Hunter, Prey
By Sapphire
Disclaimer in part 1
Chapter 13 – ChoicesWhen Hunter returned to consciousness, he became aware that he was resting in a depression in the sand. The sun was shining warmly on his unprotected body. He felt worse than ever in his life, all his nerve cells seemed to be on fire.
Memory returned slowly and even then it was patchy at best. After John and his brothers had returned from their rescue mission in Germany, Hunter had been exhausted. In less than a day, he had stimulated a fever in John, had changed hosts twice and healed a major trauma to Gordon's body. He had taken as much energy as he dared from Gordon and John, but even then he knew that he would need a couple of days to return to peek efficiency. Of course, he had tried to hide this from John – the human didn't need another worry – but somehow the young man had guessed his condition anyway.
In the last couple of days he had come to understand that for all their differences, John and he still shared quite a few character traits. John made an excellent host and Hunter even had started to wonder if once everything was over, John would agree to remain his host in the future. His space ship's hyper drive was almost burned out and he knew that he would never be able to return back home. If he had to stay on Earth, he could do much worse than living with John Tracy. One thing was sure, it would never be dull.
But then it wouldn't really be fair to the human. Being a host entailed a tremendous amount of trust. Hunter's control over a host's body meant that John would trust him with his life twenty-four hours a day. So far, Hunter hadn't really given him a choice. It was one thing to trust somebody in a life or death situation, but something else in everyday life.
Another disadvantage was that John would never be alone. Wherever he went, whatever he did, Hunter would be with him. The only real privacy John could have was when he, Hunter, would leave his body for a time, something that was not exactly pleasant for him.
So he had decided not to ask him.
Besides, it wasn't very likely that he would be able to survive the confrontation with his prey. If the only way to take out the other alien was to die, he was willing to sacrifice himself.
When John had gone after his father, he had hoped that it would turned out not to be the one to host his prey. He didn't know if he would be able to fight if the other was indeed inside Jeff Tracy's body.
Of course, with the way his luck was going lately, it had taken him only a second to find the protein marker in Jeff Tracy's blood that was undisputable proof that the other man was indeed host to one of his race. He remembered attempting to return the feeler he had sent out from John's body, when he realized that his prey had also sent out a probe and also had found out about his presence.
There had been no other choice. He needed to attack.
Fighting his prey inside a human's body would be a fight for the life of the host. His prey had no scruples harming the host, knowing that this would force Hunter to repair any damage the other one had caused, taking away time he would normally use to fight his opponent.
It would be difficult at the best of times – and these were not the best of times.
Hunter remembered these thoughts were the last before he had just woken up.
So, what had happened?
If he had fought the other and lost, he would be dead. There was no doubt about it.
If he had fought him and won, he shouldn't be in a depression in the sand, but in Jeff's body making sure that the damage caused by the other was healed.
In either case, he should know what had happened. So, why did he have a gap in his memory?
He sensed a human hand touch his body. It took only a second for him to identify the hand as John's. Taking the gesture as an invitation, he started to sift through the skin cells into the human's body. The protection a host body brought immediately soothed his hurting body.
First, he automatically accessed John's physical condition. Relieved Hunter noticed that nothing seemed to be amiss and he made contact with John's eyes and ears.
What he saw was something he certainly hadn't expected.
They were still outside at the beach. Most of John's family had gathered around. And just off the beach hovered a Class Two Interstellar Expedition Cluster.
If Hunter had possessed a jaw, it would have dropped.
Where had they come from?
Hunter had been sure that he and his prey had been the only Aviads in this sector of the galaxy.
"Hey, buddy, how do you feel?" John asked quietly, concern colouring his voice.
I AM FINE
He felt how John laughed softly at that. "Try another one. Honestly, how are you?"
Hunter thought about it. He still hurt, but a quick self-assessment revealed that there was no permanent damage. With time and rest, he would heal. He decided to answer John in a more truthful manner.
I WILL LIVE
"Good to hear that."
WHERE DID THEY COME FROM
Hunter couldn't contain his curiosity any longer. He formed a small arrow, pointing to what he meant with 'they'.
"Good question." John took a step closer to the Cluster's lead pod. "Hunter would like to know where you came from. What are you doing here? He told me earlier that there would be no other ship anywhere close-by."
A text appeared on the lead pod's hull.
WE ARE HERE TO STUDY YOUR PLANET
An expedition mission. Hunter hadn't known that there had been one close-by. But then, the galaxy was a big place and he couldn't know about every expedition in this sector. He had just assumed because there had been some expeditions before to this sector who had returned empty handed, there were no others planned. An understandable mistake on his side but one that now had proven fortunate.
HOW IS YOU FATHER JOHN AND WHERE IS THE OTHER ONE
"Dad," John eyes turned to his father. "How do you feel?"
The oldest Tracy stood next to his son Scott. Hunter was by now apt enough in reading the human face to interpret Jeff's expression as one who was not happy about something but knew that there wasn't much he could do at the moment.
