Worlds Apart Pt. 02

"Don't worry, it'll be love at first sight," she insisted as she hopped deftly over a root. "Remember how adorable I was when I was a girl?"

"Yeah, you were cute alright," he chuckled as the memories of her furry little face came flooding back to him. Borealan kittens retained their coat of fur until adolescence, making them look even more like cats than they did in adulthood. When he had met Liz in the school playground so many years ago, she had been a pudgy, fluffy little girl wearing a sundress covered in duck patterns. She looked like she had walked right out of the pages of a children's picture book.

"Do we want a boy or a girl?" Jamie asked, Liz blinking her emerald eyes at him.

"Gosh, I hadn't even thought of that!" she replied. "I guess...I know my way around being a girl, I know what it's like to be torn between two worlds, two different cultures. I know how it feels to have body image issues, to navigate the confusion that is Borealan puberty."

"Puberty isn't too pleasant for us either," Jamie joked, Liz giving him a gentle whip with her long tail as she walked beside him.

"I think I'd do a better job of raising a girl," she continued, the gentle breeze blowing her cropped hair. "There's so much I could tell her that I wish someone had told me at that age. I think you'd make a great dad for a little girl, too," she added.

"Yeah?" he asked, his cheeks starting to warm as she glanced down at him.

"You were great with me when I was a kitten. You were always so patient, so protective of me, and you've only grown more pragmatic as you've gotten older. I know you'll do the same for our kid."

"I hope she'll like me," he continued, peering up at the leafy canopy above. "Do you think she'll know that I'm different from you two?"

"Nah," Liz insisted, reaching down to ruffle his blonde hair. "Kids aren't even aware of that stuff. I didn't even know that I was an alien until I was about ten years old. Earth and humans were all I knew, so it was my normal."

"What about Borealis?" he asked, pausing to lean against the rough bark of one of the monolithic tree trunks. He knew that Liz lacked his stamina, and she took a seat on a nearby root, taking a break as she waited for him to elaborate. "When your parents took you back to Borealis, it was rough...for both of us. Like you said, Earth was all you had ever known, and they just tore you away from that. You've told me that you don't resent them for what they did, that you thought it was necessary, even if they could have done more to soften the blow. Would you take our kid back to Borealis at some point?"

Liz thought about it for a moment, scratching her chin with her claw as she stared into the distance. It was a tough question. Jamie could see her brow furrowing as she considered.

"Being a Borealan comes with its own set of challenges," she finally replied. "We have instincts, urges to form packs, to dominate others. It's just how we're wired. We're naturally strong, aggressive, we're built for an environment far harsher than Earth's." She paused again, her tail whipping back and forth through the ferns behind her. "Learning what it means to be a Borealan, learning to understand myself, that knowledge was invaluable. My folks practice tough love, a parenting style that comes naturally to Borealans, but one that I fundamentally disagree with. It's the idea that allowing a child to be upset -- to be frightened and angry -- is acceptable as long as they benefit down the line. It's punishing them when what they really need is your support, all in the name of toughening them up," she said as she exposed her teeth in a snarl. "That's what I'd do differently."

"So, you would consider taking them back to visit Borealis, but you'd do it in a way that's supportive rather than throwing them in the deep end and telling them to swim?"

"That about covers it," she replied with a nod. "What my parents did worked out for me, but I can't agree with their methods."

"I guess that means I'd be tagging along," he added, Liz stifling a chuckle with a furry hand.

"The idea of you visiting Borealis is an...interesting one," she giggled. "I'll be able to repay you for all the times you looked out for me when we were kids."

"Hey, I'm not muddy anymore," he added. "I'm a real spacer now."

"You are actually muddy, though," she said as she gestured to his boots.

Liz's ears suddenly pricked up, swiveling like a pair of furry radar dishes. Jamie soon heard the sound, too, the rustling of ferns somewhere in the shadow of the forest. She slowly moved between him and the noise, Jamie peering around her bulk, his heart quickening. What could it be? Some native animal? The elusive Knife-Tooth that everyone had been warning them about?

