Hawaii Five-0 is property of CBS and its creators
Based on the filk "Little Fuzzy Animals" by Frank Hayes. No copyright infringement intended. Google it and you'll get audio and lyrics. It's cute!
Danny Williams stepped off the ship onto Bailey's 7 and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "God, this place is horrible."
"I thought no place was worse than New Hawaii," Steve McGarrett, head of the Five-0 task force, teased.
"Neither did I. I was wrong. New Hawaii's hot all the time, and there's sand everywhere, and people are obsessed with pineapple, but this-" Danny made a sweeping gesture, encompassing the marshland where the ship had landed and the dense jungle surrounding the clearing "-this is like the worst of New Hawaii magnified. It's not only hot, it's so humid you can practically eat the air"-he made a slurping and scooping motion to illustrate his point-"and it doesn't just have jungle, which I'm sure is home to all sorts of bugs just dying to eat me alive, it's got this, this," he lifted his foot with a sucking sound, "this swamp is just too much."
Steve decided to ignore the rant. "Okay, Chin, what've we got?"
Chin Ho Kelly tapped his tablet. "There are two sentient species: the demon flies, which are large, insectoid creatures, and the manticores, which are, well, manticores."
Steve nodded sagely. "Creatures with the body of a lion, the head of a man, and wings like a bat. They're why we're here." Five-0 had gotten word that manticores were being sold as slaves. Since Five-0 was charged with stopping smuggling and other exploitation of alien species, the case fell to them. Hence, this trip to Bailey's 7. "What else?"
Chin consulted his tablet again. "No other species of note except," he frowned, "'little fuzzy animals'."
"'Little fuzzy animals'!? What the hell are those?" Danny demanded.
"I'm not sure," Chin admitted. "The entry's a little vague."
"I guess we'll find out," Kono Kalakaua said cheerfully. "At any rate, they don't sound very threatening." Danny had to concede her point.
"So, where are these slavers?" Lou Grover, the fifth member of the task force, asked.
Steve pulled up a map on his own tablet. "Intel's pretty sketchy, but reports put the operation approximately here," he tapped a spot on the upper right of his tablet.
Danny peered over his shoulder. "That's at least a day's walk from here. Couldn't we land any closer?"
"No," Steve said. "There aren't any known spots big enough and stable enough to land a ship without tripping any security measures the slavers may have in place."
"So?" Danny said.
"So, we don't have any idea how big the operation is, how many of them there are, or what kind of fortifications there are," Steve explained patiently. "We can't just go in there guns blazing."
"Never stopped you before," Danny grumbled.
"Steve's right," Lou said. "We need to get the lay of the land first."
"You talked him into this, didn't you?" Danny said. Lou was a former SWAT captain on Aloha Station, the governmental center of New Hawaii. He tended to be much more level-headed than Steve, a former SEAL (Space, Air, and Land, adapted from the Old Earth force of the same name). "How come he listens to you and not me?"
"Can we just get on with this?" Steve said. "As Danny pointed out, we have a long walk ahead of us."
Chin consulted his tablet one last time. "If we can find some of the demon flies, that would help. They're supposed to be excellent scouts, and they speak English."
"I suspect that's going to be tough," Lou said. "They're probably pretty wary of humans after what happened with the manticores."
Steve held up a hand. "I'm not sure it's going to be that hard at all. Listen."
The team strained their ears. Sure enough, there was a faint buzzing coming from the jungle around them. As they listened, it grew closer.
"Come on out," Steve called. "We won't hurt you."
Suddenly, half a dozen forms erupted from the jungle. Demon flies surrounded the five humans, darting at them, then darting away. They were huge, at least as tall as Steve, maybe as tall as Lou. They looked rather like dragonflies, but their wings were black with red swirls flowing over them in ever-changing patterns, like the fires of hell. Clearly, the wings were what had given the creatures their name.
Danny reached for his gun, but Steve stopped him. "Don't shoot! They're trying to scare us, not hurt us."
Lou swatted ineffectually at the air. "They're doing a damn good job."
Steve ducked as one of the flies came at him. "Stop! We just want to talk!"
The flies paused, forming a loose circle around the humans. "What do you want?" the largest buzzed, clearly the leader.
"We're looking for the slavers," Steve said. There was a confused buzz. "Bad men." This spurred a rise in the intensity of the buzzing. Clearly, the flies knew what "bad men" meant. Steve held up his tablet and pointed at the area he'd indicated before. "We think they're here. They're holding the manticores."
The leader hummed thoughtfully. "How do we know you're not part of them?"
Steve showed his badge. "We're not. We're Five-0."
"I don't think that's going to mean much to them," Danny murmured softly.
It didn't. "We don't know what this 'Five-0' is, but the other men shot at us. You have not."
"And we won't," Steve assured them. "We want your help."
There was more thoughtful buzzing. "What can we do?"
"We were hoping you could show us where these other men are," Steve said.
More buzzing. "We can do that," the leader said. He indicated one of the others "... will show you." The leader made a sound that was clearly meant to be the other's name, but it was unintelligible to the members of Five-0.
"I'm afraid we can't understand you. Can we call you something else?"
The fly made what appeared to be a shrug. "Call me whatever you want. It doesn't matter to me."
