The Felines of Pern Chapter 2

Why would you want to talk to the felines? Golanth sounded puzzled.

"So they won't attack anybody else, the way they attacked us," F'lessan replied as he made his slow way out of the AIVAS facility.

Oh. That sounds like a very good idea. The bronze seemed satisfied by that answer. But when Tai arrived on Zaranth a few minutes later, she was not satisfied at all.

"F'lessan, have you lost your mind?" she burst out. "Look at you!" She gestured toward his injured leg, than toward Golanth's injuries. "Look at him! Who in his right mind would want a second helping of that?"

"I don't want a second helping, and that's the point," F'lessan protested. "If we can make contact with the felines and talk them out of attacking people, then no one will ever get hurt like this again. Including you and me!"

"You think it will be that easy to talk a pack of mindless killers out of killing?" she shot back.

"They can't be mindless," F'lessan argued. "The very first felines were treated with mentasynth, just like the doll-fins and the very first dragons. Do you think doll-fins and dragons are mindless?"

"Mindless or not, it's the 'killers' part that scares me," Tai said. "All four of us had a very close call. I almost lost you, and if that had happened, then Golanth would have gone between and I would have lost him, too. You haven't even healed enough to walk yet, and now you're talking about going into the forest alone so you can find the creatures that wanted to kill us and eat us, so you can talk to them? They probably don't even speak our language!"

"Golanth can fix that," F'lessan replied. "He can speak into their minds, and he can tell me what they're saying."

"There's no need for that," Tai scowled. "I can tell you exactly what they're going to say when they see you coming – 'Lunch is served! Pass the salt.' F'lessan, when you were fighting those felines, did you hit your head on a rock or something? That would explain a few things."

F'lessan smiled. "Actually, some people think my mother accidentally dropped me on my head when I was a baby. They say it would explain a lot of things. But I've been thinking about this, and it makes sense. If the felines are as smart as the doll-fins, then there must be a way to communicate with them, and there must be a way to reason with them. We don't know how to do those things because nobody ever tried it before."

"And you're determined to be the first one to try, even if it costs you your life and your dragon's life," she said sourly.

"Somebody has to try it!" he exclaimed. "Golanth and I are no good for fighting Thread anymore. We can't just sit there and watch the herdbeasts graze all day. We need to do something useful, something that will make a difference."

"Okay, now I get it," Tai said slowly. "Your mother went back four hundred Turns in time to bring back the Oldtimers and save Pern. Your father unified the Holds, Halls, and Weyrs so he could save Pern. That's the example you grew up with, and you think you need to walk in their footsteps. You think it's your turn to do great things and save Pern, or at least parts of it."

F'lessan was incredulous. "Do you really think I'd take on a project like this because I want to be like Lessa and F'lar? I thought you knew me better than that!"

"I'm not blaming you!" she exclaimed. "You can't help it – it's in your blood. Riding a bronze dragon would be enough for most men, but not for you. Rediscovering Honshu Weyrhold would be enough for most men, but not for you. You need to write your name in Pern's history in great big letters, like your mother and your father did. Even if it kills you."

She seemed so certain! For a moment, F'lessan doubted himself. He mentally asked Golanth, "Is she right about me?"

Your feelings would not be hurt if you earned acclaim for this project, but your true motive is to prevent another rider like you, or another dragon like me, from getting hurt by the felines again.

F'lessan relaxed. A clever person could fool just about anyone, including himself, but no one could fool his own dragon. Tai looked startled for a moment, and he knew that Golanth had relayed his thoughts to Zaranth, who had passed them on to her own rider.

"Okay," she said at last. "You're not trying to get the Harpers to write a song about you; that's the good news. I still think it's a crazy idea, even a suicidal idea. Would you be upset if I talked to some people you respect, and asked them to talk you out of it?"

"Like you, I can tell you exactly what they'd say," F'lessan grinned. "My father will say, 'He's a grown man and he can make his own decisions, even if they seem to be insane.' My mother will say, 'He's out of my Weyr, so I can't influence him, much though I might like to.' Was there anybody else you were going to talk to?"

Tai pouted. "Am I that obvious?"

"Well, I know you weren't going to ask Jaxom about it! He's as much of a risk-taker as I am, maybe worse. If you wanted an ally against your Weyrmate, he should be your last choice."

"F'lessan, I don't –" She broke off and hugged him tightly. "I don't want allies against you," she said into his shoulder. "I just don't want to lose you! One close call was one too many for me."

He hugged her back. "Then work with me on this, so we can make it happen. I don't want any more close calls, either. I can live with being hurt if I have to, but if anything happened to Golanth again…"

She backed off and looked him in the eye. "Work with you? When am I supposed to find the time for that? Isn't the telescope project, and the restoration of Honshu, and helping with the Monaco Bay refugees, and helping you and your dragon recover from serious injuries enough to keep the both of us completely busy?"

