Memory transcription subject: Valek, Amateur Ecologist in Training, Self Taught

Date [standardized human time]: Sept 7th, 2136. Start of 2nd Claw.

The towers of textbooks had grown to precarious heights around us while we poured over yet another source. “See? Right here it says that on Emerald Marble, the farming output grew three times once the Exterminators imposed Herd Protection. Predator attacks dropped by half, and they were even able to build processing and manufacturing!”

Keneles didn’t even touch the textbook before answering. “Fair. But how many predators were killed?” He pointed to a table showing their increased kill count.

“Says here, they killed… 287 individual predators, why?”

“Look at the previous harvest. I know the bar is bigger, but you need to check the scale on the axis.”

My eyes widened and my tail flared, “...274… That… That's nothing! That change is barely a rounding error!”

“That’s not all. Look at the farming output compared to the earlier and later seasons. Before the predator crisis, during Herd Protection, and after everything was settled.”

The graph stopped just before the end of Herd Protection, but looking at the numbers… “It returned to baseline! Not even a month after they left!”

“Good find! Now,” Keneles pulled out one more book ‘General Changes in Prices of Goods’. “Check what happened on Emerald Marble during that time in this. That should complete the picture.”

Using the index, I found the section on Emerald Marble. “2115… 2115… Here! Second harvest… ok and third… What the Brahk?!” Quillfruit wings skyrocketed 415%! “That’s criminal! What could possibly justify a price hike like that?!”

Keneles burbled as his patches flashed a lighter shade, “You can charge anything you like when you’re ‘protecting the good of the Herd’. The exterminators ate well, but everything else was shipped offworld. That little venture alone nearly financed the entire construction of the Wetfeather Correctional Facility.”

He closed the hardcover before continuing, “I invite you to check the other texts here, but you will see similar trends; I should know, I tried. Though, if you would like to skip to the end, I suggest you give this a read.” And he slid the hidden manifesto to the vacant space in front of me, “A word of caution: that book is quite literally treason. The Exterminators would say reading it will infect you with predator disease. But it shows its work, and will answer many of your questions.” Without another word, the Librarian set to his labor and began putting away the scattered tomes of our laden table.

I placed my paw on the false cover, ready to flip it open, but I hesitated. Was I ready for this? I just wanted to learn! Could knowledge be this dangerous? Is knowing worth it?

Breathe in. Breathe out.

> Introduction: The dangers of keeping Predators in close proximity to Settlements.

>

> Predators have proven an existential threat to the peace and prosperity of all of the civilized peoples of the galaxy. They have been responsible for countless deaths of colonists, farmers, and the very heart of our modern world.

>

> But are they truly responsible? In this treatise, I shall-

I found myself jerking in surprise. Treatise? I skim through the next few pages before coming to the conclusion. This was an academic paper. No, not paper. Papers. Books in and of themselves. “The Wild and Wonderous Deep.” “The Untouched Nature of Uninhabited Worlds.” “The Lens of Morality in Survival.” “The Chains of Nature.” “The Persistent Presence of Predators: Why do they appear?” Then, one that fully caught my attention.

“A short study into the life of Shade Stalkers in Venlil Prime’s Twilight and Night Zones.”

---

Memory transcription subject: Elva, Matron of the Berrypatch.

Date [standardized human time]: Sept 7th, 2136. Middle of 2nd claw.

I sipped and savored from a tall glass of the fruits of our labors; well, last cycle’s labors. The wine needed time to age, of course. The familiar sting of the firefruit made my next breath hot on my lips, while the clear sweetness of my Berrypatch Starberries felt to freeze my tongue as the heat dissipated. The ferment, a little young for my liking but welcome all the same, danced in the back of my mouth and amplified the temperature experience ten-fold!

Nothing was better than to experience and appreciate the success of hard work! Well, almost nothing; watching twenty excited pups and an equally excited human was certainly a contender. Maeve sat across the commons from my seat at the cafe while a crowd of young pups clamored for her attention as she answered their inquisitive minds while asking her own.

Seeing the human… play with these pups… It was simply incredible to watch. I could only catch her words sometimes, but her enthusiasm never wavered. She approached each question like it was the most incredible thought that was ever thunk, and showed every pup the same joy and appreciation I have come to learn she gives every aspect of her existence. I was surprised to see that the liveliness of the commons was not secluded to that boisterous group; parents and elders were scattered along the walls, seated beside me in the cafe, and hanging over their windows and balconies. I would catch some errant tail flicks, the occasional claw-pointing, but there was far more curiosity than animosity on display.

