Virmire - Part 2

I stood at the edge of the boardwalk where it met the sandy beach, and watched my husband lift his bags into the back of his personal ARV. He could easily have had someone drive him, or called for a low orbit shuttle to bring him around to the other side of the planet, but he preferred to get himself to work. He followed the coastline, weaving though sharp walled, watery canyons and zipping along the surface of the ocean where there was no beach to follow.

His Air Repulsion Vehicle was top of the line. It was designed for use on water worlds were travel over land was difficult. Virmire's thick jungles and many deep gorges made for a nightmarish trip in land vehicles. It only made sense to use the water to our advantage.

Ben finished with his bags and turned to walk casually over the sand towards me. I uncrossed my arm and tried to smile. Truthfully, I was close to tears at seeing him go off again. He could see that and tilted my chin up, forcing me to look at him.

"I won't be gone long, Snow," he told me, with a careful smile. "We are having a conference with the council about our progress and then things slow down for a while. We won't be continuing with construction of the kinetic barriers until we've measured another storm. I'll be home in a few days."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," I lied. "I hope the meeting goes well. Give my regards to the council."

We kissed, and I was glad when he ended it, because I knew I would not have been able to. He was so much stronger than me. The side panel of the vehicle lifted and Ben sunk comfortably into his seat. I watched as he worked the controls and the vessel rose a few feet off the ground sending eddies of sand swirling about my feet. He turned and grinned at me through the window, blew me a kiss, waved and went whizzing off over the shallow water of the cove.

I stood there looking out of over the water for a long time after he disappeared around the cliff and out into open water, waiting for the high pitched whine of his engine to fade away. It was a clear and cloudless day. Far off over the water I could see the tops of storm clouds building on the horizon and knew that I would be in for a show later in the afternoon.

Determined not to think about all the things I was unhappy about, I kicked off my sandals and stepped off the boardwalk and onto the beach. The sand was edging towards hot already. There was little wind today to cool it off. But still, it was lovely between the toes and I walked a good distance away from the pillar, revelling in the feeling. I stopped and gazed up at the sky just in time to see a flock of those huge, leathery winged birds soar over. I realized I had no idea what they were called. Did they even have names yet?

There was no sentient life on the planet that we were aware of, though the vast depths of the oceans had yet to be explored. Several thousand years ago, the Asari had colonized a planet only to discover one hundred years later that it as already occupied by the Dendora, a minor species who willingly joined Citadel space, but only once the Asari left their planet. Of course the Asari did, I wondered if a similar story might take place here.

I hoped not. Humanity didn't have the luxury of hundreds of years the way so many other species did. Things had to get done in a lifetime or risk not getting done at all. Of course humans now lived nearly hundred years longer than they once did, but it was still nothing compared to the Asari, who were known to live for over a thousand years.

Suddenly, I had a brainwave. Was there any reason that I couldn't start naming things? Sure, everything discovered so far had been catalogued and given scientific names, but no one called a dog Canis lupis familiaris. I was a writer. It wasn't a skill that just went away because I was now living on some backwater planet. Had I just thought of something to occupy my time?

I knew it wasn't much, but I was determined to keep my head up. All those vid files Ben had left for me, snapshot images of strange ocean creatures and brilliant winged avian, I now had a reason to look at them. I wasn't allowed to go out exploring on my own, a condition of living on a planet that was not technically colonized yet, but Ben wasn't the only one in this relationship with money. I had quite a fortune of my own and now I had something to spend it on. Remote aerial camera droned, submersibles, even the means to broadcast my findings to the rest of Citadel Space.

As the possibilities whirled through my mind, I found myself stepping out into the warm, shallow water of the cove. Virmire had no moons and therefore had no tides, so water in the inlets and channels tended to collect the heat of the day and retain it. The constant thunderstorms were what replenished things and kept the natural cycles of the planet active. The amount of life that existed in these shallows alone was staggering.