He smirked. "It would be enough for most men, but not for me."

"F'lessan, you are impossible!" she burst out, and hugged him again, more tenderly this time.

He is not impossible, Zaranth added. He is just very unlikely.

o

The two of them sat beside each other at matching computer consoles, looking up every reference they could find about the great cats.

"This one says that the felines were descended from an Old-Earth creature called a cheetah," Tai said. "It also says that cheetahs were solitary hunters, not pack hunters."

"It was definitely a pack that attacked us," F'lessan countered.

"Maybe they've figured out that hunting in packs is more efficient," Tai suggested.

"Or maybe they just like company, now that they're more intelligent than they used to be," F'lessan said. "I think most intelligent creatures are social creatures, aren't they? Doll-fins like being with other doll-fins and with people, dragons like being with people, people like being with dragons and doll-fins…" He paused. "But if they are usually solitary hunters, and if they can set aside their basic nature to cooperate for a greater goal, that strengthens my belief that they're intelligent, doesn't it?"

Tai shook her head. "How can you be so detached? They tried their best to kill us and eat us, and you call it 'a greater goal.' What would you call it if they had actually killed me?"

"War," he said grimly. She nodded, somewhat mollified, and returned to her keyboard.

"What else did you find about those cheetahs?" he asked.

"They were the fastest land animals on Old Earth," she answered. "They weren't good for long-distance running, but in a short burst, they could overtake anything."

"Even a Ruathan runnerbeast?" F'lessan was skeptical.

"Even a Ruathan runnerbeast," she nodded. "They weren't the biggest or the strongest of their kind, but nothing could match them for raw speed. It also says they usually had litters of cubs each year, not just one, so they could so they reproduce pretty quickly."

"That's not much of a help to us," F'lessan muttered. "They've had thousands of Turns to fill the Southern continent. The land must be overflowing with them."

She shrugged. "If they're naturally solitary, then maybe they keep their own numbers down by fighting over the best hunting grounds. With some species, when a new dominant male takes over, he kills all the young that were sired by his predecessor. Or maybe there just isn't enough food to support a huge population. I'm guessing. There's so much that we don't know about them!"

"A food shortage would explain why they'd tangle with a couple of dragons," he mused. "They might have been desperate for food."

"If they're starving and desperate, then you'll have no luck reasoning with them," Tai pointed out. "A creature who needs food isn't going to listen to reason, no matter how intelligent they are."

"My memories of the attack are kind of blurry," he said, "but I got the impression that the felines were really skinny."

"That's normal for cheetahs. See?" she answered, and showed him a picture on her screen.

"It doesn't look that dangerous," he mused. "It looks like a big wherry could pounce on it and carry it off."

"I wouldn't want to be the wherry that tried it," Tai answered. "You know what those jaws and those claws can do, even better than I do. What's your plan for avoiding those jaws and claws?"

He pondered for a moment before answering. "If they always hunt in packs, then I've got no plan. We agree on one thing: those felines are far too dangerous to approach in a group. My plan mostly involves finding one of them by himself, and starting a conversation."

"What makes you think the feline will want to talk to you?" she asked.

He turned his seat to face her. "A few months ago, Jaxom and I had some spare time between our technology lessons. We were poking around in the computer files to see what we could find. He found a list of old Earth expressions and was reading the strange-sounding ones to me. One of them was, 'Curiosity killed the cat.' We tried to outdo each other in thinking up absurd situations where a cat's curiosity might kill it – a hot forge left unattended, the cone of an active volcano, the deck of a small ship during a storm, an open field during Threadfall… you get the idea.

"I don't have the slightest idea where that saying came from, but it makes me think that cats in general are curious. If they think of us as nothing but prey, and suddenly I start talking to it as an equal, with a dragon as an interpreter, I think it will want to know more."

"Unless it's starving," Tai retorted, "in which case it will call for its hunting partners and shout, 'Suppertime!' If there was a safer way to do this, would you think about doing it?"

"What have you got in mind?" he asked.

"Suppose we flew over the forest on Zaranth," she began. "We'd be completely safe from any feline attacks, but she could help us look for felines, and if we find one, she can fly in circles while you try to talk to it."

"That would be safer," he nodded slowly. "I have one small objection and one big one. The small objection is that we'd get dizzy riding a dragon who's flying in circles long enough to have any kind of conversation. The big objection is that it leaves Golanth sitting home alone while I go off on an adventure on somebody else's dragon."