My empty glass was thirsty, and my upturned bottle was likewise parched, to my dismay. I drained what was left of my glass with fervor and reverence in equal measure, before standing from my seat and moving to join my welcome burrow-borrower.

“-the steam engine some two thousand years ago, but it wasn’t powerful or understood enough to industrialize. So even though we had the knowledge, we didn’t have our industrial revolution until over a thousand years after.”

I climbed to stand on the lip of the fountain, and spoke up so as not to startle the surprisingly skittish human, “How are we doing Maeve?”

The girl turned her head to face me, though she remained hidden under her veil, “The class was just asking if we were uplifted, and if we were the same as the Yotul. Apparently the Federation picked them up during their steam age? Is that true?”

My ears flicked an affirmative, “The primitives were quite lucky the Federation found them! They were actually using coal for their power!” I tittered at the absurdity.

Maeve seemed to slump at that, “I am… not sure about the ethics of uplifting, but if it really was only twenty years ago, I guess exceptions can be made in wartime.“

“Indeed! It was so helpful that the Federation updated their obsolete technology; keeping it around would have been so wasteful. A pity your people weren’t able to do the same.”

Maeve cocked her head at me, “Not able to do what?”

“Skip all that wasted time!” I looked at her with confusion and gave my head my own tilt. “I mean, 2000 of your years and absolutely nothing happens? It’s a shame it took so long for anything important to occur!”

Maeve laughed wryly, keeping her voice down for the pups’ benefit. “Many things happened in those 2000 years, and very little of it was ‘nothing’. There is no telling what the Yotul could have been without federation interference! I am sure even the Venlil had a primitive past. After all, 'primitive' humans built limestone pyramids as large as this village, and stood over 100 meters tall!!”

I flicked my tail to the forest surrounding the town, “That’s almost as tall as the canopy! Must have taken you years to build after you got your steam engines.”

Maeve waggled her finger; another motion so similar to our tails, but told with the hands! “No steam engines. By hand. The Pyramids predates that by around 4500 years.” My eyes widened and my fur flared in sudden shock, but she continued. “And those aren’t even the oldest things humans have built: there is a stone temple in what is now eastern europe. It’s pretty sizable; it has several pillars, a scattering of shelters, all mostly limestone. Some of the larger pillars are over fourty thousand kilograms!”

One of the other parents mumbled in disbelief, “Forty thousand… by hand?!”

I spoke up cautiously, “Were. Right? They were 40-thousand kilo stones?”

Maeve waved her hand dismissively, “Oh, no! Are. We have taken great care to maintain the historical site. At over 10-thousand years old, it would be one of our oldest surviving human-made structures. To lose that kind of history would be a tragedy!”

Now a few of the parents were starting to approach grumbling, flipping their tails in accusation. Carvit was the first to speak, his tail thrashing like he just caught an especially slippery Shali. “Now we got you! You expect us to believe that you predators just.. built monuments that long ago? How do pillars o-or pyramids relate to hunting? You're just telling tales!”

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“Please calm down!” Maeve spoke above and over the pups, “I will answer your questions, but please; I don't want to scare the children-”

I was thankful for her concern for the kids. Unfortunately, it seemed Carvit didn’t hold that opinion. “You’re just dodging the question!”

“And You are interrupting the answer, Carvit.” Eyes and ears snapped to me before I realized the voice meant for my head found its way out of my mouth. Thankfully, the stunned silence of the Herd allowed Maeve to finish.

“Thank you, Elva. Mister Carvit, I presume? Our monuments serve a great many purposes, mostly the preservation of history. Even the Pillars I mentioned were scored with carvings of plants and animals those primitive humans saw.”

"The ones you would slaughter?” Carvit charged back.

“No,” Maeve continued, much calmer than I would be. “Many were animals that people would have seen: rams charging each other, horses running across the steppes, even ducks just walking. Some would even be telling stories that we have long forgotten how to read!”

“She’s lying!” He shouted, more to the crowd than Maeve herself. “What possible reason would a Predator have for history!”