From the ferns burst a bizarre creature, scurrying across the road as it loosed a shrill shriek. It looked like something between a lizard and a mouse to Jamie, its four legs splayed wide like a reptile, its winding body covered in a coat of coarse fur. It moved so fast that he could barely get a look at it, but the creature that was on its tail was far easier to recognize. It was a Drone, the same as the ones he had seen guarding the entrance to the hive. Its svelte body was covered in an orange carapace, and it had the usual collar of fur around its neck. It didn't even seem to see them, too focused on its quarry.

With surprising speed, it reached out and grabbed the animal by its tail, lifting the struggling creature off the ground. The critter turned to bite the Jarilan with a set of pointed teeth, making sounds like a dog toy, but they couldn't penetrate the Bug's firm shell.

Finally, the Jarilan turned to glance at them, blinking its eyes as it stood there in the road.

"Marmalade!" someone shouted from the trees to their left. "Did you catch the little bugger?"

A human came stumbling through the undergrowth, Liz relaxing a little. It was a middle-aged man sporting an unkempt beard. His dark, tangled hair didn't look like it had been cut in a while. He was wearing civilian clothes, a pair of worn jeans, and a flannel shirt that had been rolled up to expose his hairy forearms. He was carrying a large, military backpack, portable cooking pots clattering as they dangled from its straps. As he emerged from between the trees and stepped into the sunlight, Jamie saw that he had a canteen on his hip, as well as a large knife that was holstered on his thigh.

"Marmalade?" he continued. "Why the hell do I smell Borealan?"

He quickly noticed the two confused strangers, stopping in his tracks. As he reached up to brush his hair out of his face, Jamie saw that he had a knitted scar on his forehead that ran down between his eyes.

"Well, what do we have here?" he asked as he adjusted his backpack. "New colonists? It's been years since I last saw a Borealan, I've started to miss the banter."

Behind him followed a whole company of Bugs, staring at the pair as they joined the odd man in the road. There were more lithe Drones in a rainbow of carapace colors, some of them equipped with two-pronged plasma pistols forged from resin, along with squat Workers who were carrying more gear in their powerful upper arms.

"Who are you?" Liz asked, eyeing his armed companions warily.

"The name's Walker," he replied, Jamie noting his British accent. "Former Marine Corps Scout Sniper, now a self-styled explorer. If you'll excuse me a moment, Marmalade is having her fingers gnawed off."

He gestured for one of the Workers to approach, the little Bug bringing him a small cage made of resin with a handle on top, reminding Jamie of a cat carrier. The Drone leaned down, carefully placing the furious woodland creature inside it, swinging the door closed. Walker crouched down to admire the thing, pulling a tablet computer in a rugged case from his pocket, beginning to tap at the screen.

"I've been trying to catch one of these for days," he explained, Liz and Jamie watching the strange scene play out in confusion. "Little bastards are as fast as lightning."

"It kind of looks like a cynodont," Liz volunteered, her comment getting the man's attention. He glanced up at her, nodding his head in approval.

"Yeah, these guys are pretty similar to Earth's theriodonts. I have a theory that they're a transitional form, that they might be evolving into something mammal-adjacent. Are you a fellow naturalist, perhaps? That's an unusual profession for an Equatorial."

"No," she replied, shaking her head. "I just took an interest in college."

Her reply only seemed to beg more questions, the man rising to a standing position again, stowing his tablet.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure yet," he began. It was an oddly formal way to ask someone's name.

"I'm Lizka, and this is my partner, Jamie," she replied as she gestured to her companion. "We're not colonists, we're here as part of a UAS project."

"Partner?" he repeated, looking Jamie up and down. Jamie prepared himself for a snide remark, but the man seemed impressed, giving him an appreciative smile.

"I've tangled with Borealans in my time, kid. If you've got the stones to tie one down, you're alright by me."

"I've heard your name before," Jamie replied, stepping out from Liz's shadow. "Walker. Doctor Sousa mentioned you, so did some of the Jarilans. They said that you named them."

"That's me," he replied, reaching down to give the nearest Worker a pat on its armored head. To Jamie's surprise, the creature responded with affection, pushing up into his hand as he rapped his fingers on its carapace.

"You're the one," Liz added, her eyes widening. "The man Bluejay mentioned, the one who shared his genome with the Queen, who ended the war on Jarilo."