"I haven't heard him being very enthusiastic about this project," she pointed out. "I think he'd be glad for the chance to sit in the sun and let his wounds heal."

"I think that's because I'm taking it for granted that he'll be involved," F'lessan replied. "If we decide to cut him out of the action, I know he'll feel hurt. I've been telling him, over and over again, that his injuries don't change anything, that he's still the most amazing dragon who ever lived. If I turn around and leave him home, he'll think I was lying to him." He paused. "Besides, he got hurt the worst of all of us. He's earned the right to be part of this project because he knows, better than anyone else, what's at stake."

"From an emotional point of view, I see your point," Tai nodded. "But from a strictly logical point of view, a dragon in the forest who can't fly isn't much more than cat food. And please don't tell him I said that!"

"I don't agree with you," he said. "He is not helpless! He's learned how to do telekinesis, so he can protect himself in the forest if he has to."

"That's good if the felines come at him one at a time," she replied, "but what will happen if they swarm him again?"

F'lessan rubbed the edges of his injury for a moment where they itched, then smiled. "We know that a dragon can lift as much as he thinks he can lift, right? What if telekinesis works the same way? What if he can push away as many felines as he thinks he can?"

"I won't let you gamble your life, and Golanth's life, on an untested theory like that," she said firmly.

"Then we'll test it," he decided, and struggled to his feet. "Come with me! We can put him to the test right where he's resting." He mentally communicated his idea to Golanth, who grumbled about having his nap in the sun interrupted. They eventually joined him on the clearing where he had been set down by the other dragons.

"We're going to start with something very easy," F'lessan decided, "and then make it more interesting, a little bit at a time. Golanth, I'm going to throw this rock at you." He bent and picked up a fist-sized rock. "I'll aim for just above your back, so it won't hit you. As soon as you see it coming, I want you to push it away with your mind."

That will be easy. I know how to do that.

F'lessan lobbed his rock, and before it traveled eight feet, it bounced off an invisible nothing and flew back over his head.

"I knew you'd have no trouble with that, Golly! But now we're going to make it a little harder. Tai and I are both going to throw rocks at the same time. Do you think you can push both rocks away?"

Those rocks are small. Two should not be harder than one.

"Then let's find out!" Both people threw their stones at the same time. One flew back instantly; the other joined it a second later.

"That's good, Golanth! Very good. We're going to try it again, and this time, see if you can push away both stones at the same time."

All right. Golanth sounded doubtful. But when the two stones arced toward him, they both ricocheted off an invisible wall and flew off in random directions.

"You did it, Golly! That was great!"

Please do not call me Golly in public.

"Sorry. Okay, we're going to take it up one more level." F'lessan grabbed two Miner apprentices who were passing by, gave them rocks, and gave them their instructions.

"You want us to throw rocks at a dragon?" They were aghast.

"It's okay. You won't aim right at him, you won't hurt him, and he won't hurt you. Golanth, this time, there will be four rocks, two from each side. Here they come! One, two, three, THROW!" The two rocks from F'lessan's side bounced away, quickly followed by the rocks from Tai's side. It wasn't simultaneous, but it was very quick.

"He's really doing it!" Tai sounded both surprised and pleased.

"Golanth, you're doing great!" F'lessan exclaimed. "Is there any limit to how many rocks you can push away at once?"

If I can see them, then I can push them away.

"I'll take that to mean 'no limit.' Now let me ask you this: if we were in the forest and a feline jumped out at us, what would you do?"

I would push it away so it could not hurt you.

"I know you would. What if two of them jumped out at once?"

I would call for help.

"Why wouldn't you just push them both away? You can push multiple rocks away. Is there a difference between a rock and a feline?"

Yes. A rock will not try to bite me.

"I mean, is it harder to push away a feline than it is to push away a rock?"

I suppose not. He sounded very unsure of himself, which was unusual.

"Golanth, are you afraid of those felines?"

I am afraid of what they could do to you. I am afraid that they will hurt you again, and I will not be able to protect you against them.

"Then push them away!" He suddenly flung a rock without warning; it flew away at an odd angle and would have hit Tai on the leg if she hadn't jumped aside.

"We know you can do it, Golanth," she said to him. "You did it with four rocks at once. Can't you push felines away to protect us?"

I hope I will not have to find out.

"I hope so, too," F'lessan said. "But it would have been nice to know for sure."

"So where does this leave your plan?" Tai asked him.

"Pretty much where it was before. I want to meet just one feline at a time, and Golanth feels comfortable protecting me against one feline at a time. We're on the same page. The only thing that's changed is that now I know he can keep me safe against a pack of felines, as long as they throw rocks at us."

"F'lessan, this isn't funny!" she fussed.

He patted his injured leg. "Believe me, I know," he said softly.