Xia Phar had a good life for a human on Saer’kah. She didn’t wear a restriction band and the Saer’khi family that had raised her since the Migration treated her like one of their own. Others humans on Saer’kah though had no reason to love the Saer’khi . At least Xia had some semblance of freedom. So when the humans decide to rebel against the Saer’khi and she discovers the real reason for the presence of humans and other aliens on Saer’kah Xia decides to take action. Enlisting the help of her family and her friend Tarek she forms a plan to get everyone out of the alien barracks without arousing suspicion and get them off Saer’kah on one of the newly built colony ships. Sounds pretty easy right? Now Tarek’s crush on her is the least of her problems and leaving Saer’kah is just the beginning.     Twice Removed Chapter 9 Unknown By Amethyst

As I made my way swiftly back to the camp Dennis’ voice came over the subspace comm channel. “What’s up Xia? Luiza mentioned that there might be something dangerous out there.”

“That depends,” I muttered. “Do you consider thirty foot long spiked crocodiles dangerous? This thing has a really good sense of smell, and maybe vision too; it looked right at me and roared. Is everyone inside?”

“Thirty foot…” he began in a stunned tone before sighing. “Things are never easy are they? Everyone is inside but Luiza, Matt, Lirra, and me. We all have our particle beam weapons, so what’s the plan?”

“I’m going to try to use the various medical scans on my goggles and see if I can’t find a weakness, firing particle beams in the camp at night is a recipe for disaster,” I replied quickly before landing on another branch. The camp was in sight now; I could see the heat of the fires with the infrared of my goggles as I flipped through the features for the X-Ray feature. Big and ugly was moving quickly, but it was lumbering, obviously far more at home in the water. I got a good look at it’s skull when it stopped to turn its head in my direction and roar again. The skull looked to be thick with large ridges in places where bone overlapped. It could probably stop a bullet but a particle beam shot could punch through easily enough. Finally I muttered, “Aim for the head, between the eyes if you can. The heart will be too hard to hit, so we need to try and hit the brain.”

“That’s not going to be easy in the dark,” Captain White responded. “You said its nocturnal right? Is there any possibility that the photon lamps will make it avoid the camp? Maybe it’s light sensitive.”

“It’s possible,” I agreed, “But it seems to rely mostly on its sense of smell.” Then the creature took a final look at me before turning around and heading back to the river. “Wait, it’s turning around. I think it’s used to hunting in the water or grabbing creatures drinking at the waters’ edge and decided it wasn’t worth the trouble to find out how I taste.”

“You’re probably right Commander,” Lirra said. “My people thought the same when we found signs of it on the shore. It was a good idea to make the camp where we did.”

I started to fly back toward the camp. “Regardless, tomorrow I’m having Karran set up the larger of the two EM shield generators in the center of the camp. It’s meant to protect us from storms and the like, but if we turn it on when it gets dark it should keep any predators from getting in, at least until we have a better idea what’s out there. Those Crocosaur’s are probably this world’s apex predators but that doesn’t mean that there are not others.”

“That’s a good precaution,” Captain White agreed. “So other than getting that set up, what’s the plan for the day?”

I landed by the main fire where the others were waiting. It had died down some while I was asleep but the warmth felt nice and it and the photon lamps gave enough light to see by. “I plan on getting a few hours more sleep, but after breakfast we have a full day of gathering materials and firewood and starting to construct shelters. I’ll be training Amy and Kyle in first aid and talking to our specialists about what might be useful on this planet.”

“Maybe we should send out some exploration teams,” Matt suggested.

“I was thinking of that, but setting up the EM shield, food, and shelter will be our first priorities today, and maybe finding a way to get water closer to the camp, I’ll have Xawin look into that.” I rubbed my head as I thought about it, there was so much to do and even with the longer days on this planet I wasn’t sure if we’d have enough hours in one to do everything. “When we do start sending out exploration teams I want groups with a variety of abilities. An exploration team will need a medic as well, which means Krie and I will have to switch off doing that while the other remains in camp in case of an emergency.”

Luiza sighed and shook her head. “You and Krie are spreading yourselves thin as it is, especially you.”

“There’s no helping it,” I replied with a shrug. “I won’t send exploration teams out without a medic, and Krie and I can both act as aerial scouts if needed as well. And that’s all the more reason for me to get some more sleep now, while I can. The four of you should do the same, we’ll be safe enough inside the ships and I think Kit will warn me if anything dangerous approaches.”

