Return to Krell

Her pride slightly wounded, she carried on her way, pausing to take samples of floating water plants here and there. There were beautiful lilies atop the surface of the lake, anchored to the riverbed by a thick stalk, a pale blue flower blooming between its fleshy leaves. While Lena was tempted to ask her companion what his people called them, she had a sneaking suspicion that it would be something along the lines of 'blue flower', and so she collected some specimens without comment.

"You like flower?" Sleethe asked as he handed her one of the stasis containers, watching as she carefully plucked one of the blooming plants with her forceps and placed it inside.

"I don't think there's anyone alive who doesn't like flowers," she chuckled, "but these are just specimens to take back home with us."

He cocked his head at her, and she realized that her sentence had been too complex for the translator to interpret accurately.

"Yes," she reiterated, "I'm taking them home."

That seemed to satisfy him, and she wondered where the sudden spark of interest had come from. Perhaps he would keep a lookout for native plants and point them out to her if she missed them?

Once the container was sealed and placed safely back in Sleethe's rucksack, they continued their search for alien wildlife. She was growing more confident the longer they trekked. As much as the humidity was getting to her, not to mention the smell, she was starting to get the hang of feeling her way along with her feet. The cool water was soothing too, making for a welcome reprieve, even if it was only felt through the lining of her suit. She was still baking inside the garment, stewing in her own juices, but even such minor relief was a stark contrast compared to the usually inescapable heat.

"Is this why you guys like water so much?" She grumbled, pushing her way through an especially thick patch of water weeds. "To cool yourselves down?"

Probably not, they were cold-blooded after all, but perhaps even the lethargic reptiles could get too hot in this muggy hellscape.

The suns were out in force, it was nearing midday now and she had been exploring all morning. It was odd that they were so red and dim compared to Sol, like two red rubies in the sky, their glow barely visible through the cloud layer. Yet she could feel their heat on her face when she lifted the wide brim of her hat, the UV radiation that they gave off penetrating the mist and seeking to redden her cheeks. The quality of the light told her that it was late afternoon, and yet the heat was that of a summer's day. It might have been a good planet to get a tan on, if it didn't also resemble the fevered dreams of a Cajun who was blacked out on his own moonshine. Banjos and airboats wouldn't have been out of place here.

A sudden ripple on the surface of the river drew her attention, and she spied something splashing into the water from the nearby bank. It looked like it was making its way towards her, and she tensed up as she saw its wake drawing closer, confirming her fears. It hadn't sounded very large, what could it have been? Another eel?

She resisted the urge to call to Sleethe for assistance. This was her job. If naturalists on nature shows could handle horrible snakes and wrestle with giant catfish, then so could she.

The disturbance slowed as the unseen creature dove beneath the surface, the wake that it had left slowly dissipating. Lena squeezed her eyes shut as she felt something moving between her legs, it must be investigating her. Was it dangerous? Sleethe had not leapt to her defense, and so it didn't seem likely.

Come on Lena, she thought to herself, you're going to have to get over this fear if you want to be taken seriously. You're not in Munich anymore, you're not on the Pinwheel, you're doing real field work and everyone back home is counting on you. Sleethe can do it, Sousa could do it, even that asshole Dubois could do it. If they can, then why not you?

A fresh determination welled up inside her and she hastily pulled on her yellow gloves, reaching beneath the murky surface of the lake, careful to keep her face out of the water. It was completely opaque, so full of mud and weeds that she couldn't see anything, her only option was to feel her way around. Her questing fingers tangled on the roots and stalks of the water weeds, like a thin mesh of plant fiber that anchored them to the mud below.

She pushed through her squeamishness, gripping what felt like a muscular tube as it wriggled in an attempt to break free. Sleethe was standing beside her now, watching curiously as she wrestled with whatever it was, the alien animal stronger than she had anticipated.

"Come on you..." Lena hissed through gritted teeth, feeling her way around the creature's body. She wasn't sure what she had caught, but it wasn't an eel and it didn't feel like a fish. It was heavy, struggling against her as she strained to drag it to the surface.

