Alien Manifesto (22 page)

“
Sister, I remind you of your
obligations to our clan and I hope you will put aside this doomed
romance and do your duty.” Then he vanished, cloaking.

Fearing retaliation I vanished a split second
later. Leaping up onto a nearby ledge I became as still as the
stone ledge on which I was perched. Quieting my breathing and heart
rate, concentrating on my surroundings, waiting for any sign of the
cloaked stealth master, hoping desperately I detected
none.

“
Do you think Human Tom went after
him?” the canine master asked Snarth.

“
I hope not becaussse even I
cannot help him if he killsss the future king of the felinesss,”
Snarth hissed angrily. “They will send every fourth level
assssassssin available to hunt him down. They will not ressst until
he isss dead and anyone who helpsss him azsss well.”

“
Where does that leave us?” asked
the Irishman.

“
That depends on what Human Tom
does,” mewed the female stealth master. “I don’t think my brother
will take vengeance on you because Tom is my mate. But my brother
was as angry as I have ever seen him. I am not so sure that Tom
will let my brother’s insults go, and he will claim vengeance,” she
mewed worriedly.

“
That is a fight I would hate to
take bets on, as to who would win,” woofed the canine
master.

“
My brother has not been on a hunt
for prey in quite some time, not since he was picked to succeed the
king. He is no match for Human Tom in his current
condition.”

“
Snarth,” called SSlice from his
perch on the roof of the cave, “My sensors just detected a small
one manned cloaked ship leaving the planet surface. My apologies
for missing it when it arrived It must be the stealth master
leaving.”

“
Never mind that now, that meansss
either Tom isss dead or he let the feline go,” hissed
Snarth.

As if in answer to the unspoken question of my
fate I decloaked in front of my teammates.

“
Neither, SSlice, I didn’t go
after him. I didn’t know what to do. So rather than make things
worse I jumped up onto that ledge and became a stone. I have no
wish to fight, much less kill what may someday be my
brother-in-law. I am sorry you had to find out about us like this
but we didn’t have time to tell you.”

“
Well thisss callsss for a
celebration,” hissed Snarth with one of his huge tentacle-wiggling
smiles.

“
Hear Hear!” echoed the Irishman
and the canine master in unison.

“
However now isss not the time, we
have a missssion to finisssh,” hissed Snarth, reminding the team
why they were there. “ssSSlice, divide up what’sss left of the
sssearch gridsss and let’sss get on with it, ssshall we. We are
burning daylight,” hissed Snarth. “All teamsss ssshould have enough
sssuppliesss for two more light cyclesss. If we haven’t found the
underground city by nightfall tomorrow, we will rendezvous at the
ssship to resssupply. You have your ordersss, now move
out.”

“
Tom, a word in private if you
pleassse,” hissed Snarth. With a sinking feeling in my stomach, I
waited for the canine master and the Irishman to depart. “Massster
feline, you and ssSSlice ssstart your patrolsss, Tom and I will
catch up,” hissed Snarth.

The sinking feeling in my stomach turned to
dread as the last two team members departed, I waited for what I
felt was sure to be an ass chewing at the very least, perhaps even
my walking papers. I had no idea what to expect.

“
Well Tom thisss hasss been an
interesssting morning hasss it not?” Snarth hissed.

“
Yes sir it has,” I answered,
standing at full attention, waiting, thinking it was coming and
preparing to meet my punishment with the best military bearing I
could muster.

“
Well, I don’t know where to
ssstart. I am not your father, but if I were I would asssk you,
what the hell you think you are doing.”

“
It just happened, sir,” I
answered, staring straight ahead, still at rigid attention,
prepared for the worst.

“
You do realize that felinesss
mate for life?” hissed Snarth. “There isss no divorce. The only way
out isss death. It isss alssso accepted sssocial practice of the
felinesss to kill an unworthy or unfaithful mate.”