My sleep was restful but filled with dreams. I was actually surprised that I wasn’t having nightmares after seeing that crocosaur face to face. Instead my dreams were an entirely different type of disturbing. Erotic dreams were a new thing for me, I think I may have been too hung up on being a hybrid to know what I was interested in, or maybe I had just had low self-esteem in general. I dreamed that I was being made love to and it was so realistic. I could feel the touch of my lovers: their kisses, the hot breath, the caresses, but at first I couldn’t see their faces in the darkness until Tarek leaned in and kissed me.

~I am yours Tess’rha, we belong together my love,~ his mind voice whispered.

~But I’m not really Saer’khi… I don’t deserve your love and obedience. Dhur-tal was a mistake, I’ll only make you unhappy.~ I replied, trying to push him away as he kissed my neck. I wanted him but he was my best friend and he didn’t deserve some pretender trying to be his Tess’rha.

~The bond is made and I would not have chosen you if I didn’t love you. You are Saer’khi enough for me. You are everything to me. My happiness is secondary, I only wish to make you happy,~ he insisted.

I turned away. ~I know. How could I not know, it’s all there in your mind, and I think that scares me. Humans have no concept of such a deep connection, such a pure and selfless form of love. It’s so beautiful that it’s terrifying. I’m afraid that I’ll lose you and that will be gone.~

“So you push him away?” Matt asked, as he slowly caressed my wings, causing shivers of pleasure. “You know that you’re smart enough to realize how stupid that is. Loss is a risk we take when we love someone, but the risk is worth it. You identify as Saer’khi but you get hung up on being human. You are both and yet neither, beautiful and unique and you need to start being you. All these people follow your lead, not because you’re human, not because you’re Saer’khi but because you are a good person with good qualities.”

“Yes, but you’re still hiding from yourself. You denying yourself a truly loving relationship proves this. Be yourself, don’t be afraid to follow the Saer’khi traditions and still have your human quirks, both are part of you, and people love you for who you are, not what you are,” Matt scolded me before he and Tarek returned to kissing and caressing me.

I woke up and cursed, “Dammit, I hate it when my subconscious is smarter than I am.” Kit looked up at me sleepily and snuggled closer. I reached out to pet her and she began to buzz contentedly. Finally I decided to get out of bed and used the sonic shower in the room’s bathroom to get cleaned up. I felt guilty about having such luxury available when the rest of the colonists didn’t but I resolved to speak with Karran and Xawin about possibly programming one of the nanite construction kits to make a communal bathhouse with sonic showers and lavatories. I had been planning on keeping them for an emergency, but it looked like help might be on the way soon and having those sorts of facilities available would really help morale.

My uniform was probably getting pretty ripe so after cleaning up I decided to look through the clothes I had gotten before I left home for something else to wear. I felt better than I had in days once I was dressed in clean undergarments, jeans, sneakers and a backless top that left my wings free. Out of habit I grabbed my goggles as well in case I needed them and left my room to see who else was awake. Amy and Krie were both awake and my sister was showing the young girl some of the medical equipment and explaining what the purpose of each was and how they worked. “Good morning,” I greeted the pair.

~Good morning Xia, did you rest well? Breakfast was over two hours ago but we saved you some,~ Krie responded telepathically.

~What!? How could you let me sleep so long? There’s so much that needs to be done today!~

~Shush,~ she scolded me. ~Everyone knows how hard you’ve been working and you needed a good sleep. Dennis and Luiza knew what you wanted done today so they started getting people organized. Karran is setting up the EM shield generator, Xawin has some former construction workers helping him plan a water pipeline from the river and everyone else is chopping firewood, hunting, or gathering materials for making shelters.~

~But I promised Kyle and Amy first-aid lessons,~ I complained.

~Which I already took care of,~ she replied. ~You can take care of their second lesson tomorrow. Dr. Williams is studying the ore samples you got in the lab and wanted to talk to you, and Rebecca Landry wanted you to come see her when you get the chance. She’s keeping the younger children occupied out by the personnel ship.~

~Thanks sis, I’ll see Dr. Williams first, maybe she can tell me it there’s any metals here suitable to make bionic limbs for Amy.~ Then I reached over and gave Amy a hug. “Sorry I slept so late Amy, did you enjoy your lesson?”

She hugged me back tightly, “It’s okay, you’ve been working really hard since before we even landed here. Krie was really great and I learned a lot though. She’s been showing me how we’re going to make my bionics once we get the stuff to make them.”

I let Amy go and Krie shoved a plate in my hands. ~Eat first; work can wait a few more minutes. Teaching those two was fun, they were both eager to learn and I think you’re right about Amy, she’ll make a good doctor. Learning medicine might be good for her too.~

I felt bad about sleeping so long so I asked Xawin, Karran, and Captain White to give me their progress reports while I ate and listened. A water pipeline was going to take a while to construct so until then we would have to continue using the mag-lev transport and empty crates to get water to the camp. Karran had finished setting up the shield generator and was currently hooking it up to one of our generators. Captain White reported that by lunchtime we should have enough firewood to last a few days and then the crews would move on to gathering building supplies.