She was doing it! The disgust and fear was evaporating, replaced with an odd kind of exhilaration. What would her colleagues say if they could see her now, waist deep in a muddy river, wrestling with an alien monster?

There was a splash as she succeeded in pulling the thrashing creature from the water, its stumpy tail waving back and forth as it powered its stubby limbs. It was an amphibian the size of a dog, with a fat body and a large head, its slimy skin patterned with orange and brown camouflage markings. It looked almost like an otter, but it was clearly some kind of newt or salamander, its bumpy hide covered in mucous with the consistency of snot.

"Ha! I got him! Grab him Sleethe, I want to take some pictures."

She heaved the frightened creature into the arms of her Krell companion, who lifted it easily, holding it by the torso as it attempted to swim in the air.

She lifted her wrist computer and began to talk into it, making notes of what she saw as she took snapshots, trying to document the beast as best she could. It was way too large to fit into a stasis container.

"Its skin is orange and warty like that of a toad, covered in raised bumps and some kind of slimy secretion. It's big, probably rivals a Japanese salamander in size, but its body appears thicker and rounder. It almost looks like a turtle in that respect. It has four short legs with stubby toes. The tail is pretty short and oar-like, no fins or flukes visible. There are flaps of dorsal skin running along its body that look like they might aid with respiration maybe. Sleethe, crouch down a little, I'm gonna get a test tube from the bag."

She struggled through the mud to get behind him, rummaging through one of the pockets of the rucksack and retrieving a transparent test tube. She popped the plastic cap and dragged the tube across the creature's exposed belly, trying to collect as much of its mucous as she could.

She sealed the cap, then nodded for Sleethe to release it. Once free, the creature darted away, knowing now that this white and yellow intruder was not some new prey item. Lena's hands were shaking and she was a little out of breath, but she felt elated. She had overcome her fear in the aid of science. What was it that her father had always told her?

'Do one thing every day that scares you.'

***

They followed the river, the water moving too slowly to gauge whether they were going up or downstream. Lena made good progress, identifying perhaps a dozen new species along the way and taking samples of plants. She even had Sleethe catch a small fish, filling a stasis container with river water before placing the fish inside it. Once it got back to a UAS lab, they would deactivate the field and it would spring back to life, as if it had been plucked from its habitat only moments before.

She was starting to get very tired however. Even if she had been in shape, and she wasn't, wading through the weeds and deep mud would have been exhausting. She found one of the sturdy roots that the mangroves used to anchor themselves to the soil, and draped herself over it, taking a breather.

"Boy, this terrain is really limiting our range," she grumbled. "I wish we had a ship, or a boat."

"Boat?" Sleethe asked.

"You know what a boat is, it floats along the water and you sit on it."

"Sit on boat."

She wasn't sure if he was trying to understand, or if he was just repeating what she was saying to him. What the translation algorithm actually did with the words and phrases that she fed it was somewhat of a mystery, because in order to read back the resulting translation, it would again have to be translated from Krell to English again. What resulted was usually incomprehensible nonsense.

"Sit on me."

Lena turned her head to see Sleethe pushing himself out into the river, lying flat like a crocodile. Despite his weight, he floated easily, his long body extended to its full sixteen feet. His oar-like tail waved back and forth slowly, keeping him steady in the current. They must be moving upstream after all.

"You want me to...ride you? Well I guess you're big enough..."

The more she thought about it, the better the idea seemed. She had been denied a vehicle by the Brokers, they obviously wanted to limit her range to how far she could walk in this mire. But Sleethe was fast in the water, he was arguably more at home in a river than on land, and he was more than large enough for her to sit on his back. This entire planet was a patchwork of waterways, lakes and deltas. Rivers and streams were as prevalent as roads here.

"Alright big guy...let's give it a go."

She waded closer to him, he was floating a few meters away, obviously having to move further towards the middle of the river so that the water was deep enough to accommodate him. Lena made it up to her chest, and then realized that she couldn't get any closer without flooding her suit and sinking. She couldn't swim in the hazmat suit, it was too confining, too inflexible.