“Simple: to honor our dead, and teach our children.” Maeve retorted, her face fully locked on Carvit's, “Humans are intensely family focused. You know this, from your own people’s science and even from personally watching me. We care very deeply about those we have loved. And lost. Our dead are still our family, and we will Not forget them lightly. I turn the question back to you, Carvit.” My lessons were paying off! She almost said his name as a native, her sharp whistle causing him to shirk back like his mother herself called his name! “Don’t you have monuments from past ages? Things so old their meaning is lost to time?”

One of the pups from in front shouted with glee, “Stonebuilder Temple!”

Without missing a beat, and with a change in tone that set my head spinning, Maeve responded, “Thank you Thicimek. What is that place like?”

“It’s old!” The boy excitedly called. Carvit tried to quiet him, but another parent swatted a tail across his snout before Thicimek noticed, “It’s where Stonebuilder was buried after he finished his… his-uhh…”

I tapped three of my claws against the stone of the fountain, waving my tail above them for his attention.

“Three…? Thirty! Yeah his thirty year task of building the-the Walls to keep out the predators!” Thicimek excitedly continued while his tail threatened to wag itself apart, while he pointed toward the Day, “He was buried in his Warren in the sun lands! Five enormous stone chambers all underground!”

“That's amazing!" Maeve asked, her voice alight with curiosity and excitement. "And who was this Stonebuilder?”

The way the children wagged and tried to all speak first was adorable. I sat back, eager myself to hear which of the tales they would tell.

“Come now! Come now! Is that any way to tell a story? One at a time!” Maeve held her good hand outstretched, and seemed to make a wave with her fingers as she lowered the hand. The pups quieted and sat back down at the motion, many holding one ear tall. My! I hadn’t seen a sight like this since I was in school! Maeve called on a taller black-wool’d boy to answer first.

“He was enormous! Twice as tall as any Venlil! The Green used to be Grey; the Venlil lived on stone and struggled for food. But Stonebuilder crushed the mountains into valleys with a single Stomp!” And he slammed his foot into the cobblestone, hiding his wincing ears, “aahhh- Wh-Where we found plenty!”

"That is so wonderful to learn, thank you Vaibek!"

Another name she called, and another story was told. It wasn't long before Maeve sat among them to join the audience of pups while a few of the elders assumed the improvised stage of the fountain.

This was the village that I loved, and I hoped Maeve did too.

---

Memory transcription subject: Alvi, Assistant Farm Technician

Date [standardized human time]: Sept 7th, 2136. Late 5th claw.

My paws twisted and kneaded the tuft of my tail while I sat on the couch. This was the second time in as many paws he'd been gone this long. I tried to sleep, but the thought of him in the forest…

The latch on the door clicked and my ears snapped to attention. Valek’s familiar striped and spotted coat lurched wearily into the den. Everything below his hips was dusty and filthy; he had walked home from The Grove.

I released my battered tail and rushed to his side, letting him lay his weight against me while I helped him to the couch. “Why’re you awake Alvi? It’s gotta be your rest…” he stretched his mouth open and his tongue curled in a deep yawn, “rest claw, right? Go to bed, I’ll be fine.”

“You are most certainly not fine!” I shot back, whispering my admonishment into the blacked out den, “You’ve been coming home later and later! You can barely walk and you’re caked in dust! What is going on?!”

“It’s nothing to worry about, I just got a little wrapped up in reading. I’ll be ok.” Valek swished his tail dismissively as he pushed off of my shoulder and made for the stairs.

“Valek, please…” I pleaded with him, and his stride halted. “I-” I dropped my voice, so not even the walls could hear me, “I may not be your mate. But I am your friend. I’m worried about you. Maeve knows, too, but she is waiting for you to ask for help; if you ever do.”

I stepped closer, just beside him, and curled my tail around his waist. “We want to help. Please. Tell me what’s wrong?”

Valek breathed a ragged breath, and matched my quiet whisper. “I learned something… about the Federation. I found research papers, some years and some decades old, that confirm that Predators are not as dangerous as Aafa is telling us.”

He stepped closer to me, forward and just to my side, we were nearly eye-to-eye. I wanted to feel his velvet against me, I could almost scent his-

“The Federation has been hiding how predators really act in the wild, and highlighting attacks like they’re a crisis. Even in the most damning reports, attacks on sapient victims number less than a hundred on any planet. Out of billions of people! Looking at the whole Federation, attacks maybe hit a couple thousand, out of trillions!”

Valek’s fatigue was starting to fall from his affect, as his voice took on a manic tone.