Once I was finished eating and listening to progress reports I made my way to the lab where a willowy blonde woman in her late twenties was seated in front of the main workspace. She was wearing goggles similar to my own that I assumed Krie had provided her with. “Dr. Williams, you wished to speak with me?” I asked.

She looked up from her work and raised her goggles to see me better. “Good morning Commander Phar, yes I did, but please call me Mandy. These goggles are amazing, so many uses, no wonder you always wear them. The microscopic vision is far better than anything we had on Earth.”

“Call me Xia,” I replied with a smile. “What can I do for you? Did you find anything useful in the samples I collected?”

She nodded as she grinned at me, “I’m seeing a lot of iron in the samples and copper. I think that there may be a good source of titanium around too, but these two samples are the most interesting.” She directed me to the gold colored ore and the strange silvery black stone I had found on the beach. “Krie was kind enough to show me how to run the analysis equipment you have here and give me these goggles so I could run some tests on these. Do you have any idea what you’ve found here?”

I shook my head, “Should I?”

She shook her head in return. “No you shouldn’t because neither do I. Neither of these exists on the periodic table of elements as we know it.”

“You’re saying I discovered two new elements? Isn’t that a bit unlikely? I’m a medical doctor, I’ll leave studying rocks to you, but I’m pretty sure new elements don’t just jump out at you,” I said with a raised eyebrow.

“On Earth certainly, but this planet has a vastly different elemental composition,” she replied. “Even your base scans detected unknown minerals, and the oceans here are freshwater. The atmosphere is comparable to Earth’s but there are distinct differences in that as well.”

“So you have no clue what these are?” I asked.

“Not precisely, the gold one I decided to call Mandium,” she said with a grin. “It seems to be a transition metal and from the tests I’ve run so far I can tell that it is magnetic, blocks radiation better than lead, and has a higher melting point than tungsten. I haven’t even found it’s melting point yet, and it has a very dense molecular structure, but if we could figure out how to process it the potential uses are mind boggling. If I had to guess, I’d say the stuff is nearly indestructible.”

“We could use nanites,” I suggested after a moment’s thought. “They don’t need to melt it, they just reorganize the base materials into a desired shape by shifting molecules, at least they do when we program them for construction or designing bionic limbs. We have the capability to produce and program nanites for bionics and other medical uses and I’m sure our engineering boys could come up with a way to program some for other uses. I wish we had a programmer for that, but If we could find enough of this metal I’d like to see how it would work for more durable bionics. It could be useful for constructing spacecraft as well once we have the resources for that kind of thing.”

“It might make for a good test for the metal’s properties,” she agreed before a frown passed over her features. “We cannot let Earth find out about this. If they discover we’re sitting on a space-age goldmine I don’t want to think about what could happen.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” I replied with a grim nod. “So what about the silvery-black rock? What’s that?”

“That is the million dollar question,” she answered with a shrug. “I think it’s some sort of polyatomic non-metal, but it has properties I’ve never seen before. It’s a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, coated with a sugary topping of ‘what the fuck?’, and it seems very resistant to sharing it’s secrets. I call it Pharite.”

“Ouch, point taken, I probably should have revealed what I was earlier,” I admitted. “It didn’t go so well the first time I did that though.”

“You seem like a good person so I don’t really care what you look like; you’ve done more for the people of this colony than anyone could ask of you. For what it’s worth though, I think it was a good idea for you to let people get to know you as a person first. I’m mostly just messing with you, but you did discover them, so one of the substances should be named after you and I thought this one suited you, you’re both more than what you appear to be.”

Mandy seemed to mean it in a good way, and I thought that she and I would probably get on well. “I’ll take that as a compliment, but what properties does this chunk of rock have that are so confusing?”

“You’ve noticed how it looks pitted but feels smooth to the touch right?” When I nodded she continued on to say, “It’s like parts of it are missing but still there, and the missing pockets are giving off low levels of radiation. I have a theory, but it’s going to sound really out there.”

“It can’t be any weirder than some of the other things I’ve seen so far on this planet,” I said with a shrug. “Lay it on me.”

She nodded as she tapped at the stone. “I’m no physicist, and I don’t know much about quantum mechanics, but I did minor in physics and I wonder if those pits are pockets of dark matter. I’d love to have someone more qualified look at it. Other than the interesting properties it has though, I don’t think this substance will be of much use to us.”