Noticing her difficulties, Sleethe moved closer, pulling himself along the muddy riverbed with his arms and legs as he entered the shallow water near the bank. He got within arm's reach of her, and she gripped the raised spines on his back as she tried to pull herself up. While his underbelly was smooth, his back was heavily armored, covered in a layer of thick scales and horny scutes. His scales overlapped one another like medieval armor, and while outwardly similar to reptilian scales, scutes were more akin to what one mind find on a tortoise's shell. Scales were made of keratin, but scutes were formed from a layer of horn or bone that was then overlaid with skin. This line of dermal armor began at the top of his skull, and ended about half way down his tail, where they faded into scales.

They provided her with a lot of purchase, and with Sleethe sinking a little in the water to help her, she was able to clamber up onto his back. He was so large that she was unable to straddle him, and so she elected to sit cross-legged, which was a difficult feat in the restrictive suit. She gripped the rucksack that was still slung across his back for more purchase, realizing that he was actually remarkably stable. She didn't feel like she was going to topple into the water.

She grinned, the novelty of the situation overcoming her professional composure. When she had been a little girl, she had begged her parents to buy her a pony, as many children do. Her father had declined, stating that their Munich apartment was too small to house a pony, and that such creatures belonged out in the country and not in the bustling city. After her tantrum had subsided, he had dried her tears and he had promised that he would take her horse riding after the school year was over, provided that her grades didn't slip.

Little Lena had worked hard, topping her class, much to the obvious chagrin of her father who was then forced to either fulfill his promise or face her fury. Riding that fat little pony while the instructor led it around its pen was one of the fondest memories of her youth. It was not simply that she had gotten her way and that she had been able to ride the horses, but that she had earned it. It was one of the defining moments of her life, something that had shaped her character and personality from then on, teaching her that truly striving for something made it all the sweeter. While many of her childhood friends had been content to settle, using their wiles to land husbands who cared for them like children, Lena had fought to become the most prominent linguist in her field.

And now here she was, riding a Krell up an alien river, as much a result of her hard work and effort as that pony ride had been.

She patted his back, and he began to swim, heading away from the bank and into the deeper water as his long tail powered him forward. She could feel his long spine winding back and forth beneath her, his arms and legs tucked against his sides to make him more streamlined as his muscular body cut through the water. He was almost indistinguishable from a large crocodile or an alligator at this angle, his nostrils emerging from beneath the dark water for air. It was only really the breadth of his shoulders that gave him away as a biped.

He was surprisingly fast, the mangrove trees to either side of them passing by quickly. Lena figured that they were probably going fifteen or perhaps twenty miles per hour. She was sure that Sleethe could go even faster were she not perched upon his back, but he would have to pace himself to give her a smooth ride.

After a while they found the mouth of the river, and it looked to Lena to be flowing from the same lake that bordered the Krell settlement. They had traveled West from the village and they seemed to have gone in a big curve, eventually ending up traveling North and into the lake. Home would be a short trip to the East, they could probably get there in record time this way.

"Let's go out onto the lake, Sleethe. Just don't drop me, I can't swim in this suit."

They left the mangroves behind them, heading out over the open water, Sleethe scarcely making a ripple on the surface as he swam. He was like a giant, scaly torpedo. Before long she could no longer see the shoreline, the rolling mist obscuring it, and it made her a little alarmed. If she had been out here alone on some rickety boat, she wouldn't have known which direction led back to dry land. It was like being in the middle of the ocean.

She wondered how large and deep the lake was. If she had ridden a UNN dropship down to the surface rather than a Broker vessel, she might have been able to see it out of one of the portholes. She imagined what monstrous fish and amphibians might be living in its depths, and whether the Krell were truly the biggest and meanest things on the planet.

Lena couldn't imagine anything tougher and more aggressive than a Borealan, but she had been shocked to learn that they were not the largest, nor the most dangerous creatures on their home planet. Perhaps the same was true here.

"Oh! Hang on Sleethe, I have a thing for this."

