by the ear and pressed his face into the ground. “That is enough.” She hissed. “You’re worse behaved than my grandsons.”

Kemm blinked. “You have grandchildren?” He asked incredulously.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

“Several dozen.” The human confirmed before looking back to Rett. “And all of them fight better than you do.” She whispered in his ear before once again letting him go. Rett slunk back into the shadows, circling around them looking for another opportunity to attack.

She turned to face Kemm. “Life is sacred.” The human explained. “I could easily have killed or maimed your uncle, but I chose not to. Just as I chose to subdue the acid beasts instead of harming them. Mercy is another luxury that too few leaders indulge in.”

“Who are you?” Kemm asked. “And don’t just tell me you’re some kind of gardener.”

The human gave him a look of annoyance. “I happen to enjoy gardening immensely. My job title is literally “senior gardener”. So I am in fact… some kind of gardener.”

There had to be more to it than that. “Ok, then who are you… to your people?” Kemm pushed.

“Some call me abuela. Some call me mama. Others call me matriarch.” The human bowed, her face a perfect mask of politeness. “I am Matriarch Esmeralda Oz.”

An alert chirped in Kemm’s translation software as the name triggered a context clue. He listened to the info packet, half expecting it to be some quick blurb about the role of a matriarch in human society.

“Matriarch Esmeralda Oz is the spiritual leader of the human religious sect known as the Order of Ivy, formerly a chaplain in the Order of St. Rachel.” The program whispered in his ear, “And she's the best grandmother ever. Be sure to send her my love if you meet her. Sincerely, Diggby."

Kemm looked up in surprise. "My translation software just told me to tell you that Diggby sends his love."

The human let out an explosive bark of laughter. "That's sweet of him. I'll be sure to send a message to his mother."

That was when Rett decided to attack for his third and final time. Matriarch Oz stood with her back to Rett, her face towards Kemm and the cage. The full grown Limissian barreled towards her, horns first like the buffalo that he so closely resembled.

"Look out!" Kemm shouted.

Just when it seemed like Rett would impale the human she dodged to the side and kicked his legs out from underneath him. He stumbled, off balance and unable to recover.

Rett tumbled head first into the cage opening. His own cruelty saved him because it was too small for him to get much more than his head and shoulders inside before he came to a stop. He breathed out a sigh of relief, his face just inches from the drugged and sleeping acid beast. It stirred but didn't wake.

All was not well however because he had managed to wedge himself in so tightly that any attempt to dislodge himself from the cage threatened to bring it with him. The pups were moving around now, curious to investigate this new creature. The orangish red balls of fluff looked up at him with wide eyes.

The human reached down and removed the short safety lanyard from her basket. Calmly she clipped one side onto Rett's belt and the other one onto the cage, locking him in place. Normally it would be used as an anchor in case the ship's artificial gravity failed but as Rett was about to find out, they had multiple uses.

She turned to Kemm. "Unlike kindness, stupidity is not a luxury that a leader can afford. If you must kill, do it because it needs to be done. Do it because nobody else will." Then she slammed her palm down onto the thin metal top of the cage with a sound like a thunderclap.

All hell broke loose as Rett cried out in surprise, frightening the pups. They whined, backing away from the intruder.

Finally woken from her slumber by the cries of her young, the mother acid beast saw Rett and responded on pure instinct. Something was in her den. Something was frightening her pups. That meant something was about to die. She lunged at Rett, injecting acid through her fangs as she bit into his unprotected face.

The screams of terror and pain that Rett made as his head dissolved would stay with Kemm until the day he died. Rett shrieked and thrashed, held in place by the safety lanyard, unable to escape.

Once he was dead and still the human reclaimed her lanyard and tossed it back into her basket. To anyone who looked it would seem like Rett had run afoul of his own starving beasts and suffered the consequences.

"You don't have to lie for me." The human said as she reached for her radio. "But I would appreciate it if you follow my lead when security comes to investigate."

Kemm looked from his dead uncle to the human that had killed him. What was he going to do?