“Sure, name the useless substance after me,” I joked. “We do have a physicist here though, a Dr. Kwan I believe, I’ll see if I can find him and send him your way. I’ll have our engineers talk to you as well once they get a chance, they know their physics too and might be able to think of possible uses for both substances.”

I found Dr. Kwan with the men gathering firewood. He was an older Chinese man in his mid to late forties. He squinted against the sunlight as he looked at me after I greeted him and a look of shock and joy passed over his face. “Cally?” Then his face fell as he got a better look at me, “Oh, Commander Phar, how can I help you?”

“I think we have a task more suited to your talent’s Dr. Kwan,” I replied, now noticing the mourning band he wore on his right arm. “Could you come with me to the medical ship?”

He nodded and we walked in silence for a moment before I said, “Did I remind you of someone else just now?”

He let slip a despondent sigh. “You look a lot like my daughter Cally, she was about your age I think and she thought settling a new planet would be a grand adventure.”

“I’m sorry for your loss, I keep wondering if I could have done things differently,” I replied sadly. “Was she why you were in the colony group? Earth was pretty resistant to sending it’s scientists off world from what I’ve heard.”

“Cally was seventeen when the first Migration ships were ready to leave and she had terminal Cancer,” he explained. “She was all I had left after my wife died and the Saer’khi said they could cure her. The government tried to keep me there saying she didn’t need a guardian with her, they wanted to charge me a large fee for going with her so I sold everything I had to come with her. They used some form of nanites to cure the Cancer and prevent any other growths. She stopped aging after she came out that research lab and she embraced life like she never had before. I was so happy to have my daughter back and healthy. Neither of us ever believed any off the bad things some of the others were saying about the Saer’khi and she really admired you while we were on the Bounty.”

“She sounds like she was a wonderful girl, I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to know her. It sounds like we had some things in common. If you ever need to talk about her or anything else, my door is always open,” I offered.

“Thank you Commander, I appreciate it. I wish she could have lived to get to know you. You mentioned a task for me?”

“Please call me Xia,” I insisted. “I would like you to work with Dr. Williams to study some interesting samples I found. She thinks she may need someone of your expertise.”

After introducing the pair of scientists I went off in search of Rebecca Landry and the twenty or so children under twelve who she was caring for while their parents worked. Rebecca was a middle-aged woman with brown hair and eyes who seemed to be in fairly good health. She seemed to enjoy teaching and had a way with children and from the moment I had first met her I was glad that she was a part of our colony. “Hi Rebecca, you asked for some of my time? What can I help you with?”

“Hi Xia, I’m glad you could stop by,” she greeted me with a smile. “We were talking about the various cultures of Earth and our children from other planets were sharing a bit about their cultures, so I was wondering if you could talk to the kids about what living on Saer’kah was like for you and what sort of traditions and such the Saer’khi have.”

“I always have time to tell the little ones stories,” I said with a grin. I sat down with the children and once they had all gotten their fill of petting Kit she curled up in my lap and I started off by saying, “You all know that I was human before I was made part Saer’khi, so a lot of things about being Saer’khi took a while for me to get used to, but one thing was really hard to get used to. Can anyone guess what that was?”

“Was it having wings?” a Hispanic boy of about eight years old asked.

I laughed at that. “Well wings were a bit weird at first I’ll admit, but the hardest thing was that the Saer’khi only communicate telepathically and not only was I not used to that, but I didn’t know their language at first. So I had to learn to not only think in their language but to make sure I wasn’t thinking things I wanted kept private ‘out loud’. Another thing was that Saer’khi families are a lot different than human families.”

“How are they different?” asked a red headed girl who looked to be about twelve. “Is it like when you have two moms or two dads? When we were still on Earth I knew a girl with two moms.”

I smiled at her, “It’s sort of like that but in Saer’khi families there is one mom and several dads. I have three dads.”

“I wish I had three dads,” another boy said. “But why do you have more dads than moms?”

“Men outnumber women by four to one, but like bees the women are the ones in charge and have multiple husbands, so that there are enough available women to go around, and for other reasons too,” I told him. “Our culture has many similarities to bees actually. We all work for the greater good of our whole society and like bees there’s three types of Saer’khi: There’s the boys, or Pi’tak, who do the more physical tasks, and there’s two types of girls, the Ji’tak and the Ji’turi.”

“What’s the difference between the two types of girls? Which are you?” A Murqui girl asked.