He slowed, floating along the surface, remarkably buoyant as she rummaged through the pack. She had to be careful not to drop any of her tools, or they would sink into the depths and the UAS would chew her out for damaging their expensive toys.

She found what she was looking for, a portable sonar device. It was about the size and shape of a baseball, made from yellow plastic and attached to a coiled cable. It sent pulses below the water, allowing her to map the bottom of the lake, and to detect any large fish. It wasn't too different from what fishermen sometimes used, and it could sync wirelessly to her wrist-mounted computer in order to display its findings.

She turned it on and then tapped at her touch screen, a graphical user interface popping up that showed her a height map, currently blank. She uncoiled some of the line and dropped it into the murky water beside Sleethe, watching it sink out of view. She fed it more of the cable, until she felt that it was at a suitable depth, and then activated the sonar.

Sleethe twisted his head, peering beneath the water as the device sent out a sound pulse.

"It's ok big guy, it's just sonar. You can hear that, huh?"

Much of Krell communication seemed to happen underwater. While Lena's original assumption was that part of their language was geared towards underwater communication and was thus practically inaccessible to humans, she was starting to have her doubts. She had gleaned enough of a lexicon from Sleethe to hold conversations, and so there was nothing that was obviously missing. Perhaps they had two parallel languages, one for use on land and one for in water? It would require further study.

Hoping that the sonar device wasn't bothering the Krell elsewhere in the lake, she let it run for a while, retrieving a cereal bar from one of the pockets on the rucksack and munching on it as they drifted.

"So what do you eat, Sleethe?"

"Eat?" He rumbled, raising his snout from the water so that she could hear him more clearly.

"Yes. I've never seen you eat, not once in the time that I've known you."

"Eat happens not often. Lena eats all day, Krell eats few times a season."

Then it was as she had guessed. Much like the large reptiles of Earth, the Krell would likely consume a smaller number of very large meals over the course of months and years, living on their reserves in the interim. Being ectotherms, cold-blooded animals that regulated their heat using their environment, they saved an enormous quantity of energy when compared to ravenous mammals like humans who generated their own.

"I don't eat all day," she complained, "I eat three meals per day. That's normal for a human!"

She was distracted by a beeping sound, her computer indicating that the sonar probe had finished mapping the bottom of the lake. She turned her attention to the screen on her wrist and watched as the probe displayed a heightmap, projecting a three-dimensional hologram. The lake was deep, but it was no record setter, as the lowest points seemed to be around two hundred feet.

The lake bottom was irregular, full of peaks and valleys that displayed in different colors in order to illustrate their respective heights. The peaks were blue, while the valleys were red. There were a few anomalous shapes too, no doubt fish or sunken logs, some of them quite large.

The thought of such huge lake creatures and fish swimming beneath her yellow boots made her shiver, some of the shapeless blobs were the size of Great Whites and Basking Sharks. There were surely shoals of smaller animals too, but the resolution on the sonar wasn't that good, it wouldn't be able to pick up anything smaller than a car.

Something caught her eye, angular and artificial, out of place.

"What the hell..."

She gestured with her fingers, zooming in on the object as close as the limited resolution would allow. There was a structure built into a ledge maybe seventy feet down, blocky, angular and distinctly synthetic. It looked like a base of some kind, with half a dozen square sections connected by what looked like pipes. It was large, and while the sonar heightmap was blurry and grainy, Lena felt confident in her assessment. Could it be of Krell origin? Surely they didn't have the technology to build something like that?

"Sleethe," Lena said, patting him on the back. He craned his neck to peer back over his shoulder at her with one yellow eye, and she showed him the hologram. "Do you know what this is?"

"Benefactors," he replied.

"The Brokers made this? You knew it was there?"

He nodded affirmatively. It annoyed her to be kept out of the loop, but then again she hadn't asked him if there had been any secret Broker bases hidden in the vicinity. What was that structure doing there, and how many other Broker relics and installations might be scattered around the planet, the native Krell failing to understand their significance and seeing them as little more than curiosities?