“
No sir, I didn’t know that,” I
answered, still at attention and beginning to think I may have made
one of those mistakes that haunt you for life. “For the record sir,
you are the closest thing I have ever had to a father. If you think
our being together is a bad idea then I will break it off before it
goes any further.”

“
Relax, Tom, I am jussst giving
you a hard time along with sssome truthsss you will have to deal
with if you continue your relationssship any further. You are both
adultsss and azsss long azsss your relationssship doesssn’t
interfere with any of the team’s missssionsss you have my
approval,” hissed Snarth.

“
Tom my boy, I offer you my
congratulationsss. What you have done, it isss not an easssy thing
to do, capturing the affectionsss of any female feline. Much lessss
the heart of a female stealth massster,” Snarth hissed with his
best leer.

Then, sobering, he added, “If I were your
father I would be very proud of the man you have
become.”

“
Thank you sir,” I answered,
suddenly choked up with emotion.

“
Now get the hell out of here and
get on with your missssion,” hissed Snarth with an obvious false
bravado.

“
Yes sir, right away sir,” I
answered, with the beginnings of a grin on my face.

As I sped away on my bike I had a
grin bigger than even Snarth could manage on my face, and a tear in
my eye. From the speed of the wind, I told myself, as I raced to
catch up with Tasha the feline.

Snarth’s voice sounded in my earpiece, “If I
were you and I wanted to make a friend for life, I would consssider
giving your pleasssure mech to the Irissshman. ssSeems he hasss
fallen in love with it, poor devil. Do not tell him I told you. And
by all meansss be dissscreet,” cautioned Snarth with his
hiss.

“
Yes sir I will. I may have not
said so, Snarth, but thank you for this new life of mine,” I
said.

“
You earned it my boy, You know me
well enough to know that I give nothing away for free,” Snarth
hissed in reply.

Now comes the
hard part,
I thought as neared Tasha’s, the stealth
master’s, my mate’s, my wife’s
, I am so
confused,
location. I had no idea what her response to
the events of this morning would be. She was just ahead according
to her location beacon. I would find out soon enough. I know what I
want to happen. I hoped she wanted the same thing, Snarth’s words
rang in my ears.
Felines mate for
life.
I am not sure I am ready for that
kind of commitment but damn it I am going to try. Provided my new
mate felt the same way.

We continued our patrol in silence and that
only made me feel even more anxious about her intentions. Still no
sign of the underground city as the planet’s star moved lower in
the sky, dusk was not far off. Finally, just before dark Tasha
signaled to stop for the night. With her usual eye for natural
beauty, she had picked another ideal spot for camp, close to a
water source yet shielded from view by native
vegetation.

Her silence continued as we
quickly set up camp and started a small fire. My heart was
hammering in my chest and the anxiety of this was making me
sweat.
What was she thinking?
Every possible scenario kept racing through my
mind.

Finally, she settled down by the fire and
patted the sleeping fur next to her. “Tom, we must talk. Come sit
next to me….Please,” she purred. As I sat, she folded her paws in
her lap and said, “I am sorry you had to see my brother in one of
his famous rages.”

Before I could register my reassurances, Tasha
put her finger to my mouth, willing me to be quiet and let her
speak. “It is true. He will be king of my people once the current
king, my uncle dies,” she mewed. “He was not chosen for his stealth
skills or his diplomacy but for the fact that it is he who mortally
wounded the king in ritual combat. With his temper it won’t be long
before he offends someone and they kill him in ritual combat. As is
the customary way amongst my people for settling matters of honor.
Now tell me what Snarth said that has you so upset,” she purred,
waiting expectantly for me to answer.

To say that I had completely misread her
intentions is an understatement. My mind reeling, scrambling for an
answer, my heart, trying desperately to beat, after being squeezed
in the vice of anxiety; “I….I…he said…he….” I stammered.

Tasha caressed my cheek gently with her paw
and said, “My love, there must always be truth between us, no
matter what, remember that. I vow to you that I will never again
lie to you.”