I nodded in approval at her questions. “Ji’tak can’t have children naturally; they need to have them artificially. Ji’turi are like queen bees, there’s not very many of them compared to the Ji’tak, but they can have babies and they are treated like queens and princesses. They’re the most important people in our culture because having babies is very important to our culture. From the time they are young they are given a special diet that makes them bigger and healthier than other girls. I’m a Ji’turi and so are Tanna and Krie.”

“Are you gunna have babies?” a five year old girl of African descent asked.

I gave a nervous laugh at that. “Someday I will I guess, but I need to choose all my Tess’hir first and get married. Tess’hir is what we call our husbands. They call us Tess’rha. I’ve only chosen one Tess’hir so far though and I should have at least two or three.”

The red headed girl wrung her hands a bit as she asked. “Who is the one you chose, and how do you choose them?”

“Usually it’s someone we’re really close to and they offer to let us see the deepest parts of their minds. That’s a very personal and special thing for us and if we accept and look deep enough a bond called Dhur-tal is made. From that point on we’re engaged,” I explained. Then I added, “The one I chose is Tarek, he was the pilot on the Bounty and we’ve been friends a long time. I have to get going, but I think I have time for one more question.”

“Why don’t you tell us what your favorite Saer’khi tradition is,” Rebecca suggested.

I thought about that as I absently stroked the slip in my lap causing her to buzz and the some of the children to giggle. “My favourite tradition is Katur Soma, in English it translates to Honey Moon. It’s a big celebration where the whole town gathers together when the moon is big and yellow in the sky. It’s like New Years, and is a night when we celebrate what the past year has brought us and look toward the future. There are sweets and drinks like Passu, and people dancing in the air. Maybe someday we can all have a celebration like that here in our new home,” I suggested as I placed Kit on the ground and stood up again.

“Thanks for coming by and doing this Xia, I know how busy you’ve been,” Rebecca said with a smile. “Everyone say thank you to Commander Phar.”

There was a chorus of “Thank you Commander Phar!”

“Any time kids, you all behave for Rebecca, okay and maybe I’ll bring Kit back for another visit tomorrow.” I waved to them all as I pulled Rebecca aside for a moment. “I’d like you to start considering teaching English as a second language to the aliens and humans who don’t speak it, without the translators. We can’t rely on the translators all the time and we’ll all need a common language in the long run. Humans are the majority and most of them speak at least a little English, so that’s the logical choice.”

She nodded as she replied, “Good thinking Xia, I’ll spread the word around and get something set up with the non-English speakers.”

I was making my way back toward the medical ship with Kit on my heels when I heard someone call out, “Commander Phar!”

I turned around to see a Yazuik girl who looked roughly sixteen running toward me. Her name was Pallu if I remembered correctly and she, her parents, and her infant sister were now the only ones of their species in the colony. The Yazuik are a species of aquatic marsupials. They look humanoid with flat noses, small triangular ears and webbed hands and feet equipped the sharp strong claws for climbing trees. Their short beaver-like tails store fat and act as a rudder in water and their fur ranges from black to browns and golds and repels water and traps air to keep them warm under water and at night. They’re used to living in trees at night and spend much of their days under water living mostly on plants and fish.

“Pallu, right?” I asked as I greeted her. “What can I do for you?”

The girl looked nervous but she was doing her best not to show it as she ran her fingers through her golden fur. “Well… my father and I are far more useful under water than on land and I was hoping that you would let us do some scouting in the ocean to see what other fish or food sources might be out there.”

I sighed at that. “Normally I’d be all for that, but there is a thirty foot long aggressive reptile somewhere in that water that’s wondering what we taste like. I’m not real eager to give it an opportunity to find out.”

“That’s why you should send us,” she insisted. “We’ll be able to sense it coming long before it knows we’re there and if it’s nocturnal we may be able to find out where it’s nesting during the day so we can avoid that area.”

I thought hard about that. The Yazuik hunt by electrolocation and while their sense of smell and their vision only average this sense of electroreception helps them to locate other living creatures or sources of electricity under water or even in pitch blackness. If anyone was suited to survive out in that water it was them. They could see that monster coming from miles away. “What does your father think about this idea?”

“He agrees, this is the best time of day for us to be doing this, and we might be able to find some more food sources for the colony. He just didn’t want to go against your orders.” She didn’t seem to think I was going to buy it because she quickly added, “If we sense anything big and dangerous we’ll be out of the water long before it reaches us.”

“I’m not sure about this but you seem to know what you’re getting yourselves into. I want you both to come to the medical ship first though, so I can be sure your dad is okay with this and to give you both a subspace comm device in case there’s trouble. I don’t want any more dead colonists. Get your father and come report to me as soon as you’re ready.” As she ran off to get her father I returned to the medical ship and silently hoped that I wasn’t sending two people to their deaths.