I was knee deep in the water when I stopped. There was a noise behind me. A splashing sound that seemed to be headed towards me. I turned and found one of those bizarre, four-legged creatures wading in my general direction.

It was tall, almost reaching my chin, smaller than some of the ones Ben had seen that were easily over two meters tall. As always, the first image that came to mind was of a table. It head, or what I assumed was a head, was flat and round. From the base of that head, or whatever, was what I guessed was body, though there wasn't much of it. It seemed to be merely an anchor for its four solid legs. The legs were sturdy and placed evenly around the body, meaning it could go in any direction it pleased. They were tipped with sharp points, and though I had never seen one eat, I guess it used these to spear prey.

I had never seen one this close before. They were not shy and had always seemed to be unaware of what went on around them, I just had never bothered to try to get a good look. Now, I edged closer, trying to find the creature's face. I noticed now that what we had always thought was a hard carapace, like a crabs, was really leather-like skin. The only places that seemed hard were the lower portions of its legs. I'd always just assumed they were larger version of the crustaceans on Earth. Maybe reading the classification reports would be useful after all, even if it was a bunch of scientific mumbo jumbo.

Slowly, I circled around the creature, studying it closely. I went around it twice before finally coming to the realization that it had no face. It had no eyes, ears, nose or mouth that I could discern. I had seen thousands of species in my years living on the Citadel and the only other one I had seen that lacked these features were the Hanar, but it was easy to ignore that fact due to the technology they used that allowed their usually silent communication to be heard.

This creature was silent. Completely silent. The only sounds that came from this animal was the gentle splashing as it moved smoothly through the water. I wonder how it communicated with others of its kind, or if it did at all. Nothing seemed to spook them even when one of their numbers was killed in close proximity, according to Ben. And they were easily killed. We'd learned quickly to be careful around them because one accidental blow would cause them to explode into a pulpy mess. I recalled Ben's guilt when, in our first weeks here, we were skipping rocks across the water and one struck a creature. One second it was there, the next it was gone. How fragile life could be.

I wondered if anyone had ever had skin on skin contact with them. One thing I did know about them was that thus far no attempt at study beyond observation had been made due to their delicate nature. On a sudden whim I reach out a hand to touch the creature's smooth, leathery head. It was surprisingly cool considering the heat of the day. It was also beautifully smooth, like velvet or arasilk. There was also a slight tingle in my fingers as I stroked the top of the flatness.

Without warning, the tingle turned to a burn and shot up the length of my arm. My head was filled with intense images for a brief moment before the burning tingling disappeared and I was able to take a step back.

Fearfully, I moved back a little further, retreating away from the creature and back to the beach. I studied my finger tips and saw no evidence of damage. The images I had seen lingered in my head and I closed my eyes to focus on them and was surprised by what I saw. Myself. It was me standing in the water with my arm outstretched. It was a strange image to perceive as there was no colour or texture, simply existence. I didn't know of any other way to explain it.

But that wasn't all. There was also a feeling with the image. One of wonder and fascination. Exactly what I had been feeling as I put my hand out to touch the creature.

I snapped my eyes open and found the creature had come closer, seemingly aware of another's presence for the first time. As I watched, it did something that I had never seen one of these animals do. It lowered itself onto two legs, almost like a bow, and turned its body back and forth.

What on Earth was it doing? Did it want me to touch it again? Was it trying to communicate? Not wishing to walk away from such an opportunity, I took a tentative step forward. When I was within arms reach again, I stretched out my hand and then stopped when I felt the same tingling start again in my finger tips.

This time the images came more slowly, rather than in one shocking burst. Then I realized what I was really experiencing. I was seeing the world through the mind of the creature. It saw through emotions. It formed images based on the feelings coming from a person. No wonder it had been oblivious to me before. It needed contact to create a link. After that it could send its own emotions to me. It felt welcoming and happy, and my heart burst with joy as I communed with this creature on such a personal level.

How long this exchange lasted I will never know, but it changed me. I had someone else to exist with.