"Guilty as charged," Walker replied, giving her an exaggerated bow. Maybe his time living with the hive had made him a bit eccentric. "You'd think that a one-night stand would have more chance of starting a war than ending one, but here we are. How is old Bluejay, anyway? Last I heard, he was hunting a Gorgonopsia Jarilae that was pestering the chickens."

"You mean a Knife-Tooth?" Jamie asked, the man narrowing his eyes at him as though he had just been insulted.

"We're here because of you," Liz added, Walker cocking his head at her.

"What business do you have with me?" he wondered. "I mostly spend my time out in the field collecting specimens these days. I consider myself happily retired."

"No, I mean, you helped create the first hybrids. The treatments that we came here to undergo were made possible because of what you did."

"I don't know how much credit I can take for the Jarilans," he replied with a chuckle. "The Queen did most of the work, I just provided the...uh...raw materials. What treatments are you talking about?"

"We came here to get fertility treatments," Jamie explained, Walker doing a double-take. "We're trying for a baby."

"Really?" he marveled, glancing up at Liz. "Bloody hell, I always imagined someone might try, but I never thought it would happen so soon. Makes sense you'd come here. Jarilan gene-editing tech is light-years ahead of anything the UN has. Hey," he added, gesturing over his shoulder with his thumb. "We're heading back to the hive. Do you want to come along? You seem like the kind of people who are worth knowing."

"Oh, sure," Jamie said as he looked to Liz for confirmation. "We don't really have anything to do, we were just taking a walk."

"Great," he replied, waving for them to follow. The group of Bugs fell into line behind him, leaving plenty of room for the newcomers. "Don't mind my friends, they're quite harmless."

Jamie and Liz hurried to catch up, Jamie eyeing the equipment that the Workers were carrying. They looked like insectoid Sherpas. Each one was laden with a collection of animal cages, heavy packs, and camping supplies. It seemed as though this guy might stay out in the forest for days at a time. It was a stroke of luck that they had crossed paths with him, but then again, there was only one road.

"Forgive me," Liz began, "but why do you smell so...strange?"

"That'll be the Bug pheromones," he replied. He turned to face her, lifting his fringe to put the scar on his forehead on display. "When the hive took me, before they had a way to communicate, they grafted a new sensory organ into my body. It's hooked up to my sinuses, wired into the olfactory bulb of my brain. The Navy medics wanted to remove it when they got me back, but they couldn't. The Bug microsurgery was too advanced for them to undo."

"They grafted a new organ into your body?" Liz marveled, grimacing at the thought.

"Before I came along, they could only communicate using pheromones," he explained. "They didn't speak or write, they had no way to learn my language, so they introduced me to theirs. I can communicate as they do now. It's not perfect, my brain translates it as a kind of synesthesia. Certain emotions and words are linked to certain smells, certain memories, feelings. I got used to it after a while."

"What is it with everyone on this planet and pheromones?" Jamie muttered. "I feel like I'm walking around with cotton balls stuffed up my nose."

"Have you two been here long?" Walker asked, raising his voice over the shrill barking of the caged animal.

"Only a couple of days," Jamie replied. "We've visited the hive already, Doctor Sousa has been showing us around. This place is incredible," he added, pausing as he navigated his way around a root. "I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't this."

"There was a time when I wouldn't have even entertained the idea of peace with the Betelgeusians," Walker continued. "I've killed hundreds of Bugs, I've called in airstrikes on thousands. Jarilo changed things."

"Do you see them as...your children?" Liz asked, watching the Bugs as they walked along beside them. They weren't all the same, Jamie realized. Some of them had no fuzz, and their faces were different, their china doll mouths replaced with insect mandibles that looked more than capable of stripping flesh from bone. Their bodies were shaped differently, more angular, a couple of the Drones gaunter than their curvier counterparts. They were far less friendly in appearance overall, their gait jerkier, their mannerisms strange. Could they be outdated models? Betelgeusians that had survived the war?

"In a way," Walker replied. "I like to name them when I can, but so many are matured while I'm away from the brood chamber. They should have names, I think. It helps them develop their individuality."

"Were they a hive-mind before?" Jamie asked.