Gathering my shredded courage, I took
Tasha’s paw in my hand, looked into her eyes and blurted in a rush
“My love, Snarth told me that felines mate for life.” This caused
Tasha to giggle, confusing me once again.

“
And you are not sure you
are ready for that kind of commitment,” she finished my thought for
me, sparing me the pain of saying so.

“
Yes…I mean No. I mean I
don’t know,” I stammered.

My obvious discomfort caused Tasha to
giggle again, breaking the tension between us.

“
What I mean to say,” I
explained, slowing my speech, “is that this is all so new for me. I
have no experience in matters of the heart. Not even a year ago, I
had no idea of how the galaxy truly is. Now here I am on a
forbidden planet and in love with what my people would call an
alien. As a result, I know even less today about what my future
holds than I did yesterday, and that wasn’t very much,” I
confessed.

Tasha turned, squirmed into my arms
and began unbuttoning my shirt. “I am not asking for a lifelong
commitment just yet,” she purred as she pushed me down onto the
sleeping furs. “All I ask is that you never lie to me and love me
always. That will be enough for now.”

“
I promise I will,” was all
I could get out as our passion boiled over, blocking out all
rational thought and action; our mission, this morning, even the
team, all forgotten in this frozen moment of time.

As Snarth watched the young Human Tom
fade in the distance, he wondered just what kind of reception the
young human would get when he met up with the stealth master. With
any luck, it would be a happy reunion, Snarth hoped. With a
grimace, he put on his helmet and he climbed on his bike and headed
out to join SSlice, all the while wondering if and how Tom would
follow his advice of giving the pleasure mech to the Irishman, and
just how subtle he would be about it.

Once he caught up to SSlice, Snarth
turned his attention to the matter of just where in the hell that
underground city was. Snarth was surprised that the team had not
found any evidence of its existence. In fact, he was secretly
beginning to doubt SSlice’s interpretation of the map.

Tomorrow the team will have
finished all of the search grids and I will have my
answer
, thought Snarth. They continued
searching in their customary silence until darkness suddenly was
upon them, leaving no time to search for a suitable cave in which
to set up camp. Silently cursing himself for his preoccupation with
other matters, Snarth broke the silence: “Over by thossse treesss
will have to do for tonight,” he signaled SSlice.

“
Just ahead is a small
ridge with a suitable place,” answered SSlice.

Relieved that someone was at least
paying attention to the mission Snarth said, “Good enough, let’sss
hurry before it getsss too dark to ssset up camp properly. Let’sss
be sssure and ssset up perimeter sssensorsss thisss time ssso we
don’t get any more unannounced visssitorsss.”

“
You and I both know that
the limited sensors we have with us would not have stopped the King
to be from paying us a visit unannounced,” chided
SSlice.

“
Don’t be ssso sssure, he
ssseemed rather rasssh. Tom had him dead to rightsss. He isss only
lucky Tom hasss good ssself-control,” reminded Snarth.

With camp set-up done and a small fire
built, Snarth and SSlice ate in silence. Finally, SSlice broke the
silence between them.

“
You think I misread the
map, don’t you,” SSlice whispered simply.

“
The thought hasss
crossssed my mind,” hissed Snarth.

“
It is possible; some of
the symbols were very hard to interpret,” whispered SSlice. “I
stand by my calculations. This is the home world, I am sure of it,”
he insisted resolutely. “We still have a quarter of the planet to
search. By dark tomorrow we will know for sure. It is just bad luck
we won’t find it until we search the last quadrant,” whispered
SSlice confidently.

“
I hope you are right, old
friend,” hissed a somewhat discouraged and sleepy
Snarth.

“
Tomorrow we will all be
rich and soon to be famous, you’ll see,” SSlice assured him.
“Snarth, there is something I must know, and you are the only
person who can answer a question that has been nagging at me for a
very long time.”