“But I can’t figure out why! There’s bad actors in most cases; people who hate too much or want too much. But there are too many cases for it to be an accident! There’s this one case, about a Zurulian colony; they were trying to figure out how predators processed their meat, and they found something! Their Gojid peers got a message about the possibility of allowing predators to eat plants! Not two paws later, a troop of exterminators raided their lab and killed all of their test subjects, citing some half-shorn ‘public safety’ statute. And all of the researchers were suddenly diagnosed with predator disease!”

My ears and tail twitched with my anxiety, but Valek was too incensed to notice, “One or two, fine, but all of them?? I couldn’t even find out what facility they were taken to! They just disappeared! And!” His eyes lost their focus, and his ears swiveled in panic.

“And! The early colony failures we see in the news? L-Like the Sivkit colonies! They kill every predator they see and graze everything to root, leaving a trail of barren worlds behind them."

He wheeled around, “But then! There was a raid on one of their colonies before they could get a foothold; they couldn’t finish killing the predators, and the planet healed! Not even two cycles and it was like the Sivkit were never there! How many worlds are lifeless because of us?!”

I stepped forward and laid a paw on his snout, we stood for a moment and listened for movement. Hearing nothing, I lifted my paw and Valek came back to our breathless whisper, “The Federation is hiding something, and I think it has something to do with the humans. I don’t know what to do! I’m terrified of what the Federation will do, now that they know humans are still alive.”

I gently groomed him to help him calm, and I hoped it was enough. His tail uncurled itself and relaxed to the floor. He wrapped his arms around me and I held him there, supporting his heavy burden. “Have you told Maeve yet?”

He shook his head, he was borrowing more of the human signs every day, “No, just you. I couldn’t. Not until I can figure out what is going on.”

I pulled away from him, keeping my wandering tail behind me. “Valek, I know you’re trying to protect her, but maybe she could help? What she told us does sound… unnatural, but what if there is more to it?”

Valek’s eyes focused, and his ears flattened in intense thought, “... if they never made it to Earth, then that means… humans must have found this all on their own. Outside of Federation influence! Alvi you’re a genius!”

I could feel my snout blooming from his unintended flattery, but it was his nuzzle that surprised me most. But the moment of joy was shadowed, as his ears fell once more. “But that would mean the Federation hates predators so much they would hide everything good. Even… Even Venlil felt the same. Venlil did the same! How can I tell her we can work together with that prowling the shadows? I don’t… I don’t know if I can say that yet.”

I thought about Maeve and I in the town, how she showed she understood, and stayed with me. I remembered the gifts she got me, and felt the surety of our friendship.

“I think she will understand; and hopefully forgive. I think you should tell her. But it can take some time, so it can be after our trip.” I flicked my ears happily at him.

“Trip?”

I whistled a quiet laugh, “You’ve really been out of it haven’t you? To the Gravity Arcade!” His tail rose in excited recognition, “Maeve convinced Sam that it was a ‘cultural exchange’, as long as she takes good notes. The shuttle is coming in just a few paws.”

Valek jumped in excitement and I started to hop with him. Our tall ears tapped the ceiling and we nearly tripped on the table, laughing the whole time. I saw the bloom on his throat and felt my mouth open, while his paw gripped mine just slightly tighter.

Then he pulled away, holding my shoulders at arm’s length. “We… We need to go to bed.”

My ears fell as I relaxed onto my heels. “Right… yeah.” I stepped back from Valek, but he caught my arms and let them flow through his paws, taking my paws in his.

“... Thank you Alvi. I… I know how you feel and…” He stood taller and locked his ears on me, “I can’t return those feelings. But I want you to know: it’s not because they’re not there.” I took a deep steadying breath. “I want to be with Maeve. I want to be with her so bad that, I don’t think I could exist anymore without her. But you are my friend, and herdmate, and nothing will change that.” He stepped towards me again and pressed his lips against my snout. “A life without you would be a lesser one. For me, and for Maeve.”

He stepped away from me and let go of my paws, walking up the stairs to his room. I stood stunned in the kitchen, thankful for the gloom and my wool hiding my vibrant bloom. My tail slowly waved ‘good rest’, over and over, as I laid my paw on my snout…

And quickly pulled away, trailing a thin string of saliva with it.

Still, despite that surprise, my mood felt unassailable. A herdmate! Maybe… maybe that could be enough.