"We'll call you Buzz," Danny said decisively. He made a sweeping motion for the fly to go ahead. "Lead the way."
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After a few hours, they stopped to rest, Buzz flying ahead to find the best path through the dense undergrowth. Steve had had the foresight to bring machetes, and he and Chin were hacking a path as best they could, but it was slow going.
Danny felt uncomfortable, like they were being watched. It had been growing for some time, and was now almost overwhelming. He heard a rustling in the undergrowth and jumped up, hand on his gun in a move that would do Steve proud.
Chin put a steadying hand on his arm. "Easy there, Danny. It's probably just Buzz."
Danny was doubtful. Buzz had gone off in a different direction. Still, there was no reason to think whatever it was was a threat. Probably just one of those "little fuzzy animals" Chin had talked about.
Sure enough, a small creature hopped into view. "Awww, isn't it cute?" Kono cooed. "It looks just like Mr. Hoppy."
Danny looked at the creature. He supposed it looked like his daughter's rabbit, if it were pink and purple, and had outsized hind legs, and fangs, and teeth like a shark, and long, razor-sharp claws. On second thought, it looked nothing like Mr. Hoppy. He looked at Kono in amazement. "Are you nuts? That thing is hardly cute!"
"I don't know, it's kind of endearing, in it's own way," Chin said. Danny switched his incredulous look to the other man.
"I'm with Danny," Lou said. "That thing looks pretty nasty."
Kono picked it up and snuggled it. "You're not nasty, are you? You're sweet."
"Kono, put that down before you get hurt!" Danny cried, horrified. "Tell her, Chin!"
Chin consulted his tablet. "There's nothing in here that says they're dangerous. I'm sure it's fine."
Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Steve, tell them!" He implored their leader.
Steve looked doubtful. "I'm not sure," he said. "It doesn't look too bad,"-he squinted at it, as if trying to get a clear look-"I don't think. But Danny and Lou are right. Best to be careful."
Kono ignored them, the creature resting on her shoulder. It nuzzled her neck, then sank its teeth in. Kono seemed oblivious.
Danny grabbed the machete from Chin and used it to swipe the creature off of Kono. It landed with a snarl and hopped off.
"Brah, what did you do that for?" Kono asked.
This kept getting more and more unbelievable. "He was sucking your blood!" Danny exclaimed.
Kono put a hand up to her neck. "I don't feel anything."
Danny peered at her neck, surprised not to see the gaping wound he was sure the creature had left. Looking closely, he could see what seemed to be a freshly healed wound, but it faded further as he looked.
He sighed. Clearly, something was going on with Kono, and she wasn't going to listen to reason. "Just—don't do it again, okay?"
Steve was frowning in the direction the creature had gone. "Yeah, Danny's right. I know it looks harmless, but there's just something. . ." he shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Just give them a wide berth."
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That night, Danny woke with the feeling that something wasn't right. Without moving, he reached out with his senses, but they felt dulled. Sounds seemed like they were coming through water, distorted and delayed. He was peering through darkness that seemed darker and heavier than it should. His hand against the ground felt like it was swaddled in layers of cotton. Danny closed his eyes and breathed deeply, then opened them again. Things were better, clearer, but something was still off. He felt something move off to his right and turned that direction, reaching for his gun. He saw one of the creatures from earlier hopping across the clearing, Kono following. "Dammit, Kono," Danny hissed, "leave them alone!"
Kono didn't respond, and Danny noticed that she was acting strangely. Her eyes were focused straight ahead, and her movements were jerky, as if she were sleepwalking. "Kono!" he hissed again. "Kono, wake up!"
Kono continued walking, but the creature turned to him. Danny could see its eyes, shining, luminous, black pools with no iris or whites to break it up. He felt like he was falling into them, his world narrowing to everything except those eyes, beckoning him. He started to rise, but his instincts were screaming at him not to.
Just as Danny was about to give in, a shot rang out, and the creature flopped over with a scream. Danny blinked, coming back to himself, and looked over to see Lou with his gun leveled, ready to shoot again if the creature so much as twitched. "Thanks, man," Danny said.
"No problem," Lou said.
Kono looked around, confused. "What happened?"
"It was that creature," Danny said. "You were following it. I think it had some sort of control over you. It almost got me."
The others were awake by now. "Good shooting, Lou," Steve said. "How'd you know to kill it."
"I couldn't sleep, so I got to talking to Buzz. He warned me about them. Said they were bloodsuckers and telepathic. They mesmerize people while they're sleeping, rob them of free will, then suck them dry. Or they'll fool folks into thinking they're harmless, then attack," Lou said grimly.
Danny put the pieces together. "Like what happened early. But why didn't you and I see it?"
"I guess we're somewhat immune," Lou said. "Too hardheaded to be fooled."
"Not immune enough," Danny said, shaking his head to clear it of the last remaining cobwebs.
Lou holstered his gun. "Well, now we know what to do with those 'little fuzzy animals.'"
"Yeah," Danny said, "get those little furry buggers before they get us."
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A/N: So, is this series worth continuing? I've got a few ideas, but I'm not sure how interested you are. I'll continue with my others in any case.
A/N: Thanks to Joanne McKenzie for the flat cats! I'll put them on the the H50xenofiles FB page. Little Fuzzy Animals, anyone? ;)