19. The keening was terrible
The keening was terrible. Purple Dots was screaming that the dancers were somehow responsible for the nightmare that was approaching. The reports of the other litters, voices often heard but usually distant and difficult to make out, were singing of terrible, terrible things. One of the Others had gone mad, and was leaving behind him a trail of violence.
Yellow was afraid. She had thought she had been afraid before, but she had not known the meaning of fear. She knew now. Her sisters – whether they were the same litter or not they were all her sisters – were dying. Not only could she do nothing to help, but she might be one of the ones that the mad Other would grab and … she couldn’t bare to think of it, and she couldn’t not think of it. The things that her sisters were singing were so terrible!
"Clack clack clack clack," "clack clack clack clack," "clack clack clack clack."
A familiar and terrible sound approached, growing louder and closer. And as she feared, when it reached its apex, it stopped. Her room, her litter, was next.
Her litter mates hid in the corners and the furthest places from the door that they could reach, crowding in piles and hoping not to be chosen. Except for Yellow.
Yellow was terrified. She had never been so frightened. But still she stood before the door which had let in the dancers. She did not truly understand why, but something compelled her to do so.
"Yellow, you foolish kip, when the Other comes he will choose you for certain," Purple Dots screeched at her.
"Then you should be happy, if he would choose me instead of you," she answered, her voice unsteady but her song clear.
"The Dancers are not worth dying for! They are the ones who brought this upon us," Purple insisted.
"I refuse to believe that, sister."
They had no more time to argue. The gate to the outside opened, and this time the Other that came inside was not there to refill their food dispenser. And as Purple Dots predicted, the Other noticed Yellow immediately.
~~~~~~~
"A brave one? Oh, a brave one! How exciting? Do I kill you, or simply mark you for your bravery, so that the others will know when they find you in the field?" Gone mused, his deep voice causing the kips in the room to screech and keen. Closing the gate behind him – he did not want his prey to escape – he pounced upon Yellow and, with one hand, carefully lifted her into the air.
"I think I will simply mark you, for now," he admitted. "My superiors would be upset if I culled a brave one while it was so young. Bravery is such a rare trait, and so exciting in the prey. I could simply not tell them, of course, and eat you now. But better for me that the last batch of mine has a brave one in it, I think."
Carefully, with one claw, he carried out his promise, marking the kip upon the face. The young Aurealian screamed as her skin was parted, and the yellow blotch that gave her her name was marred with green blood.
Gone had not finished – there was more to do – when a sudden pain stopped him. He dropped the brave kip and looked down, amazed to see that he was injured in his left leg, a dark purple splurting from his artery. He looked at the other kips in the room, but it had not been them.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
The scent of the invaders had been strongest in that room, and they had finally revealed themselves. Small things, to have caused such trouble, and now they had attacked him. The one that had attacked him was standing behind him, a blade clutched feebly in a semi-prehensile paw. As Gone watched, more of the small, dark furred rodents scurried out of the air vent that the brave Aurealian had been protecting.
Gone sneered. was not concerned about his injury, it would stop bleeding on its own soon. He grabbed his weapon and took aim. The attacker that had injured him was promptly turned into a red smear on the wall.
But that did not deter the others. They swarmed him, stabbing with their small blades, too close for him to use his gun without injuring himself. So he dropped it and began using his natural weapons instead. He clawed, bit, and threw the rodents, but they were determined and undeterred by his attempts to defend himself.
They bit, clawed, and stabbed him with their weapons. Some of their blades shocked him, others burned him as superheated plasma coursed along cutting edge.
He did not last long. He inflicted a terrible price upon his attackers, but there were too many of them, and only one of him. Soon, Gone was gone.
~~~~~~~~~
Pleasant Scent survived. He was hurt, the predator had thrown him violently during the desperate struggle, but he had survived. His rib bones and his left foreleg hurt terribly from the impact against the wall, and he would not know if he had suffered any fractures until he returned to the Theseus and underwent a medical scan. But he had survived, and he could still contribute. He was still useful.
The squad leader had not. He had been the first casualty of their desperate defense of the Aurealian kips, of their ‘song singers.’ When the screams and cries of the innocent kips had reached them through the air vents, he had immediately turned around. He had also ordered the rest of them to return to the Theseus, and they had ignored him. Unfortunately, he had been the first to attack, and the Jurassian’s equivalent of a firearm had torn him apart.
Three others had died, and one aside from Pleasant Scent was injured. The chain of command was broken, and he was surprised when all of the survivors turned to him.
"What do we do now?" they asked him.
He was both honored, and terrified, that they would unanimously select him to lead them. But he had no idea how to answer them. His only idea was to call for help, to report their casualties and request backup, but --
Their holoemitters lit up. This time, they did not show a dancing rat, but instead a dancing chimpanzee.
"Rat Corps squad theta, Athena has detected casualties. I am Simon. I am limited in the assistance I can provide because the humans are humans. Please request my aid from Athena so that I may help."
"Athena I am Pleasant Scent drifting from another room that makes one curious that something good might be there I am replacing ‘sneaking up on humans from behind to make them screech’ as squad leader of Rodentia corp squad theta and I request all assistance that Simon may provide us."
A dancing rat appeared next to the dancing monkey and, more importantly although they did not understand it yet, their speakers began to sing with the song of the Aurealians.
"Thank you Pleasant Scent, I have been watching for a while but unable to act directly. I had to override many settings to simply get that message through. I am taking control of some of your equipment in order to provide assistance," the dancing monkey informed them. "You are not the only squad in trouble, but you are the first to suffer casualties. Please send urgent messages to Rat Corps Actual to request my aide as well, and together we will save as many of the little goat-kitties as we can."
They did look like goat-kittens, Pleasant Scent realized. He began dancing, wishing that Athena was better at interpreting the language of his people, but it did not take him long to get a message through to the Rodentia commanders. They watched carefully what he had to say.