THE EDEN DILEMMA by Tucker Spolter
Chapter 3
The sun was low. One of Iuama's two moons was already in the sky when Krista awoke. That was amazing! Wonderful. Orgasms like that will take time getting used to. . . Time well spent, she sighed contentedly.
Krista gathered her clothes and staggered to her feet. With a lazy stretch, she looked up and down the beach. Now, I really needed a shower. Her slow walk became a leisurely skip over the crimson sand as she headed toward the waterfall.
Backlit by the descending sun, shadowy forms of different sea creatures were visible between the crest and trough of the larger waves. Tomorrow, fishing. I’ll make a few sketches of the local critters and vegetation. And I'll give them names until I —
Krista ducked as four gossamer-winged creatures flew directly over her head. They made a high-pitched squeak-leak sound and disappeared over the crest of a breaking wave. Translucent wings like the singing dragonflies of Loth, Krista thought. I’m calling you dragon-fliers, though I’m certain the people of Iuama have a better name.’
Krista crossed the stream and climbed a small incline. A series of clicks caught her attention. She turned. Where the stream entered the ocean a half dozen objects darted along the edge of the waves. Krista edged closer. The creatures ignored her presence. Krista counted the legs. ‘Pentapods.’ With bright white domes. Krista christened them ‘white caps.' Which would make them almost invisible from the air. Maybe the dragon fliers are their predators. From a distance and above the sound of the waves came a loud cat mew. What is that cat up to? Krista shielded her eyes but saw nothing.
At her feet, the white caps moved in a wiggly line. One directly after the other until the leader stopped to munch on a dollop of greenish slime. The following pentapod leaped over the grazer followed by the next four. The group waited patiently until the grazer finished its meal and then they scurried along through the shallow surf until the new leader found a splatter of green slime to munch and the leapfrog process was repeated. Krista watched almost giggling. Starting to enjoy this place. Lots to observe. Lots to learn. And I'm — ’
Krista hopped over the carcass of a jagged-toothed, one-eyed member of the fish family. Grotesque . . . Yet beautiful. Krista bent to inspect the magenta-gold scales and thought better of it. No insects are eating the remains, and I don't have gloves. Its skin could carry . . . Who knows? Tomorrow. It can wait till tomorrow.
Moments later Krista stepped tentatively into the pool under the tall waterfall. The cascade of water was a pleasant needle massage. Krista spun luxuriating in the feeling. Her motion turned to a dance. Softly, she began to sing a favorite childhood song.
AN EBALON GIRAFFE IS VERY TALL
PURPLE AND BROWN LIKE THE FLOWER'S OF STABAL
BUT IF THAT EBALON WERE TO TRIP AND FALL
IT WOULDN'T HAVE A VI-COM TO MAKE A CALL
‘I feel wonderful.’ She sang louder.
AND IF YOU WERE LOOKING AT A XEONALOC BELLY BAT
AND THAT BELLY BAT KEPT STARING BACK
WOULD IT WONDER WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING AT
AND DO YOU WONDER – ABOUT THINGS LIKE THAT?
I’m going to add the creatures of Iuama to that song. She tapped her feet rhythmically on the bottom of the pond and squeezed her toes in the soil.
“HOLY FARGUS!” Krista shouted when an oily object smacked the side of her head and slithered down her naked torso.
In the pool of water, at her feet, lay a stunned anunu fish. Ah, ha. Dinner and cat food. Deftly, Krista grabbed the fish with both hands and flipped it onto the sand. What a planet! On what other world would dinner drop on your head? She spun in the shower of water.
She eyed the cliffs to her left and right. A myriad of green vegetation covered the rocks in most parts. Blue-speckled bulbs tucked in clusters of scalloped leaves seemed to be the dominant form of fauna. If I was a nesting flyer that's where I would —
As if on cue a gull flyer appeared out of a cluster of the leaves and flew toward the ocean. A second gull flyer approached the cliff to a doleful aye-aye cry from somewhere within the vegetation. The kids are hungry, Krista grinned. And so am I.
The gull-flyer found purchase on one of the vines crossing the face of the cliff, ducked its head into the leaves, and vanished.
It took a few beats until Krista's epiphany “Eggs! Nature's multi-vitamins.” She cried aloud. Another planet where nature uses eggs to incubate its young.
On a hunch, Krista twisted loose several of the powder-blue bulbs from a vine and inspected them in the palm of her hand. Little bells. Calling them bellberries. Wonder if they're edible. I’m hungry—Time for dinner.