"I'm all right, son. Or, rather, I think I will be now."
He turned to the lead pod and addressed it. "I think we'll need some more explanations. If you don't mind, we should move to the house. Most of us would be more comfortable there."
oooooo
About half an hour later, everybody – human and alien alike – had settled around the swimming pool. Even though the cluster ship wasn't particularly big, it still would have had some problems fitting into the living room or father's study upstairs. As the pool deck had nice and comfortable chairs aplenty it made for a good compromise. Even Alan was there in a way, thanks to Brains who had quickly set up a portable communication monitor.
John had started by telling his story and now came to the part where he had found his father on the beach.
"So, what were you doing there, Dad?" He asked, turning to his father.
Jeff Tracy sighed.
"I knew something was wrong with me for a couple of days. They were little things really: I felt tired all the time, had dizzy spells, headaches, a slight fever. I thought at first I had caught a flu or something, so I had Brains take a blood sample, but nothing showed up, except some weird protein markers Brains couldn't quite identify. I told Brains to keep quiet about it, as I didn't want to bother you boys."
A round of protest interrupted Jeff, who smiled weakly. John wondered what his father had been thinking, but then he realized that he just displayed the typical 'tough it out' trait the Tracys were so famous for. Nobody wanted to worry any other members of the family unnecessarily, so they all tried to be quiet if they figured it was nothing major.
Jeff held up his hand and the protests stopped.
"Thanks, boys. Anyway, I finally got an answer to my question of what was wrong with me when I began hearing things this morning. A voice but no real words, not then. I thought I was starting to hallucinate."
John grinned knowing the feeling only too well. Hunter had said that manipulating the eardrums so he could form understandable words was far more complicated than writing the words on the retina. The only understandable word Hunter had managed so far was the one time he had called John to get his attention after Gordon had been shot.
"You boys were due back from Germany, and so I decided to leave the desk, hoping I would be able to figure out what was wrong with me before you returned. I was at the beach when I finally realized that somebody somehow tried to communicate with me. And that this somebody was inside of me.
"I was still trying to work out what was going on, when John showed up, and then rest you know."
"So, what's going to happen next?" Scott asked.
WE TAKE THE CRIMINAL TO FACE TRIAL
HE WILL BE PUNISHED
The space ship had collected the alien who had been inside of Jeff and deposited him in one of the egg-shaped pods before they had gone to the pool deck. John didn't know if he had been awake, or even alive. He found he didn't really care.
"What about Hunter?" John asked softly.
He had a bad feeling about the answer to that question. When the alien in the lead pod had asked him if he would let Hunter stay with him, John had said yes. He already had suspected that this was more than a formality, more than a just reconfirmation that he, John, was, after all, a willing host.
Still he had given his permission. Hunter had saved his life and, even more important to John, that of his brother. If Hunter was to be punished because of it, John would give his damnest to prevent that. If that meant that he was stuck forever with the alien, so be it. There were worse things in life than having something inside of him that was able to fix any injuries to his body, heal all sicknesses and make him stronger and faster. It would certainly be useful when he went out on rescues.
Besides, Hunter was an okay guy for an alien.
John thought it wasn't really fair basically to exile Hunter on Earth, just because he had tried to save a stranger's life. But it looked like that was going to be the case.
HE TOOK A HOST WITHOUT PERMISSION
"He did that to save my life. There was no time to ask. Without him, I would be dead. My brother would be dead."
John looked over to Gordon, who nodded grimly. Again he faced the alien ship.
"Besides, I have given him permission on the beach. That has to count for something," John continued.
Hunter, who had been silent up to now, flashed a sudden message to John,
YOU GAVE PERMISSION THREE TIMES
IT IS THE LAW
"In fact," John went on without missing a beat. "I gave him permission three times. Hunter says there is some kind of law that applies to that."
Judging the reaction of a slimy alien encapsulated in an alien space ship that looked pretty much like a floating egg wasn't easy, but John still got the feeling that the visitor was surprised.
THREE TIMES
"Yes. The first time was on Thunderbird 5. I wanted to know if I could trust him, so I asked him to leave me, then I invited him back in. The second time was after he had saved Gordon. And the third time was just now on the beach."
WHAT ABOUT THE SECOND HOST
For a moment John wondered if the alien was asking about his father, but then he realized that it must mean Gordon. After all, he hadn't been asked either if he wanted to have an alien inside of him.
"He can come and stay with me as often as he wants," Gordon said with little enthusiasm.
John hoped that aliens weren't too apt in reading the human body language. Even though Gordon had been saved by Hunter, John's younger brother had been pretty grossed out when he had seen what the alien really looked like. John knew he wasn't exactly eager to have him back. But he also knew that Gordon would still do the right thing if he had to.
THEN HE IS FREE TO GO
tbc
That's it. Hunter is free to go back home, everybody is safe.
'Epilogue' to follow