"Not exactly," Walker replied. "They were just very set in their ways. They were bred for one specific purpose, and while they were hyper-competent at that task, they were very slow to adapt to change. They operated more like cells in one giant organism than as individuals. We tried integrating the old Workers into the settlement, but if a task was too different from digging a trench or repairing a busted generator, it just seemed to upset them. The same thing happened when we tried to teach the Drones to read and write English, they just became agitated."

"But the new generation is different?"

"I don't know exactly what the Queen did," he continued, glancing over at one of the newer Drones who was walking along to their right. Her carapace was a shade of cherry-red that shone like a waxed sports car, the furry collar around her neck blowing in the breeze. She had a fuller, more feminine figure than her spindly counterparts, human enough that it tricked Jamie's senses. "Getting them talking and interacting with humans isn't just a matter of giving them vocal cords. There's so much more that goes into social interaction than that. They need a speech center for their brains and all of the associated wetware. They need to be able to notice subtle gestures, body language, they have to recognize faces. All of that stuff requires gray-matter, human gray-matter."

"We're more like you than our appearance might suggest," the cherry-red Bug chimed, her blue eyes meeting Jamie's. He couldn't help but stare back at the uncanny creature, until Liz positioned herself between the two, planting a possessive hand on his shoulder.

"What's going to happen to the older generation now that they've been made obsolete?" she asked.

"They'll live out their lives in the colony, for the most part," Walker replied. "They're not dangerous in the least, they recognize human pheromones as those of their kin now, but they'll never be able to integrate into Coalition society. Not that they really care. They're happiest when they're sticking to their old routine."

"Is that why you bring them with you?" Jamie asked, watching a pair of Workers carry a crate of supplies between them.

"Gives them something a bit more exciting to do," Walker chuckled. "They're highly social creatures, just...not in the way that a human would find intuitive."

Liz lagged behind to chat with one of the more talkative Bugs, while Jamie caught up with Walker at the head of the pack, lowering his voice in a likely futile attempt to avoid being overheard.

"You said that you'd tangled with Borealans before," he began, Walker giving him a knowing smile. "What did you mean by that?"

"Back when I was serving in the Navy, I was a member of a scout sniper team with a Borealan," he explained. "We had a...close working relationship, let's put it that way."

"You were an item?" Jamie continued. "I don't mean to pry, it's just...I've never met anyone else who dated a Borealan before. I've heard that it happens, but on Earth, I feel like I'm the only one."

"I don't know if I'd call what we did dating," he replied, "but spending days completely alone in the wilderness will make two people pretty close. Especially if one of them is a female Borealan."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Jamie chuckled. He felt oddly elated. This was the first time that he had met someone who had shared those same experiences. His friends back home could give him advice, they could chat about relationships, but they had no real understanding of the unique challenges that came with bunking with a Borealan.

"Where's she from?" Walker asked, raising the canteen from his hip. He took a long draw, then screwed the cap back on, stowing it on his belt again. "The dark skin and bleached hair say Rask, but she seems pretty well-adjusted."

"Liz is from Elysia," Jamie replied. "Her dad had the same coloration as her, so maybe he had Rask ancestry."

"Yeah, lots of Borealans end up in Elysia, it's their planet's most prosperous territory."

"She grew up on Earth, her parents were diplomats," Jamie continued. "I've known her practically my whole life."

"That explains why she's so mellow," Walker mused, glancing back over his shoulder at the towering feline. "Tell me, I'm curious. Does being raised among humans take away their pack instincts? I've always wondered if those were a product of nature or nurture."

"I think it's a little of both," Jamie replied with a shrug. "Those instincts are definitely there, and they can manifest strongly sometimes, but I think her human upbringing lets her manage them much better. It sounds like Borealans are always encouraging and reinforcing that behavior."

"My old spotter and I found a good balance," Walker continued. "I think everyone who spends any time with Borealans does. Kind of a weird limbo where neither one of us is really on top, you just kind of go back and forth."

"Yeah, Liz likes that," Jamie confirmed with a nod. "Do a lot of humans get with Borealans, then?"

"In the Navy? Yeah," Walker replied as he climbed over another of the pervasive roots. "It's basically a rite of passage at this point, and the brass lets it slide. It's good for team building and morale."