In a nook between the rocks near the shuttle, Krista latched a tarp to several outcroppings creating a tilted roof. On the shore, she fastened the tarp’s corners with spikes and added large stones for good measure. Twice she’d seen dark clouds and flashes of lighting over the ocean. Claps of thunder never reached her ears. Still, this will be a good shield from the sun and any of those rain and salt storms I flew through on the way here.
The shuttle’s triage containers provided blankets, pillows, and two cots she tied together. No point sleeping on the sand. Pentapods can’t be the only critters scurrying about. And I tend to toss when I sleep.
As the sun dropped toward the horizon, Krista built a small campfire using the legs of a medical stool as kindling. Tomorrow I’ll find something local to burn. Can’t burn up all the supplies. She filleted the anunu and laid it on a flat stone in the middle of the fire. Almost immediately Krista was greeted with a long, sharp mew.
Ah, a dinner guest, Krista smiled. The cat mewed a second time from across the small stream. In his mouth was a lifeless furry creature. Krista rose to her feet. Cats don’t like water, I’ll help him— Krista watched in disbelief as the cat bounded along the edge of the stream, then into the water. He ducked his head into the stream and shook the lifeless creature left and right. Cats do not like water. Cats do not wash off their —
The cat easily swam the rest of the way across the stream and shook itself and its prey several more times.
A swimming cat? She thought. A swimming cat, bringing hors d'oeuvres to dinner. What else?
The cat mewed and made an offering of the fury hedgehog-like creature. Krista politely declined. The cat sat on its haunches with its prey in his mouth and gave Krista a have-it-your-way shrug.
Cats do not shrug, Krista thought, but offered him bits of anunu which were accepted with a purr.
“Do you have a name?”
Immediately the cat stopped eating, brought a paw to his whiskered cheek, and turned his head.
“Okay, we'll think of something.”
The cat purred and went back to the anunu.
“I'm discussing name options with a cat.”
The cat purred again.
While they ate, the sun disappeared in streaks of red and orange over the horizon. Billowing clouds soared skyward where the sun had vanished. A short time later the cat mewed and lifted a paw toward a small yellow moon rising in the east.
“Yes, it’s beautiful.”
The cat purred.
Day one and I’m talking to a cat. What the hell? “Hey, cat want dessert?” Krista questioned as she peeled the rind off of one of the bellberries. The fruit inside was deep violet with minute bumps. For a second Krista considered offering the first bite to Cat to see if there were any adverse effects. Then reconsidered and took a small, delicious nip. Vanilla and cinnamon — unbelievable. Make this into ice cream or a candy bar and Krista Tay would be a hero throughout the galaxy. She juggled the bellberry from one hand to the other and peeled off a second sliver. Oh, even better. But that’s it for now. Two small bits. Have to make sure there are no side effects.
Krista rinsed the shuttle's eating implements in the stream and washed the cooking stone. The yellow moon was joined by a larger, white, pocked companion. As they rose higher she returned to the shuttle and locked it with her voice command.
Exhausted, Krista stretched out on the cots and gazed at the heavens.
Busy day. But I did okay. . . I wonder how far away the Erebus is now?
I wonder what everyone is . . . Just as Krista began to lose herself to a bout of sadness Cat leaped onto the cot, pawed the blanket, spun around twice, and snuggled in next to Krista’s shoulder with a long, drawn-out purr.
The cat is crazy, Krista thought as she crawled under a blanket.
First night on a new world and I’m sleeping with a cat. Things have got to improve.
Krista petted. Cat purred. Together they fell to sleep to the breaking surf as the moons crossed the sky.
Exhausted, neither noticed the parts of Iuama that come alive with the night. Around their cot and along the shore tiny crimson petals peeked between the grains of sand and sent spiraling tendrils toward the ocean.
The rock wall behind the waterfall began to glow and then burst into an aqua-green bioluminescence. Tiny insects swarmed about the vegetation creating a cacophony of twills and clicks.
Above and further away – in the field of reeds and high grass came the sounds of the hunter and the squeal of the hunted. Eating and being eaten. At least for one night, territories would be claimed. Mates called. Accepted and rejected. Krista turned in her sleep murmuring. So much to learn.
A moonlit ocean wave rushed toward the shore, crested, broke, and covered the crimson sand in a smother of white foam.